blashlee

I gotta say that this just ticks me off at the surgeons. How many surgeons are out there doing these countless surgeries without counseling their patients about how very serious this stuff is? I just do NOT get it. You have been given a gift. There are so many that have to struggle to get to the point of surgery - especially financially. You got yours. Don't screw it up. Take your Vitamins. Find a way to get in Protein whether by shakes or food. But find a way. Are there serious consequences? Yes. My aunt died. I think about her every single time that I want to go off program. I am doing this for her and in spite of her at the same time. Find a therapist. Talk to your NUT. Get serious about this or you will end up malnourished, back to your original weight and with 90% less of your stomach.

It's not just the surgeons. Very frequently, it's the individual. You can counsel someone for 6 months about what to do/not to do, but ultimately it's that person's responsibility to comply and take care of his/herself. Some surgeons just do surgery and leave all the vitamins/protein/water talk to a nutritionist. But no matter who is dispensing the info, it's up to the patient to see it all through.

Have you tried the Vitamin patch?

No. There's a patch? ?

I'm pretty shocked none of your doctors told you about this option when you weren't able to keep your Vitamins down!

My doctor says it doesn't have the appropriate levels for a bariatric patient. However, she only does bands, RNY, and band/sleeve-to-RNY revisions, so perhaps that advice was specific to RNY. I dont have any problems with tolerating taste or texture in my vitamins. At this point in my journey, I'm able to tolerate small capsules. The only vitamins I have to take that have any taste are my chewable Calcium and chocolate chewable Iron.

It's really difficult to build muscle while losing weight. You still need the same amount of Protein as far as % of total calories. The problem is that you can only take in so many calories during this time. The best thing you can do for yourself is to go slow and look for strength and not size. Stamina & endurance are what you want to strive for at this stage. Once you are at maintenance, then you should be able to start adding muscle.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you a bit here. Technically, it is difficult to "lose weight" while putting on muscle...but that's because muscle weighs more than fat on the body. So while someone who is gaining muscle might not notice drastic "weight loss," they will see fat loss. At my last few doctor's appointments, my weight only changed about 5 lbs from month to month. However my body fat % decreased 3-5% at each appointment and I gained anywhere between 2-4 lbs of muscle mass. Example: 5 lbs on the scale lost broke down to 9 lbs of fat burned and 4 lbs of muscle gained. So, while you're correct, when you're gaining muscle it may slow down your "weight loss," your body fat loss will increase. My doctor's primary goal for her patients is fat loss and muscle maintenance/gain. So while my weight on a scale doesn't shift much, my body is shrinking and sculpting because I'm gaining muscle and losing fat.

It is very possible to get enough Protein from food, but probably not at only 2 months post op. At 6 months post op, I still have the best days intake wise when I add Protein to my drinks or to my yogurt. On food alone, I can barely break 90g unless I eat meat and cheese for every meal.

Eventually people stop taking protein from shakes and supplements all together, which is fine, but at 2 months post op, you're setting the foundations for long term success. I dont have a protein shake everyday, but i make sure protein makes up 60-75% of my meal. If I have a salad, it has meat on it and I eat the protein before I get to the salad part. Which generally is never because I'm full from the meats. On days where I don't feel like eating much, I have a lot of greek yogurt and a Protein Shake or scoop unflavored protein into food.

I agree, you don't need to necessarily DRINK your protein, but you need to be getting it in somehow.

Totally qualifies as an NSV, and a great one. I'm very fascinated by all the changes that have occured in the intimate relations department due to the changes in my body and my weight. Fascinated and appreciative LOL

Pardon me, but are you kidding? Yes. Not keeping up with Protein, Water, medications, and Vitamins will absolutely have adverse affects on you. Regardless of weight loss surgery, Vitamin deficiencies and dehydration are very serious complications. If you want to spend your time getting months of infusions to stay alive, and if you want to have that sick, gaunt look to you in order to reach goal, then by all means keep doing it this way.

If you don't like your Protein, do what SleevePerry said and find new ones. Don't like your Vitamins? Find new ones. Can't remember them? Set alarms. Having a hard time with plain Water? Try flavor enhancers. You have to do these things in order to be successful, otherwise you've wasted your time etc with surgery.

Good luck, hopefully you're able to figure these important aspects out so that you dont have any long term problems or complications down the road.

I'm curious about your running. Were you ever a runner previously? I had my surgery May 7, Im down 55lbs since that date and 70lbs overall. I started walking immediately and have increased speed and distance .. I am now walking 6-7 miles several days a week, at an avg speed of 3.7-3.8 mph... I am able to jog intermittently, for as much as a quarter mile, then walk for a quarter mile and so on. But I so desperately want to make the transition to running totally. Do you have any advice?

You look terrific, and I am sure you feel so much better as well! This journey is amazing!

I was not a runner. A few months before surgery I had an epic meltdown on a jogging trail because I wasn't able to complete a half mile running interval. I didn't try to run again until about a month after surgery. I started couch to 5k and couch to 10k and I never finished them. I downloaded an app (13.one, made by the same developers as couch to 5k/10k) and I got started about 13 weeks before my race. It was intervals. Every week it would increase. Then finally it was all running. And tbh I didn't get to finish it either LOL the weather got too hot to run long runs, even getting up early on the weekends it was just too warm to go and run. Before my half marathon my longest run was 7.5 miles. It should have been 11 lol so I was very nervous the morning of the half.

It just takes patience and determination. And make sure you get yourself some good running shoes. Not all running shoes are created equal. Now I only run in Asics Gel kayano 20. They don't make them anymore so I'll have to switch to the newer version but that's my shoe.

Why did you all choose RNY and notthe sleeve??

I didn't know enough about the sleeve and there's not a lot of long term data on it. I know myself, I felt I needed the restriction of RNY and the potential for dumping things I shouldn't eat.

My doctor recommend the RNY because of the permanent benefits and the amount of weight I had to lose. I also had friend with sleeve and she said she was getting RNY because of maintenance problems with saline solution and getting sick a lot

Saline solution is used to tighten LapBand. No saline solution for RNY or sleeve.

Kept up with my Vitamins and Protein, used shampoos that are sulfate (foam) free, comb my hair out with a wide toothed comb in the shower with lots of conditioner. I thought about cutting it off or doing braids or a protective style, but decided against that. My hair isn't noticeably thinner until I have it straightened out. It's very thick and curly so while I've lost plenty, it isn't terribly noticable.

It's gonna fall out period. It will grow back. It is frustrating, but stressing about it makes it worse. Taking pills and things that are supposed to make your hair regrow are cool, but all that did for me was give me additional hair in places I didn't want it :-|

Good luck.

Other than Water

Iced coffee w/ half & half and SF sweeteners

Iced tea w/ SF sweetener

I brew my own Black and Passion Tea (saves money in Starbucks runs)

I cold steep tea bags and mix them with crystal light lemonade. Lipton peach green tea steeped in iced Water with crystal light lemonade is fantastic.

Sometimes I drink chocolate premier Protein when I'm replacing a meal.

Crystal Light

Trop50 orange juice diluted with water + a scoop of unflavored Protein is a pretty standard Breakfast drink for me.

But I still try to get in half a gallon or so of water. I usually can't but then some days I can.

I just want to say that I LOVE your personality! I laughed so hard when you made the DMV comment! I did that too. They like I'm like 190!!! I haven't weighed 190 since 11th grade!

Can't wait until it's the truth tho!

Congrats on all your progress! It really is inspiring! <3

Haha my license said 190. I just renewed it and I lied again, now I weigh less than the new one says. I'll never be found if kidnapped LOL

I'm confused, you said you started the journey in January, so I am assuming you lost before surgery? How much did you lose after surgery. 90lbs is amazing no matter when you started, I am just celebrating my 3 month and I am almost to 50 and know I will never lose 40 more in two months so just jealous lol. Congratulations on being so successful.

I met my surgeon in January. She put me on a preop diet immediately. I had RNY April 6. I had lost about 30 lbs before surgery on her preop diet. So since surgery 5 months ago, I've lost the additional 60.

Completed a half marathon last weekend!

Hey all. This past Sunday 9/6/15 was my 5 month surgiversary!! I have lost 90 lbs since starting my journey back in January. I've gone from a size 16/18 2XL to size 8/M.

To Celebrate my 5 month surgiversary, I ran the Disneyland Half Marathon! I completed 13.1 miles in 3:00:49 and smiled the entire course! It was incredible. I went from someone who once had a full blown meltdown trying to run a half mile exercise to someone who eats miles for Breakfast. I never ever thought I would see this day. So happy to have been granted this second chance at life and I'm glad to report I am using it to the fullest! I'm already registered for another run and contemplating two more.   

1. They're disgusting! I find that they taste just a little bit like baby vomit would. Not that I've tasted baby vomit, but you don't forget that smell...

2. Before surgery you could shoot them and get in Protein "quickly," but after your body won't benefit from that. And despite the fact that they are low in sugar, you could dump them from taking down that much Protein too quickly. The ones I did have, I diluted very very heavily with cold cold COLD Water and then I never bought them again.

My post op instructions state you should make 20G of protein last about an hour if you're drinking it, so trying to quickly take down 42G at once might cause some digestive problems as your body tries to process it.

"Bariatric Surgery IS the easy way out."

While lying in my hospital bed after having gotten my Bypass surgery yesterday, I was skimming through the article and stopped altogether on that quote. That's not fact; that's ignorance.

I think what the author is implying here connects with a prior paragraph that the majority of your weight is lost as a direct result of the decision to have surgery. And surgery should is somewhat an "easy way out" when it comes to controlling what you eat because your body simply doesn't allow you to overeat anymore or eat certain foods without paying dire consequences. So, theoretically, because that restriction exists, it's easier to watch what you eat/how much you eat. If I have just one extra bite of something, I throw it ALL up.

Overall, I absolutely don't believe this was the "easy way out" as far as ways that exist to lose weight. If it were the easy way, everybody would do it.

PS Hope your surgery went well, welcome to the loser's bench

Came across this article on FB today. It was exactly what I needed to see. I've gotten comfortable with the fact that I can still indulge in small amounts and not see any weight gain or experience dumping. Well, that's NOT a good thing for someone like me, because it will simply continue and then eventually I will see regain. I don't want to waste all the hard work I have put in and everything I've endured to take my health back into my own hands.

Having said that, some parts of this surgery might strike chords. Please remember that I didn't write it LOL so don't attack me if something makes you feel some type of way, especially that last header/paragraph. That's a sentence we all probably will take issue with, but please try to keep things in context...

http://www.bariatriceating.com/2015/05/not-what-you-want-to-hear-bariatric-nos/

Don’t eat bread! That latte has 35g sugar! No macaroni salad. NO tortillas. No rice.

It won’t last without change
There is no delicate way to say this. We have always set ourselves apart from other bariatric groups in that we don’t look the other way while post ops continue to eat the bad carbs. We try and bring them back to the bariatric reality. We coax you to knock off the Pasta, rice, tortillas or bread and often people get mad or try and justify it. For years we’ve watched people blow through this surgery and they all have the same story. Everyone thinks they are ‘Different’, that they can handle the bad carbs and the sugar (they don’t get sick!) and ‘because they have lost 100 pounds in 7 months they must be doing something right’.

The first hundred pounds is the surgery
Hate to keep making the same point, but your surgery did it, not you. Remember that you are not driving the car for the first year. Eating the same foods that grew you to 300 pounds, but in smaller amounts is not a good long term plan as eventually you will be able to eat larger portions. Ask yourself why eating the same bad carbs would be a good plan. No doctor has advised you to eat the same way post op as you did pre op. Post ops pick this up somewhere, latch on to it and defend it, often to the bitter end of a total regain.

No one fights for broccoli carbs!
It’s not that the bagel will kill you, it’s that these carbs make you hungry. They rapidly turn to glucose and burn… poof, gone, #Lookingformore. They don’t give you any nutrients. They don’t create a feeling of satiety or lasting fullness. The empty carbs work against what you are trying to achieve. If you were arguing for eating salad or green bean carbs, more power to you… but people are trying to hang on to foods without value. If this big argument was for VEGETABLES… well it wouldn’t be a debate as vegetables didn’t make us fat, it was those ‘other’ carbs. Did you ever meet an obese vegetarian and wonder ‘HUH?’… how’d they get obese if they are vegetarian? Same deal… its not the vegetables, its the other stuff… the carbs… the potatoes, bread, macaroni, rice, tortillas and sugar!

Square peg… round hole
Stop looking for slightly better substitutes for bad choices and find new healthier foods to love instead. We keep trying to force that square peg into that round hole. Stop EATING crackers and chips… don’t find ones that you can justify because they have fewer carbs. Enough with the terrible fishy Shirataki tofu noodles. Learn to live without bread and Pasta so it will not call your name. We aren’t changing the behavior or trend if we continue eating them, just slightly shifting it. Before long you’ve got your hand back in the Doritos bag & fork in the Mac and cheese.

Look It’s Protein Cheesecake!
Don’t add Protein to muffins and convince yourself they’re good for you. Stop with the Starbucks Creme Brûlée Lattes because ‘they’re your one indulgence’; they have 500 calories and thin people don’t even drink them. Stay the heck out of Wendy’s. I read an article the other day touting all the ‘good choices’ in fast food restaurants. How about stay out of them. That’s the best choice of all! Why go to the place where you know there is danger. Before you know it, oops… there are fries in your bag!

You know people gain back weight, right?
In our first month of new Facebook Support group I have cried for new members who have gained back all their weight. I am not immune either after fourteen years, three bariatric books and knowing better. When life hit the fan, I comforted my bruises in the way I knew best and it has taken me ten months to lose fifty pounds of it. People are having revisions, a lovely sounding word for a second serious body damaging operation. What will change? Unless there is major change along with that new surgery, won’t it have the same result?

Step away from the bagel!
Own that there was and maybe still is something wrong with your food picker! Use surgery as an opportunity to change, not cheat. I used be bothered by the ‘word on the street’ that we were the carb or food police, but am now proud of it. If you want to promote the virtues of Everything in Moderation while eating half a Subway, there are plenty of groups that will help you do it. If you want to eat right and learn new behaviors to make the feeling of slipping on those skinny jeans last… we have a support group that’s a healthier fit.

Bariatric Surgery IS the easy way out
It’s a personal food cop that is always with us, that helps us push away from the table. We make it hard when we don’t live by the bariatric rules we’ve been given. There is nothing harder then gaining weight back after surgery. There is nothing better than losing it a second time. Control is empowering.

If you need to pick up and start losing again… If you need to work off a regain… it’s not too late and your pouch works just fine if you choose the right foods. Clean those lethal carbs from your life and go back to Bariatric Eating – protein first and lots of fresh salad and vegetables. We’ve got the support for you to make that change!

Surgery 4/6/15 HW 260.5, weight at hospital check-in 231, weight this morning 178.2

I've been hanging around this weight for a little while but I'm ok with it.

A few replies to this topic made me wrinkle my brow a little so I'll just quickly touch on them and voice my opinion.

1. Yes, losing the weight is the desired result of any WLS procedure. "What's the problem?" the problem is starvation isn't going to result in healthy long term weight loss and at only 300-600 cals a day, the body will begin to starve. Fat will be stored, not lost.

2. Calories in = calories out is an archaic way of thinking when it comes to weight loss. It seems that easy, right? Well if it were we wouldn't need to put any other nutrition facts on food labels and doctors and nutritionists would need to set guidelines for fat/protein/etc.They'd just say "Eat this many calories a day and burn at least this many a day and you'll lose this much weight." It doesn't work that way. 100 calories worth of skinless chicken breast will do a different thing to my body than 100 calories of full fat ice cream. All calories are not created equal.

3. The first few weeks after surgery I couldn't manage to get down much more than about a half a yogurt and a Protein shake once or twice a day. It was stressful. I was frustrated. I was tired. Walking my dog down the front path of my apartment complex wiped me out. That was temporary. I'm now running 4-6 miles 3x a week, and exercising for 90 minutes or so in the gym lifting relatively heavy weights on days in between. I very rarely break 1000 cals a day in food, but I've worked out 1100 calories in a run. My Fitness Pal diary entires are skewed because I track my food as it's served to me, and 99% of the time, I don't finish ANYTHING. I dont try to increase my calories if I'm not hungry. That's why I had surgery; to stop me from cleaning my plate and the two next to me. If you're not hungry, it will be harder to increase your calories. Mass gainer will defeat the purpose of what you're trying to achieve from surgery.

4. You will eventually begin to tolerate more food. Your eating frequency may increase due to exercise and your capacity for eating at one sitting will increase. A month post op 2 tbs of Beans and an egg would be all I could tolerate at once. Now I can eat a hamburger patty and apple slices for lunch without much trouble (kids' meal size but still LOL). I agree with some of the suggestions above such as adding yogurt, avocado, cottage cheese etc to smoothies/shakes. Use greek yogurt on foods where you would normally use sour cream; it tastes the same but you're getting Protein and less fat. Make your shakes with milk. Try Fairlife; it's filtered milk that has a lot more protein than regular milk. A tad more expensive for a jug but definitely worth it. Add banana slices to your yogurt if you can tolerate banana and if you're allowed fruit. Bananas are naturally a bit fattier than other fruits and have a few more calories, but are still soft for someone who's still pretty new out from surgery.

I know exactly what you're going through; I didn't workout to my own satisfaction for over a month after surgery because I was too tired and low on food intake and my body was still very busy healing. You'll get there, i promise.

And some days a baby carrot sends me into a food coma. Btw, I'm not looking for solutions; I've already spoken to my doctor about it. The days that I'm hungry coincide with the days I run or have PT sessions. Her solution: eat when i'm hungry, Protein first, stay hydrated. Simple. Same rules as usual.

...But can I get an amen, saints? Anybody else just beastly some days, and a field mouse on others? If this is you, join the fellowship LOL I swear, some days I feel like a lion ready to take down an elephant and devour all 6000 lbs of it in one sitting. Fact is, my body still won't let me get down more than about 1/2-3/4cup of anything depending on what it is. Some foods go down differently and I can take down more, but I haven't cleaned a plate in 4 months. When my honey and I share food, after i've gotten my portion, his still looks untouched LOL

Some days I'm ravenous, and others I have to make myself eat. And the smallest little thing will feel like I've just had Thanksgiving seconds.

I'm still losing weight, though not at lightning speed, which I'm fine with. At only 4 months out, I've got about 30 lbs to go to my personal goal (which may be adjusted later) and prefer to work hard at them so that I have a better shot with my maintenance down the road.

I was recently approached my a church member who to "speak to me privately" ....oh goody. . Well she started to talk about my weight loss and how she didn't know if I had WLS or not, but that she was going to have gastric bypass. Long pause on my part because I couldn't think of what to say back and then I just fessed up. Kinda annoyed I did it, it is not anyone's business. Hopefully she will keep her promise not to tell anyone else.

UGH. This happened to me recently. The 100th person at work asked me about my weight loss and i just snapped "I had weight loss surgery." in a somewhat annoyed tone LOL i'm over it at this point. If it gets around the office, good for it. I never lied about it. When people asked me what I was doing to lose weight I said I was working with a doctor and a personal trainer. Which is 100% true.

send it to me!!!!

seriously. i love it. drink it everyday. the unflavored in my coffee/tea/juice, the flavored bottles on the go.

I contacted them. They initially told me I was approved and to expect something in the mail. Weeks went by and nothing ever came. Then they called and told me that my insurance would cover it but it would be applied toward my out of pocket expenses (I have a PPO) and that I would need to meet a $500 out of pocket deductible before they would cover anything. So I said no thanks, im managing just fine purchasing my own Protein and getting Vitamins from my surgeon.

Wore size 30/31 American Apparel jean shorts today. Anybody familiar with that brand probably knows how notoriously small they run.

I think when doctors and plans say no "snacking," they don't want you mindlessly eating or eating between meals when you aren't hungry. I've discussed with my doctor that I eat pretty frequently but I treat everything I eat like a meal. I sit down to eat it, I eat until I'm full and then I move away from it. I don't eat between Breakfast and lunch just because a clock makes me feel like I should. I eat when I'm hungry.

Which is disturbingly frequent LOL

I don't know that you can safely use two birth control methods unless one of them is a physical prophylactic like a condom, diaphragm, or cervical cap. You can't take the pill AND use an IUD, you'll introduce too many hormones to your system. Unless the IUD is hormone free.

I think you're ok with just the IUD. I have one and haven't managed to get pregnant yet (as I intend it to be for awhile!) and I don't use a secondary method because I'm in a monogamous LTR.