catwoman7

yes - it's common for people's hormones to get screwed up for awhile. The standard explanation is that estrogen is stored in fat cells, so it starts releasing when you're dropping weight quickly those first few months. It supposedly stabilizes after awhile, though.

from what I understand, Dr. Hunstad is pretty well known in the subfield of body contouring for massive weight loss patients. A lot of surgeons who do a lot of these surgeries did their residencies under him. https://www.hkbsurgery.com/

the first couple of days were the worst for me. Once your body goes into ketosis, it's not as bad.

some people have them, some don't. I didn't have one.

there have been a lot of warnings lately about taking PPI's long term. They're fine for short-term use, but not day after day, year after year.

a lot of people have trouble with eggs at first (I didn't, but I know it's pretty common). Just try again in a few weeks.

only about 30% of us dump - so although it can be a problem for some, it's by no means universal. And for those who dump, they can control it by watching their sugar and fat intake (there are times I wish I DID dump so I'd be forced to watch those!!). I can eat at meetings and work - and diarrhea is not a common problem among RNYers. Constipation is way more of a problem for us than diarrhea.

the plastic surgery took care of most of them. I still have some dimply areas on my abdomen, but it's way better than it was before. But at my age (almost 60), a few dimples on one's abdomen is not unusual....

I had some of those as well (I've since had plastic surgery)

if you're carb sensitive (and a lot of us are), I'm not sure I'd add more carbs. Whenever I need to lose weight, I try to stick with the basic plan - protein first, then unstarchy vegetables, and then, if I still have room left, a small serving of fruit or "healthy" carbs (like whole grain items). I also switched over to calorie counting when I was about a year out, since at that point I was physically able to eat a lot more than I was supposed to. weight loss slowed to a crawl for me once I hit the year mark (and maybe even a bit earlier - I can't remember). It took FOREVER to get those last few pounds off. I did manage to lose 50 lbs in year 2, though - but it took a long time - slow going, lots of stalls - plenty of times when I thought "well, this must be it...", but then it started up again. You may be in the same boat...

I'm not sure what you're allowed on your plan at this point, but after I was a couple months out, I could eat more than I was supposed to. That's when I had to be really careful to weigh and measure things to be sure I was only eating what I was supposed to be eating.

it's been awhile - but maybe at around six months out (??). I still have days when raw vegetables irritate my stomach, though (not always - but occasionally)

I've taken a capful of Miralax every morning since shortly after I had surgery. I still get backed up maybe twice a month - when I do, I take Milk of Magnesia for a night or two to clear it out.

I agree with everyone else. That kind of thing is really rare. The vast majority of us have no...or very minor (like a stricture - easily fixable) complications.

There has only been one day since my surgery over four years ago that I haven't gotten all my protein in. I take vitamins two or three times throughout the day. I'm sure there's been a time or two when I've forgotten at some point during the day to take the vitamins I was supposed to take at that time, but the whole day? No. those other things you mentioned - no. I'm really disciplined with myself because I want to continue being healthy and successful.

I did that every month on my surgery date until I hit maintenance. I found it EXTREMELY helpful and encourage everyone to do so (I've been working with pre-op groups for the last two years). I love having all this data as it documents my journey. It's also great to have when you hit those periods when you're not feeling successful. You can look back at where you came from and realize yes, you were/are hugely successful!!

that's WAY above average. Unless you're talking "My 600 lb Life" contestants, who start out at much higher BMI's than the average bariatric patient, an average range of loss for the first month is more like 15-25 lbs. I lost 16 lbs the first month, and I started out at over 300 lbs.

yep - part of your ultimate success is due to the surgery, and part of it is due to you. People who rely on the surgery alone are rarely successful. This takes work! So....now you know!

I took three weeks off (I had a desk job - I'm now retired), but I could have gone back after two.

No solid food. Just 4-5 protein shakes a day, all the zero (or near zero) calorie beverages I wanted, unlimited sugar free popsicles and sugar free Jello, a limited amount of tomato juice/V8 and broth.

the only tablets it took me awhile to swallow whole (maybe three weeks?) were ursodiol and those big calcium tablets. Everything else I could manage as soon as I got home from the hospital.

I used to be a Diet Cocaholic. I have taken exactly two sips of Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi since surgery (at at least three years out), and I thought I was going to DIE. It tasted like chemicals. Absolutely disgusting!

I'm surprised they don't have you on something. A lot of us are prescribed PPI's or something similar for the first few months post-surgery. You might want to ask if the heartburn keeps up and Tums (or something similar) doesn't do the trick for you.

I couldn't have either one immediately after surgery (decaf still has acid in it, even though it doesn't have caffeine - and acid can also be hard on healing stomachs), but I was allowed decaf fairly soon afterward - maybe at about a month out? I can't remember. I had to wait six months before I could have regular again. some surgeons allow decaf right away - and some even allow regular right away. They seem to be all across the board on this.

I weaned myself gradually off it. 1/4 decaf, 3/4 caffeinated for a week or two, then 1/2 decaf, 1/2 caffeinated for another week or two, and so on until I was just drinking decaf.