catwoman7

I haven't blacked out, but I used to get dizzy spells occasionally. This started happening when I was about two years out. I had a complete work-up, but they couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. Then the next time I had one, I noticed it was about an hour or two after I ate some cake at a retirement party. I was kind of wondering if my blood sugar had crashed. I asked my PCP about it the next time I saw her, and she said that was definitely a possibility, and it could be that during the work-up my glucose measured normal, so they didn't suspect that. She said she could arrange for me to have a glucose meter to be absolutely sure that that was what was triggering it, OR I could just eat something every 3-4 hours - either a protein or, if a carb, then paired with protein (e.g., apple slices with peanut butter). She said that's what she would recommend ANYWAY if it was definitely a glucose issue. So I've been doing that, and haven't had a problem since.. if this doesn't resolve it, see your doctor. A black out could be caused by several different things, so they'll want to do a work-up. Or better yet, see your doctor NOW since it could be something else...

a lot of people don't lose much the first few days after surgery - reason being is they pump you full of IV fluids at the hospital. Not only is it a ton of fluid, but those IV fluids contain sodium to boot, so if you're salt sensitive, you'll retain it for a few days. You should see a drop-off after the first week, though. It takes a couple of days to work the fluids out of your system - more if you're sodium-sensitive.

I originally said 199 and they said no problem (after being 300+ for years, 199 sounded like a pipe dream!). When I got down to around 220, I told them I wanted to aim for 170-180. They said as long as I worked really hard at it, that should be do-able. Got down there no problem. Once I got there, I said I wanted to be a normal BMI, so I was aiming for 150. They told me that that was pretty unrealistic - only about 10% of their patients who started at my weight could achieve a normal BMI. They said my weight at the time (around 175 or so) was perfect for me. Ha! That was pretty much all the incentive I needed. I doubled down and got down to 150 - actually, below!

I was allowed to have clear liquids only. Sugar free Jello counted, but not pudding.

some people lose weight in a stair step fashion (lose some, then stall, lose some, then stall - rinse & repeat). Others don't stall as frequently and have bigger drops between stalls. You may be one of the former. You don't have a lot of control over your pattern of weight loss - the only thing you have control over is whether or not you stick to your plan. So just stick to it - the weight *will* come off. I didn't have a ton of stalls (maybe 3 or 4?), but I was a slow loser from the get-go. I just stuck to my plan throughout the whole weight loss stage. It took awhile, but the weight eventually did come off - all of it!

according to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons (attached), most gastric bypass patients should get 3000 IU's of vitamin D a day (obviously, if your bloodwork is showing deficiencies, you should be taking more than that, though). If the daily total of D3 in your calcium citrate supplements equal at least 3000 IUs, then you may be OK - but I've always taken a separate D3 supplement. here are the supplement recommendations - you have to scroll down a bit to find how much of each you need: https://asmbs.org/app/uploads/2008/09/ASMBS-Nutritional-Guidelines-2016-Update.pdf

I'd say 4-5 weeks for me as well - basically, when I was allowed solid food. I did go out once or twice before that, but it was really hard to find anything that worked for me while I was still in the puree stage. I think I ended up getting soup (the pureed kind). once I was allowed solid food, I could order things like shrimp cocktail - which many restaurants have on their appetizer menu (I could only eat 3 or 4 of them - those were the days!!) btw - I tried moving most of my friends over to coffee rather than lunch or dinner. Easier to stick to my eating plan that way, and most friends were fine with it.

I still weigh daily. And I also still track food. I can't even tell you how many times pre-surgery that I lost weight, stopped doing those two things, and then gained it all back. Not happening this time. I worked WAY too hard on this. So I will do these two things for the rest of my life. and yes to your third question, too. 150 lbs is my "oh crap" level. If I hit that, I spring into action to get my weight back down.

I did chewable Centrums the first couple of months after surgery - then I switched to the regular tablets. I was also told to avoid gummies.

did I say bypass patients never develop GERD? I also did not say it ALWAYS improves or cures GERD. I said it USUALLY does.

certain foods bother me now (although moreso when I was a new post-op - not so much bothers me this far out). Just don't eat them - or try eating them when you're further along in your journey. There's probably something in cream of wheat that your system is reacting to.

get packets of protein powder. You can take those on a plane (I've done so many times). The ready-to-drink ones (already mixed with water or other liquid) you can't, but powder - yes.

for multis I've always used Centrum or the generic equivalent (Walgreens and CVS both have generics for that). the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery publishes a list of vitamin/mineral requirements every few years. I'm guessing Nature Made are OK, but double check this list to make sure Nature Made contains the right amount. You'll have to scroll down a little to see how much you need of each vitamin: https://asmbs.org/app/uploads/2008/09/ASMBS-Nutritional-Guidelines-2016-Update.pdf

the second part of this isn't true - bypass usually improves or even cures GERD. In fact, many sleevers who develop severe GERD (and certainly not all will - but a significant minority) revise to bypass for that reason.

yes - GERD is a possible complication of the sleeve. That's not to say it's inevitable, but it is a risk and therefore, it's not recommended for people who already have pre-existing GERD. Gastric bypass often improves or even cures GERD.

I'd always heard and read that isolate is more easily absorbed. Now that I'm a few years post-op, I drink both - but we were told to stick with isolate for the first few weeks or months post-op because early out we got most of our protein from shakes, so it was important to use the one that was more easily absorbed.

they say more than a 10 lb gain or loss will affect your plastic surgery (to be honest, that's one of the main reasons I had it - as an additional incentive to keep from gaining weight!). As the above person said, it may not be as nice as when you had it done, but unless you've gained back all of your weight, it shouldn't go back to the way it was pre-plastic surgery. At least I wouldn't think so...

that's about where I was at that point.

I can eat pretty much anything now, but early out (once I was cleared for solid foods), yes - I ate international food. With Chinese, I'd skip the rice and focus on something with (non-fried) meat & veggies. Mexican - I'd order a fajita and again just focus on the meat & veggies. Or else I'd get a taco and just eat the innards. Middle Eastern places - kabobs work, and so does hummus. I"m glad to hear so many places are offering zoodles now. I heard recently that Noodles & Co has a zoodles option for some of its dishes, too. That opens up a whole new world, since I haven't eaten pasta in over four years!

the explanation I've heard is that some hormones (like estrogen) are stored in fat cells. When you start dropping weight really fast, they're released and start to flood your system. It eventually balances out again. I didn't have this issue because I'm older, but evidently it's pretty common.

I'd lost almost 80 lbs before people started noticing.

I was able to swallow all pills right away except for two (both were too big): ursodiol and those big calcium horse pills. The PA at my weight clinic just told me to wait two or three weeks on the ursodiol, so I did. For calcium, I just did chewables at first. So I never had to deal with crushed pills after I left the hospital (thank God!)

the hair & skin thing are individual and not much will help either one. I had minimal hair loss - as in, if it weren't for the extra strands I noticed in my comb, I never would have noticed. Most people notice some on themselves, but no one else does. Losing clumps of hair and having bald spots is possible, but it's very uncommon. with excess skin, you may not have much since you're starting at such a low BMI. But that also varies depending on a lot of factors. For many of us, it's very easy to hide. And I think all of us looking back would say we wonder why we wasted so many brain cells worrying about it, since loose skin is a very small price to pay for what we got in exchange. I would take my loose skin ANY DAY over weighing 300 lbs again! getting too thin: first of all, not getting to goal is a MUCH more common problem than getting too thin. And you do have control over your weight loss. You can always put on the brakes if you start to worry that you're getting too thin - you just have to increase your calories until the weight loss stops.

I'm vaguely remembering reading/hearing something about this - but ask your surgeon for clarification. Most are done laproscopically. Open RNY's are rarely done anymore - the few times I've heard of this happening nowadays is when there are some major issues going on with the person (like complications from previous abdominal surgeries) that would make it difficult to do it laproscopically.

I don't think most surgeons give people calorie limits the first few weeks or months because we're eating so little that there's no way we can get too many calories as long as we're following our plans. That said - follow your plan. You're not going to feel much - if any - restriction for things like pudding because it goes right through you - so make sure you're measuring it to make sure you're not eating too much of it.