catwoman7

I, too, was mostly eating things like soup and yogurt then...and other soft-ish things. I was "allowed" to eat most solid foods by then (except for raw vegetables - that took a few more months), but I still found some solid things difficult to eat. I also wasn't eating very much by then - maybe 600-800 kcal/day. I ate mostly protein and (cooked or soft) produce. I didn't eat breads, rice, pasta, or treats like cake until I was over a year out. I probably COULD have, but I didn't - some of it just bothered me. Others I just didn't want to eat at the time because I didn't want to go down that road that early.

this is me before I had plastic surgery - with my tons of excess skin. See what I mean about it being easy to hide in clothes? No one knew it was there but me (well, besides my husband and doctor). (I tried to insert this into my above posting, but it kept wanting to drop it in the middle of my text. ARGGH! Must be something with Mac (I just switched from PC). Anyway, here I am - excess skin and all:

I started at 373 lbs. Two years later, I was down to 138. I had the expected "bounce back" regain in year 3 (unfortunately, I went over the expected "bounce back" weight of 10-20 lbs - but then, I'd lost a crap ton of weight - more than a lot of people) as GreaterFood said, 65% loss of excess weight is average, but as with any average, there are lots of people who fall above or below that. It all depends on how compliant you are with your plan, and your motivation. I was more than ready to get rid of that weight once and for all. I didn't originally set a goal of a normal BMI; I told my surgeon that I wanted to get to 200 lbs, which at the time seemed like a pipe dream - but I blew through that. I switched goals a couple more times, the last one being a normal BMI. I was told that was a bit unrealistic as only about 10-15% of their patients manage to get there, but I made it (and btw, that 10-15% stat is backed up by some of the research articles I read, too). but even if I'd only made it 200 lbs, I would have been overjoyed. I looked 100% better at that weight than I did at 373, of course - my health was much better, and I could finally do all the things I wanted to do but couldn't while I was super morbidly obese. life is absolutely terrific. I wish I had done this YEARS ago - and I would go back and have it done every year if I had to. I never dreamed I could be at this weight and I am really enjoying my life as a "normal" person again!! excess skin - I had a ton of it, but it was easy to hide in clothes. However, I eventually had it removed because I hated looking at it. But I'll attach a picture of me from BEFORE I had plastic surgery. You'd never know by looking at the pictures that my torso, especially, looked like a Sharpei puppy, but it did. Other than the scars, I have a normal-looking body now.

Sleeve2bypass has been through a similar situation. Hopefully she'll see this and respond to you.

it's actually very common to have a rebound gain of 10-20 lbs during year 3. There was a dietitian once on Unjury's online support group who said in her clinic, they don't even consider anything less that 15% of the person's lowest weight to be a regain (so in your case, they wouldn't consider anything under a 21.6 lb gain as "regain" - it's just more-or-less expected). Granted, you're up more than that, but only by about 10 lbs. You can always lose weight again by getting back on track. If it's really tough to do that (and it can be..), maybe just make one or two small changes at a time until they become a habit. Start with something not super challenging - like logging your food intake - or taking a walk 3x a week. Or whatever...just anything that seems achievable. It all adds up in the end... A lot of people have dealt with this, so you're definitely not alone.

only about 30% of bypass patients dump, and it can be prevented by not eating a ton of sugar or fat at one sitting. I've never dumped and I know lots of other bypass patients who've never dumped, either. I had some food intolerances the first few months but now the only thing my stomach doesn't seem to handle well is a really fatty meal. Something like a fish fry with fried fish, tartar sauce, French fries, a roll with butter, and coleslaw (as is a popular Friday night meal here in Wisconsin) would not sit well with me and might even send me into the bathroom. I could handle one or two of those things, but not all (like I could pre-surgery). I also can't eat tons of pasta or rice since it sits in my stomach like a brick, but I can eat SOME of it. I had some vomiting episodes the first couple of months after surgery if I ate too much or too fast or something that didn't agree with me, but since then, I don't think I vomit much more often than I did pre-surgery. Diarrhea isn't that common with bypass - and the adult diaper thing would be really rare - I almost never hear of that, and I've been on this site for about nine years. The opposite, constipation, is really common, though. A lot of us have to take daily Miralax or stool softeners to keep on top of it. yes I suppose constant vomiting could rot your teeth, but I'm not sure where you got that idea that bypass patients experience daily vomiting. I probably vomit 2 or 3 times a year. Plus vomiting now is much easier than it was pre-surgery. Your stomach is really small, so not much comes up. And besides that, you don't have nearly as much acid in your stomach (you can tell because what comes up tastes just like it did going down - you don't get that awful "vomit-y" taste any more after you vomit). Also, GERD is what can lead to Barrett's esphagus an/or esophagus cancer, and bypass usually improves if not outright cures GERD. That's why it's usually recommended over VSG for patients who have GERD. I should add that I'm not a revision patient, but I know of a lot of people who are from this site and similar sites. Most of them are very happy with their bypasses and aren't experiencing the complications that you're worried about (in fact, most don't have any complications at all). I hope you don't take this wrong, but you might want to do more research on the bypass because I think your views on it aren't that realistic. I wouldn't go so far as to say that no one has every experienced any of that stuff because I don't know for sure - maybe someone or a few people have - but we just don't hear about those things on here. If they happen, they're very rare, otherwise we'd hear about them given all the thousands of people who've been on this site over the years.

if you're following your diet, then it's either hormones, water retention, and/or full intestines. With any of those, your weight will go back down within a couple of days. Those are all very normal fluctuations. If they're playing with your head, just cut back on how often you're weighing yourself - maybe just do it once a week.

I've been hanging out here for probably nine years. I would say most of us lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first MONTH, so your loss seems pretty normal to me. Of course you will find people who lose more or less than that, but they tend to be outliers - or start off at very high BMI's (like the people on "My 600 lb Life"). there are so many factors that influence your rate of weight loss that you really have little to no control over - like age, gender, metabolic rate, what percentage of your body weight is muscle, starting BMI, whether or not you lost a lot of weight before surgery, genetics, etc, that it's sort of pointless to worry about it. The two factors you definitely have a lot of control over are how closely you stick to your clinic's plan and how active you are, so if you're good with those, the weight will come off, whether fast or slow. as you can see on my profile, I started off at 373 lbs, and I lost 16 lbs the first month - yet I ended up losing over 200 lbs. I was a "slow loser" the whole time, but I really stuck to my plan. so long way of saying, just follow your plan and don't worry about your rate of weight loss, since you don't have a whole lot of control over that. If you do what you're supposed to be doing, the weight WILL come off.

there really isn't much - if anything - you can do about hair loss. It's due to your body's shock reaction to major surgery, and that's already happened (well it's the shock - plus the fact we're taking in a very limited amount of calories those first few months).. The shock speeds up the normal shedding/regrowth cycle. Some things can help with regrowth, but there's not much you can do about the shedding. Although not everyone loses hair, and some lose so little that others don't notice it - so you may luck out. (I lost very little - I'm sure no one noticed - I barely noticed - I just knew about it since there were more hairs than usual in my combs and brushes)

yea - doesn't sound like dumping. I'd never heard of roux limb syndrome, so I just googled it. It might be that - it's hard to say. I hope they can figure it out soon!! Cramping is awful!

It's been a few years so I can't remember how tired/sluggish I felt pre-surgery, but my bad hip joint caused me a lot of pain back then because of the extra weight. Constantly. It doesn't get like that very often any more. It's sometimes painful, but not very often - and the pain is much milder. I also used to only be able to manage one trip up and down the basement stairs a day. I'd either have my husband run down there - or I'd pile things up near the top of the stairs and take them all down at once. Now, I probably go up and down my basement stairs 5-10 times a day. Walking - I still can't walk long distances because of my arthritis, but I can walk for an hour at a pop without much effort. Before? Maybe two blocks before I got winded and had to rest. So...yes. That all has definitely improved since my weight loss!

at the time I wanted to be normal-sized so badly that I knew I had to do whatever it took - and I made it. But you'll eventually be able to eat most/all of those foods again. All my food restrictions were dropped once I hit the six-month mark (although I still was very careful about what I ate until I hit maintenance - I didn't want to blow it after all that work!!). But now if I want something, I'll eat it - but I'm careful to eat small portions of high-calorie foods and/or make choices if several things are calling my name (instead of eating all of them, like I used to do). Sometimes I do splurge - but I know if I do that for more than a day or two, my weight will start heading north again. That keeps me in line.. And honestly, the way I have to do it now isn't any different than the way many of my never-been-obese women friends eat. They monitor what and how much they're eating, make choices when confronted with many not-so-healthy treats calling their name (instead of eating them all), recover quickly from the occasional splurge, etc. They have to or they'd probably end up looking like I used to. It's work - but unfortunately it's what most people have to do.

they seem to work for some people, but not for others. I never used them because I figured I'd be one of those people they don't work for.

I think a lot of surgeons prefer the sleeve because it's an easier surgery to do. It seems like it's also overtaken bypass as the "gold standard" (although that wasn't true when I had my surgery since it was still relatively new then - at least as a standalone surgery). Although there are a few situations where bypass is the better option (like...GERD). I had GERD prior to surgery. My surgeon said he'd do either, but he recommended bypass as it usually improves - and often outright cures - GERD - whereas, as you know, sleeve can make it worse (although only in about 30% of cases. But I didn't want to take the risk). I'm glad he encouraged me to at least consider bypass because I didn't want to end up one of those 30%. But there are sleevers on here whose GERD never got worse, and for some, it even improved. It's really a crap shoot. anyway, yes - it's definitely a risk. I'm not sure what to tell you since this guy seems deadset against doing a bypass. And you're sort of limited by your insurance. Yikes. What a predicament. Although maybe you'll luck out and be one of the 70% who DON'T experience GERD issues (or in your case, worse GERD issues). My heart goes out to you - that's a difficult position to be in.

that's not slow at all - that's pretty average. I was about where you're at the six week mark, and I started out at almost 400 lbs. there are so many factors the affect your rate of weight loss, most of which you don't have much - if any - control over. Gender, age, starting weight, what percentage of your body is muscle, whether or not you lost a ton of weight before surgery, genetic factors, metabolic rate, etc. The only two things you do have a lot of control over is how closely you stick to your clinic's plan and how active you are. Do well with those, and the weight will come off, whether fast or slow. I considered myself a slow loser the entire time, and I lost 100% of my excess weight, over 200 lbs (I've gained a few back since then, but I'm still over 200 lbs less than when I started). don't worry about it - just stick to your plan and the weight will come off.

I also loved not being hungry. It felt very liberating to me, and it was much easier to stick to my plan back then. Like most others, though, it eventually came back - at five months out for me (it usually comes back sometime during the first year post-surgery). Things do get harder once you start dealing with hunger again..

having surgery vs weighing 373 lbs (and not being able to lose more than 50 at a pop - just to gain it all back a few months later) was a no brainer for me (well, maybe not a no-brainer as it took me a long time to come to this conclusion!). I was headed for lots of complications and an early death to boot. Major complications on modern WLS surgeries are really rare. This wasn't the case 20 or 30 years ago, but it is now - techniques have improved and these have become very routine surgeries. of course the decision is up to you, but this was one of the best decisions I've ever made and like the above commenter, I'd go back every year and have it again if I had to. This surgery was life-changing for me and there's no way I'd ever want to go back to where I was.

you don't have your stats listed, but keep in mind that most of us experience a 10-20 lb rebound weight gain in year 2 or 3. I was really worried about going too low - and for months I was pretty gaunt and bony, but I've put on about 30 lbs since then (I'm almost nine years out). The first 15 was welcome -and expected. I'm not that happy with the last 15, and it's a bear getting anything off. So be careful what you wish for. On the other hand, if you're so low that you're unhealthy, then that's another story. The commenters above have some good tips.

wow - that is terrific - and you look great!! A huge congratulations!!

They don't actually remove any bowel - they just bypass part of it - but the two parts meet up again about a foot from the stomach. He may have just made the "Y" shorter than usual - as in had the two parts meet up sooner. I'm not a revision patient, so there are probably others on here who know more than I do, but you may not be feeling full because of nerves being cut during surgery. If so, they regenerate fairly quickly. Plus you're eating soft foods, also. I didn't really start feeling restriction until about a month out when I started eating solid food. lastly, only about 30% of bypass patients dump. I never have - and know lots of others who don't, either. If you turn out to be a dumper, though, you can prevent it by not eating a lot of sugar or fat at one sitting (which we shouldn't be doing anyway...). I never worried about dumping (although at times I wish I DID dump since I have no problem eating tons of sugar at one sitting, unfortunately...)

in this case, your rate of about a lb a week sounds pretty normal. I was a 60 BMI - so super morbidly obese. You're starting to get close to a normal BMI, so that explains why your loss has slowed down. Just keep at it - you may still lose more weight. Like I said, there were months after the first year post-op that I was only losing a lb or two a MONTH.

not everyone makes it to goal, although you still have a shot at it. I didn't stop losing until I was 20 months out - and I was definitely a slow loser! how close are you to goal? the last 20 lbs or so can be a BEAR to lose. There were some months that I only lost a lb or two the entire month, despite following my program to a "T". (this was during year 2 for me - before that, I was losing It faster than that. But I started out at well over 300 lbs (I don't know how overweight you were, but people with higher starting BMIs tend to lose faster - at least at first)).

$19K for all that is super cheap! That was about the cost of just a lower body lift when I was doing my consults about seven years ago (in the US).

Who's doing your surgery? (I'm from Wisconsin, too)

Your relationship may or may not change - and sometimes they actually get better! (mine did, for one..)