catwoman7

I'd been worried for awhile about having a heart attack and lying on a table in the ER and having someone tell me there was nothing they could do until I lost at least 100 lbs. I also worried about dying and the funeral home having to search all over the state to find a crematory big enough for me.

a lot of plastic surgeons want you at a stable weight for at least a year. I had my first round of plastic surgery at three years out, after I had my 12-lb "rebound".

yea - huge turn off.

P.S. but I do agree with the above poster - I would run it by your surgeon's office just in case. But I bet it's just the normal weird-colored stuff a lot of us have the first few weeks.

I agree with the above poster. It's most likely iron. I had weird -colored stools for the first few weeks - before I started taking iron, yellow. Afterward the iron, black. They've been normal for a long time now, but yes - odd-colored stool isn't unusual in the first few weeks post-surgery.

I needed the surgery. I'd lost anywhere from 20-60 lbs countless times before (and I had over 200 to lose at my heaviest). The problem was, it always came back. This is the first time I've been able to take off all of my excess weight - and keep it off!

I've never heard of this supplement, but just so you know, most treatments don't really do squat. If you're going to lose hair, you're going to lose hair. It's temporary, though - and most of us don't lose it to the point where other people even notice.

Mine didn't really change - it just became more intense. Sweet things tasted sweeter; spicy things tasted spicier. I had a hard time handling either one of those in the early post-op months. They don't bother me anymore - not sure if my sense of taste eventually went back to normal or if I just got used to more intensity. P.S. I really hated bananas for awhile - a fruit I loved pre-op. But I think it was more the sweetness than the banana taste. However, I'm eating them again and have been for awhile. But the first few months - ugh.

all those surgeons you mentioned have outstanding reputations. I don't think you'll go wrong with any of them!

in defense of Fluffy, she's a respected member of this site and a really good resource for us. It's just that what your nutritionist told you is wildy different than what the rest of us were told. It's....unusual advice. I've been hanging out on WLS forums for about five years, and this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this.

there are tons on the market. I'd suggest picking up some individual packets (online or at stores) to try them first before buying a big tub of something that you end up hating.

I love the sugar free fudgesicles, too - nice dessert when I'm craving chocolate. But like the above posters, I didn't have them until after surgery. Those weren't allowed on our pre-surgery liquid diet.

not sure - but I do know a lot of people have "hormone dumps" after surgery that last for a few months. People say it's because the hormones that are stored in fat cells are released when you start rapidly dropping weight. You might want to let your PCP know, though - if nothing else, for peace of mind.

I'm not your target audience either, but I agree with Fluffy. Ew.

I agree with the others, I've never heard that before and it sounds absurd. I know they told us that whey protein isolate (which is in some of the protein shakes) is the best absorbed form of protein, so we should focus on those early out rather than shakes made from protein blends or whey concentrate, but they never told us not to count the protein in food.

people's bodies eventually stop. Mine stopped at 138. If 128 is in a normal BMI range for you, then that's probably what's going on.

many of us were told to just focus on protein and fluids the first few weeks. You're most likely not taking in enough calories at this point to worry about the rest of it. and 32 lbs in 43 days is excellent. I lost 28 lbs in the first two months (so 60 days), so you're already way ahead of me (and I started out at over 300 lbs, too)

it's not a very common surgery, so I'm not surprised you're having trouble, but still, in Boston? It's a big enough place it seems like there should be SOMEONE who does it. Good luck with your search!

that person is crazy. Especially crazy since she works at a weight loss clinic and should know better. Is she brand new there or....??? I've been hanging around this and other boards for several years now. I also talk to pre-op classes every month, because I'm one of my clinic's model patients. Just based on reading and listening and working with a ton of people all that time, I'd say the average amount of weight loss for the first month is somewhere in the 15-25 lb range. Of course there are outliers (people who lose more or less than that) - and there are of course "My 600 lb Life" contestants who are NOT representative of the average weight loss patient by the way, but I'd say for the majority of us, we fit somewhere in that range. And you ARE in that range. That woman is out of her freaking mind. P.S. the 700-800 calorie a day part of that is OK. A lot of us eat around that much the first few months. It's her comment about your weight loss that baffles me. She should know better!

deleted

I think I look pretty much the same - and I'm wearing the same clothes, so....

Like Lynda, I also had drains with my tummy tuck. They're not as common with weight loss surgery, but the SADI is more extensive than most of the other common surgeries, so...

that stair-stepping pattern to weight loss is pretty common. re: protein - most surgeons seem to recommend something in the 60-80 g range. I have to average 100 g a day or else my prealbumin level tanks, but I'm kind of an exception. I do know others without protein malabsorption issues who do consume about 100 g (or even more) a day, though. I've read that taking in more protein than you need is more of a problem for people who already have existing kidney issues, and not so much for people who don't. I don't know what the general medical consensus on this is, though.

interesting. This more-or-less confirms some thinking I've had. I had one of those commercial DEXA scans when I was 146 lbs. My body fat was measured at 22%, which is considered lean for women. I've been in the mid-150s now for awhile and am having a devil of a time keeping it there, let alone getting below that. I was kind of wondering if maybe that gain was mostly muscle (i.e., lean mass), which might help explain the struggle. This article does indicate that there's some evidence that your body will continue to defend lean muscle weight after RNY. That of course is not an excuse for me to throw in the towel and stop trying, but that MIGHT be part of what's going on here...my body might be resisting because it's my fat percentage might now be more "normal" (as opposed to lean) ????

after I did all that, I had to go through three months of classes, then it was submitted to insurance. It took my insurance company maybe a week or ten days to approve it (although they had up to 30 days to respond). Once they responded, I got my date.