catwoman7

as long as you're following your program, you're good. Weight loss does ebb and flow the first few weeks.

you'll start feeling the restriction once you move to solid foods.

stalls are very common during weight loss. You'll likely run into several along the way. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days if you need to. It'll break and you'll be on your way again. They typically last 1-3 weeks.

DS'ers are frequently required to take vitamin A supplements - but not sleeve or bypass. My multis each have 750, and I take two of them a day, so that's 1500. Maybe most people pick up the rest through food? I do know that DS'ers have to take the fat soluble vitamins (including A) because of their more extreme absorption issues - but maybe we absorb enough vitamin A that it's usually not an issue (??). At any rate, i agree with another poster who suggested it running it by your dietitian. just found this article. Evidently vit A deficiency isn't that uncommon in both sleeve and bypass patients. Interesting because I don't think all clinics test for that (mine doesn't) - and most sleeve and bypass patients aren't required to take it. I'll ask my dietitian about it, too (I meet with her next week) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31855096/

I've never used collagen. I did get my vitamins plus a couple things of protein powder. You probably won't need too much - mostly enough to get you through the first couple of days. I was driving again by the time I was a week out, so I was able to pick up more things then.

btw - re: waiting a year to do it: I've over six years out, and I still couldn't do 6-8 courses. I could do maybe two of them. So it'd have to be a place where I could have a bunch of those courses boxed up to take home (or like someone else said - you could have a bit or two of each course and share the rest with your husband). WLS really limits how much you can eat in one sitting. Although you'll get well beyond the volume you can eat the first few weeks post-surgery, you'll probably never going to get to the point where you can pack away what you can pre-surgery - at least in one sitting (and this isn't a bad thing, of course!!)

being nervous before a surgery is totally normal! I've had four surgeries in my life, and I still get nervous before them! It'll go fine, though. I found my RNY to be a really easy surgery - yes, it involved lots of life changes - but very little pain and an easy recovery. Although that's not universal, it seems to be true of a majority of us. I was surprised - I was expecting much worse.

I know there are a lot of good surgeons in Turkey (although be sure to research them before picking one), but just so you know, almost no one does the lapband anymore. It's largely been replaced by the sleeve. Although some people still have their lapbands and love them, a lot of people have had them removed and have gotten the sleeve or bypass instead.

it depends on your weight. When I weighed almost 400 lbs, I had to drop a lot of weight to go down a size. Now I'll drop a size if I lose 10 lbs (if that...)

btw - after the first couple of months, I don't think you really lose weight much faster than you would without the surgery. The difference is, whatever you're doing actually WORKS this time (as long as you follow the rules, that is). You're not fighting biology the whole time like you were before.

the average WLS patient seems to lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first MONTH, so at 6 weeks out, you're totally normal. Of course, you will always find outliers to that 15-25 lb range, but they're outliers. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people's expectations are shaped by shows like "My 600 lb Life", but you have to remember that those people start out with MUCH higher BMI's than the average WLS patient. I lost 16 lbs the first month, and 28 lbs at the two-month mark. I only record monthly weights in my spreadsheet so I don't know where exactly I was at six weeks out, but I was probably about 23-24 lbs down at that point. And I ended up losing all of my excess weight, over 200 lbs. So you've got nothing to worry about. In the end, it's your level of commitment to the program that's going to make the biggest difference.

you'll be able to eat a lot more than you can now by then, but not 6-8 courses. I wonder if they'll let you take things home? If so, you should be good to go. If I order more than an appetizer, I usually end up taking half my food home.

1) I had GERD prior to surgery. I did not want to take the risk of it getting worse, which it sometimes does with sleeve 2) when I had surgery six years ago, sleeve was still pretty new. I had a fear of it becoming "lapband 2". However, at this point, it's been around long enough and has proven itself, so I wouldn't have this particular concern anymore if I were making the decision today. But because of my GERD, I'd still go with RNY/bypass.

stand alone sleeve isn't that old. It was just becoming popular when I got my RNY six years ago - it was becoming the non-RNY replacement for the lapband. It'd been around longer than that, but I don't think much. if you want longer-term stats, maybe research the DS (duodenal switch). The DS is an old surgery, and it uses a sleeved stomach. In fact, that's where they got the idea for the standalone sleeve. The DS used to be done in two stages (usually - not always). They do a sleeved stomach and then later go back in and bypass the small intestine (now most DS's are done in one surgery). They discovered that a lot of people lost weight with just the phase 1 (sleeved stomach), so they started offering that as a standalone surgery.

some surgeons are OK with caffeine, some aren't. If yours is still around, I'd contact him/her and ask.

wow - that is pretty awful. My reaction was the same as Arabesque's - have they seen your medical records and test results? Have they talked to your surgeon? How much research have they done on the various bariatric surgeries? I think a lot of people who haven't done much research on bariatric surgeries are remembering bypasses from years ago. Those WERE risky. But they do them completely differently now. They aren't much riskier than the sleeve nowadays (and honestly, neither surgery is very risky). I'm sorry you're going through this. I only told my immediate family and a few close friends before the surgery, so fortunately, I didn't have to deal with this. This sounds mean, but maybe you should just start ignoring them == as in deleting their texts without responding. That's what I would do at this point. You shouldn't have to put up with this.

depends on your plan and how far out you are. Either of those (or the lettuce wraps some have mentioned) are good choices, but that totally depends on your plan (and again, how far out you are)

I had stricture issues twice (at four weeks out and again at eight weeks out). They stretched it and both times I felt 100% better afterward. I don't remember having any food restrictions after they stretched it. But I would be inclined to follow your doctor's orders.

I can vouch for paroxetine. I was on that once about 12 years ago (before WLS). Put on like 20 lbs. Never again!

hair loss is almost always temporary. Mine lasted about three months (months 5-8), and it all grew back. Not much you can do to stop it other than to keep on top of your protein and vitamins so it doesn't get any worse than it will otherwise. Luckily, for most of us, we're the only ones who notice the loss. It's not common for it to come out in big, noticeable clumps (it happens - but again, that's not very common) not taking vitamins isn't an option, however, missing an occasional day isn't going to hurt your labs. I had a surgery a week ago (not WLS -- I had that several years ago) and had to stop taking all supplements a week before the surgery. I suspect my labs are OK. So missing some random day because you had to deal with an emergency or something that day should have little to no effect. as for schedule, at breakfast I take a multivitamin and on some days, I take D, K, and B12 (I don't take those last three every day). Late afternoon I take a second multivitamin and B-complex. Before bed I take iron and vitamin C. My endocrinologist took me off calcium supplements for reasons I won't go into here, but back when I took those I'd take a calcium supplement with my other morning and late afternoon vitamins, plus two other times sometime during the day. I'll let someone else respond to your question about meal timing since I'm pretty far out from surgery - that first year is really different and I honestly don't remember how I spaced out my meals.

it's annoying, but it eventually ends. Pretty much everyone now has either already seen me at a normal weight or else never knew me when I was obese.

I totally agree with creekimp. You're at the point where a lot of people start backsliding and need extra support. The first few months or the first year most of us are pretty gungho about all this, but once we're in maintenance or at least close to it, the rapid weight loss ends, we're tired, and the thrill of rapid weight loss is gone. That's when the hard work begins - to either keep going or stay where we're at without starting to head backwards. Lots of us have found therapists to be very helpful. Find one if you need to....you've put a lot into this and don't want to go back to where you were before!!

it seems like myfitnesspal and bariastic are the two most popular ones, but there are others. I recently switched to myfitnesspal after using sparkpeople for about 10 years, and so far I really like it.

yes. Lots of women report mood swings and screwed-up menstrual cycles the first few weeks (or months) after surgery. It eventually settles down and stabilizes. It's supposedly due to excess estrogen being released. Estrogen is stored in fat cells, and it's released during rapid weight loss. As I said, it'll eventually stabilize and go back to normal - but it takes a few weeks (or months)

at three months out you'll probably be OK. I've been to Japan twice. As you know, they eat mostly meat (mostly fish, but other meat, too), vegetables, and rice. You should be able to handle meat and vegetables by then. I still can't eat much rice at six years out - but you can always leave that on your plate or just eat a little of it. just read the rest of your post. I would think a lot of things in Italy would work, too. Maybe not pasta, but they have a lot of other things there, too.