catwoman7

a lot of us were told to take whey protein isolate (when early out and doing protein supplementation) because it's the most easily absorbed by us. The others are right - collagen is not a complete protein, so that's not going to work early out if you're using it as your main protein supplement.

bypasses are more prone to ulcers, sleeves are more prone to GERD. Although the GERD in sleeves is more common than ulcers in bypass. There are a lot of WLS'ers who take meds for bipolar disorder, both sleevers and bypassers. If necessary, they can adjust your meds (change dosage or brand) so you can absorb them.

if you re-read what I wrote, you'll notice I didn't say GERD was rare with VSG - I said 30% of VSG patients suffer from it. So we're on the same page. Since I had moderate GERD before surgery, and my surgeon said there was a good chance it would get worse, I was very interested in this and did quite a bit of reading on it. I saw that 30% figure in several sources. Even the 30% was WAY too much for me to risk it, so I went with bypass (because my risk probably would have been even higher since I already had it pre-surgery). My GERD went away completely for the first 2-3 years after surgery. It's back now, but much milder than before. A couple of Tums will usually knock it out.

great job! Although it'll slow down on its own the further out you go, so no need for cheeseburgers!

I took CVS chewable Spectravite the first six months or so (then switched to a regular tablet). I never had trouble finding them, but then again, it's been over five years. I just checked CVS' Web site - not seeing them, although Centrum still has their chewable https://www.cvs.com/shop/centrum-silver-chewable-multivitamin-for-adults-50-plus-with-vitamin-c-d-e-and-antioxidants-multimineral-supplement-citrus-berry-flavor-60-count-prodid-1040154 Walgreens has Centrum chewables as well. I'm pretty sure they had their own house brand of chewables when I was early out, but maybe they've discontinued theirs, too https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/centrum-adults-50--fresh-%26-fruity-chewables-multivitamin-/-multimineral-supplement-mixed-berry/ID=300402146-product

no need to trick it - and don't start down any slippery slopes. Letting bad habits sneak back in is what derails a lot of people's weight loss efforts. Stalls are a normal part of weight loss. I think it's your body just stopping to recalibrate once in awhile. Just stick to your plan and they'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again.

nope. No tortillas at 3.5 weeks out. Refried beans and cheese should be OK, though.

there really isn't a honeymoon period with revisions - that "magic" is mostly with virgin surgeries. That said, you can certainly still lose weight - it's just more of a challenge than it was before.

I kept losing until I was 20 months out. Yes - it's easiest the first six months, but that doesn't mean you'll stop losing then as long as you're sticking to your plan. at six months out I'd lost 75 lbs (about 5.3 stone), but I may have started at a much higher BMI than you did, which makes a difference. Plus there are a lot of other factors that influence your rate of loss - age, gender, genetics, metabolic rate, your percentage of muscle, etc. If you do a good job of controlling the factors you do have control over (i.e., sticking to your food plan and your activity level), then you WILL lose the weight, either fast or slow.

I'm not diabetic or on metformin, but I have a friend who has Type 2 and she also says her appetite was significantly decreased when she went on metformin.

pain is all over the board, but most of us have little to no pain with these surgeries. I had pretty much zero pain - I actually wondered if they actually did the surgery! But they'll send you home with pain meds, so if you're one of the unfortunate ones who does have pain, you'll have the meds to manage it.

I had a very easy recovery. I was up and walking around my house the first couple of days, and outside walking after that. Like creekimp, I can eat most things now that I did before surgery, I just eat a lot less of them. It's really the first few weeks/months that you have a lot of restrictions. I didn't do any food blow-outs before surgery since I'd lost 57 lbs by then (didn't want to blow it!!). We did go to a couple of our favorite places that last week since I knew it'd be awhile before I could go again, but I didn't go hog wild there. I eat reasonable portions.

it's a stall. Most of us experience several of them along our way. The bump up in weight is almost certainly due to water retention or intestinal content rather than true weight since you're in calorie deficit. Give it a couple of days and that weight increase will probably be gone. as for the stall, they typically last 1-3 weeks. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you're not going off-plan, the stall will eventually break and you'll be on your way again.

It sounds like at least a chunk of this is due to not taking supplements and developing an alcohol and painkiller addiction rather than the surgery itself. I'm sorry that you did not get better advice and support from your surgeon.

yes - extended release versions of meds tend to not work too well for us - but if there's a non-extended release version of Adderall, that might do the trick...

if it's just due to something they need from the surgeon's office, then I wouldn't get too discouraged yet. And July 2nd is just nine days away.... Hopefully this will just mean a slight delay and it'll all work out in the end

anxiety before a major surgery is pretty common. I don't know about the reflux part of it, though - but that could be.

she's wrong. Of course some people have complications - you can have complications from any surgery, not just bariatric surgery. People have died from tonsillectomies, after all. But most bariatric patients don't have issues, and complications when they do occur are usually minor and "fixable". That's not to say no one ever has major complications, but they're really uncommon. And the mortality rate for gastric bypass is 0.3%. It's even less for sleeve. So you have at least a 99.7% chance of not dying. as far as untimely death, you're a lot more likely to have an untimely death from complications due to obesity than you are from bariatric surgery. yes you are on a very limited calorie diet for the first few months, but it's medically supervised and they do labs every few months during that first year, so they can catch things before they become problematic. Plus you're taking lots of supplements - protein, vitamins, minerals - to prevent major problems, too. I had follow ups and labs done every three months my first year. After that, you're eating more normally, so you really have to be closely monitored only during the first few months post-op. I think your friend is dealing with some very dated information - or complete misinformation.

I can't eat things like fried chicken at all - the grease makes me nauseated. Other than that - bananas. I used to love them. Now I find them cloying.

some people do go back to work after ten days - but it depends on how you're doing and what kind of job you have. I had a desk job (I'm now retired) - I took three weeks off, but I could have gone back after two. Some people can swing it even earlier. as Arabesque said, bloating can be a symptom of constipation. Or water retention. Or some foods can make you gassy.

that's what I've read as well - it's typically around a 20 lb weight loss, more or less. You don't get those massive drops like you do with a virgin surgery. I suppose there might be some people who do, but typically, no.

you're eating way too few calories to have any real weight gain. It's either water or intestinal contents. And yes - most of us do experience our first stall around the third week post-surgery, so that's almost certainly what's going on. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days if you need to. It'll break and you'll be on your way again

if you're into those walking ones on youtube, also check out "Reps to the Rhythm" on youtube - I actually like him better than Leslie Sansone! I also do water aerobics and I bike (as in cycling...)

yikes! Yea - I remember there was a surgeon down in Tijuana a few years ago who did some really botchy surgeries. I remember at least one patient died. He no longer practices, thankfully - so no worries about getting him (and I don't remember which clinic he worked for). but it pays to do your research before committing.

I recently switched over to MyFitnessPal since the one I'd be using for the last ten years will be discontinued in August. So far, I like it...