catwoman7

those calorie ranges can and do change depending on how far out you are, how active you are, etc. I've been in maintenance for about four years now, and normally I can maintain at 1500-1700 calories/day, but last summer I was doing a TON of bike riding (1-2 hours a day most days of the week), so I could go over that pretty often (although not WAY over) and still maintain my weight. Not so now since I live in Wisconsin and won't be riding my bike regularly for another month or so. Also, so much depends on age, gender, metabolic level, etc. I know women (in maintenance) who can maintain on 2000 calories, and others who have to stay around 1200 (and a few even lower)

I had my surgery after I'd already gone through menopause, so no personal experience to speak of, but 47 is not too young to be starting along the menopause road - so this may have happened even without surgery...

if you're sticking to your program, then it's just a stall. Most of us have them periodically during out weight loss journey (the first one is usually within the first month for most of us , in fact). Just stick to the plan and stay off the scale if you need to. They usually break in 1-3 weeks.

your doctor is a jerk and should know better than that! If he's been dealing with this for any length of time, he should know that very few people lose 20 lbs - or even 16 lbs - in two weeks (unless he's Dr. Now and works mostly with high-risk bariatric patients that most surgeons won't touch). I got that crap once from a resident (not my regular surgeon - but some resident that the surgeon had during follow-up appts for awhile). He was sure to let me know that I was a slow loser and behind the rest of my cohorts. Well screw him - I went on to lose 100% of my excess weight - over 200 lbs (and most likely blew the rest of my "cohorts" out of the water). I'd love to see his face NOW.... there are so many factors that influence your rate of weight loss, most of which you have little to no control over (like...your age, for example). The two things you DO have control over is your activity level and how closely you stick to your surgeon's plan. If you're very committed to those and doing what you were instructed to do, then you'll lose weight - whether fast or slow. As long as the overall trend is downward, you're good.

sounds good to me - you're losing it faster than I did. I think people's perceptions are shaped by shows like "My 600 lb Life", but you need to keep in mind those people start out MUCH heavier than the average WLS patient. Although I've never seen research on this - this just comes from hanging out on bariatric boards for the last six years, I would say most of us lose in the 15-25 lb range the first month after surgery. Of course you'll always find people who lose more or less than that, but that seems to be where the majority of us fall. If you've lost 6 kg in two weeks, you'll be in that range as well. So nothing to worry about. You are doing fine!

I'd read most improvement will be during year one, but there could continue to be some scar lightening during year two, but by the end of year two, that would be it - although I've noticed lately that my scars have continued to lighten somewhat.

I slept most of the time, too. I just brought my phone and charger. I brought dry mouth spray, but I can't remember if I used it or not. I also brought some toiletries, but they gave me a bag of those at the hospital (soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste). Oh and wear baggy, comfy, easy to get on & off clothes for the ride home. I wore the same thing to and from the hospital.

when I was doing volunteer work in South Africa many years ago, several people asked me if I ate crawfish (well - rarely - I live in the north), and they couldn't understand how Americans could possibly eat them. The thought really grossed them out. Of course, I couldn't understand how they could possibly eat caterpillars - that thought really grossed ME out. Funny how that works...

the dietitian at our clinic HATES these things because it puts people in "diet mode" again. We're encouraged to just start going back to following the rules and tracking our food. It usually works for me - I start gaining weight if I stop paying attention for too long.

not fear. i just remember reading posts like this a week or two before I had surgery, and they frightened me so much I almost canceled it. So I'm just trying to provide a somewhat more balanced perspective. Yes - I know these issues exist for some. But they don't for everyone. I just don't know how prevalent they are. We've been told they're not common - but I honestly have no idea. There are very few long-time vets on internet forums, and I suspect most come back because they're having complications and are looking for advice or support. Most people who don't have issues seem to drop off after a year or two, and we never hear from them again.

I didn't go for the sleeve because of some of the reasons you stated for the band. At the time I had surgery, the sleeve was still fairly new, and I had this fear of it turning into "Lapband 2", so I wanted to go with the older, more researched and understood surgery. I think at this point the sleeve has been around long enough and been done enough that I'm not sure I'd have the same concerns (although I probably would have gone with RNY even now because I had terrible GERD before surgery), but at the time, I didn't want to go with the latest trend.

I have to get 100+ since we discovered early on that I malabsorb it. 60-80 grams since to be the most recommended amount for WLS patients, but I know people who do a lot of weight lifting often get more than that - 100 grams or more. Check with your dietitian, but I suspect you're probably OK.

I don't think people 5+ years out are likely to come back unless they're having issues, so it may look like problems are more widespread than they actually are. Most people seem to leave these types of sites after the first couple of years post-op. I'm not saying these complications don't happen - we all know they do - but I just question how widespread they are. You can't really base it on how many people post on sites like this, since they may not be a representative population. the other thing I want to say is that techniques have improved over the years. For example, "candy cane syndrome" happened to some people who had bypass surgery 10+ years ago. They changed the way they do the surgery so that that doesn't happen anymore. They also used to do a lot more bypasses as open surgeries, and those are more risky than laproscopically done surgeries.

that used to happen with the old intestinal bypass they did back in the 60s and 70s, but I've never heard that about gastric bypass. It's a very different surgery. Sounds like this info didn't come from a very reliable source, or it would be widely known. Since she works in a hospital, the issues she's actually seen in person are probably severe cases since they require hospitalization, but that doesn't mean they're widespread. They're likely very rare or we would have heard more about this. They could also be people who don't take their supplements or meet their protein requirements, too. There are greater consequences of that for bypass patients than there are for sleeve patients (although it's important for both to follow the rules). (I should add that there are some people who can't absorb iron from tablets and need to have occasional infusions to keep their iron levels up - so those people have had iron issues even if they were following the rules and taking their oral iron supplements as directed. They're a minority, but it does happen. Most other malabsorption issues are due to people slacking off on their supplements)

I've thought this for awhile. The rule seems to make sense for RNY, but not so much for the sleeve. I wonder if clinics just adopted many of the same RNY rules for sleevers without really thinking this through (the standalone sleeve is a much newer surgery). My clinic also has the sleevers on the same vitamin regimen as the RNYers, which I'm not sure is necessary, either. But I'm not a doctor, so....

I used nicotine gum once in one of my numerous tries to quit smoking. Like you, I got hooked on the gum after awhile, too! Although nicotine is highly addictive, so...

I don't think the gummy thing is an issue if you just eat four or five of them. I think it's when people devour half the bag. That happened to me once with Werther's sugar free hard caramels. I had a binge moment and ate almost a whole bag of them, as opposed to my usual three or four. Ha! That's the last time I do that. Those also have maltitol as the sweetener. Let's just say I had the same experience as those amazon reviewers of gummy bears did!

to be honest, most of us are so happy not being fat anymore that we're really not that concerned about looking older. I'm not. Yes, I look older (but I'm also in my 60's), but I'd much rather look older than weigh over 300 lbs again. Huge no-brainer. And as Creepimp said, you're young enough that you may still have some elasticity left in your skin. I wouldn't worry about it. Once you get to where you want to go, you can always get a facelift IF you even "need" one (and you might not)

I'm a former smoker as well. Quit about 25 years ago. It's really tough, but there are a lot of people out there who've done it...

a lot of people have trouble with chicken the first couple of months out (and sometimes longer). It's pretty dry - especially the breast. Most people can eventually eat it again, though. Maybe try again in about a month and see what happens.

yea I'm kind of just going to see what he says - and how I react to it, too. I'm not 100% convinced I want to do this, but it never hurts to see what they say. My wrinkles and saggy neck kinda do drive me crazy, but I'm in my 60s, too, so... Although people used to always say I looked really young for my age. No more. Now I get offered senior discounts without asking.

yes - and I'm considering getting a neck lift/lower facelift. In fact, I have a consultation with a facial plastic surgeon next week. I had my whole body done a couple of years ago, so now I feel like I have a 20-year-old body (OK....maybe 30 or 40) with an 80-year-old face!

I scheduled my last colonoscopy in the afternoon, because I know with those, they have you drink half the fluid the night before and the other half in the morning. Figured that would be do-able, and it was. So if they insist you drink that ton of fluid again next time, schedule an afternoon appointment so you don't have to drink it all at once. Then it'll work...

if it's caused by a hernia you may be OK. They can usually fix those when they do the sleeve. actually, a lot of people worry that this is going to be really difficult (I did as well), but once you get used to it, it's not at all. complications are pretty rare, actually. The most common one with sleeve is GERD, but that happens to about 30% and can often be managed medically. So 70% of sleeve patients DON'T have it. although some people do have issues with diarrhea with sleeve (and bypass, too), constipation is WAY more common. You see diarrhea more with duodenal switch patients.

yes - maltitol evidently has that effect on a lot of people - for a good laugh, go to amazon and look up sugar free Gummy Bears and read some of the comments....