catwoman7

same here

yes - it does go away, but it takes a few weeks. Your body is still recovering from the trauma of surgery and you're taking in very few calories, so it'll take awhile before you're feeling peppy again. But...you will!

you can't really compare yourself to other people your height and weight unless you also take into account frame size and musculature. My mother-in-law and I are the same height (5'6"). She weighs in the 110-120 range. I weigh in the 150s. She has bird bones and probably no muscle. I have a large frame and am pretty muscular. I looked horrible in the 130's, so I can't IMAGINE what I'd look like in the 110s. On the flip side, she would look fat at 150. So there's that, too (and that's why a normal BMI range has a span of 20-30 lbs, too...)

before I had plastic surgery, I had to experiment to see what "worked" for my body. I was apple-shaped before I lost weight, so I had a ton of loose skin on my abs and arms. Hips, butt, thighs, and legs looked pretty normal. So I'd wear tighter pants or capris - sometimes in eye-catching colors like red, to draw people's eyes downward. On top I'd wear oversized longer tops (e.g. tunic-length) with 3/4 or longer sleeves. It worked pretty well. Of course, *I* still knew it was there, but it was probably less noticeable to others. if it's causing a lot of mental anguish, though, there's always plastic surgery. My whole body looks normal now (well, except for the scarring), and I can wear pretty much anything.

either one work. Some people have a preference one way or the other. I take a capful of Miralax every morning - it usually does the trick.

carbonyl iron is easy on the stomach. Chelated iron supposedly is as well. you're probably getting ferrous sulfate - that stuff gives a lot of people stomach issues. UPDATED to add - be aware of how much iron is actually absorbable from the different types ("elemental iron" is the part of the tablet that's absorbed by your body). Ferrous sulfate is 20% absorbable, so you'd take a lot more milligrams of that than you would carbonyl iron, which is 100% absorbable. Here's the percentages of each type: Carbonyl has 100% elemental iron. Ferrous fumarate has approximately 33% elemental iron. Ferrous sulfate has 20% elemental iron. Ferrous gluconate has 12% elemental iron.

I don't mean to scare you - but a lot of us (at least VSGers and RNYers) deal with chronic constipation - so even though that first one post-surgery is a doozy, it's likely not to be the last! Miralax may become your best bud (or stool softeners - or magnesium tablets - or whatever works for you...)

yep- not uncommon.

they never gave us a calorie range - we were supposed to focus on protein and fluids only the first few weeks. Although I know after the first month or so, a lot of people seem to be in the 600-800 range for awhile - and then gradually up from there.

I haven't tried it, but I know several bariatric "vets" who've used WW to deal with regain, and most of them really like it.

I had almost no pain. The only thing I can remember is that if I was transitioning (e.g., going from lying down to sitting - or sitting to standing), my abs felt like I'd done 1000 crunches the night before. But otherwise, if I was just lying there....or sitting there....nada. I did have some gas pain once I got home, but mine wasn't too bad. They sent me home with pain meds, but I ended up not even opening them.

I've also heard that older adults who are slightly overweight tend to have the lowest morbidity rate. My last two PCPs have liked their "older adults" (which I guess would be me...) in the 23-27 BMI range.

oh yes - I used to put cinnamon in mine as well (along with the protein powder). I think I'll play around with this today - you've inspired me!

I used to throw a couple scoops of vanilla protein powder in it when I was cooking it (this wasn't a single serving - more like three or four (it's been forever since I've made it, so I can't remember)). Loved it. I'd often top about 1/2 C of it with some Light & Fit yogurt. This conversation has got me thinking about it again..

hmmmm....is that a type of borek?

yep - I begged my gyno to take me off it when she couldn't guarantee that my weight gain would stop - after I gained 40 lbs!

I gained 40 lbs on that....but that was before WLS. Weight gain is evidently really common with that, so you were lucky.. It might be different after WLS, though. https://www.verywellhealth.com/will-the-depo-provera-shot-cause-weight-gain-906704

I haven't eaten a bowl of cereal as a meal since I had surgery since my protein requirements are so high (higher than most because I malabsorb it), but I do occasionally sprinkle 1/4 C or so of Trader Joe's High Fiber cereal or Kashi's Go Lean granola on my yogurt sometimes.

they probably replace some of the flour (maybe half) with protein powder - and yep, it does affect the texture (I make protein muffins sometime and do the same thing. Mine are still good, but the texture isn't quite the same...)

if you're no longer logging your food intake, you might want to go back to that for awhile and see if it helps. I quit logging my food and weighing myself for about a month when I was in India last year (well, I didn't have access to a scale, so...). I wasn't eating like a pig or anything, but I came home a few lbs heavier than when I left. Through that I learned I have to monitor myself pretty much all the time, or my weight will start heading north. Although I know different things work for different people...(my dietitian hates the fact I count calories and weigh myself so much, but hey...whatever works. And that's been working for me for the past several years, so...)

mine is always on the low end now - a couple of times (that I know of) it's gotten as low as yours was, but it usually runs around 90/60 these days...

having cold feet before a surgery is pretty common. I freak out before every surgery I've had. I can tell you that most people consider this the best decision they've ever made and their only regret is that they didn't do it sooner.

unfortunately, I've heard that story (or something like it) before - a few times, in fact. Alcoholism runs on one side of my family (my two maternal uncles both had it), so I've always been careful - and doubly, triply so after WLS because of the risk. sorry that happened to you.

not sure about your doctor, but those stats usually refer to excess weight rather than total weight (so if you're 250 lbs total and 100 lbs overweight, that would mean a 60 lb loss, leaving you at 190 lbs). Although I'm not sure if your particular doctor is referring to excess or total weight. Those stats you read in research studies, though (e.g., a 70% average loss for RNY and 65% average loss for VSG) are referring to excess weight rather than total. UPDATED to add - of course, those are just averages. You'll find plenty of people who fall on either side of that percentage.

dumping syndrome usually involves symptoms such as heart palpitations, dizziness, chills, cramps, diarrhea, and/or nausea (and you won't necessarily have ALL of these symptoms). I've heard it can last quite awhile - sometimes a couple of hours. Sugar alcohols (artificial sweeteners whose names end in -itol) can also cause gastric distress in some people (such as cramping and diarrhea), but I would think that might take a little longer after ingestion