catwoman7

late afternoon is my problem time. I'll start grazing and then eat dinner on top of that. Nights aren't as challenging for me (although they can be sometimes...), but i know they can be a problem time for a lot of people. what I've done more often lately (and should do it even more often) to manage my late afternoon challenging time is to just have a protein shake for breakfast (instead of a regular breakfast), then eat breakfast around 11;00, which means I don't eat lunch until like 1:30 or 2:00. Then I can usually make it until dinner - although sometimes I'll end up having a snack or around 4:00 - or if I'm really famished, I'll just eat dinner at 4:00 and have my afternoon snack around 7:00 pm. Shifting things around like this will sometimes do the trick. (it helps that I'm retired and am home most of the time) in addition, I almost always have grapes, raw veggies with a Greek-yogurt based dip, sugar free Jello, and sugar free popsicles in the house, so that if I do lose control, at least I have some choices that won't cause much damage.

I never took bariatric-specific vitamins, but the advantages are that for a lot of them, you only have to take one a day, and also, you'll meet all of your requirements. I just took Centrum from the get-go (or the generic equivalent from Walgreens or CVS). You have to take two of those a day to meet the requirements (or at least the requirements for your multi - many of us also have to take extra iron, calcium, and B12). I started with the chewables and then switched to regular tablets when I was a few months out.

I hope it works for you - but reviews on it are pretty mixed. Some people say it did nothing for them (just so you know...). Luckily, for many of us, we don't really lose enough that other people will notice. You'll notice, of course, but massive hair loss is fortunately not all that common.

I don't think I could eat 4000 kcal a day anymore. I would be really uncomfortable. But I can eat 2500 easily if I'm not careful (and...I have). But doing that consistently will definitely cause weight gain. Long term, basically WLS controls how much you can eat at one sitting. Before WLS, I could eat half a large pizza at one sitting. No way could I do that now - it would be physically impossible. I can eat 1-2 pieces, and that's it. HOWEVER, there is nothing stopping me from eating 1-2 pieces at 6:00 pm, then another 1-2 pieces at 7:30 pm, and than another 1-2 pieces at 9:00 pm. Ta da! Half a large pizza in an evening. THAT is what you need to watch. and no - it's not easy to maintain. It's a daily struggle once you get a couple years out. I have to watch my intake and weight like a hawk, because if I don't, my weight starts heading north. But I do it because I don't EVER want to be morbidly obese again. EVER.

I didn't have my surgery until I was past menopause, so I've had no personal experience with post-WLS birth control, but I do remember being on Depo-Provera once and gained like 40 lbs from it before I begged to be switched to something else. Not sure how that one would be if someone had had WLS, but not sure I'd risk it. Weight gain from the pill isn't as high as that - and maybe some brands aren't as bad when it comes to weight gain. I did go on the pill for awhile after the Depo disaster and didn't gain any weight, but it could be that I was watching it like a hawk because I was terrified of gaining more weight. Would your doctor be willing to do something like place an IUD? I'd just talk to him/her about your concerns and your options.

^^^ I agree with this 100%. We see posts on here from "revisionists" who say the weight loss is much slower from them than it is from "virgin" surgeries. Just follow your plan. As long as your weight is trending downward, you're good.

at six weeks out I'd lost 22 lbs. And I started at over 300 lbs. Your loss is pretty normal. I think a lot of people come into this with overly high expectations because of shows like "My 600 lb Life". You have to remember that the people on that show start out at a MUCH higher BMI than the average WLS patient. Most of us lose somewhere in the range of 15-25 lbs the first month after surgery. You'll always find some that lose more or less than that, but they're the exception. If you've lost 29 lbs in six weeks, then I'm guessing at one month out you were in the average range (15-25 lbs down). So your loss is totally normal.

good to know - thanks!

I think it's because a lot of times people are a year or two out before the GERD kicks in (or severe GERD, anyway - I'm not sure if some of them have milder cases at first or not). Sounds like you got hit right away, though. Sorry to hear that. Hopefully there's another early revisionist on here who'll respond.

he's still on their Web site. Dr. Ungson is supposed to be a great DS surgeon as well. One of the best in Mexico. (he's at that clinic as well)

I'm sorry you're feeling attacked. I don't think that's the intention of people here. I think a lot of us are just surprised that no one ever told you not to eat things like candy or drink carbonated drinks. Did your program have classes that you had to go through before surgery? (I would imagine programs are doing the classes online now). This is all info most of us got in our pre-op classes. The first couple of weeks out of surgery most of us are just drinking fluids and protein shakes.

most surgeons will tell you no carbonated drinks for the rest of your life. Some are OK with them once you are a few months out if they don't bother your stomach (I tried - they bother my stomach - so nope). NO surgeon would give you the green light to drink carbonated drinks as early out as you are. You could damage your stomach. Those packets of diet Canada Dry powder that you mix into water that someone above mentioned could work, though. They'd be flat. In fact, I may pick some of those up myself since I love ginger ale!

I had almost no pain. I didn't use the morphine pump until a nurse insisted I did since she wanted me to get out of bed and walk more (my abs were a little sore which made it a bit challenging to transition, although it was more like I'd done a ton of crunches. If I was just lying there - or sitting there - or standing there - I had no pain). They sent me home with a bottle of pain pills that I never opened. Didn't need 'em. (some people DO have pain, though, so I don't want to steer you wrong here - but it seems like most people have very little pain with these surgeries). The severe pain you mentioned seems to be pretty rare. I've been hanging out here for several years, and I would say that's not true of most of us. Maybe a few here and there, but for most - no. as for nausea, I had some the afternoon and evening of the surgery, but the nurses put Zofran in my IV line which really helped.

it's a lot, but it's definitely do-able. It's way better than having to lose 50 lbs! Rein yourself in now before it gets out of control. Good for you for making an appt with the surgeon. I'm sure they'll tell you to get back on the plan and start tracking your food again. To be honest, I still have to do it every day at six years out. I went on vacation for a month last year, and although I wasn't eating like a pig, I wasn't tracking my food and I didn't have access to a scale. I came back a few lbs heavier than when I left. I now know that I have to monitor myself closely every freaking day...

I agree with OAGBPal. Follow your surgeon's plan during the weight loss phase - you can always switch to NOOM to maintain your loss (or lose regain, which is unfortunately fairly common) later.

I was wondering what happened to her! She was a very active participant on here for quite awhile, and then she disappeared. Thanks for bringing this up!

I just had a lift - they look quite a bit smaller. I love them!

also, you're right - the big drop the first month is mostly water weight, so if you lose a lot of weight before surgery, your water weight will be long gone, so you won't notice a big drop. Still, I lost 16 lbs the first month - and my water weight was definitely long gone...

a couple of reasons - 1) I had GERD, and sleeve will often make that worse (although not always - and for a few people, their GERD actually improves). But there's about a 30% chance of it getting worse, and I didn't want to risk it. Bypass will often improve, if not outright cure, GERD. 2) when i had surgery in 2015, the sleeve was still kind of a new thing (at least as a standalone procedure. The duodenal switch (DS) surgery has been around for a long time, and that is a sleeve stomach combined with a largely-bypassed small intestine). But as a standalone surgery, sleeve was still pretty new in 2015. It's now taken the place of the lap band as the non-RNY option, and in fact I think it's more popular than the RNY now. But I was reluctant to go that direction because of it's new-ness at the time. I was afraid of it becoming "lapband 2". But....it's been around long enough at this point and his proven itself, so that wouldn't really be a concern of mine if I was having to make the decision today. 3) I wanted the malabsorption piece because I thought it would make it a bit easier to get all the weight off - although my surgeon did assure me that the difference between final weight of sleeve patients and bypass patients was pretty negligible, and that success is due more to commitment than it is to type of surgery. I would still choose the bypass today because of my GERD history, but if it weren't for that, I'm not sure. I've been super happy with my bypass, though.

vitamin patches work for some but not others. I've never tried them since I'm afraid I'd be one of the people they won't work for; however, I've considered getting some to take on trips so I won't have to lug a bunch of vitamin bottles with me. Even if I'm one of the unfortunate ones they don't really work for, a week or two is not going to do much (if any) harm. But some people do swear by them and use them all the time. protein shakes: people's tastes are all over the board. I love Syntrax powders. Some people don't. A lot of people like ready-to-drink Premier Protein shakes. I can't stand them. The best thing to do, if possible, is get a bunch of samples of different brands to see which ones you like. There are some sampler packets on BariatricPal's store, I believe. Then you won't waste a lot of money paying $30 or $40 for a big tub of something that you end up not liking.

p.S . you'll likely drop quite a bit the first month or two - but after that, it slows down quite a bit. Months 2-6 I lost about 10 lbs a month - after that, maybe 5-8 lbs a month. So it's not as quick as most people expect (esp if you've watched "My 600 lb Life" - those people lose fast because they start out way heavier than the average WLS patient). So whatever you lose beforehand you won't have to worry about after. I does get harder to lose the further out you get from surgery. So yea - lose some of it now if at all possible. Then it's G-O-N-E! P.P.S. the surgery seems to "reset" the set point. Mine seems to be about 158 these days because I have to really struggle to keep it under that My body seems to float up there if I stop paying attention for too long. Also, your comment about "starvation mode" and the surgery not working. "Starvation mode" is controversial - not everyone believes it happens. And the surgery WILL work as long as you stick to your eating plan and follow all the rules.

you pretty much just wrote my story. i started at 373. That 70% is just an average. People fall on either side of that. Some people lose way less than that, some way more. lose all the weight you can before surgery. I started at 373. The morning I rolled into surgery, I weighed 316. My lowest weight was 138 (most of us gain 10-20 lbs after hitting our lowest weight - and I, of course, did too - but that's OK - I look better now at 150ish than I did at 138). So I lost 100% of my excess weight. anyway, not sure it matters if the 70% is from your starting weight or your surgery day weight, since that's just an average and you could lose more or less than that - or even a LOT more or less than that - depending on how committed you. I was VERY committed. I almost never went off my program until I hit maintenance. I never wanted to be overweight again.

some companies do make peanut butter-flavored protein powder, but I was actually referring to peanut butter powder - which is just dehydrated peanut butter. They take the oil out and it's just a powder. You can add it things. PB Fit is one brand - PB2 is another. I've seen some house brands, too. It's good in chocolate protein shakes. Syntrax Matrix has a peanut butter protein powder (it's great!) - but the Matrix line isn't whey protein isolate - I think it's a blend. (their Nectar line IS whey protein isolate)

I'm currently a 36B. I was a 36 D or DD before plastic surgery (well, that was after I rolled them up and stuffed them in my bra - I needed the extra space for the rolled-up numbers). I can't remember what I was before I lost the weight. Huge, though.

lactose intolerance is not uncommon after bariatric surgery. Sometimes it's only temporary -- and sometimes it's not. Some lactose intolerant people can tolerate aged or fermented dairy products - like aged cheese or yogurt - but others can't. I guess it depends on how sensitive you are to lactose - sounds like you're very sensitive to it...