catwoman7

your BMI is 30 - a lot of insurance companies won't cover it unless you're a 35 BMI if you have two or more co-morbidities, or a 40 BMI if you have no co-morbidities. You're lucky your company will cover it. Although it's a lot to go through for 20 lbs. I'm not saying don't, but.... most of us on here have considerably more weight to lose (many of us 100 or more pounds)

I'd rethink the lapband. A lot of people have had those removed, and most surgeons won't do them anymore. They've largely been replaced by the sleeve. you may or may not have a lot of loose skin. A lot depends on how much you have to lose and how long you've been overweight. If you're talking 100+ lbs, then yes - you'll probably have loose skin no matter how fast or slow you take the weight off. I want to add that most of us are worried about loose skin when we're pre-ops or early post-ops, but for those of us a ways out from surgery, most wonder why we worried about it. It's such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. It's really easy to hide for most of us, and I would say most if not all of us would take the loose skin any day over being morbidly obese again. ANY DAY! also wanted to add that I did eventually have my loose skin removed, but this is a picture of me BEFORE I had it removed. I lost over 200 lbs, so I had a TON of it. See it? Nope. The right clothes will hide it well!

well yes - and then there's that!!

yea - we were told about this one and obesity help, so I signed up for those right away. I stumbled across the other two I mentioned on my own, but I almost never go to those.

I've been on obesityhelp.com about as long as I've been on this one. It's not nearly as active as this one, but there seem to be a lot more "vets" on it. There's also American Bariatrics, although I haven't spent that much time on that one. There's one more that's escaping me at the moment (haven't spend much time on that one, either) - if I remember it I'll come back and update. I just googled bariatric forums - the one I was thinking of is Thinner Times.

those are all complex carbs. And have fiber. My system is a mess if I eat too much fiber, but for me too much means at least 30 grams a day. My experience is more bloating and abdominal cramps, though (although that's probably due to trapped gas). I just have to watch my fiber intake. I have to eat enough to keep things moving, but not enough to rile up my G/I tract. It's a continuous balancing act...at least for me.. Have you researched SIBO? Someone on another bariatric site I'm on has that. If so, supposedly low-FODMAP diets help. anyway, good idea to check with your surgeon. I'm just throwing things out here - your issues may be due to something else.

liquids go right through you - so it'd be hard to stretch your stomach with those. I was always able to drink more than I thought I should be able to. I don't remember anything making me sick, either. Fortunately, I DID lose my hunger (it came back at five months out, though), but other than that, my experience was similar to yours. There were days early on that I wondered if I'd even had surgery!

I know what you mean - I no longer have to use t-shirts that I'm given as dust rags - I can actually wear them!

I agree with others - yoga. Start off with very gentle ones (there are lots of videos on youtube - i know a lot of people seem to like the "Yoga with Adrienne" series, but there are tons of others, too). Yin yoga (one of the many types of yoga) is very gentle. Or really any video that's labeled "gentle" is probably do-able for you...

I think it depends on the insurance company, but most seem to go by your first weigh in. You can always call and ask them if you want to know for sure, though.

it's the infamous stall - right on schedule!

a lot of us loss our sense of hunger for up to a year after surgery. Mine came back at five months out. Take full advantage of this because it's never going to be easier to lose weight than it will be the next few months, when you're almost never hungry. And 10 lbs in 12 days is a lot!

lapband to sleeve is done a lot - unless you have a lot of damage from the band, you should be able to have VSG...

I'm not a revision patient, but I just wanted to say with the exception of iron (some people don't absorb oral iron well and have to have iron infusions - although the vast majority of us absorb oral iron just fine), malabsorption is pretty uncommon as long as you keep on top of your supplements.

you can also use an electric mixer. If you do it long enough, it'll turn into butter.

I think a lot of people's perceptions of WLS are influenced by shows like "My 600 lb Life". Those people lose a TON of weight at first, but you have to keep in mind that they are starting out at a MUCH higher BMI than the average WLS patient. And starting BMI is a major factor in your rate of weight loss (esp during the first few months). Although I have no hardcore research study to back this up, I've been hanging out on these sites for the last six years, and based on my observations, it seems most of us lose in the 15-25 lb range that first month (and it slows down after that). Of course, you will always find people who are above or below that, but I would say most of us fall somewhere in that range. So your loss so far is actually quite normal...

that's not normal - you said you talked to your doctor - was it your PCP or your bariatric surgeon? Something doesn't sound right..

I agree with the others - if you're losing weight at that calorie level, I wouldn't worry about it. You may just have higher metabolism rate than some of us.

I HAVE heard of RNY patients who've had issues with SIBO, but I don't think it's all that common (I've been on a couple of bariatric forums for the last six years and don't see many posts about it - maybe three or four a year). It sounds like your system might be reacting to sugar - and/or the artificial types (especially sugar alcohols, the ones that end in -itol) those are notorious for setting some people's G/I tracts off like that). I'd lay off on those and see if it improves.

yep - three week stall. Happens to almost everyone. Last time I checked, there were over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I'm NOT kidding!) just stick to your plan and it'll eventually break. They usually last 1-3 weeks (mine lasted two weeks. Once it broke, I dropped like 6-8 lbs in a couple of days)

weird hormone things seem to be fairly common in the first few weeks or months after WLS. I didn't deal with it since I was post-menopausal when I had surgery, but we hear about this a lot here on BP. It's supposedly due to excess estrogen - estrogen is stored in fat cells, and it's released when you're experiencing rapid weight loss. It'll normalize when the weight loss slows down.

I've never heard of such a business, but that sounds like a good idea! Although post-op diet plans vary somewhat (for example, I was on purees as soon as I left the hospital, whereas some people don't start on them until they're a couple of weeks out). So there really wouldn't be any standards for a business to follow...unless your clinic started up such a service for its own patients. I didn't find the first couple of weeks that difficult. I got good guidelines from my dietitian and I pretty much ate the same three or four "meals", in addition to my yogurt and protein shakes. I think it'll be easier than you think...

I worked at a university (am now retired), and my supervisor preferred I wait until the summer *just in case*. So I waited until the spring semester was over (had my surgery June 3, 2015). Although I really didn't want to wait, I'm glad I did. By the time school started back in the fall, I was rarin' to go again...

all I can say is, I spent decades (I'm in my 60s) gaining and losing the same 50 lbs until I admitted to myself that I couldn't do it on my own. At the time I had 200 lbs to lose, and I couldn't even keep 50 off for more than a few months. And I'm not an anomaly - only 5% of people are able to do it on their own. Weight loss surgery doesn't guarantee that you'll take your excess weight off - and keep it off - but it greatly increases your chances. I know a lot of people who've never had a weight problem think it's so easy - we just have to eat less and move more - but unfortunately, it doesn't usually work that way. I'm so glad I had surgery and would do it again in a heartbeat. My only regret is that I didn't have it done years ago.

I eat a couple of servings of fruit a day. I also eat vegetables - almost all of them. I rarely do potatoes, though - but I eat sweet potatoes (small ones) probably 2-3 times a week in fall & winter.