catwoman7

statistically speaking, you'll lose more with bypass than you will with sleeve, but it's only about a 5% difference. Plus an average is just an average - you'll find people who fall on either side of the average. There are people who are extremely successful with both surgeries - and people who fail with both surgeries. 14 lbs is a lot. You may lose that the first three or four months, depending on a whole host of other factors (sex, age, metabolic rate, activity level, starting BMI, etc), but weight loss slows down a lot after that. I started at well over 300 lbs. I lost 16 lbs the first month, maybe 12 or so lbs a month for a couple of months after that, then I think around 10 lbs a month until I was about 7 months out, and then 5-8 lbs a month until I got about a year out. After that, things really slowed down until it finally stopped at around 20 months out. P.S. With your starting BMI, your weight loss isn't going to be really speedy. You WILL lose it if you're committed to your program, but 14 lbs a month is overly optimistic for someone at your weight. Most of us start out much heavier.

we were told to get at least 60 grams.

I think they meant collagen. Probably an auto-correct thing...

yep - I'd suspect the IV fluids. Some people gain up to 10 lbs on those, and it can take a week to ten days for them to work their way out of your system

I think it took a couple of months before my energy returned -

if you got a plan from your clinic, I would follow that for now. Things like Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers might be fine a year or more out, but for now I'd stick to my clinic's plan (if you got one...)

you might want to hold off on trying to gain weight and maybe just try to stabilize. It seems like most people put on 10-20 lbs during year 3 with little to no effort... I got too thin at one point and figured I'd never have the bounce back weight people talk about, but I did...

that's largely why I'm active on this and other bariatric forums. It's my support system...

you look great! And yep - no one's going to notice that AT ALL when you've got clothes on!

it's the three week stall. Almost everyone goes through that. Although you're right, keeping up with your fluids is always important...

forgot to add that most of us have either no complications or minor ones that are usually "fixable". Major complications aren't very common with either surgery.

if you have GERD prior to surgery, they'll usually recommend bypass. Otherwise, it comes down to personal preference. I chose bypass (actually, my surgeon recommended it) because I was one of those who had GERD prior to surgery. But that aside, I felt more comfortable with bypass anyway because at the time I had surgery over five years ago, the sleeve was still kind of a new thing. I was a little afraid it might become "Lapband 2". However, it's been around long enough at this point that it's proven itself, so that wouldn't have been a concern to me at this point. But...the GERD still would have. VSG can make that worse. It doesn't happen to everyone - or even the majority - but it happens enough that I didn't want to risk it. I've been very happy with my RNY, by the way.

I agree with the poster above - I'd contact the surgeon's office as well. Mine had us on a PPI for a year, but that was five years ago, before they discovered that long-term PPI use could be hazardous. I think he has the patients on them for just three months now - that seems to be pretty common.

keep at it - a lot of people have lost regains. It just takes commitment and closely monitoring yourself. It's way harder to lose weight at this point, but it CAN be done!

15-25 lbs the first month seems pretty average. Granted, you will find outliers to that, but unless you start out with a REALLY high BMI (like the people on "My 600 lb Life"), that's a pretty normal loss. I lost 16 lbs the first *month*, and I started at a much higher BMI than you.

haven't heard this yet (and I've been on this site for several years) - usually they're able to easily open it up via endoscopy. Sorry this is happening to you!

almost everyone goes through the infamous "three week stall". If you do a search on this site for you, you'll find over 15,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding...) just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days if you need to. The stall WILL break.

you're right. I don't know if I've mentioned this on this forum before (I know I have somewhere, but..not sure where), but during the few months before I had WLS, I watched what my female co-workers ate for lunch in the break room. There were a couple who typically ate what I would have called a "normal" lunch - sandwich, chips, and a couple of cookies. Or some takeout meal - like a sandwich. sub, or burger and fries. But a majority of them usually had what I would have considered (and STILL consider), "diet" food. For example, a sandwich and an apple. Or a thing of yogurt and half a bagel with cream cheese (or maybe a whole one of those "skinny" bagels with cream cheese). I just came to the conclusion that a lot of normal-weight women eat like that most of the time - and that the two I mentioned who ate more were probably really active or were blessed with really good metabolism (I know men can eat more - but still, I bet most normal-weight men don't eat as much as we think they do). So anyway, that's what I consider "dieting" for the rest of my life. Eating like these never-been-obese women. I'm five years out from surgery, and that's pretty much the way I eat now, too.

I'd be surprised if something like that would stretch a pouch, but I agree with the above person - I'd check with a doctor to see if you need an adjustment.

no - I was always able to drink more than I was supposedly able to, and I was fine. I mean, I didn't chug, but I could certainly drink things in less time than I said I'd be able to. And I definitely felt restriction once I got to solid foods.

consider yourself lucky. Those kinds of diets aren't uncommon, but many of us have to suffer through the liquids-only version. Ugh. I wish I could have had at least *some* real food... Some programs do allow for that..

I don't personally know anyone who has done it in Mexico, but there seem to be several people on this site who have. Hopefully some of them will chime in. There are some good surgeons in Mexico, but you have to do your research to make sure you get a really good one.

what most successful long-term vets seem to do is to set an acceptable weight range for themselves - and if they see themselves going over that, it's all hands on deck until they get back into range again (with ideally a little wiggle room). It's a lot easier to take off five lbs than it is 50. So that's what I do now. I know it's easy to gain because I spent a month in India last fall and came back about five lbs over range. I had no access to scale while I was there, and although I wasn't eating like a pig, I ate more than I would if I was home. And...it showed. It was a bear to get off, so I learned my lesson...

lots of us have it in our 50s and 60s - and we even see people on here occasionally who've had it in their 70s - so you're in good company! (I had it at 55)

I don't have NASH, but I just wanted to say that it's very common for liver enzyme levels to increase after surgery, but then they normalize (for most of us, anyway) when we're a year or so out. Reason being is that rapid weight loss is really hard on livers...