catwoman7

make sure you're sticking to your plan, and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you're sticking to your plan, the stall will break on its own. Stalls typically last 1-3 weeks, but occasionally they last longer. If it's been a month or more, than be doubly sure you're sticking to your plan.

fluids (and purees for the most part, too) go right through you, so you won't feel full. You'll start to feel the restriction once you start eating solid food. also, you've had nerves cut, and it takes them awhile to start to regenerate - which again, that should start up again about the time you move to solid food, too. also, keep in mind that your "full" signals (once you start feeling them) might be different than they were before surgery. Mine are different - I get this uncomfortable pressure in my chest, and I know if I keep going, I'm going to be sorry. I've read about other people getting a runny nose or sneezing when they're full. It might take some time to figure out what your new "full" signal is, too..

Pale is usually due to fat malabsorption, I believe, and that's to be expected. I remember having those the first month or so post-op. Gray - iron, maybe? Check with your surgeon, but multi-colored stools aren't that unusual the first few weeks after surgery, though. I think mine only lasted the first 4-6 weeks, though. P.S. I just read that pale is the result of not enough bile salts in your stool - possibly due to an obstruction.. Although that article wasn't specific to bariatric patients. I'll see if I can find something specific to bariatric patients. Although again, weird stool colors arent' that uncommon early out - which makes sense when you consider they've re-arranged our digestive systems. But it's always good to check with a doctor just in case... P.P.S. I just cut and pasted this from the UC-San Francisco's bariatric program Web page: Bowel habits Bowel movements vary greatly after bariatric surgery. Stools may be foul smelling, associated with flatulence, or a different color than normal. Taking iron supplements, for example, will make your stools dark or black. Until you're eating more solid food, your stools will be soft. Most of these changes resolve as the body heals and adapts to changes. Please call your bariatric surgery team if you have persistent diarrhea.

that's often due to low blood pressure or low blood sugar - but I suppose dehydration could do it, too. Usually when it's low pressure, though, you feel it more when you've been lying down or sitting and you suddenly stand up (and that particular scenario is not that uncommon the first few weeks after surgery). But I agree with the others - might be good to run it by your team.

I don't know about bilirubin specifically, but it's not unusual for liver enzymes (such as AST and ALT) to be high the first year or so after surgery. Evidently rapid weight loss is pretty hard on livers. My (as well as a few others' whom I know) had high readings the first year, but then they normalized during year 2, when weight loss slowed to a crawl. I'm not sure if that's true of bilirubin levels or not, though (although that's also produced by the liver). It's good they're checking it out just to be sure there's nothing weird going on.

it's the three-week stall - right on time! stick to your plan, stay off the scale, and it'll break. Does every time...

ditto on three months (at least for me!). I didn't lose that much, though - no one else would have noticed. As Arabesque said, the most you can do is keep on top of your protein and supplements.

I'm guessing gas - although I suppose it could be either. But most of us don't feel restriction until we start eating solid food. Fluids and purees go right through you - plus you would have had nerves cut during the surgery, and it takes them awhile to start to regenerate. So yes - most likely it's gas.

i started making myself drink 16 oz of fluid (water or flavored water) first thing in the morning, as soon as I get out of bed. Then I've got 1/4 of my fluids knocked out before I even get dressed!

the test for nicotine is pretty common. I don't know about the tests for alcohol or drugs - if I was tested for those, I wasn't told.

that's under your control. You can always increase your calories and stop the weight loss. However, keep in mind that most of us experience a 10-20 lb rebound gain after hitting our lowest weight. Also, rebound or not, things do sort of shift around during year 2 or 3 so that you don't look as gaunt. I looked really thin after hitting bottom at month 20 - but things did shift around - and then I put on about 20 lbs quickly sometime during year 3. So suffice it to say, I wouldn't really worry about losing too much weight. A lot of long-timers who looked too gaunt during year 2 didn't look that way once they hit year 3 or 4 (honesty, there are days I wish I was still that thin!)

I've read that stretching out your stomach is pretty rare - it would take lots and lots of overeating - over time - to do that. It's probably a stall. As far as restriction, a lot of us who are several years out have "small pouch days" and "big pouch days" - you may be getting to that point where you may have stretches of time where you don't really feel much restriction.

you've probably hit the infamous "three week stall" (most people have this early stall. It's usually the third week after surgery, hence the name, but it can happen any time within the first six weeks or so). Mine was weeks 2 and 3. Just stick to your plan, stay off the scale, and know that it'll break and you'll be on your way again. No need to do anything different.

you did not gain 2 lbs of true weight unless you've eaten 7000 more calories than your body needs. It's water - or your intestines are filling up again. Very normal.

one stone is 14 lbs. I don't know what your starting weight was, but 14 lbs actually isn't bad. you're probably in a stall now. They happen to most of us every so often along our journeys. They typically last 1-3 weeks, but it's not unheard of for them to last longer than that. I absolutely would NOT go on a water-only diet. You'll just end up with nutritional deficiences and a screwed-up metabolism. Stay on your program. Contact your clinic if you're worried and let them know what's going on - but honestly, I don't think anything is wrong.

don't take much, because you're likely to spend most of your time sleeping Cell phone and charger for sure (you may even want to pick up one of those really long cables in case the outlet is kind of far from your bed). Baggy, easy-to-put on clothes for going home (I just wore the same thing that I wore TO the hospital). Lots of people use lip balm and dry mouth spray (such as Biotene). I took both and didnt' use them, but a lot of people do). Some people like a pillow to put over their stomach for the ride home. I took toiletries, but needn't have bothered since the hospital gave me a bag of them - shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant. Some people like to bring their own sleeping attire, but the hospital will provide you with that (open in the back in case they need to listen to your lungs or whatever) - although it might not be a bad idea to have something to throw over that for when they have you out walking the halls (which they will...) - otherwise, "open in the back" means open in the back - the whole way down! But yea - don't pack much because you're not there very long, and as I said, you'll probably spend a lot of that time sleeping.

one thing to keep in mind is people usually blow through sizes pretty quickly the first few months after surgery. I could barely wear something for a month or two before it was too big. I just went to Goodwill (or similar places) until I was close to my goal because otherwise I would have been spending a lot of money on a quickly-changing wardrobe - things that I could only wear for a month or so before casting them aside.

I've known of several WLS people on the east coast who went to Dr. Capella in New Jersey (that is, if you're willing to travel - some people are, some aren't). All he does is body contouring for massive weight loss patients, and his prices are supposedly pretty reasonable for the New York area. I don't know what they're running now, though. https://www.capellaplasticsurgery.net/post-weight-loss-surgery/ (I actually traveled for mine - to Chicago - about two hours away - but I know people who've flown places to work with a nationally-known plastic surgeon (and Dr. Capella is one)). Also on the east coast who's nationally known is Dr. Joseph Michaels in the DC area (I think he's affiliated with Johns Hopkins University). But again, that'd mean traveling, of course, I've known several WLS patients who've gone to him https://www.josephmichaelsmd.com/ a lot of these really well-known surgeons will do consults over the phone (you'd have to send them pictures so they know what they'd be dealing with) - not sure about these two, but I'm guessing they do). Also, most plastic surgeons will charge you for a consult - maybe $100 or so - but they take that off your surgery if you go with them. I had three in Chicago and one from a surgeon in Mexico - the Chicago ones all charged for the consult, but I felt is was money well spent.

it was the pickles. Yes - sodium makes some people retain water like crazy. Plus there is no way you'd gain 3.7 kg of real weight in three days. To do that, you would have to eat 28,000 more calories than your body needs in those three days. So yea, no. It's just water.

I hear stories about dehydration fairly often (so try to keep up on your fluids if at all possible!!) - but not stories about not being able to stand. It's a bit painful getting in and out of bed - but once you're up - or down - you're fine. It really wasn't a problem for me. As far as someone staying home with you, my husband took a week off but ended up going back to work after two or three days - i just didn't need him here. It was nice to have someone bring me beverages and stuff, but it really wasn't necessary. I should add, though, that I didn't have hernia surgery - just the gastric bypass - so hopefully someone who had both will respond.

1) if that "tummy" surgery is a whole lower body lift, then that's a good deal. If it's just a tummy tuck, then that's probably about average these days, especially for a city like Boston. I'm not sure about breast lift, but it's also probably about average since it's Boston (back when I was doing research about six years ago, I read somewhere (maybe here on BP?) to expect $8K-$10K per procedure, with a lower body lift counting as two procedures, since they do both front and back). That estimate did ring true for me, but again, that was six years ago. Plus you're usually going to pay more in urban areas and/or with surgeons who've had a lot of experience and good reputations. So anyway, no, those prices don't seem outrageous. 2) I would go for the surgery if you want to get rid of it. I don't know how effective these alternative methods are - maybe minimally. Results from surgery are dramatic and permanent (as long as you don't gain the weight back!) 3) my lower body lift was pretty painful. After the first few days, though, it was more discomfort than pain, but the discomfort lasted for quite awhile. I don't remember the breast lift being very painful. I think the body lift pain was because they tighten the muscles and do liposuction - those are things that tend to cause pain, from what I've read. But like with the above poster, the pain was worth it - I have a normal-looking body now, and I'm really happy with it. I'd do the surgery again for sure. 4) that comes down to personal preference. I wanted mine done in a hospital, and I wanted to spend the first night there in case anything happened. The surgeon I went with ONLY does his surgeries in a hospital, and he does make you spend the first night there just in case. The other two consults I had (for body lifts) will do theirs in hospitals if requested, but by default they do them in surgery centers where you go home that night. Their quotes (at least for the lower body lift - which was the only surgery for which I did more than one consult) were cheaper - one was cheaper by $2000, the other by $6000. The first guy has a national reputation, though, so his $2000 price difference was likely due to fact there that it would have been in a day surgical center, not a hospital (and no overnight). The second guy didn't have nearly as much experience, which would have accounted for the much lower price. (I had a facelift a few years later by a different surgeon - I didn't do a hospital surgery for that one since it's a much easier surgery - I was comfortable doing that one at a surgery center)

I was told to start taking vitamins right away, but some clinics tell their patients to wait two weeks - so in other words, waiting is probably fine since there doesn't seem to be a consensus among professionals about this (it probably won't hurt you if you have to wait two weeks)

where did you hear that the average is 5-15 lbs a week? NO ONE loses that fast. Maybe 5 lbs a week the first MONTH (and it wouldn't be five lbs each and every week - most of us experience the dreaded "three week stall" - but a 15-25 lb loss the first month seems to be pretty average, unless you're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life". After that drop the first month, you'll settle to into a slower rate for a few months, maybe 10 lbs a month, give or take, for the next few months - and then it'll slow even further. so I don't know where you heard that figure, but it's not accurate. You need to adjust your expectations or you're going to be frustrated and disappointed. As long as you comply with your clinic's plan, the weight will come off. Don't stress over this and more importantly, don't burn yourself out - you don't want to crash and burn. Just follow the plan. Depending on your starting point, it can take a year or more to get to goal - it took me 20 months. You want to jeopardize your health.

it could be that something came up at the last minute for the surgeon. Or maybe he had something going on that day that he forgot to mark on his office calendar.

I started walking pretty much as soon as I got home from the hospital. At a month out, I was cleared to do everything except for weights (had to wait eight weeks for that), so I was back doing water aerobics (at about four weeks out) the above poster is right, though - it's pretty important to get enough protein if you're going to start exercising (actually, it's pretty important even if you're NOT exercising!). Do you still do protein shakes? A lot of people give them up once they can get their protein requirements met by food, but if you're one who can't, there's that option. Also, six months is a long time to go without meeting your protein and fluid requirements - that's usually just an issue for people the first couple of months. You may want to let your clinic know about that....