catwoman7

restriction loosens up as time goes on, but I still have it seven years later. I'm reminded of that if I try eating a big (for me) meal. I used to be able to eat half a large pizza before surgery. Now, I can eat a piece or two. Any more than that and I will be in physical pain.

that's what I was going to say - it's usually due to water retention. Have you been eating more sodium than usual lately? If so, cutting sodium intake and increasing your water consumption should do the trick.

not for one second. Should have done it YEARS ago!

how far out are you? Multi-colored poop is not uncommon the first month or so after surgery. Mine was yellow until then. It's usually due to fat malabsorption, IIRC. I wouldn't worry about it if you're still early out. Gallbladder issues used to be fairly common with WLS, but now most surgeons put their patients on ursodiol (Actigall) for the first few months which greatly reduces the chances. Even so, I don't know how common those issues are these days. We do hear about them hear sometimes, so I know they happen - but we don't hear about it A LOT, so I'm guessing it's not super common.

I would assume there would always be a surgeon at the ready in case anything went wrong, so that wouldn't really concern me. That said, I think I'd prefer just the regular laparoscopic (which I had)

LOL - I was just going to say the same thing! Where can I get my hands on these????

most people have their first major stall within the first 4-6 weeks after surgery. It's USUALLY the third week, but not always. Mine was weeks 2 & 3. Just keep following your plan and stay off the scale - maybe just weigh yourself once a week until the stall breaks - and it WILL break if you stick to your plan. Mine broke during week 4 and I dropped like 6 or 8 lbs within a couple of days.

a 10-20 lb gain after you hit your lowest weight is unfortunately very common. I think it's just your body settling in to where it wants to be. However, that doesn't mean you can't lose it - it'll just be a challenge - and will also be a challenge to keep it there. Dealing with the same thing myself...

Not everyone loses their hunger. Most of us do, at least temporarily, but not everyone. I was always able to drink and eat without issue. At first I thought they really didn't do the surgery! if your diet & exercise has stayed the same, then that gain is likely due to water retention or full intestines. Give it a couple of days.

I agree with Hop Scotch. I'd contact your clinic. That's not normal this far out..

looks like they do now with pre-approval Greater-New-York-Fund-SBC-Eligibility-Class-I-and-II.pdf

I didn't either! I knew about Facebook groups, but I've heard some of those are pretty awful. I'll take a look at Barination and YourOnederland. Thanks!

agreed. It also depends on what you're asking. If you're asking how many carbs you should have or post that you're three weeks out and haven't lost any weight in a week, you'll get at least a dozen responses.

it's done mostly for sleeve patients (usually for severe GERD that can't be controlled medically). They go back in there and convert it to an RNY (gastric bypass) or DS (duodenal switch). (NOTE: it's not common, but what I mean is, people who get revisions are usually sleeve patients) it's kind of rare to do a revision for a gastric bypass, because they have to reverse the whole thing and then do a sleeve or DS. Only a handful of surgeons in the country are qualified to do that particular surgery. I can't imagine converting from an RNY to a sleeve because the RNY is a more powerful surgery. But I've heard of some RNY patients revising to DS, which is even more powerful than the RNY. But again, it's a very complicated surgery, and very few surgeons do it (in these cases, it's usually done for greater weight loss, usually. I can't think of any medical reasons to do it other than further weight loss)

all those numbers you've cited are just averages. You could lose more or less than those, depending on your level of commitment. for example, the average weight loss with gastric bypass is 70% of the person's excess weight. That doesn't mean you, personally, are going to lose 70% of your excess weight. That's just the average - and with any average, you'll always find people who fall outside of that. We have people on here who only lose 20% of their excess weight- and others who lose 100%. It all comes down to your level of commitment. So I'd take those numbers you've been given or read with a grain of salt. Yes - they'll give you a ballpark idea - but they're only averages, and depending on how hard you work at this, you could do better..or worse...than those averages.

I've also heard it can be hard on your kidneys, but 100 grams doesn't seem that excessive to me - high, but not enough to do damage. But then, what do I know? I'm not a dietitian, so.... I agree with Arabesque that eating that much when we're taking in so few calories overall can be keeping you from eating a balanced diet, though.

I think most pre-ops and early post-ops worry about the hair loss - but I think most of us long-timers will tell you that it's just a blip on the screen in the grand scheme of things. It's temporary, and most people don't lose enough for others to notice (some do, of course - but most don't). I lost a little - but I'm sure no one else noticed. there's really nothing you can do about it. If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen (and not everyone loses hair, so there's that). Some people say biotin helps, others say it doesn't do a darn thing. I did buy some but didn't take it consistently. I wouldn't sweat it, though. It may not even be noticeable, and it'll all grow back. You can always get it cut short or wear it up or wear scarves or something if it's noticeable. I know I was really freaked out about the thought, but it really wasn't bad - and I've pretty much forgotten about it at this point. Losing that 200 lbs (for me) was WELL worth the cost of any temporary hair loss. oh - the best thing you can do is keep on top of your supplements and protein requirements. That should keep it from getting any worse than it will otherwise.

VSG pretty much replaced the lapband a few years ago as the non-RNY option. It was still pretty new when I had my surgery, so I wasn't sure I wanted to go there (besides the fact I had GERD...). I was a little worried it might become "Lapband 2". I think at this point it's been around long enough to have proven itself - but yes, there do some to be a lot of people who end up revising.

could be..

raw vegetables - I was told to wait about five months before trying them, too. They can be really hard on your pouch. To be honest, at seven years out, they're still sometimes hard on my pouch (not always, but sometimes). This sounds weird, but sometimes when I'm having a snack attack, I'll start eating raw vegetables because sometimes they irritate my stomach so much that I can't handle eating anything else. Stops an attack dead in its tracks.... alcohol - also told to wait a year. I actually waited about three years. I rarely drink - maybe three or four times a year. It goes right into your blood stream, so you get really buzzed really fast. They have you wait because transfer addiction is a common problem. Some people who've never had a problem with alcohol before surgery develop it afterward - so this is part of the rationale behind them advising you to wait. I don't think my program ever said anything about bread (although it's been quite awhile), but maybe yours is one that pushes an ultra-low-carb diet, as many of them seem to do. Mine was a balanced diet, so they didn't really care too much about carbs, as long as they were the good kind. Still, I think it was probably a year before I ate bread. I still don't eat it very often because it sometimes sits like a brick in my stomach. Another thing about bread is that it's not terribly nutritious, and the first few months you can only handle a small amount of food - so they want you to focus on super nutritious things. I think I started eating salads at about five or six months out.

I don't know that all clinics do that. Mine just does VSG and RNY. I think MGB is pretty common in Europe, and some clinics are doing it here now...

lots of people have done that revision. The thing is, like with VSG, you're going to have to change your habits and follow the program to lose the weight. The surgery will only take you so far. I lost a truckload of weight, but I worked really hard at it. And yes, the revision should at minimum improve, and will likely eradicate, the GERD. btw - weight loss is never as strong or quick with revisions as it is with virgin surgeries, but that said, there are people who've been very successful with revisions. If you are committed, you'll get there.

according to statistics, only about 10-15% of bariatric patients make it to a normal BMI range, so that means only a small percentage of us would be doing weight (or other resistance) training, if we go by his advice. Resistance training is pretty important throughout life, especially as we age. So I'd have to say I don't agree with Dr. V there. I do agree that food intake is 90% of weight loss, though. Exercise can make a little difference, but not as much as most people think. It's basically good for overall health and building lean muscle, which is, of course, desirable.

it's going to vary pretty widely because it depends on so many factors besides starting BMI (although that's a big one, of course). Gender, age, metabolic rate, activity rate, what percentage of your body is muscle - those all play a role. that said, I lost 57 lbs before I had surgery (between my six-month supervised diet that was required by my insurance company, plus the two-week liquid diet required by the surgeon). At one year out, I was 129 lbs down from my surgery weight, and 186 lbs down from my all-time highest weight. I went on to lose another 50 or so lbs during year 2 (have gained 20 of it back since then, which is pretty common. A lot of us experience a 10-20 lb rebound gain after hitting our lowest weight). P.S. Just noticed this was posted in the gastric sleeve forum - I had bypass. Average loss tends to be a little more with bypass (although not by much), but it totally depends on the person. If you really stick to your program, you can be very successful with either.

a 5-6 lb gain in two weeks is almost too much to be due to a decrease in exercise or increase in food - so I suspect at last some of that is either water or full intestines. If so, at least a couple of lbs of that should drop off within a couple of days. As for the rest - if you're no longer logging your food intake, I'd start with that to see what and how much you're taking in. I find that if I take in more than 1700 calories for more than a day or two, my weight starts heading up (and that number is going to be different for everyone depending on age, gender, activity level, etc...). I'm OK with calorie counting, but some people hate doing that. If you're one who doesn't like it, then I'd go back to eating like you were a few months after surgery (as in NOT all the way back to protein shakes and an obscenely low number of calories - but the whole spiel of eating protein first, then nonstarchy vegetables. And then, if you're still hungry, maybe a small serving of fruit or whole-grain carb). losing weight can be a huge struggle once you're a few years out, but people do it...