Sajijoma

@@gowalking thank you! ❤️your signature really does say it all. Nothing tastes as good as normal feels for sure! It's an amazing feeling and I never thought I'd get here. I can't wait to see what my end result will be! [emoji4]

It is cut temporarily but not forever. From my experience though at 10 months out from RNY, hunger is a very different animal. I no longer get that gnawing at my bones hunger. It's more like "I should eat" and so I do.

I was lucky I guess in that my gall bladder had gone bad during my first pregnancy so I went in without one, but my surgeon says he has seen so many people need to come back for gall bladder surgery that he opts to take it out as part of the procedure for sleeve and RNY patients.

I love all the options. I just have to watch myself because I want to keep shopping and looking beautiful in new clothes, but realistically I know I won't get much use of them because I'm still losing and go through a size every 2 months or so. It can be daunting. I also have had to learn that just because one pair of pants fit doesn't mean I have to buy every color or wash because there are so many more options now! [emoji4]

I didn't use a binder of any kind after my RNY. What I did use and I feel made the best decision for me was bike shorts. It gave just the right amount of compression to hold everything in place and I didn't have to spend $35 on something with no further use. The shorts I used for exercise until they fell off so I got my money's worth out of them.

I did things ass backwards because that's my style. LOL first I sought out the surgeon Google search, word of mouth, location to home, and everything I could find on this surgeon to see if he was a safe bet and then I looked to see if my insurance covered it. I have Aetna so I was able to look up my benefits online and see what all was covered and thankfully it was. They also fast tracked me to a 90 day prep for surgery program because I was well over 40 BMI even though I had no known co morbidities and because I went to a Center of Excellence, I only paid 10% of the cost instead of the standard 20% I would normally have paid. I made the reservation for the seminar and went in and got all my questions answered and really by the end of that night I had scheduled my first nutritionist visit and first surgeon visit because I knew it was the right thing for me. After that, I had 4 visits total with the nutritionist, 1 psych eval with the in house psych, and 2 visits with the surgeon over the 90 days and then it went to insurance and was approved within 3 days and I had surgery a week later. It all happened so fast I didn't have time to panic or obsess about anything, which worked out just great.

My children were a big factor. I couldn't be the mom I wanted to be for them and I felt like I was really just ruining their childhood because they were having to help take care of me and take on jobs I couldn't do anymore because of my weight. I also nearly lost the last 2 and myself in childbirth because of my weight and the strain the weight and pregnancy put on my heart. I wanted better for them. I wanted them to have a full time mom and one that could play with them and inspire them so that they didn't end up on the same path I had been on. Almost 10 months later, my kids are definitely reaping the benefits of better health and a mom who is more involved in their lives.

I didn't have a lot of questions for my surgeon at my first appt because I had gotten them all answered at the seminar. There were 3 of us there that night so we had a chance to ask all sorts of questions that perhaps would be lost to a bigger group. I asked him about how many patients he had lost either during the procedure or the following 6 months. I asked why they leave the stomach that was detached from the pouch in. I asked what the long term prognosis for keeping the weight off was, the highest weight he would operate on(I was 429lbs at that point and afraid I was too big to get the operation locally). I asked about the straw thing and just anything that came to mind. You need to walk into this knowing all the risks and benefits and intricate details you wonder about because this will be a huge adjustment to your life and you need to make your decision based on facts and not fantasy-not that I think you are, but wow there were people in our pre op surgery class eating doughnuts and drinking soda and thinking they would be able to return to that "and just eat less total" after surgery and arguing with the nutritionist and she told them they absolutely could not drink soda or expect to eat doughnuts without consequences. I chose the RNY. I did ask my surgeon for his opinion and he told me either would be a good choice for me, but with my starting weight as high as it was, that I would get the maximum benefit from RNY as the fact I had a history of reflux meant that I wouldn't be needing a second op later to convert to RNY should it become worse-as it often does with the sleeve. I knew I only wanted to do it once and do it to the best of my ability. Something interesting he said in chatting had me knowing RNY was better for me was that cancer runs in my family. If you get esophageal cancer-as is common with reflux patients like I was, they can use the lining of the old stomach to repair and rebuild your esophagus down the road. If you have the sleeve, the extra stomach is removed and with it your best chance for a solid repair that wouldn't be easily rejected since it's part of your own body. To me that is important. Good luck at your appointment. It really for me was the best decision of my life.

It's common. I started out at 429lb and a sw of 386lbs and I shivered and shook my way through to where I am. I notice even now as I lose, I get chills still. Invest in pretty sweaters and jackets especially if you are in the upper half of the world because winter is coming and you are gonna shake and shiver those pounds right off!

Thank you all so much. It was such an emotional day and one I want all the newbies and those thinking about surgery to definitely see. I NEVER thought I'd be in regular sizes but especially not a size 12. I was just hoping to hit 24 and be able to shop in the plus section of stores instead of online only when I first started my journey. I knew the surgery did great for others, but I was used to being disappointed in my own progress on every diet I'd been on that I tried not to hope for much. Please know and understand, you CAN hope for it, because as long as you stick with your program and exercise and do what you are suppose to do, it will happen. You will have your crying in the dressing room day too!(or if you are a guy that cough in the dressing room and maybe even a runny eye probably caused by being allergic to clothes shopping LOL).

you describe it so well! my motto is if the button can be buttoned and the zipper zipped and no eyes pop out of socket, I'd buy them because in a week or two they will be falling off. Haha

Your turn will come! I never really thought I'd be there. I mean, I was 429lbs to start and it seemed so unattainable. I had kind of convinced myself that either I was wearing brands that ran big to be in an 18, or someone had switched out labels or something. LOL it was quit the revelation to know that the store I went to try on tends to run smaller than some of the others and I STILL got them babies on.

I went shopping today because I desperately needed pants that fit. I wasn't sure what would fit so I tried on 16's and they were too big. Then I tried on 14's and they were kinda loose. I thought just for jiggles I'd try on some 12's and they fit! I was so shocked I actually broke down crying in the changing room. I have always been good at keeping my emotions locked down tight, but in there at that moment, I totally lost it and started bawling and LOUD. The changing room attendant knocked on the door and asked if I was ok. It took me awhile, but I managed to get the words out that I was ok and that I had found out I was a smaller size than I thought I was. I'M sure she thought I had lost my ever loving mind, but for me, this is a monumental thing. I had been an overweight kid and an obese adult, my entire life! The size I put on and zipped up, I NEVER had been that size. The closest I had to being that size was a size 11 juniors in 4th grade, so here I am, over 30yrs later and I am finally smaller than I was in 4th grade. It was monumental. I also discovered why it's important to check the price tag before falling in love with a pair of pants because $115 for a pair of pants I probably won't get more than a couple months wear out of was just too much, so I had to put them back. Broke my heart, but I did go on to find other 12's and some 14's that worked and I am officially not plus sized anymore. I can shop in the regular section with all the cute clothes!❤️ From 32/34 and some 36 down to a size 12 in less than a year...all I can say is wow! Thanks RNY for giving me a life I didn't know was attainable!

For me, when I look in the mirror, I still see my former self or rather the dillusion of my former self. I had no clue how exactly heavy I was, but I knew I was heavy. So now when I look in the mirror, I still see that much heavier person, but if I take a pic and look at it, I can clearly see the difference. I've lost nearly 180lbs at this point. You would think I'd be able to physically see the difference with my own eyes, but I can't. My advice is to just keep taking pics and lots of them. Not only is it a great testament to how far you've come, but it helps with the whole body dismorphia thing.

My NUT told me fruit doesn't cause dumping as a rule because fruit sugar is fructose and fructose is absorbed further down the intestinal tract than refined sugars or sugar alcohols even. That being said, I am 8 months out and have eaten grapes, watermelon, apples, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, peaches, clementines, nectarines, pineapple, kiwi, cantaloupe, and honey dew melon all without any problems. [emoji4]

I've been using the patches to supplement my Bariatric advantage multi and calcium chews because my iron and calcium/D3 were both low. Also have been using the glucosamine/chondroitin patch and the anti aging patch because I got a better deal buying a set so I thought, eh what the heck. I got my labs back and have seen a remarked improvement in my deficiencies so far after a month of use.

I was 38. Starting weight of 429lbs and I'm currently around 240 I think. I quit weighing daily. It slows my progress somehow. I had RNY.

I had rny, but my surgeon requires the same tests for both...which was just a basic CBC panel, EKG(it was less than a minute), and answer a bunch of questions to determine if they need to watch for signs of sleep apnea. He likes to keep things simple and I was grateful.

The pure protein bars are full of very dense fiber and when you drink water with it, it expands which is great pre op because you stay full on one bar, but post op it can be dangerous, although I found I had to at least take a tiny tiny sip because it was like swallowing sand and not drinking for an hour was too miserable.

I've tried it, but my "pancakes" using the recipe didn't turn out at all. It was a hot mess. I'm not a stranger to cooking either. I went to culinary school! LOL I still have the rest of the box in the cabinet and haven't bothered trying any of the other recipes. It really just was a bummer for me.

I had soreness at the sight of my drain and the water from the shower really brought me to tears the first few days after it was out. It will pass, but just keep it covered during the day and you can use neosporin on it to keep it from getting infected and promote healing. My surgeon had me remove the bandage and allow water(not soap) to run down it daily. That was not fun for me, but it did heal up well. I almost can't even see the hole at 8 months out.

Everyone is kind of different because your ability to absorb different vitamins and minerals may be different based on your own physical anatomy. For me, I take Bariatric advantage ea chewables and chewy bites 500 for calcium and that's it. My body is absorbing all I need from that and my levels are good and steady. Some people I know who have had the same surgery need more B12, iron, and d3/calcium because they just aren't absorbing it. I'd start off with the basics like I did and wait til your labs to see if you need additional supplements. You may not need them and that's money left in your wallet.

I was lactose intolerant for the first 6 months after surgery. The Syntrax nectars were and still are my shake of choice. I also bought the lactase tablets so later on I could tolerate cheese and yogurt. Some people are lactose intolerant for a short period of time after surgery and some never get over it, but even if you are now, there is no reason to think it's forever.

I still used protein shakes to help me meet my protein goals at that point. The puréed foods were mainly to satisfy my mouth's need to be involved in the process. I couldn't hold more than 1oz of purée in the beginning so my protein shakes really saved me.

My guidelines were that I could drink caffeine once I could get in 36oz of water first. Caffeine is dehydrating so in the beginning it's important to get that much needed water in first, but after the 36, you can have your caffeine.