Cervidae

Awesome! The 17th will be my one year post-op! If I can help in any way, please don't hesitate to ask. Good luck to you, and congratulations.

I had my bypass almost a year ago now. I'm up in NY but I always love making new friends and helping/supporting anyone anyone I can. Feel free to friend me or message me anytime!

I got over it by making myself too happy and excited to be nervous. When it became something I was excited and impatient for, the nerves pretty much went away. I was just ready to go. Good luck to you! You'll do just fine.

@@Daisee68 It's very sweet, so it may not be to everyone's liking. But it tastes just like rich caramel, which is delicious to me. It's not plastic-y or chemical-y the way so many protein shakes taste to me. I like it a lot. It may be my favorite flavor.

woo, good to know! Thanks. Should be just in time to run out of my caramel and banana 4-packs by then too.

I'm a little under 3 months post-knee surgery, and it's taking soooooo looooooong to heal. I'm told everything is healing well and normally, but it's still driving me insane being so inactive, dealing with pain all day, walking strangely, etc. I can't even do most yoga yet because I have to be careful. So I've been losing <5 pounds a month since I had my knee fixed and I've still got almost 50 pounds until my goal of 170. I mean, 5 pounds is still a loss and I should be happy, but it's frustrating to me to lose the momentum that I had because I have to remain so sedentary. I'm also dealing with some of the worst anxiety I've had in my life. I have an anxiety disorder and it's been sort of out of control for weeks now on and off (including panic attacks, trouble sleeping, huge mood swings, crying spells, etc...) so that's been fun. I think something is wonky with my hormones, because I've been far more emotional and crazy for the past couple months than I can ever remember being in my life, and that's saying something! Time to see my gyno again! In the mean time, I'm trying not to eat everything in sight or starve myself. Those were my go-to coping mechanisms, and feeling so out of control on top of weird hormone fluctuations is making me alternately ravenous and repulsed by food. Doing my best here. :/ As for areas of improvement, I really need to get back to drinking enough Water. I've been doing well the past several days but I can't seem to find a way to get this water in besides Soups and broths (which I love, but the huge amount of sodium makes me retain water like nobody's business). I've tried everything - infused water, skinny girl, crystal light, lifewater, different temps of water, tea, the list goes on and on. I crave salt like crazy, and drinking a lot of broth/soup would satisfy that craving and also help me get my water in, but that salt content is a problem. I have had some wins, though. I always try to remember those when I'm stressing out or feeling bad about myself physically or emotionally. I think I may be down into a size 14 now, or close to it. 14 is the average female pant size in the US. I... am average. That feels freaking incredible to be able to say that. I'm average-sized! I don't feel like I look that way but I think that's just my body dysmorphia talking, telling me I'm huge and hideous. I've been doing online window shopping (I'm afraid to buy anything until maybe the end of August, because who knows if the jeans and so on will fit by the Fall?!) and I can shop in the normal sizes, albeit the high end of normal. But when was the last time I could just go buy a pair of jeans at JCPenney? Or just put on a large tshirt and have it fit? I honestly can't remember. I was 300 pounds by the time I was 14. I have never experienced "average" and I can't even describe how wonderful it feels. All in all, here's the verdict right now: I'm sort of miserable and incredibly anxious, but I recognize that I've come such a loooong way. I recognize how amazing my life is compared to how it was 2 years ago. I'm excited to get back to school in three weeks and actually get my life together. I'm doing pretty damn well, and I have to make myself remember that during the frequent occurrences of crippling anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia.

@@JackieG I am actually down 172 since surgery, and over 220 overall. But I have no doubts that you'll lose that much and probably more by this time next year.

Welcome! It's great to have you here! Also, we're the same height and had the same highest weights! 442, what are the odds? Anyway, I'm a year post-rny now (in another two weeks or so) so if I can ever help you or anything, let me know!

I second these suggestions, and also suggest wipies! I had lavender wipies that made me feel so much more human and relaxed.

the vomiting and being unable to tolerate food is not normal. It's possible you have a stricture. From what I understand, if it is a stricture, it will feel much, much better immediately after being fixed. Hope you feel better soon! Get in there and see your doctor!

Welcome! I love this place. I'm nearly a year post-op and this site and its members have been invaluable to me. Good luck to you, and I'm sure I'll see you around.

I'm almost a year post op, and I can say with certainty that it does get easier! Sounds like you're doing well. Keep on keeping on. And congrats on that 50 pounds lost! That's awesome!

costco sells their rotisserie chickens cheaper than it costs to make them, and they are super delicious, so I always get one of those and just pull the chicken when I get home so I have chicken for the whole week. A lot of other stuff we get is stuff you're not going to be able to eat for a while (like quinoa and baked dry chickpeas). They also have big canisters of Better Than Bouillon which are very yummy and make a great soup/broth is you don't have the time/energy/etc to make your own broth. They have spices for extremely good prices, and spices are sort of a necessity for many people after surgery because much of our food early out is bland and spicing things up is encouraged. Later on, you might like to get things like turkey burgers or their rosemary chicken meatballs (sooooo yummy and ready to eat). Their eggs are less than three dollars for a pack of two 18-egg cartons.

Hello! I'll be a year post-bypass in a couple weeks. I'd love to help you in any way I can.

I'm nearly a year out from rny and I only feel hunger when I've gone way too long without food, and then after eating a small amount of healthy food, it's gone. From what I understand, ghrelin is only one of the several hormones in the body that produce hunger. It would seem that sleeve patients have less hunger in the beginning because the fundus (the part of the stomach that makes the majority of the hunger hormone in your body) is removed, but the body adapts eventually to produce these hormones in other ways, and hunger returns. For better or for worse, hunger is important for survival, and in the end everyone will have it again. I never had a period of time after surgery when I wasn't hungry at all (except every month right after and sometimes during my period, but those are entirely different hormones causing that) but I can definitely say the hunger is entirely different than it ever has been before. I never feel out of control or like I'm still hungry no matter how much I eat. The hunger doesn't consume my thoughts like it used to. I don't wake up thinking "I can't wait to eat. What am I going to eat? I must go eat right now." It's more of a normal mechanism now. When it's time to eat or I haven't' been eating enough, I feel hungry. Then it's satisfied by the correct foods in the correct amounts and I don't feel it again until I need to eat again. I very much prefer this over not having any hunger. That seems like a good way to spiral into disordered eating again (that is.. a good way for me to just not eat because I forget or it is completely unappetizing, etc). Hope this helps! Sorry I can't answer all of your questions. There are many things that are still not entirely understood about wls and the connection to hormones and so on. I would highly recommend asking your surgeon for these answers, as he or she is going to know the most about it.

congratulations! Feels amazing, doesn't it?

My advice is... breeeeeathe. Stalls are normal and actually necessary. If your body never took a little break from the rapid loss, you would probably be really sick. It may be normal to lose this much with wls, but it's not normal at all for our bodies to lose this fast. Your body thinks it's in full-on starvation/dying mode. Keep getting in your protein/water/vitamins, exercise regularly, and the weight will come off. You just have to let your body do it at its own pace now. We put ourselves through an enormous trauma with the surgery, so having a little rest every now and then is only good for your health. That being said, I wasted SO much time worrying about stalls. I would often spend like 3 weeks a month losing absolutely nothing, then rapidly drop pounds in a week. Even with all of those stalls every month, I'm still down 172 pounds since surgery less than a year ago. It adds up, and in a year you'll realize that it was silly to worry so much about this. Not to mention stress and worry are generally terrible for your health, and improving your health is the whole reason we're here, right? You'll get there! Hang in there!

@@gina171 I did consider sleeve and would have happily gotten one if my surgeon had had some reason for me not to do the rny. But rny seemed like a better option for me based on a lot of different things. - There is much more long-term data on it. - It's considered the "gold standard" of wls. - My bmi was very high at the beginning of the program... about 67. From everything I've observed/researched and learned in the surgeon's seminars, those with higher bmis tend to lose more during the honeymoon phase and continue to lose more/easier in the maintenance phase. I had a looong way to go to get to my goal. - I wanted the accountability of the rny. Many sleevers I talked to simply didn't have dumping, or were able to tolerate slider foods even in the weight-loss phase. I wanted the most strict accountability either surgery could offer, and that meant the rny. - Many sleevers I talked to years out that had started very heavy as I did were not really happy with the larger amount they were able to eat, how easy it was to eat bad foods they should not eat, etc. The rny offers more restriction. True, I can stretch out my pouch just like a sleever can stretch out their sleeve but it seemed to me (and statistics back this up) that rny-ers had more restriction farther out than sleevers, and I wanted that. - I also knew a lot of sleevers who, for whatever reason, wanted revisions years later and couldn't get them because of insurance, etc. I could mess up my rny too, of course, but I wanted the smallest chance possible, and the biggest bang for my buck. - I saw many sleevers, particularly ones with high bmis, entering maintenance with 50, 60, 80 pounds left to lose to reach goal. Of course, this wonderful tool will help you reach goal after maintenance has started with enough work and dedication regardless of the type of wls, but since I had such a long way to go and I wanted to lose weight as quickly as possible to give me a good head start on my life-long road to health, the rny seemed a better option. As it is, I'm not yet in maintenance and I'm about 45 pounds away from my goal. Chipping away. - The only arguments people had against the rny did not really matter to me at all. I have to take Vitamins for the rest of my life? Okay, no problem, most people probably should be anyway. There's a slightly higher risk with the rny? Okay, it's really a tiny extra risk, and with all the added benefits, entirely worth it. It didn't scare me at all. I may deal with malabsorption and other complications? Well yes... but so may the sleeve. The different percentages of risk were so close anyway, it didn't worry me at all to take that leap for what I perceived to be my best chance at getting the best head start I could, which would not only greatly improve my health (it has!) and greatly improve my self-esteem (it has!) but also greatly reduce the difficulties of everyday life (it has!!) as soon as I possibly could. I'm 24 and I left college two years ago because I was so sick. I've been sitting here fixing my body and essentially saving my life, and I really don't want to and can't wait another second to start my life. I'm enrolled and going back to school in about 3 weeks, and I look and feel pretty much normal now. I've had no complications, and I've lost 172 pounds since the day of surgery less than a year ago. This was my dream, and it felt like a silly and ridiculous fantasy before. But here I am, and everything I could have possibly wished for has come true for me. AND BONUS! It only gets better from here! For all these reasons and many more that are more personal and harder to explain, I would choose the rny all over again, and again, and again...

Congrats on your date! Exiting times ahead. I think your plan to have help and have family on standby is perfect. You can never know how quickly you'll heal until you're actually going through it. August 22nd will be 5 days after my 1 year surgiversary, so if you ever wanna talk to someone who is where you will be in a year, feel free to shoot me a message anytime.

@@QueenLeo - Like @@Tayfusion says, if you do everything right, you'll almost certainly be just fine. I'll be having my 1-year blood work check up in a couple weeks, so I'll be happy to show you how everything looks, but everything has been perfect. I've had no complications, and I've lost 172 pounds since the day of surgery. Most likely I'll hit the 180-pound lost mark by one year out. I would do this over again a thousand times if I had to, and choose RNY every single time. You can have success with either surgery, I'm just a huge proponent of the bypass because of how incredibly amazing my life has become because of it.

Welcome. I had my rny almost a year ago. If I can help you at all, let me know!

I'm nearly a year post-op and crackers are still not on my list of approved foods. Generally, we're told to avoid carbs that aren't something like brown rice or quinoa (in small amounts) or veggies/beans and the like. Bread, crackers, Pasta are all on the list of foods to avoid.

Congratulations! You look amazing, have a wonderful attitude, and your health being great is just the icing on top of the cake! Happy for you.

yay, exciting times ahead! Great list, too.

following!