Maggie Journey

Thank you for taking the time to write - excellent advice! Very encouraging. I follow a Paleo and organic way of eating, which I found on my own (not with bariatric center help) at the beginning of my 6-month pre-op dieting phase. I did really well with it and was successful even before the surgery.... Reversed health conditions, got off most meds. I don't eat bread and although I rarely eat the other junk foods you mentioned, they have snuck in from time to time. The local dietician and especially the support group person (professional; not sure what her title is) - they teach old-fashioned 90's dieting. I'm alone in the way I eat in my local bariatric community. I use FitBit and track my food there, especially to hit the daily protein goal. Maybe someday with consistent success, I won't have to. It's never been the slow/gradual losing on the scale that bothered me, but regain terrifies me. I have been dramatically up and down all my life, and I can't go back there! Thanks for your help.

I'm 13 months post-op from sleeve and hiatal hernia repair. I'm seeking tips and hope to hear similar experience from those who are at least 12 months post-op, please. I had a visit to my bariatric office today for a routine follow-up visit. Today was the first time I felt negative about that visit, very stressed and struggling. The entire pre and post-op process has been slow and steady results (that's okay) and I've had a mostly positive experience, until recently. I think I'm in "the honeymoon is over" phase. For months my weight loss basically stopped, but I was only 15 lbs from goal and not upset to take a pause for a few months. During the weight loss "pause" my hair finally stopped falling out, my energy was getting better, and that enabled me to increase some activity. My clothes were still indicating that I was slowly shrinking, even if the scale didn't move much. I was fine! NOW, just in the past 2-3 weeks, I've experienced my first real weight re-gain, and additionally my clothes got a little tighter for the first time since I started this journey - about 5 lbs up. ( Just FYI, this isn't temporary hormonal/period stuff, I'm almost 58 and haven't had any of that for a long time. ;-D) Weight regain terrifies me!!!!! It's also depressing when you realize you have to live in a permanent state of serious dieting to make progress: Tracking everything daily, thinking about every bite, planning your life around dieting, etc. (fighting day in, day out). In most ways it's just like before going through this surgery..... Choose to live in a constant state of dieting and exercise, or else GAIN. *sigh* My sleeve restriction at this point isn't that much. If I let myself, I could eat a ton of food and I can see how easily and fast I could gain it all back. I fear this because I've had a lifetime of emotional eating issues. I could fail if I let myself. Has anyone else experienced this and felt this way at around the 1+ year mark? If you've been here and pushed through, what are your best tips that got you through this successfully? Thank you! xo

One of my big fears before surgery was what the scars would look like long term. This is a few days after surgery and 1 year later. I'm happy with it!

Hi, I had my surgery on 5/16. By about a month in, I was usually able to hit around 800. My calorie range my doc gave me is 800-1,000. Now I'm hitting my range every day. Are you on solid foods now? What are you eating? Why do you think you're not getting more in a day?

@@asolanom, I love the responses you got, and my story is very similar. I'm 5'4", age 56. At the beginning of my bariatric process, I started at 223 lbs with many co-morbidities and conditions: insulin resistance, PCOS, arthritis, GERD, fatty liver, high BP, high cholesterol, pre-diabetes (and meds galore). For insurance purposes, I had to complete 6 consecutive months of weight loss and checking in to report at my surgeon's office & be weighed, showing months of progress. On my own at the beginning of the pre-op process, I adopted a Paleo / Mediterranean way of eating that I love. During my pre-op months, I lost about 26 lbs. During this time I reversed my pre-diabetes and some of the other issues were showing improvement, too. I recently had my sleeve surgery on 5/16/16 weighing 197. I'm 19 days post-op and weigh 187 lbs today. I'm now off the statin drug (yay!). The most rapid weight loss was during the pre-op and post-op mandatory liquid diet. I don't care about losing weight that fast, I don't think it's the healthiest thing to experience very rapid weight loss and extremely low calories. I'm glad to be cleared for foods and back to eating some of my super-healthy high quality whole foods again. Going forward, I'm not worried about losing weight a little bit slower. Having real, nutritious food fuels me to take long walks and move all day. Even after this short time since surgery, I'm feeling like a new woman. My resting heart rate has dropped into a very healthy range already. My BP is very well under control now and I'll be getting off of at least one BP med very soon. The health aspects make me so thrilled, I could cry! I'm just filled with joy. I'm looking forward to the big picture of my life, my whole future, not overly focused on the number on the scale and stressing about it from one day to the next. After all, this was a major surgery and having some swelling for several weeks after is just natural. I've learned to be very forgiving of myself, not compare myself to anyone else, and just embrace my own journey. Best of everything to you. Follow your own path, keep your eye on the prize, and enjoy! No two of any of us are the same. Vive la difference!

@@mia150, THANK YOU for this link! I had never heard of this doctor and now I can't stop watching his videos. Everything he's teaching about nutrition makes perfect sense, and fits with the healthy plan I followed for 6 months pre-op dropping 30 lbs. It's great to hear support for this from a bariatric surgeon. I only wish I had found this info sooner!

Definite difference, congrats!

This gives me hope that this too shall finally PASS!

My surgery was Monday 5/16, and now five days later I'm still working at clearing out the gas. My belly still feels bloated with gas. Is this typical? How long after surgery did you all finally feel relieved of gas?

There are lots of super-healthy, low carb, high protien pizza crust recipes that don't involve cauliflower and are easy to make. Here are a few! http://thebigmansworld.com/2015/07/10/3-ingredient-paleo-pizza-bases/ Even more simple and healthy, use portobello mushrooms to make personal-sized pizzas. There are 100's of recipes for this. Portobellos make great substitute hamburger "buns" or even "English muffins", too. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/portobello-pizzas-recipe.html

Yes, definitely! He seems very confident that I will likely be healed from GERD due to the hernia repair he did. I have trust in him- he's the best in this part of the state, has done many, many of these procedures. I have high hopes.

I've had GERD for years and have been medicated daily for it. My prescription is called Pantoprazole, or Protonix. In just the past few months I learned for sure that I have a hiatal hernia and it needed fixing, which I just did on 5/16 along with my sleeve. My surgeon says I have a very good shot at curing my GERD with the hernia repair surgery and eventually getting off my med. For now, I'm still on it. I'm really excited at the prospect of being healed from GERD, off the prescription, and maybe even able to reintroduce foods that I had given up due to intolerance (like tomatoes).

@@kmorri, I am so sorry to see the difficulties you're experiencing. It's exhausting to be getting only 500 calories, let alone 100 calories. I think at this point it's (#1) get your fluids and (#2) get your Protein in if you can. This whole process is very much just one day at a time! I keep my spirits up by focusing on the fact I'll feel better tomorrow, next week, etc. And I've been looking at the success stories and before/after pics for hope and inspiration. Hugs!!!!