summerset

Doing ok so far. Had some problems with diarrhea for about two to three weeks. Why? No idea. It went away eventually. Regarding going to the potty I'm still not used to the lighter color of the bowel movements though. Energy seems to be coming back slowly.

Freeing regarding to WLS or weighing less? Regarding to WLS it's wonderful that I get to eat the things I like without having to worry about eating way too big portions of it. I can eat "normal food" without having to stop while still feeling hungry and without having to fill up on low calorie stuff that tastes awful.

Well, I'm less impulsive, but also less patient if that makes any sense. I don't know if that has anything to do with WLS or just with getting older. I'm less patient when people whine about something and all I want to say is "That is what you're complaining about? Don't you have any real problems?" but then I think "Ok, for me this might be next to nothing but for the other person this is a real problem".

I'm sorry you have to deal with breast cancer but it seems that you're willing to fight and don't give up! Regarding being raw vegan: I think it's a challenge being raw vegan even without MGB when it comes to sufficient nutrition and as you said yourself, your labs are a mess. If you are interested in nutrition and cancer and using a vegan diet you might want to check out Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live, especially the book "Super Immunity". It's not about healing cancer with nutrition, he always recommends checking with the oncologist and I've seen a few RNY patients on the member center boards as well using this way of eating so I don't have a problem recommending at least looking into Fuhrman's approach.

It depends. Do you have any other complications because of the band, e. g. severe reflux issues?

Another rant about "stupid and uneducated" users? Really? Doesn't it get a bit old already? @OutsideMatchInside: You're right. Either detach or stop posting. --- At least I should stop reading the threads certain users start in the Rants & Raves because it is 99% about - yup, you guessed it! - about the "stupidity" of other users.

I see a whole lot of slim people not eating a lot at buffets. I also see a whole lot of slim people pigging out at buffets, especially young men. Sure, there might be different behavior but why are genes and metabolism factors (as it seems) left out more and more these days. Is it the new en vogue thing? Too depressing for people to hear "sorry, you were just unlucky"? Too many people using "genes and metabolism" as an excuse to get even fatter ("I can't do anything about it anyway so why bother")? Is it supposed to be empowering or something? Interestingly enough I can find myself in a whole lot of the criteria that were listed (always could) but look at me - I got fat anyway! So I'm a bit cautious about these types of lists what "naturally slim people do and don't", also because I know quite a bunch of naturally slim people who should be way fatter than they are when looking at the behavior they display. Anyway, Brian Wansink has published some interesting stuff over the years. I always have to smile a little when thinking about the wine anecdote he tells in one of his books.

On the contrary protein bars help me tremendously when it comes to cravings for chocolate bars.

@@yescres07 My last labs were good. My next follow-up appointment is in October. Maybe I'm just in need of a vacation. (only one working day until vacation, yay!) @@LoveMyBypass Maybe it's me being dehydrated. Sometimes you sweat like a pig beneath all that gear.

How are you all doing? I still feel low in energy on stressful days. Anyone doing physical labor for a living? Or being up on the feet quite a bit during the workday? Today we did an angioplasty with thrombectomy that lasted about 2.5 h - wore full gear with the heavy x-ray protection coat and all of course. I felt like "I need to drink, then I need to eat and then I need to sit down for half an hour". Blah.

Might be. I notice this low energy especially on weekends or when coming home after a work day, especially when I was on-call the night before. Getting up in the morning is harder than ever. On Saturdays and Sundays I lay down for a nap on the couch (Oh well, just 30 min or so...) and often sleep for 2 hours straight. People talk a lot about having so much more energy. Not me (at least not yet).

I feel ok so far. Still a bit low in energy. Not sure why, as the labs are ok.

It's patients gossiping of course. Even if I would know for sure it's nothing I would ever write down here.

Some patients simple suspect it. Others said something like "Ok, they maybe want us on liquids for two weeks but because the doubt our compliance they tell us 4 weeks so we're doing it for 2 week". Same thing with e. g. tumor surgery where most of the stomach has to be removed. They also need time to heal and yet they're on solid food much earlier (of course some patients need longer because they don't tolerate it) - but I bet there are different protocols regarding this out there as well.

You might want to check what patients are allowed to eat after stomach surgery that isn't weight loss related. It's interesting to compare. Sometimes I think that WLS patients are on liquids for so long to boost early weight loss for further motivation.

Clear liquids starting the evening after surgery and the next day. Liquids and yoghurt/quark on the second post-op day for 4 weeks. Then try soft foods for one day (yes, that stage was supposed to be one day), then introduce all other foods, one at a time.

It just proofs that exercise is not needed for weight loss. IMO exercising for weight loss feels like another chore. Like a second job that needs to be done either before or after (or both) my job I do for a living. That's why I exercise for other benefits.

@@WLSResources/ClothingExch In Germany the insurance companies require all of this stuff. The thing that makes me mad about this is, that insurance companies can deny coverage even though the patient did as required. Like I said: it's like playing the lottery here. The worst about it (IMO) seems to be the emotional turmoil the patient ist in when doing this program. The patient might be denied coverage if he/she doesn't lose enough weight on it and the patient might be denied coverage because he/she loses too much weight on it ("see, it works without surgery" which is of course BS because what is a time span of 6 months when it comes to weight loss and maintenance?).

That's worth a full quote.

Only if the behaviors persists. Behaviors (or maybe "habits" would be more correct) only have an impact when done on a regular basis (well, unless you do something really dangerous). You could compare it with consuming alcohol maybe. If you drink a larger amount of alcohol daily, not good. If you drink a glass of wine now and then, it's most likely not causing a problem. Yes. If. I mean there are patients participating in a 6 months long multimodal concept (PTs and NUTs and counsellors and whatnot) and they don't lose weight or only a few lbs. How can that be if these programs are supposed to be the cream of the crop? I'm no longer sure it really works this way. Sometimes I think some people have what it takes to succeed, fancy programs and behavior modifications or not, and others don't. But maybe that is too much fatalistic thinking though.

Of course not. However, what would it take to really prepare people for WLS? Is that even possible? To be eligible for surgery you should already have gone through everything else that is available to lose weight so you should be quite educated about all the theory regarding lifestyle changes (nutrition, exercise, therapy etc.) - you would have to self-pay to come around all of this stuff. Maybe I'm underestimating the number of self-payers in the US. In Germany people have to go through months long so called "multimodal concepts" since a whole while that might last from 3 months up to 9 months, depending on the insurance company and/or WLS center, to get approved for surgery (and even then it feels like playing the lottery and patients can be denied coverage). Yet patients still have problems losing all of the excess weight or struggle with major regain. Would be interesting to compare failure/success rates though with patients who got minimal counseling before surgery.

I would like to have known exactly all of that and more - however, there aren't surefire answers to these questions as it all varies a great deal from patient to patient. I now think that maybe these not-really-answerable questions have been the reason I postponed revision for over a year. I couldn't even know for sure if it would really solve the problem I was getting revision for in the first place (reflux). There was a good chance, yes, but no guarantee.

Damn, it really is like getting a driver's license! I think quite a few drivers should never have gotten permission to drive a car at all. All jokes aside - there is no way you can tell if someone is going to "mess up" after surgery or not. You'll never know for sure. There are people getting heart surgery and don't stop smoking or start smoking again, there are people who start drinking again after getting a new liver, even though they stopped drinking long enough to be able to get that liver etc. - and how many times before surgery (being on the umpteenth diet - oops, I mean lifestyle change of course) did we think This Is Finally It! This Time It Will Be Different! This Time I Will Succeed! - and yet we didn't. About that "lifestyle change": obviously we all needed surgery to be able to do that change and we all messed up a great deal before surgery when it comes to "lifestyle changes", otherwise we wouldn't have been eligible for surgery in the first place.

Reminds me of getting a driver's license somehow. Interestingly enough there are many shitty drivers out there anyway - and all of them have passed their tests.

What I thought.