Dairymary

I had surgery with Dr. Ortiz 6 years ago. I've had all of my followup care with my primary physician back home, which basically just consists of annual bloodwork. OCC provided me with my preanesthetic bloodwork and ECG results, OR report, a list of recommended labs and detailed postop nutritional information which I gave to my doctor. Dr. Ortiz, as well as his entire staff were readily available for questions via phone and email. Since I still get emails from them, checking on my progress, I can only assume that their followup program and accessibility is still just as good.

A whole glass or whole bottle in one go? Never. Not unless I'm trying to induce vomiting.

Congrats! We young folks RULE!

Preop, postop, liquid diet, diarrhea, struggling to meet goals, stalls, fatigue, hunger, and acid, been there, done it all. Hardest part by far is long term maintenance. Buckle up folks, the worst....and best.....is yet to come! No regrets, not even for a second, but I simply find maintenance the hardest because (in most cases) everything else eventually ends.

Question for the OP. You stated that food addiction is just an excuse and you don't have one. You're adamant that you don't have an issue with food. So how did you become obese and why couldn't you lose weight without WLS.? I heard this in my support group too many times to count and in most cases it basically came down to total denial of where the problem lies. Just curious why you feel you couldn't just eat smaller portions of healthy food and go though the program of pre and postop meal plans to lose weight without surgical intervention? And forgive me if you already addressed this because I didn't read every single post in this thread. Your statements were just something that stuck out to me since I'd heard them so many times before. Just curious if there is an underlying metabolic disorder or other disease that surgery was able correct, allowing you to lose weight you wouldn't normally be able to.

Are you seeing a therapist? Counselor? Attended group support meetings through your local surgical or bariatric center? Joined OA or other addiction recovery programs? What type of self help books have you read? Any...or all...of these things are more important to successful long term results than meal planning and pouch resets. You have to find out the reasons behind WHY you turn to food for comfort. Then you can start working on developing new coping mechanisms and behaviors to deal with your emotions and life's unpleasantries. Losing and keeping weight off in order to achieve your long term health goals is far more psychological than physical. Put your energy towards where it will make a difference.

What Little Bill said.... The numbers you were quoted are just averages. There are extremes on both ends. However, at 63 years old I am certainly not a gym rat I lost over 100% of my excess weight, maintain at a healthy BMI, but do it through healthy food choices and appropriate portions, not excessive excercise . As for losing indefinitely, that is usually the result of trading one eating disorder for another. At some point the calories you burn wil equal the calories you consume and your weight will stabilize. That usually happens on its own, but rarely do some people have to make a conscious effort to increase their calories once they hit maintenance. You will find the opposite to be much more common, though....people tend to struggle as they get closer to goal and some regain is more likely than continued loss. WLS statistics are basically a reflection of what thousands of OTHER people did with their opportunity. They have nothing to do with your ultimate outcome....only YOU determine that number.

You can never stop thinking of yourself as a WLS patient, IMHO. But as for when it becomes "second nature", that's kind if hard to pinpoint. I was diligent about measuring and tracking everything for 3 years. Took my Vitamins, met my Protein and Water goals, watched my carbs, etc. Then my kitchen scale broke and instead of replacing it, I came to realize I didn't need it anymore. I had been eating like a WLS patient for so long, at some point the training wheels had come off and I didn't even know it. it had all just become normal. You will be a WLS patient for the rest of your life, which hopefully is several decades. Find a happy medium you can live with and embrace the lifestyle. Eventually it will become your new normal.

6 years

No need whatsoever to step on the scale if you don't want to. I only ever weighed about once every 3-4 weeks. As long as you are getting your protein and fluids and following your meal plans, you will lose. For me, the NSVs were my measure of progress and way more fun to track anyways. Others like to see those numbers every day and that's fine. Just do whatever you feel most comfortable with and what will allow you to be successful.

Pros - seriously, too many to list. Don't think this server could hold them all. Highlights include normal BP, no more back and knee pain, keeping up with two grandkids, shopping in any store I want, crossing my legs, not sweating and getting out of breath with physical exertion, being a productive member of society, and a wonderful, renewed sex life with DH of 38 years (it's fun being his new "trophy wife" ). Cons - I lose money at All You Can Eat Buffets.

I'm just over 6 years out. Took 18 months to lose all of my excess weight (160 pounds) and I've maintained at goal ever since. Love love love my sleeve and Wouldn't change a thing about my surgery. I do my part by making smart choices and let my sleeve do its part with restriction. However, if all I had was my sleeve, I probably would not be quite as successful. Bad food choices trump good restriction any day. It's the psychological tools I developed with my therapist and my support group that helped me overcome the behaviors that got me fat in the first place. the combination of surgery and therapy have done nothing but improve everything about my life.

Love both. Eat a pickle spear with cheese and sausage as a snack nearly every day. Never had any restrictions regarding them once I was in regular food phase. Actually, I did eat green olives even in soft food stage. Chopped them up fine, mixed with cream cheese, and rolled up in a slice of deli ham. The salty/sweet combo was a big hit at that point. Mmmmm.

So she's just 2 weeks out, right? I was on liquids for a full 3 weeks before ever attempting puréed textured foods. And even then 1/4 cup of yogurt would have been way too much. Even a couple teaspoons made me too full to drink for hours. I ended up drinking protein shakes, water, juice, milk, tea and protein broth most of the day and taking a couple nibbles of yogurt or refried beans late in the day. Your friend's sleeve may just not be ready to advance yet. Getting 100+ ounces of fluids and 60-80g of protein is more important than the type of texture she can tolerate right now. As long as she's meeting fluid and protein goals, she can transition food stages as slow as she needs to. Took me over a year to be able to meet my protein goals with solid food alone. But believe me, I sure appreciate the restriction.

3 days clear liquids; 3 weeks full liquids; 2 weeks puréed; 2 weeks soft food. Most anything after 8 weeks except nuts and seeds and crunchy raw veggies which were OKd at 3 months. I guess it was a good plan as I healed great, had amazing restriction, no vomitting, nausea or pain. Was meeting all fluid and protein goals by 5 days postop.

Like suzzzz said, get your Protein however you can, doesn't matter from food or shakes. Personally, my restriction was so tight I couldn't get enough solid food to meet goals for a long time. For example, I couldn't eat more than 1/2 an egg at a time for at least 6 months. I also wanted to make sure I was incorporating a balanced diet including fruits, veggies and whole grains, so I drank protein shakes for several years. Still do when I'm on the run and too busy to sit down and eat One thing I would suggest is spreading your protein out through the day. You've got almost none for breakfast and then over 50g for dinner. A lot of studies indicate that our bodies cannot absorb more than 20g protein/hour. Maybe try having that shake for breakfast instead.

I agree lol. I weighed myself and was like what?! Well that cant be right. It makes sense now. So about how long was it until your body kinda regulated and went back to normal? And seriously thank you. And they really should tell patients ciz i can be the only one who freaked out a little hahaSent from my LGLS991 using the BariatricPal App I didn't weigh myself that often, but I Remember I weighed the same as surgery day about two weeks out.

Yep. They pump you full of IV fluids and you have excess fluids held up in all your surgical swelling. The excess weight means you're well hydrated, which is a good thing. I came home 15 pounds heavier than I went in. Totally normal and to be expected. It's very frustrating for me that doctors don't inform their patients of this. It would ease a lot of anxiety.

Was the therapist something you started doing during the pre-open phase?No. I went to Mexico for surgery, so didn't do any of the "usual" preop stuff, including a psych evaluation. After my initial healing period and food transitions, I started attending a local bariatric support group. I wasn't having any problems following my plan at that point, I was just looking for comraderie. It was there that I saw the struggles that so many patients were having with head games and how easy it was to eat around any of the surgeries if you really wanted to. I decided to make a preemptive strike and find a good therapist before I had a chance to start slipping back into the behaviors that got me fat in the first place. Took three tries before I found one I clicked with, but it was worth it. I was more than prepared with the tools I needed to conquer the mental struggles that I have encountered along the way.

Good for you. I actually don't think twice about going nuts on a day like Thanksgiving. Yesterday, besides turkey I had mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, yams, caramel apple pie, blueberry cheesecake AND pumpkin pie with whipped cream. All small portions of course, but more carbs than I usually have in a whole week. But I've learned through the years that one day is not going to derail my weightloss no matter how "bad" I am. As long as it's an exception, not a rule, I don't worry about it. Hope you enjoyed the six pies....don't feel bad about it and you are right back on track. That's what matters. BTW, what kind were they?

A surgeon's protocols are going to be influence by dozens of factors....their education and training before ever becoming surgeons, their training and experiences after becoming surgeons, the anesthesiologists they work with, other surgeons they mentored under, the protocols of other practices they may have worked for, their current colleagues, bosses and hospital administrators, their nurses, the programs nutritionist, individual patient cases that may have had good or poor outcomes from certain policies/procedures, overall compliance of the patients, ultimate expectations of the surgeon (which may be quite different than the patient's expectations), etc. And those are just broad categories that have innumerable details influencing the surgeons decisions and protocols. I've worked with hundreds of different doctors over the 30+ years of my nursing career and I can tell you that for every 10 doctors' there are at least 20 different way of going the same thing. So not only is each patient different, so is each Doctor. I have yet to see ANY surgery or procedure or program that has a standardized protocol.

I lost 160 pounds over 18 months. I'm six years out and have maintained within 5 pounds of my low weight. I credit my surgeon and sleeve for helping me lose the weight, but it's my therapist and the mental changes I've made that's helped me keep it off.

We could probably give you more detailed suggestions if you provided your daily macros. Are you tracking and measuring everything? What are your daoly Calories? Carbs? Protein? Fluids? Workout/Exercise Routine?

Besides 160 pounds of pure fat, there's nothing to miss. I'm the same person I always was.

Took about 4 months before I felt "right".