notmyname

I'm about 9 months out and lost 82% EWL so far (my EWL is calculated based on the highest BMI in the healthy weight range). I attribute it to genetics, luck, following my surgeon's instructions, and, frankly, being sick as a doc months 3-7. And, yes, I put genetics and luck first because I've met a few folks who eat like I do (or better) and lost about 60% and some who eat worse than I do and lost more.

I was told never again. I can say that I had to take a carbonated drink-thing to have some gastro tests done a few months after surgery and even a little bit of it was super painful.

Not sure if this helps, but my first few months my butt, arms and legs lost a lot more inches (as a % of where they were) than my waist. So the same clothes fit for about 50#. Then it just all kind of caught up over time. I was super frustrated not losing a size for months. But it did eventually come. And I’m glad o have the measurements to look at. Some months I lose a lot of weight, but not many inches. Sometimes that’s flipped. Sometimes I lose a lot off my butt, other times off my waist. But it is coming off.

Post op I really liked pureed spinach (just saute the spinach and puree) and pureed sweet potato.

I definitely slowed down. I also seem to gain, then lose. So last week I was up 2#, this week down 4 (so average 1# loss over 2 weeks). But, my doc told me to expect it to slow at 6 months and taper to 0 at 12-18. I'm still about 20# into the overweight category, but at least not obese anymore. And I've lost 80%+ of my excess weight. My goal is to lose enough weight so that if I do end up gaining the 10-20% that some folks do, I'll still be solidly in the overweight and not obese category.

Ginger. Note that peppermint can cause reflux or make it worse. If the nausea is reflux-related, it might actually make the problem worse.

Also look at your diet to see if there is anything that might cause reflux - when I had terrible reflux, I also had terrible nausea. Even well after I ate and wasn't hungry.

Yep - I'm 8 months out and my cycles are all f'ed up. Anywhere from 2 weeks to 8 weeks - and there is no rhyme or reason to when I'll get it.

My doctor said that he didn't want me driving until my 2 week appointment, but that legally I couldn't drive until the narcotics were out of my system for 24 hours.

That said, my abdomen was pretty sore for a few weeks . Sure, I could have driven. But if anything out of the ordinary occurred and I needed to quickly stop or accelerate, I'm not sure I could have. So much of your leg movement comes from your core. So, I really didn't feel safe driving for 2 weeks. And I extended it to 3 because I could work from home that third week.

Look up the studies. The rate of conversion is fairly low. It might just look high here because more people who post are looking for support with problems than are here chatting years later about having a smooth experience.

Here's one from patients in New York.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29496440

Rate of revision/conversion was 26.0% for band, 9.8% for sleeve, and 4.9% for bypass.

Didn't feel the monitor at all. They put it in while I was under. You'll likely also have to carry around a little external monitor (about the size of a box of cards) to note when/if you feel reflux.

I did also have a monometry (measures the strength and muscle coordination of your esophagus when you swallow), which you have to do while awake.

Take measurements. i take them once a month: breast, chest (just under the boobs), waist, hips, both thighs, both calves, both upper arms, neck.

Several times in months I lost less, I lost more inches and vice versa. Its weird, but it helps to know I'm still on the right track.

Honestly, I suspect wearing baggy clothes is easier for men (I assume you're a man because of the Mr in your name, sorry if that is incorrect). Luckily I had some clothes in smaller sizes. But once those ran out, I bought at least 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of work pants and a few shirts that could go work or casual. Once I was in an XL, I bought a couple dresses (I was in 3X before). Most stuff I waited until I saw sales at Old Navy or the outlet malls and bought a bunch of the same stuff in multiple sizes. So I ended up paying something like $13 for a pair of jeans and $5-10 for shirts/sweaters.

I'm 8 months out and I still can't eat rice. If I really need something to sop up some sauce, i'll use cauliflower rice. Its gross on its own, but good with a sauce.

do you like milk? I knew one woman who would have double milk - Milk mixed with milk powder (not Protein Powder, but powdered milk) for extra Protein. It might help some.

My face has gotten wrinklier. BUT - I found that it goes in phases. One day I looked in the mirror an saw MASSIVE turkey wattle neck. Like serious lose skin there. About a month later, it was gone. It takes my skin some time to catch up to the weight loss - so I might see more wrinkles one month and fewer the next.

I have no idea if any of this helps, but I was my face an neck day and night using a Clairisonic brush. In the AM, I then use a lifting serum, then SPF moisturizer. At night, I use a tone repair serum, then a night moisturizer (all stuff you can get at the drugstore. So far, I do have some more wrinkles, but nothing that anyone (other than me) would notice.

Since everyone is different, I'll post my % EWL (taken from my date of surgery weight). I'm 8 months out and have lost appx 81% of my excess weight. My weight loss REALLY slowed in month 6. And I lost really well in months 3-5 because of some complications that made it VERY hard to eat (harder than even weeks after surgery).

Post-Op Appt: no idea

1 mo: 15%

4 mo: 48.57%

6 mo: 68.65

I tend to steer my friends to tapas or small plates places. That way we're all sharing, I can make sure there's at least one or two things I can eat, and nobody really notices how much I eat or don't eat.

I was a pescatarian before surgery (and after), so I can't relate to the change in taste, but below are some things I eat for Protein (note, I likely eat far too much cheese). I can't have Protein Shakes either, but am able to get my protein with food now (EDITED because noticed you can't have shakes)

Meals

• fish/shrimp
• eggs - mostly scrambled (I add some cheese and salsa and eat with a touch of guac) or hard boiled
• greek yogurt
• Quark (its a cheese that is yogurt consistency - but thinner than greek yogurt) I almost always have quark with frozen blueberries for Breakfast - by the time i get to work, the bb are still a little frozen, but not hard)
• cottage cheese (there is one that is higher protein called good culture)
• My favorite lunch is ricotta bake (google "Eggface ricotta bake") - I always add some sauteed spinach. I make a double batch and cook them in a mini loaf pan (makes 8 mini loaves) - freeze half of them.
• beans/lentils (although not a lot of Protein here)
• tofu - I either buy extra firm, drain it, and bake it or buy the baked tofu from places like trader joe's
• Veggie sausage (I like morninstar farms)
• egg salad (2 eggs, 1 TBL greek yog, 1 TBL may)
• Veggie burgers (look at the protein content, some are low protein/high carb)

Snacks

• almonds
• Sargento nut snack packs
• cheese (I buy the cracker cuts of various cheeses and will have about 4 pieces - a bit over an oz)
• fairlife milk
• parm chips with either hummus or guac (this can also be a meal for me)

A very typical day for me:

B: quark (or greek yog) w/frozen blueberries, latte (8 oz milk) - NOT at the same time - drink the latte at home, then eat the quark 30mn later when I get to work) (160cal/27g protein)

L: Ricotta bake (228 cal/19g protein)

S: nut snack pack (180 cal/7g protein)

S2: Decaf latte (120 cal/13g protein)

D : Options (1) fish/shrimp of some sort, (2) Tofu of some sort. (Varies - usually 150-300 cal, 8-15g protein)

14 hours ago, ms.sss said:

@notmyname, glad to hear thing are getting better (if even just a little bit )...is your team still recommending a revision for you?

Haven't seen then since my 6 month check up (9 month is in early August). At that time, they still want me to do revision. I am still fairly against it. I tend to get random complications from surgery, and I don't feel comfortable putting myself through another major surgery. Plus, I have figured out how to live with my current state of being. I'm not sure I'm up to figuring out new complications if I got the bypass.

A couple thoughts (none of which might work)

I wonder if you're taste buds have changed so that you'd either like it without the creamer or sugar or a little milk &/or artificial sweetener would work.

Some folks like coffee with some Premier Protein shake in it ( I don't, but a friend uses either vanilla or caramel)

I find that cold brewed coffee is much less acidic and much more flavorful. I used to drink coffee with a lot of half and half, but I can drink cold brew black. I keep it in the fridge for about a week. Cold brew also reheats nicely - it doesn't get the bitter taste of most reheated coffee. This recipe works well. https://www.thekitchn.com/big-batch-cold-brew-coffee-257177

I'm probably a bad patient - I allow myself to drink on vacation (I did at about 6 months out). But I can't handle carbonation or much sugar (no fun fruity drinks ). So, I typically order wine or vodka cranberry (heavy on the cran). I can usually only finish about half a glass, but its nice to have a bit.

@freiabr - I'm so sorry about your mother. I hope she recovers soon!

As for me, I'm doing much better than I was in months 3-4, but still feel like warmed over poo most of the time. I'm starting to finally be able to eat more types of food and more than a TBL or so at a time, but I feel a little like I lost the months right after surgery creating healthy patterns. Instead, I was just eating to survive since all I could eat at a time was two cracker cuts of cheese or a Tablespoon of hummus (this was around month 4-5). So now that I can eat a bit more, I just need to stop eating like a toddler and go back to what I was doing in months 2-3 where I was actually cooking. I still desperately miss veggies - even now the only way to get all my Protein is to ONLY eat protein. And, frankly, I'm still on the lower end of protein for what my NUT would like me to have. Sometimes (well, fairly often), I wish I could waive a wand, take back the 120 lbs I've lost since pre-op, and feel better again. The only reason I did this was to avoid having complications of weight and feeling bad in the future, when my reality is that I just made myself more physically ill now and will have to live with it longer. But that's not how life works - you can't undo certain choices, so I'm working with a therapist on how to mentally move forward given the decisions I made.

I agree with others that since you're in the early weeks, give it time. A lot of folks feel pretty raw the first few weeks after surgery and begin to really love their decision later.

But, I've also had several complications (pretty rare) and at 8 months out still regret the surgery. I've had to start seeing a therapist (she specializes in weight issues, including bariatric surgery) because even though I'm not sure I'll ever feel good about my decision, it is not good for my mind to feel this bad about it all the time. It is helping. It isn't too late to see a therapist to talk through this. I'm working on a lot of reframing, and it is slowly helping. My WLS nurse keeps telling me that how I feel is not my life - and she's right. I feel infinitely better now than I did when the complications first showed up. Good luck.

The things I drink are

Water

fruit infused water: probably not exactly what you're looking for, but if you get a water bottle with a fruit infuser in it, you can put fruit in your water to flavor it. I'll use frozen fruit - less flavor, but cools your drink and is cheaper.

Plain iced tea (so not the stuff you buy in bottles - which often has sugar &/or aftertaste, but brew on your own)

Decaf coffee with milk.

So, from everything I read/heard before surgery, it would take my brain a while to catch up to my weight loss and I would still see myself as super heavy for a while. I seem to be the exact opposite - As I've lost, I've felt like I'm really small, then as I'm in a new size for awhile, I look at myself and realize I'm just not. So, I feel/think I look thin when I first get into a new size, then later feel/think I look fat. Not really ranting, it is just interesting how my perception of myself has been very different than I had been told it would be.