notmyname

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

@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.

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.

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.

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.

I use very small utensils. I have some that are appetizer size. And some that are just smaller (link below). It really helps me slow down. Takes me about 20 mn to eat about 2 oz of Protein and 50g of veg.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B1JRZYV/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

MY cycle has been super weird. 8 months out, I'm still not regular (although I wasn't regular before).
My first period was about 6 weeks after surgery (so more than a month late), then another 6 weeks later, then 2 weeks, then 4 weeks, then 9 weeks.
It may also be worth discussing BC with your surgeon and gyno - my doc said that BC may not absorb correctly after surgery.

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.

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.

Most sleevers don't get GERD if they didn't have it before - it just seems that way because people don't really post the positive - you're FAR more likely to see a post about getting GERD than a post about not having a side effect/complication. According to some studies, about 9% of people who are sleeeved get GERD (the title in the link to this article is a bit misleading: https://www.mdedge.com/gihepnews/article/80250/gastroenterology/sleeve-gastrectomy-often-worsens-gerd)
According to the article: "Most LSG patients [who had GERD before surgery] (84.1%) had persistent GERD symptoms after the procedure; only 15.9% reported resolution of symptoms. An additional 9.0% of LSG patients reported postoperative worsening of GERD symptoms. And 8.6% of patients who didn’t have GERD before undergoing sleeve gastrectomy developed the disorder afterward."
So, if you don't have GERD now, this study would say you have an 8.6% chance of getting it afterwards. Most of the people I've met who have had the sleeve have no GERD (and one bypass patient I know does). And the few sleevers I know who do have GERD have it well under control with medicaiton.
In the end, read the studies. Talk to your surgeon. Have you had an endoscopy - talk to your surgeon about the results and what s/he thinks it means for the likeliness of getting GERD.
As to why - my understanding is that because you're stomach basically becomes a tube, the pressure in your stomach increases, which increases the chance of the acid being forced back into the esophagus. This is a really nerdy article, but Table 1 talks about why obese people in general have a higher incidence of GERD, why someone might newly get GERD after sleeve (de novo column), or why GERD might get better after sleeve ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4579881/
NOTE going into the next paragraph - my experience is NOT typical. I know some on this board would prefer that people don't talk about their bad outcomes, but I feel like people should know that a small number of patients do get the. I'd also say that, for me, some presentations of GERD are not preferable to being overweight. Unfortunately, my surgeon gave me the 8.6% figure as ALL sleeve patients - he didn't give me the #s on people who had GERD before (I recognize I should have done more of my own research - I did some, but somehow didn't see the study linked to above). I had a bit of GERD that was very well controlled before surgery. I felt great for about 3 months post-surgery. Months 4-5 were so rough with GERD I could barely eat (I struggled to get 3-400 calories vs. eating about 700 in the few months after surgery) and struggled every waking moment not to throw up. It is better now (at 8 months), but I still have GERD and can tell you at any given time exactly where the acid is in my esophagus. I can tell you that at months 4-5, I would have 100% taken all the weight back to feel better. And even now I seriously regret the surgery and would trade the 125-ish lbs loss to feel like I did before surgery (edited to add - I also have other complications, so its not just the GERD that makes me regret this - but I likely would have had the other complications with RNY, too). But, for various personal reasons that really only apply to me, I wouldn't have had the RNY and still won't convert. So, I'm working on it in therapy because it is not mentally healthy to continually regret a decision I can't take back.

Anyone post-op have their Migraines get progressively worse? Mine were 99% under control before surgery - maybe one every 3-4 months. Since then, they've gotten progressively worse. I've now had some form of Migraine (some moderate, some severe) every day for about 3 weeks. I'm trying to get into my neurologist, but until I can, i just don't know what to do. I can't take triptans, NSAIDs are now out, and tylenol does nothing. I feel like crap and I'm out of ideas.

Most sleevers don't get GERD if they didn't have it before - it just seems that way because people don't really post the positive - you're FAR more likely to see a post about getting GERD than a post about not having a side effect/complication. According to some studies, about 9% of people who are sleeeved get GERD (the title in the link to this article is a bit misleading: https://www.mdedge.com/gihepnews/article/80250/gastroenterology/sleeve-gastrectomy-often-worsens-gerd)
According to the article: "Most LSG patients [who had GERD before surgery] (84.1%) had persistent GERD symptoms after the procedure; only 15.9% reported resolution of symptoms. An additional 9.0% of LSG patients reported postoperative worsening of GERD symptoms. And 8.6% of patients who didn’t have GERD before undergoing sleeve gastrectomy developed the disorder afterward."
So, if you don't have GERD now, this study would say you have an 8.6% chance of getting it afterwards. Most of the people I've met who have had the sleeve have no GERD (and one bypass patient I know does). And the few sleevers I know who do have GERD have it well under control with medicaiton.
In the end, read the studies. Talk to your surgeon. Have you had an endoscopy - talk to your surgeon about the results and what s/he thinks it means for the likeliness of getting GERD.
As to why - my understanding is that because you're stomach basically becomes a tube, the pressure in your stomach increases, which increases the chance of the acid being forced back into the esophagus. This is a really nerdy article, but Table 1 talks about why obese people in general have a higher incidence of GERD, why someone might newly get GERD after sleeve (de novo column), or why GERD might get better after sleeve ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4579881/
NOTE going into the next paragraph - my experience is NOT typical. I know some on this board would prefer that people don't talk about their bad outcomes, but I feel like people should know that a small number of patients do get the. I'd also say that, for me, some presentations of GERD are not preferable to being overweight. Unfortunately, my surgeon gave me the 8.6% figure as ALL sleeve patients - he didn't give me the #s on people who had GERD before (I recognize I should have done more of my own research - I did some, but somehow didn't see the study linked to above). I had a bit of GERD that was very well controlled before surgery. I felt great for about 3 months post-surgery. Months 4-5 were so rough with GERD I could barely eat (I struggled to get 3-400 calories vs. eating about 700 in the few months after surgery) and struggled every waking moment not to throw up. It is better now (at 8 months), but I still have GERD and can tell you at any given time exactly where the acid is in my esophagus. I can tell you that at months 4-5, I would have 100% taken all the weight back to feel better. And even now I seriously regret the surgery and would trade the 125-ish lbs loss to feel like I did before surgery (edited to add - I also have other complications, so its not just the GERD that makes me regret this - but I likely would have had the other complications with RNY, too). But, for various personal reasons that really only apply to me, I wouldn't have had the RNY and still won't convert. So, I'm working on it in therapy because it is not mentally healthy to continually regret a decision I can't take back.

My SIL came to stay with me after surgery for a few days. She came the day before surgery and was there for 3 days after. I had sleeve and was in the hospital 1 night (they let me out around 7PM the following day). My doc required someone to be home with me for 24 hours after I stopped narcotics (although I stopped the narcotics when I left the hospital). I don't think I would have needed someone there all day, but it was nice.
Help I needed:
I needed help lifting things (so doing laundry, taking out the trash, etc). Couldn't lift more than 10# for 6 weeks after surgery. After SIL left, my neighbor helped me with the trash You can't drive until you have the narcotics out of your system for 24 hours, and my doc doesn't like people driving for 2 weeks (I was so sore, I wouldn't have been comfortable with my reaction time if something had happened while driving), so she drove me around if I need it for the first few days. But I really didn't need to leave the house - for my follow-ups, I took Uber. I didn't need the following, and could have done all of this myself, but it was nice to have someone else thinking for me in the first few days when my brain was scrambled from anesthesia (NOT common, but I do not do well with anesthesia😞
My bedroom is on the 3rd floor of my house. She helped make sure I was OK getting up there . She kept track of my liquid/protein intake and would remind me to sip every 15 minutes or so (she created a great tracking system that I used for about a month or two after surgery) She'd prompt me to walk and track how far we went. Walked about 4-5 times a day, around the block of my townhomes - so each lap was about 500ft of walking. I bet I wouldn't have walked nearly as much if she wasn't here Helped me remember to use my spirometer.

I'm a pescatarian, but mostly eat vegetarian. Some of my veggie go-tos are (I eat far too much cheese, which may not work for you with the autoimmune - not sure):
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)
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
eggs - mostly scrambled
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
fairlife milk

re; Instantpot - they're almost always on sale on Amazon Prime day (which I think is in a couple weeks

I haven't dated in YEARS. I met someone I'm really interested in and our mutual activity ends tomorrow. Basically, he was standing outside alone before lunch and I went up to him and said something to the effect of “I’m going to make an ass of myself, but if you'd like to do something after all of this is over, give me a call.” He graciously said thanks and that he’d see me tomorrow. He was pretty cool about it all (although we'll see how awkward tomorrow is). Pretty sure he won’t call, but that’s ok. Just proud that I did it. I haven't been that forward with a guy since high school. In some ways, its better if he doesn't call - I'd be like the dog that actually catches her tail - what the heck would I do next. I've been out of the game for at least a decade at this point!

But, in the end, I actually feel good that I did it, even if nothing comes of it.

So, your description of your workouts and the fact that you're losing inches tells me you're likely losing fat and gaining muscle. Muscle is more dense and takes up less space than fat. I read somewhere that one pound of fat is roughly the size of a small grapefruit; one pound of muscle is about the size of a tangerine. If you're losing inches, but maintaining weight, that means you're still getting healthier and losing fat, even if you're staying the same weight. It may be frustrating, but it is still really good for your health and your appearance.

Not an appliance, but I got a great small (5") cooking pan - steep sides, well made, non-stick. Given the amounts I can eat, it is SO much easier to cook in - especially if I'm doing an egg or any kind of sauce. I kept looking for one where I live, but ultimately found it when I visited a friend in Europe.

So, your description of your workouts and the fact that you're losing inches tells me you're likely losing fat and gaining muscle. Muscle is more dense and takes up less space than fat. I read somewhere that one pound of fat is roughly the size of a small grapefruit; one pound of muscle is about the size of a tangerine. If you're losing inches, but maintaining weight, that means you're still getting healthier and losing fat, even if you're staying the same weight. It may be frustrating, but it is still really good for your health and your appearance.

Realize this is an old thread, but my PCOS seems to be better (I'm actually getting my period again - good for my overall health, but super annoying. Plus, my period is SUPER unpredictable). But my acne is worse. Its starting to even out (at about 8 months), but was terribly for the first 5-6 or so months.

Realize this is an old thread, but my PCOS seems to be better (I'm actually getting my period again - good for my overall health, but super annoying. Plus, my period is SUPER unpredictable). But my acne is worse. Its starting to even out (at about 8 months), but was terribly for the first 5-6 or so months.