Arabesque

Woke up one morning & decided enough & rang my GP for an appointment & referral. Had my surgery about 6 weeks later. Had been bouncing between 60 & 75kg all my adult like. Then menopause & I was 91 almost overnight. Tried to lose it for 3 years but couldn’t lose a pound. A friend had the surgery about 12 months earlier & was very happy so … I didn’t have any health issues except from aching feet from the rapid gain & then just some burning feet after (no more heels for me) but I knew it was in my future. You will have to make permanent changes to your eating habits if you want to have permanent success. But that is the same whatever means you use to lose weight - diet, medication, exercise. They are just tools like the surgery. The horror stories aren’t that common really. People write about them because they are seeking support & advice because they are uncommon. But all surgery has risks as do medications. Consider other weight loss drugs that were approved & then taken off the market because of adverse side effects that were discovered over time. If you’re worried, have a long honest chat with your surgeon about risks & the stats behind them. If you are relatively healthy now you are in a better place to have the surgery now than later when you may be experiencing some health issues. All the best whichever path you choose.

Some people do some don’t. Some do low carb high protein alternatives. Some are careful with portion sizes & frequency. Many avoid them until maintenance. Some are allowed small portions while losing. My friend was allowed 1/2 slice of bread from about month 3 (but not allowed rolled oats which I never understood). I still don’t do bread, rice or pasta at almost 3 years. Really don’t do starchy vegetables either (except carrots in stews, soups, etc.) They sit heavily in my tummy & fill me quickly. I’ve tried small tastes a couple of times over the last 2+years & have accepted they are not my best option. Don’t miss them much even though I was a big consumer before my surgery. They would have been danger temptation foods for me if I could still eat them easily. I do eat complex carbs (2 serves a day) of rolled oats & multigrain crackers. I had the rolled oats from purée & added the crackers in maintenance. If I want pasta I use fresh zucchini pasta & sometimes steam finely sliced cabbage instead of noodles in asian meals. I’ve ordered wrap free wraps at cafes & eaten just the fillings of sandwiches. Check with your dietician. Consider alternatives (low carb or no carb vegetable options) for now or from maintenance. You know yourself best too. Whether you want to be able to include some carbs in your future. Whether you can tolerate them easily. Etc.

Sometimes life just throws crap at you. Family, health, work, world issues, etc. can turn everything upside down & we look to old habits which offered comfort in the past. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this now after you had made such great progress. Don’t let the crap win. It probably all seems a huge mountain you have to start to climb again but you’ve actually already started. You know what the crap is & how it’s affected you. You know the old habits you’ve fallen back on & the new ones you’ve let slide. Make one change today to reincorporate one of those new habits. Then reincorporate another one next week . Go for a walk, get your protein in, get your fluids in, drop a snack or swap out a meal choice or whatever you’re ready to do each week. You’ll get there & you’ve great motivators in your children. All the best.

I had a similar conversation with my surgeon (but about my continued weight loss) & my response was the same: I can only eat what I can physically eat. I added snacks up to 5 a day & yes I felt like I was eating all day long. I still made pretty careful choices & added complex carbs & some more fat. Choosing from: cheese, humus or liverwurst & multigrain crackers, protein bar, yoghurt, fruit, roasted fava or chick peas, chia pudding, nuts, etc. I also use non diet salad dressings, full fat milk, add seeds & beans to meals. I don’t do sweet or breads, pasta, etc. & cook most of what I eat myself. I don’t drink shakes or need multi vitamins. Sometimes small change or swap in food choices can make big differences. I can only eat 1.5 eggs (approx 10g protein & 235 calories) but I can usually eat a full serve of rolled oats cause I keep it liquidy (make on milk, add seeds). approx 15g protein, 380 calories. No empty calories, lots of nutrients. My weight loss stopped when I was consuming about 1300 calories (about 18 months after surgery) but I’m not tall, have a smaller frame, am in my mid 50s & not very active. But you're not me & you may need more calories. You have to work out how much food your body needs to function effectively at a weight your happy at while living & enjoying your life how you want. It just takes time & some need more than others. Took me a good 2 years to get my portion sizes to about recommended sizes for most things. I still snack but about 3 times a day. Not sure how many calories I eat now as I’ve increased my protein intake a little due to an absorption issue (from gall surgery not sleeve surgery). Just start making small changes, try different things & see how you go & what works for you. It’s the only way.

Would depend upon what the results revealed & whether it had any direct impact upon your surgery & recovery. It’s always helpful if your surgeon is aware of all your health issues. It may not delay or halt your surgery but may help your surgeon better prepare for your surgery & support your recovery. My doctor can see my blood work results requested by any of my doctors or specialists. Would think it would be the same in the US too. Got a printout of my last 6 lots of lab results from my surgeon’s colleague last month & it included two tests requested by my GP. I do go to the same pathology company for all my tests so not sure if that is a factor in what they can see.

I haven’t heard of anyone needing anti nausea meds long term. Though I experienced minor nausea I didn’t need to take meds at all. It maybe just your digestive system still being a little sensitive at first. A lot of vitamins can cause people to experience nausea & iron is one of the culprits. My nausea came from the multi vitamin I took so I split the dose - one in the morning & one at night. Sometimes changing brands can help. Also check to see if you’re doubling up on them by taking a multi vitamin & additional calcium or iron, etc.

I remember watching a documentary on obesity (can’t remember its name) & a doctor pointing out that obese people have been weight training 7 days a week for years as they carried around their weight. I was rather surprised but it makes sense when you think about it. The difference is when you do weights at a gym you use different muscle. Plus as you lose weight, your posture improves as your centre of balance changes so you may have to retrain muscles, tendons, etc, too. But in answer to your question: protein. Your body uses protein for recovery & healing, and muscle & bone health & growth. There’s some information about now saying that your body can’t absorb more than 25g of protein at a time & excess is stored as fat. Something to take into consideration. Congrats on your weight loss so far.

Gorgeous shoes, @kristieshannon. It’s so lovely not to have aching feet & burning soles anymore.

My favourite clothing store was having an up to 70% off warehouse sale. I was invited to a preview yesterday & picked up these two pieces: 71% off the cardigan & 65% off the leather skirt. Now don’t be shocked… they’re both colour. Even going to wear them as a complete outfit as one of the embroidered flowers on the cardigan is the same claret colour of the skirt. Can’t wait for the weather to cool so I can wear them.

As well as the above suggestions what about tofu. Legumes are very versatile. There are great recipes about that use chick peas instead of meat - Jamie Oliver has a heap just google. You will be able to eat cooked vegetables. I was putting onion, celery, tomato, mushrooms, carrots, capsicum, zucchini, etc. in lots of dishes from soft foods like omelettes, stews, mince dishes, soups, etc. Once in solid foods I could eat steamed green beans, cabbage & cauliflower & then other vegetables in time (my tummy was fussy at first).

It will depend upon what you can tolerate. I only eat whole & multi grains. The less processing the better. I only have two serves of grains a day - rolled oats & multi grain crackers as a snack. Every time I try a highly processed grains like in bread, pasta & rice they sit like a dead weight in my tummy. Interestingly I’ve discovered that multigrain brown rice crackers are a slider for me but the white rice ones aren’t which I don’t understand why.

Hey @Sheribear68. Lovely to see a post from you again & that you’ve been continuing o do so well. Yay! I haven’t gone down the plastics route but a girlfriend & fellow sleever (& both almost 57) often talk about the only way we will be able to get rid of our facial droop is with a face lift to cut off the skin excess skin but we’re too scared. We’ve only just gone down the Botox route (we blame peer pressure 😆) not that it will help the droop it but does reduce some of the associated wrinkling (my marionette lines beside my chin aren’t as deep or long whoo hoo ). I can’t do fillers because of an allergy but I’m not really upset about that as I’m not a lover of that puffy face look. I had a round face for too many years. All the best for your TT, lipo & thigh lift surgery & your foot surgery too.

There’s so much conflicting information about it is confusing. I was advised 1/4 - 1/3 cup but this did depend on what the food was (still does almost three years out). I could always eat more soup but less if it was a less liquidy, more solid food like mince or a sausage. Some people can eat larger portions. Others can’t. Generally, tread slowly especially while you’re still healing & listen to your body. It is more challenging at first because the cut & damaged nerves from the surgery mean your old messages of being full etc. don’t work as well & you often find they’re not the same as they were either. Try not to eat until you feel full but until you’ve had enough. That full feeling is actually telling you you’ve eaten too much.

Small selection of carefully picked items of clothing that can be mixed & matched to create many more outfits. Often includes those classic separates like well cut trousers, a white shirt, a straight or slightly flared skirt, a blazer, a whit t- shirt, etc. They sometimes say you can include one or two pieces of trend or fad clothing but they still has to work with many of the other items. I’m not a great capsular wardrobe person because I prefer to buy a complete outfit. I find when I do a capsular wardrobe I often can’t wear the piece I want to wear. Like the shirt I want is in the wash as I wore it the day before. Also I get bored easily wearing the same shirts or pants, etc. every week. I could never wear a uniform.

You’re ok. Stalls are very common & part of the process of weight loss. We all talk about the a stall at around the 3 week mark but they can occur any number of times while you are losing. They tend to last 1-3 weeks. Think of them as your body needing to take a breath & getting used to the changes. If it persists for more than a month, chat with your dietician. You may need a small tweak to your diet or activity.

Are you taking a PPI? It will help with the acid in your tummy which often makes you think your hungry. Ask your surgeon for a script if not on one. You’ll only usually need it for a couple of months. And yes, your grumbling tummy is your digestive system working. I swear my tummy is way noisier since my surgery. My young nieces & nephews think it’s hilarious when my tummy growls. Sometimes the hunger is just our head coming to terms with so little food being enough & a desire for texture in our food too. As for the low energy, remember you just had pretty major surgery. You’re recovering from surgery & your body is healing. You can only see those 5 little incisions on your tummy but 80 odd % of your tummy has been cut away & there are a heap of sutures & staples holding what’s left together. If you feel tired or have less energy, it’s your body telling you to stop & rest or slow down. You won’t be able to do, in terms of activity, what you did before for a little while. Doing too much too soon can compromise yiur recovery.

Sounds more like dumping than foamies but??? You don’t tend to sweat (cold sweats) with the foamies. It passes quickly & you only vomit a couple of times & it’s more regurgitation than vomiting - much gentler almost bubbling up of the last thing or two you ate that caused the problem. Did your heart rate increase? Did you feel drained or tired? That’s dumping. Did you have discomfort like something was stuck & lots of saliva you had to spit up? That’s the foamies. The rice could have caused your blood sugar to rise. There could have been sugar in the sauce in the stir fry. Sugar & blood sugar spikes contribute to dumping. Being so soon out after surgery, your digestive system is still pretty sensitive & it doesn’t take much to react negatively. Plus bypass makes you more likely to experience dumping. Whichever you had, both are not pleasant. Tread lightly & slowly to begin. Don’t think you need to go back to purées. More just be extra careful with your food choices. And, as Tek advised, test new foods at home first.

First, congratulations on your weight loss & that you are feeling stronger & are able to be more active. How great is that! As @MiniGastricBypassDude said you don’t get to choose your body weight set point. Yes, you might be in or close to maintenance or in a prolonged stall. Yes, building muscles could contribute to the weight loss pause but also the more muscle you have the more calories you burn so you may need a calorie increase to compensate. Certain medications can also hamper weight loss. But logging your food & speaking with your dietician is always a good place to start. It can be easy to get a little complacent with portion sizes, etc., not meet protein goals or there maybe something missing in your diet. Sometimes a small tweak is all that is needed. The low blood pressure many experience after surgery is usually caused by an initial lack of nutrients from the restricted diet & dehydration. It’s why it’s usually a temporary experience. The same for the hypoglycaemic episodes you may have experienced. (Unfortunately I experienced them both before surgery & still do now almost three years post surgery. The low blood pressure is worse & occurs every day. Carrying my old weight actually used to help because it raised my BP to a normal 120/80 with just occasional drops. Didn’t expect that!) They get better as nutrition & portion sizes increase & fluid levels are maintained. You mentioned you have your annual check soon. How often do you see your surgeon or their team? How frequently do you have blood tests? I still see my surgeon’s colleague every three months & have a 3 monthly blood test so it always surprises me when people have follow ups much less frequently. All the best.

It won’t stretch your tummy but it’s causes discomfort & fills up your tummy with gas so you then struggle to eat the food you need. The fermenting foods that produce the gas can limit your ability to absorb essential nutrients too. So probably something to avoid where possible post surgery. Remember to eat small bites slowly & avoid if possible the foods that cause you the most bloating.

It’s not GERD so you can breath. This is pretty common. Sometimes it’s your fussy sensitive tummy & you‘ll be able to eat that same food in a day or so without issue. Sometimes it’s eating too much or too fast. Sometimes what you ate isn’t quite soft or runny or moist/wet enough & it gets ‘stuck’. Sometimes it’s that you’re just not ready for that particular food yet. It’s part of the fun & a fair bit of trial & error. I often had the foamies - spitting up excess saliva & sometimes regurgitate the last bite or so of what I ate in the first weeks especially in the morning. I can’t burp so I would cough or want to thump my chest first. And yes it happens pretty quickly but also passes quickly.

Is your therapist experienced with eating disorders & bariatric patients? It’s a more specialised field & just something to consider. Understanding our relationship with food is a huge part of this process & our success. Wanting to start incorporating improved eating habits now is great. But you don’t have to do everything all at once. Small wins are always best. Make one or two small changes & get them established over a couple of weeks before changing or incorporating something else. Focus on protein. Increase your fluid intake. Then try smaller portion sizes. Up your vegetable intake. Reduce your snacks. Try some new cooking methods & new recipes. You don’t have to do everything at once. It’s not a race. I know from your earlier post you have an issue with blame & being critical of yourself for perceived failures. I wonder if you asking whether it’s ok or wrong to have a peanut paste sandwich is you subconsciously looking for a way to beat yourself up if you do have the sandwich & people say don’t? It’s also interesting that you question a peanut paste sandwich but not the pizza. Whether you have the sandwich or pizza is your choice. Many do eat these foods in maintenance but do so occasionally not regularly & you can too if you want. But this is a perfect opportunity to try other recipes or alternatives too. Try a cauliflower based pizza or a high protein, low carb bread for your sandwich, or a no added salt & sugar peanut butter. There’s often an alternative. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, for support or suggestions. There are always people here who have the same or similar experiences. PS - I used to love a peanut paste sandwich. Fresh white bread with a crunchy crust & smooth peanut paste. Yum! Now I just sometimes have a teaspoon of the paste to satisfy that old memory.

They’re very common & you’ll likely have a couple of them while you’re losing. Think of them as your body needing a break because of all the changes - diet, weight loss, etc. just stick to your plan & you should be fine. If it persist fir longer than a month, give your dietician a call. You may a tweak to your plan or activity. The anaemia is the likely cause of the tiredness but periods of low energy aren’t uncommon either. I remember one day I thought I was going to fall off my treadmill I was so tired. I added an electrolyte drink to my fluid rotation. (I drank diluted hydralyte.) The little boost of energy was a blessing. But if your body says I’m tired, have a break. Even stopping for a cup of tea while out doing chores would be enough for me to then finish doing everything I needed to get done.

It’s not pleasant but at least it passes quite quickly unlike dumping. Dry meat is always the cause for me. Though I did have a episode a couple of weeks ago caused by very coarse green beans - they were unusually hard to slice so I should have tread more carefully. Don’t give up a food if it makes you unwell though just give it a break for a few days or a week & try again. Next time, try smaller bites, add extra sauce or gravy, cook it in a different way like to medium rare not medium or well done, or try a different cut like chicken thighs not breast, etc.

Yes, much if what you are experiencing, the tiredness, doughy head, is from the surgery & the reduced diet. Your body has been through a lot & it’s probably telling you you need to rest & take it easy. Just healing is mentally, emotionally & physically exhausting. It will get better. Try sipping an electrolyte drink for a boost of energy. Not getting all your vitamins in the first week or so is okay but you need to make a concerted effort to take them every day. Our reduced food choices & small portions make it difficult to get in the vitamins & minerals our bodies need to function. The tiredness could be from low iron which is not usual after surgery. Have you had a blood test lately to check your levels? You may find once you’re in maintenance you won’t need to take them anymore. I stopped at about month 8, 2 months into maintenance with my surgeon’s approval because my blood work showed my levels were all great. I hate having to take meds so I was super happy. Some vitamins can make you nauseous. Try a different brand. Split the dosage across the day. Make sure you take them with food.

I bought the spiral ring size adjusters from Amazon. Loop around band until the ring fits & snip off the extra. The spirals come in different widths to fit around narrow or wider bands. I have a couple of antique rings that can’t be resized down enough to fit my fingers because of the shank & design of the settings so the size adjusters have been a lifesaver.