Arabesque

I agree call your doctor to be sure but it likely is rising surgical gas. The gas they pumped you with rises & settles behind your lungs & presses on nerves causing discomfort especially in the shoulder region. Heat packs usually help.

You’ve lost the padding on your bones. My wrists, knees, shoulders, ankles, butt all would get sore when I’d put pressure on them. It does improve. The discomfort only wakes me after two or three hours now not every hour like it originally did. Some of the pain can be muscular too as tendons & ligaments etc. realign. Hips, back are the most common areas. They had been working in certain positions to compensate for carrying your weight & now they don’t have to & are moving back into their correct place as your posture improves. As for your sternum, may be check with your doctor to reassure yourself. Our skeletons have little differences in bone formations & some parts protrude more than others like noticeable collarbones, larger chests, wider hips, etc. Congrats on your weight loss.

I used to say I had a poltergeist in my tummy groaning & moaning & rattling the chains. Mine still grumbles & whines most every day up to an hour or more after I’ve eaten or drunk (just whined then 😆😆). My young nieces & nephews think it’s hilarious. I was told it’s just your digestive system doing what it’s supposed to do - digest food. Doesn’t mean you’re hungry as we were always told when our tummy growled.

Constipation is a regular battle for most in the months after surgery & until your weight settles. You’re not eating much (like your only fluids now) & your body is using most of the nutrient rich foods you will eating. It becomes quite common & okay to only go rope Et two days. Best advice is to keep on top of it because if it persists it gets harder to go, you need stronger medications to break it & it can be painful. Add some soluble fibre to your diet & get hold of a stool softener or other constipation treatment. Personally, if I went for a third day with out going I’d take something so I’d have movement on the fourth day. Some take something everyday. Just got to find what works best for you. All the best.

I started to eat to a routine, eating meals at approximately the same time every day. (Still do this most of the time.) I didn’t mind if I didn’t eat all my portion just made sure I ate something. I ate because I knew I needed to for my health & well being. Changed a lot about how I looked at food. Mind you I was barely eating 900 calories at 6 month. Even at 3.5 years I have periods of time when I don’t feel all that hungry or feel like eating (hungry but not hungry & don’t finish meals). I’m going through this at the moment (sometimes wish it happened more frequently 😁). Maybe you are too. Have a chat with your dietician if you’re concerned for ideas on how to boost your calories.

I took Benefibre for about 5/6 months . I stopped once I was eating a wider variety of foods & larger portions. I kept on top of any constipation I had but generally found I’d go every two days. If I didn’t go by day three I’d take a stool softener. I didn’t experience any of the prolonged periods of constipation & I think the Benefibre helped to avoid that. I didn’t have any issues with using it but I only had it once a day not three times as I believe it can be taken. I added mine to 250mls of a high protein yoghurt drink. Think it’s better to add it to a liquid versus applesauce or other puréed type foods.

Haven’t baked in a while but I’ve always made most if not all the desserts at Christmas which is amusing now as I don’t usually eat sweets. Christmas is really my only exception when I’ll have a small serve. Most gets eaten thankfully but a small amount comes home. Thankfully my mum has a sweet tooth so she eats that. I promised our neighbour I’d give him any leftover cheesecake this year. If I’m hosting a gathering, I tend to focus on serving savoury foods. Friend bought a dessert the other guests ate for my last gathering & I sent her home with the leftovers. If I have to take something to somewhere I leave whatever is left with the hosts. I sometimes experience hypoglycaemia. Tried a couple of sips of orange juice when I had an episode while out early post surgery but the juice was really sweet & blah! Was given a rum ball after another attack at a store (it was Christmas 🙂). I then started to take an electrolyte drink when I went out & kept a protein bar in my bag. I have blueberries with my breakfast now & I rarely have an episode. I find even just stopping and having a cup of green tea (no sugar) has helped if I catch I coming on. Don’t know why … maybe the hydration???

So sorry you experienced this. Though extremely low, there is always a chance of a complication like you said. Though, I’m surprised by such severe leakage & bleeding from your surgery. My surgeon sewed & stapled so double sealed my tummy. I wonder if your surgeon did this? I’m very glad you were in the hospital when this happened & they are able to operate again to help you so quickly. All the best with your recovery.

Eggs can be a problem & some struggle to eat them for varying amounts of time. Your tummy is still healing & can be sensitive to certain, flavours, textures, etc. Give them a break for a week or two & then try them again. You may find this with other foods too as you reintroduce them. And don’t be surprised if you are able to eat something easily one day but the next day your tummy says nope that’s awful. It can be like a petulant tantrum throwing two year old sometimes in the first couple of months.

I describe it as regurgitation - a sort of bubbling or coughing up the food. It usually occurs pretty quickly after you’ve eaten whatever is upsetting you so the food is still pretty high up & you don’t need all your tummy muscles to force the irritant food up as vomit. And yes less food to bring back up. I enjoy not vomiting.

I’m three yrs 7 months post surgery. I’m about 3lbs heavier then my lowest weight (2 of which are above from where I initially settled). I eat about 1400 calories a day & don’t really exercise apart from from resistance exercises, sit ups & stretches (wouldn’t burn 30 calories 😁). I am pretty careful with what I eat & there are certain foods I don’t eat or eat very rarely. Some are foods that don’t sit well in my tummy like bread, pasta, rice, quinoa, cous cous & starchy vegetables. Others are things I’ve realised I feel better without like sweet foods. I don’t eat fast food like burgers & rarely eat takeaway like Chinese, Japanese or Thai - only with others & make careful choices. I don’t consider this a diet but just how I eat. Some may think I’m fairly restricted in what I eat but it’s only with certain things & I don’t feel I’m missing out on anything. I still have cravings - salty foods are my challenge - but I understand the why & the when behind them like craving salt after I eat yoghurt (🤷🏻‍♀️). Sometimes I surrender though I’ll have some salted macadamia nuts, a couple of multigrain rice crackers (carefully as they’re a slider food) or roll some cucumber in salt. I changed some of my cooking styles & use have incorporated some alternative ingredients & more if others. Like I use an air fryer or oven more & incorporate more lentils, pearl barley & beans than I did before. I don’t track as such but I do random checks of portions, calories & nutrients. I still keep a close eye on protein, because I have an absorption issue, & on my water intake. I weigh myself a couple of times a week just to keep myself on track & honest. A lot of how you manage your maintenance into the future is a personal thing. My body, how it works & what it needs, is different to yours. My lifestyle will be different. How I want to live my life & the demands on it is likely different too. And you may be more or less active than me. Health, age, etc. are a considerations too. So how I choose to eat may not work for you or for anyone else. Same with the other changes & choices I’ve made. Best advice is to experiment with different eating styles & cooking styles, introduce new foods, reintroduce old favourites, etc. & see how you go. It just need to be sustainable, complementary to your lifestyle & you’re happy & healthy.

Firstly, congratulations on reaching onderland. Yay! Body dysmorphia doesn’t disappear with your weight & sometimes you only start to experience it as you’re losing & when your weight stabilises. It takes time for your brain (& how you picture yourself to be) to catch up with how you really look now. And it affects family & friends the same way - all those ‘you’ve lost too much weight’ comments we all get. I still have days when I look in a mirror or a reflection in a window & am surprised that the reflected person is really me & I’m 3.5 yrs out. But I was bigger for a lot longer than I’ve been slim. It may seem silly but I actually used to look up the height & weight of actors & I also took pxts standing beside family & friends so I could better see my size in comparison. You can always seek support from a therapist if you think your body dysmorphia is hindering your physical, emotional & mental progress in any way.

I found my rate of loss just got slower. & slower. There wasn’t a sudden change. It goes hand in hand with you slowly increasing your calorie intake as your portion sizes get larger & you’re eating a wider variety of foods which you should be doing. Plus every week you have less to lose. The hair loss is temporary & only lasts about three months. Small cost to pay for the weight loss. The thing to watch is complacency in your food choices & activity. It can be easy to let a treat become a more regular addition to your diet, to add extra snacks, larger portions etc., not tracking & measuring as carefully or regularly. Boredom & diet fatigue are real. But stick to your plan, recommendations from your dietician & the new habits & behaviours you’ve been establishing.

I understand your desire to maintain your privacy. We all have our reasons why & how much we’re comfortable with revealing about ourselves. And certainly professional reasons is an extremely valid reason especially these days. You don’t have to use your real name or include where you’re from, date of birth, or surgeon’s name in your profile or complete the about me section. Some information can be helpful like gender, your weight, type of surgery & surgery date. Anything else you reveal in your profile or posted content is up to you. Whatever you decide, you can remain an anonymous visitor & use the forum as a reference site only. I started as a visitor after I stumbled up the site & after a month or so I decided to join & post. The forum is a valuable resource providing information, support & understanding through shared experiences, advice, guidance, suggestions, recommendations, etc. It alleviates fears, strengthens resolve & gives confidence to those who are members or who just visit.

First congratulations on your weight loss so far. Yay! Secondly, constipation is a common problem & a pain in the butt (meant the pun). Try adding some non swelling, soluble fibre to your diet like Benefibre & ensure you’re meeting your fluid goals. Try to keep on top of it with medications, & try to avoid not going for extended periods of time - too painful & stressful. I didn’t mind if I didn’t go every day but I took a stool softener if I hadn’t gone after three days so I would have some action on the fourth day. Maybe track your pooping (not Sheldon Cooper style 😉 but just when you go) so you can avoid prolonged periods if constipation.

Yes it does get way better & easier. Because we’re different & we heal & recover in our own time, there’s no real definitive time frame when this will happen for you. Your tummy becomes less sensitive & fussy, the sensitivity you may develop for certain tastes & smells goes, you feel more comfortable & confident about what you can eat, you can eat more & a wider variety of foods. And one day you’ll look back & go yep, I’ve come a long way from those first couple of weeks. In the meantime keep eating small bites slowly. Remember too the restricted diet & staged return to eating specific foods is to support & not stress your healing tummy. I wasn’t able or interested in eating much either. I ate from a teaspoon & each bite was barely 1/2 a teaspoon. I wasn’t eating 300 calories those first months & barely ate 900 at 6 months. Started with eating only 1/4 to 1/3 cup from purée. Got to almost a cup at 6 months. You will slowly but surely be able to eat more too. Try some anti nausea meds to help with your nausea. Most are prescribed them initially. Ask for some or try some over the counter ones & see if they help. I had varying degrees of nausea in the morning for 8 months. It stopped when I stopped taking my multi vitamins (didn’t need them) - they’re often the culprit especially iron.

The end of the honeymoon phase means not that you won’t or can’t loose anymore weight but that you’ll have to work harder to lose it. The honeymoon phase refers more to the time when you’re losing at the faster rate, your hunger & interest in eating is low, those initial wonderful benefits of the surgery. After they start to fade, you have to rely on the work you’re doing to establish new habits & your learning & understanding of food, eating & your body’s needs. For most the honeymoon period ends around the 6-12 month mark when their hunger starts to return, they’re eating larger portions & a wider variety of foods & as they get closer to the weight their body wants to be. Their are many who continue to lose weight well after this time.

Hold off on the eyelid lift @Sunnyer too. I had hooded eyelids, waste of time wearing eyeshadow, & had often mused about getting an eyelid lift. But somewhere in my second year I suddenly realised I had eyelids. That fatty skin that folded & drooped over my eyes was greatly reduced. I spend a fortune on eyeshadow now. There’s some saggy skin around the eyelid but much in the words of @ms.sss, I’m 57 I should have some lines. I decided against fillers in my marionette lines @loridee11 because I didn’t want the puffy face look. I worked hard to get cheek bones & facial definition. 😁 but as I said the filler in the hollow in front of my ears did help with depth & length of the lines. Not the most flattering pxt but look I have eyelids. (Ignore the dark bruised eye circles. They’re curtesy of my glaucoma drops. 😩) The labial fold line on my left was as long as the one on the right which was longer too. The marionette lines from my mouth changed much the same way. Oh and the slightly pursed puffy upper lip is the Dysport lip curl.

😂😂😂 I bought a magnifying illuminated mirror for my bathroom to help with my fading eye sight. Big mistake. Big. Huge.

Some do experience random bouts of nausea. Your tummy is still sensitive & can be fussy & decide it doesn’t like certain foods for a little while. It can even say no way to something today & tomorrow it’s fine. So it could be just that. Your sense of smell & taste also become more sensitive for a couple of months. And yes you can develop temporary intolerances to things like lactose & artificial sweeteners that are alcohol sugars (those that end in ‘ol’) . Yes, your hormones do go haywire too causing your menstrual cycle & accompanying PMT symptoms to be strange because of the estrogen that is released from your fat as you lose weight. It can make you more fertile too. Some doctors recommend doubling up on contraceptives. So maybe take a pregnancy test to be sure.

Haven’t done plastic surgery. Don’t think the recovery & scaring is worth it for the little lose skin I have. If they took it from all over my body they’d probably only remove 1or 2 kilograms. But beauty treatments, I’m like @ms.sss. My name is Arabesque & I’m vain. It’s something that only started in the last two years. Was never this bad before surgery. It’s my new addiction. Had Dysport (Botox) in my forehead, between the brows, chin & upper lip (lip curl) several times. I love it. The lip curl is amusing as for the first couple of days after it starts working, I sort of lisp & feel like a can’t pronounce some words & cleaning my teeth is a hoot - can’t spit out the toothpaste it sort of drools out. Several RF sessions in my second year. Don’t know if it did anything because I did it around the time my weight was stabilising & my body was resettling. Liked the experience though - soothing. Filler on the side of my face. Had sunken pockets of no fat in front of my ears. It lifted my marionette lines a little. Had one derma pen (deeper micro needling) treatment (subsequent sessions delayed for many reasons) but am having my first combined micro needling & RF (even deeper needling & RF which occurs below the surface of the skin) in January. Takes three moths to start to see any effects & you need about 6 treatments of derma pen but inky 4 with combined treatment. Think I see a little reduction in my acne scarring, which was the main purpose of having it. The combined treatment is supposed to aid skin laxity. We’ll see. Have monthly facials, pedicures (like doing my own finger nails) & have had micro blading (best thing ever). Having first teeth whitening this afternoon. Don’t know what I’ll try next.

I do the opposite, I often eat more quickly when I’m out with others. I notice my pace speeds up to keep up their eating. I have to consciously, put my cutlery down & sit back from the table. At home, I take ages to eat - 30-60 minutes. Don’t know if eating quickly is related to causing additional snacking other than you may get full more quickly before your tummy gets a chance to start to digest what you’ve eaten. Does your restriction kick in? Does it stop you eating all your regular portion? If so you may feel hungry again because you haven’t eaten enough & then you snack. If you don’t/can’t eat all your portion, snack on that rather than less nutritious foods. But yes, as we progress we are able to eat more which is how it should be until you get to about an accepted regular portion size when your weight stabilises. Have a chat with your dietician.

You never beat cravings you just learn how to recognise & manage them. Look to why you are craving those foods too. Boredom, habit, emotional need, stress, are likely culprits. But hormones & certain medications can be causes too. Look for something to distract you. Go for a walk, ring a friend, clean a cupboard, read, craft, play a game, check social media or this forum. Have something to drink like a cup of tea or water. Look for healthier alternatives. Like craving sweet, have a little fruit. As @Spinoza said, soup, yoghurt & shakes aren’t slider foods. While liquids do pass through your digestive system more quickly they do still fill you up. Sliders (highly processed carbs & sugars) don’t fill you up & you can easily eat more than you should. If you can get those foods out of the house. If they’re not in the cupboard or fridge you can’t eat them. At the time of the year, it can be difficult not to have them in the house. I had some less desirable foods leftovers from Christmas drinks. I gave some to my guests & others to my nieces & nephews & my pantry is empty again. No temptation.

You’ve had a pretty major surgery so pain is to be expected but don’t just accept it & try to endure it. If you were prescribed them take them. Pain will hinder your recovery. I took opioids for 4 days. (I only took one that day so I would sleep that night but I don’t think I really needed it.) In a few days the pain will be gone except for some twinges & some discomfort with certain movements or if you do too much which is easily managed if need be with over the counter (not NSAIDS) pain meds.

So sorry you experienced this. And they always do it out of the goodness of their heart & in your best interest. Out of curiosity, does your friend have a weight issue? Could it be jealousy that you are doing something about your health & she isn’t?? Get some stats ready for next time you see them. Morbidity rates after bariatric surgery ate less than 1% which is way less than many other surgeries. 0.7% for appendectomy while only 0.3% for sleeve. Obesity is the 5th highest cause of death world wide - 2.8 million people die each year from obesity related illnesses & complications. Would they comment if you were having a different non weight related surgery? I deliberately did not tell some friends. One in particular as she has always been very competitive. I told her I was seeing a dietician & had done a lot of research into eating & in relation to my personal needs. All true & sure enough she started seeing a dietician (she had put a little weight -age- but wasn’t even really overweight). And then came the what size are you wearing now questions. She was always wearing the same or a smaller size. Mind you she wasn’t my size but you can understand why I didn’t tell her.