Arabesque

My doctors keep their records of my weight & I keep mine. Because I weigh less on mine (mostly because I weigh myself first thing in the morning before breakfast, without clothes & after popping) I usually just say on my scales I weighed X this morning. They still record what their scale says. Remember if you’ve lost 10lbs you will have lost 10lbs on every set of scales. Doesn’t matter what the weight actually reads. PS - I used my GP’s weight to get approval for the referral for my surgery because it was higher than my weight on my scales (about 3lbs difference ). I wouldn’t have been approved otherwise. 😁

If you managed a c section, this will be easier from the position this surgery will be laparoscopic. Of course muscles and nerves are still cut and organs moved about but it’s not as drastic as a c section. Yrs, pain levels can vary greatly person to person. Also I think your starting weight, general fitness and mobility will impact your recovery in regards to pain and movement. Think some surgeons are more gentle than others too. Like many, I only took opioids in hospital (though I think I took one the night I came home to ensure I slept well I don’t think I needed it). Took an over the counter med the next day and that was it. I didn’t have an issue getting in & out off bed, or chairs and I have stairs also. I just went slowly - no jumping up out of bed. Though I know some people sleep in a recliner in the beginning. And yes gas pain is often worse though it usually only lasts about a week. They are right in recommending you take the pain meds if you are in pain. Pain does slow your recovery but if you don’t need them, i.e. the pain/discomfort is minimal or manageable with over the counter meds don’t keep taking the prescription one. My brother had his sleeve last year and he took all of the opioids he was given (week’s worth). Not that he was in pain but because he thought they were like antibiotics and you had to finish them all. Brothers! 😁 Follow your instructions about lifting, carrying and stretching to avoid pulling at your internal sutures and staples and you should be okay. And listen to your body. Only do what you’re capable of doing & doesn't cause pain or excessive discomfort. I’ve had my gall removed and a full hysterectomy since my sleeve and the sleeve was the easiest. (Gall was worse for gas pain & hysterectomy worse for abdominal discomfort (not pain) that lasted for weeks.) All the best.

Oh the (Egyptian) mummy mouth is awful. Mouth drier than the Sahara desert & it can be like you can’t even close your mouth. Biotene (dry mouth moisturising spray) can help. I used to hold a mouthful of water in my mouth for a few seconds. Post surgery it can occur because you don’t have as much flesh around your neck so your mouth drops open while you sleep causing your mouth to dry out. In time your muscles strengthen again (instead of relying on your fleshy neck to keep your mouth closed) & it reduces in frequency. It also is a symptom of perimenopause and menopause that isn’t often spoken about. ☹️

Oh yes me too. I can get it reaching up to an upper shelf at the grocery store. Had what could have been a terrible accident in a fabric shop. I reached up to get some cord from an upper shelf. BP dropped so I grabbed the shelving unit to ground myself but it to start to topple towards me. Don’t know how I managed to push it back & stabilise it (it was large - tall and wide) but if I didn’t I would have squashed underneath it. Yikes!

Can’t help with healfast but just a little warning about the vitamin C. Don’t take more than 1000mg a day as you can develop diarrhoea. Don’t need that before surgery! It is supposed to be very good for healing. Are you getting excited for your surgery?

It’s called Orthostatic hypotension. Your blood pressure drops on changing your positioning to sitting, sitting to standing. Doesn’t necessarily occur every time you move though it can be annoying. All my life I had a tendency to lower blood pressure ( it’s in my family)but since my surgery it’s become an every day thing. My BP sits around 80/60 but it can be lower. My vision narrows with mine and when I have a very bad bout (so when my blood pressure really drops low) my hearing is affected. Thank goodness quickly passes. Some tips. When getting up, wait before moving. Some say if you march on the spot or wriggle your toes before moving helps. It never does for me. When my vision stats to narrow or I feel it coming on I stop moving. I also reach for a wall, chair, table or even a person to ground me. I also will bend at the waist so the blood doesn’t have to fight gravity as much to get to my head. Keep hydrated. Sometimes increasing your salt intake a little can help too. PS - they even put me on medication for mine for a while and it did absolutely nothing.

Aah, that’s why you’re peeing so much. You’re drinking too much. Count your shakes and any other liquids as well as your water. With drinking that much you’ll be peeing out essential nutrients before your body has a chance to absorb them. Stick to the 64 ozs of fluids a day unless you’re in a very hot area, exercising a lot and therefore sweating a lot. How many shakes a day are you on? Usually it’s two shakes if you also have a regular meal. But plans differ person to person so it’s best to speak to your team about any changes to the plan they’ve set for you. Definitely speak to the team about your excessive thirst. That’s unusual. PS. Adding your details about your weight, height, surgery type, etc. to your profile on the left can be helpful to any of us offering advice. You can do it via your profile in the menu.

A friend found eating small meals more frequently helped offset the nausea she initially experienced on Weygovy. But I agree with the others you should discuss the nausea with your doctor. You shouldn’t be experiencing it to the extent you are as well as the other side effects.

I wouldn’t worry yet @NeonRaven8919. Many of us continue to lose until the 18 month to 2 years marks. As long as you’re in a calorie deficit you will lose. It may be very slowly but that’s okay because it’s all about how you’re equally slowly increasing your intake until you get to the point of maintaining the weight your body likes. Maybe your doctor meant you’d lose most of your weight in the first 12 months because of that increase in calories & weight loss slow down. Yes, everything seems to resettle after your weight stabilises. I found it was about 2 or so months after I realised I looked better in the face and also went back to having an hourglass shape again. Mind you the ratio was smaller lol but I definitely had a waist again after being more straight up and down once I lost most of my weight.

Omeprazole is a PPI (protein pump inhibitor) used to treat reflux and excess acid production. The most common brand name is Prilosec. Esomeprazol is another slightly different PPI. Nexium is the most common brand name. Does the same thing. In Australia a script is needed for a 20mg or higher dose. 10mg can be bought over the counter. Not sure if it’s the same in the States. It is often prescribed first the first months after surgery as your body has learnt it doesn’t need as much acid to break down the smaller amount of food you eat in your smaller tummy. Some will continue it if needed. I take Nexium every day for reflux. I took it randomly before surgery. Plus I now don’t have a gall bladder to regulate the acid entering the stomach. Actually I have been having a long interaction with someone on social media about weight regain today (why I got sucked into the conversation I don’t know). I explained to them that just as obesity is a very nuanced disease so too is regain. Simply put too many factors can influence if you regain or how much you might regain. Medications, health issues, poor food choices, less activity, aging, the crap life throws at you, complacency in general, etc. Surgery isn’t a cure. Maintenance is and will always be something you will have to work at.

I’ve spent hours being fitted for bras post surgery & it is very hard to find any that fit well. Like you I’m a 32 E too with all the volume at the base of the breast & nothing at the top against the chest so my bras have empty space & gathers at the top. Everyday I just add tissues (but I have a dripppy nose so they’re handy 😁). I’ve explored prosthetics but they don’t fill that upper emptiness. I went to a wedding and wore a sheer fitted mesh top & had the same worry before hand. I found a bralette with cups that worked really well. Covered well, had enough support to survive some energetic dancing and looked good through the mesh. It looked like a little crop top. This is the one I bought. It’s by Chantelle (on the higher price range ☹️). Have one in black too & have worn them with sheer blouses too.

Benefit of having nieces who are in their mid to late 20s is they take you out to dinner and they enjoy very good restaurants too. This potato beignet with spanner crab was divine. Three bites of heaven. Would have been happy to have another couple of these. Wish I’d taken pxts of the pork main & carrots in beef fat with cashew nut butter cream which we shared & were also delicious. My nieces & my nephew-in-law to be shared two desserts but this cream bun with raspberry puree topped with meringue was so tempting I almost had a taste. I find restaurants who do share plates much easy to manage as I can eat as much as I want, have little tastes of a variety of food & not be faced with too much food on a plate or be taking home leftovers.

The hernia may not have anything to do with your sleeve surgery especially this long out. Unfortunately as we age all our muscles weaken and become thinner including our internal muscles and tissues - we just can’t go to the gym to restrengthen those muscles. This is what could have caused yours. Are they going to operate to repair yours or just leave it & monitor it (if you have no symptoms)? PS. Twelve years & you’ve basically maintained is amazing. Something for us all to aim for. Congratulations.

I couldn’t find either at first @WendyJane and then I realised there is a menu & options for the commonly accessed information along the bottom of the screen. Notifications allows you to follow posts you have responded to or reacted too and new comments or reactions bolded like before. And Unread Content is just that, any post you haven’t read yet showing the new posts from the last hour, then today, yesterday and last week as you scroll down. Hope this helps. As with all changes & upgrades, it takes time to navigate & learn the new format. I like the cleaner look of the app. The only thing I wish was the same was the location of the edit button - it’s located in the top right hand corner of your post now - click the three dots for the drop down options.

Does Dr Matthew Weiner’s new app do this? I may be dreaming but I sort of remember him or his nutritionalist saying it did. Maybe through the take a pxt if your meal & it calculates calories and nutrition?? Would be handy if it did. https://poundofcureweightloss.com/#app PS it says download for free but then there’s a subscription option so … 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hormones, or the lack of, can really mess up our plans. Menopause was when I went from being overweight to obese which then led me to surgery. This year hormones messed with me again . After being stable for a few years, I had a hysterectomy and everything went haywire. I couldn’t get my transdermal HRT patch either and then we couldn’t work out my new dosage with my alternative HRT. I put on a good 4 kilograms (more than 9 pounds) in about 4 months. Nothing else had changed. It was very upsetting so I really get your struggle with this. You’ve also been dealing with emotional stress from supporting your father-in-law & coming to terms with his alzheimers & increasing your snacking likely as a comfort. Knowing that snacking is contributing to your weight gain puts you on the right path. Instead of reaching for a snack, try a cup of tea (herbal or green) or a coffee (no syrups). Often a warm drink can be soothing & it gives you something to do (popping to the cafe or kitchen) to get a drink for yourself and maybe your father-in-law. It’s a distraction & gives you a break for a couple of minutes. I do this when sitting in doctors’ or surgical waiting rooms with/for my 85 yr old mother. Look for alternative low calorie & nutritionally more sound snacks like some nuts, a little cheese, some vegetable straws, roasted fava beans or chick peas, beef jerky. Portion them out and put them in small zip lock bags or containers so you’re not tempted to overeat. Check your meal portion sizes too just in case they have been slowly increasing - it can happen without realising. I’ve managed to lose 3kgs in the last 2 or 3 months by reducing snacks and one meal. I used to eat snacks to increase my calories to maintain and to boost my protein. For example I used to make a bowl or rolled oats with seeds and yoghurt & eat about 2/3 for breakfast and the leftovers in the afternoon. Now I eat 1/2 one day and the other half the next. Also dropped another snacks & swapped in an alternative for a third one (2 or 3 strawberries, 4 or 5 grapes and 5 or 6 macadamia nuts - some sweet & salty) so I still had one afternoon snack. I did this slowly by making one change every week or two. You’ve got this.

I like a good sausage all year round. My butcher has been making some super yummy ones lately: duck & Cabernet, pork with apple & sage, & this week I bought lamb & rosemary. The duck and Cabernet ones were fantastic but they haven’t had any since 😩. Haven’t noticed a chicken one but you’ve got me thinking I need to have one next.

Oops. Getting used to the new format but found the edit option now.

How much have you lost? How much do you think you should have lost? What was your starting weight? It can be easy to have unreasonable expectations around your rate of loss but one thing you’ll be told by many of us here is you can’t compare your progress with anyone else’s. There are too many factors that affect your rate of loss: age, gender, starting weight, medical status & history, medications, genetics, etc. There are calculators that give you an idea of what might happen but they don’t tell you what you what will happen. The calculators are all based on averages and with averages you always get some who will lose more or faster & some who will lose less or more slowly. For example if your stating weight is higher you tend to lose weight more quickly at first (it then slows as your weight gets lower). Men tend to lose more quickly than women. If you are in menopause your weight loss may be slower. There’s nothing wrong with this. It doesn’t mean you are failing. Remember if your surgeon & team are happy you should be happy too. Stuck to your plan. Get your fluids in. Hit those protein goals and you will lose weight. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow just that you do. All the best. PS - I hated protein shakes too. They tasted disgusting after surgery. After that first fortnight I was so glad I would not have to have another one. Look for high protein alternatives. I turned to high protein yoghurt and yoghurt drinks (blend your yoghurt with milk and add any flavours you like). There may be other options like protein water yiu can have to boost your protein intake. Check with your dietician for other options.

Sorry you’ve not been given any straight answers. Yes, any blood tests results related to liver function are often higher. Weight loss is hard on your liver and many of us experience these higher than normal results. Once your weight loss slows or your weight stabilises these results will drop again. High ketones levels indicate you are burning fat which is what you want to be happening at the moment. This might be why the doctors said your blood work is fine i.e. it isn’t unusual after weight loss surgery though they should have explained this to you. High calcium oxalate could be related to being dehydrated. Are you hitting your fluid goals? It is important to work at getting your fluids in as dehydration is a concern for us all after surgery especially in the first weeks. To boost your energy levels add an electrolyte drink or mix your own. (These can be sweet so dilute them to make them more tolerable.) Sip, sip, sip during the day and night. Six years out & I still have water by my bed and drink throughout the night. Out of curiosity what were your iron levels like? Anaemia isn’t uncommon either. Have you spoken with your surgeon or their team? Maybe check in with your dietician to review what you’re eating as well to be sure you’re not missing anything which is easy to do in the beginning. I would still do follow ups with your PC doctor as well. May be a scan to check your kidneys wouldn’t hurt if only to check there aren’t any stones forming. I can’t recall anyone mentioning developing kidney stones on the forum. Gall stones are quite common though. All the best.

I had three days in hospital too but because my back went into spasm on day 2 when I would have been going home. I was walking in hospital (well until my back spasmed). I also had a little difficulty swallowing due to swelling from the intubation tube but it was fine by day 4. I live alone & I didn’t have any trouble getting about and looking after myself. Depending upon your existing mobility a recliner may be a help but I was fine getting in & out of bed and chairs - just went slowly. Energy levels can drop but an electrolyte drink can help by giving you an extra boost. If you feel lightheaded, your blood pressure may be low and if you on BP meds that may need to be adjusted. Keep hydrated. Heat pads can help with shoulder pain which occurs as the surgical gas rises and work itself out if your body (it’s absorbed into your lungs & you breath it out). Check with your team in regards to when you can resume more active exercising like going to the gym. Walking is usually recommended further the first 4 weeks. Remember to you will have lifting weight restrictions for a couple of weeks so you don’t pull or strain your internal stitches and your healing digestive system. Don’t hate me but I didn’t have any cravings post surgery possibly because I wasn’t a big craving person anyway (except pms carb cravings). Distraction helps with cravings and other head hungers. Read, craft, do puzzles, walk, phone a friend, etc. Sometimes a warm drink can help too. Best advice is listen to your body. Feel tired or lack energy, rest. Feel pain or discomfort, stop what you are doing. If something feels unusual or wrong, or becomes painful, if your wounds become red or swollen, if you have any dehydration symptoms, contact your team or go to your nearest emergency centre. Not to scare you, they rarely occur, but it’s always better to know what to watch for. All the best.

There’s a lot of negative talk about ‘ozempic face’ which is probably fueling your concerns but yes after any weight loss there will be a period of you looking gaunt or drawn. But as I said it does pass after a couple of months. However, depending upon how much weight you lose you will look different. Cheekbones appear, your jawline becomes reappears becoming cleaner, neck gets longer, etc.all because you don’t have as much fat around your face, neck and shoulders distorting how you look. I had people who didn’t recognise me! I’d suggest adding a hylauronic acid (Mecca - boost skin hydration), vitamin C serum in the AM (CeraVe or Mecca - softens wrinkles, antioxidant, skin brightening, fades pigmentation & stimulates collagen production), niacinamide in the PM (Mecca - softens wrinkles & acne scars, fades pigmentation, & stimulates collagen & elastin production), moisturiser night & day (L’Oréal cell renewal day & midnight cream night). I also use La Roche Posay cicaplast B5 as I double dip moisturiser & want to boost my skin barrier as I use tretinoin. And a big yes to sunscreen. (I use a Mecca one on my face.) If you decide to take a collagen supplement take a vitamin C supplement as well to activate the collagen. I just learnt about this so I’m about to start. As you’re in your 40s your collagen & elastin production will be naturally decreasing so boosting that any way you can will be a big help in the quality of your skin. All the best. PS - Mecca is an Australian company similar Sephora. PS - Hey @FifiLux I used to use the L’Oreal Revital filler too but had terrible trouble with pilling when I started adding more actives 😩. No trouble with their cell renewal and midnight cream just in case you start having trouble. I hate pilling grrr!

What are you most concerned about with your face? If you’re worried about lose skin, no matter what influencers say and the marketing for beauty devices say, none of them stop, reduce or help avoid lose skin. (I want my money back Nuface!) Your skin has been stretched out. How much depends on factors like age, gender, genetics, how much weight you carried and for how long. Same for your face as your body. Initially after weight loss you may look more drawn and or gaunt but it’s like once your weight settles, your face & body resettles too and you look much better. Didn’t really notice any specific changes to the quality of my skin. Some say their skin became dry. The reverse happened for me all over my body. Plus those little bumps on my arms disappeared. An unexpected bonus was I lost my hooded eyelids so now when I wear eyeshadow you can see it on my lids. ? For me having surgery was the beginning of really starting to look after all of me & really getting into skin care and non surgical interventions. Started slowly though now I throw everything at it but I’m now 60. You certainly don’t have to do all I do but find what benefits you’d like. Don’t be shocked but this is what I do: I use all the actives, serums, moisturisers & tretinoin. Most are pharmacy lines as they can get expensive. No specific eye or neck creams though as your ordinary moisturiser works the same. Use an oil or balm as a cleanser if I wear makeup otherwise warm water & a microfibre cloth (love the Make Up Remover ones). Only exfoliate once a week with 10% glycolic acid (wipe it on & wash off otherwise it’s too harsh for me.) Scrubs can be too harsh. Collagen powder - 1 or 2 scoops every day LED (red & infrared) - every fortnight at beauty spa (reduce redness so evens skin tone & encourages collagen production) Facial - monthly Dysport - 3-4 months forehead & chin. Am trying the longer lasting Relfydess so fingers crossed for the 6-9 months. Did micro needling RF to kick start my skin when I started getting really into active skin care. It began the change in my skin texture, lessened the depth of my acne scars. It doesn’t do anything for skin laxity but does stimulate collagen. Make sure they don’t go deep. Had filler in front of my ears and in my temples because I lost all my fat there and looked sunken. (Joked I looked like Hugo Weaving as Red Skull in the first Captain America movie ?.) Also been on HRT from before my surgery. I truely believe it makes a difference to your skin aging as a bonus. I still have labial facial folds and marionette lines but I had them before surgery and I have loose skin on my face which has given me some jowls. Only way to get rid of that is with a face lift but my skin itself looks pretty amazing. Check out Dr Samantha Ellis (dermatologist) and Dr Amir Karam (plastic surgeon) on you tube and instagram. They’re the two I follow and really like for information. They both have their own product lines but speak about other brands and specific products & treatments so not just trying to sell you their brand & services only.

Never define your success on losing a certain amount of weight by a certain date. Doing so only leads you to think you’re failing simply because you cannot precisely predict your rate of loss. There are only averages which might give you an idea. No hard and fast rules. There are too many factors, many you can’t control, that affect your rate of loss. The only people who lose at a higher rate in the beginning are those who start at a much higher weight than you did (like those on My 600lb Life) but as their weight drops, their rate of lose slows too. Your rate of loss slows as the months pass because it’s supposed to. As the weeks pass, you slowly eat larger portions of a variety of foods to get in more of the nutrients you need and as you start to develop better eating habits. You will lose more one week & less another week. You will experience stalls of a few days to a couple of weeks. These are about the only things you can rely upon. I lost my weight over about 18 months. This is not uncommon. Many keep losing up to around 2 years after surgery. In the last 12 months I averaged about 1kg (2lbs) a month but the reality was in the last couple of months it was less than a kilo. I’ve entered my stats in the various calculators that give you an idea of your rate of loss at certain points of time after surgery and how much you can expect to lose in total & they weren’t really accurate for me. Didn’t mean I was a failure at any of those point. Just like you’re not a failure. Celebrate and enjoy every pound you lose and the benefits the loss brings to your life.

I agree do get your bloods checked again. I have periods when I’m exhausted but it does depend a lot on what I’ve been doing. Life gets so busy & stressful at times and feeling tired or lacking in energy is your body telling you to stop or slow down so you can rest & recover. I had a very busy week last week, my mum was staying (it’s like caring for a 3yr old), we had appointments, lunches, afternoon teas, a memorial service, lots of driving & rushing about. I slept 10hrs on Saturday night! My heart rate slowed too into the 40s for resting rate. I remember after one of my surgeries (gall I think) a nurse asked if I was an athlete. If you know me you’ll know how funny that is. No one says anything now so I presume it ‘s back to an appropriate rate or they think it’s just normal for me now. Just going to check my pulse now to see.