kc892020

I went for 8 days and decided it was time for an intervention. I went out and bought a bottle of Miralax and it worked great--right before I took it, I had a BM!!! I guess just the threat to my bowels scared the crap out of them.

Thank you to all who replied!
It was the IV fluids, you were all right. I weighed myself today and I FINALLY lost! I'm ecstatic. I haven't been under 300 pounds since 2013.

Wow I had no idea a topic on bowel movements would cause so much attention.
Thank you to all who took the time to reply.
I went to my first follow-up appointment and the surgeon told me to start with Miralax (like I did for the bowel prep) to begin the "initial flush," then to switch to fiber gummies and take those with my supplements.
I appreciate everyone's responses, thank you once again. This has been such an overwhelming initial two weeks. I start pureed foods next week which I was told would also help with the bowels as well.

My surgeon today told me to take Miralax. Fingers crossed!

Wow, you look wonderful! Congrats on all your successes!

So its been a week and one day since my surgery and I haven't had any kind of bowel movement yet. I left a message with the surgeon but haven't heard anything back. I'm kind of freaking out. Is this normal?

Thank you to all who replied!
It was the IV fluids, you were all right. I weighed myself today and I FINALLY lost! I'm ecstatic. I haven't been under 300 pounds since 2013.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my inquiry.
Your answers were all very helpful and I appreciate it!

Thank you to all who replied!
It was the IV fluids, you were all right. I weighed myself today and I FINALLY lost! I'm ecstatic. I haven't been under 300 pounds since 2013.

When I got near goal with 100 pound loss, I had pretty bad turkey neck, really saggy underarms, very droopy inner thighs, and a pretty saggy belly. With time, however, (6 months past that time), things have tightened up a lot, and I am 63 years old - not a young chickie with good collagen and elasticity. I was seriously thinking of arm and tummy work, but I cannot imagine it now. Like the above poster, my tummy looseness is very easy to hide and I look fabulous in my bicycle shorts!. My neck is not as saggy. Neither are the thighs or arms. The only hopeless cause are the boobs, and I can easily compensate with a bra. It's not like I'm a swimsuit model and have to show it all off.
My advice is to give it a year after reaching goal. Don't rush into plastics. It's a big deal - serious surgery and expensive to boot. So make sure you really want and need to take that plunge. Big kudoos to those who have done it - they look great! But I suggest giving it time. You are going to have a period where you think your new body is horrible and ugly, with all the new sags and bags. You will want to jump into surgery and make it all better. But if you give yourself some time to adjust mentally, you will start to love and appreciate the new body you have been given, and all it is capable of doing for you. That is the time to decide about plastics - not when you are in the stage of feeling ugly and embarrassed.

I'd like to have plastics, but I can't afford them, so I'm just going to live with my wrinkled saggy skin.

I agree with working out and things post op or post goal as above it may take months of hard work to see a difference in the saggy skin but it's not impossible as @AZhiker said!!

at your current weight just close your eyes and you will be down 30lbs before you know it. If its stressing you out just weigh yourself once a week.

I actually took a little bump up after a few days which I attribute to fluids. Six weeks later I'm down 40 pounds. Patience is the key...
Welcome to the journey.

it's due to all the IV fluids. I've heard of people gaining up to 10 lbs from them. They should be mostly (if not all) gone by the end of the first week, so your weight will start heading down.

It is fairly common to have a little post-op weight gain and take several days for that to come off. Try to increase your Fluid intake, because that will help you start peeing out some of those extra fluids... then shortly after you should start losing actual fatty weight. Be patient, it will come! Oh... and walk as much as you can.

Ok so I'm almost four days post-op and I'm still the same weight I was the day of surgery. This may sound like a dumb question, but when does the weight actually start coming off? I'm doing everything I'm instructed and given that I'm only on liquids it doesn't make any sense to me.
As always, any help is appreciated!

So. I'm only almost four days out and I'm already wondering about plastics. Are they pretty much inevitable? Is there anything that can be done to prevent them? Special toning exercises, etc? Just curious...

Thank you all for taking the time to reply! I once again appreciate all the love and support from this community. I just got to keep staying positive. I need to keep reminding myself that I went through all this for several good reasons and I just need to keep looking forward to seeing the results.
Thank you all again!

Thank you all for taking the time to reply! I once again appreciate all the love and support from this community. I just got to keep staying positive. I need to keep reminding myself that I went through all this for several good reasons and I just need to keep looking forward to seeing the results.
Thank you all again!

I'm on the same page too! I'm day 7 post-op & it does seem to get better. We're in this for the big picture- maybe not this week or next... but sometime soon, we'll be glad we did this! Also, I've not lost any weight in the last 5 days- I'm the same weight as the day I got home. Isn't that weird? I am just going to say that my body is so amazing that it can hang on to calories so well! Kind of like if I was deserted at sea, I'd have a better chance at survival because of my amazing floating capacity. Hang in there!

I’m also day 7 of recovery. The pain WAS horrible. I did wonderful the first five days. Set my timer and everything. Yesterday I transitioned to Full liquids ie broth, creamy Soups, etc. Well, that wasn’t enough for me. I incorporated hummus and Puréed black Beans. Well if that isn’t sticking to the rules enough, today I incorporated half cup of purées canned chicken with Light Mayonaise. Went down fine and feeling fine. I feel so angry and frustrated at myself though. 7 days and I’m already breaking rules?? I had Sleeve to RNY conversion bc of horrible GERD. Surgeon ended up removing all of my stomach BUT the pouch bc of all the scar tissue. Shame on me.

Its tough nobody will ever argue that - But you got this this - Stay calm - DO not push the food eating, and try and move a little - You will look back at this in 4 months and never remember the bad parts because the good out ways so much of the bad!
Reach out here anytime - All of us have been knocked down hard exactly like you are right now!

This will soon be another victory!!! Congratulations.

I had surgery on the 7th and completely agree with the pain and everything you said. It does get easier day by day. Best of luck to you and congratulations for changing your life for the better