over65

I had very long hair for years. It is very fine (Scandinavian blonde) but thick. Always surprised hairdressers when I got my hair foiled to add highlights. Took a lot more time than they thought. The week before surgery I got my hair cut just above shoulder length.

I started high Protein diet (90g/day) and Biotin a few months before surgeryand have maintained since. My surgery was postponed due to covid so I just maintained my preop diet. I lost 30 pounds while waiting.

I am now 4.5 months post-op and lost 70 pounds since I started this last December. I started shedding hair just last week. Not in clumps. Just fine hairs in hairbrush, on pillow, on floor around recliner where I sit. The shedding is more like my dog's seasonal shedding. No bald spots or significant thinning.

I know everyone is different. My hair has grown about an inch a month so need a haircut. Couldn't get earlier because covid restrictions.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

I have lost 70 pounds now. Have minor saggy skin in expected places and I can hide with clothes. But my neck is really ugly. I guess I had a lot of fat in double chin and I lost a lot fat there. What can I do (without plastic surgery) to improve my neck? I don't want to wear turtle necks all the time.  

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

Just be careful about hot spices. Will really bother your stomach.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

I had gastric sleeve May 28. Will have 6-month check up end of November. Just this week, I am shedding hair everywhere. But I have very fine hair but plenty of it. Don't see any bald spots. So not concerned and expected.

My 3-month checkup blood work showed all Vitamin levels and other tests perfect. I am just 9 lbs above clinic's goal weight with seven weeks until 6-month checkup.

My post-op experience has been extremely smooth. No pain with eating. Always getting all my Protein and Water requirements without any issues. Eating normal food now with just one Protein Shake per day.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

My surgeon says no raw fruit or veggies for 3 months post-op.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

I tried Celebrate sample packs. The chewable vitamins tasted horrible. I did get 2 packets of 4 in 1 but the Vitamins tasted so bad, I threw the packets out. I suspect the 4 in 1 just has their vitamins in powder added to Protein Shake pack. Find a brand of Bariatric chewable Vitamin you like and switch. Bariatric Fusion chewable are the cheapest and complete, including Calcium. Different fruit flavors but avoid the ORANGE as it is really overwhelmingly strong flavor. For Protein Shakes, I have been drinking pre-made FAIRLIFE Nutrition chocolate. I really like it and only 150 cal with 30g Protein, 2 carbs in 11 oz serving.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

My surgeon said he has taken patients to O.R. and found liver too large to safely operate so stopped. You certainly don't want that to happen. You should lose some weight and shrink liver during presurgery diet. Hopefully you have time to get back on track. Fast food cannot be an option for you now anr at least the next year during weight loss.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

I had sciatica frequently before VSG. Visit to chiropractor always relieved it in one or two visits. I never required any steriod injection. Now after 50 pounds weight loss, I have had no recurrence of sciatica or low back pain. I couldn't walk before without recrrence but now walk 2 miles everyday.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

So [mention=374459]over65[/mention] what app is it? I’m sure people want to know [emoji846]

Called "Step Tracker" in Google Play store.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

[mention=374459]over65[/mention] what app is that? Is it Fit Bit?

No, uses your Android cell phone only. Fitbit and other devices on wrist are highly inaccurate as they are measuring arm movement only. I have a friend who drives big rig all day. He gets 30,000 steps just steering and shifting. I put my cell in fanny pack. It measures distance by GPS. First morning I walked 1 mile. Checked the distance by Google maps and was spot on. It calculates number steps by estimating your stride length according to your height and weight. I am 5'1" and walking a mile is many more steps than someone 6' tall.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

Adding regular exercise, about 30 minutes a day, could help rev up your metabolism. Just walking helps. Add some strengthening exercises to help with batwing arms. There are simple exercises without equipment on YouTube.

If your "surgery not successful" has nothing to with you. In fact, a recent published scientific article shows that the skill of the surgeon has about 50% of influence on success. Ignore idiots who try to blame you. Like blaming a couple for inability to conceive a baby. Plain stupidity.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

I haven't had surgery yet, just getting used to all this. Thanks for the information! I was on Keto prior to starting this journey so the sugar alcohol was ok for me.

A lot of people cannot tolerate sugar alcohol after surgery. Causes diarrhea, abdominal pain.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

Found good app to track exercise. It uses your height and weight to estimate your step length. Then calculates distance, calories burned and time. You can also set it to use GPS to calculate distance if running/jogging. Saves daily total for weekly, monthly report.

I walked 1.03 miles in 24 minutes. Downhill starting and uphill back. Burned 122 calories in 2702 steps.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

Most patients are on full liquid diets on day 10 postop. Your surgeon allows yogurt this soon? Are you eating fat free plain Greek yogurt? Or name brand, carb-loaded regular yogurt?

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211. VSG.

Back to basics. Avoid junk and fast food, high carb food like rice, Pasta, bread. Choose whole, unprocessed foods. And exercise as much as you can. Logging intake may help but you probably already know what you are eating that you shouldn't. Too many return to old eating habits and then mystified tgat weight is returning.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211.

I really don't understand the low fat emphasis except the higher calories content. Reasonable amount of fat is necessary to absorb fat soluble Vitamins, help with dry skin and deal with constipation. Even saturated fat isn't bad (hangover from decades of misinformation about cholesterol). Many people are successfully losing weight on ketogenic diet which is very high fat, low carb. Most of us are high Protein, low carb with limited fat. I suspect high Protein, medium fat, limited carb would be best post WLS diet from my own research. I have been high protein (at least 80g), limited fat, limited carb (less than 50g total carbs which includes fiber).

In the beginning, no caffiene, no carbonated beverages, no raw fruit, avoid fruit with seeds.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211.

I found some beginners low impact cardio on YouTube, all standing up. I try to do most mornings for 30 minutes indoors. I started doing some exercises I found for bat wing, tricep strengthening using resistance bands and 3 pound barbells.

Stats: 5'1", age 67, female. Highest weight: 245. BMI 41. Surgery Date: May 28, 2020. Weight at surgery: 211.

My bariatric center says goal for every VSG patient is 60% of excess weight. If you do better than that long-term, then great. But they discourage unrealistic self-set goals. Will set up a lot of patients for disappointing results. The average weight loss for VSG over thousands worldwide is 60% excess weight.

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When did you start Biotin? Also, how much Protein is your goal. My bariatric center says 80g per day. I have been taking 10,000 mcg Biotin since day after surgery and 90g Protein per day. Am only 8 weeks postop so probably have a month yet to see how bad my Hair loss will be. I heard limiting hair washing and brushing as much as possible will help from pulling out hair. Don't think Biotin Shampoo will be helpful as Biotin not absorbed through skin. It is just part of the process. Do the best you can and know that it will be over in couple months.

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HUGE disappointment. First ingredient is Maltitol. Last ingredient is Stevia. So mostly sugar alcohol with one drop of Stevia. Didn't buy. Always read label. So they put Stevia in big letters on package but barely any. Mostly sugar alcohol.

Instead I bought 85% Cacao Dark chocolate Bar. 3 squares is one serving. 170 calories, 5g Dietary Fiber, 4g added sugar, 3g Protein and 15g fat. So one square just 1/3 of that. So about 53 calories, 1.3g sugar. I can live with that.

Been investigating sugar-free candy by type of sweetener. Many are Maltitol, Sucrulose, aspertame, Splenda. Found some Russell Stover candy swetened with Stevia sold at Walmart. chocolate assortment or chocolate mint and caramels. Doesn't give calories, macros or ingredients. Also sold at Kroger in smaller packages. Will check it out on my next grocery run and get photo of back of package.
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You can get a sample pack of Celebrate for $9.95. If you buy in the future, the $9.95 applies to future purchase so sample is free. I ordered the sample pack and glad I did. I didn't like any of the pills/chews.

First month I took fusion Bariatric chewables which is $25 per month at my bariatric center.

I received 3-month supply of Bariatric Advantage Multi EA and Calcium chewables. I received cinnamon calcium which I really like. The multi EA is strawberry which also palatable. These are quite expensive so will likely return to FUSION when free ones are gone.

The chart is AVERAGE and very few people are actually average. On the bell curve, that is like "C" grade in class. There will people who achieve and others underachieve. It just gives a ballpark estimate of what average person might expect based on thousands of patients having VSG. It does not take into account many factors like age, gender, BMI, length of time overweight, genetics, metabolism, medications, physical/health limitations, social issues, marital status, etc.

Everyone's journey will be different even under strict laboratory contol. So this isn't a chart to be used to grade anyone.

Outside strict laboratory controls, few will follow this table. Some live alone, some have family eating regular meals, some have to prepare meals for family but must eat differently. Some are working full time with the added stress of rearing children. Some have enormously stressful lives while others are pretty comfortable most days. Some have existing physical/health issues that will not go away even with weight loss. Some have financial pressures. Hope you get the idea. Adult identical twins won't lose at same rate.

The first three months after surgery is the most unpredictible. Some will recover quickly and have no problems progressing to regular food. Some will struggle with constant nausea, problems progressing to regular food, difficulty swallowing, pain in chest after each swallow.

The same goes for end result and ability to maintain. No one should be judged for any reason. We all had a reason we needed surgery and surgery itself is just a tool, not a cure.

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I was on Wellbutrin XL prior to surgery and no change after surgery. I was not required to crush any of my pills after surgery. I had VSG. This may be different if Bypass done.

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My surgeon said no Fiber supplements. Swells up in stomach and can interfere with absorbing nutrients.

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