sweetsmith78

Thank you everyone for you advice! I have been reading through it whilst struggling and it really helped actually.
Yesterday was my 1st day and oh my god, one minute I was fine and the next I was an over-emotional, sensitive mess!
The morning was completely fine, and I didn't feel too bad until about 4pm. Had a massive drama with my evening SlimFast shake - I didn't realise it needed skimmed milk, and by this point I was so done mentally but I still dragged myself to the shop. Got back home. Realised I'd bought semi-skimmed milk, which nearly brought me to tears 😂 My boyfriend had to go to the shop for me in the end 😅
Either way, I am gonna try and not spiral so much mentally today 😂 I had no chewing gum to hand, but I did have a few snacky pickles which are very low calorie!
Thank you all ❤️

I went with the sleeve. There are more restrictions with the bypass than the sleeve, so I asked My doc what he thought and he suggested the sleeve. I have been doing great thus far with it.

I will be turning 50 exactly 1 week from today and had RNY surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago. The surgery went well and I'm doing fantastic! If it weren't for the incisions on my belly and the desire for a quick afternoon nap when that wasn't my habit before, I would almost forget I had surgery at all.
So far the recovery has been far easier than I imagined. A few days of pain managed with Tylenol, some fatigue, and that's it. My blood pressure, which has been high even with meds for a decade or more, has been back in the normal range without meds since the minute I woke up from the anesthesia. I'm not sure age is as important as your general health, immune system, etc. I've been lucky in that I generally don't get sick when others do, never had food allergies or digestive issues, and am in fairly good health except for the obesity related concerns I was hoping to reverse/ward off.

"Clean living and not suffering stupid questions."
Tek

"Because I was cursed by an evil witch in the forest for not minding my own business."

it's not uncommon. Once I was over a year out I'd sometimes get dizzy. Had a complete workup and they found nothing. Next time it happened, it was about an hour after I ate a piece of cake at a retirement party at work. Told my doctor - she said it might be RH, and that my blood sugar might have been fine on the day I went for the workup, so it wasn't detected. She told me to eat something about every three fours, Protein preferable, and if I ate a carb, to be sure to pair it with a protein. It seems to have solved the problem for me.

Almost 5 years & yes, I do. There are certain foods that simply are too heavy in my tummy. Breads, Pasta, rice I’m looking at you. I try a bite of bread every now & again just to see but nope not for me. (Don’t really miss them at all & I used to eat them often). I also have times when something I’m eating unexpectedly sits too heavily. Unexpected because I’ve eaten it before without an issue & I’ll eat it again easily. Though it is nice to know my restriction is still active. And yes I still have bouts of the foamies. I think I’ve a more sensitive tummy & esophagus but I had a sensitive tummy before surgery so nothing really new just a little different. I’ve accepted them & think of these as things that are just quirky to me: makes me more special than I already am - LOL! Doesn’t really restrict or limit me in any way. Can be a little annoying at times of course but easily manageable.
And much like @The Greater Fool, some days I eat all of my meal & another I may not. Doesn’t matter. I love left overs. They mean I may only be reheating my dinner tonight not cooking from scratch. I’ll be snacking on my left over rolled oats Breakfast later this afternoon. I also focus on Protein & vegetables too & honestly after that I couldn’t eat anything else.
Oh yes, also female, though late 50s, 5’3” & not active,& have maintained (apart from a 2kg medication glitch 2.5yrs ago but I lost that when we sorted it).
Congratulations on maintaining too. Who hoo!

I wish I knew that pretty much at the 6 to 9 mark month the weight loss stops. I also wish I knew about the possible hormone levels being throw out of whack and what that could do to your metal health.

Life just throws it all at you some times & I’m sorry you’ve been through a lot.
Unfortunately the pouch reset is a fairy story/old wives’ tale. What needs to be reset is not your tummy but your head. Remember all that head work we had to do in the beginning? The stress, emotions & changes you’ve been experiencing has likely meant those old bad habits have snuck in again & you’ve been turning to food to comfort yourself. It’s easy to become complacent too. All completely understandable.
Don’t know if you were a food tracker or not, but tracking even for a couple of weeks like @Spinoza suggested will help you identify what you may need to adjust - food choices, Protein & fluid goals, portion sizes, nutrition. Then start by making one or two changes & another one or two a couple of weeks later. Small changes are easier to adopt & adapt to. Probably aim to get back to about where you were when your weight stabilised & how you initially maintained.
Maybe contact your nut/dietician to help you get back in the right mindset. Therapy may help you manage & better cope with the stress you’ve been experiencing too so you don’t turn to food.
You’ve been successful for ten years. You can do it again. All the best.

I'm guessing whoever did you scan isn't a bariatric surgeon, so they might call any weight loss surgery an RNY (?). Not sure. If what you got is a sleeve, and it was confirmed by other MRI's and scans, then I'm guessing that's why that person put "RNY" on your summary. He or she just isn't familiar with the various WLSs.

No this isn't my experience. If I stuck to a low calorie diet (VLCD) I invariably lost weight. I've done that numerous times since my teens. What I could not do was keep that weight off. I regained it all plus more, every time. WLS seems to have changed that for me (so far - 2+ years post op).
Can you give us a little more info? What diet were you sticking to, when and for how long?? I think it would be very unusual not to lose ANYTHING ever on a low calorie diet? Far more common to lose a bit, stall, lose a bit more...etc etc

I had a really physical job and could do really restricted diets without a problem. Three times I lost 70 pounds and three times I regained and added 30 pounds more. Then I retired, got old, covid happened, stopped smoking, got ailments etc. At around 350 pounds I was classed as disabled I could not diet and exercise anymore, I couldn't stick to a restricted diet. I stopped enjoying life and hid at home. I wanted to end the cycle of diet and regain +.
I clutched at a chance of stability and am really working to keep my weight off. So far its easier than before.

It's your body, you can count whatever you d*** well please.
You are on your own track. No one else has ever been on your track.
If your medical team has an idea of "on track" then they are comparing your track to everyone else's tracks. That's their issue, not yours.
Comparison sucks the joy from life.
Good luck,
Tek

Personally I would think cheese only once a day (if even) and no need for both chicken and fish on the same plate/meal in those portion sizes anyway for twice a day. I would think the size of the chicken breast alone would be sufficient with just some veg and a carb. Having the same for lunch and dinner of that style plate is just repeating too much of things that are not necessarily doing you any good.
Also maybe vary it a bit with possibly a high Protein yogurt and some fruit for Breakfast?
Chicken or fish, maybe with some green Beans or cauliflower and no eggs other than at breakfast?
If this is how your plates are looking - size and mix of food I think maybe you should reach out to a local dietician to go on a reset, back to the basics for a while if you can stomach it.
Also, don't always listen to what others tell you about how you look - you didn't do the operation for them, you did it for you and you need to be happy with yourself.

wow, I'm so sorry all of this happened! That must've been awful to deal with so props to you. I felt like I was going insane with just a month stay in hospital.
I have a doctors appointment on Monday, luckily they got back to me quickly today and triaged my referral. They did ask me to go back to my surgical team first, but I had my surgery about an hour away and it's just awkward getting there when I cant drive or use public transport at the moment, which they understood.
I also had a feeding tube - not via nose but via a line in my arm - and the nutrition in that daily... the side effects are not pleasant! So I can totally sympathise with you there.
They did mention pre-surgery I could potentially wake up with a drain from one of my incisions, which I didn't in the end, but part of me feels like perhaps it would've helped identify the blood build-up, or something else. Another thing similar to your story was they also thought it could've been a leak as something showed up on the CT scan along the staple line. They eventually ruled that out but my health anxiety is just crazy now.

Thank you for your kind words - I hope I do regain it, as I feel totally wiped out! x

I am a stubborn b**ch so I used that strength to get me through on the days I knew what was going on but a lot of the time I had no idea how sick I was. It was only afterwards I found out how bad I was and how worried all my family and friends were. I didn't mention it above but I also had a blood infection and then an allergic reaction to one of the medications - basically anything that could go wrong/happen did.
They couldn't do the feeding tube via my arms as my arms got infected and the veins collapsed, I think I had 8 different IVs in my ams over the months, they just kept switching from left to right until all veins had collapsed. I ended up having to have blood draws from my foot at one point and had my IV in my neck. I actually thought I was going to be physically ill when the first told me they had to put the IV in my neck and had to be given a xanex to calm down and go to the the procedure room but it was actually ok then afterwards and so much easier than my arms.
I know what you mean about the health anxiety side of things, I was worried about everything when I came home finally, it was a shock to my system to suddenly be without the constant checks from nurses and doctors and not know if a little twinge or cough etc was a bad sign or just normal. I had to take my blood pressure during the day and do temperature checks to make sure I was at a normal range.
I was also afraid to go for a walk of a few minutes in case I then didn't have the strength to get back home so I just walked the bus route on my road as figured if I could walk to the end of the road and get stuck I would just get the bus back. Now I can do 1.5km or so around the block at a steady pace. I am not sure where you are in the food reintroduction phase but once you are able to eat more Protein it should also help with the energy levels but I do think rest is key. Once I got into a decent sleeping pattern again, took a few months at home after the nurses rounds at 11pm 4am 7am etc., I really saw the improvements in my energy.
That is great that you got the appointment for next week. Just keep asking them to check everything and be honest with them about your fears so they can discuss with you.
Just give it time and let your body recover, it has been through a shock to the system with the weight loss and then the infection on top. I figure my horror show can only help others to not feel as bad if they are struggling a bit. It has taken me a long time to start to feel better and more positive but I think I have turned a corner in the last couple of weeks.

Hello long time no speak!
I had my vsg 4 years ago . With the typical stalls of loosing weight. As I approached my goal weight . The scale keeps going down. To the point I’m now underweight . Was told not to loose any more. Blood test all come back great. She did order an upper GI . Why? I have no pain or heartburn. i can eat and eat and eat. Half cup or less at an time even wake up in my sleep to eat. I feel as if my body is starving . I’m sure I’ll get the back lash but I know I’m not the only one suffering. If you happen to see a form on here please let me know. I don’t want bad eating habits like chips . Pop . candy . But I am to keep the scale from moving in the negative 😢

Hello long time no speak!
I had my vsg 4 years ago . With the typical stalls of loosing weight. As I approached my goal weight . The scale keeps going down. To the point I’m now underweight . Was told not to loose any more. Blood test all come back great. She did order an upper GI . Why? I have no pain or heartburn. i can eat and eat and eat. Half cup or less at an time even wake up in my sleep to eat. I feel as if my body is starving . I’m sure I’ll get the back lash but I know I’m not the only one suffering. If you happen to see a form on here please let me know. I don’t want bad eating habits like chips . Pop . candy . But I am to keep the scale from moving in the negative 😢

Well, I think you look spectacular and very healthy. The transformation is absolutely stunning!
I also think as our population trends heavier, we don't see the extra weight as much. I was a chubby kid, and I was like one of maybe 3 chubby kids in my entire grade, not just my class. I dieted like an idiot as a teen and got down to 126 lbs and I was nowhere close to the thinnest person in my friend group. Nobody said anything about me getting too skinny, for sure. I gained weight in college and by the time I graduated, I was overweight again, and obese by the time I hit my late 20s. I always felt like the biggest person in the room (at, like 210 lbs).
But by the time I was in my mid-30s, I started seeing bigger people than me all around. Everyone was getting bigger. My weight went up to 225, but many of the parents of kids in my daughters' grades were way bigger than that. It almost had an insulating effect from my own weight gain, because I was no longer the biggest person in the room. I just kind of looked normal.
When a friend heard I was getting bypass, her first response was "but you're not that big" and at this point I was 250 lbs with a 40+ BMI, plus high blood pressure, prediabetes, and high cholesterol. And this was from a person who is in the healthy BMI range and never been overweight. So I definitely think we've become so used to seeing larger people that we think "obese" is a term reserved for the people on television shows who weigh 600+ pounds.
And, of course, the rapid weight loss from surgery is jarring so people notice it more. But don't let their comments get to you!

i lost 10 lbs in the month after reaching goal. and then another 5 or so lbs in thr 2-3 months following.
the fear of losing too much weight is a common concern to those who reach goal (or are nearing it)
it doesn't last long.
slowly up your calories if you can...if u cant now, trust me, you will have no problem later.
if you continue to lose weight over months (not weeks as its way too soon for concern) and you dip below 18.5 BMI and your doc/team is concerned , then that will be your cue to be concerned.
otherwise use this time to figure out what YOUR maintenance calories are (not what is recommended to you as we are all different and require different calorie intakes) and enjoy and bask in your success!
congrats!

a couple weeks ago i remember your post about your struggle to stop losing...are you still losing while this hunger appeared? perhaps its your body's response to the weight losses...? if thats the case, then perhaps listen to your bod and eat more?
i can imagine that eating more is in itself a struggle...it took me 3-4 months to get over the mental block to actually stop diet mode (and like 2 years to get over the mental block of eating bread/rice/pasta lol)
if im not mistaken you just recently reached goal? (congrats again btw), my suggestion would be to give yourself a bit more time (ie several months) to find your happy spot, it usually takes a while before you get to the autopilot of maintenance...great suggestions above...experiment with (small amounts) of (preferably nutritious) foods and amounts and see what help with the hunger. keep an eye on the scale in tandem to determine any causal relationships with certain foods.
but yeah, i know, "easier said...".
good luck, and it CAN be done! ❤️

I hope this finds you well and you are okay. From my understanding, the upper GI series your surgeon has recommended is a crucial diagnostic tool. It can provide insights into various post-surgical changes, such as alterations in the anatomical structure of the gastrointestinal tract or potential issues with nutrient absorption. This non-invasive test is instrumental in identifying the underlying causes of unexpected weight fluctuations following weight loss surgery. It’s a key step in ensuring your ongoing health and well-being.

Jello Water sugar free. Gateraid. broth, tea. Water down Protein Drink.