Rachel98

Had surgery 9/23, surgery weight was 272 and now im down to 230 - but my weight has stalled for at least a month now. I'm starting to notice Hair loss but I'm trying to to not worry as much about it... at least winter is for hats ? 😅

I finally started at the gym so I'm hoping it'll get my weight loss going again. While I'm happy beyond belief having lost over 40lbs since surgery, I still have a long way to go.

2 hours ago, smylnanjl said:

my surgeon said no red meat for 6 months -- does that include ground beef??? i would looooove ground beef

I think it definitely depends on plans - I was allowed ground beef after 2 weeks (along with any other ground meats - my plan doesn't have a set liquid/puree/soft/regular its just kinda puree to soft LMAO).

Today I got the all clear to move up to soft foods! I had chicken salad and I've never been happier to have something so plain 🤣 I've been allowed to have eggs this whole time, but they never settled well with me, even prior to surgery. So finally getting to have semi normal food is amazing. Definitely don't know what you've got til it's gone 🥴

Mine was September 23rd! Wednesday I move up to puree/soft food - my plan is a little different than most I've been allowed to have things like scrambled egg substitute or pudding things like that, and wednesday i can pretty much have most things that are soft - ground meats, tofu, cheeses, etc etc. Very much looking forward to it. The immediate post op I have never been in so much pain in my life, but the hospital stay was pretty uneventful - there were a lot of times I literally didn't feel any pain (my surgeon's resident said she's never heard someone say their pain was a zero before lol). After I got home? Completely different story. But after a day of misery I started feeling better. I'm thinking because I'm young my body is bouncing back a little more... but I guess I'll see how my body reacts when I reintroduce meats :')

Have my VSG scheduled for September 23rd! I'm so so nervous but beyond excited - I'm considering it a huge chapter closing on my (albeit traumatic) teenage years and opening up a whole new world in the future~!

Looks like I'll be having an august surgery! They said either late august or early september - so i'm keeping my fingers crossed!

3 minutes ago, ChubRub said:

I'm still pretty new to this (4 months post OP), but this has definitely been the best decision I've ever made with regard to weightloss.

I had GERD prior to surgery (which is why I chose RNY vs Sleeve), and it's completely gone! I haven't even needed a TUMS since having the surgery! I haven't had dumping, but I also don't crave sweets anymore which seem to cause people to dump. I have had "the slimes" which is when I eat just one bite too many, and I end up hypersalivating, and sometimes throwing up. That hasn't happened in over a month though, probably b/c I'm better at listening to my body.

As for loose skin, I'm sure I will have it, and I look forward to getting a tummy tuck/boob job someday!!

Yeah, as soon as I saw that RNY can help cure GERD in most patients (while sleeve can make it worse) I knew that this was exactly the solution to literally 90% of my problems in life. I hadn't actually read about "the slimes" that's definitely interesting to know. For me, my GERD is so severe that sometimes food does that to me anyways, so I'm thinking it won't be wildly groundbreaking and like you said it will just be a matter of learning my body post surgery.

13 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

I had GERD prior to surgery, which is why I went with bypass. It completely went away for 2-3 years. It did eventually start up again, but it's a much milder case than it was pre-surgery. Basically, bypass often (but not always) greatly improves if not outright cures GERD. Note the word "often". It doesn't always, but usually, yes, it does (and I do know many people for whom it went away permanently).

not all RNY'ers dump. The statistic that seems to be thrown around a lot is that 30% of us do, but I have no idea if there's any hardcore medical research behind that number. But just based on what I've picked up just hanging around bariatric forums for the last six years, that sounds about right. I've never dumped and I know a lot of other RNY'ers who don't. If you're one of the ones who do, you can control that through diet by limiting or avoiding sugar and fatty things (which we all should be doing ANYWAY).

re: loose skin. I have worked with pre-op groups in my bariatric clinic for the last three years. Loose skin (and hair loss) has got to be the number 1 worry of most of them. I, too, worried about those things incessantly when I was a pre-op and early post-op. I would be willing to bet the farm that the vast majority of us who are out a ways wonder why we wasted even one brain cell worrying about this. I would take loose skin any day over weighing almost 400 lbs again. ANY DAY!

I have since had mine removed because I got tired of looking at it, and I got tired of hearing it slap up against my body when I exercised, but it was very easy to hide in clothes and I'm pretty sure no one knew it was there besides my husband. Here is a picture of me before I had skin surgery. Notice the loose skin? And I had a lot of it since I lost over 200 lbs.

Wow! Thank you so much for all the points! Hair loss was definitely something I thought about too, but I take Biotin Vitamins anyways so I figured I would just keep on those. You mentioned you don't deal with dumping and I am curious - are there foods you personally can't eat any longer? Not even just for that but in general. I've seen a variety of foods tossed around that people couldn't eat after - Pasta being a big one. I'm italian and I think that may be impossible 🤣 I figure it depends on a person to person basis though. I figure loose skin I would likely get taken care of regardless because I wouldn't like looking at it, but I know I'd rather look at loose skin than the fat I have now!

Hi all~

As you can tell I'm super new. I've just started the process for bypass surgery (I picked a spectacular time, huh?). I've been reading this site up and down, but it's a bit difficult sorting through stories and advice from people who have had different surgeries than bypass. What's some things you wish you knew about post surgery and life after? If you didn't have the insurance mandated wait period, how long was it from first appointment to surgery date (if it makes a difference, I'm going through Beth Israel in Boston) And for those who suffered from GERD prior - did the surgery actually help?
I've seen a lot of the things about dumping syndrome and problems with lack of nutrients, but would you do it again if you could? One of my biggest concerns is loose skin due to rapid weight loss - has that been a big issue for anyone here? Thank you all!