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I had this fear as well. After a lifetime of being heavy and not being able to permanently lose weight, I wasn't convinced the surgery would work for me. That fear was compounded by the fact that for medical reasons I was forced to have the sleeve rather than the bypass. The surgery doesn't correct the psychological factors that lead to emotional eating or binging. That takes self-reflection or therapy and finding new ways to cope.
However, it does address the physical aspects. The surgery will reduce the amount of ghrelin your body produces (one of the hormones responsible for making you hungry). For most people, this results in a reduced appetite (at least for a while). It will drastically reduce the amount you can eat before feeling full and make it physically difficult to overeat. In my case, the surgery even blunted the intensity of my cravings. I may want something I shouldn't have, but it's much easier to just tell myself no post-surgery.
In the end, the surgery worked for me just like it does for most people. I lost all my excess weight and so far, I am maintaining the loss. It will work for you too (just be willing to put in the work of figuring out WHY you overeat and addressing those feelings).

Thats fair. I also bake cheese and use it as the crust. Like the cheese crisps for salads.

You NEED ricotta bake in your life! It’s the best thing you can eat in the soft food stage. I’m 6 months out and can eat normal foods, but ricotta bake is still one of my go-to meals. I eat it with turkey meat sauce and it’s basically lasagna sans noodles.
I split the recipe into 8 4-ounce glass bowls (I bake it in individual bowls instead of 1 big dish). It freezes well, so it’s super easy to grab a serving of ricotta bake and a serving of turkey meat sauce out of the freezer and stick them in the microwave.

Here you go! https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1793517
Can tweak the toppings too! It's a bariatric favorite!

Hi everyone!
My surgery went well, but post-surgical care the first day was rough. The nursing staff didn't do anything I was told they would do, and I think that contributed to way more pain and discomfort than I should have had. Once I advocated for myself, things improved.
As of now, I just feel super wiped out and weak...I'm trying to focus on hydration, getting up and walking around the house, and doing my breathing exercises.

I'm wondering the same. I'm at 420 lbs and one week re-op. Next Friday at this time I'll (hopefully) be recovering from a successful SADI-s procedure.
I have to admit, that in all of the groups I've joined, hardly anyone has started off as large as I am. Finding success stories for people my size has been discouraging....most people started off much lighter than me. It would be so encouraging to hear more stories of people who started off with their surgery weight in the 400's.
Personally, I don't expect to get as low as 140-160 lbs. I'll be happy with 200 lbs, honestly!
Anyhooo...just want to ask what the OP asked...some stories from super fats who have taken this journey.

I'm wondering the same. I'm at 420 lbs and one week re-op. Next Friday at this time I'll (hopefully) be recovering from a successful SADI-s procedure.
I have to admit, that in all of the groups I've joined, hardly anyone has started off as large as I am. Finding success stories for people my size has been discouraging....most people started off much lighter than me. It would be so encouraging to hear more stories of people who started off with their surgery weight in the 400's.
Personally, I don't expect to get as low as 140-160 lbs. I'll be happy with 200 lbs, honestly!
Anyhooo...just want to ask what the OP asked...some stories from super fats who have taken this journey.

I'm wondering the same. I'm at 420 lbs and one week re-op. Next Friday at this time I'll (hopefully) be recovering from a successful SADI-s procedure.
I have to admit, that in all of the groups I've joined, hardly anyone has started off as large as I am. Finding success stories for people my size has been discouraging....most people started off much lighter than me. It would be so encouraging to hear more stories of people who started off with their surgery weight in the 400's.
Personally, I don't expect to get as low as 140-160 lbs. I'll be happy with 200 lbs, honestly!
Anyhooo...just want to ask what the OP asked...some stories from super fats who have taken this journey.

Hands off my Dr. Pimple Popper. I love that show! I actually have the same reaction to some of her patients as I have to those on My 600-Pound Life. How did they go so long without doing anything? ("Well, I've had this lump for 28 years and I thought it might be time to get it looked at.")

What is your win this week or today?

Just out of curiosity today I grabbed a pair of jeans out of the storage closet that I haven’t worn in 13 years, a pair that I never thought I could squeeze into, but they fit! I’m 85 days post op and wore a size 24 or 26 in jeans, this pair is an 18. They are a little more snug than I care for in the waist, but they easily went on, zipped and buttoned, I kinda of like mine a little looser and then add a belt, but they definitely it! This felt like a huge victory for the day, because I was sure they weren’t even going to pull all the way up!

The weird thing is that I had only seen bits and pieces of My 600 Lb Life until recently. I've always thought it was abhorrent the way they exploited people struggling with mental health and weight...just disgusting. Lemme tell you it was a bit awkward when I found out Dr. Now was a friend's dad...

But just in the past week since I've been on my pre-op diet (my SADI-s surgery is in less than a week now) I've been watching it...still think it's awful, but watching it all the same. I think I'm watching it because it gives me a glimpse into the process of WLS and puts my mind at ease that so many people have had successful surgeries. I'm incredibly nervous about the actual procedure, and this is helping with that anxiety some...

I don't watch Dr. Pimple Popper because she gets on my nerves for some reason. I have no idea why...she's perfectly lovely. I used to watch her on Youtube a looooong time ago before the TLC show because I'm a pimple popper through and through. LOL (I may have revealed too much about myself with that one....)

I cannot stand this show and I hate it and it's exploitative and just awful....
but I've been watching it non stop the past week while I've been preparing for my SADI-s surgery on February 5th (exactly a week!).
But really, this show is awful.
The funniest part? Dr. Now is my friend's dad.

I cannot stand this show and I hate it and it's exploitative and just awful....
but I've been watching it non stop the past week while I've been preparing for my SADI-s surgery on February 5th (exactly a week!).
But really, this show is awful.
The funniest part? Dr. Now is my friend's dad.

I think it’s important to be mindful that most of the people who are 600lbs got that way due to some serious mental health struggles. I mean, their issues aren’t as simple as, “eats the wrong foods” and are more like “compulsively eats due to past trauma.”

Regarding the enablers on the show, it can be extremely difficult to reason with people who suffer from certain mental health illnesses. It’s also exhausting to constantly fight someone else’s battle for them.

I give anyone that goes on that show a lot of credit for opening their lives up for public consumption and ridicule in exchange for *maybe* having a shot at a healthy life.

I am now officially half the size I used to be. I never expected to lose this much.

Thing is, there’s no surgery that will allow you to eat the way you used to and still maintain a weight loss. You don’t have to “diet” forever but you will need to eat mindfully. A lot of us are accustomed to eating with reckless abandon and that’s how we got big in the first place. Since I’m done losing weight, I allow myself occasional treats. Nothing is forbidden forever, but if mealtime was a TV show, some foods are part of the regular cast and some are “guest stars” I see once in a while. I don’t “diet” but I do try to make good choices about what to eat (with an indulgence thrown in here and there).

Hi Everyone,
There will be a weekly Zoom Meeting for DS'ers and those seriously contemplating having the surgery starting 1/30/21 at 11am Pacific Standard Time. Since I signed up for a free Zoom account, max running time for the meeting is 40 mins. We will have a timer and anyone who wants to share will have 3-5mins. I'll write a brief format, something very simple but structured with the ultimate goal of all of us having a place to support each other and share our experiences. If you think you might be able to make it, please respond to this thread. Thanks!

You will need the Meeting ID and Passcode to log on via Zoom. Here is the Zoom Meeting Info:
Meeting ID: 750 1754 0708
Passcode: RQGkb0
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75017540708?pwd=Sk9uOHRCRjdxVzNCcENpanF4ZW1sQT09

I love tofu and eat it often.
When cooking it there are a few different secrets to making it extra delicious....
1. You can freeze it and then thaw it (some people suggest even doing this twice)...this changes the texture a bit and makes it more dense.
2. I bought a tofu press and leave it over night to get the excess Water out so that it fries up nicer. This is what I do most often...less hassle.
3. I LOVE pan frying it with garlic, salt, chili powder, and nutritional yeast. OMG it's so good! I add some sautéed mushrooms and spinach and yummmmmmm.
Whatever you do, it's important to squeeze some water out of it before cooking it. If you don't want to spend money on a fancy tofu press (like I did because I'm addicted to kitchen gadgets) then just put it between two plates and put heavy things on top of it for the day.
It's important to flavor it with seasoning or make some kind of yummy sauce. There are plenty of great recipes out there for some healthy sauces! Mix it with some stir fried veggies and yum!

When I'm down 200 lbs, I'm gonna go to Thailand to get all the excess skin removed.
OH BUT THEN...
I'm taking a month long trip to Scotland, Ireland, and England to explore my ancestral roots...
also to find myself a super kind, intelligent, kilt wearing, whiskey drinking, log throwing, red beard (with streaks of gray) having, social justice oriented, two full sleeve tattoo having HUSBAND that laughs from the depths of his belly.
It's happening, people. It's. Happening.

SAMMC Bariatric Clinic: Weight-loss Surgery, Nutrition and Hair loss (whmcbariatric.blogspot.com

Weight-loss Surgery, Nutrition and hair Loss
by Jacqueline Jacques, ND
Original content: http://www.obesityaction.org/magazine/ywm22/wlsandhairloss.php
Typically, about 90 percent of hairs are anagen (in a growth phase) and 10 percent are telogen (in a dormant or resting phase) at any given time, meaning you are usually losing a lot less hair than you are growing so you don't have noticeable hair loss. But sometimes this can change.
A common fear and complaint of bariatric surgery patients is post-operative hair loss. While for most of us as people, our hair is an important part of our self-image and body image, it is not very important to our bodies. For this reason, nutrition can have a great impact on hair health because when forced to make a choice, the body will shift nutritional stores to vital organs like your brain and heart and away from your hair.
Hair loss has many causes. The most common type of hair loss after weight-loss surgery is a diffuse loss known medically as telogen effluvium, which can have both nutritional and non-nutritional causes.
Growing and Losing Hair
Whether you are aware of it or not, for most of your life you are always in the process of both growing and losing hair. Human hair follicles have two states; anagen, a growth phase, and telogen, a dormant or resting phase. All hairs begin their life in the anagen phase, grow for some period of time, and then shift into the telogen phase which lasts for about 100 to 120 days. Following this, the hair will fall out.
Specific types of stress can result in a shift of a much greater percentage of hairs into the telogen phase. The stressors known to result in this shift, or telogen effluvium, include:
High fever Severe infection Major surgery Acute physical trauma Chronic debilitating illness (such as cancer or end-stage liver disease) Hormonal disruption (such as pregnancy, childbirth or discontinuation of estrogen therapy) Acute weight-loss Crash dieting Anorexia Low Protein intake Iron or zinc deficiency Heavy metal toxicity Some medications (such as beta-blockers, anticoagulants, retinoids and immunizations) Weight-loss Surgery and Hair Loss
Nutritional issues aside, bariatric surgery patients already have two major risks of major surgery and rapid weight-loss. These alone are likely to account for much of the hair loss seen after surgery. In the absence of a nutritional issue, hair loss will continue until all hairs that have shifted into the telogen phase have fallen out. There is no way of switching them back to the anagen phase.
Hair loss rarely lasts for more than six months in the absence of a dietary cause. Because hair follicles are not damaged in telogen effluvium, hair should then regrow. For this reason, most doctors can assure their weight-loss surgery patients that with time and patience, and keeping up good nutritional intake, their hair will grow back. Discrete nutritional deficiencies are known to cause and contribute to telogen effluvium. One would be more suspicious of a nutritional contribution to post-bariatric surgery hair loss if:
Hair loss continued more than one year after surgery Hair loss started more than six months after surgery Patient has had difficulty eating and/or has not complied with supplementation Patient has demonstrated low values of ferritin, zinc or protein Patient has had more rapid than expected weight-loss Other symptoms of deficiency are present Nutrition Iron
Iron is the single nutrient most highly correlated with hair loss. The correlation between non-anemic iron deficiency and hair loss was first described in the early 1960s, although little to no follow-up research was conducted until this decade. While new research is conflicted as to the significance of ferritin as a diagnostic tool in hair loss, it has still been found that a significant number of people with telogen effluvium respond to iron therapy.
Optimal iron levels for hair health have not been established, although there is some good evidence that a ferritin level below 40ug/L is highly associated with hair loss in women.1 It is worth noting that this is well above the level that is considered to be anemia, so doctors would not be expected to see this as a deficiency.
Zinc
Zinc deficiency has been tied to hair loss in both animal studies and human cases. There is data linking zinc deficiency in humans to both telogen effluvium and immune-mediated hair loss. Zinc deficiency is a well-recognized problem after bileopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch, and there is some indication that it may occur with other procedures such as gastric bypass and adjustable gastric banding.
In 1996, a group of researchers chose to study high dose zinc supplementation as a therapeutic agent for related hair loss2 in patients with vertical banded gastroplasty. The study administered 200 mg of zinc sulfate (45mg elemental zinc) three times daily to post-operative patients with hair loss. This was in addition to the Multivitamin and iron supplements that patients were already taking. No labs for zinc or other nutrients were conducted.
Researchers found that in patients taking the zinc, 100 percent had cessation of hair loss after six months. They then stopped the zinc. In five patients, hair loss resumed after zinc was stopped, and was arrested again with renewed supplementation. It is important to note that in telogen effluvium of non-nutritional origin, hair loss would be expected to stop normally within six months. Since the researchers conducted no laboratory studies, and there was no control group, the only patients of interest here are those who began to lose hair again after stopping zinc. Thus we cannot say that zinc would prevent hair loss after weight-loss surgery, and further study would definitely be needed to make this connection.
A further note: The Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for zinc is set at 40mg in adults. This study utilized a daily dose of more than three times that level. Not only can these levels cause gastrointestinal distress, but chronic toxicity (mostly associated with copper depletion) can start at levels of 60 mg/day. Information related to this study has made its way to many a support group and chat room – even to doctor's offices – with the message of "high dose zinc will prevent hair loss after weight-loss surgery." Patients should be advised that high dose zinc therapy is unproven and should only be done under supervision due to the associated risks of toxicity. A lab test to check for zinc deficiency would be best before giving a high dose such as this.
Protein
Low protein intake is associated with hair loss. Protein malnutrition has been reported with duodenal switch, and in gastric bypass to a much lesser degree. Little is known about incidence, as only around eight percent of surgeons track labs such as total protein, albumen or prealbumen. Limited studies suggest that patients with the most rapid or greatest amounts of weight-loss are at greatest risk.3
With surgical reduction of the stomach, hydrochloric acid,4 pepsinogen5 and normal churning are all significantly reduced or eliminated. Furthermore, pancreatic enzymes that would also aid in protein digestion are redirected to a lower part of the small intestine. It is thus likely that maldigestion, rather than malabsorption, is responsible for most cases. Some studies have also implicated low protein intake.6
Research also indicates that low levels of the amino acid l-lysine can contribute to hair loss and that repletion of lysine stores may both improve iron status and hair regrowth. In a study of anemic patients with hair loss who were supplemented with 1.5 to 2 grams of l-lysine in addition to their iron therapy, ferritin levels increased more substantially over iron therapy alone.1
Many individuals believe that supplementing with or topically applying the nutrient Biotin will either help to prevent hair loss or will improve hair regrowth. To date, there is no science that would support either of these presumptions. While biotin deficiency can cause dermatitis, hair loss is only known to occur in experimentally induced states in animal models or in extreme cases of prolonged diets composed exclusively of egg whites.7
Other
Other nutrients associated with hair health include Vitamin A, inositol, folate, B-6 and essential fatty acids. Hair loss can also be caused by systemic diseases, including thyroid disease and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and is influenced by genetics.
Conclusion
Hair loss can be distressing to bariatric surgery patients and many will try nutrition themselves to see if they can prevent it. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that early hair loss is preventable because it is mostly likely caused by surgery and rapid weight-loss.
Later hair loss, however, can be indicative of a nutritional problem, especially iron deficiency, and may be a clinically useful sign. Educating patients about the potential for hair loss and possible underlying causes can help them to make informed choices and avoid wasting money on gimmicks that may have little real value.
About the Author:
Jacqueline Jacques, ND, is a Naturopathic Doctor with more than a decade of expertise in medical nutrition. She is the Chief Science Officer for Catalina Lifesciences LLC, a company dedicated to providing the best of nutritional care to weight-loss surgery patients. Her greatest love is empowering patients to better their own health. Dr. Jacques is a member of the OAC National Board of Directors.