KimA-GA

there are so many factors when it comes to weight loss and gain. you can restrict too much and the body is in starvation mode and tries to conserve fat on the body. you could be nutritionally imbalanced causing problems; not eating enough OR taking too many supplements. you could be exercising more and loosing inches but gaining muscle. the body could be retaining excess fluids due to an imbalance of some nature. too bad you do not have a surgically support team following you. maybe get in touch with your gp and have baseline tests. glad you are talking to a nutritionalist. also don’t just rely on the scale… what are your measurements ? are you staying the same weight but loosing inches?

Please let us know how things go Wednesday!

So I had to buy smaller clothes recently, but know it’s (hopefully) the first of many size changes to come. does anyone have experience with clothing rental such as Gwynnie Bee ? Pick out, they mail to you, you wear and mail back to receive another item… might be a way to have more variety while sizes and clothing style changes. thoughts? Experiences?

I have never heard of bypass to sleeve. Would be great for you to tell us more. I would think that would be difficult to do considering the anatomy of both surgeries. Committing to changing your lifestyle and dealing with the underlying issues with food is hard work. you can out eat any surgery! Gastric sleeve, d/s, bypass etc are all just tools to help you be able to better control your consumption of calories . Personally, my issues with food brought me to this weight and will bring me back to it if I do not continue to work on and control my food issues. I have seen a few people I know eat themselves obese again after bypass. (One with bypass resumed her constant Dr Pepper drinking two weeks in because she “couldn’t live” without several cans a day. Surprise surprise she didn’t loose as much as she thought and is creeping back). Sleeve does work well for a majority of people, especially those who make the changes. I hope you are finding a path to achieve what you want.

I have lots of anxiety about my surgery and not even a date yet! Totally natural and totally understandable. It’s a huge life change that has to be acknowledged for how different things will be when it’s done. You have come this far and will do great. Remind yourself about how much you can do at a lower weight! Good luck tomorrow… please come back on and let us know how things went!

Hugs… I have heard there are hormone fluctuations as your body adjusts after surgery…. I hope you find some calm

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/gastric-bypass-surgery/in-depth/gastric-bypass-diet/art-20048472 this has general guidelines for amounts

i hope to discover new activities after surgery to do… maybe going on walks or hikes etc instead of focusing on just going out to eat. My husband and I take day trips just to go to further away restaurants… going to modify them into doing something else too since I will be physically able to actually move without as much pain (already can move so much better)… Going to focus more on the social aspect of going “out.” Talking and sharing and ordering only a small, reasonable something to enjoy. Even now I will sometimes pre portion my meal for the part I am going to eat now and the part that I will eat at another meal (i love leftovers lol either as is or repurposed! fajita omelets are a favorite ) it’s an amazing opportunity to seize a new, more full life with more saying yes to things than we have been able to at higher weights!

do you have a gallbladder still? sounds like it could be that … totally worth a trip to a doctor to be sure.. if it is there are meds to help (tho doctors want to cut it out too quickly and don’t often want to even try other methods ) … also i know people who manage gallbladder issues by cleaning out their gastrointestinal tract with colonoscopy prep and it sets their gallbladder right without surgery or drugs…

oh, dear!! i know that was upsetting. Do you have a history of anemia?

My favorite high fiber food that can easily, ahem, end backups (and it is yummy yummy yummy ) is split pea soup… make it yourself easy enough with: split peas (dried bean section of grocery store, cheap too) carrots (I use a bag of baby carrots) chicken stock either: bone from a spiral ham with some bits still attached, ham hock or two packets of Goya ham seasoning i pressure cook for about 50 mins in my instant pot and it is sooooo tasty and has about 16 grams of fiber per cup! (If it’s too thick, add water or stock) I also use lentils too - they have good plant protein and high fiber

i am pre op… but are you tracking calories and nutrition macros? are you hitting water goals? could be retaining water or not balancing something in your diet. if it persists, talk to your nutritionist/ surgeon about it

was 73.2 BMI january of this year… now down to 61.34. i have also shrink my belly from 72” to 59”… I can fit in places/cars soo much better… (Now if only my face fat would reduce!) the scale can be a stubborn thing, but staying the course or working harder has paid off each time the scale didn’t budge!

I agree with Tony, cheating like that is setting you up for bad habits later. There are so many seasonings and flavors out there that even liquid diet doesn’t have to be boring! Experiment with new spices and flavor profiles to add flavor without being chunky or big calories. here is infographic guides that may help you spice up your food and make it more palatable https://www.cooksmarts.com/articles/ultimate-infographic-guide-spices/ (of course be careful with seeds, spicy items etc until you are cleared for it)

I am a high BMI girl (over 60 ) but have changed my diet, worked on eating disorders and just tried to change my life this year. Been doing pre op keto diet since late august waiting on my surgery date. Down 70 lbs this year so yay there.. My NSV was my wardrobe changes! i was buying mostly size 34 shirts ( a few bigger). I saw a shirt on amazon that i liked that was biggest at size 28. I ordered it for “later” after surgery- but as a lark i tried it on and it fit quite well!! I wore it yesterday and got asked for the first time if I had lost weight. Guess clothes that fit make a difference;) I went and ordered four more size 28 shirts. If they fit too, I am going to purge most of those size 34 and higher and never look back! I am trying to get below 60 BMI for surgery (somewhat a stall right now, but that’s ok - i am staying steady) but I am really enjoying this victory!!!

you are so amazing!!!! congrats and keep up the good work! dont let anyone get in your way!

my secondary insurance has received the request ! so hopefully within 10 days i will get a call with a date

*Big hugs* that is so frustrating! You have worked hard and want to see more for the efforts. maybe changing up your routine may knock you out of the stall. maybe a new beverage that will help hydrate you so your body can process everything else better? maybe getting a little more sunlight with a short walk? sometimes the smallest change can make a big difference and get things moving again!

That is fantastic !! You have really changed your whole life. Excited for your progress and success!! Are you doing more activities now than before surgery? Are you following any diet or just careful moderation?

they can do a swallowing study with contrast to make sure everything is going food. the way it’s supposed to… hope you get answers soon!

i think awareness is the key. If you check in with yourself regularly and are honest about your patterns and internal pain, you can keep from going down a bad rabbit hole. Food was my transfer addiction. My family has a strong genetic disposition for alcoholism, so i was always paranoid and over cautious when it came to alcohol. Instead I was blind to how i was binging on food instead of alcohol. Making that connection along with some other circumstances has helped me be in “remission” with binging. There are still urges, but I can be in control. I am aware now and regularly look at my life if anything is going down an unwanted path.

i transitioned to my pre op diet in august. Mine is 50 carbs a day (total, not net). I knew with my eating disorder issues I needed to slide slower in it so I would not backlash into binging so I transitioned down over a couple weeks. Been about three weeks at 50 carbs a day (ok, had about two days that i did less than 75) and it’s going well. I can eat a wide variety of things to keep it interesting. Early on i was ravenously hungry despite eating plenty but my brother (who has done keto before) told me to up my fat content and the hunger disappeared. I totally miss some foods, but not a lot. Beans used to be a big part of my diet and they are too carb filled for now. Rice, pasta/noodles and tortillas were also staples and are now not good choices. And most fruit is very carb filled, but occasionally I will carb budget for a lovely apple which tastes so sweet now. I had already cut out most bread so that wasn’t a big deal. following the diet I have lost 18.6 lbs in three weeks (69.6 in 2022 total) … so worth the shift in eating!

my husband wanted to do a “food tour” with me to eat all the things that I wouldn’t be able to eat in quantity after surgery… I actually turned him down because I just didn’t feel the need. I totally see why people would, however!!! (Different diets/ mindsets/ approaches are all good because people are different and that should be embraced.) Its amazing to me how my mindset has changed this year. I knew from my binge history nothing could be taboo or not available to me, but I could make a choice about quantity, frequency and speed of eating. That empowering thought has helped a LOT to overcome a lot of my binging and overeating issues. I feel so ready for the body changes that will come after surgery and continuing surgery to change my lifestyle to achieve my goals. (now, changes to my relationship…ugh.. that’s a different thread lol)

since my secondary insurance knows it’s not primary, they had to show what the primary would pay (zero) before the second would pre authorize anything (only secondary has coverage)

I live in the deep south (Southeastern USA) and there is a very large and important food culture here. Everything is celebrated with food! Cakes, treats, going out, big meals are all just part of the social marking of every single occasion. So far I have participated but reduced my portions. my coworker just had a birthday and there was a cake. I took a small piece and portioned out a smaller portion of that and accounted for it on the monitoring app I use. I am still pre op and only one person at my work knows (boss) that I am pursuing surgery, so I was trying not to make a big deal. How has everyone else handled celebrating with food either with pre op dietary changes or post op ? Hopefully I will be post op for upcoming USA Thanksgiving and Christmas and know that by nature things will be different.