breezaa

I have Addison's Disease, which went untreated for a long time. I assumed I was just gaining some weight in my late 30's, which can be normal with Perimenopause and whatnot. And I was getting to that age. But I ended up with other issues connected to the disease and finally got diagnosed. I had a long road of medication trial and error before finding something that worked and added my surgery to push my weight loss.
I was never obese or even overweight until I was about 37/38 years old. So while I understand that is an issue for many people. That was not my case, that is not my experience. Especially when I was gaining weigh while eating less than most people I know.
I now eat more often that I used and I don't enjoy it.

It's pretty easy, eating the wrong things out of convenience is just as bad as eating things you "have a love affair with" out of desire.
Having some health and autoimmune issues didn't help either.
Not to be critical, but not everyone fits in the cookie cutter that you are placing on obese people.

You may not think you are criticizing but oh boy, you are.

First, let me start by saying I now have to have a revision due to sleeve complications (insane gerd causing high doses of PPI which have cased a ton of polyps all through my stomach, which make the gerd worse, which caused gastritis and esophagitis). I love my sleeve and am really sad to need a revision. I have to have half the polyps removed on the 17th, then the other half on March 10th. We're looking at a revision to bypass probably in May, which is ironic because that's my 1 year surgiversary for my sleeve lol
My ring size is now a 7 1/2 and my clothing size is an 18/20. My surgeon told me to expect to lose maybe another 60-65 pounds with the bypass (it'll be slower and not as much weight lost since it's a revision) but I'm ok with that. If I can lose another 15 pounds by surgery day, then the bypass will get me to goal within another year. I'm ok with it taking 2 years to hit goal, given all these stupid complications. My main thing right now is to feel better. I have to really watch how much I work out and what kinds I do because that can set things off. I watch my diet like a hawk. I still end up in pain sometimes, or sick to my stomach, or any number of things. But the revision will take care of that and then I can just get on with the business of living again.
The main things I experience is nausea after I eat anything, sharp stabbing pains in my abdomen that cause me to lose my breath and not be able to do anything but lay on the bed and cry, burning and churning in my stomach and up my esophagus, burning in my throat that sometimes makes my throat scratchy and my voice hoarse, spasming in my esophagus causing my throat to close and food to get stuck. I cannot WAIT to get better. Honestly. I love my sleeve, but this is too much. I just want to feel better.

I have noticed lots of people coming to the forums in distress because they regret having the surgery, I too was one of them. I wanted to share some of my own experience to reassure those going through regret that for some of us this is completely normal and part of the journey.
Its awful, you feel like crap and wonder what the hell you have done to yourself and for some we wonder if we will even survive this life changing decision we made. You may feel like you have ruined your life, you may feel like you will never eat or drink your favourite things again. You may think you will die of thirst or even starve to death, I am here to say you will get through it, you will feel better and you will eat/drink your favourite things again (even if you shouldn't ?)
I had my final check in with my mental health care worker the other day and to hear her read back my "statement" and how I was thinking 7 months ago made me cringe, was that really me, was I really down that dark hole ? Yes I was but thankfully I am a long way from that place now.
What we go through is a number of things first and foremost grief, yes grief and you will go through all the stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance and for good measure throw some anxiety and remorse in there too. Then there is our hormones omg the hormones what a rollercoaster ride they send us on so hang on tight !! I remember a few bad moments, one that stands out is standing in the shower feeling incredibly weak from not eating or getting my fluids in screaming "why, why me why do I have to feel like this" (some of my friends had breezed through the surgery) lucky no one was home and I did feel a little better after.....so don't be afraid to cry, don't be afraid to shout and scream. Another outburst was at the family dinner table for fathers day screaming why did I do this ? why didn't anyone stop me? I told my team that they shouldn't have approved me and they hadn't screened me properly and they had failed me ?.
I could tell of many more "moments" but I think you get the picture.
Some people especially those who have had an easy time after the surgery or haven't had the surgery wont understand why you feel like you do I mean you chose to do this right ? The hardest thing is even we don't understand why we feel the way we do, we wanted this, we paid the surgeon to have this done.
Yes its normal to go through a whole range of feelings and some are really bad but it gets better and easier everyday. It might start with 1 good day in a week then 2 until eventually good days out weight the bad you will feel like you are going 1 step forward and 2 steps back but you are still going forward. Be Kind to yourself let people around you look after you but also make an effort to look after yourself even though you don't feel like it. Soon you will get to a point where you no longer have that deep regret and you finally arrive at acceptance and from there you realise you wouldn't have lost the weight without surgery, your life is going to be fine, you can have that coffee and cake with friends , you can eat a meal with your family and your health has improved and you post your weirdest non scale related victory !!
You made it!!
You got through it !!!
There is no more regret !!!

Drink something, wait 20-30 minutes, see if you still want the food you're craving. It's common to confuse thirst with hunger.
I keep a bar of Lily's extra dark chocolate in my refrigerator and when I get a sweets craving I eat a square of it. Cold chocolate takes longer to eat.

dec 2021, 403 lbs


jul 2022, 365 lbs, 2 months pre-op



dec 2022, 270 lbs, 3 months post-op

I drink if its an occasion and I feel like it. Why not ? My team have never banned it and I am old and fairly sensible. I choose low alcohol spirits and a lots of diet mixer. At 2 months out, we went on a All inclusive holiday and I carefully tried a few Bloody Mary's. I lived to tell the tale, nothing bad happened.

I would go to the ER or another physician to have it checked out. It may not even be connected to your surgery. You are retaining water so I am not surprised there is no weight change right now. A common cause of low urine output is dehydration, and you said your urine is dark, perhaps up your water intake in the meantime. But if you are going less than 500 ml in a day, that can potentially be a medical emergency and it may be a urinary obstruction, for example.

Not every surgeon requires a pre-op liquid diet. Some, like yours, just require clear liquids for a day before the surgery. Be glad for it - the pre-op liquid diets are a huge PITA.

breast lift, arm lift and tummy tuck for me.
had them all done in one shot about 7 months after goal (roughly 14 months after wls). i would have done it sooner but my chosen ps surgeon was booked up till then!
i am completely happy with the results. recovery was a b*itch for me, but i have zero regrets.
i've also had:
- micro-needling RF on my face and neck (cant really see an significant improvement though and did not continue)
- botox on my forehead and jaw/massater muscle (def see improvement on my wrinkles and jaw size!) i do this every 6 months or so on my forehead and every year on my jaw)
- filler on my cheeks (love it!), every 6-7 months
- i also had filler once on each of: my laugh lines, chin and undereyes, but i didn't like the look of it so didn't repeat after it wore off.
- finally had lip blushing (tattooing a tint to my lips) and SMP (scalp micro pigmentation) which is hundreds of tiny tattoo dots on my scalp to give the illusion of fuller hair.
yes, i'm vain. don't judge me!! ?
sometime down the road i'd like a butt lift or something and a neck or face lift. but i still have some PTSD from my last ps recovery so im not in a rush lol.
if you have the desire, time, resources, and inclination, then go for it i say.
you only live once. may as well feel fab while you're here.

Also, even if it WERE the easy way out, which it is not, what is so wrong with doing something the easy way!? So we should do everything the hard way or it doesn't count!? We have so many things to make our lives easier (washing machines, dishwashers, etc) and no one accuses us of taking the easy way out with those. Maybe we should just go back to hand washing all our clothes with a washboard. Wouldn't want to take the easy way out!
I'm sorry. I'm ranty today. [emoji51]

Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

I reached onederland today! I haven't been here in years.
HW: 245. SW: 220. CW: 199. GW: 150. RnY 10/18/22. 52-years old. 5'6" tall.

My ideal weight is 145. I'm naturally curvy and at that weight I always looked sickly. My goal weight is 200. My secret goal is 170. I'd love to get there, but as long as I can hit 200 I'll be ecstatic. Some doctors really stress getting to the ideal/recommended weight. Others realize that's not always realistic for some, like me, and want us to get as low as we can while staying healthy and having a better lifestyle.
My PCP and surgeon love my goal of 200 pounds. I'm already moving great, dropping sizes, and off all the meds I can get off of. My diabetes and high bp are gone. So I've already hit my health milestones. The goal weight and clothing size is more for me, and my doctors are good with it.
Maybe that lady's doc is pushing for her to get to her recommended weight for her height. Who knows? But I think thin shaming is just as harmful as fat shaming. Nobody should be doing either one.

I don't know what to say, I hope that lady is not on this site. I am so happy that you are happy with your results

Is thin shaming as bad as fat shaming? oh yes. These are our bodies, we have done the work and when we say we are done, we are done with loosing. No-one else should have any input.
I always believe in this - If you cannot say anything good then keep your trap shut

I don't know what you're eating and when from your post but I just wanted to let you know that I have never, EVER been able to go to bed hungry, so if this is your problem I feel you. No matter what crackpot diet I was on throughout my life, I needed to save calories to eat for supper. I still do. Normally something filling but not calorific like porridge (oatmeal) with fruit, or even sometimes soup.
Don't punish yourself for feeling what you feel - PLAN FOR IT would be my advice. Good luck on the rest of your journey. ?

Account for it--I usually leave myself around 200 calories for "evening snacks", and it's worked out very well for me. Never eat out of the bag/box unless it's single-serving. Measure EVERYTHING and only put the amount you are comfortable eating in front of you. Depending on the nature of your snacking it also may help to pre-prepare a few "safe" things for in the evening (sliced vegetables, maybe some kind of low carb "snack box" if you're extra like that).

I hit goal today, 10 months and 2 weeks after my sleeve. I feel very lucky.
Best wishes and good luck to all of you - I could never have done this without you.

Go to the doctor. The dark sticky poop may mean you're bleeding somewhere in your stomach/intestines. GERD is just acid in the esophagus, which burns and feels uncomfortable, but doesn't include 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or 9. I suffered from it acutely for the best part of two decades before WLS.
Hiatal hernias can definitely make you feel uncomfortably full, short of breath and very burpy.
But go to a doctor asap. No one on here will be able to do much beyond guess and that won't help anyway.

Once the healing phase is over the two can work together quite fine.

a lot of women seem to have mood swings for the first few weeks/months after WLS. Also, screwed up menstrual cycles are also common. It's supposedly due to estrogen being released - it's stored in fat cells, and with rapid weight loss, it's released. It'll stabilize after the weight loss slows down (which it starts to after the first couple of months. So that could be the causing your weepiness, too...

Changing your thinking isn’t easy unfortunately. Boy how I wished it was. Sometimes though I’d have a sudden realisation which changed how I looked at eating in certain situations. Like realising going out with friends wasn’t about eating but about being with my friends. I started listening more closely to what we were talking about, initiating conversations & more closely considering their reactions. In many ways not focussing on what I was eating has built better relationships with my friends. My eating & drinking less doesn’t stop them eating & drinking either.
I developed an aversion to a lot of fatty, overly sweet foods, takeaway, fast foods & snacks. It doesn’t even have to be in front of me. I cringe watching fast food ads on tv, images on social media, etc. Though I throughly enjoy cooking & baking shows but I guess they’re not about excess but moderation. This was very helpful my first year. Others experience this as well.
I’m also a do I need it or want it person. Coupled with that is why do I want it. Do I want it out of habit (like when you want chips & slushies when you get fuel)? Because I’m bored? Because I’m sad, angry, happy, frustrated, scared? Etc. And the big one: am I actually hungry? Once you know the why you can work out strategies to manage it. Want a slushie? Get water. Bored? Find an activity to do (read, go for a walk, play a game, craft, …) And so forth.
It all takes time. And don’t beat yourself up if you give in. As long as it’s a rare slip it’s okay. Recognise it & move forward.

I’m coming to really really really realise that my whole life used to revolve around food and now I am in limbo. Just 6 weeks post op.
The other day I went to a flower festival - all I could do was watch people eating and want to eat all the yummy BBQ, burgers, crepes, etc etc. I realised that I have never been to a festival or park event without going primarily for the food on offer.
Then I’m getting to realise that I never really go anywhere that doesn’t have a food element. I get slushies and chocolate and crisps etc if I go and fill the car up or stop at the station on the way from A to B just for food and no petrol.
Meeting friends - all about eating. Maybe not for them, but for me. Staying home is take out.

Has anyone ever found something like that out about themselves? Anyone else “lost”? I have not idea what I’m supposed to do any more - and I’m realising why I’m so frustrated … all I ever used to do is eat or look forward to eating. It’s sad. I’m sad.