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My surgery ended up being much more than expected. I went in having bypass and a Hiatal hernia repair. When my surgeon got inside, the hernia was twice as bad as it looked on the pre-op scans (level 4 of 5) and I have major damage to my esophagus caused from years or severe GERD. My 2 hour surgery ended up being 5 hours as he repaired my esophagus as well but everything went well with no complications. I ended up getting a second dose of gas since the surgery took so much longer and more extensive. Now, recovery ... WHEW! I am not going to lie, that gas pain was no joke! I was MISERABLE the next day! I have a VERY high tolerance to pain, rarely take ANY pain meds but this was killer. Yes, it hurt to breathe, hurt to move... hurt to be alive. haha I took pain meds anytime they offered them, which doesn't actually help with the gas pain BUT they knock me out so I could at least sleep through the pain! By the second day (still in the hospital) I was off IV pain meds but took oral (crushed and disgusting) pain meds in the morning and then one more time for my trip home from the hospital. Once home, I never needed another pain pill, I didn't even take Tylenol. I still had minor gas pain, which was mostly in my shoulder and a heating pad helped. I had NO actual surgery pain, or the gas pain just masked it? I had 1 incision that oozed, called the surgeon and it was normal. Took longer to heal up but never caused me any issues or pain. Once I got past the 2 days of gas pain I was smooth sailing. I am so grateful how easy my recovery was. I mean, not one issue at all. I hit my fluid goals in less than a week and was hitting my protein goals in just over a week. I had no issues drinking anything cold or warm. Now, 8.5 months post-op and still no issues at all. I can eat anything, have no issues tolerating anything. I THINK I may have dumped once, but it was mild enough that I am not even 100% sure it was a dumping episode. I slept in the recliner for about a week because it was more comfortable and when sleeping on my side the weight of my belly pulling made the incisions on the opposite side get irritated. But after that, I was good to sleep however I wanted. Everyone is definitely different. Just remember, every plan is different but you trusted your team and you trusted your surgeon with your life (literally) so trust their plan. Follow THEIR/YOUR plan and listen to them over other people. Take it easy for a few days, walk, walk, walk and BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!!!

I just had an awesome consultation for revision! My doctor doesn't think I'm going to have any issues with approval from Anthem BCBS. I have to do a few classes next week and then she'll submit for pre-approval to see if we're up against any roadblocks. After that I need an upper endoscopy and some nutritional classes but not much else! She said it would probably be 3 to 5 months before surgery. I'm hoping for closer to the 3 months because I'd like to be all healed up and fairly adjusted to the new lifestyle before we go camping all summer! [emoji846] Sent from my SM-N975U using BariatricPal mobile app

I’m sorry you have been through such emotional upheaval that compromised your weight loss journey. You had other battles & issues you were dealing with which didn’t allow you to fully embrace the benefits of your surgery. Sometimes life gets in the way of all our good intentions. Glad you are seeing a therapist now to support you. Many find therapy a great benefit to their weight loss. And remember, you did lose more than 100lbs which is an achievement. The efficacy of the pouch reset is questionable. Some swear it works & others say it doesn’t. It really is just going back on the very low calories diet you followed immediately after surgery. Have you considered going to a dietician & working on eating in a way that is more like what you were doing when you were into eating solid foods with protein & fluid goals, watching portion size, lowish carbs, fats & sugar, etc. so adopting a healthy, & nutrient dense diet. If you think you have stretched your tummy out, maybe a revision surgery may be helpful. Certainly worth a conversation with your old surgeon or a new one to see if it is possible. Others here will likely have more knowledge & experience about this. What ever you decide, all the best.

It really is different for each individual. I can only tell what I experienced from my Gastric Bypass surgery on Nov 8th. I felt the gas the first few days but no real discomfort to me. Sometimes just changing position would help. No pain per say but I walked a lot around the house and honestly was too tired those first few days to take the dog for a walk. No problem sleeping (I sleep on my side anyway). They gave me pain meds to take home but I never needed any. Speaking of tired, remember you will be recovering from surgery so you will be worn out. Rest, rest, and recuperate. My first 2 weeks was a "full liquid diet" where I lived on protein shakes and yogurt. My focus was on healing, getting protein, and fluids. Again, I experienced no pain, no GERD, and very little constipation. By the 2nd week I had more energy, so started taking the dog for a morning walk again ( she is so Happy!). Still not hungry! 3rd & 4th week was my "pureee phase" and again no pain or complications. My energy was still increasing however I made sure I was active in the morning because the afternoons still saw my batteries running low. During my 4th week I added my Airdyne stationary bike to my routine after the morning walk. Then had a 2 week "soft textured" phase which I am entering the final week. Still no pain or complications. Still learning the "full indicator" (when to stop eating) and trying to find foods that I want to eat (especially in this phase). Still not hungry but I have become aware of when my actual stomach and not my head says "feed me". Looking forward to the "Bariatric regular" phase starting soon. I honestly feel that these previous phases (including pre-surgery) have prepared me for the long run. So in summary, I personally did not experience any difficulties or pain with this surgery but am enjoying not only the weight loss but the healthy lifestyle. Also, my blood sugar & BP are normal without any medications for the first time in decades. Listen to your bariatric team, stick with the plan and you will be fine. You are going to have great 2023!

My bypass surgery will be in early January 2023. Can anyone tell me what to honestly expect postop? I've heard that the gas is terrible and that it makes it hard to breathe? What is he pain level like during recovery? Was sleeping comfortable?

My bypass was 12/8 as well, on liquid until the 20th. I miss chewing. Chewable vitamins are at least Simi crunchy. Living on chicken stock and protien powder. Sent from my SM-G998U using BariatricPal mobile app

Back in August 2012 I had a RNY surgery. I had done about a year of work to get to that point. A month or so before the surgery I discovered my wife at the time was cheating on me. I confronted her about this and she denied it but after some discussion we agreed to work on the relationship. Fast forward to the day of the surgery. She accompanied me to it that morning, I went back and the procedure was completed. I was taken to my room and was groggy from the anesthesia. She decided at that moment, while I was groggy and not clear headed to tell me she wanted a divorce. Needless to say this was hard. I will be honest and say that I did not handle things well and I started to slowly slip back into bad habits. I didn't follow up with the doctor and just overall did poorly. I have, however, kept to around 400lbs, and my biggest was 520lbs. I had recently done a diet program through a clinic, HMR, and I was down to about 352lbs before starting to slip and gain again. I am at currently 392lbs as of this past Monday. I completely regret not taking advantage of the RNY now. I realize stress and circumstances piled against me but it is a huge regret that follows me. I came across this site yesterday as I want to resume some form of eating plan. HMR is unfortunately closing and I need to figure out something that is a bit restrictive. I saw the pouch reset and think it might work for me. My insurance, Anthem BCBS, says on in the plan documents that Revision surgery is not covered. My options, I think, are doing the pouch reset but I am worried I have stretched my stomach out and that would be futile. Am I wrong on the stomach being stretched out? What can I do from here? Any suggestions?

Not every one reaches their goal weight. The average is a loss of about 65% of the weight you have to lose to be in a healthy range at around the three year mark for sleeve or bypass. This takes in the common 3rd year regain, compliance, lifestyle, etc. of course some exceed this & some don’t reach it. Love it or hate it BMI can be a good guide or starting point. If you’ve a larger frame look to the higher end of your BMI range. A small frame then the lower end of the range. Medications, age, general health, etc. can all influence what a healthy weight is for you as well the weight you feel most comfortable. Then there is your body’s new set point - a gift of the surgery. This is the weight your body is happiest at. It may not be the weight you wanted but it will be a weight that will be easier to maintain. I chose a weight which had been the weight I’d be able to get down to in the past (always bounced between 60-75 kgs) & my surgeon agreed it was an appropriate & realistic goal (interestingly it would have been 75% of what I did lose). My body had a different idea & I lost more. My set point put me at a weight lower than my goal. For years I was told I had a larger frame. But when the weight went the truth was I have a smaller frame & my lower weight is fine for me. I haven’t had any skin removal because I felt I didn’t have that much & it wouldn’t be worth the surgery, recovery & scaring. But that’s me. They’d probably remove less than 1kilogram of lose skin from all over my body.

started at 235 (5'2" female) lost 100% of "excess weight" (baseline calculated as 135 ideal weight by my surgeon) by 6 months got to MY revised goal weight of by 7 months. lost a bit more after that, gained some back, and nowadays hover around 118-120. i'm 4 years out. in terms of weight loss slowing down: not counting the first 2 months where i saw higher losses, i was pretty consistent during weight loss phase with a loss of about 10 lbs a month until goal. after that it slowed alot down, but i was purposely trying to. YMMV

My initial goal was 159, which brought me to a normal BMI. Once I achieved that, I revised my goal to 150, just because. Now that I achieved 150, I have sent a tentative new goal of 145, which is my Ideal Body Weight. I'm in no rush to to get there, though, and I feel like I might be starting to look too thin. Overall, I am beyond thrilled with how much I have lost... so much more than I thought was possible!

I'm curious about everyone's thought process when picking their goal weight (if you have one, that is!) Is it a weight you've been before that you know feels good to you? Did you pick based on your doctor's recommendation or the BMI scale? Did you decide not to have one? I've been gaining weight steadily since puberty and have never had a time in my adult life where I felt like I was a weight that felt good on me, so I'm a little lost in the woods as to what my goal weight is or should be... honestly I picked a number at random and if I get there I'm planning on being open to revision once I see how I look/feel. Which brings up another question - if you had a goal weight, did it ever change, before or after you reached it? Why?

I am 5 weeks post op from gastric bypass. I had surgery November 7th. I have read that lots of people have so much energy but I'm not feeling it. In the last week or so, I have wanted to take a nap most afternoons. Is this normal or am I missing something? I was really looking forward to feeling more motivated to move and do things. TIA!

Hello and welcome! I had bypass so I don't have any specific input for the sleeve but they are both weight loss surgeries and are a lot alike but also different. haha.. that didn't help at all! All I can say is DO IT! Do it for you, or your kids, whoever you want but do it. I talked myself out of it for so many years because I could always lose weight on my own (over 100 lbs multiple times) key word "MULTIPLE". I could never keep it off! This was my deciding factor for having surgery. I am 8.5 months post op and my only regret is not doing it years ago!!

Restriction to me is the emotional or mental feeling of wanting to eat a whole pizza but after a few bites, you feel you have had enough. The build up to the point is different to everyone. Everyone has different signals like runny nose, hiccups, pressure in their upper chest... Etc. I just feel satisfied. I stop early, at about 75% full. I learned in the early days of my first surgery 2008, one bite too many can give you hours and hours of being uncomfortable. I recently went through another new learning curve after my revision to bypass ( for gerd).

I didn't have any of those issues, but I had bypass and love it. I'd make the same choice if I had to choose today. Bypass is typically a bit better at improving some of those things you mentioned - like insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.

Hi, I've just come back on these forums after a long long hiatus. I am like you. I had my lapband inserted when I was 23 years old back in August of 2022. I felt back then that was the safest and least invasive treatment option. I did not have success with the lapband. The most I lost was 12 pounds and then after that I stalled and gained. Today I'm 227 pounds but have a BMI of 36, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type II diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. I also didn't have the best relationship with my surgeon when I told him "I don't think it's working" when I told him at my one week post surgery check up because instead of losing I had gained 7 pounds. Long story short, he told me it was my fault because I was sneaking burgers, pizza, and coke when my family was asleep at night, which was farthest from the truth as it took me hours to down 30 ml of liquids and could not get solid food down 7 days post op. I ended upgoing back to him 2 months ago after not seeing him for 12 years due to having pain in my upper left quadrant of my abdomen. I can only describe it has a burning sensation, like burning on the inside, and I felt strange when I would turn my torso, in the that specific area. Now the pain has subsided but now the area is numb. He scheduled me for an endoscopy which I will be having on december 15, 2022 to see if the band has slipped or eroded. However, he told me that since having my lapband put in, they found out it's only a temporary gadget that should be removed in 10 years time. He spoke to me and suggested converting to a gastric bypass but I voiced my preference for the gastric sleeve, if I were to get a conversion. He told me because of my comorbidities and my unsuccessful journey with the band that a gastric bypass would benefit me more. Now I'm scared to get revised due to having my insides removed and rearranged compared to the lapband being reversible and afraid that I will get the bypass and end up failing again. That would be devastating. It's a decision that weighs heavy on my mind. Back when I was 23 I just wanted to be pretty but now that I'm 36 I just want to be healthy. I guess I'll see how the endoscopy goes this week and talk more with him about converting to the bypass.

Hello My name is Jenny. I had my lapband inserted in August of 2010. I was 23 at the time and the lapband was popular at that time. Plus my mother was a big influence on me choosing the lapband over the gastric bypass at that time. I just recently been feeling a burning sensation where the band is located near the head of the stomach and pain when during my torso. The pain is gone now but lasted for about 2 months now the area is numb. I went to my original surgeon 2 months ago and we scheduled an endoscopy which will be done on December 15th, 2022. When we were talking he brought up that in the 12 years that I've had the lapband that research showed that the lapband was only temporary and leave in time was only 10 years and so is suggestion, whether the endoscopy shows erosion or slippage is to take out the lapband altogether. However, he suggested converting to a gastric bypass. I'm deathly afraid of a gastric bypass and suggested a gastric sleeve (in my mind, it's safer) but he said that with my health (BMI: 36, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, PCOS, high cholesterol, diabetes type II) that the gastric bypass will give me better results than the sleeve. I did not have any success with the lapband. After my one week checkup post-op, I had gained 7 pounds which was due to swelling and the doctor (same surgeon I'm still seeing today) accused me of eating hamburgers and pizza and drinking soda at night when everyone was asleep. I remember my mother was in the room with me and he turned to her and asked "well let me ask you ma'am? does she have her own room?" and my mother replied "well of course she does?" and he asked her "do you go to sleep before her and she stays up late?" and my mother replied "yeah, she's 23. She goes to sleep a little later than me." and he told her while was in the room "well, there you go. she has no one to monitor her at night. she's eating pizza, burgers, drinking soda." When the reality was I couldn't even get down a medicine 30 mls of liquid post surgery. So I never went back and so my post care suffered since I never sought after care from him or his facility. I don't think he remembers what he said all those years ago though and as I've grown older, I've gotten over it and want to start anew. Thing is I'm for converting to the gastric bypass but I have PCOS and my hormones are all over the place and it's very hard for me to lose weight when I do try. When I change my eating habits, my blood work gets better (H1C decreases, blood pressure decreases, sugar levels normalize) but my weight does not budge. My question is..... Has anyone had the same experience with the lapband and failed with it due to PCOS or any other hormonal imbalance. I've had my thyroid checked 10 times and it always comes back normal. But i've been told I have metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance and assume I have PCOS. Did those that had gastric bypass have success with weight loss even when they had PCOS. I don't think I can handle another failure especially when i'm willing to go under the knife to have my insides permanently and voluntarily re-arranged.

I'm 3 days post bypass (12/8), the night of and day after were awful with the gas pain, kept me from sleeping so I did alot of laps around the nurses station. Today the pain is almost gone. Hang in there, it does go away. Sent from my SM-G998U using BariatricPal mobile app

I'm 7.5 weeks out - gastric bypass. I still have a lot of diaphragm discomfort. Wearing a bra makes it worse. I think that wearing bottoms with a high or snug waistband, does too. My surgeon's office has referred me for an upper GI series. I reckon it will come back "normal". I think my problem is just what I've been wearing and the activity I've been doing.

Bariatric Cookbook and Meal Plan Megan Moore, spiral. Gastric Sleeve Bariatric Bible 2022 William Torres. (Even though I had bypass not sleeve). 7 weeks post op and I've gone back to them once a week.

dumping can sometimes involve nausea - but it's usually chills or sweating, heart palpitations, dizziness, and diarrhea that, as I recall, can last a couple of hours. It happens when you eat too much sugar or fat at one sitting. It's more common with bypass than sleeve, but only about 30% of bypassers dump. I never have - although I kind of wish I WAS a dumper since that would definitely cut down on any sugar binges!! You may just be overeating - I've also vomited at times when I've overeaten.

I know all the plans are a bit different but if you have Anthem BCBS, can you tell me about the process for you? My BMI is 40 and I've always had mild sleep apnea. I'm sure they'll do blood work etc when I have my consult on 12/14. I'm hoping to convert from Lap Band to Bypass. Sent from my SM-N975U using BariatricPal mobile app

I’m having bypass a week from Monday 19th am on LRD I have cheated a couple of times and feel awful about it. Hope it doesn’t jeopardize my surgery. Help

Hi everyone, This is sort of déjà vu for me! In 2009 I was on these forums a lot as I prepared for my lap band surgery. I lost 100 pounds in 3 years with lap band. In 2017 I tried to have revision surgery to the sleeve but my BMI was 35 and I only had mild sleep apnea and my insurance would not approve it. Fast forward to almost 2023 and my BMI is now 40. I have a consultation on Wednesday as I now have new insurance (Anthem BCBS) and I'm hoping to have better luck with approval. I am leaning more toward gastric bypass this time. I know a few people who have had the sleeve and a few people who have had bypass and it seems like the people with bypass have had the results that I'm looking for. Also, I don't want another 10 plus years to pass and be back here again. I'm really hoping that all this can be accomplished sometime in the Spring as I have 2 young boys and we spend the majority of our summer camping and I would really like to have all this done before the camping season begins. I'm not sure how feasible that is but I guess I will find out on Wednesday at my appointment! Anyone else out there in a similar position or starting the journey just now? Sent from my SM-N975U using BariatricPal mobile app

I know of several people who've had their lapbands removed and had revisions. Sleeve and bypass are both good surgeries - bypass is the stronger of the two if you think you need that - plus it's the better option if you've had issues with reflux/GERD. I have a "virgin" bypass so I wasn't in the same situation, although I can tell you I've been very happy with my bypass and would make the same decision if I had to choose today. But you'll certainly find others who love their sleeve...