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Hello there! I want to preface that this is about to be a long message, but it's my journey. Thanks for reading. My 1st Bariatric journey started in 2009 (I was 26 years old). My heaviest weight was 250 lbs. I did a month liquid diet as my preop diet and got down to my surgery weight of 220 lbs. I had a sleeve done in Sep 1, 2009. I got down to around 175 lbs from my surgery weight of 220 lbs. I got down to a size 12. I did regain some weight years later, but that was my doing (not eating the best, not exercising as I should). In addition to gaining some weight back, i developed a 5/6cm hiatal hernia and had really bad heartburn and reflux. I started taking Nexium for years. Finally 14 years later (now 40 years old) in April of 2023 I decided to ask a doctor about taking daily Nexium (after hearing constantly from family that it wasn't good). My surgeon gave me 3 options. 1. Continue taking Nexium daily 2. Fix my hiatal hernia (but he did warn me that hiatal hernias are known to come back) 3. Fix my hiatal hernia and do a revision from Sleeve to RNY. Before any of that to make an informed decision I had to get an upper GI with contrast and an endoscopy with a Bravo study. I had the endoscopy done and the Bravo capsule placed on my esophagus. After the 1st endoscopy my GI doctor said she didn't even need to see the results of the Bravo study...seeing my esophagus alone was enough to see how inflamed my esophagus was and she confirmed the bigger sized hernia. Either way, the Bravo capsule was placed in and I did the 3 day study. The results came back and like my GI doc said...it was bad. The acidity in my stomach and esophagus was ridiculous. I use to take generic Nexium 20mg but my GI doc said that wasnt enough for how bad my esophagus was. I was told to bump it up to 40mg 2x a day. So I did that and it helped to heal the massive amount of inflammation I already had in my esophagus. To confirm that I had a 2nd endoscopy done. The Bravo study, the upper GI scans, the endoscopy was all completed so that I could make an informed decision on how I wanted to proceed. Which of the 3 options discussed did I want to proceed with. I decided option 3 was best (revision from Sleeve to RNY with a hiatal hernia repair). For me my insurance approved the procedure and it was fairly a quick process because I went the general surgical route vs the Bariatric route. I could have had the revision in July but I had a cruise planned in August and I wanted to be able to drink and eat and ENJOY my vacation so I opted to wait and had the revision 2 weeks after I came back from my cruise on September 11th. I was 215 the 1st day of my preop diet. I got down to 206 but then mother nature decided to show up the week of my surgery so as women we gain water weight during our cycle and the day of surgery i weighed in at 209. I was so pissed. I knew it was water weight because of my cycle but still nobody wants to see the number on the scale go up. Surgery went well. I had no complications. My recovery was A LOT smoother. I had BAAAAAD nausea and gas pains after my sleeve becauseof the anesthesia. With the RNY I had 0% nausea. I had a little bit of shoulder pain because of the gas and I did have another pain when I inhaled big because of the hernia repair, but it was all normal and pains of that nature were expected. I was just sooooo glad that I didn't wake up extremely nauseous after the RNY like I did after my sleeve. So now I'm 31 days post op. I've been at 195 since like September 26th. I hope that I've HOPEFULLY lost at least 1 pound now since I've been stalled at the same weight for 2 weeks. Btw I'm 5'4 for reference. My size 14 clothes button again and my 16s are getting a little loose on me now. I'm not swimming in my clothes or nothing but it's a small progress. I was wearing XL shirts and now Large shirts fit me a lot better. I feel less like a sausage in them lol! Oh and tonight I tried on this bra that I know for a fact a couple of weeks ago could not button or even come close and today it fit. So now a 38D will fit. Great non scale victory! I can tolerate all food and as long as I don't take huge bites and I chew my food well and eat slow, I'm good. Otherwise I've already had my 1st reminder of what it feels like to throw up because your food feels stuck. I had that happen after the sleeve sometimes too and it sucks, but it's a process learning how to eat again and reminding myself that I can't inhale my food. I am taking a daily vitamin with iron and then 3 calcium citrate chewable daily. My doctor also still wants me to take 1 Omeprozole daily for 6 months post op to give my esophagus and hernia repair time to truly heal. 1 month down....5 months to go. Then I'll be able to see if I don't have any GERD or heartburn without any medication. The weight loss is a perk and I definitely want to lose more weight and get down to 150 or at least my best sleeve weight of 175, but I always have to remind myself that my goal of this entire revision surgery was to not deal with heartburn and reflux anymore. So yeah...thats my revision story so far. Please let me know if you have any questions. I'll be happy to answer.

Hi everyone I’m new here 🙂 I have decided to go ahead with the esg despite being scared of the procedure I’m desperate to reduce my weight mainly for health. I have such a love hate relationship with food, I like eating healthily and am an reduce my weight but then have periods of time where I just eat everything in sight and these periods last weeks or months and I gain it all again. I've completed hypnotherapy and done so much work on why I do this. I do think if I can reduce my weight and exercise again this will help, my biggest fear is that I spend this money which is such a huge amount for me, then I feel I can eat through the full feeling, is that possible? As long as I feel really full I think I won’t do that. I just really really hope I can do this and feel nervous as everything else has failed eeeeeek i hope this makes sense but it was really a big old waffle of what’s in my head. did anyone else worry that they would mess it up but it was ok?

A perspective on what it is like YEARS after gastric sleeve. I was sleeved in January 2018. Start weight was 265 lb, and I am now 174lb. I wanted to get to 160, but haven't got there. I am 5ft 9. Am I glad I did it? I'm conflicted on this. It's SO permanent. I get very tired of not being able to eat a normal size meal. Going out to eat is expensive and frustrating, cause I can only eat about 1/4 of what is on my plate. Cooking seems to take away any appetite I might have (it's like the smell kills my appetite), so by the time I am ready to serve a meal to my family, I cannot eat a bite. I still suffer nausea and vomiting, yes even 6 years down the track. Even if its just dry retching and there is nothing in my stomach. I suffer from reflux which I never had prior to surgery, so I take a PPI every day. I also take vitamins, because my food intake is so tiny. But a lot of the time, I throw them back up. I am chronically anaemic due to lack of red meat or substantial leafy greens. The only thing that seems to help is to take tiny sips of iced water to try and settle the retching. Eating a small meal can take an hour, because I have to wait for my stomach to empty before I can take another bite. Eating sugary or carbohydrate foods makes me sweaty and shaky, and I still battle bouts of dumping syndrome (I am not diabetic). I suffer from irritable bowel syndrome due to the surgery, and I burp lots! Hardly ever prior to surgery. This is all awkward in company for lunch or dinner, and I don't feel I want to announce to all dinner companions (who may just be friends of friends) about my surgical history! I have lost 90 lbs, dropped 3 dress sizes, but if I had my time over, I wish I could have lost the weight through diet and exercise. I really do. So just know... there is no going back from this surgery. It's totally permanent.

I’ve been in maintenance for a couple of years now, so like @catwoman7 can’t really answer your first question. Mind you I don’t eat all that differently. Just larger portions (& probably a little more good & bad fat 😉). Don’t be afraid to widen your meal selection & food selection. It may need you to do a little work to make a recipe healthier, lower in calories & to complement your plan (ingredients, cooking method). Don’t forget to check the nutrient content too. And it’s working towards how you’ll eat in the future. As to the stall issue - you can’t break those. It’s your body’s reaction to your weight loss. It’s the time your body needs to takes to assesses your current needs & adjusts things like your digestive hormones, metabolism, etc. Your body will take as long as it needs to do this. Stick to your plan. Don’t stress your body more by making changes to what you’re eating or your activity. Your stall will break when your body is ready. Still is frustrating I know.

Not sure why anyone would advise you to stop exercising? Surely that's a big part of your new life and maintaining your loss. Also - why does your loss need to be slowed - who decided this was best for *you*? What is YOUR goal? I say focus on that and how you can achieve it. Stick to your non-processed foods if that's best for you in the long term. You're in charge. I wish you the best of luck.

Write what YOU eat in a day. I'm nosy and would like to know. Also, maybe it'll give me some food ideas. I'm almost 8 months out. Getting bored of some foods. If you've had stalls, what do YOU do to break those stalls?

I'm 10 days out from surgery. The only complaint I have is that I'm still really really tired. I'm usually a side sleeper, so sleeping on my back has been challenging. I'm looking forward to going to pureed food soon.

Why don't you enjoy food ? I may only eat small amounts but I delight in each mouthful. These days I choose quality over quantity. And why are you constantly sick ? Are you taking nausea medications, eating slowly, not overeating, gained a food allergy. This forum may be able to help you with this

I'm 6 days post-op. I got my surgery in Iceland. We were originally told to be on a clear liquid diet for 4 days then 2 weeks of full liquid diet and then 2 weeks of purred diet. After that, we can start solid soft food and experiment with different types of food to see how our stomach responds. My doctor told me to start my full-liquid diet the day after my surgery. I had apple juice and a broth the evening of the surgery. Every doctor is different.

Oh, I just remembered an article I read about hyperallergenic foods. It was about a clear whey protein water sold in New Zealand. It cited several cases of extreme reactions to small amounts of the beverage in children known to have a dairy allergy. It seems that in concentrating proteins into drinks we've created a new class of "hyperallergenic" foods that may send some people's immune systems into overdrive. The interesting part is that their reactions were much more dramatic to the protein water than to actual cow's milk because the protein was so concentrated in the protein water. So I guess it is possible you are developing a dairy allergy and it is showing up when you drink the shake because it is much more concentrated than any other source you are ingesting whey from? Something to think about anyway... Here's the article: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2010/12/22/Hyperallergenic-functional-foods-raise-protein-concerns

ejm, did you have a DS done? I have read that in rare circumstances low protein levels or excessive weight loss can cause the small intestinal portion of the DS to have to be reversed. Have you spoken to your surgeon about the extra weight loss? Have you had your vitamin levels checked lately to make sure you aren't deficient in anything? It might be worth an appointment with the surgeon to talk about your concerns... I wouldn't cut out fat so much as just make sure your fat is coming from a heart healthy source. DS patients have malabsorption of fats which is part of what leads to their better weight loss/maintenance outcomes. But some DS patients find they need to eat more fat or calories to maintain a healthy weight, and things like nuts and avocadoes can help with that. sweetsmith78, I'm sorry you felt scrutinized. I have generally found people on this site to be quite kind and helpful. It is hard to know what to say to someone experiencing excess weight loss when most of us here don't have that issue or anything even close to it. Which procedure did you have? Have you talked to your surgeon about the extreme weight loss? I would think focusing on calorie dense food might help. Full fat yogurt, milk, and cheese. Maybe adding MCT oil to your coffee? Protein shakes with peanut butter added, in fact, anything with nut butters added. And adding more nuts and avocadoes to your diet, as they are good sources of healthy fats. For most of us fat is where we start to gain calories back (or sugar, but I generally don't tell people to eat sugar LOL). I'm sorry you are losing so much weight, it must be very distressing after having surgery to treat the opposite issue! My sister sits in the 90s/100lb range and when under stress she really fights to keep her weight up. She hasn't had any surgery, she was just born that way. She uses meal replacement shakes and fats to help with that. Good luck to you both with finding answers and viable solutions to this!

Hey All I've been having a time as stated in another post. I would have updated in the same post but couldn't find it. I haven't been able to proceed to soft foods due to vomiting. Yesterday was my 6 week check up. As far as weight loss I was informed I am on target with 35% of excess weight gone which means I have 21 pounds to go for the doctor's office my personal goal is 33lbs BUT getting the 21lbs off will be great with me. I was also informed "Yesterday" due to the radiology report and the fact I was unable to eat, the doc wanted to do the baloon dialation next morning which was today. All went well and they saw that the opening was narrow & Initially, the scope could not pass through. The balloon was used to stretch the opening to 10 mm. I am now to progress through today liquids, puree, by dinner soft foods then in a few days to move into more dense (soft) foods etc. I feel good just sleepy! The meds should be out of my system by tomorrow. Now the work continues to get into a healthy BMI. No gerd as of now and that is truly a relief!

The day I came home I sucked the food rite out of my husband's mouth that he chewed.i felt like a wild animal.😁😁

Everyone is different. Pro Lost the weight and still loosing confidence was up. move around freely. Blood pressure down. Cons eating out with friends. Not able to enjoy food . constantly sick .If your thinking about doing this. Eat one cup of food 3 times a for a month. You will get first hand look at head hunger. Best of luck to you.

it seems odd that it comes & goes & each time it returns it’s worse. If it was something you were taking or consuming every day you would think the hives would be there all the time. Whether it’s the shake or the biotin (unless you’re taking mega doses) I don’t know. Have you ruled out all the other likely suspects - skin care products, washing powders, soaps, fragrance, any new foods you’ve introduced, etc. You could have a blood test to check your B7 levels & see if by taking the supplement you have more than you need & can drop the biotin just in case it is that. Hope you find an answer soon.

I actually found a protein pancake mix by aunt Jemima (can't remember what it's called now) but it tastes the closet to regular pancakes. I bought a new container of protein powder by premiere protein which has 30g of protein in it. I was thinking about putting some of that in oatmeal or cream of wheat instead of unflavored. It vanilla. Who knows, might actually taste good. How muchbof it do I put in it tho? I've been forcing myself to eat peanut butter sometimes, and yogurt still turns my stomach. I feel like im wasting food. I'll buy something, have it once and then not touch it again. Ugh

No reactions for me, but I’m reading too much about how people with a predisposition toward asthma and allergies are getting new food allergies after a virus. I would be more concerned about a severe reaction, especially since it encircled your neck. I hope you find your trigger soon!

I'd like to give you November people a huge red flag heads up warning. Please discuss with your surgeon (do not let them blow the question off, because they'll try to!) Everything went excellent for me (surgery September 20) except recovery room wake up. I was in outrageous pain and the nurses didn't care. I was experiencing nausea, pain in the front side of both shoulders, and overall abdominal pain. I couldn't help but loudly vocalize, "Owww, owww, owww!" All the nurses would do was say, "don't worry, it's just gas." And they handed me a barf bag. What I wanted them to do was empathize and give me some drugs to get me out of pain. But it took about 30 min of torture before someone finally did that. I was outraged at their lack of care. At 2-week follow up with my surgeon's nurse, I told her about it and she shared, "I'll discuss this with Dr. Reddy because you're the second person today with that same story. That's awful. Something needs to be done." This was at Sutter Roseville Hospital, Roseville CA. The recovery room is for all surgeries, not just gastro. But I felt like my well-being was totally violated, and I just want to tell all of you to please, please discuss your recovery room expectations beforehand with your surgeon. Aside from that half hour of hell, my recovery has been flawless. Not one minute of pain or nausea. Didn't take any narcotics after hospital release the following morning. Just Tylenol, and was fine. No nausea meds needed either. The one thing that is concerning me a bit is how un-energetic I am. I think it's because I'm still recovering and will improve rapidly when I am eating the final phase of foods, which actually began today. Good luck to all of you.

I have a bit of a new update... I started a new job in September so I've been pretty busy. Since my last update, I've lost about 10lbs. I haven't really been eating the way that I should and have missed a vitamin here and there, but I'm still progressing. My new job takes me out of town and I don't really get to cook like I normally would. I'm planning to get back on track this upcoming week. I'm hopeful to reach my weight goal by my birthday in January. I've found that of all the foods I've eaten since surgery, the only food that I haven't been able to tolerate is beef, of any kind. I also don't tend to tolerate bread very well. I've really been craving coffee (since I gave up all carbonated/caffeinated drinks before surgery) but it doesn't really agree with me either, lol.

Get back to basics. Evaluate your food, what you eat/how often/how much. Contact your nutritionist at the surgeon's office and get some suggestions for starting again. You know what to do and how to do it. Refocus and you'll be fine.

There are not many rules that we all share as every team has a different outlook on this surgery. Drinking whilst eating is a constant. You are just washing the foods through your stomach. This just means that you are able to eat more and your body is getting very little benefit from what you eat. Especially when you are on puree or soft foods. As the others have said your restriction will kick in soon. I sneezed early on.

You know how to do this. Contact your team. What advise have you been given ? Mine is so simple. 1200 to 1500 cals Number 1, Protein 2. Vegetables and if you have room in your stomach, 3. Carbs Track your foods and drinks in a website, I use My fat secret or My fitness Pal Move more

I was the same way, I just continued to be patient. Plus during the healing phase, you are eating “softer” foods that slide down easily. Now at almost 6 mos post op , I really feel it! ESP when I eat quality, low fat protein , which is what I focus on first at each meal.

It's funny that you mentioned the sneezing because I was just sneezing and asked my husband, do you think I'm getting sick and then I read your post. Thank you for your detailed reply. This is so new to me and I'm definitely going to look back into the portion sizes. I just started soft foods this week and trying to get the water and proteins in. Just hoping it gets easier in time.

Lots of nerves were cut during surgery so you have to wait for them to heal for messages/signals to get through. It usually takes 4-6 weeks to start to feel it. I always say all because you can doesn’t mean you should especially when your healing & signals aren't getting through. Stick to your plan (food, eating & drinking strategies, etc.) is the best advice. It takes time for the message to get through you are full - at least 20 minutes (& that’s after you’re fully healed). If you keep eating until you feel full you likely have eaten more than you need. Eating until you feel satisfied or had enough like you said your doing is best. I still ask myself do I need the next bite or just want it. It’s all about tuning into your body & its needs (listen to your body). You get better at it over time. Also many find when they are healed, the signals are different. Some say they sneeze, or their nose runs. Were you given portion sizes to guide you? If not ask for some they are helpful to ensure you don’t eat too much. I was told. 1/4 - 1/3 cup from purée (week 3) slowly increasing to about a cup at 6 months. You may be told something different.