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I was sleeved about 5 1/2 years ago but continued with terrible reflux. I could not stand it anymore and too much esophagus damage, so my surgeon said an RNY would cure it. Had bypass in June, took Protonix for about 6 weeks then stopped. NO more acidat all! And the rcovery for RNY is no different than the sleeve IMO. No regrets!

Revision band to bypass oct 4. 51lbs lost so far

I am to have a sleeve to Bypass revision done on the 23rd due to reflux. Has anyone gone through that. I can't seem to find anything on the site. I am just wondering weight wise how much more anyone has lost.

My surgery is scheduled for 1/31 and I am beyond excited. I've done a ton of research and feel like I am making an excellent decision. There is one area of concern and I was hoping to get some feedback from others on this. I have noticed that when I look at after pics some people who have been banded or had other wls many of them have a similar look. I don't quite know how to describe it... thin hair in the front and some deep wrinkles around the mouth as well as a general sunken appearance to the face. This is my worst fear. I don't want to look like I have some sort of illness. I'm hoping it is just a lack of Protein in some of these individuals or that it is predominately in bypass patients. Is this something that some of you have noticed? Any thoughts about how protein intake affects this? Thanks so much. Dana

So far I haven't had any plastic surgerys. I don't know if I will. My insurance is not wanting to pay for anything, and I don't know if it's worth it to me to pay cash. If I do fix anything it would be my arms. The rest doesn't look too bad. Yes, it could be tighter... But I am 52 yr old... Some sagging is acceptable at that age, right? As to why I have been successful when others aren't... I don't know. I was scared at first that I wouldn't be. It was alot easier than I thought it would be to be honest. I think it was a mind set thing. The first couple of times I overrate and ended up with the chest pain followed by needing to "throw up or die" it was so awful that I finally found the point where one more bite is going to take me to that place, and I stopped eating. Sometimes I could eat enough to not look ridiculous... at other times I might be 3 or 4 bites into a meal, and that was all I could comfortably eat. Around Chridtmas last year I had to go get all the Fluid removed because something was going on, and I was at the point where I couldn't even drink Water without having to throw up. I was actually 20 lbs below my goal and looking pretty bad (yes, you can be too skinny). When they let it out there was 4 cc in it. I went back a month later when I had gained back 10 lb and had them put in 1/2 cc and that's there I have been. I still don't eat alot. I don't snack, and I don't try to get around it by eating things that are easier to pack in. I still have difficulty eating meat, and have made an effort to get Protein shakes whenever possible. I had a friend who did it, and she barely lost any weight. I can say everytime I saw her she was "grazing". My advice is not to do that. Some people think that you "have to eat" a certain amount to be healthy. No, you don't. It's that kind of thinking that got you where you ate, and it will keep you there too if you let it. The only thing I "graze" on is sunflower seeds (the ones in the shell) I have heard that you expend as much energy shelling them as they supply in calories. I don't know about that... But it takes me all day to eat a bag... and keeps me satisfied. My Dr. Is thrilled too. He had tried to talk me into a bypass at first because he was afraid I wouldn't be able to lose enough... But I did.

hmmm..yes bread..I don't miss it anymore, I did morn it for a long time, indeed, I did..Here's the problem with bread (except Ezekiel bread). Im gastric bypass, all the breads made with process enriched flour tend to turn into a ball of dough and clog the entry way into my pouch, and I feel throw-uppy. In four years since my surgery, I have tried every bread I could get my hands on..Including the most delish Portuguese Bread, NOPE, But if I do eat bread, which is VERY rare...I eat Ezekiel bread, NO FLOUR in it, I get it in the organic freezer section. But..ho --hum, I do miss my big sour dough sandwich rolls :/

My surgery date is November 20 - Harrisonburg, VA, and my Dr. requires 2 night stay which means I will go home on Thanksgiving morning. I have laughed at the irony of this all day. I will literally be sipping while the rest of America gorges. I think it is a perfect week to begin my new sleevie life! I also think it will give Thanksgiving a whole new meaning for me and my family! I am hoping that this time next year I will look back on the tough times and appreciate the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

I live in cartersville! My surgery is tomorrow morning, but I'm doing the bypass! Good luck to you!

Had my Roux n Y Gastric Bypass 8.5 years ago. Initially lost 140lbs. Last 5 yrs put on 30, but have held steady for 2. Hip problems keep me from walking as much as I used to walk. (3-5 miles a day). I am going to try the pouch reset, has anyone out there tried it? Thoughts? Sent from my SM-G930V using BariatricPal mobile app

That depends. If you can currently eat less than 1,000 calories per day for a sustained period of time and you are gaining weight on that, then probably no or not much. You'd be better advised to look into gastric bypass or DS, with their malabsorption of calories surgical components. If you can't eat under 1,000 calories for sustained amounts of time (most people can't choose to do that without surgery), or you can do it for moderate stretches and find that you do lose weight then, then yes, gastric sleeve surgery will likely help you. If the meds are affecting your metabolism, or causing you to retain tons of water, the surgery may not help as fast as it helps other people, but it should help. These are all definitely issues you would want to talk about with your surgeon when looking over your options. Good luck!

My step-mother had R&Y several years ago. She was losing sooo well, even now, years later, she is 5'3 and around 115-120 pounds and maintaining well. I had a BMI of 40 so I started the journey myself early the next year. My doctor said I was a better candidate for the band considering age/weight/health but my insurance only covered R&Y . . . and I could not afford surgery without insurance. I did the 6 month supervised diet, took all the tests, was ready to finally schedule a date and my company changed their insurance plan immediately before surgery and had a nifty, new WLS exclusion in November of that year when I was scheduled for early December. Needless to say I was devastated. More than devastated, I couldn't even appeal what I didn't have anymore and I felt like life was over. So in desperation, I took my step-mom's diet and plan and followed it to a T starting in early December of that year. I lost 70 pounds fairly quick . . . it worked and I found like I had hope again . . . until I started to slowly but inevitably climb the scale again the year following. Yes you can follow it and lose the weight with motivation and ambition . . . but the really difficult trick is in the long term maintenance. Hungry is hungry is hungry and it can only be denied for so long, and the band can help with that part of it so that you can find success.

The dr told us at orientation that 30% of patients fail in the first year, and the statistics go up after that. He said its very hard for people to keep it off up to 5 yrs, and that is WITH the band. He said that its a lifestyle change either way we go. And the only surgery that is the most guaranteed is bypass, but that he doesnt recommend it because of the risks.. It is just so confusing, i am not stoping my lap band journey, because the apts are still scheduled im just going to see what i can do i guess.. You can stretch your belly back out, and they say a huge percent have to ahve the band removed after 7yrs.....

A revision won't cure mindless eating (I guess you're already well aware of this) but it can help with reflux issues. I got a revision to bypass myself and reflux issues got way better. If you're having reflux issues a surgeon will usually advice against a sleeve.

@@loulou12 defiantly need more restriction but doing good. I go December 27th for another fill. Hope that one is the one LapBand ~ November 1, 2016

Hi, I just had my conversion to bypass from sleeve two days ago and today I had my first vowel movement. Great I thought! Now, rather than passing gas I run to the bathroom just in case it’s not. I’ve had about 3-4 small bouts of loose stools today. Is this normal at all?

My mom works with a woman who had gastric bypass. This woman has had nothing but problems since day one. She lost a bunch of weight, but her health is in the toilet. She's so disappointed with doing gastric bypass. I chose lapband because I didn't want my interior re-routed. I just wasn't interested in cutting on my stomach. We may lose it slower, but I think our bodies respond better - skin, tissue, muscle - it all just responds better. We didn't gain this weight in a couple of months - why should we lose it in a couple of months? Slow and steady does it every time!

Hi everyone, I have been reading posts for a little while now, but this is my first post. I am a 40-year old guy, and I live in New Orleans with my partner of 7.5 years. I have battled my weight for entire life. When I was 21 years old, my parents and I went on Phen-Fen together. That was the first time I lost 100 pounds. I have yo-yo'ed ever since, losing 100 pounds another two times in my life, and 30-50 pounds more times than I can count. Last year, I had to travel a lot more than I have had to in the past many years for work. (I am a Delta Diamond if that means anything to any travelers out there.) All of that travel meant eating for convenience and drinking more wine than I would if I were at home. I was already heavy before (370 pounds), but by December 2015, I weighed 397 pounds. My family had been encouraging me to have weight loss surgery for about a year. (My dad had a gastric bypass many years ago; my mom had the sleeve about 3 years ago, and my brother got the lap band about 2 years ago.) After seeing the nearly-400 pounds looking back up at me from the scale, I agreed that it was time to do something about my weight once and for all. And my partner was ready to deal with his weight as well. (He started at 316 pounds, so he wasn't in quite as bad a place as I was then. For the record, he has lost about 70 pounds himself, so I am super proud of him!) I was finally able to get in to see my PCP in February, and had my first of six consecutive monthly appointments with the surgeon's medical staff that is required by my insurance on March 3. I had two weeks of filming work in California right after (something new for my team and full of stresses), so I didn't begin my weight loss journey until March 21. In the past 5 months, I have lost 83 pounds while going to see the surgeon's staff once per month. This morning I weighed 314 pounds. (In case anyone is interested, I have done low carb/high protein/high healthy fat. I keep carbs below 20 per day -- usually below 12 per day. I have reduced my calories from 2000 to 1800 to 1500 to now 1200 for the past many weeks. I have cut alcohol out completely for now to conserve the calories. I walk 5 days a week, involving inclines and such for a majority of these 45 minute sessions. The surgeon's staff did give me a phentermine prescription, so I have been taking that since early April.) Now, I'll get to the point of my post if anyone is still reading... I had my sixth diet visit, and I am waiting on insurance approval now. It's been about a week so far, but they say it can take up to 30 days, so the surgery will likely be sometime in early October. I have been reading everyone's posts about the surgery itself, the pain (or lack of), the changes, etc., etc., etc. Some days, I wonder if I should really go through with it, or just stay the course with what I am doing. But, then reality sets in -- I still need to lose at least 100 more pounds, and really, I'd like to lose more like 125-135 more pounds, so I need to have the surgery. I am worried that since I have lost so much weight on the front end that I will lose weight slower after the surgery and then be disappointed (especially after putting my body through all of that trauma and altering the way I will have to eat and drink for the rest of my life). Can anyone offer any perspective on this? Specifically, can anyone speak to losing a lot of weight pre-op, and how you transitioned to weight loss after the surgery? The surgeon has already said that I do not have to do a liquid diet before the surgery because of all the weight I have lost. I just have to fast the day before. Please forgive the length of this post, and I hope to hear from some of you soon.

Carnie Wilson was just in the news for eating her way around the bypass snd now just got the Lapband.She talks about making choices in this clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvWvQVOhfiw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Hi Maggiec, yes I saw that Oprah show. It was on addiction transferance. I really felt for those women, they had to deal with many different addictions in their lives not only food. I also wondered if these women would have struggled with these addictions at some point in their lives without having gastric bypass surgery. Just a thought that crossed my mind as I was watching it. As someone else had mentioned in another post, if you have an addictive personality you are more susceptable to abusing substances or other activities that are addictive. It could be drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling, exercise (I wish) or anything that gives you the high. What kind of bothered me about the show was that it was presented as if these women's lives got much worse after WLS and it was the surgery that made them get addicted to the other stuff. They didn't deal with the whole issue of addiction in their lives separate from the WLS but -- I guess that was the point of the show. I wonder if they'll do a show about people who low fat diet and get addicted to other things - I doubt it. Just a thought.

@1naturalLuser that's great testimony that if all of us here could have lose it on our own will be done already. I'm still waiting on my insurance appeal because I think gastric sleeve might be less invasive. My insurance don't cover gastric sleeve. I don't know why I'm thinking that the sleeve is easier??? I'll give one more week and then I'll ask the dr to go and request insurance for gastric bypass. Good luck on your surgery

After an emergent band removal and 6 months healing time, I finally got my RNY bright and early Monday morning!

I am just short of 3 months sleeved. At our last support group we sat in small groups and talked with others who have been sleeved and/or wating to get sleeved. One thing I do that others did not is I journal and actually meaure my foods-when I am home. We do not eat out often. I do not crave the junk food. I really look at the nutrition labels to make sure I am eating healthy. I do eat in much smaller volumes. I am down 54 lbs and I have no plans to go back to being fat again. This tool does work but it is work. But I am willing to do what I have to lose and keep off the weight. At lot of it is really are you willing to do what is necessary to lose and keep the weight off. For example-my doctor's says no to soda-even flat soda. I have not had a soda since November 23. Why start again. I know others do drink sodas but for me, I don't want to have the cravings again so I will avoid them. It is all a matter of personal choice. This is also why I will continue to attend my monthly support groups for accountability. Besides, as I get further out, others are now looking at me and I want to show them how succesful this can be.

@HealthierLifestyle2018 I had surgery Oct 30 and started my period on November 1. Lasted a couple of days. It is quite normal.

The initial weight loss is Water weight. Most people will experience a large amount of weight loss in the beginning (even pre op). But once you're a month post op and on to solid foods, it's going to slow down, but it's still coming off! Someone mentioned that this isn't bypass and they're right. Bandsters average 1-2 lbs per week whereas a bypass patient averages a pound a day (my doctor said so). Just be glad you're losing weight! I've read posts where people aren't losing at all. Keep up with that you're doing. It's working , trust me

Has anyone had previously had a rny and gotten a revision? In the last 2 years o got pregnant and have since put back on the weight even if I'm watching what I'm eating. I feel my absorption is back to normal. Sent from my SM-G960W using BariatricPal mobile app