Search the Community

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?

Certainly no need to be embarrassed, I have had my ups and down loosing and gaining weight with the lapband. Mine 4cc lap band was put in 13 Years ago. As has been mentioned before be honest with your new doctor

LOL....so did you loose any weight during that time?

I have decided this past year to abandon a “size” or poundage goal. I have lived as a morbidly obese person for so many years. I lost over 140 pounds then had regain over 8 years. I lost the regain in the past year. I am 5’2”. Now. I shrunk - being 64 now. I now weigh about 175. I went from over 320 pounds to 175. I am comfortable here. I feel good. I am maintaining the weight loss with healthy and mindful eating. I am never going to reach my surgeon’s goal for me 10 years ago. (145 ) I am happy to be where I am. Once Covid calms down I will get labs done - I am back to having lost 145 pounds. No plastics - but yes to excess skin and trapped fat. I don’t want any elective surgeries. I am happy wearing a petite size 16. Live happily within yourself. And congratulations on a healthy you !

Hello everyone I had Gastric Sleeve surgery on September 2nd 2020. My Highest weight was 216lbs my weight day of Surgery was 207lbs. 3 weeks post op and I’m staying consistent at 195lbs which is basically the same weight I was after surgery. It’s hard most days for me to get in all of my protein and liquids as of now I can drink at least 25oz-30oz of liquids and with my height and weight I’m suppose to be consuming 70 grams protein 64 oz of water according to my doctor . She also told me my protein shakes would be considered with the liquids. Still I can o my drink 30z most days I can finish only 1 premier protein shake . I’m curious am I not loosing any weight because I’m not consuming enough protein?! Just very worried feel like I’m failing this procedure .

ok i will say for bypass the big pill organizer. the 2oz disposables for things like batch making of jello. i am almost a month post op at this point and i use them to remind myself of not eating too much because full is a different feeling now and comes on slowish. you can get the tashi ones on amazon for under 10$ for 200 i believe. Also i got some cheapy warm glad containers that are 4oz for microwaving for premaking soup (walmart 3$). a water bottle is a necessity (insulated i use klean kanteen). just carry that little 12 oz with loop cap everywhere. It fits in the car too. one bag of whatever shake mix protein your program requires and a blender bottle for choking it down in the morning. the blender bottle while it doesnt keep it cold by design i seem to sip better because u can only take small swig with it. i have a magic bullet mini it was 29$. thats what im using to blend. however u can use a handheld one. get some pb2 to flavor your choc shake as peanut butter choc so you dont get burnt out on just choc. some peoples incisions open back up two of mine did. im fair skinned and the surgeon says i have baby skin though. surgeon rec palmors oil post op so using that on belly. i did use some gauze afterwords with some tape from the drug store. You might not need it but some of us did. you need to acquire a script of simethicone from surgeon in chewable (insurance pick up tab for me that way). I recommend also bentyl in case you get abdominal cramping post surgery. You need to inquire about the gallbladder med too if you still have it. Next you need to buy your multivitamin which i use bariatric advantage ultrasolo 1x a day. Its nasty and huge but my program required it. Next buy your calcium i have bariatric advantage soft chew in caramel. one 90 item bag per month. I bought three months worth of the vitamins. It would be helpful for you to have some kind of food water tracker. i use happy planner fitness for mine. Heres just some pictures to give you ideas.

Hi, I went through something similar. My insurance required me to loose 15% of my weight. I struggled...one pound here, 2 pounds there. I got to my last visit and didn't reach my goal. I was beyond disappointed and stressed out. Finally my nutritionist and I decided to stop focusing on Carbs and focus on calories. I began a 1500 a day calorie intake. Two weeks later I had finally reached my goal. You can do this!!! Don't get discouraged!!! Adjust your calorie intake and Im sure you will see the difference.

These ideas are not really hot but might help room temp. I Had sleeve sep 8. Had 2 week setback bc abandoned Persian snuck in & hid. Was so ill my eyes swelled shut. Saw surgeon Tues. He said it’s important to get lots of plain H2O each day. If you like idea In pics U Can get disposable shot glasses at liquor store/amazon. Its motivating knowing I can do in 2 sips. I add Lots of H2O to crystal light, SF hot cocoa watered down w/skim milk, SF jello. it’s runny but not near as sweet, low salt broth helps. But my saving grace is popsicles. U could put in blender with ice. I take H2O when I go out. Hope this is Helpful. He said Water also helps loose skin. Great motivation! Glad u have no pain. Sorry for typos & no caps Am Exhausted dealing with flood damage from TS Beta.

it's hard to tell in advance who is going to be "blessed" with a lot of loose skin, but with over 100 lbs to lose, I'd be surprised if you don't have at least some. I had quite a bit of it, although I'm a lot older than you (age is one of the factors that can influence it). It was really easy to hide in clothes, though (I've since had it removed - but to be honest, I was the only one who knew it was there. With the right clothes, it "disappeared"! P.S. this is me (below) BEFORE I had plastic surgery. I had a ton of gut skin, especially. I just tucked it into jeans or "tummy control" leggings and wore slightly-oversized, long-ish tops. I also wore 3/4 length or longer sleeves to hide the bat wing arms. Ta da! Gone!

Hi friends I’m a 27yo 5’5 325lb and schedule for September 28th, I want to know if any of you with same body built have so much lose skin??

Hello, I’m looking for some encouraging words- I’m 4 weeks out from my gastric bypass. The two weeks prior to surgery I lost 20lbs, the week after surgery I lost another ten. But I’ve not lost any weight in 3 weeks. This experience has been really challenging as I had very bad reactions to the pain medication that put me back in the hospital. Then just recovery, it’s been rough. It’s a mind f@@@ when I’m not even loosing weight. I’m doing what’s been told to me to do and yet nothing. It feels like it was all for nothing.

Try Premier Shakes. They actually taste good .No heavy taste. Tell your stomach that it is not the boss of you and that you are not in control. My thoughts about food. I eat what is good for me to live a healthy life. The protein drink is a life saver. Your hair, skin and nails are primarily protein. If you lose too much protein the results will show up in your hair and nail and your skin. Stay beautiful and follow the rules. Drink that shake.

My scar is to the inside bump of my elbow and extended to the side of my breast. I do have a little saggy skin up near my arm pit that is going to be fixed in a few months. I had a lot of excess skin from my elbow and side boob area and it was very wrinkle and crepey near my elbow (like an 80 year old). The incision doesn't cross the joint at my elbow but is ends right next to my elbow when I hold my arm out straight. I also have the incision in the more traditional inside of my arm. I did see some surgeons are putting it more towards the back so when your arms are out to your side its at the bottom and almost invisible but I was concerned that when my arms are down at my side you would see the incision along the back of my arm. Now that it's too late I wonder if I would have liked it better as the previous person posted in the picture.

Thank you. I did try to call but got the voicemail. No it’s not hot and I’m feeling good otherwise. Sometimes the redness goes down and other times it’s worse. I think it started after I returned to work. I think my pants waist band (though they’re loose) rubbed against them. The friction must’ve irritated the skin around my incisions.

Headline answer is eating rules work about the same for band as for RNY: Small bites, chew thoroughly, then chew some more. No drinking during meals. We are not supposed to drink with meals for the very reason that it washes it through a bit too quickly. Unlike the Band, there is no full stomach below our pouch, so when you drink you are washing it into your intestines. You won't be able to get as much food through with the band and it probably won't change your sense of hunger. Do it enough and you defeat the restriction aspect of surgery. So, don't get back into the habit of drinking during meals. Burping won't change things much. In fact, with no stomach below the restrictive pouch, burping probably won't be an issue as long as you don't swallow air when you eat. Like the band, you need to learn to chew thoroughly then chew some more. Fruits with skins or membranes (oranges, grapefruit) I find difficult to chew well enough that they definitely won't get stuck, so I tend to eat fruits I have more success with (grapes, peaches, banana). I don't care for strawberries, but the few times I ate one were no issue. Chewing well is the key to a happy life. Obviously, you know the band doesn't change, it's just our own "stuff" going on that lets us eat well at some times and less so at other times. So, your good and bad times will likely remain in some fashion with the RNY. For me, morning eating seems to be more restrictive also. As time passes I developed a sense memory such that I imagine what I want to eat and my pouch will communicate that it is good or not. I've learned not to argue with it. Good luck Tek

So my primary issue with my lap band was that my pouch would never stay full for long. One burp or drink of water would empty the pouch and I would be hungry again. My stomach is like an hourglass with a small pouch on top, the band restricting, and then the rest of my stomach below. You eat and the food rests in the top pouch and, ideally, filters through like sand in an hourglass over a long period of time. Water dilutes the food and boom, it all slides through within 15 minutes of drinking anything. Or a burp creates a good slide where it all spills down from the air bubble making room. Hunger returns and I eat. Worse, the foods that are healthiest get stuck (like fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins). I avoid them now. Strawberries were once one of my favorite foods and now I can't really eat them, even with my band empty. Also, my band is tight in the morning so breakfast (the most important meal of the day) is difficult to eat. My band is magically nice and loose at night so I can eat as much as I want. It sucks. Anyway, my point is, I'm wondering if this sort of crap happens with bypass. Can you clear your pouch out that easily and push everything into your intestines by drinking water? If I can eat a few bites of food, drink some water, and empty the pouch, this is not going to work for me. I need something that's going to slow me down. I keep asking folks to explain what eating feels like after bypass but I can't seem to get a straight answer 😕 Thank you!!

Dunno. I have no idea how reliable body fat scales are when lots of loose skin is present. They're not really reliable in general so I don't trust mine when it comes to absolute numbers. It puts me at 22% bf. My latest routine ultrasound showed "almost no visceral fat" according to the surgeon who did the ultrasound so visceral fat seems to be of no concern. I'm not curious enough to expose myself to extra radiation, so no DEXA for me just to satisfy curiosity. In general I guess one has to find a middle ground between "desired body fat", "healthy body fat" and "what's possible without having to sacrifice too much".

@ANewHooze I have lost over six stones in total- have plateaued slightly at 13stone but look pretty good at this. Honesty compels me to admit that I would loose more if I gave up the gin and tonics!! The pain after surgery was really manageable- I had my surgery in Turkey and after two days travelled to the UK. I just took my recovery at my own pace and used plenty of pain meds! Good luck! Xxxx

Welcome, First, this is worth a call to your medical team. If it's nothing, let them tell you. The caring folks here and curmudgeons like me can share our experiences, give you encouragement, tell you what we did when we might of had a similar situation, but again, give your medical team a call. Now, having said that, is the itchy, red incision warm or hotter than the skin around it? Do you have a fever? Do you feel ill otherwise? If yes, definitely call your medical team. It could be an infection. Good luck, Tek

I am 5 weeks post op. The surgery went well, I had minimal pain... now all of a sudden my incisions are itchy and red. All the glue already fell off. If showered to to see if it was dead skin build up and that did not help. Is this normal?

Hi Nelly, Hope you are doing well? I can relate to hair loss at one point after WLS but it was primarily because i was not diligent with my vitamins. I got in the habit of taking a hair, nails and skin supplement and my hair texture is thin but i am no longer losing my hair. In addition i got in the habit of massaging my scalp before bed and sleep with a night cap. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

The Aldi Bread and Thin Slim bread IMHO is not comparable except the fact that the both have zero net carbs. Sorry if I that distinction was not clearer 🥺 I tried Thin Skin about a year before I tried L'Oven and I thought it was ok but not nearly as realistic in taste & texture as L'Oven. If I want a traditional sandwich I'd choose L'Oven, if I wanted to make French toast I'd choose Thin Slim (plain white, I've never tried honey) My sister who is not a WLS person also could not handle the gastro effects, must be the type of fiber IDK, but I had no issues Ezekiel bread is really good & I like it because it tends to be hard/dry which I appreciate more than soft bread. Whew! Since getting the zero carb bread, I haven't talked this much about bread in the WLS Community in a long while. I feel like my secret is being revealed & I hope no one is being triggered 🤣

This is a very rude statement. According to the rules of this site: Posts that are forbidden include, but are not limited to, the following: Rude posts. This is a first time poster and I find the content of the OP to be rather questionable. There is an artifact left in the account that makes me believe it was lifted off the Internet. The artifact is < /span>. The <span> tag is an inline container used to mark up a part of a text, or a part of a document. In reviewing the post, I asked the questions WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN. The where an the when appears to be the Seattle, Washington area around 9 February 2019, that is the date of the SNOWMAGEDDON in 2019 that struck the Seattle Area dumping 4-8 inches of snow. To support this observation, in the article it mentions the West Side, which is part of Seattle. It mentions Richmond Hospital. There is Richmond Internal Medicine hospital located in Shoreline, WA. It mentions St. Paul's Hospital, but from my perspective this is not really a hospital but rather it is a small clinic called St. Paul's Medical Clinic in Seattle. One of the things that attracted my attention was SNOWMAGEDDON 2019. The OP said it dropped 20 cm. of snow. Who in the U.S. would say 20 cm instead of 8 inches? The whole article is overly melodramatic. The OP identifies Dr. Kantner as an Obesity Specialist. There is a Dr. Jenny Kanter who received her PhD from the University of Washington in Pathology in 2010, with a specific focus on myeloid cells inflammation in the development of diabetes-accelerated atherosclerosis. Her specialty includes diabetic kidney disease. So this may be the WHO. But another thing that attracted my attention was the article opened with her diagnosis of advanced liver fibrosis. Liver fibrosis can be a very serious condition. Liver fibrosis is the excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins including collagen that occurs in most types of chronic liver diseases. Advanced liver fibrosis results in cirrhosis, liver failure, and portal hypertension and often requires a liver transplant. It can be a life ender. This is a serious medical condition. Some research seems to indicate that gastric bypass surgery can help with this condition but only sometimes. So although the OP seems focused on the bariatric surgery component, the liver fibrosis disorder is very serious complication. Another thing that bothered me was the OP description of the surgery. Gastric bypass is a complex surgery. When I had it done several years ago, I was in the hospital for 2 days after surgery. This was routine. A few years have passed since then but bringing someone home the same day of surgery seems rather unwise. Yet that is what the OP expected. The OP mentioned that the sleeve had come loose. What does that mean exactly? There can be several complications associated with sleeve surgery. So revisions may be needed sometimes, I haven't heard of a sleeve coming loose. There is a form of weight loss surgery called Lap-Band surgery. In this procedure, a bariatric surgeon places a a silicone ring with an expandable balloon around the upper part of the stomach. This creates a new, smaller stomach pouch. These bands have been known to come loose and slip and need adjustments. During the gastric sleeve operation, around 80% of the stomach is removed. The remaining section of the stomach is formed into a tube-like shape about the size and shape of a banana.

Scoutmom— how is it going? I’m in the same boat as you guys but i haven’t out on weight. My sleeve was very successful but now having revision in one week due to gerd. Although i haven’t gained weight i am about 25 lbs from my goal weight. I am hoping to loose just a little bit not too much. I’ve heard it’s a little harder the second half. How are you progressing and feeling?

Hey everyone! I'm about 8 months post op and down 110 lbs (which I'm ecstatic about!). I do have a bit of loose skin in the belly area and seem to be getting some kind of rash or infection in/around my belly button. I'm definitely documenting it and taking pics for possible insurance coverage of plastic surgery later, but my obgyn advised not to do any before I get pregnant again (I want one more child). In the meantime, I need to figure out how to stop these skin issues! Anyone have any experience or suggestions? Thanks in advance! Sent from my Alcatel_5008R using BariatricPal mobile app