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Congrats! Where are you from? I ask bc of….stones” what does it mean? Pounds?

I can tell you as a woman that breast fed and produced barely enough milk, the hunger is beyond imagination. A whole large pizza with tons of toppings was one meal! The hunger was that ferocious! Those hormones take about a year to reset and now you are evaluating your goals. I agree with the above, start with your team. Journal to weigh pros and cons of more surgery or weight loss. Honestly, after month three I realized the rest of the weight loss is entirely up to me. Surgery is not a magic bullet. Weight loss is work no matter how you do it. How hard and consistent is really up to you.

4 weeks out tomorrow and saw my nutritionist last Thursday she cleared me to go from purée to soft. It broke my stall and today I am 197.7!! I am still not hitting 1200 calories but I know when I’m full now unlike liquid and purée stage. I had real chicken cooked super soft yesterday and it was so amazing I felt human agin! I’m still eating cottage cheese but I didn’t purée it and I’m not sure when I’ll eat tuna again blah had enough! She also cleared me to eat white potatoes which I usually eat sweet potatoes but the store was out of them. So I had a small Yukon Gold potatoe (no skin) with a very small amount of organic grass fed butter (like real small 1/4 of a teaspoon) and about 1/2 of low fat sour cream topped with some fiesta shredded cheese for added Protein. I ate about 3/4 of it and was super full of course I didn’t eat the skin and I actually pushed off most of the sour cream it was just to much for me. But it was super yummy! Also I am up to 3 miles a day walking.  SW 227 Todays weight 197.7 VSG 12/22/2021

Hi, I’ve been denied the surgery from a local doctors bc they only do laparoscopic surgery. I’ve had 4 previous abdominal surgeries ( ovarian cancer twice, vertical c section and total hysterectomy), and one laparoscopic gall bladder removal that took 5 hours. Has anyone had luck with old fashion cut open surgery? Or adhesion removal before laparoscopic? I’m 43, 5 ft 8 and 260 lbs! I’ve already had thyroid cancer and it’s removal. I’m kind of desperate here. I decided to order the meals and shakes here hoping it would help me out some. I want to lose weight I NEED to lose weight I just keep hitting a wall

Wow, can’t wait to see your results. That’s pretty good that a few scars will be hidden by the natural crease of the upper leg. I’d love to see before/after pics if you are comfortable with that if you want to PM me. I’m still on the fence bc of how i scar. A scar to the knee on me would be hard to hide-

@lizonaplane I’d def get to goal first that way you are in maintenance mode. Bc if you still have more weight you want to lose then you dont want to have to go bk a second time and tuck those loose areas again. That would be expensive for a second time. It’s already expensive once! Lol Let us know how you’re progressing! Sounds like you are really close!

Hey everyone I’m considering my next PS which will be a thigh lift. Just in research mode. Prob a year at least out from that. I’m curious for those who have had thigh lifts if it left your calves loose looking-like thigh is all tight now but calves loose looking. how far down did your surgeon go down the leg? To the knee or was it much higher? Also, looking for pics bc honestly that would be one scar that would be hard to hide and I don’t scar well. Anyone with experience that wouldn’t mind sharing that would be appreciated! Thank you!

Oh I’m not necessarily either. I was just curious bc I know with the pizzas you have to be careful bc some say “cauliflower “ crust when there is only a little cauliflower in it and the rest is flour. Some use only cauliflower. So I was curious when I saw the noodle one. I didn’t realize this when i first started trying cauliflower crust pizza. Which is so yummy!! I had a lot of trial and error in finding one I liked Thanks for the info on the new profile!😊

@Mz D what area are you from? I’m in Texas. I ask bc I haven’t heard of that brand.

Looks delicious!! What brand SF BBQ sauce? I tried the Sweet Baby Rays bc that’s the only one I have found in our grocery store. But I didn’t like it. Told my husband I’d rather use less or nothing at all. I want to try other brands and see if I like another brand. Other SF items I like a lot. Like syrup. Mrs Buttersworth. Love it. Tastes the same to me as the regular. Anyways your tenders look sooo good!!

Sounds like the foamies. Combination of pain across your chest (restriction), hacking cough, feeling like something is stuck, spitting up a lot of foamy saliva &/ or regurgitating a little food (bubbles up not a heaving vomit). Usually you feel a lot better after it occurs. A lot of us experience these symptoms at various times. I get them if I eat too fast, eat too much or eat food that is too dry & coarse. Try eating a little more slowly, hold off on having ‘just one more bite’, eat until you’ve had enough not full, keep your food moist (add gravy, sauce, etc. if needed) & avoid coarse & fibrous foods for a while & see if that helps. Multi vitamins used to make me nauseous every day too. Make sure you take them after you eat. If you take several, split up when you take them across the day. Try a different brand or different combinations . Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, Iron, calcium, some Bs can cause nausea especially if you’re doubling up (e.g. taking iron & having iron in your multi vitamin). But do speak with your surgeon &/or medical team to make sure there is nothing untoward happening. Hope you feel better soon.

My health is in the toilet, and I desperately need help and advice. RNY summer 2019, goal met in 2020, happy, maintained/healthy/active for a long while. I'm 51F btw. But since roughly March of this year I've unintentionally lost at least 50lbs while eating exact same nutrients/calories/macros/etc as my maintenance diet. I even started adding calories to try to stop it, bc my face looked awful/old. My BMI is now underweight and I look awful and ill. Also in March, the pain started. I had NO pain or issues from surgery 2019 all the way until March this year. It started as occasional lower right side abdominal pain, like a burning, hot coal sensation. Maybe 1 x a week. As the months have gone by, it increased and increased until now it's a daily agony. I wake up okay, but as the day goes on it gets worse and worse, until I go to bed with an Ambien at 7pm to escape it. (Mornings okay, it worsens as the day goes on) For many months it was bad but not so bad as to affect my calories/nutrition/appetite/etc. It's only in the past month it's gotten unbearable. (I still eat and get all my required protein/calories, I just do it earlier in the day). Trying different elimination plans didn't help btw. Then, 2 mos ago my hemoglobin went down to 8.5 despite my taking daily iron and I required 2 iron infusions to bring it up. I never had anemia since surgery until then, out of nowhere, with the same diet plan, all my vitamins, iron, etc. So here's the deal: FULL GI workup, normal, normal, NORMAL (CT, colonoscopy, upper endoscopy, CT enterography). Finally the GI doctor was like "I have no answers for your problems. Some things are just par for the course with a post bariatric patient." Verbatim (message in patient portal). No more follow-up or more testing offered. I felt slapped, I was LIVID at that message, I feel totally dismissed. This kind of suffering and drastic symptoms should NOT be "par for the course" for a 2 1/2 year post-RNY patient right? I know 2 others personally that had RNY years ago and they've never experienced anything like this. I just can't imagine this being normal! Has anyone here gone through anything like this and gotten answers and help? Or does anyone just have any ideas at all? (FYI I did see my bariatric surgeon first, a couple of months ago, he said my issues were NOT normal - this is before the GI doc. My surgeon ordered a CT but insurance denied it, which is why I went to that GI doc instead). So now I'm sitting here, suffering, deteriorating, with no answers or help in sight. :( Please please if anyone has any ideas, I'd be so grateful for some guidance here!

Yep! My surgeon wanted me to try plant based protein powder which I never tried so I ordered a couple different flavors of Vega protein. I also ordered sample packs of ghost protein powder (chips ahoy and fruity cereal milk flavored) mixed with 8oz almond milk…. Sooo good! I ordered Bariatric fusion chewable multi vitamins and calcium which seem to work best for me. I tested a couple pills like celebrate one and they made me nauseas. You will figure out what works best for you! I found it easier to test things out before bc it can be overwhelming after and I didn’t want to try to deal with that on top of all the physical changes. Any questions at all just ask 💜

I'm still on a soft diet as well.. I only eat the fruit cup with no sugar added. They're very soft and easy to mash. I found out this weekend that I can no longer digest egg yolks. That is very sad bc I love hard boiled eggs. Technically I'm only supposed to have egg whites at this stage though.

I am scheduled for 2/3/2022 at hospital BC.

Hey there. I was the 29th also. I'm having a hard time eating and drinking. Always concerned I'm going to do something wrong. The amount of mood swings makes me crazy too. I feel like a basket case bc I can't eat what I want and when I want.

I am interested in finding out if those here with RA noticed less severe disease activity after losing their weight. Supposedly losing weight helps reduce the inflammation in your body that causes disease activity to be more severe. I was diagnosed with RA nearly 18 years ago, and got a Lap Band in 2013. I lost some weight but never got anywhere near goal, and then developed reflux, so my BS started discussing revision, but I was nervous about revising to bypass due to my occasional need for steroids... I was on pantoprazole twice daily for a few years for the reflux, and then I developed a kidney stone from overuse of PPI's, so it was at that point I decided that it was time to remove the band, so it was removed this past April. I'm looking at revising to RNY, as my BS says the sleeve wouldn't work for me since I had reflux with my band. My Rheumy is 100% on board with revising to RNY, she says she thinks my condition will markedly improve due to less inflammation in my body. So I've stopped the celebrex and now I'm using CBD oil daily for pain to see if I can live forever like this. Rheumy says if I do need steroids in the future after RNY, she would opt for a single injection vs a medrol dose pack like I've had in the past. I'm most curious to find out if those on the post op side have seen improvements in their conditions. It would help me to decide whether or not to go forth with the revision. Thanks in advance!

I had mines on the 14th as well. I also had a hard time with the pain medication but my dr prescribed new ones that were more effective. I have absolutely no appetite either and I am also still feeling really nauseous. My dr says it’s part of the process…I’m getting so discouraged though bc I can’t get my fluids in and I can’t get my protein in.

So I’m starting to feel a little better. I had to get some fluids infused yesterday bc I couldn’t drink bc of how much pain it was causing me. They also noticed my sugar was really low so they made me consume sugar. Been feeling ok since though. Besides when I sneeze or cough or move lol. im definitely going to get some of those protein shots. I’ve also been wondering if I should do liquid vitamins bc they chewable ones from celebrate always make it to where my stomach feels too full. Even with me taking 10-15 minutes to consume one vitamin.

I am so sorry you're going through this. It is so frustrating, and I agree with you about our corrupt healthcare system. From reading comments, some people are blaming unvaccinated for the shut down of elective surgeries. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated are getting covid, so let's (collectively) not get on our high horses about being vaccinated. (I'm vaccinated but don't give 1,000 flips whether a person is vaccinated or not - your body, your choice). I had my surgery in August 2021 right before the idiot governor stalled elective surgeries. I was on a recovery floor half full of covid patients, all of whom were homeless and put there by the state - such a sham. The only thing that got my surgery pushed through was that I was self pay. My insurance covered it, but I didn't want to jump through their stupid hoops and I wanted control over the timing of the surgery. My surgeon's office staff told me that it helped to be self pay, because after all costs were paid by Blue Cross Blue Shield (my insurance provider), the surgeon only made about $1,500 for my surgery. So they pushed to get me through the day before elective surgeries were shut down by the state. I pay about $800 a month for insurance. I had Stage 3 cancer in 2019 and still spent about $25k in out of pocket costs. I paid $1,700 for a PT scan myself because it was going to take the insurance company over a month to approve the scan, and since it was cancer I didn't want to wait that long. The healthcare system is broken, and insurance companies are evil. I 100% agree that politicians should stay TF out of healthcare. They came up with the BS food pyramid and look how great that has worked out for us. (Read Good Calories, Bad Calories, it's shocking how political corruption and food lobbyists in the corn industry and others led to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.). It's the insurance lobbyists and the politicians who suck up to them with their hands out who have screwed us. Sorry to hijack your post! I'm just very passionate about corruption across the board in the US, especially when it comes to how it negatively impacts us as citizens. Good luck and keep us posted about how things go for you. Hang in there, the surgery is worth it. Sent from my SM-N976V using BariatricPal mobile app

I don't have to take iron but I do have to make sure I have something in my stomach when I take my pls. Iron can be alot. Also had my surgery the same day so If you have any meal ideas please let me know bc im struggling

The same steps to take even if u didn’t have WLS : condoms, BC pills/patches, UID, vasectomy/tubal ligation, abstinence. Or any combination of the aforementioned.

Well, if they're saying you need a comorbiditie, like diabetes, then unfortunately, that's what blood tests would have to show to be approved. That's what happened to me. I have Amerigroup, but I heard Molina is similar.. I was denied bc I didn't have that or debilitating joint issues (something to that effect)...I was pre diabetic when I submitted my paperwork. I retested and I found out I was in fact diabetic. I was approved quickly thereafter. Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

Many bariatric doctors recommend implants or IUDs. Until then, use condoms in addition to your BC pills.

You might not be getting enough Protein and Vitamins bc of your diet. If you can maybe talk to your primary care doc about blood work to check your levels incase they are low. How can we help you? Need support, the group to help motivate you, help hold you accountable? I have noticed there are so many caring ppl in the group that are very knowledgeable and willing to help! You can do this and don’t have to do it alone! Start from square 1…why did you do this in the first place and then want it so bad that your willing to do anything to achieve those goals!