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I am totally frustrated with my surgery! Two weeks after surgery I was down 10 lbs. As soon as I went off full liquids, the weight started to return. I followed the program faithfully through Thanksgiving and kept gaining. At 3 lbs from my surgery weight, it stopped and is back down to 6-8 lbs below surgery weight! I absolutely have not been eating enough to gain weight. I have never felt as much restriction as I expected. I can eat anything I want and if I eat slowly, I could eat at much as I wanted, but hold myself to prescribed amounts. I do not know what is going on. The doctor is not much help. Haven't seen him since just prior to the surgery. He did not come to the hospital nor my follow up office visit. They had me phone in my weight for my one month check up and did not schedule another visit. I do not know what to do. I am 58 and only had 50 lbs to lose at the time of surgery. I did not go through all of this to stay at the weight I had achieved on my own prior to surgery. I had lost 50 lbs on my own. Sorry to give in to such a rant, but I am so frustrated. I am struggling not to return to the old eating habits. Grazing will do me in if I don't get a grip on this frustration! Thank you so much for listening!!

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I am totally frustrated with my surgery! Two weeks after surgery I was down 10 lbs. As soon as I went off full liquids, the weight started to return. I followed the program faithfully through Thanksgiving and kept gaining. At 3 lbs from my surgery weight, it stopped and is back down to 6-8 lbs below surgery weight! I absolutely have not been eating enough to gain weight. I have never felt as much restriction as I expected. I can eat anything I want and if I eat slowly, I could eat at much as I wanted, but hold myself to prescribed amounts. I do not know what is going on. The doctor is not much help. Haven't seen him since just prior to the surgery. He did not come to the hospital nor my follow up office visit. They had me phone in my weight for my one month check up and did not schedule another visit. I do not know what to do. I am 58 and only had 50 lbs to lose at the time of surgery. I did not go through all of this to stay at the weight I had achieved on my own prior to surgery. I had lost 50 lbs on my own. Sorry to give in to such a rant, but I am so frustrated. I am struggling not to return to the old eating habits. Grazing will do me in if I don't get a grip on this frustration! Thank you so much for listening!!

I haven't had my revision yet, so I can't offer any specific advise- am sure others on here will be able to do so. I do have a couple of questions though. Did you self-pay? Did you have the Sleeve? Do you know what size sleeve he used? Did your surgeon discuss what the post-op care/ plan would be prior to the surgery?

I guess I would be concerned that your surgeon is not showing an active interest / or the lack of follow up. When was your surgery?

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I have similar questions as former_vbg .. perhaps you could post more information about your surgery?

In speaking just from my experience, I had a nutritionist set up post-op so I could deal with the questions and concerns that you are currently experiencing. You need some help and I do agree that your doctor's lack of concern is an issue.

I can't really tell when you had your surgery but for me, I was very careful what/how much I consumed for at least 4-5 months post-op. While I am 8 months out now and can pretty much eat whatever I want, I still choose my Protein, vegetables and Fluid intake first. I don't graze or 'test' myself in ways that I know are possible with WLS because there are slider foods that you can eat 'n eat 'n eat ;) .. staying the path of healthy choices ensures success.

I don't know why I had such great success thus far but I know we are all different and my assumption is the more weight one has to lose, perhaps it comes off faster. Simply a theory on my part. I completely understand your frustration and you do need some help and guidance. Perhaps your doctor's office can refer you to a nutritionist who specializes in bariatric surgery? That seems to be the ticket here for you. Anyway, good luck to you :)

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Thank you for your post. I had not had any previous wls surgery. I was sleeved Oct. 11th and BCBS paid for the surgery. I don't know what sleeve size he used, never occurred to me to ask. I was given a notebook outlining preop and postop care and protocols. His office staff was helpful when I called them, but it always took them a while (1-2 days) to return my calls. I only called a couple of times. I did see a nutritionist after surgery and she was very helpful. I guess I'll just have to return to the diet I was on prior to surgery which was 2 Protein shakes/day and one small meal. Think my expectations were too high or unrealistic.

I haven't had my revision yet, so I can't offer any specific advise- am sure others on here will be able to do so. I do have a couple of questions though. Did you self-pay? Did you have the Sleeve? Do you know what size sleeve he used? Did your surgeon discuss what the post-op care/ plan would be prior to the surgery?

I guess I would be concerned that your surgeon is not showing an active interest / or the lack of follow up. When was your surgery?

.

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Skeebo,

I can sense your frustration with where you are following your surgery. My surgery is tomorrow (1/3) so I cannot offer any specific information to help you with your situation; however, what I can say is that I have found this forum to be extremely helpful and as you can see by the responses you did get that you at least have more food for thought. Do you know if your doctor checked for any other medical conditions such as Thyroid condition? From your post, it's obvious your weight gain is not from eating, so it has to be something. Much success to you as you work with your medical team to figure out what is going on with your body.

Light~ Theresa

I am totally frustrated with my surgery! Two weeks after surgery I was down 10 lbs. As soon as I went off full liquids, the weight started to return. I followed the program faithfully through Thanksgiving and kept gaining. At 3 lbs from my surgery weight, it stopped and is back down to 6-8 lbs below surgery weight! I absolutely have not been eating enough to gain weight. I have never felt as much restriction as I expected. I can eat anything I want and if I eat slowly, I could eat at much as I wanted, but hold myself to prescribed amounts. I do not know what is going on. The doctor is not much help. Haven't seen him since just prior to the surgery. He did not come to the hospital nor my follow up office visit. They had me phone in my weight for my one month check up and did not schedule another visit. I do not know what to do. I am 58 and only had 50 lbs to lose at the time of surgery. I did not go through all of this to stay at the weight I had achieved on my own prior to surgery. I had lost 50 lbs on my own. Sorry to give in to such a rant, but I am so frustrated. I am struggling not to return to the old eating habits. Grazing will do me in if I don't get a grip on this frustration! Thank you so much for listening!!

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At two and a half months, you could be experiencing an awful stall. You did lose a bunch before surgery, and some after... perhaps your body is just holding on for dear life. The two Protein Shakes and small meal might not be a bad idea... thats seems like about the right amount of food anyway. Use Fitday.com and figure out your carbs and calories just for info. Give this more time... 2 1/2 months is not THAT long. I would find a nutrutionist to talk to, keep logs of your intake so she/he can see for themselves what you have been doing. Write down the Water and when your drinking it too...any exercise. Good luck! It will come off, just stay on plan. YOu can find examples of plans here if you don't feel like your Drs plan is clear enough.....

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If you had already lost 50 lbs on your own prior to surgery, it is not uncommon for your body to "hold on" to weight before it decides to release it. Especially if you are on a low amount of calories, your body might have gone into starvation mode. I was sleeved on September 27th so a couple of weeks before you and hadn't really lost prior to surgery. But when I hit the 2 1/2 month mark I was definitely stalling. Saw the nutritionist and she said I had to get my calories up from 800-900 up to 1000-1200 because my body was hanging on to the weight for fear of never getting food again. Once I was able to up my calories I have started to lose again. Slow, but at least I am losing. It is hard to get in 1200 calories - I am literally eating something every 2-3 hours. And if you are working out alot you actually need MORE than 1200 calories to not starve your body. Seems weird but that is the science of how it works.

I, too, would suggest that you meet with the nutritionist and get some additional guidance.

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It's also all about the exersize. The weight dissapears when you are using more calories then intaking. Try taking long walks or even dancing around the house. Get your heart pumping a little and in no time you should start to lose a little more

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I am totally frustrated with my surgery! Two weeks after surgery I was down 10 lbs. As soon as I went off full liquids, the weight started to return. I followed the program faithfully through Thanksgiving and kept gaining. At 3 lbs from my surgery weight, it stopped and is back down to 6-8 lbs below surgery weight! I absolutely have not been eating enough to gain weight. I have never felt as much restriction as I expected. I can eat anything I want and if I eat slowly, I could eat at much as I wanted, but hold myself to prescribed amounts. I do not know what is going on. The doctor is not much help. Haven't seen him since just prior to the surgery. He did not come to the hospital nor my follow up office visit. They had me phone in my weight for my one month check up and did not schedule another visit. I do not know what to do. I am 58 and only had 50 lbs to lose at the time of surgery. I did not go through all of this to stay at the weight I had achieved on my own prior to surgery. I had lost 50 lbs on my own. Sorry to give in to such a rant, but I am so frustrated. I am struggling not to return to the old eating habits. Grazing will do me in if I don't get a grip on this frustration! Thank you so much for listening!!

I know you say you don't feel much restriction, but what about the quality of food you are eating? How much Protein and carbs are you taking in? How many calories?

Also, did you stop drinking with meals to avoid flushing out the food as you eat it?

Some things to think about.

-Pete

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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