So I visited the library Saturday and picked up a few books on RNY. The first one I'm reading talks about the dumping and loss of appetite go away after a while....Is that not the major points as to what makes the surgery work for people?

One reason I'm choosing this is for those very reasons, I need something to help keep me in control.

Any veterans wanna chime in?

I'm not a veteran really as my surgery was 2 months ago but I know the answer. Some people don't dump at all by the way. I'm not sure if I do as I've avoided high sugar items. The point is that you have the 'honeymoon' phase in which weight loss is the highest. After the first year or two the pouch will stretch a little as its supposed to- we'd eventually starve otherwise. Hunger may return a few months after surgery- depends on the person. Much less food is needed to satisfy that hunger of course.

Long term the hope is that you have gotten used to healthier habits and can maintain them. The surgery will not prevent regain. Only we can do that by remaining vigilant.

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Thanks for the info, so in a nut shell--if I do what I'm suppose to do it will continue to hold my weight down, once I lose what I need too?

So I visited the library Saturday and picked up a few books on RNY. The first one I'm reading talks about the dumping and loss of appetite go away after a while....Is that not the major points as to what makes the surgery work for people?

One reason I'm choosing this is for those very reasons' date=' I need something to help keep me in control.

Any veterans wanna chime in?[/quote']

I am 13 months post op. I have only dumped once or twice. I am able to eat sweets and junk food if I want to. My appetite has returned, and I do struggle to stay focused sometimes. For me the biggest tool that the surgery gave me is portion control. I can eat anything I want, but I can't eat the quantity I used to.

The key is staying focused on your goals and use the tool wisely.

About 50% of RNY patients never experience dumping. Some experience dumping and fail to recognize it and others experience symptoms similar to dumping and assume it is dumping when the cause is actually something else. Regardless, there is no scientific evidence that folks who experience dumping are any more or less successful than those who don't. For those who qualify, there is a long list of life-changing benefits from RNY. Not one of them is attributed by medical science to dumping.

Complete loss of appetite immediately following surgery and in some cases extending up to several months is quite common. But your appetite does eventually return. And that is most assuredly a very good and a very healthy thing. It is absolutely nothing to fear. But you will find that your appetite is different than it was pre-op. Very recent research studies are just beginning to understand some of the underlying causes of the changes. For example, the results of a study published in May of this year found that there is a decrease in an appetite stimulating hormone (ghrelin) following RNY. They concluded that the decrease may explain why the sensation of hunger is often diminished following RNY.

In another study published in March of this year, researchers at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital found that gastric bypass performed on mice produced dramatic changes in the microbes found in the gut. Those bacteria tend to not only boost metabolism, but also extract fewer calories from food during digestion. Even more surprising, they found that the changes seemed to occur almost immediately following surgery. Like all research, new findings invariably lead to new questions that must be answered. It will likely be several years before application for humans (if any) is known but these initial results are promising.

Still other very recent studies have found that a procedure they named "bile diversion" has produced results similar to RNY in rats and several recent studies have found a number of links between obesity and a previously unidentified gene known as "FTO".

The fact that RNY works in a very high percentage of cases is undisputable. Exactly "how" it works is still in the very early stages of being understood. For now it is perhaps most important to remember that the ultimate success of all forms of bariatric surgery is, and always has been, about the Prime Directive - lifestyle changes. The surgery is a life-changing tool that makes those formerly impossible changes, possible. You're gonna love the new you!!

I have been told that those microbe changes or hormone changes are likely to fix or ease my insulin resistance/ diabetes. I might be able to lose a little more on my own, but then again, probably not (as per my 30 year obese history) . And the insulin/diabetes issue is what really made my mind up to go through with RNY. Any time i start to waffle on my decision, i remember that, and words like "stroke" or "blood clot" related to diabetes- i still have so many places i want to see.

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Im 8 months post op...I can eat almost anything I want and I've never had dumping and the hunger has returned. I just can't eat the bigger quantities like I used to. Makes me sick to even think about what I used to eat and how much. Stick to your plan and it will work.

I'm not a veteran really as my surgery was 2 months ago but I know the answer. Some people don't dump at all by the way. I'm not sure if I do as I've avoided high sugar items. The point is that you have the 'honeymoon' phase in which weight loss is the highest. After the first year or two the pouch will stretch a little as its supposed to- we'd eventually starve otherwise. Hunger may return a few months after surgery- depends on the person. Much less food is needed to satisfy that hunger of course.

Long term the hope is that you have gotten used to healthier habits and can maintain them. The surgery will not prevent regain. Only we can do that by remaining vigilant.

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Amen.