2 questions :

On such a reduced caloric intake, how do you have enough energy after surgery? I mostly see people say they have MORE energy, but curious how.

Why do they reduce your stomach so drastically? Anyone know why not 50% for example?

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Right after surgery your calorie intake is very low, and most people are very tired. I was so exhausted at times in those first few weeks that I actually got stuck in my car waiting for my energy to return enough for me to drive home from the store. You have to really pay close attention to your body after surgery. Not only are you taking him a lot less calories, but your body is using a lot more energy to repair itself from the surgery. Even after the immediate weeks following surgery, I was tired often on for months to the point where I needed to take naps in the middle of the day. Things began to level out a bit around three months out for me.

I am now 5 months out. Initially I took naps all the time. I have always been a world class napper. For me the fact that I am lighter and have less of me to move around conserves so much energy that I do feel like I have more energy. Do I get tired? yes. Do I still like my naps? Oh yes. But when I want to go do something, I have energy to do it and I am not worried that I will get tired before I am done. As I have become more active, I have had to increase my calories so that I still have energy for all I do or I stop losing, but that didn't happen until month 4 and I was doing a lot of running and I only added 200 calories. You will learn as we all do about how to feed our pouch or sleeve so that we get the most energy possible. Listen to your NUT, talk to your NUT, ask you NUT questions.

pam

2 questions :

On such a reduced caloric intake, how do you have enough energy after surgery? I mostly see people say they have MORE energy, but curious how.

Why do they reduce your stomach so drastically? Anyone know why not 50% for example?

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Initially after surgery as I was healing I was tired. After that I think the extra energy come from being lighter and also from getting enough nutrition and eating healthier.

Compared to my pre-WLS life I have: cut out carbonation, diet cokes, etc.; drink more water; limit my caffeine; eat more whole, healthy foods; avoid starches, added sugars, and fried foods; eat more protein; and eat frequent small meals and Snacks. I also exercise more (because I can) and I sleep much better and don't oversleep like I used to.

As to what part of the stomach the surgeon removes. It is my understanding that they don't go in and measure the stomach and remove a specific percentage, they remove the fundus which is the stretchy part of your stomach. Depending on how big your stomach is or how much it has stretched the percentage is going to vary since it is relative. But, the goal is to have a stomach about the size of a small banana that won't stretch.

After surgery, you body is converting stored fat cells into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. After surgery, I didn't detect much of a change in my energy levels but some people do. Some people become more active, others seem to go in the opposite direction.

After RNY surgery they make your pouch smaller so that you will be unable to consume much volume. If you try, you will likely experience dumping syndrome and that can be a very unpleasant experience.

I am still very tired if I don't get enough calories. It is harder for me to get started. I had intense sadness/depression the weekend before I was able to progress to mushy food. My first week or so I was very hyper and I had a lot of energy, but I think that was a reaction to the stress of surgery and all the drugs. I feel best when I am able to get at least 800 calories and enough fluids. I refuse to believe that we don't feel real hunger post surgery. After a 2 hour cardio/strength workout I was ravenous, but my hunger only took a few hundred calories to sate. The hunger I feel now is real hunger, not cravings from unstable blood sugar. No doctor ever told me I couldn't feel hungry post surgery, although some people don't.

As for the surgery, they need to remove enough of the hormone producing stomach for the surgery to work. This is bypass, so they technically don't remove anything much, but the stomach will produce very little gherlin and other obesity hormones when not stimulated by food. A 50% gastrectomy is not likely to produce long term metabolic changes that a more drastic surgery will. There may be some clinical/animal data on comparative types of bariatric surgeries in the literature, but the current surgeries have the best efficacy. They have a lot of evidence and support. The surgical technique is very refined and standardized now, especially for bypass.

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I'm 3 months post op and yes the first few weeks my energy was far from good.

On average the maximum calories I eat now would be 700 (and I make sure I take my vitamins), but now my energy is good, in fact really good. It actually amazes me how well my body does on such a low food intake. I think it's partly because my body doesn't have to work so hard on processing all the food I used to eat. I'm certainly not perfect but I eat mostly clean now and alcohol doesn't interest me (I know it's different for everyone). I also sleep better.