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Post Op Redistribution of Fat?



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I'm 6 years out, lost 150lbs and have maintained pretty well +/- 10 to 15 lbs. But I have noticed that my loose skin belly bulge seems to be growing disproportionately with my weight fluctuations...Even at my lowest weight my lower belly bulge seems to be getting larger with time? Any one else experience this? Any theories? Thx

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I'm watching this as well. I've noticed I can't seem to lose anymore from my belly. Not keeping me from trying though.

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It’s weird, I’ve lost weight many times before without surgery and lost WAY more proportionately on regular diet where as with my RNY my face , neck and arms thinned our really fast... now its filtered to my legs( really am all set if I don’t t lose any more there thank ya) my mid section... losing inches aboooout as slow as Continental drift... fooey

Edited by Carrot64

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Age changes how and where we lose weight, maybe?

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Yes age does change may change how we lose weight, but 6 years for me isnt that long. When I lost weight before and when I hit my goal weight after surgery, I didnt have as big of a belly bulge. I just worry sometimes that this surgery is so relatively new, and while the surgeons that sell it profess to know everything, we really dont know the long long term effects and wouldnt it be a bummer if there was something weird developing with the way fat accumulates that they didnt anticipate and we all end up with big balloons around our belly instead of what we were actually hoping for....I dunno - as my wife reminds me, I worry too much!

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15 minutes ago, rfm9357 said:

Yes age does change may change how we lose weight, but 6 years for me isnt that long. When I lost weight before and when I hit my goal weight after surgery, I didnt have as big of a belly bulge. I just worry sometimes that this surgery is so relatively new, and while the surgeons that sell it profess to know everything, we really dont know the long long term effects and wouldnt it be a bummer if there was something weird developing with the way fat accumulates that they didnt anticipate and we all end up with big balloons around our belly instead of what we were actually hoping for....I dunno - as my wife reminds me, I worry too much!

No, it’s a valid hypothesis... I’ve lost weight the diet and exercise alone way way to many times and never had a weight distribution as I’ve had with surgery.. I share your curiosity.

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This surgery isn't new, it is the first part of a duodenal switch which has been around for a long time.

A couple of facts about weight -

Men generally have male pattern weight gain which gives them a spare tyre rather than an hour glass shape.

After menopause women don't have as much oestogen so they accumulate weight around the middle whearas previously they may have gained it more around the hips.

You can't predict or influence where you lose weight - the flat belly diet etc are all a load of hype for the purpose of selling books. It will come off where it wants too.

You can influence your shape by targeting muscles in certain areas

You can also reshape your body with plastic surgery if you can afford to

Most people that are obese or morbidly obese have large stomachs to start with so even after weight has been lost it stands to reason that there will be an accumulation of fat and or loose skin in that area.

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Everything you say makes sense but using my own body and my own experience as it’s own proof considering the total amount of times I’ve lost a 40 lb. average ( at least 7xs in 30 years and the last time not very long ago) this , for me and my own body anyway... is different ,I lost weight in my neck, arms and legs compared to my mid section at at different rate as in the past ... the mirror and my clothes and pictures are proof enough for me that this is and feels and looks different.. and it still doesn’t change the fact that I would do it over again 10xs over to get my health back .

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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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      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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