Bariatric surgery no.2 thread

[Seriouslyconfused3]

For everyone following from the last thread...

If you’re new please feel free to join in and share your experiences

Good to hear everything is going well with you guys.

I have a question - what I want after the bypass is to be able to eat a small portion of all foods and to stop the whole “diet” mentality. Is this going to be possible fo you think? I make a mean chicken and leek pie (even if I say so myself) , but obviously this is high in fat. Will I be able to have a couple of spoonfuls with veg and not get dumping syndrome? I intend to eat sensibly, protein first etc but I do want to be free of the can’t have this, can’t have that mentality that I seem to have had forever.

I know dumping is different for everybody but would really appreciate your experience.

Oh, another thing, I was looking at you tube videos of my surgeon performing bypass operations and saw one of the videos to view was of the oldest woman having surgery - she was only 60, surely she isn’t the oldest person to have this? Then started thinking am I too bloody old to have this done (55)? I want to be as fit as I can for old age and definitely want to go ahead. Clearly overthinking everything ...

Hi @RalphtheMouth - I had a sleeve and don’t get dumping so can’t really advise on that. I can however eat anything in terms of texture, fat/carbs etc, just much less of it.

Although I am not eating sweets (biscuits, cakes etc) and ‘front load’ with protein (meaning I rarely bother with carbs like potatoes, pasta, rice etc) I don’t consider myself to be ‘on a diet’. I eat in a way that feels good for me and my health - in other words how I always wanted to eat before but couldn’t.

So I eat completely normally - and feel great. I also had a bit of pie the other day and it was delicious!!

@MindBodyChocolate - thank you. That’s exactly how I envisage eating after the op.

I had the sleeve but had an experience that I would imagine was dumping after having a small piece of birthday cake. I felt sick and dizzy and shaky- really unwell. It put me off trying cake again. Generally I eat normal food now just tiny portions. My sweet tooth has pretty much died out thankfully so sweet treats are a rarity

@RalphtheMouth I too had the sleeve & like @MindBodyChocolate have had no dumping at all, I can eat sugar, fat, carbs etc as before but just in tiny quantities. I tend to eat protein first though, then any veg available & after that prioritisation their isn't room for much else. I'm mindful that the restriction & reduction in hunger lessens over time so this golden phase is about learning good healthy habits & getting as much weight off as possible.

Also, be careful about Internet advice like mine! My journey has been very different to others on here. No duming/vomiting, able to exercise quickly & intensely, very rapid weight loss with 1 short stall after 3 months, no hair loss. Sounds ideal...actually quite stressful. Are my nutrients OK, will my skin recovery be worse, am I due a mega stall etc etc.

Just remember your body will do what it wants to & there is no right or wrong way to do this. Its tough, but absolutely the best thing I've ever done.

I agree with @Kamma89- we all have different experiences. I’m losing my hair so am constantly trying to up my protein intake. And the tiredness at the start was overwhelming- I was in bed at 8pm every night. Stalls are a nightmare too- I’m in one right now- ideally I need to start walking again (normally the school run takes me up to 12000 steps) but it’s all difficult right now

Hi everyone- can I join please? I'm almost a year out from my gastric bypass. My start weight was 372lbs and I've lost almost 11 stone.

Haven't put in a single pound in the year, but just recently have stalled for the first time, so need to up my exercise and make sure I'm drinking enough fluid as I do notice such a difference when I don't drink enough water.

I've got 76lbs to lose and I've set myself the goal of Christmas as I know it's going to be tougher now I'm lighter. Hoping to start Couch 2 5k this week and see how I go.

Also just started to my skin is showing signs of more saggy areas, so I was hoping for a bit of advice on how to help this of anyone had any tried or tested lotions/potions/techniques.

Thanks all. I guess it’s a personal experience for all. Whatever happens, it’s got to be better than how I feel now, am so ready for the operation.

@MindBodyChocolate - bet you’re enjoying the clothes shopping! About 9/10 years ago I lost shitloads (over 100lbs) and had the best time ever buying clothes, especially in the summer, it felt amazing.

@Seriouslyconfused3 hope the stall passes quickly.

@Kamma89 thanks for the advice

Hi @cindylouwhosplaits wow you have done amazingly well no skin advice from me yet but I’ll be watching with interest for other people’s advice!

@cindylouwhosplaits hi there, congratulations on your loss, fabulous.

Thank you both. I had a LOT to lose and after I discovered my ex husband of 12 years affair last Christmas, I finally decided to take the bull by the horns and go for the surgery. It's been life changing for me and it's been even better with lockdown in a way as I haven't seen extended family or many friends so I really can't wait for them to see the transformation when we finally get to meet up again.

I've been really lucky with my journey- absolutely no complications, straight after I was able to exercise, no problems with any food I've tried since, my hunger still is at bay & restriction still good. My only problems have been my iron levels and the fact my hair fell out in handfuls between about month 3-8. Luckily I had a good head of hair to begin with but I was really scared I was going to be bald at one point. Growing back nicely now though

@cindylouwhosplaits that's an amazing loss!
I've recently got a vibration plate to help with loose skin and it is definitely making a difference and worth a try.

Mine was about £95 on amazon and there are loads of YouTube exercise videos for it. It only takes 15 minutes a day and am seeing results within 2 weeks

@CoronaCurls Oooh, that sounds really interesting. Would you mind linking to the ones you bought or just letting me know the make. There's so many on there

I am around 5 months since surgery and I have found my weight loss has slowed right down. I follow quite a few wls accounts on instagram and most of them are still losing 2-5lbs per week at this stage. I am averaging 0.5-1lb per week now if I'm lucky.

Has anyone else found this? I was wondering if it was due to having an underactive thyroid?

Before my stall I was maybe 2-3 lbs a week. But definitely slowing. I need to up the exercise but am struggling

@cindylouwhosplaits I got this one
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07LGN21BY?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Hi @cindylouwhosplaits - it’s good to hear from someone nearly a year out. Your weight loss is amazing, well done.

@needtoloselots - everyone loses at different rates but I sometimes feel a bit frustrated when you read about ppl losing 5lbs a week months out! But I’m trying not to compare and have come off Facebook for that reason. I’m concentrating on the fact I’ve never before been able to sustain any weight loss after a few weeks so this is all still very exciting if a bit slower than others.

Ah I'm glad ive found the thread again, I posted on the original but I've had a few name changes since then.

Had my op in the beginning of September, 63lbs down, 21 to go to my goal bmi of 22. I'm feeling good, the weight loss is definitely slowing down now, but I've started seeing people who I haven't seen for a while and the positive feedback has been a boost. The hair loss is bothering me quite a lot though, I'm becoming anxious about actually going bald!

I'm glad to hear you're all still going well, and good luck to anyone's right at the early stages of research and waiting for surgery.

Happy Monday everyone. Hope the snow isn't too bad where you are.

I broke my stall this week, thankfully, with a 4lb loss so I've now lost 4st4lb in 14 weeks.

I'm feeling very grateful that I was able to have the surgery and the freedom from a life of bingeing and guilt. I think I'm just a bit emotional today

@QueenOfPain how are you getting on?

@LadyShmuck wow, great loss, you’re doing so well!

Hey,

I’m okay. I’m back at work now post op and post covid. I’m quite tired and weak a lot of the time but I suspect that might be the covid after effects rather than surgery.

I’m on my soft diet stage now, but only really managing one meal a day as Covid has stolen my sense of taste and smell so food really isn’t that appealing. I’m making sure I get all my protein in with shakes and protein water. I assume it will improve over time, although yesterday I managed two actual meals and was so stuffed it wasn’t nice. I’m down 45lbs so far since Dec 14th. Still not managing my full fluid intake every day which I think is stalling my weight loss tbh.

I’ve no regrets though, I trust the process!

@QueenOfPain it sounds rough with the covid on top of everything else. 45lbs is an incredible loss in that time frame though.

@QueenOfPain oh wow that’s amazing how well you are doing. Hope you get over the virus soon. Yes I think that a bypass is best for me. I didn’t struggle at all with LL diet and the therapy I had then helped a lot. I’ve been researching the different procedures and clinics as I was thinking about going to Istanbul but with covid I think that’s out of the picture. It could be years before we can go overseas, so I’ve been looking at the tonic group. Just need to do it whilst in the right mindset.

So glad to see this thread, I'm having a gastric sleeve next week with one of the surgeons mentioned on the previous thread. I'm with Tonic who have been excellent with communication.

Currently mid LRD and managing well, surgery has been postponed 3 times already which was tough. Great to see success stories here - it's very motivating.

Can I ask anyone who's post, how soon could you reasonably have returned to a desk job WFH?