Bariatric surgery thread 4

[HangerLaneGyratorySystem]

I'm not the OP but I just accidentally took the last post on thread 3 and some people including me were in the middle of conversations! Hope you can find your way over here!

Can I join your chat please as I have just signed up for gastric sleeve surgery and terrified. I need to do this for myself though as I am so unhappy with my weight.
I've never had surgery before so I think this is what scares me the most. My date is not until November due to holidays and events so plenty of time to forget about it for now, but this gives me loads of time to worry too.

It's really interesting reading everyone's journeys, so thanks for sharing and explaining how you are all coping and managing and look forward to reading more soon x

Well done. Who are you going with?

Its right to be nervous, its a significant thing you are doing. The op is highly highly unlikely to be problematic, I built this up in my mind as THE thing.

Its not THE thing, THE thing comes afterwards which is incredibly hard work.

Be sure to prep properly, understand the phases you need to go through to get your tummy working again, make sure you've got all the equipment you might want to use, you wont know the tastes you will have or can tolerate so make sure you can do a selection of different things (soups, shakes, purees etc).

Understand that things wont be rushed, you mustnt be rushed in terms of what you can get used to.

Personally I lost a lot of weight pre op in the months before it as I also had a long run in and this lowers your risk of any complications from surgery so if you can try to get into that mindset that would be good, you have a good 3 months at least.

I've picked Tonic as I liked the look of the aftercare and support package. I have researched so much about after the surgery and what my life will be like afterwards, but it's better to hear it from people who know.

I've always been able to loose weight, but have always struggled to keep it off and this is why I have chosen the sleeve. I'm hoping that with the help of the dietician and exercise trainer I can stay healthy.

I love it how people always think this is the easy option, however having now educated myself there is no way it is.

Just seeing if this thread can be resurrected. Consultation for sleeve was due to be today but rescheduled for 19th. Really hoping to get done as early in the new year as possible.

How’s everyone getting on? I’ve got a BMI of about 37, about 6 stone needing to go I think.

Evening @Worriedmum159 i think a few people still about. I’ve lost 6 stone but need to lose another 6. Taken me over 2 years had a sleeve then revision to mini gastric bypass. I’m 60+ I reckon if you are younger it’ll be easier.

Im just coming up to 9 months.

Pre op, (Oct to Feb) I lost 2 stone 8lbs (that included 2 holidays and xmas)

Post Op, Ive lost 5 stone 3.

That is considered a slow loss but means that Im just shy of having lost 8 stone all together

BMI is now in the 'overweight' category, I cannot tell you how over the moon I am about that.

I have about 2 stone to go now before Im in a healthy BMI

Bad things - acid reflux/silent reflux is bothersome, very irritating and interferes with how I eat. The not eating and drinking together thing is annoying when eating out, causing me to either waste a drink because the food turns up too early or trying to fit it all in and causing heartburn.
Im not sure if I have a gall bladder problem or even a hernia, some strange pains and sensations which are plaguing me.
It has cost an absolute fortune on new clothes and underwear which then only fit for a short time, even though Im trying to buy cheap. I was too lazy to sell my old clothes and so many of them had never even been worn. It wasnt just laziness actually, I wanted them gone, I didnt want things sitting around for me to package up and send out, they sort of represent the past and so I want them gone, I regularly still go down the charity with bags and bags of stuff.

I didnt do it to look better, but for the first time in many years Im really pleased with how I look and like a lot of photos taken now!

Thank you. I read your updates. I’m just 42 so hoping I’ve caught it in time. At a massive crossroads in my life and the thinking time has led me to this, along with a couple of other future plans. How are things for you now? What’s the worst and best? Any regrets?

Great update. I’m kind of halfway through the clothes thing, I’m largely confined to the house these days so have sold anything decent and living in yoga pants etc…

would you mind sharing your pre op stats? I follow the Reddit thread but it’s heavily American an either much lower BMI or much higher than I’m at!

Well I was 20 stone 4 and from memory I think my BMI was 45? or is that 47?

Im now around 29 BMI

I havent managed to track any measurements properly, I have a horrible suspicion that my original waist measurement was as much as 50 inches.

Im not even sure what it is right now, I think its 37 inches. However I took a pair of trousers to be taken in and told them to do 36 inches, thinking I will slim into them (Ive learned to buy clothes too small now to stop growing out of them too quickly)

The trousers came back at 36 inches but are too big. I can get them on and off without undoing them and they're too loose.

So what is my waist measurement, I dont understand how Im measuring 37, we suspect that the tape we're using isnt right.

My aim is to get to a healthy waist measurement, it needs to be a proportion of your height, not quite sure but I have a feeling it needs to be 32 or less for me.

I’m five and a half years out, my total loss was about five stone (was 7 but I regained two).
I am healthier and feel better but I would love to lose that two again. I am still overweight, still a size 16-18, but not 24-26 any more.

The restriction still works but I still have disordered eating. Since the bypass I have quit alcohol (I noticed I had switched from food to alcohol as my ‘go-to) and then after alcohol I became dependent on co codamol - have also kicked that habit now. There’s no doubt I have issues with trying to numb things out - previously with food, then other things.

Great to hear everyone’s success stories x

@GreenLeavesRustling yes, I’ve heard of transference. Have just started counselling which will be WAY more painful than any type of surgery but I think I need some tools for managing addiction etc.

I find that to be unable to eat freely really concentrates the triggers

I would have said that I ate my feelings etc etc

That doesnt appear to be the case at all, I think I used that as an excuse (this is for me personally Im not applying to others)

However what I have noticed is that there is a lethal combination of being tired and cold which makes me want to eat.

it happened tonight, we got home and there was a bit of bread roll my OH left on the side from lunch. I immediately thought I want that bread (despite the fact that bread makes the indigestion worse and I dont even eat bread) and was thinking 'what can I put on the bread' and then it clicked, I am freezing and physically tired, this is why I wanted to just 'eat'

I had about a thumb size bit of the roll and a spoon of hummus on it.

When I think back to when my weight really piled on, it was when I used to do very long commutes by train/bus, late at night, knackered, nearly always cold because I never wear a coat/warm clothes, I did that from age 17 to around 28ish and it really piled on during that time.

@Worriedmum159 I wish I had done that alongside the surgery. We also had a very big, long lasting and traumatic family event six months after the op that led me to stop focusing on me and prioritising myself and my eating - and thus the regain.

I had also heard of transference, but hadn’t clocked that was what was happening to me until a year after the surgery. I’m now four years t-total, and it took me three years to notice and then squash the co codamol habit I picked up as I quit the booze. It’s like whack a mole! Things are improving now though, my weight is stable and I am on a much more even keel. I don’t hate myself. I don’t blame myself. I am more at peace.
I hope your therapy helps you xx

@bellac11 @GreenLeavesRustling thank you so much for your candour.

I do wish anyone who thinks “eat less move more” is the answer to all weight problems, could understand the complexity of this. It’s like a tangle of wool with 300 different colours.

dreading starting counselling but even just deciding to do it has helped my habits.

gbank you so much for your responses.

Hi guys can I jump in here! I'm 5+ weeks post VSG, doing great so far, 30lbs down including LRD, pretty much back to solids now and managing to hit my water/protein most days. Just wanting to join to follow and help and advice from anyone further out than me. Also open to questions from anyone thinking of taking the leap x

10 Jan is my date which is perfect. Good to hear from you. What was your starting weight if you don’t mind sharing?

Hi @Worriedmum159 my starting weight pre LRD was 17.8, weight on sleeve day was 16.4 and I am now 15.4. I am really really pleased. I had a stall that lasted almost 2 weeks PO and panic set in thinking that's it I'm not going to lose it's been unsuccessful but it started moving again and is chipping away nicely!

@Worriedmum159 good luck, from my experience already you will not regret it!

How long was your LRD? Mine is only 2 weeks and focussed on low carb, low fat, under 100 cal a day. Kind of excited and dreading it at the same time but would be amazing to start a downward trajectory before the op.

I had my sleeve surgery 5 days ago and so far so good. My LRD was 10 days and I only lost 8lb but it wasn't as harsh as I had expected. I'm over 60 so I expect a different journey than younger patients.

I see this thread has popped up again

Well I think my last post was 6 weeks ago? Or thereabouts

Ive now lost 8 stone and 2lbs in total (5 stone and 8lbs post op which was back 10 months ago). Very slow loss

However my clothes sizes go down and down. Yet I see I wrote that my waist was 37 inches. Its still 37 today. BMI continues downward, its now 28, heading toward 'healthy'

Ive dumped another 3 bags down the charity today.

Acid reflux pretty bad however we are eating out a lot and Im not really sitting right when I eat, too much rich food etc. I need to fix this come the new year but also perhaps investigate some other antacids which might be stronger.

@Worriedmum159 my LRD was 2 weeks I lost 16lbs and felt tonnes better even before the surgery. I did a combination, milk diet, and low carb food days, and slim fast 4 of the days as I was in office and it was easier than weighing food and looking odd drinking almost 4 pints of milk in a day.
I thought it would find it harder as I loved my food (obviously!) but because it was such a short countdown and you know it's to ensure a safer surgery it wasn't as bad as I expected x

@bellac11 what do you take currently? I will be stopping the lansoprazole next week to see how my reflux is. 5 stone 8 in 10 months is incredible I think! I would be over the moon with that. But it's all an individual experience isn't it. Do you want to lose more? 8+ stone is amazing well done!

@onestepfromgrace I think 5 days post op you are over the worst. Once that awful gas pain had subsided I felt a million times better. I healed really well. Do you have a lot to lose? X

I don't know if it helped but I started my vitamins a month prior to surgery to ensure all my levels were in a good state before I had the op and didn't dip as much after and I didn't have any periods of lethargy or anything, wether that's related or I was just lucky who knows but no harm trying hey x