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Hope..

Carolyn270

Member
I think i finally got where i need to be. The weight is starting to come off regularly. Like for instance; two days ago i weighed in the morning at 274 then today i weighed in the morning 273. But heres the kicker. I went to the bathroom for a good five minutes. And weighed 270. Ha! I reach my walking goals more often but not the strengthening goals. Im gonna need loose skin removal. Dagnabit! I am not struggling with those two issues that ive always complained about. Not any more. And its time to shop again. So what im trying to do by writing this is to be a motivator. Lend encouragement. And allow you to see that even crazy me can do it. So im pretty sure yall can too.
 
It's great that things are starting to go in the right direction for you, Carolyn! I will certainly take some hope from your successes!!
 
I think Carolyn, that I will also need to have skin removal. My surgeon wants me to wait another year, he says I will continue to lose weight and he says no more surgeries for 18 months from March when they took my gall bladder. I need my chest repair & bypass to heal fully. He told me to just keep going. That many people that start at lower weight only lose in the first year, but heavier patients continue to lose 2-4 years after surgery, so there is hope after all! I'm down now 157 lbs. How odd that I have lost like a whole other person in weight off of me. Like, it hurts my heart a bit to know that I packed on that much and just ignored it for years. Ugh! What was I thinking? I'm so glad you have gotten to where you need to be and that the weight is coming off! Congrats and I hope it continues for you!

I stopped losing weight after gall bladder surgery back in March. Like, for 5 months. I thought I broke or something. I was working out 5 days a week, eating right, protein shakes, had my 1 year which went well and yet I lost nothing. I have an issue with inflammation of the eyes which they can't figure out and I thought perhaps that was the problem. So I stopped weighing myself sometime in May. I got to where I just took things day by day and kept to the plan, but I was totally bummed about it. I did lose inches. I dropped multiple dress sizes but the scale wouldn't budge. How frustrating! Then I went to the docs office last week and poof, I had lost 25lbs in what seemed like overnight. I thought my scale at the house was broken but nope, I just hadn't weighed myself in awhile. I am now the same weight as my husband. How weird! We will see where things go over the next few months though, I have been working full time and working on the remodel full time and I am not getting my workouts in. ugh! I feel almost lazy about it but I just don't have the time. :( I will start back up in October though, and see if I can't start running underwater to kick start things a bit. I would love to lose another 75lbs but those would be the tough lbs. to lose. o_O

Hojo, after you recover I hope you find a great exercise that you like. I love mine and as I have lost weight, I have gained an amazing amount of energy. I get so much more energy from working out all the time also. It was super hard at first, but if you can push through at least 21 days of working out, you can make it a habit for life and it is worth it! ;) Trust me, before surgery I never worked out...ever. Like who in their right mind wants to volunteer to sweat and get sore? Wow at how things change when your mindset changes! I have another couple of weeks on this remodel project so I might not be on here much but I was so encouraged to find that you finally got your surgery and are in recovery mode! YAY! I hope things are improving daily for you!
 
I seem to be on a rollercoaster that just goes up and down in a loop. The day i created this post i felt really balanced. Maybe there was a jinx. I dont know. Im still losing weight regularly but after having gained some back. Its the heart meds i mentioned in the other post. I hope i am not on them long and am able to stand up without darn near passing out. Seems like my heart is overjoyed at having less work so does less. Im totally lazy inside. Sigh. I am gonna keep chuckin along though. I dont think i did this for nothing. I still have hope. If not i may not need too many pallbearers. I know not funny but its a relief some would feel. And! When you ride in an ambulance to the hospital and its time to transfer you to the hospital bed. There are like five to six people there to pull and push. Pfft. No, i didnt do this for nothing!! Keep your heads up. Y'all are encouraging. I hope i am too.
 
Carolyn, it's so sad to see that you are feeling so down. I just started this post-op journey 12 days ago and I feel your pain.:oops:

I knew there would be bumps in the road in the week right after surgery, but once I felt almost normal I got hit with the setback of being unable to eat solid foods to not being able to have any food or liquids for 2 days this weekend (with plenty of nausea and vomiting). Now, I'm back to all liquids again, living on skim milk plus protein powder and anti-nausea medications, since that is all I can tolerate! :eek:

But, I went into WLS with open eyes . . . I can't say that the surgeon, medical bariatric doctor, and nutritionist didn't warn me that there could be problems down the road . . . :confused:

I guess I liked hearing more about people's post-op successes than those possible problems that my bariatric program people told me about! :rolleyes:

Carolyn, hang in there! I certainly am not the one who can tell you that everything will get better over time. But, I know that there are many people who have had WLS who have gotten past these roadblocks along their weight loss journey! ;)
 
Hello again! Tomorrow is my EGD. I'm hoping my surgeon finds out what the problem is (?stricture) that's wreaking havoc with my ability to take in anything but fluids. I'm getting worried because I'm starting to have problems with fluids, too, if I drink too much -- 3 sips instead of 2! I'm also real tired of skim milk with protein powder, but I know I'm going to be afraid to start soft foods again because of how sick they made me before! It's a catch 22! :eek:

I'm also at my first weight loss stall. It started 4 weeks post-op. It might be complicated by the fact that I'm having trouble meeting my fluid and protein goals right now. :(

I hope everyone else has smooth sailing right now! :D
 
How did it go? Are you feeling better? I usually hear that once they widen the stricture things get better so I'm hoping it worked for you. I found that during my nausea stage (8 months) if I drank a little and waited a good 20 minutes before drinking again it eased the feeling of nausea a bit. I did a whole lot of chicken broth with protein though, if that helps. The salt in the broth helped big time with nausea but it gets extremely old after awhile like your milk.

Oh, and I am totally bummed! When I was gearing up for surgery and right after I was watching a chick on You Tube and her journey. So she put a new video out when she reached 2 years out of surgery and she totally made the statement that WLS was the easy way to lose weight. UGH! I don't agree! How can that statement be true when you are forever going to be changed? When it takes years to recover fully, then you get to a 'maintenance' period where you keep to certain foods. Cake is gone forever, along with a whole host of foods and freedoms. Since when is issues with bowel movements, eating, nausea and restrictions as a life time side effect the easy way out? I was super disappointed. :( While it does help you lose the weight the struggle is real just to balance things out and stay afloat amongst a sea of things that can go wrong! I wanted a hammer yesterday...lol!
 
Who she think she kidding. Seriously. WLS is a stepping stone that some fall from. She shouldn't be spreading fibs. People like to post their achievements but not the hardships. We know better. And we will do all we can to be just as successful.
 
How did it go? Are you feeling better? I usually hear that once they widen the stricture things get better so I'm hoping it worked for you. I found that during my nausea stage (8 months) if I drank a little and waited a good 20 minutes before drinking again it eased the feeling of nausea a bit. I did a whole lot of chicken broth with protein though, if that helps. The salt in the broth helped big time with nausea but it gets extremely old after awhile like your milk.

Oh, and I am totally bummed! When I was gearing up for surgery and right after I was watching a chick on You Tube and her journey. So she put a new video out when she reached 2 years out of surgery and she totally made the statement that WLS was the easy way to lose weight. UGH! I don't agree! How can that statement be true when you are forever going to be changed? When it takes years to recover fully, then you get to a 'maintenance' period where you keep to certain foods. Cake is gone forever, along with a whole host of foods and freedoms. Since when is issues with bowel movements, eating, nausea and restrictions as a life time side effect the easy way out? I was super disappointed. :( While it does help you lose the weight the struggle is real just to balance things out and stay afloat amongst a sea of things that can go wrong! I wanted a hammer yesterday...lol!

Hi again!

I will never say that WLS is the easy way to lose weight!!! Think of all the hoops we jumped through to get approved for surgery. Then we took the risks of a surgical procedure under general anesthesia. Our bodies were surgically altered forever. Then we had a long period of healing. Many of us have had complications from the surgery that have set us back. Finally, we permanently made huge changes in our lifestyle to lose and keep off the weight. Is that supposed to be the easy way to lose weight?

Anyway, I will get off my soap box, now!

I had my EGD on Tuesday, 9/25/18. There was severe stenosis and congestion at the opening between my pouch and the small intestine. My surgeon dilated it with a balloon.

Although I feel better when I eat or drink, I'm still pretty nauseated almost all the time! I'm at the point where I don't want to eat or drink because I feel really nauseated and my pouch still flip flops when I eat or drink!

I contacted my Program yesterday to tell them that I am having problems meeting my daily goals for fluid and protein intake. I had to go to the outpatient department yesterday and receive 2 liters of IV fluid.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to get past my aversion to eating and drinking, though. Any one have any suggestions?

My program put me back on full liquids again. I can't stand even thinking of trying to drink one of those protein shakes again! I already gave away my extra ones because I dislike them so much! So I guess it is back to skim milk and protein powder.

The worst thing about not eating or drinking is that I stopped losing weight over the past 2 weeks, too! Maybe this is my first stall!
 
So after about 4 months I was told that rarely, like 1 in every 5000 people, the body kind of 'rejects' surgery. On it's own. It really objects to a surgeon touching it, hence the lingering nausea. I was one of those lucky people. I am guessing there is a good chance you are as well Hojo :( There is not really a time when it fixes, the body has to slowly adjust and come out of it's funk. There isn't any changes or miracles, it is just up to the healing process and adaptation. It sucks. So, I can only tell you that the scopolamine patch and Zofran every 8 hours non stop for 8 months helped with my extreme nausea side effect. Like, it worked about 80% of the time. Also, before I found the Annex protein, I held my nose when I drank any protein shakes. You can't taste them if you hold your nose! :) Since you get 30 grams in 11 oz. from some of those shakes I just held my nose and went for it, following it up with water before I let go of my nose. Anyway, if you have to, just hold your nose, drink your fill, wash things down with water. It is sooooo not fun, but it will get you to your protein goal daily!

You can find Annex protein at complete nutrition stores or online. The reason I like it is because it has a very bland, watery thin taste that doesn't cause nausea and isn't too thick to drink nor is there a sweetness to it. I'm there with you on the many gross protein shakes available. Honestly, I drink the French vanilla flavor in coffee with a pinch of cinnamon. because it is so light, I only taste the cinnamon in my coffee. I do two scoops which is 47 grams of protein of the chocolate peanut butter as a daily shake, only because there is not any peanut butter taste and it is more like drinking a light version of a chocolate malt. I think they would send you a sample pack if you checked them out online. I also have a friend who is using GenePro in their daily soup, however, I also know there was a time when eating soup was not gonna happen. She never experienced the extreme nausea so she is just enjoying soup. I am a bit jealous. :mad:

I do know I hope you figure it out soon, you will start down the path of exhaustion from lack of protein if you can't get it in daily. And don't worry about the stall! I've had a bazillion by now and this RNY journey is like a roller coaster! I can literally jump on the scale everyday, and nothing changes for a week. Forget about it for a day or two, get back on and WHAM! I've lost 10 lbs. It makes no sense! You are more than likely at this stage going through huge body adjustment periods, where you are in fact losing inches, but the scale won't move. I lost nearly 10 dress sizes in the first 6 months and most of those were while the scale never moved! It's frustrating! Neat when you get to buy new clothes, but still frustrating! :)
 
I decided to ditch the Program's full liquid diet. There's nothing on it that I like. I'm going to stick to the high protein foods I have tolerated before: milk, eggs, cheese, and Greek yogurt. I will add unflavored protein powder to make up for any protein if I don't hit goal each day. For fluids, I'll drink milk and plain water.

I was using Genepro unflavored protein
I'm having a hard time believing there is 30 gm of protein in 1 tiny scoop. I also read about the lawsuit against Genepro for false advertising. My program gave me some samples of unflavored Unjury protein so I'm going to try that as my unflavored protein.
 
Love the new pic :) I don't use the GenePro, I'm with you in that I don't believe it has the full 30 grams either :) I use the Syntrax unflavored but considered the Unjury as well, let me know if it works well and how much protein per scoop, I might switch :)
 
Well, if you try the Unjury protein, don't make the same mistake I did. When I was using the Genepro, I would take 1 itty, bitty scoop of Genepro (?30 g of protein) and mix it on 8 oz of milk. Well, I had a sample pack of Unjury from my Program so I didn't realize how much 1 scoop (24 g of protein) really is. It was hard to stir into only 8 oz of milk. I should have caught on then . . . I ended up taking in a mouthful of the protein powder mixed in only a little bit of fluid. Not a good idea when you're already nauseated! I'm willing to try it again -- in the right amount of fluid, especially since I already ordered a 1 lb bottle online!
 
I'll keep that in mind!

Oh, a new NSV for me :) I can totally cross my legs like a normal person, lol! Seriously, we heavy girls of the world can't do that comfortably! I didn't even notice I did it at first, then I was like WHOA! I can totally cross my legs like a lady! Now...now, I would never claim to be a lady...but you get the idea! It was so weird at first and now I just can't stop, it's like my own secret WOOHOO in my mind...haha!
 
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