grim_traveller Member

There aren't many hanging around here any more. I had RNY in 2012, and this is still hard. I've had a bout with regain, and it takes hard work every day.

They did. But the Facebook groups are often limited to a particular hospital or physician group, and therefore pretty limited. Or they are private groups, and those tend to wind down over time, as people lose interest or leave the group.

My surgery was 11 years ago. The groups here have been very slow. I check in daily at obesityhelp.com, and it really helps with accountability. There's a daily menu thread that has a group of great people. It's under the RNY group, but folks of every surgery type are there. After a little while there really isn't any…

Are you weighing and logging every bite, the good, the bad, and the ugly? If you are weighing portions, not eyeballing, you will lose at 800 calories. Ditch the bad carbs. Dense protein. It's hard work, I know. But it's still doable.

At 4-1/2 years out, if I eat anything too carb heavy, I will get the sweats and overall crappy feeling a while later. Not bad, not dumping, just reactive hypoglycemia. Total blah feeling. It keeps me from doing it again. Until the next time. Ice cream is the worst. More than a spoonful, I want to lay down and die. I avoid…

I had RNY, and no problems with reflux. Reflux can be a major problem with the sleeve. Some develop reflux right after surgery, but I see many that don't develop it until a few years after. I'm sure the percentage is low, but revision surgeries from VSG to RNY because of reflux happen all the time. It's not a route I…

1500 is fine for a preop diet. 1200 would be better. After surgery, you should be sticking to 800 or less until you are done losing. Calories are just a measure of energy. Fat is stored energy. We want to burn off the fat, and the more calories you eat, the less fat you'll burn.

There really is very little difference in resultsand experiences between VSG and RNY. The differences in how fast, how much, and if you keep off the weight are pretty negligible. NSAIDs are a no go for both. Excess skin will be identical, regardless of how fast or slow you lose. The biggest issue is GERD. I have seen too…

Some people have reading comprehension (or attention) issues. But the biggest probelem with starvation mode is math, not literacy. Give the body fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight. I guarantee it. I weighed every morsel of food to the .05 of an ounce, and logged it here. I lost. I didn't hold on to fat, at…

I would bet my house that what you have is not hypoglycemia, but reactive hypoglycemia. They both end with low blood sugar, but have different causes, and require different solutions. If you are eating carb heavy, you'll crash your blood sugar, and eating more often will result in a blood sugar roller coaster, as Karlottap…

The things that I could absolutely,ositively not have done without are a food scale, a fitbit, and free accounts on MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, and ObesityHelp.

All I really care about is calories. I track those as completely and precisely as I can. I have all the other information, but don't care about percentages. Usually, I am very low carb, but that's because I'm a lacto carnivore. I go through periods where I'm eating more of whatever meat was on sale. This past week, I was…

Congratulations.

I'd be careful with the Arctic Zero brand. There's been a lot of evidence that their calorie counts are way off, and they're fighting lawsuits over the issue.

You'll end up with bones sticking out all over. My butt hurt for months. I still can't sleep without a pillow between my knees.

What kind of a lump? If it feels bony, that's called the xiphoid process. It's supposed to be there. It's a very odd little bone that was buried under a mound of fat while we were morbidly obese.

Working out really hard requires energy. Calories are a measure of energy. Fat is stored energy. If you have excess fat, you have plenty of stored energy for working out, so you do not need to eat more. You may want to, but you don't need to. I never ate back a single exercise calorie. Get the excess weight off as quickly…

Stop eating simple carbs, especially by themselves. Reactive hypoglycemia is not the same as hypoglycemia, and should not be treated the same. Diabetics who get low blood sugar drink OJ, eat candy or a glucose tablet, and their blood sugar returns to normal. Reactive hypoglycemia hits RNYers at about 18 months, right where…

You need to see a hematologist right away. There is no way you will get your ferritin numbers up without iron infusions. Oral iron is not going to be nearly enough for you.

More often, people get constipated while on the liquid diet. You are eating so little, and no bulk, that your body will try to squeeze every last bit of nutrition, leaving dense stools. Loose stool or diarrhea could possibly be a reaction to lactose. Are you using milk in your protein shakes.

I'm assuming that you are still trying to lose quite a bit. If you are, I would not go over 900 calories. 700-800 is better. And do not, ever, eat back exercise calories. That's just a trap, and you'll regret it.

This used to be very confusing, because there were no standards or guidelines, and different manufacturers and sellers did things different ways. In 2012, the government began requiring that meat and poultry have nutrition labels for the first time. And those labels have the nutrition information for RAW meat, not cooked.

Bread can be a problem for most people post WLS. But it is a really crappy choice, so it's not something any of us should be eating regularly. I never touched it until I was well past goal. Since it bothers you, and it lacks any significant nutritional value, staying away from it would be best.

Nothing good ever comes from having a spouse. Your friends should have stopped you before it was too late.

I'm with them ^^^^ Don't ever worry that you are losing too fast. Before you know it, you'll be freaking out about not losing anything in a while.

Viactiv is calcium carbonate. You'll absorb very little of that. You might as well not take it at all. You need calcium citrate.

There's no reason you can't take pain meds after WLS. Most of us delay surgery for at least a few years, thinking we can lose weight without surgery. We end up packing on more pounds instead, and when we do have surgery, we kick ourselves for not having done it sooner.

You've done a wonderful job.

Great job!