Hi everyone. A friend of mine told me about this board, and I just think it's awesome. I'm just starting my journey for WLS. I have an appointment next tuesday to get the ball rolling. I will have my surgery in a military hospital so I don't have to worry about insurance coverage. For that I'm very thankful. I feel great since I finally made the decision to do it. Has anyone here had gastric bypass as opposed to banding. They don't do banding at this hospital, so mine will be a bypass. I have soooooo many questions. In particular, are there things that you are no longer able to eat. I know that you have to learn to chew things very well, but, not sure if there are things that you simply can't eat. And, as far as drinking beverages, I guzzel water, I'm guessing that you have to drink very slowly as well? Do you have to worry about becomming dehydrated? I'm afraid my doctor will feel bombarded when I go for my visit, because of all the questions I have for him.
Also a big question is do any of you guys regret having had the surgery? If so, what would be your reasons (I know that's a personal question, if you don't want to answer it, I understand).
I'm looking forward to getting to know you all. Sorry for starting with so many questions. Congratulations to you all on your success!
monica... nice to see you!!!!! and frankly, most of us have had the full rny bypass. relatively few have had the lapband.
as for your questions.. of COURSE you have them.. and i'll try to find some threads that have a lot of answers.
but briefly... yes. there is a real danger of dehydration. not only does the tiny tummy no longer store water [because there's no pyloric valve and it's basically just a tube], but also our metabolism is changed and we NEED more water to help the weight loss and to clear the byproducts.
and sip sip sip. not gulp gulp gulp
as for eating, everyone is different. but a few things are key: get your protein. chicken breast is still a hard thing for me, especially the second day...
Welcome Monica,
I'm sure you have read about not eating sugar. Sugar should not be within the first 5 ingredients of an item. If having less than 24 carbs, if containing a sugar. This will make you dump, and have some strong sweats and send you to bed shortly after eating a wrong item. Watching how much one eats not to stretch the pouch, or over eat, and cause either a dumping, or worse yet a gastric leak.
Really it is not all that bad. The things we should not eat like sugar, or high fat or deep fried items , should not be in our diets anyway. If we want to keep the weight off, we need to learn not to eat this way in the long run.
This is a tool, and we must learn to use it correctly.
I am 5 months out and have lost 92 lbs. I do not regret having surgery. I have yet to have any dumping, from sugar. I did once due to overeating, and I have vowed not to do that again. It really was not fun.
and oh... we didn't talk about the 'no more emotional eating' aspect of this. very important. at least as important as the protein.
we can't eat when we're sad, angry, happy, bored, annoyed, whatever.
we CAN eat when we're hungry. or on a preset schedule [because for the first few months very few of us actually FEEL hungry... the first sign that we need to eat is that we get dizzy, although i know one woman whose hands get cold first.]
Oh gosh thanks you guys. I have another question. Is excercise difficult? Do you tend to eat before you workout, so that you don't get dizzy? I have started working out, and I want to get back to doing it as soon as possible after the surgery.
difficult????/ hmmmm. it was impossible before surgery, and it certainly takes time to build up something resembling strength and stamina, but after surgery, it's actually easier. at least after some healing....
what kind of exercise ar eyou doing?/ and please post it on the exercise thread at the top of the forum. we ALL need inspiration...
and i don't work out when i'm hungry, but i don't necessarily eat beforehand. in the morning, i make sure i have a protein shake before hiking, but for some reason i might skip it if i'm only taking an hour walk with the dog [hiking is more strenuous, i think].
and i don't do weights if i'm hungry, but i do eat afterwards. nothing fancy..
I started out doing 15 minutes on an Eliptical machine at the YMCA about a month and a half ago. At a pretty slow pace, of course. I'm now up to 25 minutes at a moderate pace. I'm also doing Pilates (it's a class for beginners) twice a week, and this week I tried out a ball excercise class. It was a bit too much though, I had a VERY hard time keeping up, well I guess I should say that I didn't really keep up at all. Some of the Pilates is hard too, especially since I'm the largest person in class, and some of the moves I just can't do because of my size. I still go and do what I can do though. It makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something. I haven't lost any weight, but I was told that I have to pass some sort of endurance test before surgery because my surgeon says that people recover better afterward if they have more stamina beforehand. I decided to continue afterward though, because I want the best benefit and I want to be healthy. I'm so tired of not being able to move well(which hasn't changed at all with the exercise), and feeling like a slug all the time.
Yep, I agree, the thought of doing an endurance test is a scary one. It's a military hospital, they love to use words like "endurance". I doubt that they would expect a lot from an obese person. I think it's a psychological thing. I think they just want to be sure that you are committed to making a huge life change. I'm keeping a workout diary, too, to show when I go for my next appointment.
I agree with you about the workout too. The important thing is that I'm doing the class. Hopefully someday, I will be able to keep up. I'm afraid that is way off in the future, though. That's okay, for now I'll do what I can do.
Monica,
Sounds like your off on the right foot. Diet & excercise are just as important after surgery as they are before. I sure didn't excercise before surgery, if I could have, I would have considered loosing the weight without surgery. You have a lot of strengh to be able to do 25 min on the Eliptical machine, I can finally do 10 min. on it. It's hard!
New here.
