[freetasue]

Hello, new person here. I've been reading the threads and this seems to be the place I need to be. I had my surgery 3/3/06 and have lost 66 pounds to date. I weighed in at a whopping 235 when I went into surgery and my doctor assured me I would be fine....I was. No problems at all, he has been doing these surgeries for over 30 years so I felt comfortable going in. I still need to lose between 35 and 40 pounds. I had hypertention, gerd, sleep apnea and high cholesterol and triglys. all gone within the first month. My synthroid med even went down. I just wish I had done this sooner. But it may have been different because I would have had a different surgeon. So I'm just glad I did it period. I have lots of questions and comments but don't want to make a mile long post just wanted to get my feet wet first.

[DocSanae]

Hi freetasue, welcome to the board, thank you for joining us.
Wow, you're making wonderful progress!! Congratulations!!
We're all looking forward to your posts and contributions, plus any Qs that you may have. Hope to see you away.

[SHH]

Hi Freetasue. Nice to see you here. You have come to the right place for support and answers to your questions.

I am happy you are doing so well with your weight loss. And it is great to be so happy with your surgeon since you will have a life long relationship with him.

I hope to see you here again soon. S

[Becca]

Welcome Freetasue

Any questions or comments you might have, feel free to shout them out.

I'm here if not email me.

Congrats on the weight loss.

[freetasue]

Thank you all o much for the warm welcome. And saddly enough I won't have a long relationship with my surgeon, my husband is military and we will be moving by years end. But hey I was able to have him when I truly needed him. My questions:
If we don't absorb everything from what we eat thust the vitamins I get that but do we abdsorb all the calories as well or not?
If we get sick by eating too much (not so far) then how do some people stretch their stomachs out and regain weight?
If our stomachs stay small why do some people stop lossing weight when they are still very over weight?
How do we know if we are streching our stomachs out? I use to only be able to eat three spoons of food, now I am suppose to eat 2-3 oz of protein, 1/2 cup veg or fruit and 1/4 of starch I can and do but now I panic that I am over eatting.
As you can tell I confuse easy, so any and all help is welcome. Thank you al so much Shelia

[Becca]

Originally Posted by freetasue

Thank you all o much for the warm welcome. And saddly enough I won't have a long relationship with my surgeon, my husband is military and we will be moving by years end. But hey I was able to have him when I truly needed him. My questions:


If our stomachs stay small why do some people stop lossing weight when they are still very over weight?
How do we know if we are streching our stomachs out? I use to only be able to eat three spoons of food, now I am suppose to eat 2-3 oz of protein, 1/2 cup veg or fruit and 1/4 of starch I can and do but now I panic that I am over eatting.
As you can tell I confuse easy, so any and all help is welcome. Thank you al so much Shelia

OK! Shelia

Here is what i can answer.

If we don't absorb everything from what we eat thust the vitamins I get that but do we abdsorb all the calories as well or not?
I think we still abdsorb the calories, but not as much as some of our small instenie's are gone.

If we get sick by eating too much (not so far) then how do some people stretch their stomachs out and regain weight?
Some people cant tell if they are full or not, and they dont eat the right foods, and yes they can regain and then some. I know someone who had it done in 01 and lost 90ish lbs and regain it and then some.

But i'm no Dr, so i might be wrong. And i'm 5 weeks out and i'm at 8oz is what the dr wanted me to go to.
I can drink 8oz of protien and thats it, then i'm hurting full! So i stop. When i hurt i dont do anything.

And some of your question are the same question's i have. I stress a lot too.

I hope i helped ya, i hope i was some what right.

[fr1endly2]

WELCOME TO THE BOARDS FREETASUE!
I am glad surgery was a great experience for you
as it has been for me.
I look forward to getting to know you more thru your posts here
and welcome! this is a great place to hang!

HUGZ

[fr1endly2]

OUR stomachs do need to expand some over time. We cant stay on that size of the first weeks post op...I think we would all end up to malnourished
so for that slowly as tummy heals we eat a little more.
I know im having a hard time with what i can eat now at 1 year out.
BUt i am 2 lbs to surgeons goal so i dont worry much at all.
WITH my increased eating im not gaining but i also make
healthy choices now.
HUGZ

[DocSanae]

Shelia, the surgery is a TOOL for you to learn healthy eating habits and healthy life style while your body is recovering from major surgery and losing weight as a conscequence of the surgery. Basically, with any surgery, the person loses some weight. The surgery you just had, is designed specifically for a greater weight loss. It is NOT designed to insure that you will never gain weight again no matter what your eating pattern is, whether you stick with the healthy eating you have to do now, or you go back to up your old eating pattern which landed you where you were pre op. This, in fact, is the hardest part of post op life. NOT to go back to your old eating pattern, once your pouch expands to accomodate about 4-8oz food depending on the surgeon. You have to keep in mind that with the pouch and stoma, you have an opening to your intestines that is ALWAYS open (though the opening is small so it doesn't pass food that easily) as opposed to the regular stomach with which the opening to the duodenum (the first section of the intestines, which is bypassed by your surgery, and is the portion where most of the vitamins as well as calcium are absorbed) the opening to the duodenum which can open and close as needed. In other words, unless you learn what the full feeling is, and learn to go with the actual amount you have eaten, instead of going with "head hunger", you'll find yourself in trouble.

The basics of nutrition is, as someone said, calories. Eat the amount of calories you spend the same day, and you will not gain. So, after you have reached goal, you have to even out your calories to what you need everyday per your weight, and eat what you need to maintain. A good tool for this are online sites that enable you to keep track of your daily activities, and many post ops use FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal. If you haven't tried it yet, it's probably worth your time to check it out.

You can do it if you put your mind to it, permanently. Do not be scared of what may happen, if you have the time to spend to be scared, spend that time in setting yourself up for a brand new lifestyle which includes healthy eating and healthy exercise.
There will be lots of ups and downs as you go along, all the post ops will tell you so, but as someone said in another thread, the downs are worth all the ups you will have, so you may find that you need to learn to take some things in stride. If you are having more trouble than you warranted, don't hesitate to go to the professionals for advice and guidance. Trying to stick it out on your own is the worst thing you can do to yourself, Come here, , , , with us, seek out the pros, do whatever you need to do to keep on track. We're all here for you whenever, whatever.

The best of this journey to you.