Expected Weight Loss is Based on Several Factors

 

It is important to remember that weight loss surgery is not a magic wand that can make all your excess weight disappear in an instant. In fact, most patients choose Lap-Band surgery because it promotes weight loss at a healthier, more gradual pace.  At this point is important to set the right weight loss goals to achieve a long term chance of success with a Lap-Band. Post surgery, many patients might feel too overwhelmed with weight loss results while they are adjusting to the change. Some patients may expect unrealistic results that can risk their health as well as hurt their body image and self-esteem.

Rapid weight loss from bariatric procedures like Gastric Bypass has been documented to cause riskier health problems. Some patients may experience extreme physical and emotional pain and discomfort. Symptoms may include depression, vitamin deficiencies, gastritis, dehydration and malnutrition.

Studies have shown that although Gastric Bypass patients have faster weight loss results than Lap-Band users after the first year of surgery, weight loss results are the same with Lap-Band patients after three years.

Weight loss results can be dependant on several factors:

1. Body Mass Index (BMI)
Your expected weight loss can be measured dependent on your pre-operative BMI. Patients who average at 35- 40 BMI (minimum number required for gastric band surgery) can expect to lose weight a bit faster than those with higher BMIs. It is possible to lose one to three pounds per week after the first year of surgery. That rate decreases gradually 12 - 18 months after surgery.

2. Overall Body Health
Some cases of weight loss (and weight gain) can also be attributed to serious illnesses a patient might have that have no connection with their Lap-Band. Patients should be aware of infections and other illnesses that affect their body's nutritional needs and well-being.

3. Post Operative Diet
After surgery, a dietician will advise a patient on the right kinds of foods to eat. This will help maintain and stabilize your post-operative body weight. In weeks following an operation, patients are advised to try out a clear diet that eventually graduates to solid food. With this being said, wrong food choices can also make or break your weight loss results.

4. Band Adjustments After Surgery
The Lap-Band system is (in most cases) a life-long implant that needs to be monitored to maintain your weight years after your surgery. When you are in the green zone, the band is helping you lose weight effectively with no physical discomfort whatsoever on your part. If your band is not tight enough, you run the risk of not losing any weight at all.

5. Commitment to Continued Exercise
Doctors advise up to 30 minutes a day of exercise to make you reach your weight loss goals safely. If you continue to resist burning calories the right way, the Lap-Band system can not do its job effectively.

That was a great post on the lapband, Charline.Now I feel obligated to post on the gastric bypass RnY.

Not to say one surgery is better than the others but I chose RnY because bypass is still the gold standard in wls, patients lose 80% of their excess weight (that's the standard) . It's results are what all other surgeries are compared to.
 
No need to worry about "slider foods" or overeating, never have to worry about eating too many sweets or carbs, it totally takes the decisions of what to eat or eating the right foods, food is no longer an issue.
 
I take 2 vitamins and 3 calcium pills a day, peroid. That's about 4 pills less a day that I was taking pre-op.
 
Dumping is not life threatning and I don't see why people are so afraid of it. I dump frequently but  most of the time it is mild and I feel tired and need a nap or my heart beats fast and my nose runs. I have dumped real bad but only 3 times and that was because I drank milk and ate something too sweet and carbs. If you dump bad on something you are not going to eat that again. Great deterent.
 
I don't have to fight the urge to eat sweets or ice cream or pop. I don't have to rely on willpower or  watch what I eat. I never worry about "cheating". My pouch is my conscience. Brain plays no part. If I crave something badly enough, I'll try it. Chances are it will be a one time thing. I may dump on it or more likely it will no longer taste the same so I will no longer crave it.
 
I don;t suffer bandster hell that I frequently hear about, Sounds awful.
 
My weight loss has been slow and consistant. I haven't gained a pound since Feb 12.I will dance around a pound or 2 but when I break the dance, I go on losing. I like that. I weighed 251 on surgery day and right now 6  months later I weigh 196. That's pretty good weight loss, not too fast but fast enough to make me feel like this is really working.

Bear in mind too that I have not exercised at all. My back  allows me to walk  5-10 minutes and no more so my exercise is shopping once a week. If I had to rely on exercise to help me with my weight loss, I'd be a SOL.

The one drawback is nsaids but I do believe that if I were to take losec I may be able to take nsaids. I will find out for sure.

For those who are getting the band, that's fine and I am sure you will lose well. Most bandsters it seem like their bands. As for me, the band would not be my thing. I can only report my own experience about my surgery. I wouldn't change it for the world. If I were to do it again I would still opt for thr RnY.

One thing that cemented my decision was the woman who talked to us at the info session. She had many complications and had been hospitalized every year since her initial surgery. She was 6 years out, had maintained her weight loss and said if she had to do it all over again she would still choose RnY in a heartbeat. That's commitment.

Maggie

I just wanted to add something- even with RNY we still have to be mindful of slider foods - we have a pouch as do lapbanders - If I chose to eat slider foods and especially because I dont dump - I could certainly sabatoge my efforts .

Now that I am over a year out I do find my appetite returning and certain foods are an issue - and that is a total change from my first 6 or more months of hell when I puked more than I kept down and had no appetite. When I looked at food strickly as fuel - my sweet tooth has come back and I have it under control but I have to be so vigilant.

As I get further out I know my pouch has grown in size - have I stretched it beyond control or done something wrong- no - its the natural progression -we go from only be able to do 1/4 cup at a sitting to a cup of food and with certain foods that "squish down or slide on thru" I can eat way more than a cup.

I can do way more than lil sips now at this point and drink a lot of fluid quickly - again this is such a huge change for me - so I have to be mindful and slow down and measure and follow the basic rules.

I am at the point in my journey now where I can understand and be aware that at that 2 -3 year mark when you dont malabsorb your calories any longer - that regain could be very possible and now can see why people regain.

I dont think I did in the beginning - I thought how could anyone be so hungry - how can they "eat around" their pouch. I get it now

I will always need supplements as with RNY - we will not absorb vitamins or minerals in great enough quantity ever because of the bypass but eventually if my exercise does not equal more calories burned than what I choose to put into my body - the lbs will come back on.

My supplement regime is huge - I take a lot of pills each day - more than I ever did -calcium,b12,vitamin d, iron, multi vitamin, b complex, omega 3 fatty acids, glucosamine and a pro-biotic- I never did anything in supplements before surgery except glucosamine.

The meds I got rid of for high blood pressure- asthma - migraines- anti-inflammatories-meds for irritable bowel and lots of pain meds etc - all worth it and I will take my vities any day over the other meds!

The one thing that Dr Christou did emphasize to me is the malabsorption will get you to goal and for some quite quickly but if you dont learn to change your eating patterns and form a life long relationship with exercise you will gain some of your weight back- and some people gain a lot back.

I have been exercising on and off and I am not committed like I should be due to my back and knee's but hope that I will improve this so that I wont be so limited with what I can eat. That I wont be plagued with regain lbs or bounce-back lbs.

Right now while I am waiting for my gall bladder surgery (Sept 10)I am very challenged on eating dense protein it causes huge tummy upset and attacks - so I am aating a lot of fruit and string cheese- cottage cheese- beans- chilli - shrimp - and all of these I can consume in greater volume then I can ever eat in meat or chicken - so my eyes have been fully opened.

Just my two cents worth on life after RNY.

deb

Great post Deb. You are further out than I so you have things happening that will happen to me to the further out I get.

One big difference I guess is I dump. I dump on alot of things. Sweets, bread, carbs, fruit, most veggies and even some meats. I may lose that in time. I actually hope not. Some dumps are really bad but most of them are just an annoyance.
 
I never had a sweet tooth to start with so that's good. My downfall was portion size. 

Deb, do you ever regret your choice of wls and if you could do it again, would you choose the band . ds or vgb?

I always ask this of people further out but I just wanted to know.

I'm not "loving" my RnY yet but I'm pretty fond of it.

Maggie

Well you know I dont often say I love my RNY - we have learned to live with each other since we got off to such a rough start and I am still harboring some hostility and my dr thinks some actual post traumatic stress - I am having my gall bladder out Sept 10th and I am more worked up over that then I was WLS but its cause I dont want to ever be that ill again!

With my arthritis -VSG might have been a better long term option but I dont know if I could have lost all this weight without malabsorption. The band was not for me I knew that and DS- my dr advised against with my history of irritable bowel and I am a lil nervous what my labs would have been with a  more malabsorptive surgery than RNY - I dont know if I could adhere to even more supplements and the higher fat requirements !

Guess I am still on the fence would I have had the VSG if I could have found someone to do it private/self pay-that being said I will work damn hard to make my RNY work cause its mine now ! lol 

deb

This is a great post as it gives the "Waiters" a bit more information.

Thank you.

So Deb, are oyu telling me that you don't dump on anything? Did you ever?

I am lactose intolerant and I dump on a lot of things. Good things and bad things like fruit all the way to ice cream. I dumped once on rasin bran cereal. Thought I was going to die. dumped bad on chocolate milk and handful of chips, thought I was going to die. It was worse because I didn't know I was lactose intolerant. I will NEVER eat rasin bran cereal or choco milk, ever.

Maggie

I dont pu**** - I think the most sugar in a serving or single sitting I have consumed would be 10-11 grams and nope nothing - have ordered things in a restaurant and thought wow this is too greasy or oily but no dumping on that either.

So no documented dumping but I am starting to have issues with reactive hypoglycemia so that is not much fun - still mild compared to what some people endure but its usually on days I dont eat enough!

I personally believe that the RNY gods decided that after my puking my face off for so long they would make me a non-dumper! lol I still live in fear of it cause of having irritable bowel for so long and so bad - knock on wood - throw salt - swing chickens all that stuff so I dont jinx myself!

deb

Well my personal 2 cents and I am 6 months out, is that I love my band, BUT it is not easy. I have had good restriction for about 6 weeks and I have to follow the rules like they are the 10 commandments or up comes my food. The only slider food I can stand is ice cream.I do have it occasionally, especially if I am away from home and I have had an incidence of PBing. There are lots of food that my tummy does not like- chicken, any bread, any baked goods, pork, potato peel, any peel, and lots more. If I eat too fast,don't chew enough, eat when doing something else (like drive the car), or if I am just stressed out, I will PB. I seldom have more than 1000 calories a day, and I exercise most days and more than once many days I am not working. Now I have lost weight, but slowly. I have only lost 24 pounds since surgery. I must point out that I have lost well when I have restriction. I have gone for long stretches of not losing without restriction. It was 5 months before I had restriction for more than a couple of weeks. I was losing faster before surgery. However, I would not have kept up the dieting without the band.

I  must be different than Deb because I get hungry and I gotten hungry since the day after surgery. I have been able to eat 10 to 12 ounces at a sitting and have been since 3-4 months out. I eat quite a bit of food. 12 ounces at a sitting sounds like a lot of food but compared to how I ate when I weighed 293 , it is a bite. I don't count calories. I stopped that the day I started my 2 week liquid fast. Looking at my food journal, I would guess I eat anywhere between 1000 to 1200 calories a day. I could be off either way by 2 or 3 hundred. There are so many foods that I don't tolerate that I don'treally watch what I eat. I don't tolerate sweets very well so I have a cookie or something about once a week.
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I don't have to worry about slider foods. If it contains sugar, I can't eat /drink it.

Charline, if you can't eat sweets, why worry about how you will msanage on the cruise ? If I were going on a cruise or to an all you can eat buffet,  I wouldn't even think about sweets because I can't eat them anyway..