Congrats on your weight loss.

Being aware that you are starting to have an issue so soon after surgery is a positive. I didn't admit I had an issue for 4 years, and by then my drinking was out of control. My weight loss stalled also, but realized the sugar in the alcohol was a big part of the problem.

Please feel free to send me a private message if you want to talk further.

Lisa M

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I find I still malabsorb fats nine years or so post op - ( sorry to be graphic) - my poo comes out soft and very light yellow in color the next day ( sometimes urgently ) if say I eat full fat cheese or a restaurant meal which contain usually several times the amount of fats and oils I?d ever consider using at home .

My ex husband who had a distal RNY said the same thing ( he was operated on a few years before me ).
He also still has significant restriction- he always has to bring most of his restaurant meals home like I do .

I?m just very curious- what makes our bodies keep this gift and if we have it why do many folks significantly regain after the two year honeymoon period ?

Since my surgery I?ve made it a point not to overeat ( not that I can ) nor to test ? dumping ? by eating sugar or say fried or most fast foods .

what is your experience?

My dream since I was a small child was performing. In elementary, junior high and high school I starred in just about every production they made - yet - because of my ( lifelong) weight struggles I felt embarrassed, vulnerable- never pretty enough .

My dream was to attend a famous college acting program and eventually make a living as an actor - but everyone ( especially me) discouraged me from even applying . I was called hefty , husky, chunky- I well remember going to the mall in the seventh grade and having NOTHING fit me in the regular stores - not even a fourteen size . I was MORTIFIED- and it took many years a ton of daily running and restrictive diets to finally model and do bit parts .

After WLS I have had the incredible blessing of regularly performing - mostly singing live music but some well paid SAG acting also .

My ex- boyfriend who fronts my band is constantly putting me down - I came back from Covid quarantine ( and two miscarriages) and he said you look thirty pounds heavier and twenty years older - yet I sang that same night and people danced and I got paid :) . It?s very gratifying to make a living at what I always dreamed of and was too scared to try for because I was overweight.

I also feel so much healthier and have so much more energy- and now I never have to worry about dressing up or putting on make up to look attractive.

I remember when I tried on outfits for HOURS to attempt to ? hide ? my fat middle . Now I choose short shorts and tank tops and even swimsuits without embarrassment. :)

It mostly gets down to what your labs say that you need - what you are advised by your surgeon at surgery time is just a baseline, and often is based upon what bypass requirements are, as that is what most surgeons are most familiar with. The VSG is the most forgiving of the major WLS procedures, but you can still get into trouble if you ignore what you need. We don't typically need the B12 and lots of extra iron and calcium that a bypass person may need because of their malabsorption, but we may need some - it's a big YMMV thing. For a while I was on double dose of iron when recovering from an internal bleed, but am now only taking it a couple times a week, and probably don't even need that (we'll see on the next lab pull.) A bypass patient likely would have needed iron infusions to recover from that.

With a VSG, it's mostly down to your diet, and any individual quirks your body has, rather than the surgery itself; my wife needs to supplement potassium, not because of her WLS but because that is just how she is (and was before WLS.)

The first year or two, when we aren't eating all that much, and mostly protein for what we do eat, we need extra supplements to make up for what we are not eating. Over time with the VSG, we can, in principle, get along with getting all of our required nutrition from food, to a similar extent that a normal person can. This depends heavily on how good your diet is, and whether one can adjust their tastes and preferences to cater to your body's needs - we don't eat fish, (not gonna happen) so I do take a fish oil supplement to cover some of that. OTOH, I do eat a lot of fruits and veg (target is 10 servings per day which I rarely hit, but do consistently get 7-8) so along with the variety of meats and whole grains, it is questionable (between me and the doc) as to whether I really need the multivitamin (have cut it back to one every other day, will see what happens) but I like to keep something in there to cover the things that I may not be getting elsewhere, and aren't routinely measured in the labs - call it insurance.

Being a year out from surgery, it isn't unreasonable for you to start investigating this, but let your labs be your guide, along with your overall feeling of vitality. It's not something to just stop overnight, but to make adjustments as you get feedback on what you really need. Also be aware of how our requirements change as we age, so that is something to work out with your PCP on general age related recommendations, or with an RD if you have one through your program.