Losing faith. Revision vets, I need encouragement!

If you've had a revision, or terribly long plateaus, or frustratingly slow weight loss, please give me some encouragement.

I am 4.5 months post op, revision VSG to DS with resleeve.  Date of surgery 10/21/14, weight 269.  Christmas Day 225.  I was very pleased.  But ever since Christmas, my weight loss has slowed/stalled.  My weight is about 211, and has been since January.  I understand plateaus and I understand that sometimes, no matter if you follow the plans perfectly, you will not reach goal weight.  I am afraid that this is going to be me.  I know that overall my weight loss is respectable.  Of course, I didn't expect to magically lose the weight and I also know that revisions can lose slower.

I have begun tracking fluids, etc. and I was surprised to see that I do need to drink more - actually I need to increase my water intake by about 30%!  I also need to get a bit more protein in.  I'm not drastically low, just enough that maybe 1 shake a day could "take me over the top" to bring my numbers up.

My revised sleeve is, in my surgeons words, the smallest he's ever done.  It was so badly damaged from my previous surgery, there was almost nothing left to work with, and he didn't originally think he could even revise it.  I bring this up to demonstrate that I can't possibly be overeating lol.  I mean, I have "hungry days" just like everyone else, and sometimes I am a little too heavy with the carbs.  But it's relative right?  Because I can only fit 3 or 4 bites anyway, so it's not like I am consuming 100+ grams of carbs a day.  My surgeon has encouraged things like mash & gravy etc in the early days.  I did eat that stuff initially.  Not so much now.  I mostly eat meat, cheese, nuts, eggs, and greek yogurt. I do sometimes eat a bit of fruit, or salad, but again, its a few bites here and there.  I can't really stomach a lot / any bread or pasta.  Rice is ok, but it fills me up so much I don't eat it.  I do not eat shakes/ice cream/cookies etc.

My only "issue" i still seem to have is acid.  I take protonix in the morning - I feel lousy and acidy in the morning, it rapidly improves by midmorning, and is fine all day.  By late evening, I need a 3 or 4 tiny pretzel sticks or saltines to take the edge off the churning.  (This was my surgeons idea)  It works like a charm, but if I stay up really late, I have to have a bit more because the churning comes back. 

I don't know what else I could do to lose more weight.  As for my side effects - my surgery was open, and I dread my morning poo.  I am afraid I will have this huge incision/scar, stinky poos, and malabsorption for life - but never reach goal.  :( 

I have an appt next week to discuss revision.  This makes me very nervous.  I am hoping others will weigh in on this post... but I am learning OH is not like it used to be.  No one hardly replies... just a lot of "views" but no responses.

I don't have anything to contribute except that I'm pre-op and revising from a band.  I want to read what the replies will be for a learning experience. Good luck!

PS - Do you have any known metabolic problems - like PCOS etc.?

Yvonne

Nope, no known underlying issues.

I hope one of our veterans will weigh in on this soon, but I figure I will give you my unqualified 2 cents whilst we wait.

If what you are doing (and it all sounds fine to me) isn't working, perhaps you should just try some new things?  For instance, I occasionally read that people that are stalled will go back to losing after taking in some carbs.  It shocks their body out of starvation mode or something.  Maybe you are doing too good a job?  Maybe try adding a healthy portion of fruit for a week. 

Maybe you could push for your six month blood work early.  A way out of left field guess might be that maybe your thyroid needs some help. 

Maybe more fat.  I suggest this for no other reason than you didn't mention it.  :-) 

Do you count carbs or net carbs?  Again, what you say you do sounds fine, but perhaps you should try to be super nit picky on MyFitnessPal.com and perhaps spot something.  I did that when I was having constipation problems and realized that I was getting almost three times the calcium I thought I was because of my food choices.   Maybe joining the daily food posting here can give the veterans a chance to spot something. 

Is your body changing?  Do your clothes fit differently?  Sometimes I don't think pounds off is the best measurement for success, but it seems like you have given it enough time.   Still, I notice when I stall is when my body most changes.  Maybe you are saving up for the mother of all reshapes!!

Other than acid-y, how do you feel?  Lots of energy or very little?  Have you felt your energy zoom over the last 2 months? 

Good Luck!!  We *will* figure it out.

Thanks for the great reply - you've raised a few points I didn't consider.....

I should try and change something.  My greatest fear is of course, this revision not working, so I've been very rigid with this.  I guess I need to try and switch it up a bit.

I don't count fat, but...I can't really think of what I eat that IS fat.  So perhaps I need to add in some peanut butter here and there lol.

I used Myfitnesspal faithfully when I had my VSG. I haven't used it much at all with the revision, mostly because I eat so little, its hard to track.  Also, I eat recipes vs. packaged food, and yes I know you can add stuff to the database, but let's face it, it's easier to pick stuff off the list, rather than add all the individual ingredients.  So I will try to be better about that, and maybe do the daily food posting too.

My body has changed dramatically, of course.  But I can't say I see any change since the holidays - I went from a 16 at thanksgiving to a 14 at xmas, and I am still there, it still fits the same.

I think I am going to take your advice, of tracking better, really nitpicking carbs, and switching up my routine.  Because I really do eat the same 7 things over and over and over and over. lol.  Thank you!  I feel a bit better now!

I really do not have a lot to add but thought maybe something is better than nothing. You mentioned you use recipes - if you constantly make the same ones you should consider adding the recipe info to myfitnesspal - this is what I do :) also, maybe follow some others that had DS on myfitnesspal and see what we eat. (You can add me if you like - keila0311). Also Majormom does a daily thread with what she eats and quite a few others post there as well.

I occasionally have a high carb day (today is my b-day so yes it is one) and by ocassionally I mean 2 or 3 day out of 7 months! But typically I eat at least 90g protein around 40-50 total carbs (this has increased because my Dr addvised me to add fiber due to some bathroom issues). I eat around 900-1300 calories a day. Plus I identified where my hiden carbs were (milk) and came up with ideas how to reduce them (half&half).

Have you added exercise? I use an app called lark that tracks sleep and movement. It motivates you based on your own averages. It takes about a week to start working but its worth it. I like knowing that I average 60minutes of activity a day and getting reminder to try and get more in to hit my average. Plus, I learned I get a lot less sleep than I thought. Which has been eye opening, and sleep has been linked to metabolism, which can slow weight loss.

Best of luck and stay the course :)

I am going to try lark, I haven't heard of it before.  I do have insomnia, I often skip a nights sleep, sometimes for two days in a row.  When I do sleep, it's not very long, maybe 5 -6 hours, but not all of it "good".  I mentioned this to my surgeon, at his suggestion I have bought a white noise machine.  It seems to help.  My insomnia meds sometimes work, sometimes don't (I take ambien CR).  I have heard good things about hypnotherapy so maybe I should try that.

My activity levels could probably go up too.  I am thinking of joining Crossfit, but I am sooooo nervous lol.

Thanks for the tips, I'll look for you on myfitnesspal.

ok slow down....you are averaging MORE THAN 3 POUNDS  a week-how is that not a success?  I understand you slowed down the last couple months, but give your body a chance to heal and plateau and recover.  If you truly had a DS-not SADI, then you should see weight loss start up again, give it a few more weeks, dont get discouraged, you are so early out, you should see weight loss soon, hang in there. 

Ok so early out stay away from fruit  or salad you need to fill up on protein, that is your primary, especially if your sleeve is that small, you need your protein and for heavens sake stay away from rice, bread, pasta, etc at least first 18 months, but preferably forever if you can.  if your vsg is soo small then your bypass doesnt really need to kick in till your vsg streches out by 18 monhts or so.  (if you are only eating an ounce or 2, bypass is not necessary, malabsorption comes into play when we can eat a lot more once our vsgs double in capacity).

stay away from ALL carbs this early out, your stinky poops will get better.  Add a good probiotic,in a month or so,  suggest VSL#3 or VSL#3DS if you can get the RX.  no one is ever guaranteed goal, just do the best you can to maximize weight loss, the first 18 monhts will be the easiest time to lose weight, till intestinal adaptation sets in.  Good luch on your journey

Thanks for the advice, I think that by tracking as suggested above, eliminating sneaky carbs will help.  I am guesstimating that I get about 45 per day, between my yogurt and protein shakes, etc.  I will be working to cut that down.

My average weight loss is great, I know.  But what I am concerned about is that I am 18 weeks out and I haven't lost a single pound in TEN weeks.  When you look at it like that, it's worrisome.  So I was just hoping for some suggestions. 

You make a great point about the bypass not "kicking in" yet.  And yes, I really had DS, not SADI.  I appreciate your input!