What is life Post-WLS *really* Like?

Hello, everyone. I have been fighting my weight a long time, and medical complications have made traditional weight loss very difficult. I eat properly (well, for the most part anyway) and exercise, and it has still taken me almost 2 years to lose 10% of my initial weight. My doctor has referred me to a bariatric surgeon, but I am really unsure that it is a step that I am willing to take. I want to know what life is really like after surgery. The view from all the clinics and doctors that is being sent to me (and I wish I could turn it off, but I can't figure out how I signed up for that, lol) offers what appears to be a much rosier picture. I'm not looking for people who have had serious problems or anything, I just want to know what the day to day life is like, the good and the not so good. What you really have to eat, how easy it is to stretch the pouch, what happens when you eat the wrong foods, how soon can you exercise, do you have to alter the way you eat forever? Am I ever going to be able to sit down and eat a couple pieces of pizza and a glass of soda or do the instructions that I have read about grinding up everything and eating thumb sized meal of mostly protein several times a day last until the day I die? And if that's true, are people finding it is worth it? Maybe some of these questions will be answered at the informational session (I'm scheduled to go this Tuesday, waiting for the info in mail still) but I'd like a non-biased view from real people. =) Does anyone have good links for personal web sites or similar journal type descriptions of WLS life? Thanks =)

Well Kristin, if you're looking for personal journals of the WLS life before, during, and after....you've stumbled upon the right site! There are thousands of stories on this web site. Most are really positive experiences. I remember when I first started researching this option for myself and I happened upon this site, I just felt like everyone was blowing sunshine up my @$$. I took it upon myself to seek out those stories that were not so positive, in order to feel like I was getting a good idea of all potential outcomes for myself. I do encourage you to do the same With that said, the fact of the matter is that most people are success stories. This is hard to swallow when you are coming from many years of dieting without success. (No diet in existence has more than a 5% success rate, or in other words, all diets have a 95% failure rate at best). By the time I began my research on bariatric surgery, I had spent 20 years of my life dieting....trying to get to a healthy weight. I had spent the last two years on Weigh****chers (which I loved), but without any significant weight loss. I did drop my cholesterol drastically on WW, so I did benefit to some degree and I knew that my body was responding to the healthy eating. I just couldn't drop the weight...and I was hungry all the time. Anyway...coming from 20 years of failed diets; every year or two finding THE diet that was the answer to all my problems; every year or two working myself up into a frenzy of motivation and attempting to maintain that motivation...only to come crashing down after a month or two. I was highly skeptical about all the success I was seeing patients of bariatric surgery. I figured there had to be a catch. And there is. It's a hard thing to do, to opt for an elective surgery (major surgery). But I did. As far as I figured, it came down to two things: 1. Time: I could give it another shot on the dieting side, but the statistics were against me in a big way...most likely I would fail. and be another year into carrying around 150+ pounds on a body that was starting to feel taxed by the weight, or I could do something that, statistically, would take weight off. 2. Risk: I could have the surgery and suffer a debilitating complication or even die of complications, or I could not have the surgery, most likely not take the weight off, and then die of some obesity related disease or disorder. Obviously...I took the plunge...but it was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life. Prior to surgery, I was a mess. All I could think about was death and dying. I would lay awake at night think "This is NUTS!! What am I thinking?!". But then the morning would come..and I was brave again. The first six weeks after surgery were the absolute worst!! The hardest diet I have EVER been on!! All liquid for the first three weeks, and mushed food for the next three weeks after that. I just want to dispel one myth that you mentioned in your post. You can't stretch you pouch. Your pouch, right after surgery is thumb size (about an ounce), but it grows while it's healing. Depending on the type of surgery you do, there are different things that will cause the procedure to fail. If you don't follow doctors orders, especially for the first 6 months, you can do damage to thing like the stoma (the tiny hole at the bottom of your pouch where your food exists) which will cause the food to move through to quickly and you don't stay full, so you eat more. BUT...your pouch will not stretch. You might be able to eat two pieces of pizza and a soda....maybe not. This has been difficult for me in that I have discovered that much of what I enjoy about eating is eating a lot. I am 4 months post op and I have recently found myself getting down about not being able to eat a bunch of food in one setting. Eating is FUN!! I love it!! I wish I could eat a lot...but I just can't. I get physically sick. My anatomy is actually for me this time. Where it not for the operation, I don't think I would have ever had it in my to have the consistent discipline it takes to drop the weight. My anatomy forces me this time....and it's working. The positive side to this is that I am finding different interests to take up my time, where as before, a night's entertainment would be finding a good recipe, taking a trip to the grocery store...cooking a big ol' meal and gorging on it. Now...I wouldn't do that all the time....I did have other interests pre-op. But I am discovering how OFTEN I have that inclination now that I can't act on it. Anyway....I'm writing a freakin novel. I think you'll find that anyone on this board will have lots to say about the pros and cons of this procedure. I anticipate that you won't be lacking in responses. Please feel free to email me if you have ANY questions or if you want me to elaborate on any detail...blah blah blah....I'll stop talking now. Good luck to you in your research. -Mary P

Hi Kristen, Thought I would let you know what my life is like, I am 4 mo. post op Today! I have lost 60 lbs and way over 35", I feel great as a matter of fact 10 yrs. younger. I have eaten a piece of pizza, night before last as a matter of fact. I just have tried refined sugar (white), and it didn't do alot for me. I am lactose intollerant to a point but insist on drinking 2%, 1 cup 1 to 2 times/ day. Anymore than that it gives me stomach cramps, not terrible ones but I know I have drank it too fast or it has too much sugar in it. As far as eating other things this may sound funny but some days I can eat alot and others not so much. I do try to eat reasonably, but I don't always make smart choices. I usually plateau at that point, so I begin again. I don't diet, I have found fruit is my new friend. I tastes soooo much better than it used to. I must tell you though, usually when I cheat I am with other people. I think it's a head thing. You can fail at this if you snack all the time or drink high carb stuff, or abuse alchohol. I just read in people magazine some women who have failed at this way of living. But the tool is still in place, so all they would need to do is begin again. I brought the magazine home and am going to put it in my pantry, so when I go in there to snack I will see it. I'm never hungry, It's a head hunger triggered by some old trigger. Sometimes I won't eat on time and my stomach the one that is not being used will growl, although weird it doesn't have any effect on me other than noise. I eat regularly, and try to watch out for what I do eat, and if I do cheat I go right back to the healthy eating again. It's the head hunger that is the hardest. I too am writing a novel, hope this helped. Good Luck to you, I have yet to regret it and feel great everyday! My BP was 200/112 and now it's 112/64, if that's not proof I don't know what is! Oh Yeah, I eat about 6 oz./ meal...

hey kristen, 1. stretching the pouch... Ok "my" belief on this subject is that YOU CANNOT stretch your pouch in one sitting.. if you eat way too much your going to puke.. Your pouch is going to stretch "naturaly" over time. 2. what you really have to eat.. on "occasion" I have eaten pizza.. usualy one piece an then I will nibble on the toppings of another. mainly I eat beef, chicken, pork, fish, beans, and CHEESE.. some days when I don't feel like cooking for myself I swear I live on cheese. the first 6 weeks were the hardest.. with the liquid diet and then the mushed food.. after, it's not that hard.. 3. what happens when you eat the wrong foods.. ok everyone is very differant on this subject.. "dumping syndrome" might be that you puke, or that you get dizzy, or that you get diarreha, or that you feel as if you've taken a sleeping pill and NEED TO EITHER LAY DOWN OR YOUR GONNA FALL DOWN.. now as to "what" will make you dump is individual too.. some dump on high fatty foods, others dump on high sugar content, and others (ME) dump on sugar alcohols found in sugar free foods.. and some people don't ever dump on anything.. 4. how soon can you excersize? it depends on your surgeons protocall.. mine had me walking in the hospital. but no weight lifting for 6 months. unfortuantly for me I am unable to excersize on a schedualed routine due to another disease.. 5. do you have to alter the way you eat forever? do you want to gain all your weight back? would you want to start eating the same things that got you to be MO? yes, the WLS "IS NOT A CURE".. it is only a tool.. a powerful tool that will get back to this side of "the point of no return" but then the rest is 100% up to you.. You can gain weight after having WLS just as easy as you can now.. I learned this lesson early on.. 9 months post op and I acutally started gaining weight.. I was out eating my pouch. I returned to eating for emotions.. not "bad" foods, but I was eating all the time.. so my good choices were not doing anygood.. by my 11th month I had been fighting the same 7 lb gain... I would loose it, then gain it, then loose it and so on. for the past 2 months I have been "maintaining" my weight. I still have 17lbs to go to reach my personal goal of 135. I still fight the emotional eating and will for the rest of my life. ok so was all this worth it??? from day one I say "HELL YES".. and a little saying that I see on the main board all the time is: NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS SKINNY FEELS.... and I will tell you this eating that twinkie, or candy bar or, or, or never gave me near as much pleasure as feeling/seeing my rib cage.. not near as much pleasure is having to take my watch in to have links taken out cuz it was too big and so on.. ok, I have written a "FREAKEN NOVEL TOO".... (lol @ mary) Theresa lap RNY 4-16-03 256-151-135

Hello Kristen, I realize many of the replies have been from people that have had RNY's but I opted for the lap band by Inamed and had my surgery two weeks ago. If you are curious about this procedure check out www.belighter.com. Worldwide it is the favored surgery for obesity and has had great success over the last 10 years. In the U.S. it has only been approved for the last three years and doctor's have not been real supportive about it. They make less money from this surgery since it is very non-invasive and they are naturally skeptical. It is all done laproscopically. I chose a surgeon in Mexico who trained many american doctors and had far more experience than local doctors. I came home after two nights in the hospital and had almost no recovery time required. It was a little hard to bend over for a week or so but even that is getting better. I also only had a week of clear liquids, a week of mushy things and now am slowly starting to more solid food. There is never a vitamin deficiency issue either and the death rate is very very low like 0.5% or something. Much less than the bypass surgeries. Make your own decision but I am very happy with mine. Weight loss tends to be a little slower but is also supposed to last for about 5 years. It is also totally reversible and fully adjustable to your comfort level. I would reccommend this surgery over the other types in a minute. I have lost 15 lbs in the first 13 days. Check it out.

Everyone has given such great information, and since I'm winding down from my graveyard shift I won't go into too much detail. What I will say is that for my experience, which I know is not necessarily typical, I do not feel different, weird or altered. I had a great fear I would feel like a freak and that I would never be able to get over having been altered so much. Well, my pouch *is* larger than others - started out at 4 oz and is now 6 oz. This is good and bad. Bad because I don't have as much restriction as other people. Good because I can guzzle water and I can eat a more satisfying meal that say someone who has a pouch that only holds 1 tablespoon. I don't get head hunger. And again, I don't feel weird or altered. My sugery was done open in Mexico and I was absolutely shocked at how good I felt. I didn't need pain meds when released from the hospital, and the only reason I wanted them IN the hospital was so I would sleep through the thirst. In fact, if I didn't have this huge red scar on my stomach, I wouldn't even believe I had this surgery. So there are lots of experiences out there, and I know I didn't answer all your questions right now, but those things were really important for me and maybe they are for you too. Hope it helped a little! Dina

I appreciate all the responses. I attended the first required information session today, and my questions still aren't really answered. However, it seems that my insurance never ever approves the lagb, which is what I was looking at. I am just not prepared to go to an RNY after being told repeatedly that bypass changes your life forever, and you can't stop thinking about it. You have to take vitamins and so on. I want to someday to NOT have to think about my stomach, my body. I want to feel normal, you know? It doesn't sound like I have much hope even with an appeal unless my doc finds a medical problem with my intestines though, so I am not sure if I should proceed or not.

I have not had mine yet, but it is on Tues. June 1 rst. But............................I too was unsure at first. I had started the proscess , then stopped it then started it, then stopped it again. Then I finally made up my mind, once and for all. I was going to do it. I have been dieting since I was 17 years old. I am now 50 years old and even heavier than I was back then. I am sure, you too, have gained and lossed, lossed and gained many, many times over. If I really started to figure it out, I bet I have lost over 5000 lbs. thur these years. I have litterly been on some kind of diet for the past 33 years! Do you want hat to happen to you? I have wasted many years of outing, family get togethers, trips, hikes, out door activites. All because i was too fat. I would convince myself that "SOMEDAY SOON, WHEN I AM THINNER, I WILL DO THAT" Weel, over 30 years of 'SOMEDAY' has found me up to 250 lbs at present, my highest weight being 265 lbs. I know that others are much heavier than I am who are having the surgery. But it is not jsut the weight. I have severely high blood pressue, sleep apnea, terribly sore legs, and feet, swollen ankles and a few other things I can connect directly to my weight. Think about how you are carrying around a 10 lb bag of flour for each 10 lbs you are over wiehgt. Fore me, I am daily walked around carrying 12 10 lb bags of flour! No wonder I don't feel so good! Now, we are not telling you what to do, you are the one who will be making the final decision. But, we know. and deep down, you know; YOU HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING SOON, as it only gets worse. Most of of out there can not lose weight without this tool.