What's on your Wednesday Menu?

Maybe I missed it, but do you work for a bariatric clinic??

I am employed by the hospital that the bariatric clinic performs the surgeries. My official role is to maintain our certification of excellence for bariatric surgery through data collection and quality improvement. To do this I need to review patient charts, collect certain data. Really the only time I speak with patients if for the first 30-day outcome window. Otherwise, I collect the data from the medical records. I also collaborate with the surgeons, the clinic, the surgical unit, and the certifying body in my efforts.

yes - so many think they will get down to a normal BMI, but according to my surgeon, only about 10-15% of his patients actually do. And the research I've read backs that up.

also, the people on bariatric sites who lose 20 or 25 lbs the first month and are REALLY disappointed. WTF were they expecting? I think that might come from watching shows like "My 600 lb Life". OF COURSE you're going to drop a bunch of weight the first month if you start off at 800 lbs! But the "average" WLS patient? Nope. I wish clinics did a better job of cluing people in to this kind of stuff.

I've maintained most of my weight loss. Even when I had regain so far - I was still over 70 lbs net loss. But a lot of the years that I was really skinny it was because I really could eat many different foods or any real qty of the foods. What happened if i ate stuff that I was suppose to eat - pain pain pain and more pain or uncontrolled reactive hypoglycemia. Either one could last for 24 + hrs. Not fun. People did not see me suffer, they saw me eating very little, and declaring "I'm full" or telling them that I really don't want any desserts. They thought the WLS "cured me" from appetite and cravings. They did not know the fear I had to eat things off plan (a very limited plan)

They saw the results. They saw what they wanted to see in my clothes. They did not see the bones sticking out, the inability to sit on any firm surface. I had a few people getting RNY because they saw my transformation and they only saw what they wanted to see. ugh.

Thanks for helping people set realistic expectations about that bell curve. You're right, I read (and still read) stories on some forums about how much people lose initially. There are a ton of people who are upset no matter what their loss is. I'm happy to ignore the numbers other people see while still listening to their stories. It wasn't even until my clinic initially told me I was "behind" that first month that I realized it was even a thing. But I did ask what they expected me to do about it when I'm only eating 300-500 calories a day (at the time). That's when they admitted it is what it is and you just take the losses as they come and stay on program.

Good luck to your DH on this step in his journey! You're a great, supportive partner.