Weight loss after one year???

I just weighed myself and fully expected to show a gain of at least 5 lbs after my eating lapses over the holidays. Nope. Nothing. I am still at exactly my pre-holiday weight before all this eating. I find this really hard to believe and understand. There is no rational explanation for it. I wasn't exercising the extra calories away either!  So this has me wondering.....

After surgery are our bodies practically programmed to lose weight, almost despite what we do?  And then this has me wondering and worried about what happens after this honeymoon is over? And it makes me further wonder if the first year post surgery is our optimum time frame for the most weight loss we will ever experience after WLS .... and if we do not take full advantage of this window and lose as much weight as possible, have we blown our only shot at significant weight loss?  What happens over time? Does our weight loss necessarily have to slow down?  Can anyone shed some light on the physiology at work here?

Thank you!
Kathy

I'm thinking out loud and in great generalities and averages. I don't know any of the stats on the restrictive only WLSs (band and VSG), so this RNY and DS thoughts.

RNY WL window is usually 12 - 18 months where you will lose the greatest amount of weight the easiest.  Duodenal Switch WL window is 18-24 months. This window is the time when you're eating the least, burning more fat and malabsorbing the most. It doesn't mean you can eat anything you want all the time and maximize the process though. You still absorb 100% of the sugar you eat. After your window closes, you will either maintain with a minimal bounce back or gain. What makes us gain? Sugar, fat and too many calories, if you're not low carbing, and lack of exercise/movement over time as well. Your intestines do adapt over time and the ones that weren't bypassed get real good at absorbing what they were designed to absorb. Of course we start trying convert what we absorb to stored fat. I think obesity is part of us for life and if our bodies are given the chance,they will convert sugar to stored fat. 

My goal during the WL window was to lose as much as I could as quickly as possible but also stay as healthy as possible. My surgeon stressed low carb for life to maintain the longest. He didn't define low carb, so I have to experiment to see where my own personal limit is and that will change over time. My angel who is 7 or 8 years out, is finding she has to drastically reduce her carbs and exercise to maintain and it's much more difficult to do because she's hungry and can eat bigger meals.

--gina
 

Thanks for the insight, Gina. It sounds like your Angel is in a tough situation. Is there anything she can do at this point, surgically or otherwise?

I am glad I woke up to the reality of the honeymoon phase while I am still in the losing stage. It would be just like me to somehow "miss" an important thing like that and not discover my mistake until it was too late. .... Along the lines of failing to see the forest through the trees. Or maybe not wanting to see?  Agh! Lord, give me the strength to not be my own worst enemy!!! 

What she's doing is low carbing and running. She's still within 10-15 pounds of her goal weight but I don't know how far into normal BMI she got initially. Maybe not far enough to start with. Vitalady advises to go a little bit lower than you're comfortable with so that your bounce back brings you back up to where you want to be.

A DSr can have their common channel shorten to have even more malabsorption or they can have their sleeve size reduced (re-sleeved). Something unique that my surgeon does for really high BMI folks and revisions from RNY or band to DS, is to put a small permanent band around the sleeve to keep it from stretching near the top. The DS has the most malabsorption of any of the current surgeries so shortening the common channel really has to be thought about long and hard. A DSr speaks in terms of common channel lengths and that's not the same as an RNYr speaking of how much was bypassed. Confusing, sorry, and I'm sure you don't want another dissertation on WLSs. lol

--g

My question is this what exactly is "low carb ? "

because in my experience FAT plus sugar ( or salty FATS ) are what make people really HUGE. Uh - oh here goes tactless Ava again kick me .. ...

theres a BEEEG difference between say McDonalds sugar -infused salty fatty deep fried french fries and fat free sugar free ( or very low sugar ) organic homemade banana bread ....

not that I will eat more than a piece these days ..whereas I used to eat the PAN as a serving .... go figure .....

im talking glycemic index ..thats how I measure things personally . So one BITE of catered fatty chocolate mousse say ( even after ive taken three chitosan pills to absorb 30% of the fat ) .... equals a CUP of homemade fat free sugar free chocolate mousse made with gourmet Belgian dark chocolate , fat free whipped cream , splenda , egg whites and Madagascar Vanilla......

honestly though I find my sweet tooth has gone largely away after a half dozen brutal dumping episodes ... I make the good stuff for the landlord , taste it and keep away .

So Im VERY curious what this " carb monster "is U all are talking about ..... can we find a way to take its teeth out by making it much less glycemic - index-y ?

I find U can re-create the same TASTE as almost anything at home with some clever substitutions and not even NOTICE the missing fat or sugar ( and I mean so Ur guests who are USED to full fat food wont begin to notice it either ...until U tell them ) ......

theres  a BEEEG  difference between say  McDonalds  sugar -infused  salty fatty deep fried  french fries and  fat free  sugar free ( or very low sugar )  organic  homemade  banana  bread ....

The organic homemade banana bread has sugar in the bananas, flour, (which is carbs and turns to sugar in your body) and since I don't know the rest of your recipe, I don't know what else is there. All I do know is both meals cause my blood sugar to spike so I avoid BOTH. They are equally as bad.

Carbs are sugar just in a different format. Sugar is more simple and easier to see. Carbohydrates turn INTO sugar in your body. Simple carbs and white carbs are the dangerous ones. Complex carbs such as those in veggies are the ones we need to eat.

Liz

I finally went to the doctor after 20 months post and the bad news was Ur malabsorption's OVAH Grrlfriend .......

stop eating fat and sugar or Ull regain ......


FYI

no that I didn't expect to hear that ...but YES Dorothy , there IS a window of maximal opportunity for loss and body setpoint re-configuration ... And personally I think Ure a darn FOOL if U waste that time fussing around with fatty low carb desserts or whatever Ur common SENSE tells U are fattening foods ....

Then again many people in here ( and in life ) consider me an exercise Nazi lol .... im a personal trainer among other things and its really HILARIOUS to hear the names people come up with for me when they dont want to get up at 7 am to run on a treadmill......

LOL

I guess my mantra would be that ANY improvement is a GOOD thing ..... just dont try to rationalize and justify STOOPID self destructive things so U can go back to Ur bad old eating habits and no exercise ....

I would much rather see a client say darn it I WILL eat my cheese or my wine or whatever ..or I didnt walk five days but i WANT to and i took the stairs rather than the elevator back to work after lunch .... than lie to themselves and me ....

Part of getting to the lower WEIGHT we want is embracing the weight we OWN ...loving ourselves and our bodies and our crazy habits as we ARE ( and journaling them ) and then substituting healthier ones when we figure out what were GETTING out of say , eating carbs at that time of day , or being thirty lbs overweight ( maybe fewer passes .. so we wear more modest clothes .....) .

My Surgeon told me I had 9 months to lose as much weight as I could because the honeymoon period would be coming to an end.  I'm not quite sure I belive in the 9 months.  I think maybe that like a diet people start including things in their menus that slow down their weight loss.  For me the honeymoon lasted until I started adding in "bad" carbs and a little sugar which was about 18 months and I really regret doing that.

I am 27 months out and having no problem maintaining my wieght but I truly believe that if I hadn't started including "bad" carbs and sugar in my menus that I be 3 or 4 lighter than I am.

Don't let adding things in and the scale not moving (it could have shown a loss) be a teaser.  Maybe not for you but for someone else those teasers could lead into bad habits and a lot more temptations.

Thank you for the insight, Roz. I'm going to learn from your mistake and do my best to try to fight my cravings/menu boredom/whatever comes my way  until I have reached goal.  I'm going to try. I never thought I would be relying on will power to do it though. Darn it.

I didn't have to rely on will power until I started letting "bad" things into my diet.  I didn't even miss them until I took those first few bites.