Question:
Please read...everyone answer quick!

I am exactly 6mos post-op, have gone from 284(highest) to now 184. My important questions are...my weight dropped on average of 20lbs/mnth but really hasnt moved at all in almost 2 mos but my body is fitting into smaller clothes every week(?)Is that a good weight loss...is this it? Q#2...WHat is happening inside of our pouches that makes you get sick from too much sugar/grease or fat?? I aways forget to ask my NUT!(Im wondering What is happining (physically) AND WHY)...so...PLEASE read carefully and answer as detailed as possible if you KNOW! Thanks for ur help!    — littleguzla (posted on August 9, 2008)

August 9, 2008
Congratulations! 100 pounds in 6 months is great! Don't get frustated by the number on the scale -- that's all it is -- a number. The fact that you are wearing smaller sizes tells you that you are losing inches wether it shows on the scale or not. As for the sugar and fat, that's what is called "dumping". It is not actually in your pouch. It is happening because the portion of your small intestine that absorbs these substances, especially the sugar, was bypassed along with the rest of your stomach during surgery. (Assuming you had RNY.) So when the sugar passes through your pouch into the intestine, the intestine is not equipped to handle this substance, causing nausea, gas, sometimes diarrhea, and vomitting. Not really harmful to you -- just really uncomfortable!! This is one of the reasons why RYN is such a great tool for diabetics. They can't absorb the sugars into their bodies even if they do eat them -- and the same works for us non-diabetics. It's a great tool! Keep up the great work! Sounds like you're doing fantastic!
   — dnoreenh

August 9, 2008

   — William (Bill) wmil

August 9, 2008
CONGRATULATIONS! GREAT JOB! I am on track to come CLOSE to matching your feat! I have lost 96 pounds in 5 months with the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy! What is happening NOW is actually a very good thing for you. While you are not LOSING weight, you ARE losing INCHES! What is HAPPENING is that you are REPLACING fat with MUSCLE! Each square inch of MUSCLE weighs MORE than FAT. That means that if you take a square inch of FAT and a square inch of MUSCLE, and COMPARE them, the FAT will weigh LESS than the MUSCLE. To put it ANOTHER way if you were to take a POUND of fat and a POUND of muscle and try to stuff them in the same size BAG, the bag with the MUSCLE in it would have MUCH MORE ROOM left over after you were done, than the bag with the FAT. That is why the CLOTHES you are buying are SMALLER than they were before. The new MUSCLE is taking the place of the old FAT, and it doesn't NEED as much ROOM in the BAG (your skin). Eventually, what is going to happen is, you are going to reach a TIPPING POINT where all of the new MUSCLE that you are creating is going to start BURNING MORE CALORIES (because that is what muscles DO), and you will start losing both INCHES AND WEIGHT again! Won't YOU be excited to SEE THAT? Just be PATIENT! As long as you are losing INCHES you are doing GREAT! You are STILL losing FAT! You are ALSO gaining MUSCLE which is a GREAT thing! I would also like to suggest that you MAY want to check out a CERTIFIED NUTRITIONIST and see if he or she could HELP you to MAXIMIZE your weight loss regimen. I WILL say that you seem to be doing GREAT, however on your OWN. It is just a suggestion. I WOULD address your SECOND issue, but others seem to have addressed that satisfactorily. I am not a Gastric Bypass patient and am not really qualified to address those issues from a personal perspective. I HAVE researched them, but I have NOT had to deal with them on a PERSONAL level. Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy patients generally do not suffer from Dumping Syndrome. Our surgery is much less complicated than yours. We have our intestinal tract still intact. Ours is a restrictive procedure with no malabsorptive factor to cause the imbalance that causes the dumping. For anyone who is curious about the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy or would like to learn more about any of the OTHER common weight loss surgeries, check out my profile at http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/hubarlow/ and look for my post called Surgical Comparisons. If you can't find it on the main profile page, look for it in the March Archives of 2008. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that EVERYONE does his or her OWN RESEARCH and NOT rely on the people on the boards. There are folks who consider themselves to be "EXPERTS" who are NOT. They are nothing more than what I am, a PATIENT who has done some RESEARCH! SOME of these folks are giving DANGEROUS ADVICE! SOME are even advising people to EAT so that they DUMP to LOSE WEIGHT! While SOME people experience SEVERE dumping symptoms, NOT EVERYONE DOES! For those that experience the MILD VERSION of it, they MAY be TEMPTED to USE it as a TWISTED form of BULIMIA! If they EAT to DUMP, they figure that what they ATE doesn't COUNT because it CAME RIGHT OUT! What they don't seem to REALIZE is, SO DID EVERYTHING BEFORE IT, including the SUPPLEMENTS that they took! When they DO this, they risk MALNUTRITION! They may enjoy the donut, but the COST is not worth their LIFE if they do this on a regular basis! PLEASE do NOT LISTEN to people like this! REPORT them to the people who RUN Obesity Help! Let them KNOW that they are putting THEMSELVES and OTHERS at RISK with this kind of behavior! People like this should be KICKED OFF THE BOARDS! I DON'T CARE if they do this to THEMSELVES, but I do NOT want them to SPREAD this behavior to the NEW people who don't KNOW any better and who THINK that these people are "EXPERTS!" Sorry for the rant, but I keep hoping that someone will hear. Hugh
   — hubarlow

August 10, 2008
The only thing I need to correct is someone said RNYers don't absorb sugar...WRONG!!! It's about the only thing we DO absorb without issues. The trouble is it goes straight to the blood when it dumps into the large intestines and causes an almost immediate dumping episode for many RNYers (Same with alcohol...reason we get so tispy soooo fast)...Some people are more sensitive to it than others and many after sometime, their bodies learn to compensate for a little sugar...Calories and sugar (And alcohol) we never stop absorbing...This is how we can gain weight and become vitamin deficient (malnourished) at the same time. You are doing wonderful...If you are losing inhes, the scale will catch up too...One day you'll get on the scale and it will say you've lost 4-5 lbs overnight...It's the one thing that still baffles me...I cannot wrap my mind around this concept...But it happened to me too. I thought I was done losing at a size 14. I went out and bought all kinds of amazing and grogeous clothes and expensive jackets and coats...(It was winter time) And I was already a year out...By spring...I was a size 6-8 and still have expensive clothes in a size 14 with tags still on them 4 1/2 years later! :( So don't you give up yet! Step up the exercise and watch what happens! Don't begin eating more than you do now...You body is near it's ideal size and it's slowly tapering off now...It's critical you do not change your good habits now. You've still got a good amount of time to lose more weight!
   — .Anita R.

August 10, 2008
Based on what I have read all is answered, I just wanted to add is that when I dump I can eat Lance chesse/peanut butter crackers & it will balance it out & stop the dump. I don't know why it works but it does.
   — Faerydust1313