Question:
"Weight Loss Window"

I don't understand why we have a "weight loss window" of opportunity. What is it that changes after 12 to 18 months? It seems to me the physical changes of the rny surgery would be permanent. However, if that were the case I suppose we would continue to lose weight til we faded away! Is it that our stomachs will stretch back out, or is it some other factor? Won't the malabsorption caused by the bypassing of intestines (I had a distal) continue to be a factor after the 12 to 18 months?    — Kathy W. (posted on July 5, 2000)

July 5, 2000
I don't know if I can explain this adequately, but hopefully, several of us will try. Your window might be 12 months or 14.5 months or 22 months! So, don't hold yourself to the textbook schedule! Remember that our bodies were already absorbing every SPECK we put into them before, even to gaining wt on naked steamed broccoli. They KNOW how to hold a calorie FOREVER and not burn it! We are super efficient calorie storing machines. So, when we cut off the calroies abruptly, if we stay well nourished, our bodies take a little while to figure out what's been done. They go one burning the 6 calories a week they were allowing us, but now we're only getting 5, so we win. For awhile. After awhile, then the body figures out what we're up to-- a calicum shortage here, iron shortage there, protein shortage all over, well, then the brakes get slammed on. "OK for YOU, no more calories will be burned AT ALL!" Which also works to our advantage, especially for us distals. We would burn right OUT if the window didn't shut at some point! But in essence, we already had a pokey metabolism and once the body notices the lessening of our "safety margin", the metabolism slows even further. Did I sawy what I meant?
   — vitalady

July 6, 2000
I attended the bariatric convention and asked lots of questions to the surgeons and the answer I got to that one was "your metabolism has leveled out after that amount of time." Hope this helps.
   — Angela B.