When does the weight loss end?

[novamay]

Hi - really silly question coming up....(sorry )

I was just talking to my sister last night in general about the band/bypass - I've asked my GP to refer me to a consultant and am waiting to get an appointment - and she asked me how does your body know when to stop losing weight after the op if you continue to only eat small meals. I'm not sure about this. Does your body settle at a certain weight (similar to plateauing when you have been on a diet for so long) and how long does it take to get to this stage? I think she's scared I might become too thin.

 

[Jacquie Christie]

Hi

I think that basically on the day of your operation your stomach is made very small and from that day onwards your stomach starts stretching. It gets a little bigger each day until eventually it will be able to hold enough so that you can take in the calories suitable for your new weight.

For me I told my surgeon that I wanted to be 10st 7lb at goal, so my surgeon estimated the size my stomach needed to be (and the size it would stretch to) to allow me to reach that weight.

They also adjust how much of your intestines get bypassed, as obviously the more bypassed the less calories you absorbe and the lower your weight will go before stopping.


Does that make sense??

I'm sure someone more eloquent will come along soon and make it all sound much simpler!! LOL!

 

[novamay]

Hi Jacquie, thanks for replying.

It does kinda make sense to me, however, I'm worried I've not been below 16.5 stones in my entire adult life so I don't know how low I could go. Mind you, I would give my eye teeth to be 16.5 at mo. Does the surgeon base your final/goal weight on your height, etc, or is it your choice? Also, is there any risk that the stomach will stretch so that you gain the weight again? Many thanks for your help...

 

[Jacquie Christie]

He will ask your goal and tell you if he thinks it is realistic.

From what I gather you would gain if you went back to really bad habits and continually filled your stomach with junk/chocolate.

But if you eat till comfortably full and stay mainly to healthy foods you should maintain.

I'm only 3 weeks post op so obviously I've not experienced this yet, but this is what I've been told.

Hope this helps.

 

[StephieAck]

Novamay...I cant give you an answer to this as I just dont know the answer but I want to assure you that your body WILL break its old habits! I had never lost more than two or three stones before and when my body struggled for a week or two to beat that loss then I was sure it was going to stick there and I was so disappointed, but the weight loss kicked in from there and now I am nearly seven stones down. I told my surgeon that I wanted to be in a size 14 at goal, a 12 would be better but a 14 would be more than fine by me. I still have another three stones to lose to get to my goal weight of 9st but I am already in a size 14 and in some clothes I can wear a 12!!!
If I can do that then anybody can, you will shock yourself at just how fabulously you do I bet you.
Good luck for your journey and I hope that it is one that is full of awesome suprises and mind boggling joy xx
Steph xx

 

[novamay]

thanks guys, I am really gob-smacked by the weight that you are all losing - some of the b&a pictures don't even look like the same person - I can't believe it! So inspirational.

My problem is emotional/compulsive/volume eating - I try and eat healthy regular food but I know I eat too much of it (big dinners) and for the wrong reasons - so I'm hoping that if I don't physically have the ability to overeat anymore, then I should be ok. Just have to find different ways of coping with emotions. Even if I don't get down to a size x - any weight loss would be welcome in terms of my health and outlook.

I can get my head round the fact that the op is just the beginning and that its a tool and how you use it that will make the difference, but to me it does seem like a 'miracle' - no other word for it - when you've been struggling for years and years to lose weight and keep it off - which is surely the hardest part. I can't quite believe that it could happen to me... but just in case it does I've asked my sis to keep her 16/18 clothes for me.

PS joining up at the swimming pool tomorrow - just shows how committed I am - oh heck - to be seen in a public pool in a 'swimdress'!

 

[Tracey ( eyore)]

My surgeon has never asked me what size i wanted to be ...........................i wonder why !

 

[novamay]

I wouldn't know what to ask for - I'd be frightened that he/she thought I was being cheeky - or delusional lol.

 

[Sambucca]

My surgeon never asked me what size I wanted to be either. In fact most surgeons talk about bypass helping you to achieve 60-70% excess weight loss and the rest being down to hard work. I don't doubt what you were told Jacquie, but I find it hard to understand how a certain size pouch can equate to a certain dress size. I thought we were all given a pouch roughly the size of an egg.

My understanding is (as Jacquie said) that our new pouch gradually stretches over time. It will never be able to hold the kind of capacity that we can manage pre-op, but eventually we can eat a childs portion of most foods. This helps the weight loss slow down. Also the malabsorption we have in the early days lessens as the body learns to compromise for the shortened intestines.

 

[Neen]

Hi Novamay, I still have big battles with comfort eating on a regular basis. All I can say is, though it is not easy it is still possible to lose OK even with the odd lapse into comfort eating. Naturally, it's a habit you (and I) need to break as it is only a short term distraction from what is at the root of the problem and never makes anything better really.
There is a certain degree of damage limitation with a band and also a bypass with vomitting (band) and dumping (bypass)...perhaps experiencing them a couple times will be all you need to help push you to deal with difficult feelings in a more helpful way.
I think I found as I started losing the weight that I felt better in myself emotionally and physically and that in turn, helped me to be stronger more often and avoid the emotional binges...plus of course if I eat too much I am in pain and being violently sick..that is a pretty good deterrent.
There are lots of ideas floating about between us here on how to cope without using the food and it always helps to vent your upsets and concerns on a diary here as well.
My best advice would be to not beat yourself up over a bad food episode..the more guilty you feel the more likely a binge will follow because you feel bad and then you're trapped in the spiral down.
If you forgive yourself and move on without judgement, the good days always outnumber the dodgy ones and you will find you make good progress...plus as you learn new ways to deal with upset and build your confidence, the bad days get less frequent x

 

[angie790]

I wasn't asked 'what size' I wanted to be either (size 10 please!!!!) I was told that realistically, the bypass would help me to lose around 60-70% of my excess weight, with effort from me. The 2 aspects of the bypass are the 'restriction': bypassing the majority of the stomach creating a pouch typically about the size of an egg. This restricts the volume of food you can eat. Although this pouch can stretch over time, it will never end up back at the size your stomach was before the bypass. The second part of the op is the malabsorption (the roux-en-Y), where a section of your small intestine immediately after the stomach is also bypassed, and the end of the small intestine further down is brought up & connected to the small stomach pouch that has been created. This creates the malabsorptive aspect of the op because the small intestine is where food is finished being broken down & then absorbed into the body. The length of intestine bypassed can be anywhere from around 75 cm to 150 cm, although the longer length intestinal bypass is usually only performed in patients with a very high BMI. Your body loses weight because as long as you work with the bypass, you simply cannot ingest enough calories to maintain the body weight you are at. Weight loss eventually slows down for because over time, you can eat more than you could when you first had the bypass. It is not very often that people end up very underweight, although I know there are a few people that struggle to keep their weight up following their bypass. If that is the case, a slight diet adjustment (taking in higher fat foods) can help stabilise & maintain your weight.