Re: weight loss failure?

[Guest guest]

I'm 5 years out and had a scope down last year. My stoma is somewhat

stretched, so my intestine is like a bit of a second stomach. So, the pouch

can be the same size, and no staple line disruption, but it empties a bit

faster.....the exit hole is a little larger.

The amount that I can eat depends on the texture of the food. My diet

revolves around bulky animal protein and fish. My doc wanted me on the

" chicken fried steak " diet, because he knew foods like that are dense and

would fill me up. So no soup, baked potato, or all-carb meals. Also, I

absolutely do not drink during or within an hour or two after eating. Are

you following these basics?

Take care and good luck,

in Austin

RNY April 1998

weight loss failure?

[Guest guest]

Hello Kari and welcome!

Your post could have been written by me. When I read something like you

wrote I immediately think of " wonder if she/he has a horizontal pouch?

Wonder how much was bypassed or how long,,,,medial, proximal, distal?,

wonder if they told you how open your stoma was after the scope? "

Of course all of that is because after a while Mother 's mechanical

thinking process has had some effect on me! She always talks about checking

out the mechanical side of this before proceeding to judgement on things

like that awful word " failure,,etc " Naturally, my first thought is always

that I am some kind of slug or something and tend to look for my own

shortcomings immediately in just about any situation.

I had about the same weight loss in about the same period of time. In my

case it took me from a BMI of almost 42 to 28-29ish, depending on the day

and time. I also seem to have very little if any physical limit on food

intake and consequently have had to rely on making better choices for foods,

staying low carb/high protein as much as possible etc., doing the protein

and keeping fluids high. I did not lose all that I wanted but I did lose

enough to classify myself as a success - - - which I absolutely do!

I am a proximal version of RNY (Open) and have a horizontal pouch that was

formed using the right side, or greater curvature of the stomach, and I have

had some tests which indicate that my stoma (opening from the pouch to the

small intestine) is kinda sorta wide open and estimated at 3cm which means

that the small nature of my pouch (which supposedly is small still) does not

have the restrictive effect it was intended to have. Additionally, I have

been told after an Uppper GI that the section of small intestine connecting

to the pouch is enlarged and in my mind that converts to having additional

food storage capacity. It is not being stored in the stomach anymore, nor

in the pouch cause supposedly the pouch is still small but it has got to be

going somewhere and the enlarged intestine sounds like a reasonable answer

for me.

All this and other health considerations have led me to conclude that the

right thing for me (and the only thing available) is to not panic, not

judge, just use what I have and see if I can manage. The thing that

surprises me and continues to amaze me is that over the last two years or

so, I actually have. I did a rebound gain of 10-15 lbs right after weight

loss stopped but since then have stayed in a range of 5 lbs,,,,,give or

take. It tends to drift up when I am less adroit at eating right, and goes

right back to within range when I make the adjustments I need. Yeah, I

would like to have two more inches off my waistline, and yes I do not want

the jiggly spare tire that hangs over my belt BUT I am okay with where I am

also. If I were not, I would be more motivated to do what is necessary to

take off the rest. Truth is, I am not all that motivated and have had to

take some introspective views of me.

It is easy for me to slip into comparison with this one or that one,,,,cause

this one is X years out and still only can eat a grasshopper leg for dinner

and then only if it is prepared broiled with no fat, etc. Me? I can eat

railroad spikes,,,,,,they never bother me and I also know that I just cannot

eat as many as I used to! Somewhere in all this process I have come to some

sort of agreement with me about the numbers and find other things to occupy

my mind now, really important things, like where to plan for a new vegetable

bed in the back yard,,,,,,or where my new power tool will reside in the

woodshop.

Do you know the kind of pouch you have? Are you satisfied that your

questions have been answered by the docs re the state of your pouch, stoma

etc? Where you are is not an easy place to be and I suspect that there are

many more of us out that whacking ourselves over the head in anguished

silence than I, but for me the silence thing never worked much and head

whacking is not fun and I do not want to do it anymore.

The bod just gets more efficient as time goes by as well. Digestion

beginning in the pouch is more efficient and the body makes other

adjustments to compensate because it just does not understand that we did

this intentionally to ourselves. At any rate, I wish you well and hope that

you can find the combo of factors that will lead to some peace for you and

take you where you want to go.

Dan Slone

Surgery 5/2/2000

weight loss failure?

Hi. My name is Kari and I am new to the group. I was referred to this

message board by obesityhelp.com. I had posted a message on that site

and some people felt I might get more of an answer on here. So, here

goes... I had Open RNY in Oct. of 2001 at my then weight of 360. In

the first 8 months, I lost 100 pounds. I haven't lost anythign since.

I didn't worry at first, thinking I was on a plateau. Well, if it is

a plateau, it has lasted a long time! I kep asking my doctor what

might be wrong and he said I was probably just a slow loser. He

finally gave me an upper GI last week and the nurse called me today

to tell me I do not have a Staple Line Disruption and my pouch is

still in tact and basically the same size. I can't believe that my

pouch is the same size because I can eat 75% of a meal when at first,

I could only eat lke 5-15%. Does anyone out there have any advice

about what I can do. I do not want to get down to a size 4, but I

would like to lose another 75 pounds. Is it possible? What options do

I have?

Thank you, in advance, for any advice.

Homepage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Graduate-OSSG

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[Guest guest]

Hi Kari.......I too had the same thing happen. I started at 248 (5'2 " ) and

my Doc voiced the concern that I might go too low and we would have to

" refeed. " Well, at 9 mths out the weightloss stopped. Nowhere near where I

thought it would. I had gotten down to 162 still obese for my height. It

settled back up to about 172, now after my little hospital stay I am at 177

this A.M. Hopefully some wise ol Owls will have some words for us!!!!

P.

weight loss failure?

> Hi. My name is Kari and I am new to the group. I was referred to this

> message board by obesityhelp.com. I had posted a message on that site

> and some people felt I might get more of an answer on here. So, here

> goes... I had Open RNY in Oct. of 2001 at my then weight of 360. In

> the first 8 months, I lost 100 pounds. I haven't lost anythign since.

> I didn't worry at first, thinking I was on a plateau. Well, if it is

> a plateau, it has lasted a long time! I kep asking my doctor what

> might be wrong and he said I was probably just a slow loser. He

> finally gave me an upper GI last week and the nurse called me today

> to tell me I do not have a Staple Line Disruption and my pouch is

> still in tact and basically the same size. I can't believe that my

> pouch is the same size because I can eat 75% of a meal when at first,

> I could only eat lke 5-15%. Does anyone out there have any advice

> about what I can do. I do not want to get down to a size 4, but I

> would like to lose another 75 pounds. Is it possible? What options do

> I have?

>

> Thank you, in advance, for any advice.

>

>

>

> Homepage: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Graduate-OSSG

>

> Unsubscribe: mailto:Graduate-OSSG-unsubscribe

>

>

>

>

>