TOO Much Weight Loss!

Good on you Denzel for being brave & getting the body & arms lifted. You deserve looking & feeling good after the infection

Well, it turned out that I had a Campylobacter gut infection that was causing the nausea, not able to eat and diarrhoea.  A course of antibiotics sorted that out.

And I HAVE regained weight, in fact regained more than I want to :( 
I am now 48.1 kg.  I enjoyed being 43.5 kg
A dress that I made in February is now too small :( 

The interesting news, though is that I had my arms lifted and a half body lift at the beginning of December last year.  No regrets!
I can now wear sleeveless dresses and tops - so much more suitable for Perth's hot summers.

Trust me - you will be gaining back weight soon enough! I thought it was magic too but now at 6 years the weight is flooding back like a bad dream!

My (for me 'cos I only  - on the whole - weigh once/week) 'weigh in day' was today.
This is  a tad flexible depending on output (lol!), input etc, so varies between Monday and Tuessday.
Last week I also weighed myself on Thursday as I was seeing the GP.

I might weigh myself again tomorrow (didn't Monday), as, umm, there had been considerably more 'output' after I had weighed myself this am (ferkin' meal replacement drinks seem to give me the sh**s, - put it like this "Never, ever trust a fart" c/o Kazbo from another forum).
The good news is that I am the SAME (pre-sh**s today, mind you) as last this time week (I had dropped lower on Thurs when I had weighed myself before going to the Drs, ).
However, my body fat % has dropped by %1% 0.5%?
I AM only around the 5' mark (1.535 m) and am back to 44.5 kg, up from (ferk'!  frightened me!) 43.5 kg last Thurs).
Finding it awfully hard to get clothes to fit, + I have hideous arms (think wrinkles and saggy on the outer bit, as well as saggy on the 'bat wings' and you get the gist).
Did an Op Shop trawl this arvo - got more for the Foster Greyhounds (Greyhound Adoptions WA) that I can adapt than I did for me.  I just need some more long pants and T-shirts with decent long sleeves. 
I'm down to about a AGE 8/9 YEAR OLD BOYS.
One of my friends, (now a real one), off another site, (bandingtogether.com, I have the same user name, this site also includes sleevers, and geographical e.g. WA as well), was quite surprised how much loose skin I was hiding under my clothes once she saw me in various stages of undress.
I HAVE been using supplemental meal replacement drinks (ie protein + multi-vitamins and minerals) in the am with prescribed medication; + whole egg mayo + avocado + "seedy crackers" + full-fat cheese, tomatos, 'Promite'  etc. 'meals' (nom-nom!).
Tomorrow I am going to cook a duck ($16.00, 2 kgm on special at Coles!!!) on my "EasyCook Original 717 ".  At the moment duckie is in the fridge, uncovered, in preparation for becoming Chinese "Crispy Skin Duck" or "Peking Duck". Oh my goodness, can't wait!!! Nom-nom!

Shrinking Violet wrote:

My new surgeon has refused to operate because my bone marrow failure is too bad. This surgeon has referred me to yet another surgeon......I'm not hopeful. I'm managing to maintain my current weight which is as good as I'm hoping for at the moment. I'm supplementing with a protein drink too....I hate it but it's working.

I have always been able to eat cheese since about a month post op. I can also eat tomato (skin taken off) and cruskits, mashed potato and mashed pumpkin. Sometimes it stays down, sometimes it doesn't. I'm also living on paddle pops. I just can't eat anything more solid. Im at about liquid/puréed stage on the post op diet and I'm almost three years out. I can live on this but it's not a quality of life I had the surgery for. I quite often don't eat because I just can't face yet another pureed anything! It's also not a nutritious way of eating. I do get hungry....but the thought of the hours of vomiting that happens when the food gets stuck is enough to stop me giving in to the hunger. It's like a slow torture.

OMG!!!  Bone marrow failure!!  How did THAT happen?
I bet that you were incredibly disappointed when your new surgeon said that s/he wouldn't operate.
Your hideous way of life just tears my heart apart for you :(
Big virtual hug, that's all I can offer sorry.

My new surgeon has refused to operate because my bone marrow failure is too bad. This surgeon has referred me to yet another surgeon......I'm not hopeful. I'm managing to maintain my current weight which is as good as I'm hoping for at the moment. I'm supplementing with a protein drink too....I hate it but it's working.

I have always been able to eat cheese since about a month post op. I can also eat tomato (skin taken off) and cruskits, mashed potato and mashed pumpkin. Sometimes it stays down, sometimes it doesn't. I'm also living on paddle pops. I just can't eat anything more solid. Im at about liquid/puréed stage on the post op diet and I'm almost three years out. I can live on this but it's not a quality of life I had the surgery for. I quite often don't eat because I just can't face yet another pureed anything! It's also not a nutritious way of eating. I do get hungry....but the thought of the hours of vomiting that happens when the food gets stuck is enough to stop me giving in to the hunger. It's like a slow torture.

Shrinking Violet wrote:

You may have to do what I do....drink your calories. Yep, I hate it. I really hate the taste of Sustagen, Resource etc. They make me gag, but at the moment, I am relying on them to keep me alive.

Three Resource drinks a day is over a thousand calories, all your protein requirements and along with a multivitamin, pretty much all your nutritional needs. Then you only have to eat a minimal amount to maintain. (I can eat cheese).

Thanks @ShrinkingViolet :)
I kicked off today with a supplement drink (took about an hour to drink) instead of a coffee.
I'm going to make that my new strategy, and try to get another in in the afternoon.
And gotta admit that I do not feel as 'feeble" that I normally do in the ams, 'cos I can't face breakfast until about 1030.

I AM lucky, in that, unlike you :(  I don't have anything structurally wrong with me, and CAN still eat, albeit tiny amounts. 
Hey great that you can now eat cheese!  What else can you eat? and what is happening with you? 

I was amazed on another forum that I am on that there is a guy who I think that he was sleeved in May, so that makes at least 3 months after me! - and he is managing a whole sandwich with two slices of bread for lunch!  Holy doly!  That's what I used to have for lunch BEFORE I was sleeved lol! (mind you, I used to stuff it with lettuce and/or grated carrot so it was bulky).

I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were eating vegetables and fruit. I thought you were avoiding them too.

You may have to do what I do....drink your calories. Yep, I hate it. I really hate the taste of Sustagen, Resource etc. They make me gag, but at the moment, I am relying on them to keep me alive.

Three Resource drinks a day is over a thousand calories, all your protein requirements and along with a multivitamin, pretty much all your nutritional needs. Then you only have to eat a minimal amount to maintain. (I can eat cheese).

At least, that's what I'm doing at the moment.

I'm sure your dietician will have better advice.

Shrinking Violet wrote:

I think you've just answered you're own question as to how to maintain/increase your weight. Don't avoid carbs!

Avoiding a whole food group is not a balanced diet.

Are you sure you really want to maintain really? I think by focusing on not eating particular things, you may be developing a potential for swapping one eating disorder for another. Apparently this is a known entity, post sleeve.

Hey thank you Shrinking Violet for getting back.
You know that I have a lot of respect and admiration for you.
And appreciate that despite all your horrors, you have taken the time and energy to reach out to me, thank you :)


I'm not avoiding all carbs, just sugar and refined ones...ones that have a nasty effect on blood sugar levels by inducing insulin resistance (been there, done that...)
:)
If I had the appetite right now (and I have eaten, so haven't) if you plonked a piece of roasted pumpkin in front of me, you wouldn't see it disappear lol!

Hard to break long-standing habits, due to IBS + ME/CFS, I have been gluten-free for 13 years and couldn't afford to buy 'gluten-free' bakery products in all this time, so just did without.
I DO eat vegetables, nuts - including coconut products and seeds. And fruits.  I also have no fear of saturated fat or Omega 3s. (PUFAS are known to cause inflammation).
And my dietician basically endorsed a low-carb diet post-op, as did the physician and surgeon...

Plus also I have such a small intake, my first priority is to get protein in - and then I am struggling.

It's just that I KNOW that I had problems with sugar and refined carbs, just find them addictive - have some, feel yucky, have more to try to feel better etc etc etc!

Yes, I DO acknowledge that I more than likely have undiagnosed "Disorganised Eating".  40 years of trying to control my weight :(

I think you've just answered you're own question as to how to maintain/increase your weight. Don't avoid carbs!

Avoiding a whole food group is not a balanced diet.

Are you sure you really want to maintain really? I think by focusing on not eating particular things, you may be developing a potential for swapping one eating disorder for another. Apparently this is a known entity, post sleeve.

Yeah I avoid sugar and refined carbs like the plague!
I have also had a change in food tastes, and protein bars no longer appeal to me.

I have been making "Seedy Crackers" for a couple of weeks and made "The life-changing loaf of bread" (substituted almond meal for the oatmeal as I am gluten-free, left out the chia as it can make stuff taste 'fishy' & I haven't been able to get it to a texture less than millet lol! and also added some soaked whole flax seed as I had accidentally put in ground flaxseed instead of whole.  Also put in some eggs, baking powder and yeast - and whacko - into the EasyCook!).

"The life-changing loaf of bread"  This loaf uses whole grains, nuts, and seeds. It is high in protein. It is incredibly high in fibre. It is gluten-free and vegan. Everything gets soaked for optimal nutrition and digestion. I will go so far as to say that this bread is good for you. But you might ask yourself how the heck this bread holds itself together without any flour. Nice observation, and the answer is psyllium seed husks. Psyllium seed husks are one of nature’s most absorbent fibres, able to suck up over ten times their weight in water. But what does this have to do with bread? Well, the idea here is to use psyllium to bind all these lovely ingredients together without resorting to flour.
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/life-changing-loaf-bread

But with all that fibre, it, umm, well, does what fibre does best!

I also have still got tiny intake and on the whole, little appetite, so I am still trying to get adequate protein in - and I am failing there..

From what I read you are absolutely focused on not having carbs so perhaps you need to add some more complex carbs in. A balanced diet includes carbs.

This can't really be classed as a complication with the sleeve, but I didn't know where else to post it.

Discounting those folk who truly have had horrendous and life-threatening complications with the sleeve such as Suzy & ShrinkingViolet, is there anyone else out there who had a normal recovery & progress from the sleeve op, but have gone onto lose too much weight?

And if so, what strategies did you use to put healthy weight back on?
I know to include more 'healthy' fats such as avocados, have snacks, and should be having protein drinks.
Seen my GP this am, and I'll drop a line to my dietician and surgeon (dietician didn't want me to go under 45 kg, I did email her last week when I had got to 45.99 kg, but I haven't heard back)
What else can you suggest?
Thanks!

Me.  52 year old female, 1.535m, current weight 43.54 kg, body fat % 21.2, BMI 18.8