Weight lost with RNY

I'm curious to hear from RNY and/or revision vets what your experience is with percentage of excess weight lost after surgery. My doc gave me the stand "expect to lose up to 50% of your excess weight." Is that the expectation you were given? And, is that true for you - a loss of 50%? I know everyone's story is different, I'm just interested in knowing what real people in my situation have found to be true. My doc also gave the disclaimer that 50% is only intended to be an average - that I could lose more or less than that. And I know it all depends on a lifestyle change from me. The problem is, my goal weight is another 40 pounds beyond the average. I don't want to go into surgery already feeling discouraged. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

I always assumed that the 50% figure was for long term weight lost, like 5 years.

I am a revision and my surgeon told me that I may not lose any weight at all.  I was having the revision for reasons other then regain, although I did regain most of the excess weight.

I don't know if he told me that because I had failed so miserably the first time out or what.  I expected to lose very slowly, if at all.

I was fine with not losing any weight by that point.  I was so sick that I would have been happy to just feel better and not gain any more weight.

As it turned out, I lost weight faster then I had the first time.  I have no idea why except that I had a lot of restriction.  

Your rate of loss and maintenance of that loss is totally up to you and how well you take advantage of your tool.  If you don't make changes in your eating then you can expect the same results that you got the first time.

Man am I glad to read your journey.. RNY 2002 as well. Hope my Doctor will do revision this year. Really gratefully to hear there is hope.

Hi,

i think I'm a little ahead of you. I had lapband surgery March 2007 and needed to lose 200 lbs for normal BMI. I lost close to 100 pounds and maintained an 80 pound loss through my revision surgery at the end of October 2015 due to the band slipping. So pre revision surgery I gave myself a goal of 100 lbs but to be at a normal BMI I would need to lose a total of 120 lbs. My revision surgeon said I should expect to lose 50-60% of my excess weight so between 50-70 pounds.

I'm 8 months post surgery and I've lost 68 pounds so far. The loss was fast during the first few months and then seemed to slow down around the 6 month marker. I met with my Nutritionist who said I shoul either try a liquid diet or restrict my calories for a week to shake things up. I kept my calories between 800-900 for a week plus and the weight started to drop consistently again. I'm in a good weight loss phase now and am being very conscientious about what and how much I eat - I keep a daily food journal and monitor my calories with a goal of 1,000 - 1,200 per day and feel fine if I eat less on some days.

So I keep telling myself that I won't let 50-60% be the end for me. This is my second surgery, so it's time to get it done right. I'm working hard and hope I get closer to my goal. It's really great to see the scale move so I've been enjoying the ride. I also feel great! 

Good luck to you on your journey. 

Thanks for your response!  We do seem to be on a similar path.  You have done great - keep up the good work!!

Sonja

I was so happy to read your post I had my revision from I had RNY in 2000 and regained my surgeon didn't do anything to my pouch but made my intestines only 3 inches long. The first 2 1/2 months I did really good and then my husband had surgery and got sepsis and was in the hospital for 2 months (with an open stomach wound and fistula which he still has) he is home now but still not back at work or 100% he has a colonoscopy bag and special IV that feeds him. So needless to say taking care of myself is not top of my list. I have gone from 175 to 140 and Dr.. Bruce was happy with that and said my weight loss now would be very slow. But I am NOT HAPPY at all and feel like I am failing. Do you have any suggestion for me??? Do you think I should try a liquid diet for a week to jump start myself which would be a good thing to do now since he isn't eating and my daughter is out of town. Then go into soft food etc.? I could start to keep a food diary and be more careful of what I put into my mouth and start to exercise as we'll. I feel like I'm not eating that much but maybe it's what I'm eating that is the problem. Any thoughts?? Please any advise or help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. You can also email me directly at [email protected].

Thanks Dot

Wow - you and your hubby have been through it!  I'm not sure what advice I can offer since I haven't yet had my surgery.  However, since you did have RNY previously, I imagine you already know the right things to do.  If your surg didn't give you a meal plan/diet to follow, I would find one online.  Starting on full liquids to jumpstart weightloss is probably a good thought, moving on to mushy/pureed, then to more solid foods.  Definitely track everything you put in your mouth.  I have found even in the pre-surgery phase that this is essential to success.  At 140, exercise - or at least walking shouldn't be difficult.  If time is the issue, maybe just walk around your block a few times, or even to one corner and back repeatedly.  It will get you moving and help the scale move as well.  Best of luck to you!!

Sonja

Hi Dotty,

You are on the right path. I like the liquid diet idea, but I still haven't recovered from living on shakes for three weeks after surgery. i can't even think about doing that again. But if you could for a week I'm sure that would shake things up. I chose to reduce my calories for a week plus and that worked well for me. I went from 1200 calories a day to 800-900 calories per day. With my newly reduced stomach, I'm really not physically hungry (I still have head hunger) so dropping my portion sizes didn't bother me.

I'm not sure why you would want to transition to soft foods. You could eat a lot of calories with soft food so I think a liquid diet "shake-up" and then back to tracking your calories will be good for your body. My target calorie count is 1,000 - 1,200 per day. Don't forget to focus on protien. I think that helps feel full longer.

In order to track your eating I agree that you should journal your food. The apps these days make it so easy, you can even scan the barcode of a food you ate and the nutritional information comes right up. I use Livestrong and I like it.

Best of luck to you and your husband!

Thanks so much I think next week I will try the liquid diet and then do the soft diet and then do 1,00 to 1,200 cal and use the livestrong app to keep count of my cals. Thanks so much. I wish you continued Success. I'm also going to begin going to the gym next week and that should help as well. I know that exercise is just as important.

Thank you again.  Continued good luck to you as well.

T

No advice, just hugs for what you and your husband are going through. Hope things get better.