10 months Post-Op - struggling with weight gain and stomach upset

Hi there

I haven't been around for a while. I am now 10 months post op and am healing very well. I resumed normal eating quite quickly and was back at the gym after 3 months, however, I still experienced pain in my stomach wall when doing hard aerobics for a further 3 months.

The problem I am experiencing now is that I have had terrible stomach upset/wind for a long while which I just accepted as part of the side effects until I realised it only happened when I ate certain foods. I am now in the process of excluding potatoes, tomatoes and peppers, which is helping a lot but I'm now experiencing what I think is called gastric dumping...it comes on unexpectedly and quickly where I'll have stomach pains and diarrhoea, both times when I've either had chocolate or some cake. As an added complication, I am also wheat and oat intolerant (I've had this for many years).

Onto another thing, I eat healthily and I work out - a lot! But, I cannot stop the weight from adding on! I was put on a pre-op diet and lost 1.5 stone in 6 weeks, and perhaps a few more llbs following surgery...well it has all come back on and more!! Prior to surgery I had been steadily losing weight for a few years, losing 7 stone. As you might guess, this is really distressing me now, I have tried slimming world, Joe Wickes (who I followed pre-op), the starvation diet I lost so much weight on and nothing works..the scales just go up, sometimes as much as 7lbs in a week. I'm really starting to panic that the wrap might fail due to this added weight. I just don't know what to do anymore.

any help/advice or reassurance would be very much appreciated

Hi. It has been suggested to me that I may also be lactose intolerant, which would explain a lot. Also, I have just realised that the foods I am having problems with now are the same foods I couldn't keep down for a number of years pre-op...mashed potatoes, pasta, ice cream, milky deserts etc...I would reflux them all back up within half an hour of eating them.

Lisa:
Just as a suggestion of something you can look into regarding your challenges that might help. After surgery I had a difficult time with my nutrition and since I don't feel hunger I will under eat and don't have enough energy to support my active life. I use a web service called Avatar Nutrition that provides guidance on how much to eat based on my goals. Just a simple breakdown of protein, carbs and fats. They don't tell you what foods to eat. You choose that. Since I'm lactose intolerant and other foods cause me bloating I need to be selective about what foods I eat. What you might consider when you look at the information is the reverse diet setting. I mention that because if you have a history of dieting and caloric restriction it's very likely your metabolism is adapted to lower calories and any increase in calories causes rapid weight gain. The reverse dieting goal helps you adapt the other direction so you can increase calories and limit(not eliminate) weight regain for a period of time. Then after your body adjusts to higher calories you can resume a controlled diet phase that should be more sustainable long term.

I'm just a customer of the service and it's helped me. I'm not affiliated with the company in any way. They also have an excellent support staff and a facebook group. It does have a $10 monthly subscription that you can cancel at any time.

If you start using the service you'll need to get up to speed with tracking your food choices. There are phone apps that can help with that. It's the one downside but you get better at it the more you use it as a tool.

I totally relate to the food challenges even 6 months post op. Just yesterday I tried marinara sauce and started having hoarseness and tightness in my throat. Bloating is my number one issue so I'm really careful about the foods I eat. It's more manageable now but I keep Gas-x in my pocket at all times.

Best regards,
-Mark


https://www.avatarnutrition.com/