Gastric Bypass: Stories

I am a success. I've lost nearly all of my excess weight and kept it off. But the future is uncertain regarding my health.

Roux en y gastric bypass surgery gave me the opportunity to lose the weight, and the opportunity to maintain the loss if I keep myself focused in terms of eating.

Many years post op, calories are simply calories and metabolically, you can only eat so much without needing to burn them off.

I am very restricted in what I can actually eat because I react to food due to dumping, reactive hypoglycemia, late dumping and food intolerances. But, otherwise, I can pretty much eat whatever I choose within reason and be satisfied.

The reactive hypoglycemia that started at 1.5 years post op leaves me in a pattern of up and down blood sugar much the time, so I am often eating every two hours to maintain stability.

The downfall eating more often is weight regain for some people, be aware of what you're eating in those mini-feedings.

I have had a couple regains, once with pregnancy, once with a medical issue that required a medication that triggered weight gain. Both times I lost the weight. I know that regain is likely and will occur again, but I believe that I will be of an average/slight overweight size through my middle age.

My biggest concern is that I have developed other conditions that may or may not be directly related to my roux en y gastric bypass, and they have impacted my life so dramatically, that I am now disabled and at home full time.