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At my top weight of 375lbs in 1999, I had gastric bypass surgery. I maintained a 200lb weight loss for about 6 years (with great struggle). I'm wondering about w30 expertise on this topic. Because I have an altered GI system, are there any special guidelines for me? How about issues with nutrient absorption? Is there anyone out there with similar questions?

 

 

Hi, Sharon -- congratulations on your first 9 days, and on already seeing some results.

 

No one here is a doctor, so we can't give you medical advice, all we can do is give you some general information. There have been several members who have had weight loss surgery of some kind -- google Whole30 weight loss surgery or Whole30 gastric bypass to find past discussions about that.

 

For special guidelines, the biggest issue most people who have had wls have is not being able to eat enough in just three meals, because they can't eat that much at one time. You don't mention it, but if that is the case for you, it's okay to eat more than three meals a day. The meal template is designed based on the amount of food an adult typically needs over the course of a day. In other words, you need at least three template meals a day -- or the equivalent amount of food, if you have to break it up into more meals. 

 

If you do have issues eating enough volume of food at each meal, you probably want to make your meals as nutrient dense as possible. Focus on getting in protein, fat, and veggies, and limit the fruit to an occasional thing. Cooked vegetables will get more vegetable into less space, if that makes sense, plus cooked vegetables can be easier on digestion than raw ones, so have mostly cooked vegetables instead of raw ones. 

 

As far as nutrient absorption, that's something you probably need to talk to your doctor about. Do you have known problems with it? If you do, then your doctor's orders for dealing with that will trump Whole30 rules -- in other words, if your doctor has prescribed a medicine, vitamin, or supplement, even if it isn't compliant, keep taking it unless your doctor says it's okay not to take it. 

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Sharon, I have 4 relatives with a Gastric Bypass...not the sleeve.   Three of them had their surgery 10 years ago and one last month.  They went through counseling and the usual pre-surgery preparations.   No one really prepared them how to live like waaaay into their futures.  

 

They did not realize that rebound weight gain was a real possibility and that their bodies could once again adapt to eating food.   It happened and two have gained it all back.   Their struggles have been like climbing Mt. Everest.  

 

Overall well being is not a ridiculous fantasy.  It can happen with  changing one tiny habit.   You can succeed, Sharon.

 

When you change your whole perspective...it's no longer Mt. Everest but a pile of stones that you move one by one.   You don't have to heave all of them with supernatural strength.  One at a time.

First one wasn't so bad and now, Sharon,  you're stoked.

 

You can't look to the left or right.  You can't even listen to your closest friends or relatives...."what good is any of this going to get you?"

 

Mind your own weight and leave everyone else out of it.

 

The Whole 30 is only 30 days.   It is a Food Reset but the Mind Reset for your future is every bit as valuable.   It's the takeaway that you really want from a Whole 30.    The Mind Reset will take longer than 30 days.   There is no Finish Line with the mind.

 

This forum is loaded with threads and articles written by Melissa and Dallas that can help you.  You're going to have to really dig in and search the backroads of this forum.   It will keep your hands and mind occupied when cravings try to sabotage your Whole 30.

 

We are living in the day of extreme sports where people leap from helicopters onto snowboards and carve their way down Mt. Everest.  Everyone and their cousin is doing a marathon in every state and two on Sunday while carrying heavy backpacks. 

 

Do not compare yourself to anyone...ever.

 

A person who goes for a walk or takes a hike feels the need to put the word "just" in front of their accomplishment.   As in,   I JUST walked down the road for 1/2 hour or an hour and I wasn't even walking fast.

 

But let me tell you, sister....you got dressed and walked for an hour at some speed above completely still.

 

Tiny steps for tiny feet.   Start today.   Walk to the mailbox and then further up the road.   If your feet hurt, you can tape the bottoms of your feet with sports tape in lengthwise strips.   It helps with the tender feet or pain on the bottom of the heels.   Eventually, you won't need that tape.

 

Start the Whole 30 and  read everything you can get your hands on.  It's all right here.   I also believe in pulling what we need from a bunch of different sources.

 

A bunch of sugar avoidance

A tad of intuitive eating

A sense of humor

An embracement of simplicity

A whopping boatload of self-like-love

A willingness to make up words like embracement

 

 

 

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Thank you MeadowLily!!! Xo

I know SharonKayMoore you will truly benefit by this W30 and its forum We wish you best of luck and yes you've found a home here

I too have a first cousin younger than I with stomach surgery she was in her 30s at the time lost a significant amount of weight and too maintained with a struggle She went through that got married then divorced then lost her mother, my Aunt So they continue to struggle with the loses and whatever life throws at them

We have other cousins with the same issues but no surgery

I pray everything will work out It always does

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What is everyone's thoughts on exercise?  I was thinking of joining Curves just to get myself moving.  I walk alot at work but would love to do some sort of weight circuit.  I really think it would improve my mood too. 

 

Hi Katiepea83! 

 

This attempt at W30/W60 happened to correspond with some time off this summer, so I commited to getting back to the Y. I can't tell you what a difference getting some regular exercise has made for me. I have come to realize that no matter how much weight I have to lose or how discouraged I get about "backsliding" when I'm done with the W30, healthy regular movement is absolutely critical to my well-being. My mood and anxiety are improved. 

 

I do water exercise with people 15-25 years older than myself..it's funny how proud I am that I can keep up :D

I've also started a "lift very heavy and slow" program that I think is going to be right up my alley. 

 

I know I'm privileged to have a body that allows me to exercise, and that not everyone is in the same situation. But for anyone who doesn't have something stopping them, I highly recommend it. It is saving my life. 

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I'm 46 and have been fat pretty much since puberty. I don't know how much weight I have to lose because I don't weigh myself and if I think about the number it drives me a little batty. Health has been my goal and focus, supposedly, but secretly I keep wishing I was having the "oh my clothes are too big" problem that so many other people on W30 seem to have. 

 

This time, I'm on day 16 and my pants are fitting EXACTLY the same. I know this plan isn't for weight loss, I tell myself that over and over, but...yet.... :(

 

I feel like I'm doing ok with food, but I've just started logging it today to see if I'm actually doing as well as I think. If anything, I need more vegetables. My sleep is good, I'm meditating to control stress, I'm getting regular movement in. I guess I'm just impatient. I have a theory that my body actually reflects what I was doing two weeks ago, so if some reorganization is coming, it should start showing up any day now. 

 

I'm just going to keep going and trust the program. There's nothing I'm eating that's not real, honest, whole food. So no matter what else happens, even if I don't shift an ounce, I've certainly done my body a lot of good by feeding it this way. 

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Misshannaah - I think I hear what you're saying about the shift in eating habits. I really love the emphasis on healthy whole foods in W30, too. I also appreciate the emphasis on conscious eating.

 

I have to admit that it took me until I answered 'yes' to about 10 or 12 of compliant W30 days before I began to really get a good feel for how much other stuff I would have loaded up on during those days had I not been on the program. 

 

Even when I went by my local organic grocery store I had to pass up arguably healthy 'treats' that aren't allowed on the program I thought about things that I would have usually eaten out of pure mindless desire and pleasure (yeah baby!), not out of hunger or nutritional need. I think this experience with W30 will help me break some of my binge eating habits in the long term, as long as I embrace that as a goal and decide that I want to change that pattern of behavior.

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I'm 46 and have been fat pretty much since puberty. I don't know how much weight I have to lose because I don't weigh myself and if I think about the number it drives me a little batty. Health has been my goal and focus, supposedly, but secretly I keep wishing I was having the "oh my clothes are too big" problem that so many other people on W30 seem to have. 

 

This time, I'm on day 16 and my pants are fitting EXACTLY the same. I know this plan isn't for weight loss, I tell myself that over and over, but...yet.... :(

 

I feel like I'm doing ok with food, but I've just started logging it today to see if I'm actually doing as well as I think. If anything, I need more vegetables. My sleep is good, I'm meditating to control stress, I'm getting regular movement in. I guess I'm just impatient. I have a theory that my body actually reflects what I was doing two weeks ago, so if some reorganization is coming, it should start showing up any day now. 

 

I'm just going to keep going and trust the program. There's nothing I'm eating that's not real, honest, whole food. So no matter what else happens, even if I don't shift an ounce, I've certainly done my body a lot of good by feeding it this way. 

As MeGa"gardener" says if you'd like to post up a few days worth of your food log we can look and see how you're doing, or if you could be making any tweaks...

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** I was reading through the posts in the 'Medical Condition' section specifically looking for a thread that focused on Whole 30 and Obesity when I stumbled across this series of posts from 2012. I'm sending this note today to see if there is any interest in resuming a discussion about this topic. Do you have questions, comments or concerns to share on this thread? **

Yes please. Is there another discussion going somewhere. I'm not that skilled at navigating the forum

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I've just read this entire strand beginning to end, and I find myself emotional, the intense struggles that so many of us have had just trying to feed our bodies-- the hopelessness, decades of futile efforts that have left us fatter than when we started, knowing we are getting sicker and sicker--whether we are over eating or under eating, the impact on our bodies have been the same.


 


I am realizing, in all my lifetime of trying to control my weight and be healthy, the following idea has never really come together for me:  Eat as much healthy food as satisfies me but only three times a day--and leave everything else alone.


 


I've certainly tried eating all I want of anything I want at any time of day or night--result:  fatter and fatter, sicker and sicker, exhausted.  I've tried severely restricting food to those foods that are "diet" foods (ie. lettuce and diet soda)--result:  thinner but sicker and sicker, less and less muscle tone, exhausted and then regain plus another five.  


 


I've never once, that I can remember, been free of the scale or free of the obsessional worry of where my weight is at any minute of the day or night.


 


What I know for sure is that the more I obsess over how much I eat and how much I lose or gain the sicker I get and the less weight my body will want to give up.  The mind controls the hormones and the cortisol.  All the self imposed stress is killing me.    


 


I've been hanging out here for about six weeks now.  I've been leery of jumping into another "food plan" with rules and various restrictions.  I've been leery of eating so much meat and fat.  I been leery of trying another best-selling "Diet Breakthrough!"  However, when you step back from it, it is just kind of old fashioned common sense.  Three meals a day--protein, veggies, fat and carbs.  Maybe I can just relax and quit fussing about it all and go live my life without all this struggle around feeding myself.  Maybe I can just eat this sensible diet with lots of sensible choices and not worry about what I am not eating. Maybe I can allow a little bit of hunger before the next meal and not freak out.  Maybe I can allow a little bit of being full after a meal and not freak out.  Maybe I can just stop freaking out altogether and give myself the gift of time and relaxation around food.


 


Yea, lets give it a shot. Why not try something completely new and radical!--the eat and not freak out approach!  :)

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Great idea annc

I find W30 so liberating it's been a wonderful alternative and I'll never go back to eating junk or picking it eating through my emotions

This is the only way I've found to cope with my personal struggles It just plain works for me

Please keep up the good work without worrying about the outcome ( as my friend ML says)

You'll be fine

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I posted this message in my original 'welcome' thread, but I read so many supportive messages and got such great feedback over the last two weeks here on this thread that I really wanted to share it here, too.

 

Yesterday was the 30th day of my first Whole 30! I am tickled beyond words!! Thank you to every wonderful person who encouraged me to stick with it! I can’t thank you enough because I’ve learned so much about myself through this process. I don’t think I’ve ever made conscious decisions to shift not only my thinking about nutrition and food choices, but also my emotional responses to those choices, prior to now.

 

So as I transition to the next phase I’m going through the checklist to see what has improved other than the fit of my clothes and the numbers on my scale. I cannot, however, deny that I am very happy with the change on scale! I weighed in at a doctor’s appointment on day 29 and almost kissed the nurse full on the lips when she finished nudging the balance to the left; I lost a total of 24 lbs during my first Whole 30. Not too shabby!

 

The other great outcome is that the inflammation that was causing so much pressure on my deformed foot has been greatly reduced (I have multiple birth defects). I’m scheduled to get a new custom brace next week, and I was started on new medication this week for two of my neurological conditions, so hopefully if I stick with my newly acquired healthy eating habits, and perhaps come back for another W30 soon, my chronic pain levels will continue to fall.

 

Now for me that would be the most fabulous Whole 30 outcome of all ;) 

 

 

Battling Birth Defects For Decades,

KO’d by Neurological Problems and Lupus

http://bit.ly/GrgttGiveForward

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  • 9 months later...

Katie,

I know this stream was from last year but I'd like to know your outcome.

You see, I had gastric bypass 14 years ago. I've been very good about my diet and really haven't gained much since my 100 pound weight loss but I am noticing that I can eat a lot more than I used to be able to. And I'm having a lot more cravings. So I'd like to try Whole 30 to reset my body and habits.

Cindy

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Katie,

I know this stream was from last year but I'd like to know your outcome.

You see, I had gastric bypass 14 years ago. I've been very good about my diet and really haven't gained much since my 100 pound weight loss but I am noticing that I can eat a lot more than I used to be able to. And I'm having a lot more cravings. So I'd like to try Whole 30 to reset my body and habits.

Cindy

Hi Cindy;

 

Katie hasn't been online for almost a year... hopefully she comes back to respond but she may well not.

Whole30 is great for people in your situation to reset your relationship with food!  Welcome here and good luck!

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