Can someone please explain this magical weight loss window thing to me?

[Marquis Mark]

I've read many posts that say something like, "Lose as much as you can as fast as you can because the magical weight loss window will be gone in 18-24 months."

I understand the intestines adapt and, in time, absorb more. But, since they will never absorb anything like before what's the rush? I mean, once they adapt and you're eating too much you'll put back weight regardless so what difference does it make?

It's just a logic gap I can't explain to myself, so can anybody explain the physiology behind this axiom?

 

[DSRIGGS]

My personal opinion is that early on (first few years) you would really have to work hard to sabotage the effect of the DS because it is going to do what it is going to do. By working hard I mean not taking proper supplements and eating very little protein......and if you did that you would be miserable all the time.

Longer term it seems logical to me that the body comes back into an equilibrium and we will hover +/- 10% or so around that weight. JMO and the longer term vets have more experience so they can speak to the out years, but like everything with the DS it always holds true that, YMMV.

 

[DianaCox]

Your metabolism also adjusts for the starvation and slows down, just like it did after EVERY diet you've ever been on.

 

[Marquis Mark]

I guess what's confusing me is this: Say you have a really good soldier who loses 100 pounds the first 24 months. Then say you have a less dutiful one who loses 80 pounds in the first 24 months. Now, it's two years later and their systems have adapted and their metabolisms slowed.

BUT they both still have DS malabsorption, so, assuming both the good and bad soldier were fed exactly the same diet starting at 24 months out, wouldn't they sooner or later wind up at the same weight regardless?

 

[DSRIGGS]

A lot of assumptions is I think the answer to your question mark. You are assuming they both started at the same BMI, had the same DS, have the same hypertrophy of thrcAL And CC, atr the same diet, etc. We aren't all the same and any of those variables wull throw things off.

I think to your original point, that we do settle into an equilibrium and our DS is going to do its thing and each of us will find our own equilibrium. I have always said that I am along for the ride and short of surgery or meds like Creon, there isn't a tremendous amount we are going to do to control it these first few years.

 

[Marquis Mark]

Yes, lots of assumptions. I just can't figure out why so many people say that. For myself, the only thing I've been trying to ensure is that I get as close to 150 gm protein, 150 fat, and 30 gm of fiber a day. I'll be honest and say I haven't been paying much attention to the carbs (many days it's been over 200) But I'm losing 1-2 pounds a week now that's fine with me. If I see that slow down too much or stall for an extended period, I'll look at the carbs then. I'm only two months out and have lost 42 pounds of the 94 I'd like to lose. I think the slower I lose the less likely I am to develop gallbladder issues, kidney stones, etc., but, at the same time, I want get to goal. So I'm just trying to figure this all out. ..

 

[DSRIGGS]

I follow a very similar philosophy as you, but I don't count or worry about fiber or fat. It sounds like you are doing well and have a handle on things.

 

[DuodenalSwitchaRoo]

Sounds like you are having a great honeymoon! Enjoy it as it doesn't last and some of us never got one at all!!!

 

[Razbry]

And then there are many of us who settle in at what they think is their final weight, and up to a couple years later...10 more lbs fall off. It's an interesting surgery!

 

[southernlady]

That "magic window" is also a time to make sure you are eating the correct way for a DS. Many have to learn this. Eating all that protein and fat and going low carb is a total 180 from all the diet advice we've heard all our lives.

 

[Marquis Mark]

I follow a very similar philosophy as you, but I don't count or worry about fiber or fat. It sounds like you are doing well and have a handle on things.

The only reason I'm counting fat and fiber now is because of my anal fissure episode at week four. However, increasing the fiber led to an increase in carbs (Prunes and other sources of fiber). While the weight loss slowed a bit it hasn't (yet) had the effect of stopping it so I'm OK with the carbs for now.

 

[aaa]

My surgeon explained it this way, "Your body fights to get back to normal over the years. Given what's been done, it's not possible but it will still try and make whatever changes it can to do so."

Certainly things aren't the same for me as they were that first 18 mos. My body has adjusted and I have had to do the same. However, it never will be as it was preop.

 

[DSRIGGS]

My surgeon explained it this way, "Your body fights to get back to normal over the years. Given what's been done, it's not possible but it will still try and make whatever changes it can to do so."

Certainly things aren't the same for me as they were that first 18 mos. My body has adjusted and I have had to do the same. However, it never will be as it was preop.

I think your surgeon is dead on with that analysis.

 

[Marquis Mark]

I think your surgeon is dead on with that analysis.

It is a good analyses, but I'm still trying to figure out this magic window thing which seems to imply that the weight you lose in the first two years is permanently yours.

 

[DSRIGGS]

It is a good analyses, but I'm still trying to figure out this magic window thing which seems to imply that the weight you lose in the first two years is permanently yours.

I am not sure what you are struggling with, Mark (I don't mean that to sound snotty by the way). Two years (1224 months) is generally in the industry thought of as the period when one loses their weight...it takes time to get it off, some shed their weight in 12 months, others take more like 2 full years or more....It is also the time it seems to take (generalizing) for the villi in our absorbing small intestine to grow back (hypertrophy) to the point where it settles into equilibrium where it will for the most part be the rest of our lives (nowhere near the absorption we had pre ds but a bit more than the first 2 years).

So I think two things happen. Our bodes shed the excess weight, and then our bodies maintain that weightloss with our new "settled in" guts for the rest of our lives. At this point we are more like normies in that we have to watch what we eat or we will gain some more weight than we want, and the vets seem to find that comes from excessive carbs. Carbs do not cause any weight gain for me now, but do make my gut ache if I over do it and it can cause rough gas and the shits....but for most of the longer term vets they find that if they overdo the carbs they gain weight (not a bunch but 10-25 pounds) and to get it back where they want the weight to be they have to eat more protein, exercise and eat less carbs...but it does come back into the range they want to be in.

I think in general it is pretty safe to say that if we eat decently we are going to stay in a pretty darn healthy state at our desired weight, but even if we eat poorly we aren't going to reach fatassville where we used to reside.