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I was very involved in a couple WLS communities back before and after I had surgery in 2003. Here is what I remember: There are as many eating plans as there are surgeons. Eat 3 meals a day. 6 meals a day, Drink protein. Don't drink protein. Eat this. Don't eat this. Don't drink with meals. It's OK to drink with meals. And on and on. What the successful people did is follow their plan, whatever it was. Most of us were horrible at following plans pre-op, it's how we got where we were. So it's a big ask for us to do it post-op. The plan seems less important than the mental commitment to follow a plan, period. My 'adjustments' to plan: 1. Make sure to follow my plan. Meaning, meals of appropriate size, content, and frequency. Too little and I would get hungry between meals. I made them as appetizing and flavorful as possible. I discovered that trying to 'kick-start' anything resulted in failure. I discovered trying to eat less to increase weight loss resulted in (you guessed it) failure. 2. Distraction: Do something to occupy my mind completely. 3. Move. I didn't 'exercise' at all. Exercise for it's own sake was boring and painful. So, I just worked at doing stuff I liked: shopping, people-watching, museums, conventions. Anything that was out of the house, interesting, and time consuming. 4. Sugar Free Popsicles. Between meals they take several minutes to eat, my urge was satisfied, no damage to plan, and it was effectively drinking. 5. Drink. Water is good. So is SF Koolaid. Ice Tea. Variety helped me drink more, and flavors again helped satisfy urges to eat. Even now, while I can drink anything, I still go for non-sugar options. 6. [ETA] I was so big I could not fit on any scale but the one at the Docs office. This was a blessing because I couldn't see progress or lack of progress. After I could weigh at home, I still didn't because I didn't care by that point. The scale doesn't tell me what I need to know: Am I eating and feeling well? Are my clothes fitting? Why not? Adjust. I still only weigh when asked to at medical appointments. The first 12 months are when lifetime habits were built. Now, it's ingrained.

I had no intention to exercise. Exercise was boring and very painful. After about 2 months and 60+ pounds I felt lighter and wanted to try moving around more. I started walking about more. Went down on the strip, malls, museums, aquariums. Just around and people watching. Eventually we were walking about 8 miles several times a week. But exercise? No way. After about 10 months and 200+ pounds, I just felt like I had and abundance of energy. Almost floating, it seemed. I thought I'd see if I could run. I bought "Idiots guide to running" which had a program to run 30 minutes in 30 days, and managed to complete it. I listened to audio books to pass the time. But exercise? No way. Month 13 and 250+ pounds down, I was still running. Listening to the Dark Tower (7 books), so runs got longer until I was running 90 miles per week. Over the next year I ran 5 marathons. I never did exercise. Exercise is boring and an obligation. I didn't have surgery to live on a diet and do things I never wanted or enjoyed doing. Walking, then running, was a joy. Do you.

"Is that all you're eating?" Why do you ask? "Don't you like the food?" Why do you ask? They will give up.

I had 5.5 weeks off, but could have gone back much earlier. I wanted to be back on solid food, as no-one I worked with knew I was having surgery. If you have a desk job you should be fine. Goodluck!

I’m two weeks post, and took off 3 weeks. Everyone’s different, but I definitely could not have returned to work after one week, and I work from home, due to he pandemic. Others in the forum have indicated a return after a week, so it’s definitely possible, don’t be discouraged, the good news is your boss is willing to work with you, but if it’s option look into short term disability, or see if your boss will allow you to be in the negative with your leave. Good luck!

Ugh. I hated the “concern” people around me always had about my eating habits. I just said, “yup, I’m watching what I eat”, or “no thanks, I’m watching what I eat”, and tried to change topics to something about them. Thankfully the concern has more or less stopped at 2 years out. They are all used to it now.

I have PS scheduled for January which will be 13 months after my surgery. Am I rushing? Yes! I don't care though! LOL! I've lived in a body I've hated for too long, and I want to wear a bikini while I'm still in my 40s. If I lose more weight, etc, I'll just go back for a "touch up" later. Heck, I'm already thinking about what I want for surgery #2 (and maybe #3??) After joining a few PS boards, I see that there are lots of ladies on there who didn't have WLS who are all trying to drop a few pounds prior to their surgery, so it's not just WLS patients that deal with what the "ideal weight" for PS is. Good luck!!

I'm now 14 months out and I too am still happy with my 600 calories. I get 70 - 80 g. of protein, and my snacks might be a grape or two. I'm more than thrilled and walking every day for the first time in 20 years. I even bought a pair of "faux" leather leggings and they looked really good on this 74-year-old granny. Love the journey.

I lost 11lbs. in two weeks. I did have a cracker here and there and one piece of pizza. I know, I know!

Hello. I am new here. 17 years post-op RNY. I dump. There are two types of dumping, 'early stage' and 'late stage': Early Stage I don't remember the effects because I don't do this much. For me, it only involves brow sweating, usually soon enough to cue me to stop eating. For me, not a big deal. Sorry, my memory isn't what it used to be. Late Stage (for me) takes about an hour to start. I get lethargic, light headed, sleepy, and whole body flop sweaty. Then intestinal distress, then diarrhea. Recently, one of my meds also caused me to pass out and made every effect worse. All in all an exciting time I could and strive to live without. After all this time I generally know my body's limits and go months and years between episodes. When it get's me is when I feel under the weather or haven't eaten well for days and I don't notice and adjust. Hope this helps, Tek