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@@Mandy Vachon Try hard not to worry. I know that is easier said than done. You don't have your stats listed so it is hard to know if you might have to jump through a few more hoops. The reality is, you simply jump through each hurdle as it comes. This is not a short process to go through and there will be bumps along the way. The reality is, in the end every hoop and hurdle is worth jumping through! In the meantime, focus more on changing behaviors and habits that will help you post surgery. This process is 90% head and 10% surgery. The surgery will be your tool but the behavior changes are what is needed to be successful long term. You can do this! Just take one day at a time and keep your eye on the prize!

@ You are right, this is a support group and most come on here for support. Others jump on and create drama.... I just have to ask the question.......how is it possible that you know the intent of the posters? Maybe posters are simply looking for support and others are reading more into it? I could read into your post what might not really be there. I like to give the benefit to the poster that they really are reaching out for help. Thats just me......

Congratulations!!! I would just ask when is the last time you lost that much weight in two weeks? Of course, that is excellent. You did not put the weight on that fast and it will not come off that fast either. Besides, slow and steady wins the race. it give your body time to catch up.

I stopped losing at 18 months post op when i hit my goal. And, there is never a day that I am not focused on what i eat and how much i eat. Maintaining has been the hardest stage of all for me. Mostly because at this stage, I can eat more than what i could after the first year and I can eat pretty much anything i want. Of course that doesnt mean i should but on occasion, I have gone off plan. I have found that if i get into a a pattern of that, i gain weight. As soon as i go back to the plan, I am maintaining again. It seems like there is a place where your body is comfortable and that is when you stop losing. For me, that place is somewhere between 158 and 165 because that is where my weight fluctuates. Thankfully that is goal for me. I am now 2 years post op and always fearful of gaining so I have to make good choices every day. Incidentally I have never suffered from dumping prior to this. That being said, there were a few days where i definately ate too much sugar at once (I had some special K cereal). I had a mild version of dumping syndrome and would hate to see a full on dumping because the mild version really sucked. My heart was pounding, i was sweating and felt like crap for about an hour and a half. Not realizing that it was dumping, i had another bowl of Cereal a few days later and the same thing happened. The cereal box is not in the garbage and i wont do that again.

@@lilmiss821 I actually had to take on a major project to earn the money for my surgery. Otherwise, I had the option to use care credit which i applied for and was approved. They have 12 or 18 month 0% financing. Many plastic surgeons offer this as an option. And, yes it is very expensive and my insurance covers absolutely nothing. I am 53 years old and lost nearly half my weight. No amount of exercise will tighten up my skin. The reality is if you want it bad enough, you will figure out a way to make it happen. That is what most of us do given we are not rich and dont have thousands of dollars laying around for plastics. You do what you have to.

I am guessing you are just stalled out a bit. It will catch up as long as you are following the plan. Drink tons and tons of Water, it will help as well. My metabolism was impacted as well. I was on a two week liquid diet similiar to your but i could not have the yogurt. just Protein shakes, broth, sf Jello, sf popsicles. I ended up losing 13lbs by the time i hit surgery day.

@@msleesa I watched your video and of course liked it. I wish you the best of luck with the process and hope you win!

Hopefully when you call, they will tell you not to focus on calories at all. The goal is to focus on the amount of Protein. Because you cannot eat much at this point, they dont worry so much about calories. It will come into play down the road and you should use a program like myfitnesspal for tracking so you know what you are consuming. Best of luck to you!

I definitely never ever let anyone make up my plate. That just wont work long term for you. The reason i say that, as time goes by you will be able to eat more food and because it is there, likely you will. In the beginning I measured everything until i got used to what a real portion for me looks like. Now i can eyeball what food i can eat and am pretty good about not overeating. Even when i order in a restaurant i have learned to ask for a to go box and remove most of the food off of my plate right away. I do this because, i dont want to over eat and for some reason my husband is on a seefood diet. if he sees more food he will eat it. LOL and my weight loss has become his weight gain! So we have gotten good at sharing or stashing the extras away. Just tell Mom you would like to fill your own plate and choose only items you can and should eat. Protein and veggies.... I promise, you will get the hang of this.

I would also say, that bypass is an excellent choice for someone who has severe gerd. I had it so bad that i literally coughed everyday, all day long violently for over a year before my bypass. The day i had my bypass was the first day of the rest of my life. I can eat whatever i want and i do not even get mild heartburn. Not that i do eat whatever I want LOL. I will say since having my bypass i crave spicy foods and never cared for them before because they always made me sick. Now i make chicken taco meat and i spice it up like crazy for me, put it on top of a salad and and I am happy as a clam. I still love food but I am careful about what I choose to eat. It better taste great and be good for me. I really do wish you the best!

@@Vagrant Violet Here is the thing. You probably could lose 100+ on your own. The biggest question is, can you keep it off long term and that is what WLS does for you. I lost hundreds and hundreds of pounds over the years only to put it all back on and then some. And during that time, I never got to a healthy weight. I also screwed up my metabolism doing that over the years. When i finally started to go through menopause, I could no longer lose any weight on my own and it started piling on. Having bypass was the best thing I have ever done for myself. I am thankful everyday. When it comes to your family, they are simply concerned about you and they do not know enough about obesity to guide you. If they did, they would understand that you would struggle to lose all the weight and ultimately keep it off. That extra weight will have impacts on your life that you cannot even imagine. If they cannot be supportive then you need to find someone who is. Like a therapist that specializes in obesity and weight loss surgery. They will help guide you through this. You have worked too hard to quit now. Getting to a surgery date is not easy. Take some time and go talk to someone who can help you. I wish you all the best and if you need anything feel free to reach out.

@@ameme Have you tried talking with a therapist about your feelings? I do know in the beginning it is hard to get past alot of the changes you must make to your life to be successful. Some day, you will look forward to eating again. It comes a bit further down the road but it does come. Use the time with your family not to think about the food but more the conversation. I honestly wish i could have time with my parents again. I lost them both while they were too young. It is one of the reasons i chose to have WLS so that I would be there for my children and grandchildren. Take a deep breath and try to leverage the time you have for reasons other than food. It will get better.

This is very interesting to me, since I also have RA/PsA. When we started discussing biologics, I asked my rheumy's opinion of WLS. She was enthusiastically behind it, citing WLS as many times reducing the inflammatory factors. However, she and my surgeon (and my research) all said that the bypass was NOT a good option for someone with auto-immune because of the complete contraindication for NSAIDs and steroids, where the sleeve only has a relative contraindication for those meds. Not criticising you or your docs, just find it interesting how there are so many differing opinions in the medical community. BTW, biologics are now off the table for me for the forseeable future. My inflammatory factors are down, and we still have dosing room on sulfasalazine and we haven't tried plaquenil yet. Mtx failed and I developed an allergic reaction to it, so at least I don't have to give myself chemo anymore! LOL. So the sleeve has worked amazingly well for me. Not remission, but meds are working better and we're able to avoid the real heavy hitters indefinitely. It is interesting how doctors differ in their opinions. I have autoimmune diseases as well. Medications really truly were the reason i packed on so much weight so quickly. I have Psoriatic Arthritis and hypothyroidism. At the same time, I had a very severe case of GERD causing me to cough every day all day for over a year with no solution. We had to heavily weigh the right choice of surgery for me. GERD is 100% resolved, issues with pain control for my joints are an everyday battle and I can not and will not risk taking any nsaids even with treatment. Because I have Psoriatic arthritis oral steroids are out as well as it kicks up the psoriasis so bad that it has caused serious infections that have caused me to be hospitalized over the years. I also never over ate. However, I ate crap all the time so i was actually malnourished while being morbidly obese. In fact my family and friends could not understand how i was so heavy because they saw how much i ate, they just did not realize that all the carbs were killing me. Anyway, since bypass I am still on biologics (Stelara) and Cyclosporine to keep my Psoriatic arthritis under control. It has been well controlled for the last 2 years so we have slowly be reducing the quantity of those medications. We tried lowering the dose of Stelara over a year ago and I went into a full on several month episode so we increased it back to where it was. We are discussing trying a reduction again in the spring as everything looks like it is going into remission. That being said, anytime i have surgery it seems to kick back up again so we are going to wait until after my plastics in January to try again. The biggest thing about having WLS is the head game. You have to change the way you live and learn to make better choices. I think for the most part i have done this well. Of course there are times when i indulge but 90% of the time, I do have to fight with my head. In the beginning, it was easier for me because even if i did indulge, the weight still came off. Now that I am two years post op, those decisions matter. I will gain or lose based solely on my behaviors. I believe this MUST be true of anyone going through or that has gone through WLS. Yes, some people will lose slower than others - I was one of them. It took me 18 months to lose my excess weight and alot of hard painful work to actually get there. Others have lost their weight of similar proportions within the first 12. I am sort of glad it took me longer, and took me understanding that I am now in the drivers seat, not my pouch. What i choose to put in my body and how often will dictate whether i lose, gain or maintain. If i choose to get no exercise at this point, it will and does have an impact on whether i lose, gain or maintain. I am in the drivers seat......not my surgery. The sooner some people realize this there will be less need for revisions in my opinion. Of course, I am NOT referring to those that have a equipment failure. I personally feel that a surgeon that is considering a revision for those persons who failed to lose the weight (not by malfunctioning equipment/surgery) really do need to see someone to assist with why they have not lost the weight. There is a nurse in my doctors office who had bypass surgery at the same time i did. I know this because she told me and seemed almost upset that I lost all of my weight and she has lost very little. She immediately blamed the surgery for not working. Then proceeded to tell me that her schedule simply did not allow for her to focus on herself so she is unable to get the right Protein and even fluids in her body. She skips meals and then eats whatever is handy in a few minutes in between patients. Ok, that is not the surgery failing, clearly she is still following the same behaviors she was before surgery. Dont get me wrong, I get it....she is taking care of patients. But, there comes a time when we have to be selfish and focus on ourselves if we want to be successful in the end. I literally started taking care of everyone else but me from the time I was 16 years old. I was a working married mother of 2 by the time i was 19 going through a horrible marriage. By 22 I was divorced and a single mother working 3 jobs just to make ends meet. By 25 i was remarried to my wonderful hubby of 29 years and working a high paying very stressful job. I did so well in my career and became the primary breadwinner. Well, then there was the stress of that so again, not taking care of me just working like a crazy person. By the time i was 51 i was in big trouble health wise and was literally told, i would end up in kidney failure soon if i did not lose weight. So, it was time for me to be very selfish and start taking care of myself. For the last two years, I have been focused on my health and well being and when you are morbidly obese, that is a necessary part of getting your health back. So, i say again......your head really has to change in order to be successful. It is why they send you for physch evals before this surgery. I honestly think they could do a better job of assessing patients and setting them up with the right people to help them through the mental part of WLS. Most of us need some sort of help.

Not a DS patient but bypass. I was asked this same question and at the time, my goal was to get healthy and be able to ride a bike again. The weight number really was not important to me. Then, i had my surgery and started losing weight. Immediately my health improved drastically. In the beginning it never dawned on me that I could lose all of my weight if i wanted to but after the first 8 weeks i had that conversation with my doctor. They expected me to lose 65 to 70% of my excess weight. I believed i could lose it all and keep it off and that then became my goal. I wanted to get healthy, get to a normal BMI....now my goals are to get my body somewhat back given i lost 152lbs and i weigh 158. I have alot of loose skin and it pulls on my neck back and shoulders. Now my goal is to get rid of some of that loose skin and get comfortable again. Goals change as you progress through the stages. I knew I wanted got lose 100% after 8 weeks but i set mini goals along the way. The first 50, then 100, then i shot for Onederland which was probably most exciting goal. To be under 200! I cried that day, tears of joy. Then, the really hard work began. That last bunch of weight is harder than you think to get off but totally doable. Now it is about maintaining and getting rid of loose skin.

Reggie White from the Green Bay Packers died from sleep apnea. My mother had severe sleep apnea and was told that if she did not use a cpap machine she would likely die. She could never get used to using one. I will never forget the day that her doctor told my Dad and I that he literally gave her 48 to 72 hours to live if she would not start using it. She was actually so deprived while sleeping that it affected brain function and she began to have dimentia from lack of oxygen. She passed away, 2 weeks after she was given 72 hours to live. Granted she had other issues like she was diabetic but the primary cause of death was asphyxiation. It is a very very scary disease that if goes untreated can injure yourself and as James said.....many others.

My personal opinion is that some surgeries fail due to equipment, mostly lapband patients. Many others fail because they dont do enough research and choose the wrong surgery and their "lazy" surgeons allow it because it is easier for them. Sometimes i actually wonder if this is because they can get two surgeries in the end. $$$ dont know this for sure but i certainly wonder sometimes when it is clear that someone likely should choose a different option yet their surgeon tells them it may be ok. But mostly......people simply dont educate themselves enough about what they need to do or they simply choose to keep the same habits. It is definitaely easy to do because the first year "honeymoon" pretty much allows you to eat whatever you want and still lose weight. However, when the honeymoon wears off you are screwed if you have not changed your behaviors. Again....simply my opinion but I tend to agree...I have seen people on this website actually say, if this doesnt work i guess i can always have a revision to bypass. Ugh.....what?????? How ridiculous!

Seriously dont let those comments get to you, they will come to an end when people get used to seeing you at your new slim weight. Most of the time it is just shocking how fast it happens when they are not used to seeing your collar bones, shoulder bones and missing chins..... After a while, people even forget you were ever fat to begin with. There have been several times now when I have met with doctors or nurses (bad back) and i tell them that my back has gotten worse since losing all this weight. The next question is usually how much weight have you lost? Then i say 152lbs and i only weigh 158, they do a double take and usually will say, I never would have guessed you were ever heavy. LOL, then i say thats because I still have my clothes on. Hahahaha..... Anyway, i have shown a few of them a before pic and i am told that they would never recognize me that heavy. Then those that have not seen me since, dont recognize me at all. I am with @@Babbs on this one. I believe most people figure it out whether you tell them or not. They may not say anything but they suspect when they see how little you eat. As for the people at your job that keep making comments. Maybe throw a very personal question back at them and see how they respond. They will get the hint that this is a personal topic for you and you no longer want to talk about it. Believe it or not, they may simply be thinking they are complimenting you when it fact its annoying and hurtful. I have this guy I work with who had not seen me in 2 years and now has seen me once a month for the past 3 months. He literally is shocked at how different i look and he stammers and is not good at compliments. Its been funny to watch him and of course doesnt bother me a bit because I am used to it.

@@TLW I hope you start feeling better soon. See.....I am not the only one. Plastics is very painful. I have had many surgeries in my life. I have plates and screws in 4 different levels of my spine. And that hurt like hell for a very long time. Plastics is a different kind of hurt. Think about your skin being pulled off the tissues. It burns, like really burns. I swear when i had my arms done in July, it felt like i placed both of my arms on the hot stove and left them sit there for 20 minutes. And that burning and itching was night and day for the first 3 weeks. I slept with ice packs on my arms....if you call it sleep. LOL My arms look fantastic and it was totally worth it but even today, they still swell and they still dont feel normal. Which by the way is normal, LOL. It takes a long time to recover from these major surgeries. My next phase is scheduled for January 19th. I will be having a full abdominalplasty with muscle repair, a breast lift and breast augmentation. It is expected to go 7.5 to 8 hours and i will be staying in the hospital this time. Although i am dreaming about the results, I am already very nervous about the painful recovery. I have enough pain in my body but my excess skin on my tummy and breasts are pulling on my back. Tightening up my core will definately help, and I get the benefit of looking better too. Even with all this being said, it is absolutely positively worth it. My poor husband, on week 3 of my arms told me I did not need to do this for his benefit. He did not like seeing my pain. I informed him although he may like the results none of it is about him. LOL. I have been caring for everyone else since i had my first child at 16....that is how i ended up at 315lbs. Now, its all about me getting well and feeling fantastic. I have worked hard my whole life and i deserve it. Thankfully, he totally agrees.

@@janedoe92 Sorry to hear things started out this way for you. Getting through the process really is a bit of a roller coaster ride, some great ups and serious downs. I am not a crier and found myself i tears more times that I even want to say during the 9 month pre op phase. It had everything to do with insurance companies and doctors not having available appointments. My advice would be to expect many bumps in the road but you will get there and when you do, it will be worth every single step you put into it. For me, surgery day was like Christmas morning when i was a litttle girl. I was not at all nervous just excited to start my new life. You will get there! In the mean time leverage the heck out of this time to begin building good behaviors because you will definately need them. You may find that the first 6 to 12 months you can just cruise through but as heavy weight loss slows down and you have to fight to get down to your goal, those habits will be needed to get you through. Losing the last 20 and then maintaining is the hardest thing I have ever done but again, it is so worth it! Best of luck to you and feel free to reach out if you have questions. We are all here......

The last 20lbs drove me absolutely ape Sh%#! I lost 100lbs in 9 months and then it took another 9 months to lose the last 52. The last 20 took 6 of those 9 months for me to lose but i got there. I was super diligent mostly because i was recouperating from multiple surgeries that year so i literally had to lose my weight by diet alone. I learned that if i ate 900 high Protein calories or less, i lost weight consistently. If i stuck around 1000 to 1100 I would stall. If i went over 1100 i would gain. That said, keep in mind i was seriously limited having had 2 spinal surgeries so i am not suggesting lowering your calories to 900 or less. I am suggesting that you figure out where your sweet spot is where you lose weight consistently. Once you figure that out, things will start to move again. Can you do more dense protein and cut out some additional carbs? The protein keeps you fuller longer. I also did not drink or eat much if any junk during that period of time. Not sure if you are trying any of that stuff but thought i would just ask the question. What does your exercise look like? This becomes important the closer you get to goal and certainly when you are in maintenance.

Because you lost so much before surgery, it may just go slower for you. The only thing i can say is that i went through a 28 day stall (NO weight loss), and it was very frustrating. I was getting less calories than you and working out 5 times a week for an hour each time (cardio). Both my nut and my trainer told me to eat more and excercise less. I had never been told that in my life so i was shocked and scared. But i added 100, Protein heavy calories and took my work outs from 60 to 30 minutes. Within 3 days, the weight started dropping again. For me after than initial loss of 60lbs in 8 weeks, i slowed to between 5 and 10lbs per month on average. Now keep in mind there were months where I lost 0 and others where i lost 15. What is your current BMI? How close to goal are you? You lost alot of weight up from so you may simply be taking a break. Call your nut and see if she can make some recommendations. At 8 weeks post op i was no where near 800 calories. I simply could not eat enough within my 3 meals per day and ultimately i had to add Snacks like cheese & lunchmeat or shrimp. Looking at my fitness pal i was averaging around 450 so way under and exercising an hour a day. I would also say, i really stayed on the plan until i was about 8 months post op before i would even consider a taste of something I shouldn't have. Those things can certainly cause a stall to happen.

NO Way....I have vowed to never ever let that happen. I have however talked with alot of people who have gained some or all of their weight back. In every single instance, they went off the plan. As soon as they lost all their weight, they went back to old habits and same crap food plans. I am only 2 years out and lost 100% of my excess weight but there are plenty of people on this site, many years out and still looking and feeling great. The advice i would give you is to get your head straight now because losing the weight and keeping it off is 90% head and only 10% surgery after the first year.

Sip chicken broth, all day if you have to. It and Water will help you. Dehydration can make you feel like you are hungry. I guarantee you....you are not feeling real hunger pangs....it is not possible this soon. I hate to say this but as soon as you actually eat something, you will regret it. Just follow the plan and try to get your head into a different place. The first week is the worst and I remember that horrible feeling of weakness. I was allowed only Clear Liquids week 1, not even Protein shakes. Once i was able to get some Protein shake and cream Soups, I began to get more energy. It will take some weeks before you feel like yourself again. I think it was week 7 for me where I started to feel somewhat human. then after that, everything started to kick in for me. Best of luck to you and congratulations on your surgery! Everyday will get a little better!

There is no way that I could have gotten my protein in with only 3 meals a day. My restriction was to significant. So I eat 5 smaller meals per day and I get my protein every day.

@@Mamabear0003 I am so very sorry to hear your story. It is not often that we hear about such a severe case of complications. Are you currently seeing a nutritionist? They might be able to help you figure out a diet that will allow you to gain some weight back. If not, I would recommend a bariatric nutritionist specifically. Maybe your new bariatric surgeon could recommend one? I hope that things turn around soon for you.