PolkSDA

I'm fighting this same issue as well just under 2 years out from surgery. I hit an alltime adult low of ~213 pounds about 8 months ago. I've kept it close to that, but over the past 6 months I've slowly gained about 9 pounds. Don't get me wrong, 222 is still a far cry from my June 2019 weight of 389, but the warning signs are there. I'm hoping that Spring warmer temperatures finally actually get here so I can get outside for exercise more regularly (or that I'm more inclined to do so), but I need to focus on my eating habits more and nip this thing in the bud. I think we sometimes forget that lifelong battles are indeed that.

Amen to that. As I've written previously, most people would recoil in horror at what and how I've eaten following surgery, as it violates all of the normal "rules" for successful weight loss surgery... but I'm 14 months out from surgery and hit an alltime adult low weight this morning. I've reset my target goal twice now. It appears OP, that you and I have very similar frame sizes, starting weights and goals weights. My high adult weight was approximately 410. My original weight goal as discussed with my surgeon was 250. I'm not sure what your age is, but I'm 55 (taking early retirement next week in fact). I've been exceeding the daily caloric goal written in the surgery manual since about day one (but not excessively so), and well exceeded the target fluid intake goal. Fluids were never a problem for me. I would say it's far too soon to try to assess success or failure. See if your weight loss continues as you progress through the food re-entry phases. You'll be able to better gauge your progress. IMO it's the long-term trends that matter as opposed to week-to-week loss.

I was told to avoid caffeine for the the first 30 days following surgery. My understanding is that this was because of the diuretic effect, and fluids are a fairly critical part of short-term recovery following surgery. I'm 14 months out from surgery and am a caffeine fiend. I mainline coffee. No issues.

Thanks, I'll check those out. I've tried the Cherry 7-Up one and it's ok but nothing to write home about. Most of these drink mixes tend to put the emphasis on "sweet" rather than the actual underlying flavor IMO. I've been getting my ginger fix from hoarding the seasonal "Gingerbread Cookie" flavored Equal packets they put out last Christmas season. They had this, Peppermint Mocha, Pumpkin Spice, and Salted Caramel. This and the Peppermint Mocha are quite good. What caught me off guard is that they are actually more flavor than sweetener; the gingerbread in particular is a very robust ginger flavor. A couple of packets in my coffee and I'm in hog heaven. I didn't learn about them until after they were pulled from sale, so I had to seek alternative secondary market sources for them. Supposedly they're coming out with them again this winter, so I'll be sure to stock up this time rather than having to pay inflated prices on the secondary market (eBay, Amazon Marketplace).

Sorry, kale is of the devil. It is pure evil in food form. 😁 There is no single "right way" when it comes to eating/snacking habits. We're all different, both physiologically and more importantly, psychologically. What works for me may not work for you, etc. When I read "Forget snacks entirely, unless..." I immediately tune out. Things couched in absolutes don't resonate with me. Sure, those prohibitions may be absolute in YOUR experience, but they may not be so for others. My nutritionist has been reinforcing that WE SHOULD be snacking post-surgery; 4-6 small meals per day is important to success. Advocating against that IMO runs counter to generally accepted practices. Now with respect to what the composition of those snacks are, that IMO is a *VERY* YMMV issue. Me? I eat garbage. I have my fast food and my chips, cookies, etc.... but in much, MUCH smaller quantities than before I started this journey. Some might say that this is setting myself up for long-term failure, but I say au contraire! I loathe cooking. I hate it. I can't be bothered by it. I don't want to "learn to enjoy it". I don't find value in it with respect to my time and/or convenience. Never have. That's in my makeup. I am what I am. I know myself and my weaknesses. I *NEED* to enjoy food. If it's food just for the sake of eating and nutrition, I WILL find a way to cheat, "sneaking" bad food on the side IN ADDITION to whatever healthy food I'm supposed to be eating... which IMO is far, far worse, given the increased caloric intake and quantity eaten. Better that I cut to the chase and eat small portions of "bad" food that will satisfy me than to eat food I don't enjoy and still be psychologically unsatisfied, if that makes any sense. It's better for me to work within the constraints of my weaknesses than to ignore them or try to futilely change what I believe to be fundamentally unalterable. This morning I hit a new alltime low adult weight since age 18... 37 years ago... and my weight is still going down (albeit very slowly now) 13.5 months after surgery... so however unconventional, it's working. I would hardly recommend this approach to anyone else... we're all different.

My surgeon and nutritionist both said no carbonation for life post-surgery. Given that I don't need any additional possible impediments to long-term success, I've decided to heed that advice. Given that pre-surgery I could easily drink two 2-litre bottles of diet soda per day, this was a not insignificant change. I've tried carbonated beverages I think twice in the 13.5 months since my surgery, and each time they made me feel uncomfortable, so it actually hasn't been difficult to give up. The only thing I really miss is ginger ale/ginger beer. The most difficult thing has been finding noncarbonated no-sugar drinks when traveling, going to fast food joints, etc. Before this I really had no clue that just about EVERYTHING is carbonated or loaded with sugar... and don't get me started on energy drinks. There are virtually no zero-sugar non-carbonated energy drinks in existence. There are a few Monster tea variants, but they all taste like ass. Hydro Zero has almost nil distribution; one Wal-Mart locally carries it in the checkout end-caps, but it's perpetually sold out. Rockstar Recovery Lemonade was my go-to. It was delicious and I was going through 3 cases a month... until the bastards at Coca Cola decided to change the recipe and make it carbonated, just like every other [CENSORED] energy drink on the [CENSORED] market. My go-to is now unsweet tea wherever I go, and I keep a large box of Sweet & Low in my car so I can sweeten it to taste. One other thing that is nummy is Zero Sugar Pomegranate Vitamin Water, found only in fountain form at Subway restaurants. No carbonation, no sugar, and really tasty.

Hang in there. At least you have a new scheduled date. When my surgery was cancelled in April of 2020, there was nothing even proposed, let alone tentatively scheduled as a new date. We as a society were freaking out (toilet paper hoarding, nightly BLM protests, riots)... no one knew what the endgame was going to be, and there I was being told by my surgical team that I still had to keep from gaining weight for an unknown period of time or risk being booted from the program. As a lifelong overeater, lemme tell you that stress eating most certainly is real... especially with society seemingly falling to pieces around you and also having to manage a team learning to work from home for the foreseeable future. tl;dr: Smile, it could be worse.

I'm 13 months out from surgery and my calorie intake varies wildly, anywhere from 1100 to 2000 calories per day, with the vast majority of days in the 1300 to 1600 range. I'm still losing weight though, hit my lowest weight in 35 years this morning.

Yeah, I'm admittedly a "lazy loser" myself. I've never been ANY good at counting/tracking calories, points, whatever. I eat things I enjoy because I know that one of my mental shortcomings is that if I try to force myself to eat things I don't enjoy just because they're healthy, I know I will cheat. I will *have* to eat something enjoyable, regardless of what other "healthy" things I've eaten... so rather than compound the calorie intake, I'll just cut to the chase and eat what I enjoy, healthy or not, but in moderation and smaller portions. Not everyone's brain works the same way, and I know this perspective is likely anathema for others, but it's working thus far for me. 1 year out from surgery date my weight has plateaued as expected, but knowing my propensity to enjoy food, I'm deliberately keeping a closer eye on the scale. I have my fast food and my occasional sweets, but If I see any long-term trend upwards more than about 2-3 pounds, I immediately tighten things up. So far, so good. Just this morning I hit a new low weight, so the the trend is still downward, and IMO that's what's important, no matter the methods employed. Different strokes, yadda yadda yadda...

Your surgeon is a douchenozzle. I lost 13.4 pounds the first month after surgery. At 12 months I'm down 110 from surgery date, and down a total of 161.6 from entering the program. My surgeon is thrilled. So the first month loss can be a false indicator (in either direction).

Yikes! It must really very from person to person. I had been told that NSAIDs were off the list after surgery as a general rule. I had expressed concern up front as I am prone to sinus headaches and the only medication that helps is extra-strength Excedrin. They said that on rare occasions, if needed, I could take it sparingly, and if there was discomfort to take it with pepto or something similar to buffer the potential impact. I've been taking Excedrin as needed since shortly after surgery, albeit at a much lower frequency than before surgery, with zero side effects. While I take Tylenol on a much more regular basis, I would say I have Excedrin once every week or two, if that. As with any of these things, YMMV.

My likely response: "The only weight I'm really looking to lose in the short term is GETTING YOU OFF MY F*CKING BACK!" To be fair, I have on occasion been accused of being somewhat indelicate and tactless... "He's uncouth. Couth him!!!"

Huh. This is the first I've heard of Metformin helping you lose weight. Then again, it does explain some things... I was diagnosed with early stages of Type II diabetes in June of 2019. I was prescribed a low dosage of Metformin. It was as a result of that doctor's visit that I started looking into weight loss surgery and then went "into the program" being required to showing some persistent weight loss before the surgery was approved. Despite my being morbidly obese my entire adult life and never being able to lose weight, I was actually able to lose the prescribed weight leading up to my surgery without too many trials and tribulations... in retrospect, I wonder whether Metformin aided in that weight loss effort without my realizing it. Not that it makes a difference now. I've not taken it since my surgery in July of 2020.

Congrats on the progress! One thing: When you say "I hoped that I would be at goal by now, but I'm ok that I'm not.", given that you're not at the one year point, I don't know that this was necessarily a realistic goal. It's not a finite 1-year horizon from surgery. My surgeon told me that by one year out I will have lost the vast majority of the weight I'm likely to lose, but there was no framing it as a time limit or deadline. People lose at different rates, so some will reach their goal months before or months after that 1-year point, and some may never reach it at all. I've seen some wildly optimistic goals mentioned on this forum. I've not been concerned with "goal date", but rather the long-term trend. Am I still losing? Yes. Is it at the same rate it was? Heck no, nor should that be expected. Some people drive straight to the office and some take the scenic route.

At 11.5 months out, I range between 1200 and 1800 per day. Still losing, but at a much slower rate (as expected).