Queen ApisM

I'm basically in a 5 month stall, my weight loss has been minimal the past few weeks. Right before, I went through a very quick weight loss period (16+ lbs in 5 weeks) after the last slow down. I'm just trying to ignore the scale and keep doing what I have been doing and aiming for the calorie levels flagged by my nutritionist. It is really frustrating but this too shall pass... or that's what I am telling myself.

I agree with the recommendation to work with a trainer. You can talk through your goals and what you want to accomplish through your exercise regimen (flexibility, balance [so important as we age], building muscle, etc) and the best ways to accomplish those goals. It's a financial investment, but well worth the guidance. There is a wide spectrum between using light weights and powerlifting, which a good trainer can help you navigate safely, without causing injury or overtaxing your body. I also would point out that strength training will probably be more obvious in how it helps every day life sooner than you might notice it appearance-wise, especially if you are doing functional training. Even at my heaviest, I was training regularly (cardio, strength, balance, etc) and honestly it made life so much easier compared to when I wasn't.

I still have a long way to go weight loss wise, but after 70 lbs I had to cut two of my blood pressure meds in half as my BPs were too low. Having said that, I don't expect my hypertension to resolve even if I get to a healthy weight range. Some people will have hypertension regardless of weight, and with my family history, I will be one of those people. I'll be happy with lower amounts of medication and will consider that a win. I also have a heart issue that my doctor is convinced will improve with weight loss, but again, given family history I think he is overoptimistic. Still even if it doesn't improve the issue it certainly will be better for my heart in the long run so either way it will be a win. The fact that doctors sometimes insist losing weight will fix everything is over simplistic and a cop out (in my opinion). Fit, thin people have diabetes, hypertension, and many other health issues associated with being overweight; case in point, my fit, thin cousin has worse blood pressure than I do that doesn't respond well to medications. Of course losing weight can help with many things, but not always and I think doctors should be honest about that being the case.

My practice hasn't had us pick one, but for my personal goal, I picked one that is on the low end of obese/high end of overweight as my "realistic/achievable goal" given my starting point. If I get there, I would have lost around 200 lbs, and by any measure that would be a major success and I'd be such a better place than I am now. Having said that, once I get to that "achieveable goal" I intend to reassess and aim for lower. I probably will get a body comp assessment at that point to see what would make sense with my muscle mass, since I do like to weight train. My dream number is the top of my healthy range but I'm trying to take it one step at a time.

I feel your $20k pain!

I love your set - mine are a beat up mess literally held together with duct tape in sections. Even at my heaviest, I have loved lifting! So much fun and it makes every day life easier.

Do what is right for you. I was very far into the process with my first practice, a well known university hospital, when I started to get frustrated by their lack of communication and responsiveness. The surgeon at this practice was actually my favorite part, but the rest was a mess. The nutritionist was a joke - she didn't understand why I was at the appointment because I was self pay! I was pretty annoyed by it all and considering switching practices, and then COVID hit. While I didn't expect to have a surgery scheduled, they made no effort to communicate with me. They completely disappeared and were non-responsive. Is it possible they were assisting with COVID response? Yes, but I doubt that the coordinators and non-nurse/surgeon staff were engaged at the hospital and caring for patients. A simple communication saying: everything is on hold until further notice, we will be in touch would have been great, but I got the opposite, and it just solidified my decision to contact other practices and look at other options. These other options were extremely responsive, even as COVID shut down elective surgeries for months. The program I wound up switching to was also University affiliated (Johns Hopkins) but less flashy and $10k cheaper - which as a self pay patient was huge! The nutrition classes were organized and very oriented toward ensuring patients are more likely to have long term success. I didn't feel like a number! Less money, more responsiveness, and all in all, a much better and comprehensive experience. I wound up getting my surgery a lot later than I originally hoped because of the change in practice, COVID, and my own slowness in getting all the practice prereqs done, but in the end, it was the right move. All this is to say - trust your gut! This is a big life change and you need to feel good about the people you are working with across the board. It also extends to being able to have the support YOU need, which in this case is your husband at the meeting.

I like Unjury, especially Chocolate Spendor. I used to do premier protein premade shakes but they taste wrong now, and I only use when I am on the go and need something easy.

I have dilated cardiomyopathy and (possibly) mitral valve prolapse - I say possibly because my current cardiologist thinks it is a result of my DCM, unlike previous doctors. I also have high blood pressure. I was cleared and the anesthesiologist was not concerned at all. He told me they deal with people in "much worse shape" all the time. Obviously they will watch it, but as long as they know what they are dealing with, they should be good. My cardiologist was the one who finally convinced me to get surgery because long term is so much better for my heart and he know keeping weight off without it would be tough (even though I did lose 50 lbs on my own at one point). I'm sure you will be totally fine!

I got surgery around the same time as you. I've lost 70 total, and that includes 11 lbs during pre op. To me, your numbers seem good especially considering you also started at a lower weight than I did. I had two months where I lost 8 lbs each month, which was disappointing but only because I had overly high expectations. 8 lbs is still 8 lbs gone and not a gain. I actually had to add more calories into my diet, and that jump started my loss rate again. Having said that, you mentioned gorging on sweets, cakes and food. Are you tracking? Do you know how many calories you are actually eating? If you aren't tracking, then a first good step would be to start doing so, as accurately as you can, to see where you really are at and then determine steps to shake things up.

I can only answer the first one: yes, I am experiencing the same thing. I am constantly cold, even when bundled up and everyone else around me is fine or even warm. I do have times I feel normal, but I then I will get super cold again. I read somewhere it has something to do with the hypothalamus not compensating for the reduced weight, but honestly I'm not sure if that is true or hogwash. I'd love to better understand what is happening.

This was also my experience this year! My weight loss actually ramped up between Thanksgiving and New Years - I lost 16 lbs in that time, when my previous two months were half that amount. It has been nuts. I tracked as much as I could (and I was averaging more calories than I had been previously, per my nutritionist's advice) but there were the inevitable days where I couldn't track because I wasn't the one preparing food. But, I tried to be somewhat smart about things and not go too off the rails. I enjoyed the holidays food wise, but I didn't come out of them with the usual guilt and regret. I'm enjoying the feeling.

My practice required an endoscopy before doing a sleeve to ensure that there wasn't undiagnosed GERD (you can have it and not know it) to start with - if there had been, they wouldn't have done a sleeve since there is an excellent chance it would worsen with a sleeve and necessitate a revision later. Obviously, I could develop it in the future but we'll cross that bridge if we get to it. I'd definitely broach the subject with your doctor before making a final decision, since you will have to weigh all the pros and cons.

At 2 months out, they wanted me at 1000 calories. I just had my four-month appointment, and they told me at 6 months, I should be at 1200-1400 calories a day. Once I started hitting 1000/cals consistently (which just happened a few weeks ago) the weight just started falling off again after a serious slow down in the weeks prior.

I'm normally (pre-surgery) a steel cut kind of girl, but post surgery I have switched to rolled and quick oats (I mix these in with yogurt and let them sit a bit to bulk up my snack with some extra needed calories). I just was not sure I could handle steel cut in the first few months after surgery. At some point I'll try them again since I prefer the texture by leaps and bounds. One advantage to the non-steel cut oats is cooking times... so much quicker!

I'm 4 months out, and I can say, based on my experiences so far, it has absolutely been worth it. I was very nervous going into it, but I have had no regrets. Since I paid out of pocket, if I did have regrets that would really be a bummer! I'm down 61 lbs since the start of pre-op diet (50 since surgery), I feel fabulous, and I am not ruled by food anymore. It has been liberating to no longer be fighting the urge to eat. Are there challenges? Absolutely. Are there some downsides? Of course. But, right now the downsides are far outweighed by the benefits to date. Now, I realize I am early in the process so some of this could change, but I just fit back into my favorite pants again (and purged tons of stuff from my closet) so I am riding a bit of a high. 😁 For me, at six weeks post op I was on soft foods and not doing much adventurous eating. My concern on a cruise would be access to foods included in my program vs what might be had on a cruise. For example, I relied heavily on low-fat dairy products. I also weighed all my food for portion control. But, I am sure it can be done and I'm sure other folks will have good tips.

For me, it was important to keep tracking everything even through the frustrating stalls: weighing myself regularly, tracking all my food and water, etc. It is easy to get discouraged when you don't see the scale move for a while (or, move slower than you want) but the key is continuing what you are doing, with potentially some tweaks depending on what your practice advises. In my case, tracking helped me ensure I was pushing toward the calorie level my practice wanted to see (at least 1000 cals/day, which was hard for me for a while) and helped ensure the choices I was making to add calories continued to be smart (prioritizing protein). It was also helpful to take measurements and pictures to see progress. In fact, I was just in a really slow period of weight loss for 6-8 weeks (after awesome weight loss the initial few months), and seeing new pics compared against the old ones from right around surgery was so, so helpful at giving me positive reinforcement. I also have been looking for other non-scale victories to carry me through, so realizing that clothes are fitting looser, or that I just have more energy than I did before. On the happy side, my slow weight loss has ramped up again after slogging through that slower period. I am exercising a bit more but also have been diligent about hitting that 1000 cals/day threshold - I'm convinced that has been the key for me, at least until my body decided to go slow again! So, talk to your nutritionist, see what they say, and also just stay hopeful (I'm not a naturally positive person so this part is really a challenge for me!) Slow is better than zero and zero loss is better than gains. Good luck and hang in there!

I'm still early on (just 4 months out) but honestly I see large portions and there is no longing for them, at all. Actually, quite the opposite. Granted this may change over time but it has been liberating. I hope this sticks around!

You look amazing! What great progress. Congrats! I second what you said about taking the photos. I have been in a stall, but finally took a new set of pics and wow I could tell the difference 4 months out, and in some unexpected places! For those who don't want to do near naked pics, wear something really form fitting (ideally in colors/patterns that don't distort things/distract the eye) and then take the pics in the same outfit until you can't anymore because they are falling off. I find it is easier to compare photos when I am in the same outfit. It was quite motivating even when struggling with that obnoxious month 3 stall...

Yeah I assumed this was an ongoing problem for a long while, not a new one that just developed.

I'd be concerned that it is a stricture. Did the surgeon do any tests or did they just jump straight to psychological? If no serious testing, then definitely go consult with another doctor. That isn't normal or healthy. I hope you get this sorted.

A lot of employer offered insurance plans can have specific exclusions for weight loss surgery. I've had three different insurances through employers in the past two years (old job switched carriers and then came to a new job) and all of them had WLS exclusions even if medically necessary. All of my plans have been pretty good, high quality plans otherwise, but they still have the exclusion. There could be other reasons for the OP, but just wanted to note that many still don't.

Man, the liver shrinking diet resulted in the worst constipation - worse than what I have experienced post surgery. Not to say post surgery has been great - it hasn't been - but I remember that two week pre op diet. I never had constipation issues before surgery so it's depressing that this is the new normal, but life is full of trade offs. Miralax is my favorite thing. It can be used daily and mixes nicely into hot drinks (cold as well, but I only use it in hot where it disappears instantly). Not all constipation aids are good for long term use, but Miralax is on the safer side. I'm on an every few days regimen and that seems to keep things moving for me most of the time.

I've not done this, but I do know Contrave affects cravings and reduces hunger. Given you are already only eating 800-1000 calories a day, I would question why this is even needed. Have you consulted with the nutritionists at your practice? Every place is different, but at mine, they expect me to be at 1200 calories at 6 months, maybe more if I am exercising seriously 5-6 times a week. Have you tried increasing your calories to see if that would help?

My program focuses on balance, and not necessarily being low carb or even super low calorie for the long term. At my 2 month appt, they were pushing me to get to at least 1000 calories. That struggle is still real for me and I just closed out month 3. I'm hitting that calorie goal some days, and not so much other days. If you are losing weight and feeling good, I wouldn't worry about changing something that is working. Have you spoken with your surgeon's office to get their advice? That's where I would start.