Spinoza

I feel you OP. People who aren't obese cannot know what those of us who have been have gone through. Honestly some of them DO think exactly what you have described but it's on them that they haven't done some research about obesity and causes and cures before shooting their mouths off. It's kind of equivalent to saying to a cancer sufferer - gosh, didn't you ever think of giving up smoking? Totally redundant commentary on your life. Why would you say that? Agree - you should deffo just brush/laugh it off. Hopefully they will catch up eventually.

You'll not miss being obese OP I promise you that. I totally understand your doubts pre-surgery - we all experience those and they're totally natural. If you miss wearing specific items of clothing that you love now I promise you that you'll replace them with smaller ones and never look back. I wish you all the best tomorrow. Please let us know how it goes xx

Yes phone charger, Kindle or equivalent, LIP BALM, spare pyjamas in case you need to stay an extra night and that's pretty much all I needed. I did stay a night after my surgery but if I'd had a longer stay I would have missed more.

What stage are you at now OP? Have you had your surgery and, if so, what surgery did you have? Hard agree with catwoman7 - until I reached my goal it was protein first, veggies second, and carbs waaaaay down the line. Even now 20 months after my sleeve and at goal I approach with caution Carbs are what made me obese in the first place, I am NOT looking for ways to welcome them back with open arms. Honestly I would rather have another few mouthfuls of protein or veg now, which have nutrition built right in. Best of luck!!!

Oh it so can. Do follow the plan you've been given. Best of luck!!!

I think the time for the last hurrah is before your pre-op diet OP. Eating off plan so close to your surgery might actually jeopardise the procedure because the whole point is to shrink your liver so they can get in to perform it. I totally understand the cravings - we all do. But you will have this lots in the next few months and if you can get past them then you will see amazing weight loss. I wish you the best of luck.

Thank you for sharing OP! You've done so amazingly well. Hope you reach your goal asap.

My trigger (on top of years of unhappiness with my weight, as for all of us) was not being able to fit into a booth in a restaurant to eat with my family. Having to ask to be moved was humiliating. Probably for the umpteenth time but that was the (last) last straw. Never looked back.

You have a plan and it sounds really good OP. I wish you the best of luck with your weight loss and your knee replacements. Hope you're back to being as fit and active as nature intended really soon.

Honestly OP at all stages of your weight loss journey I would recommend avoiding any exercise that causes you significant pain. It will only hold you back. As everyone else has said, the surgery will let you lose lots of weight whether or not you do ANY exercise on top. The benefit of waiting for some initial loss is that exercise should then be much less painful and much more productive as time goes on.

If you or someone else in your household cooks meals for everyone then honestly I would advise just swooping some of that into a blender (protein, veg, tiny portion of carbs) with some gravy or other liquid OP. If the texture is acceptable to you then the flavours will be amazing after the all liquid diet. Honestly, I still have fond memories of the tiny lamb dinner I first pureed for myself after cooking it for my family. Even if it's just you at home it would be worth preparing a small normal dinner and then pureeing that and refrigerating/freezing tiny individual portions to get you through this (most tricky!) stage.

Yes yes yes. I am 20 months post sleeve and I am still feeling the cold really badly. And this is summer. I need at least one more layer than normal weight people and probably 2 more than when I was obese. Hoping it stabilises as my body acclimatises and hoping yours does too!

Stalls are the absolute pits. We've been through hell and high water even to decide to have this big procedure, and we take the leap of faith and actually do it, and and and all of a sudden...a big fat no loss. And next day...nothing. The only way not to see the stalls is not to weigh yourself very often, and I think most of us here are too invested for that! Just come here and complain every single time you hit a stall and we will listen and sympathise. Everyone here has said it - they're normal and most of us experience them - repeatedly. If you stick to your plan you will lose loads, it just doesn't follow a straight line with a loss every day - your body doesn't do things that way. I wish you the very best of luck.

Oh wow what a photo! 🤩 And I totally agree, it's time for a name change Tiny Sue!

Holiday looks amazing and so do you. Nice work!

I love both of those. Especially the gown for the wedding itself - looks amazing.

I still can't and I'm 20 months post op tomorrow Matt! I can drink drink drink before a meal now - pretty close to eating actually (and it sounds like you can't yet). Think it took me at least a year from memory to get that far. I simply cannot do it the other way around - gives me real grief. Once I eat solid food I have to wait at least half an hour and ideally more like an hour until I drink. The only exception to this is when I want to, LOL, and even then it needs to be planned like a military operation. I can swallow a mouthful of pizza followed by a mouthful of beer for like forever. I only do this when in company and not wanting to draw attention to my surgery. I wouldn't recommend it other than in an emergency - it's a surefire way to regain.

Plans are all so different! I was given no guidelines at all about post op eating other than sticking to the stages texture wise. Nobody ever suggested any calorie intake in particular. I asked people here! I think that at 8 weeks I was probably at 700-800 calories daily. I remember I used to eat some nut butter at bedtime if I can't reached something close to that. I agree with the others that protein and fluids goals are still the most important thing.

Honestly and genuinely, and without disagreeing with anyone here (because only they can know what has worked for them and all of our experiences will differ) stalls and plateaus are a completely normal part of losing weight after WLS. If you stick rigidly to the plan you have been given then in the vast majority of cases stalls will break, plus eventually (sooner or later - and people get there at different rates) you will get to your new set weight. That weight might not be your ideal weight but that's what the surgery does. All of the side stuff you do along the way makes little to no difference IMO. It's window dressing. And we kill ourselves angsting about it. Sure, if we've been on a long stall and we then decide to increase/decrease protein/carbs/exercise/type of exercise/duration of exercise/CALORIES/whatever, and we resume losing weight, it is human nature to attribute the renewed loss to whatever we did. But we're working with an experimental group of 1 (me) with no control group. Basically if all the time we're sticking to our programme then that's what kick starts the new loss, not the other stuff. If I could go back in time 20 months I would just say to my post-op me "stick to the plan, use your tool, and see how far you can get. You will lose rapidly and lose slowly with no rhyme or reason. Stop comparing yourself to others - they're different to you. Surgery works, stick to the plan!!!!" I really hope this helps someone else.

Yes I think surgical teams do tend to be quite conservative in their estimates. If the average loss is 65% then lots of people lose less and lots more (that's how averages work, LOL). I think they don't want to 'promise' a greater loss in case we complain afterwards that their surgery didn't achieve it, so they pick the lowest common denominator.

And that is EXACTLY how to do it! You've got this. 💪

Some processed stuff too though Suzi. I found it helpful to avoid those foods in the weeks and months after my op. And sweet stuff was a real trigger early on - almost derailed me a few times. Yeah totally agree too - some yoghurts will have more sugar and stuff in them whilst presenting themselves as healthy. Wasn't dissing your recipe - as I said, it looks really fab. My comments were more for Kathy who seems to be early post surgery, and just to share my experience.

Oh OK if you're just a few weeks out from your surgery then I would not recommend this recipe. Much better to prepare healthy food from scratch and for that to be the mainstay of your diet forever. Next year and forever after definitely you can build this sort of stuff in as an occasional treat!

I have just hit maintenance but my long term plan is to allow a 5lb gain without freaking out (because of water weight and other factors) and then if I exceed that to go right back to basics - protein first, veg and fruit second, carbs a very last third - until I'm back to my previous weight. I have no idea yet whether or not this will help me maintain but I just thought I should share. Best of luck to you x

Loving this thread. Some of my good problems relate to newfound boniness. I went on several rollercoasters in a park at Easter and ended up with bruises right down my spine - because I have no padding now and the seats are hard hard plastic. Does this happen to people who were never obese? What on earth is wrong with park operators building in a bit of wadding??? Also - my ass hurts if I have to sit on unpadded chairs anywhere for more than a few minutes. I have to start jiggling and that's not a good look.