Spinoza

Best of luck to all of you. My surgery is the best thing I have ever done for myself. Hope it works out really well for you guys too.

Incredibly honest post. You know that your current approach won't (can't) help you reach your weight loss goal and stay there. It's so good that you're stepping back and evaluating that before your prime period for weight loss flashes past (which it really really does - mine is already way back in the rear view mirror, LOL). I live in Ireland where access to proper bariatric therapists is limited, as i think it probably also is in the UK. But I echo the advice above to find one and work on what's going on in your head so you can make the most of what you've changed in your body. I really hope that you can get back on track. We are all here to help - all human and have all made mistakes as we went along. Lots of us have hit little blips when we find we *can* do things that we shouldn't. What matters is that we stop and call those out and get back on the horse. Keep posting and let us know how you're doing.

OMG that just looks soooo good. It's the butter melting...

Ha! Absolutely love me a random plate of things that might not 'go' together normally but that we just want to (and CAN) eat at the time!!!

I had a big old holiday dinner with my family at exactly your stage. Checked with my dietician beforehand and she cleared me to have some wine even though it's not normally recommended at that point after a sleeve. Did it and got through it. It's totally doable. I think from what you say that you're leaning towards going rather than looking for reasons not to. I hope you really enjoy your wine tasting. Think it'll be absolutely fine if you take it carefully x

Looks so good!

Oh that sounds awful. Did you have visible patches of hair loss? Mine was just repeated episodes of major hair fall. I hope you can get it treated.

Absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for sharing - proves it can be done. It can be disheartening to hear more of people who regain everything, although I know there are many reasons for that. Any tips for the whippersnappers here regarding long term maintenance? 🤩

All good advice here. I'll just offer a big old shedload of sympathy. It's hard.

I lost my weight throughout 2022. I had three distinct phases of hair loss, each a few months apart, and each lasting several weeks. It has taken until now for my hair to fully recover, but it has. I feel your pain, it's really demoralising. Trying shorter cuts can help while you wait for it to grow back. I know lots of people swear by various supplements, and treatments onto the scalp/hair itself, but I'm not sure there's much evidence that they work.

Pre-op diets vary so much - unbelievably so, given they're pretty much all geared to the same goals of shrinking our livers by whatever means in order to permit access to our stomachs and intestines. Mine was 800 calories in meal replacement shakes only - for 10 days. If you get bored then there are loads of sodas you can add in if permitted. I drank lots of herbal teas. And lots of warm bouillon for a savoury hit - because I was permitted that. As long as you stick to your surgeon's/team's parameters then you should be good. Best of luck with your surgery and your recovery. We're all here to help you through your journey. It's such a knowledgeable and helpful forum here.

Ah - such an interesting topic! Also a stomach sleeper through my whole life (including pregnancies with wedge pillows). I had to change to sleeping on my side for many weeks after my sleeve because of horrible draggy pain, with pillows wedged into various places, especially initially. I wish I had had a body pillow. About 3 months post op I was able to sleep my stomach but by then actively preferring my side, and now I sleep only on my side. One of the many random changes I've experienced post op. Welcome to your new life 😍

I was given no guidelines *at all* after my sleeve. No permitted volumes, no suggested macros - I mean nothing. I learned everything I know here and managed to survive despite that! I did angst a lot in the first months too. Not nice to be set adrift after such life altering surgery and to be expected to navigate our own way. All the advice above is sound, and it's what got me though. I hope you do really well.

Sounds like a really rough time. I hope you can be gentle with yourself. I hear people here say that going back to protein first, veg second and carbs a long way back in third can help them get back on track. I'm 3.5 years out and regained 7kg last year. I'm working at getting it back off. Have you kept going with exercise and if not can you reintroduce that too? Please let us know how you're progressing.

@Arabesque honestly could you find a menopause specialist and pay them for what you need until the supply issues are sorted? Your gain is so VERY clearly related to your hormone status. Nothing else has changed. Online if you can't access locally? There are medical professionals who do this for a living. As you know I had the classic third year regain last year and have been fighting that ever since. Not daily or weekly, but it's in my head all the time. Also - just dropping into your thoughts. We people with obesity have a metabolic disease even if we're currently thinner because of surgery. There are now drugs that replace what we never naturally produced (GLP-1 et al agonists). Would you consider micro-dosing on Ozempic or Wegovy etc in order to replace what you never had and keep you on track?

Ah nice to have some banter with your team. I hope everything goes smoothly for you. Lovely to 'meet' you! There is so much wisdom here. I wish you all the best.

Also - to actually answer your points. Huge congratulations on meeting your first goal. Yes I had multiple goals that I went through - usually BMI related or round numbers of pounds related. I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that unless you decide that your happiness or fulfillment depends on reaching them. It definitely shouldn't. BMI is a construct, and a flawed one at that. But we're human and we (well some of us) like metrics to measure ourselves against and defined goals to al least aim for!

I suspect that, given your loss to date, you still have a good way to go @Bypass2Freedom My original (totally guesstimated) 'goal' weight was based on the average loss after a gastric sleeve for someone with my starting weight. I would have been thrilled to get there and no further - I honestly mean that. But it was way out. I sailed through that and beyond. Kept sticking to the plan and finally landed well below. I know other people who stick to their plan land well above. The moral of the story is - stick to your plan and (within reason) you will land where you will land. Unless you actually end up underweight or unwell you don't need to add calories on purpose (that's my experience anyway) - your expanding capacity for food and your increasing hunger will eventually meet you in the middle. Whilst you are in the honeymoon post op period I say milk it for all it's worth. Meet your goals, take your supplements and enjoy the ride. Then begins the lifelong journey of maintenance. That's another story, LOL.

Amazing transformation! Good luck with your plastic surgery too 🤩

Well done OP for nipping this in the bud. I regained 7kg last year (3rd year after my surgery) and I had to diet for months to lose that again. I am now back to tracking everything. I too got complacent. Alcohol crept in. I wasn't exercising NEARLY as much as I had. No more. It took too much effort to lose, I do not want to have to do that (all) ever again. Far too comfortable at my new weight. So far this year I have maintained by sticking to the surgery rules - protein first, veg second, carbs third by a long way. Everything crossed I can stick to this!

Aw it's amazing! You look so good. Hope you're really feeling it now OP 💚

I absolutely welcomed the pureed food phase, because by then I had been on liquids only for a month. I cook dinner every day for my family so I just took tiny portions of meat and veg (and teeeeeny tiny - like a teaspoon - portion of the carb) and blitzed that with extra liquid/gravy/whatever to make my little meals at the start. I so loved the taste of that food after so many weeks on non food. I didn't focus on protein then, only on getting in my fluids. My team hadn't stipulated any specific protein goal. I am very lucky in that I haven't experienced any digestive issues at all following my sleeve. I know that many people do develop intolerances, both temporary and permanent. Hope you enjoy your transition to proper food OP.

I am another fan of eating mostly food made from scratch as soon as you can post op, but honestly if you can't meet your protein goals that way then shakes are one convenient way to do it that doesn't require much mindwork or second guessing!

Oh wow, what a transformation. It is SO hard for us to see our losses as we go along. Or to acknowledge them, and the hard hard work that went into them, even if we do kind of see them. What stops us in our tracks are photos side by side like these. No denying what's going on with you!!!!

Again, just wow. You are owning this. Best of luck for next week x