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The hair loss can be shocking and frustrating but save your money on supplements, special shampoos & treatments. Unless you’re lacking in the specific nutrients you require for hair growth they won’t help. The hair loss is temporary and for most lasts 3-4 months (regardless of taking supplements or not). During this time of stress and hormonal changes, your usual hair loss cycle is accelerated so you lose more hair but it is hair you would lose at some point. Your new hair is continuing to grow just at its usual rate. Meet your protein goals and ensure you’re getting in the nutrients, take a vitamins you’ve been advised to take. A blood test will show if you’re lacking in anything. Many of us cut our hair shorter as shorter hair always looks thicker and bouncier than long. And it will take less time for your new growth to reach the length of your shorter hair. Also there is no real evidence in support of collagen for hair growth (hair is made of keratin not collagen). Want to take it for your skin, go for it. I agree with @SpartanMaker: as collagen isn’t a complete protein it can’t be counted as part of your protein intake and you’ll get more collagen per dose/serve of a collagen supplement in powdered form than a capsule. It dissolves well & isn’t filling like a protein powder. If the hair loss persists or the loss is excessive, a dermatologist will be the best for you to see for help and other causes of the loss than just weight loss.

@WendyJane made a great point. I sort of assumed you were getting your protein other ways, since it's certainly possible to do so without eating meat. That said, transitioning to vegetarian or vegan would be really hard to do right after bariatric surgery. While that sort of diet can be a healthy choice, getting enough protein has to be your main goal. Hopefully your team gave you a minimum protein goal. If not, at 3 months out I would want to see at least 70 grams per day minimum, with 100 as a better goal. As you get to 6 months, 120+ would be ideal, though even more is beneficial. We focus on protein during weight loss for several reasons: Protein is essential to your body. While you also need a small amount of essential fats, you could in theory get those from a supplement. Dietary carbs are not essential because your body can convert protein and fat to glycogen to fuel your body. Protein is highly satiating compared to carbs, plus it takes longer to digest than fats, meaning you'll be full longer. Protein is actually harder to digest, meaning on average, for every 100 calories on protein you eat, you burn about 20 calories just to digest it. This means the more protein you eat, the lower your overall caloric intake compared to carbs and fats. Higher levels of dietary protein help you preserve more muscle mass as you lose weight. Because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, the more muscle mass you preserve as you lose weight, the more calories you'll burn, even at rest. In short, protein, protein, protein. You really can't eat too much protein at this point after surgery.

But you are smaller! By my calculation, you've lost ~15% of your overall bodyweight in just 3 months! That's an amazing amount of weight loss. If you were thinking you'd be at a normal weight in 3 months, that's just not even close to realistic or in fact possible considering where you started. Most people will continue to lose for at least a year, some for much, much longer. You're doing great so far and as long as you keep following the plan outlined by your team, you'll continue to lose for some time to come.

Am I understanding you've lost over 60 pounds in 3 months and you think that's "not much weight?" By my perspective, you're doing fantastic and should be very proud of your success so far. I'm not sure where your expectations came from regarding weight loss, but I feel like maybe you had unrealistic expectations here?

I’m 3 months post gastric sleeve and I haven’t loss much weight. No I’m not very active but I changed my eating habits 100% I stopped eating meat, added more vegetables, fruit, and water to my diet. I don’t eat much anyway. Why am I not getting smaller? I don’t drink soda/juice, eat candy or chips or even pasta! I changed the way I ate but it doesn’t seem to show any difference

@Bypass2Freedom sorry to hear about your breakup. Maybe it is a temporary storm that will pass. I suspect if all the folks who've had WLS were open & honest....we would find many common experiences have occurred in our lives. I'm one of those people who detests change.....no matter that I may be treading water and change may bring a much needed lifebuoy....I'm stubborn and will keep treading water as it is familiar. That was how I was....until WLS. WLS went by uneventful, recover was swift....took a week of vacation time and went back to work. No medical issues....so in my mind there was no need to do anything but the minimum on followup visits with the surgeon. So much change occurred...so quickly....unexpected outcomes....wide open-full throttle-full speed ahead....but I was ill prepared to be at the helm. Felt like I was driving a fast sports car and I only had skills to drive an old beat down truck and only on the back roads. I seem to recall the pre-op class sessions where they gave us the medical risks and the statistical data on relationship survival. I heard it all but didn't listen. I was finally ready to address weight and nothing could deter me. Didn't listen...didn't take part in the group meetings post-surgery. Now....looking back...I see where staying in touch with the WLS support group would have had many benefits.

Did you go in to the clinic and did your doctor do a full physical? If not I would consider a second opinion especially being 9 weeks out. At 9 weeks you should be on solid foods unless you were advised to do liquid/puree for longer and you didn't? A second opinion can never hurt. You said mentally food makes you want to "gag"and you find food " disgusting ", perhaps not only having a complete physical but talking to the dietician or a mental health professional would also help... Also, you never stated what your average meal menus consist of...and quantity..other than low fat meats and protein drinks. Are you getting enough fiber to assist with those " accidents"? I'd at the bare minimum set up an appointment with the dietician. Good luck hope you start doing better soon!

@Mspretty86 I JUST got the okay to do upper body Friday- no isolated chest workouts which is fine with me, I have been wanting to workout my back and shoulders. I have been working my biceps and triceps for a few weeks but you can only do so much with that- Still no running or anything that requires bouncing. So HIIT workouts are off limits to an extent. But I am able to wear regular bras now, but need to wear my post op bra at night and during my workouts.

Thanks to the replies I received, I spoke with my Dr this morning who has referred me back to my puree stage for 2 weeks which he says should take care of the situation I'm having

New here but usually trolling,I'm having such a hard time with food no matter what it is fish,chicken, lean meats etc. Some days or should I say most days just the thought and smell of food wanna make me gag,lately I have been passing days of not eating just supplementing with protein shakes. My situation is everytime I do eat something I'm spending the next whole day visiting the bathroom 8-10 times a day and feel terribly crabby and have no value of life as I cannot leave the house without having an accident os two. I am getting very frustrated and getting depressed of this situation. I'm 9 weeks out this coming Tuesday and have lost 55lbs and down 2 pants sizes but not very happy about this bathroom thing and my quality of life as I can barely leave the house unless I don't eat a couple of days,and I don't even get hungry or feel like I can eat anything right now food just disgust me. Any help I will appreciate.

As a general rule, I would not recommend eating back calories burned for a few reasons: People misunderstand metabolism. Our bodies are highly adaptable and our non-exercise calorie burn is also highly variable day-to-day. We know from recent research that your body tends to try to conserve energy balance, meaning unless your burning over ~400 calories per day in exercise, your body will lessen your calorie burn elsewhere during the day to try to "make up" for the exercise calories. In short, you're not burning as many overall calories on those exercise days as you think you are. Our ability to accurately determine calorie burn from exercise is hard and often we think we've burned more calories than we actually have. For example, you may think you've burned say 400 calories, but it may have only been 250. We also aren't very good at accurately tracking caloric intake, so you may be eating a lot more than you think you are. Adding in even more calories to "eat back" your exercise calories is not going to be accurate, even if the two points above were not true. Something here is not adding up for me. You mentioned you're trying to do a body recomp, but also that you still have a lot of weight to lose. That just doesn't make sense. It's fine to say you want to lose fat and gain muscle, and as a newbie to weight training, you can do both, but you really need to make fat loss the priority here. At best as an untrained woman, you might be able to add 10 or 12 pounds of muscle in the course of a year, but in all likelihood it will be less. I don't mean to discourage you, but most obese people already have more muscle mass than a "normal" person, so you can't expect to add as much muscle as they might be able to. My point is that when we talk about a recomp, what we really mean is trying to stay at about the same weight, but simultaneously lose fat and gain muscle. In my opinion, you need to focus on fat loss first, then try a recomp once you're closer to your goal weight. My suggestion would be to focus on two things: Most importantly, are you still losing weight? If not, then you're eating too much. If you are still losing, is it at a reasonable and sustainable rate? I'd want to see no more than about 3% per month considering that you should hopefully be also adding some muscle mass. This factor is really the primary determinant of where your calories should be. If you're losing faster than ~3%, then it's probably a good idea to eat a bit more, but don't change things by more than a couple hundred calories a day. If you're not losing weight, then as I said, you're eating too much and need to consider scaling back. The second factor here is how you're feeling. If you're eating so little that you can't even think about completing your workouts, or you're just exhausted all the time, then that's a sign you probably need to be eating more. Even so, take it slow here. Add in a couple hundred calories a day and see if you feel better. You can go up to where you need to, but keep in mind, you may also slow or even stop the weight loss. If that happens, you may need to modify your workouts. The flip side of this is if you are feeling good, but not losing, that's probably a sign you're eating too much. In the end, it's a balancing act of eating enough to fuel your workouts, but no so much you stop the weight loss. It will take some time to find the right point for you. Best of luck. (Oh, and in the future, I'd strongly recommend just starting a new thread. This one is several years old.)

Thank you! I get nauseous sometimes, usually the night of injection but nothing else really! I'm on 10mg atm, most people are scared of the higher doses but for me it was a massive game changer. My experience: 2.5mg for 4 weeks no supression. 5mg for 4 weeks 1 day out of 7 for suppression. 7.5mg for 12 weeks most days I had supression 10mg week 5 on Wednesday and supression most of the time. But the supression isn't severe, it's just that I don't have food noise and I don't notice the hunger/cravings now. Went from huge portions to normal portions. Chocolate daily to a couple times a week. Takeaway once a week now once a month. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll answer them for you (:

Thank you! I'm glad it working and you're right, it's the end goal that matters. 20kg will soon turn to 40kg and so on and so fourth. I think I've dropped a dress size too. I used to wear 30-32 UK and now I'm buying 26-28. Some clothes are tighter than others but that's just clothes for you. I can imagine going from that mentality to mainteance must be tough but you'll get there. You just need to try and get in the habit of not weighing and such like you used to and then it will become the norm. I'm so glad to hear how far you've come, it sounds amazing! As someone who dreads walking 3 minutes, I can only dream of enjoying a walk! And the eyes that watch you is so true, I've always told people (slim friends and my partner) that people stare at you and make comments because you're so huge. They never believe you, but its very true. I've always been the fattest in the room, have yet to meet someone bigger than me! I know the exist, but it's just how it is. Well done on changing your life, here's to a bright future with more mobility and experiences (: We should defo chat more, maybe in DMs or elsewhere if you'd like. Would love to have someone in my life who understands! x

I am 7 months post op and have ben lifting "heavy" for about 3 months now. i am trying to follow a body recomp plan but its been so hard to dial in the right macros, especially when i do loose. I just had a meeting with a dietician who told me i should stick to 1000 calories a day but i am in the gym 2x a day plus i am very active outside the gym as well. im not a competing athlete of course, im still very over weight, but i am pushing my body harder than ever before and i just don't think that my personal trainer or doctors recommendations are correct. one is only thinking about the size of my stomach ( i had bypass) the other is only thinking about the extreme amount of activity. i feel best between 1200 and 1400 cals however my trainer wants me at 2050 and the bariatric dr.'s dietician says 1000. when you were starting out did you eat back the calories burned while exercising to maintain your calorie deficit ? i see so many people saying contradictory things but most haven't had the surgery. id be interested to know what worked for you because your progress is amazing!

@SpartanMaker you are an absolute gem, thank you for your kind words! ❤️ I did not get to be 300lbs by eating healthy, it was definitely the binge eating and hiding the wrappers or food, which is why I had to make sure I help myself accountable. I have been able to keep it at bay but this month just let it take over. You are right, I am very goal-oriented, and a determined individual so me not being able to get my ish back together is driving me bananas. I love the idea of just setting one goal and not worrying about everything else. I am no longer relying on motivation to continue my journey but determination. My focus has been off this month and I can't pin point why- but you might have hit the nail on the head with the stress due to post surgery- however I had my 4month post op appointment a couple of hours ago and he cleared me for exercise again, just no running or isolated chest workouts. Which I am okay with! I can work with that! That got me excited to incorporate that back into my routine. That is something that has kept me from doing my norm since I was limited on what I could do, so I am hoping that lights a fire under me. I will keep you in mind if I am struggling with the diet and workouts and PM you! I appreciate you again!! @Mspretty86 I have 3 kids and a hubby, Who all eat differently. My daughter is the only one who have my genes so I do need to be cautious but the 2 boys and hubby have no weight issues. Its something that we all need to work out, but I'm starting with not buying it anymore. You're right this ish is HARD! But I CHOOSE this hard and not being obese hard!

I attend a lot of high-quality bariatric groups and I like to take bits and pieces from what everybody has expressed and apply what's useful. Some group members have felt the same way as you and they expressed that they got back on track by naming the feeling, doing a reset, and getting back to the basics. You are doing fine and will continue to be great. So basically a lot of mind work is involved in this Journey. 1. What am I feeling? There is a feelings wheel and a feelings app to help you name your feelings. 2. Is this head Hunger, emotional hunger, or do I really need to eat ? 3. Well, I can't seem to get past this hump do I need further assistance from a therapist, etc. People with kids and spouses stated that they make them keep their foods in a separate bin in separate drawers, or up on a higher shelf where it's not at their eye level. I understand that when there are other people in the home it's harder because they do not eat the same as you. I can't sugarcoat it. This **** is hard but I know you will conquer this feeling.

So sorry you're struggling right now. I think if we're all being honest, we're ALL been there. I've said this before, but I strongly believe anyone that is or was obese has an eating disorder or at least suffers from disordered eating. You simply don't get that big unless you have an unhealthy relationship with food. The thing is, none of us magically got better by having bariatric surgery. If you think you need it, please reachout to a mental health professional to help you get back on track. If you don't feel ready for therapy, that's okay too. You have to do what's right for you. Just know that there is help out there if you need it. I want you to know that I personally have faith in you, even if you don't right now. You are an inspiration to many people here, me included. You've already shown how strong you are and how hard you're willing to work for your goals. I know this is just a temporary setback, and I'm guessing a lot of it was brought on by extra stress due to surgery and your routine being thrown off. As they say, this too will pass. I know you can get your mojo back, so please give yourself some grace. We're often our worst critics. I'm honestly just guessing based on your previous posts, but I'd think you're a very goal-oriented person. It might be beneficial to stop thinking "I need to get back on track". That's just too nebulous. Instead set yourself small, time-bound concrete goals. Only you can decide what those should be, but it might be as simple as "get at least 120 grams of lean protein tomorrow". Forget everything else that part of your personal idea about what "back on track" means and just work on that one small goal until it's become habitual. Only then, add in a new goal to work on. Just keep them small, easily attainable based on where you're at today, and make sure they have a time component such as my goal for tomorrow is..., or my goal this week is... you get the idea. If you need any help with diet or exercise as you work through this, please feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help. Wishing you all the success in the world!

While usually used for males, it is also used for females with the issue. I’m not sure if it has ever been used for post surgical telegenic effluvium. Typically it lasts 3-6 months. Sleep helps, protein in the diet helps, stress reduction helps, keeping up with iron,zinc and biotin/b vitamins helps, omega 3 fatty acids in fish or flax oils, sulfate free shampoos, gentle brushing/washing, avoidance of sulfate free shampoos. Tricoaphere F kit, hair top peptide serum or bontress pro serum, reducing hair length. :/. Pardon I’ve been reading about this because I love my hair. It’s the only pretty thing I’ve had for so long now. I’m worried I’m going to trade it.

I post here for advice, encouragement and always get such uplifting/helpful comments. I just need this to get out to my bari-fam! I am 15months post op. I have done well, got down to my goal weight fairly quickly, made leaps on my fitness journey and just pretty proud of how far I have come. Lately, body dysmorphia is really rearing its ugly head and I am not dealing with it well. I am punishing myself with binge eating...All of April has just sucked a$$ for me. I am maintaining, continuing my workouts, my days are great then I go home at night, I grab a few chips, leads to some sweets, leads to some bread and butter, ect....do I eat a ton of it? No but I don't feel good when I eat it. Last week, I went on a week long drinking fiasco- I used to drink...a lot pre-surgery- Last night I ate Jack in the box tacos.. you know those disgusting delicious mini tacos and my feel like garbage today! I am letting my emotional eating get the best of me and I am struggling to get back. I woke up at 5 walked on my treadmill at 10incline 3.8speed but at the end of the day you cannot exercise a shitty diet. I wake up every single day and tell myself okay new day lets get back on track. And every single day I just cannot seem to get my ish together when I am at home. I am getting rid of all the bad snacks and getting everyone on the healthy train. I am trying and I am so terrified that I will get back to 300lbs again. Looking at the mirror, I see how big I am, I see the tummy, I see the hanging skin, I see everything negative when in reality I probably look fine. Not sure what I am looking for outta this post, but I needed to get it out and not hide my food struggles because I did that and it lead to me hiding food and getting up to 300lbs.

Dropping into ketogenesis you will go through a “keto flu” which is different for everyone, but sweats, nausea, body aches/muscle aches, fatigue and headache are common for those. It often hits between day 3-7, but everyone is different. Salt here helps. Dig out your electrolyte drinks, your salty broth, etc. with the coffee drinking you’re just adding insult to injury, losing a lot of water that way. Though withdrawal is a jerk.

Dropping into ketogenesis you will go through a “keto flu” which is different for everyone, but sweats, nausea, body aches/muscle aches, fatigue and headache are common for those. It often hits between day 3-7, but everyone is different. Salt here helps. Dig out your electrolyte drinks, your salty broth, etc. with the coffee drinking you’re just adding insult to injury, losing a lot of water that way. Though withdrawal is a jerk.

During my bariatric journey and I'm only one year postop I have learned that I do not force food in if I'm not hungry. I just don't eat. hunger fluctuates during the month one week I'm ravenous, one week I can eat OK, one week I cannot eat it's just I don't force it, but I think it's different strokes for different folks. I have heard people go back to some Hardy bone broths which are always yummy during those times.

I did keto a lot before surgery, it was vogue as we’ve all done a million diets in our lives... It works, but cravings. The preop and post diet are similar. Just way more liquids. For the fatigue and headaches, broth was the key. You would dehydrate rapidly and would suffer without the salt. The sugar detox is real, often once it passes you are a ton less Hungery. For those like me, and sugar can start the cravings. 100% agree with others who posted. It takes me about a full week for those to stop. Distractions help, exercise helps, just going to bed helps. I am always less hungry after mild exercise, mostly sweaty and thirsty. It helped stopped the food focus more than plain distractions. Heavy exercise increased the hunger the next day. This might sound crazy, but I had to constantly know when my next meal was. Lunch done, wait 2 hours then sugar free jello, then 1 hour and sugar free popsicle, then start to prep dinner, etc. knowing I was eating something in 1-2 hours helped. I tend to panic eat. Food was scarce as a kid and I tend to stuff myself if it’s not readily at hand and I’m hungry… my next meal is 3 bananas as fast a I can shove them in and I remain food panic triggered and have to talk myself down. I’m working through my hunger panic. I’m 100% not super thin now, I’m huge and need help… it’s why we are all here. :). To give and get support. And trying to not be a clean your plate club, eat any meal you are offered, all meals need a dessert, eat till you have pain and call that “full” kinda gal. I’d also make sure I got all of my sleep. I’m a 10 hour person. Plan a small exercise before you know your mega Hunger hits (I’m lunch). A 15 min walk helps divert my blood to my limbs and gets me craving fluids. Call your food what it is. A popsicle is a dessert. A pudding is a dessert. Sometimes reframing these help, ok in 2 hours I’m having protein pudding as a dessert, followed in 2 hours by a dessert popsicle. We are all different, so need different things. If after dinner I have a popsicle every night before bed, I call it dessert and I always know it’s coming and I will be getting more food… and I’m ok not being as full at dinner. This.. might have been too personal, but… helps me.

I did keto a lot before surgery, it was vogue as we’ve all done a million diets in our lives... It works, but cravings. The preop and post diet are similar. Just way more liquids. For the fatigue and headaches, broth was the key. You would dehydrate rapidly and would suffer without the salt. The sugar detox is real, often once it passes you are a ton less Hungery. For those like me, and sugar can start the cravings. 100% agree with others who posted. It takes me about a full week for those to stop. Distractions help, exercise helps, just going to bed helps. I am always less hungry after mild exercise, mostly sweaty and thirsty. It helped stopped the food focus more than plain distractions. Heavy exercise increased the hunger the next day. This might sound crazy, but I had to constantly know when my next meal was. Lunch done, wait 2 hours then sugar free jello, then 1 hour and sugar free popsicle, then start to prep dinner, etc. knowing I was eating something in 1-2 hours helped. I tend to panic eat. Food was scarce as a kid and I tend to stuff myself if it’s not readily at hand and I’m hungry… my next meal is 3 bananas as fast a I can shove them in and I remain food panic triggered and have to talk myself down. I’m working through my hunger panic. I’m 100% not super thin now, I’m huge and need help… it’s why we are all here. :). To give and get support. And trying to not be a clean your plate club, eat any meal you are offered, all meals need a dessert, eat till you have pain and call that “full” kinda gal. I’d also make sure I got all of my sleep. I’m a 10 hour person. Plan a small exercise before you know your mega Hunger hits (I’m lunch). A 15 min walk helps divert my blood to my limbs and gets me craving fluids. Call your food what it is. A popsicle is a dessert. A pudding is a dessert. Sometimes reframing these help, ok in 2 hours I’m having protein pudding as a dessert, followed in 2 hours by a dessert popsicle. We are all different, so need different things. If after dinner I have a popsicle every night before bed, I call it dessert and I always know it’s coming and I will be getting more food… and I’m ok not being as full at dinner. This.. might have been too personal, but… helps me.

My whole life I used to think that. Through my adulthood (age 19-29) I was in great shape, worked out regularly, ate well and maintained a great physique. I always had the propensity to gain weight if I wasn't careful with how I ate and my activity level. I lost over 45 lbs and kept them off through staying active and eating well and my belief was, if I could maintain being in shape doing that, anyone can. It worked for me through 2 pregnancies and a whole decade. Fast forward when my hormones got out of control, I gained 10 kilos in 1.5 months, my weight kept going up, had a bad sports injury and in 5 years I was 30 kilos overweight. I still ate well and worked out 5 times a week but NOTHING WORKED and by nothing, I mean NOTHING not even injectables, not one pound lost, NADA, Zilch. I counted calories, walked 10k steps ...etc. the whole shebang. I was sad, depressed, so uncomfortable and I finally got how sometimes, you try your hardest but it just doesn't happen for you. It was so ironic because I was seen as the health guru who lectured people on how they should work harder and not create excuses (hard pill to swallow, I admit). I finally decided to give in the fact that my weight isn't going to budge dieting and working out like it did in the past. I bit the bullet and got the surgery. I lost a lot of weight fast, but went back to working out regularly and staying consistent and disciplined, I wouldn't have been this successful (not with just the weight lost, but my actual physique, being lean and fit and all) had I just gotten the surgery and depended on it to achieve what I had in mind, I had (and continue) to put in the work, choose to prioritize eating well, etc. Yes the surgery is a tool to HELP you lose weight and BUILD good habits. It doesn't do the work for you in the long run ,that is on you and how you utilize this tool that will determine your success. I would however (very general advise), suggest that before resorting to surgery, that one does try to see how far they can get naturally, and if they can't maintain/fall off the wagon/don't get to their goal weight or physique that they do utilize WLS, but it has to come with a mindset shift. I had that mindset, I just needed the kickstart. Evaluate where your body and MIND is because that is as important.