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Hi everyone! I just found this forum after doing a Google search and very happy I did. This is my first post and just looking for some advice. I had gastric sleeve surgery on Wednesday 12/7. Did 2 weeks liquids and last week started soft foods. Since I started on soft foods last Wednesday, I haven’t been able to eat too much of anything without getting that “stuck” feeling or way too full feeling. Then, everything started grossing me out. Like all foods other than chicken broth. On Christmas I had about 4oz of stuffing and that was it. That went down pretty good but I didn’t eat more than that bc I’m not supposed to. Then yesterday I got a quart (32oz) of Matza ball soup from a diner in the morning and ate off that all day which went down perfectly fine. I didn’t eat it in all one sitting but all throughout the day. Then today I had homemade chicken soup that had soft veggies, potatoes, rice and bits of chicken. I had about 2 cups of that throughout the day. At this time I’m not supposed to be eating carbs but I slipped up w the potatoes, rice, matza and that bit of stuffing on Christmas. I’m feeling so guilty and worried I fucked up already 3 weeks in. I really struggle not to eat and drink at the same time too. I usually have a drink w my food because it makes the food go down better. I don’t chug but take small sips. Do you think I’ve stretched my new stomach out and ruined things? I was doing so amazing since surgery but it’s just been these last few days I been making bad choices and feel like I’m overeating and eating the wrong things. I’m wondering if it’s bc I got mY period 3 days ago which makes me super hungry. Could that be why my carb cravings went up? Anyone else not be perfect in the beginning? Do you think I’m too far gone? Please no mean comments. I’m already beating myself up as it is. 😔 Thank you. ❤️

I honestly don’t think them smart scales are super accurate. I’ve seen a few people on here say they got DEXA scans and that their scale was not the same. That being said. They do warn that we will lose muscle and that’s why it’s important to start with some strength building as soon as we are cleared to do so. About the stall, some people do actually gain a little. Usually it’s followed by a quick drop of that gain- plus some. I think it’s your body trying to hang onto every single calorie it gets because it thinks it’s starving. Sorta has to recalibrate for a short time and then you should be back on the downward trend. If my google search is correct 1kg is only 2.2 pounds. Honestly you could see that fluctuation any day. Doesn’t even have to be a stall. Could be your body retaining water or your bowels are full or you weighed at a differnt time of day. Virtually anything can cause that. That’s why they say it’s best to not weigh daily. I know it’s hard not to and I’m guilty of it too but we really do just cause ourselves unnecessary stress by doing it. When I had my sleeve my daily loss fluctuated several times by a couple of pounds. Even 3 or 4 a couple times because I weighed daily. But I did only record my weight once a week and that made it way easier to see the overall downward trend.

I was one of those "model patient" presenters at my clinic for the three years before COVID! I loved doing that! I had a partner - a VSG patient (I was RNY). I'd had a stricture at four weeks out - she never had any complications. I'm hoping we didn't sound too "vanilla" - but neither one of us had any issues (other than my stricture - which is a mild issue and very easily fixed). We were both super happy with our surgeries and both lost a ton of weight (she lost 100 lbs, I lost over 200). Although I think people found us entertaining (we were quite a pair!) and most groups asked us lots of questions. We always told the groups about the three-week stall (since it happens to almost everyone, and very few clinics mention it to their patients, so people freak out when it happens to them). Also told them about how we ate a month out, a few months out, a year out (our clinic's plan wasn't low-carb, like many of them are - it was balanced - although even given that, the typical eating YOUR presenter does sounds carb-heavy even to me). We mentioned how we typically eat when we're at a restaurant. Talked about the extra skin (my partner even lifted her shirt to show them her extra skin). Also talked about our experience with hair loss (since extra skin and hair loss are huge concerns among pre-ops). Also talked about constipation (we both have chronic constipation) and how we deal with it. And how we dress to "hide" all the extra skin (although I've since had mine removed). We always mentioned how most people lose their interest in food and hunger for several months after surgery, and how they should milk that for everything it's worth since it's way easier to lose weight when you don't give a flip about food. Basically stuff they likely would not have picked up during the classes they had with dietitian and the health psychologist. when I went through the classes in 2015, the presenter was kind of underwhelming, like yours. I'm sure he would have answered some of the questions we addressed when we were presenters, but he didn't, and the "students" wouldn't necessarily know enough at that point to even know what to ask. Shelli and I decide early on to talk about the issues they SHOULD ask about, but wouldn't know to. P.S. now I'm sitting her wishing I was still doing that - it was great fun! But COVID hit, so everything went online, and they didn't have the "model patient" class. Since everything is in person again, they may have some people doing it, but the two of us are pretty far out now (nine years), so they may have gotten people who had their surgeries just a year or two ago.

After three months I would have thought everything is healed sufficiently for nothing to open just from eating or moving but I'm no expert. If you are in pain or have serious concerns call your doctors office to see what they recommend, I have made the egg bites a few times and varied the recipe but the most recent one I logged on MyFitnessPal was;

I've often thought of moving there, or the South East coast, but the house insurance rates in Florida have made me think twice and three times about it. I've seen insurance rates as high or higher than the mortgage each month! Wowsa! I'd still love too..but dang I don't know how ppl do it.

Stalls are literally the worst 😂 I am trying to keep that same mindset - once my body has recalibrated, it'll go back to losing, but the devil side of my brain is telling me: "weigh yourself after a bowel movement" 😂 Send help 💀

Ohhh, this makes me feel so much better. Internally, almost as soon as I posted my inner voice was all "Stop complaining, everyone stalls, nobody wants to hear it," but the rest of me was just needing something to break through the deadened emotions with some logic & care. Even now I feel a little guilty for taking up people's time with all this, lol. @MrsFitz, yes, feeling much better after this weekend, thank you! Feeling back in the positive range again. I think being able to get outside to nature this weekend (more than is possible for me during the week) definitely was a boost. Looking back, I think I was afraid to feel the scary negative emotions & worries, so I just kinda shut everything down. Not the healthiest, but everything is get-throughable.

It seems like more and more new users forget to use the sidebar with surgery info and progress. While it's obviously anyone's choice to keep the information private, it makes it so much easier to help with questions when you have an idea of where people are in their journey. I'm wondering if it's simply because more users are mobile-only? Maybe they don't see the sidebars (I use BP on desktop only)? Maybe they don't even know it's there? It's especially helpful when someone asks about nutrition, complications, phase-specific worries and stalls to understand right off the bat where they are in their journey. There's a world of difference between stalls happening for a BMI52 duodenal switch patient who had surgery 7 weeks ago and lost 10 lbs total and then a sleever who's a year out at BMI24. It's getting harder and harder to tell as fewer and fewer new users use the sidebar. Maybe we the site could help nudge people to fill in the info?

Hi, thank you all so much for your answers (I'm just seeing them, sorry for the late reply)! I feel a bit better about it. It's just hecka frustrating to not know what you might be doing wrong. That said, the sleeve is still sleeving; my restriction was ridiculous yesterday. My husband and I took our youngest out for Sarku Japan and I swear I didn't even make a dent in my food. I was really shocked. Some days are like that where I feel like I'm back in my 3-4 ounce days. I said to my husband, "Looks like this is gonna be another one of those things that takes me three days to finish!" I'm not exaggerating. We went for ramen last year, and it literally took me three days. I'm going to continue to adjust accordingly, take inventory of any bad habits. I guess I need to fight harder. I'll look into the GLP-1 thing definitely; but that stuff is caro.💀🐾

Just to update for anyone reading this after the fact my weight loss did slow down quite a bit. It’s been 12 more days and I have only lost three more pounds. And the last one isn’t sure it wants to really leave me 🤣 Anyways, thanks for your reassurances and I hope you are all doing well.

Here is my 4-week post-op update: Highest weight: 251 Start of 2 week pre-op diet weight: 238 Day before surgery weight: 226 Today's weight: 214.8 I had a stall that began exactly at the 3-week post-surgery mark and lasted 7 days. Below are photos taken before surgery and this morning.

Double check with your team before incorporating any weights. My team said no intense exercise till 6 weeks and 8’weeks for any weights. I am a month out and called today and asked if it was okay to go up to an hour walking around the neighborhood (which I actually did last night but then read about waiting until six weeks and got scared). She said one hour collectively is fine but she would rather see me break that into two or three shorter walks so today I did 15 minutes in the morning and planned to do 30 tonight but I judged it wrong and it was 45. It’s a leisurely walk though. Not at all fast so I think it’s fine. in terms of the drinking an eating, some peoples pouches are more inflamed and it takes a little longer for the swelling to go down. You will be able to drink and eat bigger sips and bites eventually. Never the same as before but bigger. It can feel like a bit of a full time job to get In all the vitamins, protein and fluids for a while but it gets easier. As long as you are not drinking or eating past when you feel full, it sounds like you are doing fine!! And tell your husband he is awesome too for walking with you!! Mine encourages me, and like tonight he made my Salmon on the grill while I was gone but he never offered to actually go with me.

I was prescribed 600 mg a day of ursodiol to prevent gallbladder problems beginning today at 3 weeks. Each capsule is 200 mg. If you had similar RX, did you spread out taking throughout the day or take all at once? Just wondering if my pouch can absorb all three capsules at one time. Thank you for any advice on this. I’ll call my nurse today but it often takes them a long time to respond.

The period pants remind me a bit of adult nappy pull-ups @ShoppGirl but I’m hoping they’ll be more comfortable and less bulky than pads. They say you bleed for about a week like a normal period after the hysterectomy but I guess with all things it could be longer or shorter or heavier or lighter than they say because what the hell is a ‘normal’ period. The surgeon actually says to bring your own pads for after they remove the plug of wadding they insert after they remove everything (my friend described the plug as the biggest tampon and it hurt like hell to remove it - yikes). Yes, the wounds will be lower: one just above each hip bone, one above the pelvic bone & one in my poor belly button (that will make three there - but worried about scar tissue with that more). Thanks for the Amazon ice pack tip just in case.

I only weigh once a week, and it's been slow going the past few weeks. But as long as I'm losing, I think I'm ok with it. I was told to expect stalls around this time. The hard thing for me is waiting a week to step on the scale. We have been away for 5 days at the beach. That's always been a big eating event for me. This has been quite different. We only ate out 2 times... one breakfast and one dinner. It was uneventful... not the wonderful experience it used to be.

A lot of early post-ops are on a virtual starvation diet which does wonders to every system in your body. This is rather expected, and something to get through for all of us. And as we all should know, when the body isn't getting adequate calories it eats fat. Yeah! And muscle. And eventually organs. Plus, your metabolism slows down. Everything that isn't critical is curtailed if not outright shut down. Things that were easily dealt with before might not be easy during starvation. Over a month, even two or three most healthy persons can cope. And typically, by three months most post-ops are upping their calories adequately. The longer we remain at starvation levels the more harm that can be caused. However, above all else, no matter what you do, carp happens. Good luck, Tek

Thank you! It feels like it has been longer, but when I look at the July picture it just doesn't seem like it has only been 10 months. Scales wins are better, but inches are pretty good too. I see you just had gastric bypass in March. I hope all is well. Seems like I've had a lot of stalls. But losing 48 lbs. Since my surgery Feb 7th. Seems odd to say I had any stalls.

there aren't any calories in Coke Zero, so it shouldn't make you gain weight, but carbonated beverages can irritate some people's stomachs (which is why surgeons don't allow them the first few weeks or months post op - and some surgeons "ban" them for life). I drank Diet Coke occasionally before surgery, but then didn't have any for at least three years post-op. I tried one once while I was at an airport and after a sip or two, I dumped it out. It tasted like chemicals (which basically, it is...). After all that time away from it, it tasted awful. So that was that - haven't had one since. I do drink flavored carbonated water a few times a week now. I still can't drink things that are highly carbonated because after nine years out, carbonation can still irritate my stomach. I can handle mildly carbonated drinks, though. But then again, if faced with a beverage that's too carbonated for me, I just let it sit there for a while until it flattens out enough for my stomach to tolerate it.

If all you're eating is protein, the weight will come off. Don't worry about a quick stall! Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk

There are so many factors working here. You are still healing from surgery. Also I know I stalled at about 2 weeks. Not having a regular bathroom routine didn't help. Stay the course and keep being amazing.

@ShoppGirl my biggest incision is kind of dented in also. My surgeon said it will flatten out. It is also where they removed my stomach. Steristrips: I did not have them, or staples. My incisions all have stitches and a strange purple glue covering them. It is slowly wearing off. Food: We had a vegetarian potluck at work today and I did have a small teaspoon of ranch dip, one bite of a very spicy hummus, and a bite of a veggie meatball. I knew I could tolerate the food and did not want to punish myself by not having anything. Today I am 3 weeks and 2 days post-op and wore jeans for the first time. Not the brightest idea but I survived the day. LoL going to change as soon as I get home. I have lost 16 pounds since my surgery day. I am a slower loser and have had a couple of 3 day stalls. I like to weigh daily to see if a certain food or activity affects my weight loss. It also keeps me accountable. I know this may not be good for all people. I can’t wait for my 6 week checkup so I can be cleared to go to the gym. We have a large department move at work coming up in a couple of weeks and know that may pose some problems with my weight restrictions. Hope everyone is doing well and it seems like we are progressing along from all the posts. Keep up the good work. We’ve got this!

So at this point, I am confused to say the least. Started the bariatric Program: 336lbs Day of surgery: 326 CW:279 2 weeks shy of 5 months post Vsg GW 220-230 In the morning I can not eat food without first, drinking, something hot it’s the only time I really feel restricted. I am two weeks away from being five months out. Noticed I’m will only lose about 1-2 pounds a week but I fluctuate the same 1-2 pounds. I can’t get my protein from real food after eating 3oz of chicken at noon. I can’t eat real food for the rest of the day. Water intake is not a problem. But I have been at a stall for a month!! dietitian does not want me to rely on protein shakes, but that’s the only way to meet my protein goal. Any advice???

The bariatric center I go to told me the same thing about stalls. But they also added that little things could prolong them. Like I mentioned in another post about the pre workout and post workout fueling (eating). The stalls still happen, but at least I feel a little better from having more energy. That's great you're staying with your brother. That's what brothers are supposed to do! Sounds like you have a good one. You have a very interesting job to be able to travel all over the world. I'm sure there's times the traveling is too much. But, wow. All the places and different people you get to meet and work with. I hope the stalls don't last too much longer for you. From my own experience with them, they are tough to get past, even when you do see other positives going on. I wish you good rest and safe travels!

I am sure your appointment will go well and you will be all set for 15th. I was the same, with no pre-op diet to follow so I just made sure to enjoy my last few pre-op meals, meeting friends and having drinks in the few weeks lead up and weaning myself off coffee. Of course you will lose weight and you just have to take the time to work on the new you (inside and out) so that you will have the strength and mindset not to get back to where you are now and what lead you to need the surgery. We all hope not to have regain but even a few kg/lbs back on is ok too but try not to focus on a negative like that as positive mindset going forward is the best way to be. Your body will be readjusting and has to find its own level. Over the course of your journey there will be weight losses, gains and stalls and we are all here for you to vent, ask questions etc. 🍀

I swear, if this stall doesn't break soon... I did some research and found that indeed, 3 months is a common time for a stall to hit. It's just frustrating to see that nice downward trend come to a halt, especially when the "experts" tell you the first 3 months are the fastest weight loss. It really is a marathon, isn't it? Here's what my weight has been doing the past 30 days: