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Happy Birthday! A little treat won't hurt, but 2 big things: 1. Don't beat yourself up over going off of the diet once. It can easily lead to a spiral where you feel bad. Remind yourself its not a big deal when its a single event, just resume at the next meal like nothing happened, and don't let it become a daily habit! 2. Expect sugar cravings and being "hangry" for a day or two after having a sweet treat after weeks of having none. I felt ravenous after having treats over the holidays, and couldn't figure out why. I wanted to eat more than I knew I could physically handle. Our bodies are engineered to make the most of carbs because up until a hundred years or so ago, they were rare for humans to come across. Nowadays, sugar and starch are in everything, and our bodies haven't adapted to that change in food availability yet. That instinct will kick in and make you want to eat "all the carbs". The following 2-3 days, resist it and remember to stick to higher protein and savory foods until it passes.

Agreed with what the others said. Be careful lifting weight, including the grandkids, before you are ready. It just takes overdoing it once to cause a hernia, requiring additional surgery. Other than that, the movement is a good thing, but listen to when your body says its tired. Balancing exercise and rest is very important the first month or two. Would you rather have a little more rest now periodically through the day while still getting somethings done, or overdo it and force yourself into a situation where you have to have repair surgery and risk several weeks on bed rest getting nothing done in the future? To prevent overdoing it, look into the Pomodoro Technique. Basically set a timer to do a task for "x" number of minutes, and then rest for "y" number of minutes. Early on, you may want 10-15 minutes of activity followed by 30-45 minutes of rest. Then as you progress, shift more time into activity and reduce the rest time, but its most effective keeping the entire cycle under 1 hour total. As far as the internal pain goes, its likely its still gas trapped and built up. Take Gas-X, and when you're walking around, do exercises with your arms lifted or over your head. I'm not sure exactly, but it has something to do with the blood flow being distributed to all of your limbs and helping breakdown and expel the gas quicker. I would have it go from my lower left side to up in my shoulders, and it was just a discomfort I couldn't shake. That movement and the medicine helped to break it up and would give me a few hours of relief.

most people with bypass don't have complications- and of those who do, they are usually minor and correctable (or in the case of dumping, preventable). Major complications with bypass are pretty rare. only about 30% of bypass patients dump. I never have, and neither do most of the other bypass patients I know. For those who do dump, it can usually be prevented by not eating a bunch of sugar or fat at one sitting (which none of us should be doing *anyway*). I threw up occasionally the first few weeks after surgery when I ate too much, too fast, or something that my stomach wasn't going to tolerate, but now I throw up about as often as I did pre-surgery - that is, very rarely. And as for food intolerances, most of those are temporary, but some can become permanent. But you'll figure out what your body will and won't tolerate pretty quickly. re: only eating a couple of bites of food. That's only in the first few weeks after surgery. For the last several years, no one would be able to tell I've had bypass surgery by watching me eat. They'd just assume I'm a "light eater", like many of my women friends who've never been obese. When I go to restaurants, if I'm not that hungry, I'll order something like an appetizer, soup, or a salad. If I AM hungry, I'll order an entree, eat half of it, and box up the rest to take home. Most of my women friends do the same thing. you're probably seeing more issues with bypass for two reasons: 1) it's a much, much more common surgery than SADI. As in a LOT more people have bypass than SADI, so of course you'll see more on it. 2). after people get over the first few weeks (which can be tough with either surgery), they usually only post when they're having some issue, because they're looking for advice or support. People who've never had issues (which would include most of us) aren't likely to post that everything is hunky-dory. as far as which to choose, they're both good surgeries. Advantage of SADI is it's a stronger surgery, and you'll likely lose more weight with it. Disadvantage is regular doctors (as opposed to bariatric surgeons) know a lot more about bypass than they do about SADI, so your PCP may not be able to help you if you have issues - they may have to refer you to a bariatric specialist (which, of course, is fine - but just something to keep in mind). Also, if you have GERD, bypass is usually the better choice, since it tends to improve GERD, if not outright cures it. SADI involves a sleeved stomach, which can cause GERD in some people (or make it worse if they already had GERD before surgery). It doesn't happen to everyone, but it IS a risk... good luck with your decision!

I'm definitely planning tracking. I have a cute notebook and also a planner that I plan on using the weekly planning part to plan out the weeks dinners. I usually do eat protein first and back and forth with the veggies and whatever else I have. I feel like im not chewing well enough or slow enough anymore. I want to get back to doing that too. I would love to get all of the carbs and sugar out of the house, but im not the only one who lives here and I'm told "just because it's there, doesn't mean I need to eat it". The foods that I usually go for are now off the counter tho. So it's "out of sight, out of mind" hopefully. I posted my new stats in a post or two before this, but I had to have my lapband removed in 2013 and I got rny in february 2023. At my lowest weight ever right now. I've lost 111.5 pounds

i made a vsg four years ago, i started from a weight of 148 kg, going in three month to 122 kg. than arrived covid. italy was in lockdown, i regain weight to 138, than go to 126, back again to 134, in this period i see the 119 when i was sick, and now back to 128. i feel like i was a failure, and i don't know what to do. i work with a dietitian and an endocrinologist but nothing work on me. what am i suppose to do? i am the only that have that problem? in the first year i was alone, nobody follow me and now it's so difficult make it work

I have several things that come to mind on what was the last straw, but for me it was when my family visited and I was the only fat person there. My entire family is thin. Combine that with my thin husband..I felt like those old movies where you see the huge fat loud mouth wife (lol no I'm not that bad - looks around to see if husband is watching me type) with the small husband.. Everywhere we went I hated I was bigger than my husband (he eats tons and anything he wants - but due to his job he walks 12 miles - 6 days a week) so he remains thin. Add to the above; people would look at me then my grocery cart when shopping...then judge..and even say things even though 99.9% of the cookies, kids cereal, ice cream etc were for my husband. They never saw my cottage cheese, salads etc., just zeroed in on the garbage. I had one person tell me "no wonder you're fat" looking into my cart. Needless to say my smart ass came out..i said I can lose weight..you'll always be a rude ass**** who obviously has a "small penis" complex feeling the need to insult others to feel better about his small Insecurity package. One of the larger straws that pushed me to have surgery. I never told my husband out of total embarrassment.. Until recently.

I had christmas 6 weeks after my surgery and I just didn't go to the big family celebration that year. Birthday a couple of months afterwards and again I spent that with immediate family and stuck to my plan (3 months after surgery by then). 2 years post op now, I could have anything I want but honestly I find I'm happy with a small tasty meal and a glass of wine. I did try some sweet stuff this christmas but if I'm honest none of it was as fantastic as I had built it up in my head to be. A few bites of something sweet when you want it is unlikely to throw you right off plan. Beware dumping though - I have no experience and it's not as common with the sleeve but I would start with very small amounts of sweet or fatty stuff (not a whole cupcake perhaps!) And happy birthday! You've just given yourself the best present anyone ever could have.

Thank you. You're absolutely right; I've taken a picture every month since my surgery in September and lining them all up, there's really not much difference month to month, but taking out months one, two & three and putting month 0 and 4 side by side as I've done here, there really is a significant difference and it's definitely encouraging.

Hi there! Been on my surgery journey for a few years now and I'm finally coming up on my RYGB surgery date in a couple weeks. It might just be nerves but over the last couple of months I've started to rethink whether I'm making the wrong decision with the going with the bypass. I spoke to my surgeon about a week ago & expressed I might want to switch to SADI. She said it's ultimately my choice, but she feels like RYGB is a better fit for me personally as I have a history of GERD (currently mild) and that she's concerned I might lose too much weight with SADI - I need to lose 100lbs. I've been reading & watching a lot of posts from people that have had each procedure & I'm really concerned with the idea of throwing up & having to eat a couple of bites per meal the rest of my life. The thing is, I rarely see anyone post complications with SADI. They seem to eat small meals but not as small as restrictive as RYGB patients & while they experience diarrhea - I don't see posts about vomiting. I mean, does everyone experience vomiting & dumping syndrome with RYGB? Does anyone know people that have had poor experiences with SADI? Ultimately, am I making the wrong decision by not going with SADI?

Feb 21 for me! There are two other Feb 2024 buddy posts on here somewhere, but I think they've gotten buried. Not too many people replying to them yet, which is interesting. It's only 2 weeks until February starts, so I wonder where everyone is!

I did the same - I had my husband take pictures of me every month on my surgery date until I hit maintenance 20 months later. It's much easier to see your progress if you can refer back to previous photos. You can't always tell a difference from month to month, but comparing photos to ones taken three or four months earlier - yep - you can definitely see the difference! Plus it's great having photo documentation of your journey! Congrats, by the way - you're doing great!

Weight-wise we started out about the same, and I'd lost 75 lbs by the six-month mark, so you are doing fine. And it's very normal to drop down to a 1-2 lb a week loss when you're six months out. Just continue to stick to your clinic's plan, and the weight WILL come off. It took me almost two years, but I got it all off (I've had about a 20 lb rebound gain since I hit my lowest weight, which is very common during year 3 - it's your body settling in to a weight it's comfortable at). as far as calories go, that varies so much for everyone that I can't really say if your input is too high or too low. I think I was eating around 800 calories a day at that point, and I used to fret about that because I'd see people on here eating 600-ish. But they could have been shorter, older, less muscular, and/or less active than me, too. As long as your weight is in a general downward trend, I wouldn't worry about it. Some surgeons want their patients eating more calories in general than other surgeons, so the amount you're taking in isn't anything unusual keep in mind that the closer you get to goal, the slower those pounds are going to come off. During year two, there were months I was only losing a pound or two the entire month. But I was persistent and they DID come off.

My first birthday post-op was about eight weeks after surgery. All I remember was I had about two tablespoons of ice cream as a treat, and felt guilty about it for days afterward! (it didn't make me sick, but I was bound and determined from the get-go that I was going to be 100% compliant with my plan until I got all that weight off, so I felt terrible about eating that ice cream!). The next holiday was Thanksgiving. That was about five months after surgery. I took some Light & Fit pumpkin yogurt to eat while the others were eating pumpkin pie, so no guilt! (I will admit I was a bit of a drill sergeant with myself the first year after my surgery, but again, I was 100% determined to get that weight off! I wish I still had that resolve!!)

as far as exercise goes, I was told just walking for the first four weeks post-op. I don't remember my clinic saying anything about doing (or not doing) normal household tasks - or going up and down stairs in my house. They did say not to pick up anything heavy, though. I would say as long as you're not picking up heavy things, you're probably OK - and if something hurts, stop doing it. Hopefully someone not as far out from surgery as I am will know a more definitive answer to this. And btw - welcome to the forum!

Hello, everyone. I'm a VSG baby, meaning i just recently had my surgery on the 10th. Almost a week now? I'm currently on phase 2 of my post- op. I've been trying to rest as much as I can. I've just been a bit ancy, which it strange, because I'm a writer and have every opportunity to do that or binge watch television, lol. Yet, I want to move around and I get the urge to clean and move around more and faster that I should, that on top of my daughter and step-daughter running around, my grandbaby coming over and having an energetic chihuahua feeling the need to have me chase him around the house because he wants to play. My SO has been getting aggravated because I've been a little stubborn, and I can't blame him honestly. I am stubborn, lol. But I think my stubbornness might have bit me a little this time, I've never had major surgery like this before so it is very new to me. I feel like I might have over done it. As of right now, the only pain I feel usually is on my left side. Some times she I try to turn that way or stretch a little, It hurts like someone is trying to stretch my skin, also it stings a little a burning cramp sensation. It's usually subtle unless I move around too much. This morning, my daughter threw up and her dad had already gone to work, so I worked on cleaning it up, mopping a little, running up and down the stairs, threw some towels in the washer and got her situated. After I was done, my left side started hurting again, except it hurt a little to walk and it was tender when I touched it. I took a few deep breaths and walked over to the couch to sit down and took some Tylenol. It feels better a little better now. It's strange, because that pain feels very familiar when I was pregnant with my daughter and she was pushing against my fibroids that had grown in size because of the hormones. Except that pain was so excruciating I could barely walk. I didn't know if i was going into labor or not. So, after that loooooong intro. I'd like some advice. Is this something I should worry about and talk to my doctor about. Or should I just make myself take it easy and not over do it so much? Thankyou so much;.

I have a huge restriction, lucky me. At almost 2 years, I was only on about 800 cals a day. I had to eat so many protein yogurts to get in my quota of protein. After 2 years I decided to call it a day and upped my cals to 1500. This gives me a good number of cals and as I am not a great exerciser, could do more if I wanted more food. Counting my 3 week pre op diet, I lost about 90 lbs at 6 months out

Happy birthday! I had my surgery less than a week before my birthday, so I was still on liquids for my birthday. I didn't (and really couldn't) do anything food-wise for my birthday that year. What else do you normally do to celebrate your birthday? Do your friends and family give you gifts? You can still open gifts on your birthday. Maybe instead of going out for a birthday meal, you can find another (non-food-related) activity to do with your friends and family, like a movie or show, escape room, spa day, mini golf, etc. Something to consider with respect to a birthday treat is that you might have a bad reaction to it, so think about whether you want to risk getting sick on your birthday. Maybe instead you can find a bakery that makes sugar-free cupcakes, or a health food store that sells protein brownies, or make yourself a sugar-free protein mug cake.

I got the Deluxe because (1) it has bigger containers (24 ounces for the Deluxe vs. 16 ounces for the other models) and (2) it has more programs than the other models. To be honest, I don't fully understand the difference between programs, and I'm not 100% convinced it matters (e.g., what's the difference between light ice cream and frozen yogurt programs?), but it's nice to have options. I like the bigger containers because it allows more flexibility in what recipes I can make, and I usually eat half and re-freeze the other half for later. A few pro tips: Buy extra containers. You have to freeze the mixture for 12-24 hours, so you'll want to be able to make it in advance so you don't have to wait until you consume one to freeze the next one. The machine only comes with two containers (unless you find a deal that includes extra containers), and I bought 4 more for a total of 6. My extras are not Ninja brand but they are the same shape and size to work with the machine, at half the price of the Ninja brand. Re-spin! No matter what program you use, your ice cream will probably come out looking like powder and you'll think something is wrong. Put it back in the machine and re-spin at least once, sometimes two or three times. Some people say to add liquid before re-spinning, but I recommend NOT to do that, because as it sits at room temperature during the re-spins, it will start to melt into its own liquid, so if you add more liquid, it will get too soft. Also, this is kind of confusing, but if you save some for later, you have to re-freeze it in the container and then creamify it using the applicable program (e.g., light ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt, etc.), NOT re-spin. In other words, never use the re-spin button when it's frozen solid. You'll probably need to add sweetener and/or flavor. When people are dissatisfied with recipes, I suspect that it's usually because of insufficient sweetness. YMMV, but I like things super sweet, so I always add sugar-free sweetener (erythritol and/or Splenda) and lots of it. People say that freezing and creamifying it makes it taste less sweet, so when you taste the liquid before freezing it, you'll probably want it to be on the verge of too sweet. Same goes for flavor -- it tastes weaker after freezing and creamifying. There are some great flavorings available that can really enhance your creations. Lorann, One on One Flavors, and Bakto flavorings are available on Amazon and offer a ton of variety. McCormick cake batter extract is also a delicious addition to vanilla bases and is available at most grocery stores.

I was barely eating 900 calories at 6 months (almost a cup of food for a meal depending on what it was & one snack) & at my goal weight. But my stats are different from yours. I’m likely older, definitely shorter & I wasn’t & still aren’t overly active. (I eat about 1600 now to maintain my weight.) You have every right to ask for greater guidance around calories, portion sizes, macros, etc. from your nutritionalist if it makes you feel more confident about your choices & comfortable about what you’re doing. If they refuse you may have to find another one who is willing to support you. Yes, I know calorie counting is considered out, but for us it is an important consideration especially until we feel more secure in what we’re doing & helps us to lose/maintain & maintain our health. We need that guidance now as most of us didn’t know what the hell we were doing in regard to appropriate foods to eat, nutrients our bodies needed, appropriate portion sizes, etc. We’re new borns about a lot of this in the beginning. If we knew it all & could do it we wouldn’t have needed the surgery. Honestly, I wasn’t given calories goals or specific macro except protein 60g for me. Just portion size, and low carb, low fat, low sugar. I was okay with that though I would still randomly check for my own interest. I did a lot of my own reading, and was very careful with what I chose to eat & checked with my dietician at every fortnightly appointment. As I said, you have to feel comfortable & confident about what you’re doing. After those first heady weeks of large weekly weight drops &, regardless of our starting weight, our rate of loss slows. One to two pounds a weeks is okay especially as you are on the homeward path now. Remember that 1-2lbs a week is generally considered a healthy rate of lose for anyone losing weight. Wait until you’re almost there & you’re losing ounces not pounds a week. Believe me, the last few pounds to lose are a b*tch to lose.

I am a little over 6 months post op, how many calories are you eating now? I am getting about 900-1000 calories, 80g of protein, 50g of carbs. Anyone else have a starting weight at 360ish at 5'9", how much did you lose at 6 months? My surgeon doesn't offer an aftercare support team and the nutritionist (had to get a referral from my primary) that I am seeing doesn't like giving numbers. I also don't feel I can ask him as he will just refer to the paperwork he gave me at the start, which just says under 1200 calories and 60-80g of protein. I am very happy with the weight that I have lost so far, 100lbs since surgery, but it has been very slow the last 2 months or so. I still feel that I should be losing at a faster rate than I am which is only about 1-2lbs a week. Is this just an average weight loss when I weigh 263lbs at 5' 9", haven't been down to this weight in over 15 years.

Another thing to remember is a lot of nerves were cut during your surgery so signals to tell you things like you’ve had enough, eaten too much or doing damage just aren’t getting through or aren’t getting through clearly. You getting sick is a sign you’ve over done it. As I always say all because you can doesn’t mean you should & at the moment you really shouldn’t. It takes 8 weeks or more to fully heal & the staged return to eating is in place to protect your tummy & all those sutures & staples holding it together, & support your healing. It’s also important to follow portion size recommendations. Plans & requirements are different but double check how much you are allowed for a meal. I was allowed 1/4 - 1/3 cup from purée slowly increasing to about a cup at 6 months but that was my plan your’s could be different. You’re right about the head hunger trying to convince you you’re still hungry. You can always tell if it’s head hunger if you’re wanting to eat a specific food, flavour or texture. The desire for solid food or anything you can actually chew is a head hunger that is challenging for many from the liquid stage. Plus not being able to have something always makes you want it more. Recognising it for what it really is a big part of doing that head work & learning it to manage it Many of us find distraction helps with head hunger. Read, craft, play a game, phone a friend or family member, go for a walk, check social media or this forum, etc. Sipping a warm drink can be helpful too. (I could count green or decaf tea in my fluid intake. It may be worth double checking if you can count your decaf tea.) All the best.

I was in the large family that celebrated/soothed everything with food. Sad? Have a cookie you’ll feel better! Good grades? Have some ice cream! Birthday? Don’t forget the cake! Going to a reunion? Make sure you bring the potato salad and pink stuff! Oh someone died? Don’t forget the luncheon and the funeral potatoes and pie. But dinners most week nights were my responsibility after age 10 so we ate a lot of latchkey ability dinners- spaghetti, white people tacos (tortillas, ground beef, shredded cheese, iceberg lettuce and sour cream), and Mac and cheese with peas and tuna mixed in, and potato surprise (mashed potatoes, ground beef, peas, and shredded cheese). Now? I’m still the one cooking even for holidays and such. I don’t regret it but I do make better choices now that I know better…. Most of the time.

Happy New Year! And oh my goodness, yes the hair shedding has been crazy for me too. I am trying not to worry too much about it because I heard it is normal due to trauma of the surgery and the nutritional changes, and that it might come back in thicker than before. I also heard that some ended up with wavy hair who used to have straight hair before surgery. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some wavy hair, because mine wouldn't hold a curl for nothing! But at the end of the day as long as it slows down shedding and comes back a little fuller, I will be happy. I make sure to get my BCAAs/Collagen in at least once day, and of course my daily multivitamin. My 3 month blood labs looked good overall according to my surgeon's office, so I haven't added any extra biotin at this time. I do take a B-12 twice a week. Keep us posted how the hair shedding goes for you. Take Care, Maia03

I just had a revision from the sleeve to a bypass a week ago today. I'm already 16 pounds down. I had horrible stomach acid... the thing is, lifelong taking medicines for stomach acid is bad for you. Increases cancer risks, dementia risks, and accelerates bone loss. I did not want to be taking these meds for decades to come when science has proven how dangerous that is. I've had no vomiting or nausea while healing. This time around, the vitamins don't even make me sick which is a huge relief. They used to.