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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.

I had a thick head of hair, thankfully, however I've been shedding like mad for the past 6 weeks. (Surgery was mid August). I've been taking all my vitamins and one for hair skin and nails but sure doesn't seem to be working. My dietitian suggested to start taking collagen, she also said my hair loss should stop around 8 months. Unflavored beef gelatin is all collagen so I came up with a recipe for jello cubes and just started that. I'm down 87 lbs. My face has been breaking out something awful and I'm nearly 67. Wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I wish everyone great success.

Significant. I'm just thankful its winter and I can wear stocking caps. I've been losing it for about two - three months now. There is nothing you can do. Biotin etc..work on growing hair, not keeping it. The hair falling out now is old hair. I've read it should start stopping around 6-8 months post op <crossing fingers>. I have heard it comes back thicker, although I think that's just because you're used to the thinner hair so it seems like it. I'm not losing as quick as others..only down 70. This month and last two months have slowed significantly. Happy New Year back at you!

I didn't realize how much the label "obese" bothered me until I stepped on the scale and found myself in the "overweight" category. I became teary eyed. It is sad that labels can mean so much. There is no practical difference between the two pounds more that I weighed last week and then the two pounds less this week. Thirty pounds ago my I lost my sleep apnea diagnosis (and CPAP!), forty pounds ago I went from Type-2 diabetic A1C to pre-diabetic (then to normal!) and fifty pounds ago I dropped my blood pressure meds and maintain a normal BP. Those are the most important "wins." But it sure feels good to be "overweight" (and not obese).

Yeah. It just says fluid. And I usually have a cup of decaf tea in the morning that is equivalent to three cups. I never put that in my tracker. I am just figuring what I count in my tracker which is more 8 oz cu I use to drink. From my large water bottle (64oz). I’m sure it will be fine. It will all work out. I just have to watch fats that I am taking in. Even if it is “healthy “ fats

I am losing massive amounts of hair really picked up two weeks ago. Had some blood work done and was low on a few vitamins and minerals hoping getting those up helps considering cutting it all off to help hide the thinness

Today is 11 days post op and I’ve had serious cravings over the past two days. I started having a protein shake again which also helps the leg and foot cramps, then added a 4th meal a day. I also had a cup of broth in case I just needed salt. Yesterday it got so bad and I realized that I’ve been eating only yogurt and puréed cottage cheese so I got some smoked salmon and ate one ounce of it, that has set me back to rights again. Woke up feeling so much better this morning. It’s been an adventure, we live in the Midwest and lost power Friday evening, we’ve been in a hotel since Saturday. I brought my scale and a small container so I could portion out yogurt or cottage cheese but didn’t have any meat or fish. i don’t really feel hungry in my belly anymore, just a vague feeling of alarm that I need something. Most of the time I can just reassure myself but yesterday I knew it was hunger and that I needed something more substantial. The smoked salmon is very soft and I chewed it for forever, and I loved every moment of it🙂. (Note: I’ve been on purées since the day after surgery, tomorrow is my 2 week post op appointment, and I would have blitzed the salmon but I’m just making do the best I can with the snowy adventures. I also ate scrambled egg at Denny’s, I measured out 2 ounces and just fork squished the heck out of it and that went well too.)

I just had surgery on 1/4/24 and I am struggling. I never used to be obsessed with food and now it's all I think about. I am so sick of the Protein drinks and jello because everything tastes too sweet for me now. It feels/tastes like I am drinking sweetened condensed milk from the can. I am limited with broths I like, so that's an issue. I couldn't take it anymore, so I broke down and has refried beans yesterday (I'm not supposed to start pureed food until Tuesday). I regret having the surgery, and am resentful about not being to eat the foods I want. I have been on the liver shrinking diet 1 week before Christmas, which was awful watching everyone eat all those delicious Christmas treats, while I just watched. I think between that and the liquid diet post-surgery has broken me. I am emotional and miserable. Am I the only person to feel this way?

January 8th!! 1 week post op ☺️

I’m about 2 1/2 almost 3 weeks out of surgery. My doctor said to go ahead and move onto the purée stage for about a week. My concern is that I have no problem eating. I can eat 4 ounces without any hesitation I can drink an 8 ounce glass of water without any hesitation. it almost feels like I didn’t have surgery. Now if I drink too fast, or I tend to eat something, maybe a little bit more than I should’ve maybe like 5 ounces I will get sick. Or I will just feel sick. I guess that’s how I remember that I had surgery and I’m not supposed to eat so much. It just seems so weird outside of surgery so soon that I feel like mentally I could sit and eat a burger and fries. I know physically I can’t eat a burger and fries but it’s getting my mind to correlate with my body. I know there’s a lot of mental work that has to be done after surgery and I thought I got myself prepared for that before surgery. so I guess I just need to work harder on the mindset of eating 4 ounces every couple hours to keep myself from being hungry. Because I do feel hungry at times. I do however recognize when I’m just bored hungry. So I’m hoping I can start moving out of that board hungry state And into not being hungry even when I’m bored. I know this week I noticed that I didn’t lose as much as I had been losing and I think a lot of that has to do with moving onto the purée stage and actually eating food. Also, I noticed that I didn’t get all my water in. The most I’ve been able to remember to drink has been like 48 ounces instead of 64. So I have to be better focused on getting my water in .

I’m three weeks out of surgery. I’m feeling kind of the same way technically. For my tracker I weigh twice a week on Sundays and Wednesdays. I noticed this week from Wednesday to Sunday I didn’t have the weight loss that I was kind of expecting. I’ve also started the purée stage where I’m actually eating stuff now. One of the Support groups that I’m in there is a woman there and she said that this is normal and I talked to my doctor and he said it was normal so I guess it’s normal. I know I’ve heard of the stalls that happen within the first few months. you’ll have stalls as your body adjusts to the new eating habits. Just make sure that you’re eating your protein, getting your water, taking your vitamins, and eating foods that you should be eating, such as puréed vegetables, or soft foods, or whatever that are healthy. Your body will adjust as time goes on and will all feel these kind of oh my God moments. But we got this we’ll get through this. I’m not gonna start worrying about the stalls until I’m six months out and not losing any weight by then, your body should be on the role of losing. I hope that helps.

Be gentle on yourself. You’ve never done this before so of course you have doubts & worries & questions & … Walk, walk, walk for gas pains. And yes arm movements will help too. The surgical gas is in your abdominal cavity (not in your tummy or intestines so gas-x doesn’t really help & neither does trying to burp or fart it out) & rises to sit behind your lungs putting pressure in nerves causing the shoulder pain. The gas is then absorbed into your lungs where you breathe it out hence why the activity is helpful. It’s usually all fine within a week. While you are healing (takes about 8 weeks to fully heal) & while you are losing, it’s important to follow your plan. You’ll have the best success that way. And ask questions of your team (or here) if something doesn’t make sense to you or you’re confused. Go slowly with your eating & drinking (sip, sip, sip) especially now & for the next months. Your tummy is healing. It’s very sensitive. Yes try different temps - I found warm drinks more soothing as cold drinks made my poor tummy cramp. You may find for a few weeks your tummy is very fussy & doesn’t like certain foods, flavours or textures. Even the smell of somethings can turn you off. It’s temporary & passes after a couple of months. In the long term you may choose to eat a lot of your old favourites. Smaller portions, less frequently, or variations of a favourite (ingredient swaps or changed cooking methods). That’s up to you & how you want to eat in the long term. In a few months you’ll look back & realise what you’ve achieved & how worth it it’s been. All the best.