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I had my sleeve surgery December 5th of 2017, and its been ages since I've checked in here. I'll be honest....after a while, this became an unhelpful environment for me and I needed to leave. Too many experts. Too many people who had "found the answer" and judged others who were following a different path. Sometimes ya'll were really helpful and sometimes you just made things worse. I'm not saying that to be critical of this place (there were times it was sincerely helpful and I think it's a great site, particularly for those starting out)....but I wanted to share my experience that there are times when it's better to walk away, take breaks, or escape relationships formed here that end up being unhealthy. I'm gonna talk about my experience with the disclaimer that this is MY experience. I'm not judgeing anyone else's experience. If it works for you...that's great. I'm not giving advice here....nothing I say will be "right or wrong" for anyone but me. It's your job to find your best path. This is just my experience. I had a terrific surgery. Either i'm really tough or was too excited to feel much pain, but I woke up from surgery feeling great and walked every chance I got. It helped. I had an easy recovery. I followed directions to the letter with the bazillion little ouce cups spaced out across the day. Got my fluids in, hit my protien targets, walked constantly. The two most difficult things I remember....were the liquid diet leading up to surgery. Mine was over Thanksgiving and wow, did that suck, because I was cooking dinner for everyone else. Crazy difficult. The other really tough part for me....were the first few months after surgery when my weightloss slowed and I was like....what in the world? I expected this big fast drop, and it wasn't like that at all. It was a slow weightloss with long plateaus. I also remember being angry because I was insanely hungry ALL THE TIME the first three weeks. Harsh! And here I thought all the little "hungry sensors" in my stomach would eliminate this issue....nope. My doctor had a different approach to what many people were doing on this site. I was told to eat more calories faster than many other plans, and my diet included a lot of carbs....which melted the brains of many of the protien police. LOL. Granted, the carbs I was allowed were high fiber, high protien and unrefined. (Potatoes were one of my first foods, I ate chickpea pasta, whole grain high fiber English muffins, sweet potatoes, beans, etc.) So yeah....I was clearly doomed to failure and killing myself in the minds of many here. LOL. And it's true...I lost weight slower than most....BUT! I continued to lose weight, and weirdly, my tastes changed. And I've gotta tell you....no one is more suprised than me about this....but better food choices are much much easier for me now. I stay away from refined sugar, refined flour and animal fat. I like plant based protien and fiber is my go to. My doctor stressed the importance of fiber and fermented foods in creating the right kind of gut bugs...and I really think he's on to something. Couple of things I've learned that apply to me: * I'm a food addict. I will always be a food addict. I have never met an emotion I couldn't eat. I need to think about that every day, and when things get tough....I need to go to therapy, because it helps. I don't go nonstop...but when really tough situations come up in my life (big changes, deaths, etc.) having an extra set of eyes and ears from a bariatric-familiar therapist really helps me keep the addiction in check. *At some point, you regain a little. In fact, statistically, most people will regain about 20% of what they lose the first year. I didn't. I regained ten pounds and joined Weight Watchers until I lost it, again. I didn't follow their diet, but found that going in to be weighed once a week and attending the meetings with a fun coach really helped keep me on track. (Therapy also helped, bigtime. If I gain five pounds, I schedule a therapist appointment...I know something is going on and I need to act) *I need to exercise if I want to eat the number of calories I find satisfying. I love my Fitbit. I wear it on my foot. In the summer, people think I'm a criminal with an ankle monitor. LOL. *I hate logging my food with a purple passion. But if I start to gain weight, I know it's absolutely necessary if I want to reverse it. *Menopause sucks. Particularly with your metabolism. You might need to make calorie adjustments. *No matter what life throws at you...no excuse is good enough to destroy your health with food addiction. Find better ways of dealing with anxiety, pain, grief, fear, boredom, worry, stress. *Weighing myself once a week reduces stress. I have been a lunatic with the scale most of my life. Get on every morning (or several times a day)...if the number is good, I'd go...heck, I'm doing great, I deserve a treat! If the number was bad, I'd get depressed and stress eat....it was no win. Weighing once a week is much saner for me! *I grieved foods when their taste changed and I didn't like them as much anymore. I used to love Egg McMuffins and Chilli Cheese Dogs. I can take or leave an Egg McMuffin now...it's ok, but kinda meh. Chilli Cheese Dogs just taste like salt and I don't like them at all. Have tried eating them a few times and each time...have grossed myself out. I genuinely miss and feel sad about how good they used to taste. This isn't a perception I've talked myself into...other naughty things still taste great...but your tastes honestly do change and some things get ruined for you and even though this is probably a VERY good thing, it can make you feel kinda sad. And here are some CONFESSIONS! I eat 1400-1600 calories a day now and maintain my weight at 168-172 Eventually, you really can eat almost anything. And I have. I've eaten all my old favorites and overdone it. And felt guilty and stupid. And I've also saved calories and eaten an appropriate amount of my old favorites and felt pretty damned satisfied with my discipline. There might be a few things that give you trouble forever. Last week I ate dry chicken with corn on the cob...did not get backed up saliva stuck...but felt that horrible stuck feeling for about twenty minutes and sipped water until it passed. Corn is my big one to watch...which stinks...because I really like corn. I drink diet pop. Yep. I do. A can a day most days. My restriction is still great...as evidenced by my corn issue. I take ibuprofen now. Never more than a dose or two in a week's time and always take it with antacids....but I do use it once in a while and my doctor is ok with this. (he said not advised for the first year after surgery) My maintenance diet has a ton of carbs. I still get about 60g of protein a day, but I try to get at least half of it from plant based foods. I eat fast food once in a while, when necessary. Usually, I cut a sandwich in half and eat half. No fries. Coffee with cream and splenda. I don't like it very much anymore. Honestly...it doesn't taste like it used to. My idea of naughty junk food now...is hitting the specialty deli for four pieces of sushi and one of those cups of watermelon chunks. LOL. Here is a current picture of myself. I'm not perfect, but not bad for turning 49 this year! Beats the hell out of weighing 270 pounds. I have no regrets. Wishing you all the very best.

I got one from Amazon, was not impressed, and then found these. I bought 2 so I could wash one while I wore the other. Comfortable enough to sleep in or wear all day. I wore them under my underwear so they wouldn’t get in the way when I needed to go to the bathroom. My incisions healed up so fast and it doesn’t feel like I’m flopping around. https://incrediwear.com/collections/upper-body/products/incrediwear-body-sleeve

I get the frustration, but I think this is pretty normal - or at least mine was very similar. They verified that my insurance covered it before I went in for my appointment, but after my consultation, they suggested that I call my insurance for clarification and that really helped. Your insurance company will have to explain the out of pocket stuff to you, but basically the numbers change and they can't give you a hard and fast figure NOW because things change. For example, I had my EGD (endoscope) on Jan. 8th and I had to pay almost $850. My deductible is $800. When the doctor's office called me with my surgical info, they told me a number that'd I'd have to pay on a certain date. When I mentioned what I had paid for my EGD, their number changed because it takes FOREVER for insurance to get stuff in and processed and they didn't have the payment that I'd already made for the EGD. So, if they quote you a number today... and life happens... it could be a different number by the time you're actually ready for the procedure. Also, they don't want to quote you XYZ and have things change to ABC and that cause more problems down the line. I feel your frustration and it is confusing, but I don't think it's completely abnormal.

I've never been one to really "chug" water, but within the first month, I wasn't limited to slow sipping anymore, and within 2-3 months, I could drink relatively normally. It's still slightly uncomfortable if I try to drink really fast, but I'm 6.5 months out now and have very little trouble drinking enough water. I have noticed that when I drink warm drinks, I sometimes either drink too fast or perhaps the way I sip makes me swallow some air and I get a little discomfort in my stomach, but it's not too bad and it goes away quickly.

I can eat basically anything (in much smaller amounts at a time than before): sugar, fatty stuff, fried stuff, oily stuff, spicy stuff (including "authentic" Asian foods) and yep, alcohol. I do have "issues" though with lots of sugar at once (I'll dump unless I take it slow), pork (I get full fast on it), fluffy bread products (again, I get full fast on it). And broth-y soups (I can't drink the liquid and solid chunks at the same time - I'll get super full - so I'll have the liquid first, then the chunks). I don't eat rice nor pasta though (by choice). Am 5'2", 2+ years out, and can maintain at around 1800 cals a day. I have heaps of fun. LOL.

I was just idly wondering if anyone else had an extreme amount of pain after their sleeve (or any weight loss) surgery? I don't mean to scare anyone away from having their surgery because my situation is pretty unique in this regard. I am a recovering heroin addict so at the time of my surgery (August 2016) I was taking a medicine called Suboxone. Suboxone blocks pretty much all other opioid painkillers from working. I told my surgeon and anesthesiologist that I was on this medication and I was concerned that it would make the post-surgery painkillers not work so I brought my prescription to the hospital with me so I could give it to them so they could administer it to me after the surgery. Well fast forward to me waking up after my surgery in agonizing pain. They had literally just made 6 cuts into my abdomen and cut out the majority of my stomach and I had nothing working to dull that pain at all. They wouldn't let me leave the recovery room (I think that's what it's called) until my pain was under control. I was literally screaming in pain which I had never done in my entire life before that and I have not done since then. The nurse actually kept telling me that I needed to be quiet! If I was capable of that I would have been! The nurse kept giving me Dilaudid (an opioid painkiller) injections on someone's orders -who? I don't know. I kept telling the nurse that it wasn't going to work because I was on Suboxone, which by the way takes a very long time to work out of your system - like at least a few days until other painkillers will work. The nurse must have given me at least 4 injections of Dilaudid with no effect whatsoever before she finally believed that it wasn't going to work. Hours had passed since I woke up after my surgery before they finally listened to me when I told them that my mother was in the waiting room with my Suboxone prescription and that would actually work. 15 minutes later they brought it to me and I put it under my tongue to dissolve. Within 10-15 minutes my pain felt like it disappeared completely. Now it hadn't actually completely gone away but compared to the agony that I was experiencing before, this might as well have been nothing. What relief! To anyone that actually read all of that story thank you for making it this far! I don't have a real reason for sharing this, I just like this forum and have recently gotten back to reading and posting here and wanted to share some of my surgery experience. Feel free to comment about my story, ask any questions you want, or share any similar experiences you had. -Joshua

One of the reviews for it was from a WLS patient who said this shampoo and conditioner was the only thing that worked. I haven't gotten to the hair loss phase yet, but I started using it and my hair has never been so thick or grown so fast. The biotin supplement helps support your hair, the saw palmetto blocks the process that makes your hair shed. btw- I only use the shampoo/ conditioner ~2x per week. Take the supplements every day.

Yes, you could use ground beef. Some people don't tolerate beef very well after surgery, so turkey is a little safer. I found a turkey meat sauce recipe that I love and I don't miss the beef. Regarding pizza... I am 6.5 months out and have not eaten real pizza since my surgery. Pizza is my kryptonite. Before surgery, I could not resist pizza. I ate a whole frozen pizza every week (Red Baron pizza, which is a bit smaller and lower in calories than, say, DiGiorno, but still, a whole pizza). Even when I was losing weight before surgery, on pizza day, I would fast the rest of the day just so I could eat that pizza. I cannot overstate how much I love(d) pizza. In November (about 4 months after my surgery), I had a chicken crust pizza. I bought a frozen one (Foster Farms) and split it into 3 meals. It was ok, but not great, and I haven't bought it again. I've heard homemade chicken crust is better, so I'll try that someday. I do occasionally make myself a tortilla pizza using a Mr. Tortilla 1 net carb tortilla, 1/2 ounce marinara sauce, 1 ounce mozzarella cheese, and 5 pieces of turkey pepperoni. 133 calories and it kind of satisfies the pizza craving. The good news is that I don't crave pizza nearly as much as I used to. Before surgery, looking at pizza, smelling pizza, seeing a pizza commercial, or even seeing characters on a TV show eating pizza would make me want pizza in my belly NOW. But I have found a lot of healthy recipes that I truly enjoy eating enough that I don't care about pizza as much anymore. I eat three meals per day and no snacks, so I have to choose wisely what I'm eating for my three meals (and one of those meals is almost always reserved for a Built Bar), and there are plenty of things that I would rather eat. I know you don't want a lecture, but I suggest finding foods that are healthy and delicious, and you may find yourself not wanting pizza as much.

Good luck. I felt like crap day after but it will get better fast. Take the meds and it will help.

I truly understand what you’re going through. It’s a terrible feeling to have enjoyed your years of weight loss after surgery and have to look in your closet at the smaller clothes that keeps moving farther and farther to the back of the closet. It’s been 8 years since my gastric sleeve surgery and I’ve gained 50lbs back. For the pass few years I’ve tried resetting my pouch as they say, that didn’t work. Going back to eating the way I was eating at the beginning of the program that didn’t last two weeks. I tried, I’ve been angry at myself, I’ve been depressed as heck.....I don’t dress up anymore. I use to dress up, do double takes in the mirror at how nice I looked before walking out the door just to go to the grocery store. How could I have done this to myself again. I don’t know if this will be a solution for you but thank God the intermittent fasting, that I have tried several time before is truly working well for me this time. I prepare meals to keep in the freezer, I keep plenty of bottle water near me. If hungry hits or tv commercials show food after food I grab a bottle of water drink drink drink. Losing regained weight seems worse than the first time. But hang in there one day you will surprise yourself.

I'm having similar issues. I had a RNY 6/20. I lost weight fast (260-160) then have been stalled for about 2 months. I went back to liquids and one salad a night but still haven't lost anymore. My goal is 140. I'm begining to get discouraged and think I won't ever see it. I always get in my water and protein so I'm not sure what to do.

Hi, I have been dealing with hypothyroidism most of my life. I had the bypass done in December 2020. I was 98kilos and now 69. I also have been back to hospital due to gore bladder removal and malnutrition. I am losing weight to fast to quick. I feel sick all the time and find it hard to eat food. I have not started doing exercise, I know I should. I go back to surgeon tomorrow so have a lot of questions. You are doing well, are you on to full solids yet?

HI, I don't know what I was thinking. I felt good? Anyway, a couple of days ago I walked over a mile 3 days in a row and walked as fast and hard as I could. That was a huge mistake. I wasn't thinking about my stomach bouncing around and not only did my Dr, do my gastric bypass he did 5hrs worth of work on my messed up intestines. I didn't do anything the past 2 days I was hurting so bad, not to mention yesterday I ran a fever all day that didn't get above 100.4. I was going to call my Dr today, but the fever is gone, so that is a good sign. However, not only am I so sore, I have lost my apatite, not my taste. Also, I hadn't had any problem with heartburn, but today it has been so terrible I took 2 of the Omeprozole pills. That didn't even work. Any insight to what might be going on with me? I would so greatly appreciate any feedback. Thanks Rhonda

As for the water intake, that is the best you can do just keep it handy and sip all thru the day in between your "meals". I am 3 wks post-op and at my one wk visit the I also had a very hard knot inside one of my incisions, and it was red and warm to the touch. My Dr. prescribed 10 days of antibiotics, but he was concerned with infection being it was so sore to touch and the heat off of it. Now, once all that got better, I made the mistake of walking way to hard and fast and jiggled all my insides and put myself down for a couple of days. As a matter of fact, yesterday on Feb 1 i ran a fever low grade all day long. I had decided that i was going to call my Dr today, but no fever now. Thank you Jesus. Anyway, just when you walk be sure and walk, not push yourself so hard until we are completely healed. I have paid dearly. Also, today I haven't hardly been able to eat anything. I have no apatite at all, not to mention major heartburn?? I hope this helps, they said my knot would take quite some time to go away. As long as it doesn't hurt when you push on it, or not red or any heat, I'd think it would be ok, However, I am NO Doctor, so please I am just telling you my experience to compare. I hope it helps and I hope that you feel better very soon.

well, I just had my gastric bypass on Jan 12th and I wish I had not overdone it. I went to a basically empty mall where I live and people go there to get there walking done inside. I am only 3wks post-op, and not mention the Dr did 5 hrs worth of work on my intestines, besides the bypass. I walked 3 days in a row as fast as I could and all the bouncing on my belly was a really bad idea. So, start slow, and make sure you are good and healed before doing what I did. I am still paying for it. The pain?? I even had a fever all day yesterday, but none today, so I guess I am fine?

I never stopped keeping a food journal, because I know it helps keep me on track. If I didn't pay really close attention to what I'm eating and how much I weigh, my weight would start going up pretty fast. I credit close monitoring with being able to maintain my weight all this time (besides the COVID weight I mentioned - working on getting that off!). So yes - I would definitely recommend tracking!

Congratulations on your upcoming surgery. The one thing that was never mentioned was you can get gout during the fasting before surgery, and also after. I'd say that was worse than any pain I'd ever had. After surgery, food tasted terrible. So for me, I could care less what other people were eating. The surgery also disrupts your hunger hormone. So, people that I know that had the surgery, just were not hungry. Constpation was a problem for me, but it settled after a few months. I wish you the very best on you upcoming surgery and for a smooth transition after.

I am 9 years out. I’m 5’10” and the lowest I’ve been able to get was 162. All of the sudden I noticed I was 175. I knew I was eating the same as I always have. So I looked back at my online chart from my physicals over the past 5 years and realized I have gained about 2 lbs a year. It crept up on me apparently. Back to the drawing board. I have been doing intermittent fasting, warm lemon water in the morning, and adding protein shakes back into my diet.

I got the sleeve in 2011 and I lost about 100 lbs after.. since then I have gained about 60 back. I had a many complications with the surgery and had my staples pop and had to have follow up surgeries. Since then I have found an amazing doctor who I trust and he spoke to me about a revision surgery for weightloss. He recommended the DS but apparently their was not a surgery code to bill it yet * this was last January 2020 * . He then recommended the bypass. I agreed and started everything with hopes of getting the surgery by June 2020 before he retired. Due to covid my surgery got pushed indefinitely and he retired. In august when they started to do elective surgeries again a Doctor from his group reached and said that my original doctor asked this new Dr. to take me on as a patient moving forward with the surgery. I had decided that I did not know him that well and would not proceed at that time. Well I am still struggling with weight loss. A huge amount it is effecting my daily life I work in trauma and psych in the hospital and I am in nursing school and having issues keeping up due to my energy and weight. I have recently made the decision to continue with the pre op tests and get my chest xray and labwork redone to see if I can fast forward this surgery and get it by end of march beginning of april. I was just wondering for people who have had the revision surgery --- sleeve to bypass or sleeve to ds - how it ended up for them. I doubt I will be able to get the DS even though that is what I want due to the insurance issues so bypass is the way it looks. Also recovering times and everything else please. I am doing this one solo only 1-2 friends will know I am having the revision due to so much stress and people giving me their opinions about the situation the first time I do not feel like dealing with again.

I feel like I need to share my experience with others, as I wish someone would have shared the same with me years ago. My weight loss started over 20 years ago, never stopped since, culminating with a gastric sleeve in 2017 (SW 360, CW 250, GW<200). After the WLS I've lost about 70 lbs and hit the plateau which lasted a few months. I tried breaking it with intensive gym, calories counting, but no real impact. As a result, I've lost motivation, and over the next 2 years gained about 30 lb back (late night snacks, sugary treats), which was a huge frustration. Having a sleeve - the best WL tool one may ever have - I felt like being a "regain" statistics, not an individual with life and willpower. I still had my "pouch" restriction, but after 30-40 minutes after having a meal I was ready to eat again. It lasted till last November, when I hit 290 lbs. The frustration turned into anger. I spent days to research diets and practices. As a result, I'm back on track, losing rapidly about 3-4 lbs a week, full of energy. Here are my 3 key pillars, which brought me back: 1. Low carb diet. After researching multiple trendy diets, KETO seemed to be the most promising one. But I didn't like the idea to consume lots of fats, and avoid vegetables. I'm an old-fashioned guy. So I adjusted the KETO idea by adding a decent daily portion of green veggies (zucchinis, asparagus, green pepper, kale - those which have nearly no sugars, but lots of fibers), and limited my fats to avocados, brazil nuts, eggs and fatty fish (salmon) - no huge amounts of bacon, butter, cheese and oils. For protein those above also provided enough, plus I have some lean pork, beef or chicken. That type of diet keeps my in permanent ketosis, while I still have a decent amount of fibers and healthy protein. My nutrients are around 50-60% of fats, 25-30% of proteins and 10-15% of carbs. 2. Intermittent fasting (IF), 18:6. It means my eating "window" is 1pm - 7pm, during which I have 3 meals. Personally I believe that low carbs diet and IF are made for each other. Being in ketosis I feel no hunger at all, as my insulin is very low. That makes IF a simple task. Also once a week I do a 42 hours fast by skipping meals on Sundays - right before my weight check on Monday morning! ). IF is also a solution to plateaus. I adjust the fasting time to 12:12 for a few days and do a long fast after (48+ hours) to reset. 3. CICO (calories in, calories out) is the 3rd pillar. Keeping everything written down is not just a good habit, but also makes me feel I control the process better. My daily intake is around 1,100-1,300 calories, which creates a huge weekly calories deficit for weight loss. One may consider it's a bit too low, and I would rather agree. I'll certainly increase my calories after hitting my goal. A few more tips from my experience: - After 40+ gym can't be the only solution. Keeping yourself active (especially with this pandemic) is important for general health, but unless I'm a professional athlete, 1-1.5 hour walk every day (outside or a treadmill) is good enough. - Staying hydrated is a must, healthy weight loss won't work without it. Tracking water was always a pain for me, I was forgetting to do that. Now I have 6 magnets next to my water cooler. Each time I refill my bottle, I move one magnet to the other side, which helps me to see how many refills left. No fuss with writing down, takes a fraction of a second to move the magnet - while keeps me fully informed. Helps a lot! - Supplements!!! Lots of them! Since I'm restricted and have rather a distorted diet, I need to fill the gap of minerals and nutrients. Multivitamins, husk fiber, omega-3, collagen, cumin, ox bile, Vitamin D, electrolytes etc. It's 18 pills per day, in 2 batches! My latest blood work returned perfect results - no deficiencies, and the lowest sugar level I ever had in my life. As a conclusion - no hunger, no frustration, no cravings, energetic, clear mind, active, positive - and still losing weight! I even think that it would be very doable without my WLS, but in fact a restricted stomach makes everything much easier. So much easier, then it feels sometimes I'm actually cheating in this weight-loss game! I do hope someone will find it helpful. I wish I knew that years ago, but better late than never.

Hi 🙋‍♀️, I've been stalling as well since the beginning of January. I've taken the same 1lb off then put it back on again I don't know how many times! I've noticed more hair loss so am making a real effort to eat more protein, as my dietitian says it's the lack of protein that causes this (unfortunately she says it's the lack of protein 3 months before so the extra protein won't work for a bit). My calories are higher than yours - about 1100 per day. They've crept up with the protein I'm adding in. I still can't eat much "real food" at a time so eating little and often and still having 1 high protein shake a day. I still can't tolerate most meat - it just sticks. The dietitian says this might get better, but then again it might not....I'm doing fast walking most days for about 45 minutes and then upper body weights 3 times a week. I just want to get the weight loss going again - don't know how to do this.

Just chill and relax It is one of the crazy stalls, your body can't just lose weight all of the time, so it stops and adjusts and then you start losing again. I've had stalls last up to 3 weeks, but that was 18 months out. Just record your weight and you will see how it is drop drop, stop up one down one up two down one then you lose again. It is a journey, not a sprint. How much you lose and how fast depends on how much you have to lose. Congratulations on your success so far!

I had bad left shoulder / arm pain that showed up after a few days. It scared me it was so bad. Dr said an air pocket on the diaphragm can cause that and sure enough it subsided pretty fast and was completely gone in a few days. I’d be concerned about any fever following surgery. Infection can’t be ruled out and you don’t want to let it get worse. If not better today I’d start making calls to be seen by someone.

I started my weight loss journey of August 1, 2019 it has been a year I was losing weight for a while now all of a sudden I stopped I don't if it is because I stopped the slim fast at breakfast and lunch metancil 3 times a day with a 8 oz glass water 3 teaspoons of metancil I went from a big plate and a big bowl to a small bowl and I cut my portions I may have 3 snacks day any suggestions let me know The pictures of me now with a blue shirt the one silky black white was a year ago Sent from my moto e6 using BariatricPal mobile app