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Thank you so much @NickelChip @Arabesque and @MandoGetsSleeved for your responses. I guess you all summed it up in one way or another. I stopped tracking as much, I went back to eating habits I had before the surgery and I was feeling sorry for myself instead of taking ownership. I needed this - I can’t thank you enough. I will give myself grace and start small with incorporating back habits that helped me lose the weight in the first place. I am really grateful for this community. My family and friends do not know I had surgery so it has been a little lonely. I am looking forward to getting back on track

I'm a sleeve to bypass revision, and it's honestly the best thing I've ever done. The only time I have dumping is if I eat too many carbs. I only did that twice (holidays both times) and I learned REALLY quick not to anymore. I stick to my diet religiously and have had no issues. If you look at my signature, you'll see I've lost weight with the revision, although nowhere near what I lost with the sleeve initially. I do think your doctor is exaggerating what you'll lose. If you exercise, stick to your diet (or get back on track with it), and get your relationship with food back to where it should be, you'll do fine. My recovery with the bypass was amazing. I've had absolutely no issues with the revision at all. My only regret is that I didn't just do the bypass to begin with. Oh, and I did the revision because of major complications from the sleeve (GERD - never had it before the sleeve - gastritis, esophagitis, polyps all through my stomach and duodenum due to excessively high PPI over a long period of time, etc..).

3 years out for me and weighed myself this morning.... UGH - 10lbs up. Funny, as soon as I weighed myself, I thought of this forum and this was one of the first posts I saw. I think we lose the weight, get comfortable, and "forget" the WHY and HOW we got here. Something I heard over the holidays: "Wow, I am so proud of you for keeping the weight off" - Me thinking: (as I'm drinking a high calorie cocktail).... I'm pretty much a failure at the moment.... Here's the reality - I lost the weight, got comfortable, quit tracking, eating whatever and whenever I want - Results: 10lbs weight gain. For me, the trick seems to be: Be a slave to the scale, TRACK TRACK TRACK. and get back into this forum. Tracking and weighing seems to be the only way I don't lie to myself (as if my clothes don't tell me...). Get back on the forum and remind myself daily of what I need to do vs. what I want to do. Going to try and get back to the basics: fluids and protein - skip the boredom/stress snacking and nix the alcohol. Thanks for these posts and knowing we aren't alone in this journey!

Hi all. New here. Had my surgery on 12/18/23: DS/BPD. Spent a single night in the hospital, with discharge ~1pm the following day. Apparently I'm having a somewhat rare complication, which is severe hiccups. By severe I mean where the diaphragm spasms and holds for 10 seconds, during which you cannot breathe. Fortunately, this hasn't happened more than once per day, and today I got a scrip for a drug called Reglan which should moderate the hiccups until whatever is irritating my diaphragm heals itself. Aside from that, the weight is dropping off rapidly. Lost 11 lbs on the 2 week pre-surgery 1K cal/day diet, and am losing since surgery an average of 2.3 lbs / day, which is mind blowing. Cheers, Bruce

Dr Weiner resources are great as are Dr John Pilcher’s. Bounce back regain is always a possibility in the second & third year. I believe the average is about 10lb/5kgs so that could be a possibility. This regain can be from not being as vigilant, how you were eating wasn’t sustainable (too restrictive) & didn’t allow you to live & enjoy your life as you want, a change in medication, & your body & new weight set point resettling. And yes, muscle weighs more than fat so some of the regain could be from that too. (Maybe have a dexa scan to compared your fat & muscle mass.) Start by making one or two changes to your eating & then in a week or two make another change or two. You can start small. Maybe track your food to begin. Then up your protein & fluids if you’re not meeting your goals. Adjust your portions if they have become larger. Then drop some of your sugar or carbs or swap the highly processed refined carbs for low processed multi or whole grain options. Etc. Small changes are often easier to adopt & adapt to than large all encompassing changes. Doesn't matter how long it takes you to get fully back on track.

Everyone fluctuates regardless of whether they’re trying to lose weight or not. Hormonal fluctuations, fluid retention, what we eat or drink one day compared to another, pooping, not pooping, etc. If you were like me you didn’t weigh yourself often so probably weren’t all that aware of your usual fluctuation. My usual fluctuation is about 1kg (2.2lbs) so I never worry about that weight gain or loss. It’s odd the way your body reacts. I’ve discovered I always weigh more the day I break constipation that I did when I was constipated. Your weight loss will never be a consistently straight downward line. It will zig & zag, go up & down, drop quickly one day slowly the next. As long as your weight loss trend is going down you’re golden. And yes reduce how often you weigh yourself if you find the number on the scale is messing with you.

I'm a sleeve to bypass conversion. I had a hernia, that complicated matters. I'm over a decade out from the horror of that sleeve. I'm just over 3 months out with the bypass. The hernia caused issues and the longer healing time was due to it. If I have any pull or ache, its in that area. For 3 months gone, the reflux (was like yours, actually worse, I had carafate to eat anything) is gone. I've had 1 time where some stuff came up like reflux. A mild little one for the 2nd time it happened. That's it. I control how much food goes in. When I dont, I throw up. I've had a bean get stuck (wow was that painful), couple of times I've swallowed 3x instead of 2 for liquids and it was too much. I've thrown up but nothing like before. If I'm really really careful, watch the time and amount of food at one time frame, I'm good. Stay at 2 swallows, I'm good. After the misery of before, this is great! That having been said, I dropped to malnutrition level because of some other medical problems. As of end of last week, I am 8 pounds from being overweight for my BMI. 36 pounds from being normal weight. So I don't think I'll be dropping it like I did my sleeve. I dropped 27 pounds the first month, and that was 27% of the excess body weight.

Hello - I had gastric sleeve in June of 2015 and lost over half my body weight initially, getting down to well below my initial goal in the first year. Started having issues with acid reflux pretty early on, and it's gotten steadily worse, especially in the past 3 years. I'm currently on omeprazole and famotidine, plus Tums in addition. A 24-hour PH study showed that I had over 100 episodes of reflux in that period. So I was approved to revise to a gastric bypass. I also have regained over half of what I lost, mostly since my reflux has gotten worse, and am about 50 pounds heavier than my ideal weight. The reflux makes me feel hungry all the time, and I'm eating way more carbs than I should because they seem to tame the acid somewhat. I understand that it's pretty much a pipe dream that I'll be able to lose anything close to that with revision, but I guess any weight loss would be better than where I am right now. My new surgeon said she expected that I'd get back down to 110-120 after revision (my preferred weight personally is around 125), but based on all the posts I've read here and on reddit, she is definitely exaggerating to make me more willing to go through with the surgery. The best it sounds like I could hope for is to lose maybe 15-20 pounds over the course of a year or more? I am scheduled for surgery on Jan. 18th, but I'm having second thoughts after reading so many horror stories of unpredictable dumping episodes and ever-changing food intolerances. I guess maybe my reflux isn't as bad as others, since the reality of daily life with RNY seems unbearably miserable to me in comparison to my life currently. I'm afraid that I won't be able to do my job anymore (or even leave the house at all) if I am unable to eat or drink anything without the risk of vomiting/foamies (I have pelvic floor issues, so I pretty much always lose bladder control when I vomit or dry heave) or having uncontrollable diarrhea. After revision, do you have to wear an adult diaper all the time? Has anyone developed an eating disorder based on fear of getting sick after consuming anything? Do you have any "safe" foods, or is it always a (literal) crapshoot? I know that continued GERD can cause esophageal cancer down the line, but wouldn't the same be true of daily vomiting? Has anyone who is several years out from revision developed cancer or precancerous damage to their esophagus due to the constant vomiting? Likewise, have your teeth been ruined from it? For those who revised from VSG to RNY and are past the initial healing stages, would you do it again or has it made your life even worse?

Well just got letter from insurance company...surgery is approved...paperwork says Jan 2,2024...tried calling surgeon and weight loss center...no answer..maybe took extra day off for holiday.... Totally excited been long time coming...thank God finally.!!

I highly recommend looking at the videos on the Pound of Cure channel on You Tube, which go into detail about how to eat to lower your body's metabolic setpoint. Foods that are ultra-processed and high carb push your body's setpoint, the weight it wants to maintain, higher, where nutrient dense foods like leafy green vegetables, beans, nuts, and seeds, make your body want to maintain a lower weight. As I have been preparing for surgery, I found the Pound of Cure book on Amazon and implemented many of the basic changes it recommends, such as cutting out processed foods, breads, sugar, and artificial sweeteners, and eating more vegetables, fruits, and beans. I lost 15 pounds in around 3 months without counting calories or ever feeling hungry. And I can also say that in the past several weeks, as the holiday treats have infiltrated my house, I have not been as good about eating that way, and to no one's surprise, my weight has shifted upward. I will be returning to better nutrition as soon as the last of the ham, sweet potatoes, and pie from Christmas dinner is out of the house! I recommend starting with these videos that I've linked below (and then, if you're like me, binge watching the rest of Dr. Weiner's channel). I find his advice to be a common sense approach to nutrition that you should be able to implement long-term without a lot of pain. Hope this helps!

The reason for erratic weigh-ins (and the infamous three-week stall) is that in the early stages of running a sustained calorie deficit, your body does not burn much fat. Your body worked hard to store fat and considers it a precious commodity that it does not want to part with for no reason. For extra energy to make up for a lack of calories in the short term, your body first burns glycogen. 1 gram of glycogen is bound with 3 grams of water, so as you burn it for fuel, you also flush out this water weight. Only when the glycogen reserve is used up does your body turn to burning fat. The first few weeks after surgery, you were probably lucky to get in 600 calories per day. Your body was burning glycogen like crazy. When the numbers first dropped on the scale, that was almost entirely water weight. Now that you're a couple weeks out, you're allowed to have some pureed food, and you can probably get closer to your protein goals with your shakes. With a few extra calories coming in (still nowhere close to what you need every day to power your bodily functions), your body is at least reassured you are not in imminent danger of starvation. It's taking a look at your empty glycogen reserves with horror and doing its best to fill them back up with the calories you are giving it, like a squirrel storing up acorns for winter. For every gram of glycogen your body puts into the storage cupboard, you've got 3 grams of water tagging along for the ride. Meanwhile, you can rest assured that your body is also burning fat to keep your engines running. However, when you step on the scale, it can't really tell you that you've burned 4 pounds of fat and also stored 7 pounds of glycogen and water. It's just going to tell you that you've gained 3 pounds. But you've done nothing wrong. This is your body doing what evolution programmed it to do since humans lived in caves and constantly had to battle short-term food shortages. Once you've restocked that glycogen, you'll start being able to see the fat loss on the scale again, and in your measurements. As long as you keep doing what you're supposed to do, your weight will move in the right direction. But not as a straight line. Weight loss looks a lot more like a staircase with drops and plateaus, and a lot of small fluctuations that have nothing to do with fat. Try not to let it drive you crazy!

The instructions I was given were 48 hours of pre-op liquid, with total fasting beginning the evening before surgery. The longer liquid diet is to promote rapid weight-loss and shrink your liver, but some surgeons don't find this necessary, or only apply it to patients over a certain BMI. The 24-48 hours of liquid-only and/or fasting prior to surgery is just to clear your digestive tract prior to operating. Also, some surgeons don't require a puree stage and go from foods like yogurt and ricotta directly to moist proteins and fully cooked veg that you are instructed to chew for 30 seconds to a minute before swallowing (essentially pureeing them with your teeth).

This year has been a tough year for me. I finally hit a “normal” BMI range. They weight was slowly coming off around the 1 year post op mark. I have been trying to maintain the weight and it has been slowly creeping back on. I am worried that it is a slippery slope back to my post op weight. I want to get back on track but am lacking the motivation and I feel overwhelmed. I have gained 4.5 kilos in 6 months and I am not happy about it. Ideally I would like to lose this weight and then a few more kilos to hit my target weight. I have been working out consistently and have increased my muscle mass as well. Initially it was muscle but the 4.5 kilos is not fat. I also have body dysmorphia which doesn’t help. My appetite has been fluctuating and I know I have been consuming much more sugar and refined carbs. Any suggestions on how to get back on track to losing and keeping the weight off. I feel as helpless as I did before I decided to opt for surgery. If anyone can relate please let me know what you did? Thanks in advance

Nope you didn't ruin anything. Your journey will be all ups and downs and it is really best to get used to it. Throw in lots of stalls and you will be worrying like crazy if you don't believe your teams advice. You should be in a calorie deficit. Once you are on real whole foods as against puree your restriction will kick in big time. Then you will be on reduced calories again because you just can not eat much. You could have gained three pounds because of a few reasons. Have you been eating salty foods, Having a really stressful time, Have a full bowel or is it just the time of the month.

if you're following your diet, then it's either hormones, water retention, and/or full intestines. With any of those, your weight will go back down within a couple of days. Those are all very normal fluctuations. If they're playing with your head, just cut back on how often you're weighing yourself - maybe just do it once a week.

I've been hanging out here for probably nine years. I would say most of us lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first MONTH, so your loss seems pretty normal to me. Of course you will find people who lose more or less than that, but they tend to be outliers - or start off at very high BMI's (like the people on "My 600 lb Life"). there are so many factors that influence your rate of weight loss that you really have little to no control over - like age, gender, metabolic rate, what percentage of your body weight is muscle, starting BMI, whether or not you lost a lot of weight before surgery, genetics, etc, that it's sort of pointless to worry about it. The two factors you definitely have a lot of control over are how closely you stick to your clinic's plan and how active you are, so if you're good with those, the weight will come off, whether fast or slow. as you can see on my profile, I started off at 373 lbs, and I lost 16 lbs the first month - yet I ended up losing over 200 lbs. I was a "slow loser" the whole time, but I really stuck to my plan. so long way of saying, just follow your plan and don't worry about your rate of weight loss, since you don't have a whole lot of control over that. If you do what you're supposed to be doing, the weight WILL come off.

In my first 3 weeks I lost 16lbs too. My BMI was way more than yours and I could eat next to nothing as I had severe swelling on my internal scar. Hang in there, do the plan. This is not a race. Give yourself at least a year to loose the weight. This surgery is more about keeping your restriction going and eating less in the future so you never get obese again. Thats my goal. Log your calories and protein. Stick with what ever your team have said. They know what they are doing.

Hello! I had my surgery on the 11th so we’re not far apart! I won’t lie I didn’t last long on the liquid diet I kind of went on to puree around day 8 post op. I don’t think many people are as honest. I cheated and so what. I’m so glad for the surgery and I wish many more losses for the both of us whether it be fast or slow! Weight loss is weight loss !!!

Hi all I am now 23 days post op and on my 2nd week of puréed foods. I hope Xmas 🎄 has not been too hard on you. I lost my mum back in April, so this is my first year without her and it has been tough. I'm keeping myself busy preparing meals for my husband and it's not really bothered me that I have to purée anything that I am having. What does bother me is that I don't seem to be losing much weight 🤔. My husband and sister say they can see change in me but the scales say otherwise. Since my pre op assessment I have lost a total of 16lb and it just doesn't seem much at all. I don't know if I have an unrealistic expectation of what I should be losing. I think the only thing I maybe doing wrong is not eating enough. I have been lucky ... Although I had bad nausea during my first week post op, I had no sickness nor dumping. I just feel like I am doing something wrong. My dietiy suggested dropping out the homemade smoothies made with fruit which I have done. Is anyone else going through the same issue?

I feel you, three weeks out and I have lost that joie de vivre, nothing taste's good, I have sn awful taste in my mouth, can't stomach purees or protein drinks, when I eat something it's painful, water tastes horrible to me, but then again this is why we lose weight I can honestly say I am not having cravings more of a repulsion, hanging in there since everyone says it gets better.

So, Ill be 2 weeks post op on Wednesday. Last week on Wednesday I was from 247 down to 227. Now, I'm currently at 230 !!!??? Why? ?? It's so stressful to see that 3 pound gain. I have been following my diet well, with the exception of not always eating 5 or 6 times a day. Is that why? But shouldn't I still lose?? Honestly I just forget because I don't get hungry. Or I'll be busy trying to wrangle 3 children. I can't eat what they eat and it's not very convenient to make pureed foods all the time. It's a process ya know. Some days idek how much liquids I drink. I'm not great at tracking. But I've had a mix of juice, milk and water. Anyway, has anyone else experienced this? Did I already ruin the good thing I had going??? Please help friends! Thank you!

Puree can be tough. For some it’s a textural issue for others like me it’s a taste thing (everything tastes disgusting). You can puree a lot of things just add enough stock, milk, water, mayo, gravy, etc. to keep it the right dollopy texture/consistency. A friend told me she survived on pureed chicken with gravy. I mashed eggs with Mayo, was allowed thin instant oats, thin scrambled eggs, yoghurt, soups, etc. I tried pureeing tinned fish but blah! During soft foods I ate a lot of minced meat based dishes. Just made sure there was enough sauce/gravy to keep the meal wet. Also soft white fish, omelettes & made a couple of casseroles/stews & meat & vegetable soups. Yep, stalls can be frustrating & demoralising but remember an important step in your weight loss (when your body takes stock of your new needs & adjusts digestive hormones, metabolic rate, etc.). 17.5lbs in about 4 weeks is still pretty darn great. Even with the stall that’s an average of more than 4lbs a week. Can’t be upset with that.

If just going to the gym was so easy to lose weight Americans and other countries wouldn't have medically necessary weight loss surgery and the diet industry wouldn't be a billion dollar sinkhole. Usually people who state that bariatric surgery is the easy way out have no idea what it entails. They believe you have something done to your stomach, you eat less and lose 150lbs. Educating them might change their minds but most of us don't care enough to try. I just ignore people. People will always have an opinion about what others are doing with their body.

There is a lot of conflicting information out there so I'm not going to argue. Even different surgeons say different things. I will say that all bariatric surgeries altogether have a high chance of reversing diabetes. I have not heard of anyone that still has type two diabetes after the sleeve unless they regained their weight. Maybe the 'punishing' term rang bad to you, but what I meant was consequences for carb dumping and overeating are usually more severe for DS and Bypass patients. So maybe punishing was not the correct term. I'm sorry you saw it as being negative for those with bypass/switch but that was not my intention. But I do view throwing up, foaming at the mouth, dumping, and general malaise as punishing. No one enters into these surgeries to feel that way but keeping bad habits does result in this outcome and I wouldn't call it a reward. It is a definitely and incentive for many not to eat badly. I have even read on here and seen in other places where people felt they need something really restrictive to keep their diet in check. It happens with sleeves (not the foaming bit) too but you can usually get away with more. This is why the success rate with sleeve patients are slightly less. Also you don't have to defend your choice in surgery to me or explain it. I am not saying any surgery is better or worse than the other. All surgery comes with risks and downsides. The original poster asked for the NEGATIVES and the positives for the different surgeries and I just told her what my surgeon, research, patients of all three surgeries have said, and some other bariatric surgeons I follow. Also I never said sleeve patients couldn't suffer from vitamin deficiencies. I said it is more common (easier) with switch and bypass, which it is. Sleeve is not a malabsorption surgery. Vitamin deficiency also occurs in non-bariatric patients. A lot of people are suffering from vitamin d deficiency right now who have never had surgery. I can point you to a bariatric surgeon who doesn't even believe that sleeve patients need as high as potency and 'bariatric vitamins' like bypass and switch patients but they set the standard and the industry is going with it. Also, weightloss is more rapid for switch and bypass generally which is why gallbladder problems is more common but as always it doesn't HAVE to occur. Which I never indicated this was a one shoe fits all for anybody. It's a risk. At the end of the day everyone must make their own decision on what is right for them. Be it sleeve, switch, or bypass. I commend anyone taking charge of their life and going through this difficult process to come out the other side happier and healthier.

I’ve had mine on May 3rd. Best decision ever. I’ve been at my lowest weight in almost 10 years. Around the 5 month mark, Ive plateau. I’m still dropping some weight but a lot slower than I want. Hopefully the next 5 months, I’ll reach my goal weight.