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I’m 53. I am having sleeve surgery in a couple days. I am worried about not loosing a significant amount of weight because I’m in Peri-menopause.

I forgot to mention that I went for my vitamin b12 injection today. I have a new GP since I changed to new practice and she said she was going to refer me to an "exercise specialist" which I have never heard of in my life so I will see what she has to say. She may be able to suggest more classes for me to do as well. Unrelated note, a good GP is a thing to be treasured. She was proud of my weight loss progress and she has had WLS too. Went form 140kg to 58kg (she's 5 foot) She suggested if anyone tells me again that weight loss surgery is cheating, I should sit on them to keep them quiet until I'm too thin for that and then just slap them.

To be honest, I wasn't up until now. I don't have loose skin or any sagging but my butt has deflated. No amount of weight lifting seems to help as I'm still losing weight. My concern is time off work, I can't be away for two months 😭. Did you need to take two months off?

Spartan maker thankyou for your post it really give me something to think about. I have always hated being hungry too and I think my head is trying to control me again! I have always loved eating and even though I'm not craving junk food I think I am missing eating. I got into a habit of looking at recipes and looking at healthier food options online shopping. I am always thinking about food which is definitely not helping. Today I sat with my 'hunger' and found that if I waited a few minutes and diverted my attention away from food I was fine. The mind is such a powerful thing I can hardly believe it! My mind has tricked me into eating more and gaining weight my whole life and it's what has got me here! So I need to change it up and use sone CBT practises to push away the intrusive food thoughts. Thank you so much you really helped me to see this after reading your reply!

on january 10 it will be 1 year since my surgery i have lost 148 lbs but i sitll have 54 more to (my goal weight is 180) i signed up for a gym in late december and i want to start it soon but i need a good workout plan. what would you suggest to someone a year off from surgery?

anything is possible. i mean a one of those double chocolate frappacino cremes from starbucks are like 520 calories each. one 100g bag of pork rinds is like 650 calories. neither of which take up a lot of room in your stomach. and thats just 2 things...there a whole day to pack in more. just ask the multitude of folks on here who report most (if not all) of their weight loss regain. trust me, its not hard to regain weight. especially if you actually really want to (the majority of those who regain dont actually want to, but do anyway...so imagine what can be accomplished if you put effort into it) i would ask you to reconsider your position, but does't sound like that is what you want here? or maybe it is? im not sure. in any case, speak with a professional to help you achieve your goals as safely and "healthily" as you can.

Thank you for your reply, I wish they could start me on pureed before leaving the hospital so that I could have the weight loss team next to me if I have any problem. Kind of like the lactation consultant making sure you’re breastfeeding right before leaving the hospital.

I heard that reflux could be a side effect of taking GLPs, but I went on a low dosage of Tirzeptitde 6 weeks ago, lost 27 pounds, and am at my goal weight. Before losing weight, I took 40 MG of Omeprazole in the morning and another 40 MG in the evening. Since losing this weight, I've switched to once in the morning and have almost zero reflux! Losing the extra weight did the trick for me. BariatricPal does offer Saxenda (Liraglutide), Contrave (Bupropion/Naltrexone), Phentermine-Topiramate (Qsymia), and Tirzepatide in lower doses, which are known to cause less or no reflux. If you're interested, you can talk to the doctor, and they will prescribe what makes sense for your situation.

Bile reflux tended to be the biggie problem with the MGB back in the day. When my wife and I first started looking into WLS almost 25 years ago, the MGB was a proposed alternate to the incumbent bands and RNY but it never gained traction with the ASBS (precursor to today's ASMBS). In the meantime, both the BPD/DS and the VSG (and more recently the SIPS/SADI) have gained acceptance in the US bariatric (and insurance) industry. There are reportedly some techniques that have been developed to mitigate the bile problem, and there may be something to that, and why it may have been accepted elsewhere; but in the US, it's time has passed.

I want to challenge your ideas a bit here. This concept that there is some underlying mechanism at work that controls our weight and that we don't have any say in the matter is based on something called set-point theory. In short, the theory is that some as yet undetermined mechanism (likely in our brain), wants us to be a certain weight and thus actively regulates both calories in and calories burned to keep us around the same weight. Anecdotally, most people can attest to the fact that there seems to be a specific weight where they naturally settle when they aren't actively trying to gain or lose weight, so the theory makes intuitive sense. That said, there are some big problems with this theory: Why have we not been able to find the actual mechanism for this set-point if it really does exist? How are some people able to change their set-point? How do we explain that overweight and obesity are significantly more prevalent in some parts of the world vs. others? In those parts of the world where overweight and obesity are more prevalent, how do we account for the fact that these issues were much less prevalent until very recently? (For example, the rate of overweight and obesity in the USA has tripled since about 1980.) To explain this, more modern interpretations have suggested a more nuanced approach. We know that historically, food scarcity was the norm. It's logical to assume our bodies are well adapted to dealing with this as a result. Unlike set-point theory, we do have a solid understanding of the physical processes involved in regulating metabolism during scarcity. This means our bodies know how to handle a lack of food pretty well by down-regulating metabolism. (There are several ways it does that, but I'm going so skip discussing those specific mechanisms for now) What our bodies are less good at is up-regulating metabolism in an environment of where there is an extreme availability of highly palatable foods like we have today. We often think of our bodies like a car that's always running. This is somewhat problematic, but let's go with the analogy for now. Just like a car idling will burn some fuel, our bodies burn some calories just keeping us alive. If there's a shortage of food/petrol, (either because I can't afford it, or because there's a true shortage), I can curtail my movment/driving to conserve how much I use. Likewise, if food/fuel is cheap and readily available, I can move/drive a lot and even fill my fuel tank (fat stores), whenever I want. Unlike a car that has a limited fuel tank that can only hold a specific amount of fuel, humans have a theoretically unlimited ability to store excess fuel in the form of fat. TL;DR: It's not so much that our bodies decide what weight to be. It's more that we were never designed to deal with cheap, easy access to super tasty food. At the end of the day, what determines whether or not you have more fat stores than you might want is whether or not you eat more calories than you burn in a day. The entire point of this overly long post is that there's no mechanism working against you that's keeping you from reaching your goal. Our bodies were designed to store excess calories to keep from starving to death when food was scarce. We rarely experience scarcity anymore, but our bodies don't know that. They still will do everything they can to hold onto those stored calories "just in case". There are ways to get beyond this, but that will have to wait for another post.

I did some of my own research first and I had a friend who had got a sleeve about a year previously and I picked her brain a bit. The surgeon went through each of the surgeries listing pros & cons of each. He also discussed my eating habits and weight loss and gain history. Though I had reflux I managed it with dietary choices and maybe took medication 5 times a year he still recommended the sleeve because of my history & eating habits and I had no co morbidities or other health concerns. It was the way I was leaning too so the decision was easy after that. My brother recently had sleeve surgery too. He didn’t have any co morbidities either. The surgeon said he would be considered very healthy for someone in a healthy weight range let alone some one at his weight and recommended sleeve because of that. (Interestingly it was the same surgeon but my brother didn’t know the name of my surgeon to tell him he’d done my sleeve too.)

Today's win ? Returned to weight lifting after what seems like a 200 year hiatus. 🤣 Nothing extreme or crazy....very light weights with lots of reps. Injury avoidance is key concern. Other win is the overall feeling like I have things dialed in and the cruise control is activated. The positive feels from this are so welcome. The last 6 years or more have been chaotic and hellish at times. Things are slowing down and falling into place. Sure the scale is giving lower numbers every week, but the real improvement has been with the pure simplicity of returning to the initial advisements of the professionals at my bariatric center.

Hi Warren I read that you had your procedure almost a year ago. How is it going? How much weight did you loose?

But you are smaller! By my calculation, you've lost ~15% of your overall bodyweight in just 3 months! That's an amazing amount of weight loss. If you were thinking you'd be at a normal weight in 3 months, that's just not even close to realistic or in fact possible considering where you started. Most people will continue to lose for at least a year, some for much, much longer. You're doing great so far and as long as you keep following the plan outlined by your team, you'll continue to lose for some time to come.

I thought I replied to this earlier from my phone but don't see it here. So if you see it somewhere else, tell me! LOL! Thank you for the info! I will keep that in mind. Probably when these four levels are done and the last one is easy for me I'll start going to the gym again, even alone. LOL! I had been going alone. Just gets boring and I stopped. But we don't talk or even work out near each other when we go together. I just like it. He does too. Ah well. It's ok for now. I have a goal of losing more weight by my follow up appointment, one year from surgery. Dec 2 and it's already scheduled. They said I should be around 166 but my own goal is 154. One lb less than I've ever been since Jr High. LOL! Excited to get there this year! So once more weight is off of me, I really want to begin sculpting my body as much as it'll let me. I KNOW weights are the key. And I'll really need to do a challenging level and push myself but maybe that will be easier when I'm not as heavy. Things are easier when I am lighter. Pretty shoes don't hurt me feet too. Lots to look forward to! LOL! And I should be happy to lift weights every other day for an hour, compared to carrying them with me 24/7 for 48 years. :::sigh::: Thankful for all the great advice and info I have read here. I hope you all are enjoying your Monday. Mine went well and I'm home now. I also have decided I am going to hit 10k steps 5 days a week. Right now I have 7829 just from work. So it will be easy to do on work days. But I am going to rest some on weekends. Well, try to! I get our groceries and meal prep then clean the whole kitchen and fridge on Sunday and clean house and run errands on Saturdays (last few I've worked at a client's home because they are on vacation and had some special projects needing done.) But most weekends I am off so if I'm not doing an open house, etc then I'm still busy with our home and life. Walking 10k steps a day did a world of good for me when I lost weight all those others times. I feel sure the extra weight won't come back this time because I had surgery. Sooo glad I did it. I have severe osteoarthritis in my low back on the right side and degenerative disc disease in my neck and low back and often sciatica down my right leg so some days I'm in pain worse than other days. (Ha ha, my friends and I joke. The older we get the more we share what's ailing us every day. LOL!) But overall I am ok! I have many friends with diabetes and I worry for them. I'm lucky I don't. I don't even have pre-diabetes and I stay grateful for that. My dad had it. When he passed at age 73 he had had both legs amputated and had had congestive heart failure for 25 years as well as diabetes. He went many years not addressing his diet at all. He wanted to do what he wanted to do. Bless his heart. We have learned what not to do, at least. My brother is a carnivore and is doing well. Labs are great. His weight stays managed. Everyone must do what works for them. We miss Dad and wish he was still here. He taught us many positive things in life too. But we are trying hard not to go through what he did at the end. My husband had pre-diabetes, but has made it much better with diet and exercise. I am super excited to get to my first main goal weight of 154. Then I'd really love to work to get into a healthy BMI to hopefully have smooth sailing into my 60s, 70s, and beyond. My bariatric doc said lower end is 115 lbs for my height and high end is 125. I feel that the less weight that's on me, the more years I have left to live and enjoy my family and friends. Certainly worth putting in the work! 💗

Hi! I had the gastric sleeve on May 28th, 2025. I underwent this surgery because I take medication that made me hungry and it got me obese up to 207 lbs. I used to weigh 135 prior the medication. So I ended up deciding to not quit the medication and to undergo this surgery for weight loss.

Hi! I had the gastric sleeve on May 28th, 2025. I underwent this surgery because I take medication that made me hungry and it got me obese up to 207 lbs. I used to weigh 135 prior the medication. So I ended up deciding to not quit the medication and to undergo this surgery for weight loss.

It's my 5 month anniversary from surgery. It's not been a good month. I'm trying to find a new job because I'm miserable to at my current one. I find that old habits are starting to slip in. I've gained a kilo in this month alone. I'm still heading in the right direction, and I'm kicking the old habits back out. I've not been as vigilant as I should have been. I just need to remember that I'm still better off now than I was 5 months ago and keep looking forward.

I just watched a video on the procare website that you might enjoy. I get my Bariatric vitamins from procare and they always have very informative doctors etc come on. A few key points made 1. everybody loses weight after bariatric surgery. 2. not everybody maintains weight loss. 3. after gastric sleeve 7 to 50% will gain weight after the seventh year Mark . he goes on to state that success is not about fault, but about physiology he goes onto state that surgery does not change your genetics. he goes on to state that those of us who gain weight have a calorie balance issue our body is not balancing it like it should. versus a person who does not gain weight. he goes on to state that movement at least five times a week is very important and that determining physical hunger versus emotional hunger is very important. Etc give it a look

One of them flits between it, but the other has consistently been underweight for a while now, I last saw her bragging about almost being 7 stone and being referred to an eating disorder clinic 🤔 So I know that it is a very unhealthy thing! I do remember my surgeon telling me it is somewhat normal to dip into the lower weight category a bit before your body will bounce back and settle on a healthier weight, so that is to be expected I guess! I can imagine how hard it must be to budge those last bits of weight, but I am sure you look absolutely fabulous and you have achieved beyond amazing results!

i wouldn't worry too much about a 3 lb gain over 10 days, especially if you haven't drastically changed your eating habits and/or activity level. maybe if those 3 lbs are still there a month from now, you can do some re-evaluating, but until then, TRY not to stress (yeah, i know easier said....) case in point: 3 nights ago, i weighed myself and i was up 5.2 lbs. now i don't usually weigh at night, and i hadn't pooped in a few days, AND i JUST had dinner, AND i had a super extra-salty vodka caesar. then yesterday morning, i was a little over 1lb less than my "normal"...(i pooped! lol, and it was morning, my usual weigh in time). i didn't eat less nor more, i didn't exercise less nor more either. long story short, our weight will fluctuate (sometimes by alot) day to day. what matters is your average weight over time (and not over 10 days, but over months) good luck! you are doing great ❤️

I'd be lying if I said this hadn't crossed my mind, but I am sure it is just me. I had a follow-up appointment where his nurse practitioner recommended I start seeing a therapist so I am trying that. I had my first appointment Monday. She gave me some helpful tips I am trying to see if I can kick the weight loss into gear.

I'm glad you don't have the 12 week milk diet. It was difficult and I slipped up occasionally, but it was helpful for losing weight and shrinking the liver. Because of the 12 week diet, I lost 12.9 kg (28lbs) in those three months. My NHS trust just flat out said "no ozempic" At the time, it was because it hadn't quite been approved for the NHS But I wouldn't have wanted that anyway as it would mean injections for the rest of my life and a lot of people have endless diarhoea on those meds. I had one session with an NHS psychologist and one group session. I don't really know about what tiers I had. I asked for a referral for the weight loss team, then I had an information session which was via zoom where each the nurse, dietician and psychologist gave some advice about the programme. Then I had an individual session with each one. Once I was approved, I had fortnightly appointments with the medical team to check how my weight loss was going with the milk diet, pre surgery vitals and then the surgery itself. I had a one month and 6 month follow up with the surgical nurse. Next month, I have a phone call with the psychologist. It sounds to me like you are getting a lot more psychological support than I did, which I think is great. It really makes a big difference.

Sometimes we are afraid of success. Sometimes we don’t think we deserve it. Do you have a pattern self sabotage? Hope you find someone with whom to work through these issues. They are important, apart from weight loss.

167 was my lowest weight and I was determined to keep going, then life happened. I started a new, stressful job, bought a house, moved within a month, and then my dog died in my arms all within a year. To say I'm disgusted with myself is an understatement. Being someone who considers themselves a perfectionist, this is really dragging me down. On top of all this good stuff, my body dysmorphia is unreal. I see my current self in pictures or in the mirror and I see my 300lb. self. Even though I'm in medium clothes when I used to be in 2-3X, I can't get myself to see the change. I didn't have the surgery for vanity. It was successful in helping me come off of diabetes and high blood pressure meds. But now that my life feels like it's finally getting back to a normal rhythm (besides having a 6-month old puppy), I am ready to get back on track and get back down to a reasonable weight. I can see the gain in my face, and it's killing my confidence (if I ever had any). I've talked to my gastric bypass team - I know what to do, but I'm having a hard time getting back on track. I'm trying baby steps, but I'm looking for other tricks and tips for getting there. Any and all feedback is appreciated. Best