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It sucks when doctors try to tell you how fast you "should" be losing weight. They should know it doesn't work that way. My surgeon is excited about the idea of seeing me under 200 pounds (he's said at my last two appointments that it won't be long before I'm under 200), but he hasn't given me an expected timeline for that. He said at my 3-month appointment that I "might" get there by my next (6-month) appointment, but definitely didn't say that I "should" or that he would be disappointed if I'm not. At my 6-week appointment, I told the dietitian that I was disappointed in the amount of weight I had lost since surgery, and she actually seemed kind of annoyed and told me that my weight loss was normal. And there's nothing "only" about a 65-pound weight loss! That's a lot. I see ads for weight loss products where people are bragging about losing 30 or 40 pounds. Losing 65 pounds is a big accomplishment.

If you're not already tracking your food, I suggest starting now. I like the MyFitnessPal app, but a lot of people here swear by the Baritastic app (and it looks like they have similar features). It is a good habit that will help you after surgery. I do think there's a middle ground for you! I lost about 70 pounds in the 5 months before surgery, just by doing two things: intermittent fasting and tracking all my food in MyFitnessPal. MyFitnessPal recommended a goal of 2190 calories per day, and I started there but kept challenging myself to go lower and ended up around 1500 calories per day by the time I had surgery. I still had food funerals, but I stayed within my calorie budget for the day (which sometimes meant that I had to fast all day and save my calories for one great meal). Food funerals can be a bit controversial, but I'm glad I did them. It still bothers me that I never had a chance to get one last donut before surgery.

Hi all- I'm at 3 months post op from bypass. I don't have any problems with being tempted by anything and I've learned now that if there's something I can like to try, to eat a bite and spit it out. No problems. However, I'm stumped with Thanksgiving. My kids are 19 and 23. This year we have all started working, my son and I both graduate college next semester and my son is about to leave our home. I think this will be our last Thanksgiving together as a family here at the house. I'm hitting pre-empty nest panic fast. I can't have turkey and the kids don't care so much about exactly how traditional it is. My daughter also has lost weight and is watching what she eats. I want to have it somewhat traditional but maybe have things all of us can eat without gorging. I also am just now starting to learn what foods I can and can't eat and there aren't many I can eat but I can eat a bit of potato. Would love to hear plans of others here (pre or post op) and how they're incorporating their diet with their families and traditions.

When I first got my surgery done, I actually had gained over 10 lbs from swelling and the first week kept gaining. But the third week I started losing super fast and I had gotten into the habit of weighing myself every morning in panic first and then in massive relief. Up until a couple weeks ago, it was every morning. I can honestly weigh myself every morning and watch the scale move or not move without problems; I am pretty happy with what i've already lost and gotten to and now just in it for losing at a slow or steady rate but becoming healthier and eating properly. Now, I'm close to 3 months out and maybe once a week. As long as I know I'm eating the right way (just started this stage as before it was just trying to get things down and nutrients met), I'll sort of check it every Fri. When I started the program back in Feb, my daughter (19 yo) also started trying to lose weight and exercise. We are each other's support; she's lost 52 lbs and is 167 now. We made a chart for the both of us with a square per lb lost; it helped her tons. Now we both have our weigh-ins on Friday morning together.

Yep, just keep on eating as healthy as you can. My surgery dates were wonky too; it was postponed and then postponed again and I was set to wait another two extra months but they called one day and said to start my 2 week liver shrink diet pronto-surgery in 13 days. I lost about 42 lbs total before the surgery on the program and I'm very glad I did. I'm close to 90 lbs down at 9 weeks post op because I lost some before hand and it really helps with motivation, feeling good and prepping for the your post-op diet. Get as much down as you can with the help of your NUT right now. You will lose fast after and you want your body a bit more adjusted for that. Ask also if you should be starting the bariatric vitamins, it can help pre-surgery if that's the way your Dr goes. I was told it would be hard for some people to take them after the surgery for size etc but was really unprepared for how difficult it was. My Dr and NUT both helped in getting the correct chews before-hand to prepare me for after. Exercise as much as you can! I missed that aspect. I had some minor complications and had to give up on my bike and core exercises until just these last two weeks and boy I did miss them even though the motivation was zero until recently. It really helps to get those habits in and get your body ready for the rapid weight loss after.

As some of you know by now by my post from a couple of weeks or so ago, I GOT A DATE! Lord willing and the Covid settles a bit, I will be joining the loser's bench on December 7th! Monday starts my preop diet-I can either do an all liquids diet or one with one small meal from a very short list of meat and vegetables. I opted to do whichever one my body needs each morning. I have done water fasting before with my longest without food being 3 days so I have some idea how craptastic this is probably going to be for the first few days. Thankfully while I love my family dearly everyone is okay with me sitting at home to hang out with my protein shake and cleaning supplies while my mom goes to my younger brother's house a few hours away. While I enjoy Thanksgiving food it won't be that much missed away from the smells and watching everyone else eat. My work schedule also is normal so Thursday is just a normal day off for me and then back at it Friday and Saturday so I also will count my blessings my day off isn't spent in a car for a good part of the day. Christmas will probably be different, Christmas is much more family and a lot less eating involved. 😊 So today was my stock up day for the next week or so(I didn't want to go all out buying 2 weeks worth in case tastes change, Covid postpones surgery or my tastebuds change) and of course it was basically everyone else's shopping day...completely didn't think about it being Thanksgiving week...oops. Anywho, ended up with some Fairlife, Premier protein shakes, sugar free jello, tasty bone broth(I can add a small amount of chicken or other meat and some veggies to it to make it more soup like), Mio Sport for electrolyes since I know I have a tendency to have leg cramps, fiber, immodium, bean-o--for any possible stomach irritability on the diet and beyond, and so many water flavor packets! I also have video games I can play, my novel to work on (anyone else doing NaNoWriMo this year?), books I've been meaning to read and cleaning to do to keep me out of the kitchen and focused on other things when I'm not at work. Wednesday is my preop visit with the nutritionist/surgeron and finalizing financial stuff and December 4th is my Covid test-if anyone has any insight to how terrible (or not really) that is, I'm all ears. I will be getting the nose swab(yay me. -_-) but my supervisor started my two weeks time off on the 4th and just had me work 4 days in a row which means I can get it done early and come home and go back to bed. Plan on going into nesting mode that weekend-although I'm kinda already working on it now. I've been saving up my vacation basically all year in anticipation of 2 whole weeks off. I want to make sure if I have any complications I won't screw up our schedule but also I work at a vet clinic as a receptionist and y'all...I am EXHAUSTED. I have a couple of friends that have already made plans to come see me while I'm on leave and I also plan on maybe going out to the beach for the day to walk and take pictures if I'm up to it(I know I see others being able to handle several miles of walking only a few days post op). But for the most part, I'm not making any plans but to rest, walk and sip anything else besides that is all extra bonuses! 🙂 I ordered some popsicle making molds from Amazon that I plan to use with my flavored water that should be here in a couple of days along with my pill dispenser (has 4 compartments per day-AM, Lunch, PM, evening) and I can take one large compartment with me to work instead of the whole thing! After so much time sometimes it is really hard for me to believe I actually have a surgery date...I went to my first ever bariatric surgery info session when I was 17...I am now 31...I always say that you can never help someone from addiction or just bad choices unless THEY ARE READY and I never listened to my own advice...until last year on my 30th birthday, I had had so many birthdays where I always promised myself in a year I wouldn't be fat, I could almost picture myself not obese but not quite. 30 was my wake up call that I couldn't do it on my own, I needed my help. In the mountains of Wyoming (I went back to visit with friends I had made while living there for a few years) I decided that I would find a PCP and start figuring it all out. I got insanely lucky, I had no PCP in mind when I called to make an appointment, just asked the receptionist who she would recommend and haven't looked back. She has been rooting for me for months and when I got to send her a message and let her know I had a date was a really big highlight for me. I stuck with this and here I am...16 days from surgery. I plan on vetting a therapist here in a few weeks, to find one that matches some specific criteria that also happens to be in network may be a bit of a challenge but I have challenges that weight loss will bring me I've never faced before...like dating...I've been obese since 4th or 5th grade so I've never been in a relationship or worried about unsavory characters giving me attention I do not want although I also plan on starting Krav Maga classes when my surgeron clears me. I think that's all I got for now, gonna enjoy my last 24 hours of "normal" eating tomorrow and Monday starts the real countdown! Amanda

Fast Hair Loss & Slow Weight Loss I feel so far behind most of y'all posting on here. I'm only down about 60 lbs from my high, less than 40 lbs post-op. I'm aiming for 100g protein per day, 900 cal total. And my hair is falling out like crazy, which I would understand if I was dropping weight quickly. I haven't stopped any of my medications yet either. Have your surgeons been sending you in for lab work frequently?

99.4% in 20 months. My weight loss was never super-fast but it kept going and going. I'm 2 pounds from goal now.

It's called the "slimies" and happens when your stomach wants to get rid of that extra bite or something that did not go down well. It can happen a lot in the early months after surgery, as you learn not to take that extra bite, and to slow down your eating so you can start feeling satisfied before eating too much. It is horribly uncomfortable, for sure. It still happens to me once in a while, usually because I ate too much too fast. I don't vomit easily, so I spit and spit and spit until it passes, which can take up to an hour for me. Yuk! Anyway, lots of people experience this. Just try to be mindful when you eat. Chew every bite really well and put the fork down between bites. Enjoy the taste of every bite, and don't think you have to "finish every bean and pea on your plate."

And you wish you would dump every time after having eaten carbohydrates. You're a bypass, right? Don't compare yourself to sleevers. You can still try to tell your anxious brain the facts. I don't know how bad your anxiety is though but most likely too many pressure inducing and anxiety provoking thoughts took hold in your mind over the last time. Btw, if you've ever heard something about the "window of weight loss closing after some months" (and I'm 1000% sure you have, most likely more than one time) - ditch the thought. It's bull crap. You will always lose weight when eating less calories than your body burns. Assuming that there's a "window of opportunity" only contributes to your anxiety by creating pressure to lose weight fast "before it's too late". It definitely is addictive. That raises the question: what will you do once weight loss slows down or when you've reached goal weight and the rush is gone? I've read something about overeaters not only being addicted to the rush of hyper palatable foods but also to the rush of strict dieting. I feel this is true.

Can you speak to someone else about it? Did the surgeon make a notation on your chart reflecting that you chose the DS to prove it is not your fault and the onus is on them to correct? Can you explain your deductible situation and urge them to fast track you? Can you afford to wait until January? Are you comfortable with just the sleeve? Good Luck ♥️

2 years out and I can still forget to eat sometimes! It’s almost 4pm, and while I dont really feel hungry, I put this salad together to get something in my tummy so I am not ravenous when I finally do feel hungry and overeat/eat too fast. Chicken, shredded cabbage, carrots, cucumbers and vinaigrette: 158 calories. Didn’t enjoy this salad as much as I normally do cuz it just felt like work to eat it. Will try again with the leftovers later.

My surgeon wanted me to lose 20 pounds before surgery. I hadn't really dieted in years, because my previous experiences with dieting were that I would lose a small amount of weight and then gain it all back and more. I eventually quit dieting because I figured I was better off staying at the weight I was than losing, regaining, and gaining more again. I was reluctant to diet before surgery because of my past failures (which was also why I was resorting to surgery in the first place), but I had to lose 20 pounds just to get the surgery, so I had to try something. I decided to try intermittent fasting because I know people who swear by it and it was something I hadn't tried before. Initially, I just fasted for 16 hours per day and ate as much as I wanted the other 8 hours, and it didn't work very well. One of my surgeon's pre-op requirements was to track my food for a week, either on paper or with MyFitnessPal, and I hate doing anything on paper, so I went with the app. I've counted calories before and also used point systems where I had to track my food, but this was in the days before iPhones and I had to track everything manually, look up the numbers either on the labels or in some kind of book, and it was such a hassle that I never stuck with it for long. I was surprised by how easy it was with the app, and I kept using it. It gave me a limit of 2190 calories per day, and at first, it was hard to stay under that, but I gradually decreased my intake until I was averaging 1500-1600 before surgery. I set out to lose 20 pounds before surgery, and I ended up losing 70 in 5 months! I actually started to wonder if I should have the surgery because the combination of intermittent fasting and MyFitnessPal was working so well. I've never lost that much weight before. But I started out with an extremely high BMI (over 60), so even after losing 70 pounds, my BMI was almost 50, and I realized that it was highly unlikely I would be able to lose enough weight without surgery, and also that there was a pretty good chance that I would gain it all back without surgery, so I went ahead with it. I'm glad I put all that effort into losing weight before surgery because it sort of gave me a head start. I've only lost 60 pounds in the 4 months since surgery, but add the 70 pounds before surgery and I'm down 130 pounds total. Plus, it helped me develop some better habits that I think have made the post-surgery lifestyle easier, like cutting out snacks and tracking everything I eat.

Ok, so we have pretty similar starting stats (along with @mae7365, lol) Mandatory Disclaimer: everyone loses at different rates, based on a whole myraid of reasons, and one's success is NOT determined by the results of another. Further, how much, or how fast, one loses weight is a poor indicator of long term weight-keeping-off-ing (I can't think of a better word here, lol). With that said: I am 5'2" and was 235 lbs 2 weeks before surgery. I was on blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds, and was borderline diabetic for a few years too. My doc tried to manage my expectations by telling me that it would be considered a success if I lost 65 lbs, which would have got me to a BMI of 31.1, and hopefully get off my medication. I had other ideas, and wanted to get down to below a BMI of 25, which for my height calculated at a goal of 136 lbs (i.e., lose 99 lbs): Lost the doc's expectation of 65lbs by 3 months post-op (and was off all meds) Lost my own personal (1st) goal of 99lbs by 6 months post-op I am now a little over 2 years post-op and weigh 115-120 lbs (BMI 21-21.9) I think its too early to tell if I can maintain this weight range for the longer-longer-longer term...but so far so good-ish. Good Luck ❤️

I started out with surgery on Aug. 19 at 241 lbs. I have had, so far,7 plateaus where I have not lost weight for at LEAST a week up to 5 weeks. I now at 3 months today weigh 204 so hang in there. It will come just not as fast as we want. Every one says these playeaus are normal.

Day 1 and 2 weren't the greatest, but I also had a hiatal hernia repair that made it pretty painful to take a deep breath. By day 3 and 4 I started to feel pretty good. I took two weeks off of work to recover and just went back this past Monday. Things went fine, but I learned not to do too much too fast! I've got some new pain that I didn't have before returning to work!

I'm 2 Weeks Post Op and I still can't drink 16 oz of anything. It's not that I don't be thirsty. It's the baby sips that's aggravating. And since I can't drink fast enough to quinch my thirst and also trying to avoid gulping I just kind of say to hell with it.. I'm trying to drink the Gatorade 0 to avoid dehydration but I know I'm not getting enough fluids. Anyway hun Good Luck on your journey. Sent from my moto g fast using BariatricPal mobile app

I never really felt restriction either but I seldom ate more than what I was supposed to. I followed my plan so when it said 3 oz, I ate 3 oz. Follow your plan and you will be successful. Also, stop comparing yourself to others. It will only make you crazy. Be patient and the weight will come off, be it slow or fast!

I'm miserable when it comes to eating.. Or should I say drinking broth... I took it upon my self to start on pureed foods a week early or else I would've died of starvation. However I'm doing pretty good.. I've started walking up to a mile and a half everyday. I had surgery on Nov. 3, 2020. Before surgery my weight was 245 now I'm 225... I'm sure I lost some weight pre-op due to the 2 week liquid diet. Anyway the Journey continues. Sent from my moto g fast using BariatricPal mobile app

Prior to surgery I weighed 216 pounds. This was on my initial consultation with my surgeon in August. Immediately before surgery on 10/28 I weighed 196 pounds. Today my weight is 185.2. It's not super fast but I'm happy about it. I'm 5'3.

I did not do fasting after talking with my nutritionist. Since I have had bariatric surgery it would mess my metabolism up. Look up liver shrinking diet. That might help you.

@Barbwired & @toytoy Our stories are so similar..... I to was banded 11/10/2009. Did great till 2017 when i was going through a divorce (25-26 years) and then i got a stomach virus and couldn't stop throwing up..... slipped band and ER removal 3/23/2017... Worse day EVER. I lost my beloved band Tina. At the time i lost her i had not gained any weight and was at my steady 143lbs. Because it was ER i was not giving the option to wait or revise. Looking back on it i wish i had been given the choice.... But because i didn't gain, my dr said i didn't weigh enough anyway. And that's what i heard from every dr after that. Fast forward a little... i started with a few lbs here and there and no matter what i did i could not get the scale to go back the other way. I was starting to get depressed and then the beginning of 2019 i started menopause (50). When May-June came around i was up to 173lbs. (30lbs). Planning a wedding for Sept and i was steady gaining..... so i upped my search and found a dr. here that agreed to do the revision. I really wanted the MGB, but he doesn't do that.... so the sleeve it was. It went quickly as i told the dr i wanted to go as fast a possible, all other appointments went... bam bam.. Done. He noted in my chart that i was a "revision" (2.5 years later) and what my BMI was back in 2009 was 44, how well i did and that in 2.5 years i had only gained 30lbs. Handed over 14k and was sleeved 8/28/19..... Married 9/26/19 20lbs lighter. As of today i'm at 120lbs and have been since Juneishhhh.... (-53lbs) Barb.. i'm the same way, i like the gym but i have to go straight from work, do not stop anywhere, do not pass GO... hehe.... if i do, i'll go home and that's where i stay. I have not exercised a day since Covid started. I did for the months of Aug-Jan...(crossfit). But nothing since. Honestly, the sleeve sx was one of the easiest i ever had.... sx on Wednesday and back to work on Monday he even fixed a HH. @toytoy Is there a reason they can't do the removal and revision at the same time? The weight loss has for me been pretty easy and no complications. No vomiting, no getting stuck, no fills... I went see the dr every 3 months and now i'm on maintenance and only have to go once a year (unless i have issues). Personally, i think us Band-members that did well with the band do well with the sleeve. I know the band taught me how to eat better and it has made a huge difference. People that didn't do well with the sleeve i see them having more of their same issues.

I'm very much like you in regards to weight fluctuation and maintenance. I celebrate 2 years out next month. I can settle at 113 up to 118 pounds depending upon bowel movements, water intake, exercise and just daily normal movement or lack thereof. I've noticed if I eat out even ordering healthy choices, and asking they leave of excess salt, fat or sugar - you know there is still hidden ingredients that will show up on the scale. I also note if I do not drink 80 oz. or over per day or forget a vitamin - I'll fluctuate. I do not count calories, but keep a daily log of three meals a day. I don't snack. I weigh every morning to monitor not out of obsession, but to remain vigilant of any drastic changes or upward spikes. I enlist intermittent fasting, and always feel great after doing so. It is interesting to read here that after 2 - 3 years out can become problematic? Oh boy. I think I'd prefer the honeymoon last forever. Haha!

So I’m having a real hard time getting the calories in! I feel like if I leave the house I’m all over the place and all I do is drink protein shake. I started having low blood sugar :( not fun at all!!! @Sabanfan thank you for sharing your daily routine would love to get others daily food intake as well who are already 4 weeks out. Here’s mine. 6am protein shake Water 10am outmeal with milk Water 1pm 1-2 oz of chicken Water 4pm protein shake Water 7pm ground beef 1-2 oz with a little piece of cooked carrot Water 9pm I’ll try another shake but most nights I can’t finish it I’m also having a problem with how slow I have to eat. I’ve thrown up because I eat to fast. This has been happening quite often!!! I just hate to eat cold food.

Hi All I am five days post op and feeling good ! Taking in all the required calories is a struggle. Not tired and not much pain although I know when i eat to fast! Finally had a bowl movement ! I guess it is the small things in life :) . I hope all the other November Surgery folks are doing well