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I hear you on adding more food. It can definitely be hard, especially at this point of your weight loss journey. While I suggested a few hundred per day, you might honestly need to start with less and work your way up. Even 150 calories of lean protein like chicken or fish would be a good start. That's only around a half cup or so, depending on which food your choose. From there, work your way up to around a cup.

Well, you didn't ask, but I'll let you know why I chose bypass vs sleeve: On average, bypass generally leads to a slightly higher percentage of excess weight loss. I wanted every advantage I could get. Because it has a bigger restriction and also has a non-absorption component, it's generally considered more suitable for severely obese people, which is where I started. Although I really had no history of GERD, they discovered something during my workup that made the surgical team concerned that sleeve could lead to GERD for me. Bypass is completely reversible, unlike sleeve. In a sleeve procedure, the "unused" part of your stomach is removed from your body and disposed of. In a bypass, even though it's a more complex surgery overall, nothing is removed. If there were ever a need, it's possible to put everything back like it was.

It is one of those really hard things isn't it! I genuinely think that there should be more of a remit for skin removal on the NHS following massive weight loss - it is so often detrimental to the individual's MH & sometimes their physical health too. I have gone from a 40GG bra size, to a 34FF and my boobs are sagging and under my right breast I have had this awful rash that doesn't go away - I think because of the excess skin!!

I am destined to never know what my BMI / weight would be with skin removal. I could only afford one round so would worse than now. I don't think the NHS can afford to start this surgery again so I am destined to be overweight for ever !

This will be the first year that I am going into, having managed to lose weight! Feels like such a relief. 2025: Get to my first goal weight Drink more water Plan meals/meal prep See my family more Drive more Save money

2024 was a great year. I lost a sh*t ton of weight and became HOT and athletic again, landed a dream job, my relationship transformed and its the best its ever been, I am thriving and thankful. 2025: Travel (3 trips booked) Build my booty back Manage my anxiety through guided meditation Read 40 books (read 38 in 2024) Save more (have been so reckless with my spending) Continue eating the way I do, never depriving myself of anything but never going overboard with anything either, taste and put it down if I didn't like it, prioritize protein, nourish my body and continue to be anxiety free regarding food and lifestyle

For the longest time I wasn't even eligible for any bariatric surgery, by the time I reached BMI 33 (which still doesn't make me eligible in some regions), I also had no comorbidities and no past history of obesity (only was overweight for the past 5 years and most of my weight was gained after a very bad ankle sports injury). I needed to lose weight to relieve my ankle pain, so my surgeon only agreed to VSG. Surprisingly though, I've occasionally gotten very bad indigestion pain that caused me a lot of discomfort, which is considered a symptom of GERD, but I haven't had any episodes except for maybe twice this entire year post VSG and only took medication twice, which I'm thankful for.

Celebrating the little wins today - getting into the overweight category in the dreaded BMI! Considering my BMI pre-surgery was like 46, to have now got down to 29.8, I feel chuffed! ❤️ I remember when I checked my BMI pre-surgery and the little X on the scale wasn't even registering on there, and the advice the webpage gives you is to 'see your Dr about your weight'. Now the X is comfortably on the scale, and seeing my Dr is only a suggestion 🤣 Anyone else celebrating wins today?!

Wow, congratulations on your amazing progress! It’s so inspiring to hear how much your life has transformed and how active you’ve become—Zumba, Pilates, and Vinyasa Yoga sound like such a fun way to stay healthy and energized! I’m 4 months post-op now, and I find myself really curious about the science behind bypass. Sometimes I notice I’m able to eat a decent amount but still lose weight, and it fascinates me that it’s not just about restriction but also how our bodies absorb fewer calories now. It’s like my body is working with me for the first time! I’m so excited to see what I’ll look and feel like a year from now—I don’t even know myself in a skinny form yet! Stories like yours keep me motivated, so thank you for sharing.

Congratulations on your incredible journey and your active, healthy lifestyle—what an inspiration! I love how passionate you are about staying active, and your tip to find activities you love and obsess over them is such a great reminder to make this journey fun and sustainable. Your weight loss stats are amazing—75 lbs both before and after surgery is incredible! I can imagine how great it must feel to have maintained so well, even with the natural changes over time. I’m curious, do you think most bypassers can have a happy ending like yours if they just stick to the rules? It’s reassuring to hear about maintenance not being as scary as it seems! Also, your “smell trick” is so interesting—what a unique way to give yourself a boost when you need it. And dumping on sugar definitely seems like a blessing in disguise for keeping things in check. Thanks so much for sharing your story—it’s so motivating to hear from someone thriving years after surgery!

Wow, first of all, congratulations on your incredible success and maintaining such a fantastic weight range for so long! It's truly inspiring to hear how you've stayed on top of it, especially noticing the 20 lbs gain and taking charge of it so quickly—kudos to you for that! 💪 I’m curious, how long did it take you on Mounjaro to lose those 20 lbs? It’s so impressive how proactive you’ve been, and it's encouraging to see how effective it was for you! I’m definitely considering some work down the line after I hit my perfect weight—a boob lift for sure, and then I’ll reassess the loose skin situation. I think it’s so amazing that you’ve embraced becoming a ‘brand new you’—I’m excited to see where my own journey takes me! I do have a bit of a fear of NOT losing, even though my weight loss has been steady so far. Did you ever have moments of doubt, or did it feel smooth all the way for you?

Ooh and Amazon has the core power shakes in chocolate which I am 99% sure are the same as fairlife. if not, they use fairlife milk and they are really good. People say that their kids will even ask for them because they are just like chocolate milk. According to google the fairlife is lower calorie and core power is a workout recovery drink but I found it comparable to premiere protein and it worked for me for weight loss. Maybe check it out to see how it compares to fairlife.

I second the suggestion to track everything you eat or drink. I know it can be annoying to weigh/measure and record everything but it is the best way to ensure your portions are too large or you’re missing hidden calories or underestimating them. For example ate your potatoes mashed with butter, milk & are you counting them? Try to focus more on home made foods too so you can control the ingredients and cooking methods. I’d also suggest eating more regularly aiming for three small meals of real food not two meals of shakes. I was someone who lost their hunger and interest in eating for about a year. I ate to a routine to ensure I was getting in the nutrients I needed. I still eat this way. Even if I’m not all that hungry, I’ll still eat something. At 800 calories, most of your meal would be protein with some vegetables. Take your record of your tracked eating & drinking to your dietician and ask them to review it and make actual suggestions of what you could eat (add or remove). Demand better advice than an eye roll or general you must be eating something that’s sabotaging your weight loss.

as everyone has alluded to above, the number on the scale is often not very indicative of your overall progress. i had a goal weight and goal BMI number. turns out neither were where i wanted nor ended being at. its weird because a certain weight number looks totally different on me at different times. at one point in my life 115 looked "fat" on me. 5 years ago it looked malnourished. then 3 years ago it looked awesome. these days (i'm 6+ years out), i go by how my clothes fit me (i.e, body measurements). so long as my clothes still hang well on me, i'm all good! when they start getting looser or tighter, then i'll make efforts to correct. so i guess i'm saying if your clothes start hanging looser on you, that is a better sign of your weight loss vs. the number on the scale. good luck! 😍

They give me the eye roll and say it's got to be something I am eating or drinking that's causing weight gain.

Yes to your first question. I only lost like 60 to 70 lbs. My surgeon staff only wants me on a 800 calorie diet loss weight. Except low cLorie sweet tea I don't eat much food let alone it's hard to eat anything when most foods have above 200 hundred calories.

All reasonable goals. Not unlike my goals all those years ago, just simple health and happiness. Most of what I write is for the wider world of readers. Previous responses covered the the numbers involved in the weight loss phase. I covered the numbers at the beginning and end of the process which are likewise flawed. Good luck always, Tek

I agree with you, I definitely feel so much better and in less pain! I just can’t believe for 4 months I’ve been in this stall when it seems that the first year is major weight loss for most people 🥺 I do have regular check ins with my dietician and have been following the advice they give and they also suggested adding some calories but it’s hard to fit in my stomach. But no excuses I gotta do it. Just frustrating and no one on my care team seems to be alarmed or offer any medications even though it’s been 4 months of this. lol

Adding to the things that may not be accurate: BMI. BMI is an average that was reduced to a simple algorithm: BMI = weight (kg) / [height (m)]^2. In words: weight * (height * height). This calculation is intended to be a rough estimate to start with not the end all be all it has become. Such a calculation is closer to "correct" at the middle or average height and weight. Tall people skew to a lower BMI, short people skew to a higher BMI. The taller / shorter we are the more the BMI skews lower / higher. Body type also can skew higher or lower BMI. Not all of our bodies are built the same yet the BMI assumes they are. The more muscle we have the more the BMI doesn't work right. Body builders show the extreme of this effect. Arnold at his younger best would weigh in at a very high BMI. But us humans can build enough muscle to screw with our BMI. BMI is a rough starting place. Once you have the number, it doesn't really matter. How we feel, our health both physical and mental, how our eating and exercise are feeling. These are the real measures. Whew, done with BMI. But the post goes on. Then another part of this whole thing is Goal Weight. Simply, It may be wrong. If we're aiming for a certain BMI or BMI range the BMI discussion above should cause us to think. If it's a weight we were when we were young(er), our body has changed since then. If it's a weight our surgeon or medical team created it is another number intended as an idea that has been turned into a goal to measure us by. If it's based on those on-line calculators they give the average progress and result of someone with our demographics: We as individuals are not average. Goals are not written in stone. As a target to aim for when you start the process, it's fine. As you progress things change. Our bodies may tell us the original goal is unrealistic. If our body is happy and healthy at a different weight perhaps we should listen. The thing with goals, we are over the moon when we lose 10, 20, 50 pounds more than goal. Look how unconcerned we are about missing our goals by 10, 20, or 50 pounds. Why is missing goal by 10, 20, 50 pounds the other way so devestating? We misjudged our goals both ways. Ultimately, it's where our bodies that decided where to stop. If we have goals, we should continually evaluate them and change them as necessary. We have more information about our process now than we did when we started. More now than last week. Be honest. Be realistic. Good luck, Tek

Great advice from @SpartanMaker as usual. I’d also add if you’re lifting weights you’d be building muscle which is heavier than fat. So you could have been losing some fat during this time while building muscle. May be consider having a dexa scan to measure your current muscle, fat & bone density. Then have another in a couple of months to compare. Are you still in contact with your dietician? If not maybe arrange an appointment. Because you are aware of your average daily calorie intake, I presume you’re measuring and tracking every thing you’re eating and drinking every day. I’d take this with you to the appointment and ask the dietician to go through it with you in case you are missing something not only in regards to calories but nutrients as well. If you’re a random tracker like I was and am, vigilantly track everything for a week or two before seeing the dietician. Don’t give up though. The scale may not be moving but I bet you’re fitter, stronger and generally healthier than you were before.

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.)

While I absolutely do not agree that it’s likely you will GAiN weight on 800 calories, 800 Calories can be a pretty good amount of food depending on what you eat. for example this is 757 calories and it’s 100 g of protein. breakfast: Caramel “Proffee” made from a premiere protein caramel shake with iced coffee mixed in. (It’s really good and filling with the protein btw). lunch: three eggs omelette with 2% cheese (1 ounce) and tomatoes and onion (1/2 cup). dinner: grilled chicken breast (3 ounce) and zucchini and onion (1/2 cup). snack: oikos triple zero yogurt I use the Baritastic app and I always have the same breakfast but then before I have lunch I plug in my plan and an idea for dinner to make certain it’s okay macro wise. I do pay some attention to calories but protein, added sugars and fat are more important. I also pay attention to my carbs because on some days my exercise is higher and I actually need to increase them a bit. If your dietician is not asking about your activity and your food choices and inky giving you a cookie cutter plan without real guidance I would be asking more questions. These plans need to be tailored to you specifically. if you are having a difficult time finding foods you like that meet the criteria you are definitely not alone. I had to do a ton of research and trial and error with recipes to find a couple weeks worth of meals that I enjoy and I was doing 900ish calories. I scoured the web and found low calorie recipes and also ways to cut calories from things I knew I enjoyed. Basically type “healthy” in front of anything you like and you should find ways to make a more bariatric friendly version. Some days you may need to reduce calories further by having two shakes or egg whites instead to budget for a higher calorie dinner. I don’t love to cook so I make double batches of things and freeze them in individual portions. this has been my lifesaver. For the 800 calories you may have to do a lot of lower calorie lean meat and veggie type dinners unless you cut calories during lunch. For instance instead of 3 eggs you could do five 5 whites and you could even omit the cheese if you need to cut calories further. i would imagine you could still lose on a little higher calorie budget and you have more flexibility in your menu but it may not be as fast as you would like. Either way, check out Baritastic (or another calorie tracking app). It’s very helpful to see exactly what’s in different food and to play around with these meal ideas on an app because you can add and delete and adjust the measurements to figure out how to make things work to fit your plan.

Hi. I'm sorry I don't completely understand your question! Are you saying that you're having Semaglutide shots to assist with further weight loss after having had a sleeve 18 months ago? I'm presuming you didn't reach your goal weight with the sleeve? How much weight did you lose - please can you share your stats as that would really help us to help you. It's also not clear when you introduced the GLP-1 addition. Is it that your team is advocating an 800 calorie a day maximum? AND you are sticking to that and not losing weight? AND that you think they aren't believing you when you report your intake? So sorry - so much to unpick here! Also - what do you mean when you say that 'everything now is loaded with calories'?

The maintenance doses of Semaglutide for chronic weight management are 1.7mg and 2.4 mg. If you haven’t reached those doses yet, then that’s the goal before you can determine if it’s not working as expected (which for some people it may not work). What is your current dose? https://www.wegovy.com/taking-wegovy/dosing-schedule.html?showisi=true&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=wegovy&utm_campaign=1_All_Shared_BR_Wegovy_Core&mkwid=s-dm_pcrid_645689011667_pkw_wegovy_pmt_p_slid__product_&pgrid=148965952281&ptaid=kwd-1296426939242&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAABWNcsk_Vrk4rb9ObcxDKFUu6OZHy&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4L67BhDUARIsADWrl7HM5Z15-B65VZSJkFvcsdpvjEpsfTBEfdP0BJGzjFepWdgBossbMHgaAnCxEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

A few things stood out to me about your post. 1137 calories is oddly specific. Since most people can't be that accurate with their food intake, I'm curious why you used this specific number? Can you elaborate? For example, most food logging software is only accurate within about 10% plus or minus, even if you are really meticulous with weighing everything. Keep in mind as well that if you are eating very many processed foods, Manufacturers are given a pretty wide latitude in terms of the listed calories, so those aren't near as accurate is you might think. Most people drastically underestimate their overall calorie consumption by as much as 20 to 25%, even if they are logging their food. There are a number of reasons, but things like guestimating certain amounts, using "average" calorie amounts for some items, and not counting certain types of foods are common errors. In short, you may actually be eating a lot more than you think. I'm also curious how you came to the conclusion that 1137 calories per day is the proper amount for you to lose weight? It's entirely possible your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), is anywhere between say 900 and 1700 calories per day. While BMR is just one component of your overall calorie burn per day, it's typically the largest single component, even if you are super active. If you are only working out 3 days a week, I'd not put you into the super active category. My point is that while it's not super likely, it is possible that you are actually eating at maintenance right now. Especially if you are eating more than you think. (See points one and two.) Scales are a REALLY terrible way to track success since they don't account for variations in other tissues besides fat. Water, which is a huge component of your overall weight can fluctuate dramatically day-to-day. Ask yourself honestly, are your clothes fitting differently? There is a pretty good chance here that you have been losing fat, but made up for it by retaining water in your muscles. This is super common in people when they work out, especially when they start a new fitness routine. There's also a small possibility you are actually adding some muscle mass, especially if you are new to strength training. Muscle is much more dense than fat, so if you gain muscle and lose fat, your clothes will fit better, but you might weigh about the same. My advice is going to sound counter-intuitive, but I'd suggest adding 200-300 calories per day to your diet. Preferably lean protein. Do this for 4 weeks and then reassess where you're at. If you are really currently eating at maintenance (as you might think from weeks of no loss), then you would be expected to gain a tiny bit in the next 4 weeks. If it's as I suspect and you're actually eating too little right now, eating a little more may actually up your metabolic rate as well as change your hormone balance. This could be just the thing to kickstart some fat loss in the next 4 weeks. Best of luck whatever you decide.