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I know most folks here can relate - I'm well over a year out and these last 10lbs to my "real" goal are just killing me. I jump back on the bandwagon for a week or so and lose 2-3 lbs and then gain them back for no apparent reason (other than hormones and such) which of course puts me in a mood to just give up and go back to normal maintenance... then again, lose/gain the same 2-3 lbs over the next few weeks. Particularly when everyone is commenting on how great you look and "WOW, you are killing it, you look smaller every time I see you." No dammit - I want to lose at least another 10-20 lbs... I know what I need to do, just can't seem to get in the right headspace for more than a week or two.

My current weight goes from 311 someday to 315. It was bouncing from 315 to 320. Sometimes it will go higher if I eat the wrong thing. I am still only able to eat like 2 bites of something.

thank you for the facebook recommendation! i’m part of a weight loss support group through my hospital but they’re all in a significantly different age bracket than me so i’m always looking for groups with similar current life experiences to mine! good luck on your surgery next month! ill be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. 🥰 i was a tiny bit worried that one year was too soon but i was so ready to do it now. surgery is complete! i requested to have an arm list at the last moment and they said if i’m still in a good state at the end of everything else then yes. THEY DID IT! it took about seven hours cuz i had tons of skin. they removed about five pounds from my back, ten pounds from my tummy, and six pounds from my arms! i feel great right now, but i’m sure that’s the pain meds talking lol. the cost was approximately $19,000 and that’s for tummy tuck with fleur-de-lis, lower body lift, 360 liposuction, BBL, breast lift and reduction and small implants, and arm lift. the price also includes pickup and drop off from san diego airport, a day exploring tijuana pre-op, lodging in the w hospital the day before and day after surgery, and then five days in their recovery home where i’ll have prepared meals and 24 hour access to a care team, medicine, and doctors. very much worth the price! and i went to multiple plastic surgeons in my area in the us and they were all $60k+ and i would go home day of! o.O i paid 1/3 of the price with significantly more care!

Currently at the end of Day 4 pre-op liquid diet. First 3 days were hell but today was more manageable. It seems to be getting easier for me. Today we celebrated my daughter’s Birthday & I packed myself a shake & some SF Applesauce to take with me so I wouldn’t eat anything at the restaurant or Arcade. I’m definitely loving all the weight I’m losing before surgery lol. Are you getting more excited everyday that passes by? I know I am!

Lily2024 first, congrats on making a positive life changing decision. My advice to you is if you go into your RNY with the strongest foundation possible then that is the best case as you have weeks of lower calories and activity. That said, there can be arguments made to which is better: weights vs cardio? I think a balanced approach between the 2 is always prudent. At the end of the day, the best workout plan is the one you stick to! So most importantly stick with what you enjoy so you are motivated to stay committed to the plan and pick back up when your recovery plan allows. Hope that makes sense. Generally I work out 5-6 days a week which involves mix of weights and cardio. Training for the Ironman, I spent most time focusing on the 3 disciplines: swim, bike and run. In hindsight, I wish I would have made strength training more of.a priority in that process to help with foundational strength and recovery. But I chalk that up to lessons learned! Learn2cook: thank you and yes I have plenty of pictures of my progress. Journaling is an area of which I need to improve but I have started jotting down some notes.  As for other goals, yes! My current goal is to get back to normal or whatever my new normal is. It’s funny how life hands you tests along the way. On 10./29, I suffered from an Ischemic stroke where clots hit 2 parts of my brain. Turns out I have a hole in my heart that’s a birth defect. I have my issues but it could’ve been much worse. A blessing was going into the stroke being in such good health. Had I still been obese, I may not be here today. So now I need to channel my Ironman attitude into putting in the work towards my recovery. So my fitness journey isn’t over but surely has taken a Detour. But attitude and effort are the only things I can control so I will do what it takes. Good luck in your journey!

Hi Sarah, welcome!! I know, my brother was like "You'll be on a restricted diet through Thanksgiving? Why would you do that to yourself??" 😂 So I know I won't end up gaining! Hahahaha! I agree about the charlie horses, definitely get an electrolyte powder!! I was miserable the first night after I started the diet until I remembered I had a box of them. Lifesavers man... I drink one a night and haven't had anymore leg cramps! Congratulations on getting married!! You sound like you've had a busy few months! I hope you've built in some time to rest after your surgery, based on past surgeries I know it takes more energy to heal than we anticipate!

I had my surgery when the internet was young. There were perhaps 2 or 3 main WLS message boards not unlike bariatric-pal, along with several 'blogging' sites where a few folks detailed their experiences, generally in text. I kept a journal form history from the moment I decided to have surgery until about 2 years post-op, which included appointments, milestones, and stuff I found interesting, then the next year was my running journal in much the same form. Though I wrote my entries in a form that was to be read, I never really intended to share them publicly, though eventually I did just that anonymously out there on the internet somewhere. My only caution is to remind you the internet is forever. There may come a day when you'd like to allow your WLS and weight issues to fade into the past. Be sure you don't reveal too much. Good luck, Tek

Welcome to the forum OP. I wish you all the luck on your weight loss journey 😍

I've been home for a few hours now. I passed out pretty much as soon as I got home. I'm currently sipping on a Gatorade Zero, and now that I'm out of the hospital I can do a liquid diet instead of just clear liquids. So there's that, at least lol. My biggest problem is water. Doesn't matter if lukewarm or cold, straight water makes my stomach cramp. But because I am able to consume other liquids just fine, they went ahead and sent me home. The water thing is just something I'm going to have to keep working on. My other big issue was my body did the opposite of that they expected it to do in regards to my blood sugars. AKA, every time they tested, I was in the 200-300 range when they were expecting me to go down post-op. So I came home with rapid-acting insulin on a sliding scale. Hopefully soon we can discontinue that. For those of you asking about recipes, my doctor has me use the Baritastic app for my logging and tracking. It does have recipes on there as well, if you are looking to spice things up in the land of boredom. Now time to catch up on posts. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl - Amazing that they had you drink Gatorade 2 hours prior to arriving for surgery. I had to drink mine the night before, and absolutely nothing by mouth after midnight. It's wild to me how different doctors prefer their things to happen. As for taking the shots, I'm sure you are going to rock it. I struggled with the idea of giving myself shots, but over the years it just became another thing for me to put on my calendar to remind me to take. Your question about how long to wait between trying new things, my doctor said I could not try anything new on the same day. So if I tried something and it seemed to work, that would be my thing that day. Then the next day, I would keep that for the first meal, and then as long as it still agreed, I would try something new for the 2nd meal. Maybe that helps you out some? Thank you again for the recipe/website. The site has been bookmarked for me. So the straw thing is for life, it sounds like? At least based on your experience. Chewing your eggs to liquid is still really good. My nutritionist said that every bite I take from now on needs to be the consistency of applesauce before I swallow it. And that chewing even beyond that would be great. But you're rocking it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt - Thank you for the idea of mixing things in. I guess I've been scared to do that because I didn't know if it was allowed or not. How do you like the Orgain powder? I use the Owyn premade shakes and Vega powder. They sent you home same day?!?! Holy crap, and I mean that in the best way possible lol. My doctor and nutritionist vehemently told me no straws. Apparently because you can actually suck up air as well as the liquid if you use a straw. I just don't know if that is forever, or just in the post-op period. But my stomach cramped drinking straight water no matter what temperature. However, I did exceptionally well with ice chips - letting them melt in my mouth and then trickle down with a swallow. That didn't affect me at all, so maybe see if you can get some ice chips from Sonic or something similar to maybe give you an idea of how much a 'sip' is? Another suggestion I got from my nutritionist as well as people who my husband work with that have had the RYGB is to buy shot glasses for your water. It should take you about 10-15 minutes to finish a shot glass of water. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @AndreaJD - Thank you for the well wishes! Water was a struggle, but I was up walking on my own the next day. So I feel like I was doing pretty good for myself! I get to start my full liquid stage today now that I'm home. But man, I can't stay awake enough to do much of anything. Hospitals and rest do not go in the same sentence, unless it's discussing negative rest. (My care team was absolutely great though, so I very much appreciate all they were doing for me even if it meant not getting nearly enough sleep.) This will be an experimental phase for me as I have to find dairy free options to make my life easier. But even if I had to literally water down yogurt, that would be better than the chicken broth I had in the hospital. lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses - I have a bunch of staples as well, and have never experienced them before. So thank you for that explanation. Hopefully when I get mine out at the 10 day post-op, I'll be able to at least tolerate it now that I've kind of been forewarned. And yay, WrA peeps! Honestly we probably did cross paths, but in the early days of RP for me I was stupidly shy. For your chair question - I noticed sitting in any chair for longer than an hour bothers me currently. Which they didn't like in the hospital, because they wanted me in the chair for two hours at a time. And I just... could not do it. It ached too much. Even being home now, sitting in chairs I've sat in previously, I have about an hour long time span before it starts to ache. I take that as my sign to get up and move around. Dry mouth is a problem in particular for me. I still try to sipsipsip but I hate the feeling of dry mouth. And that's made worse by the fact that I'm a diabetic. And yes, I was thrilled (/s) to find out I was starting my period. Thank God for mesh panties and pads they had on hand. They assured me this happened quite often, but it still annoyed me to no end (especially when I'm on multiple birth controls to prevent having said periods due to endometriosis). As for poor executive function, I have that in spades as well. I had to come off my Adderall a couple of days prior to surgery because you know, they want me to go to sleep during anesthesia and not be on stimulants. And hoooo boy did that make the problem that much worse. If it wasn't for my poor husband, pretty sure I would have lost my head and left it laying somewhere. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Onemealplan - Did your doctor allow ice cream for the puree foods? That's kind of awesome. I don't have recommendations for that stage yet as the earliest I will get to it is 8/28 after my post-op appointment. I do remember a recipe back from one of my diet days (Weight Watchers, maybe? I don't remember) that I think might be helpful. You take a helping of ricotta, mix it with Splenda (or whatever sugar alternative you prefer), and some cocoa powder that has no added sugar. Makes it a friendly chocolate treat. I can't give exact measurements on it because I played with it some to get the consistency I liked at the time. I also don't think I could handle the pureed proteins lol. I'll be saving those for when I get to the final stage. I can survive on tuna for a while, especially when I'm having protein shakes alongside it. They gave me a walking goal of 4 laps per 12 hour shift. i was doing those just fine, and when they finally let me walk on my own I extended how long a lap was. But I could not pass gas until they started giving me what is essentially children's Gas-x. And even now, I only pass gass within the 2-3 hours after I've had it. So thankful they sent me home with some. As for in the hospital, the only options i had was water, chicken broth, ice chips, and no sugar added hot chocolate when I specifically asked for it. They brought in 10oz bottles of Dasani water, and it would take me 12 hours to get through one of those due to the cramping. But everything else went down fine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Rob Nissam - Thank you for that explanation. My left shoulder was hurting the most over the last day, and they said it was the gas pain. It was the thing that made sure I did not skip any pain medicine, because I was almost in tears over it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, I think I got through all the posts and everyone. If I missed someone, I am really sorry. For those of you in recover, I pray the pain lessens and the intake gets better daily. For those of you who are still waiting on surgery, YOU GOT THIS! I'll be praying for a safe and healthy surgery for you, and that your recovery process is simply fantastic. ❤️

Hello. I had my RNY on Oct 9th. I have recently graduated to soft foods, yay!! So far, I haven’t really noticed many changes to my taste perceptions. Some things taste mildly different but I still hate and enjoy the same foods as I did pre-op. My cravings for sugar have vanished however. Unfortunately , I’m still stuck in the 3 week weight stall for 12 days now. But overall, I do feel great and sleeping soundly through the night most nights. Waking up feeling rested and refreshed most every morning. That’s the biggest changes I’ve noticed.

I was curious what causes the 3-week stall, and this is what I found out in doing a little digging. When we experience calorie deprivation, whether a diet or after surgery or just not having the usual amount to eat for a bit, our bodies first turn to our store of glycogen to keep things running. Glycogen is a form of stored sugar, and for each gram of glycogen in the body, it's bound to 3 grams of water. So, if you burn a gram of glycogen for energy, you lose 3 additional grams of water as a bonus. Your body will always burn glycogen before it burns fat because that's how we've evolved to handle brief food shortages. Which means most of the weight you lose right after surgery is not actually fat, but water (and that's fine!). But after a few weeks, your body is low on glycogen and you still haven't hunted down a wooly mammoth to eat, so now it starts burning fat to keep running. At the same time, it does what it can to replenish those glycogen stores with whatever calories you have coming in, because it's a little worried you won't survive the next famine. Glycogen makes me think of the $100 cash my mom always kept stashed in her sock drawer for an emergency. If she used any of it, as soon as she got more cash, she replenished that first before putting anything in her wallet. Remember, each gram of glycogen comes with 3 grams of water. So you might burn 4 grams of fat, but also replenish 1 gram of glycogen (along with the 3 grams of water that tag along for the ride), and the scale shows you the same weight. Now you feel like nothing has happened and start to panic. But you still lost fat, which is the goal. And once your body does what it needs to do to replenish that glycogen, it'll start showing on the scale again. I really wish doctors would explain this process to patients before surgery! Some mention plateaus in general, but they rarely explain what causes them, and the 3 week stall is the type of thing they really should explain in detail so we know what's going on because it's basically a given.

I started at a lower weight than you & I reached goal at 6 months. I kept losing for another 11months or so (albeit very slowly). I wasn’t trying to lose more & in fact I was eating more & more. The lower weight was where my body wanted to be - my new set point which is the weight my body is happiest at. Your set point is the weight your body will gravitate back to & is easier to maintain. It is reset through the surgery but it may not be reset to a weight we want. We used to have much higher set points which is why many of us used to lose & then regain it back or struggled to lose at all. You mentioned you are eating fewer calories in an attempt to lose more. Remember you will have to continue to eat fewer calories & be more active to maintain a lower weight. This is not always sustainable & can impact you long term (including slowing your metabolism). Have you spoken with your team - surgeon, dietician? They should be able to advise you on how to best get closer to your ultimate goal.

Super interesting thank you! My only co-morbidity was reflux. Interesting that the sleeve would be expected to cure that for 54% of people like me and bypass 63%. I had thought the differences in risks were much greater. I plumped for the sleeve because I knew that in the past when I lost a lot of weight my reflux settled and I thought I was gambling on it settling again. It did, but the gamble and the odds I based it on weren't right.

I did something today I wouldn't normally do. I was out and saw a dress on a clearance rack that really caught my eye. It was 70% off, but I was about to put it back because it's "not my size" when I realized it might fit me by the time the spring rolls around I would probably be about 4 months post-op by then. So I bought it! Of course, if I'm wrong, it was only $14. But it's exciting to have something in my closet to aspire to. Last time I lost a significant amount of weight was about 7 years ago, and not only did I regain it all, but I've moved since then and got rid of most of the smaller clothes. I think I have a few pairs of jeans and maybe a dress that I thought was too nice to give away "just in case." I think I'll mostly be living in oversized shirts and black leggings until the summer comes because I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff that I'll be out of quickly, especially since I work from home. Am I the only one thinking about this stuff, and a little afraid to jinx myself by buying clothing in a smaller size?

If you are not exceeding your portion size, then you wont "feel" the discomfort. Stick to the portion size. Also, pasta is a no no. I would not start "cheating" at this point in your journey. This is they honeymoon phase where we all should be very careful about what we eat. Pasta, bread, and rice have very little nutritional value and that kind of carbs are not good for weight loss.

Odds are you will be fine!! There can be awful complications with any weight loss surgery (or any surgery at all for that matter) but those are in the minority of cases, and even then, most of them are caught in time and correctable. Pretty much all of us have a "WTF did I just do to myself!?" moment. I had the DS and 3 days post op it hit me that I had irrevocably altered my stomach and intestines permanently, for life, no going back. I knew that pre-op and thought a lot about it before deciding to do it, but post op it hit me in a whole new way... And then I reminded myself that I altered my body because the way it was was in fact KILLING ME. Drastic times call for drastic measures and all that. Once I remembered that I calmed down... Remember your why. Orient yourself to your goal. And stay off of Tiktok for a while!! 😂

Have to admit I wondered thyroid too. Gall removal can cause malabsorption issues which would add to those associated with your bypass. I struggle absorbing protein & one med since my gall was removed. And my energy is lower than it was before the gall surgery 2.5yrs ago. My labs come back really well too (except the protein which vacillates between 58-61 so barely ok & that’s with meds to help). Also going through a hungry not hungry phase at the moment. Usually this last for a meal or a day or two except this time it’s been 6 or more weeks. Dropped a meal & a snack (now 3 meals & 2 snacks) cause don’t want to eat them. I am concerned as my protein intake is lower as a result. Have lost about a kilogram (2lbs) which puts me back at my lowest weight (48.4kg/about 106lbs yesterday). Not as much as you but … Hoping Christmas will sort it out as I might be tempted to eat a little more again. If it continues I’ll be calling the doctor who does my post sleeve surgery checks. She wasn’t happy 18 days ago at my last appointment when I was 49kg. (She prefers me in the 49/50kg range.) Wonder if it a combination of things with not one single thing being really out of sync or not functioning correctly is what’s happening?? Our bodies are complex & maybe yours needs some fine tuning. I hope they find some answers for you soon. All the best.

My moment just happened. I have a recurrent abdominal hernia. The general surgeon I met with initially really pounded it in my head that my weight was causing this problem. He ended up referring me to a bariatric specialist surgeon who I see on the 16th after a CT scan of my hernia tonight. That visit will determine how they are going to treat me - surgery to repair the hernia and mesh first or push for WLS. I've been researching like crazy and I'm starting to dream of a life where I'm not diabetic, I don't have sleep apnea and I can go to the thrift store and buy clothes again.

I am sure they had you on IV fluids, it is water weight. It will pass, don't worry. Weigh yourself less, that helps. Commit to a weighing schedule and try to stick with it. Once a week? Once a month? Even, every day if you need to but if the fluctuation bothers you; I suggest weekly. I weigh myself every Monday, because that was the day I had surgery and the last time I was weighed before surgery. Now that I am basically at my (first) goal I weigh myself more because I am excited to get there. haha Best of luck! I hope you are feeling better Sepsis is no joke!!

Only if my sugar gets low. My sugar levels now if I am not careful go to the 60s sometimes. But weight is still up and down and I am just through. So I consider it a failure. I have only lost 60 odd pounds

I had issues similar to yours where I started with a sleeve in 7/2020 my body started going through severe issues that I couldn’t even hold down a sip of water causing me to vomit uncontrollably in the end of 8/2020 I went to use my restroom and I collapsed. My surgical team had me enter a rehab to try and help me build up my strength and put in a PICC line. I was in the rehab for 6 weeks and the team started to work with my insurance and got permission for a revision to a bypass.(my brain started to have issues with retaining short term memories due to lack of nutrition) Had the revision to bypass done in 3/2021 My body took forever to start to regulate and start to work the way it is supposed to. I pushed myself to do as much work with my brain to get back to “normal “ as much as possible and I’d say I am about 90% recovered. Physically I’m back to “normal” most days occasionally I’ll still have a nauseous day or some dumping but I was just at my dr last week and I am down just shy of 200lbs stay strong you will get through this Family members ask me if I could rewind time if I’d still go through with the surgery and I say I may have opted for the bypass instead of the sleeve but absolutely because if I didn’t get that weight off I know without a doubt I’d be dead within a few years so even with all these issues the surgery was worth it.

I am sure they had you on IV fluids, it is water weight. It will pass, don't worry. Weigh yourself less, that helps. Commit to a weighing schedule and try to stick with it. Once a week? Once a month? Even, every day if you need to but if the fluctuation bothers you; I suggest weekly. I weigh myself every Monday, because that was the day I had surgery and the last time I was weighed before surgery. Now that I am basically at my (first) goal I weigh myself more because I am excited to get there. haha Best of luck! I hope you are feeling better Sepsis is no joke!!

I’m finally here Monday oct 30th at 6:30am getting a little bit nervous now I kicked this pre op diet butt have not been hungry the last couple of days even got a little energy but the weight stopped not losing anymore on the pre op just waiting on Monday to get here

I’m finally here Monday oct 30th at 6:30am getting a little bit nervous now I kicked this pre op diet butt have not been hungry the last couple of days even got a little energy but the weight stopped not losing anymore on the pre op just waiting on Monday to get here

I'm so glad that work is going well! You look fantastic and all professional!! I hope it continues to be awesome... I am so sorry you have the BRCA gene. I had a cancer gene panel done this summer due to the endometrial cancer I had. I found out I have the CHEK2 gene, which is lower risk than the BRCA gene, but still high risk enough to consider an elective mastectomy. I've considered going that route if I have to have a boob lift post weight loss... I saw the oncologist this morning to talk about taking a round of tamoxifin to reduce my risk. It was informative!! It is possible they could do both the hysterectomy and the hernia repair at the same time if the doctors are in the same system. GYN surgeries often coordinate with other surgeons so their patients only have to go under once. You will be shocked at how light your pelvis feels post surgery, I still marvel at it! I love not having that monthly visitor, I didn't really understand how much energy it was taking for me for 2 weeks out of the month. And my iron levels stabilized really nicely post surgery. If you need any support don't hesitate to message me! I found recovery from the hysterectomy similar to my DS surgery, though I was sore longer with the hysterectomy...