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I think a maintenance level of 2100 kcal/day for someone 5'7" who's had WLS would only work for someone who was super active - or was blessed with great metabolism. A dietitian I worked with years ago told me people who've lost a lot of weight almost always need about 300 +/- fewer calories to maintain their weight than a person of the same weight and stature who's never been obese. I heard that again from a nutrition professor last summer when I was auditing a university-level course on weight loss and obesity. There's some scientific explanation behind that that I can't remember at the moment, but it's disappointing - but that's the way it is, evidently. that said, a couple of thoughts. First of all, you may or may not be done yet. After the first year, there were several times my weight loss seemed to stop and I'd think "well, I guess this is it..", and then I'd suddenly drop a couple of lbs. Also, you are very close to a normal BMI. Weight loss at that point is EXCRUCIATINGLY slow. I remember the last 20 lbs being a BEAR for me to lose. But I kept at it and finally got there.

It sounds like you've made a big effort to manage your weight, but it's frustrating when progress stalls. Consider seeing a dietitian to make sure your portion sizes and food choices match your weight loss goals after surgery. Sometimes, metabolic changes or hidden calories can affect weight loss. Also, try changing your exercise routine to avoid plateaus. Stay positive and keep monitoring your progress; with adjustments, you can find what works best for your body.

YEP!!! I'm getting this literally right now. I have people that I've known for 15, 20, even 25 years that have never seen me below 250 pounds. So to see me at 185 pounds is understandably jarring for them. But once the compliments stopped the critiques started. "You're starting to look sickly, slow down the weight loss" and "you're going to look like you have an ED if you keep losing weight" and "your sagging skin is going to get so much worse if you don't stop losing weight". I mean...seriously????? My body FINALLY found its new set point and is happy where it's at and now the weight is resettling and redistributing itself. There's nothing I can do about it. Your comments are UNhelpful and UNnecessary. Ugh.....

I thought I'll put my progress for more context: 1. Basics: GENDER, AGE, HEIGHT F, 33, 168 CM 5'5/5'6? 2. Total Weight lost in the 6 months BEFORE surgery (if any) 0 3. Weight on DAY OF SURGERY. 198/90 KG 4. Weight at 1 MONTH POST surgery 172/78.2 KG 5. Weight at 3 MONTHs POST surgery 148/67.4 KG I am at 5 months post op 131.78/59.9 KG 8. Type of Surgery (Sleeve, ByPass, etc...) Gastric sleeve

Thank you!! I thought about changing my highest weight, but that's not what I was when I had my surgery and I wanted to track my progress from my surgery weight. I did keto to lose the weight my doctor wanted me to lose, and it was amazing for that short amount of time. Taught me a lot about watching calories and especially carbs. Also taught me about making some better choices with the alternative foods that are out there. So I'm glad I did it. And it allowed me to lose the weight I needed to rather quickly. I needed to lose 30 pounds and I lost 33.

It has been a while since a maintenance mega thread has been created. Can we share how things are going? For everyone officially maintaining vs losing, please share: 1. Pre op weight, BMI or measurements 2. Surgery type 3. Lowest post op weight, BMI or measurements and when it occurred 4. Maintenance weight, BMI or measurements and when it occurred 5. Bounces (up or down) in weight, BMI or measurements and when they occurred 6. Methods used to maintain and what has/has not worked 7. How your life has changed (losing vs maintaining perspective) 8. Words of wisdom/cautionary tales/stories of beating the odds Thanks!

I had RNY rather than sleeve, but it's probably similar. I'm nine years out and can eat a "normal" amount of food, but my "normal" now is a lot different than my "normal" was when I weighed 373 lbs. Which means, no one now would guess that I had WLS. At. most they'd think I'm a "light eater", if they even notice at all. If I go to a restaurant, I'll often order an appetizer or a salad or maybe soup & salad. Or if I order an entree, I'll eat half of it and bring the rest home. If we go out for pizza, I'll have 1-2 pieces, whereas before I'd eat half a large pizza. This really is no different than most of my female friends who've never been obese. So it's "normal" eating. The way I was eating before surgery was not normal. Maybe that's what your doctor is trying to say. of course, it's possible for us to scarf up a lot more calories than that. Surgery basically restricts how much you can eat at one sitting. You will probably not be able to eat as much as you used to at one sitting. You will likely be stuffed after eating 1-2 pieces of pizza, for example. BUT...nothing but you will stop you from grazing all day. For example, you could eat 1-2 pieces of pizza at 5:00 pm, and 1-2 more at 7:00 pm, and 1-2 more at 9:00 pm - so in the end you would have eaten just as much as you did at 400 lbs. So that's why some people end up gaining a lot of their weight back - it they can't control their grazing. That's where the head work comes in. P.S. years ago when I was first contemplating surgery, the two choices were lap band or RNY (it took me ten years to finally get surgery - by then, the sleeve was on the scene, rapidly replacing the lap band). Anyway, at first I wanted the lap band because it was reversible. Some of the WLS patients I talked to said "why would you ever want it reversed? You'd gain the weight back". True. So I decided maybe that wasn't such a bad thing (although RNY technically IS reversible - it's just that it's a very complicated surgery, so they only do it in extreme situations). Anyway, I love my RNY and would never want it to be reversed, so I'm fine with the fact that it really can't be (or in my case, only in an extreme medical situation)

Yea. He said it’s definitely a more aggressive option than the bypass for revision with a few more risks but better weight loss for most people. I read somewhere that when you eat the wrong foods that it causes gas pain and bathroom issues which if that’s true I think as much as it would not be fun it may be just what I need to remind me to keep making the right choices. Also If I understood correctly it does more to reduce the hunger hormone which was definitely my biggest issue. From day one with the sleeve I was able to eat more than expected at every given stage. I just chose not to and that was easy while the hunger was gone but when it came back it came roaring back so I lost most of my weight and then gained it all back like a yo yo. In the beginning I was still eating all the right foods but I was starving so I ate more than I should have. I am really hoping that this procedure the hunger hormone remains less intense for good.

Welcome!!! I gained two pounds over the holidays, but then lost it. I've been gaining the same 2-4 lbs for the past month, it is a little annoying. LOL

Nine years out, and I fight the beast every day. I know people who've worked with therapists who specialize in eating disorders who've found it helpful, so maybe looking into that if you're feeling like you're losing the struggle (?). Or does your bariatric clinic have a health psychologist on staff, or can they refer you to one? P.S. I also know a few people who are struggling and have had some significant weight gain who are on appetite suppressants like phentermine - or some of the newer drugs that people are using for weight loss, such as Ozempic. I don't know if you want to go down that route, but some have had success with those. If you're interested in that, check with either your bariatric clinic or your regular physician.

Im from London. Semi skimmed milk with 2 tablespoon skimmed milk powder. I use Hartley 10 cal jelly pot. I've been doing normal because I lost weight fast and because il lost weight in last 3 weeks in liver reduction diet when it's just soup and yogurt.

Exactly, would they ask someone who's putting weight on?

I ditto what everyone else says, but I dropped in to say WOW YOUR DOING AMAZING!!! I am with @SleeveToBypass2023 I am someone who is responding to the surgery very well and the weight is melting off. Sounds like you are too! Try not to weight yourself everyday its gets to be daunting. I know it works for some but I know for me it becomes an obsession and its not healthy. Maybe try to squeeze in an extra walk or start with light weight lifting. Something to get your body moving really is a good distraction

When people choose a goal weight, many of us choose a weight we’d attained in the past & were ‘happy’ at. Others choose a weight they think might be okay for them. Others use BMI or readjust their goal as they progress. Most surgeons tend to recommend a weight that sits within the statistical weight loss range. You can choose any number as your goal weight but it doesn’t truely mean anything. You really don’t get to choose your final weight. It depends upon factors like your new set point (which is the main one), your lifestyle & lifestyle choices, when your calorie intake & activity levels align, age, health & medications. You end up where you end up. You can start maintenance early but you can’t easily force your body not to be in maintenance to lose more weight if it doesn’t want to (your set point). As you can see in my profile, my final weight is 11kgs less than my goal (which was the low weight I usually attained over the years of losing & regaining, it met the stats & my surgeon endorsed it). Before surgery, I would never expected to be this weight. I mean I was 12 when I last weighed that & was almost 54 when I had surgery. I would have thought too thin, skeletal, etc. I’m not. I certainly didn’t intentionally work at getting here, it was where my body wanted me to be & where my calories, my body’s needs & activity level aligned. This means it’s easier to maintain. I still work at it but never feel like I’m ‘dieting ‘ or missing out on anything. Let your body tell you when. You’ll likely find you naturally slip into maintenance. PS - Congratulations on your weight loss. Fabulous!

For me, I initially set my goal weight to 200 because it had been so many years since I was even close to that weight, so I thought it would be good. As I got closer to it, I moved the goal weight to 195. Now that I'm just about there, I'm thinking about moving it one more time to 190. I feel like that's attainable for me, I look healthy and a lot thinner but still have my curves, and it allows me to have a little bit of regain room and still stay under 200. Everyone has their own reasons that make sense to them why they choose the goal weight they choose. And it's not set in stone. It can always be changed. So think about what you're wanting. A certain size clothing, a certain weight, a certain goal...then try to see what initial weight you need to be to get there. And then adjust accordingly.

Okay this is long and boring at parts but here it goes. I am 3 years post sleeve and I have gained all my weight back . First of all I was on the smaller side to have the sleeve but I do still have all the same struggles and if I had waited until I was older it was just a matter of time until I was a higher bmi having the surgery. The fact that I have lost and then gained it all plus some within less than years is probably proof of that. Anyways, with the sleeve I did lose a big chunk of weight. I went from 235 to 168 which I could not have done with regular diet. But, i was always able to eat a little more than I should at every given stage and everything was easy for me. From day one I had no gas pain and water was easy to get down, then fluids and protein which were easy to keep down, I had no food intolerances and advancing through each stage. I was living my best life watching the pounds fall off but I was alway able to eat just a little more than everyone else at the same stage. Well, while the hunger hormone was gone and I was focused I was able to eat exactly what I SHOULD be eating and I measured my portions to the Amount I should be eating and I was satisfied. So lost most of the weight the dr suggested I would. i held that weight for a few months but then the hunger started creeping back and between the hunger and the extra room in the pouch I started gaining in spite of still making healthy food choices (my food was fine but my portions were too large and too frequent). Well, even though I knew I was losing control my friends and family continued to look at me as doing great..I was still on the road to getting to where I needed ti be in their eyes. I was ashamed. I was failing yet They kept complimenting me and offering me food. They were saying things like your doing so good, you can have one slice or pizza or one brownie. It won’t kill you. It’s okay that you’ve gained a couple pounds I’ve gained a couple it’s Christmas. You can lose that. Well I have since learned that no I cannot just have one of anything to do with carbs or I crave them for a week but I didn’t know that back then Anyways, was still going to my surgeon asking for help but I have bipolar disorder and the meds I take for it limit what other meds I can take so I cannot take many of the weight loss meds they had to offer. And the one I can take worked wonderfully during the day but when it wore off I ate all night Fast forward a few months and I stepped on the scale and I was back over 200. That sucked but I wasn’t giving up. went back to my surgeon asking about revision to bypass. I have heartburn gerd whatever you call it and clearly the sleeve wasn’t working so I wanted to know my options. Well let’s go back. I knew I didn’t want to have surgery if I was going to just repeat the yo-yo that had just happened so I decided I wanted two opinions this time. Well the second opinion dr had a cancellation so I seen him first. He was on board. He was going to bypass a shorter amount of bowel so i had less absorption issues and my meds Would work fine he said which seemed to be his concern even though it wasn’t really my question. I just needed my dr to say that it shouldn't be a repeat of last time and I was going forward. Well even though the bypass was an option he presented to me to start he said he wouldn’t do a bypass for me. He thought it would be a bad call with my mental health issues. This was confusing to say the least because I have one dr saying it’s fine and another dr I really respect saying it’s not and I started this thinking bypass was always an okay option in terms of mental health but worried the surgery just wouldn’t work for me. I am of course concerned about my mental health so took some time to think about it. I tried for a while to find a bariatric therapiest but none near me are taking any new patients. I even asked the surgeon and he said he would look into it but be never did. Anyways I called around for the better part of two days. They all just do the evaluations now for surgery. I have had every hormone test and lab they have that could possibly be the problem. I changed all my meds in case they were the issue. I tried everything myself and my doctors could think of but I kept gaining. When I revisited the idea of surgery I was scared. Anything that was going to upset my mental health again just isn’t an option I decided. I already know what life without my medication is like and I do not want to go back there. I continued to gain. I got back up to 245 and I am miserable. I am so depressed when I look at what I have let happen to myself. I had a chance and I blew it. I am disgusted when I look in the mirror. I decided that the weight is causing me to be more depressed so I needed to get some real answers. I went back to my surgeon. Not to ask him to do the surgery but exactly why he thought it was a bad idea. The plan was to take that info and talk to the other surgeon to make sure he had considered that and see why he wasn’t worried about it. Well, surprise…my surgeon is on board now with doing a revision for me. When I asked why he said no before he said something about a nite in my chart that said I wasn’t complaint with my meds back them and he didn’t know I have a psychiatrist and psychologist and take my meds but now he is comfortable doing surgery. So, frustrated I had to wait until I gained almost 50 more pounds to get here but excited he is willing to do it I am researching the other surgery he thinks will be a better fit for me called the SADI. At the same time I am still not buying the note in my chart thing. Cause that was never true. I guess the important takeaway for those of you here that are just starting out is even if you do regain don’t lose touch with your team and don’t give up. I feel like my dr wavering in whether he would do the surgery didn’t help but I could have asked more questions sooner and I wouldn’t have so much to lose this time. Plus, hopefully you guys can take the weight loss meds and won’t be facing a second surgery.

I'm currently 3 weeks post-op from gastric sleeve surgery and am struggling BIG time with the diet. The pureed foods aren't doing it for me as the texture is not right...Has anyone else struggled with this? If so, please let me know what worked for you...I've always resorted to food when I'm feeling low and now I can't...I have snacked on no-no foods already and I'm petrified of returning old habits. I've gained 2-3 pounds in the last week and that's incredibly discouraging. I know it could possibly be water retention as my intake hasn't been a full 64oz per day. I know I'm not getting enough protein as well...I'm ready to resort back to a full liquid diet in hopes to lose weight over the next couple weeks...any suggestions would be incredibly helpful!

I'm almost 4 months post op from the MDS and I've been asking myself that question, "am I overeating", on and off for the past 2 months. I've been able to figure out 2 body cues so far: feeling full to me is a pain in a specific part of my chest and feeling hungry is a intense pain in my abdomen. But other than trying to avoid those, I feel like I spend a lot of time grazing or snacking. Because of my morbid curiousity, I weigh myself pretty much every day. I didn't experience the "3 wk stall", but my weight has bounced around a bit. Dealing with pain and nausea has made me lose both pounds and inches, which scares me more than it makes me happy. The stress of school made that worse recently, in 4 days I lost 6 lbs. At my last follow up, my dr and dietician said to slow down my weight loss by adding in some carbs. I have been doing that for the last 2 weeks and I've been able to gain/maintain a range of 2-3 pounds, so I agree with @SleeveToBypass2023's advice about the rice and such.

So this could be your body’s set point. The weight your body is happiest at & will continue to gravitate to this weight despite your efforts to lose more. Remember if you reduce your calories & increase your activity to lose more weight, you will have to continue to eat fewer calories & be more active than you are now to maintain the lower weight. And this isn’t sustainable as you’re already experiencing & your body will fight you the whole time. This becomes a head issue. You’ve lost about 100lbs. That’s an achievement. Plus you’ve built muscle which weighs more than fat too. Look back on how you were before there surgery - general health & status of your cop morbidities, mobility, ability to do the things you wanted to, self confidence, etc. What have you gained or regained with this weight loss. Don’t fear your appointment. Take in your tracked food intake (there could be something you’re missing) & your activity. Ask what else you can do. Ask if this is it for you? Ask what else you can do. Maybe raise whether the GLP-1medications would be of benefit. Do you see a dietician? Because of your intense weight training, you may need to be consuming more & by reducing your calories you have put your body into starvation mode. Even with all this, don’t give up yet. Many of us continued to lose well into our second year albeit very slowly like grams not kilograms a week or month (ounces not pounds). All the best.

Thank you! I'm looking forward to hitting my goal weight just to see how it feels and if it will be my maintenance weight. I will post pictures again when I hit my goal.

I agree 100% that BMI is completely flawed. When I was young I did fit right in there but at around 25 I just started gaining and never stopped. I would love to get back to that perfect BMI but I just don’t see if Happening for me.

Honestly i never wanted this surgery WLS, i refused it fighting with the doctors the whole year. But when i learned it was actually meant for GERD patients to help us eliviate the reflux and saving our throat is when i said Yes i'll have the surgery. Doctors noticed the weight loss for GERD patients then it became the number 1 surgery for obesity. Perimenopause has a huge hand in our weight gain belly and reflux triggering more. Our hormones are off the track so I do take BHRT (BioIdentical Hormone Therapy) to help with a lot of my symptoms. Overall i really cant tell if my reflux is worse or not it's there regardless and i cant get off my meds.

it's actually very common to have a rebound gain of 10-20 lbs during year 3. There was a dietitian once on Unjury's online support group who said in her clinic, they don't even consider anything less that 15% of the person's lowest weight to be a regain (so in your case, they wouldn't consider anything under a 21.6 lb gain as "regain" - it's just more-or-less expected). Granted, you're up more than that, but only by about 10 lbs. You can always lose weight again by getting back on track. If it's really tough to do that (and it can be..), maybe just make one or two small changes at a time until they become a habit. Start with something not super challenging - like logging your food intake - or taking a walk 3x a week. Or whatever...just anything that seems achievable. It all adds up in the end... A lot of people have dealt with this, so you're definitely not alone.

Has anyone done a low calorie diet and not lost weight, but had success losing all the weight with VSG? I’m curious how it works if eating low calorie didn’t work out. Even though I’m getting VSG, I’m scared it won’t work since I have not lost weight with the low calorie diet.

The Week 3 stall is real! I stalled and gained 6lbs back between weeks 3 and 5, and just now lost it back in the last week. I've had several people tell me weeks 3-6 will generally have a stall and a slight regain due to your body panicking over the rapid weight loss, and readjusting its baseline, so it is part of the process. I've also been told a second stall/regain will occur around the 3-month mark, and last up to 4 weeks, so prepare yourself for that. I'm bracing for that coming up soon. Keep in mind the weight loss won't be like a straight line, more like stair steps with the occasional bump back up before dropping again. Just stick to the diet, and switch to weighting weekly to prevent obsessing over it (like I did haha). Also, several months from now, as you approach your goal weight, remember that gaining muscle through exercise will make the number on the scale go up, but that's a good thing. Muscle weights 1.5x as much as fat, so as you gain it, you will continue burning off fat, which is the "bad weight". About 1 year out, you won't worry as much about the scale, and will celebrate the wins in smaller clothing sizes, more energy, and better endurance/stamina! Regarding the caloric intake, my surgeon and team recommended I keep aiming for 800-1000 calories per day, but I am a 6'1" male, so my base caloric rate may be higher than yours. I would check back with your doctor or nutritionist to be sure, but I think 1200 is closer to the target after 1 year. Also prioritize water and protein first, followed by unsaturated fats, then try for any carbs/sweets/starches/breads and saturated fats last. My plan has me targeting less than 50g of carbohydrates per day, not low enough for keto, but enough to keep the sugar cravings and fat retention down. You may need to check your macros as well. Best of luck to you on your journey!