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I cant say for everyone but I was not able to eat beyond my stomachs capacity. I did not try the slider foods. Still can not. When you are healed enough to get the full signal, about 6 - 8 weeks out, if you have one mouthful more it will sit in your chest like a brick. You will probably become very nauseous and will be unable to drink for hours till you have got rid of the extra food. It will be a very unpleasant feeling. There is no way that I can eat when I feel this way. As for worrying if it was the right decision ? yep I did. Its lots of money to take away from the family. It cost me over £12.000 so that would have been lots of holidays they would miss. It was a huge leap into the unknown for me. All I knew was at my age and size my heart was struggling with the most simple household tasks. Then they told me I was diabetic .... no brainer anymore. I booked a appointment with the surgeon the same week. Everything has failed for all of us before. Doctors now believe that Bariatric surgery is the only way to keep weight off. I am not at maintenance yet so can not say if its easy to do it but I know it takes work and regular monitoring. I am overjoyed that I was able to do this. I am a different woman now. TBH I feel blessed

This is the first time I’ve made a post on bariatric palsy. I normally just read things but today is really big day for me. I am six months postop. My highest weight was 250 pounds and I was 242 pounds at the day of surgery, as of this morning I am 198 pounds with a total weight loss of 52lbs and 44lbs surgery. I’ve lost 13 inches off my waist 10 inches off of my apron belly 12 inches off my hips and 7 inches off of my bust. I am currently in a women’s extra large down from a 3X I can fit larges now but they’re still a little too tight for my comfort. I have not been this small since I had my first child at 19 I was 150 pounds before I got pregnant with her. This is the smallest I’ve been in 10 years. It feels amazing but it also doesn’t feel real. I keep getting on the scale to double check if I’m imagining things, but it feels really good to come this far and have all the health changes that I’ve had.

Since we all started at different weights, heights, etc., I find comparisons to be best evaluated by percentage of body weight lost. At 6 months, I had lost 28.5% of my body weight. Now at 7 months and one week, I have now lost an additional 4%, for a total of 32.5% of my starting weight. Comparisons are a gauge but be careful when comparing yourself to others. We may all be vying for the same destination of better health and slimmer selves but our journey is uniquely our own with hills and valleys.

I lost all of my excess weight (over 200 lbs), but it did take close to two years to do it. Weight loss slows down the further out you go, but if you continue to work hard, you can always lose more weight.

I posted this on another thread about revision, but I had a hiatal hernia and bad GERD so it applies for this thread too. I want to preface that this is about to be a long message, but it's my journey. Thanks for reading. My 1st Bariatric journey started in 2009 (I was 26 years old). My heaviest weight was 250 lbs. I did a month liquid diet as my preop diet and got down to my surgery weight of 220 lbs. I had a sleeve done in Sep 1, 2009. I got down to around 175 lbs from my surgery weight of 220 lbs. I got down to a size 12. I did regain some weight years later, but that was my doing (not eating the best, not exercising as I should). In addition to gaining some weight back, i developed a 5/6cm hiatal hernia and had really bad heartburn and reflux. I started taking Nexium for years. Finally 14 years later (now 40 years old) in April of 2023 I decided to ask a doctor about taking daily Nexium (after hearing constantly from family that it wasn't good). My surgeon gave me 3 options. 1. Continue taking Nexium daily 2. Fix my hiatal hernia (but he did warn me that hiatal hernias are known to come back) 3. Fix my hiatal hernia and do a revision from Sleeve to RNY. Before any of that to make an informed decision I had to get an upper GI with contrast and an endoscopy with a Bravo study. I had the endoscopy done and the Bravo capsule placed on my esophagus. After the 1st endoscopy my GI doctor said she didn't even need to see the results of the Bravo study...seeing my esophagus alone was enough to see how inflamed my esophagus was and she confirmed the bigger sized hernia. Either way, the Bravo capsule was placed in and I did the 3 day study. The results came back and like my GI doc said...it was bad. The acidity in my stomach and esophagus was ridiculous. I use to take generic Nexium 20mg but my GI doc said that wasnt enough for how bad my esophagus was. I was told to bump it up to 40mg 2x a day. So I did that and it helped to heal the massive amount of inflammation I already had in my esophagus. To confirm that I had a 2nd endoscopy done. The Bravo study, the upper GI scans, the endoscopy was all completed so that I could make an informed decision on how I wanted to proceed. Which of the 3 options discussed did I want to proceed with. I decided option 3 was best (revision from Sleeve to RNY with a hiatal hernia repair). For me my insurance approved the procedure and it was fairly a quick process because I went the general surgical route vs the Bariatric route. I could have had the revision in July but I had a cruise planned in August and I wanted to be able to drink and eat and ENJOY my vacation so I opted to wait and had the revision 2 weeks after I came back from my cruise on September 11th. I was 215 the 1st day of my preop diet. I got down to 206 but then mother nature decided to show up the week of my surgery so as women we gain water weight during our cycle and the day of surgery i weighed in at 209. I was so pissed. I knew it was water weight because of my cycle but still nobody wants to see the number on the scale go up. Surgery went well. I had no complications. My recovery was A LOT smoother. I had BAAAAAD nausea and gas pains after my sleeve becauseof the anesthesia. With the RNY I had 0% nausea. I had a little bit of shoulder pain because of the gas and I did have another pain when I inhaled big because of the hernia repair, but it was all normal and pains of that nature were expected. I was just sooooo glad that I didn't wake up extremely nauseous after the RNY like I did after my sleeve. So now I'm 31 days post op. I've been at 195 since like September 26th. I hope that I've HOPEFULLY lost at least 1 pound now since I've been stalled at the same weight for 2 weeks. Btw I'm 5'4 for reference. My size 14 clothes button again and my 16s are getting a little loose on me now. I'm not swimming in my clothes or nothing but it's a small progress. I was wearing XL shirts and now Large shirts fit me a lot better. I feel less like a sausage in them lol! Oh and tonight I tried on this bra that I know for a fact a couple of weeks ago could not button or even come close and today it fit. So now a 38D will fit. Great non scale victory! I can tolerate all food and as long as I don't take huge bites and I chew my food well and eat slow, I'm good. Otherwise I've already had my 1st reminder of what it feels like to throw up because your food feels stuck. I had that happen after the sleeve sometimes too and it sucks, but it's a process learning how to eat again and reminding myself that I can't inhale my food. I am taking a daily vitamin with iron and then 3 calcium citrate chewable daily. My doctor also still wants me to take 1 Omeprozole daily for 6 months post op to give my esophagus and hernia repair time to truly heal. 1 month down....5 months to go. Then I'll be able to see if I don't have any GERD or heartburn without any medication. The weight loss is a perk and I definitely want to lose more weight and get down to 150 or at least my best sleeve weight of 175, but I always have to remind myself that my goal of this entire revision surgery was to not deal with heartburn and reflux anymore. So yeah...thats my revision story so far. Please let me know if you have any questions. I'll be happy to answer.

Hello there! I want to preface that this is about to be a long message, but it's my journey. Thanks for reading. My 1st Bariatric journey started in 2009 (I was 26 years old). My heaviest weight was 250 lbs. I did a month liquid diet as my preop diet and got down to my surgery weight of 220 lbs. I had a sleeve done in Sep 1, 2009. I got down to around 175 lbs from my surgery weight of 220 lbs. I got down to a size 12. I did regain some weight years later, but that was my doing (not eating the best, not exercising as I should). In addition to gaining some weight back, i developed a 5/6cm hiatal hernia and had really bad heartburn and reflux. I started taking Nexium for years. Finally 14 years later (now 40 years old) in April of 2023 I decided to ask a doctor about taking daily Nexium (after hearing constantly from family that it wasn't good). My surgeon gave me 3 options. 1. Continue taking Nexium daily 2. Fix my hiatal hernia (but he did warn me that hiatal hernias are known to come back) 3. Fix my hiatal hernia and do a revision from Sleeve to RNY. Before any of that to make an informed decision I had to get an upper GI with contrast and an endoscopy with a Bravo study. I had the endoscopy done and the Bravo capsule placed on my esophagus. After the 1st endoscopy my GI doctor said she didn't even need to see the results of the Bravo study...seeing my esophagus alone was enough to see how inflamed my esophagus was and she confirmed the bigger sized hernia. Either way, the Bravo capsule was placed in and I did the 3 day study. The results came back and like my GI doc said...it was bad. The acidity in my stomach and esophagus was ridiculous. I use to take generic Nexium 20mg but my GI doc said that wasnt enough for how bad my esophagus was. I was told to bump it up to 40mg 2x a day. So I did that and it helped to heal the massive amount of inflammation I already had in my esophagus. To confirm that I had a 2nd endoscopy done. The Bravo study, the upper GI scans, the endoscopy was all completed so that I could make an informed decision on how I wanted to proceed. Which of the 3 options discussed did I want to proceed with. I decided option 3 was best (revision from Sleeve to RNY with a hiatal hernia repair). For me my insurance approved the procedure and it was fairly a quick process because I went the general surgical route vs the Bariatric route. I could have had the revision in July but I had a cruise planned in August and I wanted to be able to drink and eat and ENJOY my vacation so I opted to wait and had the revision 2 weeks after I came back from my cruise on September 11th. I was 215 the 1st day of my preop diet. I got down to 206 but then mother nature decided to show up the week of my surgery so as women we gain water weight during our cycle and the day of surgery i weighed in at 209. I was so pissed. I knew it was water weight because of my cycle but still nobody wants to see the number on the scale go up. Surgery went well. I had no complications. My recovery was A LOT smoother. I had BAAAAAD nausea and gas pains after my sleeve becauseof the anesthesia. With the RNY I had 0% nausea. I had a little bit of shoulder pain because of the gas and I did have another pain when I inhaled big because of the hernia repair, but it was all normal and pains of that nature were expected. I was just sooooo glad that I didn't wake up extremely nauseous after the RNY like I did after my sleeve. So now I'm 31 days post op. I've been at 195 since like September 26th. I hope that I've HOPEFULLY lost at least 1 pound now since I've been stalled at the same weight for 2 weeks. Btw I'm 5'4 for reference. My size 14 clothes button again and my 16s are getting a little loose on me now. I'm not swimming in my clothes or nothing but it's a small progress. I was wearing XL shirts and now Large shirts fit me a lot better. I feel less like a sausage in them lol! Oh and tonight I tried on this bra that I know for a fact a couple of weeks ago could not button or even come close and today it fit. So now a 38D will fit. Great non scale victory! I can tolerate all food and as long as I don't take huge bites and I chew my food well and eat slow, I'm good. Otherwise I've already had my 1st reminder of what it feels like to throw up because your food feels stuck. I had that happen after the sleeve sometimes too and it sucks, but it's a process learning how to eat again and reminding myself that I can't inhale my food. I am taking a daily vitamin with iron and then 3 calcium citrate chewable daily. My doctor also still wants me to take 1 Omeprozole daily for 6 months post op to give my esophagus and hernia repair time to truly heal. 1 month down....5 months to go. Then I'll be able to see if I don't have any GERD or heartburn without any medication. The weight loss is a perk and I definitely want to lose more weight and get down to 150 or at least my best sleeve weight of 175, but I always have to remind myself that my goal of this entire revision surgery was to not deal with heartburn and reflux anymore. So yeah...thats my revision story so far. Please let me know if you have any questions. I'll be happy to answer.

Hi everyone I’m new here 🙂 I have decided to go ahead with the esg despite being scared of the procedure I’m desperate to reduce my weight mainly for health. I have such a love hate relationship with food, I like eating healthily and am an reduce my weight but then have periods of time where I just eat everything in sight and these periods last weeks or months and I gain it all again. I've completed hypnotherapy and done so much work on why I do this. I do think if I can reduce my weight and exercise again this will help, my biggest fear is that I spend this money which is such a huge amount for me, then I feel I can eat through the full feeling, is that possible? As long as I feel really full I think I won’t do that. I just really really hope I can do this and feel nervous as everything else has failed eeeeeek i hope this makes sense but it was really a big old waffle of what’s in my head. did anyone else worry that they would mess it up but it was ok?

A perspective on what it is like YEARS after gastric sleeve. I was sleeved in January 2018. Start weight was 265 lb, and I am now 174lb. I wanted to get to 160, but haven't got there. I am 5ft 9. Am I glad I did it? I'm conflicted on this. It's SO permanent. I get very tired of not being able to eat a normal size meal. Going out to eat is expensive and frustrating, cause I can only eat about 1/4 of what is on my plate. Cooking seems to take away any appetite I might have (it's like the smell kills my appetite), so by the time I am ready to serve a meal to my family, I cannot eat a bite. I still suffer nausea and vomiting, yes even 6 years down the track. Even if its just dry retching and there is nothing in my stomach. I suffer from reflux which I never had prior to surgery, so I take a PPI every day. I also take vitamins, because my food intake is so tiny. But a lot of the time, I throw them back up. I am chronically anaemic due to lack of red meat or substantial leafy greens. The only thing that seems to help is to take tiny sips of iced water to try and settle the retching. Eating a small meal can take an hour, because I have to wait for my stomach to empty before I can take another bite. Eating sugary or carbohydrate foods makes me sweaty and shaky, and I still battle bouts of dumping syndrome (I am not diabetic). I suffer from irritable bowel syndrome due to the surgery, and I burp lots! Hardly ever prior to surgery. This is all awkward in company for lunch or dinner, and I don't feel I want to announce to all dinner companions (who may just be friends of friends) about my surgical history! I have lost 90 lbs, dropped 3 dress sizes, but if I had my time over, I wish I could have lost the weight through diet and exercise. I really do. So just know... there is no going back from this surgery. It's totally permanent.

Considering there are a multitude of thyroid disorders, without a specific confirmed medical diagnosis, it would be impossible to offer an opinion as to how WLS could affect your prognosis. As someone who has dealt with the extreme swing from stroke-level hyperthyroidism cause by the autoimmune disorder of Grave's Disease to a partial thyroidectomy during the early weeks of an unknown pregnancy which placed addition stress on my remaining thyroid causing the destruction of all thyroid function; I have run the gambit of thyroid crisis scenarios including a couple of life threatening emergencies with myxedema comas. I am closely monitored by a team of endocrinologists who specialize in unique cases. How WLS could affect your particular thyroid issue would be best answered by an endocrinologist who specialize in thyroid disorders. As far as my 40 years of experience dealing with the thyroid roller coaster, my tsh, uptake, t3 levels and thyroid medication dosage were never affected by my weight. Good luck to you!

Research Meralgia Paresthetica. I was recently diagnosed with this and had numbness/tingling down both sides of my outer thighs from hip to knee. It's caused from a compressed nerve. Mine from obesity and a lot of sedentary sitting pre-op. My chiropractor is treating it and says my daily walks and exercise have aggravated it. Before it was just a mystery numbness but now there is shooting pain on occasion. Mine is sporadic like yours but is improving as I lose weight, stretch and do prescribed exercises for it. Not sure this is what you have but sounds similar. GL

I’m wondering how everyone is tracking at their 6 month mark. I had my surgery May 3rd this year. My starting weight before pre surgery diet was 309. I’m at 233 as of today and hopefully I’ll get to 225 by 11/3 I was hoping to reach 200 by the end of the year but I don’t think it’s possible. My goal weight is 160.

I’ve been in maintenance for a couple of years now, so like @catwoman7 can’t really answer your first question. Mind you I don’t eat all that differently. Just larger portions (& probably a little more good & bad fat 😉). Don’t be afraid to widen your meal selection & food selection. It may need you to do a little work to make a recipe healthier, lower in calories & to complement your plan (ingredients, cooking method). Don’t forget to check the nutrient content too. And it’s working towards how you’ll eat in the future. As to the stall issue - you can’t break those. It’s your body’s reaction to your weight loss. It’s the time your body needs to takes to assesses your current needs & adjusts things like your digestive hormones, metabolism, etc. Your body will take as long as it needs to do this. Stick to your plan. Don’t stress your body more by making changes to what you’re eating or your activity. Your stall will break when your body is ready. Still is frustrating I know.

Just like it takes time for our heads to catch up with how we look so too does it take others. They have a picture of you in their heads so they also have to come to terms with as you are now & really see you. I had several people ‘helpfully’ tell me I had lost enough weight. I had people tell me they didn’t recognise me during the time I had lost down to around my usual weight range (mid 60s kg +/-). This was the weight range I had been most of my adult life (30 odd years). I was only my largest obese size for about 4 or so years. They should have easily recognised me. Now 2+ years later no one says a thing. Apparently the taller you are the larger the circumference of your bones. That’s the true meaning of being big boned. For e.g. woman 5’2” - 5’5” with a wrist measurement of 6.25” - 6.5” have a medium frame (mine is just under 6”). When overweight I used to be told I had a larger frame. It was just people trying to be nice & not say I was fat. Only about 5% of the population have large frames & the same have small frames. Everyone else has an medium or average frame. Initially my surgeon & his colleague were a little concerned I was still losing past my goal. Then one appointment, I remember his colleague really looking at me & then saying you really are quite small aren’t you. They never said a word about my weight after that. Doesn’t matter what others think you should weigh. I believe, you’re the only one who matters. You’re the only one who really needs to be happy. As long as your weight & maintaining it doesn’t restrict or limit you in any way (socially, lifestyle, etc.) & you’re healthy ignore everyone else’s ‘well intentioned’ comments & advice.

anxiety - no. Thyroid - I'm not sure. It does have an impact on some of your hormones, but I'm not sure about thyroid. I'd check with the surgeon and see if he or she knows. well I take that back. I just googled it. Anxiety and depression can improve in some patients - but it depends on a lot of factors - social support, weight loss success, better health, etc. So I guess it partially would depend on the types of things that tend to set off your anxiety.

Totally agree with @Arabesque in that a diet of shakes might be hard to sustain huskymama, particularly if you're slow to recover from your fracture. If you can revert to protein first, veg second, carbs (a long way behind) third you might be able to claw back your previous weight loss. I know it's rubbish to regain for whatever reason and I hope you can get it sorted while you recover.

My post-surgery pain has been quite minimal. A little pain on my right side, especially when I need to use those abs. And the rear roof of my mouth feels really badly bruised from the intubation I guess -- I've never had that before after surgery so it is not likely to be related to WLS, just my particular experience this tie. I'm basically able to do most of what I did before, but already with less pain. 3 days out, 5 pounds down from surgery weight.

WLS solves precisely two problems... being fat and (hopefully) associated health co-morbidities. The rest is work that you have to do. That said, being fat often makes us feel like crap for so many reasons. No longer being fat frees up a lot of energy and mental space to do that work. I have found that engaging in high quality therapy pre-op and during weight loss and maintenance has been very helpful in processing all of the changes and taking full advantage of the opportunities for transformation. I can't imagine going through this process without therapy as a space to process it all.

For those of you that were dealing with some emotional trauma or issues that you were dealing with, did losing the physical weight help you lose the emotional weight you were carrying. For example, I don’t feel confident like I use to before I gained weight and I feel once I lose weight I will feel confident again and those thoughts of being unworthy will dissipate. Did anyone’s emotional issues go away after the weight came off?

I am struggling with this too. My local doctor want me at less than 140 lbs. My family and friends are already saying I have to stop loosing as I am already too thin. I don't tell of anyone of any weight loss now. It is a slow trickle now anyway. I have gone down to a UK size 14 and to me skinny would be a size 6 - 8. I have been fat all my life, do former fat people really have bigger bones ? or is it a myth ?

Why don't you enjoy food ? I may only eat small amounts but I delight in each mouthful. These days I choose quality over quantity. And why are you constantly sick ? Are you taking nausea medications, eating slowly, not overeating, gained a food allergy. This forum may be able to help you with this

I went through this too. It pushed my journey back many months and I was so disappointed. I am using this time to work more on myself mentally and do my PT excersizes. Also maybe talk to your primary care or bariatric team about starting phentermine or another appetite suppressant to kickstart your weight loss while you wait

Have you checked your calorie intake? If you’re reducing your fat & sugar intake you will have reduced your calories which would explain your weight loss. Why are you trying to reduce your pancreatic enzymes (which are produced naturally within your body & are needed for digestion & absorption of nutrients)? How does cutting fats & sugars stop the production of the enzymes or are you doing that for a separate reason? I take pancreatic enzymes because I don’t absorb protein well (side effect of my gall removal) hence my questions. I worry that reducing your enzyme levels may be causing your weight loss too because your not absorbing nutrients well.

We all carry our weight in different places: upper body, lower body, abdomen, etc. And we all lose our weight in different places as we progress. Add to that the differences in our skeletal frames. Like I’ve a smallish frame yet my collar bones don’t protrude as much as others at a similar weight to me. I have dips around my collar bones not hollows. You will find that once your weight stabilises that your remaining weight seems to resettle. So while you may feel you look too thin or gaunt at first this will change. Initially I was all straight up & down & had lost my hourglass shape. But a few months later I realised I had a waist & hips again. (Still don’t have a butt though lol!) Give your head a chance to catch up with your new body. How you look now & as you lose more weight. It takes time & you’ll feel like you don’t recognise yourself or know your body at times. And it can work both ways - thinking you look too thin or thinking you’re still too big. I remember seeing a woman’s reflection in a shop window & thought oh we’re wearing the same clothes & she’s much slimmer than me. It was a shock to realise the woman was me.

Aah the how often to weigh debate. The responses seem to swing from very rarely/never to daily. I weighed every day for the first two years or so but now weigh 3 or 4 times a week. In the past if I thought I was putting on weight I wouldn’t go near the scales. If I didn’t see the number on the scales I could believe I wasn’t putting on weight even if my pants were very tight or bought the next size. So me weighing as I do now is about what I need to do to keep myself honest. I say you know you best & weigh yourself as you need to keep yourself motivated & on track. Has my hunger returned, yes. It did so slowly. Has it increased since it fully returned, no. There are still odd days or times I’m not all that hungry at all. (Wish that happened more often 😁.) I try to eat very much to a routine & not eat outside of that. If I think I’m hungry I consider if it’s real hunger or head hunger. Such as when did I last eat? Did I eat a smaller portion at my last meal? Is it almost time for a meal? How am I feeling - bored, sad, annoyed, stressed, etc. It can be an ‘interesting’ discussion I’m having with myself. 😁 This helps most of the time. I’m sorry about your injury @huskymama especially after achieving so much. But you didn’t have to go back to shakes to lose your weight just go back to how & what you were eating before your injury though smaller portions as you can’t be as active at the moment. Meet your fluids & protein goals. Eat your protein first then vegetables & last any carbs you’re allowed if you are able. Return to lower fats, carbs & sugar. Check with your dietician for ideas & guidance. Focus on upper body exercises because of your injury. Search for some exercises for those with limited mobility online. You can do this.