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Checking in. Just short of my 6 month mark (11/15/2023). Down 99 pounds (SOOO CLOSE) at 225. I have a stretch goal of 35 more pounds (190) which my wife hates. She is pretty happy where I am now and worries that I will look "anemic" if I lose that much more, but I was at 192 when we first met 20 years ago, so that has been my blue sky target (although I would be ecstatic with anything below 200 and happy under 210). Been working out 5-6 days a week, but my diet has been middling honestly. I have been eating too many carbs in the afternoon. I think they are better carbs than they used to be (Nut Thins mainly), but they are still far from ideal. I need to be eating more fruits and veggies for sure. I am also pretty much back to my normal alcohol consumption (which isn't much, 2-4 drinks a week, and consists mainly of red wine). Weight loss has slowed down considerably, but is still pretty consistent. Because I am a numbers nerd, I have been tracking a bunch of stuff since I started and here are my month by month losses 5/4/2023 6/1/2023 35.9 6/1/2023 7/1/2023 19.9 7/1/2023 8/1/2023 16.0 8/1/2023 9/1/2023 10.7 9/1/2023 10/1/2023 6.3 10/1/2023 11/1/2023 9.6 11/1/2023 11/6/2023 0.3 I have my 6mo follow up with the nutritionist next Wednesday where hopefully she will tell me that I am not losing too much muscle (something she cautioned me about on my 3mo visit). I'll post some before/after pictures sometime in the next week as well. And finally, welcome to the thread Meana, great results so far!

Thank you for all the responses! I appreciate everyone’s advice. It’s amazing how quickly the weight can start creeping up on you. I have been watching my daily calories but have been drinking half the water i used to and decreased my exercise to only 2 days a week vs 5 I’ve also noticed that I’m feeling hungrier in the evenings and will often have late night snacks, so hopefully taking this drug and trying to follow my old post bariatric diet will help make the difference here. I was surprised that my doctor only wanted to prescribe the Topiramate since there are so many other options out there!

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.

Gosh. Thank you for sharing OP but lots of us have had a very different experience. So sorry that you've had such a difficult time adjusting to your surgery. I totally agree that most people on this forum have tried to lose weight in the traditional ways (diet and exercise) and failed many many times. I'm not sure how you are relating that to your current experience though. Please may I ask you - if you had to do it all again and not have the surgery and stay at 265 lbs whether that would now be your choice?

Best advice is stick to your plan. (Have to admit I’m surprised by the peanut butter. I know some use peanut butter powder to add as a flavour to their shakes but not actual eat peanut butter until maintenance but then plans are different.) You said candy is a trigger for you. This is a head hunger not a real hunger. Have you spoken to your therapist about this? They’ll help you identify why you crave candy, what situations, what emotions, habits, etc. trigger it & will help you work out strategies to manage your craving. This is part of the head work we do to change our relationship with food & our eating. Remember the surgery changes your body not your head. Sure, once your weight stabilises, you’ll work out how much & how often you can have some of your old favourite things, if you even still want them. I didn’t really crave sweet things as such but certainly enjoyed eating something sweet every night after dinner. Now I rarely eat sweet foods - a couple of times a year & don’t miss it. I have about 5g of added sugar a day. I do very little artificial sweeteners (in yoghurt & protein bar but they don’t taste sweet at all) or sugar substitutes either as I’m pretty sensitive & foods can easily taste excessively sweet. Who would have thought food can be too sweet! If I want sweet now I have some fruit. The sugar alcohols can cause bloating & diarrhoea in many which is why your plan likely says to avoid it. All the best.

4 weeks, 3 days Sorry for the delay in posting. The first week after I got home I slept a lot, night and day. Eating and drinking enough is hard when you sleep so much, so I haven't been meeting my goal of 64oz fluid and 100gm of protein, but I've been getting at least 48oz fluid and at least 60-80gm of protein. My protein oatmeal with extra protein added and my Pure Protein Bars with 19-21gm of protein is a huge chunk of that. 3 weeks in, after sleeping most of the day my body decided it was done with that, and since I'd just slept all day, it chose to stay awake at night. I've been trying to get my sleep pattern under control, but when I went to bed at 10:30 I awoke at 1:24am refreshed from my nap and last night I went to bed just after midnight and woke up at 4am and wasn't able to get back to sleep. I think this time I'll be able to stay awake all day though, so I'm hoping to sleep through the night tonight. I've still been having a hard time with my diet goals since I am trying to sleep at night. If I didn't have the luxury of working at home on my own schedule, I might not be having such a hard time sleeping because I'd be forced to a regular schedule. My husband has had his reservations, but has been supportive through all this because I promised I'd take care of myself. When I feel bad for being gone so long and now sleeping on the couch instead of snuggling with him, he tells me that I've just had surgery and I'm healing, sleep when my body tells me to sleep, and if the couch is more comfortable than sleeping reclined in bed, sleep there. At least I'm spending a few hours snuggling with him at night now. A couple days after retuning home I took my surgical tape off and discovered that I'd pulled a couple stitches. Remember those painful sneezes? I'm pretty sure that's when it happened. I have mighty, full body sneezes that sometimes makes my arm go numb and always said I'll probably die because I sneezed while driving. The wound didn't reopen. There was no bleeding or seeping, there were just larger scabs and one had a tacky feel. The scar in that area in front is going to be uglier than the nice thin scar in the back. This isn't the surgeons fault and nothing would have been different if I'd been there for a follow-up and he took the tape off. I'm waiting for the last scab to fall off before I start using the scar gel and massaging the scar. I have been concerned about the puffy area just above the scar across the front. I told myself it's probably just inflammation. They tell you not to judge the way you look because you won't see the final results for 6 months to a year, but it's hard. When you look at before and after pictures, the after pictures are long enough after for the inflammation to be gone. I went to a friend's commitment ceremony 2 days ago and another friend there had a lower body lift and BBL here in the states with one of the best surgeons (they have more money than me). She had her surgery 10 days after mine and she has that too, so I feel better. To summarize how I felt moving around week by week: Week 1 was difficult getting in and out of bed and it was painful. Week 2 I had the roll and push method down pat so it was easier to get up and down from bed and I could move around better, but when I'd first get up I'd walk more hunched over and this was when I had the really painful sneezes. It was easy to not push myself and to remember not to lift things or bend down because I could feel the pain in my stitches. I was very itchy. Week 3 I was able to move easier and could reach for things, but I could still feel it pull at the stitches, but it was more discomfort than painful so I was having to remind myself not to lift things and to not twist. This is when the itching was at its worst. Week 4 I'm getting stir crazy because I am still not supposed to drive and I promised my husband I'd take care of myself, which means following doctor's orders even if I think I'm OK to drive. Because of the mini BBL he did, I'm not supposed to drive for 4 weeks, then for 2 weeks only short distances "if I have to drive". I was moving normal, but I could still feel it pull at the stitches, but not really uncomfortable, just a pulling sensation. I still itched really bad, but it wasn't as constant. Now I don't really feel any pain except now that I'm sleeping without the pillows and my hips are on the bed, I am not sleeping on my right side because the incision is still a little tender when sleeping with weight on it there. Thankfully I can sleep on my left side and it doesn't hurt. Of course, I haven't slept more than 4 hours that way yet. I was supposed to wear the compression garment 24/7 except when showering for 4 weeks, then for 4 weeks I can sleep without it. I cheated and slept without my compression garment and drove a night early. It was really nice to snuggle with my husband without it even if it was from on top of pillows and just for a little bit because I couldn't sleep. I snuggled lying on 2 thick pillows with my hip/butt between them because of the mini BBL. After talking to my friend who had her lower body lift and BBL here, I'm rebelling a little bit. She was told she could sit on soft furniture without a pillow and sleep in bed without pillows keeping pressure off her butt. I'm still obeying my doctors orders regarding sitting because I can't find an entry on Google supporting that you can sit on soft furniture, but after talking to her I decided to sleep without the pillows under me. I have a thick Temper Pedic Memory Foam pad and REALLY want to snuggle with my hubby and sleep normally. I sleep on my side and he didn't transfer fat to my hips, that's where he took it from. As mentioned above, I can't sleep on my right because it's still tender there when sleeping on it. Of note regarding my breast lift/implants. I don't talk about them because they haven't hurt at all until recently. I get twinges now at the lower scar. I've had implants implanted, removed, and implanted again, so 3 surgeries and the scar tissue at the bottom of my breast is pretty thick and now that the incision is healed I need to start massaging it to break that scar tissue up. The first time I had implants (2006) it did hurt. I had to lean to the side to get one hand wet, then lean to the other side to get the other wet, then rinse the soap off the same way because leaning forward hurt, and it took almost a year before I didn't look like I had super pecs (they sit high when they are new). I'm assuming it didn't hurt this time and they have already settled because the skin didn't need to stretch. Maybe the signals from the incision from the lower body lift overrode anything my breasts might have wanted to tell me as well. When I hit 6 weeks and "can drive", I'm going to drive to Missouri. My Mother-In-Law has cancer of the esophagus and they need help taking care of her. I can work from home and they can't, so I volunteered. She needs help bathing and having her diaper changed, her feeding tube needs cleaned and feeding bag filled, and she and her house needs taking care of. She is on hospice, but not close enough to the end to have daily helpers, but she has a nurse stop by twice a week and a helper come twice a week for a couple hours, so I can save heavy lifting for the helper. I'm going to ask my husband to take some 4.5 week after pics so you can see what it looks like soon after the incisions heal. I'll post again at other intervals so you can see progress as the inflammation goes away and the scar heals. Other than that, I will post if I feel I have something relevant to say regarding my progress. I'll only post about my MIL as it relates to my being able to care for her due to my surgery because this isn't a cancer support forum.

This is a favorite breakfast smoothie for me as well as my 15 year old daughter. I'm pre-op right now, just as an FYI, and my daughter is an active kid at a healthy weight who likes to start the day off with a quick, nutritious breakfast. I have a 16oz blender cup, and this fills it fully, but if you have a 22 oz or larger, it would let you make it a little thinner. For me, the ginger is key to masking any taste from the powder. I use the kind that comes in a squeeze bottle from the produce department. I don't add any sweetener and I personally love the natural flavor of it. The blueberries disguise the green from the spinach in case the color turns you off. You can weigh and measure everything to be sure how much you are getting the first time around, but I tend to just wing it now since I've done it so often. I may make some changes post-op based on nutritionist recommendations, but overall I think this is a pretty solid smoothie recipe that you can change up in several ways with different fruits. Oh, you can also use Greek yogurt instead of skyr if that's not as easy to find, but I'm a big fan of the Siggie's brand skyr. I also love to buy the mixed fruit blends from the freezer section to get lots of variety in one bag. All of the produce I use is frozen, including the avocado. Oh no! I just realized I entered hemp seed twice in my recipe. That should be a tsp of chia seed!

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

Everyone has been going through so much! I'm glad for all of us though. My RNY was on October 16th. I haven't posted since then since I had a really hard time the first week, but I'm doing better now, thankfully! Post-op in the hospital was fine, but after that I had a hard time getting any liquids in. Day 3 at home, I only got 6 or 7 ounces in, and kept throwing up nothing. I went to the ER, got 2 liters of IV fluids and had a CT scan which was fine. I was having serious buyer's remorse about the surgery. I was not happy. But sometimes it's just hard to see that things will change. Because they do! My surgeon (who talked to me twice on the phone for about 10 minutes each, once while she was going to dinner with her family! So thankful) had me go to a hydration infusion clinic every day last week, to get 2 liters a day. They had wicked nice nurses, one of whom had had an RNY with my same surgeon 4 years ago! She has kept her weight off and is doing really well, despite having a rough start. She was so encouraging! We talked a lot. I feel so much better now! It's not perfect, and I keep forgetting to take SMALL sips, lol. I'm on full liquids until Tuesday/Halloween, so I'm planning on making a pumpkin puree something-or-other to celebrate. There are a bunch of recipes online for Pumpkin Whip/Pumpkin Fluff, if anyone is interested and in the puree stage. There's always pumpkin soup, if full liquids are better! We shall see.

Sorry you are having such a hard time. I think what you are experiencing is not the norm for people who have undergone this surgery. I just had the surgery 6 months ago but (knock on wood) have not had any of the complications you are experiencing. I know this is the best thing i have ever done for myself and am thankful everyday that i had VSG. It is permanent, but so is the weight we have unless we get help medically to lose it. The chance to lose and keep off 100lbs plus is 0% as someone else mentioned above. I appreciate your honesty and letting others know that these things can happen, but for someone considering this surgery, please dont be discouraged as the outcome this person had is not the norm. A majority of us think this is the best thing weve done and wish we did it sooner in life!

Hi I’m new this forum and this is my first post i had my gastric sleeve done on 17th October and been fairly ok ever since - few moments of regrets but this is something I needed to do more than wanting to do Pre surgery I was constantly obsessed with food - I would plan in advance that if I’m going here il eat this and on this day il eat this and so on ..obsessed with takeaways and even had a tiktok channel with all the nice food places I go to etc ..food was my life..I’m 36 and this lifestyle made me diabetic and I still think I’m young and shouldn’t be diabetic. Iv seen peoples lives change for the worse since becoming diabetic and this worried me…this is why I say I did this because I needed to rather than wanting to i know 4-5 people who have done the surgery and iv seen what they eat after a year..their appetite has gone up more now and rather than losing weight are maintaining it by the food they are eating ..the food they are eating now gives me motivation which is unfortunate that I know this isn’t forever

Last pounds are difficult and the maintenance isn't really better, if not worse. It is a constant grind and long battle to maintain and not gain 5 lbs that can lead to 20, 30... etc. This is our reality, no matter whether it's the band, the sleeve, the bypass and any of the revisions... And it bites. I was thinking the other day that after all this time, I just want to eat everything I want for a week lol but then, I know if I go that route, I'm feeding my emotions not my body and it would be near impossible to take it off again like in my honeymoon stage. So I put that out of my head since being thin is a priority. So big Hugs, hang in there, you have come such a long way. We have all come a long way. Let us count the blessings that we made it this far and we have major improvements in our lives. [emoji3059]

Hey All I've been having a time as stated in another post. I would have updated in the same post but couldn't find it. I haven't been able to proceed to soft foods due to vomiting. Yesterday was my 6 week check up. As far as weight loss I was informed I am on target with 35% of excess weight gone which means I have 21 pounds to go for the doctor's office my personal goal is 33lbs BUT getting the 21lbs off will be great with me. I was also informed "Yesterday" due to the radiology report and the fact I was unable to eat, the doc wanted to do the baloon dialation next morning which was today. All went well and they saw that the opening was narrow & Initially, the scope could not pass through. The balloon was used to stretch the opening to 10 mm. I am now to progress through today liquids, puree, by dinner soft foods then in a few days to move into more dense (soft) foods etc. I feel good just sleepy! The meds should be out of my system by tomorrow. Now the work continues to get into a healthy BMI. No gerd as of now and that is truly a relief!

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.

Oh no... I am cold by nature already, my weight never seemed to impact it. The doctor seems to think it is a thyroid thing, I think my thermostat is just damaged. LOL But if I get even colder after this surgery I'll have to start buying long underwear!! 😂 My partner runs hot and keeps the house at about 70 all year round and is STILL hot, so I wear layers all year round. Except for socks, I HATE socks. But I might have to get over that and start wearing socks and slippers.... If it makes the summers more bearable though it isn't a bad deal, I don't cope with heat well at all. I got heat stroke a few times and they say once that happens your internal thermostat is never the same. Plus I take meds that make me sensitive to the heat and the sun so I wear long sleeves year round. It sounds like this will continue indefinitely... Good to know for future shopping!

Hi! So i made the decision to do lap band because it is something that is adjustable. I am 31 and I haven’t had children yet and I want them and I thought Lap band is the right route for me right now because of that I went to experience that I know things can be adjust when this does come along with gastric sleeve and bypass it’s gonna be a bit more harder. I’ve already talk to my doctor about my options and he agrees that I can still have successful weight loss with band as well. I also know family members who have had the lap band and gastric sleeve that they’ve had success with both.

I'm so right there with you. When we way a lower amount, our bodies just don't want to let the weight go. But it's GOTTA GO!!!

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 ?

I'm guessing it could be a stall, but when I do lose, it's soooo little and it takes soooo long. I can tell you this.....my body might like this weight, but I sure don't. There has to be a way to force my body past this point so I can lose the rest. No way do I want to stop 50 pounds away from my goal weight. No way, no how.

Good morning, I am a 51 yr old woman and had my RNY on 3/9/2016 I am 5 ft and was 210 but 190 at surgery. I was on the smaller end,but I had a lot of comobidities that justified having it. Everything was normal for a while. I got down to about 118 at about 9 months and slowly creeped back up to about 135 where I sat at this weight for a while. Then fast forward to the end of 2019 and I started seeing the pounds come off rapidly for no reason. Now fast forward to today and I am 97 lbs and can't keep weight on,no matter how many calories,carbs, fat I eat. I have seen multiple health care professionals that up until very recently have all told me that this is my new normal. I have had an ultrasound that reviled a fatty liver, however I had a fatty liver before surgery? Has anyone else experienced weight loss like this? I am scared that I will never stop loosing.

So, I'm not an expert, but I've been doing a lot of reading and watching videos from reliable medical professionals (like the one I shared above, and the videos from Dr. Matthew Weiner in Tucson). I've also had friends and family members with both bands and sleeve surgery, and seen all of the ones with bands eventually fail, while the sleeves have had at least moderate success. Full disclosure: I'm scheduled for a bypass in December. The most important thing about all of this is it's not your fault. It's not about getting your head right, it's about getting the right tools. And the band is just not a good longterm tool for almost everyone. The biggest difference between the band and the sleeve or bypass is that while the band relies on restricting your eating, the sleeve and bypass both change your metabolism. It's not just about capacity, it's about a fundamental shift in how your hormones communicate with your body. Do you still have to have good nutrition, and be mindful, and work on your life issues that influence how you eat, and all that good stuff? Definitely. But choosing a metabolic surgery (sleeve or bypass) totally shifts the playing field in a way the band didn't. I think it was one of the videos from Dr. Weiner where he said it was like getting a second chance to draw a new card from the genetic lottery. Good luck with your meeting with your doctor, and just remember, this isn't your fault. It's not because you're not strong enough, or good enough, or any of that nonsense people like to say. It's because you got dealt a crap hand in the gene department that makes it really hard for you to manage your weight, way harder than for a lot of people, and it's okay to use every tool available to make it easier.

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.

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.

Don't you hate when your own words come back to get you?? LOL But I aim to take your advice and stay away from those foods as much as possible, as I have seen that creeping back into them really slows/stops people's weight loss or leads to regain. Just because you can eat a thing, doesn't mean you should I suppose... When I had to go gluten free for about 5 years I found that focusing on what I COULD have and what would nourish me was much wiser than focusing on all that I could NOT have. It became a game to see what new, interesting thing I could try to expand my palette. I discovered a lot of things that I wouldn't have ever tried in my old way of eating. Like charcuterie boards! OMG I love those things, so many little bits of things to try. I found that a few bites of a few things was much more satisfying than a large volume of one thing. I think remembering that post surgery will help a lot...

Update: Gastric Bypass Date 8/16/2023 Starting weight 376 Current 1323.3 Down 53.7 pounds Pain: I do have dumping issues at times when I eat to fast. Usually I throw up real quick and all is good. Happens 2 or 3 times a week. Other then that no pain. I feel great. Please share your weight lose updates or any pain. Thank You.