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Hope everyone is doing well. I’m officially 3 months and almost a week out of surgery and 60 pound down since first thinking about WLS and that puts me at 50% weight loss from what I put as my goal weight. Had my 3month appointment last week. We went over calorie goals, macro distribution, any issues we are having and learning curves. We went over goal weight and the RN said that most of the patients say they have 20-30lbs to go on the 6-month appointment and during that appointment is when we go over the goal weight we should be aiming for and what we need to change to reach that. I should be able to get back on track with protein, fluids and exercise this week. I’m going to start with having protein shakes again at least daily (some days I was trying to meet it only with food) and carrying my 48oz water bottle with me every where and go back to weighing myself weekly. Wishing everyone good and positive energy in your journey!

Hope everyone is doing well. I’m officially 3 months and almost a week out of surgery and 60 pound down since first thinking about WLS and that puts me at 50% weight loss from what I put as my goal weight. Had my 3month appointment last week. We went over calorie goals, macro distribution, any issues we are having and learning curves. We went over goal weight and the RN said that most of the patients say they have 20-30lbs to go on the 6-month appointment and during that appointment is when we go over the goal weight we should be aiming for and what we need to change to reach that. I should be able to get back on track with protein, fluids and exercise this week. I’m going to start with having protein shakes again at least daily (some days I was trying to meet it only with food) and carrying my 48oz water bottle with me every where and go back to weighing myself weekly. Wishing everyone good and positive energy in your journey!

weight fluctuations are normal - they're due to things like water retention and how full your intestines are. And yes - weight loss does slow down quite a bit after the big drop the first month or so. Plus you may be dealing with occasional stalls, too, which are also very common. If the fluctuations are playing with your mind too much, try weighing just once or twice a week - then you'll be more focused on long-term trends and won't be distracted by the daily fluctuations.

Hey guys, I am thinking about having an endoscopic gastric bypass revision. Has anyone completed this? Wondering about weight loss and if there was any complications? Would you recommend for others? I want a revision but the down time for surgical is tricky, so hoping this could be a good options.

60 pounds is awesome! This hair loss stage is not fun at all and I feel the same way. I burned the top pf my head thanks to hair loss yuck, Hopefully time passes fast and our hair will come back healthier than ever.

Thankyou so much for your advice. I will take time away from scales & start just try benefitting my life.. I’m at a 8kg weight loss now at 5 weeks so I’m hoping I’m turning it around a little x

I had surgery 2 days before you. nothing (literally, lol) makes me sick. I take the barimelts. Theyre... okay. initial taste is fine but have a terrible aftertaste/burp. lol im on all solid foods (soft/chewed really well). about the only thing i havent tried yet are raw veg/salad. I figure ill give that a bit longer just because I know its a bit harder to digest. I am getting all of my protein from food at this point, 60 grams and am eating around 7/800 calories a day. losing around 3 pounds a week (lower BMI), which I am good with. Slower rate of loss means more muscle kept and less loose skin

I’m 10 weeks post gastric bypass surgery. Can’t really eat anything- weight loss is slow infact some days scales go up!! I’m exercising daily. What should I be attempting to put in my mouth???

Have you discussed your desire to lose weight & your interest in bariatric surgery with your endocrinologist? Are they aware of how little you eat now which must be a concern with your malabsorption issues. Unfortunately, the surgery won’t stop the weight gain side effect of the meds you have to take. Medications are one of the causes behind weight regain after surgery. Are there alternative meds you could take that don’t cause an increase of appetite/weight gain? Malabsorption issues are a possible side effect of weight loss surgery which would only add to your existing situation. Being aware of your nutrient intake & meeting protein goals is a lifelong consideration for everyone after weight loss surgery. Many will always need to take vitamins to supplement their intake via food. Just some things to consider.

Hey y'all! Glad to see some updates around here. It's been 4 months and some change, and I've lost 70 lbs since surgery! Almost 125 since my highest weight. I feel better than I have in years. I started off as a 5XL and now can wear 3XL and even some 2XL! Went from a 30 in jeans to 24 (which are loose on me, so I think I may be 22 or lower now - I still need to update wardrobe) I had a stall in mid-December and just recently had another that lasted 10 days where my weight only went up and down or stayed the same! Finally started trending downwards again a few days ago. My pouch tolerates everything I've given it. No problems there. I eat whatever I want at this point but still do 1 protein shake/day. I'm hovering around 800-1000 calories per day. Pros: I used to get horrible pains in my lower back and hips and now I have a ton of stamina and can actually walk around a grocery store to go shopping! Sex is a lot more fun! ☺️😆 I can feel my bones. Especially when I sleep on my side at night, my kneecaps actually touch each other (can also be a con lol) I can cross my legs! I can sit on the floor and not feel like I'm going to fall over backwards! It's fun to jiggle parts of my body 🤣 Physical hunger still gone and full cues still intact. I know to stop when the hiccups start. Food bills are so much cheaper!!! I'm content with a happy meal. No heartburn (yet)! Cons: My mood is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Hormones from fat loss make me up and down all the time. I never know what kind of day it's going to be when I wake up. I also have a mood disorder to begin with, so that doesn't help either. Loose skin everywhere!! If I'm too "active" it will make a clapping noise. Like it's cheering me on. 😂 I'm a bit self-conscious about the skin under my neck The rest of it I can deal with, lol. My boobs and butt are leaving. Mental hunger is rude! I have to carefully watch myself from grazing. Some days are harder than others. I think my food addiction has turned into a shopping one. I'm still lazy and don't really work out. I do a lot more than I used to though, so it balances out I think. 😅 Food isn't fun anymore. But that's also a good thing... I can say it has been way easier than I expected it to be though. I thought I'd be more upset about it. Here's some before/after pics! They're from last month, but I don't think I've lost much more 10 lbs since then anyway due to the stall I had. This one was right before the liquid diet and the after is the end of January, so about 75 lbs difference. This was on my way to my first appointment in early 2022 and then last month. I've lost 105 lbs between those 2. This is a fun graph of my weight loss since the beginning of the liquid diet. I weigh myself everyday using this app (Libra) so I can see the trends. Then I only record my actual weight every week in MyFitnessPal. It's worked well for me so far. My current goal is to hit 100 lbs lost before my 6-month surgiversary! 30 lbs to go!

Insurance never really played into it for me. They covered any medically necessary procedure, and it was necessary. The only instruction I had from the surgeon was not to gain weight. A colleague with the same insurance, same procedure, and same doctor, had to go on a 6 month weight loss program prior, that was pretty strict. The reasoning behind that was based on health going into surgery, as well as psych evals. Again, I don't think insurance required anything there either; it was the surgeon and shrink.

I couldn't find any specific answers to this but I did learn that weight loss surgeries are considered "cosmetic" by PSHP. I think you are going to have to call to find out for sure what is paid or not paid and when. Here is the document listing the cosmetic classification: https://www.pshpgeorgia.com/content/dam/centene/policies/payment-policies/CC.PP.024.pdf

I had a gastric bypass because of medical issues. I had a fundolipication that had failed after about 8 years ago. This left my esophagus in an L shape & made it hard for food to go down. My surgeon is one of the top Thorasic surgeons in the country. He told me to get all my info on the internet 🙄 He said that a Roux n y would permanently fit my problem. Because it was a medical problem & not just to loose weight I didn’t have to do all of the things weight loss people do. I did loose 70 pounds then put 15 back on. I think my body has settled on the weight that it is happy at. I know if I go over that my digestive tract will be unhappy.

Hi Everyone, I've benefited immensely from reading all the content on here and am wondering if you guys have helpful advice for me. I'm 7 months out and have been losing nicely till about a month or 2 ago. My appetite and hunger have returned and I'm finding it very difficult to stick to my plan without cheating, reach my protein and fluid goals somewhat, and push myself to work out. Some days my cheating is so bad, it scares me. Obviously the scale hasn't moved downward, it only keeps fluctuating by a few pounds according to my intake. I haven't seen a significant loss in a while. While I'm so happy about my weight loss, I still really want to lose more and am scared about being able to maintain the loss if at 7 months out it's so easy to eat so much junk. I'm slowly building new habits, but at the same time, old habits die hard. I want to hear from you what helped you stick to your plan like glue, what motivated you day after day? How do I resist the urge to cheat? Any and all advice welcome. Looking forward to your replies!

Yes. A revision to bypass is what usually occurs if your reflux worsens. In most situations your surgeon will advise against a sleeve if you have existing reflux/gerd. I had reflux but I’d managed it for many years with dietary choices. I usually only needed to take meds maybe <5 times a year. This was why my surgeon decided a sleeve would be ok. I still have reflux but it manifests differently & I do have to take a PPI every day. PS - I think those whose reflux improves after a sleeve is because of dietary changes & the weight loss. It’s not common though.

Use this one last appointment to ask all the questions that you want/need. Have you had a dietician assigned to you. Does your surgeon supply written information on the procedure and after care? Are there follow up appointments afterwards? There is a very informative book called - Your complete guide to nutrition for weight loss surgery. Written by Sally Johnston, Great information on all the procedures, stages and the journey post WLS. Also includes fluid and vitamin requirements.

make sure you're drinking lots of fluids - that can help flush things out. Even for those who aren't having potential kidney-related issues, lots of fluids are recommended if you're on a high-protein diet. I just read that being obese can also affect kidneys and their related values - so it could be that your urea level was high even before surgery (did they do a baseline on your blood values prior to surgery, including your urea levels?). I also read that having WLS normally improves all this. I agree with Arabesque - we sometimes have abnormal readings of certain values (high liver values seems to be a common one, for one) when we're in the rapid weight loss phase. They usually normalize after a few months, when weight loss slows way down. But your surgeon and/or dietitian should be aware of that. I hope someone gets back to you on this - if nothing else, for peace of mind.

While the surgery will help with some things, it’s real success depends upon choices you make. Regardless of which surgery you have you will lose your appetite/hunger for a period of time (there are a few people who don’t & it’s with either surgery). You will also temporarily lose your taste for certain foods. It’s often sugar, as foods can become super sweet but it can be any food that smells &/or tastes awful. Neither surgery will do anything about your desire for sweet & your emotional eating. These are things you have to work through yourself. As we often say the surgery only removes some of your tummy/changes your digestive system. It doesn’t remove the part of your brain that drives your head hunger. It’s why many chose to seek therapy to learn the reasons behind their head hunger & develop strategies to help them better manage their emotional eating, cravings, etc. Both surgeries will reset your body’s set point. This is the weight your body is happiest at & is easiest to maintain. What your set point becomes can’t be predicted. Can you lose more than your set point? Yes, but it is harder to do & maintain. Can you weigh more than your set point? Yes because lifestyle demands or choice, medical conditions & medications, etc. can mean we carry more weight. Remember the average weight loss statistic at the three year mark for both surgeries is about 65% of the weight to be lost to put the person in a healthy weight range. Some will lose more & others less. I have a sleeve. I felt it would suit my life better & was less drastic than bypass. I made a number of choices to benefit my success that I knew I could sustainably follow for the long term & not feel like I was missing out. I took advantage of the too sweet phase & decided not to introduce sweet back into my diet - or avoid as much as I could - & so rarely eat real or artificially sweet foods or drinks. I chose to rarely eat take away or fast foods. I prep & cook most of what I eat from scratch & rarely eat medium or high processed foods or ingredients. I also chose not to include a lot of exercise in my life - I simply don’t enjoy it. But these are my choices. You’ll make choices that best complement you & your lifestyle. I also lost all my weight & more & have maintained. All the best with whichever surgery you chose to have.

in response to what someone said above, most people lose their hunger for several months with bypass, too. I'm currently taking a graduate-level nutrition course on weight loss and obesity, and ghrelin level was extremely low on RNY patients at one year out in a fairly large research study. both sleeve and RNY are good surgeries, and both have their pros and cons. There are some conditions that make one surgery more appropriate for you than the other, but if you don't have those conditions (which from what you said, it doesn't sound like you do), it really comes down to personal preference. lots of people who've had WLS - both RNY and sleeve folks - take antidepressants. Shouldn't be a problem. With some medications they need to adjust your dosage or put you on a different med, but there are workarounds for almost everything.

So I read an interesting article early on in my research obsession that stuck with me. It said most people who get weight loss surgery are shocked when they "actually loose the weight". Meaning we are all so used to yo yo diets and unsuccessful attempts that when we ACTUALLY loose a significant amount we are shocked. Its almost like we are wired to not really believe its going to happen for us until it does and we are surprised. I think about that article a lot when "goal weights" are mentioned to me. I feel super unsure about setting a goal weight for myself.

Are you taking 30 minutes to consume your meals? Are you avoiding drinking 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after your meal? If you're questioning whether or not to be concerned, there's probably a reason you're feeling that way. Food is fuel. It's taken me over 40 years to truly get a grasp on the concept. My understanding is that you can have whatever surgery you want to drop some weight, but if your habits don't change, you may end up right back where you started, or even heavier. These procedures are tools - there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to maintain weight loss that resulted from one of them. WLS is not an easy way out - and it doesn't give you a free pass. I agree with the suggestion to talk to a therapist about your relationship with food - I had to do that and it's been helping me a lot. I used to binge eat, skip meals, then scarf down dinner right before bed. The greatest path to success on any program is loving yourself enough to sacrifice the 'wants' so that you can improve your quality of life. Best of luck to you!

Wow you lost 60 lb!! That's truly a goal! Which surgery did you have did you have bypass or sleeve? I had sleeve. I know about the hair fall out I ended up getting my haircut short very short and that seemed to help

hi all. i haven’t been on here in so long but i’m around. i’m finally 60 pounds down from a 9/22 surgery date. i guess that’s okay i won’t complain. i’m at the hair loss stage right now and while it’s not always on my mind i get pretty sad when i see how much im balding around my front edges

Pro-tip: Wear them lots the second you can fit! The window of time for wearing clothes in those mid-loss sizes is startlingly short! I had a bunch of clothes waiting to fit, including some Torrid (size 1) stuff that I bought waaaaaay back in the early 2000s when Torrid was still a subculture store, and never got to enjoy them because when I finally tried them on again, they were too big! Now they're just sentimental keepsakes. 🤪

We all are able to eat more as we progress. It’s how we get reach the calories & nutrients we need to maintain our weight & for our body to function effectively. Though all because you can eat more doesn’t mean you should. How much you should/need to eat is an question best answered by your dietician. Some need more defined guidelines about eating & food choices. Check with your dietician as to what portion size, caloric goals, etc. are best for you & your needs (age, gender, losing or maintaining weight, activity level, etc.) & to ensure you are on the right track. Do you track your food. If not, it may be an idea to do so for a couple of weeks so you can review it with your dietician. PS Congrats on your weight loss.