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I am here to add my vote for meal planning. I also have ADHD tendencies and I LOATHE food tracking. In the early days after surgery when I absolutely had to make sure I got in my protein and water, I managed to track by keeping a physical tracking notebook next to me at all times. I had to see the book to remember to do it. I stopped tracking around 5 months when I was consistently hitting my goals. Now that I am almost a year out, my weight loss has slowed (as expected) and I am finding it too easy to make poor choices if I don't plan ahead. I forced myself to actually track for a couple days and was shocked by how many calories I could eat and what I was choosing even when I "thought" I had been pretty reasonable. So, instead of tracking, which I am still terrible at, I've started meal planning and prepping ahead. For breakfast and lunch, I came up with a selection of maybe three or four choices I liked that have around 20g protein and entered them into my meal tracking app. For example, a spinach frittata for breakfast that I can slice into several servings, fruit cups that I make ahead for the week, single-serve packets of protein oatmeal or a protein bar for those days when I have to grab and go. For lunch, I make homemade chicken veg soup and also salad jars. I also like to make a batch of turkey chili to have on hand, which I store in single-serve containers. I also came up with a few snacks I like such as Greek yogurt with blueberries, or an apple with cheese. I also entered in my typical favorite 6 or 7 homemade dinners as recipes or meals in the app so I could easily add them to my day with one click. Before my shopping day, I try to plan my meals for the coming week. If I see my calories going too high or my protein not being enough, or whatever, on any given day, I can adjust accordingly. On a day that I eat oatmeal, I make sure my other choices are less carb heavy. If I have eggs for breakfast, I might plan to have a carb at dinner. I have the tab easy to get to on my computer, but printing it out each day would also work, as would entering each meal as a reminder in your phone's task list or calendar app. It is so much easier for me to look at my menu and follow it than it is for me to decide what to eat every day in the moment. It also means that if I can eat what I plan most of the time, I can have a restaurant meal or a dessert a few times a month without worrying about it or trying to track it. And since I tend to package up most of my make-ahead meals in single-serve containers, it's pretty easy to grab something to take along if I'm going to be out and don't want to have to hunt for food on the go and risk being off plan. The worst days for me are when everything in the house is an ingredient instead of a meal. That's exhausting and inevitably leads to snacking or poor choices. I find I need to set a regular day of the week for shopping when I can also have time to prep some items right away, before the food even goes in the fridge. I have the most success for the week when all my produce enters the fridge already washed, sliced, and portioned into fruit cups and salad jars, and when I can kick off a batch of chili in the slow cooker, a frittata in the oven, and a batch of taco meat to store for later in the week all at once. Freezing complete single-serve meals is another great strategy for those busy days when you might otherwise get off track. Like any habit, it takes a while to establish and may not be 100% perfect all the time, but I definitely find this helping me.

I had sleeve done 12/17/24 and am making some progress. Slowly but surely. This week started soft food.

i had arm lift, breast lift and tummy tuck in Canada, and paid roughly 15K CAD for all three (back in 2019); that's about 11K in today's US dollars. Mind you, i did get the panniculectomy portion of the tummy tuck covered by provincial insurance which i believe saved me about 6K CAD.

@Mspretty86 I JUST got the okay to do upper body Friday- no isolated chest workouts which is fine with me, I have been wanting to workout my back and shoulders. I have been working my biceps and triceps for a few weeks but you can only do so much with that- Still no running or anything that requires bouncing. So HIIT workouts are off limits to an extent. But I am able to wear regular bras now, but need to wear my post op bra at night and during my workouts.

I feel you on the going backwards thing, honestly, I'm at a point where I'm like, I should just start selling feet pics haha, kidding I will work on rewriting my budget and not buy as many protein drinks, the money for the drinks will be used for more solid pick, my friend has a Costco membership, and said she'd take me, I can buy some frozen foods in bulk to keep frozen for easy meals, I will see what recipes I can do and hopefully after a few weeks, I will be in a much better spot, thanks for the food ideas

I read this a couple weeks ago and forgot until now to post about it. It's supposed to mimic gastric bypass without rerouting the digestive tract. I'm not sure how to feel about this minimally invasive implantable device. I previously had a Lap Band and it wasn't a pleasant experience. I guess if it makes it past clinical trials and gets approved, we'll see how patients do and if this is another option to end obesity and diabetes. Just thought I would share this with the community. https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/tech-and-start-ups/article-713944

I need an overhaul. My weight loss has been so slow but I have been losing inches like crazy, I know it is possible and I see the changes, but it irritates me so bad not seeing the scale move. Maybe I should set some serious NSV to achieve. I have exactly 150 days til my birthday and I think I am gonna give this whole surgery thing an overhaul and see where it takes me. I will be honest, I have been low-key skating buy because I got discouraged right after my first stall..... I refuse to quite and I am gonna give it all I got right now.

HOLY ISH! A year already?! Time has flown! I still remember the beginning of your journey and those first posts—wow, you've come so far and done so incredibly well! I'm seriously so proud of you!! I totally agree with @SpartanMaker—maintenance is no joke, and exercise really does make all the difference. Weight lifting has been key for me too. It helps so much with maintaining, even more than cardio sometimes. Build that muscle and you're burning calories just by existing. Cardio is still super important,! I’m still figuring out maintenance myself, but my workouts have been consistent and even through my 2month spat of not being able to get my nutrition in control, making sure I kept up with exercise has been key I have been consistently doing this and its been great: 35–45 minutes of strength training, 5 days a week, At least 30 minutes of cardio daily (treadmill, dog walks, biking—whatever tickles my fancy), 2 lower body days, 2 upper body, 1 full body and one day a week my doggy and I do a 5-mile walk (she gets a walk every day, but that’s our long one). You’ve been so fabulous through this whole process, and I can’t wait to hear about your continued journey!

I stalled about that same time too. I was still loosing, just slower. I added probiotics and personally worked on getting better sleep (meditation, CBD, journaling stress out, etc). The weight kept going down in spurts. It was just random spurts until the 2&1/2 year mark. Then I had to be super mindful and pay attention to my vitamins/minerals. It helped me to join some groups like Dr. Wiener , and a hiking club, just to be with like minded people who were trying to be healthy. I hope you find your tweaks and habits that help you :) Yes, there’s more gas in your tank to burn. It is possible.

Today's win ? Returned to weight lifting after what seems like a 200 year hiatus. 🤣 Nothing extreme or crazy....very light weights with lots of reps. Injury avoidance is key concern. Other win is the overall feeling like I have things dialed in and the cruise control is activated. The positive feels from this are so welcome. The last 6 years or more have been chaotic and hellish at times. Things are slowing down and falling into place. Sure the scale is giving lower numbers every week, but the real improvement has been with the pure simplicity of returning to the initial advisements of the professionals at my bariatric center.

The past week have been nightmarish. I have lost 3 something kgs and my BMI has dropped to below 18, which is considered underweight. I am totally okay and feel fine (checked with my team, my surgeon doesn’t seem too concerned) but been trying to eat everything caloric dense and fattening, no luck in gaining any weight so far!!

Well done! It's really good to take measurements. It helps with the stalls!

I remember my hands especially were so puffy with fluid. It took over a week just to get back to my day of surgery weight because of all the fluid. But you're still losing fat even if the scale doesn't show it, so don't worry!

Everyone dumps in a different way. This sounds like yours. I’m 5 years out. A food that I ate just fine one week can make me dump (I usually get nauseous) the next. There is no rhyme or reason to what does it to me. I just lay down until it passed.

Sometimes if you can’t see something you don’t think it’s there but there are sutures and staples inside you & you will be swollen internally. You will heal you just need the time to do it and that is the purpose of the staged return to eating solid foods is for: to slowly get your tummy used to digesting denser and denser food while it is recovering until it is fully healed and you can tolerate ‘normal’ solid foods. And your stall will break. They always do. It will take time (1-3 weeks usually). A stall is your body thinking what the hell is going on and taking time to work out what’s happening and understanding your new needs. It’s been through a lot with the surgery and now the recovery and restricted diet. Your poor body is stressed much like you are emotionally at the moment. Stick to your plan. You only need to go back a stage during this time if your body is struggling to tolerate and digest the slightly denser food at each new stage. Remember back to what happened with your initial surgery. As I said this recovery will be similar.

I got to move to the purée stage so that’s amazing but still in my stall which sucks!

@ShoppGirl so I was unsure if I should start trying! My boobs having fully gotten soft, I think they are fully dropped though? From what I measured I am a 34DD? but this was a while ago. I am 11 weeks post op do you think I should try now or wait another month or so?

I’m a week post-op and I’m up to 32 oz of water. My issue is I get gas pains no matter the water’s temperature. Has this happened to anyone else??

Hello, just found site and joined. I am on my 2 week pre op diet and surgery is on May 2nd, out patient. I have supplements, protein water, unflavored protein, 1 ounce, 2 ounce disposable containers obtained as well, scale and still trying to figure out the whole sips to intake at least 64 ounces of water, i currently drink over 124 ounces daily but again, not by sips but gulps, lol. will figure once i get to that stage. Just now we all got this! Karen

I started the surgery process a couple months ago, and just had my second nutrition appointment....and now I'm getting very overwhelmed and having second thoughts. I have my psych appointment next week and my endoscopy in two weeks and I'm thinking about cancelling them cause I feel like this is really rushed and that this is such a big decision I should take some time to think it through and everything. I'm very worried about possible complications and things going wrong. I have had GERD in the past (this was several years ago and I did weigh more then) and have been on pantoprazole for years. I am tapering off, so it might not be an issue, but my doc kinda pushes the sleeve and I'm worried about getting bad heartburn afterwards, even tho he said there's a 50/50 chance. I've read accounts of people getting crazy bad heartburn afterwards, or just being ravenously hungry all the time, which would be absolute torture for me. Also, I'm on depression, anxiety, and ADHD meds and I just learned about possible malabsorption issues, or even the difficulty of taking pills after surgery. I'm worried enough about remembering everything you're supposed to do post-surgery and not getting totally overwhelmed, it will pretty much be impossible if my depression gets worse.... I wish there were less permanent options available, the idea that you can't go back if anything goes wrong is terrifying....I know the chances of something going wrong are low, but I don't want to rush into anything and regret it afterwards.

No I haven’t once I was discharged form hospital I was given 4 sheets of dos and don’ts and dieticians no but I can’t seem to get through. I had my bypass no on nhs in uk. have a 6 week appointment on 10 th march so I will speak to them then x thank you for taking time and advice x

I was on a liquid diet then a full liquid diet. Followed by a soft protein only, so you are not weird about the no fruit and veggies. I have had no fruits or veggies yet and I'm only 5 weeks out from surgery. I'm still taking in soft protein. I did reward myself on Friday with a Pretzel and I made sure I softened it and chewed it a bunch before swallowing it, but having the crunch was so satisfying. That's the thing I miss most is the crunch. I had no puree diet following surgery. Soft protein, my go to is Ricotta Bake, and my husband makes it with spices and uses pizza sauce for further flavor. It is creamy and cheesy and really filling. So, just wanted to chime in that you are not alone in the no fruit/veggie department.

Hi, I am almost three weeks out from a bypass and started experiencing the feeling of liquid coming back up into my throat after drinking, similar to reflux. I had a couple days where I vomited and I think that is be ause I was putting too much in my stomach too fast. (Only took 3 sips to do it). I saw my surgeon yesterday and he explained that there is still swelling inside the stomach and that I need to take the drinking a little slower, but to keep with it. I may get some IV fluids for it, but I just keep woking on sipping fluids to get my liquids in. I have to remind myself it is a marathon, not a sprint. Hang in there!

I am feeling immense shame as I write this post but I cannot carry on like this and I am requesting advice from the lovely people of this community. I had my surgery in 2022 and unfortunately (due to undiagnosed ADHD) I did not follow the post-surgery plan to retrain my stomach. Now that I am being medicated for ADHD, I find myself needing to snack less for dopamine and want to start strength training, but I cannot finish solid meals without becoming full immediately with stomach pain. Can this be resolved by going back to the post surgery diet for a few weeks? Does anyone have any advice, please? 😢

I had relatively little pain and no nausea. For the first few days I was very tired. I think that was the anesthesia working its way out of my system. The pain was manageable with just liquid Tylenol. I had a couple times I moved wrong and got a sharp pain in my lower right incision area, which they say is the largest one. I found having a heating pad was so helpful. I put it on my belly when I went to sleep and it helped a lot. I took it really easy the first 3 days. After that, I was mostly up and about but not mentally sharp enough to trust myself with too much work unless it was pretty mindless. By the end of the first week I was mostly back to normal but weak from so few daily calories. If you can, taking two weeks off or being able to work very minimally is the way to go.