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Yes, I was like this. I was 53 when I had RNY. I had been period free since age 49 so yippee, then 4 months after surgery I got a “fake” period. I was concerned about the normal concerns, but the Gyn and surgical doctors told me it happens sometimes due to the estrogens being released from fat during weight loss. I was reexperiencing hot flashes and more brain fog. I was experiencing peri menopause all over again for a whole year until my weight mostly settled. I used to get anemic from periods and fibroids, now it’s malabsorption. Weird fact, if you leave the fibroids alone, they eventually calcify. You can see them when you get scanned at the airport for a flight. They make it look like I’m packing bombs and I get flagged for a very thorough search. At least if you can tell the person they are fibroids they don’t freak out over your stomach so much. The women “get it.”

This is exactly why I didn’t tell anyone other than my husband and mom before my surgery and I still won’t say anything unless the person asking me is also obese. Skinny people will never understand. They think it is a laziness problem and if we would just exercise and eat less then maybe we could lose. Okay. Right. Like I haven’t tried that since I was 10. I’ve abused my body and treated it so harshly to lose weight all so people like that would accept me until I got to the point where their opinions and acceptance no longer matter. This was MY choice. I did it for ME and my children. I did it so I can see them grow up and have kids of their own. I don’t need anyone’s negativity ruining my mental health and progress. Brush it off and do you! Who cares what anyone else has to say about it.

I don't worry about women being good to me, I worry about ME being good to me. Someone will always have something to say. I love the progress I'm making, but I've had some tell me I look sickly, or like I have "Ozempic face" (I didn't even know what that means until my cousin told me...I've never taken any kind of shot or med for weight loss), or that I took the easy way out, or that I ruined any chance I have to just live a normal life and eat what I want. But you know what? They don't live in my body, they don't pay my bills, they don't live my life, and they don't cut me a check every 2 weeks. So what they say or think is irrelevant. I'm happy, I'm healthy, I'm finally starting to live my best life, and I really don't care what anyone else thinks about how I got here. The point is, I'm here.

I had my surgery June 12th. I just started getting my energy back the last 2 weeks. I did have to increase my calories though. 500-600 calories wasn't doing it. I was trying to exercise but I was exhausted all the time. I Increased my cals to about 1000. It gives me enough energy to exercise but it has slowed the weight loss. But I'd rather lose slower and feel better.

This is more so just a rant I guess, ever since I began this weight loss journey and trying to get to my final goal of gastric bypass I have had countless people tell me surgery is the easy way out and I've had people pretty much judge my worth based off of how fat or skinny I am. I had someone at work tell me how I would look better once I lost the weight which I agree but she went into detail about my face and how fat it was. How my eye lids have too much skin on them which I'm not sure what she's talking about because my eyes look normal? She then proceeded to tell me how going to the gym and eating better and drinking water would help me. I've been following my dietician, I've been drinking more than 64 oz of water a day and doing my workouts and she just said "oh". Mind you she weighs 110 lbs telling me all this with her fast metabolism. I guess I'm just extra self-conscious now and I wish women especially were more empowering.

I’m sorry to hear this. If the burning is in the stomach region (not the oesophagus) this sounds like exactly what I had. Here is my long story: I was sleeved June 19 and I had this!! I had 2 ER visits and was re admitted to hospital. I referred myself to a gastroenterologist in the end. That is what you need. My pain was only at night too! Here is my long story and I hope it helps you. Please know I am feeling better now. You’ve had complications but there is hope. Here is what I posted last night in another thread. Hi everyone! I was sleeved on 19/6 (Australian date format lol). My experience was no smooth sailing and I developed severe complications despite seeing the best surgeon at the best hospital. I’ve felt really scared, alone and isolated so I am delighted to find this forum. my weight was only 92 pre op and I guess I was considered a healthy young woman. 5 days post op I developed a severe burning pain deep inside my stomach. After numerous emergency visits and tests, it was determine I did not have a gastric leak. I had to be re admitted to hospital to manage the most severe pain of my life, for another 5 days and they still didn’t know what was wrong. Long story short, I had to self refer myself to a gastroenterologist who immediately knew what was wrong. I had developed bile reflux from my bowel into my freshly cut stomach which was causing the searing pain, severe inflammatory gastritis of my stomach lining, which then caused pancreatitis and severe spasms of my actual stomach. Because of all of this I could not even get Water down and my throat was burning and mouth dried up from bile damage. He put me on a bunch of new intense meds and nearly 8 weeks post op now I am starting to feel normal. It’s been a really scary rough ride and emotional and I haven’t known if I’ve made the right decision. I can eat about 1/4 cup soft foods now which I am grateful for. I also ended up seeing a second surgeon who has done thousands of sleeves and said bile reflux and severe gastritis which causes severe sharp pain / burning pain is possible and he has seen it. Basically everything is inflamed and unhappy and this can also cause pancreatitis pain. How my new gastroenterologist helped me and I finally started getting better 2 weeks after surgery was medication to stop the bile called cholestyramine, as well as upping the PPis to twice a day plus adding on a drug called famotidine at night with physically reduced the volume of stomach acid you produce (ppis just neutralise it). Plus I had to take metaclopramide as it pushes things down instead of up, including bile, 3 times a day. I am finally better now nearly 8 weeks out. I was desperate and hopeless and felt like my original surgeon could not help me / did not believe it. Generally for me my severe pain was only at night time when I was meant to sleep! You need to see a gastroenterologist stat. Good luck.

I can't believe its almost been a year already! I hit my 1st major goal of 155 which is what I have been trying to hit for over 20 years but then I of course have been in a stall and have been going up and down the same 3 lbs and haven't hit it again since. So I'm hoping this stall will break soon and that I can keep going. Its so sad to not really feel happy about hitting that goal because I gained the next time I weighed myself and so I can't count it in my head yet. I'm close though so I'm happy about that. Once I hit 152 I'll have lost 80 lbs which is my next goal lol. I'm scared because I seem to have to be very strict with my calories to be able to lose and not gain. I have to be under 1200 and over 800 and I have to exercise. If I don't exercise then even with that range of calories I start to gain or stall. Which means I might be stuck at 1200 and under for life which is depressing because my hunger is really coming back and I've never had a great restriction so every day is a harder battle. I'm using veggies to fill in the hunger gaps and water too but its scary. I was hoping that after this amount of time that eating less and eating better would be natural and normal for me so that it wouldn't feel like a diet. For awhile it was like that but now with the hunger back I can easily eat too much and my brain still thinks I should be eating bigger portions. I'm still working on it though and I'm still hoping to reach more goals so I hope I don't fail this close to the finish line. One day at a time

I think that’s a pretty great loss too. We all lose at our own rate & there’s no really wrong or right rate of loss just what’s best for us & our body. If your team is happy with your loss you’re doing fine. Remember it took a long time to put all your weight on so it’s going to take time to lose it too. It’s not over yet. I reached my goal at 6 months but kept losing for almost another 12 months. In that additional year I lost another around 11kgs (24lbs). Yes it was very, very slow but it brought my total loss to 42kgs+/- (90lbs). My starting weight was on the lower which affected my rate of loss. What was your starting weight?

This is similar to what I wear to the pool. I'm pre-surgery and very self-conscious about how I look in a bathing suit. But I do aquatic therapy and it has been way more effective than land exercises! I wear a swim tank with an actual bra built into it and the capri pants along with water shoes. I can't wear the layered tops because they float up during therapy but the snug tank works well! The pool I go to has water aerobics where people of all ages are wearing similar outfits. I've seen people of all shapes, sizes and weights and it has helped me be much less self conscious about my own body in the pool. And the water feels so good!!

So I posted on Saturday about how I was having second thoughts, not about having weight loss surgery, but about whether I was in good hands with my current provider, after they have literally cancelled and rescheduled every single appointment, including my surgery date, which I've ever had with them. Several of you replied validating my concerns, which I so appreciate. Speaking up about my concerns caused my surgery to be cancelled! Can you even believe it?!?! I'm calming down now but I literally had a full blown panic attack at work. I was hysterically sobbing. I'm on a liquid diet, have been off my anti inflammatory meds for 6 days, cancelled my vacation I'd planned since last November after they rescheduled my surgery from July, and now this? I would never have seen this coming, even after all the prior chaos. After expressing concerns about things up to this point I was told, among other things, that I am "rehashing" the past and that because of this they do not feel I will comply with post op care, because these same scheduling issues will probably continue to occur post op to. So since I expressed these concerns, despite this being my entire point that I wanted to be sure I was in good hands post op so that I could get the proper post op care, they have determined that I won't comply with post op care? I am attaching my reply back to them from the patient portal. The nurse did say she MAY be able to meet with the team and get my surgery date reinstated however. What a day! What a joke!

1. Basics: Female, 35, 5’7”, Hawaiian, RNY 2. Pre-op weight lost: 40 lbs 3. Day of weight: 355 lbs 4. 1 month post-op: 321 lbs 5. 3 months post-op: 284.8 lbs 6. 6 months post-op: 250 lbs 7. 12 months post-op: 199.8 lbs

im almost 5 years out and lost 115-120 lbs (depending on the day, lol) pre-surgery, i was only slighty active...not because i didn't want to be, but because i tired out easily. i would do fun cardio-intensive activities every once in while, but wouldn't last long, and would take a few days to recover. immediately post-surgery i did a couple laps of walking the hospital halls, once home, forced myself to walk around my kitchen island several times a day. graduated to walking around the block a few times a day, to walking several times at once around that block, to walking around that block for at least an hour, often times much more. by 5-6 months post op, i was RUNNING around the block and neighborhood for min 5km sometimes more 5-6 times a week. i also started exploring other things to do around 3 months post. i tried hot yoga, tap, zumba, bouldering, salsa, weight training. only yoga and zumba stuck. i did force myself to do some sort of strength training 4-5 times a week (body weight only) because i hate strength training but i also know it does wonders for how one body LOOKS. i was pretty religious about all this exercise for about 2.5 years. then i hurt my foot which sidelined me for 2-3 months and i didn't go back to my regularity of exercise since. i probably only run a 5k twice a week now. i do notice the difference in how my body looks now vs then. i was much firmer then and also had more energy. my arms are a faded memory of their once awesome glory lol. i keep telling myself to pick it up but alas im super lazy. its way hard to start up again once u stop, so my advise here would be: dont stop! as others have alluded to above, exercise isn't really a main factor in weight loss, it more for health and "body presentation" lol. u mean i weigh pretty much the same as i did in my exercise heyday, but i dont look nearly as good (body wise). another piece of advice i would dole out here is find something u actually like to di, as u have a better chance of doing it long term. good luck! ❤️

I started strength training back in October for 2 months before I entered the program. Personal issues and how I chose to handle them stopped my progress. I restarted weight lifting and swimming in March. I focused more on weights (6 days a week) and swam 2-3 days a week about 3 hours total. I eventually dropped swimming, since I swim at a public facility and the kids are out of school, and for some reason overtake the indoor area instead of staying outside where the slides and water features are. I have been lifting 6 days a week, at least an hour a day, I have greatly improved my strength, and I have been told I look slimmer, but I do not see it in my clothes or on the scale. I am still waiting on my surgery date, my Insurance told me it will likely be in September, so I am trying to get as much off as I can beforehand, It has been great to become stronger but disheartening to see the scale barely move. On Friday I decided I would focus on cardio only for 2 weeks to see how that goes. After surgery I was thinking I could get back into weights, I prefer doing that to the treadmill, stationary bike, recumbent bike, and elliptical. I plan to swim again once the kids are back in school. I appreciate your comment as I have been having a hard time with not seeing the scale move. It upsets me a little that none of the medical professionals I have seen have suggested focusing more on cardio, just to get more weight off for now.

I take Claritin. That's interesting about Zyrtec, I used to take it and during that period of time I gained weight (many years ago, before my surgery), so now I wonder if that's why

My weight and other related illnesses made me so disabled, that hoovering a room was my exercise for the day. Vegetables were chopped sitting down. My life was indoors. After I lost about 70lbs and summer came to my part of the world, I started walking. It was so hard to gain enough stamina to walk into our small market town but I eventually did it. I am not allowed to drive anymore due to bad vision so I walk everywhere and anywhere. I volunteer in a charity store and go on day long shopping trips with friends. I still find it amazing that I can do so many things again. I knew I would get loose skin. My age was always against me. After menopause all the elasticity in my skin disappeared. My problem now is that I have masses of loose skin. I look great with clothes on but look shocking butt naked. I really want to go back to the pool which I loved pre covid but hate the idea of showing this new body now. I am sure the skin holds me back more than the 150lbs ever did ! If I had the money to have all the skin surgeries then I would but as I can only afford arms I wonder if its worth bothering.

Prior to surgery, I was walking, but not consistently. I will walk one week, then stop for two, then start again etc. Once I decided to do the surgery, I do not recall trying to follow any exercise program. I did not start walking until about 6 weeks post op, 2x a week. I was cleared by that time for strength training but still had some minor tingling in the big incision so was advised to do core exercises as I could handle them. I had all intentions to start a strength training program I had purchased end of January but did not start until March and have been following consistently. This consist of strength training with weights and resistance bands, 5x a week and depending on the week range from 30min to 45 min. Loose skin depends on too many factors to determine. I was told by my doctor that anyone who is loosing over 100lbs will have loose skin, the severity will vary by those factors. I personally thought I will have more loose skin, but being 20lbs or so from goal, I feel like I only have in my arms and breast, the other areas are not that much and I feel like by building muscle they will look a little better. Note that if you do decide to start adding strength training to your exercise routine, the number on scale will be different as you are gaining muscle and loosing inches. Some people have a hard time with that. I personally have shifted my focus to body composition instead of the number on the scale since I'm 8 months post op and reached my original goal weight.

Hey July buddies! Well I’m exactly one month passed my July 6th Gastric Sleeve. Hope everyone is doing well! I’m reporting 25 lbs down this morning very happy for the first month! No Stalls, yet. Only eating around 1000 calories a day, but burning more than 3600 every day. Lots of walking, can’t wait till the doctor says I can lift heavy weights again, my checkup is next week.

In answer to your question ........ I was a couch potato before my RNY back in last May last year. Walking past three houses was exhausting. So I rarely walked. So I began walking. Each week/month I went a little further and further. i can now walk 5 k easily. Walking is a great way to start to get fit. Then I started to do a small amount of strength exercises. It only been the last month that I have done cardio. I walk, use a recumbent bike and use limited weights. For me the whole thing is just about getting fitter. I do feel fitter and happier in my body. At my size I am going to have loose skin. How much you exercise will be determined by what you want to achieve and how much you are prepared to do. Losing weight is one thing but in order to keep the weight off exercise will need to be part of your life long journey. I hope it all goes well for you.

Hi! I'm so happy your year has been such a success! And how exciting for your daughter! It's awesome that she could see how your journey has gone, especially in that first month or two post-op. My surgery was on September 7, 2022, and I am kicking my butt trying to get to below 200 pounds by my one year RNY anniversary - I've got 10 pounds to go! I have lost 200 pounds since my highest weight in November 2021, and 145 pounds since surgery 11 months ago. Highest Weight: 410 | Surgery Weight: 355 | Current Weight: 210 | Goal Weight: 185 Physical Health: I am weight lifting 5 days per week, and my cardio is spin cycling or swimming 4-5 days per week. I'm currently a size 12, medium/large, down from size 28, 5x - I haven't been a size 12 since 6th grade! I am still not used to walking into a store and easily finding clothes that fit me. For decades, I have only been able to shop at plus-size clothing stores like Lane Bryant, and my options are so vast now! Also my hair is growing back and getting healthier again. My last blood test showed I was low on folate, so I'm taking that which has the benefit of helping with constipation, too. Recent realizations: collar bones and ribcage are things that I have turns out?? Mental Health: I don't track my food anymore because I started noticing some unhealthy food restriction patterns starting when I was closely tracking it. I have also asked for help from my support people. Just yesterday I asked my mom to remind me that, no matter what I said, today is going to be a rest day and she helped hold me to that today. She also offered to hold onto my scale for a bit which I took her up on so I can keep my weight loss progression mentally healthy. That said, I have been off my depression and anxiety medication for about five months now and I'm finding that my mental health has been thriving lately. Excess Skin: Because I've lived at 300-400 pounds for 20+ years, I have a ton of extra skin and I have started looking into excess skin surgery options for my belly, arms, and breasts. I am saving money wherever I can to try and save up for skin removal surgery. I will never be able to afford surgery in the US, but I've been researching options abroad like in Mexico, Colombia, and Thailand. Right now I use compression garments to hold my tummy skin in place while I exercise or basically just exist because chafing is a real problem. I have really bad skin to begin with and I don't need to add in chafing and skin infections just for fun. I hope you guys are doing great as we all come up on our one year anniversaries! Let's keep supporting each other and sharing in our various successes and struggles!

I lost 42kg so just a little less than you asked for. I don’t enjoy exercising. Never have. Still don’t. Over the years before surgery I tried lots of things: walking, yoga (one I enjoyed most), aerobics, swimming, cycling, etc. They never helped me lose weight or maintain my weight so I really wasn’t all that surprised when I discovered exercise only contribute to about 10% of any weight you want to lose. Of course there are many other benefits to exercising but don’t rely on it to help with your weight loss. Did I exercise during my weight loss? Nope. I just upped my everyday activities: parked further away from where I was going, walked up & down escalators & travelators, made multiple trips up & down my stairs (why carry groceries up in one trip when you can do it in two or three), etc. I still don’t exercise as such. I exercise snack at home by doing 5-10 minute sessions about 4 times a day of stretching & using resistance bands. I have loose skin (not a lot but enough) but my arms look more toned from using the bands - I just don’t wave my arms about. Too many factors influence how much loose skin you’ll have. Age, genetics, how much weight you lose, how long you were at your higher weight, your weight loss & gain history, etc. You can’t stop it. Your skin has already been stretched. You may get a little snap back if you’re younger & still producing elastin. Think of your lose skin as a well used & over stretched hair band/elastic. Can’t fix that. As to exercising helping with it, your muscles lie under your skin & your skin drapes over the top. You’ll need a lot of muscle to fill your skin out. My thighs would have to be three or more inches larger to fill out my loose skin there but I don’t want large thighs again. Nor do I want a large butt again to fill out the loose skin there. Surgery is your only option if your lose skin bothers you, limits your movements or gets infections, rashes, etc.

I have been cleared for most exercises but walking outside is so enjoyable to me, I'm sticking with that for now. I started on a treadmill straight out from the hospital for 5 minutes working up to fifteen over a couple weeks. Then took it outside. I walked a mile for a couple months. Now I walk 2. I don't push myself timewise or speed wise. I average a 2–3-pound weight loss a week so I'm satisfied with that. I get up and walk early before it gets too hot. Usually in the 70's. If weather is bad, I stay in and ride my recumbent bike while watching My 600 Pound Life. Never watched that show until after surgery. And never was a morning person till now. Odd. Nausea will usually happen from pushing yourself too hard too soon. Ease into it. Stay hydrated and don't get overheated. Just move. GL

I was able to start walking right away and got cleared for weight training at week 4. I’ve been swimming and doing a lot of Walk At Home with Leslie Sansone videos on YouTube because it has been 105+ degrees here and my electrolytes will tank if I’m out in it for too long. I alternate leg and arm day for my weight training. I’m still a little too heavy for HIIT training, but I can’t wait for that. I’m also going to try some sessions at Hotworx.

Lap banded about eleven years now. If I had to make this decision over I would still choose it. It’s life changing and that means it’s not all about loosing weight. You actually have to think about what you are eating and why you are eating. I’m amazed that the most difficult thing I found along the way , is how often I wanted to eat but realizing I was not even hungry. I really had a learning curve with my obsessive thoughts about food. Once this mental battle was over, living with the band has been mostly easy. In retrospect, I would have a Suport system in place, know that food will not be a social activity, but, once you reach your target weight- amazing. It’s important you can have access to a doctor who will continue to make adjustments when needed, because it’s not just once and done. I love being active, shopping for clothes is so simple since I can take measurements and the size always fits. Dinner parties are difficult for me because unless you tell everyone, people will inevitably comment on how little you eat, including servers. While I consider this a permanent band, I’m also aware it can be removed unlike other gastric surgery. So, do I think you are crazy? No. It’s your decision, no one else’s. Best of luck and be well!

I was only allowed to walk for the first four weeks. After that, I was cleared to do everything but weights (I had to wait until I was eight weeks out for that). I mostly did water aerobics and used the stationary bikes at my gym.

You might want to ask your dietitian to let you know which stage diet you're on. If you're on the soft foods diet then you can have soft scrambled eggs, tuna or chicken salad without pickles relish or onions. Just tuna or chicken mixed with a little mayo salt and pepper. Do you like cottage cheese? That's also a good one. Yogurt is too! I'm 1 year post op. I also love eating ricotta cheese, I make my own goat cheese too that's awesome and doesn't hurt my stomach. I still have issues with digesting meats unless it's really really small bits. I still do the chew til it's liquid lol but that doesn't work so well for meats. I started buying the 60 gram protein shake powders to help me get all my protein in for the day as well as using MCT oil in my coffee to help keep me in ketosis. I know you're at a point where you want to eat something solid because you've been on a liquid diet now over a month between pre-op and post op, but you can do this. Try some soft scrambled eggs or cottage cheese. And remember not to drink anything 30 minutes before or after you eat... And don't drink anything with your meals because it pushes the food down into your intestines and you don't feel full so you will continue to eat. The surgery is a great tool for helping lose weight, but we have to do the hard part of self control, and perseverance to let the tool work for us. Sadly my sister also had surgery but she didn't stick to her dietary restrictions and didn't lose as much. She had hers a couple years before me and turns out she's still in plus size clothing. I'm now down to wearing a size 2 to 4 jeans. You can do this. Remember why you're doing it. To be healthy