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I think my set point is 175, which I maintained for 9 months. I went through a stressful time and gained another 10. I want to get back down to at least 175. I just figured it would be better to do that before my surgery.

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 6 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. Anyway I wanted to share my story in case you ever come across someone with these symptoms and doctors don’t believe them / don’t know what is wrong. Great to meet you all! Thanks for sharing your journeys!

I am very happy to hear you are looking forward to your vacation. I am the same as you. I have zero regrets about the surgery. I have settled in around 195. My goal was 185. I am aware that I could try harder to hit the goal weight but I am perfectly happy with 195 and eating and drinking what I want. I do not think the 10 pounds is worth giving up wine and pasta. Granted much smaller amounts of wine and pasta these days but I still feel human when I go out to dinner with my friends and family. At this point, no one even believes me when I said I had surgery. People don’t notice that I eat smaller portions because I am eating the same foods as them. I have way more energy and way more confidence. I am thankful I did not have complications. I have rarely even gotten sick. So for me I am living my best life after a successful surgery. (It should be noted I followed the MDs instructions to the letter for the first year.)

Finally. Surgery day is here! God, I can't do this without You. I completed my 14-day clear liquid sugar-free and caffeine-free diet along with some protein drinks. I didn't cheat once. That in itself is a miracle! I've lost 10 lbs. during this time, and 25 lbs. overall (since January 1st). I was placed on prednisone (steroid) twice this past Spring, which set me back. It causes. much weight gain whenever I'm on it and it takes many weeks to get the weight off. So as I was losing, I'd gain weight while on that medication. So frustrating, but it's behind me, hopefully forever. These two weeks really prepared my mind for this journey moving forward. I will work to continue strengthening this new mindset. Not easy, right? I appreciate the input this forum - you beautiful people - has provided. I hope optimal health and strong minds for you all. Onward! 💟

Welcome to the wide & varied pre & post surgical plans. 🙂 I was put on a keto plan before surgery. My surgeon puts different patients on different pre surgical diets. A friend was on the all shake diet & her friend was on the two shakes & one meal version yet we had the same surgeon. I think he does it based on a number of factors: starting weight, pre existing health status, weight loss/gain history, etc. Maybe your surgeon is the same. I wouldn’t be concerned, just enjoy still having a variety of food choices available to you. All the best with your surgery. PS - Best to avoid fruit juice too as it has a high sugar content. Natural sugars but still sugar & calories. It takes several pieces of fruit to make a glass of juice but you would sit down & eat the sane number of pieces of fruit in one go. Plus it lacks a lot of the essential nutrients a whole piece of fruit does. When you can introduce fruit into your diet again go for whole fruit not juice.

as someone else said, pre-op diets vary widely. All of the patients at my client, even the "light weights", had the exact same diet - that is, 4-5 protein shakes a day, all the no-cal or ultra low-cal fluids we wanted, sugar free Jello, sugar free popsicles, and one cup each of tomato juice/V8 and chicken broth. consider yourself lucky. The diets like the ones a lot of us are on are a huge PITA.

Good luck on your surgery! I’m 6 weeks out and just went through my closet yesterday for the first purge. It felt so GOOD! We have to remember that many of us have been overweight for a long time, it’s part of who we were. Sometimes our weight can be a shield and the clothes we wear can send certain signals to the world. You may feel a bit vulnerable after as your body changes and that is COMPLETELY normal. Your body changes. How your clothes fit and even how your shoes fit changes!! You are worth having a healthy body that you can move in and experience life - and there will be changes. Get support here, through your nurses and doctors or even a therapist if you find yourself overly concerned about emotions and feelings that will come up. It is all worth it!! Hugs to you!

Good luck on your surgery! I’m 6 weeks out and just went through my closet yesterday for the first purge. It felt so GOOD! We have to remember that many of us have been overweight for a long time, it’s part of who we were. Sometimes our weight can be a shield and the clothes we wear can send certain signals to the world. You may feel a bit vulnerable after as your body changes and that is COMPLETELY normal. Your body changes. How your clothes fit and even how your shoes fit changes!! You are worth having a healthy body that you can move in and experience life - and there will be changes. Get support here, through your nurses and doctors or even a therapist if you find yourself overly concerned about emotions and feelings that will come up. It is all worth it!! Hugs to you!

I very truly feel your pain. I was sleeved in 2009 and I did fantastic the first 6 years. I lost 149 lbs and 9 dress sizes. At first, I wasn't even exercising and the weight just melted away daily. When I got down to the weight limit that could not be exceeded on an elliptical machine that I borrowed from a sister, I started exercising on it. Eventually, I was using the elliptical for an hour, non-stop, 5 days a week. Everything began to change in December 2014. My father passed away and he was the be all end all of existence for me. I am the youngest of 13 kids and was totally a daddy's girl. He was very ill already, but he ended up dying on my mom's birthday from a heart attack in his sleep. I was the first one to get to his house after my brother who was taking care of him called us all. When I got to my dad, his eyes were still open. My brother was dealing with the coroner and the police officer. I really freaked out and thought I'd better close his eyes before my other sisters or my nieces and nephews saw him. So I did. I closed my father's eyes. My heart broke in half right at that moment. I kinda lost my sh*t. My doc ended up putting me on Xanax and Ambien. Fast forward a few months to April 2015, I ended up getting divorced. Then 15 months later in July 2016 my mother died. Her heart stopped, and during CPR administration, her ribs broke and one pierced her lung. It filled with fluid and because she'd had respiratory issues most of her life, they couldn't help her. She died after 3 agonizing days in the hospital. Then in 2017, I was transferred from one job post to another. They weren't even going to tell me until right before I showed up for work, I found out sooner by accident. I'd been at that post for 10 years. It was a retaliation from a supervisor who knew that I knew too much information about illegal activity that went on under his nose. Literally, every year something horrible was happening to me. The anxiety, depression, and meds led to me not giving a sh*t about what I ate and a lot of drinking. I was drinking every night. I wasn't exercising anymore. I was eating anything I wanted to eat. It was still very little food, because I had a lot of restriction. But I was eating every kind of junk food you can think of. I was eating at all hours of the day. I was grazing, as they call it. I could eat every 3 hours. And the alcohol was just straight shots of tequila. By 2022, I had regained most of my weight and gone back up 6 sizes. You can lose weight again. You can detox from carbs. You can go back to protein shakes. This past May, I started dieting (on my own) because the doc wanted me to lose weight before he'd do the revision. I was drinking a protein shake for breakfast and for lunch, then I was eating a good, solid, very low carb (even zero carb) dinner. No alcohol. In 30 days, I lost 30 lbs. And this was before my surgery. It is absolutely possible, but you have to make the effort and you have to have the discipline. The first 3-4 days are tough as you detox, but then it just gets easier and easier. I wish you luck, friend.

Hi all November 2021 people! I want to do a little update because this thread is the only 'diary' I ever actually made - it's fascinating to look back at some of the posts we all made as we went along. I hope you are all doing really well. There aren't many of us posting regularly here any more so I hope that's because you are all too busy enjoying your new life. I am but I just like it here too, LOL. So, my current weight is 139 lbs - it's gone up and down by 2 or 3 pounds within the range 137 - 140 for the last 3 or 4 months but so far no further than that, and I don't take any particular action when those couple of pounds go on. Calorie intake is still about 1300 on weekdays and probably more like 1800-2000 at weekends now (alcohol and limited snacks). I still track everything. I walk A LOT for exercise. I stopped running after a few attempts because even though I enjoyed it it was causing me pain afterwards that lasted for days and then I couldn't do my usual walks so ended up costing me exercise time! I really want to get into some weights but I have such a busy life (excuse alert!) that I am short of time after I fit in all my walks. I am thankful every day that I had this surgery. Honestly, even if I regained every pound tomorrow it would have been worth it just to have this time feeling normal and being able to do normal things. We have a family vacation starting next week that I would have dreaded before, and now I can't wait and am signing up for every single activity along with my children. I would love to hear from anyone in the original gang who still reads but doesn't post much.

got a chance to visit my fave korean grocery store this afternoon, and picked up an assortment of "Banchan" (korean side dishes often served before the main courses). - fried fish cake - braised black beans - seasoned dried shredded squid - seasoned dried anchovies with peanuts estimated 338 calories for all, ate it all! i find i often prefer all the side dishes and accompaniments vs the main event whenever i go out to eat, so i love going here to stock up on 'em all. p.s. we actually were in the area because Mr. was donating/giving blood, and i thought i would try again to donate myself, but they said (again) that i was under the weight limit for my height. but they gave me pretzels and juice for my troubles. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My ideal BMI is 190 lbs. I'm at 240 lbs now. We have to realize regular exercise is part of our life now. I've actually gained about 5 lbs from my minimum, and still lost waist sizes in that time. No medical issues at all; dropped diabetes, apnea, etc. Waist under 40, stronger, more flexible, no more back pain, healed my neck pain, doctor is happy. I guess 190 is always the goal, but if I can stay healthy with no health issues, I'm good.

I need help from some long term post sleeve people. I am about 10years out and over the last 2 years have gained back 75lbs. I am still 75lbs down from my high weight, but I am not in a happy place with my weight and eating. I feel like I can eat almost normally now and that is not good. Has anyone gone through this and got their restriction back? What did you do? Thanks Devon Sent from my SM-G981U using BariatricPal mobile app

I think it all depends on your starting weight. It could be because your BMI is low, comparatively speaking. Patients who only have 50-70 lbs to lose usually aren't made to do a 2-week full liquid diet. For some of us, though, our doctors want us to lose weight (not just detox or shrink the liver) before surgery. This is because we have 100+ lbs to lose, and have a fatty liver. My doc wanted me to lose 50 lbs even before the surgery. I told him, "Doc, if I could lose 50 lbs right now, on my own, I wouldn't need you." We haggled and compromised and decided on 30 lbs. I lost exactly 30 lbs before surgery. Obviously, sugar free popsicles and sugar free jello (the juice should be sugar free as well) aren't nutritious. They are liquids. Anything that is liquid at room temperature is considered a liquid (popsicles and jello). But they should all be sugar free. And it's not something we do for a long time, only right before surgery. A full liquid diet includes protein shakes. A clear liquid diet does not. I did semi liquid (2 protein shakes and one no-carb solid meal for dinner) for 30 days. Then I did 8 days full liquids only, and the 2 days before the surgery clear liquids only. It should have been 12 days full and 2 days clear, but they moved my surgery date up because there was a cancellation. Consequently, my 2-week liquid diet became a 10-day liquid diet.

Last week I did an inventory of smaller sized clothing I kept over the years "just in case" someday I could fit into again. I found a few items still with tags that I optimistically bought hoping to wear but never could. I'm looking forward to finally being able to wear them sometime soon. Especially some of my old favorite jeans. And yeah some of my big clothes are hard to let go of. I lost a good amount of weight in the past and got rid of thinking I was done with them then regained and regretted. But that was during my yo yo dieting phase. Surgery changed that for me. I don't plan on needing them ever again. Good luck on surgery day!!!!

I was wondering if any of you who had the bypass use vitamin patches. I've been reading up on them, and I found this: "There is not enough research available at this time to promote a multivitamin patch in the bariatric population. Especially after weight loss surgery, you should be very aware of what products you are using to ensure that you are getting all the required nutrients to promote good health. Many practitioners recommend that bariatric patients stay away from multivitamin patches because if they don't work, the deficiencies can lead to severe consequences down the line." And this: "The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) says that vitamin A and B12 are deficiencies that bariatric patients experience the most, and therefore a vitamin patch simply wouldn't be adequate." I'm aware that certain vitamins do not transfer well through the skin and therefore must be ingested. However, I'd like to know about your personal experiences with vitamin patches. Any information is appreciated! Thank you!

I love the symmetry of your weight lost to current weight. Such an amazing achievement in a short time

There were clothes that I liked that I never got to wear because as I dropped the weight, I missed the window of time to fit them properly. So in terms of clothes, yeah, I do get that. HOWEVER. I do not miss one gram of the fat I've lost and the joy of thrifting and looking good in standard size clothing far outstrips any disappointment I ever had at getting too small for old clothes I liked.

Rice, pasta & noodles (& bread) were on my do not eat list. They are highly processed, nutrient poor, simple carbs. They take up room in your tummy stopping you from eating all your necessary protein & other nutrients. I still don’t eat them as they sit too heavily in my tummy, filling me more quickly but that’s me. Generally, the rule of thumb for eating while you are losing weight is to eat your protein first, then any vegetables you are able to eat & finally any complex carbs you may be allowed. Don’t be surprised if all you can eat at some meals is your protein only. There are lots of alternatives to traditional style rice, pasta, etc. Cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, vegetable pastas (low carb), etc. are options while in your losing phase. Who knows what you may be able to eat (how much & how often) when in maintenance. Best advice is to check with your team.

Nope. Do not miss being big at all. I was very happy to get rid of my large clothes. One of my motivators for the surgery was my size was limiting the clothing & designers I could buy & wear (I loved clothing & fabrics, the designs, etc.) I’d kept clothes at lower sizes so as I lost I was able to wear some of those but at times the weight loss meant I missed my window to wear them or only wore them once. I donated a lot of it. The only clothing I’ve kept, regardless of size, were special pieces - because of the memories or the clothing designer. I have kept more items that are a size too big - just in case I guess. I’ve altered clothing in the past but it never really worked. Plus you’ll drop so many sizes it’s impossible. I dropped 6 sizes. You can’t just run in a seam. The whole outfit really needs to be recut.

I've told fewer people than I can count on one hand. I'm having my surgery at the end of August which, due to what I do for a living, will be close to the end of the time of year where I will regularly see the majority of my business colleagues and peers. We won't generally see each other often again until the spring (about 7 months) by which time I expect I'll have lost a significant amount of weight that I'll simply explain away by shrugging and saying I lived at the gym through the winter.

Hi All - My name is Kay. I am scheduled for my gastric sleeve surgery on 8/2. If I am not mistaken, I started the process in the first week of June. I never considered WLS because I never considered myself obese. I guess I was fooling myself. No one in my family is overweight; however, most have diabetes and HBP. I have HBP and am pre-diabetic. I went to see the gastro doctor out of curiosity. The appointment was an hour long. I met with a dietician, an insurance navigator, and a nurse practitioner. This was the first time I heard my weight out loud. I usually turn away from the numbers on the scale and instruct the person taking my weight not to tell me. I just usually guessed my weight. I was off about 40 pounds. BMI of 40. The insurance navigator told me that I would get approved and that my insurance did not have any pre-surgery requirements. I met with the nurse practitioner, she gave me a list of to-do items, and I was off to the races. I am excited. I look forward to having more energy, being more active, getting rid of my HBP medication, and eating to live instead of living to eat. I was a bit apprehensive about joining a WL forum because I did not want to see negative reviews and complications. I am glad I came to this site. It is full of information and people like me. Congrats to those who have had their surgery, and good luck to those who are scheduled.

Hi OP - best of luck with your plastics! I think you have gotta be real in the runup to this surgery. If you have to crash diet to get to a certain *acceptable* (for you - in your head) weight beforehand then you might need to accept the fact that you'll have to diet to maintain it. Forever. People who have WLS seem to bottom out 18-24 months after, and then regain 10-20lbs and THAT'S actually their new set weight - not the lowest weight they reached. I am bracing myself for that very experience right now. Might be better to embrace your current weight, even it it isn't what or wanted or imagined you would end up at. If the surgeon gets rid of some more then that's a win.

I haven't posted an update in awhile, but there hasn't really been much to report. I tried sliced deli roast beef last week and it was too soon, my stomach really hurt for about 45 minutes, then stopped. I guess I'm just not ready to digest beef at the moment. I had pretty good success with turkey though. This week, I tried a chicken quesadilla and managed to take 2-3 bites and was okay. I had a bit of a stall "weight loss" wise from the 13th through the 20th, but got on the scale this morning and was at 325lbs, so I managed to lose 5 more pounds since the 12th, bringing my weight loss since surgery to 27lbs, 60lbs since I started this journey. I'm probably going to avoid the other forums and topics as this page as they seem to be pretty cliquish. I'm going to continue posting in this journal because I enjoy it and think it's fun to keep a history about what I'm going through. My next doctors appointment is in four days, so I'll probably post another update then.

nope - I love being normal weight and I never, ever want to go back.