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BTW this is what BSBCNC said to me. They just seem like they auto deny and don't even check records as we have been so compliant and have plenty of evidence. It sucks because I don't even live in NC - I only have this because I work remoltely for a company in NC and live in CA.. We are gearing up for the peer 2 peer now but here is what was said: Revision of a primary bariatric surgery to a gastric bypass is covered when you meet one of the following scenarios: (1) You have regained weight after your original surgery. In this case, you must continue to meet basic criteria for weight loss surgery, including nutritional and psychological assessments, and you must have documentation of compliance visits (including compliance with nutrition and exercise recommendations) after your previous weight loss surgery (2) You have severe reflux disease that has not been responsive to optimal medical management (maximum medication therapy, diet alteration with the assistance with a nutritionist, and change in activity and positioning). Failure of medical management must be documented, and studies to support persistent untreatable reflux must be submitted. Review of your provided records reveals that you have regained weight after your previous surgery; however, we have not been provided with compliance records from your prior post-surgical visits. Additionally, it does not appear you have undergone optimal medical management for your reflux or that studies show severe signs of reflux.

I was sleeved in March, and as of last week, I have officially lost 81. I started at 309, I'm currently 228, and I've noticed my progress has slowed down a lot. I'm anxious that I won't keep losing weight, because I'm only halfway to where I want to be. It sucks because I know I should be celebrating all of my hard work, but I'm scared I'll be stuck where I'm at and that my progress is over. I'm still tracking my calories, and I'm averaging about 1200-1300 a day. I walk at least 30 minutes a day, strength train 2 times a week, and I try to stay active on the weekend (5 mile hike & 1.5 hours kayaking yesterday). I struggled for so long to lose weight, and I'm scared I'll go back to struggling now.

Hey all, I have a bit of a dilemma. According to the FitBit watch I wear everyday, I burn on average around 3000 calories a day. I eat no more than 1,300 calories however, and drink my 2 litres of water but I'm unable to lose any more weight? I've been at this plateau for about 3 months now (which is annoying because I'm a stone away from my goal weight), either staying at exactly the same weight or adding 2/3 pounds a week and it's so frustrating. I can't find any info on why this may be the case, so I thought I would ask you guys to see if you could shed any light? If I'm burning more than I'm eating, surely I could be losing weight instead of gaining? I know muscle weighs more than fat and that it could just be me gaining the muscle I've been trying to build from strength training, but it's incredibly disheartening. The only time I seem to lose weight now is if I go on a 3-5 day liquid diet, but I shouldn't have to rely on doing that every week to lose weight, surely? More info below for context: - 8 months post op - A stone away from my goal weight - I consume as much protein as I physically can a day (between 40-70g a day) vitamins and water - I work out 4 to 5 days a week, mostly strength training with a bit of cardio - I'll probably have carbs 2/3 times a week. Sweet potatoes mostly. Perhaps a sandwich if I'm out.

A lot of things played into it, but honestly, it was when the doctor asked me if I would be interested in it. For background, I'm turning 50 next year, so yes, that milestone is in my head as part of it. My younger brother had VSG 15 years ago, and ever since then, I wished I could do it because he had such a great outcome. But at the time my BMI was 34, so I didn't qualify, even with high blood pressure. As my weight increased, my doctor referred me to the hospital's weight loss center. They started me on a non-surgical program, and it worked a bit for a while. And then it didn't, and I gained everything back plus some. I even tried Wegovy for a while, but I could never get it long enough to see if it would work because of the shortages, plus the discounts dried up and the out of pocket was crazy. But this past summer, my weight peaked at the highest it had ever been, tied with the day I left the hospital after delivering my second child. My BMI had reached 40. My body ached, my feet ached. I was bloated all the time. Nothing fit. My heart kept doing a worrying fluttery thing. I had to increase my blood pressure medication. With the pandemic, I had stopped going to the weight management center. My doctor told me to go back. This time, they asked if I would be interested in considering surgery, and I jumped at the chance. It was like the second the question was asked, I knew it was time. If they'd asked earlier, I probably would've done it then. But for such a long time I didn't qualify, and then I probably did but everyone seemed to think I should still keep trying on my own. When I found out my out of pocket costs would only be around $3k, I nearly fainted. I assumed it would be so expensive. My brother was self-pay and it was 10k. Instead, it's the same as two months of Wegovy! Now I'm just counting the weeks until my Dec 27th surgery date.

I had a sleeve 23 months ago and I honestly I think I have only just stopped losing now. It was half a pound a month or less for about the last 4-6 months, but still a downwards trajectory. Just really really slow! Totally believe that my body has found its new 'set weight'. In the last 10 months I've lost 10lbs. That was faster earlier in the year and then really slowed down, obviously. In the 13 months before that I lost 130lbs. 💪 Best of luck to you OP - you still have loads of time to hit your goal weight!

Welcome to the forum OP. I wish you all the luck on your weight loss journey 😍

I usually eat whatever I feel like. Today I had coffee with half cup of 1% milk and collagen powder (breakfast). For lunch, I had a 120g slice of bacon, egg, onion quiche (homemade). For snacks, my go-tos are crispy grapes and strawberries. I eat all types of fruit, and often changes depending how I feel. Like yesterday, I had some of a fresh cacao fruit. Other days, I love frozen durian. Not sure what I'll have for dinner, thinking of two black bean tacos (I like the black bean fiesta) but I may make some oxtail soup with veggies. It's good for prepping several little bowls for later meals. Before maintenance, during stalls, I would cut back my calorie intake on my weekly average till it breaks. To help, I use a lot of konjac noodles because they are basically calorie and carbohydrate free. In maintenance, if I gain a couple pounds, I do the same to get to my accepted weight range. I have no secrets, it's boring, I watch my calories. I have to unfortunately. My exercise is to live an active lifestyle by constantly moving wherever I am, but I don't ever do a formal exercise plan because I can't exercise my way out when I eat too much lol (As the saying goes) and it makes me more hungry anyway. I move for health, not to lose weight.

Can we pretend this is an Overeaters Anonymous meeting and it's my turn to stand up front and bare my soul?...especially since I never had the balls to set foot in a live meeting during my 35 years of having a BMI score higher than my IQ. There's donuts in the back...JOKE😁 It's been almost a year since my sleeve surgery and I couldn't be happier with the physical results. I was 60 years old, 5'4" and weighed close to 210 when I finally made an appointment with a bariatric surgeon. I'm now 61 and 134 pounds...I'm still 5'4" though. The past few days I've been in deep thought mode and was just hoping to use this forum to vent and hopefully get some feedback, positive or negative. Dining out: It's going to happen. It was probably part of your life pre-surgery, so it's naive of you to think it won't be a part of your life post-surgery. So maybe it's just me and my family (obese mother) and significant other (F, normal weight), but the minute the menu appears, I get a barrage of "Oh..they have plenty of appetizers and small portions you can order. Be careful, etc. Did you see the vegetable plate?" OK, so I know my significant other and my mom love me and are probably just concerned about my health and eating habits post-op, and if I'm being overly sensitive, just tell me and I'll shut up, but when they say things like that, it's not helping! If anything, something deep in my primordial starving "fat" brain wants to order the biggest thing on the menu and attempt to eat it. When it happened yesterday at lunch, I calmly and nicely asked both of them if they could refrain from offering me ordering advice, as I assured them, thinking about the ordering process and the actual eating of said meal in a healthy manner was the number one priority on my mind pretty much 24/7. They didn't seem to take it too well. Which leads me to my next thought... I might be stereotyping, but I'm willing to bet that a lot of us here were never/are not selfish people. I'm sure there are pages of psychological data written about the personality traits of the chronically obese and the myriad reasons we ended up as we did. My point is, after bariatric surgery, you might have to become a little selfish. You may need to put yourself first, sometimes to the detriment of others. Obviously, it helps if you can do this in a nice manner, but with certain people and situations in your life post-surgery, you might just have to be a selfish a*****e. If your new lifestyle (diet, whatever you want to call it), exercise regimen, food habits, etc don't quite mesh with those around you, too bad. This is your last chance at success and you need to make YOU the priority. I walk a lot now...and it takes a lot of time. Some of that is time I used to spend with other people...now it's not always like that. Some have mentioned it. I don't care. I always invite them to walk with me but I'm not going to not walk because they want to do something else or don't feel like walking. When I think about some of the healthiest people I have known in my life, they were/are quite selfish when it comes to exercise. One of my friends has been to the gym every morning from 5:30-7:30 for 35 years. He never misses. It's not an option. That's amazing to me because despite the genetics of obesity, there's no question that having some type of exercise regimen helps at some level. Did I ever have that level of commitment? Only to stopping at Whataburger several times a week. So as much as I read pre-surgery and even with the psychological profiling the doctor did, I never read much or heard anyone talk about some of the changes I needed to make mentally to make this work. It seems like most of the pre-surgery discussion is about how to eat before and after the surgery and most of the psychological discussion is about not letting one addiction (food) be supplanted by another (drugs, alcohol, etc). The crux of this dissertation, if you're still reading, is that there couldn't be more truth to the phrase bantered around here...."They operated on your stomach, not your brain". Prepare yourself for some mental challenges that being thinner does not make any easier. I must look a lot better because everyone tells me so...but I don't always feel better. Some of the same issues I've dealt with all my life, totally unrelated to weight, are still around. It's not that I expected them to disappear, but I think at some level, deep down, many of us think/thought, "Oh, if only I weren't so fat, I wouldn't have to deal with this problem [insert the problem/issue of your choosing]". Maybe I was just being naive or stupid, or both, but even being "thin" comes with plenty of challenges. I know these are "first world" problems and I'm not trying to sound like a complaining, spoiled brat. I just wanted to let off some steam here in the hopes that I'm not alone. Thanks for listening.

my weight stabilized just a little after one year post post mark, but this was due to a months-long effort to stop weight loss by slowly increasing calories. reached goal at 7 months post (consuming sub-800 cals a day). upped calories after that lost another 10+lbs until around 14 months post when i stabilized (around 2000 cals a day) BUT this is NOT to say i stopped losing and/or gaining forever. i am 5 yrs post now and i have recently lost about 10 lbs in the last few months. it really just depends on one's metabolism and food consumption...the trick is to figure out what your sweet spot is (given your current activity level)

Hopefully this will be the first thanksgiving that we don’t gain weight 🤦‍♀️

You have a great reason to get to your goal. Have the IVF team said you need to be at 175lbs ? Huge congratulations on your progress so far. You need to have a little patience now. The easy part has ended and the work begins for you. I started at a similar weight to you almost 2 years ago. I have just upped my cals from 1200 to 1500 a day. I am still loosing but at a micro pace. I had a 3.5 month stall, a stone ago. I keep thinking I am done and then chunk ! the scales go down again. If I am truly honest with myself, I love the continued weight losses but my family and friends are saying whoa stop.

First off, congratulations on the weight you’ve lost so far! You should be proud. I am about seven months past surgery and I’ve hit my goal. As others have said, weight loss is very slow. I’ve only drifted down a pound or two in the last 2 to 3 weeks. It’s important to realize that you are still losing weight, so you are still working towards your goal. Some things you can do is take a look at how clean are your calories? Are you eating good, healthy food? Eating right keeps your body in-tune in all areas…keeps all the systems working harmoniously. Makes you feel good and keeps your MIND on track. Another thing you can do is look at your exercise. Keeping muscle is important as it burns the fat and cardio will help you in your daily calorie reduction. It doesn’t take much to energize your body to help burn even more calories. And above all else remember, slow loss is still a loss!!

I stopped at 10 months, when I reached my goal weight, but things really slowed down those last couple of months... 1 or 2 pounds a month. I see that your goal weight requires you to lose another 40 lbs. I don't want to be discouraging, but that's going to be hard given the front loaded trajectory of weight loss surgery. Keep going, but there is a limit. It will be increasingly hard to maintain 800-1000 calories... and no matter how low you keep your calories, the body eventually stops cooperating. Congratulations on all of your hard work and tremendous success!

I started at a lower weight than you & I reached goal at 6 months. I kept losing for another 11months or so (albeit very slowly). I wasn’t trying to lose more & in fact I was eating more & more. The lower weight was where my body wanted to be - my new set point which is the weight my body is happiest at. Your set point is the weight your body will gravitate back to & is easier to maintain. It is reset through the surgery but it may not be reset to a weight we want. We used to have much higher set points which is why many of us used to lose & then regain it back or struggled to lose at all. You mentioned you are eating fewer calories in an attempt to lose more. Remember you will have to continue to eat fewer calories & be more active to maintain a lower weight. This is not always sustainable & can impact you long term (including slowing your metabolism). Have you spoken with your team - surgeon, dietician? They should be able to advise you on how to best get closer to your ultimate goal.

Yeah, I was not told to count carbs either. Just was told to avoid pasta, bread & rice, like we usually all are, & to keep carbs lowish. I still keep my carbs lowish & still don’t eat bread, pasta or rice. I look to multi or whole grains & mostly those that are low processed (which will give you extra fibre) like traditional oats. Remember your vegetables & fruit have fibre which will compensate for having fewer carbs because you have to count whole carbs. Our bodies have different needs which is why someone may lose weight following one way of eating & someone else can’t. Low carb may work for you or may not in the long term. Now you are getting closer to your goal you can start to work out what your body needs in regards to nutrients to function effectively. What you discover can be quite interesting. I discovered I feel better with lowish carbs & very low sugar. I also feel better if I eat breakfast a little later (around 9am) after years of not eating breakfast or feeling blah if I did. Oh, yeah, you can’t break a stall. It’s a natural & important part of your weight loss. The stall will break when your body is ready & has adjusted (digestive hormones, metabolism, etc.) to meet your new needs. You’ve been putting it through a lot. Best thing is not to make changes which will stress your body more.

I've never counted carbs - whole or net. My program stressed eating balanced meals (not low-carb, like many of them do), and also, I'm not very carb-sensitive (I know a lot of people ARE). two weeks isn't that long for a stall. They usually last 1-3 weeks, and sometimes they can go ever longer as you get closer to goal. (the last few months I kept thinking, "well, this must be it...", but then I'd drop a couple of pounds). You can't really break a stall - it's part of losing weight. Your body has to stop and recalibrate every once in a while. The best thing to do is make 100% sure you're sticking to your program, and only weigh yourself once a week or so until it breaks. you may be far from over. I kept losing weight until month 20. But those last few pounds were a bear to get off...

That is such a worthy cause for weight loss, I wish you nothing but success!! I haven't had surgery yet so I can't comment on when losing stops. But I do know you need to be careful not to cut your calories too low after surgery. It will trash that newly reset metabolism and make weight loss even harder. I know it is counter intuitive but you have to fight that instinct to go so low. I'd advise a good heart to heart talk with your surgeon and dietitian. There are options to boost your weight loss if it stops (like meds), but if you keep your calories too low your body is going to start thinking it is starving for real and hold on to every pound to protect you. 💚

For me I think I should’ve gotten a bypass in the first place but my pcp said I was so young and the sleeve was good so I just went along with it. At first I had no intention to get a revision even though I had gained almost all the weight back but I’m glad I did and I have no regrets.

This whole time I have been counting net carbs. And it has worked so far, but I have just been trying to figure out how to start my weight loss back up. My nutritionist finally emailed me like 10 minutes ago. She says that I should count whole carbs because counting net carbs may slow weight loss. So, I will try it her way and see what happens. I just also worry about getting enough fiber. I have to take Benefiber as is. I just feel like now I will be really more limited in what I can eat and it makes me sad. Lol.

Hi. I am almost 7 months post op. I have lost around 100 lbs. I need to lose 50 more to reach goal weight. My weight loss is at a stall for about 2 weeks. Do y'all count whole carbs or net carbs? I emailed my nutritionist, but haven't heard back from her. I want to know what has worked for my fellow sleevers and other weight loss surgery people. I use My Fitness Pal and it automatically does net carbs. They told me to stay under 50g carbs/day, but I'm wondering if counting net carbs instead of whole is affecting my weight loss. Also, what have y'all done to break a stall? Thanks!!!!!!!

Hello I know everyone is different, but I would really appreciate any comments as to when you finally stopped losing weight after your surgery? I am nearly 8 months post gastric bypass, but have at least another 2st 8lbs to lose before I hit my goal (my goal is to be outside of the obese category for my BMI). Whilst I would love to lose more than this, as long as I lose another 2st 8lbs I will be happy as my reason for undergoing the surgery (other than for my own health) is because I want to undergo IVF. The further out of my surgery I get the more I am consciously limiting my calories and food, because I am just so scared of the weight loss stopping and I am finding it a struggle to shift 1lb a week. Which is making me worry that soon my weight loss will stop. I would say I am eating maximum of 800 - 1,000 calories a day. Any info would be much appreciated.

That is really good to know. My particular situation is I had a baby eariler this year and gained 80lbs from pregnany. I"m 6months post partum and still breastfeeding so that makes me super nervous but docs say I should get the revision.

I know in the US, our requirements for insurance to cover the surgery (if you have insurance that does) is generally a BMI of 35 with co-morbidities (blood pressure, diabetes, etc), or 40 without. I've had similar struggles to yours, weight gain starting in my 20s blamed on thyroid. With diet and exercise I could lose a few pounds, but never enough. I hovered in the 190s until my late 20s, 210s in my 30s, climbing to 225+ in my 40s. I went to my weight management center that was connected with my hospital network for 6 years starting at age 43 and started with nutrition and lifestyle changes, followed by medical interventions (Contrave, Saxenda, Wegovy when you could get it). I never got below 204, and that was with a strict 1200-1500 calorie diet that I tracked religiously and 10k or more steps daily for a year (I never missed a single day!). As soon as I relaxed even a little, the weight came back with a vengeance. This summer, I hit 251 and also have hypertension and prediabetes (A1c of 5.9) . That was when my weight management doctor (an endocrinologist) finally asked if I wanted to talk to the team on the surgical side. I'm awaiting insurance approval now. It should be covered though I have no idea about out of pocket expenses. I don't really care at this point. I'll make it work. If you are considering paying out of pocket and concerned at all about going to Mexico (although my brother went that route many years ago and it was fine), I did see a self pay option here: https://www.poundofcureweightloss.com/bariatric-surgery-cost/ I know it's frustrating, and if there's one thing I wish, it's that I had dealt with this when I was turning 40 instead of 50. Wishing you luck!

The requirements for surgery depend on your insurance. For my insurance, I had to have a BMI of 35+ and at least one comorbidity - or a BMI of 40 with no comorbidities. When I walked into the surgeon's office, my BMI was 35.5 and I had two comorbidities (diabetes and high cholesterol). I was a low-BMI patient, but I did qualify. I was 5'6" and weighed 233 pounds, the day I walked into my surgeon's office. Sad to say, but you might need to gain some more weight, in order to qualify.

I have this problem. I'm not an overeater. I eat very carefully and about 1200 calories a day. I get exercise. I don't binge. I drink water. I gained 60 lbs in one year when I was about 16 and the weight has done nothing but go up ever since. No one could tell me why. My diet and activity level didn't change. The best they could guess is it was my thyroid but those levels were normal until my 30s. I did develop an autoimmune disease at 14 though and it could have contributed inflammation. I became diabetic a few years ago and have steadily climbed to over 300 lbs. At this point doctors say it is inflammation and metabolic disorder that was probably subclinical for years. Some of the weight is definitely med related and now Im physically disabled which contributes too. All this to say not everyone who gains weight has an eating disorder but it's rare and doctors will have no clue what to do with you! With the extra weight you should qualify for surgery, right?? I wish you the best of luck. I'm halfway through my pre-op diet and true to form my body hasn't lost a pound. 😂