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I'm four years into my surgery this month and here are the things that I've learned. At the beginning most will feel mixed emotions. Euphoric due to rapid weight loss, concern due to stalls and minor setbacks and trepidation due to looking at how others are doing and you feeling you're not doing enough. The one feeling we all have will be a renewed confidence in ourselves due to the fastest weight reduction you might have ever experienced. We attain our goal weight. We then transition into making wise food and lifestyle choices. No longer are we to eat the things that made us obese and unhealthy such as the three C's, Cookies, Cake and Candy. We will get more exercise. Maybe we park further from the building, maybe we join a gym, maybe we walk, run or work out. We are feeling great and we love our new selves. Next we work on maintaining the weight loss and our healthy lifestyle. One thing happens, we decide since we lost so much weight it couldn't hurt to visit our friends the three C's. If only for a short while and only in small amounts. Hey, why park so far? It's really cold/hot, I'll park closer. You're still feeling confident even if you gained only 10lbs of the 100 you lost. Hey, you're still down 90lbs. No problem, I can lose the 10lbs. I've lost far more than that after surgery. Then we realize, we are no longer weight loss super beings. We are just mere mortals who now have to work hard to lose the weight. Our bodies after time (usually after the one year mark) will not give us that rapid weight loss we once depended on. Here is when your determination and or lack of it will affect you for the rest of your life. We will all get back on a diet or healthier eating plan to lose the weight we gained. The majority will not succeed because it is not as easy it was when we first had surgery. Some will become complacent and throw up their hands and surrender. The weight will come back and the thoughts of a revision will come to our heads. Unfortunately, most insurance companies do not allow for a do over. For a few they will overcome and work on shedding those pounds. They will succeed due to a variety of reasons such as a good support group, using the honeymoon period wisely and really making better lifestyle choices or simply losing one pound at a time instead of trying to lose all of it at one time. Since my surgery four years ago I had five friends and family members undergo the surgery. We ALL gained back some of the weight. Some were able to lose it and regain their healthy lifestyle. Some never were able to lose the weight and went back into the habit of eating for gratification. This is what I did. I originally got down on myself. How did I after three years let myself gain 10 lbs. I vowed to get it off. My 1st week I lost 1/2 a pound. I was devastated, how could this be? The next week I gained a pound. Why? I needed help!! My regular group meetings were cancelled due to covid so I lost valuable support there. I decided to call my family and friends who had the surgery. I spent hours talking to everyone, I told them about my struggles and they told me about theirs. We all came away with a few good ideas of what to do. First don't look to lose the WHOLE amount in one shot. It won't happen and it will derail you from succeeding. Set a goal of 1-2lbs per week. Don't worry that some friends or family might be losing more. We aren't in competition with them. Look at the little things. One friend said she stopped putting Crystal light or Mio in her water. She only drank plain ice water. It seemed to help her jump start her weight loss. Another friend said he started taking the stairs instead of the elevator. He climbs seven flights at least once a day. Another told me her husband who did not have the surgery brought snacks home and that she would eat them. She purged her home of the unhealthy snacks as she did right after her surgery. I started to implement these and other ideas and I have lost 5lbs in five weeks. I'm at the half way point to getting back to my goal weight. We are not super humans we need help and we need encouragement in order to succeed. There are a few on here who have done a tremendous job on their own and they are to be commended and emulated. For me, I need and I will take all the help I can get. Everyday is a struggle to be healthy. I told my surgeon that all this is happening after only four years, how do people succeed at maintaining the weight loss? He said sadly, the majority won't.

I actually had the Loop Duodenal Switch, which is still a fairly new procedure, and my surgeon automatically keeps you 3 nights for it. I have a sleeved stomach with bypassed intestines. I didn't have any surgical complications, but I was very nauseated and vomited old blood the first few days, which can happen, and as a result I could not complete my swallow test the first 2 times I tried. I threw up the contrast every time. So they kept me an extra night just to be safe and the day I went home I was so much better and had a pretty uneventful recovery. My pain was never bad at all, except 10 days post op I had back pain that the Dr. Thinks was a kidney stone, but I because a day later I had blood in my urine. Really though, besides the nausea, this surgery wasn't bad at all! I would do it again in a second! Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

A year ago, I was in your shoes. I weighed 393 pounds and was having so much trouble getting around. I had been obese for so long too, and because I'm short I still am, but I am still losing. I weigh 219 right now and things have changed IMMENSELY from a year ago. I walk with ease and don't get short of breath anymore. My asthma, which only was diagnosed 10 years ago when I became super obese, is so much better that I barely know I have it. I can't remember the last time I needed my rescue inhaler, and my Dr. decreased the dose of my daily preventative inhaler. Most importantly, I have reversed my fatty liver disease, which is the biggest reason I did this surgery. It's hard to imagine right now, but you will be here, and you will feel so much better. I wish you the best of luck! Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

My surgery was August 16, released the following day. Also had an unplanned hiatal hernia repaired. By day 5, I felt great. Like most, I struggle to get my protein and liquids in, don't love the taste of shakes. I lost 10 pounds on the pre surgery diet, which for my doctor was an 800 calorie diet using food purchased through the clinic and another 10 or so in the past week. Food has not been a temptation at all so far. I do enjoy cooking so I made some "meals" for the pureed stage. I found a Joie XL ice cube tray with a lid at TJ Maxx. Each cube hold 2 oz. so I cooked and pureed cauliflower (with some cheese for protein) and also made the ricotta bake. I then froze them in the ice cube tray and once they were frozen, I transferred them into a freezer bag until next week. Seven days out from surgery and absolutely no regrets!

My surgery is August 31st but I figure it is close enough to track progress with September? Maybe? About a week to go, I am down 19 pounds from my first surgeon visit.

Entering maintenance has been a challenge. I'm about 10 lbs below my goal, with a 27 BMI. I'm happy here. My pcp is happy and so is my surgeon. Started with a 44 BMI if I remember right. I'm pretty sure that 1300-to 1500 low carb calories are my formula. Heavy protein and some vegetables. Yogurt, cottage cheese, and a rare treat here and there. Some days it's hard to eat that much and others not so much. I think you just have to figure it out when you get where you want to be.

My pre-op diet was one of the less restrictive ones. It was shake for breakfast, mid morning high protein snack, shake for lunch, afternoon high protein snack, dinner is 4-6oz lean protein, veggie and small carb if you want it, if still hungry another protein shake for after dinner snack (I generally skipped this). High protein snacks included hard boiled egg, jerky, lunch meat, string cheese, 2-3oz lean protein, greek yogurt etc. Basically at least 10g protein and less than 200 calories. It worked out to around 1000-1200 calories per day, 80-100g protein and less than 100g carbs. Definitely less restrictive than all liquids but I still lost around 10-12lbs I think and it was livable. Something like that may be easier to stick to since it's not enforced by your program.

Congratulations! I started a fair bit higher than that 400s. I also started walking at about 300 and quickly got up to 8-10+ miles a day. I never started weight lifting. I did start running. Who knew I would enjoy it. Good luck, Tek

Um, SADI is not a mini bypass hun. It's another name for the SIPS/Loop Duodenal Switch surgery. And because the sleeve is, quite literally, the first part of the surgery they probably didn't feel the need to mess with your stomach and just went ahead and did the intestinal bit. They should have at least checked to see if there was any stretching in your original pouch, but if they didn't see anything wrong with it's size then they wouldn't have felt the need to mess with it because that would have been pointless if it wasn't necessary. If your surgeon didn't at least check your pouch then I'd complain, but if they did and didn't feel the need to mess with it then you're fine. Yes, it massively sucks that because they didn't work on your pouch you have your hunger hormone and can eat more than you would right after surgery, so that's bound to be difficult. I, myself, didn't have a revision, but had the full SADI/SIPS/Loop DS surgery 19 months ago right out the gate. It's a powerful tool and malabsorption should work really well for you weight loss as long as you watch your intake. Keep in mind that the protein and vitamin levels necessary are much higher than for the VSG so what you're eating is very important. Also, keep in mind that you're still really early in your revision and there's always that pesky stall that most people get right in the first month of weight loss. Buyers remorse in the beginning is normal. I know I felt it for the first two weeks or so, but I got over it pretty quickly after that and I just wish I'd done it for myself sooner. I hope everything works out for you and I wish you luck on your new journey!

Hi I had my surgery on August 10 this year. Down 13 lbs. feelin amazing.

Stick with it. I agree it is hard to get out there in the heat but even if you do 10 minutes 3 times a day it will help

So glad to hear all my August surgery peeps are doing well! I go in tomorrow morning at 5:30AM and am finding myself in my emotions today. Tons of worries and just the emotional toll of knowing I need to go to this extreme to lose weight. I keep telling myself my last 10-15 years have proven I need a tool to help me stay healthy and I know it's the right thing. It's like this unexpected last minute wave of shame and guilt. I hate the thought of putting anyone out and my husband will be bearing the brunt of this with extra childcare, chores, errands, etc. I thought I could get through this without a therapist, but I am seeing now how that will be a helpful resource. I can only imagine the emotions that will come with this lifestyle change and the changes my body will be going through. Trying to breathe, stay focused and look to the future today. Thanks for listening! I am so excited to continue to hear about all of your journeys! Best wishes to you all! ❤️

Today makes a month since the surgery. I've been struggling with acid reflux during the night, it wakes me up--otherwise, I'm feeling fine. I cannot eat more than 4 bites of anything. I'm living on protein shakes, soup, and scrambled eggs. When I get to school I make the Jimmy Dean egg bowl that also has small bits of sausage and it takes me nearly the whole day to eat it. I take small bites here and there. I don't think I've ever eaten a whole one. But it has 19 grams of protein. I can do that forever if I need to. I'm not the type that needs variety. Yesterday hubby cooked for the kids (they are 31 and 32). I had one fried shrimp, I had to eat it in 3 small bites. Maybe two fries. I've read that my weight loss might be slower since I started out at less than 200. In my mind, that shouldn't matter. If a person goes to eating about 1/8th of what they used to eat --there should be more than a 4 pound loss in a month. This really seals it for me that without the surgery I certainly would have never lost anything. They are delivering my Nordic Track Treadmill Tuesday. I will see if walking helps TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS SINCE SURGERY 4 POUNDS. I am extremely discouraged.

Hello fellow losers! You know how you read that Sleevers lose 80% of their desired weight...well, that's me! I would LOVE to lose another 10-20 pounds, but I'm down 82 pounds and feel GREAT! I did not work out and still don't...but I have been so happy with my results. I keep saying that I am going to get serious and start tracking again...and lose a few more pounds, but then something comes up (like visits, vacations, happy hours, dinners out) and I am just happy to stay below 200 pounds! One-derland!

Is there a way to ask for a different dietician? Because she sounds like an absolute nightmare! My dietician is nice and encouraging and if I end up eating something off plan she just tells me that it won't hurt me if it happens as long as it doesn't become a habit or something I do all the time. She tells me every time she sees me (usually when I'm dealing with a stall) that I'm doing great and as long as the trend is downward that no matter how slow the loss is, I'm still losing and that's that what matters. My dietician has me eating 1200-1400 calories and I'm almost 19 months out. When I was 5 months out I think I was probably eating about 800-1000 calories. I think your own dietician is pushing you to eat too much too fast, imo. I would see if it's possible to ask for someone else. I haven't gone to my own bariatric clinic since my 9 month appointment because there is this front office lady that kept rescheduling my 12 month appointment and pissing me off. She made my stress go from 0-100 pretty damn fast and was bugging me about my labs and how they hadn't received them and how she wanted me to call the lab and have them fax my paperwork over, which I'd done, so I kept having to tell her to do it her damn self because I'd already called them and they'd re-faxed it twice already so something was getting lost on their end and they needed to deal with it. Her response was to tell me they needed to reschedule me so I just never rescheduled after about the 9th time because she pissed me the hell off! I get stressed with just the idea of having to call the bariatric doctor because if I get her on the line I will hang the damn phone up! That's why I never made my 18 month appointment and just relied on my PCP to do my labs because of that b*tch! I wish I'd gotten her name on the multiple times she'd called me so I could report her for her incompetence! So yeah, I'd ask for a different dietician, personally.

I'm at very high risk of serious illness from COVID-19 due to pre-existing health conditions. In particular, I have a blood clotting disorder that is likely to be seriously exacerbated by COVID-19. My hematologist put it: "We can barely keep you from clotting now, throw COVID-19 in the mix and you would definitely get blood clots." I'm fully vaccinated, I'm still keeping my distance when I can and I wear an actual N95 mask when I can't socially distance. So I'm doing what I can to be careful and beyond that, it's out of my control. My stress level has gone down quite a bit since getting vaccinated, but I'm aware that the delta variant is a potential threat. Ultimately, I'm trying to exercise good judgement and trusting God with the result!

Not sure how tall you are, but we sorta had similar starting BMIs (I started off at BMI 43 @ 235 lbs…i’m 5’2”) Based on BMI 25 as “normal weight” (in my case would have been 135 lbs goal weight), my doc said he would consider me a success if I lost 60-70 lbs (i.e., 60-70% of my 100lbs excess weight) within a year. Ended up losing 120% of my excess weight (110-ish lbs in 7 mnths, and another 10-ish in the first couple months of maintenance). Been more or less sitting at 115lbs for over 2 years now. I’ll be 3 years out from sleeve surgery in October. Honestly, barring any medical conditions, you can lose as much as you are willing to put the effort in for. Good Luck! ❤️

I currently am taking fusion bariatric vitamins after being sleeved 10/27/2021. I take 4 a day but I see on here they have very affordable vitamins on here which ones are more effective I'm trying to switch brands?

almost everyone experiences the infamous "three week stall" (the first major stall you hit, was is usually sometime during the first month or so after surgery. It's USUALLY the third week, hence the name). If you do a search of this site of the "three week stall", you will find over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding)). You will likely hit several of these stalls along your journey. When you hit one, just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days - and know that the stall WILL break, and you'll be on your way again. and yes - weight loss rate falls off a lot after the first few weeks because most of that initial drop is water. So much depends on things like your starting BMI, gender, age, metabolic rate, etc - but most people seem to lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month, and then about 10 lbs month after that. As you get closer to goal, the rate of weight loss decreases even more. I think a lot of people's expectations are shaped by shows like "My 600 lb Life" and are therefore very disappointed when they lose 15 or 20 lbs the first month - and then 10 lbs a month after that - but you have to keep in mind that the people on those shows start at MUCH higher BMI's than the average WLS patient. You are doing absolutely fine - so stop worrying about it and just enjoy the ride! I lost 16 lbs the first month, and about 10 lbs a month after that (again, dropping off a few months later), and I lost 100% of my excess weight. And I started off at over 300 lbs.

Many Americans continue to experience mental health difficulties as the pandemic enters the second year. Reports say that about a fifth of U.S. adults (21%) are experiencing high levels of psychological distress, including nearly three-in-ten (28%) among those who say the outbreak has changed their lives in “a major way.” Not surprisingly, psychological distress is higher among those who express concern about becoming ill with COVID-19 or believe that the disease is a major threat to their personal health. Have you in any way feel that the virus is a major threat to your health? What have you done to overcome this feeling? Were you already vaccinated?

7 months and 6 days post-op, and I’ve hit my goal! I lost around 70 lbs pre-op (and over 50 of that before surgery consult in late October of last year - COVID scared me into finally getting motivated to really do something about the weight). Pictures are from fall of 2019, second is about 2 weeks post op, and then the last is from early this week. Thinking of adjusting my goal down another 10 lbs or so as I still want to lose some more, but this is the lowest adult weight I have been. Need to start saving for plastics. I will say, the changes are more noticeable now - even 5 lbs can make a difference. I also started doing strength training about 10 weeks post-op (once I was fully vaccinated) and that has made a MASSIVE difference. I did a body scan and from late March when I started to mid-July (my most recent scan), I lost 35 lbs, which I knew from my scale, but I actually gained 6.5 lbs of muscle and lost 17% body fat. Want to continue to build that muscle and tone and now thinking lose another 10 or so. We shall see. But for today, I celebrate hitting my goal, especially since everyone at the surgeon’s office said not to set it at that, as most folks only lose 60-70% of their excess weight. Of course, they also only want me to eat plant-based, and that’s not happening either. It’s definitely Fri-YAY!

Well, that's nothing more than a myth. On my surgery day I was 321 and three months out I was 266 (that's 55 pounds lost in three months). I'm almost 19 months out and still not into maintenance yet and am at 178 pounds which is 143 pounds lost since surgery (I lost 68 prior to surgery) and half of that is 71.5 pounds which is more than I lost at three months out (by 16.5 pounds). If I would have only lost twice as much as I lost at three months out then I would be 211 pounds, but I'm 33 pounds less than that since I'm 178. And still losing, I might add.

I just slept and didn’t really want anyone there, my sister came for about 10 minutes right after I got to my room. I just wanted to sleep. As far as the vitamins go I had the same worries. I bought a 2 month supply of Barimelt brand vitamins. After a couple months you can just take regular vitamins from Target or Walmart. Your dog will appreciate your husbands company more than you will. I way over packed for the hospital, I really only needed pjs. I had so many worries too, all unnecessary. It was all really SO much easier than I expected. Within a week you feel better than you have felt in years! It is so worth it.

I did gain weight, about a 1 month before I was going to get my surgery scheduled they added on an additional month visits. The doctors wanted to make sure I was living the bariatric life style. I t was all good. I managed to drop about 10 lbs. and we moved forward

I am 10 days out from the sleeve and barely getting any protein in me. The powders make me sick, no matter how I mix them. I cant afford to keep buying more things that will make me sick. when I called the doctor's office, the nurse was very flippant I see the doctor in four days. I know I have lost weight this week, but I am afraid he will know I havent been getting the protein in me!!