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what is the average weight loss the first month. are most people happy they did it. any regret? the sleeve was really my only choice . most people who I know who had the lap band did not lose and I don't know anyone who made iit, to their goal.

My hubby and I both had weight loss surgery last May. Most of his weight was in his tummy, you know when they look 11 months preggars. Well as he lost that his junk got bigger, or at least more of it got exposed and he was all over that. His sex drive was already that of a teenage boy but once his weight loss started he was over the top. Me, not so much. I just couldn't get there. First it was all of the challenges, and we know what they are, of being over weight, and then it became all of the new challenges post surgery, gas, skin flapping about, etc. LOL We had purchased a hot tub in March and he was in it often, me, not so much. But I started getting in it recently and we have started having sex in it often. Ladies, water is our friend! We even get more bendy in the water. So let me just say, it is worth the investment. Now I am looking forward to actually completing my journey so I can actually look as great as I feel when I am in the hot tub. LOL! We really do need to get out of our own heads more often.

Okay, what did we used to call those "non pounds loss" happy things that happened to us? Was it NSV(non sleeve victory)? can't remember, but I've had SEVERAL today! We had a focus group meeting in my office of several Financial Advisors from around the state that I have worked with over the past many years but whom many have not seen me in a couple/several years. I had not one, not two but at least three of them single me out over the course of the 4 hour meeting and tell me how "wonderful" I looked and how much had I lost and how long, etc? FIRST, it made me realize - You know what? I HAVE accomplished a lot and I AM almost three years out! When I told one who asked when did you lose it, "Three years!" And it HIT ME! It's been three years!!! THREE YEARS!!! That made me feel really good! Just to have the affirmation again of a "job well done" and a huge accomplishment meant a great deal to me today. Not bragging, simply stating that perhaps we need to "lighten up" on ourselves some and see what others see. A real change in who we are and what we have accomplished. It surely opened my eyes today. And then... I went and ate 3, YES THREE, donuts. Oh well, its back to low carb.. )) We've got this, Pals!!!!!!

This is the hardest part! And of course we will all (if things are working well) generally advise you that our chosen surgical option is the best one! To be honest they are both potentially great surgeries. But if I were you, acid reflux would make the RNY the automatic first choice. With a sleeve your stomach is smaller than before but still long and narrow. With RNY your actual stomach surface is very small indeed - so you dramatically reduce the amount of acid you make and have going into the digestive system. Have you got a surgeon that does both? Since your weight is lower end of the scale, some surgeons would probably advise a sleeve for you as the first choice (cheaper, no need for supplements). But the acid reflux really suggests RNY and I think most surgeons that do both options would steer you that way. These days, though, way fewer surgeons do both! So you kinda have to decide and then pick your surgeon! There are really no downsides to the RNY. The worst is you might have to take supplements. You will have to take vitamins, but some people need folic acid or b12 tablets too for example. But honestly, that isn’t hard! And there is a genuine benefit to RNY - research suggests RNY is more likely to result in long-term weight loss - lose it and keep it off. Although regardless of surgery, THAT is all about you - changing your eating style, using the post-surgery phase to deliberately make new habits and stick to them. Good luck!

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. I can't help with any advise on your meds. Dizziness or light-headedness when standing up occurs as a result of abnormal blood pressure regulation. Normally, when people stand, gravity causes blood to pool in the veins of the legs and trunk. This pooling lowers the blood pressure and the amount of blood the heart pumps to the brain. Low blood flow to the brain causes the dizziness and other symptoms. To compensate, the nervous system quickly increases the heart rate and constricts blood vessels, which rapidly returns blood pressure to normal before symptoms can develop. The part of the nervous system responsible for this compensation is the autonomic nervous system. http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/heart-and-blood-vessel-disorders/symptoms-of-heart-and-blood-vessel-disorders/dizziness-or-light-headedness-when-standing-up

Hello all, I am approaching my 3rd surgiversary and this brings up a lot of emotions. First of all, I have yet to make it to goal, this is crushing and something I still very much want. I have been through a pretty tough year; since last April I have lost my job, broke up with my boyfriend, went on unemployment, had to have my gallbladder removed without insurance so racked up shocking medical debt, lost my Father suddenly, lost our home suddenly, at the same time as those two last events my Mother lost her job and is now a homeless penniless widow living in what used to be our home until the new owners arrive. I have deployed to a warzone now, and the IRS is coming after me for something I had no control over and was not my fault. So, during all that, I have gained 30 lbs. In the last week I have begun trying to return to post-op eating: severe calorie restriction/carb restriction etc. I am down 5 lbs in 6 days so, it must be working, but my frustration at having gained at all is terrible. I'm not a "normal" person when it comes to food and I need to understand and accept that. I have thought, "I would rather be eating" at some really inappropriate times. I also have realized that my mind had never really accepted that I wasn't a shockingly enormous person anymore; my interpersonal behavior is still suspiscious, resentful, timid, and easily crushed. I sometimes, even a year ago when I was the fittest I've ever been, would still physically behave as though I were morbidly obese; getting up from the floor, bracing a knee, even the way I put on my pants or sat in a chair, behaving as though there was a phantom suit of flesh around me. So, clearly, just because time has passed and the losses have been (mostly) made, doesn't mean one has fully grasped or come to terms with the state of things. I worry/obsess over my need to complete my loss journey, I still have a solid 65 lbs to lose, 5'3" and 125 pounds is a reasonable goal to me, it is (sadly) in no way too thin ... I worry about my metabolism, the slowness with which I lose weight, there is a thread in here about losing too much weight, I know it's a legitimate problem for some people but puh-lease! If only! Champagne problems imho ... Breakfast today - Protein shake lunch - baked fish dinner - chicken breast, veggie medley snack - Jerky So here I am, flawed, trying, a little depressed, a little hopeless, but still with a flickering flame ...

Hello, I am booked for the sleeve on June 28th and still having doubts. My concerns have more to do with life after the surgery beyond the initial month. I accept that it will be a challenge and one I need to get on with. Another person made an comment that stuck - it is learning to no longer use food as a way to manage emotions and feelings. I keep thinking that if I didn't have long term success with normal dieting with liberal use of willpower isn't it likely that I will not be successful with this weight loss tool. Anyone struggle with this and how did you overcome? Is there anything you wish you had done before the surgery or after the surgery? What is the diet like a year on? Basically any advice would be welcome.

Exercise does not change your skin. You can change the muscle that the skin hangs over, but you can't make the skin shrink. That's mostly genetic. I've heard skim milk helps with elasticity and staying well hydrated as well. I have heard that the skin will continue to shrink up to one year after weight loss stops. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for mine, but not expecting a miracle. Wish I had better news.

I didn't experience a significant amount of hair loss after my lapband surgery. (I lost over 100 lbs in the first year.) I'm wondering for those who have had both surgeries, was the hair loss the same with both, or was it worse with the sleeve.

Hi Everyone, Yesterday I hit 100 lbs lost, my surgery date was June 11th, so that makes it 100 lbs in 9 months. This morning I weighed myself again convinced I would have bounced up a pound (I have been stalled for nearly three weeks, so understandably suspicious :-D). But to my delight I had crossed over the fabled "One-derland", 199 lbs. I say fabled because it seemed like something that happens to other folks, I just wasn't sure it would happen for me. I guess you can say this is how I have felt through this whole process. Probably nearly 30 years of weight loss failures affecting my attitude! But somehow I lived through the presurgery liquid diet, the immediate post surgery diet phases, fearing different foods, first for my tiny tummy then for impacting my weight loss, multiple stalls that made me wonder if this was the end of the losses, would I be the near the bottom of the spectrum, only able to lose 40-50% of excess weight? But my sleeve has kept me on the straight and narrow, I have made the good food decisions and exercise changes and together we have lost 102 lbs! Which as of today is around 70 percent of my excess weight. I feel like I definitely have another 50 lbs to lose both in my heart and on my body, I really think I will by-pass my Doctors goal of 165 and get down to 145 lbs. If you are reviewing these posts to decide if weight loss surgery is a good decision - let me share that not only do I thank myself ( and my Mom for helping with the cost) everyday for choosing this solution, I wish I had done this 10 years earlier. I feel great, I can walk and workout without feeling like I am gong to pass out. I started in a size 26W and 3X, today I am wearing a size XL fitted tee and size 16 misses jeans. It has all been worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

G2-I read an article about fructose corn syrup how it can really slow down weight loss....thats the 2nd ingredient in G2...and I really LOVE G2 its been my "sodas" lol but anyhow if you compare the label to a coke it has less sugar but still ....I'm trying to cut down all the sugar I can to see if that changes anything.....

Great job on the loss so far. As for the low energy, make sure you are getting enough protein and hydration because those 2 things are the most important for energy at this point. Good Luck.

Hi my name is Morgan. I had gastric bypass back in April 2013. My highest weight was 279 and at my lowest weight I was 159. I've gone through a really rough time past 6 months or so and I am up to 180. I want to get back down to my goal weight of 130. Does anyone have any tips? I'm so desperate for help of any kind or advice or someone to talk to about it. My email is mleec16@outlook.com. please email me if you have any advice or tips or just wanting to talk would bring my spirits up so much!

I am post-op Gastric Sleeve by 1 week tomorrow. I went the self pay with hiatal hernia repair route. My insurance would not pay for bariatric surgery but would pay for hernia repair. By having the hernia repaired, I saved a little under $10,000 out of pocket for my gastric sleeve. Gastric sleeve price was $16,500 out without hernia repair..... $6,700 with hernia repair and insurance coverage. I feel great and am looking forward to a healthier future not only due to the weight loss but to the hernia being repaired. By the way, I live in MT but had surgery in Henderson, NV. It was totally worth the trip!!

Started back on my protein shakes and bariatric vitamins and have noticed a difference! My hair feels thicker and healthier. Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

my advice would be not to stock up too much your pouch may reject it after surgery then your stuck with stuff you cant eat/drink. I would also get some of the extras like chewable gas x but usually you can ask for a script to go home with of it for when you feel the burp if you ask for it. Buy extra pillows if you dont have but two. Buy a couple for each side and a couple to make you lay higher so that you wont have to sleep sitting up on the couch. Some of us had to lol. Don't worry about packing for hospital they have everything you need there even mouthwash. Hair brush yes bring that if u dont want to use comb. Phone and charger necessity incase you get stuck in there for days. get a nice food pureer. i got magic bullet you need something to puree the foods in the next or third in some cases diet stage. disposable 2 oz and one oz containers make meal prep and clean up easier (a m a z o n). im sure everybody has a lot to add, and congrats. if we could keep it off on our own we wouldnt be this fat. if we dont have the surgery wed prob have the diabetes and other deathy ailments within five years. remember why you started. strange how the weight is just flying off... yet when we try to do it it was stuck and slow. it is painful though and hard i have yellow pee from not enough water as i type this and im tryin to get in the 64oz needed to turn things around. but lost two more lb today 😯

Part of this message is me rejoining this community, part of it is seeing what's in my profile signature., I used to have a weigh loss results bar in there. I had my surgery in 2009, almost a year after my wife did. Having a built in support partner helps. I went from around 270 to 195 in well less than a year. A large part of it was this surgery and the nutritional information. Another part of of it was re-discovering my love of running. I still had running a marathon on my bucket list when I had the surgery and I ran it in 2011 in just over 4 hours. I ended up doing six more. Life was good, my wife and I were even used in commercials as sucess stories by the Bariatric Department of The Ohio State University I will mention my wife though I looked too thin at 195, so I did go to 210 during my marathons. But after 2013 my back began to fail and I had spinal fusion surgery. That slowed me down for a year or or more, but my weight crept up about 10 pounds a year until last May 7th, I got back from a 7 day Caribbean cruise. While I only gained 1 pound on that cruise it was a new post surgery high of 244. I imediately scheduled an appointment with my clinic/hospital. Backn in 2009 I had 3ccs put into a 10cc band and never had it changed. On my visit back I had .25cc added and have lost 13 pounds in about 2 weeks. Here we go again.

I DEFINITELY am not a veteran yet. I'm 6-1/2 months post-op and have lost 77 pounds, with 8 pounds to go before goal. At some point it became obvious that I'd lost enough that my weight loss began to slow. After all, a body that's 77 pounds lighter doesn't burn as many calories. That's just logical. And the longer I've been post-op, the more my stomach has healed (it's no longer swollen) and the more volume of food I can eat. BTW, I SHOULD be eating more food than I did initially. If I were still eating only 600-800 calories a day, my metabolic rate would have accustomed itself to a starvation menu and I'd be missing important nutrition. By the end of Month One I averaged 800 calories/day with 60-70 grams of Protein. In Month Five I started eating an average of 1,000 calories a day with 80-90 grams of protein. A few weeks ago I began eating more like 1,200 calories a day with 90-100 grams of protein. With 8 pounds to go I'm still losing weight steadily, but more slowly. Although I've enjoyed a few special meals, I haven't gone "hog wild" (and couldn't have with the sleeve's restriction). I haven't had any unusual cravings that I haven't been able to control. I sometimes eat small amounts of "bad carbs" (Pasta, rice, potatoes, breads) but the amounts are small, and I don't do that daily. So I guess, behavior-wise, I'm still in the honeymoon phase. I don't fight eating protein first or eating lots of protein and colored vegetables and fruits. I don't plan to indulge in lots of high-starch and high-sugar carbs until after I've reached goal. And I'm certainly don't have maintenance figured out yet, because I'm not there yet. For me, the sleeve has given me the head space to build and practice the basic eating habits I have always wanted to follow consistently. Those habits are just a lot easier now than they were before the sleeve. I think the factors that will help you be successful with WLS are compliance, consistency, common sense and personal accountability. BTW, I plan and track my menus daily on www.myfitnesspal.com. Good luck to you.

I started at a BMI of 40. SW was 209. I am almost 3 months out and have lost about 25 pounds. So I have lost about 33% of my excess weight. While this is a lower amount of loss it is the expected percentage for 3 mths out. It is so hard not to compare to others but there are so many factors that effect rate of loss from starting weight, gender, hight, and medical considerations. So I am averaging about 2 pounds a week. I am OK with this rate loss as long as I continue to trend down. Best of luck on your journey and remember to follow your plan, drink water, move, and enjoy life. New_Me 2019

Hello everyone. I had written in about a month ago and was just so depressed because I found out that my employer opted NOT to cover weight loss surgery in their plan. After taking the advice of the PA at my doctors office, I went to my HR at work. I told her my story and she put me in touch with the broker who signed my work up for the benefits. To make a long story short, they removed the exclusion and now all employees that want this surgery can get it if deemed medically necessary! My paperwork was submitted one week ago and here I am with an approval code and waiting for a surgery date. I just wanted to let you all know that even if you hit a bump in the road, sometimes it can work out so don't give up. I honestly never saw anything go so fast and I wonder if this could fall under a discrimination area? It was just so fast and everyone worked so hard that it makes me wonder. Doesn't matter because I have my code so I will keep you all updated on my progress. God Bless

The other day at work a woman who I hadn't seen in months walked right past me and then came back and said hi and that she didn't even recognize me at first! Then today at a family BBQ everyone made it a point to tell me how great I looked! Down 110 pounds in 4.5 months The weight loss is slowing down... And I've encountered a few stalls... I think three. But I've gotten through them Silly me at today's BBQ I had like 8 ritz crackers and a spoonful of relish and three chunks of pineapple. I thought I was fine... But I ended up in the bathroom for a little... Note to self... Don't mess with crackers or pineapple again! But all in all a good day

Wow what an incredible loss for 4 1/2 months! Good for you!

A daily calorie intake of 1000-1200 is quite low in the maintenance phase. I've been maintaining goal weight since June at around 1800 calories a day. I would continue to lose with anything lower than that. However, if your daily calorie intake is consistently around 600 throughout your weight loss phase, then it does make sense that you would maintain around 1000-1200. I purposely increased my calories slowly during the last few months of weight loss (600 calories a day to 900) to shake up my metabolism. You don't want your body to get use to such a low calorie diet.

Let me start by saying-- I'm not complaining, just commenting and looking to see if other people have experienced this. Through a painful and expensive (to my insurance company) process, I have discovered that I've developed an intolerance to gluten or a gluten by-product (unclear). I don't have Celiac's, but products that are wheat based (bread, flour, etc.) give me an unusual amount of extreme gas bloating, pain, and constipation. I did not have this intolerance before I had my band and cut most wheat products out of my diet for almost two years while I followed my low-carb band diet. But I definitely have it now. I'm wondering if this is a coincidence, or if there is any anecdotal evidence that severely restricting wheat-based carbs for a couple of years could have triggered a digestion issue when I reintroduced them. Anyone else have problems? A little more info: I am 3 years post-band and I've lost and maintained a 100lb+ loss. I spent the first year pretty hard-core low carb via doctor instruction, and the second year I slowly added carbs and non-band friendly foods back in until I was eating pretty much anything, including bread and (drinking) beer for a good portion of year 3. Over the year, I put on 10 lbs. I also had a consistent and really painful issue with bloating and gas. When I went to see an urgent care specialist for chest pain, he sent me for a CT scan of my chest and abdomen to check my lungs (pain consistent with a pulmonary embolism) but it came back clean, including no band issues and it was chalked up to referred diaghram pain from surgical adhesions. About 4 months later, I was in Asia and had to go to the emergency room for chest pain and severe abdominal pain that came on in the middle of the night, and they diagnosed it as gas/reflux. I thought, "huh". And also, "good, no surgery in Asia required!". Then, back at home 3 months later and I've been dealing with this horrible constant bloating and piercing gas pain that isn't responding to any otc medication, so I go to my pcp. She did an x-ray to check for an obstruction, given the degree of pain and bloating. Her words: "I have never seen someone's entire digestive track extended like that without being able to see an obvious large obstruction." So, worried that I had a small obstruction that an X-ray wasn't picking up, she sent me for my second CT scan in a year. Which again came back clean. So basically, it came down to testing reactions to various foods. Started with lactose, and didn't seem to be an issue. Then, just by happenstance, I decided to get those 10 lbs I'd gained back off by going back to low-carb. I cut out all carbs for a week, then added in just low-glycemic fruits and veggies. . . and, symptoms disappeared. Completely. No pain, no bloating, no gas. So we started "testing". I seem to be able to sometimes tolerate low amounts of gluten, as long as I don't overdo it but it's a bit of a gamble. Bread is a definite no-go. I'm not allergic, but wheat-based carbs digest a lot differently now than they did in the 34 years I lived before the band. It is a relief to know what is going on because I can control it by diet, and heck, it's in my band's best interest to cut out the bread crap anyway So, yeah. That's my story. What do you think?

This is Deb, I'm back at work and doing fine. I get very tired (expected), and I'm having trouble with some back pain but doing great. I've lost 25 lbs. since November 27th and am very excited. The folks at work were very surprised by the weight loss as was I. I told everyone not to expect to see any difference, I surprised us all. I hope everyone is doing well and Happy New Year!