Search the Community

The menopausal weight gain & then inability to lose is awful. I put on my weight then. Used to bounce between 60 & 75kgs most of my life but then suddenly I wasn’t overweight at my high weight my new high weight meant I was obese. And I swear it happened overnight & I couldn’t shift it. Now I’m the size I was when I was 12 so at the start of puberty. Hormones have a lot to answer for! 😁 Hope the balloon is successful and helps you to start losing again and get back to a weight you feel happy at.

Hi Lisa, I’m so sorry you’re struggling. You are not alone and there is always hope! I agree with @SpartanMaker above. I am post menopausal and that peri-menopausal and immediate post time is so tricky. There may be some other reasons for continuing weight gain and stagnant loss. As a sped teacher, I always look at crossing out medical issues first. So thyroid, PCOS, fibroids, and endometriosis should probably all be ruled out. I too am a sooth with food comforter. I had therapy that was very specific to me, related to eating disorders. My counselor helped me with body dysmorphia,and feeling good about making positive choices. For me, I had to stop tracking. I pretty much stick to keto with some veggies. I reached out to TOPS and OA for advice and most people there kind of came to the same conclusions. Many women found they needed to keep taking Metformin to help with genuine continued hunger. They were peri menopausal and we wondered if their doc didn’t snip as much stomach off as the ones from my clinic. (We compared notes.) In the end, we were all fighting for our health and there was no shame. Asking for help is the best sign that things will turn around for you too! I found an affordable therapist in psychologytoday.com It sounds like insurance might cover yours through your clinic. I had to pay out of pocket but it was well worth it.

Several good possibilities above but also consider this. It is copied from Google AI because I couldn’t think of the words to describe it. “ “Glycogen storage: When you drastically reduce carbs, your body depletes glycogen stores, which are stored with water. When you reintroduce even a small amount of carbs, your body quickly replenishes glycogen, leading to temporary weight gain due to water retention” I know this happens to me. I eat low-ish good quality carbs and then when I have like one cookie it seems like I gained 3-4 pounds and I panic but it always goes back down.

Been drinking green tea for about 24 years now and believe me it never did a thing to help with my losing weight. Was drinking it when I had my greatest weight gain periods. Only reason people may notice a little weight loss over time is you drink it plain without extras so no milk, cream, creamers, syrups, sugar, honey, etc. that many add to their coffee so fewer calories. I began drinking green tea for one reason: caffeine was kicking my butt specifically sleep issues & reflux. Tried decaf for a while but felt it was a sacrilege and it would make me a little nauseous. Interestingly the smell of the leftover coffee dregs in a cup turned my tummy too. I also thought if I get any anti oxidant benefits yay but not really a factor. I enjoy it. However, I don’t like the grassy, grainy texture of matcha nor any of the green and fruit blends: bit of a purist. Don’t miss coffee at all. Not all green teas are the same in regards to caffeine content but generally it’s about 1/4 the caffeine as coffee or black tea. So if I have a cup/mug too late it can affect my sleep as it will if I drink more than two a day. Personally I prefer Tea2 green teas (sencha and Buddha’s tears). I believe you can but them online in the US. They have a cleaner taste and tend not to get that bitter dry taste that some brands do. Note the tea bags are large and a single bag gives me a good strong 450ml (almost 2cups) mug. Funny story: Back about 20 years ago, my hairdresser asked an apprentice to make me a cup of green tea. He went out the back & was gone for a little while. He returned and asked how do you make tea green? He was being serious. Still makes me chuckle. Never forgotten his name either: Luke. Bless him.

Did anyone gain when you first started eating solid and how much did you gain?

So another win is running 5k nonstop . Since my very bad ankle injury 2.5 years ago (which caused half my weight gain to obesity), even walking was a challenge. Since losing the weight I have taken up jogging again and I can run up to 5K nonstop (my endurance can take me to 10k easily however my ankle starts to throb). Another win, I might not end up needing that ankle surgery I've been delaying, Let's see.

Only you can decide if surgery is right for you, but if you are obese, you overeat... full stop. One fundamental rule of weight loss is that you cannot break the laws of thermodynamics. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you'll lose weight and if you eat more calories than you burn, you'll gain weight. I know some people don't like to hear that, or think it doesn't apply to them, but physics is physics. You can't add body mass unless those calories are in excess of the number your body needs to keep you alive. Look at it like this: your body burns a certain number of calories per day. It's not exactly the same every day, but for most folks, it stays fairly consistent. The problem is in your case, you stated you only eat 1400 calories a day. That number alone is completely meaningless. Because weight loss, weight maintenance, or weight gain are all about energy balance, you also have to also know how many calories you burn in a day. If you are gaining weight on 1400 calories per day, there are only two possibilities: You are underestimating how much you actually eat. I know you probably think you're being accurate, but underestimation is incredibly common. Study after study shows that almost everyone underestimates how much they actually eat, even if they think they are accurately measuring everything. Part of that is measurement error, part is variation in foods, part is failure to count certain parts of a meal, part is "eyeballing" foods, and part is due to inaccurate calorie listings. The bottom line is that calorie counting is hard and often not nearly as accurate as we like to think. You may have an exceptionally low resting metabolic rate. As I said, 1400 calories consumed per day is irrelevant because you don't actually know how many calories you burn in a day. Since the basic principle here is you have to consume less than you burn per day to lose weight, 1400 calories consumed doesn't matter if you don't also know how many calories you are burning. Let's move on to how surgery works. Bariatric surgery works primarily by simply limiting how much someone can eat. Yes, there are also hormonal changes, but those are about satiety, so in your case, those may be less important. There is also some reduction in intake calories through reduced absorption (yes, even in sleeve surgery), but that's a fairly minor component overall. At the end of the day, this is no different than weight loss drugs like GLP-1s, or even diets. They are all designed to reduce calorie intake. If you truly have no problems dieting, then it sounds like you need to just reduce your calorie intake until you start losing at a sustainable rate. You need to forget what someone may have told you about how many calories you're "supposed to" eat to lose weight, because it sounds like that whatever that number was, it's not the correct number for you. Once you're losing at about a 2-3% per month rate, just stay there until you reach your goal weight. This should be simple for you since you said you have no problems sticking to a diet. Best of luck.

I'm an old VSG Vet, had my surgery in 2014. Initially lost a successful amount of weight. had some serious 'life' events- change of job, change to night shift, loss of parent, went to grad school and graduated, went to a second grad program, changed career path, etc. I was told in 2017 I had a serious metabolic issue with my liver and that helped me really get focused, went to keto and lost all the regain I had plus much more, resulting in 100lb total loss. Since then, though, I've regained probably 50-60 lbs. I still feel some restriction which is great. Long time issue has been GERD, it was severe PRE surgery but my quite renowned surgeon assured me that with the weight loss, the GERD would subside. It did. But with the weight gain over last 2 yrs, it's back and BAD. I have EGD and colonoscopy coming up in a few weeks to assess the damage. I'm very scared due to the ongoing severe nature of the symptoms I'm having. I'm a healthcare provider so I know all of the 'things' that could present. Because of all this, I'm heavily considering a revision. I have been on PPI for over 20 years. While my magnesium is fine, my bones are already having a lot of issues AND I'm scared to death of the brain effects. What should I consider with revision, same doctor, different doctor, etc? Also I know that weight loss can be slower, but what type of rate of weight loss can be expected? Lastly, what kind of time off from my career can I hope for? I took 6 solid weeks with my VSG and it helped get my brain, behaviors etc really corrected before going back into the workplace.

Hi! I’m Emily, new here, so pardon me if this question has been answered more than once, or not in the right category. I swear I’ve looked all over for answers prior to asking. I have my first appt. With the surgeon Monday to begin the 6 month pre op program. I vape, well, stopped yesterday and I’m using patches and gum to wean off before end of July. I was doing well mentally until I learned that quitting almost always causes weight gain. Minimum of 5-10 pounds. I was told by a friend that I cannot gain any weight during the 6 month process but don’t have to lose a certain amount ( she went to the same surgeon I’m seeing) I am also learning how to eat better on top of all of this, and I’m so scared that when I quit nicotine all together, it’s going to inevitably cause weight gain. I don’t want to be kicked out of the program as soon as I start because of this. Would it be better to wait until I absolutely have to quit? Maybe that’s a stupid question. I just need encouraging words, anybody that has been down this path of quitting, whether you instead waited to quit a month or two before surgery, etc. I am so serious about taking my health back, and it’s hard enough to learn to cool and eat right without having to stress about this too. please help 🥺 thank you in advance! ps. Maybe this is trivial, maybe it’s not a big a deal as I’m making it, but even a fraction of a pound I gain could get me kicked out of the program.

Semaglutide (and other various GLP-1 agonists) effectiveness can be dose dependent. 4 weeks is likely not long enough to see changes especially if you are still at the starting dose. Here’s a link with some decent easy to understand info: https://www.richlandmd.com/cosmetic/semaglutide-dose-for-weight-loss/ Also these meds are used in conjunction with lifestyle modifications. According to a meta analysis reviewing multiple trials “We observed that aside from the administration of semaglutide, reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity were also part of the intervention. Hence, semaglutide alone probably will not be able to achieve an 11.85% weight loss” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9758543/ Take a look at your early post op diet plan and give that a try again. If you didn’t have one, I can share that mine was protein forward (80g minimum) with minimal carbs (under 50 g and mostly complex) and low fat (20g) and almost no calories from drinks unless they are protein shakes. *edited to add: These meds can cause constipation so any weight gain could be due to that You really should consider checking in with the prescribing/administering physician to ask about your progress. Best of luck!

Had my pre-op and it was A LOT! I was there for 2.5hours and I know that the surgeon has to be clinical with speaking about what is possible or not. It ended up being a little bit more money due to needing an Internal bra. He said that with the weight gain, weight loss, and breastfeeding two children my skin is thin and without the internal bra he would not do the surgery as the implant would move and be unsuccessful. I am getting 495cc high profile, he said this size would get the size that I want and he feels good about this size healing and looking good. He is one of the best of the best and has been doing this for over 35yrs so I trust him but it was a long appointment and being told that I needed extra things to make this successful because my skin sucked just was shitty to hear and hard when I pick apart myself every single day (which I know is not healthy). Now that the appointment is over and I had a day to stew- I am confident that I will look how I want and getting excited to get them done in 17days!

Many of you know my story. Was two months shy of turning 54 in 2019 when I got my sleeve. Lost all my weight & more and was successfully maintaining that low weight. I began gaining weight from puberty: about a stone a year. Then I started my 60-75kg weight diet/regain swing from my early 20s until peri menopause & menopause hit and then seemingly overnight I was 91kg. Nothing I did moved that weight. Hence my decision to get a sleeve. I experienced some weight regain (good 2 almost 3 kgs) almost 4 yrs ago after I had my gall removed. We worked out I had an absorption issue and wasn’t absorbing protein well or it turned out my HRT tablet (hot flushes, etc. had returned). Switched to a patch and lost the weight without doing anything & no menopause symptoms. Had a hysterectomy in September 2024 & then couldn’t access the HRT patch I was using (damn supply chain issues) & this is when my body turned against me again. ALL my menopausal symptoms returned: hot flushes, night sweats, poor sleep, headaches, creaky joints, acne, etc. & weight gain. Only three kgs so far but that’s in the last three months. And so here we go again. My body working against me. Since this regain began in January (used my last HRT patch in December & was my usual weight at the end of Dec) I’ve made some modifications to my eating. Dropped a snack, reduced some portions (which were still only recommended portion size or a little less). I eat pretty carefully anyway & stick closely to my plan of eating. Was eating about 1600 calories a day and now am probably at about 1300/1400. So at the very least I should have slowed the regain but nope. It’s scary & upsetting. I recognise it as being how my body & my hormones work (or don’t work!) but that doesn’t help. My doctor is trying to help me sort out alternative HRT but nothing is working yet as it all involves at least taking one tablet. I wish I was completely past all this hormone crap & I wish supply chain issues for pharmaceuticals were a thing of the past for everyone affected. I so wanted to be my maintained slim self when I turned 60 in 4 months. I always have been overweight at significant birthdays. This one was going to be different. The way I’m going I’ll be a stone heavier. Not overweight but more than I want to be & have been happy at. Very sad face.

It's been 5 years since my gastric bypass. Have done fairly well in staying in my safe zone. My goal weight was 170 initially although mentally I wanted to put 150. After starting at almost 400 lbs, I wanted to see if I could even hit 170 which I did. For 2 days about 2 years ago I briefly 'dipped' down to 167! LOL. Fast forward to 9 months ago, I hit a rough patch and went up to 180'ish. I knew some folks going to a local place that compounded their own semiglutide if I understood them correctly. After asking repeated questions about whether taking this would disrupt the supply to diabetics who needed the medicine, I decided to try it. I was never one of those fortunate ones who after bariatic surgery lost the desire to eat (grehlin?). Even though I obviously had the 'restriction' kicking in due to the pouch size, I had to white-knuckle SOMETIMES during the first 6 months. Part of me feels like I cheated by introducing semiglutide but there are also people who think that weight loss surgery is the 'easy way out'. I can tell you that none of those people, in my opinion, have ever had the surgery. I actually really like the semiglutide, it removes the..trying to think of it as I saw on someone else's post, it is the first thing that has ever removed the mental 'food chatter' in my head. Sometimes I will skip weeks on the injections and I'm already making plans to taper off now that I'm down to 163. I realize I will need to be able to then try to maintain in my new 'safety zone of watching for a weight gain of more than 5 to 10 lbs over current weight. I like to nip those things in the bud. Just curious if anyone else post weight loss surgery (by years) has brought semiglutide into the picture whether to break up a stall, or to get weight gain that has started to creep up halted.

Ugh. It pisses me off when doctors make any of us feel like some number they come up with is applicable to each of us when even we know that all of our bodies are unique and the complexity of obesity. A weight difference of three pounds could be ANYTHING!! i know this is a little different because it chemo but it’s really not because like anything it’s not true weight gain so an example is when I come home from chemo I weigh about 6-7 pounds more than I did that morning and the next day. But everytime, the following day I drop it all. I don’t understand the science but it’s something to do with inflammation that any of us could have for various reasons to some degree. Also three pounds I know for a fact I have lost from a bowel movement. I always weigh myself first thing in the morning and I weigh about 3-4 pounds less than if I weight myself later in the day. . Long story short three pounds is absolutely nothing to stress about and if your doctor does then either smile and nod and tell them you will do better or express how ignorant they are being but whatever you do, DO NOT let that get under your skin!! Your loss is incredible. As @Justarwaxx suggested, Don’t let anyone negate how hard you have worked. Instead Celebrate your amazing progress and if anything use his or her ignorance to fuel you and keep going. 100 pounds is absolutely Amazing and takes real lifestyle changes to accomplish. All you have to do at this point is to stick with it and the rest will come off in a matter of time. The time may vary person to person but it will happen. You’ve got this!!

Hey all, Thank you for your lovely comments ❤️ I genuinely appreciate every single one of them. I'm still in a bit of a slump at the moment! I have gained for the first time in my weight loss journey (albeit just 1lbs at the moment but still), my weight doesn't seem to be shifting down currently. I also bumped into a friend today who said: "you are looking so much better"...like...okay... I hope this mood/weight gain/stall goes away soon x

I have already had my Psychiatrist evaluation and the ok letter plus 3 others, I had to get. My first visit to my new psychiatrist was my one he used to okay me! We started at the beginning since he was new. We didn’t really cover a lot about the surgery but I did tell him about it in the beginning. I’ve been depressed, anxiety and grief since 2005. But no problem getting letter! Actually that’s when my weight gain started with behavioral meds.

Hey there... How's the weight gain going then? I've had MGP 2 years ago and have been on the skinny side for way too long. Can't believe I'm trying to find solutions to gain weight now...

so a quick google states that a weight loss "stall" or "plateau" is 4 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS of no weight gain NOR loss while on a CONSISTENT calorie intake. basically, this means netting the SAME average amount of calories (intake less expenditure) for 4 weeks and staying at the same weight for said 4 weeks. this generally means that you have reached an equilibrium with your intake (calories) and your expenditure (activity). which means you either have to reduce your intake or increase your expenditure to restart a downward trend. the inverse of this is also true: increase your intake or decrease your expenditure, and you will GAIN weight. sooooo...if you are below 4 weeks of the scale not moving (in conjunction of your measurements not reducing), then stay the course...you are in a stall. if you are ABOVE 4 weeks of the scale (and measurements) not moving, then this would indicate the time to start re-evaluating your lifestyle IF you want to lose more...you are in a plateau. if you are happy with your current lifestyle, and just don't want nor need to make changes, then is a matter of accepting yourself as you are now. ain't nothing wrong with that! not everyone gets to their arbitrary goal weight. and those that do, the majority don't even stay there. find the weight that you are cool with expending the effort to maintain. it's different for everybody. good luck! ❤️

Has anybody else seen weight gain after surgery? I’ve been a little lazy to count my macros or weigh myself daily, but I did today and noticed I’ve gained 3 pounds. It’s so weird.

ok, so not gonna lie, mr. told me years ago he missed my ginormous boobs, i had huge boobs even as a thin thing (i actually got a breast reduction when i was 29 because of chronic back pain (i was like 130 lbs at the time). but even after the breast reduction, they were still pretty ample. then the weight gain started and they became the size of my head (EACH!) lol. mr. was in heaven. fast forward to WLS and the resultant deflated balloons, but Mr. was still satisfied with the "handfuls" he could grope. ....then i had a breast lift, which removed the excess skin and tightened them up all nice and firm (and made them smaller). I LOVE THEM OMG. but Mr. went into a mini-mourning....i'm like a 29C right now, jeez...that still respectable! ...BUT he did say that the re-ingintion of my "adventurism" during sexy times more than makes up for HIS perception of my smaller boobs. plus he has also commented many that my confidence and all around relaxed attitude is GOLD. sooo...long story short. boobs or not, its all in the ATTITUDE.

A nice, positive week last week 🙂 Weight gain - gone with a couple of extra pounds thrown in for good measure. Our anniversary dinner was lovely. As autumn has hit with a vengeance (non-stop rain and cold 🙄) the dress I was going to wear was relegated back to the wardrobe so I bought a smaller sized top and IT FIT!! I was so pleased. I was able to wear a nice set of underwear, a skirt I couldn’t get over either my stomach or my arse a couple of months ago and a smaller top and dressy jacket. I’ll be honest, it felt wonderful to be in smaller sizes and not feel that I was trussed up like a chicken in clothing that was too tight or something that didn’t really suit me. I didn’t even have to wear pully-in control knickers - the shock!!😮 I called the Bariatric admin on Friday, just to enquire about the MDT etc and was told that it was around a 3 month wait to go to the MDT. This should be around the beginning of December. At least I know now so can stop wondering. I will just carry on with what I’m doing presently and wait for the next steps on the WLS journey 🙂 Went back to the gym today and really enjoyed it. I upped my levels and really felt the difference. Will see if I can get out of bed without crying tomorrow, just to make sure I didn’t overdo it! Hope everyone has a wonderful week! Onwards & Downwards 🥳

@AmberFL Thanks for the additional detail! I agree with @ShoppGirl that localized swelling and postoperative edema may be causing a lot of your gain. I do also totally understand the concerns, though! I recently had a procedure done on my proximal hamstring to treat a partial tear. While not nearly on the same scale as your plastic surgery, I wasn't able to workout at all for a full month and even now almost 2 months later, I'm still having to ramp back up really slowly. For example, I'm still not allowed to do any lower body strength training and my running mileage is only at about 50% of where it was before the procedure. Like you, I also saw my weight go up during this time. Even though I knew edema was the likely initial cause, it still messes with your head. This was especially true for me because my workouts are frankly a form of therapy for me. It felt like a double blow. It really sounds like you've got the diet mostly dialed in for now. I suspect one of 2 things will happen as you heal. The most likely eventuality is that your swelling and edema goes down and you find you're happy with where you're at weight wise. If so, be sure to up your calories as your workouts resume. If you find that you are a little heavier than your ideal, then no worries. Once you are working out again, the easiest solution would to only eat back about 50%-75% of your workout calories. This will be slower, but is super sustainable, compared to a drastic cut in calories that would get you leaner quickly, but is also a lot more likely to cause some rebound weight gain. I also noticed something you said in an earlier post and I wanted to commend you for it. You mentioned something about maintaining around 1700-2000 calories. This is something a lot of people don't understand, but you can successfully maintain across a range of calories. Many people think they've got to be EXACTLY at a certain number to maintain. That's just not true. The reason is that most people will subconsciously be a little more active when the calories are higher and a little less when they are lower. Please check in every few weeks and let us know how it's going? I'm sure you'll do great, be we are always here to help if needed.

Taking care of your mental health doesn't have to cost money. You can talk openly with trusted friends or family about your body image issues and low self-esteem. Or you can post here in this forum where you will find hundreds of people who share a lived experience of navigating the world in larger bodies. You can heck self-help books out of the library. Or buy a notebook from the dollar store and start journaling about your thoughts. You can meditate with the help of free YouTube videos. Or listen to relevant podcasts. You can find free sources of help if it's important to you and you want to make a change. Then again, I don't know you, so I could be completely misreading the situation. You can ignore this advice if you think I'm wrong, or if you just don't think anything I've suggested is worth trying. But after reading your original post, I thought it was important to say that if you can't immediately reverse your weight gain, it doesn't mean your life can't be really good.

I can bend, stoop and squat to tie my shoes while fully supporting my weight without having to bend forward (if that makes sense?). Before WLS, I suffered a very bad foot injury that caused a lot of my weight gain, one of the things I couldn't do is squat and tie my kids shoes or mine, had to either sit down and do it or bend my body forward with my backside for the whole world to see (not very demure nor mindful LOL). My Achilles can now support my weight squatting down and my knee caps don't feel like they're going to pop out of their places. I can also sit kneeling down and not feel immense pain and tightness. My knees feel much lighter and my injured foot feels much better too.

Best advice is to go back to how & what you were eating when you reached your stabilised weight. This was likely the calories and nutritions you needed at that weight. However a bounce back regain isn’t that uncommon. It’s like your body hits a low point but it was actually too low & then you gain a little & your body bobs up to get to what is actually your new set point & where your body is happiest. Check to see if you’ve let a few things slip like with your food or drink choices or or you’ve not been as vigilant about portion sizes, calories, activity, etc. It’s easy to get a bit over confident or complacent with our choices & behaviours. And life sometimes gets in the way of our best intentions. Unfortunately too, many medications, like those you may be on for your depression, can contribute to weight gain. Worth a conversation with your prescribing doctor to see if there are alternatives & also your surgeon to discuss your options to manage it.