Search the Community

there's really no normal. People lose weight at all different rates for all different reasons (age, gender, metabolic level, body composition, activity level, starting BMI, whether or not they lost weight before surgery, etc). Plus a lot of people gain weight during their hospital stay because of the IV fluids (some gain 10 or more lbs, in fact), and it can take up to a week to get rid of that. And then there's the infamous "three-week stall", which most people go through sometime within the first month or so of surgery - usually the third week, but not always -- and sometimes it comes early. I had my early stall during weeks 2 & 3. So...it's hard to tell. I would say most people lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb the first MONTH of surgery (you'll find some who lose more or less than that, but that range seems to be the norm), but it's all across the board the first week or two...

Healthy fats. Or more protein. I almost never eat junk food, but I eat healthy fats now (in my case, I gained too much and now want to lose 10 lbs - which is hard as heck when you're a ways out and at or near normal weight, so be careful what you wish for!!!). I do eat healthy fats, fiber, and/or protein when I'm really hungry, though, as those keep me going for awhile. Fats would include full-fat dairy, nuts or nut butters, avocado... I don't worry about macros anymore. I just make sure I get all my protein in every day.

So I have been in this situation before where I have decided that I do want the surgery then backed out. So I have been for a consultation this past Monday. I am 5'10", 220lbs so my bmi is 32ish. I take medicine for diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I would have to be self pay even with the comorbidities. Its $10,000 @ Alabama Weight Loss which is near where I live. I have been reading where some people dont feel the restriction after surgery and its easy to eat anything. Should I save the 10 grand and maybe try the preop diet to jump start weight loss then do a high protein low to zero carb diet? So on the fence about this. I was sure my mind was made up this time.

I just had to lose 10 lbs the month before surgery. Lost 19. Obviously arrived on the day of surgery on an empty stomach, but that's required for all surgery where they put you under. My doc said my liver had shrunk considerably, and dryly said "so you did yours, we did ours. The rest is up to you, buddy!".

Mine was 10 days of protein shakes only, with the last day being clear liquids. It was probably the hardest part of the whole process for me.

Thank y’all so much for responding. My surgical team was not in office today, as it’s Mardi Gras holiday plus severe ice storm here in Louisiana, so the whole surgery center is closed. My mom (who was sleeved one week prior to me, 2/3/21) is having such a smooth sailing recovery, 34 years my senior, and it’s making me feel so discouraged. I got some popsicles today and that seemed to be the most pleasant way to get the liquids in, until halfway through the first one my pouch started burning like it had been lit on fire. So now I’m back at square 1. With my little medicine dropper and my room temp water/G0 mix! Tomorrow makes a week out, and on our program we can go to Protein pudding and creamy Soup, and I just don’t even see how that’s in the realm of possibility for me now! Hopefully Doc and the NUT call me back first thing tomorrow, I really don’t want to end up back in with IV fluids!! They blew 6 stick sites while I was there last week Thanks again for replying y’all! This misery is tilting me towards buyers remorse mentality and I don’t want to be there, I just want to get over the hump!!! Hey ! I was sleeved on the 10th too. My first week I haven’t put more than 8-10 oz of water honestly. Unfortunately you couldn’t handle the pop that’s what I have been replying on and jello. I’m sorry you are having a bad time I hope they answer quick and even if they have to it you better than nothing and dehydrating hopefully it’s better for you. I threw up all first day including not coming out the anesthesia for over 4-5 hours and throwing up blood and then just whatever was in there lol besides being allergic to the glue they put over my incisions and being on Benadryl now cuz it’s a bad bad rash and itching lol. I honestly hope you get better. The popsicle should have been good since you would dissolve it in your mouth first tiny pieces and it goes down smoother than a sip of water but I’m sorry it didn’t work. Hoping you get better and answers tomorrow.

This is a reply I gave someone about the food loss portion of their post I think it might help you with the being depressed over food. I was a 36 BMI so I’m considered not part of the high club and most people would say I shouldn’t have gotten it which is why only about 5 people know about it and I won’t tell anyone else. I don’t need the Criticism while I recover. “ I’m only one week post op but I can tell you this if you are reading this. The food restrictions how we overthink them aren’t really all that I know we think we will never eat certain foods but there are so many options for those of those that love food. Health is number one but if you google, Pinterest or even just ask there are so many good recipes and substitutes for meals that you can still enjoy the same. Yes we are eating less and not binge eating but it shouldn’t be like that regardless first week has been hard for me but I have spent the time I have no work planning out and researching basically a lifetime of changes. I follow people on social media that have been 1,2,3,4 even 10 years post op and they have their journeys up and what they eat and how they feel and it made me feel great. Even BariatricPal has items that resemble the real thing but are tailored to us. I know it’s not the post you all want to see it is more tailored to the part in your post were you might think you will suffer over food. Honestly I love penne vodka and Pasta and I know I can’t eat a whole plate how I used to but I found ways to replicate good recipes with low carb Keto or no sugar items.”

I honestly can’t be of help for future since I’m only one week post op but I can tell you this if you are reading this. The food restrictions how we overthink them aren’t really all that I know we think we will never eat certain foods but there are so many options for those of those that love food. Health is number one but if you google, Pinterest or even just ask there are so many good recipes and substitutes for meals that you can still enjoy the same. Yes we are eating less and not binge eating but it shouldn’t be like that regardless first week has been hard for me but I have spent the time I have no work planning out and researching basically a lifetime of changes. I follow people on social media that have been 1,2,3,4 even 10 years post op and they have their journeys up and what they eat and how they feel and it made me feel great. Even BariatricPal has items that resemble the real thing but are tailored to us. I know it’s not the post you all want to see it is more tailored to the part in your post were you might think you will suffer over food. Honestly I love penne vodka and pasta and I know I can’t eat a whole plate how I used to but I found ways to replicate good recipes with low carb keto or no sugar items. Hope you make the decision that feels good for you and that helps you. Just remember don’t rush it.

I love being able to ‘dress’ but I also love coming home to my comfy, knit/stretch pants, shorts & dresses. Went to dinner last night & took ages to find something to wear - yeah I get the irony. The going out things I wore last summer are too big & literally falling off. Losing 10 kg is truely dropping two dress sizes! I don’t know whether to celebrate or cry. Looks like I need to refine my wardrobe again sigh! Had appointment with my glaucoma specialist today so I got to ‘dress’. My doctor is simply delightful & a real gentleman. He’s about 70 & I fear every time I visit he’ll tell me he’s retiring. Today he made me a cup of tea & showed me clips from his favourite Bollywood movies in between all the eye tests. 😆 Now I’m home, having another cup of tea, in a knit dress (summer here whoo hoo), on my couch, watching a repeat My 600lb Life & reading this forum - perfect marriage. Love the toe nail polish Ms SSS - perfect colour. Hope the toe gets better soon.

Hello! Most people say I don’t need it... but It Has been a constant struggle to lose weight and sometimes losing it but not being able to keep it off since I was a teenager. I’m 34 years old and making the decision now to be able to snap back and heal properly. My BMI is 30. Having surgery on March 19 in Mexico, I’m Mexican living in the US. I do have insurance but I don’t qualify because of my low BMI so I decided to get it in Mexico. I’m super excited but nervous at the same time. I guess is just the general surgery nervousness but also not knowing how is it going to be after surgery. One of my concerns is being depressed about not being able to eat and enjoy food as I do right now... can anyone relate? I know is silly but it’s true.

I'm in the pureed food stage and for lunch I had chicken salad. I had it for dinner yesterday and it was ok. Today, I guess was a lesson to LISTEN to my baby sleeve because it was about 3/4 through my portion that I started to feel full-ish. Since the amount I'm allowed is so tiny, I just didn't relate it to being enough or full. About 15 minutes later I had awful hiccups that wouldn't calm down and then the foamies. Is it still considered the foamies if there was some barf too? The uncomfortable feelings and hiccups stopped immediately after. Then about 10 minutes later my son and I were leaving the grocery store and I got hiccups again and then I felt it coming up again. I had to have him pull over and more foamie/barf. UGH. Lesson learned.

I lost all my excess weight after being sleeved in 2010 and got 20 pounds below my original goal: 256 >> 155 >> 132. A few years later I settled in at 155ish and maintained there until menopause when I had to work with my doctor fight back to 155 from about 170. I stayed 155ish until injury + anti-depressents followed by Covid and I ballooned up to 195. Yikes! Like others have said, getting back to the basics with protein first and no slider foods reminded me what a great tool a sleeve is. I also decided to do intermittent fasting which works great for me since I have very little hunger. Since I can't eat much, only eating during a 4-6 hour window every day motivates me to eat healthy and keeps my calories low. It also keeps my insulin low so I burn fat well and my metabolism and energy are high. I wasn't happy about all the regain but I'm so glad I had my sleeve to lean on to get me back to eating well and losing. A very good reminder to not let things go more than 5-10 pounds. Hopefully I've learned my lesson!

I think you are correct re the diabetes information. I would guess your numbers may increase some as you have some carbs once you are months out but I would guess not to the point of going back on meds. I was at 300-400 calories the first month and worked up to 500-600 and stayed at that level until month 6. Then I was only 10 pounds form my goal and worried about losing too quickly (I know that sounds insane right!!) so I purposely increased calories about 100/week to hit around 1000. I worked up towards 1200-1400 around the 10 month mark and now at almost 2 years am around 1500/1600 to maintain. Honestly that seems a little high compared to what others on here say but it keeps me at my comfortable weight. According to the BMi chart I could lose another 10 pounds but I feel like it would make me look too thin and bony ( also crazy to think that would ever be a thought re. my body). If I see my weight trending up 2-3 then I set a goal of 1200 (but usually log around 1300-1400) and that will get me down those 2 pounds within 1-2 weeks. I do think that wont be as easy in another 6-12 months as I am out of the honeymoon phase so I keep logging food/calories religiously. If I see I am low on protein its just a matter of fact thinking ok go get a piece of cheese or drink a glass of milk vs old me would get crackers or chips at the end of the day.

I'm 10 years out. Two eggs scrambled with just is just slightly more than I can fit. But chips, popcorn and icecream? Space seems unlimited. Basically if I stick to the first advice my doctor gave to always eat protein first I'm very full and can't eat again for quite awhile. My capacity hasn't changed in years.

Hey, I hired a lawyer 2014 (had my band emergency removed 2012). After meeting a ton of lawyers the retainers all range between $8-10K unfortunately. I am happy to ask my lawyer if he knows anyone who would take this case on as a contingency fee. I will say that the retainer covers more than just their time, they set up doctors appointments and get specialist from all over to review your case and write reports. So it may be harder to find a lawyer to take this on with no retainer...plus I was told by many lawyers I talked to that medical malpractice cases take on average 8-10 years.

Oh Salmon burgers sound so good. I am going to have to check it out. I have a Trader Joes like 10 minutes from my house. TY for the idea.

I started early February of last year. I had surgery 11/10. First appt was available in March, six monitored visits April-September plus dietician psych, a class, insurance submitted end of September and got my approval early October.

My story has been a journey and has a lot of ups and downs. Hopefully I can convey all that I can remember. When I was young I was always large. The youngest that I remember my weight was when I was in 8th grade and was 4'8" and 180lbs. In 10th grade I was 5'6" and 220 lbs and that was might high weight then. I went on medication for ADHD shortly after this time and I dropped down to 175lb and graduated high school smaller than when I went in. Throughout the years following I fluctuated considerably and went between 220 and 175 until I met my wife. Shortly after marriage I had a construction job and dropped to 145lbs. That is the lowest that I have been in my adult life. I have struggled quite a bit with Binge eating and it has affected my relationship with food. In the 14 years since I was 145lb I gained every year and grew to 280lbs. Of course there were times that I dieted and lost weight and times where I was able to maintain my weight but it has been a constant struggle since childhood. My entire family is obese and I have never seen my mother at a healthy weight. Her health issues are one of the reasons why I choose to have bariatric surgery. In fact, my older brother had bariatric surgery about 14 months ago. With all of the health issues that my family has faced, I had to change my mindset of how I ate. Over the recent last few years I have fluctuated between 280 down to 240 and then back again. When I was at my highest weight I lost a job and that affected me mentally quite a bit. I went into quite the depression and finally sought help. This psychologist has changed my life in a way I was never able to achieve. She was able to help diagnose the Binge eating disorder and re-diagnosed me with ADHD. This was the start of my change in my relationship with food. Along with the binge eating, I also never had a sense of fullness or hunger. If I chose I could go without food all day long. Most days though I would eat all day and never calculated how many calories that I ate. At night I would also go back and eat and then shortly after would go and eat more. This was a bad cycle that I have been working on breaking and the diagnosis has helped me with this. 12 months ago I weighed in at 280. After the diagnosis and medication to help, I started to lose weight. I was able to get down and maintain between 250 and 260lbs, just by removing the extra snacking that I was doing during the day. Last June, my wife and I started to have some health issues and we sought treatment for them. I had a hand injury and started to go to therapy for this and my wife had swollen joints and started to get tests to figure out what was going on. My wife and I have both been large and have sibling who are also obese. By August we were able to get a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis for my wife. After the therapy sessions, I was not getting better and by September I had surgery to resolve my hand issues. At the time of my surgery my wife and I had determined that we should look into and pursue Bariatric surgery if we could as we were told this may help with her symptoms. We found a surgeon and proceeded with getting approved. Since we had done medically supervised diets already, we were able to take this previous diets and apply them to our application for insurance approval. By October, only one month after meeting the surgeon we had our endoscopy and were finalizing the requirements. We were able to submit to insurance shortly after this and were approved within 1 week. On November 11th, 2020 my wife and I both had the gastric sleeve surgery. It has been quite the journey so far. During the Pre-op diet we both lost over 16 lbs. After surgery we have both been about on pace with each other with weight loss. In the previous year, I am closing 100lbs of weight loss since I lost ~20 lbs before I had the surgery. My wife and I are at weights that we have not seen in over 10 years now and are working toward keeping it off. My wife still has quite a bit more to go and I am approaching maintenance weight very quickly and could be at my maintenance weight in the next month or so if the weight loss continues at the rate it is going. The good news is that the health of my wife has improved significantly since surgery and we have both been able to do more physically than we were able to do in a very long time. We are ready for what the future holds for us and are working together to make this lifestyle a success.

mmy, I hope you found some helpful strategies that is working for you. I had never heard of SIBO until this past Friday. My surgery was in July 2017 but prior to that I was suffering from lactose intolerance, was diagnosed with intolerance to gluten, allergic to shell fish and had esophagitis from GERD . I stopped eating those foods gradually but still had issues and was on acid reflux meds. Every time I eliminated one thing something else gave me issues. After my surgery, I was doing ok for the most part until last year when the bloating started. This was followed by painful gas and irregular bowel movements. I got an Endoscopy and Colonoscopy which revealed that I had a couple of polyps in my large intestine but weirdly, one in my small intestine. Even though the Gastroenterologist said my Pancreas was ok and my enzymes were normal, I was prescribed Kreon because I didn't have enough enzymes to digest my food. So he said. I was also told to take probiotics and take in more fiber. This was in October 2020. Some of my symptoms improved as long as I was taking the Kreon with everything I put in my mouth. At my next follow up, I asked why was taking enzymes everyday if my levels are ok and my pancreas is fine but all my symptoms had not improved? I was basically told to not look a gifted horse in the mouth, my symptom are better so be grateful. I followed up with my GP and she was not having it. She got me a referral for a second opinion. The new GI doc asked me a lot of questions and was very informative. He told me that my long history with taking meds for GERD combined with the RYN may have made me candidate for SIBO. I'm waiting for appointments to get some tests and labs done. I often borrow books from my local library about inflammation and gut issues but I rarely crack them open because I already decided that the advice would not work for me. But after my visit with the new GI doc, I searched the index of each book. Bloated Belly Whisperer by Tamara Duker Freuman has a whole chapter on SIBO (chapter eight) that eye opening for me. I'm a little bit more encouraged that there is a possible treatment for my issues. Through my journey so far, I've found that older doctors treat me poorly when they find out that I had RNY. It's almost like they are telling my that I deserve any issues I get. I don't want to self diagnose but I can't sit back and continue to be miserable. Now I pay attention to what I'm eating, I find it difficult at times to give up certain foods. It took me 10 years to give up dairy. I developed upper respiratory infections after a while, but I couldn't give up the brie and the ice cream until I had one last bout with Bronchitis. I don't miss foods that are harmful to me, I can walk by them now with no problem. But when everything I eat is a problem, even a glass of water, I'm going to keep looking for a solution. Keep fighting mmy.

If you don’t like artificial sweeteners maybe go with natural? Adding fresh fruit to your water? They sell defuser water bottles on Amazon for like $10

Sorry this is kindof long, I’m at a loss and need some advice/encouragement. Hi all, Im a newb! Was just sleeved on 2/10/21 and have had a horrible recovery. I was in the hospital for 4 days and threw up for 72 hours. That was fun /: I’m finally home and I am struggling majorly with getting fluids to go down. It sits under my sternum and eventually ends up behind my molars trying to come back up. I first thought it was my sip size. But I have resorted to a very very small dropper where I’m literally dropping less than 10 mls of liquid down the back of my throat and letting it go down. It took me 3 hours to drink 8 oz today. I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else? It feels like the passage way for the water/broth to go down is the size of a human hair and it just pools in my chest. Leaving me sitting straight up, hardly breathing for 30-45 min because I can’t inflate my lungs from the “fullness.” I’m worried because I’m only getting 30-40 oz of fluid max, and my calories are less than 50/day. I’m not so much worried about protein at the moment, as I am staying functional. I have already lost almost 12 lbs since the morning of sx. Any advice is so very appreciated! And Happy Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday from the Bayou State! (First time in 28 years I didn’t have a single piece of king cake )

I was always hourglass shaped. Still am but the difference between my breast, waist & hip measurement is much smaller. Have a friend who is an inverted triangle. Was size 18 top size 10/12 bottom. She had a breast reduction but was still a size 16 top - can’t change your skeleton. My ass slowly disappeared too but I compared it to Hank Hill. 😁 I’ve noticed there is a little fullness again in the butt region so I do think your remaining fat does redistribute a bit after a while. Still get terrible bony butt pain though. Had to stand at my hairdresser the other day cause the pain was so bad.

@MarvelGirl25!! @MarvelGirl25!! @MarvelGirl25!! Look what I made! Ever since I saw you post that luscious Pernil Roast last year, it has been on my recipe-to-do-list. Finally did the deed today (well, I started 3 days ago, technically), and it turned out pretty darn good. I had cooking-method schizophrenia and kept switching how I was cooking it over a span of 19 hours cuz i just wasn't convinced I was doing it right. Started off in the slow cooker, then I moved it covered to a roasting pan in the oven, then i lifted up out of the liquid on a rack, then I removed the cover, and finally broiled it. The result was melt-in your mouth meat with a crispy crunch skin. I left the citrus juices to the side for self-serve cuz I wasn't sure if the fam would approve and couldn't make myself commit to pouring it over ALL the meat. In any case, I'm not sure I would do this again anytime soon unless I am cooking for a tonne of people...so much effort!!!! We have a good amount of leftovers (but the skin is all gone) so will likely transform it into pulled pork sliders tomorrow. Next up: I'm gonna try my hand at your Estofado de Res! I had 55g of it plus some pineapple salsa (we didn't have any peas nor plantains, so just worked with what I had in the pantry...fam had it with rice): 199 calories. Ate all the pineapple, and about 2/3 of the portioned pork (pork is really filling for me).

yes - I had a lower body lift in August 2018 and an arm lift and breast lift in March 2019. With the latter, he also came down further than usual on his "side boob" incisions (he brought them down to my waist) to get rid of some more of the loose skin that he couldn't get to on my lower body lift (on my back, sides, and up under my ribs on the front).

Mine went quickly. I saw the surgeon for the first time in December 2018 and was originally scheduled for surgery in late February 2019. However, it was postponed to early March due to my surgeon's schedule. I did only the two-week liquid diet right before surgery. I had done a 6-month medically-supervised diet program from January to June of 2019, which I viewed as my last chance to lose the weight without surgery. I managed to lose 20 pounds, all of which was back by December. Fortunately, that program counted for insurance purposes.