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A few things stood out to me about your post. 1137 calories is oddly specific. Since most people can't be that accurate with their food intake, I'm curious why you used this specific number? Can you elaborate? For example, most food logging software is only accurate within about 10% plus or minus, even if you are really meticulous with weighing everything. Keep in mind as well that if you are eating very many processed foods, Manufacturers are given a pretty wide latitude in terms of the listed calories, so those aren't near as accurate is you might think. Most people drastically underestimate their overall calorie consumption by as much as 20 to 25%, even if they are logging their food. There are a number of reasons, but things like guestimating certain amounts, using "average" calorie amounts for some items, and not counting certain types of foods are common errors. In short, you may actually be eating a lot more than you think. I'm also curious how you came to the conclusion that 1137 calories per day is the proper amount for you to lose weight? It's entirely possible your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), is anywhere between say 900 and 1700 calories per day. While BMR is just one component of your overall calorie burn per day, it's typically the largest single component, even if you are super active. If you are only working out 3 days a week, I'd not put you into the super active category. My point is that while it's not super likely, it is possible that you are actually eating at maintenance right now. Especially if you are eating more than you think. (See points one and two.) Scales are a REALLY terrible way to track success since they don't account for variations in other tissues besides fat. Water, which is a huge component of your overall weight can fluctuate dramatically day-to-day. Ask yourself honestly, are your clothes fitting differently? There is a pretty good chance here that you have been losing fat, but made up for it by retaining water in your muscles. This is super common in people when they work out, especially when they start a new fitness routine. There's also a small possibility you are actually adding some muscle mass, especially if you are new to strength training. Muscle is much more dense than fat, so if you gain muscle and lose fat, your clothes will fit better, but you might weigh about the same. My advice is going to sound counter-intuitive, but I'd suggest adding 200-300 calories per day to your diet. Preferably lean protein. Do this for 4 weeks and then reassess where you're at. If you are really currently eating at maintenance (as you might think from weeks of no loss), then you would be expected to gain a tiny bit in the next 4 weeks. If it's as I suspect and you're actually eating too little right now, eating a little more may actually up your metabolic rate as well as change your hormone balance. This could be just the thing to kickstart some fat loss in the next 4 weeks. Best of luck whatever you decide.

I use my highest recorded weight (from my initial consultation) as my starting weight. I lost about 70 pounds before my surgery, and I remember my surgeon saying, "Don't worry, you still get credit for the weight you lost before surgery." At the time, I was mildly annoyed because, in my mind, that meant he was taking credit for the weight I lost without the surgery, but now I understand what he was really saying. I lost over 200 pounds from my highest weight until now, and it was all part of the same process.

@Arabesque hit all the important points. I will reitterate that it's hard to fail the psych approval or any WLS approval really. Honestly, the thoughts you are having are not unusual. Many of us worried about not being approved because we did so much wrong to get to our weight (I was 500 pounds overweight). It doesn't matter. Even knowing this I still fretted over the psych evaluation. I was certain I would be rejected for this life saving surgery. But I fooled them and was approved. You too will be approved. If you believe you can lose your weight and keep it off, then do it. Surgery is forever. Evaluate your history of weight loss attempts, if any. Many of us could lose weight. It was being consistent and maintaining that was the problem. If I honestly believed I could lose the weight and keep it off without WLS I would have done it. But I had 20 years of not being able to do it no matter my beliefs that I could. For me, my comfortable weight is just barely into 'overweight' because I'm tall and I didn't like being a stick (I was 'underweight' for a while). This decission is also all you. It's your body. There is no law that you have to have a normal BMI. Do you. Trust yourself. Tek

Yes! Cycling is awesome. One of my true joys with my weight loss, being able to get out on a bike. I road bike, mountain bike, and have a gravel bike in the process of being built :)

Sorry to butt in as I'm only a little over 10 months post GS but I feel I can share a little of what I'm doing to maintain. I reached my initial goal 3 months post op and continued to lose until about 9 months post op, went much below goal weight and stabilized (I think as I've been the same weight with one +- 1KG fluctuation for 1.5 months). I lost weight very rapidly and the weird thing is, during weight loss I never tracked, I would only check my calorie intake once every 2-3 weeks to see where I'm sitting at but the whole theme was barely eating to survive and insane restriction. Now that I've stabilized I track my intake 3-4 times a week to know where I am at and what daily average intake is. There are non hungry days where I don't bother to track (plus weekends) and days where I'm ravenous and I make sure I track to know. I have also picked up the habit of weighing myself at least a few times a week, sometimes daily or twice a day (during weight loss I weighed once a week only), now at maintenance I weigh more often and only because I never did pre WLS and my weight kept creeping up and I refused to face reality (if I didn't know then it didn't happen). I also believe that what gets measured gets managed. I cook most of my food and eat out about twice a week, I prioritize protein 90% of the time and eat fairly well. I get in at least 140 grams of protein a day but I also don't deprive myself of anything. I eat bread, rice, pasta ,dessert and everything else really, just not in substantial portions and usually after I've gotten my protein in. I workout a lot. Always have and always will and I believe this has been a huge factor in my success so far. I built back all the muscle I lost and I believe my muscles are allowing me to eat much more without worrying about weight gain (I eat between 1500-1900 calories a day, depending on how hungry I am). I walk between 8k-10k steps a day too. Lastly, I have worked out a wriggle room for myself, If I do gain a little of weight then it is no big deal, it does not distress me and I will deal with it when/if it happens. I try my best everyday and I accept that I am not perfect nor do I set unrealistic standards for myself. I also believe maintenance is a mindset shift as much as it's a physical adjustment. Portion control, constant check-ins, daily movement are great habits to build, but also liberating ourselves of food fear and relinquishing the all or nothing sentiment.

@SpartanMaker funny you mentioned your run and how you had to play the why in your head -this morning I woke up at 4am. as I always do. and kept pushing the snooze button, but I knew I had to go the gym and do lower body weight lifting- I knew in order to progress how I am trying to shape my body I needed to do it. So I got up, and did it. As I was working out, I told myself your here, put your game face on and just effing doing it. Probably one of the best lower body workouts I have done in a long time. I am constantly repeating it in my head- glad I could help!

Yea it sounds like you are bigger boned. That’s something I liked to say when I was heavier because it sounded better but I’m really don’t think that I am supposed to carry a lot of weight. My frame is tiny.

In one of my groups I'm in a licensed therapist on the baratric team stated when we see ourselves gaining again, go back to the beginner basics the way we treated our bodies right after weight loss surgery: Go back to those high protein meals/ veggies getting full on that and not snacking and indulging. That stuck with me.

I think my reasoning is because I am low key freaking out because I am *done* losing weight and maintaining and I have never ever ever ever been in this position. Always losing or gaining. So eating close to 2000 calories a day and only being 8months post op, my mind is telling me that I am going to start gaining and this is not sustainable. I have never stayed this active this long either lol Its just a new life that I am not used to, and this week I am panicking (WEIRD!) I am sure that I need to talk to a therapist LOL but you guys are it for me at this moment. 🤣

@Bypass2Freedom I absolutely hate that comment, I get that all the time. Or "Don't loose more weight, your getting too skinny or you look really muscular" I just say no I am normal weight you just have never seen me at this weight so it looks really thin or I am in the best shape of my life, and I worked my ass off so thank you for that! Anyways its annoying AF!

Its not a physical thing, but the most important thing to have is patience. Patience with yourself and patience in the process. Trust the program/process and follow your doctors guidelines. Lastly, give yourself some grace, the weight didn't come on overnight and it won't come off overnight. You will have doubts and mistakes - don't be too hard on yourself, just take it a step at a time and get back up and on the program again. Other than that, there have been numerous forum posts covering your question. You will find tons of advice on actual items etc., if you put in a search for your answers! Congrats on your upcoming surgery and welcome to the forums and a healthier way of life!

I’m only in the beginning stages. I had an orientation and met with the surgeon then was told I’d get an appointment with a nutritionist. I also need to hit my surgery weight, 11 pounds left to lose.

Yes my weight has affected me the majority of my adult life as well. I’m looking forward to living again! Being able to join my sisters on long weekends and my friends too! I have missed out on a lot!

Wow that’s unfortunate but I know there are outliers. My friend lost all her weight really quick (too fast if you ask me) and now the maintenance dose for her is too high. She is having to go off of it because she cants STOP losing and she is getting weak because she can’t eat. I guess most people fall in between these two extremes. Hopefully before long all of these meds will be covered for everyone. They are doing so many studies and learning they work for so many things in addition to weight loss and diabetes. I think it’s just a matter of time 🤞

I remember you!!!! We had gastric sleeve the same day lol. You've done very well with your progress. I see you had to go to a bypass after the sleeve. I got really discouraged because with my sleeve I lost 52 lbs and that was it. I couldnt budge off that. I didnt want to have the bypass done as well so I just bummed around and got discouraged. Gained like 12 lbs and by January 2024 I was seeing another Dr to see if Zepbound would be beneficial for me or not. I started Zepbound by the end of Jan 2024 and so far I have lost an additional 72 lbs so its working better than the sleeve did. So much so I have all this loose skin now to deal with lol. Good to see your posts again!

So as I mentioned in my last thread, I had VSG in 2014. I did quite well for a decent amount of time but after really losing focus of my diet and lifestyle I have had significant regain. I have literally had GERD my entire life. When my surgeon initially told me that VSG WAS an option, I decided to go ahead with it thinking it was a much 'safer' option than RNY. He did reassure me that the GERD I had was directly related to my significant abdominal weight and that with weight loss it would subside. It DID, and eventually I went from a double strength PPI twice a day to a H2 blocker (at my lowest weight) a few times a week. I thought I was over the moon with this! However, fast forward about 4 years and now my GERD is worse than ever, I literally have productive reflux now. I will be sitting and talking to my husband and what I ate a couple hours ago will just shoot up to my throat without warning (I just read another thread saying this same thing). I get it SO bad when I lay in bed that I will run to the bathroom and literally spit out acid. When I had my VSG I had a hiatal hernia repair too, and I was under the impression that was a permanent fix but i'm thinking maybe not. I have EGD this Thursday and frankly, I am petrified scared of what she will find. I'm not worried about my sleeve but I AM worried that there is irreversible damaged to my esophagus or God forbid, esophageal cancer is found. IF I am found to not have anything significant, I've decided to go ahead with a revision for my longterm health. I have been on PPIs for decades. I want off of them. And I want to conquer the regain.

Honestly, the biggest surprise has been how much my relationship with food has completely changed. I actually taste food now in a way I never did before, when you can only eat a few bites, you really pay attention to every single one. I used to mindlessly eat while watching TV, but now every meal feels intentional. It sounds weird, but I think I appreciate food more now than when I could eat unlimited amounts. I thought losing weight would just make my blood sugar easier to control, but it's been way more complicated. Some days I eat the exact same breakfast and my numbers are totally different. Also nobody really prepared me for how emotional it would be watching my medication list get shorter - getting off blood pressure meds was amazing but also this weird moment of grief thinking about all those years on pills.

Timely seeing this thread topic. Hair loss concerns here as well. Not simply from weight loss, but from getting older and fighting the DNA that threatens to thin my hair severely. I tried the head shaving thing a few years ago and it wasn’t for me. Got outa the shower looking like I had been in a cage match. Bleeding from some new cut all the time. Some dudes rock the bald look. I will do it if forced to, but in the meantime I am gonna throw money at it and hope for the best. Currently taking daily vitamins, iron, fish oil, potassium and started the collagen caplets this morning. Protein intake is good. Drink BCAA’s daily, too. I really noticed it when getting a haircut recently. The gal cutting it was cracking jokes about trying to work with my Donald. I was laughing, too….but geesh. Dis getting ta be serious bidness.

Ohh, I didn't know you had access to a gym! I might have modified this a bit because I was trying to make sure these exercises were something you could do without equipment. Here are some suggested modifications if you are using a gym: If your gym has a hip thrust machine, feel free to use that instead of doing the glute bridge. As I mentioned, hip thrusts offer a bigger range of motion, so are an even better exercise. Push Ups are probably fine as they are, but once you get to doing 10-15 knee pushups, you might also start doing the chest press machine, or doing a bench press with dumbbells. Once you get to unsupported squats, you can start adding some weight. Some gyms have hack squat machines or leg press machines and both will work great here. Another one to consider would be a goblet squat (google it). The nice thing about this one is that it will emphasize your quadriceps a bit more, which might be good since we're hitting your glutes and hamstrings pretty hard with the hip thrusts and lunges. As to rows, feel free to skip all the ones I wrote and do a seated cable row or do something called a bent-over row with dumbbells. With leg raises, do them as listed, but if you get all the way through those, then the next logical progression is to move to hanging leg raises. These can be done on a dedicated machine (sometimes called a captain's chair). The lunge exercises are probably fine as they are, but feel free to add weight (hold some dumbbells in your hands), if you get to where the versions I listed are not enough for you. As an optional thing, if you wanted to add in one additional exercise per session, I'd do a Bicep dominated exercise one day, a Tricep dominated exercise another day, and a Calf dominated exercise the 3rd day. The actual exercise selection does not matter much, so do whatever exercise you like or whatever machine your gym has. You can even do a different one every week. Again, if you're happy without this, then skip it. it's not going to make a huge difference, because we are hitting these muscles some already. Best of luck!

Hello, in 2020 I had a sleeve did well lost 100lb. In 22 I got sick and ended up with prednisone shots which made me gain weight. 50/100 that I had lost was back but any how now I’m scheduled for the sedi on 10/24 . Just wanted to get everyone’s intake in there experience

Hi guys I just thought I would check in with you all and tell you of my progress, trials and tribulations! I'm nearly 6 weeks post-op and I am still adjusting to my new life. I am doing very well all things considered, except that one of my surgical sites reopened and is not healing properly, don't worry I am having medical support from the doctor and nurse, I just feel a bit down with it to be honest. I'm type 2 diabetic and my glucose levels have stabilized which is awesome! I lost 2 stone 1lb in just under a month which is amazing, I did stay the same last week which was disappointing but I guess my body needs time to catch up! I'm struggling mentally with self-imposed restrictions and triggering situations like food shopping etc and I wondered if you guys could help me gain some clarity I am one of the unlucky ones that still experiences real hunger and it is definitely not head hunger. I need to eat around every 2 hours, I am getting all my protein in and my fluids and I'm eating around 700 cals a day. My problem is that when I feel real hunger I panic and I don't know why! I have had lots of therapy and I am in a very good place now after many years of struggles with my mental health. I guess I was expecting not to feel hungry like most other people, and that was the case until about 3 weeks ago! The self imposed restriction is calorie counting! I am conflicted about whether I should be counting the calories in non starchy veg such as sprouts, cucumber tomatoes, gherkins, beetroot etc and fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and satsumas. Should I be counting calories at all? I'm eating around 700 cals a day at the moment. I am committed to eating healthy and do not crave junk food anymore which is awesome! I go for whole foods mainly and low carbs. Previously when I have given myself restrictions before I have done great for a few months then fallen off the wagon. I know it is different this time as I have a new tool, but it's taking my brain a while to catch up! I know that I am at the early stages at the moment and still learning my fullness cues and practising a fair amount of control, I used to eat mindlessly, now I think about everything that goes in my mouth. What do you guys think of this? I also worry that my weight loss will stall and I know it's only been a week so far and its not a stall until 3 to 4 weeks, but I have seen it so many times on lots of forums and it worries me a bit to be honest. I know that no one really knows how their weight loss is going to go as everyone is unique and I need to stop overthinking things but its so hard when I have done it all my life! Did any of you guys have similar worries or concerns in the early stages and did it resolve itself? Any advice would be great! Thanks in advance x

Well there is never a 100% guarantee because we are all different but I would say that your response so far makes it very likely that you will be a success story based on my personal experience and the knowledge that I have of others experience who have lost and kept it off vs those who have regained a significant amount. I had my sleeve surgery 3/9/2021 so I have been on these boards since then and I have been going to in person support groups since a couple of months prior to my revision and my personal experience and learned experience is that one of two four things happen to cause regain. 1: the person never really does change what they eat. This is a problem when the anatomical changes control portion of less nutritious foods for a while so they lose some but then as the stomach stretches they can eat more and they regain or they are able to have just a taste of things in the beginning but when appetite comes back that changes (note that some people can have just one bite of a brownie forever but that didn’t work for me so we just have to be mindful of how our body reacts and stop doing it if we can’t stop ourselves at a small portion). 2: the surgery was never a good fit. I know that this was part of problem with the sleeve for me because I never did feel ANY metabolic changes. I still absolutely hated healthy foods that I didn’t like before and I did not have any additional energy or motivation after the surgery. Basically I think for me the surgery was probably like Wegovy would be. The hunger hormones went away for a while and I was able to eat less until that came back. But nothing else changed for me. I never felt a change in energy and I was never about to get start r with exercise and healthy food options did not appeal to me in the slightest. I ate alot of chicken breast and a few veggies that I don’t mind in the beginning but there was no variety so like most diets I couldn’t sustain it when the hunger came back and I wasn’t moving my body to help my physical and mental health to keep it going. 3: This would be a combo of the two which would be where i would actually say that I fell with my sleeve. Because I didn’t like enough of the healthy food even a little bit I started having less ideal foods far more often. I mean i wasn’t eating McDonald’s ever and I wasn’t having poor choices all the time but I would have like a quarter of a frozen pizza or a lean cheeseburger with a roll several nights a week thinking it was okay because calorie wise it wasn’t much worse if that was all ate. The problem was the other macros and the fact that for me they were slippery slope foods and they made me crave more. I wasn’t gaining on that but carbs make me crave carbs so that little devil voice took over and I tested the waters a bit more by having just a few fries or a bit of cake with that but it was way too often and far too early out for me to know my limits. Then, to make matters worse, my mental health issues kicked in where I had not only stopped losing but gained 20 pounds and when I couldn’t reverse it even when I tried my hardest to rein it in (because I was now craving the carbs again bad) i just considered that I was a complete failure and they didn’t say it but i could see it that my friends and family felt that way too and I just slowly just quit trying. This is when the support of people who get it would’ve been sooooooooooo very important. Never been obese people are never going to be able to get it or be able to help. Reach out to your bariatric support if you struggle. Even if your disgusted. They get it and never judge. 4: Some people even though the surgery is a success and they make all the lifestyle changes and everything is working lose sight of their lifelong goal for one reason or another and let bad habits slowly slip back in and they gain. I think this is probate going to be the hardest one for me. To not take my eye off the prize 5 years down the road. But we can do it. I think that staying active in these support groups and checking in with my team is going to be key for me. I am going to ask to have my follow ups a couple times a year even when I’m a ways out just to keep me in check. I know that I am able to gain a lot of weight in a year!! I never did the In person support groups at all after my sleeve and I stopped posting here for a while and didn’t go to my follow up appointments when things were out of control and I needed the help the most. Basically for me the sleeve was just one of my longer and more successful diets that started with the curved appetite and a lot of hope that it would work this time but slowly ended when the hunger came back, bad habits slipped back in, the cravings got unbearable and my all or nothing thinking finally got the best of me. I think I probably would have leveled out somewhere between my starting and my low weight if I had not given up but since I started at a relatively low BMI to begin with that did not seem like a success to me at the time. 89 pounds later I only wished I had been back to that weight though. I learned a lot from the sleeve experience though and I think that knowledge is helping me now. Hopefully, it helps others too. I try to let my experience be a cautionary tale without scaring anyone too much. Anyways, based on your nutrition changes, steady loss and your activity I do not think you are like me with the sleeve or others who I’ve seen who never even tried to eat differently or exercise so I don’t think your surgery was a bad fit at all or that your just expecting the surgery to do all the work. I think that your surgery is doing what it was designed to do for you and so as long as you keep doing your part you should get your where your body needs to be. Just don’t get caught up in a certain number and let your brain get the best of you like I did. That last 10 or 15 pounds may feel like a lot but your already so much healthier and happier that you were before. Keep striving for that goal but don’t let it be the only thing that matters. To me it will be icing on the cake to what is already a success story Your body will have its own idea of what is an ideal size for you and you may have to just accept that it may not be exactly what you have in mind (it could be lower but it could also be a bit higher. It may be a sorry to accept where your body is happy and healthy if you don’t want to be really working hard at this forever. Honestly, I imagine we will have to work at it for the rest of our lives to some degree. By that I mean that we will probably never have it as easy as someone who has never been obese. You are doing so incredibly well, though, making actual lifestyle changes and I have listened to anyone who is willing to share whether they were successful or not and that seems to be the biggest piece of advice. This is not a diet it is a lifestyle. Your surgery is working for you and you are working hard for you as well. Those two things are key to this journey long term. Just keep it up and I really believe you will reach all of your goals. ❤️

I was going to say the peri-menopausal syndrome has struck again. I had to switch to 50mg DHEA while the hormones were swinging around. I had my various doctor’s blessing. It is a hormone therapy treatment so please talk with your physician. Formal Hormone replacement therapy would have been better but alas, insurance. Now I’ve weaned off to 25mg at age 57. I live just fine on 900-1200 kcals at 5’4” and I’m not frail, I weight lift and have a super active job, and walk 20-30 minutes a day. Each of us is different. Soups make me very full, and salads when I can’t stand the hungries.

I felt the same way about my weight but you’ve gotta try really hard to get over that. I wasted a lot of years ashamed and in hiding. Don’t wait to start living until you reach that magic number in your head. Your taking the necessary steps to get there and your friend may be your biggest cheerleader when they know that you are doing something to change things. I hadn’t seen one of my friends in years either. We texted or sent cards and exchanged phone calls on birthdays and Christmas but that was about it. I always had excuses to avoid hanging out until she finally stopped asking. It was my new therapist that finally got me to reach out and make plans to meet her. She later said she could see that I had gained some weight but she didn’t pay much attention and all she really seen was her old friend that she missed dearly. She said she loved me the same and I hadn’t changed a bit. She has been one of my biggest supporters throughout all of this. And it’s not about my losing weight to her. It’s about my getting healthy and being able to do more things that I couldn’t before. I am happy that you should be getting a surgery date soon and wish you all of the best.

Ooh, I'm here too, and it's been very interesting. I've started drinking a protein decaf coffee again to add a cup of fairlife skim milk to my day. I know that some of us need to be very careful about carbs, I need more carbs to support my exercise which is basic strength, walking, and the 2x weekly run. I add an extra apple, gluten free pretzels, and popcorn (which is totally ok for me in my known portions). I also add a few days of cashews, easy to eat and high nutrient density. I would say if you aren't going to track calories (and why would you if that isn't your favorite) then it would be helpful to add a specific snack/food etc and have that extra every day for a few weeks and see where that gets you. If you continue to drop weight, increase it, if not, you have likely found your maintenance diet. The thing that has been most eye opening for me is the fact that I can occasionally go over and not see any consequences for one day of overdoing it. In the past that would have been hell to take off again, now it just seems to regulate like a normal person. I had surgery 1/24 and have been at my same weight since 11/24. I'm not fighting to stay here, I'm struggling with some head hunger vs real hunger, that was to be expected, but otherwise it's been such a different reality from presurgery.