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I’m on day 6 of liquids for breakfast and lunch and a 400 calorie dinner. Only craved food yesterday when I saw the “word” of a particular food, and it triggered a desire for it lol. I’ve lost 6-8 lbs in the 6 days, just depends what my starting weight was exactly. My surgery is next week Wednesday and I had a scare this week where I had to redo one of my labs. I nearly had a breakdown (it was also my birthday) as I felt so overwhelmed. But feeling better since then as my lab test came back normal now.

Based on comments on this board (and my own experience), a stall at about three months is quite common. As long as you continue to lose some weight every month, you are on track. Not everyone loses at the same pace but we eventually all get there as long you we stay on the program, as Catwoman said above. If you had lost six pounds in one month prior to surgery, you would have considered it a major success!

Hi, I am 3 months and 2 days since my gastric sleeve. I try not to weight myself often but keep finding that I do. I know that there will be stalls and slows but I wasn't expecting to lose only 6 lbs in the entire month. I have not been exercising regularly but i have been following everything else: drinking enough water, getting all my protein in, keeping a low carb diet. I realize that i have been not eating much during the day but tend to get my food in the evenings. Could that impact my weight loss? Any help is welcomed!

After my doctor's office submitted everything it took about 3 weeks. I called the insurance company to find out how long it could take and they told me it could take 40-45 days to review which was about how long it took to actually get the approval in the mail. My doctor's office called after about 3 weeks with the approval.

My surgeon in Las Vegas repaired a small HH during my sleeve surgery. I didn't know I had the HH but am glad he saw it and took the initative to repair. I had my surgery through the Surgical Weight Control Center, the surgeon was Dr. Marc Leduc and he is absolutely wonderful, very knowledgeable and professional, great bedside manner. I had my three month check up yesterday and am down 54 LBS. I have gratefully not had any complications and did not even have to take one pain med after the surgery. Highly recommend SWCC and Dr. Leduc.

With WLS being around since a whole while now and more and more people getting it I'd guess people asking questions will suspect WLS anyway. It's not a niche procedure anymore. Most people know that these procedures exist. A former colleague from another department lost a ton of weight after having been absent for maybe two or three weeks. People are suspecting WLS, even though they've not asked her directly. People are no fools. Most of them won't believe that story about "lifestyle changes" and "healthy diet and exercise" while conveniently not mentioning the surgery anyway. The easiest way is to say "I had surgery". People who're interested in the whole thing might want to know what kind of surgery it was but usually that's the end of it.

I had a period of time I was ‘doughy’ in the head. Poor concentration, etc. I put it down to the surgery (anaesthetic can do odd things), reduced calorie intake, low energy & tiredness & low blood pressure (was pretty woopsy woo at times). It improved over a month or so. Oh, & are you on any anti nausea meds? They can often make you forgetful … well they do me. I suffer from vertigo & had a bad bout so was taking stemitol frequently for two days. Returned to work & a man started chatting to me in the lift. I had to ask him who he was & it turned out we’d had a two hour meeting only three days before & there was only three of us in the meeting. 😱 Felt so terrible.

Losing a pound a week is ... a lot ! I look at it this way... how much weight were you losing before you started this journey - before dieting to shrink your liver, before you even thought about surgery ? For me the answer was that I would lose a few pounds and put it right back, and obviously, I was gaining net weight !!!! If you lose 5 pounds a month; in a year, you will have lost 60 more pounds !!! THAT is an achievement of huge note ! How many pounds does it take to lose a "dress size" ? 10 to 15 pounds. Are you ready to lose 4 to 6 sizes in a year ? THAT is another huge victory ! We start out losing a lot of weight and forget that the weight we lose after those first few months are added to the weight we have already lost. Keep at it. You are doing great. Do not think about the WHAT IF's of a different surgical procedure. Instead think about the Where would I be without surgery ? You are fine. Your surgery is fine. Keep up the GREAT WORK !

My sister who had her surgery before me also used a similar "cover up" story for her WLS. She has a hernia also. We had our surgeries with the same doctor within three weeks and started losing weight around the same time. Luckily we don't live in the same country otherwise our extended family members would have noticed lol. "working with a nutritionist and working out" is exactly what are you doing now, so stick to that. You won't be misleading people by telling them this. It worked for some people without the WLS (not for me tho). Good luck

From what my surgeon told me and what I’ve read - the first 6 months are more rapid then you can expect to lose 1-2 lbs/week. The slower weight loss is a healthy rate of weight loss. Now everybody is different and if you’re on the lower side of BMI the loss will more likely be slower than those with a higher starting BMI. But any loss is still that, a loss!

I had a sleeve and recovery is going amazingly well. Still on liquids until next week, but feeling overall good. Down a total of 33 pounds since I started the program. Super excited to hear and see everyone's progress so far!

I had bypass on Feb 13, and I've never felt so forgetful! I've missed due dates for papers and meetings for work, or even just forgotten to pack something when I leave the house. I've never been this forgetful! I was a little forgetful around a week into my pre-surgery liquid diet, but now its gotten so bad. My boss has been very forgiving but my professors have not. They see it as an excuse, which isn't very nice. Has anyone else experienced this forgetfullness or mindfog after surgery? When does it go away or what do you do to get over it? I'm hitting both protein and water goals now so I'm hoping beyond hope that helps.

I'm in the same boat as you. I hit my three weeks and I gained three lbs. I keep reading and hearing everyone saying it takes time but I still feel frustrated af and like I am regretting the procedure. It feels so unfair to feel like I am going through so much and not losing anymore. A spoonful too much of soup makes me vomit but I am still stalled. The big goal I wanted to hit was to get under 200 even if it was just 199 and as usual as I got close to the goal my body is fighting it and I feel doomed to be big forever. I know that is not a great mentality and I constantly try to fight back on those thoughts but some days (more lately) I can't help but just to sulk and cry about it. If you are like me I don't think there is anything anyone can tell us to make us feel better until we can see tangible results. So here is what I can offer you. You are not alone in this feeling or regret and despite all the success posts you see or it feeling like all these people are losing but not you just know that there are probably just as many that are not losing right now and feels just like us. It's just so much easier to post success than perceived failure. Hang in there. Try to focus on non scale victories and celebrate that you are ultimately make changes to be healthier. Also just feel those feelings it's okay and they are valid. It's frustrating to not see the results you wanted and it's okay to be frustrated as long as you keep pushing forward. Sent from my SM-S908U using BariatricPal mobile app

I don't know if I consider myself "lucky"...I'm unfortunately learning that every body has its problems and being almost-too-thin is frustrating too. I'm heading to the doctor and my dietitian this week to get myself feeling better.

Aww thanks so much! It's been a month now so I think I'm in the throes of the 3/4 week stall as I'm now on soft foods/semi-normal foods. I haven't weighed myself since the last time I wrote in here and my mental health is a lot better for it. I've noticed my jeans fit a lot looser around my waist, but that's about it. I'm going to perhaps weigh myself at the end of march and see if there's a difference.

Sooooo..... its been another week or more.... how are you doing ? Are you feeling any better ? Are you losing inches instead of pounds ? Sometimes that happens too ! We care ! Let us know !

I am 1 week preop (VSG) and due to a genetic chronic disease which can cause me to have very low blood pressure my surgeon just suggested today that I set up home infusions a couple times a week for the first month to prevent dehydration and complications to my health condition. He knew nothing about how to set this up or if it would be covered by insurance, etc. But is certain I need to do it. Has ANYONE had to do this for any reason or have any information on the ins and outs? Thank you.

I have surgery Friday and have been thinking about this same thing— can you have actual protein shakes on the “clear” liquid phase? I’m reading my paperwork and it seems I could.. but would love to hear what others did for the “clear” part- my second week is “full” liquids… the one protein water (ie protein Gatorade) had was terrible, could barely get thru half of it. Any suggestions on clear ones that are good are appreciated.

Hello there, I'm in Ireland and scheduled for March 10th. Initial appointment was December 22nd. Super fast. I'm nearly done week 1 pre op diet - don't see much off scales though...........

2 weeks. I dealt with mostly muscle pain from where they pulled out the stomach that lingered. The gas, incision pain etc was non existent almost instantly

My father took that, as zyloprim, every day but never had to take NSAIDS as well. Once on Zyloprim he rarely if ever had an attack. But definitely speak to your surgeon & prescribing doctor. I think it was in my second year my surgeon said I could take a NSAIDS very occasionally as a low dose. One tablet not two. Not on subsequent days & not regularly. Rarely take one but did take one tablet a night immediately after dinner for three nights in a row when I had COVID.

The long term success of either surgery depends upon you. Many of the initial benefits of bariatric surgery fade over time. Your hunger comes back, your restriction can soften, it is possible to eat around your smaller tummy & your body’s new set point, etc. What the surgery does do is give you time. Time to make changes to your relationship with food: the why you eat, what you eat, when you eat, how you eat. Time to understand your cravings & develop strategies to better manage them. Time to establish new habits about eating & exercise. Time to work out how you want to eat in the future & what works for you & your body. Regain occurs for many reasons: psychological, physiological, behavioural. Bounce back regain (usually 20%+/- of the weight lost) around the third year is common. It can be because your body settles into the weight it is happiest at (your set point). Medication changes. The crap life can throw at you (employment, relationships, health, pandemics). Complacency. A too restrictive way of eating or too demanding exercise regime. Not dealing with your relationship with food. And for some it can be a deliberate choice as they themselves feel happier at a higher weight or they make adjustments to their food choices to better suit their life. Not failure of the surgery but the impact of outside factors. The average weight loss for both sleeve or bypass at the three year mark is about 65% of the weight to be lost. Of course as with all statistics there are some who lose more & some who lose less. If you are considering revision surgery of sleeve to bypass as a sign of the failure of the sleeve, remember many who have revision surgery do so because they developed GERD not necessarily weight gain. I have a sleeve & lost more than my goal and have pretty much maintained though at only almost 4 years post surgery I’m still somewhat of a bariatric baby. I settled at 49kg (48.5-49.5). I unexpectedly gained about 2kgs about 18months ago (50.5-51) but recently we discovered I wasn’t absorbing my HRT meds. Changed to a patch & my weight is slowly decreasing (49.2-50). Small numbers I know. Has it been difficult? No, not really. It was very obvious what I had been doing wasn’t working for me & I needed to make changes. I put myself & my health first. I changed my relationship with food. Made a decision to change what, when & how I ate. It became a new mindset. The changes have been sustainable & haven’t restricted my life. I still enjoy food & eating but my desire is for healthier, more nutritious foods. And no I’m not running marathons or spending hours in the gym just some at home stretching & resistance bands. Sorry long post.

You can usually add protein powder to any liquid you’re allowed during this stage. Have you been given your dietary requirements for post surgery yet? There are foods & liquids you should avoid during the 6 or so weeks of the restricted diet while you’re healing. Check with your surgeon’s office & your dietician about what you can & can have. There can be differences in what you’re allowed & when across surgeons & plans. Like I didn’t have a clear liquid stage just liquids. All the best with your surgery.

Hi! I am having surgery next week and was wondering about the liquid diet post op. Are we to add unflavored protein powder to our broths during this stage? I bought some protein clear liquid (premiere and Gatorade) so I didn’t know if I should be doing that also.

Not only do hiccups hurt, but sneezing too lol. I'm still having trouble getting my goals met. But I can't achieve them if I the a nap during the day. That's hard wven before surgery, I took a nap during the day. I find it hard too because I'm so sick of protein shakes, they're starting to taste so sweet to me. I can't wait to start purees next week. It doesn't hurt to sleep on your stomach? When I was able to sleep on my side a few days ago, I was so happy, but I have to have a pillow.