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Starting week three of my preop diet and one week out from surgery. Diet definitely did get easier once in it and very closely staying on it. Traveling the last few days which has been a little challenging but not too bad. I’ve definitely got some nerves. I wake up about 5 AM some mornings and the brain just takes over a little. Hope things keep progressing for everyone!

Today marks 1 month since my surgery. Little back history for me, my start weight in March during diet for surgery: 280#. My surgery day: 269#. Today, I'm at 256#. I started and am currently still at at class 3 obesity. Posting before and after pictures. I read and hear so many positive stories on how others lost 30+ pounds their first month. I should be happy with the fact I am losing weight but super slowly. I'm considered a "slow loser" apparently. I'm down 13 pounds in 1 month. I go 5-6 days plateaued same weight before I drop another pound. It's quite annoying. I've been drinking/drinking protein shakes, yogurt, cottage cheese and when I'm not working, I drink between 64-96 oz of water. When I'm working (I work as a warehouse worker and does get to heavy lifting at times), I can hardly down 16 oz of water. When I work, I get excited thinking, "I'm burning so many calories, I'm bound to finally lose that pound!" Just to be disappointed. I weigh daily, I have a separate nutritionist outside of the place I got my surgery as the nutritionist there hasn't helped much, doesn't respond or pay much attention when I try talking to them. So, I found a different one. I tried not weighing in each day, went a week, only to still be disappointed with the same weight. I do occasionally lick unhealthy items or chew and spit out just to get some flavor again. It's not often. Something different about me is I have a lot of muscle naturally. I also have PCOS. I've read PCOS can stall weight loss. I do for sure see changes in my stomach, not so much in my face or my arms...but why can't I be happy about this? Is this like a depression thing others have gone through? I'd love some others opinions, stories, how you're feeling right now.

It’s almost like they’ve conveniently forgotten you’ve lost your pre surgical weight & are just telling you to lose more as per their set playbook. I also love how they’re telling you to lose weight but aren’t supporting & guiding you in how to do it. Where’s their pre surgical diet? Where’s the referral to a dietician?? Like @NickelChip, I would suggest the three shake a day pre surgical diet many are given. Or do two shakes & one meal of 3 or 4 ozs protein & 1/2 cup steamed vegetables or undressed salad. All the best.

Hi ESG Pals. I had my procedure on March 22nd...close to a month ago and I have already lost 18lbs in less than a month. How are you all doing with the protein and calorie requirements? Any advice on how to get it all in as I can't seem to go over 500 calls and about 50-60gs in protein? Any recommendations will be welcomed. SW 289 CW 271 My total cholesterol was 321 on the day of the procedure. I just got my results back today from my PCP, and my cholesterol is down to 266. It's still high, but I'm praying that in the next three months, I will no longer have high cholesterol. And for everyone who has posted picks of progress...I was smiling like I knew you all. Congratulations on your dedication to your body first and to those who love you.

My doctor wrote me off work for 2.5 weeks - 2 weeks out, I'm fine, and after the first week, I probably could have (a bit miserably) gone back to work, but I think I really needed that first week off. Even though I had minimal pain, some days I just needed to sleep. Your body is going through a lot! Treat it well ❤️

18 days post surgery and I'm feeling great. I'm excited to start mushies this week but not as excited as I thought I'd be. This week I added zero fat yogurt, pudding, and creamy soups to the menu, thinking I'd just be snarfing them down. Nope. Anything more than a quarter cup and I start to feel my throat seize. I'm becoming more food apathetic but I'll still add eggs and tuna. Down 40!

Week 3 Post Op Sw: 155kg / 341 lbs Stats to date: - 11.6kg / 25.5 lbs I hit 3 full weeks post op yesterday and met with my surgeon + nutritionist So far so good, nut is happy with the progress i’ve made and have given the ok to move to solid food no restrictions. We looked at my hydration levels, all are good thank god because this particular subject is one of my biggest worries ! She gave me some ideas to up my protein but told me it’s quite normal to not be getting protein in yet and that month 2 is generally when you can build on that. We talked a lot about actually going up in food quantities. She told me that i should be eating 150g meals from month 1-3 then around 200 g from 3-6 months and ending up at 300g meals (standard portion size) from 6-12 months. She explained how to start adding quantity : adding one more spoonful per week. She and my surgeon are both pretty against weighing food they want me to start eyeballing as they both say the goal is to be able to live a normal life and be able to visually know one’s serving. Not sure how i feel about that and the whole upping the quantities thing is scary right now … we’ll see. My surgeon is completely happy and has provided my estimated weightloss curve. He estimates per his calculations a loss of around 60kg in 12 months - fingers crossed. He also gave me the ok to got back to work earlier than he had anticipated - but with a warning that i need to take particular care in having my daily vitamins because work means being more active and more fatigue. He did however not clear me for any physical activity on top of work. I work in an airport so i walk a LOT daily and he doesn’t want me to add more activity on top of my above average daily steps. I’ll be back in his office at month 3 now so early july ! I am officially stalled and have been for around 5 days so far weight wise which is expected and i’ve decided to just put the scale away and check back one week from now. I have survived my first ever restaurant with my boyfriend - and it went great ! I ate very slowly and was able to adapt my portion and my meal (steamed salmon and 1 baby potato) Incidentally we had a little conversation about his exclamations of « is that all you’re having are you sure, are you really sure » and i realised it’s strange for him to be seeing me eating so little and he has this kind of guilt about going all out and eating big portions. It made me feel ssooo good to get back into « normal » life, even at work i packed a snack box of individually portioned snacks (16g cheese slices, 30g watermelon, 30g strawberries and then a lunch of tuna salad and 3 crackers). It was so much easier than i thought to actually get into a real life normal routine - i love it !

I've never heard of phases taking that long to get through, so unless you have a very unusual case with special circumstances, I think there's been a misunderstanding. A week or two of liquids, which I assume included protein shakes, is normal. After that, some programs put you on purees and some will say soft protein food that you chew thoroughly, usually once you're doing well with this, after a week or two, but certainly by week 6 or so, you will be told to slowly introduce veg, fruit, and finally starch and grain. I had gastric bypass on Feb 21. I had one week of liquids, which included yogurt, cream soups, and thin cream of wheat. At week 2, I was allowed to have cottage cheese, tuna salad, refried beans, ground turkey, and flaky white fish. At week 3, I was allowed to start including cooked vegetables and fruits and told to slowly start incorporating other foods, but to wait until 3 months for pork and beef. I had a setback with some vomiting, so I had to go back to liquids for weeks 4 and 5, but I had my 6 week appointment today and was told I was clear to resume a normal diet (minus beef and pork) and just needed to be cautious and keep track of/eliminate anything that caused upset. I found this video very helpful, although I will point out this program's way of reintroducing foods is not quite the same as mine, (or most others).

I was sick the week before my surgery but thank goodness I was good about 2 days before

Favourite salad bag of Brussel sprouts cut in half and two or three carrots cut in smaller chunks put them in a bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil, honey, salt, pepper and chilli flakes if you like spicy, and then spread out on a single layer on a sheet pan roast in a very very hot 250C (whatever that is is Fahrenheit, I’m Aussie)oven 14 mins then turn everything over and 14-17 mins on the other side. Until the Brussel sprouts are slightly charred. In a frying pan, dice 3-5 rashers of trimmed bacon diced and cook till crispy. Drain and add it to the veggies ina bowl. Squeeze over fresh lemon juice to taste and crumble over some low fat feta cheese. Extra cracked pepper. it is moreish!

I thought about that. I just worry I'll start looking too skinny an sickly. That happens if my weight goes too low. Maybe I'll go 2 weeks and then weigh and see what it looks like.

Post Gastric Bypass RNY, I had something similar. Kind of a tight, sore thickness / heavy-feeling strip down my right abdomen. It took about a week for me to feel it. My care team also said it was basically healing pains, but also nerves & pain receptors coming back online after the 'physical trauma' of surgery. Definitely keep an eye on it to see if it changes or if you get other symptoms, but it's very likely to be your insides doing their job healing. (Honestly, if I overdo stretching/twisting even today at 12 weeks, I feel it in the same area -- just a lot better now)

Im 8mo po and im so frustrated that i cant lose anymore ... it has my feels all over the place... gained actually 6 llbs not water that came off.. i eat about 800 900 calories ive tried increasing.. im doing extra protien...i work out at least 1.5 hrs 4 to 5 times week. Little carbs under 60 usually 45 my water intake is low but i try but i do protien water too.. im to the point of no eating ... screw it... or eat whatever i want instead im frustrated ! I'm a nightshift nurse work 12 hrs... 5to 7 days a week...

Hello and welcome. The time will fly by, I promise you, Don't over prepare. Do not buy in loads of foods and drinks. After this surgery your tastes could change, mine did. Don't go and read scare stories of others having this surgery. Even on this site most people come and ask questions when they are having problems. They rarely come back when they are doing better. Its scary when its just so one sided. Expect a 3 week stall and many more of them as you go along. The first one is scary as you always imagine you are doing something wrong or messing up. Be careful who you tell about this surgery. Lots of people do not take the news as you would imagine. I, like others on here only told my husband and son. Clean your home. Just in case you are sore on your return from hospital

If you don't already have some bariatric cookbooks, I can highly recommend these three of the several I bought: Bariatric Meal Prep Made Easy by Kristin Willard The Bariatric Diet Guide and Cookbook by Dr. Matthew Weiner The Easy 5 Ingredient Bariatric Cookbook by Megan Wolf All three have sound nutritional advice as they are written by bariatric experts, as well as some really nice recipes. They talk about portion sizes and what to aim for nutritionally as you go through the honeymoon period and into maintenance, and even give you different portions for different phases. None of the books give specific calorie goals, but that's rather standard with many programs. The focus is often for you to discover what works for you and not get sucked into a dieting mindset by counting everything so closely you drive yourself crazy. But the basics are generally to fill one half of your (small, child or luncheon sized) plate with a 3-4oz portion of lean protein and no more than a 1/2 cup serving of starch/grain, and the other half with non-starchy veg. Consume 60-80g protein. Drink at least 64 oz water. (Apologies for not having the metric measurements). Using a small plate is a really great visual cue. Check out the Portion Perfection plates, which are 8-inch melamine and printed with exactly how much of each food goes where. If you need to retrain yourself, this is an easy tool to use. They have bowls, too. (All the books and the plates can be found on Amazon in the US). Going back to liquids is extreme. I would think it would be sufficient to go back to three meals per day as described above, and either no snacks or only fruit and veg or a protein shake as a snack if truly hungry, and make sure you weigh your portions and get all your water in every day. The other thing is to look for processed foods that have crept back into your diet and get them out of your house. You can't be tempted by what isn't there. Good luck to you!

I would advise you to get rid of the scale. I say this a lot and it's difficult to say it in new and interesting ways. Let's see... We don't need the scale to follow our plans. We can follow our plans to the letter and stall or even gain a pound or three, as is very common. In such a case it's easy to start considering "changing things up" to get the scale moving again. in the first several months we could completely abandon our plans and still lose weight. Looking at the scale will give many of us confirmation that we are doing well when in fact we aren't. Again, the scale is a poor guide. We should measure our success on how well we are following our plan. Are we feeling better? How is our mental attitude? Are health issues resolving? How about those clothes? Are you more active? Is it getting easier? There are all sorts of measures of success without a number on a scale. I was too large for a home scale so was only able to weigh in at monthly follow-ups. I'm confident I had stalls or even days where my weight was higher than the day before. I never actually experienced them. Every weigh in was lower than the month before. Never a temptation to "get the scale moving." You are at the beginning of this adventure. Focus on the things you can control. You can't control a number on a scale. Damn it, not new. Let's see if next time I can come up with a Hanzal and Gretel fairy tale where the witch is a scale... Good luck, Tek

Hi Me again! So I am noticing that I am losing 1.5-2lbs a week last couple of weeks, I had surgery 1/24 for Gastric Sleeve so I am 14 weeks post op. I have lost a lot of weight fast in the beginning so I am assuming that's why its slowing down? I am incorporating a lot of exercise now including weights so maybe that's why too? I am trying to get into the mind set that I am focusing on how I feel and not so much what the scale says. Just want to make sure this is normal? Weight when I entered the bariatric program: 297lbs Surgery Day Weight: 266lbs CW: 205lbs GW: 170lbs

So I am around 6 weeks post surgery I think! Seems like it has been so much longer! I have found that my restriction recently has been annoyingly high. I just have 0 interest in eating, and when I do take a bite it takes a while for me to get into it - I feel full quickly, which was something I wasn't struggling with a couple of weeks ago! I have started going back to the gym as of last week, and I am nervous but excited. Quickly realised my body is a lot weaker than it used to be 😅 I did 3 x 10 sets of squats and was walking like a cowboy for 4 days 🤣 I want to try swimming but I am nervous about wearing a swimming costume if I am honest, even though I can tell my clothes are bigger on me! Which is another thing...stuff just isn't fitting right! I was excited for this part, but I didn't think it would be annoying 😂 I can't wait to buy new stuff! Thanks for reading my useless waffle ❤️

I agree with @ChunkCat. And also add, yes it is difficult to hit those protein goals as you move through the first stages & you’re eating so little. On purées (cause I couldn’t stand to continue on the shakes) I ate a high protein yoghurt to boost my daily protein intake. (You can make it into a drink by blending with milk which also gives you additional protein). Don’t worry too much if you’re not hitting your protein goal every day in this time. As long as you’re close to it & getting closer you’ll be okay. It’s one of those things that gets easier as you progress. It’s likely you’ll lose some hair from around three months regardless of whether you reach your protein goals from the beginning or not. It’s your body reacting to the stress of the surgery, anaesthetic, hormonal fluctuations, etc. And it’s just an acceleration of your usual hair loss cycle. It lasts about three months. And your new hair is still growing at the same time you’re shedding just at its usual rate. It’s quite common after many major surgeries, periods of stress, child birth, menopause, etc.

Happy Monday!!! Just walked 4 miles total to our local lake and back and then work on my arms with light weights and resistance bands. I have my 6 week post op appt for my hysterectomy today and then I finally get to go back to work tomorrow!!! So excited. I've been bored out of my mind being home the last 6 weeks lol I can speak to the blood pressure getting a lot lower the more weight we lose. I use to be on blood pressure meds that kind of controlled it, and now my average bp is 105/60 lol So crazy.

If I remember correctly I think it was around one or so weeks. I remember the surgeon saying the dressings would slowly work their way off (loosening around the edges) & as long as the wounds weren’t being irritated by anything like clothing & looked healed on the surface I didn’t have to cover them again. Your internal healing takes about 8 weeks.

That does sound like the basis for the diet I'm on. They told me to work on getting 64oz of water per day as top priority, then around 60-80g of protein next. Next it was to prioritize some unsaturated fats (fish, poultry, and lower carb veggie protein options). From there, they told me to keep carbs under 10g per serving, and under 55g total for the day (not quite as low as keto). Then try to keep saturated fats low where possible. I'm a 6'1" male, so they had me try to target 800-1000 calories per day during the weight loss phase, and work toward 1200 after about 6 months. You may want to check with your doctor or nutritionist to see if they have a recommended range to target. I learned the hard way while I was sick with Covid over the holidays that its really easy for excess calories to be hiding in small things. But overall, just keep up with what you are doing. There will be a stall within the first couple months, and a second stall a couple months after that, so just mentally prepare for it. Both will last 2-4 weeks and will likely have a slight regain in the middle of it. It doesn't take much fluid retention to make the number on the scale go back up. Remember that a 16oz bottle of water is literally 1lb. It's not fat, so it doesn't count. if you're drinking a half gallon / 2L of water a day, that's 4 lbs sitting there, but it doesn't count as "fat weight". It is jarring to see a 4lb fluctuation on the scale, but you're not losing progress, it's just water that your body isn't done processing yet. Think of the weight loss more like stair steps rather than a straight line. You can push through it!

After surgery my weight loss has been slow. At least I think it's slow compared to how much I'm eating. 750-900 calories per day. Actively walking and resistance train 6 days a week. Day of surgery I weighed 284 lbs. As of yesterday I weighed 270 lbs. This is my 5th week out from surgery. I didn't lose weight for nearly two weeks. But, 14 lbs in 5 weeks isn't bad. I expected more.

Creating a new thread because the other one has gotten really long. So, here are my before and currents to keep the topic moving. Current as of last week:

I don't think you are going bald, just going through what so many of us have had to cope with. I had long thick straight hair pre-op and thought I was doing really well when I got to month four with no hair loss and then it was like a horror movie for two months. Clumps would come out if I washed my hair, I would cry in the shower when I saw what was in the drain and my hand after just a light touch wash. I kept my hair tied back and washed just once a week during the two months but you could tell where I had been by following the trail of fallen hair, I seriously shed more than my cat! I was so self conscious about it as had bald patches but thankfully others couldn't tell it was mostly underneath. I ended up cutting my hair up to chin length so it was not as obvious. After six months the hair loss stopped and now it is about regrowth, it is nearly as annoying though not in anyway upsetting. I have been getting my hair cut every couple of months so that my existing hair is as close in length to the new hair (which is coming in with a curl) and I have to put mascara in my hair if I go out in public as there are baby hairs sticking up all over the place, looks like static hair. I took special bariatric vitamins for hair for three months, no idea if it helped but I was prepared to try anything. I also got a couple of wigs but ended up not needed them. For washing my hair I used a really soft shampoo made from oat milk. Basically I just want to let you know that what you are going through is normal after the surgery, you couldn't have prevented it, it just happens to most patients as the body is coping with the weight loss and it will get better.