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The stats tend to say the average weight loss after about 5 years is about 65% of the weight you have to lose to put yourself in the healthy BMI range. Some lose more. Some lose less. Some keep it off. Some don’t & happily settle at a higher weight. This can be from choice, genetics, lifestyle, complacency, health, etc. For example it’s not uncommon for people to experience a 10-20lb bounce back regain around year 3. I think some surgeons give the average expected weight loss to keep expectations realistic. Mine didn’t but he asked me what weight I’d like to reach. I said 60kg because that was the lowest weight I’d reached the many, many times I’d lost weight in the past & it gave me a bmi of about 23. He said it was a realistic goal. I exceeded it (135% of the weight I had to lose). My lowest weight was 48.2. For about 14 months I’ve been about 49kg but I waver between 48.5 & 49.5. But I’m close to that 3yr mark & you never know what the future will bring so I try to be realistic about that. The average is probably a good goal but no one says you can’t exceed it & set new goals if you want & if you can can without undue restrictions & limitations on your life. Even though we’re guilty of regularly checking that scale & we know all our stats, ultimately, it’s not about the number on that scale. It’s about you being happy & healthy & enjoying your life.

I'm sorry you're struggling. Hitting a plateau or weight loss stall is so frustrating. It's a time when we are very vulnerable and likely to give up on ourselves, go back to unhealthy habits and resist support or advice. It feels like nobody understands what we're going through, or how we feel, and that old self-loathing starts to rear it's ugly and counterproductive head. Please don't give up on yourself. You made a decision to move forward with surgery because you wanted something very badly, don't let it go. Now that it's done, give yourself some grace and try to get back into the headspace where you can take advantage of the benefits. You've made changes, but are not getting the desired results. So, you need to make some tweaks to nudge your body back into the weight loss track. In order to make those tweaks, you're going to need to buckle down for a short time and track your eating. There's really no other way to go about figuring out what has you stalled without taking a very close look at that. It's a major pain int he a$$ and it takes discipline, but it's not forever. Commit to doing it 100% for just one week, that's long enough to reveal where the pitfalls are and find a solution. It's entirely possible that you are not eating enough. My longest stall was broken when I made a very moderate increase to my protein and fat. It was literally a difference of about 4 ounces of food a day that flipped my weight loss from stop to go. Tracking can be approached in different ways: you can either use an app to track things as you eat, write things down each time you eat then log everything into an app or website at the end of each day, or make a menu, log it at that time and stick to that religiously. I cycle through these methods depending on the other things going on in my life at any point. The last scenario is easiest to manage if you put aside time to do your meal prep for the week, so the food is ready for you to just reheat (if necessary) and eat. I can never stick to a planned menu unless I have the food ready to grab n go. I've tried a few apps, my favorite is MyFitnessPal. After tracking for 7 days, take a good critical look at your macros - calories, protein, fat, carbs, fiber and sodium (my personal demon) - and see if anything jumps out at you as higher or lower than you were assuming. Share your diet and macros here and you will find advice on making adjustments that will have you back on track in short order. You could find that a small change can net big results. However you decide to move forward, I wish you the best and hope you enjoy the holiday season with your family and friends.

Me and my doc count from the start of my 2 wk pre-op liquid diet. I was 235 two wks before surgery. Am 3+ years out today and weighed 117.5 this morning. At 5’2”, normal BMI for me would be ~135bs. So math says I am at 118% excess weight lost as of today. But as @catwoman7 indicated above, probably best to disregard the oft-stated 60% excess weight loss prediction. Its just an average and real life individual results vary GREATLY. Good Luck! ❤️

My program calculates percentage of weight loss from the weight recorded on my first visit with the program. Personally, I calculate and list on here my weight as recorded at a doctor visit when I started a new diabetes medication and started serious weight-loss efforts on my own several months before joining the surgery preparation program.

Can anyone comment on whether the percentage of excess weight expected to be lost with gastric sleeve is actually post-surgery vs all the pre-surgery weight loss from expected on your own weight loss and the pre-op diet? I'm expecting the ~60% excess weight loss predicted to be additional Post-surgery weight loss on top of what I've lost so far since gastric sleeve reports as a surgical intervention. The "60% excess weight loss" shouldn't count what I've lost on my own with a restrictive diet and exercise? If not, having the surgery to lose just 50# or less seems maybe not a great choice? Thoughts? Or, can anyone share their own stats showing the 60% average loss counting only post-surgical weight loss?

Hello, I just joined this group today as I know that I will be having my surgery at any point after my psychological evaluation which is Dec 6th. My insurance is state Medicaid, so I had to do the 6 months process and I finished my last nutrition visit last month. I was told to lose up to 5% of my weight, and to be honest, it's been super hard to do that. My weight keeps fluctuating and I'm afraid that I won't be able to lose the weight in time. Has anybody experienced this, but were able to lose weight with their pre op diet and was able to get the surgery? I'm hoping that the pre op diet will be my savior to getting me down to the weight they want me to be before surgery. I've heard of stories where people couldn't get their surgery date because they weren't at the weight they needed to be in order to get the surgery. Help!

I'm seriously thinking of upping my protein again too. Especially since the surgeon recommended it for my hair loss anyway when we spoke last week. Wonder if it will jump start things for me too like it did for you? My activity is what it's always been. Just walking. Months ago I started weights again but haven't stuck to it like I have just walking. So just walking is what I do and have been for months. At least 5 days a week. Gonna have to make a conscious effort on upping that protein. Thanks!

So i feel like I have good news, and not so great. I'm a hair under 90 lbs since starting this process, meaning the pre-op diet, and I'm down 73 lbs since surgery on 5/12/21, all of which still stuns me. I am grateful beyond measure and trying to adjust to my jiggly, flappy body. When ordering clothes online, I wind up ordering 3 of the same item, all in different sizes. I'm proud of the journey, and not so proud of some of the food choices I've been making, ie. skipping meals, lack of exercise and am sitting with the realization that the eating habits that got me to 277 lbs are still right.... there! Er, here! So, here come the holidays, a trip to Hawaii after Christmas and life. I need a pep talk about how my body, my LIFE is important enough to eat healthy, whole, live foods and some serious encouragement throughout the winter (hibernation season in my neck of the woods). I also have an adult daughter who is overweight and has been gaining. We also work together..... it has been challenging. LOVE hearing all your stories.

I think that's remarkable weight loss! A month-long stall is probably super discouraging. Are you exercising more, less or not at all? Too much salt in your diet? Thyroid meds (should you take them) off? Hang tough, sistah. Nearly 90 lbs less than March is incredible!!

Are you in touch with your original surgeon? I started there, and my surgeon refused to help me. After that, I started reading about the revision options. I did a lot of reading and decided I wanted the DS, but the doctor I went to only does the SADI. Weight loss is slower than my original surgery, but that's expected. Check your insurance plan and see if there is any language regarding revisions. If your not in touch with your surgeon, I say look at the bariatric institute UTAH. My surgeon was Dr. Medlin.

13 weeks out, and I’ve lost 23lbs. I kept going up and down 3lbs, and then I would stall, which was very frustrating. I stopped looking at the scale for the week. I ate holiday food… not too much, but I ate enough that I was sure I’d have gained another 2-3 lbs. I got on the scale and lost 7lbs since last Monday. It’s not a massive difference from my previous post…. Only 2lbs, but.. long as the scale is moving, I’m not going to complain. For those of you wondering about the poop and the smell… it does smell weird.. and it can get really bad if you eat bad food or something you don’t digest well. I don’t have gas issues, and I only poop twice in the morning if I’m eating a normal diet. If I eat take-out, I will poop 5-6 times In a day. One thing I know for sure, as far as weight loss if I work out, I'm sure I could lose an lb a day. Next week I will try for 5x a week along with following weight watchers.

Ah, its nice to see ppl checking back on this thread. Its been over a year and I ve had my ups and downs like everyone. Had started a new job and the stress caused me to eat badly for 3 weeks. But I went back to my food plan after. Every time I messed up I always went back to the plan. I wish I could do more for my diet and exercise , develop good life long eating habits.... I havent reached my goal weight yet and weight loss is real slow now. Hopefully by the start of 2022 I'll have implemented some changes to kick start the weight loss again. Take care everyone.

You all are doing great!!! Congrats!! I'm still at my same 69 lb lost since surgery/87 lb since March. Haven't lost a thing since Oct 25th and no idea why. Total inches lost last month (Oct thru Nov) was only 1.75 too when previous months had been close to 10 inches or more. I usually measure on the 7th of each month but checked a few measurements last night and it looks like there won't be much loss this past month either. Don't know what's going on. Never had a stall last more than a few weeks. I tried shaking things up by eating things off plan/lil more calories/lil less too. NONE of it worked.

So as not to hijack an existing thread, I thought I'd start a new one. Since I began looking into bariatric surgery in 2019, I've done much research and reading. On the internet, I limited myself to sites that I knew were reputable and were evidence-based (i.e., Mayo Clinic) rather than sites that were trying to sell surgery. Once I was accepted into my program, I watched videos suggested by the program (i.e., Dr. Matthew Weiner) and took to heart the information I was given from my program. I came into the program with a lot of pre-existing knowledge on nutrition and diet having grown up with a Type 1 diabetic father and myself a Type 2. Despite that knowledge base, I obviously wasn't applying it or I would not have been to the point where I was considering surgery. One of the hardest things I had to do throughout my surgery preparation appointments and meetings was to go in and actually listen. I accepted that my way wasn't working and if I was going to proceed with a body and life-altering surgery, I needed to adopt what I was being taught. As you can see in my stats, it's worked. But I know I'm not done learning, maintaining and working on making good decisions and healthy choices for the long-term. In my classes, the dietician warned about social-media, weight-loss surgery groups. I admit that I move in and out of some groups. The overall lack of information and sharing of misinformation boggles my mind. It certainly proved that there are programs and doctors simply out to make money and there are patients willing to believe anything they are told without doing their own research or taking accountability for their own actions. I was grateful to find this site and have a source of information rather than opinion. I was happy to hear from WLS veterans who have gone through the process and how they are successfully maintaining. I wanted to hear what those experiences were so that I can learn from them. I did not want them to sugar-coat the truth and I did not expect unmitigated "support." If my understanding or behavior was counterproductive, I wanted to hear that. I needed to hear that. I still do. There seems to be a misconception that in order to be supportive, someone needs to say your choices are ok. Being truthful with someone, does not always mean saying what and how you are doing things is ok.

Hello! I am new to the forum but hoping to be more active. I have been considering a revision for quite some time now and would love people's opinions and possibly some experience with revisions. I am not sure if I want to have my gastric sleeve resized, have it converted into a DS or possibly have it converted into a RNY. For some backstory: I got the gastric sleeve almost 8 years ago and I feel like I did rather well, I lost roughly 100 lbs total. I maintained this weight loss for about 4 years doing extremely well. I then ended up getting pregnant with my daughter in 2017. I have medical conditions as well that makes weight loss extremely difficult too (I have PCOS and possibly hypothyroidism.) I ended up gaining back 60 lbs and for the life of me cannot lose it. I tried exercise, many different diets (low calorie/high protein, low carb, and keto with no luck. The only thing that seemed to work for me was the sleeve. I definitely want the surgery revised in some way but I am unsure how to proceed. Does anyone have any advice? It would be greatly appreciated, Thank you.

Do you mean liposuction? I had it years ago when i was “just overweight” and little bit again 2 years ago when I had plastics after reaching WLS goal. Here is an explanation of the process Mayo Clinic will have a better explanation than I ever would: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/liposuction/about/pac-20384586 From a practical perspective, the procedure is more for pockets of fat, vs. overall weight loss. It removes fat, but does not firm up skin. If you gain weight, the remaining fat cells in your body will just get bigger, so its not a permanent solution in that sense. Case in point: i still managed to make myself morbidly obese years after i had the procedure. And yep the areas i had it done still got huge. But if you have stubborn pockets of fat that don’t reduce despite weight loss in other parts of your body, its quite effective. Its usually employed during plastics procedures to get that sculpted look. Good Luck! ❤️

My doctor said it was about the liver, I have a verified fatty liver via CT scan and enzyme levels (previously done by primary). I’m required to do a 10 day preop liquid diet. I have a coworker who is about 150 pounds heavier than me and she had to do a much longer liquid diet preop. They’re hope was significant weight loss and liver shrinkage.

I’m sorry you feel this was the worst decision for you & you’re angry. And it doesn’t work for absolutely everyone - sometimes for genetic or physiological reasons, sometimes for psychological reasons. But if you can honestly look in the mirror & say yes I’m making changes to what I eat, I’m choosing low fat, low sugar & low carb foods, I’m eating differently to how I ate before, I’m eating smaller portions, I’m following my surgeon’s plan & my dietician’s recommendations, maybe you are one of the unlucky few for which surgery doesn’t work. The average weight loss after bariatric surgery at about the 5yr point is around 65% of the weight you had to lose to put you in the healthy bmi range. Some lose more. Some lose less. Complacency, lifestyle, health issues, age, gender, genetics, personal choice, etc. all play a part in how much you will lose & then the weight at which you happily maintain. So odds are you won’t lose & keep off all the weight you need (or want) to lose in the long term but odds are you will weigh less than you do when you started. If you buy a gym membership & never go, you won’t get any healthier, or stronger or fitter. Weight loss surgery is the same. If you don’t take advantage of the tool nothing changes. The amount of success you have is directly in proportion to the amount of effort you put in to making the long term changes. Like most (all) of us I’ve lost & regained hundreds of pounds over the years. Tried every diet, & exercise program. This time, I took advantage of the benefits the surgery afforded me in the beginning. I used the tool. I did a lot of research & changed how & what I ate. Put new habits into place. Came to understand why I was eating & worked out how I could manage those drives. I did & continue to do the work. If I didn’t consciously make those changes & continue to work at it every day, I’d be very near my highest weight again. That’s what always happened in the past: I dieted, lost weight, then would return to my old eating habits & food choices & would start to regain within days. I ate little to begin after my surgery: less than 300 calories. I was healing (all those sutures & staples holding my tummy together) plus no appetite & no real interest in food. But my calories increased as did my portion sizes over the weeks & months. I eat about 1300 calories to maintain but I’m shorter than you, likely older than you, not very active, female & have a small frame. But before surgery I could barely maintain my obese weight eating 1300 or fewer calories a day & I regularly skipped meals for decades. My metabolism was shot. I eat regularly now, eat more nutritionally dense food & eat more often then I’ve ever done before. I haven’t been this weight since I was 12 yrs old. I feel great.

Back with more NSVs and LOVING reading all of yours. Here we go: I am fitting into the smallest "skinny pants" I bought back in June. When I bought them I couldn't get the zipper even close, but today I am wearing them. My mom is at my house rehabbing and I am giving her a lot of intensive round-the-clock physical care. There is no way I could have done this without the weight loss I've had. I have so much collarbone and a lovely visible jawline. I can't stop looking at them every time I pass a mirror. Space between my toes. I can cross my arms across my waist and still fold forward, in fact it turns out that without a big belly in the way this is a very comfortable position. I can also cross my legs or sit on the floor in a resting position with one leg comfortably crooked up into a bend. my balance, it is so much better.

The surgery will give you lots of help to lose weight to begin (loss of appetite, smaller tummy, etc.) but in the long term you have to make the decision to make the permanent changes to how, what & why you eat. If you go into this thinking you’ll come out the other side weighing less but still eating the same way & for the same reasons you’ll put the weight on all over again just like you always did. That might sound harsh but it is the truth of it. After surgery, I really looked at what, why & how I ate. I took that time to refocus my food choices & gained a better understand of my eating cues. I did a lot of reading & worked out a new eating plan because I realised I couldn’t go back to how I used to eat if I was to be successful in the long term. You may find you won’t follow a specific restrictive ‘diet’ like keto or Atkins, etc. to maintain your lower weight but you may pick & choose & develop your own eating style that fits into your lifestyle, isn’t too restrictive &, this is the big one, is sustainable. Generally I eat lowish carbs, lowish fat, very little sweet, high protein. Big change was eating more nutritionally dense food & eating more regularly. And I eat about the same number of calories as I used to eat when I was obese. My metabolism actually works now so I can eat about that same 1300 calories & maintain my current weight. Do I miss the foods I avoid now like sweet things? Nope, not really. Uncle’s 80th yesterday. Most had dessert. I had a cup of tea. There was birthday cake later & I had tea again. Did I feel like I was missing out? Nope. Didn’t want it either. Realising you can reach that mindset where you’re not really interested in foods you used to crave & love to eat is a bit of a head spin. Weight loss surgery is an amazing opportunity. You just have to fully embrace all it can offer. And don't be afraid to ask for help from a dietician or therapist along the way. All the best what ever you choose.

UPDATE: Well, 11-25 was 1 month since I last had a loss on the scale. Inches didn't budge last month either. Only 1.75 inches total for the month. Not sure what the heck is going on but I'm not happy about it. Has anyone stalled this long? Don't know what to do. I even ate off plan several times to try and force a loss like I've heard others doing and that didn't work. My weight on Oct 25th was 241.2 and I have been weighing in between 246 and 249 on the regular since! So discouraging. Been going to the bathroom pretty normally too. But as a just in case I did take some laxatives for a few days and got things moving along but still, the lowest I got down to was 245. Now it's doing the 246 to 249 again. Sigh

What she said ^^^^^. Also, I do work hard to count my protein and avoid the pitfalls, but my work shows up on my body. Before surgery I did the work and half a pound would be the loss. After surgery AND weight loss work, I see a solid 2-4 lbs difference per week. Yeah, I know next year I’ll be closer to goal and half a pound loss will sound great, but it’s nice taking the down elevator right now. The physical stomach restriction will make the difference in maintenance too!

I’m sorry but this negativity is so off putting to your success. You need to do the work and surgery is only ever a TOOL. You should not be assuming it’ll magically work for you but also this should have been explicitly told to you by your care team prior to surgery. I haven’t gotten my surgery yet but I’ve already had every care practitioner emphasize that it’s a tool and I have to actually work for results. The way it’s different than just calorie restriction/exercise is that the surgery limits the amount you can eat and it also removes the part of the stomach that has the hunger hormones. This makes it actually possible to calorie restrict and exercise without the ability to binge or feel super hungry. If someone tried to do 800 calories a day without surgery they would feel like they are completely starving. Listen to your doctor. Seek a therapist. This is a safe space but also the negativity in your comments has been awful. You need to work on yourself and how you treat others too. Healing and weight loss are best friends, it takes a LOT of work.

Husky mama mentioned using the Baritastic app. I’ve been using this app since I started the required weight loss program prior to my surgery. BTW my gastric sleeve surgery was 11/01/21. I love using this app. I found out there is a timer. My nutritionist suggested that when eating there should be at least 20 seconds between each bite. That means put your fork down and chew your bites thoroughly then swallow. There are exceptions to the rule with foods such as scrambled eggs, yogurt etc. With that said this will help slow down your eating. The question is are you eating too fast and finishing your meals in less than 20 to 30 minutes. If you have a scale go back and start weighing your food again. Finally if your weighing yourself everyday day you’re not going to see changes. Pick a specific day and time to weigh yourself. Then weigh yourself once a week on the that specific day you chose and you may see some progress. I wish you the best and please don’t give up. You’ve gotten a lot of good advice and I hope you will read them use these to help you succeed with your weight loss. Keep us updated on your progress as all of us want to continue to support you. 🙏🙏🙏