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Ok - breathe. When is the last time you lost 9lbs (for good) in 6 weeks? Or 59lbs in one concerted effort? YOU'VE GOT THIS! ALREADY! If you're sticking to your plan, as you say, then you cannot *not* lose a big pile of weight. It just doesn't come off in a linear fashion - you will experience stalls (many) and big whooshes of loss (fewer). You just have to relax into this and trust the process if you follow the rules - you now have your tool, if you use it properly you will lose an absolute shedload of weight. Enjoy the ride. 🤩

Hi everyone! I’m new here & wanted to see if anyone shares a surgery date with me. This upcoming Friday, November 18th, I’ll be having my sleeve to DS surgery & I’m so darn excited! I’ve been waiting almost 4 years for this surgery. I started in 2019 then Covid hit. Then life hit & everything was basically put on pause. I started the process again last year, but I was working so much that I didn’t take the time out to do what needed to be done for the surgery. Then I got Covid & lost 12lbs in a week. But, the weight came back once I was able to eat & taste good again. Lol…. So now, here I am with a surgery date. I think excited is an understatement! I only lost 30lbs with the sleeve. My weight the day of surgery was 266 (September 30, 2015). In 2016, my PCP put me on Adipex & Topomax. I got down to 210, but I started having issues with my stomach & couldn't tolerate them anyone so I stopped taking them. I’m currently at 232lbs & my surgeon (Dr Smith in Celebration, FL) said that I’ll probably get down to around 170- 180. I asked if it’s possible to get to 160- 165 & he said “It’s very possible”. I’ve prepared myself mentally as much as one could & I'm ready to get this weight off. I know the weight loss will be slower & it will take some time to get these 60lbs off, but I’m more determined than ever to do this! I’m already committed to taking numerous pills a day (meds & vitamins) & will also have to start doing some type of cardio, which is something I didn’t do with the sleeve. I’m looking forward to being able to share my “success” story with all of you! ☺️

because I like to over share sometimes (lol) and just give people a window into a true reality of a very large persons journey struggling with bad habits, eating disorder, anxiety depression etc….… I have decided to show a general weight progression for my weight loss journey so far….it has been far from drops all the time, even when I was doing the right thing! My high weight was July 2021 when I tipped the scales at 456. I am starting the rest of my story in January 2022. I was taking Ryselbus for a bit and was back down to 440. It was at this time that I doubled down to start doing the mental work on my stress eating, emotional eating, binge eating and other disordered eating which had gotten me pretty immobile and huge. During feb, march and April I avoided the scale, focusing on my relationship with food, the triggers contained in my relationship with other people who had made me turn to binging and life in general. Also in some changes in portion size and being able to stop when full (which was hard for me) but April 24th I stepped on the scale and was 426. I felt like I had made progress on me for the first time in a long time. May 8th I was gradually down to 421, then my body did the first drop on may 9th (which I have learned is normal pattern for me) to 414.6 I went up about two pounds and down about two pounds for another couple weeks until finally dropping so to 405.6 May 27th. June I really worked hard on dealing with fast food addiction and some very deep emotional hurts along with work stress and financial stress. My weight varied from 412.6 down (yep, gained!) to 403 at the end of the month. I was gaining, I was loosing, I was struggling to eat better and not loose my head to anxiety and other emotions. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. The whole month tracks up and down and up and down until I started to find my way towards the end of the month and the struggle became easier. June 30th saw my surgeon for first consult. I was 403.2 that morning on my scale July 4th I celebrated my own independence by leaving 400s with 399.6… I had started doing a lot of portion control and making healthier choices. Had nearly eliminated fast food. You would think I would be on a better path, but no, my body was still going to frustrate me. Even though I was eating a consistent diet, my weight decided to go on a joy ride and spiked back past 400 to 411.8. I was devastated and disheartened. How could I gain when my calories were in control and I was not eating much junk??? Emotionally I struggled and dug deeper into my past, my present and what I wanted for my future. I made some emotional breakthroughs and slowly the scale slid down, leaving the month at 396.4 Then August 3rd, 399.9 lbs, my nutritionist appt where I got my surgical guidelines and it threw me for a loop. I was told three weeks of either 1) 4 protein shakes a day and a light meal of lean protein and steamed veggies or 2) 50 total carbs a day….. that morning I had what I thought of a healthy smoothie breakfast with split pea (protein/fiber), berries and a banana with ice… I did the math on the carbs. It was 108 for my breakfast… could I do this?? with my struggles with disordered eating I knew I needed baby steps to get used to anything. Carb counting seemed to give me more variety and feeling of control. I started tracking all foods and reducing my cab count throughout Aug….. a miracle happened to my body as my mind relaxed with the guidelines given to me. The weight fluctuated, but trended truly down. I ended august at 376.3 by September I was (mostly) living with 50 carbs a day.. reading all labels and looking up food, paying attention to portion. Funny thing is my calories only dropped about 200 from my pre carb counting diet, but I was even more stringent with what I would consume… I was ready for my surgery when my surgeon was finally able to schedule ! By making my new habits my new normal, I was down to 365.6 at the end of September. A few hiccups delayed my surgery scheduling (mostly an uncommon complicated insurance issue ) but I kept moving with my new normal… I finally got my date of Nov 3rd, so October was go time. The time to double down and follow things to a T so I could be in the best shape for surgery. My body wasn’t as cooperative even with me doing right as I hoped, but with perseverance I dropped more weight. During the last week in October with changing nothing I went from 362 to 353. My body just finally released the weight… surgery day 351.4 ! Will do a post op so far in a bit…

Congrats! I have been 2 pounds away for weeks now but I can't wait until I join you. I've only lost 30 pounds but I have a few fun nsv like my watch was on the last hole and tight enough to leave marks on my wrist but now it rotates freely around and around. I could tighten it but I love seeing the evidence of the weight loss lol. My wedding ring is getting dangerously loose too. I almost couldn't take it off for the surgery because it was so tight and I never take it off anyway but now I check it often because I'm afraid it'll come off on its own. Little things like that make all that we've done to get to this point worth it

When in doubt talk to a nutritionist and your surgeon like the others said. This is a long process. You didn’t get to your weight in two months and it will take time to adapt to your new lifestyle and your body to loose the excess weight. trust the process and you will achieve

He’s primarily a BBL surgeon. I wouldn’t choose him for a tt, particularly after massive weight loss.

I am 2 years out from gastric sleeve surgery. 100lbs down. Original weight 383 and today 277-281. I have not overstretched my sleeve and I excercise 3-4 times a week. I can break the 277. All of my labs are great. Cholesterol, Glucose, Sodium, vitamins, blood counts. However, my high blood pressure has returned, I still have GERD and sleep apnea. I am considering a revision to a DS. I know that is a bit extreme, but my BMI is still above a 36. I am a little nervous, but more so because this surgery reroutes my anatomy. also, I don’t know what the recovery looks like for a DS patient that already had a previous sleeve. Any thoughts on all of this would be greatly appreciated.

If you’re in a stall you won’t see any weight loss. The first often begins around week 3 & usually can last 1-3. Some people are just slow losers too & that’s okay. Some pre existing conditions can slow your rate of loss too as can certain medications. As @oldsalt asked: what does your surgeon say? Also check with your dietician. Maybe something is missing in your diet or you’ve misunderstood something in your instructions or food list. Can be easy to do with all the information overload. Don’t give up. It may take you longer than you hoped but you will lose weight. And those yoga classes will get easier. You’ll be surprised what you’ll be able to do in as little as a month if you stick with it.

I agree with the suggestions to distract yourself, clean tired teeth & snack on your leftover dinner, a protein or nutrient dense food. You can try having something to drink too - water, warm milk, a herbal/green tea. And, yes, most traditional late night snacking foods are nutrient poor sliders which are easy to overeat. I’d also ask myself why I want to snack. Is it an old habit, an emotional need, are you craving a specific food, flavour or texture? These are all head hungers not real hungers. Recognising them & discovering what to do to manage them is part of our weight loss process. Not easy but worth the effort. If only the surgery removed that part of our brain too. PS - try not to eat too close to going to bed (leave a couple of hours) especially if you’re eating a dense protein like meat as it can cause GERD symptoms.

Oh gosh, I totally get what you’re saying. I have seen celebrities after WLS looking gaunt and, I admit, I am one of those who thinks “they looked better fat.” But then I think about the Dragonball Z meme “This isn’t even my final form!” 😁 I hope if I look gaunt, it’s only temporary. I know many people have WLS for their health, not their appearance. That was my primary motivation. I want to be strong enough to play with my future grandchildren. Whatever weight gets me there, that’s my goal.

I am a type II diabetic, one of the reasons for the surgery. Post surgery many people have vast improvement in blood sugar levels. I also have heard that people gain before they lose which is confusing to me. I am just following Dr recommendations and praying for positive outcome.

Hi, RoyalAdpi — just wondering how your ESG went. Hope everything went smoothly. I am halfway to my goal weight at 5 weeks post-procedure. Keep us posted!

Don't give up increase your protein and water I have lost 68kg and am maintaining now as soon as I see changes in my weight I up my protein and water try it and see if it helps

Hello. I am really really struggling. I have only lost 9 lbs at the 6 week mark after gastric bypass surgery. I lost over 50 lbs prior to surgery. I don’t feel restricted but I am totally following my instructions for intake. Today, I tried beginner’s yoga for overweight people and couldn’t even get near the poses. I feel like just giving up.

Lifetime rule. I just spoke to someone last week who had the size of his stomach checked because he gained back all his weight. He was sure he stretched it out. He had the surgery over 15 years ago. It was not stretched out. They told him it is because he washes the food out by drinking with his meal.

Okay, here's a weird one and an unclear "victory": I was going through airport security and after they did the backscatter screen, the one where they look at your naked body through your clothes with X-rays, they called me aside and did a very invasive and thorough pat-down, focusing on my groin area. This has never happened to me before, save at the Kathmandu airport where I'm pretty sure everyone just gets grabbed by the crotch as part of standard procedure. As far as I can gather, I've now lost enough weight that my panniculus looks less like a fat belly and more like a low-slung bum bag full of drugs/explosives on their machine. Hoping that as it deflates, it looks less alarming and triggers fewer groin probings.

I have had a few of those dreams about eating. They’re not anything like gorging on unhealthy foods… (my weight gain wasn’t food addiction related) I’m almost 4 weeks post op from my sleeve surgery. My dreams are about having a poached egg on toast or having a salad with grilled chicken… I think whatever you’re missing food wise your brain is trying to help you make up for it somehow with dreams? Anyway I can see how it would be scary to dream you are a bunch of off limits foods in access and be afraid you ruined your sleeve! Mine are more like “I was able to swallow the bite of salad without getting foamies”’.

No. That's got nothing to do with a PAP. Ways to find it are through blood work and classic symptoms such as irregular or non existent periods, skin tags, dark areas under arms and under breasts, predominant weight gain in the stomach area, inability to get or stay pregnant, major hormonal imbalances, insulin resistance, etc...

You may want to be fitted and find at least one to have on hand if your weight has settled cause the price of bras has gone WAY up but if you can get them during a sale it will be far more reasonable. Victoria Secret has their sale twice a year I believe and if you are a larger cup size, lane Bryant has smaller and larger band sizes and they have different sales but every few months they have a good one. If you wait for an event you likely will end up paying twice the price for it. Not sure what your budget is like but it’s just food for thought.

I agree 100%. My surgeon said snacking is the biggest reason for weight regain - or for not being as successful at this as you want to be. Saving some calories for a late night snack might help, as someone else suggested. This surgery takes a lot of work - it's definitely NOT the easy way out.

I'm almost four months post op and I still have two shakes per day in the form of proffees. I can't afford to stop them. I hit higher protein goals because I do cardio/strength training five days per week and I couldn't eat that much protein from solid foods. As for vitamins, I will never stop taking them. My surgeon stressed how important it was to prevent vitamin and mineral deficiencies by staying on top of my supplements, (and having regular blood tests) because once they occur it's much harder to bring the levels back up, so it's just not worth going against that medical advice. I trusted my surgeon enough to operate on my body, so surely I'm going to trust her advice on preventing V&D deficiencies so I will follow her advice forever. To the OP: I would say that life is probably easier for you post op in many ways after losing weight, the trade off is your guts have been rerouted, and you can't compromise on supplements and protein. Have you had your vitamin and minerals checked via blood test? Talk to your team and see if they approve these changes, take their advice firstly because they know your medical needs. Best wishes!

😁 Your post was both hilarious and relatable. I'd glanced at the scale and it said I'd gained almost a stone! I panicked and almost threw the scale. I don't quite have the hang of this "monitoring my weight" thing as of yet, and I don't want to. However, I know it's a necessary evil. This is a fancy, schmancy electronic scale that you cannot put on the carpet (or it'll be inaccurate), and that connects with an app on my phone to tell me my BMI and keeps track of my weight loss/gain. Evil thing, indeed. Thank you for everything!

And you’ll likely experience a couple of them as you’re losing. Stalls are all very normal & very common. They usually last 1-3 weeks. Think of them as your body saying what the hell are you doing to me: less food, change of diet, change of activity, weight loss, … It then shuts the door & tries to come to terms with the changes. Some find that while the scale doesn’t move, a tape measure may show some changes.

You’ve done amazingly well so far. Congratulations. Ok, breathe. Weight loss is never a straight downward line. It goes up & down, plateaus, goes faster at times, slower at others. As long as your general trend is downward you’re golden. We all have a natural fluctuation too from hormonal changes, water retention, constipation/diarrhoea. It’s just how our bodies function. Don’t let the scales rule your life. You know best how to manage it - weigh every day or less frequently. I weighed every day until I stabilised now I weigh every second or third day but that’s what I need to keep myself honest & on track. Don’t forget to that what you weigh on your scales will likely be different to your doctors. Different scales, you’re weighed at different times, after eating/not eating, dressed or not, etc. Also scales are not 100% accurate all the time. A few weeks ago my scales said I weighed 136.2kg & that was after I changed the batteries. It initially read 151kg - about three times my weight. Yes I did have heart palpitations for a second or two. Since it wasn’t the batteries, it may have been the days of extremely high humidity or that it was just time they went to God. I bought a new set … which weigh about a pound heavier than the old ones. ☹️

It's great to hear that you are considering all of your options when it comes to loose skin. It is true that there are many factors that play into how our skin responds to weight loss, and genetics is definitely one of the biggest ones. However, there are a few things that you can do to help your skin bounce back, even if it takes a little longer than you'd like. First and foremost, make sure that you are eating a healthy, balanced diet and getting enough protein. This will help your skin to heal and repair itself from the inside out. Additionally, staying hydrated is key for keeping your skin looking its best. Make sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day, and consider adding a daily moisturizer to your skin care routine. Finally, give yourself time. It can take months or even years for your skin to fully adjust to your new body, so be patient and give your skin the time it needs to bounce back. If you are still unhappy with your appearance after a few years, then you can always talk to a dermatologist or plastic surgeon about your options. Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely keep all of this in mind as I continue on my journey. Thanks for the advice! I am only a few months out, so I am hopeful that my skin will tighten up a bit more over time. I am being very consistent with my skin care regimen and using sunscreen religiously, so fingers crossed that will help! I am also drinking tons of water and eating pretty well, so hopefully that will make a difference too. I know it will take time and patience, but I am hopeful that I will see some more improvement. I'm so sorry to hear that you're struggling with your loose skin! I can completely understand how frustrating it must be. Have you considered talking to your doctor about surgery? It sounds like you've been doing everything right in terms of taking care of yourself, but sometimes our bodies need a little extra help. Surgery could be the answer for you and it's always worth exploring all of your options. I had never even heard of "turkey neck" until I started my weight loss journey. I was always unhappy with how my neck looked, but I thought it was just because I was overweight. Now that I've lost the weight, turkey neck is one of the things that bothers me most about my appearance. It's really hard to feel good about myself when people are constantly pointing out how saggy and wrinkled my skin looks. But you're right - at the end of the day, being healthy and feeling good about myself is more important than anything else!