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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

yesterday I made split pea soup.. (I an full liquid, but can have strained soup) I have always liked things very salty and try to hold back because family complains… this time I tried to be restrained not just for everyone else’s taste, but to be gentle on my system. I blended mine with a bit of extra water and started eating after my husband was already eating a bowl… I asked HIM if it was salty… he said no, it was fine… lol first time in 20+ years I thought something was saltier than he did! will be interesting to find out how else my palette has changed over the next few weeks

I had to do that last week, I'm gonna pray for you lol that mess is so thick and chalky Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using BariatricPal mobile app

You’ll get a wide range of responses to this. Personally I used them for a few weeks. Found they helped me keep my sips small. Mind you that was back when you could use plastic straws. Those paper ones start to breakdown faster than you can drink & water that is paper flavoured or has bits of paper floating in it is not pleasant. Maybe try a metal straw instead or pour your shakes, soups, water, etc. drinks into a drinking bottle with its own straw (camel back bottles or cups).

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 would suggest calling the insurance company and ask them to email you a copy of the Clinical UM Guideline. This is what they use as a “checklist” when they review your file. It would tell you their requirements for approval. I have Anthem BCBS and my first consultation was on 8/26/22 and my surgery was on 11/2/22. I didn’t have to wait a specific amount of months to get approved by my health insurance, I just had to get the clearances which were scheduled and spaced out 2 weeks between each visit.

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!

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.

So glad that the stall has broken. Keep up the great work.

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”’.

I have BCBS of Illinois and from my first appt to surgery day was 2 months and a week months. My first appt was Feb 28th and my surgery was May 3rd.

It depends a lot on your pre op diet, everybody has a different one. Also, people react to surgery differently. I had diarrhoea from the moment I woke after surgery. It lasted 2 long days and nights. Even now I only go once or twice a week with the help of some anti constipation meds

I have United healthcare. From my initial apt to my actual surgery was three months. But that is because:1. I did every pre opp thing super fast 2. My BMI was 44 and 3. My program was fully covered because I had maxed out of pocket already.

yes it cleared up after a few weeks. and the main issue was my legs yes. It was not all over

The difference between three and six months may seem like a lot but during that time you will be taking in a lot of information. Honestly in retrospect it wasn’t that long to wait. I know it seems like an eternity when your ready to go but I think you will realize it kinda flies by.

it can take about a week. There's not much in there.

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!

The '3 week stall' happens to many! You will get out of it as long as you follow your plan. I'm gonna paste a great reply made by @SpartanMaker in a different post that explains why you may be stalling!

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. ☹️

Hello everyone, I could really use some input or info on anyone that has experienced numbness of the body. Where was the numbness? Did it progress? What did the doctor suggest and did it clear? I started to experience some numbness in my legs about 3 1/2 weeks ago. The numbness now has progressed to pretty much my whole entire body except for my head everything is numb and it’s to the point where it’s getting a little harder to walk without feeling like I might fall but I’m thankful I can still walk at this point. I don’t really experience much tingling and it’s not painful even though every now and then I’ll get a little shocks when I am sitting crisscross or stretching my legs out. I will say my doctor to test for vitamin deficiencies and I am a little low on two of my B vitamins and iron but we are working to fix that now. I would love to hear from someone who has experienced this or someone who knows about this type of issue good or bad I would just really like some input and ultimately resolution

You will not be alone on thanksgiving for sure. I start my two week liquid diet on 11-14 and will be on it on thanksgiving. I am scheduled 11-28, I think I might be the last one in November that is in this group. I haven't seen anyone posting the 28th or after. I wish you the best, please keep us posted!