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This is very independent to each surgery center and insurance company. My insurance required a 4 month process, but my surgery center required a 6 month minimum with the "potential for fast tracking". They said that they require the 6 months to show your dedication and make sure you really understand the process and the life long changes. I was fast tracked, about 5 months total. Once I finished all of the insurance requirements and did my final weight check for the surgery center I had my last apt with the surgeon and surgery was scheduled. It took about a week for insurance approval and I had surgery about 3 weeks after my last apt with the surgeon.

It really depends on your program and more importantly your insurance. Some companies require a 3 or 6 month medically managed weight loss attempt. Most clinics just have you go there monthly to check your weight and sorta use it as an opportunity to spread out your other requirements a bit so they aren’t so overwhelming. Sounds like you probably have the whole list of requirements though unless a medical issue pops up that they need to investigate further to clear you for surgery. It really varies whether you will get a date before or after you have completed everything and receive your approval but obviously the timeframe itself will not Change you may just know it sooner. My whole process took about 6 months from first appointment to surgery day.

there are so many factors when it comes to weight loss and gain. you can restrict too much and the body is in starvation mode and tries to conserve fat on the body. you could be nutritionally imbalanced causing problems; not eating enough OR taking too many supplements. you could be exercising more and loosing inches but gaining muscle. the body could be retaining excess fluids due to an imbalance of some nature. too bad you do not have a surgically support team following you. maybe get in touch with your gp and have baseline tests. glad you are talking to a nutritionalist. also don’t just rely on the scale… what are your measurements ? are you staying the same weight but loosing inches?

You can eat way more than I could at 6 weeks out. I had a tough time of nausea and sickness. For months I only managed about 300 calories a day. Even now at 10 months out I can only manage 800 to 1000 Cals a day. This made me have slow weight loss because my body was holding on to everything, I managed to give it. So, let's see if we can find out what's going on with you Are you on regular foods now or still on pureed? We are all given different plans so we don't know what yours will be. Can you show a food diary for a typical day ? How is your protein intake ?

Two pounds lost in five weeks? How is that normal? It’s making me feel like something is wrong. The other 19 was legit the first week and included whatever the weight of my stomach was that came out and water I was retaining. So what has changed since then? I went and did a colonic hydro cleanse and came home heavier than I went in too. ps. Thank you for your reply I do appreciate it ❤️

21 lbs in five weeks is very normal. We started off at about the same weight, and that's about where I was at that point I think shows like "My 600 lb Life" give people unrealistic expectations about their weight loss. You have to remember that those people start off at MUCH higher BMIs than the average WLS patient. Most of us lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month. So your loss is perfectly normal! I went on to lose over 200 lbs - so the surgery works as long you're committed and stick to your plan. Edited to add that almost all of us hit our first major stall sometime during the first month after surgery. It's usually the third week, thus we call it "the three week stall". That may explain the 2 lb drop over those couple of weeks (367 to 365 lbs). If you search this site for "the three week stall" you will find over 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding). but overall, you have lost 21 lbs since surgery. Again, that's a normal loss for the first five weeks.

At a loss here. went to Mexico and had surgery Aug 12. Less than 24 hours after surgery I had to leave Tijuana because of the civil unrest going there. I have only heard from the dietician once they do not answer my emails or messages through WhatsApp. to the point where I paid a dietician on my own here in Canada. I went from consuming pre-surgery over five 6000 cal a day to now always sticking between 1000 and 1200 as per dietician. I used to only walk 500 to 1000 steps a day and I’m now doing 5000 to 6000 minimum a day. i have not smoked a cigarette even since before surgery. I went for a colonic cleanse last week and I’m taking many many supplements. because of kidney issues when I do take protein powders I cannot take them anymore according to my doctor and dietician so I make sure to get lots of protein through Greek yoghurt and chicken or ham or turkey or other vegetables. I started off day of surgery at 386. after surgery I was 373. When I made it back home to Canada five days later (stayed in California to rest before flight back) my doctor Weighed me at 367. Five weeks later I am at 365. I have never puked, and for over a month I would get feelings of being starving now finally I’m starting to get where my stomach says hey you’re full but I’ve always been very careful to track everything that goes in my mouth from day one. I am making sure to get all my liquids in. I am so depressed at this point I don’t know what to do and I just feel like giving up and saying screw it and going back to my old habits. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe the doctor in Mexico messed up the surgery or if there’s something really wrong with me I’ve gone to my family doctor four times and she doesn’t seem that concerned and said that she’ll keep an eye on it. has anybody else go through this?

I assume you mean having to do things like the psyc eval and dietitian visits? These are for your benefit. I'm sure you don't want to go through the pain of surgery and all the dietary restrictions only to end up right back where you started from? Keep in mind that WLS is a tool than can help you, but YOU still have to put in the work. It's important you you're screened and potentially treated for eating disorders, as well as learn how to eat healthfully for life. You can't go back to eating poorly post-surgery and expect to maintain a healthy weight. The steps you have to go through are designed to help you be successful for life.

Totally agree with that especially weight loss and moving through stages of food! But kellyarw95 and NewmeDC, here are a few practical things that I learned: You will be very, very tired when you get home. I don’t recall nausea (I know for sure I didn’t vomit) but the gas is for real. Walking helps and a heating pad on your back/shoulders. Take it slow and do laps in your house. I didn’t experience too much pain but definitely needed meds for the whole week mainly for the laparoscopic incisions and the largest one has some really deep internal sutures that are painful. Stay hydrated - tiny, tiny sips of Water. You can figure out Protein later but you will 100 legit not be hungry - it’s weird. Forget it if you are a side sleeper…invest in a back support pillow because you will need it. I’ve also seen that a lot of people lounge/sleep in a recliner…if I had it to do over again I would likely have invested in one. Roll out of bed holding a pillow to your tummy and letting gravity assist. Do not lift heavy things or reach for things overhead/down low. Hope that’s helpful. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing! I recently had my six week evaluation and so far I’ve lost 12 kilos or 26 pounds after surgery, so I’m pretty much on track for my starting weight. Yes, the stalls can be very frustrating and I had one for almost three weeks in the beginning of this month. But then the number on the scale started moving again. I still vomit sometimes, especially after dinner, no matter how careful I try to be. Happened tonight. So that’s my biggest problem, still.

I'm nearly 2 years post op (bypass) and most foods still make me ill after only a couple of bites. I take small bites, eat slowly etc., not heavy/ greasy food, but yeah. Most food makes me a bit sick and I'm so over it. Like, it's a struggle to remain over 115lbs, which is crazy! (I still have a bunch of skin removal to go too, at least 5lbs worth and my weight ranges between 117 and 125.) I'm putting a call in to my doctor because it just seems a bit weird that I'm still getting nauseated so very often. Keeps me skinny I guess. *sigh* 😓 Anyone else have this issue?

So i am about 5 and a half months post op. My hair is starting to thin out. Knew it was coming, Oh well lol. It will grow back eventually. Lost almost no weight so far this month. guessing i am in a stall again... gotta hate it lol. anyways prepping for a hurricane here in Florida. Should be here by the end of the week.

I think everything is normal because everyone is different. It could be so many things that effect weight loss. . Just keep following your program and give it more time. Everyone looses at different rates and maybe next week you will have a large loss or maybe you will be slow by steady and still reach your goal. Hugs! Its hard not to have huge losses after going through all of this. But its going to be a long journey so don't stress too much, just keep at it and every little pound will add up.

I have such a strange shaped body I can't imagine this working for me although I love the idea. I have such a long torso and I am so tall I struggle to find shirts that are long enough. My pants size is way smaller than my shirt size. I have already carried all of my weight in my abdomen so now that is were 90% of my excess skin is so I still need larger shirts. haha. Always something! I thought about trying like stitch fix or something like that when I hit my goal weight or maintenance (which ever comes first) mainly to try things that I would never consider when shopping for myself. I am such a tshirt and jeans girl that it is SO HARD to even consider anything else. And, when I do I feel like I am dressed up and/or over dressed for just having dinner or whatever.

Ok so you did not get weight loss surgery for the weight loss. It was due to this tumor on your stomach. Ok now i get ya. You may need to end up getting revised to bypass if your reflux is getting this bad. Its always a fear for most that get the sleeve on having to revise it to bypass and its something i fear because my insurance does not cover these surgeries. Maybe talk to your doctor about other PPI medications. There are better ones than Omeprazole.

what is your weight and height? Why did you get weight loss surgery if you were already underweight and on a permanent liquid diet due to other health issues?

It's unusual to go that direction, but sometimes necessary if the RNY needs to be reversed - something needs to be done to help keep the weight off, though what I have seen done more (though much more complex) is going beyond a sleeve to the DS. Both the sleeve and RNY are similar metabolically, so one doesn't usually work much better than the other if weight regain was the problem. What the OP seems to be referring to in her dissatisfaction is the matter that dumping is rare with the sleeve based procedures but more common with the pouch type procedures such as the RNY, and some surgeons use that as a marketing point for the RNY - a form of aversion therapy. Unfortunately, dumping is not universal with the RNY (maybe 30% or so) so it's nothing to depend on as a weight maintenance tool - those who need it most will likely not dump; it sounds like the OP was one of the "lucky" ones who did. Perhaps the OP should look into a DS, as that is fairly straightforward to do once the sleeve is done, and most any good DS surgeon should be able to put her sleeve right - it doesn't sound like it was done right in the first place. While a straightforward procedure, the sleeve does take practice to get consistently right, particularly if the surgeon is having to reconstruct the stomach first as with such a revision.

A bypass is usually revised to a sleeve if the bypass fails: weight gain, unmanageable vitamin malabsorption issues, excessive dumping complications,... Much like a sleeve can be revised to bypass because of weight gain, GERD, etc, As others have said, any weight loss surgery can fail if you don't make permanent changes to how, what & why you eat. Post surgical benefits like loss of appetite & your restriction don’t last. They should help you to kick start your weight loss & give you time to assess your eating & establish new eating habits. Sounds like you relied on the side effects of your bypass to influence what you ate. I’d expect your bypass would have failed sooner if you didn’t experience dumping (50-60% don’t with bypass). You mentioned your tummy has stretched. It does because it is a muscle & stretches & contracts. Can’t believe any doctor would say it can’t. Consistently eating larger portions will cause it to stretch more & contract less. But is your tummy as large as it was before you had either surgery or about the size of someone who never had a weight issue? The success you have with either surgery is dependent upon you, with consideration of any complications you may have of course. We all have our reasons for choosing the surgery we did & the effort we put in to make changes are reflected in the success we have or didn’t have. Excluding the life changes that can sometimes sabotage our intentions. I chose sleeve because of the lower risk of malabsorption & dumping. I lost all my weight & more. I don’t eat like friends & family who carry weight. I don’t eat exactly like friends & family who never carried weight either. I have to work a little harder & listen more carefully to my body (what it needs, how it reacts, etc.) because it’s easier for me to gain weight. I’m sorry you are unhappy with your revision.

Hello :-) I'm 9 weeks post surgery and honestly this has ruined my life I don't feel this is ever going to stop and I'm so scared. So my story is a little different. I had a laparoscopic gastric sleeve because I had a benign tumour growing on the outside of my stomach. My gastric sleeve is a smaller op than normal because they didn't take as much of my stomach away but I can't understand why I'm suffering so badly. Due to other health issues I've also got dysphagia and have been on a permanent liquid diet since 2016 and already very underweight. This is unrelated to the benign tumour and still being investigated. I never had any issues with acid before surgery. Anyhow, after surgery I was doing really well. The first few weeks I was building up to 4 300ml ensure shakes a day quite well. I felt great but this might have been the painkillers I was on for a pneumothorax. I wasn't taking the anti reflux medication as they couldn't prescribe it in liquid form and the orodispersable ones had hundreds of tiny hard capsules in them which made them difficult to swallow. But I was ok. No reflux problems. Then suddenly everything changed. I started getting the general foamies at first. Which I could deal with as they were quick in passing and after a google search I eased off the ensure shakes a little, drank more slowly and drank more water. I was started on omeprazole capsules that I have to open up and dissolve in water so I'm not really getting the full 40mg of it. I never miss taking this though. Over the past 6 weeks its gotten to the point that I no longer have foamies I have this constant thick sticky slime in my throat which is so bad I'm now losing sleep due to waking up choking and trying to hack it up. Every night is a nightmare. I go to sleep and start producing more thick slime and breathing in acid that I wake up choking and covered in sweat. I'm panicked trying to get the slime up to breathe, coughing up acid, gagging, choking on the slime, gulping on the huge lumps of slime that I can't hack up or swallow and sometimes vomiting. Its now gotten to the point that I'm living on a few cups of tea a day and water as I can't get the ensures past the slime during the day. Even an empty stomach has made no difference. I saw my surgeon and nutritionist finally a few days ago who treated me like I'd had something as simple as a tooth extraction and were unbothered by my weight loss, the fact that I can no longer get ensures down so I'm basically not eating at all and that I'm becoming depressed dealing with this choking slime and acid despite taking omeprazole. He's scheduling an endoscopy but in the meantime I'm honestly just so done with dealing with this. Its completely ruining my life. I can't eat, I can't sleep and I'm tortured every second by this choking slime in my throat. I have a young child to look after and I feel so tired and panicked daily. Has anyone dealt with the slime constantly? Rather than just when eating too much? Has anyone found a way to reduce stomach acid if already on anti reflux meds? Thank you in advance for any replies.

I think sometimes it's easy to forget that the surgery is a *tool*, not a substitute for self-control. The most important weight loss tool any of us have is between our ears.

Oh OK you're almost there then. No need to panic. If you have soup mixes leftover just drink/eat those? Good luck with your surgery and weight loss journey.

I have never heard of bypass to sleeve. Would be great for you to tell us more. I would think that would be difficult to do considering the anatomy of both surgeries. Committing to changing your lifestyle and dealing with the underlying issues with food is hard work. you can out eat any surgery! Gastric sleeve, d/s, bypass etc are all just tools to help you be able to better control your consumption of calories . Personally, my issues with food brought me to this weight and will bring me back to it if I do not continue to work on and control my food issues. I have seen a few people I know eat themselves obese again after bypass. (One with bypass resumed her constant Dr Pepper drinking two weeks in because she “couldn’t live” without several cans a day. Surprise surprise she didn’t loose as much as she thought and is creeping back). Sleeve does work well for a majority of people, especially those who make the changes. I hope you are finding a path to achieve what you want.

I have lots of anxiety about my surgery and not even a date yet! Totally natural and totally understandable. It’s a huge life change that has to be acknowledged for how different things will be when it’s done. You have come this far and will do great. Remind yourself about how much you can do at a lower weight! Good luck tomorrow… please come back on and let us know how things went!

Iv'e had BOTh the ruen-y bypass surgery that was successful FOR over 10 years, after having a baby, gaining weight back and having vitamin deficiency issues I had a revision to a gastric sleeve. The sleeve has been a joke, there is no stopping me from over eating sweets or fried foods, I was sick when I ate those things with a ruen-y. I had an upper gi last week (I am 7 years post op of revision) Dr says my stomach looks like any other non surgery stomach he sees. So much for my surgery dr saying stomachs dont stretch. 1.Ruen-y is more evasive but it keeps you from eating sweets/fried foods without becoming so ill you have to lay down for 2 hours. (not dangerous, just very uncomfortable) 2.If you have weight loss surgery be SURE to have lipo suction after you've lost most of y our weight. Once you grow a fat cell you NEVER loose it unless you have it removed by having lipo suction or cool sculpting. A fat cell will lay flattened until you have extra calories that need stored then they pop right up. Get rid of them b&&*$ right away, you can still grow more cells if you over eat but it takes time to grow them new, old cells are like little saboteurs waiting to fill up again. 3. If you don't like aerobic activity try chill-aerobics. Sit somewhere cold.. shiver and ur body burns fat. 15 min. of shivering equals 30min,. of aerobic activity. Your body will burn fat to try and warm you up. (it's actually opposite in a polar bears body)

Having a day today. My doctor warned me my hormones would change but this is the first time I feel it. My weightloss is starting to slow down, which is completely reasonable. I just hate seeing it. No one should be losing over a pound a day, so you can see how unrealistic I am being. I guess I get scared that I am going to go back to struggling beyond belief to lose weight. I caught myself craving sugar for the first time yesterday and it scared me that I am going to unsuccessful.