Search the Community

I don't know if this is your issue or not, but one thing I've seen from others in a similar situation is that they still eat like fat people trying to diet. If that's you, you need to completely change your mindset. Your job at this point is to GAIN weight, so dietary fat and carbs are your friends. A key change would be to look for and eat more calorie dense foods like rice, potatoes, peanut butter, full fat dairy, etc. If you eat meat, look for fatty meat, not lean cuts. Calories are your friends right now. Just my .02.

I don’t know about weird, but definitely a win for me. I grew a little a booty!! My booty was such a signature one back in the day LMAO, it went completely flat after VSG. I have been hitting legs HEAVY twice to three times a week and man do I feel the difference. My weight is pretty much the same (although my running average has gone down a bit to the lower end of my stabilized weight). But I am 100% sure my body fat has significantly dropped and muscle mass has gone up (wishful thinking, indulge me).

Yeah. I'm big boned anyway so I'm supposed to be a little overweight. I'd rather set a realistic goal and succeed than try to get down to the weight I'm "supposed" to be and fail and get discouraged. Besides a weight loss of nearly 150 pounds is still a pretty significant weight loss it's losing an entire person worth of body weight.

Sorry, wanted to make one other comment here. Please don't approach your weight loss as something that will inevitably stall short of your goals. Plenty of us make it to goal and below, and have maintained this lower weight successfully. There are two things that will really up your chances here: You need to eat better and move more. If you slowly start making better food choices, you'll find you'll lose weight more steadily and be a lot less likely to regain. By making better food choices, I mean eating less ultra-processed foods and focusing instead on: Protein: High quality legumes Lean dairy Lean meats Carbs: Mostly veggies Some whole grains Some fruit Fats: Try to make this primarily monounsaturated fats This is not to say you can never have a treat, or have to eat only the above, but the more you focus on less processed foods, the better off you'll be. I also recognize that you can't make changes like this overnight. Take your time by just making small changes here and there until they become your new normal. Once those small changes are the new norm for you, it's time to make another small change. Keep at this process of making just small changes and eventually, your diet will be a lot better. In terms of movement, we now have lots of data to show that people that are successful in maintaining after weight loss tend to be very active. Once again, I know you're not going to be running any marathons tomorrow, but you absolutely can start small and focus on doing more and more over time. The CDC recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week, which works out to 30 minutes per day for 5 days. They also recommend 2 days of strength training per week. Some data suggests that formerly overweight and obese people need to do even more than this, so my personal recommendation would be to shoot for at least 300 hours of moderate-intensity physical activity or 150 hours of intense physical activity, or some combination of the two per week. If you are over 65, the CDC also recommends you do some sort of regular training to improve balance since this can have a dramatic impact on fall risk. I know that sounds like a lot, but again, if you start slow (even 5 minutes a day 3 days a week), you definitely can get there. For reference, moderate intensity physical activity is walking a brisk pace, or similar activities such as a slow bike ride. Intense physical activity is more like jogging or riding a bike up a hill. If you didn't work up a sweat, it definitely does not count as intense.

It's really hard to properly design a workout program remotely since a lot of the things I would normally recommend would require some instruction. I also have no idea what sort of equipment you have available. That said, I'll try my best. Workout Splits: You really need to hit all the major muscle groups at least twice a week and preferably three times. Currently you're not doing this since you're doing an upper/lower split and training twice a week. That means most of your muscles are only getting hit once a week which is not sufficient for growth. If you can only lift twice a week, each of those days needs to be a full body routine. If you want to continue doing upper/lower splits, you'd need to lift 4 days a week (2 upper & 2 lower). There are other ways to break up workouts such as a Full/Upper/Lower, but those are really considered to be more advanced techniques so not really needed at this point. Out of all the possible options, I'd probably suggest Full Body on Mon/Wed/Fri as the most sensible. You'll get the best hypertrophy from that as a newer lifter. Exercise Selection & Programming: I'm going to base my suggestions off the premise that you'll be doing a full body workout as suggested. I also mostly picked from the exercises you were already doing because there's nothing wrong with those exercises and I assume you already know how to do them. Day 1: Lat Pulldown -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Leg Press -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Chest Press -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Hip Thrust -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Bicep Curls -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Calf Raises -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Tricep Pulldowns -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Day 2: Upright Row (Cable or machine) -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Hack Squat (or Leg Press if not available) - 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Incline Chest Press (flat is also fine if this is not an option. I mostly picked this because it will hit the upper pecs a bit more, as well as pull in the shoulders) -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Smith Machine Elevated Reverse Lunge (if needed, Hip Thrusts will be fine as well but single leg work is great for a lot of reasons) -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Machine or Cable Fly -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Pallof Press (Cable or Bands) -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Kickbacks (Machine or Cable) -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Notes: Make sure you introduce this workout plan SLOWLY. For the first two weeks, only do exercises 1-4 on each day. It's also fine to do a bit lighter weight than what I listed for those first 2 weeks. Make sure you're warming up properly. One of the biggest mistakes newer lifters make is not understanding how to warm up for lifting. Do some light cardio for 5-10 minutes, then do some dynamic stretching. Also, before starting your work sets, do one set at ~20% of 1RM, one set at about 40%-50%, and then maybe another at about 55-60%. This means you'll end up doing five to six sets total for each exercise. I'd probably suggest 20-40-60% for the first 4 exercise, and 20-50% for the last 3 exercises. The numbers like 75% of 1RM mean to do the exercise at that percentage of your 1 rep maximum. In other words, you need to determine what the maximum amount you can lift is and then do the math to determine how much weight you should be lifting for that exercise. RIR means Reps In Reserve. If it says 1-2 RIR, the idea is you need to be going until you think you can only do 1 or 2 more without failing. This is important because we don't want to go all the way to failure most of the time. Doing so creates a lot of load on our central nervous system and makes recovery more challenging. You'll notice that I changed the # of reps, % of 1RM and RIR for the last few exercises. This is because these are what we call "accessory exercises" and are somewhat less important. I want you to focus on the first 4 exercises the most. I didn't prescribe rest intervals on purpose. Between sets, just take a few minutes to let your body recover. If you find you can't get through the next set, try resting longer next time. Because there are day 1 and day 2 exercises, but 3 days a week you'll be lifting, you need to simply alternate. This means week 1, you'd do Day 1 on Monday, Day 2 on Wednesday and Day 1 again on Friday. The next week, you'd do Day 2 on Monday & Friday and Day 1 on Wednesday. it's important that you continue to push yourself in terms of the weight you are doing. We call this progressive overload. If the exercises start to feel easier, you need to increase the weight. If you don't, you'll stop growing. Rest is CRITICAL, so I'd suggest skipping the Les Mills classes. I just don't think you can properly do the above exercises at the weight you should be doing them at, and then turn around and participate in a class like that. I'd expect you to be worn out after the above sessions, and if you're not, then you're not lifting heavy enough. Don't do this for more than ~3 months. At that point, you need to change things up again. No lifting program is perfect and all of them will have some areas that could be done better. Further, some people respond better to certain exercises and not others. This is why having a trainer is honestly the best way since they can judge how well you are responding to certain things . We change things every now and again to even out imbalances, as well as make sure you are not stagnating. If you just don't like any of the exercise selections, there are always alternatives because regardless of what social media may have led you to believe, there's no such thing as "the best" exercise for any specific body part. This means if you find that one of these just isn't working, or you just can't stand doing it, we can change it. If you do stop the Les Mills classes, you may need to up the cardio work. I'd ideally like to see a minimum of 3 hours a week (3 one hour sessions), though don't try to jump to that amount right away. It would also be good to mix up the type of cardio you're doing, While uphill walking on a treadmill is good for you, it's pretty one dimensional. I'm obviously a big fan of running, but if that's not something you want to do, maybe biking or the elliptical would be good choices? Rucking would also be something for you to look into as there are lots of benefits to getting outside the gym for at least some of your exercise hours. As you can see, I could probably go on for a lot longer here, but this is enough for now. Best of luck and let me know if you have questions.

Stalls are inevitable. If this is your first one then you have been lucky. Just follow your plan and you will get your weight drop eventually. You can't force it.

What you're experiencing is completely normal. Partly your body is simply trying to heal from the surgery, so food right now is not what a healing stomach wants. Regarding the tastes changing, it's entirely possible that some foods you used to like you may never want again. Other things you'll learn to enjoy again. This is just something we all go through. The water thing should get better over time. At this point, your stomach is likely still swollen, so it just can't hold very much. Most of us had to really be religious about drinking just maybe 1-2 ounces at a time and trying to drink every 10-15 minutes while awake. This is hard right after surgery, but as I said, it gets a lot easier as the swelling goes down and you're able to drink more normal amounts. The nausea is a little unusual this far out, so I'd honestly recommend talking to your surgical team. It could just be from overeating/drinking, but it's best to talk to the experts. Regarding weight loss, you have to keep in mind that your body is made up of a lot of other "stuff" besides just fat. You may well be retaining fluid or stool and that can mask weight loss early on. It's physiologically impossible to be eating as little as you are and not losing fat, so please just have faith in the process. The best thing you can do is follow your surgical team's post-op instructions and you WILL lose fat.

I reached my goal weight in 2024 and I'm almost 2 years post surgery. While I still enjoy food, I'm happy that my life does not fully revolve around food. I'm happy to move more and make better food choices because it makes me FEEL better. My health was on the decline due to my obesity. Now I'm healthy and living my best life.

I actually did tell my GP it was actually his idea. I am 440 pounds and was 435 ish when he recommended the gastric sleeve surgery. He did make my next evaluation in Janurary because he's expecting my weight loss surgeon to do the surgery sometime in November if I pass my evaluation. I'm all the way ready and just have the evaluation left to do hopefully all goes well this afternoon! Still a little nervous but I'm feeling MUCH better than i was several days ago. But anyway my GP did mention that if i got the surgery in November that I'd need to get labs done for Janurary. So I'm assuming he's going to adjust my meds then and my psychiatrist knows I'm getting surgery too although I told him I was getting it done in Spring because that was the plan then. I moved it back to November because my GP recommended i do so. I'm still gaining weight so he wants me to have the surgery as soon as possible.

I was 330 lbs in 10/2019 had the sleevectomy. Since day one massive pain in my stomach. Never healed. Kaiser Dr. Edward Zane Southbay medical center. Was in hospital 2 days went home with a bottle of hydromorphone. I’m 56 years old, 6’1 and weigh 195. In 2021 I was as high as 220 but taking daily opioids and now I’m weaning myself off of them switching to cannabis gummies. Even on cannabis with the munchies I can’t eat anything. I never healed and I’ve struggled for 5 years. I was prescribed hydromorphone since 2019 and I need it at every meal or drink. If I drink water I cramp and bowl over in pain. I eat anything cold or hot I bend over in pain. I had ultrasounds endoscopies etc. I have serious GERD and been on proton pump inhibitors for 2 years. I can’t eat protein of any type without massive pain and opioids from a hamburger white fish pork steak chicken turkey it all hurts all of the time. Carbs and minor fat also hurt but not as much as protein. I switched to BCBS the new bariatric Dr says I either have a stricture or I need the bypass surgery now. current weight is 195and I’ve been losing weight this past year and really hate all food. It doesn’t matter if it’s carbs fat or protein it hurts my stomach. I also get nauseous and throw up if I eat too much regardless and have massive cramping 5years later. Also have burning sensation with bowel movements but was tested negative for crohns/ulcerative colitis. after 5 years addicted to opioids I went to BCBS and they said Cedars Sinai surgeons can look at stricture correction surgery or just go for the bypass. They want me to eat nuclear egg salad and barium drink during an mri to see what is wrong. Last endoscopy was 10/24 and my esophageal ulcer was 90% healed. I had an untreated ulcer since 2019 that also contributed. Current medication metoprolol 100 mg x a day lisinopril20 mg 2 x a day, Amlodipine 5mg 2 x a day, omeprazole 2x a day, gummies and Vicodin daily with every meal. I can stop opioids once the pain stops. after 5 years of losing weight and my quality of life has deteriorated I’m leaning towards bypass surgery. please help group. I also have massive starvation and nutrition issues and take vitamins but still can’t get even 2k of calories in my body and have low energy all of the time. sincerely, Mark

Hi, thanks for the reply yeah I know it's too early to be worried. TMI ahoy...Pretty sure it's the above!! 🥴 This has been a problem for sure! I had a truly awful bathroom visit this morning for an hour trying to birth something equivalent to Rosemary's baby 😬😱 only the second time I've been since surgery. Still feeling somewhat blocked up, will get something strong to help. I know I shouldn't weight daily, and shouldn't expect to see a smooth downward projection on. the daily but my (not Dx'd) ADHD compels me lol

I appreciate all the advice and kind words of encouragement. I bounce between the scary feelings I have about eating and being excited to lose weight and be a healthier me to enjoy life with my family as much and as long as I can. I was and am just a little overwhelmed because I initially went to my surgeon about the hernia repair. He informed me of this sleeve-to-bypass revision that would be in my best interest which I was not expecting. Hence, this isn't so much of a weight loss journey for me as it is a quality of life journey, With that being said it brought me back to confronting my unhealthy relationship with food and took me back to a time after my sleeve in 2009 where the smell of food would take me into an anxiety-riddled panic attack. All the byproduct of not taking the appropriate steps in getting my mind right before the procedure since I went to another country for my initial procedure. The hernia repair to me has now taken a back seat to the lifestyle changes needed to move forward with the bypass and everything that entails. This time I hope to do it a little better and taking the appropriate steps to making my lifestyle change more healthily. It's still very early in my journey. I don't have a date yet. Tomorrow is my initial consultation with the registered dietician and nutritional counselor and hopefully I will feel comfortable discussing my fears of failure. Again thank you for the advice I am truly humbled.

I totally get that a five pound gain messes with your head. My weight fluctuates by like 10 pounds through out each cycle with the chemo. I shoots up almost immediately on treatment day and then goes up and down until it gets mostly out of my system. Since I am still in the honeymoon period from my surgery and don’t really even want to eat apart from cravings it is sooooo hard to not just starve myself when I see the numbers go up. I know it’s not the exact same as your situation but I imagine the mental shock of the number is very similar. Hang in there. You should be able to get back to the majority of your routine soon and be back to your old self before you know it. I will probably be on here asking what worked for you this summer and fall because Im having a bilateral mastectomy with expanders in early May and then a reconstruction with implants planned after radiation. Although I’m trying to get in for a consult with that Dr to find out about that fat transfer option. Im not sure if its new or not but the surgeon I met with did not offer that option. Did your surgeon tell you to get routine MRI’s to monitor for leaks. (You said you got silicone, right?). I’m sure your surgeon went over the risks with implants in general but there is something I just learned about the other day from a lady at my craft group called Breast Implant Illness that’s worth looking into. It’s not a formal medical diagnosis but it’s a collection of issues that people commonly have after implants that often go away immediately once they are removed. There is the surgeon in Florida that she is going to that people go to from all around the world just to have their implants removed and he can do this procedure if you want them replaced where they transfer a fat from another area of your body. I am trying to get into him to see if it’s possible for me to have that instead of an implant for my reconstruction. They are very selective with who they give appointments to, though. I guess his surgeries are booked like a year out Anyways, not to scare you but there are also lots of more researched issues that a silicone leak can cause as well to include a very rare type of cancer even. I am not sure how much your surgeon went over all of that with you but to me it’s definitely worth being aware of and monitoring routinely. Your surgeon should be able to tell you how often to scan and what to watch for just to be safe. Best of luck with your recovery and I can’t wait to hear about your being all healed up and getting to finally take them girls out on the town. 😂

Hi, thanks for the reply yeah I know it's too early to be worried. TMI ahoy...Pretty sure it's the above!! 🥴 This has been a problem for sure! I had a truly awful bathroom visit this morning for an hour trying to birth something equivalent to Rosemary's baby 😬😱 only the second time I've been since surgery. Still feeling somewhat blocked up, will get something strong to help. I know I shouldn't weight daily, and shouldn't expect to see a smooth downward projection on. the daily but my (not Dx'd) ADHD compels me lol

Hey everyone! My name is Kim and I'm headed to Costa Rica to have an RYGB done in two weeks. I'm mentally prepared. I think I've been getting ready for this in my soul for a LONG time. I'm just here to soak up all your wisdom!! A little bit about me: I'm a doula (semi-retired after 28 years), ESL teacher, seriously addicted crafter, travel agent, and singer in a yacht rock band. I'll be 58 this year and weight has been a struggle since I had my first son (1995) and got two depo shots 3 months apart. I went from 125 to 200 in six months and have struggled ever since. I got back down under 200 for a few months about 13 years ago, but I've been holding steady at about 275 for the last couple of years. My highest was over 300. I've tried dang near everything with adipex being the last effort. I love going to the gym and being active but I just can't DO what I want or need to do there. So this is where we are and this is the time.

I absolutely did talk about it if I thought things were getting serious because I started dating (again) right after surgery so my weight and eating style was still in flux. But further out it did/does not really seem matter. I am in a long term relationship now but if I wasn’t, I probably would not even bring it up unless I thought it was going to be a serious relationship.

further to the above, given your lifting regimen, i wouldn't rely too much on the number on the scale vs your body measurements. you look like you gained quite a bit of muscle mass over the past few months (and will likely create more!) and we all know muscle is denser than fat so.... along with scale weight, i personally go by how my clothes fit...so long as i don't have to buy bigger clothes, im good, ha! (although my tshirts seem tighter these days, but i know its because my back and shoulders are getting bigger...not sure yet how i feel about that...lol)

Likely the battery. When mine went flat it read I weighed 136kg so like 87 odd kgs more than I was LOL! Freaked me out for a moment. Could also be just a fluctuation (poop, fluid, your body playing silly buggers, …). Either way I wouldn’t worry too much about it (though I know it can be frustrating). Your general trend will still be in a downward direction over time. And little hiccup steps are all very usual. Sounds like you’re doing great with hitting your goals and your weight loss so far is pretty much on point with most of us - not slow at all. (I’d lost 7.6kg at my one month mark and everyone was happy with that.)

Hi everyone, kinda new here but I figure I should share my personal experiment in the guys room since it involves "strange" elements. I’ve noticed my cut stalls whenever the late-night dopamine loop hits: doom-scroll, snack, repeat. Decided to run a one-week reset to see if trimming *stimulation calories* can help actual calories. **Reset checklist** □ 8 p.m. screen cap: phone goes in desk drawer, watchface only. □ 90 % whole-food rule (any “fun food” must fit before 2 p.m.). □ 3-min cold rinse after workouts. □ Picked up a silicone cage to keep wandering hands + browser tabs in check. (if you're wondering where it goes, the cage is from a funny shop called lockthecock so I'll let you figure that out) □ Lights-out meditation playlist, then bed. **Tracking** • Target intake: 1,950 kcal • Steps: >10 k daily • Sleep (Oura): aiming +45 min average • Craving score (1–5) each night **Starting numbers (Day 0)** Weight: 164 lb Waist: 31.8″ Sleep: 6 h 05 m avg Cravings after 9 p.m.: 4/5 I’ll loop back on Day 4 with a quick note (good, bad, ugly), then final results on Day 7. Anyone tried something similar—phone jail, NoFap streaks, cold therapy—to rein in nighttime nibbling? Drop tips! Cheers

Well you started at 250 pounds and lost 50. If you started at 440 like I am I'm sure you would have weighed 300 pounds by now. I really hope within a year I could lose the weight. I don't want to be 400 pounds for forever. Honestly if I started at 250 pounds I probably could do it on my own. I lost 50 pounds when I weighed 350 before I met my wife. Wasn't super difficult for me I just stopped eating like a pig lol. I was eating a lot I actually weighed 290 when I moved out of my parents house and I gained 60 pounds in 4 months from all of the food that I was eating after I moved out so I was like "I'm going to lose weight". Now I'm 100 pounds heavier than that and I can't do virtually anything or I wouldn't get the surgery at all. But if my wife weighed 250 pounds I can see how she couldn't do anything either because she weighed 150 at her heaviest and lost 10 pounds when she got her job. Her job made her get a lot of exercise. If she weighed 100 pounds more than that she probably couldn't do much either.

I totally get the dilemma of needing presentable clothes for work events while knowing your size will change dramatically soon. Before my own weight loss journey, I stuck to versatile, forgiving pieces like stretchy trousers and flowy tops to accommodate size changes. For events, I’d often invest in just one or two classic items from affordable stores or clearance racks. It helped me feel polished without breaking the bank. If you’re into bags and accessories, though, they’re a great way to elevate any outfit, regardless of size changes. I’ve always loved browsing product roundups for timeless options like Coach bags and accessories. They make even simple outfits feel more put-together.

Thank you so much for responding, everything you said made me feel validated in my fear and comforted as well. I actually do love cooked vegetables and meat cooked in other ways besides fried. I like a variety of foods in fact. I guess I just see people posting such healthy looking meals that don’t look appealing to me and I’m just like “do I have to eat that?” Like I’m not a fan of raw vegetables and cottage cheese, for instance. I haven’t seen anyone post something that I like which makes me think that what I like to eat are things I won’t be able to eat. I’m not too concerned about not being able to eat junk food at all because I’m not really a junk food eater more than I am a comfort food eater. I just love a good meal and I just don’t see anyone posting good food. Food is a concern bc it’s important, but my biggest concern besides food is being able to get out of my head and an even bigger concern is the things that can go wrong! Being dehydrated, vitamin deficiency, extreme constipation, hernias, gallbladder removal, GERD, having to convert to bypass, being hospitalized for something. Like is there anyone who has not had a complication? Even people who don’t regret the decision seem to have so many scary issues. I’m so afraid of what could go wrong. I’m afraid of being sad about food the rest of my life. I’m sad now about the control food has over me. I feel trapped. I hate that I have to be fat and even go through all of this. I hate I’m on a forum complaining about being fat. Lol. I just need someone to tell me to do it and that it will be ok and worth it! I guess I just keep imagining I’m going to be sitting here physically feeling a cut off stomach, if that makes sense. Lol. Like, I know I won’t be able to eat a lot anymore, I know I’ll need to make the better choices with food which is fine, but I just don’t want my life to revolve around food anymore! I don’t want to sit around everyday worried about food. It seems like I have to go from thinking about what I’m going to eat everyday to worried about if I’m going to be able to eat enough or eat too much or get dehydrated or get enough protein or something with food! I’m just sick of food! Lol.. Will my life ever not be about food and weight?!! If the sleeve makes me go from worrying about weight to worrying about weight on top of a bunch of other stuff, is it going to be right for me? Am I trading one woe for another? I hope that makes sense.