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good for you to tackle the problem from several angles at once! as long as you are trying you are NOT a failure but a work in progress!!!! i am pre op but was given the choice of 2 diets; 4-5 premier protein or similar profiled shakes shakes a day and one meal of vegetables and lean protein or 50 total (not net) carbs a day max. i am doing the 50 carbs a day and have been since august. lost about 23 since i got down to 50 carbs a day (5-6 weeks; dropped down carb count for three weeks previous to get used to it) and 16 lbs since August 29th. I am excited for your new start!! i hope you find success to propel you.

I tend to gain 2-4 pounds anytime I hit a stall, and then I stay there for a few weeks. Once the stall breaks, I drop like 6 pounds at once. It's normal, and it'll pass. Just be patient.

If you look in the heading banner, find Forums and use the drop-down arrow. You will find 14 pages of Pre op diets. In the Uk we have different diets so my help would be unhelpful. I can say that by being on this forum for over a year, I have picked up some knowledge of the US diets. I believe the norm is 4 shakes, sugar free popsicles and maybe a fat free yogurt. This lasts about 2 weeks. With a bit of luck someone will chip in who actually did your pre op diet. Nobody on here will call you a failure, we are a kind bunch. Please give yourself some love. You have gone through so much and you didn't mention Covid. That alone made me pack on another 30+ pounds. I was doing the best I could, so did you. Don't be a stranger anymore. Pop in whenever you can

What about it can't you have? I'm guessing its the tomato based sauce? Its so weird how every Dr is different. Hopefully with at least having new foods to try, this week will go fast for you and you can have even more new things to try next week.

I'm super jealous. I moved on to "pureed", foods, but it's just Cottage Cheese, Ricotta Cheese, and Yogurt only until my 2 week appointment. Only after that am I allowed to move to things like beans, chicken, tuna, etc. I can't even do the ricotta bake until then (I asked).

As everyone and anyone will tell you comparing your progress with others usually comes to no good. If you use the info you are asking for to make healthy/sustainable changes or as a source of peaceful motivation, than yay! But if the info gives you angst and sends you in an im-a-failure spiral, then boo. With that said, i will assume you are an even-headed adult, and, because you asked: I too am 5’2, and I started my 2 week pre-op diet at 235 lbs. I was 46 when I had the sleeve. At my 4.5 months post i was down 80.1 lbs (that includes the 11.8 lbs i lost during the 2-wk pre-op diet). At 7 months post i called goal when I hit 127 lbs (108 lbs lost for those lazy-mathers). Stabilized at 115-ish at around 10 months post. Its been 4 years since i had my surgery and i bounce around 115-120 (closer to 120 these days). Regarding clothes sizes, in the beginning i felt like i was going down a size every 2 weeks. It slowed down as i neared goal.

I bought a cookbook called Southern Keto and it has an awesome taco soup recipe in it. I am leaning towards soft foods though. I made it and then blended it down to pureed. Soooo good. Making it again this week. My family eats it not blended. I am also making a recipe from pinterest right now. Look at soft foods and then blend.

I was asked twice in the last week whether I had lost weight on purpose - assume it's because my face is so much thinner. Gonna keep chugging on for a while yet - might be good insurance in case of a regain further down the line.

I'm so upset. In the last 9 days I've gained 9 pounds!!! Nothing has changed with my diet and workouts. I take my vitamins like I'm supposed to. I never cheat on my diet, I work out 5 days a week. So I called my dietician and after we went over everything she said "remember when I told you that having pcos would cause you problems with weight loss? Well here it is. If you remember, you lost 100 pounds on keto and then the weight just started coming back no matter what you did? It looks like it's happening again." I literally started to cry, because nothing I did stopped the weight from coming back. I asked if I could do a pouch reset and maybe reverse it now and she said "you certainly can try, but you aren't gaining because of over eating or cheating on your diet. You're gaining because of a hormonal imbalance that seems to like you being fat". I don't know what to do. I had such high hopes that the surgery and weight loss would help improve the pcos, but it looks like, once again, it's out to sabotage me. I guess it's not enough that it caused me to have 10 miscarriages through the years, or need fertility meds to have my daughter, or never be able to get pregnant again after her. Now it won't let me lose weight and keep it off. I feel so defeated. All my hard work and once again, it's all for nothing.

21 lbs since surgery is awesome! I also had VSG on the 25th and I’m only down 12 since surgery. That includes a random gain after I added in semi-solid food, so I am still up from my lowest. I can tell that I have been retaining water. Not only do I see it, but I could tell with drinking and not going to the bathroom. I have been desperate for answers and what I have read is that you spend most of your first month dehydrated, even if you are getting in fluids. That a portion of the weight loss is water and that sometime during the first month your body makes an adjustment to rebalance fluid levels, causing a stall or gain and that eventually this works itself out. I went for a big jog thinking I would help myself and the next day I was not only sore, but 3+ up on the scale lol Now I’m just trying to drink as much as I can and trying to convince myself that there is no way you can gain fat weight from an average 600 calories a day!

Re: does it really matter I mean, yes. There are other possible bad outcomes besides literally dying. If the effectiveness of bariatric surgery comes down in large part to microbiomic changes, for example, suggesting that I remove all fiber from my diet until over 6 months post surgery and introducing large amounts of artificial sweeteners into my diet could in fact work against positive changes to the gut microbiome. If my ability to lose weight pre-surgery comes down to emphasising foods that extend satiety (fiber, protein, fat), dramatically reducing my fat and fiber intake before surgery could cause me to overeat or binge eat and my weight loss to stall or reverse. If long term success comes from following one's hunger cues, teaching myself to eat according to the clock they've set, whether I'm hungry or not, in order to meet arbitrary goals could limit my weight loss long term or trigger binge eating again. They're not suggesting I take a spoonful of arsenic at bedtime, but that doesn't mean that their suggestions are neutral. They have no systematic evidence that their program creates success for the average patient or not. (The great part of this sort of program, from the practitioner perspective, is that you can almost always blame poor outcomes on non-compliance.) Some of the program requirements for the pre-surgery diet are literally impossible to follow at the same time. I can't take one or two bean-sized bites per minute, finish meals in less than 30 minutes, and eat 2200+ calories per day without a significant portion of those bites being high fat meats, full fat dairy, or, I dunno, peanut butter straight out of the jar, all of which are verboten. So regardless of what I'm doing now, I'm not compliant. It's not possible to comply fully. (The handwavy answer was "healthy fats". I have no idea how much avocado my dietitian expects me to be able to eat. I suppose technically if I ate just chicken breasts with avocado and nothing else...) I'm also not the average patient anyway (it's probably pretty clear at this point that I'm not neurotypical, for example, I understand that people with regular would either comply or lie without much difficulty either way), so even if their arbitrary program did create success for the average patient for whatever reason that means very little for whether it would work for me. The arbitrariness and the ultimatum annoy me. The fact that I'm being asked to disregard everything I know about how I personally deal with change to adopt a post-surgical style diet (low-fat, regimented, and frequent) half a year before any potential surgery date with an intact GI system, that I'm expected to throw away everything I know about what I need to lose weight, stop binge eating, and have the energy to do intense exercise frightens me. I'm terrified that I'm going to gain weight or relapse into binge eating (thus getting denied for surgery) and I feel like they're pushing me into that direction. All because Typical Tammy deals best with gradually introduced changes over a long time period and simple, unambiguous, authoritative instructions from medical professionals she sees as trustworthy experts? Nah. I mean, I'm sure there are, but this is the only one I have access to. And, ultimately, it doesn't really matter, as long as I can jump through their stupid little hoops, I can get what I need from them. It's just.... a long and irritating process of circus training. I'm not really looking for advice or anything, I understand the options and am resigned to them, this is a rant and rave.

I had my bypass the 23rd. I've been stalled, too, so frustrating, but I'm down 20 lbs. Sure doesn't look like it, though

Hi everyone! I had my VSG surgery on August 25th. Everything has been going pretty well so far. I have been stalled for the past 2 weeks, but hopefully the scale will move soon. So far, I am down 21 lbs since surgery.

Hi, Had my surgery on 5/18/2020. I've been able to maintain between 188-191. However, I started adding the THRIVE packet to my my protein shake in the morning. And have lost 6 pounds this week. My question is, is this program ok for us 2 years post op? The monthly consists of a patch, a pill for energy and the vitamin packets. I am 5'3 my starting weight was 310 my current weight is 184. Thanks

Just keep drinking! Also there’s a short weight loss stall near you. Not to worry about, ignore the scale when it happens. Look up 3 week stall on here to see more. You’ve got this!

I had a chart from the doctor office that said the same, two weeks for each stage. I found I had to go slower and spend 3 weeks for each stage. I agree with trying one food at a time. The dietitian kept suggesting scrambled eggs for soft food, but I got foaming and it got stuck. Later I found out eggs and chicken are the most common things to get stuck at first, lol. Now they are my go to proteins, so you can try stuff later after more healing. Reach out to your team if something seems painful or you can’t keep liquids down.

That is very vague. haha I was on 2 week phases, 2 weeks full liquids, 2 weeks pureed, 2 weeks soft foods and then slowing transition to solid foods. I did not have to wait to see my surgeon before each stage but we were advised if we had any issues to reach out. I was lucky enough to have a smooth recovery and had no issues transitioning into different stages. When we started trying foods again, we were advised to try ONE thing at a time so if we got sick we knew exactly what it was from. Then, we could try that food again a few weeks/months later as our tolerances change as we progress.

Looks like my last post was on July 27. Things have slowed down quite a bit. Still doing well though. I finally cracked into the two-sixties with a weigh in last Saturday of 269. That would be -134 overall. In the last 2 weeks, I've increased my walking and hitting the gym. Body comp definitely changing so I'm less concerned about the scale at the moment. I still see losses in my face and the way my clothes fit even if its a bit less off the scale. My goal is to crack the two-fifties before Nov 15... my 1 year anniversary. The last time I was that weight was high school... 30 years ago. Feeling good. Arrhythmia gone for a few months now. Getting stronger.

Everyone above is right, lot's of reasons your weight might fluctuate. There's one reason I can guarantee you it's NOT. That you gained fat. While this is a bit of an oversimplification, you would have needed to eat 3500 calories more that you burned in the last week to gain just 1 pound of fat. Since at 3 weeks, you're probably not even eating 3500 calories in a week, I's a safe bet that whatever else is causing your overall weight to fluctuate, it's not that you added fat.

Everyone fluctuates. Bariatric or not, it is normal. Try to stop weighing yourself so much, try to keep it to once a week. Same day every week. Then you won't see every little up and down but will see the results.

Starting 2nd week after surgery. I am off my metformin and blood sugar levels are excellent. I do feel a bit week and had only one slight dizzy spell. Wounds are healing quite well. Tiny bit of bruising. Vitamins and Proteins are easy to consume and tracking everything with 'my fitness' app. I did find it not too much fun at the supermarket today. My old brain wanted buy things I know I will most likely never eat again. But I'm ok with that . I have found that Ido have a tendency to swallow air when I drink fluids and I'm working on slowing right down to a crawl with it. I tilt my head back a bit and swallow. Seems a bit weird but it works for me. I've had the gastric bypass Sept 19 . I started at 265.5 lbs 2 weeks before surgery and on the day of my surgery I was 250 lbs. I started to track my weight from then and have slowly lost 5.5 lbs in my first week. I do seem to have not lost anything for three days but I do see and feel my body structure changing. I have been mobile more the last few days and I am starting to track that also. Today I walked about 1km and will be adding more distance daily. Maybe will incorporate the treadmill in my buildings exercise room. I'm glad I found this group and look forward to reading and responding to people questions. I'm sure I will have some and I am happy to answer any I can for others. Thanks. Cheers from Toronto Canada. !!

I'm not to far off from your situation. Starting 2nd week after surgery. I am off my metformin and blood sugar levels are excellent. I do feel a bit week and had only one slight dizzy spell. Wounds are healing quite well. Tiny bit of bruising. Vitamins and proteins are easy to consume and tracking everything with 'my fitness' app. I did find it not too much fun at the supermarket today. My old brain wanted buy things I know I will most likely never eat again. But I'm ok with that . I have found that Ido have a tendency to swallow air when I drink fluids and I'm working on slowing right down to a crawl with it. I tilt my head back a bit and swallow. Seems a bit weird but it works for me. I've had the gastric bypass Sept 19 . I started at 265.5 lbs 2 weeks before surgery and on the day of my surgery I was 250 lbs. I started to track my weight from then and have slowly lost 5.5 lbs in my first week. I do seem to have not lost anything for three days but I do see and feel my body structure changing. I have been mobile more the last few days and I am starting to track that also. Today I walked about 1km and will be adding more distance daily. Maybe will incorporate the treadmill in my buildings exercise room. I'm glad I found this group and look forward to reading and responding to people questions. I'm sure I will have some and I am happy to answer any I can for others. Thanks. Cheers from Toronto Canada. !!

How much is it going up? The reality is weight loss is never a straight downward line. It zigs & zags & goes up & down. A gain could be fluid retention (as you said you have), constipation, hormonal fluctuations, your usual weight fluctuation, etc. as long as your general trend is downwards your doing fine. Do you weigh less today then you did three weeks ago? And yes stalls happen. The first often around week three ( yes, I did say first) & they can last 1-3 weeks. They are just your body shutting down (needing a break) in response to the stress of all the changes (to your diet, reduced calories, surgery, weight loss, etc.). They always break & you’ll start losing again when your body is ready.

I am one to say follow your program because there are differences as well as similarities. Though I often also say, if the program isn’t working for you, speak to your surgeon or dietician. I recognise there are weaknesses in the American health system & the ridiculous power of insurance companies: If you don’t do what they say & get all the right boxes ticked you can’t have your surgery power. Through reading posts here, there also seems to be many medical practitioners who do not look at each individual case & don’t make adjustments to their program to suit the individual patient’s needs. And dieticians often seem to promote their own ideologies & current fads. I saw a documentary a few years ago that spoke about the influence of large food production corporations on the curriculum in schools & in medical courses at colleges/universities - scary stuff. Things aren’t perfect in Australia, & I’m sad to say, we’re slowly going down the US path, but my experience was much different. I’m sorry yours has been so negative. My surgeon & dietician did consider me, my needs & circumstances. For example, my surgeon puts different patients on different pre surgical diets. A friend was on all shakes while I was put keto. He said I didn’t need to see a therapist (he gave me the name of one if I wanted or needed) but he sent her for several appointments before her surgery. My dietician, though not perfect, was at least open to my preferences & needs. She advised the keto diet only for the two weeks pre surgery saying it should only be followed for the short term to kick start weight loss (something I already believed). She didn’t give me specific macros to reach (apart from protein) but only recommended low fat, low carb (multi or whole grain low processed only), low sugar. I did a lot of my own reading & discussed my thoughts & what I wanted to do. I eventually devised my own way of eating & what foods I wanted (& needed) to eat, avoid, restrict or reduce. She’d make suggestions about alternatives & things I could add to make sure I was getting in my nutrients (she always checked my blood tests). I guess the big difference was my surgeon & dietician wanted to support me & help me achieve my goals. If yours aren’t supportive, don’t listen to your needs & are simply following a genetic ‘one program suits all’, find a new team (if you can). And especially in your case, if they don’t recognise you are an intelligent, well educated & are highly knowledgeable in the medical field, give them the boot. All the best.

I reached my goal & was happy, so I started to increase my intake to find my maintenance point. But I kept losing. More & more slowly of course. By the time I did stabilise I was a good 11kg less than my goal. I was eating three meals a day & 4-5 snacks. I settled around that quite happily for about a year. But with a medication & a dietary change I gained 2kgs & have been there for 9 months. I eat around 1300-1400 calories a day. Still have to snack a few times a day to reach those calories (& get in the extra protein I need) but not as many as initially. I think this is about the weight my body is happy at too - my body’s set point. Maintaining at that lower weight wasn’t/isn’t an issue. How I eat doesn’t impact how I want to live & enjoy my life & doesn't require me to run miles or spend hours in the gym (a big positive to me - LOL!). And I guess they’re the real factors to consider. Are you happy at the weight you reach & does maintaining it allow you to live & enjoy your life as you want without feeling you are missing out or making sacrifices? And is it sustainable? I say this a lot but it is what is working for me.