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Me Too. @xezar: During weight loss phase people would always offer me food and stuff that I didn’t want to eat and it became a bit if a chore/annoyance to politely and repeatedly decline. If a dear friend made me a cake for my bday I would’ve felt inclined to eat it (even if I didn’t want to). Luckily my bday did not fall within my weight loss phase window, lol Like someone mentioned above, maybe ask your friend if they would like a dessert from you (and if so what kind), and then go from there. Although from this quote below from your post, sounds like your friend already gave you their answer. Its kind of you to want your friend to feel “normal”, but perhaps they are looking for a different kind of normal…and you probably don’t need “to convince them otherwise”.

Some people lose quickly. Some lose slowly. Neither rates of lose are wrong. It’s just how we individually react. As @catwoman7 said there are lots of factors that influence your rate of loss. What you can depend upon is the higher weight loss you experience the first few months doesn’t last & the closer you’re to your goal the more slowly you’ll lose. Never heard that you stop losing at 6 months. I certainly didn’t. I hit my goal at 6 months but continued to lose for another year. Much more slowly in that year cause I was increasing my caloric intake to try to stop losing. If your weight loss has slowed or stopped you may have hit your point of balance i.e. you’re consuming the number calories your body needs to function. If you’re gaining, it’s because the calories you’re consuming exceeds what your body needs. The only way to keep losing is to decrease your caloric intake &/or increase your activity level. Everyone experiences small fluctuations in their weight. I’m pretty careful about my diet & my weight fluctuates about +/- 500g (about a pound up & down). It can be because I’m retaining fluid, constipation, an extra snack, a dropped snack, missed meal, adding a new food, etc. Don’t give up yet.

Refried beans, lowfat cheese, salsa.....I ate them all at 3.5 weeks. I did not eat tortillas in weight loss phase.

I always feel awkward when answering these. Most of the time I type all this out then don’t send it. But I’m having one of those days where I don’t care about giving perfect advice or worry about upsetting someone so here it is. Simple and best answer: follow your plan. Realistic talking to a human answer: yeah you should be fine to have a little nibble. One word of caution, be self aware. That means know yourself enough to know if this little cheat will lead to another. Some people can handle it, some can’t. If you don’t know where you fall on that spectrum I would be very cautious. None of us are perfect but that doesn’t mean don’t try to be perfect with the plan. Me? I didn’t like my plan so I found one that fit what I wanted to eat. I’m not assuming my doctor is the be-all-end-all best doctor in the world and all the other doctors who have different post op plans are idiots. I found one that listed cottage cheese early and said “hell yah I like cottage cheese” and switched. I didn’t die, I was very successful with my weight loss. At four weeks I was told to try anything I wanted and if it didn’t agree with me I’d know it. Keep the portion sizes in check though. I believe that is the most important advice I can give. Love the restriction, don’t abuse it.

no need to trick it - and don't start down any slippery slopes. Letting bad habits sneak back in is what derails a lot of people's weight loss efforts. Stalls are a normal part of weight loss. I think it's your body just stopping to recalibrate once in awhile. Just stick to your plan and they'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again.

Human bodies are mysteries! Maybe the greasy food made you poop which can make you weigh less, or maybe you drank more and released more water, or maybe you were just "due" to lose some weight. I can say that weight loss is never a straight curve; it's a very bumpy staircase with lots of ups and downs - just make sure that the downs are more than the ups, and you can best do that by following your surgeon and dietition's plans most of the time. I have found that sometimes I need to eat a bit differently for a few days if I'm stalling (this is before surgery), either a bit more or a bit less, or do different exercises to get the scale to move if I'm in a stall.

Hello all! I am a little over 4 months PO...weight loss is steady but slow at times, just under 50 pounds. I try to count macros, log my food, get all my protein in, walk, etc. and my scale will stay the same for about a week, but 3 times now I got off track and ate bad (like a slice of pizza or a donut), I know this is bad for me...!! But everytime, I was 2 pounds lighter the next day. That is so strange!! Does anyone have similar experience with this? Do our metabolisms get stalled eating perfectly and we have to "trick" it once in a while!!?? Feeling perplexed but happy my scale moved again!

I kept losing until I was 20 months out. Yes - it's easiest the first six months, but that doesn't mean you'll stop losing then as long as you're sticking to your plan. at six months out I'd lost 75 lbs (about 5.3 stone), but I may have started at a much higher BMI than you did, which makes a difference. Plus there are a lot of other factors that influence your rate of loss - age, gender, genetics, metabolic rate, your percentage of muscle, etc. If you do a good job of controlling the factors you do have control over (i.e., sticking to your food plan and your activity level), then you WILL lose the weight, either fast or slow.

Hi so I'm 5.5 months after bypass I've lost 4.3 which is low compared to most. I have another 2 st to lose and am worried this is it now? I actually put on 2lbs this week. But I know my food wasnt great last week. I've heard alot say 6 months the weight loss stops and mine has never been great. Has anyone experienced this and then list a bit more? Sent from my SM-A505FN using BariatricPal mobile app

Stats: Male, 6’4” (193cm for the more enlightened) 46 years old. All time known high weight 356lbs (161.5kg) (approx June 2013) Surgery weight 334lbs (151.5kg). Self pay, Dr Galileo Villarreal - Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, June 12, 2020 $4400 all in, VSG & hiatal hernia repair. Current weight 194lbs (88kg). This turned out to be way too long… sorry. The idea of having surgery wasn’t anything I ever really gave any thought to. I did the lifetime attempts at diet and exercise without success. The lowest weight I ever achieved was 285 when I hiked almost daily in the mountains surround Las Vegas. But like all my other attempts, things changed, I got tired of the same thing, and put it all back on plus some (yet again). Fast forward to 2020 and my wife looks at me and asks “have you ever thought about gastric surgery?” “Well, not really but I’ll look into it.” I don’t recall exactly how long I researched, I know it wasn’t long. One day, maybe two? I knew my insurance wouldn’t cover it at all, so self pay was my only option unless I wanted to wait and change to a different plan (I’m impatient so that wasn’t happening). Anyway I live near Houston so I started looking at the border towns in Mexico and came across the website for Dr Galileo Villarreal in Nuevo Laredo. I made a phone call to his assistant who handles US patients and had an appointment set for two weeks later (for the procedure, not just a consultation). The next few days I mostly looked at before and after photos and was really excited about the possibilities. I don’t worry about much in general(why worry about what I can’t control?) so I didn’t bother reading too many horror stories. I understood that people who have problems are far more likely to post, seeking guidance/solutions than people who cruise through easily. I did look up complication statistics and that alone completely eliminated any worries that may have existed. I watched several videos of the procedure (I was interested to see what’s going to happen to me) and that too brought me comfort, seeing how quick and relatively simple the procedure was. Traveling to Mexico also didn’t bother me in the slightest. The way I figure is a doctor either cares or doesn’t, it doesn’t matter which side of the border they happen to be on. The one obvious downside to surgery in another country is “what if something does go wrong?” But again realistically I knew that was unlikely and it’s not like I couldn’t walk into a hospital once back home to get care for anything I might have needed. I spent the next few days having tons of food funerals. I reveled in the experience and really went crazy with the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, smoked brisket, homemade carbonara pasta (I even found some real guanciale), more Cinnamon Toast Crunch… you get the idea.. My pre-op diet arrived via email. It was sparse and consisted of things like cream soup, protein drinks, electrolyte drinks etc. I had seven days of this before surgery. This was - by far - the worst part of the whole experience. Day one I was good. Day two I was pacing frantically. Day three I cheated and hated myself for it. Day four was a little better. Days 5 & 6 I had resigned to the lifestyle and at this point I was so giddy with excitement about the surgery I didn’t care anymore about the food as much. I was fortunate with my timing in regard to COVID. The border was still open and there were no issues about that, I was a little surprised that the Mexican Border Guards didn’t even care to see my passport or ask any questions. I was just waived through, barely given a glance. I arrived at the hospital a few minutes later to begin the pre op blood work and physical. This is where I had my first moment of “oh shit.” It was late in the day and apparently the normal nurse who handled the blood draw had already left. So this nice young man was assigned to get my blood. He takes me into a small room and I could tell he was really scared. We had an obvious language barrier but I kept pointing to a big thick vein in the crock of my elbow that you really can’t miss. I’ve had enough blood drawn in the past, no one has ever missed it first shot. He was literally shaking and sweating all over my arm. I kept pointing and saying “aqui” but he would get the needle close then pull it back and look around and sweat some more. It was a good ten minutes of this and I was starting (just starting?) to get a little worried. Again, I could tell he either never did this or rarely so I didn’t assume this was a sign of how it was all going to go (it didn’t, it all was fine after this). Eventually someone must have recognized there was an issue. Another nurse came in, looked at the obvious vein, and popped that needle in. I wouldn’t know if my blood work was ok until the next morning, so they drove us to the hotel (which was included in the price) and we went to bed. The next morning they picked us up and brought me back to the hospital. I checked in, got word that my blood work was fine and I forked over the cash for the procedure ($4000) plus a $400 deposit in case I had a hernia that needed to be repaired. The hospital was very nice. Beautifully decorated, polished marble walls and floors. As clean (to the naked eye of course) as any hospital I’ve been in. It was small, but appropriately sized for the area it served. It was not a dedicated Bariatric facility, just a typical public hospital. I actually enjoy the experience of being put under anesthesia and I wasn’t nervous at all so I declined the sedative and just went for it. The weirdest part was the staff asking me questions through google translate on their phones. Dr. Villarreal and his assistant spoke perfectly fluent English but the pre op staff had a lot of questions to ask. Even though they spoke some English and I spoke some Spanish, when it comes to translating medical related stuff it was definitely better using the app, it was just a little surreal. I was wheeled into the OR, greeted again by Dr. Villarreal who asked if I wanted any music played (I did) and I went under listening to some classic rock. I woke up in moderate pain, but nothing too bad. I was brought to my room where my wife was waiting for me. The first few hours I just relaxed in bed. Eventually I was given some ice chips to suck on and allowed to get up with assistance and go to the bathroom. Things were tender but I don’t recall being in a lot of pain. Walking was a slow shuffle and I was given permission to do laps around the hospital. I met a couple other people who had the same procedure the day prior and we nodded and smiled knowing we were on the same journey together. They were nice moments and I hope they’re doing well. Later in the day I did a barium swallow to ensure there were no leaks. It tasted like shit (sorry), and I got to watch it on the monitor. It was pretty interesting to see. Doctor visited me several times, and I asked if he had video or photos of my procedure, and he sent me some cool pics of my removed stomach and of my hernia and repair. I was given an antibiotic pill. I had read enough “no pills after surgery” posts here that this gave me concern. The pill was literally the biggest pill I have ever taken in my life. It was an inch long and thick. I pointed at my stomach and said “esta bien?” and she nodded and so I took it. It went down fine, didn’t hurt or anything. We stayed over that night which was more walking and ice and eventually electrolyte drinks and some jello. I was given a bag of pills, more of those giant antibiotics, anti nausea meds, and some non-opioid pain pills. They wheeled me out where my car was waiting for me and we started the drive home. The drive home the next day was about five hours total, we took our time. Getting into the US took an hour or so, but wasn’t an issue. One thing I took particular notice of on the ride home was just how many restaurants there are. I was obviously hyper focused on food and I was dumbstruck at the endless strip centers filled with high calorie options. Just endless. I’ll speed things up here…. The first week was fine, some pain in my left arm that scared me. Spoke to the doctor and he explained that gas left over in the abdomen can rest on the diaphragm which can translate into left arm pain. He advised the typical “walk it off” prescription and sure enough that fixed it. Food intake was slow but I didn’t care. This was much easier than the pre op diet even though it was essentially the same. Broths, Gatorade, protein shakes. By week two I was feeling great and ready for mushy foods. Cottage cheese was my friend. By week three I felt normal. I starting having a scrambled egg here and there and that’s when I began to feel the restrictions. The first meat I tried was around week three, I had some ground chicken with seasoned salt and it was pretty good and didn’t bother me. I visited my regular doctor a month or so in and he was happy with my weight loss. My back doctor was also happy and we both were hopeful it would fix my back issues (spoiler it didn’t completely). One year out I still have zero hunger. I had one spell in December where I thought it returned and it was disappointing and scary. It only lasted a few days and I don’t know what caused it. It really felt like the MORE I ate the hungrier I got and if not for physical restriction I would have eaten myself out of any other normal “diet.” Fortunately that’s gone and I’m back to no hunger, one year out. But im prepared and ready should it return. There are no significant stories or details for the rest of my journey. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve had zero problems. No foods have bothered me, I did not get sick, my tastes didn’t change (my eating habits did but not due to bad foods no longer tasting good, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is still awesome but I just don’t eat it any more except a couple pieces here and there). My main drinks are coffee, diet Mountain Dew and Monster Zero Ultra (the white can). I’m not going to pretend that I’m a model citizen of this forum. There are plenty of things I eat and drink that I probably shouldn’t. I’m in maintenance mode now and still losing (very slowly) even though I’m eating garbage like peanut m&ms to try and up my calories without increasing capacity. I know there are better options but I like them and it’s working fine for me. I don’t take vitamins like I should but I just had my one year blood panel done and all my labs came back in the middle of the normal range so no worries on that front. Somehow my vitamin D is normal for the first time as an adult. Again, don’t look at me as a guide, but it is what it is and I think it’s important share what is working. I’ve included two screen shots of some graphs I used in a spreadsheet. The first is simply my weight loss over time. The second is a rolling weekly average using the past seven days. So each point on the graph looks back seven days, takes that weight, subtracts the current day’s weight. “I lost 2.4 lbs the past week” etc. This graph highlights stalls, and recovery from stalls etc. so you can see my weight loss was really fast at first. The big stall during the holidays where I didn’t gain or lose. For me this graph was more useful as sometimes I felt like I was stalled but the graph proved otherwise. Here is a breakdown of my loss at 30 day intervals. Don’t compare me to you or to anyone else. There are over 7 billion of us and we’re all unique. Day 30: 29.2lbs Day 60: 46.0 Day 90: 63.5 Day 120: 74.6 Day 150: 92.1 Day 180: 102 Day 210: 103 (holidays/long stall) Day 240: 113.6 Day 270: 120 Day 300: 129.5 Day 330: 135 Day 360: 138.8 Conclusion and final thoughts: For some of us this journey IS the easy way out, and I honest to God don’t care. Im happy and healthy and I’d do it again without hesitation. I want people on the fence about having the procedure to know that. It’s easy to get lost in the problems people post about. Those problems ARE REAL and do happen. But I really think there are a lot of us out there for whom this journey has been easy, you just don’t hear from us as often. People who are having a difficult time need advice or want a solution so it’s natural and helpful to post questions about those problems. But it does skew the impressions towards the negative. I wish I did this years ago. I don’t know why I never even thought of it. I guess it was one of those things I thought was reserved for medically necessary intervention. But you know what? I had a BMI over 40. It was medically necessary. I’m VERY lucky that at age 45 I was not on a downward spiral health wise, but it could have started any day. My wife’s dad was a “big guy” too, and was active and worked hard. Then one day, diabetes. Another day, bad knees. Another day a stroke. He had the sleeve AFTER these things and did lose weight but he can’t walk, can’t enjoy life, he’s miserable because he waited too long. Don’t wait. If you need to lose weight do it now. Figure out a way that works for you. Surgery is relatively safe, with far fewer complications than doing nothing and assuming you’ll just always be a healthy “big person.” But it’s not the only solution. Whatever it is that works for you, make it happen. I know I won’t live forever and I know I can regain and I know lots of bad things could be lined up in my future. But today I feel great. Today I’m happy. Today I look at myself and I see the me that I always knew existed. It’s the most wonderful feeling. I hope from the bottom of my heart everyone here will feel it too….. ….But I know not everyone will. My wife for example. Surgery has done nothing for her. 20lbs in a year. And she DOES follow the plan. For those of you in her situation who are probably cursing me and telling me to shut the f up, I get you. And I’m sorry. Don’t give up though. We’re all here for you; this forum is a great asset. We want you to succeed. Vent, cry, scream out, ask a million questions, we hear you. Just don’t give up.

Hi all, I was just wondering when weight loss stops with revision to bypass. So far I've lost about 25 pounds and am happy but I would like to lose a bit more. I had revision surgery in February. Any ideas of when the honeymoon phase ends?

Huh. This is the first I've heard of Metformin helping you lose weight. Then again, it does explain some things... I was diagnosed with early stages of Type II diabetes in June of 2019. I was prescribed a low dosage of Metformin. It was as a result of that doctor's visit that I started looking into weight loss surgery and then went "into the program" being required to showing some persistent weight loss before the surgery was approved. Despite my being morbidly obese my entire adult life and never being able to lose weight, I was actually able to lose the prescribed weight leading up to my surgery without too many trials and tribulations... in retrospect, I wonder whether Metformin aided in that weight loss effort without my realizing it. Not that it makes a difference now. I've not taken it since my surgery in July of 2020.

UPDATE: Ok, so today I'm 36 days out from surgery and down 21.8 lbs since surgery. A little bummed the progress hasn't been better. I expected it would have been more, faster but it's a loss. I'll take it. But since starting my weight loss journey/better eating and preparation for surgery back in March I am down a total of 49.6 lbs, and 8 down for my BMI and 8.8% fat loss total!!! All good things!! Today I also start my "Regular Diet". I imagine it's not gonna be much different from what I've been doing the last two weeks on my SOFT FOODS diet. I worry about not getting in a lot of the servings they claim I should be getting each day. For the SOFT FOOD stage I was supposed to be getting 5 servings of protein/dairy, 2 servings fruits/veggies, 1 serving of starch and 1 serving of healthy fat. I'd say 99% of the time that didn't happen. For example, the suggested/sample menu would say things like: 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast along with 1/4 cup of applesauce. But I was lucky if I got down ONE entire egg. I would cook two scrambled eggs each morning and end up only eating half and saving the other half for lunch. Most times I just tossed the second half cause I wasn't hungry at lunch or didn't have room for it yet in my stomach. Anyway, now on the regular stage I'm supposed to be getting in even MORE: (7 protein servings, 1 dairy, 3 starch, 2 fruit, 2 veggie, 2 fat). Not sure how this is gonna happen. AND I need to stay under 1000 calories a day while still in the losing phase (which that should be easy enough). I have to laugh.......on their sample menu for dinner they suggest 2 oz of chicken, 1/2 cup green beans, 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes, 1 tsp margarine. LOL On the soft food stage I was LUCKY if I could get down 4 oz of mashed potatoes in one sitting BY ITSELF. Let alone all that extra food to go along with it. LOL This is definitely gonna be interesting trying to get this done. I also feel like that is a bad example and would prefer to have MORE of the protein and less of the starch. Guess I can when it comes down to it. On a side/good note: I am finally allowed to swim and try doing so as much as possible. Also been doing a lot of yard work. And yesterday I walked several miles OUTSIDE without getting winded or sweating profusely like I normally would. So, I definitely feel changes in that way and am thankful for every one of them. I'm still waiting for official word that frees me to do weights and other exercises. I guess that will come in two weeks when I see the surgeon again. I also have a phone call meeting with the dietician next week. In about two weeks I will take my measurements again (I do it just once a month). I don't feel like there will be much difference but last month I lost 13 inches total overall. Time will tell. Also wanted to add, for Father's Day I went out to a restaurant for the first time since surgery. Husband got some fried pickles as an app and I got steamed shrimp for dinner. I had 4 of his pickle chips as I waited for my dinner and when it got there, I could only eat 4 shrimp out of the pound they brought me (LOTS of leftovers). LOL WAY different dining experience than I'm used to. It sucked in the way that I was full and done so soon in the dining experience. I had to just sit there and do nothing as I waited for him to finish. Next time out I'll not nibble anything before my actual meal and just try going even slower. LOL

Welcome! Congrats on your weight loss so far. I can't answer if surgery is too painful because I haven't had surgery yet, but I know some people have more pain than other people. I've been preparing for surgery for five months and I'm ready for it to be "over" too! But it's never really over, it's a lifelong journey. I know what you mean; I'm ready for the surgery to be over - I'm so nervous about that part!

Howdy y'all! I'm so sorry I haven't been keeping up on here, things have been a whirlwind! Here I am 6 months post op and some days I can't believe the number on the scale. Guys, I found a journal I kept in high school, maybe junior-ish year and I had noted my weight in the nurse's office from beginning of school weigh in at 256lbs...as I sit and write this, this past week I weighed in at 255.7lbs. I haven't been this light since high school...we are talking uhm....maybe 16 years old, maybe 17? That boggles my mind. My surgeon's goal for me is 193, mine is probably closer to 140-150 if I can get my lazy ass off the couch. It is now summer in Texas and guys, I HATE Texas in the summer, it's like living in hellfires. My dog hates it, I hate it, it's a bad time all around. So now that I've enjoyed being lazy for 6 months(not counting some hiking we did this past spring) it's time to nut up and get my **** together. I am paying money for my Fitbit premium and I have a Wii fit game I really enjoy just lately we have been so slammed at work and so, SO shortstaffed I feel like I live at work and just come home to sleep...My days off are usually spent overwhelmed with how far behind I am with housework, schoolwork(started vet tech school back in February when I had hope), house is filthy, schoolwork hasn't been touched for almost 2 months(I'm doing an online only program) and I am always so tired. But that changes now. Boundaries for how late I stay at work will be set(the clinic closes at 6pm, most techs and doctors leave between 6:30-7pm, for the past I don't know how many weeks the receptionists have had to stay till close to 9pm to finish tasks that we just don't have the time/staff to get to while we are open. So if any of you have been nasty to your vet(and I'm sure some of you have been because people lately have sucked hard ass) you should probably by your vet clinic people food or alcohol...but that's a rant for another day. ANYWAY, back to the matter at hand, my crappy eating and lack of movement. I'm on the band wagon of the "I can have whatever I want in moderation" group but I'm sick of stalling so frequently and my crap food choices so first order of business is to trash the sugar. I know, it's BAD, I know, I quit it prior to surgery and it inched its' way back into my life...time to kill it for good...it isn't even the same "high" I got before surgery it is basically just a habit, my brain tricks me into thinking this time it will be tastier, like it was before that it will make my exhaustion ease some and guess what? It doesn't. It lies. I eat it and I'm still miserable. Step 1: kick sugar to the curb...again. Step 2: Develop some sort of exercise routine that I can enjoy enough to make into a habit, key word is ENJOY. I ENJOY hiking-but preferably in drizzly 40-50 degrees and certainly not in 95 degrees...also, I am inherently lazy even though I KNOW exercise makes me feel good if it is something I enjoy doing. It's gonna be trial and error, but I need to get into shape, going on vacation in the North Carolina mountains in September and I remember what the elevation is like and I am NOT where I need to be to fully enjoy the trails I wanna go on. I digress from most of this, I'm sure some of you are here to see what the last 6 months have been like and if I have regrets etc. The first 2 weeks after surgery physically wasn't the worst thing ever, did it suck? Absolutely, especially when I found out the hard way that while I LOVE my adjustable bed it was to high off the ground for me to get in and out without having to stretch my body...imagine me trying desperately to get my feet to get the floor and sliding while laying on my back but that doesn't work because that stretches my abdomen---and it HURT, well it burned/stung/something and it made me cry a little. Lesson learned, my happy ass slept on my MUCH lower couch for the 2 weeks and I learned to pull myself up to sitting positions from laying down or standing from sitting with nothing but my arms. Each day was gradually better, went to work 2 weeks post op, sitting up straight(not reclining or on an angle but like sitting with decent posture) put tension on my abdomen and work for the 2 days I worked before I had off for Christimas(previously asked off) were exhausting as was my commute to and from work which is an hour each way. However, after coming back from Christmas break(a 5 day reprieve) it was much better and I didn't have much if any problems after that. I don't know if my surgeon is extremely skilled at getting the gas out after they were done with the surgery but I had zero gas pain, just the incisions pulling and burning. No nausea except a little when waking up from surgery and maybe a couple of days post op. Biggest struggles so far: eating the best choices with my work schedule, with my hair loss that was inevitable I did incorporate protein shakes to help make sure I am getting the minimum amount--I shoot for 2 shakes a day, sometimes I make that sometimes not. Water intake. This has been the single hardest thing for me, as someone that routinely drank 100+oz a day and enjoyed flavored waters to struggle to get in around 44oz has been a huge bummer. Exacerbated by that is my stomach is not a morning stomach and has been known to be extra nauseous when I give it water in the morning and it hasn't woken up enough-granted that is me in a nutshell since I am not a fan of mornings but still, really annoying...especially when it tolerates my Java Monster just fine(yes, I drink one a few times a week, just no bubbles). Most flavors of water taste like fake fruit chemicals and I can't really tolerate them for the most part but I did find a couple of products to help minimize dehydration: Hoist which is a premade flavored beverage that touts itself as "IV level hydration" and was apparently made for soliders on the battlefield. I also found Banana Bag powder, basically it is what you would find in a banana bag for iv fluids. The WHO has recognized it as being used for dehydration, decently priced, I stumbled on it on Amazon and loved I could try it by only buying 5 packets or 15 or 30. It is not the tastiest thing, I would say expect it to taste like a VERY salty lemon lime gatorade--MILD hints of the lemon lime. Luckily it is made to be mixed in only 8-10oz of water so it isn't a huge chore to drink it. I look forward to trying it to keep my dehydration migraines at bay when I do hike later this year because those are quite possibly the worst things ever...I KNOW to get rid of it I have to drink but a lot of times at that point I hurt so bad I'm not even thirsty...yuck. Anyway, I have rambled enough, i plan on getting on the forums more to hopefully kickstart my restart on food and exercise and hopefully help others with their journeys. Until next time-could be a couple of days, could be a solid 6 months, Amanda

I'm still 2-4 months away from meet gastric bypass dr im ready for this to be over so I can have my surgery I'm down 20 pounds on my own but I still need to loss a lot more weight any tips for after surgery is it really painful Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Surgery was may 10. I feel like I have gotten my life back. I have had no issues, other than calibrating the poop factory part. I have had several non-scale victories: fitting into clothes that have been boxed for a couple years, fitting into the bath tub, less foot aching, played tennis with my 9 year-old, played frisbee with my family, I walk daily and love it, etc. I have consistently loss each week. I miss salad. (I am on soft foods--apparently I can't have raw veggies until 3 months our). My chewable vitamins are my deserts. I feel very good about so much, but my mind won't let me feel totally secure--I fret over what life will be like three years from now. To safeguard from that eventuality I simply follow doctor's orders. I think of myself as being somewhat disabled...no I can't have that, or that, or that.... But perhaps that is a way to look at it. My body wants to be fat. That's my disability I live with.

I am still preparing for surgery and I'm on metformin not for diabetes but because it's thought to help in weight loss from certain medications. I had stopped it for a while because the mail order pharmacy got it messed up but then it got straightened out and I started again last week. I'm not hungry now but when I look up the side effects for metformin it doesn't list lack of appetite. I notice I've been a lot less hungry the whole time I've been preparing for surgery (5 months) because I've been eating high protein low carb, but the last week it's been ridiculous. Anyone else have this issue? Might not be the metformin. Might be just anxious/frustration from not getting surgery scheduled, could be just a virus.

I agree with the above responses. The key to weight loss surgery is your complete commitment for life. You must continue the plan, keep the dr appointments And do NOT return to your previous eating habits. I am 68 y o and 2 years post-op. I feel better than I have in decades. I still eat 6 times daily. My labs are great and I still follow up with dr appts. Yes, it is a lifestyle change, but after all that is what it is all about. Prayers for your confidence and success

I have found myself in the same situation. I had the gastric sleeve in 2013. My weight loss was 95 lbs. but over the past 4 years I have regained 30lbs. Now I have an 5 cm sliding hernia severe acid reflux stage 4 esophagitis. I have had 3 endoscopes to dilate the stricture. 4 biopsies if my esophagus and stomach to test for Barrets syndrome. A couple of weeks ago I met with the Bariatric Surgeon from the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix Arizona . My only option is a gastric bypass. This bypasses the acid producing part of the stomach. Sure fix …along with a hernia repair. So now I will be restarting starting this journey again with my remaing 55 lb goal. Taking nutrition and counseling through zoom. Its a bit scary but Ive walked this path before. So positive thinking! The Dr says there is enough stomach to make the pouch so it will be almost like resetting the time clock. But we all know this is all risky when messing with our bodies. If I had to reset and knowing what I know now… I think I would have gone with the bypass which is the tried and proven method of surgical weight loss.

Oh Lordy! I hope the OP found a bariatric treatment team that understands vegetarian diets. My team had an entirely vegetarian plan option and guess what some of the first foods were? Beans. Brown Rice. Oats. Potatoes. Hummus. Why? because they have a terrific metabolic index...are loaded with plant based protien...and have FIBER. (they're also much better tolerated right after surgery than meat by many folks) I'm not a vegetarian, but I like the Mayo Clinic Diet and the Mediterrainian diet....so my pre and post surgical diets were sort of a hybrid that included a lot of vegetarian influence. (I still eat meat, but I also eat a lot of beans, oats, nuts, seeds, etc) Thankfully, I had a team that did their homework on different ways up the mountain and didn't suggest keto was the only way or that carbs were the devil. Whew! So thankful for that! Cause the diet that many of ya'll describe is not something that I could have survived. I remember posting some of my sample menus...from my freaking dietician....a few weeks out and getting slammed by people here for the things (and amounts...1200 calories by end of first month) I was eating. A month out of surgery, I remember existing on refried beans with lowfat cheese and salsa....black beans with salsa and canned chicken....split pea soup....tofu chili with white beans....tofu chop suey over a small amount of brown rice....steal cut oats with dried cherries. Fruit. My clinic was absolutely fine with fruit as tolerated, but they wanted whole fruit, not just the juice. I ate a lot of baked oats with blueberries, strawberries, pecans and low calorie maple syrup. I ate 100 calorie whole grain english muffins with peanut butter. I ate boiled potatos with lowfat cheese or nonfat yogurt. ****, I poured caramel Premier Protien shake on my oatmeal and liked slurping it warm. But you know what I didn't eat? Sugar. White flour. Processed foods. Prepackaged sweet carbs. Stuff that spikes your insulin. I also didn't add animal fat like butter. Most of the stuff I ate was pretty low fat with the exception of tiny amounts of olive or grape seed or sesame oil. All of my carbs in weight loss phase were full of fiber and not processed. I ate a little fruit everyday. I added a lot of herbs, made sauces replacing sugar with splenda, I put every kind of vegetable and fruit in my kitchen in the smoothies I drank....and a glob of nonfat greek yogurt or tofu or chia seeds for protein. My clinic was activingly fighting the notion that super restricted calories and keto in the first months after surgery were necessary. They did things very differently than I hear routinely described here. I know we're all gonna have a different experience and I know for MOST of you guys....a super restricted calorie diet in the early days and keto, keto, keto, carbs are the devil....is what you were taught is the only way. And I know for most of ya'll...it's what worked and what you believe like a religion. I'm here to tell ya... There are other paths up this mountain. I'm working on being tolerant of everyone's preferred path. Anyway you get it done....you deserve serious kudos and I'm proud of you all. But I've gotta say.... it can be easy to feel defensive when post after post after post here...is so negative about what worked terrific for me and others like me. A few of us have lost weight successfully and maintained really well...on a diet that includes a buttload of (unrefined) carbs and a pretty high calorie allowance started early in the process. What's more...as a group, it appears we're having really good luck not regaining. That's no small thing. Keep an open mind about your carb eating brothers and sisters. We do ok with this whole process, too;) As always...to each their own. Peace and best wishes to all.

Our surgery center says there's nothing you can do about it and not to take too much biotin (something that some people do) because not only doesn't it help, but it can also interfere with lab values. It's almost always temporary and not that noticeable. (I haven't had surgery yet, so I can't say if it will be noticeable for me, but I have very short hair, so it might be pretty odd looking!)

MyFitnessPal has a few quirks and inaccuracies (since some items in its database were contributed by regular users), but overall it’s very user friendly and helpful. I give it a lot of credit for my weight loss success.

Hi, I've recently gotten through The Big Book on the Gastric Bypass, and I felt pretty secure in my decision to go through with it (my first appointment with the surgeon is July 8th). But a friend went on a diatribe, and now looking for more information. A few of the things she said: -That people who've had weight loss surgery often have health problems because of the surgery (I know problems happen, but not at which percentages, etc) -That these health problems lead to untimely death, such as heart failure from the low calorie diet, and that these deaths are not reported as being connected to the WLS, so the number of deaths from WLS appear lower than they are -That the resulting reduced calorie intake is a starvation diet, and that's what leads to things like heart problems. The Big Book on the Gastric Bypass had SOME statistics, but I felt it really could have had a lot more in the way of hard numbers. I'm wondering if anyone can point me to some data that might shed light on these points. Thank you in advance for your help.

Not a guy, but figured I'd throw in my two cents. My doctor wanted us to reach 1200 calories per day as soon as we could (part of a study on post surgical diet and maintenance). I reached 1200 at around 3 weeks...6 little 200 calorie meals a day. Stayed at 1200 calories a day during loss phase. At maintenance, I hang out around 1400-1600 calories per day. At my yearly exam a couple weeks ago I was within one pound of what I weighed two years ago (didn't have a weigh in last year, just a video visit due to Covid). But yeah...typically closer to 1600 calories a day and maintaining really well. No gym or anything like that, but I walk at least 10K steps a day, garden, bike...pretty active person with heavier muscle mass.