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if you're anywhere close to a normal BMI (including the "overweight" category), weight loss is going to be excruciatingly slow. I put on 10 lbs over the past year and am now trying to take it off. About 1/2 lb a week is about all I can manage. The reason is, your calorie intake now is probably MUCH lower than before you had surgery. So there are a lot fewer calories you can afford to cut. For example, when I weighed well over 300 lbs, I was probably eating over 3000 calories a day. Pretty easy to find 1000 - or even 1500 - calories in there that could be cut. That means it was theoretically possible for me to lose 2-3 lbs a week (since a pound is 3500 calories). Now, after my weight loss, my maintenance level is about 1600 calories/day. Cutting 1000 calories from that would put me at 600 cal/day. Ah...no way. You'd have to be under medical supervision to eat at that level. And deducting 1500 calories? That would put me at 100 calories a day. So....no. About the most I can cut and still maintain my health - and not be under medical supervision - is 300-400 calories a day. At a 300 kcal deficit per day, that's a 2100 calorie deficit a week - so a little over 1/2 a pound. If I dropped down to 1200 cal/day, then we're talking a 2800 calorie deficit, so maybe 3/4 of a pound a week (and of course, things like activity level, how muscular you are, etc, would also factor into this - but it probably wouldn't make a significant difference). So I have been eating about 1300 calories a day for the last six weeks, so theoretically I would be down 3.6 lbs. I'm actually down about 5 lbs, so I'm doing very well! if I had dieted for six weeks when I weighed over 300 lbs, I probably could have lost 15-20 lbs by now. But nope - 5. my point of all this is, you may be losing, but at a much lower weight, it's going to be S-L-O-W. And if you're at a normal - or near-normal - BMI, we're talking ounces rather than pounds. It WILL come off - but it'll be slow. I used to mentally roll my eyes at these barely overweight women who would moan and complain at how hard it was to lose 10 lbs. "Ha", I thought, "try losing 200 pounds!". Now I get it...

Hey guys! So I know a lot of y’all are busy parents like me and don’t want to cook two meals but still want to eat healthy so thought it would be a good idea to get suggestions for meal plans/snacks that you can work around kids! This is presuming y’all are at the whole food stage already. i.e. 1. Anything with breaded, baked chicken nuggets or fish 2. Baked sweet potato fries 3. Gatorade zero or body armor lite for drinks 4. Raw carrots or cotton candy grapes as snacks 5. Chicken parm with reduced fat cheese 6. Tuna fish sandwiches with light mayo for lunches 7. Light ground beef tacos minus the cheese for the adults (flour tortilla) 8. Turkey dogs with beans My son loves corn and breaded baked anything with bbq or ketchup so I made him chicken nuggets last night then boiled some corn today to make a chicken salad. He’ll eat the corn tonight and have leftover chicken nuggets while I eat my salad. No cooking twice! Ingredients: -2 baked chicken nuggets cut up -dash of cheddar cheese -your fave salad mix -1/8-1/4 cup of boiled corn -1.5 tbsp light ranch dressing I often have his football team friends over for dinner and those boys weigh more than me (in 6th grade at that) so I gotta find ways to turn hearty meals into healthy meals! Give me your suggestions! Quesodip

10 weeks post mini bypass and I cannot seem to eat anything as majority of food has an off putting of odour attached to it living on plain biscuits and coffee made with frothed protein milk anyone else experience this , very very disenchanted , have tried loads of foods but nothing is working

No way! Your sugar "slip" is being NORMAL. Hair loss, from surgery? Again, NORMAL. It took me 3 years to get to have surgery. I weighed 357 at my highest and was treated like it was 753 lbs. I went down 27 lbs on my own. However, I had asthma all my life and my body HURT. I retired from a job I LOVED for 25 years due to fears of working in a COVID spread environment and in order to deal with my weight. My pcp gave me phentermine to reach the arbitrary 315 lbs hurdle goal to get into surgery. Now, 6 weeks post op TODAY, it hurts to eat, I HATE protein shakes and it feels like I'm starving. Still, I feel immensely HAPPY. I am grateful for the surgery! I lost 30 first 2 weeks post op, then nothing more and gained back 4 lbs. Yet, I know it's a blip. You lost weight! You lost 60 pounds! That's like putting down a kid who piggy backed on you for however long. You're sixty pounds LIGHTER. Your hair will grow back! EAT foods high iron, biotin, and vitamins for hair skin and nails. My sister went through same and 5 years later she's back to normal, hair and all. She gains a little on holiday's but goes right back to losing what she gained with more activity and WATER. You are NORMAL. Enjoy what you've accomplished! Plus I just read people with surgery are living LONGER!!!😎🤟

I see so much "I only lost x in y time, is that okay????" in tiktok comments and it's so exhausting. Sure you "only" lost 20 lbs in 3 months... how much would you have lost if you didn't have the surgery??

I'd let your clinic know. I would think by six weeks out you shouldn't be feeling pain. If nothing else, it'd be peace of mind.

I have had a difficult time with pain after eating yet felt like I was starving. The protein drinks were making me gag and I stopped drinking them. I knew I had to get protein so I began drinking Fairlife and eating Oikos 15 gram protein yogurts as well as canned chicken. I eat very small amounts of food but I'm just wondering when will the pain go away? I feel most of the pain is at the stomach entry. I CHEW CHEW CHEW too. Even liquids hurt. I keep a lot of ice packs in the freezer because I need it on my stomach all day. Feeling anxious. Any advice is appreciated.

Reposting something I posted elsewhere: First, the most common reason for any stall, including the dreaded 3-week stall is simply that you are retaining more Water. There are a few reasons this happens, but around the 3-week mark it comes down to the fact that your body is adjusting to a low carb intake after converting from glycogen to ketones for energy. More water is needed to burn glycogen, so you were retaining more water pre-surgery than you are now that you're using primarily ketones for energy. At about the 3-week mark, your body eventually recognizes that the water loss is long term, so other mechanisms have started kicking in to start holding on to more water. This water loss due to the change between glycogen and ketones is the primary reason for "keto flu", and something that increases your risk of dehydration early after surgery. The other "reasons" for plateaus really don't apply as much at the 3 week mark, but will become more important later in the process. Let's cover those too though so you're prepared: As you lose more weight, your overall metabolic rate will slow down. People sometimes think fat is not metabolically active, but that's not true. Less fat means your metabolism slows down, even if you retain the same amount of muscle. As you lose weight, it takes less effort to move, so the amount of calories you burn from activity also drops quite a bit. As you progress, you'll be able to eat more and especially if you're not tracking intake closely by weighing and measuring your food, you can easily be eating a lot more than you think. This one may be TMI for some, but you may simply be retaining more stool. This is going to be hard for some people to hear, but I can tell you one thing it's not, and that's hormones. Yes, various hormonal processes negatively impact weight loss in a myriad of ways, but they don't overcome basic physics: if you eat less than you are burning, you'll lose weight. What these hormones can do if they're out of whack, is not good things like slowing your metabolism, increasing your hunger, screwing with water weight, or even fooling you into thinking you're eating less than you are. So, with all that sciency stuff out of the way, what do we actually do if we're in a stall? Well, I think it depends on when it happens and how long it lasts: If it's early (a.k.a. the 3-week stall), just keep doing what you're doing and you should be fine. I know people don't like that advice, but as I said, it's just water, so don't worry about it. Later on, especially if the stall is lasting longer than 2-3 weeks. that's when I think it's important that you look closely at what you are actually burning, as well as really tracking what you are eating. If you don't know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), you should. The closer you are to goal, the harder it is to get the balance right between intake and output to make sure you're not eating too much, so fixing this starts with knowing your BMR and accurate food logging. There's a lot of anecdotal advice thrown around about "ways to break a stall", but there seems to be little scientific evidence for any of it. Most of it certainly won't hurt to try, e.g. breaking up your routine in terms of diet or exercise, but just understand that this change may or may not have had any impact. If it makes you feel better to be proactive, go for it. Longer term, there is one piece of solid advice that's backed up by lots of research: Even if you don't really like working out, do it anyway. Those WLS patients that make a regular habit of exercising for 45 minutes to an hour most days a week are significantly more likely to reach their goal and maintain the weight loss. (One caveat here: significantly changing your exercise routine can make you retain water and possibly even add muscle, so don't freak out if you see a stall or even a gain.) I'll take that exercise advice one step further and say you really should be doing some form of strength training. This is also backed up by lots of studies, but the great thing about strength training is that it makes your burn more calories even at rest (in other words, it increases your metabolic rate). There are lots of other benefits, but the metabolic benefit is the most germaine to the stall question. Those that do strength training are less likely to stall during weight loss.

I just saw my surgeon last week...3 1/2 weeks post op. There's a gym opening right next to my office and I mentioned joining and he told me to just walk for the next 6-8 weeks. At the 3 month post op point he said working out would be fine but to focus on the arms/legs and strengthening muscles and stay away from stomach crunching type exercises like sit ups....which I would have stayed away from regardless of him saying anything.

The U.S HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion created a generic recommendation for all Americans: For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Preferably, aerobic activity should be spread throughout the week. Additional health benefits are gained by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these activities provide additional health benefits. To provide more structured advice, I'd need to understand a few things. First, what do you hope to accomplish from an exercise program? Some common goals might include: Improve overall health (e.g. lessen risk of heart disease, diabetes, etc.) Get stronger / Make day to day living easier Help control weight regain (notice I didn't say lose weight as you can't out exercise a bad diet) Improve mental health / reduce anxiety & depression Sleep better / Have more energy Improve body composition (more muscle mass = more calories burned even at rest) Look good naked Next, are their specific activities you like or don't like? Some people hate gyms, others love them. Some people like to "play" to get exercise (think sports/outdoor recreation), while others love the solitude of walking/running by themselves. Basically what I'm asking is for you to do some self-reflection and think hard about what you think might work best for you. Finally, can you be more specific about what resources you have available? You mentioned a gym (which is not entirely needed), but beyond that? Do you have or can you get: A heart rate monitor (e.g. fitness watch or strap) A place to walk outside or access to a treadmill Other exercise/recreation equipment such as a bike or stationary bike, kayak or canoe, Nintendo Ring Fit Wii Fit, etc. A set of exercise bands and/or dumbbells, Sufficient space to workout at home if you don't go to a gym I'd also really like you to fill out your profile here on Bariatricpal. Details matter. In addition to that, it would be helpful to know some things like: Your age How you'd rate your current fitness level If you have any specific physical or health issues that might impact what exercises/activities you're able to do In short, the more details you can provide, the more tailored I can make a recommendation. Best of luck.

I'm 3 1/2 weeks post op from gastric sleeve surgery and everything is going great. I'm following the protocol to the letter and gradually losing weight. Saturday night my significant other and myself took my two nephews to dinner. I was able to order a bowl of soup/broth with no issues. During the course of dinner I used a spoon and took a taste of the queso that my nephews had ordered. My significant other then proceeded to lecture me about food choices. I told her that soft cheese was ok on my current protocol. This didn't seem to make much difference to her. It sort of hurt my feelings but I didn't say anything. Am I overreacting or should I be thankful that I have someone watching over me so carefully. She has been 100% supportive of me in all ways. I just guess I felt like it was unnecessary for anything to be said at all. It's not like I wolfed down a basket of chips and ate the whole bowl of queso. I was kind of proud of myself as I thought "wow...that's the least amount of queso I've ever eaten in my life!

Stalls are demons that play with your mind. So very annoying too. You will eventually get very used to them. You will say to yourself ' I have not lost for two weeks and am only eating 600 cals a day, I must be over eating' In the last year I think I had 4. Which were 2 x 2 weeks and 1 x 3 weeks and 1 x 9 weeks. Its just your body having a rest and reset. The first one usually comes in at 2-4 weeks after surgery. Someone said there are 17 thousand posts about this stall on this site alone.

I’m 30 days post, I still can’t drink the 96oz of water required. I might drink 8oz of water a day. Anything over 8oz and it’s butterflies in my stomach and light headedness. I was switched from liquid to soft foods but I can only handle 3 bites of anything. I’m down 27lbs but My energy level is trash, I spend about 19 hours in bed. I only wanted to lose 30 lbs total and get my A1c under control. The vitamin patches I got from bariatricpals give me hives everywhere so that’s60.00, haven’t been able to swallow pills as of yet

I’m30 days post op, meal prep seems like a waste. I can only handle 3 bites of anything. Spaghetti and salmon are the only things that stay down when chewed to an applesauce consistency. No bypass only sleeve. Down 27lbs since Dec 9th, I honestly don’t want/ need to lose anymore.

The first thing my doctor said was that my BMI was at 31 and that insurance would not approve me. Then she brought up another procedure called Lynx. Some kind of magnetic bead thing that would keep the opening of your stomach closed unless things passed through. I don’t want it. I had the lapband and it’s was the worst and I feel like anything they put in your body that can be removed, it’s not going to help me. My bariatric doctor thinks I have a small hiatal hernia. They took me into radiology and made me drink the dye, but everything looked normal. In a week they are going to look down my throat to see if there is in fact a hernia. I have new insurance this year, but it’s still the same company. If I don’t have a hernia, I’m going to push for the revision or any other options. I can’t keep taking anti acids multiple times a day on top of vitamins, medications, etc.

Do you have what's app group link. My bariatric pal app isn't working. My surgery is Jan 23rd I'm starting my two week liquid diet today.

I am 20 years out and have experience just about everything that comes with having weight loss surgery. I am also a pharmacist and have been like a community resource for the docs in my circle. It was a struggle to keep the weight off and to get back on track after regain. sw 296 lw: 126 regain weight 177 cw 145-150. But it is possible. 2020 and 2021 broke me mentally and physically. I was a front line healthcare provider struggling with my own bought of Covid and pneumonia then being rushed back to work to help serve my community. My staff experienced so much loss personally and collective but our cooperation didn’t seem to care at all…this had me rethinking my entire existence. So much of my identity was my job, it was where I escaped all my personal tragedies. My place of escape became a even bigger tormentor. I had a breakdown suffered anxiety and major depression to the point were 3 doctors took my of work on disability. The mental distress factor plays such a larger role in how we cope and what we use to cope; our hormones and the selection of meds we need despite our desire to keep weight off. Support is so important. An advocate is so important. A provider that listens and understands your complaints is extremely important. You are on the right track! I know this was a few months ago, how’s everything going with you now?

it's when you go through a period (usually about 1-3 weeks) when you don't lose any weight - or maybe gain and lose the same pound for a 1-3 week stretch - even though you're sticking to your program.

liveboard15 - it looks like your measurements haven't changed in 3 months but you lost 10 pounds so you could be gaining muscle too. Looks like even though the numbers don't scream huge loss you are still going. Good luck and congratulations on the loss so far.

When people talk about stalls what exactly does that mean? Are stalls weeks, months, or what exactly.

I was initially told that my surgery would be 4 weeks out. We were going camping and I went out & purchased all of my favorites planning on indulging myself for a week. Not so fast... his office called the 1st day of our trip and said I could have my RNY the next week! That put the kibosh on my plans....🤣

Your goal will change as you get closer to a healthy and fit body. I wouldn’t even worry about a goal weight as much as a fitness and general health level. As others have said, your body and lifestyle will reach a set point where your weight is healthy and happy and then it will stop. Most people gain some weight back anyway. I’m 8.5 months out and 130 lbs at 5’7”. My body is still slowly losing maybe 2-3 lbs a month and I’m not concerned if I end up at a low bmi as I ignore it anyway. Obsessing over my weight only leads to stress eating anyway 🙃 I probably eat more than I should but am a fairly active single mom so my calorie burn can handle the amount of calories I eat. Enjoy the ride and your body will end up where it’s supposed to be. 😃

My first stall happened about 2 weeks post surgery and lasted about a month. Now, I seem to stall about every other week. *shrug* As long as I'm staying on track, I'm not worried. The weight is coming off - even if it's a bit slower than I'd like.

I was able to drink anything, gulp even, with no issues - the night I spent in the hospital! I'm incredibly thankful for this, because it has helped keep me from getting dehydrated. I had a little bit of gas, but not much and walking took care of it. I had a tiny bit of nausea for the first couple of days, but nothing concerning and the zofran took care of it. I have yet to vomit (knock on wood). Thankfully, we only have to drink liquids for a few weeks.

I’m a bit nervous since I’m five months past surgery tomorrow and I’ve only lost a little over half of my excess weight. I spent most of October and November in a stall, did well in December and so far in January I’ve lost a little bit but not a lot. I still have 17-18 kilos to go to get to a healthy BMI, and I’m not going to get there in a year if I will only lose a kilo a month from now on. I lost a total of 19 kilos in the first five months, most of it in the beginning and then in December.