Search the Community

Not that uncommon and comparatively not more strict. There are variations between surgeons and surgeries with many of these things. Sometimes it’s also related to you, your health, how much weight you have to lose, your relationship with food, etc, Not being allowed carbonated drinks is common. The differences arise in length of time of this avoidance and then whether you can tolerate it. Also you may be allowed sparkling water that you let go flat a bit but not sodas. Same with alcohol avoidance but there are three main reasons often behind this. One is concern for addiction transfer which can occur after weight loss surgery. Secondly, alcohol is calorie dense and offers no nutrients which are vital while we are losing and eating small portions and lastly it will slow your metabolism & dehydrate you. Again some surgeons just put a time frame on it but it does depend on your surgery too. Caffeine is another thing that is allowed by some surgeons and not by others and again there can be differences in for how long you should avoid it. Deconstructing meals is not a forever thing. Certainly while losing, focussing on eating the protein component of your meal first is very important. If you are able after you’ve eaten the protein in your meal. you then can eat your vegetables then any carbs you are allowed. (There were many times I could only eat my protein at a meal and nothing else.) This is because of the small portions we can eat initially & the necessity of getting that protein in to meet your protein goals. It does make tracking your food much easier too. When you near your goal, and are eating larger portions, it’s not as important to eat your protein first but you must continue to hit your protein goals forever so it will be something of which you are aware when you’re eating. In saying that I often ate soups, stews & casserole type dishes, omelettes, etc. which combined protein & vegetables while losing but not every meal and not every day. Actually not allowing protein shakes is also not uncommon. For example, in the UK, many aren’t allowed protein shakes in the pre surgery diet (they drink milk instead). Protein shakes aren’t the sole source of protein & nutrients in that first stage after surgery. Bone broths, consommés and cream soups are also options. Thank goodness too because after surgery those protein shakes can be disgusting. I found them unpleasantly grainy and crazy sweet & struggled to drink one a day. Best advice is to follow your plan while you are losing.However, if you find it difficult to tolerate your food options or to reach your goals ask for alternatives that will allow you to still meet protein goals & other nutrient requirements within any calorie guidelines you are given. How and what you eat once your weight has stabilised is up to you, what you’ve learnt about your eating and relationship with food and if it allows you to maintain a lower and healthier weight & lifestyle.

Not sure about what stage hon in but nutrition wise The only ones I see have bacon which may not be ideal in the weight loss stage. What about boiled eggs? . They are high on protein and pretty portable. If you need to keep the calories lower just bring a couple and don’t eat the yolk.

Totally agree. Nothing to be gained from beating yourself up. Life is hard enough. You did super well for a long time after your original procedure. MUCH better than most. If you can identify key points when your control lapsed then take them forward into your revision and embrace it? Even if you can't then do your best. That's all any of us can do. We're human, we live in an obesogenic world. We're trying. Every flipping day. Not to be obese. Please can you keep us updated? I'd love to hear your story moving forward.

@pinkneymm@aol.com Another AOL account? Great, have you had it for a long time? I’ve always had mine. Anyway I’m on my 2nd week of pre op diet and having a hard time with it because I don’t know why?? I’ve lost a lb a day so far and my esophageal hernia started really acting up and it hurts to swallow anything. But other than that it’s great to already be losing weight. I can even fit into some clothes that I couldn’t before. My surgery is 10/21…really looking forward to it! Yours is not too far away! Yay!!! Best to you!

My B-12 levels are right where they need to be. I have systemic lupus, which has always caused anemia. I actually have wrist and ankle weights, so I'll try wearing them and see how things go. I didn't even think about it, honestly. I'm just nervous about burning more fat and calories before I build any muscle. I haven't mentioned it yet, but besides my butt being flat and flabby now, I literally have almost no muscle there. When I sit on anything, I have to be careful because I'm literally sitting on bone. Actual bone, and it hurts. So I have to do this carefully.

Hurray!!! Gains have gone plus another 1.8lbs on top 🥳🥳🥳 Did a very happy bathroom dance this morning 💃 @ShoppGirlI knew exactly what you meant! It’s why I’m not too fussed if I have to complete the LRD over Christmas because it does away with the temptations for me. I think sometimes we eat more of things we shouldn’t over Christmas because it’s almost like it’s expected or excused? Or is that just me? @FifiLuxHow maddening for you 😡 It could be water retention though, especially if you have been eating foods prepared by someone else? My body does complain and take a couple of days to settle down after travelling so hopefully yours will be back to showing target (or below) on your scales in the next few days 🤞🤞 Half portion pancakes? Is there such a thing?? 😉 Off to the hospital to have my eyes checked in a bit. Hopefully this will be the last time as I’m no longer on the meds that can cause eye problems. Had bloods yesterday and the LFT is still high. Oh well, just have them done again in 3 weeks. I’m not worried about it now, covid and antivirals have quite probably contributed to my levels. I did try to explain to the Rheumatology nurse who rang but she didn’t seem to grasp what was trying to explain 🤷‍♀️ I’m sure if it was a massive issue, I would be in to see the Consultant 🙂 TFI Friday eh?

Have you considered getting started for your follow ups with another practice? It sounds like you could benefit from someone with some medical expertise to help get gpu into a routine that with work for you. Others who have experienced this may have some suggestions but Most offices have a NP that can probably help quite a bit with the blood sugar while maintaining your weight as well.

I will be honest. This is not making me feel okay, I have only been on this journey 6months and I didn't think this would happen this soon, I am weight lifting and my body composition is more muscular. I just am not ready to go up.

was thinking the same thing....? (just one 1 G&T is like 120 cals, and just one beer is at least 200 cals...). alcohol in and of itself will not stop you from losing weight, but too many calories (in the form of alcohol or whatever else) definitely will. further, are you tracking your actual food/beverage intake to conclude 1200 cals a day, or eyeballing it? lastly, my NUT wanted me at 1500 cals by 3 months, so i guess it depends on who you ask if that is alot of cals or not at your stage. BUT, despite this recommendation , i personally was NO WHERE near 1500 cals at that stage, more like 400 cals honestly (which is on the lower end of average, but still).

My program counts from the highest weight in program, not the surgery day weight, to calculate progress towards patient goals.

So my doctor has me seriously ticked off. She told me she'd like to see my weight and bmi down. I said "WHAT???? I weigh 183 and my bmi is 30. What's wrong with it???" She told me she wants to see my weight around 155 or 160 and me at a normal bmi. I was like "if I do that, I'll look sickly!!! I've always been bigger boned and somewhat curvy, I carry my weight differently. Not one person would look at me right now and think I look like I weigh 183. No way would I look healthy if I went down to 160" and she said it would be better for my health and I should at least think about it. I told her "my blood pressure already runs on the low side of normal. I struggle to keep it up to 103/55!!! My A1c is 5.0 and my glucose is 96. I'm not on any meds except what I take for my MS. All my labs come back perfect. What else do you want??" I told her I feel amazing, I'm really active, I'm able to work as a clinical medical assistant for a busy specialty practice (infectious disease) which has always been my dream, I hike, I work out, literally I'm living the life I only dreamed about. What am I missing here???? I was so mad. And she said we'll discuss it at our appt on the 17th. I said "oh we'll discuss some stuff, alright, but that ain't happening". She's going based off my height, weight, bmi, and their supposed "ideal weight" BS. My bariatric surgeon is ecstatic with my progress. He actually said I've lost more, with both surgeries, than he realistically expected that I would. My neurologist is thrilled because losing all the weight has significantly improved my MS symptoms. My gastroenterologist is thrilled because all of my GI issues have gone away. Just this idiot yahoo isn't happy. I definitely think I need a new doctor. This is just too much. For reference, here's what I looked like when I first started seeing her, and here's what I look like now, literally this week....as in Monday and yesterday.....

HI, I would like to update my 1 yr weight to 144.9. Thank you!!!

Thanks lovely! I will do my best! The nurse did mention that I have lost 23.3% of my excess body weight so far, so I am definitely happy about that - I just need to do my measurements again as I haven't done that since pre-LRD!

Just a bit of an update; I'm currently sitting at 142-145lbs (at 6'1/male) and I was hoping to be around 150-160lbs. I'm fine with how I look and I'm pretty content with it so as long as I don't drop any further, but seems like it's been stable now I'm a full year (and a few months) post-op. I'm currently trying to get some weight back, hoping I can get it via muscles; just gonna have to figure out how to bulk with a smaller stomach, but I guess that's what the protein shake is for.

No problems, I did see a doctor about 10 years ago because I had hurt myself in the gym that caused my band to feel awkward, but it was fine. I still have had no fills and my weight is still down 100+ pounds, I am today at 265. I love my band. Still and I still have plenty of restriction and occasionally I find myself in the kitchen sink chucking but I’m OK with that. I signed up for it. I don’t feel fat. 💯🥰

This July it will be 5 yrs out since my gastric bypass. Originally I wanted to put goal weight at 150 but even when I was 16 and on the swim team and burning calories like crazy, the lightest I ever was, was roughly 145. As a teen I even did VERY UNHEALTHY things to try and get down to what at the time, according to the notorious insurance standards, was a medical goal weight of 114 -135 lbs for my height at the time. I never managed to get down to 114 despite going on under 600 calories a day (again, with no medical guidance..I was a teen and listened to peer pressure and society tell me what was 'ideal'). So to think that in my 50's that I need to even try for that kind of weight, I figured I'd just disappoint myself plus I'm older and my body has changed. I finally set my goal at 170. Fast forward to THIS year (year 5) - I had consistently been tracking between 169-175 (and been THRILLED) and for some reason I hit a rough patch about 7 mos ago where I was hungry all the time, scary hungry considering I had been more at ease with my life and not feeling like I had to monitor anything. Things felt like there was a natural rhythm to hunger and how I addressed it. I didn't feel desire to overeat and my family said I still 'ate like a bird, but I realized I had let bad habits creep back in and it was more a boredom thing and honestly, extreme stress. What I was doing that let calories creep in was I was eating more frequently. You can overcome any 'restriction' at some point by eating frequently. I gave myself 'guard rail'/target weight zone instead at the end of my first year post surgery. If I'm in my 'zone', then I'm not actively trying to gain or lose, I'm content. If I get up towards the high end of my zone, I re-evaluate what I'm doing. I ended up in 1 month blowing past the high end of my zone to a weight spike that I had not had for 3 solid years. I had been consistent AND happy with where I was at. Thankfully I've course corrected and with some help I'm at my lowest weight ever since I was...er...18? I'm 165 right now and as I am also considering plastics, I'm going to re-review the valuable info on the plastics forum/threads as I know I want weight 'stability' for sure. I knew when I did the surgery that I personally wanted to wait until a few years out because honestly, I was afraid I'd find some way to tank the surgery even though I waited 5 yrs before having the surgery to work on myself mentally/emotionally. I also knew I'd have to pay for it out of pocket so I would need YEARS to save so I figured I could lose the weight and tone what I could so the plastic surgeon, if I was fortunate enough to find one I could trust, would know what they had to work with. I'll let them tell me if they also feel I'm ready. I have SO much loose skin that I honestly don't know with it removed if I'd weigh 5 lbs less than what the scale says. I also learned my watching my 1000 lb life that loose skin doesn't weigh as much as I THINK it should..LOL. That is why I'm only attributing 5 lbs to my loose skin I think you are doing AWESOME! I'm glad you are keeping your goal where it is. Just settle into your 'new fantastic self' which is just another facet of the already awesome person you were! We can both spend time researching the plastics info while you are in this new chapter of your life and I'm hanging out at 5 years hoping I win the lottery or at least a big payoff scratch off so I can put some money 'down' with a plastic surgeon..LOL!

Ideally, maintenance is achieved when you are living the lifestyle (in terms of intake and movement) that you can foreseeably do for the "rest if your life"...even more ideally, is if you can adjust your lifestyle as your circumstances change... when u get to goal weight, you can start upping ur calories until weight loss stops. you may find you go under ur goal weight by a bit, but more likely than not, you will regain a few lbs until you stabilize (at, below, or over goal weight...u won't know until u know, unfortunately). lots of us on here worried about losing too much weight...unless u have medical conditions, this worry doesn't last long lol. i got to about 20 lbs below goal weight at my lowest. regained about 10 of those extra lbs within a year. and while i thought i was too small when i was at actual goal, i don't think that anymore, even weighing 10 lbs less. long story short, if u can leave the worry at the door, do it. Unless u are sick or your med team is worried, just enjoy the ride! you look awesome, you look like u must awesome. bask in your awesomeness!

So...I'm struggling with how to answer this because I want to give you helpful information, but I still have questions. I guess I'll jump right in and see how it goes. 1) You started off at a lower weight to begin with, so your body is likely at the point now where it's at it's healthiest. As of right now, you're 5'5" and 136 pounds with a bmi of 22. You're exactly where you should be. If you lose 15 more pounds, you'll weight 121 pounds and have a bmi of 20. On paper, that's still healthy. But my concern is you're becoming addicted to losing the weight and even though you're exactly where you should be (and could even gain 10 pounds and still be where you should to be) you'll panic and possibly go about things in an unhealthy way to drop those pounds. 2) Were there other reasons besides your weight that led you to getting the surgery? Did you have any comorbidities such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, etc? You didn't mention that. My fear is, if you only wanted to drop weight and your bmi was 33 to begin with, and now you're wanting to continue to drop even though you're being told you look "stick thin" (and you're in the healthy range now but still want to go lower), that this might have more to do with the number on the scale than getting healthy. 3) Stalls are normal, and happen all the time. The fact that you haven't had one until 4 months out is actually kind of surprising. They do break on their own, but honestly, you may lose little weight going forward (and what you DO lose will likely come off slowly) since you're already well within the healthy and normal range and your body feels it's happy at its new set point. 4) Your body likely thinks it's in starvation mode, based on how you're working out and lifting and what you're eating. The harder the workouts, the more calories you need. Prioritize protein first above all else, then veggies, then carbs and healthy fats. But you definitely need to increase your calorie intake. This isn't necessarily advice for dropping more weight (although that tends to happen when things like this go on) but for healthy purposes. If your body thinks it's starving, it'll hold on to every single calorie and bit of fat. And it'll eat away at muscle before fat just to make sure you survive. So my suggestion is to increase your calories. I don't do heavy lifting, but I DO do weight training, and on those days, I go up to 1400 calories. Core and strength training, I go up to 1300 calories. Cardio I go up to 1200 calories. Non work out days I eat around 1000 calories. 5) You didn't mention what surgery you had, but I'm assuming it's the sleeve. If I may ask, what made you choose having surgery versus doing anything else for weight loss? Have you tried changing your eating habits before, did you try medication, or did you go right to surgery? How have you changed the way you eat, and what you eat, since the surgery? How much fluid are you taking in every day? How much protein and carbs are you taking in each day? Are you taking your vitamins every day? How many days per week are you working out (should give yourself 2 days off ideally, but for sure at least 1).

I have heard a lot of people talking about completing a liver shrinking diet some weeks before surgery. My surgeon has told me that because my BMI is only 36 I don't need to do this and that it is only for larger people. What's your thoughts on this guys? I carry all of my weight around my midriff, I haver super skinny arms and legs so I'm more inclined to think that my liver does need shrinking before my op. I am intending to do a 2 week diet consisting of meal replacement shakes and at least 2 litres of water. Those that completed a liver shrinking diet, what did you consume? Those that didn't were there any problems with the surgery? Thank you!

I got pregnant with pcos, but that was way WAY before I ever thought about weight loss surgery, so I can't help you with any of your questions, really. I had so many losses that I had to do treatments to get pregnant with my daughter (got pregnant with my son naturally). Never was able to get pregnant again after my daughter, and I just recently had a total hysterectomy (including ovaries) now that I've lost all the weight I want to lose after my surgery, so I won't be having more babies. I second what @ShoppGirl said...posting on 1 or 2 existing pregnancy and pcos threads is definitely the way to go to hopefully get some answers.

I'm finally home! My scales this morning say 76.3kg - thats 167.8lbs . I'm also 2 months post op as of yesterday. •⁠ ⁠Opération day weight 91.1kg 200.4 lbs starting weight •⁠ ⁠⁠Current weight 76.3kg 167.8 lbs current weight •⁠ ⁠⁠Weight Lost 14.8kg or 16.25%of starting weight 32.6 lbs lost •⁠ ⁠⁠starting BMI 32.65 •⁠ ⁠⁠current BMI 27.35 Now I just need to do two weeks of washing from Cairo and get back to the office here. But boy did I find my own coffee nice this morning!

This gave me so much hope. I hate feeling like I look like a hunchback. I used to have amazing posture, but as I gained, I think that I lost confidence and sort of cowered in my own little shell trying not to be noticed. I've been working on bringing the posture back to what it used to be, but I cannot wait for the neck hump to be gone!!

I might need to hide my scale too. I lost 9lbs pre-surgery and 11lbs the week after surgery, but this second week I haven’t really lost any weight. It’s frustrating and I know it’s just my body using all the calories and nutrients I’m giving it, but I’m eating so little that in my mind, it should just be flying off. I meet with my dietitian for the first time tomorrow and I’m hoping they will give me the green light to start purée! I cannot wait to add more variety!!

In my case, I was referred by my primary care doctor to the weight management center that is affiliated with the hospital and everything else was done through them. But I know it can be different depending where you are. In my case, my surgeon, dietician, and behavioral therapist were all in one office and I went to the hospital to have my labs drawn and my barium swallow and EKG. I did not have to do a sleep test or endoscopy based on whatever criteria they use for that. My insurance required a certain number of visits with the dietician and surgeon, but I'm not sure now what the requirement was because I had been going to the center for a long time on medically supervised weight loss before switching to surgical, so I had long since met those requirements.