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My surgeon advised not to even attempt alcohol until after 14 weeks I believe? It was in the same category as red meat. After posting here I realized my surgeon allowed foods post op that other surgeon's do not. For example, Cream of Wheat the same week as mashed potatoes. So I can't say if that's normal or not. I can absolutely guarantee you that 3 months out, you may take a few drinks and still lose weight. However, give it another month or 2 and it will slow or stall weight loss.

Understanding that there is reasonable healing time and weight loss being the biggest priority has anyone indulged in a glass or two of wine and had any issues with it? I travel for a living and entertain customers frequently so often times social drinking at dinner comes up and I do enjoy a good glass of wine.

Not claiming I'm a fast loser compared to others with my stats but... I recommend buying Genepro (you can get it in the BP store or on Amazon) and add it to your oatmeal and drinks for protein. I tried many other unflavored protein powders to avoid the Genepro cost and believe me, it's worth it. You don't need nearly as much Genepro, it's 56 calories vs 130 calories, has 30g of protein & mixes well with liquids warm and cold. Most importantly, there's no taste. I recommend not comparing yourself to others on this board. If your doctor is more concerned you didn't lose X amount of weight, I'd tell him/her what you're doing and ask for advice. To be honest, I picked a surgeon that only expects patients to lose half their goal weight in a single year. 8 pounds a month MAX. I was self pay and my yoyo dieting had my metabolism all screwed up. Why have surgery if you're just gonna restrict and over exercise? I was "only" 203 lbs 5'5" at surgery and my loss was slow from the start. This is for life. And saggy skin is not attractive.

My first stall started after 4.5 weeks, and my worst one started after about 2 months and lasted 3 weeks. Stalls happen to everyone. Telling you that probably won't erase your anxiety though... I remember my really long stall after 2 months was at exactly my lowest adult weight, where I had stalled out for nearly a year when trying to lose weight "normally" in my 20s. All I could think was that I must have reached the lowest I could ever get, so why did I bother to get my insides cut open? But I kept at it, and after losing almost nothing in my 3rd month, I lost 12 lbs in my 4th month. Just keep trucking on! As long as you don't use it as an excuse to ruin your diet, the weight loss will return!

Headed home pain is just from gas no site pain was able to get a lot more fluids in. My program has a weight loss app called Bariatrics. I was able to set up 15 min reminders to drink something this is very helpful since time goes by so fast and you need to stay hydrated I haven’t mastered how to reply on my phone but Thank you everyone for the support

Hey all. I've been lurking on this board for the past week or so, but this is my first actual post. I'm almost through the first week of my 2-week pre-op liquid diet. While I'm not necessarily hungry, I definitely want FOOD. Actual solids. Never thought I would look forward to cottage cheese so much.... Anyway - I don't seem to be losing much on the liquid diet, which surprised me. 4 pounds in 4 days. On any other diet that would be GREAT, but lordy - on 1000 calories or less a day it doesnt seem like much. While I know there is no "normal" for this thing, I was just wondering what other people have experienced. Thanks in advance!

Idk about your surgeon, but mine said no carbs until waaaay later and even then, they’ll be from veggies. He said the number reason people regain or stop losing is the carbs, especially from bread , beans, and grains, and soda. I’m only 6 weeks post op and I’ve lost 46 pounds so I must be doing something right. Mind you, I do weight more and am taller and such. But still, I only eat protein and non starchy veggies all day. My surgeon said my goal is to be in ketosis at the moment in order to maximize loss. I have noticed that many on here have refried beans, oatmeal, and other carbs. I don’t know why my surgeon and dietitian is so different from others.

Calcium is absorbed in the body via our tummy & small intestines so even though a lot of your tummy has been removed you should still be absorbing calcium through your intestines which weren’t altered with your sleeve surgery. During weight loss I had about two serves of dairy a day. Now I have almost three. Before my surgery I barely had 4 serves of dairy a week. I was never told to take calcium tablets or any additional vitamins than a multi vitamin. And I’m a menopausal woman so you’d think they would have pushed the calcium. I stopped the multi vitamin a month into maintenance with my surgeon’s approval - they make me nauseous. However we all absorb nutrients differently. I think I’m naturally a good ‘absorber’ & get everything I need from what I eat. Some people don’t. My blood work is fine & I have super hard bones. It is challenging to get all the nutrients we need in during the first few months when we’re losing hence the vitamins. How are your bloods? Is there anything that is low? Have you had a bone density test?

Hi everyone, just thought to share my journey so far for those thinking of the Sadi procedure. I’ll be 6 weeks post op on Monday and have lost 38 pounds so far, 25 of those were lost post op. The first 9 day post op were pretty painful for me but after that I couldn’t believe how much difference 24 hours made and everything started to shift and get better each day. I was on liquids for the first two weeks post op, then purées for two weeks and now on softish foods for two weeks. After the first two weeks my weight loss slowed down and I can have half a week of no movement on the scales so I stopped weighing myself every day and only weigh weekly now. For the last three weeks I seem to lose between 1.5 to 2.5 pounds a week. I’ve always been a slow loser but at least I am still losing each week and am grateful for that. The things I have to work on the most is getting my water intake and vitamins in each day. I use the Baritastic app to track everything and I find it really helpful. I currently struggle to get in more than 630/650 calories a day, sometimes less, even though I have 5 meals a day and I always make sure to hit my protein goals. I felt super tired and light headed the first three weeks but that has improved and I only feel a bit tired every now and then. I had issues with my wounds healing, due to a reaction to the tape they put on my wounds but that finally cleared up after four weeks. My doctor said no core exercises or lifting until three months post op, so I mainly stick to walking for now. I don’t regret the surgery at all. While I have a lot still to go and a long journey ahead, I’ve lost weight more quickly than I would have prior to having the surgery and my BMI is under 40 for the first time in a decade and a half!! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

I had my 9 week check in today and one of the things I discussed is HUNGER! I’m hungry but still am only able to eat 2.5-3 oz protein at my 3 meals. I’m not making even the low end of my protein goals (60-90 grams). My RD thinks this is why my weight loss is crawling. I am doing 3 days a week strength training and 3 days stationary bike/treadmill. My level of exercise is too much for the low protein take so rather than pull back exercise, we’re adding in a protein shake. So...make sure you’re hitting those protein goals before adding in anything else!

I think it all comes down to what YOU are comfortable with and what YOU are willing to do, and whether or not you are comfortable if these two things don't line up. If you are comfortable with a lower/higher/"normal" weight, and can live contentedly with what you have to do to maintain it (and have no adverse physical or mental effects), then who is to say you are eating too little/too much/too varied/not varied enough? Its when one's way of life is giving one grief/anxiety/dissatisfaction/health issues that I would think one would need to re-evaluate both their efforts and their expectations, either on one's own, or with some professional help. I can appreciate how Creek's post may apply to many, but definitely not all. And I will give the benefit of the doubt that this post is directed to those who ARE having issues with adhering to plan and are beating themselves up over it, trying to fit themselves into a VLCD or similar that just is not working for them, and NOT the ones who find success in it. P.S. I went sub-800 cals my entire weight loss phase and came out the other side pretty good (so far) As far as I can remember, I did not experience feelings of starvation, deprivation, nor intense fomo, I did not have anxiety nor fear spirals, get depressed nor changed my social habits...unless you count going out MORE. I did not stall, if looking at results weekly. I had what I considered ridiculous amounts of energy (sorta still do). From what I can tell, my metabolism is serving me very well, my last bone density scan this past November was actually better than my baseline taken 1 mnth post-op, my doc has zero concerns about my lab results. Will I be able to maintain this current lifestyle? Who really knows. But its working for me. Today. Just as what I was doing during weight loss phase was working for me. Back then. If/when it is no longer working, it's my hope that I will adjust accordingly, or at least accept a new normal. Nothing is forever.

There's several reasons I've heard for not losing right after surgery. One is that you lost beforehand - but sounds like that isn't you. Another is water retention. If you're only two weeks out, there could still be an awful lot of swelling in your abdomen. The incisions you can see are probably small, but there's a huge incision on your stomach! In fact, part of the reason your stomach is so, so small at the beginning (only 1/4 cup for some people) and gains capacity over time (more like a cup after 6 months) is because it starts out very, very swollen. You're going to lose. Trust me. Physics does work. I'd actually suggest something that may sound counterintuitive - eat more - but make sure that what you add is mostly protein. If you want to eat a piece of chicken, eat a gd piece of chicken! Keep in mind that your body is healing now, and protein is one of the things it needs to build all that scar tissue. Your body is telling you that it needs something. We are so used to not being able to trust our bodies, but the surgery really does rebalance things so that we can start to trust its signals more and more over time. Not everyone is like this, but my experience is that I was hungry right after surgery until my protein intake increased. That's when I relaxed into a groove, with easy to control hunger and pretty regular weight loss (though with stalls, of course, because everyone has stalls.) My calories were actually pretty variable after surgery. Some weeks I was more like 600, other weeks I was up to 1200. I still lost just fine over time. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

Hi Miratia. It sucks that you haven't lost any weight yet! I know how frustrating that feeling is when you are doing everything you can and it seems like nothing is working. And as much as I like this forum, sometimes it just sucks seeing how much others are losing. But I've also heard from other people here who didn't lose right away or lost slowly and still met their goals. To help myself remain calm and focused on my many stalls, I picked a date 6 months in the future and told myself I would not beat myself up about weight loss or lack of it until then no matter what. I know that if I stick to the plan I HAVE to be closer to my goal by then. Forget thinking that this is an instant fix because if you don't, your frustration might let you give up. And that would suck more. On another note, your procedure (ESG) seems really cool. I didn't even know it was a thing. I researched it after I read your post. So you don't have any incisions? I'm curious if there are other veterans of that procedure who could weigh in on the typical weight loss and provide you with some reassurance. I feel like most of the veterans here who are super active had the VSG or bypass. I did scan the ESG forum and it does seem like the weight loss is slightly less than VSG. So make sure you are not comparing yourself to someone who had a different procedure and different stats.

I wouldn't do that. Just follow your program. You're likely to hit a few of these patches on your journey - they're a normal part of weight loss. Don't worry about them - just stick to your surgeon's plan and stay off the scale for a few days. Your weight loss WILL start up again - promised!

So, here I am 2 weeks out from ESG! Sometimes I feel like I'd slap my own mom to eat a piece of chicken. But I've held meticulously to the diet, and I've been doing what moving around I can. No weight loss. None. Zilch. I'm no smaller and no lighter. Everyone with their "I instantly lost 5 pounds" even, is like...depressing. What's going on? How am I breaking physics? I'm eating around 700-900 calories a day -- surely that HAS to do something? If weight loss is at the beginning, what's wrong with me? Yes, I'm getting my 64 oz of fluids. Yes, I'm adhering to the diet. No, I'm not snacking. Yes, I'm keeping meticulous track of every single thing I eat. What's wrong?

it's the infamous three week stall - right on schedule! Fear not - almost all of us experience that. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. Rest assured your weight loss WILL start up again. Stalls usually last 1-3 weeks, and you'll likely encounter a few of them on your journey.

This was my whole point about including the excerpt about me being previously anorexic. It’s NOT a sustainable thing, and yeah I was 96 lbs for 3 years surviving on 148 calories a day as a 3 sport athlete... but I ended up at 263 pre-sx... so it doesn’t work and it IS counterproductive in the end and long run... me, case in point! I just don’t see 800-1000 calories as “starving yourself” if you’re getting the right macros. Perhaps it’s the warped mind from when I was younger and actually living through (intentional) starvation. But I think it’s super important that even if not a medical professional, in ALL medical instances that we focus on the individual PT and their unique makeup and PMH, and not generalizations or broad spectrums, to provide the best care and treatment. @Jaelzion well said about the speed of loss not being important, I learned a lesson in that this week. Had a -25 month, a -38 month, and then I gained 4 lbs in my last 21 days. Was losing at a very very very molasses-in-July type pace. Now it’s coming back off, but in like 1/4 lb increments. So I have had to tell myself it will happen, be patient, keep following your plan, drinking fluid, and taking vitamins!!!

Well said. I also generally agree with your overall point @Creekimp13. Self-starvation is harmful, non-sustainable and counter-productive in the end. And my experience taught me that SPEED of loss is not as important as continuing to lose. It took me almost two years to reach goal and toward the end I was losing only about 1-2 pounds per month. But even that slow loss adds up over time and I got where I wanted to be! But as @BayouTiger said, we really are all different. For instance, you said: This may often be true, but I am currently in maintenance and eating about 1000 calories per day. I'm not restricting myself to that number, I eat about six mini-meals per day and plus small snacks whenever I am hungry. And I am exactly maintaining on that intake (besides normal fluctuations). I track my food pretty carefully, so my calories counts tend to be pretty precise. Some days I may have what I call a "munchie" day and eat more - I don't fight it. Some days I'm uninterested in food for some reason and I'll eat less - I don't force it (besides trying to hit my protein goal). But it averages to about 1000 calories per day. I'm short at 5'1", I've lost more than half my body weight, and I'm guessing I have a fairly low BMR. So the assumption that everyone eating 1000 calories a day or less is crash dieting for quick results is not always valid. As @BayouTiger said, I know your heart is in the right place and someone out there probably needs to read what you wrote. But you can't lump everyone together.

Read this and read it twice or three times, put it to memory the scale will make you crazy. you will fluctuate. Period. your body retails fluid, your body retains waste, it takes time. It took time to put on and it will take time to take off. Try not to weigh yourself daily, I know that is a super hard thing to do. Your going to go up and down, and you will all out stall. It happens to all of us. All you can do is stay your course and know that as long as the trend is downward your making good progress A good poop and pee can be the difference of a pound or pound and a half, the clothes you wear, how wet your hair is, the little things can make you crazy but the bottom line is if you weigh yourself weekly or biweekly you will see bigger changes in the numbers and the ounces won’t make you nuts!

You're right, summerset....getting folks to think about weight loss and disordered eating in any other way than...extreme dieting...is like hitting your head against a wall until it's bloody. I'm not sure I care to do it anymore. The windmill wins. And Sillykitty made a great point...many people FEEL any suggestion of doing it any other way...is criticism of what they've been doing. It isn't, but I know it's experienced that way. There is a defensiveness that rivals politics and religion...when we talk about diets and weight loss. Everyone is very fixed on what they believe...including me, I suppose. I think this might be a major reason why we don't see more activity on the veteran's forum...there's a volitility that gets so negative. And ya know? I like ya'll. I don't want to feel negative about anyone or anything here. At some point, it's unhelpful to share your two cents, even when you try to do it carefully. And at some point, maybe it's best to realize that. Peace and best wishes to all.

Had to quote this ^^^ because my cell bio studying butt REALLY appreciated the shoutout to the metabolic processes!! Long: Just to add. Quite a few peoples nutritionists, surgeons and PA’s programs are VLCDs. Atleast for the first 6 months. Mine doesn’t have me going over 1100 til June. I have a biology degree with a chem minor, so I truly get nutrition stuff. However... If it’s recommended by the team, who am I to say no, you’re wrong, I need to be eating more... To a surgeon who’s been doing bariatric surgeries since they were invented, and a nutritionist with a masters in dietetics from Vanderbilt... I get where you’re coming from, I really do. And I think you’re coming from a very sincere and concerned place. But from a purely scientific standpoint we are all different. And we cannot be treated as a one size fits all. There are people with diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, mental illness, etc. who go through these surgeries and lifestyle changes. All of those pts need to be mapped out differently based on THEM and their past medical history and their familial history. Our metabolic rates, our sugars, body fat, all the stuff that people want a “baseline” for, really don’t have a true baseline. Because it’s not one size fits all. It’s never a one size fits all. What might help you lose weight might make me gain it. What is too much body fat on you might be too little on me. If it’s going lower on Cals and carbs to lose or jumpstart, I don’t see that as such a negative thing like you’re portraying. You don’t have to restrict to something absurd like 500 cals, but dropping your daily calories by a few hundred for a short period of time is proven to be a huge factor in re-jumpstarting your weight loss. There’s a distinct difference between starving yourself and not eating a lot. I was a dx disordered eater when I was a teenager. I know what not eating is. And (I’m gonna use me as an example but I know there are plenty more, but want to only speak for myself) the 750-900 calories I’m getting a day is a heck of a lot more helpful and nourishing than a single low fat string cheese wrapped in a piece of ham and one blue Gatorade per day for 2.5 years. And I am eating 750+ calories of sustainable, clean, organic veggies and lean meats/seafoods with no additives or anything fake—very sustainable over time. Was being anorexic healthy? Absolutely not. Not advocating for that but rather in the opposite direction. You need to eat, but the devil is in the details with each pt and not in the broad “calorie range” scope. I see a very big difference in starving yourself and not eating much because of that previous experience. Just my .02$... Like I said, I really enjoyed the post, I just have a hard time even thinking about telling my doctors and team they’re wrong with giving me the diet they have me on, when this is the plan that’s been laid out for me, and many others as well. And they’re professionals. I mean, I paid almost $28K for this surgery (thanks no insurance and 4 days in the hospital), I’ve got to be able to trust that what my team is doing is to help and not harm me. And that they wouldn’t put me on a plan that will ruin my metabolism and make me unable to lose properly and gain back ridiculously. And that’s where these posts get harmful. Because they can have people doubting the road they’re on. I know for a fact it freaked me out good and well. We are all on the same, but separate journeys. I have to remind myself of that daily. You’re a good person Creekimp and very very knowledgeable. I honestly learn something new every time you post. I hope you dont take this as hostility but rather as an open dialogue as you are a vet; and I’m 2 mos post op with a medical profession and bio degree so I only know what I know from that. I promise I’m not being contentious but I know online tone and inflection aren’t always picked up and seen!! Also, how do you force yourself to eat that much in a day. I eat 6 “meals” a day and have to literally force myself to eat to almost misery each time to meet my goals. Do I need to add more fat or something to increase the caloric value of my food?!

I've just come through a 3 week stall..it isn't fun! At surgery 119 kg First 2 week Post op 116 .. by 6 weeks it was 112 kg then a stall Of 3 weeks so frustrating ( it was only the fact that clothes were getting looser that stopped me having a melt down!!) Weigh in yesterday 111kg So hopefully??! I wonder how much age is a factor ( I'm 66) plus I loss about 15 kg in the year prior to surgery) Just trying to plod on and stay sane ( or sane-ish!) Good luck

First off, let me say that you should always listen to your doctor and nutritionist...rather than crazy people on the internet, myself included. But here's my rant today. And for what it's worth....this is just MY feelings on this nonsense. I'm no expert. Ya'll need to eat. Not overeat. But also NOT UNDER-EAT. Eat healthy food you enjoy. I know how it happens. Your weight loss gets sluggish and stuck and you think OMG, this isn't working, I'm Failing at this! You start to panic. And what does a lifelong self-destructive dieter DO when they start to panic? They go exteme. They go...ok, my doctor said it was ok to eat this much.....so I'm gonna try to eat HALF of that to speed up my weight loss! I'm going to work harder than anyone! I'm going to eat less! I'm going to force this weight off of my body...because this is my last chance and I'm freaking out and I can't fail at this, so I NEED to do better and cut back! Only, here's the thing. You don't need to cut back. You need to stay the course, nourish your healing body, have good energy to boost your metabolism and lose weight sensibly. Why do people do VLCDs? (very low calorie diets....1000 or less calories a day)....they do them because they show results in a hurry. And there is nothing people like better than a lower number on the scale...regardless of how they're achieving it. Or how harmfully they are achieving it. When you eat less than 1000 calories a day, did you know you lose more muscle than fat...even if you are eating tons of protien grams? When you lose muscle, you slow your metabolism, endanger your organs that have muscle (heart anyone?), and decrease your bone density. None of this is a good idea. And when you're eating starvation level calories, your body tries like hell to keep you from dying....by, you guessed it, slowing your metabolism even further. And the carb thing...can we talk about that a minute? You DO want to avoid carbs that are metabolized to sugar really fast, like sugary foods and refined white flour items because they can cause your pancrease to over-react and send too much insulin and you'll end up with rebound hunger....but other carbs, particularly ones that have good fiber content to slow the sugar can also have good protien content...and they don't do the rebound hunger thing. They give you great available energy. Why do we lose so much weight so rapidly when we do keto? We don't really....but the first five pounds is so quick and shocking that it MUST work! (except you're not losing fat, you're losing the water that your liver stores extra glucose in.....and you've stripped your liver of its emergency reserve of energy. And yeah...you can make the sugar you need from other things through gluconeogenesis....but it takes amino acids that your body is typically harvesting from your muscles.) Don't do that thing where you lose the five pounds eating keto....then eat a few carbs and go OMG, look at the weight I've gained!....and go keto again and lose the same five pounds of water. It's an illusion. (Not saying keto people can't lose weight...they do lose weight fast...but they also have about five pounds in lost water from glucose storage, no emergency stores, and their bodies may be consuming their muscles) Food for thought (literally!) Guess what organ runs exclusively on sugar? Pure glucose. Your brain. Your brain burns over 300 calories of glucose every day. At just 2% of our body weight....our brains burn about 20% of the calories we use each day! The CPU needs fuel. Lots of people lose weight rapidly with Very Low Calorie Diets after bariatric surgery. They have these amazing results that other people notice and are in awe of. They lose to goal eating very little and feel very accomplished about their self discipline and their amazing fast results. And then guess what happens? At goal...they are still people who have never learned how to eat sustainably for life. All they know is starvation and self deprivation. And starvation doesn't work long term. Please learn to eat sustainable amounts of calories. Do it early so you don't fudge your metabolism into starvation level calorie requirements. One of the best ways to have a robust metabolism...is to do exercise every day. It doesn't have to be the gym or something you find tedious. Do things you enjoy....but keep moving. It's hard to build your robust metabolism.....when you're too tired to do anything but go to work and go to bed...because you're starving yourself. Please eat. Don't overeat. But eat. Learn to eat right, not starve. Starving is not the cure and in many cases sets the stage for significant regain. Do it right, even it it's slower than other people. Do it sustainably. Learn to coexist with food, not avoid it. (easier said than done) Don't get discouraged by small losses. Just keep losing to goal with small sensible tweeks. You don't have to suffer extremes to have success. Learning to control your diet moderately...is the best skill to have when facing a lifetime of sustaining a significant weight loss. This end my rant. Totally ok if you think I'm nuts/wrong/whatever. Take what you like and leave the rest. Peace and best wishes to everyone on this crazy road.

I ate a lot after surgery. The restriction was there and I could only do a little at a time, but I was non-stop HUNGRY, so I ate non-stop. At around week 3-4 weeks...when I was encouraged to eat 1200 calories a day, I started feeling more content and like I was on a sustainable diet. I still ate 6 times every day....and often still do. You will be able to eat more of mushy "slider" foods than foods with more substance. Eating is not the devil. Eating a sane number of calories during loss phase is not a bad thing. Feeling well enough and having the energy to do the exercise that boosts your metabolism...is a good thing. You don't need to be a starving zombie to lose weight. You definately need to keep track and make good food choices, but the extremely low calorie diets are both unwise and can set you up for rebound regain. Eat sensibly. Good choices. Stay within calorie limits. Boost your metabolism with 15 minutes of cardio every day. (doesn't have to be anything fancy, some very heavy folks reach cardio just by taking a walk) Stay active, stay nourished. You will lose weight.

Collagen is a good supplement, too. I’m trying to head off the hair loss possibility by taking 10,000 of biotin, and using a collagen protein powder! I’ll be sure to continue taking after I’ve had my surgery, plus maxing out on as much protein as I can. I hope not to lose any hair, but just in case I’m being proactive. I’m using Dose & Co vanilla collagen protein powder, ... but there are others out there. It can’t hurt.