Search the Community

I use my highest recorded weight (from my initial consultation) as my starting weight. I lost about 70 pounds before my surgery, and I remember my surgeon saying, "Don't worry, you still get credit for the weight you lost before surgery." At the time, I was mildly annoyed because, in my mind, that meant he was taking credit for the weight I lost without the surgery, but now I understand what he was really saying. I lost over 200 pounds from my highest weight until now, and it was all part of the same process.

I put mine as the weight on the day I went to my first surgical consult, which was also my highest recorded weight. With the diet and lifestyle changes I made as part of the program, I lost about 13 lbs in the 6 months between then and the start of my pre-op diet. I lost another 13 lbs in those 2 weeks of liquid diet before surgery. But I want credit for all the weight I lost! Interestingly, Dr. Weiner recently said on a podcast that the weight lost on a pre-op diet definitely is credited to the surgery in his opinion. The reasoning was that if you go on a liquid diet, lose 13 lbs, and then try to keep that weight off without having surgery just by eating right, you are going to regain most or all of it in a matter of weeks. The fact that we lose that weight and then keep losing more weight instead of gaining is thanks to the metabolic changes of the surgery. He also told me in a live Q&A support group a while back to use my weight from before the pre-op diet as my starting weight if I wanted to plug it into a prediction calculator. I raised the concern of being a bit behind the prediction based on one of those calculators and he asked me what my weight was before the liquid diet. When we used that number instead of my surgery day weight, it tracked much better (and is still looking very accurate at 9 months out). He said if I had always been 225 lbs (my day of surgery weight) that would be one thing, but in reality, my "true" weight was somewhere between 238 and 251 in terms of what my metabolism was trying to overcome with the surgery. I feel like that's one of those big questions a lot of us have in the beginning and nobody really gives an answer on the calculator sites.

i use the weight i was on my first day of my 2 week pre-op diet (235 lbs which happened to be my highest weight recorded). p.s. my weight when i had my very first consultation 2 years prior to that was lower...i think it was like 220 or something. there is a statistic where you can input your weight on day of surgery, but it's just not included in the summary under your name in the side bar.... @Alex Brecher...maybe we can include "weight on surgery day" in the side bar info?

I went with my weight the day I went to the see the surgeon for my initial consultation. This was the highest I was ever going to be.

I've been wondering about something. When I look at my surgery progress under my picture, I have my starting weight (388) as what I weighed the day of my initial surgery. BUT, my highest weight was 421, which is what I weighed when I started the bariatric surgery process. I lost 33 pounds in order to be approved for the surgery, then qualified and had it right away. So should I put my starting weight as my highest weight, or keep it at the weight I was at on surgery day? How do you guys do it?

I think I've always had bad posture. Last time I was this size, I was in high school. I didn't care about my posture then lol I was really active so I really wasn't thinking about it. Once I had my son (at age 20), my PCOS kicked in hardcore and I gained a ton of weight that I couldn't lose. I assume my posture got worse, but I went from 165 when I got pregnant to 250 when I had my son. I lost about 15 pounds post baby and pretty much stayed there until I got pregnant with my daughter (at age 28). I went up to 315 when I had her and never lost a single ounce. As time went on, I slowly gained and nothing worked for losing it, so my "give-a-damn" busted and I stopped caring. And by the time I was 38, I weighed 395 and by age 42, I was 421. And stayed there until I had my original surgery in 2022. All through that, I'm pretty sure my posture just got worse and worse. And now that I'm 46 and weigh 245 pounds LESS, the bad posture is REALLY noticeable and even more uncomfortable than ever. I'm going to try some of the suggestions in this thread, because something's gotta give.

Try wearing it across your chest it seemed weird at first for me but now I wear it everywhere like that. It’s really nice when you have to use a public restroom and you don’t have to put it down anywhere if they don’t have a hook. Ooh and the running belts would be a great idea. I got one for walking and they are flat so they may feel better even if they aren’t totally snug fit because they aren’t pulling down with the weight that’s sitting out from your body like a fanny pack. I got mine on Amazon for cheap and it is awesome. Here’s the link https://a.co/d/iS0FHrf

so a quick google states that a weight loss "stall" or "plateau" is 4 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS of no weight gain NOR loss while on a CONSISTENT calorie intake. basically, this means netting the SAME average amount of calories (intake less expenditure) for 4 weeks and staying at the same weight for said 4 weeks. this generally means that you have reached an equilibrium with your intake (calories) and your expenditure (activity). which means you either have to reduce your intake or increase your expenditure to restart a downward trend. the inverse of this is also true: increase your intake or decrease your expenditure, and you will GAIN weight. sooooo...if you are below 4 weeks of the scale not moving (in conjunction of your measurements not reducing), then stay the course...you are in a stall. if you are ABOVE 4 weeks of the scale (and measurements) not moving, then this would indicate the time to start re-evaluating your lifestyle IF you want to lose more...you are in a plateau. if you are happy with your current lifestyle, and just don't want nor need to make changes, then is a matter of accepting yourself as you are now. ain't nothing wrong with that! not everyone gets to their arbitrary goal weight. and those that do, the majority don't even stay there. find the weight that you are cool with expending the effort to maintain. it's different for everybody. good luck! ❤️

I stalled about that same time too. I was still loosing, just slower. I added probiotics and personally worked on getting better sleep (meditation, CBD, journaling stress out, etc). The weight kept going down in spurts. It was just random spurts until the 2&1/2 year mark. Then I had to be super mindful and pay attention to my vitamins/minerals. It helped me to join some groups like Dr. Wiener , and a hiking club, just to be with like minded people who were trying to be healthy. I hope you find your tweaks and habits that help you :) Yes, there’s more gas in your tank to burn. It is possible.

Thanks everyone. I think me panic was more stress induced than anything else. So I've just gone through my house again, and threw out everything that I shouldn't eat again. I definitely think I have a food addiction so I think I will check out overeaters anonymous. Honestly, I never something like that existed! My weight is back on a downward trend (.5kg or 1lb) since Monday so I'm starting to see the light at the end again. I'm flying on Sunday so I've been feeling stressed about that which doesn't help. Thank you for all your support. Sometimes I just need someone to press the "bullshit" button and snap me out of the funk. Back to onwards and downwards.

Yep, I'm 9 months post-op and may or may not just be coming out of about a 3-week stall. It's very normal and expected to start slowing down, stalling, and having small weight gains at this point. I hit a low of 170.2 toward the end of October, immediately bounced up a pound, and didn't drop below that low point until 3 days ago. Personally, I find that whenever I hit a new low after a little bit of a stall, especially if it involves a large one-day drop (I went from 170.8 to 169.0 in a day), I'll usually bounce around a little before seeing any steady declines. Most people continue losing weight until at least 12 months, and sometimes a little bit more until 18 or 24 months. But with a lot more stalls, especially the closer you get to a "normal" BMI. (I'm about 14 pounds away from not being considered overweight by the medical charts). The important thing is to develop a healthy eating and exercise routine that is sustainable no matter what the scale says. If you're doing what is reasonable and recommended, keep doing it. There's no need to change what isn't broken. On the other hand, if you know you've been straying from your good habits, focus on getting back to where you know you should be. Eating healthy foods in the correct portions on a regular schedule, moving your body throughout the week, getting the right amount of protein, taking vitamins, and drinking water are all things you will be doing for the rest of your life, even though at some point the scale will stop going down. The advice I am giving myself these days is to try to separate those good things I am doing from the number on the scale. Because for me, if I start seeing weight loss as a "reward" for "being good", it makes it harder to continue the good lifelong habits when that "reward" inevitably goes away. It also won't do you any favors in the long run if you try to introduce a bunch of things you know you will never be able to maintain just to get the scale moving faster. I might be able to drop a few pounds really fast if I went back to 500 calories per day or re-did my 2 week liquid diet, but I can't live like that forever, so it's a false victory. I think we all have to find the right balance of habits we can maintain fairly steadily for a lifetime and a healthy weight we can maintain without torturing ourselves. And remember that just because you hit the 12-month mark doesn't mean the game is over. You can always introduce improvements to your nutrition or your exercise that will result in slow and steady changes over time. You don't have to workout 5 days a week for 2 hours a day if that isn't your thing, but if you add some resistance training a few times per week or an extra walk after dinner, you will see those results down the road.

I did the TORE revision to my RNY and have had good results. Just got approved for Saxenda yesterday, so hoping to kick the weight loss into high gear in the new year!!

Yes, I had one for a couple of months right as I got close to my goal weight and then poof one day the scales showed I had lost a couple of kg even though I had done nothing different. Body is just coping best it can as it looses so much of its reserves of fat etc.

Ugh - having read back the post above - sorry- it reads like there is one road to success and that any deviation from that path of righteousness could lead to 'failure' - that wasn't my point. Actually nothing could be further from the truth. WLS ALLOWS us to have a day when we eat rubbish, just because we feel like it. The surgery is still doing its thing the next day. It's the brain, the brain, the brain that will mess things up for us and tell us that one day equals complete failure. And that therefore what is the point. If we can access the support we need (and this does mean formal therapy for lots of us) I suspect that improves our chances of significant and sustained weight loss. Hope this is more helpful.

@NeonRaven8919, First of all, let me assure you that we all have head hunger. None of us got to a weight where we required weight loss surgery without overeating, and we all have our own demons. You are among others like yourself. It sucks, but it's not unbeatable. Here's what I have to say. I was in intensive outpatient eating disorders therapy for a few months, because I recognize that I am a compulsive overeater. That did nothing for the head hunger and portion control problems. For me, gastric bypass was the only solution because I need that brake on my overeating. And now, I have not had any sweets or high-sugar items since surgery because I know I could have dumping syndrome afterward, and nobody wants that. So that's another brake. For me, it's much easier to not eat something than to try to moderate. The reason for all of that is because I have a food addiction. I know this about myself because I also happen to be a recovering alcoholic, and the cravings are exactly the same. I did not get sober by myself. White-knuckling does not work for addiction. The compulsions are simply too strong. I could not have gotten sober by myself. And there was no reason to, because there is free help out there. Did I want to quit entirely? NO. But I couldn't go on like I was. And now I'm 32 years sober, after starting in a position where I couldn't go 24 hours without drinking. Why am I saying all this? Because your story sounds like mine. "Mindful eating" to control compulsion makes about as much sense as "mindful drinking" to control alcoholism (which is to say, none). So you may want to approach this problem like an addiction. I am not saying you are a food addict, only you can know whether that's true for you. What I'm saying is that you do not have to do this alone, and there's free help out there. @BigSue told you about some, and you will find TONS of support groups online in addition to the one she recommended. Take advantage of this free help, because white-knuckling is horrible and mostly doesn't work. Why? Because it's not about willpower. You did all the stuff to get your surgery, so we know you have willpower. If that worked against the kind of compulsion you're describing, it wouldn't be a problem. It doesn't. What does work is support groups. That's because they're full of people like us, who have to fight to change our relationship to food. If you do happen to think you might be a food addict, check out Overeaters Anonymous. There are groups everywhere and it's free. You don't have to commit to anything and there's no test or anything to attend. You can just listen or ask questions or whatever. I absolutely guarantee that if you told your story about the food at work to an OA meeting, every single head would nod. Everyone will know exactly what you're talking about because they've been there. Please don't give up on yourself, you're on a journey. People slip up. We get to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, and keep on going forward. You did a brilliant, extremely courageous thing in sharing your challenge here, and see how much support and help you got? You can do this. You CAN do this. We all need a little help from our friends.

Stalls are inevitable. If this is your first one then you have been lucky. Just follow your plan and you will get your weight drop eventually. You can't force it.

Has anyone ever had weight loss "stalling"? The scale has not moved for almost a month (it has not gone up either). I doing everything I can think of: exercising, eating correctly, measuring food portions, food journaling, more water, daily vitamins. EVERYTHING. Is the end of the road for me? (I am 10 months post-op. ) Anyone else go thru these times?

An interesting article about “Fat Memory” https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03614-9 Key points: •Fat cells have a ‘memory’ of obesity hinting at why it’s hard to keep weight off. •Long-lasting changes to the cells’ epigenome are linked to a decline in their function. •For fat cells, the shift in gene activity seems to render them incapable of their normal function. •Even weight-loss surgery did not budge that pattern. •The research is ongoing as “It’s not yet a causal link, It’s correlation. … We’re working on this.”

I've recently started going to the gym again! I was trying to go in my early post-surgery days but I just didn't have the motivation! I have noticed though, since losing 6 stone, I am now happier to go to the gym. My body actually feels capable and ready to go, and I don't ache from doing the minimum. I have been doing some light weights during a full body workout, and I do 20 mins of cardio on the treadmill on those days too, and today I have just implemented a 45 min cardio day!

As you say, I definitely need to give myself some grace! We started at a very similar weight, and I am 5ft 5" so I completely get it! I'll start trying those stretches in the morning - thank you

Oh, the slumping. Yep me too. I think it was because I didn’t have a tummy to prop me up anymore. A friend told me her husband pokes her when she’s slouching to remind her to sit or stand up straight. I don’t have a husband (ha!) so it’s become a conscious habit to check my posture regularly. I even do it when sitting on the toilet. LOL! Am I sitting/standing up straight? Are my shoulders down & back? Is my weight balanced between my feet (not leaning)? But yes, as @ms.sss suggested, work on your core muscles, glutes & back. Even simple shoulder rolls can help. Takes time to relearn & retrain your muscles though.

Welcome PlantMom! There's already some really good advice here on your query. If you can spend some time reading this forum generally you will gain SO much knowledge in a short time. Well worth it. I'm 3 years post sleeve. It has suited me very well - I am 5'9" and was 276lbs before I started my WLS journey, so not that far off your stats. I made a positive choice to have the sleeve based on minimum changes to my anatomy. My surgeon laid out the pros of that Vs the bypass (he only did those two ops) and I decided. I would be really concerned about anyone trying to shoehorn me into what was easier for them. I did have reflux when I was morbidly obese but I lucked out and it actually improved after I lost weight (as it always had before) but if you're a fellow sufferer that might be one to consider carefully. In IRL I know people with sleeve, bypass, AND band, who have failed to lose, or lost and regained everything and more. WLS is a chance to re-think and redefine your relationship with food. I am saying this as someone still doing that and who will be negotiating that forever! It's a lifelong journey for those of us who were born with the propensity to gain gain gain weight in the obesogenic society we now live in. Choose your tool carefully and after as much research as you can. Even then it doesn't work out for everyone but I think it maxes out your chance that you'll be one of the lucky ones. I wish you all the best.

Brachioplasty six weeks out now. Still putting silicon gel on incisions BUT started wearing these compression sleeves last week that really help sequester the pain especially in the daytime. The throbbing, burning and uncomfortableness are still there - but the compression helps numb the intensity. Many surgeons do not use them for this procedure since they can open up the sutures. I waited 4 ½ weeks for them to heal better before I sleeved. Keeping busy with light housework, cooking, holiday cards, planning for holidays and the 30th anniversary gala for Spring 2025! It will be fabulous, and really planning something special for hubby after his patience, loyal loving care in this 2019 - 2024 weight loss journey + saga now with the arms! Like SSS, by far the worst. I do not take any meds all day accept for Arnica, then a Tramadol at night to sleep. I definitely think I will be an 8 - 10 week heal time girl.

I know it is hard to do but really you just need to try and relax, stop blaming yourself and do a mental reset if you can. These are slips, you are not a failure. Everything takes time and you need to be kind to yourself. Is it possible that even when you can't stop eating you are still eating less than you would have before the weight loss journey? If so that is a step forward. If you don't qualify for any therapy from your medical team could you find someone online, it means it may be more affordable and more accessible? You can do some research and hopefully find a more suitable therapist. I was lucky with the therapist I got, she really helped with my post surgery ptsd but I have found more help here than I have with the dieticians they have given me. Would it be possible to work from home for a bit more, that way be away from temptation until you can get to a place where you feel comfortable being around food? Do you have someone within your family circle that can help you stay on track (as much as possible) in the coming days and maybe a work colleague for the time in the office?

@Mspretty86 I think if I lost more weight I would look frail and I want to look strong and fit. Once I get my boobies in 6 weeks I am going to be feelin' myself HAHAH!!! 😂 Thank you!! We are all winning!! I was strolling on Youtube and this guy who is a personal trainer, Trent Harrison, posted a video how we cannot always live our life in a calorie deficit, that being hungry is normal and a good thing! He has realistic foods that we can buy from a ton of places with high protein and low carb/cal. I have been really trying to dig deep- last couple of weeks I have been binging/grazing and just unmotivated for some reason, like I would still do my workouts but kept looking at the time because I wasnt feelin it or just doing an "easier" workout to say I worked out, but I snapped outta of it and back at it! Now I am feeling like myself! Try out her channel, tomorrow I am doing her glutes and I know I will be feelin it tomorrow whoowee! I used to follow Sydney Cummings- dont get me wrong she is good, but I needed something that pushed me harder and this chick does that. Lemme know what you think!!