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Since I started my weight loss journey 2 years ago with my first surgery, he decided to change his eating and exercising habits. I lost 200 pounds in 2 years, he lost 66 pounds in 2 years. We're both absolutely thrilled My A1c went from 7.9 to 5.0, no more more high bp or diabetes or high cholesterol (mine went from 249 to 170). His A1c went from 12.8 (yes you read that right) to 5.9, no more high bp, and his cholesterol went from 266 to 194. I went from a size 30/5x to a size 14/XL. He went from a size 52 waist to 42. And from a size 3x shirt to XL. And we go on 3+ mile walks together twice a week and he works out for an hour to an hour and a half twice a week with me (I work out above and beyond that). He's changed about 80% of his eating habits. He's more confident and happier, as am I . It certainly helps when you have a supportive spouse that wants to better themselves because they see you doing well and get inspired. That's what he told me

*raises hand* i do! not as often as back in the day, but yes, i'll use one if my guess-timating powers are off, AND if have access to one, AND i,m not feeling lazy. all conditions must be true lol. works out to maybe 3-4 times a week i'll use one. but i don't use measuring cups or spoons anymore...i'm pretty good at visualizing volume, ha!

there are mixed feelings about pouch resets. Many say they don't really work, and also, they reinforce "diet mentality". Probably better to either wait it out, or else maybe drop your calories by 100 or so and beef up your activity. Arabesque is correct, those last few pounds are a BEAR to get off. I got to my goal, but it took me 20 months. After the one year mark, my loss slowed down to a crawl - there were months I only lost a pound or two. But I just kept at it. She's also right in that stalls are a part of weight loss. There were so many times during year 2 that I thought "well, this must be it...", and then a couple weeks later I'd drop another pound. Frustrating, yep - but that's the way weight loss works!

Hmm, I don’t like purée anything so I stayed in liquids stage a full 4 weeks. As long as I was on liquids, the BMs were liquid too and would announce themselves with surprise. I got regular and less liquidy with more solid foods and the introduction of magnesium and probiotics at night. My son says the RNY caused me to make the paint peel in the bathroom, (mom eye roll here)There seems to be more unpredictability for relatives and friends with Crohn’s or cancer. I wonder if it’s because of sections removed lower on the intestines? DS and RNY seems to effect the first part of the small intestine.

Thank you, longhaul68! I read about hair loss and was hoping it was a rare side effect. It sounds like it does get better when nutrition picks up?? Did you tell everybody you had weight loss surgery? My friends know, as they are my support system. I have not told anyone at work. I told my boss I'm having surgery. I told my families (I work with kids) that I'm going to be out for 2 weeks (BTW is 2 weeks enough??). It's not that I'm ashamed of the surgery, I don't think. I'm not sure why I haven't told everyone in my life. They'll think I'm sick when I start the weight loss! What have others said to people?

Any of my June people still around? I was just checking in to see how everyone was doing? I had my first doctors appointment in three months today and the doctor said I was losing about 10lbs a month which is normal. It's still hard sometimes to adjust to taking three bites before I have to start spitting into something (to avoid throwing up) but other than that, everything's been really great. Before surgery, I kept hearing tons of horror stories about infections, not being able to tolerate anything, etc, but haven't really experienced any of it.

Thank you for the great information- I did get to consult with dr before— and got the v-shape as that was what dr preferred as well. I had 4lbs of skin removed from my stomach, and they lipo scuplted arms, waist and back to get the 2lbs of fat to use for the tiny bbl they were able to complete. I am 3 weeks out (as of Wednesday April 10) and am very pleased with the results so far. The back side is not super dramatic, which I am happy about. Surgery went well, although i did have to have an iron treatment because my hemoglobin dropped 4 points ..but after that i felt great. Instead of general they used an epidural and exparel- so I didn't need any major pain meds after. Just had a headache for a couple of days, so Tylenol was solution. Staying in a recovery house for a week was THE best decision for me to not push it and to make sure i could recover well— at home I’d have been doing things when i should have been resting. No real pain to speak of from anything- sore and tight might describe it best—but that eased up at the end of the week. I admittedly have a high pain tolerance, and after previous breast reduction and hysterectomy knew some of what to expect. Now, Im just working from home and living a fairly normal life. Driving, walking, etc with ease. In a few weeks, I will be cleared to start exercising- which I have never done— so slow and steady will be course of action. Ill post some pics when things settle and i don't look too Frankenstein like. Thank you all for the kind words and support! Plastics is a game changer!

If you don't eat, your body will think it's starving and it will hold on to every little calorie, every bit of fat, everything to protect you. That will be what causes you to gain weight, or at the very least, not lose. You have to learn to walk that fine line between eating enough to stay healthy but not too much to cause weight gain. It's a learning curve, and takes a while to figure out. But you'll get there. Just make sure you get your protein in first, then carbs (from veggies and fruits), HEALTHY fats, and enough calories. The first 2 weeks, I never had more than 600 calories per day. Weeks 3 and 4 it went up to between 800 - 900 per day. Weeks 5 and 6 I was around 1000 per day. Once I was completely cleared for all exercise, I went up to 1100 - 1200 per day on non work out days and between 1300 - 1400 per day on work out days, depending on what work out I was doing that day. You absolutely HAVE to give your body the fuel it needs to survive and thrive. The point of the surgery isn't to starve yourself into being skinny. It's a tool to teach us to make better, healthier choices and stick with them.

I am currently restricted to eat raw food, such as salad and crunchy fruit. No nuts yet. At about 3 months then I can try, but I would imagine still have to slowly add them to see how I tolerate. Which when I go to Disney I will be only about 2 and a half month. I can eat chicken and fish with no problem now. I did look at Disney app to see what they have available. Look like grill salmon is on the menu and I sure can eat some smoke turkey leg. My current stall is making my brain sending me signals to eat and making me crave for a lot of unhealthy food. I still still eating about 3oz protein 1oz veggie and 1 oz starch. But I gained 3lbs, I got to 229lbs and were so happy I’m in the 220 range which is before my pregnancy, but this morning I am now 232! I have head hunger all day long, and wants to eat so much. I broke down today and kinda cheated. I ate half a sandwich from Panera Bread… It was tuna sandwich, and some chips! I didn’t even feel sick from it and I am so scared… I am feeling so guilty and feel like such a failure.

It's not something that has been easy for the past 15 years. I used to workout several days a week for a long time, but I was just more into weight lifting, not so much cardio or anything like it. Since I've lost a lot of weight, that same drive has kicked started again. Also, I know this is going to need to be a long term thing to ensure I don't go back to what I was doing before. I have knee replacement surgery in October, so I'm trying to keep the knee strong for better recovery.

I am turning 50 in a few months, and I've struggled with my weight most of my life. At 26, my BMI was probably around 30, but I didn't have the health issues so it was just a nuisance to me. I tried dieting and healthy eating for years, but my weight increased steadily in typical yo-yo fashion. Post-pregnancies, I spent my late 30s and early 40s in the 35-39 BMI range and started getting co-morbidities. By the time my BMI hit 40 this past year, I was aching in my feet and joints, had high blood pressure and cholesterol, and was prediabetic. So it's not about weight or appearance at this point but getting control of my health now, while my body can still bounce back and hopefully age more gracefully. I feel like I'm at that tipping point where if I don't act, the next decade will not end well and I will not have a good time of my senior years. This is despite all my best intentions and 7 years of actively going to a weight management doctor. All of that is to say that trying hard and knowing the right things to do rarely leads to success if you are prone to obesity. It's a disease, not a moral failing, no matter what people tell you. Unlike dieting, weight loss surgery provides lasting metabolic changes, as close to a cure as you can get. And you still will have to make all the lifestyle changes you would need to do anyway to lose weight, but they will actually work (instead of spending the next 24 years getting bigger and less healthy like I did). I have posted frequently about what a huge fan I am of Dr. Matthew Weiner's books, YouTube videos, and new podcast. Honestly, his books were life changing for me in terms of my perspective. I highly recommend starting there. He has 3 books, one is called Pound of Cure and gives great, scientifically sound information on what a healthy, set-point lowering way of eating looks like and how to get there. The second is a book that explains exactly how gastric bypass and sleeve surgeries change your metabolism and why they work (it's not just a smaller stomach and eating less!). The third is a cookbook with bariatric friendly recipes and serving sizes for different stages. These books are super fast reads. You can probably get through all three in a week (minus making all the recipes, of course!). With three months to go, my suggestion is get these books and start implementing the diet changes in a deliberate way. Start exercising in a sustainable way, working up to it little by little. See how you feel. Don't do crash diets. Don't start anything, whether food or exercise, you don't think you can basically do 90% of the time for the rest of your life, because there's no such thing as doing it for long enough to lose weight and then getting to "go back to normal." This has to become your new normal, with or without surgery. In three months, if you really aren't sure about the surgery, don't do it. It'll always be there. But know that it's an additional tool that will make the hard work you have to do either way in order to keep your health for the rest of your life more likely to stick. Without it, there's a very high (but not impossible) chance you will not be able to keep your weight in a healthy range.

This is my current lunch and dinner. It's hath a single chicken breast and the sea food sticks are just prossesed fish and rolled into this shape and eaten straight out of pack that's the red things on the right. This week I lost hath a pound. Don't feel like I'm being rewarded for the effort I'm putting in and really messes with my head. I drinking about 3000ml ( just under a gallon) of water a day

When I gained a little. I drop more weight when the stall is gone. For me the stalls come and go. Letting me accomplish my goals . Stick with it.

Hi everyone, I have a question. Has anyone been totally fatigued with absolutely no energy daily. I was hospitalized for lack of fluids, an 2nd time for depleted potassium. I do IV infusions twice a week, still barely helps. I do the protein daily as well as water. Any ideas ?? Dr. says follow program, as I do..so far regretting surgery.

I would follow what your clinic says. Stalls are a normal part of weight loss, and as long as you're compliant with your program, they WILL break. No need to do anything other than to make sure you're following. your clinic's program to a "T". 100 grams of protein isn't too high. Most of us are told to shoot for the 60-80 range, and even that can be a challenge at first, so It'd be a huge challenge to get up to 100 so soon after surgery (which is probably why he recommended drinking two protein shakes a day). Although that said, 100 grams of protein is not too high. I have to average at least 100 grams a day because we discovered early on after my surgery (nine years ago) that I malabsorb it. If I don't get that much, my pre albumin level tanks. also, you are not going to gain weight, given what you said you're eating. You would not be gaining weight on 100 grams of protein, either, given the amount of calories you're taking in.

I was 388 the day I went into my initial surgery. I had the sleeve and then revision to bypass due to complications. You can see all my stats in my signature. As of today, I've lost 160 pounds. My ideal weight (NOT my target weight, because my ideal weight makes me look sickly) is no higher than 155. The difference between that and what my surgery day weight was is 233 pounds. 65% of that 233 pounds would be 151 pounds, so I've already lost more than that. I have another 30 to go to hit my goal weight, and while it's slow going (I currently just started my 987964610 stall lol) I'll get there. Where there's a will, there's a way. You can do this. I've had 8 surgeries in the last year and a half....7 of them this year....5 of them because of complications. I have 1 more surgery scheduled for next year and then that should be it. And even with all my starts and stops because of surgeries and recovery time, I still lost 160 pounds. Imagine if I was able to just keep going and not have all these health issues.... Anyway, don't get in your head about averages and statistics and all that. Everyone's journey is different. Focus on your health, mobility, mood, and medication amounts drastically improving. Focus on how clothes look and fit on you, what sizes they drop to, and how you feel. These are called non scale victories, and they will absolutely SAVE YOU when you hit stalls. Focus on how you fit in a booth, or in "regular" seats in the movies or in doctor's offices. These things will tell you more than the scale ever will. Getting off meds, no longer having hypertension and diabetes, these were game changers for me.

surgeons do vary. At my clinic, both sleeve and bypass people were on the same plan. They had us on purees as soon as we left the hospital, but they changed that (I had my surgery nine years ago) and now they have to do a week (or maybe two?) of liquids before moving to purees.

I have a total of 4 weeks preop diet. The first 3 weeks, daily, I could have 2 protein shakes, 2 low cal, low fat, low carb snacks, 3 oz of lean protein, and one cup of non starchy vegetables. Also at least 64 oz water. I lost 22 lbs. this last week I can have 5 protein shakes and at least 64 oz water. I’m on day two of that and I have been very weak, shaky, and sometimes nauseous today. Hoping for a better day tomorrow!

Were you given a diet & list of what you can & cannot drink/eat before & post surgery? If you didn’t ask for one. It’s really important to follow the plan you’re given. Surgeons can have different plans with different requirements. For example the pre surgery diet could be three protein shakes a day, or it might be 4 shakes a day. It could be two shakes & one meal of meat & vegetables (low fat, low carbs). Some even specify what brand of shakes to drink. I was on keto so lots of differences. Generally post surgery it’s protein shakes, bone broths, cream soups, consumes so protein, protein, protein. Some are allowed sugar free jello but again you should follow your surgeon’s plan. All the best.

Honestly this has been the absolute bane of my life. I am 4 weeks post-surgery and although I seem to be having a bowel movement every day or every other day, I was so so constipated. TMI here but It got to the point that I had an anal fissure and was passing blood every time I had a bowel movement. Needless to say, I am taking daily Dulcolax now and I will be doing so until I am able to eat more & include more fibre in my diet.

I had an open RNY so they idea of laying down flat was laughable... if laughing didn't hurt so much. Once the staples and drain were removed after about 3 weeks I was able to start entertaining the idea of laying flat. I entertained the idea for about another 2 weeks when I finally gave it a go. Another week and I was laying down in just about any position I put my mind to, though I didn't put my mind to it over much. By six weeks I was pretty much able to position myself in just about any way. I was a rather large fellow, so there was more of me putting pressure on tender spots than for the average bear. I didn't see any reason to push myself, it's not like I was in a race or such. Good luck, Tek

How are you doing now? I was able to move through the stages right on time, BUT...once I got to the solids at 6 weeks, I had to slooooow my roll because the level of fullness I got after 2 or 3 bites was something I never expected. It's really different for everyone, and while some of us can move through the stages normally, others need 2 or even 3 weeks at each stage before their stomachs can handle the next one. As long as you're getting in your protein and fluids, you'll be fine.

I’m a believer in slowly incorporating better eating habits & food choices back into your day. Aim to work towards how & what you were eating in those first few years after your surgery. To begin may be start tracking your food to see what may need to be adjusted. Then work on hitting those protein & fluid goals & portion sizes. After a couple of weeks change something else like reducing your snacks or change up a cooking style. Work through what ‘rules’ you have become complacent about making a change or two every couple of weeks. Making changes this way is much easier to adopt and adapt to.Also don’t think of them as ‘rules’. That sounds restrictive, inflexible and limiting. How you eat should complement your lifestyle, be sustainable & flexible. Maybe get in touch with a therapist to talk through what may be happening that may be influencing some of your food choices & habits. Maybe get in touch with a dietician too just to check your on the right track again. All the best.