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Yep my surgery was 5/15, I am at a stall. Only 19 lbs so far. So now on soft blended food. I mix up casserole dishes for hubby, family, add everything I can eat , take out a couple cups, blend if necessary and half fill 4 ramekins. I then go forward with fixing the casserole for the family, bake as directed. Freeze 3 of the ramekins for me later. So far everything tastes good. Look up noodless tuna noodle casserole also cauliflower mushroom risotto

People who go on a serious pre-op diet often don't have the big whoosh of weight loss in the first few months that others do because your body has already cleared out a lot of the water weight, stored carbohydrates, and sick muscle cells that makes up a big chunk of that whoosh. Once you get to a more steady state of weight loss, most (more than half) of what you are loosing will be fat. Yes, it's a journey and yes, the surgery is a only tool that helps you have success in the long term. You won't lose weight much faster than you would with a traditional diet. But imagine you lose "only" 10 lbs a month for the next year and a half - that's 180 lbs lost, which will put you at your goal weight of 210. Without the surgery, you'd likely fall off the wagon after 3 months, 6 months because you'd be starving. Instead, you'll actually be able to stick to that diet. How many diets did you start in your life where the start of that diet was more than 18 months ago? Imagine if one of those had actually worked. You'd already be at your goal weight now. But you're not, because it was too hard to stick to it. Bariatric surgery is a tool to help you stick with it. Bariatric surgery isn't a quick fix, and it doesn't mean you don't have to work pretty much just as hard as you would with a regular diet. It just makes it so all that work actually "works."

Don't feel bad, I am now at the point where one month I lose 10-15 lbs, and the next i will lose like 2... But I am not gaining, so it's ok. You're doing great.

Thanks for responding. I was 425 at my biggest. I am now just under 390, but most of that weight loss was from the 4 weeks of Optifast. Not the 3 weeks now after the surgery. When it is all said and done, I am looking to be 210/220 max which is the weight I was prior to gaining the weight. I haven't been overweight all my life, but I have been for a good 10+ years now. I am an emotional eater. Eat my stress away as opposed to say drinking or smoking when it comes to other dealing with life vices. I remember one time I lost about 20 pounds in two weeks when I did the Keto diet and joined a gym. Yes, I know that much of that is water weight and that rapid weight loss wouldn't continue as well as the fact that I didn't stick with it, but these are just questions that are popping into my curious head now - will I pretty much lose the same amount of weight monthly if I just stuck to a more traditional way of losing weight. I know it is a journey and tool for long term. I guess I am thinking how am I not losing more weight from just a calories point of view of just soups and other liquids in small amounts as I am not in the solid foods yet phase. I am also just thinking outloud here and just wanted to see what other people had to say when it came to weight loss just after surgery. Thanks HM

Not everyone develops reflux issues after sleeve - it's something like 30%, and for most it can be managed medically (i.e., with PPI's). There are some who have it pretty severely so their only option is revision, although again, for most, it can be managed in other ways. I had reflux before surgery and went with the RNY because I figured I'd end up being one of the 30%, and I didn't want to take the risk. But others take it - and they end up doing fine. It's really kind of a crap shoot. I think a lot of surgeons prefer the sleeve because it's a much simpler surgery, so they're probably more likely to recommend that one. Luckily, mine did recommend RNY for me, although he said he'd be glad to do either. He's also been doing these surgeries for 30+ years, so he's done a ton of RNY's. I think some of the younger ones have most of their experience with sleeve since that's been the popular of the two surgeries for the last 10 years or so.

I used to do long distance riding and loved it. I trained many miles for Century rides and MS 150's for charity. That was in my 20's. As I got older I cut back on long exercise sessions (biking, weights and jogging). Big mistake and started gaining weight. But my Mom became ill and I began taking care of her instead of myself and didn't take the time anymore. I eventually stopped exercising altogether when I suddenly couldn't breathe, and everything became hard for me to do. I was misdiagnosed as having COPD and kind of gave up on myself at that point. It was only recently with pre op testing for Bariatric surgery that I found out I never had COPD and couldn't breathe because of a hiatal hernia. It caused 10% of my stomach to stick up through my diaphragm. Makes me mad to think about but thankful at the same time that it is now repaired, and I can breathe and exercise again. I would love to try biking too at some point. For now I walk 5-6xs a week for a little over a mile and makes me so happy. Just to be able to do it. I wouldn't worry too much about hydration. You should be fine. Just keep drinking. But not sure how long hours of exercise will affect your appetite? I have little to none now, 7 weeks out. I can only imagine I would become quite ravenous, which could defeat the whole purpose. IDK but good luck!

No hard & fast rules. It just depends on you & how your body reacts. Personally I split up when I took my meds. Like one multi vitamin in the morning & one at night. Just make sure to take your vitamins after you eat otherwise you may experience nausea. Having a sip or two of a liquid to swallow a med is generally okay after you’ve eaten or to wait a much shorter time after (like 5 or 10 minutes) & then go back to your usual waiting time. Of course if you are drinking a meal/snack (shake, soup, yoghurt drink, milk, …) swallow your meds as you drink. Hope it’s an easy transition for you.

I wrapped up my Options Classes on April 10. I'm scheduled for surgery on July 20. I can't wait. Good luck to you!

No I only had a final goal weight and to be honest that was purely aspirational - I had no idea whether or when I would reach it! It was a weight I had reached previously by diet and exercise and felt good at. Hunger returned when I had lost approx 100lbs - probably a quarter of that on my long pre-op diet and three quarters in the 9 or 10 months post op. I went on to lose about another 40lbs. But honestly it is so different for different people. That's just how it went for me. Very best of luck to both of you.

You're absolutely right - it seems to be very different for different people. I had a gradual return of hunger at around 9 or 10 months. Probably over the course of a couple of weeks. If I ate my protein first I still felt full with around the same size of meal, I just wanted to eat again sooner afterwards. Then on top of that as the months progressed I could eat greater volumes - that continued AND I was hungry too. I learned here that head hunger is often craving a specific food or taste or texture, but real hunger can be addressed by eating most anything. So I started to have fruit and veg for snacks and that seems to have worked for me. My 3 main meals are protein first always. I could have just added another meal, but I had been concerned all along that I wasn't getting anything like the recommended fruit and veg intake. My weight loss had slowed when my hunger returned and I stopped losing more or less completely around 15 months post op. I'm 18 months out now and so far maintaining. Everything crossed.

I've been going on 3 hour hikes since 10 days post-op. That said, I've had very little trouble with fluid intake. (I can't chug a liter of water in one go like before, but that's more of a weird party trick than a positive lifestyle choice.) I also live in a cold temperate climate and wasn't out in the summer sun. I had thought of using a CamelBak type thing to be constantly drinking fluids, but it turned out not to be necessary.

They wouldn't offer both if they weren't a good solution for different people. Gastric sleeve, in general, results in about 10% less weight loss than bypass, but also has fewer long-term limitations...but I am a sleeve patient who lost every bit of their excess weight and more. In *general*, you hear of less sleeve patients who cannot tolerate certain foods a couple years after the procedure, and bypass patients sometimes end up being unable to tolerate certain things ever again. That being said, I am a sleeve patient, I am 21 months PO and I still don't tolerate apples, potatoes, rice, pasta, certain types of bread, or carbonation very well so I am still actively avoiding them (which, in a way, has helped me stay on track, so I suppose it's a bit of a mixed bag). I would listen to your doctor's recommendation and make sure you understand their reasoning for making said recommendation. There is a reason both surgeries are as common as they are.

I lost 16 lbs my first month. I don't understand why you would feel discouraged at this point. 19 lbs = 66,500 calories. I would say your WLS is doing it's job.

Had my VSG May 19, 2023. Feeling pretty good, walking up to 2 miles at a time at 2.5 to 3.0mph. I am looking forward to transitioning to puréed diet. Looking forward to the journey with my May 2023 buddies!

I wish I could hug you, You are having it hard. If you are in the top 1% then maybe I make the 10% club. I had nausea quite bad for the first 8 months. I felt the same as when I was pregnant. I don't think it is / was as bad as you are suffering. I could eat tiny slivers of cheese. I could eat deli meat in tiny bits and jerky. I could eat Melba toast with soft cream cheese on it. I could also manage milk and peanut butter. So this is what I lived on. I never made my protein or even the liquid requirement. I never was able to take my calcium tablet. I survived but I was so lacking energy. My family were worried about me. There are still foods that revolt me like eggs, hummus and fish. I still eat a lot of dairy. I have no room for carbs. Slowly I began to eat a little more and then the nausea became less and less. I have a huge restriction, I can only eat 50 grams of meat. I eat 4 small meals a day, down from 5. I can not eat late at night because of severe GERD, waking with acid in your lungs is nasty. I can drink big gulps now which is a blessing. Just continue to eat what you can, when you can. Forget low calorie, try a big variety, some of it you might be able to keep down. Don't give up

General anasthesia is rather miraculous. They have you count down from 10 to 1, and before you get to 1 you are completely knocked out. Next thing you know, they're wheeling you out of the operating room. You have absolutely no memory of what has happened for the past 90 minutes or so. You're right. Among the things to worry about, the anesthesia is among the least of your worries.

This surgey was not something I took lightly. I prayed about it and prepared for 8 months before I got the call for Dec 19, 2022. I made this decision purely for my health as I’m sure most of you did as well. I was starting to have heart problems and my knees would hurt as I walked down the stairs. I was told it would be life changing and when it came to the weight loss it has been, but the complications that have bombarded me has me questioning if it was worth it. I don’t want to scare anyone off, because ninety-nine percent get through their gastric sleeve and adapt after the initial healing, but I have always been the one percent. You see I was the one percent with my pain management as well because I took steroid shots to my back after giving birth to my daughter. This went on for 10 years and then I developed adrenal insufficiency because my body became dependent on the hormone. It could no longer produce its own cortisol so I was then on the precipice of dying if I didn’t start a steroid regimen immediately among my diagnosis. I literally was down to that one percent of cortisol in my body. For five years I suffered unimaginable low energy, adrenal crisis when my body was to stressed, countless hospital visits and of course massive weight gain from cushions disease. I thought nothing would ever be as bad as that time in my life when I finally recovered after those five years and stopped my steroids. But the damage was done and I was severely obese at my heaviest of 270 and on top of that my thyroid suffered in the process so I could never get the weight off. Thats what led me to the only solution my doctor had and the realization that their are things worse than Addisons disease, at least for me. Since my surgery I have not been able to keep any food down. I have had to be admitted to the hospital for days on end where I would go back to the liquid diets. A few weeks ago I had a little tuna and my body rejected it with a fury sending me to the hospital for five days where I had two emergency surgeries. The doctor couldn’t believe what he was seeing on my mri. Somehow so much scar tissue has devolved that it was causing my sleeve to be pulled by my gallbladder and they were attached so we thought that was the reason I couldn’t keep any food down. After I came out of that surgery I felt relief and I wanted to cry because another thing I forgot to mention is that I had been nauseous 24/7 since my sleeve surgery, but for those five hours after waking up from the anesthesia and pain meds I felt normal. The nausea was gone. But the next day it was back with a vengeance and more imaging found that my gallbladder was infected and had to come out immediately. So under I went for the 3rd time in 6 months reentering the same wounds that still hadn’t healed. And again for a while I wanted to cry out that it’s a miracle, it’s all better, but as soon as all the meds wore off I was right back were I started. I also had to have a drain put in because their had been blood pooling around my sleeve since the first surgery. All they could do was prescribe me 3 medications to control the vomiting. I lost 7 pounds during that hospital stay. When I got home after being on a liquid diet for a few more days I slowly eased into the soft foods, but to this day after every meal or healthy snack I make my way to that porcelain hell were I retch until the nausea calms. I then take my nausea medications and Valium to relax my stomach muscles. It usually takes about three hours and then I do it all again because I’m only eating twice a day to avoid being sick morning, noon, and night. The only thing that has changed is the constant nausea, it’s now only after I eat something. I’m literally living off of soft cheese and fruit, but more than a few bites and all hell breaks loose. I can tell how malnourished I am because my hair is falling out in clumps and my skin is dry. I’m drinking as much liquid as I can, but dehydration is always around the corner. My doctor says I’m loosing more weight than he anticipated so I always thought hearing those words would bring me joy, but I’m so depressed and have no energy for my family so I have to ask myself daily was it worth it? Will it get better with more time? Again, I don’t want to scare anyone because their are more good stories on here than bad. I simply want to share my story because there is no other like it and that scares me. My daughter is always asking if I could die, she did this when I was sick with addisons too? I tell her if things get better before I reach my healthy weight of 130 then I’ll be ok because right now even though i’m not getting the calories I need my body still has enough fat storage to feed off of, but at the rate I’m loosing- a pound every other day, I will be severely malnourished if it gets to that point. Most people say the surgery is a blessing, but for me it may still be, but a blessing in disguise. I have spoken with my doctor and he doesn’t have the answers. I have scoured medical journals and comment boards also with no answers. If there is anyone on here that is going through the same thing please reach out and if you prefer to talk in private my email is marsgirl22@gmail.com. I know this was truly a long post, but my journey has been just as long and I hope that my story can help someone else to get the answers that seem to allude me. Oh and just for clarification of how rapidly I am losing I started at 260 pounds two weeks before my surgery and now I am 175 pounds and counting down. Bless you all for taking the time to read my story and I sincerely hope you want hesitate to help me if you can.

I’m in the same boat and I’m 6 months post op. I eat about three bites of something protein or really anything, veggies too and then I immediately throw up. Doctor has me on multiple medications for this and Valium to relax the muscles in my stomach. I also had to have two emergency surgery’s 2 weeks ago because my sleeve was stuck to my gallbladder with so much scar tissue so they thought that was it, but then a day after that surgery they saw that my gallbladder was bad and they had to remove it immediately. Still no change and I feel so sick all the time because I’m barely getting 300 calories in daily. I loose a pound every other day. I know for 99 percent it’s a miracle and worth it, but I have always been the 1 percent when it comes to my health. I have lost 80 pounds since Dec 19, 2022, but I feel like it wasn’t the right way and I’m worried I’m loosing way to fast. Anyone else suffering like this because my doctor says it’s unusual and I can’t find anything on the internet. Thanks for all the helpful replies in advance. If anyone out there understands my pain feel free to reach out to me through email- marsgirl22@gmail.com

I am 10 weeks post op and have only lost 20lbs. It’s so slow and I have been fighting cravings every day for the last six weeks. I started exercising, built muscle and the hunger set in. Today I caved, had some sugar free candies and a slice of medium ham/pineapple pizza (no crust) and a half cup of Fairlife chocolate milk. I ended with 77 carbs!! Normally I try to keep it below 40. I’m sitting here and I feel like there’s this little disordered eating voice in my body laughing at me like “muahaha! Today we regain control of you! It’s only a matter of time before we stop this train and back it up!” I can literally sense my body storing fat. Okay not literally… but it feels that way. im about to hit my first big milestone once I go under 180 and I wonder if I’m self sabotaging? Do I really think I deserve this? What if I’m one of the statistics that doesn’t lose their weight? Ugh I’m so scared that I’m going to mess this up. Please tell me I’m not alone? Does anyone ever feel this way? 😢

I am four weeks out today. Had VSG 4/28. I’ve lost 19 pounds, but the majority of that was in the first week (15 lbs). I am very discouraged right now. Feel like I spent all of this money and am sacrificing food and not seeing a weight loss.

VSG 4/28. I’ve only lost 19 pounds in the past four weeks. Most lost in the first week post-op. HW: 292 SW:284 CW:265 GW: 180

I'm assuming you meant chia seeds. I have a few bags in my freezer that I'm contemplating using again post-surgery. Asked my NUT if it was OK at 5 weeks and she approved. When I asked her if they should be used dry or soaked she said dry. By the look on her face, I think she was guessing. LOL The only time I used them dry was when I had bad acid reflux. The dry seeds would soak up the excess acid in my stomach for almost instant relief. But you have to be careful as these will soak up to 10 times their amount of weight in liquid. It actually caused a death when someone downed a bunch dry without drinking enough water to fully swallow them all and the seeds expanded in their throat. Yikes!! Indian runners used them back in the day to run long distances, having to carry very little water. But dry in pouches. Hmmm... Many many articles online listing its benefits. Alot don't say whether to consume dry or soaked. Just 2T a day. That would definitely skew measurements. I'm wondering, will this help us in our quest to stay hydrated longer? If taken dry, will the expansion stretch our new small stomach or pull much needed moisture from us? What say you?

I was 19 when I had my gallbladder out, so it's been a few (ahem) years. I'd forgotten which side it was on. And I didn't look to see where my scar was. LOL! I just remembered that the pain went all the way through my body.

Binge eating at night was really bad for me. Specially during lockdown when I was working from home. I'm glad that I got rid of that bad habit now. I still get the urge to do it, but I just drink some water / tea or eat lettuce / cucumber and it goes away. It helps that I'm now working in a small town and food delivery usually stops before 10 pm. I don't keep any junk food at home. I need to exercise more and start building muscles. Keep up the good work

Congratulations on your weight loss. Whoo hoo! Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a pouch reset. It’s just a myth. You can’t regain those surgery honeymoon period bonuses like reduced hunger or appetite. Remember your smaller tummy is still there which is a big positive. It just comes down to how you use it. If you seem to have stabilised at your new current weight, it’s possible this is your new set point (a gift of the surgery). This is the weight your body is happiest at & is easiest to maintain. Our old much higher set point is one of the reasons we would regain any weight we’d lose so easily in the past. Remember not everyone reaches the goal weight they have set for themselves & that’s okay. To lose more weight you need to reduce your calorie intake. Though to maintain the lower weight you will also need to continue use to eat less than what you do now. For example my BMR at my weight, age, height & activity level is about 1500 calories. If I weighed 10kg more at 60kg my calorie needs would be about 1700 calories to maintain. Is a lower calorie intake sustainable in the long term? This is something only you can answer knowing your lifestyle & how you want to live your life. Also you can’t exercise the extra weight away. Exercise only accounts for about 10% of the weight you want to lose. Want to lose 10lbs? Exercising accounts for about 1lb. Not everyone experiences the 2nd/3rd year bounce back regain (usually 10-20lbs). I didn’t. Some of the regain is your body settling at a slightly higher weight with your set point. Some of it is because how you were eating (calories, activity level, eating style) wasn’t sustainable. Some of it is because of lifestyle choices. And yes some of it is from becoming complacent, less vigilant or falling back into old habits. Some of the regain you have control over. Some you don’t. When I reached my current weight, I too thought I’d have bounce back regain wriggle room & it would be okay if I ended up at or around my goal. At 4 years I’m a about 1-2lbs (depending upon the day lol!) more than at where my weight first settled.