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OP you have done amazingly well. I know lots of us beat ourselves up lots of the time but honestly, to drop almost half your body mass after surgery, AND then regain only 15 - 20lbs three years later, AND to have had a baby in the meantime is unbelievable. Third year regain is common - the norm actually. Trying to get back to your lowest weight ever might not work if your body has chosen a higher new set weight. It will fight you all the way. Forever. Please cut yourself some slack. It might be helpful to ask yourself what exactly you're aiming for now. Is it a goal weight/BMI? Or a state of mind where you accept and celebrate the huge changes you have made to your health and your life and now that of your baby. If you have a set goal, why is that better than where you are, and how much effort or angst do you want/need to devote to achieving it? As a general observation processed and ultra processed foods (products with ingredients you don't have in your kitchen) are what make people obese. The sooner you can ditch those the better IMO. Freshly prepared food is less likely to cause regain. I am a big fan of Dr Matthew Wiener's book A Pound of Cure. Might be worth a read!

hi dear thanks alot! i actually never thought about having possible food allergies. i might just look into that actually if it is maybeeee a factor. thank you ❤️

Life just throws it all at you some times & I’m sorry you’ve been through a lot. Unfortunately the pouch reset is a fairy story/old wives’ tale. What needs to be reset is not your tummy but your head. Remember all that head work we had to do in the beginning? The stress, emotions & changes you’ve been experiencing has likely meant those old bad habits have snuck in again & you’ve been turning to food to comfort yourself. It’s easy to become complacent too. All completely understandable. Don’t know if you were a food tracker or not, but tracking even for a couple of weeks like @Spinoza suggested will help you identify what you may need to adjust - food choices, protein & fluid goals, portion sizes, nutrition. Then start by making one or two changes & another one or two a couple of weeks later. Small changes are easier to adopt & adapt to. Probably aim to get back to about where you were when your weight stabilised & how you initially maintained. Maybe contact your nut/dietician to help you get back in the right mindset. Therapy may help you manage & better cope with the stress you’ve been experiencing too so you don’t turn to food. You’ve been successful for ten years. You can do it again. All the best.

I was like this. I managed 300 calories until 6 months. I was super restricted. My team were ok as long as I was well monitored and as long as I kept trying and drank most of my liquid allotment. I take PPI's twice a day and still need antacid. Food smells repulsed me. I couldn't eat eggs, meat or fish. I ate yogurt, soups, deli meats and cheese. I drank milk, coffee and Ribena. I forced myself to eat 6 tiny meals a day. My family were super worried about it. I managed a little better every day especially when the pressure was taken off me { I pressured myself } I took me 2 years to eat chicken, lamb, eggs and to this day can not eat salmon and oily fish. Stick with your team, they will get you through it. It will get easier.

Hey everyone, it’s me again. I woke up early this morning feeling pretty good and refreshed. I think I’m still proud of myself for doing my walk last night. I told my husband that I was proud and I know that it’s not really that big of a deal but it feels huge to me and he reminded me that after my sleeve I never exercised so it is a big deal. When he would mention it I would just tell him what my surgeon said that it’s really a pretty small part of weight loss. I left out the part where he said that it is still important for physical and mental health though. So I guess the fact that I am less that a month out this time and trying a different approach already is a pretty good thing. I went to do my grocery pickup this morning and got my supplies for my first week of soft foods which I get to start tomorrow 🎉 I ordered a lot more that I need for sure. The guy just kept adding bags to the trunk and my fridge has never been so full. I got out my book that my Dr gave me and it doesn’t mention a portion size for soft foods. The handout the hospital gave me says 1/2 to 3/4 cup though so I guess I will stick to 1/2 cup to start and make sure that’s okay. I just took a little nap since I woke up early and plan to walk again tonight. I have been scouring the Internet for a solution to my shorts riding up. The best thing I can find is to put a boning in the seam so I think I may order some and give that a try. I guess I have to drag out my sewing machine and relearn how to thread it and all that so I’m not sure how long I will procrastinate before I do it. I did order a pair of inexpensive yoga shorts to wear in the mean time and good news is when I measured my waist and hips to get the right size I realized that I have lost two inches in both. My only concern I have now is that one incision that’s dented in still. Everyone says that they think It will be fine but i just don’t know I think it’s going to stay like that honestly and worry that when I lost and it’s extra skin it’s going to look even worse. I guess no one but my husband will ever see it but I really wish it would just flatten out I hope everyone else is having a wonderful holiday weekend and feeling better and better each day. I know that I am.

just wanted to respond to comments about being on liquids only - depends on the surgeon. Our clinic at the time had us on purees as soon as we got home from the hospital (not sure if they still do, since it's been nine years for me). To the OP - follow your surgeon's plan.

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

The more I read up on nutrition, the more I'm becoming convinced that calorie restriction is not the way to approach weight loss. It actually sets us up for failure and yo-yo dieting. You need to reset your metabolic set point by choosing the right foods and listening to your body for signs of when to stop eating as opposed to counting numbers. When I reached my highest weight last summer, I found the Pound of Cure book by Dr. Matthew Weiner, and this greatly changed my thinking. I started following his program and lost 13lbs slowly and steadily, and without counting a single calorie or macro. Of course, surgery has helped tremendously, but the months I was just following Pound of Cure guidelines, I never felt hungry or deprived. His YouTube channel has hundreds of videos to help get you started. The book is really cheap on Amazon, and there are no soecial products or supplements you have to buy. Just healthy, real food. Anyway, my advice would be to start there and see if it helps.

@NickelChip is on totally on point. I cannot stress the importance of asking yourself do you need this next bite or do you just want this. If you just want it put your fork down. If you’re about to put that mouthful in your mouth out of habit, put the fork down. Even if your response is I don’t know put your fork down & wait. In a couple of minutes try again & if the answer yes, I need it take the bite. Of course you have to really consider the difference between wanting & needing. I started practising this from my surgery (so 5,5yrs ago) & still do it. Been extremely helpful. Slowing your eating is based on the fact it least. 20 minutes for the message to get through to your head that you’ve had enough. If you are a fast eating, eating mouthful after mouthful, by the time the signal you’ve had enough registers you’ve eaten way too much. Notice I say enough not full. Enough is the goal. Enough is what your body needs to function. Full or over full is usually the volume of food to make you feel good or better or happier or whatever. Some hints & tips to incorporate which can help. Buy yourself some small cutlery. Baby forks and spoons, cocktail forks, sporks or similar. (I think almost everyone uses smaller cutlery after surgery but you could start now.) They will make your spoonful smaller and slow your eating. if you haven’t yet, get hold of some smaller bowls & plates. Will help to keep your portions the correct size and can make you think you’re eating more because the smaller plate is full. I used ramekins, tapas plates, side plates while losing & now use entree/appetiser plates (9in dia). So still no dinner plates for me. After putting food on your cutlery, push some off so the fork and spoon aren ‘t full. Try sending timelines for smaller portions of your meal. Like, I’ll take 10 minutes to eat a quarter of my meal. If you eat it before ten minutes, wait before starting the next quarter. Or, try cutting up your meat (depending on your meal) first. Count how many pieces and work out how often you can eat a piece. I still do this type of portioning. Right now I’m eating some crackers with a topping for lunch. I eat one cracker every ten minutes. Sometime I wait longer but never more quickly. If you are eating with others, put your cutlery down when they are talking and don’t take a bite until they have finished or someone adds to the conversation. You become a good listener & distracts you from eating. I live alone & didn’t like using a timer so I used to set other guideline. If watching tv, take a bite with an ad or a scene change or similar. If playing on line game like solitaire, play a game before taking a bite. If reading, take a bite after reading a certain number of pages. Between bites, put your cutlery down, and sit back from the table so you're not leaning on the table. Sure others may have some tips as well. All the best.

This ricotta bake is great during the pureed stage. Definitely gives pizza ish vibes. https://bariatricbits.com/single-serve-baked-ricotta/

I am 5.5 months out and at 3 weeks out I have been out to dinner at least once a week/twice sometimes. I traveled at 3 weeks out, 3 months out and at 7 months out (upcoming), and what I can tell you is this: - It never hindered my weight loss, on the contrary, I weigh in every Sunday and I see the weight melting off the morning after being out on date night and having yummy food. - It is truly enjoyable, I get to try a little bit of this and that and not stuff myself. A bite or two is enough. - I TAKE MY TIME. I have been a fast eater my entire life and since surgery I am forced to slow down and actually savor what I am eating. This has turned date night dinner from a 1.5 hour affair to at least 3 - 3.5 hours and I would have lengthy deep conversations with the hubby which also forces him to slow down (the connection and conversation part can apply to whoever your companion is). - SHARE - I order one salad/entree with the person I'm eating with and I portion out what I'm having. - I make good food choices, I scan the menu and choose the best option of protein & Veg. I always start with my protein, a salad/veggies, then if I can I'll have a bite of a fun thing, either a tiny bit of carb or a bite or two of dessert (not always, whenever I'm feeling like it). But generally meals out don't get in the way of how I eat and what I eat. I think it is important to train your body and mind to be okay with eating out without it being a hurdle or a trigger. Living after weight loss surgery should include experiences like travel and food because it's a lifestyle and not alienation from what life used to be. I knew early on that I would not stop myself from eating out (I love love love dining out and trying different cuisines and restaurants) and traveling, it's just how I would do it in a way that doesn't involve losing control and hindering my progress or causing a negative mind shift. Happy belated birthday, I hope you had a blast!

Can you sneak some protein bars or packets of roasted edamame or something in your bag, just to make sure you've got some healthier protein options -- just in case you find there's not much there to suit you? Or even keep some low sodium V8 juice in your hotel room -- even if it just makes you feel better about having had 'A Vegetable' at the end of the day. I know a lot of places don't 'allow' outside food but as a recent surgery patient maybe they'll give you more lenience (or maybe they can be tucked under a towel lol). Hahaha YES! I've taken to stashing vanilla-scented dog waste bags in my purse in case of a tummy-temper-tantrum. XD

Hi all, thank you for your patience and great advice as I navigate all this. My family has been great, just celebrated my 60th birthday with a final “food funeral” of my favorite dinner and pie. I’ve been getting a lot of “Why now?” questions, sure wish I had done this earlier but had a job I didn’t think I could juggle with the aftercare. I thought maybe it’d be interesting to share what moment tipped you over into making the decision to do this. Mine: Medical issues + multiple embarrassments through the years, but the final straw was a few months ago. I bought us concert tickets for a musician my husband loves but is seldom within driving distance. Beautiful day, beautiful venue… but the seats. Started the first half of the concert immensely aware the man sitting on my opposite side was bear-hugging himself to keep from touching my overflow. He didn’t come back (or rejected different seating) the second half. Utterly mortifying.

A loss is a loss!! Especially if you've been struggling with pain (and pain killers). Honestly, even if it were a gain, the fact that you're learning from it and identifying where your problems were this week would still make it a plus, in my book. This is a life-long journey you've (we've) started, and we're going to keep re-negotiating things with our bodies and our digestive systems -- so anything that teaches us is at least a small win, right? Sodium has been a toughie for me post-op. So many food items take out sugars/carbs or fats but really seem to up the sodium to make up for it. I was always a little sensitive to sodium, but post-op? JEEBUS, the sodium headaches if I'm not careful. (Looking at you, sugar free drink crystals)

Back from vacation last night and had a great time. We spent 2 days at the waterpark at Great Wolf Lodge, then drove to Hershey, Pennsylvania to visit the amusement park, followed by a trip through Lancaster County (where many Amish people live). I did what I could to meet protein goals and make healthy choices at restaurants, but I also allowed myself some sweets and tried not to stress about it too much. Weighed myself this morning and was down one pound since last week. Overall feeling good and looking forward to getting back to a more normal schedule, although I have a bit of a break from work until next week. A few random travel tips: Always make sure you are getting your food prepared the way you want it when you order. I saw a photo of a salad with grilled chicken on the menu, but I didn't realize it could also come fried until that was what the server brought me. She didn't ask which I wanted (she was new), and I just assumed it was grilled. A simple, "That's with grilled chicken, right?" would have saved me having to try to peel away all of the fried breading. If you must order fast food when on the road, a small cup of chili from Wendy's has 16g protein and 240 calories. I believe it's 22g carb (6g of which is fiber). They also have some nice salads. For a long car trip, bring a gallon-size thermal jug of ice water and keep it in the back to refill your smaller water bottle. Individual packs of edamame, beef jerky, and nuts made great portable snacks to get in some extra protein, and Quest protein chips are delicious! I also found protein pretzels in a gas station convenience store and they were good, although not as high in protein as Quest (which they also sold there).

Hello Everyone: I am getting my gastric band removed on May 17 and going with the gastric sleeve as per my surgeon's suggestion. He feels I will do well with it. I managed to lose 150lbs with the band ( surgeon told me it was not a typical result). I started having trouble getting food to go down. I guess I created a pouch and have a lot of scar tissue. Had to have all the fluid taken out of the band while I was in Nevada. The surgeon performing this (not easy to find anyone in Las Vegas who would even look at removing the fluid) advised what was going on. There are only 5% of surgeons still installing the band in the entire country. Many, many complications with it. I was fine until a year ago. Had fluid put in (the doctor back home put too much in), then the chest and back pains started. Food would go down sometimes and sometimes not. I managed to regain 15lbs. Struggling every day. I hope the revision to the sleeve will be a success.

H Hello there I have had my band for 8 years. Weight loss was not remarkable and at the max of 5-7 kg over all the years. Instead, the band has only caused issues and daily vomiting. Have finally decided to have it removed, as I now suspect it has slipped. I haven’t been able to keep food down for 7 days, despite not having had any fills for years. However, I have once concern: I am 41 y.o and have no children and planning to become pregnant this year. How soon after band removal am I allowed to become pregnant? Thank you

I had GS nine years ago. Lost a lot. During lockdown I transfer addicted to alcohol. Now I'm sober, but, transfer addicted back to food to get there and have regained over half my loss back in the last year. So, what to do? I'd appreciate thoughts from those who got revisions and how they think it has helped them. Thanks.

i had low grade anxiety the morning of surgery. i remember a nano-second of PURE PANIC literally just before i was knocked out. I remember them telling me to count down from 100 (or was it 10?)...i got to like 97 (or 7..) and felt myself starting to freak out. the last thing i (sorta) remember was 95 (or 5??) next thing i knew i was waking up in the recovery room and my very first thought was "YEESSSSSSSS!!! I'M ALIVE!!!!!". the relief of it all allowed me to ignore whatever pain i may or may not have been in. when i did finally register pain, it was manageable. i took the hard stuff pain meds during my 1 day stay at hospital. i was sent home with an Rx for more, but didn't fill it...i was fine with just Tylenol. best description of it would be it felt like i did a ridiculous number of situps...more of an ache than a pain, if that makes sense. so yeah, alot of us had at least some level of fear/anxiety/trepidation. only way is through it! good luck ❤️

Hi all, I am writing this for the >1% of gastric bypass patients who have the unusual complications that I had and, like me, couldn't find any information about it online to ease your mind. I had my gastric bypass surgery on September 7, 2022. I chose gastric bypass over the gastric sleeve specifically after months of research because of the higher rate of successful weight loss, particularly in women. My first week post-op went great, but after day 8 or 9 when I tried progressing my food intake from full-liquids to pureed foods I began vomiting and feeling really nauseous at every meal. I let my surgeon and dietitian know immediately and stepped my food intake back down to full-liquids. Pretty soon, I couldn't even take in full-liquids and was limited to hydrating fluids and chicken broth. I could keep down hydrating fluids and broth about 80% of the time, full-liquids 50% of the time, and everything else came back up. My surgeon was very responsive and had me get an endoscopy. Under general anesthesia, the endoscopy explored my new stomach pouch and roux limb connections that make up my new tummy system. Typically, gastric bypasses can result in constriction of the connection between the stomach pouch and roux limb, and my gastroenterologist was prepared to use a balloon to inflate the area to ease that restriction. In my case, however, that area looked fine, but further down the roux limb there was a stricture that was almost impassable for the narrow scope. This is what was causing my problem. I had an external compression on my roux limb that was making it impossible for anything more viscous than water to pass through. My layman's understanding of what had happened is that my surgeon brought my small intestine / roux limb up to meet my new stomach pouch through the transverse mesocolon. This involved cutting a hole through the transverse mesocolon to put the roux limb through and then stitching it up a little on either side to make sure nothing else will slip through the hole and cause a hernia. Apparently, this is typically sufficient and there is space enough in the hole in the mesocolon for scar tissue to form but still allow the roux limb to operate appropriately. Not in my case! xD My body and over-active immune system saw a hole and decided that hole must. be. fixed! The scar tissue that formed to close the hole closed tight enough on the roux limb and it was tight enough that barely anything could get through. I had a second laparoscopic surgery on October 12, 2022 to remove the scar tissue and loosen the compression on the roux limb. My surgeon decided to remove the small stitches on either side of the hole in the transverse mesocolon to reduce the chance that any new scar tissue will close the hole up as completely again. Immediately after this second laparoscopic surgery, I felt tons better! I stayed overnight in the hospital and was put straight on full-liquids, which I was barely tolerating before! The reason I am writing all of this out is because, in the month-long interim between surgeries, I couldn't find anything in my online research to figure out what was wrong, or what I could try, or what the next steps looked like, or how long, or why this was happening. I went for more than a month on little to no substantial nutrition, and I found so little information on what to expect or how long I would have to live like this. I even looked in these forums to see if anyone had asked about symptoms that are similar to mine and I didn't find very much information. So, I'm writing about my experience and using as many of the keywords I can think of that I've been searching for over the past two months! So! If you had gastric bypass and you start experiencing nausea and vomiting after what seems like typical food progression, please speak to your surgeon. It could be an internal stricture of the roux limb or the connecting bits, or in my case an external compression of some sort. From the very few resources I could find online, my type of external compression of transverse mesocolon on the roux limb seemed to occur in 0.9% of gastric bypass patients and it seems to happen within the first month. My surgeon pretty much immediately knew what was wrong, and her PA said she had seen it before, but not often, and it was new for my insurance caseworker. The inability to eat made it very difficult to complete normal daily tasks like my job, housework, walking the dog, etc. I wasn't in pain, I just couldn't get enough energy to do anything! My doctors moved quickly to get me back in for surgery, but it still took 4-5 weeks from starting to vomit at each meal to waking up from my second surgery feeling much better. I am so thankful that my surgeon was able to fix what was wrong with the scar tissue compressing around the roux limb; it made a world of difference! I'm not out of the woods quite yet, however. Six days after the surgery to repair the hole in the transverse mesocolon, I had a bad food day and nothing stayed down. I immediately reached out to my surgeon's office and today went in for an upper GI in which I intake contrast dye while a doctor observes how it flows through my new gastrointestinal system with an X-ray. That doctor said it looks like the connection between my stomach pouch and roux limb looks stenosed now. I am grateful that they found something and that there is an explanation for why everything I put in my mouth makes me nauseous and that there's a reason why I don't want to eat anything. I will be having another endoscopy in the following couple of weeks and, as ever, I am hopeful that this will be the last surgery that I need for my gastric bypass.

You discussed loads of other things there @catwoman7 in your ‘model patient’ session, which, IMHO was missing from last nights session. It’s just that everything was glossed over and it really didn’t get to the bones of things I guess. And you definitely hit the nail on the head about people not knowing what questions to ask, so not asking them. I think things like taking measurements and photos for example, would be useful, what to take to hospital, explaining changes in tastebuds, foods to eat for those first couple of stages, etc. I know, I know, I AM being so very picky, I know it. I guess I was just disappointed and left feeling a bit sad for those who are just relying solely on the hospital sessions because I don’t think it was a proper representation. We all hope that surgery goes well and that we have no complications or issues or need additional help. I also think hospitals have to be honest with the things that can go wrong because it’s generally the negative things in life that impacts our weight and generally leads to weight gain. But, it’s done now so 🤷‍♀️

Nah. I don’t think losing too much will be an issue. I mean we can always add more calorie dense foods. Malnourishment is a possibility if you don’t keep up with your vitamins and get your labs done regularly though. Just have to be diligent. I have alarms set for all those times I mentioned that I eat a small meal and take a vitamin. 8am to wake up the. 9, 12, 3, 6 and 9 I eat my meals and snacks and take my vitamins. It makes it so much easier to just stick to that schedule. I keep them drinkable yogurts and protein shakes in the fridge for if I’m way too busy to stop and eat and that seems to work just fine for me. Just watch the labels on the yogurts because they like to sneak added sugars in there. I actually made my own the other day and plan to continue when I’m home because they are kinda pricey for the healthy ones. I just blended a container of vanilla high protein non fat greek yogurt, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk and 1/4 cup fruit. (I made it with fresh mango and it was really good but you can use any fruit of course). Ooh while I’m thinking of it, clear protein water and unflavored protein powder will come in handy during your first couple of stages to get to your protein goals. Not sure if you used them after your sleeve but they came in handy.

One of my favorite resources is Dr. Weiner's videos (as well as his book The Pound of Cure and his weekly podcast). He talks about the type of food we eat being more important than the number of calories we eat. Here is one video that I watch probably once a month just to get it into my head. But he has hundreds of videos, so I encourage you to check out all of the playlists on his channel. Having said that, there's a good chance you're in a stall as opposed to being done. Your BMI is low enough now that you're approaching "normal weight" and weight loss at that point gets really slow and difficult. But it doesn't mean you can't do it!

Its all about muscle memory, you've eaten a certain way far longer than your "militant" way. Plus, eating very strict structured ways isn't easy to maintain - be easy on yourself. Being constantly vigilant can't be done, our brains aren't able to maintain that at all times, slip ups occur. You need to retrain yourself, which is what the prediet is supposed to start you doing - changing your muscle memory and making new ones, but it took years to develop your old bad habits, it will take some time to reprogram yourself! I eat very structured and pretty much the same food all the time and boy does my mind rebel! Its human nature to want what we can't have and to want a variety that tastes good (no matter how many times my dietician says celery and faux noodles taste good - they don't! Take that Jennifer!) You know what and how you should be eating, instead of berating yourself leading to self anger and hatred of the "failures" take baby steps. You know you've done it before! I still don't get my required H20 in and I'm six months PO. Just don't compare yourself to others on here that say they do get all their requirements in, you do what you can do. Its too daunting looking at going from a small amount to I'll do my full required water ounces tomorrow. Looking at the full amount knowing you haven't done it - sets you up for being angry at yourself. Just add a few more ounces each day than you did the last day, same for protein goals. Celebrate each addition as a victory! Lastly, I never had the honeymoon period people talk about, my hunger came back quick (and no it wasn't "mind hunger" despite what ppl told me). I seldom feel full, I just eat the mandated size limits and stick to it knowing I'll just have to be hungry. Is it tough? Heck yeah, but I tell myself being hungry is better than being fat and I didn't go through all this to not do it. Remember, we are all different and walk our own paths on this journey - you just have to walk yours as best you can from day to day, take baby steps before you run! Try different food combos on your pureed phase to keep it interesting, count your liquids in your soups and protein drinks - they count and add up. Add protein powder to everything like I do to get your protein in. You've got this!