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usually 1-3 weeks - although I've heard of them lasting longer. If you follow your program to a "T", the weight loss will start up again. I'm guessing you're near the end of this stall.

I am on the same liquid diet with protein shakes for one week. I foolishly had it wrong in my head. I had chicken broth yesterday and it felt like a waste of time. Not satisfying at all. Same with Jello. So today I’m rotating and drinking 5 oz of a protein shake and then later 5 oz of protein water. The protein water is disgusting. What is your daily rotation of drinking like?

Okay, I made a mistake. The clear liquid stage is only for one week. I totally read it wrong in my disillusioned state of recovery. What a relief! I still have five days to go, which feels like eternity.

This isn't advice in any way but I had a half a glass of dry vermouth 3 weeks after surgery. It hit me like 2 glasses of vermouth but that isn't all that hard. My surgeon was fine with it. If there are actual reasons why a small drink at 3 weeks is bad, I'd be really interested. I also haven't heard wine can cause dumping either but I'm interested in any information about that too.

Hello i had my surgery 3/2/2022 i was wondering if anybody can help . I started at 381 and 2 weeks after my surgery i went to my follow up and weighed 356 , i bought a scale finally and i weighed myself and it’s weighing 354 so i haven’t really lost anything . I know stalls are common but for how long ? My follow up was the 3/14/2022 and it’s now 4/16/2022 and i weigh the same . Can somebody please help ?

Yea what i am saying is if you do the revision, They can repair it then. But loosing weight is eating right and exercising. Find something that you like. I started going for a walk for about an hour a day at night (Its too hot here in Florida for the day lol) if you have a gym in your area they probably have classes for water aerobics and other ones. my mom goes to those types of classes a couple times a week.

Wow, so many reasons that you shouldn't. I haven't, 12 weeks post op. First, you don't know how your new tummy will react. Do you really want to have a dumping "event," or be sick as a dog? I have heard that liquor has a greater effect after, so you could end up face first in the punch bowl-God forbid all three. I wouldn't. If they know about your surgery, and they are your friends, they will be supportive. Also, social pressure should not figure into this. Just saying.

Hi I'm going to a big wedding and really want to have a drink there. I am 3 and half weeks post op. Also my social gathering amount all my friends I've had for over 20 years all gather for drinks on weekends and I'm being to feel left out of my social group. Would I harm myself by having just 2 gin and orange every Saturday at this stage? In 2 days it will be 4 weeks post op.

My surgery is on the May 9th and I have been asked to start the diet on the 25th of this month. I think I have gone overboard with the shakes, Soups and Bars by Optifast. I Have also bought items for the week afterward. Sugar free jellies and purees and sugar free popsicles. I have also invested in Tasteless protein powder to ad to drink and foods. My spare room looks like a shop. 😃 I figure that I can continue to use these products after the surgery. I am like you. I am worried about the two weeks liquid diet more than the surgery. I am going to makes sure that I take advantage of what I have bought. I suppose our focus is on the OP at the moment rather than the journey afterwards. Good Luck to us Diva.

I think we waited at least 4 weeks for the full deed, but we were still intimate in other ways. My sex drive skyrocketed, so I doubt we waited more than 6 weeks. And I'll just leave it at that! 😈

My surgeon has me on three 4 oz low sugar protein shakes every day for two weeks (I use Muscle Milk, which has 140 calories and roughly 30g protein per 4 oz serving) and broth/sugar-free Jell-O as I want it more or less. Unless you're having sugary drinks or Jell-O (which obviously aren't good), then idk how the guy expects someone to go two weeks essentially eating nothing. I'm obviously not going to tell you to begin drinking protein shakes if your doctor doesn't want you to, but your regimen makes no sense to me.

Could you get down from 390 to 200, or even lighter, and then keep it off? Yes, absolutely. Anyone can, with or without surgery. However, there's a difference between can and will. Obviously, I don't know your physiological intangibles such as your muscle profile, body type, genetics, ability to stick to goals, follow a bariatric diet, etc. BMI doesn't account for these things. Because of this, we can crunch some statistics, and assuming you're average when it comes to the intangibles, we can begin to get an idea of the odds for you. Based on the BMI chart, every pound over 154 pounds is excess for your height, which leaves you with 235 pounds of excess weight. Now with sleeve statistics, the average person loses between 60 and 70 percent of their excess weight. Obviously, some lose 100 percent or more of their excess weight, and some lose much less than the 60 to 70 percent average, but again, let's assume you have an average surgery experience and lose 60 to 70 percent (we can call it 65 percent as an even marker). 65 percent of 235 pounds of excess weight is 152.75 pounds. 390-152.75=237.25. So, by math alone, 237.25 would be your most likely outcome, which is obviously 37.25 pounds over your goal. To meet your goal, you would have to exceed statistical expectations when it comes to average amount of excess weight lost for sleeves. Instead of losing 65 percent of your excess weight, you would have to lose approximately 81 percent to hit 200. I'd certainly say this is doable, albeit not easy. Now the unfortunate thing about losing weight is that your body fights you on it, and it has various forms of ammunition. Cravings, plateaus, and different types of phantom hunger are all in its arsenal. Bariatric surgery depletes our bodies' weapon stock to an extent and limits the damage should we fall into one of its traps. It's something we can lean on. It won't do the job on its own, but we've essentially enlisted reinforcements that swing the odds of success in our favor. However, the one thing that bariatric surgery won't change as we get closer to our goal weights is adaptability, and this is probably why your weight loss has stalled in the past. Our bodies learn our tricks. They adapt to low carb and low calorie diets, and thus, the weight loss stalls until we give up. So what do we do? If a plateau occurs, we have to change our tactics (even slightly) to catch our bodies off guard again. Change the diet and eating patterns slightly. Try a little intermittent fasting, or maybe switch out your carbs for fat for a bit. Same thing with exercise. If you're exercising (let's say running for example), switch things up and go to HIIT training or swimming for a while. Once your body adjusts to that, then go back to running. It's a little weird to be "at war" with ourselves, but the reality is that we are. Got to be smart and merciless when it comes to confronting the weight monster.

I know surgeons and dieticians/nutritionists have a variety of pre -op and post-op diets, but two weeks on a clear liquid diet after a sleeve for someone at your start weight seems extreme. I certainly wouldn't have survived two weeks on a clear liquid diet post-op.

Winky, I know how you feel. I am on day 3 after sleeve surgery and my food cravings are strong. My stomach feels so empty and is alway making noises. The food commercials on TV are driving me mad. I couldn’t take it anymore and put a tiny smear of peanut butter on my finger and sucked on my finger. Good grief, what kind of crazy person have I become? All I think about is food. How am I going to survive two weeks of a clear liquid diet? This is torture for me.

stalls tend to last longer the closer you get to goal weight. I remember so many times during year 2 thinking "well, this must be it...", and then the scale would drop again. It finally stopped for good at 20 months out.

So I had a stall. An eight-week-long stall. And I'm pretty close to my goal weight, so I figured maybe this was it... they say N% of your excess body weight, and I'm way past that N%, so this must be it, right? I know it seems early (seven months out), but maybe my body's reached its new set point. Yay, no more meds, yay, normal sized clothing from the middle of the size range, not the top end and oh please God let it fit. So I bought a bunch of new clothes. I've been wearing hand-me-downs and Goodwill thrifting specials for months now, and I wanted some new clothes. I had some belts made, too. Finally I can start to look like an adult! Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. My body decided, over the last week and a half, to lose NINE POUNDS. The clothes I bought are too big. Fortunately some of them still have the tags so I can exchange them. But I guess I needed to do this in order to get things moving again. LOL.

My packet will be submitted to CIGNA next week. I have Open Access Plan, and my surgeon’s practice is a Cigna Center For Excellence. Has anyone been denied despite meeting every criteria/co-morbidities articulated by the insurer? Just curious. Thanks.

You have infinite patience imho. I’m trying to remain positive, and so far so good. My surgeon’s admin is waiting on one document…the CPAP machine receipt when I pick it up next week…and my packet is ready to be submitted. today I had a visit with my PCP to begin ‘documentation of weight Loss failure.’ I figure if I’m looking at mid June for surgery, I can use this time to jump through the only Cigna hoop that remains unaddressed. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@ vikingbeast......wow! Only 1 day clear fluids.....😲 amazing how differently things can be doctor to doctor. I have a high BMI and I was told I have to have 2 full weeks of clear liquids before surgery. Now I know thats to help shrink the liver (plus to aid in further weight loss) but shocked yours was only 1 day lol....Im jealous 😜

Yeah -- I've read stories of people who cheated and were fine. And then others who cheated and day of surgery on the operating table they got denied because their liver was too big. I know I'm not the biggest patient ever so I SHOULD be fine, but I also know it's a journey and the first few days are probably the hardest. I am curious to see how much I lose in these next two weeks LOL.

Can't you postpone your booster for a few weeks? Seems like hydration is a higher-priority need.

It is! I am on day three also! So I feel your pain. I had a hard time finding Fairlife but the Shamrock Farms Rockin Protein is great, so I am going to stick with it! Something that has helped me is keeping busy. I love painting and crafting so I got out my art box and I have been painting. I've also been riding my indoor bike and cleaning. ANYTHING to keep my mind off food! Either way, I will stick with it. I figured I haven't come this far only to cheat! We got this

OMG your diet is even harder! I'm lucky compared to yours. 😥 I'm on day three! Let's really connect and keep each other accountable/give each other help! I hadn't heard of Knox Blox and now I'm googling. I'm down for trying different things. Honestly, I find myself on YouTube a lot trying to figure out what to do and how to mix it up. I haven't tried the Shamrock Frams shakes or the Rockin' Protein ones. Fairlife is really recommended by a lot but I'm having trouble finding them at a somewhat affordable price since I already went out and bought four protein powders...honestly, I've spent about $250 just on liquid foods to fill my fridge. It's insane considering I'm just drinking liquids. It's mind blowing. But there's nothing I can do about it. It still seems so impossible and I'm trying to be positive about it but right now my mind is hung up on this: Some surgeons require all liquid for 2 weeks, some surgeons require all liquid just the day before, and some surgeons require all liquid all day except for one solid meal under XXX calories for 2 weeks. So I keep thinking to myself that maybe there's some wiggle room...but I also don't want to risk it, but so many other people get placed on different diets for the same procedure.

That's great you can have cottage cheese and yogurt! My surgeon only allows protein, water, sugar free jello and broth, which doesn't allow for any real "chewing." I am on day three of my liquid diet. Instead of plain jello, I made Knox Blox. You can look up the recipe online. It's basically just jello but you add extra unflavored gelatin to make the jello more like gummy bear texture. It has really helped me because I am a texture person and I have to have something to chew! My favorite protein shake is the pre-made Shamrock Farms, Rockin Protein. It is pricey at some places, but I found it at Target for $1.99 per bottle and because it tastes so much better - NOT at all chalky - I do not mind paying extra! It comes in vanilla and chocolate. I love both flavors.

Hi! 😎 I'm on a 2 week pre-op diet of all liquids. 😭 🤢 One of the yummiest things I'm allowed to eat is sugar-free pudding. I've bought the Snack Pack sugar free pudding in flavors chocolate and vanilla and they taste great. However, I recently bought the pudding mix to make at home (and make in bigger amounts since clearly I'm hungry). I mixed the pudding mix with almond milk (saw online that recipes recommend you use less almond milk compared to traditional milk), since on my diet I'm allowed to have unsweeted almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk but not regular milk. Bad news -- the pudding I made doesn't taste as yummy as the pre-packed Snack Pack pudding. Any tips to fix my pudding? I really enjoy eating it but I definitely need it in bigger amounts than the small snack-size... Thanks! ☺️