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I encourage recording your body measurements. When I hit stalls and started to question my weight loss, recording body measurements reinforced me.

Congratulations on your fabulous weight loss! Yes, it's important to get enough calories, even though we feel like when we eat we're "ruining our surgery" sometimes. I hope you have continued success and that the changes you are making with eating more and the B12 injections will improve your energy.

Looks like I finally got past this dreaded 3rd week stall. Weight started dropping again, pretty happy and feeling good.

Not knee surgery but I did have a total hip replacement 8 months after my gastric bypass. The ortho doc wouldn't do it until my BMI was less than 30. He said surgery would be safer and my recovery would be much easier. He was right! He was also impressed with my weight loss!

Yes! My need for a knee replacement is actually what pushed me to have the surgery. The Ortho surgeon wouldn't do it unless I lost 75 pounds. I had the sleeve in March of 2019 and I had the total knee replacement in August of 2020. So I waited about 1.5 years between surgeries. But that's because it took time for me to lose the required weight. Ask the doctor (bariatric, Ortho, or both) but I don't think you will have to wait as long as I did. Best wishes.

Hey! I’m hoping to find someone that’s going on a similar journey. in 2016 I had a sleeve. Lost 100 lbs, got pregnant in 2017 but Kept most of. Then in 2019 we started fertility treatments for number 2 and I gained all 100 back. I’m having bypass revision on Jan 6. I’m panicking. I’m 30, I have two girls, 4 and 1. Live in Illinois. I have an extremely sarcastic personality. Not a good marriage, not much support. I don’t really have friends. Anyone? Lol I sound like a blast

WAIT. Halfway through this, I checked to see if I wrote this. I had a sleeve in 2016, lost 100, and then got pregnant in 2017. I have PCOS, we had to do IVF to have my second. In the time between both kids, I gained all 100 back. I’m having a RNY revision 1/6! Feel free to message me!

At 2 months out, they wanted me at 1000 calories. I just had my four-month appointment, and they told me at 6 months, I should be at 1200-1400 calories a day. Once I started hitting 1000/cals consistently (which just happened a few weeks ago) the weight just started falling off again after a serious slow down in the weeks prior.

I’ve lost 26lbs considering I weighed in at 189lbs on 11/01 my surgery date. I’m at stage 5 so I’m not sure if my weight will slow down or not. I’m finding out that foods I loved prior to surgery I’m unable to eat right now. I love bananas and I always had one every morning with breakfast before my surgery. I had eaten a banana the other day and it made me really sick. It turns out that the banana has too much natural sugar in it. My system cannot handle it. I can’t even eat turkey but it’s weird I can eat chicken.

I have a distinct memory of looking at myself in the mirror the week before surgery and saying “ what the heck are you doing?” Just suddenly hitting me that after all the work I was going to remove a healthy organ. But I just kept on trucking ahead and before I knew it the surgery was over. One of my friends asked me recently if I wish I could be “back to normal” now that I lost the excess weight. Not in a million years! I still love my sleeve, and over a year later the novelty of being able to be “full” so easy hasn’t worn off. Change is hard and scary, but it becomes normal over time. This surgery is pretty darn low risk comparatively. And staying morbidly obese is a high risk activity every day!

I had surgery on 11/10/20, but started my weight loss efforts on 7/5/20. If you’ve been here a while I’m sure you’ve seen me lurking about the forums. Stats: SW 339. CW: 165. I am a 5’10 woman in her 40s. I work full time and have young children. My current BMI is 23, I started off with it closer to 50. I knew it was going to take me a while to hit goal- I had 174 lbs to lose. I did all the calculators pre-op that said I would be lucky to get under 200 lbs, but I decided that just wasn’t going to apply to me (haha). My plan was to focus on fruits, vegetables, and healthy proteins while ramping up exercise. I eliminated cookies, pastries, and candy but that’s about it. I don’t do low carb, because that isn’t how I’m planning on living the rest of my life. I focus on calorie reduction, which sounds like oh if that’s so easy why did you need surgery? Well cutting calories is possible if you aren’t hungry all the time no matter how much you eat, and if you can fill up on the healthy things without it being like flash paper into a volcano. I honestly did need the surgery, and I’m not going to pretend it did the work for me, but it gave me the help for the work I wanted to be able to do. Six days a week I do a split between running and rowing for a half hour. I’m going to run in a 5k this spring, which has been a dream of mine for years. I exercise on my lunch break every day. Yes, I have some loose skin. It’s nowhere as bad as people make it out to be. I am not exactly planning on running around in a bikini so it’s not like it limits my life at all. It’s not visible in my clothes, not even tight fitting ones. I might get it removed some day, but if I don’t I’ll still be happy. This weight loss has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. Life is difficult when you are morbidly obese. It’s difficult physically, emotionally, and socially. This weight loss hasn’t fixed every problem in my life, but I didn’t expect for it to. It fixed my weight related problems, and I had a lot of them. This surgery can be life changing, but it’s not a magic bullet. You still have to make huge life changes. But if you feel sabotaged you your own constant hunger, cravings, and binges, this can really be the tool you use to dig yourself out of the seemingly insurmountable weight you need to lose. This isn’t a finish line for me. I am still working on hopefully losing another 15 lbs, and I’m never going back to my old eating habits. I know I signed up for a lifelong change, otherwise I’ll be right back where I started. But finally hitting goal was a nice early Christmas present to myself. Sorry for the essay, but I don’t really have anyone in real life to share with who gets it!

That's the scary part, isn't it. And I am sure it's the case for everyone here. All of us have dieted for years or even decades and have ultimately ruined our metabolism. I am sure many have experienced how they can survive on low calories and after having metabolism affected, high calories become a living nightmare. I personally have experienced the same. And it isn't surprising to see such results in the study. And I do agree low calories do affect your body in a very complex fashion. I had done Dr. Bernstein's diet. And that diet (around 500 calories a day) had wrecked my body for over a decade. It's only now I have up and decided surgery it is for me. Anyhow, for me personally, I am petrified of going beyond 1200 calories cuz of my past experiences. I don't even know how I can lose weight if I go over 1200. So yeh, this calories fear will always be there. And not sure how it'll work for me in future. Let's see what calorie count I hit at in my 1st month of soft/regular diet phase.

No, it's worse in a way. They followed the contestants from The Biggest Loser and measured that even when they regained all their weight, they still burned more than 700 calories a day less than prior to being on the show. Meaning: if you starve your body, it responds by using every calorie more efficiently. Or - if you have dieted enough, your daily burn will be lower, even when you regain. There's a hypothesis gaining support that people who spend a year+ after surgery on extremely few calories (600-700 a day or whatever) end up having to maintain on 1000 calories a day. And we all know how that would work for most people (some manage, though). The alternative thinking involved in this is 'what if people *still* lose all the weight on 1200 or 1400 calories a day, will they then be able to maintain on a higher calorie level?'. All things equal, that would make it easier to maintain long-term. Again, nobody has the right answer here. What we do know is this: it's not just calories in- calories out. The body is a highly complex system.

It's actually interesting, and while I definitely benefited from a calorie goal (and from it being high, comparatively), I think this will be the future of bariatric surgery. I've been sponging up so many scientific studies on this area, because I am a huge nerd when it comes to things that concern myself. I want to know it all. And it does seem like bodies ... end up where they're supposed to end up (with some variation, mind you) after surgery. No matter the program. What seems to differ is the regain. And this might be where portion sizes and types of food come in, rather than calories. Maybe our bodies adapt to whatever diet we put it on while going to our new set point? The Biggest Loser study from Harvard is pretty shocking in that regard (bodies can get +700 cals/day more efficient - that's a problem if you want to keep the weight off - it's not just calories in, calories out). Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how it goes for you! And don't go ultra low on food just because you can - that'd be my advice. I had tremendous success so far, and I've had a lot more calories than most here.

Not to worry, Msleo88. Many bariatric veterans suggest that you not weigh for at least 3 weeks post-op due to the crazy weights fluctuations caused by fluid. I know it’s hard to resist weighing, but stick to the plan and you’ll see results.

I think most people are nervous before surgeries. I've had several surgeries and I'm always nervous before them Pain is all across the board, but most people seem to have little to no pain with these surgeries. I had none. They'll send you home with pain pills. I never even bothered to open mine, but if you do have pain, take them as directed and you should be able to stay on top of it. I started out at almost 400 lbs and had been on every diet known to man. Surgery is the only thing that worked for me. If you follow your surgeon's plan, you WILL lose the weight.

there's no way that's a true weight gain. I would guess you're retaining water or your intestines are full. a lot of people don't lose much the first week because of the IV fluids you get in the hospital. In fact, some people "gain" on that (not really a true gain, though - it's just the fluid). I've heard of people "gaining" as much as 10 lbs in the hospital! It can up to a week for all that fluid to work its way out of your system.

Hello, I had sleeve on 12/16 and my weight has not moved much and today I noticed it's back up 3lbs. I lost 13lbs on pre op but nothing after surgery. Is this normal? I'm feeling discouraged. I've been on full liquids. I get my protein in the form of shakes and yogurt. It's hard to get fluids in but I am doing that too. Any advice or help? Sent from my SM-A716U using BariatricPal mobile app

Pre-plan your meals. Seriously, make them and reheat them, that way when you're hungry it's "heat this up" not "ALL HANDS ON EVERYTHING". Can you get a DXA scan (InBody, BodySpec, etc.?) It'll tell you your body fat percentage much more accurately than a Renpho scale can, and you can track it (I get one every 3 months) so that you can see whether your weight is muscle gain or fat gain. I'm gonna say, though, that if clothes still fit, you're likely doing a body recomposition and not gaining fat. But only a body fat scan will tell you.

Hold on, I'm about to use SCIENCE! Your body has a set number of calories it burns even if you are completely inert (sleeping, G-d forbid in a coma, etc.). It's called your basal metabolic rate (BMR). It fluctuates with your weight and with how fast your metabolism is. For, say, a 40-year-old, 5'4" woman who weighs 250 lbs (not unusual for a bariatric patient), BMR is around 1800. Now add on any kind of daily living to that, which required calories, and you end up with a number called total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). If you're the same woman above and you're sedentary, your TDEE might be 2200; if you are one of those nutters like me who goes to CrossFit and goes running and works a physical job, your TDEE might be as much as 3000 calories. Now. You've had your surgery. You are not physically capable of eating anywhere near that amount. Let's say you're at 800 calories a day. Simply by eating those 800 calories and existing, your body will naturally be in a 1000 calorie a day deficit. Add in sedentary lifestyle, and you're in a 1400 calorie a day deficit. Generally speaking, about 3500 calories is a pound lost (this is not always true and can be overcome by fluid retention, fluid balance, hormonal changes, menstruation, eating really salty foods, vitamin deficiencies, etc.). Now let's say you're "overeating" and you're doing 1200 calories a day; you're still 600 calories short of your caloric needs just to exist, and 1000 calories short of what you need for a sedentary lifestyle. You are going to lose weight. You are not going to 'ruin' anything. What is happening to you is your body is rebalancing its fluids. That is why the "three-week stall" happens. Every body is subject to the rules of CICO (calories in calories out), and eventually CICO will take over from your body's rebalancing and the numbers will drop again. And do measure yourself once a week! Bust/chest, waist, abdomen, hips, thighs, calves, biceps, neck. This week I didn't lose a ton of weight BUT I lost a half inch off my waist, and I can tell because my trousers keep slipping and I had to put a new hole in my belt. One suggestion: don't weigh every day. And if you can't help it—some people just have to, I'm one of them—keep a running tally and then pick a day, let's say Tuesday, and average your weight over the last seven days. Then use the average weight to gauge progress, not the number on the scale that day. Where the thick smoothies and things come in is that your stomach is still healing from the trauma of surgery. But here's the thing—your body will TELL you when it doesn't like something you eat. It will clam up your stomach. Or make you nauseated. Or have unstoppable hiccups until your stomach empties. Or give you the sniffles (which is SUPER AWESOME during a respiratory pandemic, let me tell you). I ate a bite of an egg roll yesterday and got punished for it. So... tl;dr... don't worry too much about it, especially at first. Feed your body the protein and liquid it needs, and then move on to other foods.

So I could use some help. Had surgery Dec 20, 2019, but really started working out (lifting and running) in Oct. Since I increased my activity level, I have been just hungry. My eating habits are all over—trying to get protein, but hungry (so I’m grabbing handfuls of whatever). I haven’t been tracking food accurately due to being snacky. And unfortunately gaining weight (roughly +7 pounds—from 143 to 150). I can’t tell if it’s muscle or flab. Clothes still fit, but my body dysmorphia is in full bloom and I feel like I look like I’m back at pre-WLS shape. The working out has been amazing though, and I’m enjoying the weightlifting in particular. I know at 2 years it’s common to gain some weight. And for the body to begin to absorb calories more efficiently. I guess I’m at a loss as to how to “right this ship”. I need to get back to below 145 for my mental health, which sounds slightly ridiculous, I know. Tracking calories accurately and not snacking I guess? Thoughts or “been there / done that” experience ?

I have a spouse who doesn’t want me to have the surgery. I’m having the sleeve tomorrow and today I am 5’7 and 211. I am a severe diabetic and to the point I have to have this even though I’m at a 34 BMI due to the diabetes and health issues with that my insurance is paying 100% of the surgery. But Mr has brought me my favorite things, tried to take me to dinner and get mad when I say no during the liquid phase. The closer to surgery the more insecure he is becoming (married 20 years) I am seeing my therapist more the past week then my entire life. I will choose life and health over his insecurities and sabotaging me. I lost my very healthy thin father to diabetes when I was 17. I want to be here for my kids and grandkids. If you want this, you want life and choose, as someone here told me yesterday, to learn to love yourself then this will work and you will be successful. My sister had bypass 25 years ago and still maintaining her weight loss, her daughter had it 3 years ago maintaining her weight loss. I could go on and on but I won’t. I think the first step is seeing a therapist to find out why you are killing yourself with food. Because that is what is happening. It’s a tool, it’s up to you to succeed. And I am fighting against all odds with my Hubby but I will choose life and make this successful if that means leaving my 20 year marriage. If he loves me he will support me and help me - period

I am thank you. Im down to 185 now I'm almost to my goal. Weight Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

Another June gal here. I'm down 40 lbs (but that includes the liver shrink). I have 10 lbs to get to my doctor's goal, but 20 to get to where I'd really love to be. I was doing really well until I had a severe sciatica episode Thanksgiving weekend. I've had back issues for 10 years or so, with a few flare-ups, but this was the WORST. The nerve that controls my right leg was pinched and I couldn't use it at all. And unfortunately, I tried to stand on it and ended up falling and messing up my knee. Long story short, I was given a mega-NSAID by urgent care until I got to see the pain doc a few days later. And of course, I took it because I was in too much pain to care. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I'm able to walk now, but the only exercise I'm doing is PT. So hopefully I won't be tempted to go too far off my eating plan and gain. I've been cheating and eating more carbs than I'm supposed to. It's so hard when you don't feel well. Carbs are my comfort foods. But at least I can only tolerate a small amount of them. Best to all of you!

I don't agree with your correlation between those who are successful with the tool could lose weight without the tool. I do not agree at all. The restriction is HUGE for me. When I feel the restriction I stop eating. I am getting better at stopping before restriction, but without that restriction, I do not think I would have been successful in the first 3 months after surgery. The restriction also prevents you from deciding....well it is "name a holiday or special day" and I am going to cheat this one time. You simply cannot without a lot of pain and getting sick. Once you start cheating for special occasions, you will find more occasions and you will gain weight. the sleeve restriction prevents those slip ups from happening.