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You could try to estimate based on your goal weight https://www.kleinfeldbridal.com/2020/02/24/wedding-dress-sizes-101/ my best guess/estimation for this dress: Are you losing rapidly? 8 Are you losing slowly? 12 my best overall advice: 1. Ask the consultant/tailor for the exact measurements of the dress in every size from 18 to the smallest and ask them choose based on your goal weight. 2. Pick a size in the middle range size and ask how hard/easy it would be for the tailor to alter it up one size or down a few sizes. 3. Find out the exchange & refund policy. Keep close track of your progress throughout the year and change your dress plans accordingly. 4. Altering something to be smaller is *almost* always easier than sizing up 5. Congratulations in advance

Hi everyone, This may seem like a stupid question but for those of you in maintenance, what foods and how many calories do you consume each day to maintain? I’m asking because my doctor told me to stop losing and go into maintenance a few kilos ago but I’m finding that I can’t eat enough at the moment to get to maintenance. If I try eating foods that are too high in calories and fat, it seems to flush out even more and more quickly. I don’t digest breads and pasta well so just cranking up on those carbs won’t work. I would love to hear about your tips and tricks or meal plans to stay healthy and maintain your weight. Any help would be appreciated as my doctor isn’t very helpful in that area and I don’t have a nutritionist. Thanks in advance

I think weight loss slowing down is inevitable. But also, it sounds like there are some hormonal issues at play. Did you meet with an gyn to discuss the crampy/bloated feeling? Also, metformin can reduce your appetite, so if you are taking less of it, you may be more hungry... and you say you CAN eat more, but are you hungry for more? Finally, you might do at least a few "spot checks" of your protein and water intake, to see if you're on track. Just do a tracker for a day or so for a few weeks.

That is a good question that I do not think many people if any can answer. The simple answer would be to estimate your current rate of weight loss and make a close guess as to what you expect to weigh at that point, knowing of course the rate of loss will slow as you get further out from surgery. Chances are you are going to need some alterations as you get closer because you cannot guess that precisely, so if anything, err on the side of caution. You can always make it smaller but pretty tough to add material if you do not lose as fast as you may expect. I know for one, I am changing sizes very rapidly. I am down 60 pounds and 3 pants sizes and 2 shirt sizes in the past 6 weeks. Even if I do not lose a lot of weight, the pants are getting looser because I am redistributing inches somehow. It is a tough call for you. Good luck

Anyone get married while still in the weight loss time frame and purchase a wedding dress? I'm getting married in May of next year, almost exactly one year after my sleeve surgery. I need to choose and order my dress as soon as possible and I'm not sure what to do about the size. I'm currently a standard size 12/14 and so far in the dress I like best a bridal size 18 fit almost perfectly. However, I have no idea how much more weight I may lose in the next six months. I know dresses are easier to size down than up in alterations so I'm afraid to order even a size down in the case that I don't lose any more weight. Anyone been through this? Or in general have thoughts or words of wisdom? I'm already on a tight timeline with a short planning phase and worried if I need serious alterations it's going to be impossible or incredibly expensive. ugh.

I had the sleeve done on October 27 and was sent home the next day after making sure I didn't have any leaks in my stomach. My doctor sent in a pill for my gallbladder and for acid reflux among a bunch of other ones I don't need anymore. I just started the pureed diet today, had a scrambled egg for breakfast and just had some tyson blackened chicken chopped up in the food processor. My stomach handled everything great. When I check my weight yesterday I was down to 285. I was 305 the day of surgery. My surgeon also had to fix a hiatal hernia. One my one week check up, the nutritionist sent home a packet of the diet stages and when to start them. I can start soft foods on the 24th and she said I can have some turkey on Thanksgiving.

Mine as well. I have PCOS and insulin resistance. Was put on Metformin (I was praying it would help me lose weight, it didn't). I lost 40 pounds and was working out, but working out made me absolutely exhausted. If you'd like to get the surgery, and don't think "doing it on your own" is going to bring you the results you need, then it's definitely something to explore. Have you already tried that and gained it back? Sorry if I missed it. I find surgeons and some doctors very difficult to read and therefore interpret, like you have said. Maybe it's another conversation to have with that surgeon if you trust him, OR find another one and see what they say. My surgeon is hot and cold. I trust her surgery skills, but her people skills are a bit different.

Sorry you're dealing with that. Do you live with her? Do you eat with her? Is she overweight? I'm just wondering if maybe there's some codependency there or other relationship issues that are feeding into her not supporting you on a health journey. Is it just the surgery for her or the idea of you losing weight or the fear of changes? Does she not trust in your decision making? Have you made changes already or does she see a pattern of behavior that isn't changing? Lots of questions, lol. Just trying to help you brainstorm to see where this is coming from. It's so difficult when you don't have support, especially from the people close to you.

UPDATE: So just about 6 months out for me now. Just wanted to make note of some things. My lowest weight thus far was 241.2 and that was on October 25th!! I have not lost anything since then and in fact, have been weighing in consistently around 248/249 since. Now I know this happened to me back in October, I think, but yeah, VERY frustrating!! Why the 7+lb difference? I know, I know, could be water weight, hormones, etc. But it sucks to not see the scale move DOWN in so long. I hate this back and forth/up and down thing with the weight cause I feel like it's now taking a whole month just to lose a few pounds when it used to be 10-15lbs a month I'd be losing, at least! I also only lost 1.75 inches last month which also sucks. Especially when previous months had me losing 7 or more inches at a time. My last regular doctors appointment was Sept 13th. At that time he cut my Metformin down in half. Which I am happy about. HOWEVER, when I was first put on it 10 years ago it was to help my Insulin Resistance and my PCOS. My endocrinologist said, while it's normally prescribed for diabetics, it also helps people with those issues which is why he gave it to me. And it did regulate me all that time. So fast forward to this Sept when it was cut in half, and now I have not had a period since Sept. 17th!!! Not sure if it's due to the cut in that medication or if I'm maybe pre menopause or due to the surgery. Not sure. Weird thing is I'm crampy and all bloated like I would be had I had my period and that's very annoying too. And finally, I feel like I'm suddenly able to eat more food than I originally was. I guess that's normal? At least I hope it is. But for instance, I used to be able to eat a turkey sausage, egg and cheese on a bagel thin for breakfast and have about 1/4 of it left at the end. Now I can eat the entire thing. Or only one egg and half a turkey sausage patty now I can eat two eggs and maybe a half of patty/sometimes the whole thing. I used to be able to eat only 3/4 small wings, now I can eat like 6 or 8. I'm hoping this is ok and not due to me stretching out my pouch. I wonder too if my slight gain/water retention/whatever is due to me now consuming more carbs and some foods with sugar? I had previously stayed away from those things but my nutritionist said not to. To add in more variety and varied foods and even ones I used to stay away from as long as I'm only having a serving of said foods. And I do. But funny how now I'm NOT losing regularly since adding in things like bagel thins, quinoa, brown rice, a small handful of Goldfish Crackers here and there, Whole Wheat Saltines, etc. Not sure what's happening. Very frustrating as I did NOT expect things to slow down ALREADY this soon out. I have not been following closely how much protein I've been getting in or my water intake. So one or both of those could also be contributing too but I'm not sure. Maybe it's time to crack down again? I don't know. I don't feel like I'm really doing anything off plan or out of control. Who knows.

I was almost never hungry and had little to no interest in food until I was about five months out, when my hunger came back. I loved it and wished my hunger had never come back! It felt so liberating not having food on my mind all the time for about the first time in my life, and it was so easy to lose weight when I didn't give a hoot about food!. So..."enjoy" it while it lasts... as far as the protein goes, getting that and your fluids are your #1 goals right now, so do whatever you can to make sure you're meeting requirements.

I can workout without peeing myself [emoji15] I used to pee myself just going down stairs. I would have to run go pee before I went anywhere, run to the bathroom in the middle of grocery shopping because I had to pee. No longer an issue. I can even run 3 miles without having to pee! It's great. But also, no more sleep apnea, I can wear SHOES that I haven't been able to wear in years (who knew we gained weight in our feet!?), my feet don't ache anymore, and I'm not ruled by food anymore. Sent from my SM-N976V using BariatricPal mobile app

Yes I too gained weight during covid. About 25 lbs, My surgery is 24th and I have been on my pre op diet 8 days. I am loosing at least pound a day which is a bonus. I am prepared with lots to do. Sewing, jigsaws, books etc, My diet is not as bad as yours sounds but its hard enough. You will get through it because you need to get your surgery done. Keep talking to people on here it does help. There are thousands of people on here who have done your diet and survived. Just reach out

I am experiencing this right now and was looking for answers. I even have more space for food during my period. But after its gone its back to normal. I actually have lost more weight that what I was supposed to because I found out I had Hashimoto’s after my surgery and have been treating it so I do allow myself to eat what I want during these days and I see no change in weight. I hope it doesn’t bite my a** later. 😩

Surgery November 30 nervous because all that Covid stuff I gained weight. I'm cutting back because liquid diet starts tomorrow I'm hungry just thinking about it Sent from my SM-A125U using BariatricPal mobile app

Me! I’m having surgery Dec 3 in Atlanta. I had lapband in 2010, lost 90 lbs. It slipped and almost killed me in 2014. Had revision to VSG in 2014 and now revision to bypass bc of severe GERD. Have Grade D esophagitis and been on protonix for years. Can’t wait to not have GERD anymore. Have gained about 10 lbs since 2014 and my weight right now is 154. Hoping to get down to 130’s. We will see if that happens!

I am actually a certified vegan nutritionist - was vegan all my life until I met my hubby! He’s a meat and potatoes guy part of my now weight issues. I found a lady on YouTube who had gastric bypass several years ago and she is vegan. She has great stuff on there - I don’t remember her channel but found her when searching bypass sleeve blogs and she popped up. She is older. If I find her I’ll post it But Warrior brand Protein Powder is Vegan and I love it. I’ve used it for years. I get my sleeve in December so I haven’t tried anything post op but there are a lot of choices for you! Oh just wanted to add - hummus!

I met my surgeon for the first time at my first appointment but seen the nurse practitioner from then on until my pre op appointment where I seen the surgeon again. I think it varies drastically From one clinic to the next what they require and in what order. I only had to do the required supervised weight loss appointments for insurance, a nutritionist visit, a psych evaluation and pre op labs. Those were all the requirements. Some programs and insurances require more. Some people are required to do some heart tests to make sure they are okay for surgery and some doctors require a COVID test.

Yes, the making peace part is BIG. I know I don't want to be where I've been (weight/health/emotionally), and I'm going to keep working on that for sure. Wish you well, hon.

Well, I didn't cancel quite as dramatically as you did. In 2013, I started down the path, doing pre-op visits, etc. At the same time, I started Tim Ferriss's slow carb diet. I did great, had a ton of weight coming off. I realize now that his plan re-inforced my binge eating habits in a way that made it impossible for me to maintain once I went off the diet. But at the time, I had this confidence that I could do anything. The nutritionist asked me what I was doing to lose weight and I explained the diet. She told me that I needed to realize that once I had the surgery I couldn't eat like that any more. Now that I am post-surgery, I see that she was absolutely right. But at the time, it offended me. I was losing weight like crazy (ended up losing 150 pounds in 13 months) and she had the audacity to tell me that I couldn't keep doing it? I cancelled the rest of my appointments. It was another 8 years before I re-started the process and went through with the surgery in August 2021. Before my actual surgery, I had a lot of the same fears you did. RNY is a pretty freaking permanent and I had no clue what awaited on the other side of surgery. Laying alone on the gurney during pre-op, not knowing what life would hold when I awoke...that was tough. I had always seen VSG/RNY as my last resort. What I realized was that I had come to my last resort. The next diet was very likely to turn out like all of the others: works for a little while, but the weight comes back. I didn't want to do that to my body (and mind) any more. I have a wife and four kids and they deserved to have me around for a while longer. So I went through with it not because I had confidence that everything would be roses and rainbows on the other side, but because it was the best (and probably only) option for me to turn around my health. Bariatric surgery is a bet on yourself. It's a bet that you have more discipline than you realize (or that your body shape shows) and that if given a real opportunity, you can turn this around permanently. Are you ready to bet on yourself?

My surgery is on the 24th and I just started the pre-op diet. I am supposed to do 4-5 shakes a day and ... that is actually more food than I normally eat. It's going to be a struggle to force myself to drink the shake when I am very much not hungry or even feeling nauseated from being too full. The ozempic I am on really doesn't work well for eating often. 😅 So this is going to be a weird 15 days for me. I was losing weight before the pre-op diet so we'll see what this does to my progress. As long as I have the surgery, anything else is just a bump in the road, I can deal.

I know every surgeon is different, but I to- went in to speak with my original surgeon about a resleeve procedure and he advised that is was a bit of a tricky procedure and heavily weighed on whether there was dilation of the pouch and/or scar tissue. We decided against it and I'm currently in pre-op for revision to RNY (GERD, weight gain) Of course, do what you feel is appropriate for you, but make sure to ask a lot of questions because I didn't take a lot of things into consideration when bringing the idea forward. Good luck!!!

Topiramate (long, long pre-surgery) made me absolutely ravenous, which is stupid because it was prescribed as part of a weight loss regimen. As soon as I stopped it, the hunger went away.

I work out like an animal and it just makes me more hungry. Keep that in mind. Weight is lost in the kitchen, unfortunately. But I will say that because of the exercise, I'm not gaining.

My wife uses a tiny spoon made for bariatric patients, they come in a set on Amazon - Mindful Eating Portion Control Flatware - for weight loss bariatric diet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B1JRZYV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_GA1ABFHC2W238H3MTQ22?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1. I would not recommend a sippy cup, it will cause you to swallow gas and cause awful cramps. We have found using a regular water bottle and just taking tiny sips is the way to go.

Kudos to the first step on your weight loss journey! I’m a newbie but I’m amazed at how much support I’m getting already. So many people on different stages of weight loss journeys really give you the opportunities to see and get answers, support and encouragement to help you progress with your own weight loss journey. So glad you have joined us and Congratulations 🎉🎊🎈for taking charge of your health!