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Isn’t it bloody frustrating @NickelChipwhen you cannot get a consensus on what you actually weigh due to the scales being all over the place??? My own scales at home is trying my patience this week as the weight keeps bouncing around for no reason 🙄I’ve changed the battery but it’s still faffing about. I guess I will have to look for some new ones at some point but will wait to see if any appear in the sales. Any holiday clothes shopping will honestly be a last minute thing. One thing - smaller clothes mean lighter cases 😉 @SleeveToBypass2023i wish I could be as honest with my hubby re my weight. I still don’t know how he can be in any way attracted to me. I hate seeing myself naked and it’s my body. It really does affect the ‘intimacy’ side of our relationship, especially when you’ve lost your self-confidence too. I will tell him when I hit target etc, just not yet. @NeonRaven8919Yes, NHS too! I hope mine is just as quick. Apparently my trust has a fair few cancellations when it comes to WLS so 🤞🤞🤞Is there ever a good time of the year for WLS? The dietitian said that the colder months seem to lend themselves to more choices come the puréed stage post-op and I do tend to agree…you can’t purée a salad can you??

It will come off. You just have to be patient. I just wish someone had told me to expect it so I wasn't SO disappointed after surgery. The weight has come off very slowly for me, but part of that is a lack of mobility due to being bone-on-bone in both knees. I was supposed to have them replaced by now, but NOTHING in 2024 went as planned. My plan for 2024: January Remove lap-band Gastric Bypass Fall Be at BMI goal to have both knees replaced while my deductible is paid for after WLS My Actual 2024 January Removed lap-band only No gastric bypass due to complications from lap-band April Had Duodenal Switch surgery June Found out I was being laid off, last day – Oct 4 August Had lipoma removed from thigh (while deductible is paid for) September On wound VAC as incision did not heal from August surgery October Job and Insurance with paid deductible ends Start new job with new insurance Rest of 2024 Don’t get knees replace since: I just started a new job and it didn’t seem right to take time off as soon as I started My insurance deductible is no longer paid for, so I will wait until I start over again in 2025 And oh yeah, I’m not at the doctor’s BMI goal yet since I didn’t have WLS surgery in January as I planned. Here is hoping 2025 goes more to plan. 😊 Happy New Year!!

You are 4 lbs away from your goal weight so you are doing great for my two cents how are you feeling with all of that exercise- do you feel great? do you have the time? - if you feel like it is too much or are exhausted, my trainer says focus on training heavy for fewer reps but that is just his two cents really

Congratulations on your loss and thank you for sharing your story thus far. I was 258 at my dr when I started my LSD 12 days ago and I was 244 on my home scale this morning with 4 days to go till surgery day although I think my scale is a few pounds below the dr so probably 11 pounds lost. Losing 30 pounds in 7 weeks post surgery is absolutely amazing!! I am so happy for you. I am a revision so I probably won’t be losing anywhere near that quickly after my revision but that’s okay. I didn’t gain it overnight either. As long as it does eventually comes off.. I will be thrilled. Okay, probably impatient at first, but eventually thrilled. I almost forgot about cold food. I am 3.5 years post sleeve so I am able to eat at a fairly normal speed again and I absolutely hated that too. Whenever I was home I would microwave it over and over and over…. And one of my biggest fears are the bathroom ones. My surgeon’s NP says that so far diarrhea bas been the biggest complaint with his SADI patients with one having it so bad that it interferes with work. For all of them they say it resolved at about three months. I am usually near a bathroom and can make sure of it for 3 months but I am really concerned about the smell. I already bought poo pouri 🤣 Getting past just using a public restroom to go number two is going to be a challenge for me. I can count the number of times I have had to do that on one hand I think. Having it be noisy and smelly is going to make it even more mortifying. Hopefully it will be a small price to pay, though. 🤞 I literally just got up and put my measuring tape in the pile I have started for the hospital so I will remember to take measurements the night before surgery. I seen it posted so many times before and never did it. Always wished I had remembered that and to do photos more often. Just like now I’m wishing I had started before the LSD. Thanks for the reminder. There is so much to remember with all of this. Even the second time around it’s an adjustment if you are like me and let old habits slip back. (Please don’t be like me, anyone, so you don’t gain it back) My sleeve portion is already done so they are not doing anything to my stomach. I can already eat a fairly normal sized portion so my issue shouldn’t be with getting food or liquids in a tiny pouch like most of you. It will more likely be that I will want more than my healing anastomosis will be able to handle so I will have to be very disciplined and eat the portions my dr sets for me. I am just hoping that I have some changes in my appetite still because this is gonna be like a really long pre op liquid diet for me that continues on throughout the purée and soft food stages if not. Aka not fun. You are so smart to only weigh once a week. I wasn’t that self disciplined to put the scale away. I did only record it once a week with my sleeve though so I could see the downward trend more easily and looking at that helped quite a bit when I felt like that scale wasn’t budging. Which reminds me I need to start logging my weight again. And such a good reminder not to compare myself to others. That is going to be especially hard as a revision. He did say it should be faster than a bypass revision though. So maybe on a tad slower than the rest of you here. I hope. Thank you again for sharing your experience. I hope to see updates of your continued progress and that the rest of us have as good of a handle on all of this as you seem to at 7 weeks post. Sounds like you are rocking this. Keep it up.

Plastics usually comes after you've maintained your weight for at least a year. You had your surgery almost 5 months ago. Did you tell them that and are they ok with it?

Technically not mid-week at this point, but I decided checking in here is a good place to start after a hiatus from the site for a while. I had my sleeve surgery last summer and the weight loss has slowed down significantly, but I am now within 5lbs of my first 100lb goal! Went from a size 24/26 to a 16/18. I was recently diagnosed with premature ovarian failure (peri / menopause before the age of 40, typically genetic) after YEARS of trying to get a diagnosis from clueless OBGYNs and I think the drop in hormones is contributing to the slow crawl. I’m battling through it while doing all I can naturally to stop the negative effects that come with perimenopause and menopause (I haven’t decided on HRT yet). Once summer break is over, I have an appointment with a terrific functional medicine doc who did extensive blood work to see where my problems are at the moment. I’ll also be joining a gym and shifting my focus from aerobics to strength training. Hopefully it’ll help me lose some more stubborn weight while also maintaining bone density and sculpting my new shape a bit.

My PCP has me recorded at 320 pounds 2 yrs ago at my highest weight ever. I saw her yesterday and she smiled and said well hello there tiny person. I laughed and said well I did lose half of me. She said you look like a small child. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad but I'll take it. LOL 🤔 Same here. I really like it. I hope you kept the pink hair.

I totally agree with the part about those patients who have had bariatric surgery, but ended up losing much more weight than they anticipated, looking emaciated. I had the mini gastric bypass procedure and ended up looking like a prisoner from a concentration camp.

I just thought of you when I was doing my stretches. My instructor told me to get yoga blocks and at first for a lot of the stretches I still couldn’t even reach the blocks but I have been doing them a couple times a day at home and today I was able to touch it with my fingertips. Not sure what stretches you are doing exactly but maybe these will give you smaller goals to reach that are closer than the floor if you need them. I found mine at a thrift store but I know you said you don’t have any. I bet you could even use a stack of books or a box or something just to reach for it. I dont put any weight on the blocks anyways because I don’t trust that it won’t tip and make me land on my face. I also use the strap when I’m on the floor because I can’t reach my ankles either. Only because it came with the blocks. For that you can use anything. A towel would probably be perfect.

Congrats! Welcome to the post-op club! I will be 2 years post-op next month. I can't believe how fast the time has flown! I am now at 132 pounds and feeling the best I have in years. To be honest, I have not had many issues so far, the most difficult one being my hemoglobin and ferritin levels were down to 8 and 5 respectively back in February. So my nutritionist said I needed to start iron (nature's way ultimate iron) that and along with iron infusions for 5 weeks brought me up to hemoglobin 13 and ferritin 22. To be fair, I've been anemic most of my life, but a gastric bypass makes iron harder to absorb as it is. I have a membership to the YMCA. I dance and I love Zumba and Pilates. I've also started Vinyasa Yoga. My biggest chunk of weight came off last March after a 3-week stall. I don't have dumping syndrome as much. I like to stay active and now that I have way more energy it is doable. It's been a year since I'm off of CPAP. Prediabetes gone, A1C at 5.5. Inflammation is nonexistent in my lab draws. I love buying smaller clothes and I love this new me. Maintenance has been fairly easy, I keep in mind that I never want to be obese again.

When I had lost weight many moons ago, my jeweller put 2 balls of white gold inside my platinum bands to reduce the size and it worked perfectly. No damage to my rings, easy to remove if needed 🙂

@ShoppGirl my biggest incision is kind of dented in also. My surgeon said it will flatten out. It is also where they removed my stomach. Steristrips: I did not have them, or staples. My incisions all have stitches and a strange purple glue covering them. It is slowly wearing off. Food: We had a vegetarian potluck at work today and I did have a small teaspoon of ranch dip, one bite of a very spicy hummus, and a bite of a veggie meatball. I knew I could tolerate the food and did not want to punish myself by not having anything. Today I am 3 weeks and 2 days post-op and wore jeans for the first time. Not the brightest idea but I survived the day. LoL going to change as soon as I get home. I have lost 16 pounds since my surgery day. I am a slower loser and have had a couple of 3 day stalls. I like to weigh daily to see if a certain food or activity affects my weight loss. It also keeps me accountable. I know this may not be good for all people. I can’t wait for my 6 week checkup so I can be cleared to go to the gym. We have a large department move at work coming up in a couple of weeks and know that may pose some problems with my weight restrictions. Hope everyone is doing well and it seems like we are progressing along from all the posts. Keep up the good work. We’ve got this!

The concern I would have (though I am not a dietician) is that slim fast bars and protein shakes are more "food-like substances" than actual food. Processed foods, even "diet" ones, can cause metabolism issues, and this feels almost punishing. Maybe you could try to find more satisfying, healthier options? You might try scrambling 2 eggs blended with some cottage cheese and a big handful of frozen chopped spinach for breakfast with a small serving of fruit, and a big salad of mixed veg topped with rotisserie chicken, black beans, and fresh salsa for lunch. Make sure the meat or chicken is being served with plenty of non-starchy veg, too. And don't ignore a good night's sleep and plenty of hydration. If you take prescription meds, check if any of them have weight gain as a side effect. I do agree that surgery is most likely going to be needed as soon as you can get it sorted because losing and maintaining that amount of weight is almost impossible without the metabolic changes that come with surgery.

OMG! I'm so thrilled for you!! I remember this!! You are looking so great in your pics!! AWESOME JOB!! I noticed your highest weight was 421. My highest was 400. When I joined here, I only entered 390 as that was the weight I was at when I started trying to lose some more 'on my own' as I was going through the insurance process (SO LONG) to get approved for bariatric surgery. 5 years later and I'm wondering if I should have changed my weight to the highest I ever was or if that is confusing to anyone. Again, I'm just so very happy for you!

@BlueParis Frustrating as it is, I think it takes most people about a year to reach their lowest weight. Those lucky few who drop the weight really fast are unusual. I know it's hard! But you're a healthy weight and looking great, so it's worth being proud of how much you've accomplished, especially with such a difficult travel schedule. At least your stall has broken! As for scars, mine are similarly dark purple. This is not a surprise to me as I get very dark scars, even from spider bites. Those pajama pictures reminded me that I had to get rid of an old favorite pair of pajamas as they were much too large. I look forward to buying a cozy new pair when the cold weather rolls around! I honestly don't know how anyone stays on track while traveling, especially on vacation. It is so hard when eating at restaurants non-stop, not to mention being surrounded by snack foods and temptations like ice cream and candy, which are much too easy to eat. I dread what my weight will be at the end of the week when I get home from my family trip. This will be the most days in a row I've missed weighing myself since surgery. But now that I've had a day of indulging in some treats, and realizing that eating junk isn't as appealing as I remember and kind of makes me feel blah, I'm hoping I'll be better about limiting myself to the healthiest options I can find.

I had my husband take photos of me - all four sides -- every month on my surgery date from the night before my surgery until the day I hit maintenance. It's great having that documentation of my journey. Plus when you get to the point where the weight loss slows down and you're not seeing differences from month to month, you can look back at photos taken three or four months earlier and DEFINITELY see the difference. It helped keep my motivation up!

The pre-op diet is specifically designed to be very short term and to drop a good amount of weight to make the surgery safer. There's no way it can, or should, be sustained long term. If you're having the surgery because you haven't been able to lose, or keep off, weight successfully in the past, then that isn't likely to change just because the pre-op diet was temporarily successful. But if you're having doubts, more than just normal pre-surgery jitters, than definitely rethink the surgery. It's life changing. And A LOT of changes will have to be made in order for it to be successful. If you don't think that's something you're ready for, don't do it.

HI my lovelies ❤️ I am just about 3 months post op (surgery was 12/6/24) and 1 lb shy of being down a total of 40lbs. While this is great I feel like I should be down more, or wish I was down more. I can't help but see others with close to 60+lbs down within the same time frame. I know we're not supposed to compare ourselves, it's literally the worst thing to do, but I can't help it. I was apart of the Tuesday Talks meeting last week which there were 2 women there that assured me that they lost at a similar pace, losing about 10lbs a month every month after the surgery. One of the nice ladies explained that 10lbs/month = to 120lbs down in 1 year. When I thought of it like that, I did feel better and more assured however I am still struggling with self depleting thoughts. Also, the last 2 weeks I been struggling with eating the wrong foods and snacking on foods I shouldn't be eating which I'll beat myself up even more mentally. My biggest struggles are iced coffee with sugary syrups and pizza/chips. I will have these about 1 x a week the last 2 weeks. How the day goes is it's usually a Sunday, I'll get a sugary coffee for breakfast and then end the day with 1 of those single serving bag of chips and 1 slice of pizza. I've done this now the last 2 Sundays. While it may not seem like a lot Im worried that I will start sliding down the wrong path and give into my old ways even more. The luxury of this surgery is Im incapable of overeating now and these foods still stay within a "normal" caloric range for the day (about 1400cals) but still, I know I shouldn't be eating them at all. I also workout 5 days a week now and have been consistent with this since late December. I do about 1.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym 3xs a week and then do a step ups aerobic type of exercise 2 days a week at home. I always leave my workout super sweaty with a high calorie burn on my Apple Watch. So with all this being said, I feel like I eat perfectly 6 days a week w 1 day where I'm "off", workout 5 days a week every single week taking off 2 days usually Wed and Sunday to let my body rest. Is there anything else I could do to speed up my weight loss? Or do you think this is "normal" and I'm on a good path? I also do these week to 2 week challenges with my bf that help me stay on track too. For example we did one from 2/12 - 3/1 and the rules were no junk food, fried foods or sugar and workout 5 days a week. I completed the challenge and lost 6 lbs total. But it was the day after the challenge where I ate pizza and iced coffee w mocha. We started a new challenge today which ends on Saturday 3/9. After that I'll be partaking in Ramadan beginning Monday 3/11 this year which will also help to keep me disciplined. Please do share your thoughts and how you combated your bad food habits? Also, please be kind ❤️ Thanks for reading! xoxo

Happy Wednesday everyone! I spoke with the nurse today and she suggested I add protein water to help get me to 60 grams and my 48 oz of water. Once I get there I can start to add some puréed food. She also said it will help me start to lose more weight. @ShoppGirl I did not think I would try a vacuum at this point. I can’t even bend over to open a kitchen drawer. I’m lucky though I have 4 teens that have been super helpful with anything I need.

So glad you had a wonderful holiday and was able to deal with the heat and get loads of walking in, with weight loss too! How are your cats with you, now that you’re home? My older cat, George, used to sulk massively when we’d been away. He would sit on the end of the bed with his back to us, letting us know of his displeasure! I would take a day before he would consent to be stroked and then he would gradually forgive us. I hope your dose of Covid isn't too bad? There’s a lot of it about apparently and it’s hitting people differently. My son had migraines with his, but the 3 month old baby and his 4 year old sister both sailed through it! You just can’t tell, unfortunately. Loving the new profile pic - your cheekbones are looking sharp!

Funny you should mention Vraylar. I learned the hard way before I was put on Latuda that I couldn't take that. Why? It caused a 7 month long manic episode that was just terrible. It was one of the worst episodes I had ever had I nearly died from the experience and had I actually passed away from it my wife would have been able to sue the pants off of my psychiatrist for malpractice because she definitely was in the wrong. I was on Saphris beforehand and she took me off of Saphris cold turkey and then immediately stuck me on Vraylar. She later said she shouldn't have done that. Anyway, we're supposed to be talking about bariatric surgery not Psychiatric meds. I just figured I'd share my own personal story since we seem to have similar med history. The only reason I'm concerned about Latuda and getting bariatric surgery is you're right, it needs 350 calories to be absorbed properly and if im on a 1k calorie diet that's going to be problematic because thats almost half of my daily calories. But I do so well on Latuda (it really, really helps stabilize my moods and my psychotic symptoms) that it's really stupid to take me off of it and stick me on something else. So my surgeon and nurse practitioner/psychiatrist have to all work together and figure out how it's going to work. I'm not discouraged by your weight in fact, I wish I was your weight I weight almost 440 pounds lol. But I get what you mean you gained 4 pounds. But that's what happens when you don't follow the diet. I've heard lf many people regaining the weight because they got discouraged. I really hope that once I lose the 200-250 pounds I want to lose I'm able to keep it off!

I’m glad you have someone to talk to about your experiences and that you’re finding it helpful. It may be baby steps but they will eventually lead you to a happier, more contented place where you will be able to put the horrible experience behind you and finally enjoy the positive benefits of your weight loss 🙂

I am sure I have asked this before, but what size do you wear. I am also 5'9 started at 297 and am at 175. I see your 145? I cant even phathom seeing that weight for myself. So that is amazing!

Yes, it is usually those slider foods that I can eat so much with no problem. I feel like these last 2 weeks, I have been eating more than I should, and it's just kind of scary that I can. I prepped my meal and have my water and protein shake ready for tomorrow. I just want to do a refresh. I'm so scared of weight gain, and this tool is not working for me. I know this is the "honeymoon phase," and I really want to take advantage of it, too. Thanks for answering! ❤️

Have you ever mentioned to your doctor, in the past, the things you did to try and lose weight? I have BCBS and they had the same requirement. But I had mentioned to my pcp that I did keto, weight watchers, calorie restriction, and the mediterranean diet. When I mentioned this, she put it in the notes that went to the insurance company and they accepted it and that took 6 months off the process. My pcp was very supportive and was happy for me to do the surgery. I gave her all the requirements from my insurance company (I needed to pass a ekg, her form stating what I've tried to lose weight, my comorbidities, etc...) he jumped right on that and got it done asap. By the time I went to my 1st appt w/ my surgeon, she had already sent all of this to their office. So I was 3/4 of the way finished on day 1 of seeing my surgeon. All I had left to do was the psych eval, blood work the surgeon needed, and then waiting for it all to be submitted and approved by insurance. My first appt with the surgeon was Feb 28th, 2022. My psych eval was March 7th. Everything was submitted to my insurance on March 10th and I got my approval on March 14th 2022. The longest part of this was honestly actually getting to the surgery date because I couldn't have it until May 3rd due to the surgeon's schedule. So honestly, the better prepared you are, the more you do behind the scenes, the faster the whole process will go.