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Checking back in as I am nearly at my new goal weight now. My husband and I joined a gym in November when the weather turned too cold for us to walk/hike outside. We have stuck to going nearly every day except when we are on vacation/traveling/sick. I was on a cruise 1/23-2/3 and I even went to the gym five times onboard! Unfortunately, I got pretty sick as soon as I got home and didn't make it to the gym that first full week back. All that said and done, between the cruise and being sick, I did gain one pound, but I am back on track now and will be going to the gym for the third day in a row this evening. I am back to just "overweight" instead of obese and nearly back to the weight I was when I met my husband 8 years ago.

Hi Lisa, I’m so sorry you’re struggling. You are not alone and there is always hope! I agree with @SpartanMaker above. I am post menopausal and that peri-menopausal and immediate post time is so tricky. There may be some other reasons for continuing weight gain and stagnant loss. As a sped teacher, I always look at crossing out medical issues first. So thyroid, PCOS, fibroids, and endometriosis should probably all be ruled out. I too am a sooth with food comforter. I had therapy that was very specific to me, related to eating disorders. My counselor helped me with body dysmorphia,and feeling good about making positive choices. For me, I had to stop tracking. I pretty much stick to keto with some veggies. I reached out to TOPS and OA for advice and most people there kind of came to the same conclusions. Many women found they needed to keep taking Metformin to help with genuine continued hunger. They were peri menopausal and we wondered if their doc didn’t snip as much stomach off as the ones from my clinic. (We compared notes.) In the end, we were all fighting for our health and there was no shame. Asking for help is the best sign that things will turn around for you too! I found an affordable therapist in psychologytoday.com It sounds like insurance might cover yours through your clinic. I had to pay out of pocket but it was well worth it.

I don't know if this is a win, but there is a podcast called "isnt the stall the point" ... to me at some point weight stalls should be the point. I've noticed in the bariatric community that some are never satisfied and steady strive for more. I certainly won't be living my life like that. So my win is I stalled for six months, which I was fine with but at my breast augmentation appointment my weight had finally broke the STALL. I am finally 7 pounds from my goal weight in which the STALL and living my Life in Maintenance will be the point. 💪🏽

I am your age, and a mom myself. I never considered WLS until 2 years back when I went through a very bad foot injury that significantly reduced my mobility, prior to that I was always fit and in shape. I was already 15 kilos over my normal weight, and due to my injury I gained another 15 to be 30 kilos over my normal weight. I was at BMI 33 (also on the low side), I am 5'6 and my highest weight was 90 kgs/198 lbs. Aside from my injured ankle, I never had any health issues, my tests always came back fantastic. However, I knew that if I didn't manage my ever creeping weight, mobility - and other health issues - would be in the cards. It took me one whole year to make up my mind about the surgery, I was doing everything right - things that worked for me in the past -, eating well, exercising and being overall healthy, but my weight wouldn't budge. I decided to do it in Feb, and got it in December. Knowing what I know now, and how it has transformed my life, I wish I did it sooner. That's not to say that YOU need to do it, only you can decide that for yourself. And like @ms.sss said, you are ready when you are ready. I just thought sharing my experience would help since we are both close in age/young moms. Feel free to reach out if you need any more info. Good luck ❤️

Yes I was told to because I'm on my feet most of my shift. I was trying to gain weight and it was good for a bit but has started going back down again, so I was told to cut out the working out for now.

I’ve lost around 100lbs. I have been gaining and losing the same 4 pounds since last fall, about the same time I hurt my back in the gym. I’m recovered now and need to get back to exercising. The gastric sleeve has been super helpful because even if I have a cheat meal, it’s very small and almost no weight impact. I’ve always liked protein heavy meals so this has been pretty easy for me. Limiting bread and sugars, and not drinking soda has gotten me most of the way there. I have started to drink a few beers a week…I try to keep it to lite low cal/carb beer.

So there have been talks about pregnancy and babies with my boyfriend. With history of PCOS, my cycles have become regular and I have been ovulating for the last year or so. We may try for pregnancy may be sometime next year. My question is, anyone here who got pregnant after WLS? If yes, did you end up losing your post pregnancy weight? Or was it difficult to bring it back to pre-pregnancy baseline? Currently I am happy with where I am with my weight. But also, looking forward to starting a family if destiny permits. But, the weight gain cycle of pregnancy concerns me. Putting on the weight will naturally happen but I was wondering if the bypass tool will help me lose the weight post pregnancy. Any thoughts, experience shall be great!

First thing, and I know it is really hard to do, is not compare your losses or gains to anyone else from here on out. Our bodies all adjust differently and everyone starts off with different weights, conditions, activity levels etc.. Second thing, don't worry 13lbs is good as don't forgot your system is still in recovery and discovery stage. Think about it, would you have lost 13lbs in just over a month without the surgery??? You will likely have put on a few lbs immediately after the surgery so not sure if you are factoring that into your 13lb loss but still either way you sound like you are on track. Keep following your plan as you start to reintroduce food, for pureed foods I had minced chicken or beef with a spoonful of some mash potato or other veg or stuck with soups (thicker than the liquid stage) and protein shakes. You've got this

Hi there! Looking to make friends with people in the UK who use Mounjaro for weight loss currently. I am hoping to lose as much weight as possible on the injection, to potentially avoid surgery. About me: 26 year old female Started Mounjaro on the 13th of November 2024 at my highest weight- 185kg. I am now 171.3kg (maybe even less tomorrow-Weigh day!). Happy to be friends/chat/support anyone who uses it! Just want to feel a bit less alone in my journey 😆

I took 2 years to get to my weight of 180, then 12 months to master maintenance. I had some issues and needed surgery and my weight then dropped to 165. I thought at my age I looked shocking and so much skin. I decided to increase my weight back to 180. Just some extra cals a day did the job in 3 months. I feel better at this weight. I am living with my skin, I dont really have a choice, as I could only afford one round and I feel I would look stupid half fixed. In the UK, we wear lots of clothes most of the year and I look ok in clothes. Its just now when on holiday, I wish I could.

So sorry that you're struggling. Weight loss is both the simplest thing in the world, and also incredibly complicated. The good news is there is absolutely hope for you! Thinking through what you've posted. I think I want to break things apart a bit so we can address a few different things: Let's start with being an emotional eater. My personal belief is that EVERYONE that is (or at one point was), obese has an eating disorder, or at the very least suffers from disordered eating. You simply don't get that big without having an unhealthy relationship with food. I'm really glad that you are working to get help in this area. We have a saying here on this board that you should take to heart: Bariatric Surgery doesn't fix your brain. Success or failure long term is most often about addressing these mental, not physical issues. The surgery is a tool that can help you, but surgery alone won't make you lose weight. My point here is YOU ARE NOT ALONE. A lot of the folks here have the same problem regarding turning to food for emotional support. You can get control of this, but it does take time and help. Failure to lose weight. We all lose at different rates, so it's hard to judge whether or not how much you've lost is problematic. First, can you clarify some things? Your sidebar shows you having lost 128 pounds, but your post suggests it's a lot less than that? Also, your post says it's been 6 months since your surgery, but unless I'm misunderstanding something, it's only been 4 months? Even if it's only 4 months instead of 6, having lost 9 pounds would still be on the low side, but I think you need to also keep in mind that you are on the low end of the height scale. That absolutely does matter when it comes to weight loss. Smaller bodies need fewer calories per day. That's just a basic fact. I think it's important for you to understand that you can't break the laws of physics. if you eat fewer calories per day than you burn, you'll lose weight. Eat the same amount as you burn and you'll stay at the same weight. Eat more than you burn and you'll gain. I know that seems obvious, but people often look for reasons other than this as to why they might not be losing as expected. They'll say things like "my metabolism is messed up" as if that means they're allowed to break this basic rule. Perhaps their metabolism is messed up, but there's no rule that says you should be able to eat, say 1300 calories a day and still lose. Your metabolism is your metabolism and while there are ways to ramp it up, you don't get to break the laws of basic physics. Calorie counting. You mention eating 700 calories a day, but then mention snacking on top of that? Did I understand that correctly? Here's the thing. Everyone is TERRIBLE at calorie counting and if you're not counting the snacks, you're estimates of how much you're consuming will be even worse. Even if you're counting the snacks in the 700 calories, the likelihood that you're actually eating only 700 calories a day is really small. Studies have shown again and again that people drastically underestimate how much they are eating per day, even if they try to accurately weigh and measure everything. Part of it's just user error, but part of it is that the actual calorie counts of food are not nearly as simple to measure as we think they are. One final thing to keep in mind. Our bodies are made up of lots of "stuff", and this "stuff" is all part of what you weigh day-to-day. Fluctuations in how hydrated you are, your muscle mass and even stool weight can mask fat loss, so don't get too caught up in what the scale says. Simply put, the scale is NOT your friend. Let me give you an example of just how much the scale can lie: I'm a runner and if I run in hot weather, it's not that unusual for me to lose 6 to 10 pounds in the space of a couple of hours. Does that mean I lost 10 pounds of fat? Of course not. It means I lost a bunch of water due to sweat. Using a scale as the sole means you use to judge your success would be a bit like trying to use a hammer as the only tool you use to build a house. a hammer's great for some things, but there are also times when it's not.

Pre-Op Diet The pre-op diet has a few purposes. The critical one is to shrink your liver so it’s not blocking your surgeon’s view of your insides during surgery. That makes your operation easier and safer. The pre-op diet also helps you lose weight. That may be surprising since you’re expecting to start your weight loss after surgery, but it’s actually a good idea to start losing weight beforehand. In fact, the more you lose before surgery, the safer surgery will be, and the better you’ll feel afterwards. Different surgeons suggest different pre-op diets. The diet has about 1,000 calories. It could depend on lean proteins and other nutrient-rich foods, or it could be a liquid diet with protein shakes. Or, it could be a combination of the two, with each day including two protein shakes as meal replacements plus one meal with vegetables and protein. The pre-op diet can last from a few days to several weeks or even months. In general, the longer you’re on it, the better. You’ll lose more weight, shrink your liver more, and gain confidence that you’ll be able to continue a strict eating program long-term after surgery. Get in Shape Why exercise before surgery? One reason is that, like with a good diet, it can make surgery safer. In this case, it’s because exercising can strengthen your heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Of course, exercise also burns calories and can help you lose a little extra weight before surgery. Another reason to get in shape before surgery is because it will make recovery easier. Many weight loss surgery patients find that walking around the house and then the neighborhood is their best tool for fighting post-op pain. If you’re used to being active before surgery, you’ll have an easier time walking after surgery. You don’t need to go crazy on your pre-op exercise regimen. If you’re not used to exercising, start small. As long as your doctor approves you to be active, just find a few minutes each day to walk at a comfortable pace. Clean and Stock the Kitchen Fact: you can’t eat food that’s not there. So, clean out your kitchen. Get rid of sugary desserts, starchy snacks, and fatty meats and cheeses. Anything you know you shouldn’t be eating shouldn’t be in your kitchen. Get rid of it before surgery because for weeks after surgery, you won’t be physically able to carry out heavy trash bags filled with forbidden foods. Once your kitchen is cleaned out, stock it up! At least get the protein shakes and powders you’ll need for weeks or more after surgery. Consider getting some flavored water in case you’re unable to tolerate water post-op. You can also stock up on non-perishable staples, such as canned chicken and tuna, frozen fruit and vegetables, and instant oatmeal packets. Take Your Nutritional Supplements You know you’ll be taking nutritional supplements post-op. If you have the sleeve or bypass, you’ll be taking them for life. With the band, you’ll need supplements for months, years, or life. Did you know you shouldn’t wait until after surgery to start taking your supplements? At a minimum, take a multivitamin beginning when you start your pre-op diet. Even if you’re eating a balanced diet, the supplement helps make sure your body has the nutrients it needs to heal your surgery wound. Also, it’s an insurance policy so that if you have trouble eating and swallowing supplements for a few weeks after surgery, your body will still have a good store of nutrients in reserve. Practice Your Healthy Eating Habits Consider the pre-op period practice for the post-op diet. That includes eating slowly, measuring portions, and choosing nutrient-dense instead of processed, high-calorie foods. Also consider making exercise a habit now, so it’s easier to get back to it after surgery. You cannot guarantee an easy surgery, but you can certainly do a few things to improve your chances. Use these tips to take control of your pre-op prep as soon as you’re ready to lose weight and get healthy!

63 pounds is quite a bit of weight to lose in 3 months. I also highly recommend that you track your calories, especially during the weight loss phase. It is easy to under/overestimate how much we eat.

As a general rule, the effects of supplementation of any kind on weight loss will be extremely minimal. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say for most people, 90-95% of weight loss is calorie intake alone. Other factors like exercise might make up a few percent, and supplements would be down at the bottom of the list probably only making 1% or less of the impact. Since 1% might mean something like 20 calories a day, you can see how it would be really easy to overcome that effect just by eating a tiny bit more. Keep in mind there is no overcoming basic physics. If you want to lose weight, you have to consume fewer calories than you burn. Things people worry wat too much about in my opinion instead of placing the focus where it matters on calories: Types of diets: Things like keto, low fat, low carb, intermittent fasting, etc. may help with compliance, but otherwise make no appreciable difference in weight loss. Bottom line, eat the way you want as long as you meet your nutrient goals and eat less than you burn in a day. Exercise: Exercise is critical for overall health and fitness, but as a general rule, you are not going to lose much if any weight from exercising. The reason is that your body is really good at stabilizing your overall calories burned in a day/week/month. What I mean is that studies show that for the most part, your body will slow down other processes to "make-up" for the exercise calories you burned, so whether or not you exercised won't actually mean you burn more calories per day. Exercise CAN help in weight loss for some people, but as a general rule, you'd probably need to be doing something that burned more than 400 calories a day, every day for you to see any impact at all. One place where exercise really comes into its own is in weight maintenance post-weight loss. Here the data is super clear. Those that exercise at least 1 hour per day were significantly more likely to maintain their weight loss than those that don't exercise. Supplements: As I pointed out above, at best, supplements might have a very small impact on on weight loss and this impact is really easy to negate by simply eating more. Typically weight loss supplements fall into two categories: Thermogenics (things that increase metabolism), and Appetite Suppressants. Some claim to have both effects. Without going into too much detail, the vast majority of thermogenics work simply because they are stimulants. Caffeine is the most well known and well studied (and frankly probably the most effective), but since you already are a coffee drinker, you're pretty unlikely to get any additional benefit from switching to another source such as green tea. Appetite suppressants are really a mixed bag. These sometimes work for some people, but again, the effects are really small. This is a little old, but I still think worth taking a gander: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8406948/#:~:text=A total of 1945 participants,morbidity%2C costs or patient satisfaction. It's a meta-analysis of the impact of green tea on weight loss. The conclusion they came to after looking at 15 different studies: "Green tea preparations appear to induce a small, statistically non‐significant weight loss in overweight or obese adults. Because the amount of weight loss is small, it is not likely to be clinically important." Best of luck.

Yes and also my weight loss plan doesn’t want us to count protein shakes as protein intake. They want us to eat our protein!

I hadn't visiting BP in a while. I had the VSG in 2013 and lost ~90 pounds. I had an abdominoplasty in 2021: Another great decision: My abdomen is so tight and flat! But due to some stress, I gained 20 pounds that I want to lose. I tried Ozempic; eh. I tried Mounjaro and I lost 10 pounds in a month, but it made me itch all over, plus constipation. I might try it again, though. Before the 20 pound regain, I was down to a size 10 [almost an 8!]; now I'm back to a good 12, and pushing into a 14 for some styles. Grr. Pray.

I waited about a year after surgery before getting new ink because my skin was still adjusting. Placement mattered more than I expected—anywhere with stretched skin looked way different once I lost weight. A friend of mine got a 3D Areola Tattoo after reconstruction, and it looked super realistic. Always smart to check that your artist has experience with post-weight-loss skin.

You may reach goal, you may not or you may exceed goal & all are okay. Remember though if you have to work harder & be more restrictive to reach your goal you will always have to work harder & be more restrictive to maintain the lower weight. At that point it becomes all about sustainability: can you maintain the exercise and eating plan in the long term without feeling it’s too restrictive or you’re missing out. As for the possibility of regain, there are a myriad of factors. Could be just the bounce back regain many experience (around 10-20lbs), stressful situations (personal, work, etc.), health issues, changes in meds, too restrictive maintenance, not dealing with issues that lead you to gain in the first place, returning to your old way of eating, etc. Some things we can have some control over and some we have no control over. Personally I maintained for almost 6 years but a complete hysterectomy Sept last year has messed up my hormones and I’m seeing regain. I’m fortunate I have supportive doctors and we’re looking for ways to manage it. Regardless where you settle, you are winning and have successfully made changes to improve your health and life. Enjoy.

I wanted to go back to the weight I maintained through adulthood and motherhood (between 64-67 Kilos/141-147.7 lbs) Where I felt - and looked - my best and was active and in shape. My surgeon told me that he'll be very pleased if I lose 20 kgs (70 kgs), I was aiming for 65 kgs, and that in my opinion would have been a great success. I got down to 65 kilos in 3 months and kept losing for another 6 months until I stabilized (52.5-54 kgs is my fluctuation) and that is around 11/12 kgs less than what I would have considered an absolute success. It is easy to be hung up on a specific number, however it is how you feel and how you fit into your clothes that matters. I would've never imagined myself at 52 kilos (never been that weight except when I 13) and had you told me that I would've gasped out loud in horror. Now, I feel I look great and really healthy. I have a 15 kg wriggle room, and if I do gain a bit of weight it is no big deal. I loved how I looked at 65 kgs and I love how I look now too.

Hi everyone I’m back again for moral support. Got my MGB back in February. After a couple of extremely hard weeks, 5 weeks to be precise, i finally thought that my ordeal was over. I had spent all this time finding it really hard to drink water and reach my protein goals until then. Suddenly, starting the 6th week post op, i saw some light at the end of the tunnel and managed to expand my food a little bit. I avoided everything I was told to avoid until then, oil, sugar, pasta, rice, raw veggies, you name it! one day I was invited to a barbecue and ate what I was given, namely a bit of salad and some marinated chicken. Everything was fine for the days that followed and I was ecstatic! I started to experiment with food more and more and I realised that the food I tolerated the most was still just plain potatoes and carrots with some minced meat of chicken. However, as weeks went by, my sensitivities seemed to increase by the day. I’d try watermelon and suffer excruciating cramps the next day, so I stopped. Then I’d try beans, and I’d be fine the next day but suffer more cramps the day after, long story short, it seemed like every single new food I’d try was not tolerated by my stomach. The pain and cramps would be instant, and the explosive diarrhoea would follow the next morning like clockwork. I remember at some point, i barely ate for 2 days and what followed were the most painful cramps and hunger pangs I’ve ever ever experienced in my life! Looking at a plate of food triggers me now. I am absolutely scared of putting anything in my mouth. Even my trusted potatoes and carrots have forsaken me. That means I have not a single food that I seem to tolerate and I have absolutely no idea how this happened! Today, i tried boiled potato with some rotisserie chicken, and ended up vomiting 3 times. And when I say vomit, i mean, gag as if I would vomit, but only saliva comes out. i feel weak and desperate. I have lost 32kg in almost 4 months, that about 70 pounds. That is way too much weight. Let’s not start about my hair loss… it’s ridiculous. I plan to shave my head… i never in a million years thought this would be my life after the surgery. I have a doc appointment this week but only will see my surgeon in July… does this story sound familiar to any of you guys? Did I do something wrong? What did I miss?! I’ve been on the verge of going to the ER multiple times…

I needed to hear this today! I'm losing around 3 lbs a week since sleeve was done Dec. 2. But went out of town to see my mom and sibs and drank her sweet tea and ate nibbles of things I normally don't now and I'm up in weight. Was 204.2 and now I'm 206.2. (On my phone right now but will change my ticker soon! 206 is better than 215! Lol!) Frustrating! I didn't eat much as I still feel extremely restricted but I think the sugar must cause inflammation and salt always makes me hold water weight. So I'm happy to be back home and working a lot and eating my grapefruit, cucumbers and protein shake, etc. daily. Hopefully I can begin going back down this week. So close to Onederland! Thanks for sharing this. Goes to show just how fast it CAN come back on us. I've lost and gained lots over the years. Hoping this surgery was the tool I needed to help me get my weight down and keep it there. At this point I'd be thrilled just to get to and stay at 199 forever. LOL! But my goal is much lower. But once I get into the 100s I know I always FEEL better. So I'm looking forward to that milestone!

I think I am. )knock on wood). I seem to be doing very well, minus all the "need to gain weight" issues. Thanks!!

Hello everyone - I need advice. The 16th anniversary of my surgery was yesterday. It's been a wild and wonderful sixteen years. I have lost 90 pounds. Many changes during these years. Mostly all good. I turned 60 years old in April. I have noticed in the past few months that I feel hungry more often, and I've seen my weight go up. It's not going up by much but just the fact that it seems to be increasing is concerning to me. All these years I've been able to literally eat ANYTHING I want with no gain at all. I don't know if my insides have changed or it's the fact that I turned 60, but I want to put a stop to whatever this is RIGHT NOW. For those of you out there to whom this has happened, what did you do? I would appreciate any and all suggestions and tips you might have... Thank you, Lisa in Scranton PA

Unfortunately weight loss isn’t consistent. You won’t get a lovely perfectly straight line on a graph. It zig & zags. More one week, less the next. None one week and a gain the next. We also have natural fluctuations in our weight which are all normal and when we are weighing ourselves every day they suddenly are very obvious. There are many reasons why we have these fluctuations and I swear sometimes it’s just your body messing with you. As long as your weight loss trend (over weeks and months) is in a downward direction you’re doing well. Add some soluble fibre to your soup or shake each day to help with the constipation. I got into a routine too. No poop for three days I took a stool softener. Remember too at first you’re not consuming much so you don’t have much for your body to excrete from so don’t expect to go every day. Despite some hiccups (like the power outage and loss of food) things seem to be going pretty smoothly for you. Yay!

Wait, seriously? GLP-1s might help with depression and alcohol issues too? I had no idea these could do more than just weight and blood sugar stuff.