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I'm a little over 1 year post-op. Sleeved 12/4/20 in Tijuana, amazing experience, no complications and good follow up care with a good state side PCP who approved of and supported going to Mexico. I started at 345 lbs and currently weigh 225 lbs at 5'7 so 120 lbs lost in a year. Emotionally, I'm sad, frustrated and need some support. I have zero appetite (absolutely none) and take a med who's off label usage is for binge eating disorder which further surpresses anything hunger related. This med is for executive dysfunction issues (ADHD) so going off is not an option. I have no cravings. I'm very much struggling to eat, but I have serious food intolerances. I cannot tolerate most meat such as chicken, beef or pork. It makes my stomach cramp horribly. If I do force myself to eat it, I can maybe get a few ounces in but I'm miserable for a while after. Shrimp is the only animal protein that I can tolerate consistently with little issues. Even fish can be problematic only due to palate and taste bud changes. I can no longer tolerate eggs by themselves. I vomit within 10 minutes and vomiting triggers food avoidance for days. This has been mitigated by a therapist and not eating eggs. Eggs used as a binder in things like bread, cake or muffins are fine. Rice, pasta, bread and vegetables give me no problems. Dairy is ok as long as it's Fairlife milk and protein shakes or aged cheese. Any other cow based dairy items trigger diarrhea at the worst, stomach cramping/bloating at the least. Non-dairy such as oat milk and nut milks are no issues. Most protein shakes/powders make me vomit like eggs do. I have spent hundreds of dollars on protein shakes and am grateful that my husband can drink anything or it'd all go to waste. Surprisingly, I can tolerate deli meat, but very tiny portions like in a lunchable. Same goes for sandwiches so I've been consistent with those. Snacks are non-existent except for sunflower seeds. Sometimes even Doritos bother me. The only slider food I had for a while was ice cream, but it triggered lactose issues I've never had before so... Drinking is not an issue though I do have issues with certain waters, but juice? Tea? Coffee? No problems! Anything liquid doesn't bother my stomach. Even drippings from the chicken I'll put on rice! I'm also experiencing gastro issues... Specifically the trigger to release your bowels when you eat. It's an involuntarily action your body does, but mine is violent. For months I had nothing my diarrhea after eating. I did a stool test and it was only slight inflammation. It's slowed down some but I just stick near a toilet when I eat. It doesn't matter really what I eat either. I also have GERD (did not have it prior, one of the lucky few that develop it post surgery) and am on prescription meds because OTC does not work. GERD is not every day. I'll have a flare up (connected to nothing!) Maybe 1x per month for a few days and then nothing. The above intolerances and gastro issue trigger food avoidance how vomiting does. I'm literally disgusted 99% of the time I'm in the kitchen when looking to feed myself because of the physical issues I'm having with food. I have no problems cooking for and feeding others (I have a family) and being in the kitchen and cooking is still an absolute joy. I have no negative physical or mental reactions to food that I do not plan to eat. Strangely, I'm VERY excited to still try new foods and will go with friends or family who have as diverse palates as I do and will taste their item. But it's literally a taste. I know I'm not eating enough, weightloss has definitely stalled due to the lower calories. I'm taking my vitamins like clock work and while I'm due for more blood work, my last was great. Feeding myself feels like a huge chore. VSG has done it's job - it's changed me metabolically. No more appetite, no more cravings and has completely rewired my brain to not enjoy food at all. I'm only a year PO so... Could this change? How do I combat this? Should I stop whining? Does it get better? Should I go back to therapy? Would a revision help? I feel like most people want to only look at food as a necessity. I wish I was disinterested in food like I am now, but without the physical side effects that make me sick or keep me on a toilet. I appreciate you reading this far!

Exactly. Remember also we, all have a natural weight fluctuation, we just notice it more now because we ‘re more vigilant with weighing ourselves & recording our weight. I’ve discovered my natural fluctuation is a kilogram (2.2lbs). Any more or less & I reflect on what I’ve eaten or not eaten. Has my water intake been more or less? Did I have some alcohol? Am I constipated? Am I peeing more or less? … Should say I’m maintaining & am pretty vigilant but the principle is the same. If you’re still losing & your weight loss trend is still downwards your golden. If you’re maintaining, reflect on your last week & see what next week brings. Three pounds may be your natural fluctuation. Congrats on your weight loss. Whoo hoo.

I start my liquid diet as my nutritionist puts it liquid deliciousness 🤬🤣 on Jan 4th I think I am more worried about that then the surgery itself. I just keep saying to myself it’s going to be worth it it’s going to be worth it. I wish I just could stay home for those 2 weeks lol.

Had pre- anesthesia appointment today surgery Jan 18th. All Dec surgeries cancelled at my hospital in Ohio. As of now they are saying if it is already scheduled for Jan they are still on the books but anything that was cancelled or need scheduling will be after Jan that is as of today. With this Covid who knows what will happen in the next weeks to come. Good Luck to all on keeping scheduled surgery dates.😬

Hi all! Im 4 weeks post op. I had surgical glue on my wounds which has now all come off. But ive noticed that it gets so itchy around the incision sites and theres a couple red bumps around them too. It was all fine when the glue was still on, had no issues with that so i dont think it could be an allergic reaction. Its just started up since the glue has come off. Has anyone experienced something like this? Im a nurse with some wound training, the wounds are healing quite well, no signs of infection or anything but my god this itchiness around them! Just havent heard of itchy bumps around the wounds before🥴 If it keeps up much longer ill be contacting the surgeon!

Not sure... I'm not doing Keto, just kind of intuitive eating, trying to eat clean. I was doing pretty well, but have veered a bit. I'm very happy that I did NOT gain back the weight I lost on the pre-op liquid diet, so for me that's a win - I've lost 2 pounds since. Not a lot, and I hope I can keep it off during the holidays and make wise choices. After this week I am going to call and see what my options are and then make a decision from there.

I had the bypass 11/30. 3 weeks out I am only down 16lbs. I get your frustration! Following everything to the t. Getting in the right amount of protein and fluids. Was hoping I’d feel all of this is worth it but haven’t yet. All I can say is stick to it and hopefully the progress will follow. That’s what I keep telling myself anyways!

Hello Buddies! I have been reading this board continuously but haven't posted much as I've been busy busy, but I just wanted to jump in and relay some of my experiences post surgery if it might be helpful to those currently going through it or about to. I had my sleeve on Nov 9th. The one thing that I found that really helped me out of the gate is walking. From day 1 I made sure to make myself walk. Each day I increased my distance by an additional driveway until I was able to walk all the way around the block and then added even more. By 2 weeks post surgery I felt like I was 100% again. A friend of mine who had the same surgery 5 years ago by the same surgeon couldn't believe how quickly I recovered. I attribute it to the walking. So that's my advice on recovery. Unfortunately I did make some major mistakes because I was feeling good and due to a family emergency, 1 week post op I had to fly home to help care for my mother. I didn't want my parents burdened by worrying about my surgery so I kept the entire thing hidden from them. As such, I completely skipped the pureed food stage and just ate soft foods while chewing oh probably a hundred times before swallowing. I do not recommend skipping any food stages but I had to do what I had to do. I had a bad experience with solid food. I was running around and wasn't paying much attention to the fact that I hadn't eaten all day and when I got home I was ravenous. I cooked up some tofu chicken fingers (my vegan go to for a quick and dirty meal pre surgery). Well, um... lets just say it didn't go well. I had that lump in my chest that felt like the food was stuck. The saliva continued to pour up into my mouth. There was nothing I could do to make the pain in my chest go away or the saliva stop flowing. I literally thought I was going to die. I decided to go for a walk. The amount of spit that continued to flow from my mouth could probably keep a whale wet for a decade... it was awful! After about 20 minutes, the pain finally subsided and the constant flow of saliva finally dried up. It was an experience and a hard learned lesson to remember to chew chew chew! and wait wait wait before taking another bite! Rice, my favourite pre surgery meal is now a no go for me. It just doesn't sit well at all. Sad but I can deal with it, bigger picture and all that. Sugar. I was a sugar addict pre surgery, I'm a mostly plant based eater, I attribute all my weight gain to my sugar addiction. I have found that although I am still addicted to sugar, I can have that '1' piece of whatever it is and be satisfied instead of that '1 whole bag' and still not be satisfied as I was in the past. If I go past that '1' piece threshold not because I'm not satisfied but because I'm still a glutton I find myself in the washroom with a mild case of dumping syndrome. Another welcome reminder that '1 is enough'. I feel like I am losing weight fairly quickly but I'm not noticing any adverse side effects like hair loss or sagging skin but I do take collagen everyday so I'm thinking that might be helping with that. Today will be my first day back to the gym in 3 months. I am looking forward to getting back into running again without all that additional weight holding me back I hope you all are enjoying success and keep going! Happy Holidays!

I have been thinking about increasing my calories because of this. My surgeon doesn’t have me on a set amount of calories. He was extremely happy with my weight loss so far and asked me to stop weighing my food and eat ‘normally’ (three meals with two snacks), and I am at approx. 650/700 kcal per day right now with those three meals and two snacks. But HOW on earth can I eat more calories without adding fat and sugar? I am at a loss here 🙁 Any tips or tricks would be appreciated!

Outfit for our Christmas party last week!

Yes, that's me at 290 (actually 292 in that photo). People are already warning me not to lose too much weight, but there's still a ways to go... and in any case I literally can't eat enough to overcome my TDEE even if I wanted to. It's slowed down. My primary care doctor says 275 would be fine and really he just wants me under BMI 40 (which I am), but I'd like to see where I can go. I went from size 54/34 pants to size 35/34... if I end up back where I was in college, I'll be in 32/34s. I have a DXA body fat scan every three months (it's cheap here, about $40/35€/£30) which reads my body fat. The problem is that the body fat measuring weight scales have two settings. If I leave it on normal mode I get a reading of 42% which is CLEARLY untrue. But if I put it on athlete mode, I get 25%, which is also clearly untrue, though closer. They need to have "kinda fit kinda fat" mode! The last DXA reading last week had me at 31.7% which I was a bit disappointed as I wanted to be under 30%, but it'll get there. Slowly but surely. I just want under 20%. 15% might be a stretch at 45 years old, but it'd be nice to have the beginnings of abs under the loose skin. 😁

I had my sleeve on May 17th. In January, I weighed 385. I started preparing and had my first bariatric meeting with the surgeon around mid March. My weight when I started my 2 weeks of shakes was 362 and my surgery weight was 342. I track almost everything I eat and I am setting at 256 right now. Kinda tough to track around the Holiday, but feel like I have a new lease on life. I danced for almost 3 straight hours on Nov 27th at my daughter’s wedding! Your stomach will be tiny which will help you while you get/keep your mind right. Do NOT cheat! Have and keep the faith in the process! If you do that you will be extremely happy and able to get back to an active lifestyle!!! :-)

Weird question - I am getting the sleeve on the 22nd and I have Invisalign braces. They have little pegs they attach to the teeth to hold them on. I’ll be done next week and I want my orthodontist to take them out today - he is telling me I don’t need to for my surgery. I don’t really care and just am done with them and it’s only one week early. Anyone else have these before surgery? Did they make you remove the pegs? I have a call into my surgeon just curious if anyone else had this experience thanks!

if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. Fortunately, most of us don't lose enough hair for others to notice (and even if you're one of those who do, it's pretty rare for it to fall out in big, noticeable clumps - rather, it's more like shedding - so your hair just looks thinner). About all you can do is keep on top of your protein and supplement requirements to keep it from getting any worse than it will anyway. It's temporary and will all grow back, so there's that. I had loss from months 5-9, but it was pretty minimal. I noticed more strands than usual in my combs and brushes, but just looking in the mirror, I couldn't tell - so no one else would have noticed, either. And then there are people who don't lose any hair at all. nothing you can do about skin. Although you're what we call a "light weight", so you're not likely to end up looking like a Sharpei puppy like someone who starts out much heavier might (I was one of the latter - I was almost 400 lbs and in my late 50s when I had surgery). You'll likely have some sagging, but it probably won't be what I'm guessing you're imagining. And there's always plastic surgery if it bothers you - but I'm betting it won't be that bad. I was really worried about the hair loss and saggy skin (I think most people are), but honestly, most of us would take those any day of the week over being obese. And again, the hair loss part is temporary.

A single pound of fat is roughly 3500kcal. So unless you ate 10,500kcal OVER your baseline intake, there is absolutely no way that is true weight gain. It could be water weight, hormonal changes, bowel movement issues, etc. There are dozens of factors that impact weight and might be reflected on the scale. Additionally, the more you lose and closer you get to a healthy weight, the more likely you are to see those fluctuations as the week to week loss slows down. Keep sticking to your plan and doing exactly what you're doing and you absolutely will see the scale move again. And congrats, 90lbs is amazing!

I’m almost 6 months post-op and lost over 90lbs. I haven’t had any major stalls in my weight loss but I just weighed myself and saw I gained 3lbs. Is this normal? I’ve been following everything I need to so I’m confused

I understand you have to do what you have to do. I didn’t have 25k laying around either. Believe it or not. Lol!!!! I only had to be on the clear liquid diet for 2 days. The day before the surgery. No food or drink the day of the surgery. Clear liquid the day after surgery. I started my full liquid diet when I got home. Week 1 - full liquid Week 2-3 - pureed (protein shake for at least one meal or snack) Week 4 - soft foods (1 Protein Shake per day) This is for RYN. Every surgery is different though. Each center has their own post-op instructions. I can share mine with you if you would like. It gives tips on what to and not to eat. Even warns against raw fruit and veggies for a specific time. Not at all bashing your decision. I’m sorry if it came off that way. I just know my surgery center is AMAZING. I didn’t want people to get the impression that their aren’t good centers in the US. You got to do what you got to do. Just pointing out the difference in patient preparation and post op care. I guess it’s unfair for me to just say abroad. There are people in the US who still don’t get the type of prep and post op care that I received. My surgery was done through the #1 hospital in my state. I went through my insurance. I barely made the cut, but I made it. I’m 5’6” and was 276 pounds. I had Aetna and I found one of their “Centers of Excellence.” Thus why my surgery was through the #1 hospital in my state. I have spoken to other people who have had the surgery in the US and they didn’t receive the type of preparation and care that I receive. So I guess it all depends on where you go. US or abroad. There are some amazing hospitals in the US just takes some researching. I’m glad you had a good outcome overall. Now that I think about it obesity isn’t as big as a problem in other countries as it is in America. There’s no doubt that their surgical skills are superior, but the challenge really begins post op. It’s good there are forums, support groups, and good old google, so you can get more information. Sending love and blessings your way. And yes, please keep us updated. 💛💛💛💛 💛💛💛💛

Are you able to contact your team? It seems like week three when you are on full liquids you could have protein shakes and add protein powder to your soup. I know nothing about israel but maybe protein products aren’t so easily available there so They don’t put them on the list but maybe they would still be okay for you to consume??

I am not joining WW waist of my $. I am an emotional eater which is never really addressed when having WLS. Overeaters anonymous is helping me change my mindset, it’s free and it’s working. You can attend on zoom and there are meetings 24/7/365. Best thing I ever did. Was sleeved in 2018. And after 4 months my hunger came back. Only list 80 lbs from the 165 my dr thought I would. So his disappointment lead to mine as well. I just joined OA and it’s not a weight loss club it deals with reasons why we eat overeat etc… free and best thing I ever done. They have group meetings for Bariatric people a few days a week but I attend a meeting every day. It’s amazing how better I feel about myself, less shame, less guilt and the scale is starting to move slowly but it is moving. In the right direction. If you feel you have mind work to do , or are an emotional eater try overeaters anonymous. It’s world wide

Thank you all for the thought out replies, I truly appreciate it. I understand that I shouldn't have taken the cheap route, but I didn't have 25k laying around to get the surgery done in the U.S. With that said, I talked to a few friends who used the same surgeon within the last year or so and they all said great things about him and they averaged close to 1 pounds lost per day for the first 60 days. That definitely was what lured me in since I've been trying to lose weight for almost a decade now and I always rebound. For the record, I don't have heartburn. He just prescribed it to me "in case" I get heartburn in the morning or at night. It's just a preventative. My second phase is week 3 and 4, and it involves a "Full fluid" diet; basically a clear liquid diet but I do get to have some other things like sugar substitutes, fat free yoghurt, fat free custard, and fat free creamy soups (no chunks). I also got a visit from him and the nutritionist post-op where they explained what kind of lifestyle changes I have to make now that it's done (chewing a lot, exercice more regularly, portion control, etc.) so it's not like they're completely irresponsible; it's just that they don't see it as a major op and told me that as long as I don't cheat and follow through with all phases, I would be good. It's easy for us Americans to judge their actions, but at the end of the day I did it in a country where the medical field is more advanced than what we have and I truly believe that we make it difficult because insurance companies wanna bill you the most for everything and obesity + overconsumption is seen as benefitial to the economy. Pureed food is for week 5 and 6. This is where I get to have some protein, 45-50grams a day split up between 6 small meals(1 boiled egg, 1 cup of fat free milk, 30grams of soft cheese or low fat cheese, 1 can of tuna in water drained). Weeks 7 and 8 is soft foods and then after 2 months its solid foods but maximum of 8 spoonfuls per meal. I guess I should just go ahead and say that I did it in Israel, so if you have any doubts on the quality of healthcare over there; know that it's in the top 10 whereas the US is in the bottom 48. I hope this works out well, will keep you updated! Sent from my SM-N970U using BariatricPal mobile app

My sleeve date is Dec 21st! I’ve been reading blogs and watching vlogs of other peoples bariatric sleeve journey. They’ve been quite informative about the struggles of the first couples of weeks and the successes. I’m excited to learn new ways of eating as my mindset about food is already changing.

Smoking hinders your healing. Don’t know if that’s specifically tobacco or if it includes pot, etc. too. Better to ask & avoid it for a few weeks then do it & extend or compromise your healing.

I had reflux before my sleeve surgery but because it was not frequent, I managed it mostly with diet & only took an esomeprazole occasionally. I still have reflux but it manifests differently now (less severe hiccups no bad taste in my mouth). I do take esomeprazole every day now & it manages the burning for most of the day (get some late at night fir a couple of hours). My understanding was that heartburn alone is mild & can be managed a lot with diet. Reflux is worse but again diet can play a big role in easing symptoms but gerd is more severe & generally needs regular meds to help manage it. If you have gerd sleeve is not your best bet. As everyone above has said, protein is essential to a healthy body. It will aid your healing after surgery. It’s used as building blocks in our bodies (bones, muscles, etc.) contributes to hormone & enzyme production & is a source of energy. it does seem odd that your surgeon doesn’t require the consumption of protein post surgery. My surgeon was okay if I didn’t met my 60g a day protein goal to begin as long as I was working towards it & I’m glad as I physically unable to eat (drink) more than I was. It easy easier when I got to purées & soft foods (weeks 3 on). It would be worth a conversation with your surgeon as to why he’s a no protein advocate from early on post surgery & why he pushes fruit juices (even diluted).

I did not drink a single protein shake because they were all so disgusting! At my 2 week follow up, my surgeon told me that he didn’t want me drinking protein shakes, which was a weight lifted. He said as long as I was staying hydrated he was happy. I was on clear liquids for 3 days, full liquids one week, puréed one week, soft one week, and normal diet after that.