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I had the surgery gastric sleeve a few months ago. My weight has stalled at 45-50 lbs lost. I understand your frustration. I have a issue getting all the protein. When I do consistently get all the protein 60grams a day thats when I start losing. Maybe that can help you too. I don’t lose weight when I am not getting the protein.

Thanks. It's surreal sometimes to realize that I have lost over 200 pounds. Two hundred pounds! And yet I still feel like the same old Big Sue a lot of the time. TBH, I've been struggling a lot in many aspects of my life, so I'm not in a great place to be offering encouraging words to other WLS patients right now. I do still look at new posts, though, and I have to admire you for sticking around after all these years to educate newbies on things like the three week stall.

Hey July buddies! how are we all. So Im coming to the realisation that my body is starting to plateau! For the first time. Yes I’ve been very lucky I’ve lost weight every week since surgery, sometimes 1lb, sometimes 5lb. however the last 3 weeks I’ve been sitting between 149-147lbs. It goes up and down. Sometimes daily! i started at 210. So I’m really happy with what Ive achieved!l so far! However I kinda wanted to be around the 138 mark as a overall target. my BMI is now in the green for ‘normal’ does this mean I’ve hit my end goal? Is my body telling me that’s it now? i mean I can’t complain I’ve gone from a UK18-20 to a UK8-10! but I’m still a little disappointed. either that or I need to just bide my time and wait. I’m hitting about 1200 calories on a good day - 600 on restricted days. But have notice the last few weeks I can eat a little more per portion. perhaps I need to exercise more.. if im honest I don’t do much… im not good at exercise 🤦🏻‍♀️ just leaving this here as I complain to my family and friends and they think I’m being weird and just thought you guys would understand where I’m coming from. xxx

Has anyone experienced any stomach contractions/spasms after their surgery? I’m 3 weeks post op DS and experiencing some spasms.

Hey! I’ve seen it’s been a few years now. Have your gas and stool smell subsided? I had DS 3 weeks ago and I can’t stand the smell never mind my family!

Hey! I’ve seen it’s been a few years now. Have your gas and stool smell subsided? I had DS 3 weeks ago and I can’t stand the smell never mind my family!

My surgery date is Dec 3rd. It's soooo close. Liquid diet for 2 weeks. Not loving it. I'm having the sleeve + single switch + hiatal hernia repair. EEEEEK. I should be an old hand at surgery these days. A loooooong time ago - I lost 380lbs w/diet and exercise. I was staying steady at 140-150lbs. So I had a tummy tuck & arm flap removal (Brachioplasty). Then I started yo-yo'ing and then I lost my Mom to covid last December. I've gained soooo much since then. My Mom was in the hospital - just days before we lost her - submitting my info to Blossom Bariatrics in Vegas for gastric sleeve. She wanted me to do this because she knew I was happier and healthier when I was thin. So here I am. Because she was right. I've also had my gallbladder removed, my right hip was replaced 4 years ago. My left hip was replaced 2 years ago. So I shouldn't be worried about this. But, eeeeeek. I'm not a fan of needles, etc. I just hope I can be discharged from the hospital in one day. Also, I'm in Raleigh, NC.

I’m sorry you feel this was the worst decision for you & you’re angry. And it doesn’t work for absolutely everyone - sometimes for genetic or physiological reasons, sometimes for psychological reasons. But if you can honestly look in the mirror & say yes I’m making changes to what I eat, I’m choosing low fat, low sugar & low carb foods, I’m eating differently to how I ate before, I’m eating smaller portions, I’m following my surgeon’s plan & my dietician’s recommendations, maybe you are one of the unlucky few for which surgery doesn’t work. The average weight loss after bariatric surgery at about the 5yr point is around 65% of the weight you had to lose to put you in the healthy bmi range. Some lose more. Some lose less. Complacency, lifestyle, health issues, age, gender, genetics, personal choice, etc. all play a part in how much you will lose & then the weight at which you happily maintain. So odds are you won’t lose & keep off all the weight you need (or want) to lose in the long term but odds are you will weigh less than you do when you started. If you buy a gym membership & never go, you won’t get any healthier, or stronger or fitter. Weight loss surgery is the same. If you don’t take advantage of the tool nothing changes. The amount of success you have is directly in proportion to the amount of effort you put in to making the long term changes. Like most (all) of us I’ve lost & regained hundreds of pounds over the years. Tried every diet, & exercise program. This time, I took advantage of the benefits the surgery afforded me in the beginning. I used the tool. I did a lot of research & changed how & what I ate. Put new habits into place. Came to understand why I was eating & worked out how I could manage those drives. I did & continue to do the work. If I didn’t consciously make those changes & continue to work at it every day, I’d be very near my highest weight again. That’s what always happened in the past: I dieted, lost weight, then would return to my old eating habits & food choices & would start to regain within days. I ate little to begin after my surgery: less than 300 calories. I was healing (all those sutures & staples holding my tummy together) plus no appetite & no real interest in food. But my calories increased as did my portion sizes over the weeks & months. I eat about 1300 calories to maintain but I’m shorter than you, likely older than you, not very active, female & have a small frame. But before surgery I could barely maintain my obese weight eating 1300 or fewer calories a day & I regularly skipped meals for decades. My metabolism was shot. I eat regularly now, eat more nutritionally dense food & eat more often then I’ve ever done before. I haven’t been this weight since I was 12 yrs old. I feel great.

I am on day 5 of 30 and I really do not think I can do this all month. I see most so it for 2 weeks - anyone else do it for 30 days?

UPDATE: Well, 11-25 was 1 month since I last had a loss on the scale. Inches didn't budge last month either. Only 1.75 inches total for the month. Not sure what the heck is going on but I'm not happy about it. Has anyone stalled this long? Don't know what to do. I even ate off plan several times to try and force a loss like I've heard others doing and that didn't work. My weight on Oct 25th was 241.2 and I have been weighing in between 246 and 249 on the regular since! So discouraging. Been going to the bathroom pretty normally too. But as a just in case I did take some laxatives for a few days and got things moving along but still, the lowest I got down to was 245. Now it's doing the 246 to 249 again. Sigh

Hi LadyH, and fellow teacher. You won’t feel this uncomfortable afterwards. I did teach 5th grade two weeks after surgery. I forgot to eat. I quickly figured out to sip protein shakes that first week back while I was teaching to keep my energy up. I took short walks up and down my street. Tomorrow will be the worst part. Try drinking some form of protein all day at work. My thoughts will be with you to keep calm and carry on.-Meg

I drink so much water I sometimes flush out electrolytes. Gatorade zero is my friend, lol. I also have had low B12 levels and that is a great place to look. I had had long Covid that sapped my energy but the vaccine thankfully fixed it. I stayed calm and played detective with my body. Some antihistamines turn my mind to mush, and others keep me sharp. Try only one new thing for a week. Keep a record of it to track what works and what doesn’t. I take the New York Times weekly quiz to also test my level of memory and compare results with what I’ve changed. You can be your own scientist too!

What she said ^^^^^. Also, I do work hard to count my protein and avoid the pitfalls, but my work shows up on my body. Before surgery I did the work and half a pound would be the loss. After surgery AND weight loss work, I see a solid 2-4 lbs difference per week. Yeah, I know next year I’ll be closer to goal and half a pound loss will sound great, but it’s nice taking the down elevator right now. The physical stomach restriction will make the difference in maintenance too!

I'm in the same boat. My surgery was 9/28/21 and I lost 30 lbs very quickly, in the first 2 weeks or so. Then I stalled for almost 3 weeks. I've just recently started losing again, at a much slower pace, about 3-5 lbs. per week. Now at 9 weeks I am right about 45 lbs. down. Just keep at it... every little bit of progress is still progress and it will only get better. Best of luck to you!

Hi ocdennise I recently had sleeve to bypass revising In August 23rd 2021 so I'm twelve week out and lost 45lbs and feel really good sorry to hear your troubles and cancer hope your feeling well I did consider not having the surgery but had it done in the end good luck with your choices hope it goes well for you

I was back in the gym doing cardio only (and things involving nothing heavier than a 15-lb. training bar) at 2 weeks post op. At 6 weeks post-op I was allowed to resume all normal activities. The first two weeks are truly the hardest. After that it's much easier. And honestly, you'll be so shocked at the scale moving steadily downward that you'll be re-inspired.

You may be one of the unlucky ones whose hunger doesn't go away with surgery. And I will say that your surgeon's idea that you must stay on 800 cal a day to lose weight flies in the face of scienc. Stand back, I'm going to use MATH! If you were maintaining your (heavy) weight by eating, say, 3500 calories a day, then that's your maintenance for that weight. So now, if you are eating 800 calories, you are in a deficit of 2700 calories a day, which means you'd lose three quarters of a pound per day on average. If you're eating 1200 calories, you're in a deficit of 2300 calories a day, which means you'd lose two thirds of a pound per day on average. Yes, different macros (protein, carbs, fat, alcohol) do work differently in your body, but ultimately your body is bound, like everyone's, to the calories in-calories out equation. I suspect what happened to you is twofold: 1. You're in a lengthy stall (search up "three-week stall", it happens to almost all of us, it's incredibly frustrating, it's not always at 3 weeks, and it can last a month for some people). It's because your body has depleted its glycogen and is probably somewhat dehydrated (it's hard to drink enough right after surgery), and your fluid balance is adjusting itself. 2. You're frustrated and not tracking what you eat. Unfortunately, this is something that has to be done. You can't fix your diet if you don't know what your diet is. And that means, at least for me, pre-prepping meals and weighing things out. I just pop a tray in the microwave a few times a day and have it all specced out. I use MyMacros+ for tracking. One of the big culprits is cooking oil/fat. How many people measure the oil they put in a pan to cook their, say, chicken breast? Nobody except bariatric patients—everyone else just sploops some oil in a pan until it looks right. I actually have a bar jigger on the counter so I can measure in 1/2 ounces and full ounces. Track your food. Literally track your food. If you find you're not losing weight on 800 cal a day, spend a week eating 1000 cal a day to see if it'll shock your system. I am at about 1400-1500 cal a day a little short of three months post-op, because I work physical work and am very active (gym, running, hiking, etc.) and need the calories to be able to function. But I still track each and every day. The surgery isn't bullshit. If it were possible to just severely restrict calories without it, nobody would get the surgery. But there are thousands of people here, myself included, who found success with the surgery that wouldn't have been possible without it.

That’s weird that you already had your pre-op appointment a month ago but no surgery date scheduled. Most of the time the surgery date gets scheduled first then the pre-op appointment gets scheduled. I knew when my surgery date 4 months prior which was scheduled on 11/01/2021. The end of September I was given my pre-op appointment 2 weeks before my surgery date. My pre-op and surgery appointments were done by the scheduling department at the hospital I was having my surgery done. What’s concerning is that is you stated your doctor is so busy. So if he is so busy did his office schedule your pre-op appointment or did the hospital? Can you call your doctor’s office and talk with one of the staff about your surgery to see what is happening. You really need to start getting some answers of when your surgery is happening. Hang in there.

strictures, when they happen, are almost always during the first three months post-surgery - although I agree I'd probably let my clinic know what's going on just in case (they CAN happen later, but it's pretty rare - and you really can't keep anything down at all - not just meats (I had two of them - I couldn't even keep fluids down after about a week))

Husky mama mentioned using the Baritastic app. I’ve been using this app since I started the required weight loss program prior to my surgery. BTW my gastric sleeve surgery was 11/01/21. I love using this app. I found out there is a timer. My nutritionist suggested that when eating there should be at least 20 seconds between each bite. That means put your fork down and chew your bites thoroughly then swallow. There are exceptions to the rule with foods such as scrambled eggs, yogurt etc. With that said this will help slow down your eating. The question is are you eating too fast and finishing your meals in less than 20 to 30 minutes. If you have a scale go back and start weighing your food again. Finally if your weighing yourself everyday day you’re not going to see changes. Pick a specific day and time to weigh yourself. Then weigh yourself once a week on the that specific day you chose and you may see some progress. I wish you the best and please don’t give up. You’ve gotten a lot of good advice and I hope you will read them use these to help you succeed with your weight loss. Keep us updated on your progress as all of us want to continue to support you. 🙏🙏🙏

I was on the milk diet 3 pints of semi skimmed milk and no added sugar 2/50 gram post of yoghurt juice and tea and coffee for 2 weeks but I was ok on it didn't feel hungry and still don't 12 week out of surgery and 45ls down

I had a revision on 11/5 due to GERD and regain due to my thyroid. I noticed the difference immediately. However the past few days I noticed slight discomfort but nothing like before. I’m a little concerned because it’s been 3 weeks and I’m only down 13 pounds.

I was cleared after a week to go to soft including chicken. The only things I didnt get sick on were the protein pretty much in the beginning. I just was careful on amounts and still am because I would get so ill. GL

Protein shakes and powders for protein goals. There are MANY brands, so experiment. Drink 3-4 a day or as your clinician prescribed. Sugar-free popsicles and sugar-free jello for treats. Broth for variety and flavor. Protein water if you need additional protein. Water, water, water. Drink 64 oz a day or more. You can add flavor packets to your water, such as Snapple, Wylers, Crush, Hawaiian Punch, Crystal Light. (I buy them at the dollar store.) The first week is the hardest because you are feeling withdrawal symptoms. The second week is easier.