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I knew my band was slipping, but I had no insurance coverage to remove it, so I had to wait until I had a major slip and was admitted to the emergency room (I was vomiting small amounts of blood). I had kind of alerted my doctor to this money problem in the first place, and they said if I did go to an emergency room, they told me which hospital they practiced at so they could be the ones to remove it. My surgery was quick, I think less than an hour. I actually drove myself to the hospital on a Thursday after school, had the surgery on Friday, and was back at work on Monday. I stayed overnight one night and actually drove my self home the next day. I did not have any insurance coverage for gastric weight loss procedures at that time, but because it was an emergency situation, there were parts of my bill that were paid by insurance. I think I ended up still paying about $6,000 out of pocket, but it would have been considerably more if I had scheduled the surgery through my original surgeons. Also I would have had to pay an advance, which I was unable to do at the time. Obviously when it was an emergency surgery, I was able to do a payment plan and pay it off over a few years. I felt immediately better after surgery, and I didn't have any pain. It took a few months before my stomach seemed to have less swelling. It was such a relief.

So I initially went in to start my bariatrics process at the hospital in February of 2020. They estimated the time was 6-8 months start to finish (surgery). This was right before the pandemic hit. Now being in Canada by March everything was starting to shut down. Panic was in motion and my initial consultation in Februarg followed by a group orientation in late February was all I had got to do in person. The next appointment I had wasn't until July! Like you it was on zoom. That I believe was a consult with the social worker. Basically someone who talked to me and asked me a bunch of mental health questions. Mostly to see if I was of sound mind, not super depressed or suicidal and if I was mentally prepared to go forward with surgery. She had one follow up over the phone a month later then signed off on her end. Next was the dietician who did what dieticians do, ran me through a PowerPoint presentation about the 3 food groups. I was given a little homework to do over the next 6 weeks. I had to fill dietary sheets saying how much I drank that day, what I had for breakfast, lunch and dinner plus snacks. Times and a note about what type of food that was (ie protein, carb, vegetable). Just basically making sure I understood food groups. Once submitted she reviewed them and another couple weeks later we went over it on the phone. She made some corrections, went over food groups AGAIN.. and gave some suggestions on what I could have to balance a meal. She discussed briefly the phase 1 pre-op diet, phase 2 liquid diet and phase 3 pureed diet. Gave suggestions and ideas about what to eat, to avoid etc. Nothing you can't find online with a little research. Finally she signed off. Then the 2nd wave hit in November and everything shut down again. Fast forward I finally did my second doctor consult in January of 2021 and he reviewed the dieticians notes and social workers and then signed off. Throughout this entire now year that had gone by I was only ever initially weighed in and measured the first month. Blood work done that first month. A year had past and no updates to either were requested. More time goes by and I did a surgeon zoom meeting and he just asked me basic questions. I think the most in depth thing he asked for was to visibly see my stomach and move my head around so he could see my neck function. Then I had a brief phone call with pre-op questions. Finally a surgery date in May was issued. Again a third wave hit and that was cancelled. Finally I had my surgery July 23rd 2021.. nearly a year and a half after starting the process. That's socialist free health care for you though.. so I guess I can't complain. Anyways that's the process I went through and I too was concerned at no point they asked for updated blood work or weigh ins. There was no real monitoring of diet aside from just telling the dietician I understood and showing her a brief demonstration. Throughout that year and a half I fell off the advised diet a bunch of times. I was very dedicated at first, then the delays discouraged me. The additional delays and run around and feeling like this is simply never going to happen really made me fall off. By the time my May surgery date came around I was eating like I ate before, I kind of just didn't care any more. I was also drinking a lot of calories. At some point I fell off the diet drinks and went back to regular and with no bloodwork monitoring or being held accountable, I drank myself into diabetes type 2. Which was found a 3 weeks before surgery when I was checked for the first time ever at a clinic for my blood sugar, which was a 26.8 on the meter. My own fault entirely, but had they done more in person check ups and diagnostics they might've noticed I wasn't losing weight, my sugar levels were getting high. Maybe steps could have been made to help me be accountable and stay on track. After all I'm an addict to food and flavor, leaving me for a year and a half with no support to do it all on my own just didn't work out for me. So I do hope your process goes faster and smoother than mine. But you are not wrong in being concerned by the lack of in-person check ups. Do yourself a favor and speak up and don't just stay silent like I did.

I think there is another secret reason they require it: The pre-op weight loss requirements in general were the only diet I have ever stuck to in the past because I knew that surgery could be canceled if I didn't follow it. That is a great way to basically force you to start losing weight earlier, and to get you to your goal more quickly. They can hold that over your head in order to jumpstart your weight loss before, along with all of the other benefits like the shrunken liver etc.

My thought would be your old scale was out too. The old rotary type scales do become less accurate over time - dust, moisture, etc. But if you weigh 1.8lbs more now you likely weighed 1.8lbs when you began so you’ve still lost the same amount of weight. That’s still a win in my books. 🙂 You’ve done fantastically - congrats.

Curious how everyone is doing? Do you have any new challenges or surprises? Unexpected hobbies or loves? I’m 5’3” and 130lbs. My weight loss has just started to taper off, which is good, because there are days I feel I look sick (not skinny sick, but like sunken in cheeks and that nonsense). I lost 4 lbs this month. Still eating a half cup of food per meal, but starting to test out a tablespoon more, as I am supposed to be at 1 cup in October and still get really sick feeling any time I eat too much or too fast. Otherwise feeling great! Loving wearing a swimsuit even with my saggy thighs and bum lol! Struggling with night time hunger on days I don’t get my water in at work. I think part of that is just needing to find ways to get in more calories, and part is that I will stay up super late to finish getting in all my liquids. hope to hear from you all!

My doctor has never mentioned a goal weight at all. And I appreciate that. I probably wouldn't listen to him anyway, because I know where I like my body to be. My guess is they are kind of just eyeballing it based on the hundreds or thousands of other patients they've had in the past. You definitely know your own body the best, though, so make your own goal your primary focus.

So I've tried some rigorous diets in the past. My weight has fluctuated around 450-470 for years. Twice I've got down to 320-330lbs. Both times I basically did a self induced gastric bypass diet (not a healthy one). But basically liquids, very very little solids and a lack of nutrients. The first time I lost 120lbs in the first 6 months. I didn't step on a scale once while doing it, I just noticed my pants getting bigger. In fact I had no idea how much weight I had lost, the day I decided to check I expected to be 30-40lbs down. When I seen over a hundred pounds gone I was baffled, I thought the scale was broken. That made the next couple months very easy to continue and motivate myself to keep going. Now, again not promoting my diet of choice, it was very unhealthy. I used to joke about it being my cigarette and water diet because I would eat soo little. So of course when I bottomed out at 320lbs and I was in the gym 5 days a week and trying to eat a 1200 calorie dietician approved diet. I was super frustrated each week when I weighed and wasn't losing any weight. Two months went by and i hit 315lbs in the morning but by evening I was back up to 320-323lbs. A cycle of endless repeat and no reward. It was probably caused by the muscle mass I lost along with the weight from not eating barely any nutrients or protein throughout the first few months. Despite exercising and trying to regain muscle even at 1200 calories a day I was eating more than my body was burning off. Eventually I got frustrated and fell off and bounced back up to 360lbs. I was proud I kept a lot of the weight off for a good two years but I eventually went back up to 450lbs. I won't go into the second time because it was a repeat of a lot of the mistakes I made the first time. The same end result and the same discouragement that brought me back up to 470lbs. That is why I decided to go for bariatrics. Because I could lose the weight myself but I couldn't do it healthily, steadily and keep it off. Obviously the older I get the harder it gets to put your body through hell to try and be skinny. I can't speak from post-op surgery because I'm only 1 wrek post-op. But the reasoning for my rant was to say. Both times I found the best strategy was to not weigh myself regularly. It's hard not to want to see the results, but I found discouragement was the worst remedy for trying to keep going. Starving yourself for a week or two and seeing 1lb or less just makes you feel like this isn't worth it. This is pointless or hopeless. Something isn't right. What am I doing wrong? I found the best result was when I just set my mind to what I needed to do and didn't worry about what the scale said. While I fully intend and encourage you and myself to do things healthy and not try to cheat to success. I do not plan to step on a scale unless my doctors office really needs me to, and I might even then ask not to know the results. At least for the first few months. This battle is hard enough without the constant self doubt and feelings of failure. I wish you all the best!

Had my surgery on July 23rd. I have to say I was not prepared for what I woke up to. I had a back surgery a couple years ago and while the pain prior to surgery was insane, after surgery I don't remember any pain at all. Just weakness in my legs and core, difficulty sitting up etc. When I woke up from gastric bypass in recovery I was in soo much pain they literally gave me a shot of ketamine and it felt like I went under anesthesia all over again lol. After that I was in the hospital for 3 days and I'd say the first 48 hours were horrible. I was on hydromorph for pain, Tylenol 6 and gravol. I slept through most of it, which is how I preferred to deal with it. I started passing gas little by little the first and second day. I found asking for a hot blanket to put across my stomach helped a lot with the abdomen pains. I didn't have much interest at all in food or water. I mixed little 30ml cups of apple juice or cranberry juice with 50% water here and there. Ate ice chips when I was thirsty. I think I had maybe one or two mouthfuls of soup the entire time I was there and I had one thing of sugar free jello going the entire stay. That's how little I ate or wanted to eat. By the last day, coming home, I was only a little sore, it seemed to have gone down a lot. By the time I was home for a day I stopped taking pain meds all together, no more gravol either. After reading through some of these I have to say I feel fortunate my body is dealing with the changes so well. I haven't found I'm in any discomfort, no nausea, bowel movements are less frequent than before but still normal. Sitting up, laying down and bending are definitely done at a slower pace but I haven't needed a hand since day 3. Even my 5 small incisions seem to be healing very well and aren't bothering me at all. The diet on the other hand and fighting myself from doing something stupid that will cause problems, that's another story. This has definitely been an experience and I'm taking things slow. Trying to research and find answers before approaching new foods. My girlfriend says I've lost a lot of weight since pre-op diet. I haven't weighed in or measured myself so it could just be inches shredding off. But it's nice to know it's already noticeable. I hope I'll have the success they say of losing 50% or more of body fat. Before surgery I was 470lbs and the lowest I've ever reached through diet and exercise is 320. So I'm really really hoping to see 265-285. That would make this whole hell of a process worth it in my eyes.

How does the team determine what your goal weight is? I get confused silence when I ask. I ask because my surgeon, who had the most supportive conversation about BMI I've ever had with me, says I should be aiming for 250-275 lbs. I am six feet tall and currently weigh 370. But it was a Zoom call and he never even saw me other than from the chest up. I know everyone says they're big-framed, but in my case it does seem to be true. I have had DXA scans done and, depending where I am in a training cycle (I was a strongman and now am trying to do more functional stuff), I may have anywhere from 205 to 218 lbs. of lean body mass. So 275 lbs. would be somewhere between 20-25% body fat, which seems a little bit high for a goal weight. 250 lbs. would be 13-18%, which seems about right. I know I will lose some muscle while I can't train, and hopefully will be able to get it back. Or do they just use the bl00dy BMI chart? Just wondering, because to be "successful", you're supposed to lose 60-70% of your "excess weight".

Some people say you can’t break a stall. I know my first stall (almost three weeks) broke after I started resistance band workouts but it may be a coincidence. I read that we lose muscle mass when losing weight so keeping up the protein and building muscle helps your body ultimately burn more calories. good luck!

Getting your hydration is very important. I think alot of people recommend getting 4 oz every 15 minutes. But however to can do it is fine as long as it doesn't cause discomfort. I sip all day long! I just started puree foods and have kept it pretty simple. Alot of people talk about the ricotta bake. I haven't tried it becuz my store was out of ricotta but I plan to try it. So far I have has cottage cheese with pureed fruit, refried beans and pureed salsa chicken, tonight I made shrimp scampi and pureed the shrimp and had mashed potatoes. I need to try some veggies next. I chose just a few foods to start and plan to add a different one every few days as tolerated. Mu stomach stayed swollen for quite a few days even though I was losing weight. I amon Day 14 and it seems to be pretty normal now. I hope your recovery is a smooth one and look forward to hearing updates on your progress.

Thank you @ClarkKent for the support. My surgery weight was 220lbs.

Can you calibrate the scale? Use something of known weight (like a 5lb of flour) and weigh it. Then either adjust your scale, or adjust your weight mentally.

Did you lose anything in the pre-op liquid diet? I lost about 15 and then like 10 the first week. After that it was 2 weeks before I lost anything. I called crying. They told me to just trust my body because it had just went through trauma. It is like what in the world did you just do to me?!? It will come off! Stay off google and don’t compare to other people. Stress can affect weight loss too. It gets easier!

So I thought I would upgrade my scale - got a Withings smart scale to be able to track my weight/muscle mass/water weight, etc. I hopped on my old scale first and then the new one right after (I only weigh once a week to avoid any mind games) - and the new one is 1.8 lbs higher than the old (on the same flooring and all). I know it’s not a true “gain”, but especially at this point, 1.8 lbs is a lot and it’s depressing to see in Baritastic app that my weight went up a little. I’m so close to my initial goal (which I am thinking of adjusting down another 10 lbs) so it’s really tough. I know, it’s a one time uptick but still, I haven’t had it go in the wrong direction. I’m trying to console myself with the fact that I lost another 4 inches overall from last month’s measurements, but I still hate seeing that gain in the app. I try to keep telling myself all the right things - your weight can fluctuate, it’s not a real gain, etc., but needed to vent and I have no one to vent to here, other than my puppies, and they don’t care, lol.

Hi Rachel! I wish you all the best! I don't fit your criteria exactly but I'm same height+ starting weight. I hear they are very good in Mexico. I would advise you not to go on too many websites because I did that a couple of years ago and freaked myself out. The surgery is not painful. I only needed Tylenol the day after. The hardest part for me was week 3 & 4 with the hunger pains that were very real for me. But you will get through it. You will be so happy once you see the difference in your life. Congratulations!

Hi Everyone! I was hoping I could get some guidance! I feel like ever since I've been told that I can eat soft foods my weight has stayed the same!! My surgery was on July 14th and 1 week later my dr approved me to start soft foods since I was recovering well. Now, one week later I got on the scale only to see that my weight is the exact same!! Now, i've already been told about the dreaded 3-week stall but mine is happening at 2 weekss 😭 Nothing has changed besides eating soft foods and usually, I can only squeeze in dinner. For 2 weeks post op, my eating schedule has been AM Protein shake which takes hours for me to finish. Water Gatorade W/ Protein Water or Crystal light with unflavored protein water. Dinner, eating my protein first then vegetables, and usually ONLY last a couple of bites because I'm not hungry, to begin with. Any suggestions as to what could be going on?

Here is me just shy of my heaviest of 365 lbs. I started my Weight loss journey June 2020. I lost about 35 pre surgery which was January 4, 2021. I also have had to have a revision due to a perforated ulcer mid July. I am now down a total of 120 lbs. it’s amazing the difference I feel. My 5 year old can actually sit in my lap… because I have one now! I can see my feet when I weigh myself. I don’t have to lean against a wall to wipe after using the bathroom, or to clean myself in the shower. I can buckle my seatbelt with out getting out of breath. I now consider myself ‘normal’ fat because I actually blend in with a crowd rather than standing out as the largest in a room! I’m sure I could go on but I am so glad I did this!

Congratulations, so exciting having a date to look forward to. I am 5ft 3 and around 205 lbs although I’ve been waving off so many foods this past few weeks I suspect my weight has creeped up.. my gastric sleeve is on 4 sept in the U.K. (also self funded). I’ve started nesting - ( buying lots of after surgery stuff, vitamins, proteins and reading a ton of stuff). Currently mentally prepping for my liver shrinkage 2 week diet in August. Can’t wait. Although it does sound like the first few weeks and month will be pretty tough.. goodluck with everything xx

I haven't had any type of surgery. I am still deciding between ESG or LSG but was on Saxenda 2.4. Unfortunately, I didn't see much weight loss (but I can also admit I didn't work as hard as I should). Anyways, the doctor just recently put me .25 of Wegovy and I was wondering if anyone out there has tried it and or switched from Saxenda to Wegovy?

If you're happy with your current weight, and not simply settling... Congratulations! You're at goal! Good luck, Tek

1st of all cograts on the loss so far. 30 pounds that quick is pretty remarkable. I am 6 weeks out and I am only down a little over 30 since surgery. What was your suegery weight. 2nd I had this conversation with my doc Tuesday. Her advice was focus on non scale victories and that everyone will have stalls. She advised me not to weigh everyday or I would not focus on my weight loss with the correct mindframe.

I started feeling fine when I hit around 160, but I didn't consciously try to stop because I'd read a 10-20 lb rebound weight gain happens to most people during year 3. So I just continued with what I was doing and I eventually drifted down to 138, where my body naturally stopped. And yep - rebound happened. Up to 150 by the end of year 3 (which is perfect for me), and I thought I would end up stabilizing there - but no - I gained 10 more lbs around year 5. Trying desperately now to get back down to 150, since I felt like I looked and felt my best there. so in short, if you're sure you want to stop there, then that's totally fine, of course - but just keep in mind that a 10-20 lb rebound after hitting your low weight happens to a lot (probably most) of us. I'm glad I let myself keep going because I eventually did end up where I wanted to be (although again, I'd like to be able to get rid of the last 10 lbs that I gained!!)

Yeah, i think it varies widely among insurance providers. I didn't have a pre-op diet to adhere to other than the 2-week liquid one. Suffice it to say, I lost zero weight “pre-op”, but did lose 11lbs during the 2-week liquid one. I dunno if this strategy will dictate my long term success or failure…I guess only time will tell. P.S. I’ll be 3 years post-op in October and have been maintaining my weight pretty steadily for over 2 years.

I think you’ll find many on here who consciously stopped trying to lose weight before their initial/original goal weight. I’m 5’2” and had set a goal of 120. By the time 140-150 came around I was getting some “concerned” comments, but I personally wasn’t satisfied yet. When I hit 127, i decided to stop as *I* felt I was looking too skeletor-ish. Fast forward 2 years from that and I ended up losing a bit more anyway. Today I am 115, but I think I actually look less skeletor-ish than i did at 127 immediately after weight loss phase (the fam agrees). I think it’s because weight may have shifted around a tad, and because carbs are a part of my regular diet. 🤷🏻‍♀️