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Hi- I had my ESG done around the same date as you and hoping to hear an update. I live in San Diego so opted to have it done in Mexico. But I’m wondering if that was the wrong choice. I feel very little restriction 6 weeks out. I can eat a significant amount of food before a sudden full feeling comes on. I have no issues meeting protein or water goals. I can comfortably drink a protein shake in a minute.. I’ve had 10lbs weight loss and no weight loss since starting solid foods.

I've done the same thing, not chewing enough or I've simply just took one bite too many. Chicken seems to be the only thing I can't eat much of. Two maybe 3 ounces at most. But, then I'm too full to eat any kind of veggies with it. This will be my 7th week post op. Overall I've lost 22 lbs. since the surgery, for nearly two weeks my weight didn't move. It's discouraging for sure. But it doesn't last. Even when you don't lose weight, you're probably losing inches.

Congratulations to you, on your upcoming weight loss surgery.

I am so glad that you are still reaching out to your team and posting here. I won’t get too far into my story but because of “confusion,” about my mental health, interactions with meds and embarrassment the help I got from my team was not working for me and I gave up. I continued to gain and now I am back here facing revision weighing a little more than when I started this journey. People here are very helpful and understanding but your team should be giving you answers too. Sounds like they have a plan for the next step if need be and that’s great. if all else fails, The phentermine is the one medication that I could try which did work amazing during the day for me but I suffer from insomnia and when I can’t sleep I eat. So, the meds worked wonderfully during the day but at night, with my larger sleeve and being awake so many times, I was able to consume too much for the whole day and I still gained. But I can see how if you sleep throughout the night it really could work. I didn’t get to try mountjourno or any of the other brands it’s sold under because of financial reasons but if you can swing it, I have heard AMAZING things about that medicine too (there are some side effects for some people to consider). People claim they think they must know how skinny brains feel after taking it. They just don’t ever have to think or worry about food. One lady has to set alarms if she is busy to remind herself to eat something. Another drawback is how long you have to take it. Some say when you go off it you start to gain. They are doing studies now where they are trying to work out a maintenance dose that may be less than the regular dosage though. There are also places that are starting to “compound” it at compounding pharmacies. I wouldn’t necessarily trust the stuff from random sites online but my PCP was telling me they were working on getting it in their office and it is less than half the normal cost that way. I don’t know much about the other weight loss drug options because I couldn’t take them with my bipolar meds Interestingly, i just seen an ABC special Oprah did on weight loss injections the other night. (Ironically it was the day I went back to see my surgeon so I thought maybe it was meant to be which is why I inquired about them with my PCP). I’m really hoping that reached someone that has the power to change how accessible these meds are. I asked my pcp and she said it’s probably going to take a little while like everything else and she thinks at this point I shouldn’t wait on surgery for that but if your interested keep asking questions because these things tend to just change in the middle of the night and the word takes a while to reach you if you not the one asking. Anywahs, kudos to you for not giving up. Let your team do all they can to help you and keep posting here!!. I think when I stopped that I lost all hope. I was so isolated. Surrounded by skinny family and having only one heavyset friend who is perfectly content being that way I don’t have a lot of real life people who understand me the way that this community does. I felt so ashamed and I didn’t want to drag down the vibe here with my failures. Since I have returned I have been welcomed with open arms and honestly don’t know why I ever doubted that I would be. Keep doing what your doing and you will work this out. I know it. 🤗

I get low blood sugar too when I drink enough water it’s frustrating it’s not something) I’ve had to deal with too much and it feels like I’ve just flopped from one end of the problems to the other without getting to reap the weight loss reward. Hopefully your stall breaks and that’s all it is, a stall. I recommend getting a tape measure and doing measurements of yourself at least bc I’ve been losing inches even if the scale is refusing to budge.

Kind of yes and no. I met with my surgeon team and was told try to stay around 1000-1200 calories, 130g or less of carbs, and to be at least 80g of protein. They said they don’t know why for some people the metabolism reacts differently and changes greatly with surgery while with others the metabolic response is very minimal. They said obesity is a chronic disease that the body settles into. They said that the journey though is my own and that I shouldn’t be comparing myself to the substantial weight loss others have. I think it’s really hard to not compare sometimes though because many here get the surgery and become very healthy very fast. They are planning to meet with me again in about a month and will discuss various weight loss medicine additions such as ozempic, wegovy, metformin, topiramate, phentermine, mounjaro. It could take one or a pair of these medications together to get the metabolic rate to be where it needs to be for weight loss for me.

Have you had any answers about why you’re not losing weight? I have a similar start weight and haven’t lost since two weeks post op as well. I’m nearly two months in so not as far along but I feel like I can eat more than I should be able to so I make sure to count calories but still not losing any weight

Yes! Happy to share! It's this one: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/keto-banana-muffins-recipe/ I doubled the banana flavoring emulsion (I got mine from Amazon) and I added vanilla. None of the box mixes were low carb enough for me and I used to be a chef so I have a bias towards homemade things. 😂 I can empathize with the carb cravings. When I eat carbs I crave them intensely for days afterwards. There are a lot of people who make judgments about those of us who use artificial sweeteners, and though I prefer the real thing, I simply cannot have it. My body HATES carbs, it just doesn't know what to do with them and whether it's a piece of cake or a bagel, it will bloat me and I'll want 3 times as much the next meal. It is just not worth it. And now with the surgery and my designer insides, it isn't worth the gas and such either... The only exception I seem to be able to make is a small amount of very dark chocolate. I think the reason it doesn't cause the carb cravings is because my craving for the minerals in it is stronger. LOL And even with that I can't have it two days in a row without cravings kicking in stronger... I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask those close to you to support you with limitations around what they offer you. I asked the same thing of those close to me and they were happy to do so because it gave them a tangible way to help me with my goal. We don't gain weight in isolation. Food is a social thing. We ask our social circle for support around other goals like going to school or raising our children, we should be able to ask for support with this too. It increases our chances of success!! The head game will do you in every time. Having people close to you wise to that helps tremendously in my experience... As long as they don't turn into food police. 😂

Thanks!!! I’m super curious to hear the answer to that one. I assume altering the sleeve with increase the risks and complications as well as recovery time but I think that there may be some value to it. I recall him saying your sleeve worked last time though so I may really need to stress this one. It worked because I used the advantages of less hunger hormone and acted like I was on a diet. Not because I ever felt full. I may need to be sure he understands that. Also it Seems like the percentages of weight loss I found in my research are for virgin surgeries so just doing the other part without touching the sleeve I’m guessing my weight loss will be considerably less. I’m curious what that looks like.

Thank you for sharing. The first step is usually the hardest - recognizing the wrong turns. You've done that, so congrats. Everyone going through these weight struggles is stronger than they believe they are. Sure quitting smoking can be tough - but smoking (despite what some might say 😋) isn't necessary for maintaining life, eating is. Its an ongoing daily battle to fight your mind and body programmed to eat to survive, yet everyone here, including yourself are fighting natural instincts. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just take another step, keep in mind where you went off your path and keep pushing. After all, its a struggle worth fighting - your health. You said "I am miserable. I am so depressed when I look at what I have let happen to myself" you're fighting a war against something far stronger than a human should have to fight - natures drive to survive, natures need to eat when you can in case of famine - its not an easy fight. Recognize this and be easy on yourself. Once you recognized there is a fight, fight back even if its one baby step at a time, its still a step in the right direction which you've done by contacting a bariatric surgeon and looking for a therapist. Be easy on yourself, you've got this - just stay in your fighters stance, put up your fists and tackle it! Good luck!

Okay this is long and boring at parts but here it goes. I am 3 years post sleeve and I have gained all my weight back . First of all I was on the smaller side to have the sleeve but I do still have all the same struggles and if I had waited until I was older it was just a matter of time until I was a higher bmi having the surgery. The fact that I have lost and then gained it all plus some within less than years is probably proof of that. Anyways, with the sleeve I did lose a big chunk of weight. I went from 235 to 168 which I could not have done with regular diet. But, i was always able to eat a little more than I should at every given stage and everything was easy for me. From day one I had no gas pain and water was easy to get down, then fluids and protein which were easy to keep down, I had no food intolerances and advancing through each stage. I was living my best life watching the pounds fall off but I was alway able to eat just a little more than everyone else at the same stage. Well, while the hunger hormone was gone and I was focused I was able to eat exactly what I SHOULD be eating and I measured my portions to the Amount I should be eating and I was satisfied. So lost most of the weight the dr suggested I would. i held that weight for a few months but then the hunger started creeping back and between the hunger and the extra room in the pouch I started gaining in spite of still making healthy food choices (my food was fine but my portions were too large and too frequent). Well, even though I knew I was losing control my friends and family continued to look at me as doing great..I was still on the road to getting to where I needed ti be in their eyes. I was ashamed. I was failing yet They kept complimenting me and offering me food. They were saying things like your doing so good, you can have one slice or pizza or one brownie. It won’t kill you. It’s okay that you’ve gained a couple pounds I’ve gained a couple it’s Christmas. You can lose that. Well I have since learned that no I cannot just have one of anything to do with carbs or I crave them for a week but I didn’t know that back then Anyways, was still going to my surgeon asking for help but I have bipolar disorder and the meds I take for it limit what other meds I can take so I cannot take many of the weight loss meds they had to offer. And the one I can take worked wonderfully during the day but when it wore off I ate all night Fast forward a few months and I stepped on the scale and I was back over 200. That sucked but I wasn’t giving up. went back to my surgeon asking about revision to bypass. I have heartburn gerd whatever you call it and clearly the sleeve wasn’t working so I wanted to know my options. Well let’s go back. I knew I didn’t want to have surgery if I was going to just repeat the yo-yo that had just happened so I decided I wanted two opinions this time. Well the second opinion dr had a cancellation so I seen him first. He was on board. He was going to bypass a shorter amount of bowel so i had less absorption issues and my meds Would work fine he said which seemed to be his concern even though it wasn’t really my question. I just needed my dr to say that it shouldn't be a repeat of last time and I was going forward. Well even though the bypass was an option he presented to me to start he said he wouldn’t do a bypass for me. He thought it would be a bad call with my mental health issues. This was confusing to say the least because I have one dr saying it’s fine and another dr I really respect saying it’s not and I started this thinking bypass was always an okay option in terms of mental health but worried the surgery just wouldn’t work for me. I am of course concerned about my mental health so took some time to think about it. I tried for a while to find a bariatric therapiest but none near me are taking any new patients. I even asked the surgeon and he said he would look into it but be never did. Anyways I called around for the better part of two days. They all just do the evaluations now for surgery. I have had every hormone test and lab they have that could possibly be the problem. I changed all my meds in case they were the issue. I tried everything myself and my doctors could think of but I kept gaining. When I revisited the idea of surgery I was scared. Anything that was going to upset my mental health again just isn’t an option I decided. I already know what life without my medication is like and I do not want to go back there. I continued to gain. I got back up to 245 and I am miserable. I am so depressed when I look at what I have let happen to myself. I had a chance and I blew it. I am disgusted when I look in the mirror. I decided that the weight is causing me to be more depressed so I needed to get some real answers. I went back to my surgeon. Not to ask him to do the surgery but exactly why he thought it was a bad idea. The plan was to take that info and talk to the other surgeon to make sure he had considered that and see why he wasn’t worried about it. Well, surprise…my surgeon is on board now with doing a revision for me. When I asked why he said no before he said something about a nite in my chart that said I wasn’t complaint with my meds back them and he didn’t know I have a psychiatrist and psychologist and take my meds but now he is comfortable doing surgery. So, frustrated I had to wait until I gained almost 50 more pounds to get here but excited he is willing to do it I am researching the other surgery he thinks will be a better fit for me called the SADI. At the same time I am still not buying the note in my chart thing. Cause that was never true. I guess the important takeaway for those of you here that are just starting out is even if you do regain don’t lose touch with your team and don’t give up. I feel like my dr wavering in whether he would do the surgery didn’t help but I could have asked more questions sooner and I wouldn’t have so much to lose this time. Plus, hopefully you guys can take the weight loss meds and won’t be facing a second surgery.

My friend are you speaking to a therapist with relevant expertise? I know you are currently choosing your revision surgery and that's a huge decision. Please in the midst of that don't lose sight of your relationship with food and how you lost and regained weight in the past. We've all been there MANY times. Feel free to ignore me if you have all of this under control. You have done so well before and I know you can do again xxx xxx

As @sillykitty said, PS is just one more motivator to keep on track. I paid way too much, and went through so much with recovery from my plastics to ruin it with gaining. And I truly felt like it was my reward to myself for all the hard work I went through to lose all the weight.

It's not mean to say, "while I hear what you're saying, according to my medical doctors I'm right at the weight I should be and as he/she's a physician I respect their education and diagnosis but thank you for your concern!"

you can always increase calories to gain weight (or to stop a loss), but keep In mind that a vast majority of us experience a 10-20 lb bounce back regain around year 3. You might want to factor that in. I purposely went below my goal just in case I had a rebound (and I did...actually closer to 30 lbs for me...).

Here is my 4-week post-op update: Highest weight: 251 Start of 2 week pre-op diet weight: 238 Day before surgery weight: 226 Today's weight: 214.8 I had a stall that began exactly at the 3-week post-surgery mark and lasted 7 days. Below are photos taken before surgery and this morning.

I would love to say don’t worry about the comments but the honest truth is I probably would too. lol. Maybe if you get in to see your team and run it by then they will make you feel better about allowing your body to find its new happy place. Keeping in mind that most people do have some bounce back weight whether it’s the same year or three years down the road you will be lucky in my opinion to have a little cushion there. I also have to ask, are the people making these comments bigger than you now? Some people could actually be jealous or they just need you to be heavy to make themselves feel better. Maybe They were used to you bejng the overweight friend making them feel better about their own insecurities. Some may be Thinking things like I may be overweight but it’s not like I’m as big as some people I know (aka you). Now they have to look at themselves and feel what they actually feel without justifying it in that way. Or Perhaps they are thin but they felt inferior to you in some other way and In their mind their insecurity was off set by the fact that you were overweight (I’m not as funny or smart or whatever it may be but at least I’m not overweight). Not sure if that makes sense or if it’s exactly one of those thing but if I had to guess it’s something that is 100% a them thing not a you thing. You are doing great!!

Well, I think you look spectacular and very healthy. The transformation is absolutely stunning! I also think as our population trends heavier, we don't see the extra weight as much. I was a chubby kid, and I was like one of maybe 3 chubby kids in my entire grade, not just my class. I dieted like an idiot as a teen and got down to 126 lbs and I was nowhere close to the thinnest person in my friend group. Nobody said anything about me getting too skinny, for sure. I gained weight in college and by the time I graduated, I was overweight again, and obese by the time I hit my late 20s. I always felt like the biggest person in the room (at, like 210 lbs). But by the time I was in my mid-30s, I started seeing bigger people than me all around. Everyone was getting bigger. My weight went up to 225, but many of the parents of kids in my daughters' grades were way bigger than that. It almost had an insulating effect from my own weight gain, because I was no longer the biggest person in the room. I just kind of looked normal. When a friend heard I was getting bypass, her first response was "but you're not that big" and at this point I was 250 lbs with a 40+ BMI, plus high blood pressure, prediabetes, and high cholesterol. And this was from a person who is in the healthy BMI range and never been overweight. So I definitely think we've become so used to seeing larger people that we think "obese" is a term reserved for the people on television shows who weigh 600+ pounds. And, of course, the rapid weight loss from surgery is jarring so people notice it more. But don't let their comments get to you!

I agree 100% that BMI is completely flawed. When I was young I did fit right in there but at around 25 I just started gaining and never stopped. I would love to get back to that perfect BMI but I just don’t see if Happening for me.

I love that last part. That’s so true. I am looking at every way or calculating it and it boils down to the fact that losing only a percentage of that I am most likely not going to reach my “happy weight” however I will lose a large amount of weight and I will be healthier. That’s what matters most.

Excess body weight equals your starting weight minus your "ideal" body weight (not the highest weight in your healthy BMI range). You can calculate your ideal body weight here: https://www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html You get several slightly different calculations with this, plus a healthy BMI range (in my case, 114.6-154.9). For me, 3 out of 4 calculations tell me my ideal weight is 130, so I'll go with that. It should be noted, that is not my "goal" weight. Keep in mind all of this is a guessing game, not an exact science.

We really didn't know each other that well then, so I don't think they would have said anything when I was overweight... In fact nobody did. I've even had people tell me that they didn't notice that I was over weight. Weird. And I guess, sure. I have friends who are overweight and I don't "see" it because I love and care for them. The problem for me, is I carry what weight I have very well and look way smaller than my weight suggests, which might spur the comments. I also dress myself in a way that makes me appear smaller, so 🤷‍♀️ I've included the most recent picture. My jeans are a 2 and my shirt is a small

Dang. That eliminates what I would say. I will say this, though. Did these same people tell you to your face you were "too fat" when you were obese and your weight was actively trying to shorten your lifespan? Or is it just your skinniness that worries them? Because you are right in the middle of a healthy weight range right now. You could drop to 125 lbs and STILL be 100% healthy and normal weight. So, if these people weren't telling you every day when you were 262 lbs how worried they were about your weight, I don't think I'd trust their judgement where weight is concerned. I'm not saying the comments don't come from a place of love, but they do seem to come from a place of ignorance.

Thanks, everyone! Let me ask, how'd you handle the comments of "You're too skinny?" I get that from several people and it's infuriating. They are older and I respect them, so I don't want to give a mean comment. Oh, and the stares and jealous looks. In my mind I tell myself, "if your (talking to them in my head 🤷‍♀️) weight were that big and issue to you, then do something about it. That's all I did." An 126 lb weight loss in less than a year is massive change but the comments and looks...so isolating sometimes. Thankfully, another friend of mine has had the surgery as well, so I can talk through it with her. But what really iced my cake is she doesn't get the same stares and comments from the same group we run in. Unless, I'm reading too much into it. People who didn't know me from before look at me or comment me like a "normal" person. For example, I was at the doctor's office yesterday and we were discussing a dose change for a medication, and he said, "for people of healthy weight, such as yourself... " I just want to video it and play on repeat. Sorry, my passive aggressive fell out 😂