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I have heard that some people gain. It's normal. I follow this one girl on YouTube and she recommended not getting on the scale at all for the first couple of weeks and I think I might do that because I didn't lose anything for a couple of days and now I'm down 2 lb. Yes it can be disheartening.

that's what I've read as well - it's typically around a 20 lb weight loss, more or less. You don't get those massive drops like you do with a virgin surgery. I suppose there might be some people who do, but typically, no.

Congratulations on your surgery date. I went to Blossom in August 2020. They have a great program. VSG is a great tool to help with weight loss, but you have to do the work. Let me know if you have any questions.

Good question, i'm looking at revision from sleeve to bypass due to severe reflux. I'm not looking to lose much weight. 20 lb might be nice, but all in all, this will be for the GERD. I've heard it doesn't not jump start. You might lose 15 - 25 lbs but nothing significant like we did after VSG surgery.

Congrats on your surgery!!! How long did the process take from initial phone call to surgery? I have my last six month weight management program required visit Wednesday for insurance and I am trying to come up with a backup plan if they deny me for some dumb reason! Best wishes in your continued recovery!

Post op from June 9th - I know why I haven't lost any weight! Granted, it takes time to heal, and not everyone loses weight for the first few weeks according to my surgeon. He told me I should be trying to get 800-1000 calories a day and I've been at 500. So, I'm going to try to up my calories and I'll let ya'll know if I start to see a difference! ❤️

you're eating way too few calories to have any real weight gain. It's either water or intestinal contents. And yes - most of us do experience our first stall around the third week post-surgery, so that's almost certainly what's going on. Just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days if you need to. It'll break and you'll be on your way again

Hey ladies!!! So my update, I have lost 52lbs! None of my clothes fit and yes I have noticed a belly hang. Trying to find my new sizes through online shopping due to the pandemic (everything’s still closed here in Ontario) has been a nightmare!!! All my new pants were showing this weird pudgy lump that I was feeling really self conscious about. So went on to look for spanks. Never wore spanks before... They suck, massively. Not sure but I got three different sizes and all of them suck. They constantly roll and shift. Waste of my money. For those of you ladies who feel the same way a friend of mine introduced me to Zyia. They are a bit too pricey for my liking, but they are compressive leggings that don’t show my naughty bits when I bend over! They also don’t roll down so I’m not constantly trying to pull them up. They are super stretchy too, so I won’t have to continuously buy new pants during my journey. They are considers active wear but they have styles that look like regular leggings that I can wear them to work. I’ve invested in 5 pairs already! You do have to find a rep to buy them, but my friend said they have reps in the states. Try googling “Zyia Active” For the ladies that are in Canada here is a link to the rep I buy from. She has events that you can buy from and get entered into a draw for 50%off an item! I’ve won! They ship all over Canada. mycanadazyia.com/zyia-kw-Kitchener I just wanted to share, because these bad boys actually made me feel sexy in my body!! I know that can be an issues for some of us who were worried about the weight loss. My bulge is sucked right in and I looking fine AF. Anyways, how are you ladies doing? I’m in that weird sizing where not really plus size but not really normal sizes... anyone got tips on tops and bras? I work in an office so def in need of professional looking tops.

I hope you are able now to see that the surgeon was trying to protect your safety by aborting the surgery. You need a functioning liver. Hopefully this will motivate you to lose any additional weight required and try again. You wouldn't be able to sue the surgeon as no harm was done and he does not seem to have acted wrongly (I have studied medical law cases and neither of the things required for you to sue are present here). You just had a bad outcome and you are fortunate that there was no injury and you can try again. If the surgeon HAD completed the surgery, you might have ended up in really bad shape requiring a liver transplant. I hope you are feeling less hopeless and have become determined to get back on track. I know it would be very upsetting to me, too, to have my surgery aborted. I am having enough trouble getting it scheduled!

Oh, I didn’t think the gain was from the amount of food. More specifically water retention from adding food. I’m definitely not upset about it, I was expecting it. Just curious about others’ experience with stalling. ☺️

You’re not eating enough to gain. It’s water weight (and you weigh several pounds more in the evening). Keep on your plan, keep up with fluids, and it’ll break. Stay off the scale for a week or so.

I use Baritastic app. It has large food database and barcode scanner. I sync my Baritastic with Renpho scale and Fitbit, so i can track my weight and daily steps. I also track my exercises and bowel movements with it. It has food recipes, timer and reminders for taking Vitamins and Water. Section for tracking BMs has an area for journaling. Baritastic app. is multifunctional and everything in one place. I like its graphics too.

Just checking in. On Wednesday it will be four weeks post surgery. For the last week to ten days I have been in the “stall”. I have just plugged along through the two weeks of puréed food and look forward to shifting to soft food on Wednesday. I can tell my stamina is returning and am comfortable with the loss of weight so far. The scale dropped a pound yesterday so I am hopeful that the stall may be shifting to loss again! 29 pounds gone is still great even with the pause! So far I have not had any foods disagree with me. I also have not had any nausea or feelings of food being stuck in my throat. For all of this I am thankful!

Thank you so much for sharing. I had my surgery over 3 years ago but I love reading stories about others journey. You have done great! Congrats for being in Onederland! I would love to hear about all of the things you can do now! Stick to the basics & you will loose the weight. Don’t even think that one bite won’t hurt because before you know it it will be one bite here & there & then you will be back where you started from. You know how to eat properly now so stick with it!

That's amazing! Congrats. You've lost so much and gained even more! It's terrible that insurance wouldn't cover the procedure since now that you're healthier you will cost them less in the long run, but you have made an investment in yourself, so money well spent!

Just curious about everyone’s experience. I’ve heard there’s a week 3 stall that nearly everyone experiences. I’m just finishing our week 3 and my loss has stalled. Even gained a pound. I assume it’s because of soft foods being introduced.

Thanks. I have lost a bit of weight while I am waiting, but losing weight hasn't ever been the problem, it's keeping it off. I started off really excited and gung ho, but now I just feel deflated and frustrated.

I am 11 months post op gastric sleeve. My highest weight ever was reached in June of 2019 and I was horrified to weigh in at 502 lbs! I didn't believe it and requested the doctor to re-weigh me. That was my first wake-up call. I was suffering from very high blood pressure, debilitating back pain/spasms, knee pain and damage, sciatica, and sleep apnea. I started doing keto and got down to 415lbs. During COVID quarantine, I gained back up to about 459lbs. In July of 2020, I finally decided to take back my life and financed a vertical sleeve gastrectomy surgery (out of pocket, since insurance would not cover it). As of yesterday, I'm down to 275 lbs. I have gone from a 6xl shirt to a 2xl. From size 62 pants, to a size 44. I still struggle to see myself as anything but fat from time to time, but it's the Non-Scale Victories (NSVs) that keep me going! My only regret is not doing this sooner. Sometimes I wish I could go back and re-do certain life experiences without the extreme morbid obesity. Here's my running list: - I’m off of all medications (including 2 BP meds). - No more seat belt extension on airplanes - Seats with arm rests are no problem. - Restaurant booths are now no problem - I can fit in an MRI machine (if needed). - I can now walk ANYWHERE without debilitating back pain. - The car steering wheel no longer rubs my stomach. - I can shop in most “regular” stores for clothes. - I no longer worry about a seat being able to hold me (those plastic white ones at weddings are even ok now). - I can use my own step ladder to do things around the house like change a light bulb. - I can sit with my legs crossed. - I can now get down on the floor. - My “love life” has drastically changed/Improved. - too many to list! Notice there is a lot of use of the word “CAN” here? All in less than a year. The little black battery operated box on the floor cannot control me any longer! Yea, it’s still important. But weight is no longer the defining characteristic of my life. Sleeved 7/23/20. HW 502, SW 459, CW 275, GW healthy

So close to hitting 20lbs down. At 3 weeks post-op I’m down 19.6 from my weight prior to the 2 days clear fluids before surgery. (I don’t know my weight on day of surgery as they did not weigh me) I’m not a higher BMI (36.3 pre-surgery) so a little shocking to me that I have lost so much in the first month. I have 100% met (exceeded) my protein & fluid goals. Protein Avg is 88g. So, the question now is when will the infamous stall hit…

Eat more. Get a new scale. I know "eat more" sounds like crazy advice when you're stuck in a stall, but our bodies have an amazing set of defenses...thousands of years of evolution to survive bad harvests and hunting seasons. When we drastically cut calories and move a lot more than we used to....our biology interperates this as OMG, we're starving to death and must be moving more because we're desperately searching for hard to find food!...then your endocrine system goes....Must hit this body with every hormone and defense mechanism possible to STOP weight loss! (there are also a whole bunch of little hormonal changes that can bite you in the ass after a long period of severely restricted calories to "make up" for weight lost and encourage gain...which is why most people have some regain issues eventually) If it were me.....I'd add calories. Something with fiber. Black beans, potato, a smoothie with some spinach and low fat greek yogurt. All of these have protien, but they also boost your gut microbiota and stop the keto that your body might be interpereting as starvation. Crazy internet lady advice....take what you like and leave the rest. All of our bodies work a little different. Find what's best for you.

Just thought I'd post about how this process has gone for me over the past "almost" year as today I crossed a big milestone (at least big to me). 198.8 - which when I think about it - I haven't been this weight since 2007 when I was doing weight watchers and had lost 40lbs. I think back over this past year it's still a little surreal. At this time last year, I was finishing up my insurance pre-reqs of meeting with a nutritionist and therapist for 6 months. I had already started to transition my diet to two protein shakes for breakfast and lunch to prep for my pre-surgical diet. I was nervous, scared and not 100% sure that I wanted to go through with bypass but also beginning to realize that I couldn't lose the weight on my own or I would have already. My surgery was at the end of August and the two weeks of fluids before hand was really hard, but honestly - I was really proud of myself for doing it and grinding through what I couldn't imagine doing before. Those two weeks, to me, helped to set me up for what I could expect after surgery. The day of surgery I almost told my husband to drive me back home. It was my first time anywhere since COVID hit and that alone was kind of terrifying to me. I remember being wheeled back to surgery and the anesthesiologist talking to me and asking me if I was excited. My response, "No. I'm terrified." But he gave my hand a squeeze and kept reassuring me that it was going to be ok and the team was great. Once I got in the surgical room it seemed to have the same kind of vibe - the team was more excited for me than I was. I just don't think I could get my head wrapped around this procedure working. That I would lose weight and that my life would change. I think it all still felt very unreal - even as they put me to sleep. Recovery - overall wasn't the most awful thing but it wasn't great. I ended up in the ER a couple days later due to dehydration. What helped me the most was an abdominal binder that they gave me when I left the hospital. I left this on for about three weeks until things stopped feeling like they were shifting or pulling. While the pain wasn't too unbearable, the reality that drinking, eating and for a short time peeing was a chore. Trying to get enough fluids was hard. Drinking the amount of protein I needed to afterwards was impossible for me. I had to measure out 3oz and a time and set timers throughout the day to help me remember no to drink water for a half hour before and a half hour after. Once I started solid foods it was also difficult for me. Trying to figure out what I was ok to eat (that didn't completely turn my stomach) and learning that crab, tuna, salmon would be my go to food for awhile. Adding in cheeses, eventually chicken and turkey on top of the protein shakes I was still doing. After three months things started to get a little easier for me, my check up with the Nutritionist went well although she wanted me to get my calories way up. So I started to incorporate things with more fat into my diet. Nuts, peanut butter, avocado were just a few things that I started to try. I think it was around this point where I realized, ok... this is starting to work. I was seeing weight come off and while food was a struggle I was walking around the block and having an easier time of it. My breathing was easier, sitting on the couch was easier, my back was hurting less, my clothes were starting to fit better. As time went on I continued to add things to my diet, fruit, veggies, and eventually some carbs. Were there things that did not agree with me, absolutely, but I learned from trying them and adjusted my diet. I waited to buy clothes until about two months ago. I had to go into the store to try on pants because I had no idea what size I was. I fit into a 16 and 14... which blew my mind. At my highest I was a size 24 and even that was tight. I've since ordered a bunch of new things which also helps me to see the difference in weight. Things I still struggle with - drinking enough water. Losing hair - I still have a good amount but had a 2 month stint where I lost a lot. I still am freaking out when I see more than 10 hairs coming out on the brush but I have a ton of new baby hair growing back in. Making sure I'm focusing on eating enough protein and not drinking with meals. Going to the bathroom - it's either all or nothing for me. 😂 I usually weigh in after I go though - seems like a solid strategy in my mind. The things that worked for me: ProCare Health Bariatric multivitamins with Iron (1/day). Their sea salt caramel calcium chews (2.5/day). Biotin gummies - no idea if they helped but considering that I didn't lose soooo much hair I'm just going to keep taking them. And if you're still with me - A big thanks to everyone who posted on here before my surgery. I was definitely a lurker but your stories helped to prepare me and give me confidence as I went through this myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Now on to celebrate being in ONDERLAND again and I'd still like to lose another 30-40lbs - which I know the surgery won't get me there for the full amount (at least from my doctor's perspective) but I'm going to keep working at it and chipping away to see where I end up.

Looks like you're doing great! It's a stall -- happens to almost everyone, often more than once along the way. It's just your body catching up with the changes. If you stick with your program, you will keep losing weight. There's a lot of superstition around stalls and how to break them (different people will tell you to increase calories or carbs or protein or exercise, and others will tell you to decrease calories or carbs or protein or exercise, or do a pouch reset diet, etc., etc.) but the truth is that all you can do is stick with your program and wait it out. That's why everybody has a different trick to break the stall -- it would have happened no matter what they did, so if they changed something, they think that was what broke the stall. Just be patient and keep up the good work.

Hey everyone. Doing so much better these days. Actually had to go onto the pill to help my hormones level out. Only temp though.. really until I lose the majority of my weight. 43lbs down now and feeling good. Hope you all are doing ok too. Hang in there!

I second going to see a therapist who is knowledgeable about bariatric therapy together. Hopefully that can help you guys communicate and get at the root cause of what his issues with surgery may be, as well as tips for addressing or working through them. It isn't really fair to you if he's getting on you about weight, but then also gets upset when you try and get healthier, especially to the point of giving what sounds like a veiled ultimatum to you. Improving your health is important and hopefully you guys can find some common ground so that taking steps to improve your health doesn't result in the relationship falling apart. Best of luck!

What app is everyone using to track their daily food & weight?