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Dinner: Lean beef enchiladas (which you can’t see 🤣) topped with a greek yogurt crema, tangy salsa, avocados and Chloula sauce. I used mission low carb mini tortillas, my hand is for reference. Ate 3/4 of it, guessing around 300ish calories?

I did stand on the scale at my usual time of day, but i think you are right about the bowels. And I'm on period, so I think there is some water retention. I read another comment about the scale becoming a new addiction. I think this could happen for a lot of people. Ultimately, I did manage to lose 11lbs (5kg) in two weeks so I'm still happy

I would be confused too. How a dietician could say that anything over 800 calories will make you gain weight is just ridiculous. Here in the UK it is guided at 2000 calories a day for an active woman and 500 calories more for a active male per day. For information - To maintain my weight I need to eat around 1600 calories a day. Anything less and I drop weight. I don't exercise, just walk and apart from one day a week where I volunteer, I am retired. I still have a fair restriction on my sleeve. So my advice to you would be go back to the dietician, check the facts, ask for a diet sheet and if they want you on 800 calories it must be so you can drop quickly. It does not sound sustainable if you are active. I could do this diet for a short time because I cook from scratch, log everything religiously and can cook and plan ahead. So this is what my 800 calories would look like - Breakfast, 2 eggs scrambled in 1 calorie spray oil [ PAM ] and 200mls of full skim milk for my coffee Lunch, 2 cups of Vegetable soup made without starchy vegetables, so no potatoes Evening meal, 1 x 6 ounce chicken breast, side salad with calorie free dressing and a 7 ounce jacket potato I hope this helps

I found a stock cube in water with some protein powder had a bit of a salty flavouring to it. I am more savoury than sweet for my taste buds so I know how you are feeling. The thing that got me through was knowing I was able to swallow very little of the liquids and it was only for a couple of weeks.

Most of the time. The crackers were an Amazon fresh deal. Normally like $4something a box but on sale 2 for $5 and there’s a promo for spend $35 get $10 off. Which goes before the 2 for $5 sale price. The ones I bought weren’t all that $4.69 pre sale price so I ended up with 10 boxes of different kinds for $15. Example pictures show 8 of the same kind for $10. The broths were also an Amazon fresh deal of buy one get one free with a normal price of $1.69 each. Other Amazon fresh items- green grapes 3lbs for 1.99, tortillas $.98, 12ct english muffins $1.35, hot dog buns $.97, coleslaw mix $1.89, tofu $1.52, and Parmesan cheese had a 50% off coupon making it $3.14 I still use the Flashfood app for most of my produce so that’s where the strawberries ($.50 each), cucumbers ($.30 each) and eggplant, avocado, and peppers ($3 bag) came from. They do apply a service fee but for my order it was only $.38 Kroger was the red grapes ($.89/lb), eggs ($1.99/18ct), and potatoes (1.88). meijer and Aldi were the rest of it with discounted produce at Meijer. The pink bottle thing is strawberry daiquiri tea which came from Aldi’s aisle of shame. 😂

My brother & SIL had one from their kids that they barely used, so they lent it to me. I used it once and was frustrated with the clean up lol. I ended up investing all of $30 (CAD) in a handheld immersion blender off Amazon -- mostly because I'd wanted one for a while anyway. It was super useful but I have to admit that after the puree stage, I use it maaaaybe once a week.

1. Basics: GENDER, AGE, HEIGHT F, 33, 168 CM 5'5/5'6? 2. Total Weight lost in the 6 months BEFORE surgery (if any) 0 3. Weight on DAY OF SURGERY. 198/90 KG 4. Weight at 1 MONTH POST surgery 172/78.2 KG 5. Weight at 3 MONTHs POST surgery 148/67.4 KG I am at 5 months post op 131.78/59.9 KG 8. Type of Surgery (Sleeve, ByPass, etc...) Gastric sleeve

I just passed my 5th anniversary of revision from VSG to RNY. It has been 100% worth it for the relief from GERD alone and honestly the differences between the surgeries are not really the noticeable to me. I will not sugar coat the experience because thats not helpful. There was an adjustment period (2-3 months) in the beginning like fixing a stricture, figuring out the new fullness sensation and food tolerances but after that it has been mostly smooth sailing. I also didn’t want RNY from the beginning because of the reworking of the intestines which is why I chose VSG. But I already removed 80 % of my stomach so what’s a little crisscross applesauce 🤣 But honestly if I had a Time Machine and knew GERD was my future (never had it before VSG) I would have outright went with RNY. Good Luck in advance and I’m hoping for your relief from GERD.

So I have been making sure that I hit 100g or more of protein every day. I typically am low carb (under 60g) low fat (under 20g). I like to be adventurous with my food and I enjoy finding new recipes that fit into my macros. However, this last month I have been trying to find recipes that are yummy and fulfill my sweet tooth without going for the ice cream, or candy. One that I discovered was a Greek Yogurt Cheesecake: 1 container of Greek yogurt (i have used Dannons light and fit , 1Tbls of SF FF Cheesecake pudding mix, 1TBL of reduced fat whip. its 115cal 12g of protein, .5g fat and 15g carbs. (you can use any variation of yogurts and pudding mixes). Carbs are higher that I would usually eat but if you have a hard workout day and have it to spare this is the best treat! Also I did not know that Splenda made a brown sugar?! So diced up apples with some spray butter and 1tbls of that brown sugar and bake to soften. You can add it to a little plain Greek yogurt or eat it as it with a dollop of low fat cool whip. I have been finding that I need to have stuff like this in my diet in order to not go off track. Not everyday, but days where all I want to do is eat chocolate or ice cream. I have been following this mom of 3 that lost 50lbs through exercise and diet, she has a ton of recipes. All her single serving recipes easily make 2-3 servings for us bariatric folk, but its healthy and realistic for those people who don't want to restrict forever. Anyone else have some yummy recipes?! Or does anyone think this might cause a slippery slope?

Chewing for 22 times or 22 seconds is fine. But then wait at least that long between swallowing and taking the next bite. That's how you make your meal last 20-30 minutes. Very small bites, lots of chewing, and pausing between bites to let your fullness signals have a chance to catch up. It's hard to explain how small your bites will need to be after surgery to remain comfortable and not make yourself sick early on. After surgery, I bought a set of cocktail forks and demitasse spoons. They are tiny, like something you would use for a doll. For the first three months, I ate with those. My bites were the size of a pea. Picture your golf ball size meal. Mentally cut it into 20 pieces. Or literally get yourself a 3 oz meatball and actually divide it into 20 pieces. Right now, you don't have any restriction, so it will feel crazy to do this, but after surgery, you can consume one piece per minute and you will most likely feel great. Faster and you risk feeling bad, at least for the first many months. I just made the mistake of eating about 1/2 cup of raw baby carrots too quickly because I was distracted by work, and I am filled with regret. And belly pain. I feel like I've gorged myself on Thanksgiving turkey and all the trimmings and gotten it stuck halfway down my throat. I now get to reflect for the next few hours about why that was a bad idea to not slow down. It's a learning process, even well after surgery.

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 had a revision to SADI two months ago (which is a modified DS) and I’m very happy with it. After the sleeve I always felt like I was just on a diet. I still craved unhealthy stuff and didn’t have all the extra energy that people explained. So I lost a lot of weight but once my appetite came back I gained it back. Since the SADI it’s different. I would obviously still like to have pizza and pasta but I still enjoy the healthier choices and I have tons of energy. I walk about 5-7 miles a day and just started YOGA twice a week. I want to do an aerobics/strength class that meets two other days but I’m not quite there yet. I have lost 48 pounds total in 2.5 months (which includes the two week preop in which I lost 13 pounds). Not all surgeons do the SADI yet and there is not a whole lot of help out there in terms of what you should be doing nutrition wise. I spoke to two different nutritionists and they just gave me the same info as they would give for bypass but the NP has been looking at my fitness and food log charts and helping me to adjust my macros and it’s working. I was warned about diarrhea and stinky bowel movements but I have not experience either. In fact I’m still weaning off the stool softener. My surgeon did a few tests first to make sure my sleeve was In good shape because he does not make adjustments to the sleeve. He feels the risks are too high. The recovery was a little tougher this time and you have to be disciplined with your portions because physically you can eat more but once I was healed I was able to tolorate all the same foods as before since they didn’t operate on my stomach. I am now back to pretty normal portions of healthy foods.

Congratulations so far and can I quietly say that a 12 week preop diet is wild?!?! The generic gym culture I have noticed is either people completely ignoring you because they are focused, regulars greeting each other and friends that work out together. I have not seen anyone overly social lately (positive or negative). In specialized settings (crossfit, yoga, Pilates, etc) it may be different but it seems gym culture corrected itself and is much more welcoming.

196 lbs is reasonable. My original goal was 199, and they said that was completely do-able if I was compliant with the program. Most people do end up either "overweight" or "class 1 obese" (which is not very obese...) - only about 10-15% make it to a normal BMI (my surgeon said that - and the research I've read confirms that). I told them when I hit 170 that I wanted to try for 150, and they told me that that wasn't very realistic, that not many of their patients manage to get down that low, so don't knock myself out - but I did make it (in fact, I got down to the 130s for a while - which was way too thin for me), but I did have that bounce back in year 3 that most people have. It'd be great to lose 10 lbs, but I'm OK with where I ended up. Anyway, I'm glad the appt went so well for you! You're going to be so happy you made this decision!

One of the hardest things that I am trying to teach myself that is is not a diet! this is a lifestyle. In life we eat right 90%-95% of the time and work out 3-4x a week, and the whole purpose of this was for me to be healthy. It is scary to think of being 297lbs again because of how unhealthy and how much pain I was in. I have to reflect on my "Why". Thank you as always for your words of wisdom! ❤️

Thank you so much for this perspective! You're absolutely right—losing almost 4 pounds a week is something I’ve never been able to achieve on any diet before, so I should really appreciate that. It’s so easy to get caught up in the numbers, but you’ve reminded me that the mental work is just as important as the physical. I need to let go of the comparisons and focus on my own journey. I'm definitely guilty of stepping on the scale too often, so I’ll try to step back from that. Also, hearing that the gym has made you feel so good is really encouraging! I’m excited to start building a routine and hopefully experience that same boost in energy and mood. Thanks again for the advice and for helping me keep things in perspective. I really appreciate it!

From what I've been reading and a video from Dr. John Pilcher I recently watched, it's definitely normal. You usually lose the most in your first 3 months, around 1/2 the weight you're going to lose. After doing some poking around to clarify, it seems that number is calculated using your day of surgery weight. Between 3 and 6 months, you continue losing at 1-2 lbs a week, and this slows to maybe just a few pounds per month between 6 months and a year. So, let's say you lost 50lbs in the first 3 months, it's going to take you 9 months to lose the other 50lbs, but you most likely will lose it as long as you keep doing the right things.

@AmberFL Congratulations on your NSV, it is certainly a massive one! Really impressive I am glad your week got off to a good start

Sigh.....I need to figure out how to maintain and not lose more weight. Wanted to stop at 190....but now I can't figure out how to stop losing!!!! Never in a million years did I think I would ever have this problem. I can't add more carbs because I'm SUPER sensitive to them and too many make me REALLY sick. I tried adding more calories, but because I work out 4-5 days per week, it's actually causing me to lose still. So weird. I tried eating more small meals and snacks more often, but honestly, I already have 3 meals and 2 snacks per day, and eating more just makes me sick to my stomach because I'm trying to force myself to eat when I'm not hungry. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I know my secret goal was 180, but I actually like how I look and feel at 190, so I'm not really looking to go lower. Yet here I am....going lower.....

I thought I'll put my progress for more context: 1. Basics: GENDER, AGE, HEIGHT F, 33, 168 CM 5'5/5'6? 2. Total Weight lost in the 6 months BEFORE surgery (if any) 0 3. Weight on DAY OF SURGERY. 198/90 KG 4. Weight at 1 MONTH POST surgery 172/78.2 KG 5. Weight at 3 MONTHs POST surgery 148/67.4 KG I am at 5 months post op 131.78/59.9 KG 8. Type of Surgery (Sleeve, ByPass, etc...) Gastric sleeve

For me, I stalled often, but lost pretty steady. I didn't have weeks long stalls. I would stall for 4-5 days, then lose about a pound a day for 3-4 days, then stall again. This was my norm from the start. I still averaged about 10lbs a month. I'm not sure how or why I lost like this. I do know I wasn't super restrictive in what I ate, just how much I ate of certain things, like bread, sweets, or favorite eats. Though, for some, completely staying away from temptation foods is a must. Having control over what you eat is the key to making this work. And giving yourself grace for the meal, or day, that wasn't the best eating choices. Use this losing time to learn control over food (in a healthy way), learn a new way of eating, learn to get your body moving in some form or fashion (I walk, clean my house, and do life), and learn to be in tune with your body in every area and nurture what it's asking (food (be reasonable), movement, rest, spiritual ECT). Everything I've mentioned, my nutritionist, surgeon, and therapist are on board with and support. I'm not trying to be weird with sharing my journey, but that's what I did/do.

Some nights I definitely struggle. I have been pretty low on energy; I'm usually getting my protein and am taking all of my vitamins. I know that my goal of 64 oz a day of fluids has been flagging, though, honestly. I'm drinking a lot of Gatorade zero but plain water has not been tasting good, even filtered, unless it is REALLY cold. I mean, from a bottle in the fridge then poured over ice. I feel like it got harder as I moved into phase 3 of trying to eat more real food as opposed to drinking most of my meals. I do know that I was told to expect different back pain as I lost weight, and I feel like maybe the magnesium has activated my digestion so much that it sometimes keeps me awake? It isn't really pain, but more like gas pressure. Not sure if that part is SADI exclusive. Sorry I've been so silent lately, I have been skimming and still hope to respond to a few more posts.

Hi y'all, I am new to this forum and just want to first acknowledge and commend the courage and strength y'all have in utilizing this fortunate tool in your journey to a healthier life. I am at a crossroads. I am a 6'2", 275lb, 39-year-old man with VSG scheduled for Jan. 16, 2025, and I am having serious doubts--some caused by my health practitioners (chiropractor and non-WSL-related psychiatrist). I am on five different maintenance pills for blood pressure and cholesterol. My highest weight was 330lb. I lost 50 lbs in 2022 for a wedding, gained 30 in 2023 and lost 25 lbs from October 31st, 2024 until now (extreme crash diet). The total down is 55. My ideal weight is 210-225, provided that weight encompasses an active lifestyle and dedicated weight training. Here is the rub: I am scared of the surgery, and that fear has really kicked my butt to get healthy. My liver no longer shows NAFLD or alcohol damage with enzymes in the normal range. That is surprising because I was (honestly) an incredible "alcoholic" from 2013-2023. It may be hubris, but I am in no way concerned about addiction transfer as I have fully recovered from alcoholism following a wegovy and booze and supplement mix that caused acute pancreatitis. Blood pressure and cholesterol are under control. Sleep apnea sucks. Mental health is good to great. Banned currently from GLP-1 ( aforementioned acute pancreatitis). I have kicked all the typical vices. Despite all that, I am cleared for surgery, and the surgeon thinks I am an ideal candidate because of the lower risk of chronic pancreatitis following the knife. My surgeon is located in America, and my insurance is on board. Meanwhile, I have had little trouble maintaining a 1600- to 1000-calorie fat-burning diet, especially since a surgery date made it a very, very real concept. My primary motivation for pursuing VSG was for my family and my 2-year-old daughter, coupled with a debilitating (but now manageable) back injury that left me sedentary for nearly 2 years, and, of course, to address my comorbidities. Now that my back is "okay," I can exercise 3 to 5 times weekly. But if I don't lose weight, spinal degradation and likely further stenosis around the sciatic nerve will continue. I was supposed to have surgery earlier in the Spring of 2024 but bailed because of a month-long family holiday to Asia and then a summer of the in-laws staying with us. Also, we are trying to get pregnant again, but my wife's self-imposed window is closing as she soon turns 40. So, what do I do? Given that my ideal weight is approximately 65 lbs away, would you pursue VSG? Would you delay it while trying to conceive (this is a big one)? Am I getting stuck on too many variables? Would VSG make global travel a different experience? Or do I buckle up and charge ahead? Should I try giving the "natural" way a shot for one more year? I have unflinching support from my family and parents to go for it, and I have little doubt that I would excel in a post-op life. But I am worried about travel, a change in taste, and, generally, pain. Pain makes me an unpleasant person at times. But I dread ballooning up to qualify for insurance if the "natural" way fails my goals. None of this was a concern until a surgery date made it real. I appreciate you reading this and thank you in advance for any comments, long or short. A simple "Go" or "No Go" would be appreciated. I am actively planning for the surgery and, regardless, look forward to the two-week pre-op diet challenge. However, I could see myself bailing like two days before. Digital prayers for all! Is anybody ever too young for a midlife crisis?

Good morning! I have officially joined the "stallers" club this week. It is sad to see the scale at the same place it was a week ago. But I have all of you going through it, too, and while we don't like it, it does help some. I guess I'm glad to be part of the club lol.

It's not so much the particular foods I grieve, but I really miss not having to worry that something I eat will land wrong and make me sick. I used to have an iron stomach. Even through two pregnancies, I never had morning sickness. Now, I swallow a piece of broccoli that I only chewed 99 times instead of 100, even though broccoli was fine yesterday, and I'm in agony for an hour before it finally comes back up. But MsPretty, since you're from Texas you'll understand this one: I grieve brisket. I went to a local farm that does this amazing BBQ on the weekends and I was only able to eat 3 bites of brisket before I was full. So I took home the leftovers and I couldn't eat them because reheating the meat dried it out enough that it made me sick