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I’m going to reiterate the above poster, you honestly can’t compare yourself to others. My tweak is that you might not get to “the weight of your dreams.” As an older post menopausal woman I am a powerhouse of strength that lives quite comfortably on 800-1000 kcals a day and still weighs roughly 200lbs at 5’4”. I honestly can’t eat less food or risk malnutrition. I work an extremely strenuous job physically with severely disabled children. I wear size 16-18 American bottoms and size large or size 14-16 tops, large dresses. The only things that jiggle is leftover skin. I know I’m one injury away from switching to general education kids, but I’m living life full throttle and enjoying it! So, you are doing awesome work! Keep following your plan and taking care of yourself. You’re way younger than me so you have an honest shot at getting all the way down. BUT, who you are isn’t determined by how much you weigh. Are you staring down diabetes anymore? Are you pursuing your life goals, career goals, kindness to self goals? Are you involved in real life relationships and groups? Just from your post I can tell you are a caring person that works hard to make things better. Keep going! (Therapy helps you see fabulous you too.)

I went from a band to sleve may 9th. I had my band removed last November and quickly gained back 40 pounds. The procedure went fairly smooth , except it took my surgeon 4 hours do to all the scar tissue I had in my stomach plus he had to repair a hiatal hernia. I just started on soft foods on Thursdays and it has been a tougher then I thought it would be. I had some egg salad last night and it didn’t go well. I got really hot and sweaty and thought I was going to die. But I didn’t and it passed, I had some refried beans this morning and I did well with them. Good luck on your procedure it’s worth it.

This week, my doctor has restricted my diet even further (from 1200 calories to 800) to make sure that the liver really shrinks so he said Slimfast Shakes and Weight Watchers soups because it's pre-made whereas the shakes I've been making it might be harder to get the right measurements when I'm cutting calories from what I've been doing for the past 10 weeks. I guess it makes sense. Honestly, those slim fast shakes are the worst. The only one that tastes Ok (and not in that British deprecating way where we say "it's alright" when me mean it's pretty good) is the chocolate one. The rest? How do Strawberry, banana or cookies and cream shakes end up with an almost chicken-y aftertaste? How is this possible? Is this some kind of pact with Satan? Long digression, I know. But it made me dream of food last night. Which I have never done before. I dreamed all my family had gone to all the fast food places and I couldn't eat any but I ended up having a bowl of porridge from KFCs Breakfast menu? Talk about head hunger vs actual hunger!

i am stunned over it. i went to the hospital for back pain after i met my surgeon. i was weighed at 379 lbs. not even 1 year later i am at 254 lbs. last time i was at this weight was when i was 23 in 2006 i got some swim trunks that are 3xl and they dont fit me anymore. they used to be hella tight on me.

Thanks @Bypass2Freedom, @SleeveToBypass2023and @FifiLux for your kind comments. I think the MSK person just wanted to make me aware of what the future may hold for me and to temper any expectations I may have regarding WLS and my knees. As it stands at the moment, I find it difficult to weight bear as the pain can knock me sideways. I’ve had a little folding scooter for around a month now which means I can now get out of the house with hubby and be around people. I cannot begin to explain how this has added to my quality of life! I have some independence back!! I could go weeks at a time not getting out, so this is a massive change. I could actually wizz off to the park with my granddaughter at the weekend and just be there with her 😊 I also haven’t driven for almost a year now, which I miss but cannot manage at present as I can’t get in the van we have at the drivers side as it’s too high and my knees can’t cope right now as there are times when just bending them can bring me to tears. It’s not the end of the world, just something that happens 🤷‍♀️ These are all things that will hopefully change in the future. I know that weight loss will have positive impacts in lots of different areas of my life. I know that my knees will definitely thank me, knee surgery not withstanding!

For all my currently stalled folks, I want to offer some hope. I hopped on the scale this morning (like I do every morning) and I was down another 2 lbs. Since yesterday! That makes 6.4 lbs in a week, which is more weight than I've lost in one week since my very first week on my pre-op diet. I am in shock because I was so convinced deep down that the stall was going to be the beginning of even slower weight loss for me, especially now that the magical "first three months" was over. So don't lose hope! In other news, I finally bought that air fryer I've been thinking about for a year, so hit me with your simple, go-to air fryer meals!

It's great that your body is starting to regulate! But also... periods, boo! I started using the Mirena IUD after my youngest was born, so going on 13 years of no periods (although not everyone has that luck with it). However, the last couple months, I have had noticeable spotting that lasted several days, and also the tenderness in my breasts that I always had with my period. So definitely there's something changing for me, too, with weight loss, even though it's being masked a bit more because of the birth control. I was starting to wonder, since I'm 50 now, if maybe I was done (hard to know if you've hit menopause with Mirena) but this seems to have answered that question, anyway.

I am at 6.5 months post op so relatively early out. Reached goal at 3.5 months but continued to lose (and still losing albeit slower). I have increased by calories by 200 and the weight loss hasn't stopped but that is all I can manage now. I will try to increase my calories gradually and see how it goes, from what I hear - and subject to you following your plan - it is unlikely that you stop losing before the 1 year mark. Best of Luck!

I have just found this site today. I had my gastric sleeve May 21 thought I was doing ok but see others are zooming way ahead of me. I have lost 10.7 kg since surgery (exactly 6 weeks ago). I only lost 400 grams on my liver reduction diet. According to weight charts, I need to lose 80 kg more, but I would be thrilled with 63kg. I am currently 137.9 kg.

So glad things went well for you at your follow-up appointment and you can stop taking lansoprazole - hurray!! It’s amazing how much has changed for you in such a short space of time, and will continue to change for quite a while yet. I think it takes a some time to find your feet when you have undergone some transformative weight loss, plus I also think there’s an element of mourning the person you was and not being sure about the person you’re becoming. I hope you’re documenting your experience, just so you can look back on your journey when things get difficult or you get fed up. It always helps to have something to guide us when we’re feeling out of sorts, or the dreaded stall look’s never ending! Well done on your journey so far 👏👏👏

I hope someone will be able to comment on a scenario similar to my own. I underwent a mini gastric bypass procedure several years ago. I have lost 60-70% of my original body weight and now look very emaciated! The mini gastric bypass procedure has proven to be too powerful in its malabsorptive nature. Scans revealed no anomalies to the index procedure or other parts of my anatomy that would contribute to why I am not putting on weight, despite eating like a horse. My only option now is to have a conversion of the mini gastric bypass to RYGB, and the surgeon will be looking at the limb lengths, to help increase my absorption so that I look healthy. Currently, I am not even absorbing nutrients or vitamins to a satisfactory level. My body aches and I have next to no energy. Original weight 130kg. Now 55kg. Does anyone have experience of a revision to RYGB where the desired outcome was to achieve absorption and weight gain? Most revision posts are geared towards achieving weight loss, which is understandable. But there must be cases of MGB or even RYGB whereby it has proven too powerful to the detriment of achieving a good quality of life. My message to all those who are considering MGB/OAGB, please do not be fooled by the “mini” part. This procedure is much more powerful than RYGB. Unless a patient is excessively excessively overweight, the safest bet in my opinion would be to go for RYGB over MGB. I chose MGB because it was a safer procedure over the RYGB and I erred on the side of caution, thinking that I may not lose sufficient weight. I could not have been more wrong.

Hi, all. I'm new here, but I'm scheduled for an endoscopic gastric bypass revision for early May. Looking forward to hearing from others who have had the procedure. My RNY was in 2001 surgery weight 465, bottom weight 290. I have slowly regained almost half of that amount back over the past 23 years. I never really felt that the pouch or the anastomosis were made small enough. I was one of the very first RNY patients in our area and the technique was in its infancy at that time.

I can't speak to most of your questions, but I do know that the Premier Protein product is some of the better protein shakes out there, and you can get them anywhere (Walmart, Amazon, etc.). If you prefer a vegan choice (not whey protein) I like Evolve Protein (which I usually buy from Amazon). If you want to stick with the "medical" protein shakes, you can go to https://www.go4ithealth.com/ as they are the retail site that sells all of the Numetra weight loss products (most hospitals sell you the pre-op diet and a lot them use Numetra for that), you will need a blender bottle for them though whereas the Premier and Evolve and ready to drink (RTD). I can recommend a really good blender bottle called Helimix (I got it on Amazon - sensing a theme? LOL), it doesn't use a blender ball just physics. 😂 Either way, good luck with your journey!

I had the Gastric Banding placed in 2012. I've moved away from where I had the initial surgery to a place that didn't have a doctor comfortable with the banding procedure. I've gone several years without having it adjusted but keeping my weight maintained so I didn't think much of it, I figured it was doing it's job and so was I. I recently had severe abdominal pain after having some lunch, was rushed to the local hospital, which then had to be transferred to a hospital an hour away from home to find a doctor comfortable with the banding procedure. It turns out the band slipped some time ago and completely eroded though my stomach. I had an emergency surgery with 2 surgeons for over 4 hours. They had to remove some of my stomach and a piece of my liver that had attached itself to the scar tissue. I have months of recovery ahead of me now and could have died from this when I thought everything was working fine. If you are considering getting the band please rethink it. If you have the band and haven't been check in a while, PLEASE go the doctor and get a complete check up as soon as possible.

How are you doing now? Have you started back to some form of movement. I know that when I had the sleeve I tried to do the treadmill and that did not stick no matter how many times I tried. To me, that was like torture. This time with my revision I am walking around the neighborhood instead. Talking with a friend on the phone who is also walking or listening to music and seeing the various houses and people is just a great deal more enjoyable for me than the treadmill even with the television on I still felt like a hamster I am still early out and I definitely wouldn’t call it a habit yet but I can tell you for sure that I do not dread it each day like I did the other and I’m really hoping that I can keep it up I know for sure that the endorphins are great for my mood and my energy I go until I fall into the bed and sleep like a baby. In fact that’s why I’m up right now, because I did so much yesterday I feel asleep at 9pm 😂 I agree somewhat about the fact that if you must choose one place to put your effort then the nutrition is definitely the most important in terms of weight loss BUT, having done this before and been less successful, I can tell you that last time I did not exercise and it felt like less of a huge life change for me as it does this time Again, I am only 5 weeks out so it’s possible that this is temporary, though I hope not because I feel fantastic with all of my choices my point is that adding in exercise, for me, makes it feel like more of a lifestyle change and after I come home all sweaty from my walk I don’t want to put any junk into my body. I am even starting to buy things that are grass fed and organic when they are available and trying to cut back on salt as well as rethinking my artificial Sweeteners (although that’s going to be the toughest for me to give up) because my body feels so good and healthy and I want to feel this way for a long long time. As others have said it doesn’t have to be a specific exercise. Just move your body more. Maybe dance lessons, or Pickleball, something like that. My library had a Belly Dance teacher at one point about a year ago and now that I’m losing a bit I am going to look into whether she is still there because that sounds kinda fun. I also did some research on the weighted hula hoop and it is cardio for most people as well as a bit of strength training so I may try that. It brings back memories of competitions with them as a kid so it could be fun. Something that my PA said at one of my pre surgery support group meetings keeps ringing in my mind that helps motivate me too he said that just 90 minutes of exercise a week in zone two heart rate (which I achieve with a brisk walk) decreases your risk of “all cause mortality” by 15%!! You can even break it into 15 minutes a day- 6 days a week (although it’s really 25 with your warm up and cool down added) but weight loss aside, a 15% decrease, thats pretty incredible. I was afraid of some of the complications from surgery that may or may not kill me and that was once like a 2% risk. So my goal is 30 minutes of exercise a day (I rounded up) and anything beyond that is just a bonus. That has seemed to work for me so far 🤞

I was the same. Nothing tasted good and I'm so not into sweet foods, protein shakes were a nightmare to drink and half a smoothie took me a whole day to finish (and they were gross no matter what I put in them). It gets better, I found that after the pureed stage I lost my interest in eating, it was only after I started consistent weight lifting and exercise (around 4 months) that my hunger returned. Hang in there!

Kind of feel like a broken record from what everyone says but....STALLS HAPPEN! Also, its okay to have imperfect days, were human, give yourself grace. I freaked out when I had mine so I totally get it! but your doing amazing!! Just from your profile pics I can see the changes in your face, you have lost 88lbs! to put that in perspective, that is my 7yr old and 2yr weight combined! you lost two little people lol Now your wearing a 1x?! damn killing it!! Keep doing what your doing it will come off, and focus on those NSV's they make all the difference!

Hi all I am struggling to lose more weight. Anyone found really good suggestions on how to limit carb intake. I feel like that is my major problem.

Hello - I am having doubts.. I am scheduled for surgery on Monday 6/24. I have struggled my whole life with the constant fluctuation of weight. Had high blood pressure, then didn’t. Had sleep apnea, then didn't. Anyways.. at my initial appt I was 245 (BMI 44). As of this morning I am down to 208… (BMI39) Worried I am jumping the gun by having surgery…. AHHH

Yea. She can prep some things for you. At first you will be on all liquids and once you get to puree you will be eating tiny portions. By the time you get to regular food you will have dropped a significant amount of weight and may be surprised at how much better you feel. I have a tremendous amount of energy now. I haven’t exercised in 20 years but now I’m walking daily, doing yoga twice a week and just tried a cardio/strength class today that I think I’m going to keep doing as well. I started at a lower BMI than you so you may not be doing rigorous exercise right away but you will be able to do more than you can now for sure and each day you will be able to do a little more and more. You can always supplement with protein shakes anytime too. Sometimes if I’m on the run I will have a shake for lunch even though I’m back to regular foods and I have one mixed with coffee every morning (that’s pretty good by the way if you like iced coffee I make mine with decaf). Perhaps you and your wife can cook together once you’re physically able and while you’re learning. I did that with my husband for a while before he got too busy with work and it was actually kinda fun. Anyways, I’m really excited for you on this journey. This surgery is life changing. It takes a great deal of work and commitment but it’s well worth it.

Hello and welcome! Also -- congratulations!! How exciting it must be to be at that stage of seeing the weight peel off, and past the point of initial recovery, and past the point of choosing which surgery to get. I noticed that you chose to go with the sleeve as opposed to the Roux-y surgery. I think that's where I'm likely to begin, myself. I have bounced around, investigating what they call a SADI-s / Loop / SIPS surgery which has an extra component with the intestine beneath the sleeve, often done as a revision of the sleeve for those who regain weight or aren't satisfied with their results. It SEEMS to have fewer side effects than the Roux-y (full gastric) but I just don't know. I've also been given a fair amount of advice suggesting I try to find an expert to do the duodenal switch (DS) due to my BMI being in the high 50s/low 60s. I'm certainly willing to try to go that route but as someone else said -- there is usually a LOT of back and forth before committing to surgery and I'm almost 7 months into the program I'm at with my current surgeon. How long would it take me, realistically, to get this far again? WLS is such a difficult and scary commitment, and then getting on here BEFORE having a surgery has filled my brain with so many more complicated options. Its kind of hard for me to commit to big decisions and sometimes I wonder if learning more and more is making matters harder for me. I love to feel in control of what's happening with my body and try to inspect EVERY detail such as to avoid any regrets -- but sometimes staring at the water for too long makes one less likely to jump in, doesn't it? But you've DONE it! I think the sleeve is a great option and respect your choice, and am so happy that it has gone smoothly thus far. It could just be my perception, but most of the men I've seen post about their surgeries seem to indeed have a bit more gentle recovery, with fewer complications. I've seen a lot of folks caution me (this forum and others) about whether I'd be satisfied with the degree of weight loss if I were to go with a base sleeve, Roux-y, or SADI-s. This makes me really appreciate where you talked about that dark spiral and maxing out at 407. I say this as someone who feels like I understand pretty dang well what you're talking about because my max weight was 435! Being 'down' to 366 feels a heck of a lot better by comparison, and I got this far by myself, so maybe I don't need to be as concerned about satisfaction with the numbers as I do making sure I'm comfortable with the process of surgery to help me continue my weight loss journey. Please keep us in the loop as you continue on to your goal! Also - congratulations to the rest of you posting here who are inches from your goal weight or have already made it there!! No matter what surgery (or surgeries) helped you get there, you DID IT! Definitely an inspirational group of people here!

Alright guys, 6 months is upon us!! This pic is from the morning of my 6 month post op visit. I weighed in at 232 in office. That is 88 lbs since my highest weight, 75 lbs since surgery! Weirdly, I am smaller now that I was last time I was at this weight. The surgeon found this funny and said the way our bodies lose weight can be really entertaining. LOL I startled myself the other day because I pulled out my smallest clothes (the smallest I have ever been as an adult was 195) and my size 16 jeans fit, zip easily, and are huge in the waist!! That means my smallest size, a 14, will probably fit now snugly, or comfortably in another month. How insane is that?? How can I fit into clothes I had to be 30 lbs lighter to wear last time?? Magic, that's how. 😂 The surgeon estimates I'll be at around 200 lbs by my year mark, though he said if I don't get quite to 200 to not stress it. We each lose weight at our own pace and with my common channel length I can expect to lose weight (albeit much slower) through the second year and possibly into the 3rd year, though at that point it'll be 1 lb here and there. This is the upside of the duodenal switch, it is a long, slow burn. Most stabilize around 18 months to 2 years, but there are always outliers. I feel pretty great! I had a hiatal hernia repair in mid April after I starting having issues choking on my food and pills not going down (I even ended up in the ER with it, which was awful, they don't get bariatric patients at all!!). I gained 15 lbs overnight and it took 2 weeks to get it off, so that on top of my stall for most of March really slowed my weight loss down. But that's okay, I'm reminding myself I have faith that it will come off in its own time. But man, it is hard to remember that when the scale goes up!! In other news, my GP and bariatric surgeon both think I have POTS. I've had issues with it on and off since having a bad case of Epstein Barr Virus (mono) that put me in the hospital a few years ago. It seems every time my body gets stressed it reverts back to having symptoms and it seems it counts any surgery as a major stressor (understandably). She referred me to a specialist and my appointment is October 24th, 2025. Uhuh, 2025, not a typo. He's booking 1 1/2 years out. There are only 2 doctors in the state that specialize in it. So I'm not a happy camper... Meanwhile we are trying a low dose of a beta blocker to see if it helps with the dizziness when I change positions, the racing heart rate when standing/exerting myself, and the exercise intolerance... And doing the lifestyle things like compression leggings, increasing salt and fluid intake, etc... It seems that a lot of Long Covid patients end up having POTS too. Have you looked into this @SomeBigGuy ?? How are you doing? How is everyone else doing??

Hi everyone. I'm a bit of a complicated outlier, as my duodenal switch will be a modified duodenal switch with Demeester adjustment. I'm getting a duodenal switch for biliary diversion ( bile reflux). And I have a herniated stomach, so it will need a hernia repair. This means my stomach will not be reduced, but it will be restored in terms of hernia. And the new bile limb will only be around a 100 to a 150cm down. Enough to prevent bile from flowing into my stomach, but less malabsorption and weight loss issues. The issue is, that my stomach gas gastroptosis ( which means it is very elongated and stretched down towards my pelvis) this means it is quite painful and traumatic when vomiting occurs. I have read so many horror stories about vomiting post op or even within the first 3 to 6 months. I'm wondering, does that mainly occur due to reduction of the stomach? Or is it an unavoidable cause of the new limbs being created. I'm terrified of obstructions, ileus and other nasty complications.

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.

I think the best encouragement I can offer is to help manage your expectations. WLS is a treatment with results measured in months and years, not days. For perspective, my day of surgery weight was only 6 lbs higher than yours. I am 4 months post op as of tomorrow and I hit 189 lbs...yesterday. That's 17 weeks to lose 34 pounds. And I promptly bounced up to 190 this morning. Barely eating anything has very little bearing on how much weight you will lose in the beginning. Your body is going through some stuff. Like, a lot of stuff. We don't even know the half of all the systems that are recalibrating in the first weeks and months. Calories in and calories out is just not a useful equation to describe what is happening to you right now. The weight on the scale is a single data point, but it doesn't even tell you what type of weight you have lost. Fat? Water? Muscle? No idea! And the smart scales aren't actually very smart because they give you averages, not actual measurements. I only lost 2.8 lbs the entire month of May, but I went down a dress size and a bra size during that time. Then I lost 10lbs in 2 weeks. Why? Who knows! So, for long term sanity, I suggest focusing on the things you can control and not worrying about what you can't. Focus on meeting protein and fluid targets. Add in a sustainable exercise routine (for me, that is just walking consistently every week). Do some reading and watch videos about good bariatric nutrition (I recommend The Pound of Cure videos on YouTube to start with). Collect and try new recipes as you move through the food stages. Take your measurements and a monthly progress photo. You may see the changes better in photos than you do by looking at yourself in a mirror. Basically, you are only 2 weeks into a 52-week-plus journey. You'll get there, but it will take time. And you will drive yourself crazy if you're like the kid in the backseat asking yourself "Are we there yet?" from the minute you pull out of the driveway.