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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 😂

From what I know if you look at your BMI range, it is the top figure weight, say in my case, 78 kg. You now take your current weight, which when I started surgery was say 128 kg. Sorry I work in Metric but it works the same in imperial. 128-78 equals 50 kg. That 50 kg is my XS weight, so if mini gastric bypass has a predicted loss of 70 to 85% of the XS weight then it is 70% of 50 kg to 85% of 50 kg. I.e 35 to 59.5 kg is what I am expected to lose with the procedure. When it comes right down to it from what I understand. If like me, you have been obese all your life. Then you will have thicker, heavier bones to support that weight, more skin to wraparound it and a larger heart to pump blood around your body, so that means no matter what the general BMI limit is it is not totally relevant and there has been some suggestions by bariatric surgeons that to aim for a BMI of 30. BMI is intrinsically a flawed concept as it does not take into account, body muscle mass. You will know the example of the brick **** house musclebound New Zealand rugby player with no fat, looking like a crazy obese person on paper because they have a BMI of 45. I am 52 this year, so I think I would be happy with something above the BMI range. Otherwise my skin will waft in the breeze! 🤣

Would I be right in thinking your nutritionalist is recommending a keto like diet? They are big on no root vegetables & no corn, peas because of their naturally high sugar content. (Potatoes are often a no because they are considered a starch.) I regularly ate carrot & sugar snap peas. I threw frozen corn & peas into soups, mince dishes, some slow cooked dishes, omelettes, etc, I usually just microwave my vegetables with a splash of water & a dab of butter but also will stir fry & occasionally roast (especially cauliflower with a little hummus & zataar to serve). I love vegetables & enjoy them best simply with salt & pepper but don’t be afraid to try herbs & spices. The only vegetables I don’t eat is potato, sweet potato & pumpkin (they tend to sit heavily) except a very small piece (bite or two) with a roast dinner. My thoughts were & are vegetables are vegetables (except potato). They are highly nutritious (all those vitamins, minerals & fibre) so a valuable addition to our food choices. And the little we eat, especially in the first months will have minimal impact on your calorie intake & weight loss. I mean 1/4 cup peas is 30 calories if you can eat that much. Plus the ‘sweet’ vegetables are naturally sweet so they don’t count towards your sugar intake. Certainly didn’t affect my weight loss or maintenance. I say eat your vegetables, just watch portion size & what you serve or add to them. Like no honey glazed carrots, sour cream or cheese sauces at least for a while.

From what I know if you look at your BMI range, it is the top figure weight, say in my case, 78 kg. You now take your current weight, which when I started surgery was say 128 kg. Sorry I work in Metric but it works the same in imperial. 128-78 equals 50 kg. That 50 kg is my XS weight, so if mini gastric bypass has a predicted loss of 70 to 85% of the XS weight then it is 70% of 50 kg to 85% of 50 kg. I.e 35 to 59.5 kg is what I am expected to lose with the procedure. When it comes right down to it from what I understand. If like me, you have been obese all your life. Then you will have thicker, heavier bones to support that weight, more skin to wraparound it and a larger heart to pump blood around your body, so that means no matter what the general BMI limit is it is not totally relevant and there has been some suggestions by bariatric surgeons that to aim for a BMI of 30. BMI is intrinsically a flawed concept as it does not take into account, body muscle mass. You will know the example of the brick **** house musclebound New Zealand rugby player with no fat, looking like a crazy obese person on paper because they have a BMI of 45. I am 52 this year, so I think I would be happy with something above the BMI range. Otherwise my skin will waft in the breeze! 🤣

Morning all ( well it's the morning here)! I weight in (officially) every Friday (In truth I have issues avoiding jumping on the scales every day) I'm 5 weeks post-op today. ⁠Opération day weight 91.1kg ( 200.5 lbs - 14 stone 4 and a half) •⁠ ⁠⁠Current weight 80.9kg ( 178 lbs - 12 stone 10 and a half) •⁠ ⁠⁠Weight Lost 10.2kg or 11.19% of starting weight ( 22.5 lbs 1 stone 8 and a half ) •⁠ ⁠⁠Starting BMI 32.65 •⁠ ⁠⁠Current BMI 29.1 So my stall has well and truly broken and I think I'm on the right path!

i lost 10 lbs in the month after reaching goal. and then another 5 or so lbs in thr 2-3 months following. the fear of losing too much weight is a common concern to those who reach goal (or are nearing it) it doesn't last long. slowly up your calories if you can...if u cant now, trust me, you will have no problem later. if you continue to lose weight over months (not weeks as its way too soon for concern) and you dip below 18.5 BMI and your doc/team is concerned , then that will be your cue to be concerned. otherwise use this time to figure out what YOUR maintenance calories are (not what is recommended to you as we are all different and require different calorie intakes) and enjoy and bask in your success! congrats!

I kept losing for almost another year after I reached my goal. It began at a similar rate of loss as I was experiencing but gradually got less & less until it stopped. Over that time I increased my calorie intake (added more & more snacks) & my portions got a little larger. I was eating about 1300 calories when I initially stopped losing but eat about 1500/1600 to maintain at about the same weight now. Like @Spinoza, I’m a believer in our changed set point. This is the weight my body is happy at & this is the weight it wants me to be thanks to the surgery. Could I eat my set point up? Yes, if I wanted. I mean that’s what we did before - ate our set point higher. Our original set point wasn’t an obese weight. Don’t forget you may initially stop at a lower weight than you expected but it may give you wriggle room if you experience the bounce back regain around years 2 or 3. Give your body time to resettle. Lots of things change when your weight starts to stabilise. Just give it time. Slowly increase those calories. Get in touch with your dietician for ideas of what you can add or how you could adjust your current eating plan. Good luck.

Interesting question. Some say it’s the weight you need to lose to put you at a healthy BMI. Some say it’s the weight they personally want to lose to put them in their happy weight zone - a weight that worked for them in the past or they think will work for them in the future. Personally, I think of it simply as the weight you want to lose to get to your goal regardless of how you worked it out or chose it. Not as a sort of standardised amount of weight defined by someone else (surgeon, dietician, etc.) or statistical data. This (weight loss) is all about you & your experiences & no one else’s. As you know not every one reaches their goal & statistically average weight loss with sleeve or bypass is about 65% of the weight you are to lose (based on BMI defined excess weight). And then there are those who find they’re happier at a weight that is more or less than the goal they initially chose. They all lost excess weight & are healthier for it.

Question. How do they determine “excess weight.” Is it calculated from a certain BMI?? I tried to get an answer to this three hears ago when I was awaiting the sleeve and I still haven’t figured it out.