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Literally, this morning I just came out of a two-weekish stall with an abrupt 4.5lb drop. Stalls are frustrating as heck but as long as you keep doing what you know you should be doing, you'll come out of it ok.

Well, today I go for my first post-op appointment. Thinking I may be on a liquid diet just a little bit longer. I met my fluid and protein goals on Monday, but then yesterday I did not because I was so sick I was in bed for literally the majority of the day. We'll see what happens. I think I may have gotten overheated because we went out yesterday morning so that I could get a haircut after my husband's doctor's appointment, and while he was in his appointment I did walking laps around the parking lot. And we have a heat wave striking again. But we'll see what happens. I'll try to post an update after I get home from that. Oh, I did remove the CGM sensor that had blisters forming around it. Well, they also formed under it. And... it wasn't pleasant. I essentially have a large hole in my arm now from where it took quite a bit of skin with it. I have also had an uptick in pain the last few days. I had taken myself off my pain meds completely, but I've had to take one a day since Sunday. I'll be discussing that with the doctor today too. Has anyone else experienced that? Also, real talk - Cottage cheese has always disgusted me because of how it looks. So someone please tell me what it tastes like, since I'm probably going to have to learn to like it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @ShoppGirl I am allowed to use milks (lactose intolerant so non-dairy milks). I've just been adding water to the one shake because it's super thick. Like, imagine drinking a milkshake through a tiny straw. That kind of thick. I'm less worried about protein on that one because it's 32g per bottle. I just have to be able to drink it for it to matter lol. I am sooooooo sorry about your a/c. I can't stand heat and I would probably be living in a hotel if ours went out right now. But I do know what you mean. I can't do much of anything right now still. I've been pushing myself to at least do dishes when I can, but even that is a bit much for me sometimes. But we're gonna get over this hump and then we're going to get our houses back in order! I do hope your a/c is fixed quickly and cheaply. Update - Glad to see your a/c just randomly decided to start working again. Any chance that the outside unit had frozen? Splenda is a Godsend, honestly. I've had to be on it for years already with my diabetes. I was told I could use any artificial sweetner as long as I didn't go overboard with it. So that is good to know for when I start the puree stage! I'm curious to see how much my taste buds have changed since surgery. I know a couple of people who can't stand even the smell of eggs now. I really hope that's not me. I love me some eggs. I was also told post-surgery, fish is going to be a go-to meal once I can get there. Like at least once a week, kind of thing. As someone who used to work for an allergist - the prick test is just for contact items, like fur and dust. If you are concerned about food allergies, that would be a multitude of appointments for each one you ares scared of. Because they have you actually eat the food while you are there in the office, and then you have to sit there and wait to see if you have a reaction. "It's just me and my hubby and if it bothers him then he is perfectly capable of doing it himself." This, 100000000%. lol. Hubby has asked me what I'm cooking for lunch/dinner, and I just stare at him for a long few seconds before it clicks what he just asked me to do. Then he's like, "Oh, nevermind." I do need to be better about limiting my bending and such. I'm obeying the weight guidelines, but I'm also of the opinion that if I can do something, I should do something. My husband has a stressful job (911 dispatcher) with crazy hours. And he has taken over a lot of the things that I was doing pre-surgery. So I feel like I have to do what I can to help him out too. I've been on Pinterest a lot lately, saving recipes for me to try later on. I am going to probably have a fight with my husband on certain things - like ground turkey for tacos, I already know he isn't going to be on board with. But that might be a thing where I make my food ahead of time and am like, "Okay, this is what I'm having on this night. If you don't like it, you're on your own to figure out food." But that skinny scampi sounds like it might be delicious! You'll have to let us know! I hope the eye appointment wasn't too terrible for you. Kudos to you on making plans for a healthy rest of your life. I need to really sit down and start figuring that out myself. My fear is that I work 3 jobs. While I'm off for 2 months for 2 of them, I worry that any kind of set schedule I make for myself now will get thrown out the window when those get added back. Right now, I'm trying to walk in the mornings before the heat gets too bad. And I have a cycle machine that fits under my desk, so I use that throughout the day. Once they let me, I definitely need to figure out how to get some weight training in. I'm still pulling sticky stuff off of me after multiple showers. It's not just you. This stuff just doesn't want to go away, which was good for surgery. But now it needs to go. LOL I definitely do not like the sleeping the majority of my day and night away because it's preventing me from having a schedule. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Onemealplan You said you can only eat 2oz of food every 3 hours. Are you meeting your protein goals with that? My nutritionist said that even at the puree and soft food stage, I'm expected to supplement my protein goals with protein shakes still. I'm still in the liquid stage, but it takes me an hour to finish an 11oz protein shake. I have yet to feel 'full' but I do know when I've pushed too far because I start to feel kind of sick. The lack of feeling full terrifies me, honestly. Which, I know it's just my anxiety but at the same time I'm like, "What if I have already screwed my stomach up because I didn't feel full????" Hopefully I get some reassurance today at the post-op. But I do get that mental hunger thing. It's been particularly bad lately because I just want SOMETHING that isn't liquids. Hopefully as I progress, I can start kicking that to the curb. I have a vacation coming up in October that I'm trying to prepare myself for. I should hopefully be on soft foods by then. As for the servers, one of the audiobooks I listened to in order to prepare for surgery suggested heading that off immediately. Just telling them up front you recently had a surgery so you will not be able to eat while you are recovering. One of my husband's coworkers who had the RYGB just orders water when he goes out with his husband. Sometimes he'll sip on it, sometimes he just leaves it sitting there. All depends on when he last had a protein shake. They offered you a surgery video? I haven't heard that. I would be interested in watching it if that's an option for me, but it may not be. How big of bites are you taking at this point? I'm just curious so I can start mentally planning for that vacation in a couple of months. (Man, am I so ready for a vacation, even with the dietary changes.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Pepper_No_Salt I've also had extreme fatigue. If I was dishes, I'm having to rest for an hour. I'm not doing anything more than that right now because I just physically can't handle it. But yeah, there are lots of long naps during my daytime, which is also affecting my abilitiy to get fluids and protein in. Glad to hear that you've gotten better! I know yesterday was a bad day for me out of nowhere. I'm blaming heat, but I don't actually know what the problem was. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @RRenaeL23 and @Pepper_No_Salt - Good luck at your next appointments! I hope you do get moved up to pureed foods! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Hiddenroses Interesting! I was told they would not move me on to the pureed foods until I was regularly hitting 60g of protein daily. They said nothing about whether or not I was active. I'll be curious to see what is said when I go to my post-op today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @Meme Campbell I hope your surgery went fantastically and you are recovering well! I know that liquid stage sucks, but it's for a good reason. Just keep reminding yourself of that.

Hi everyone! Just got my surgery date of August 12th. Suddenly it's all so real. So it looks like we'll all be surgery buddies!! I am really excited, scared, hopeful, and anxious. But at this point, I just want it done. I started my liver shrink diet yesterday. It's going great except that protein shakes really don't agree with me. I found one that is not so bad, but when you're drinking 3 a day (that was my doctor's minimum) it's a lot. My husband is super supportive although he doesn't like the idea of me having this surgery because he doesn't understand why I can't just lose weight and keep it off. (I bet you all do, though!) The good news is that he is a great guy and he's been with me every step, which is good because he's the cook at our house. I had my pre-anesthesia call today and I have my last appointment before surgery with the Physician's Assistant on Friday. Two weeks to go from today. I have done a lot of things to get ready. Since I work from home, I got a treadmill and an adjustable desk, so I can get up and walk on my treadmill during meetings. My goal is to walk 30 minutes 3 times a day (I'm up to 2 mph so that's 3 treadmill miles, although I know it's easier to walk on a treadmill than on the street). I don't always get 3 in, but it's SO much more exercise than I have gotten in years. I want to be in the best shape I can for surgery and recovery. I also got a bullet blender, tiny silverware, an electronic food scale, new measuring cups and spoons, and tiny storage containers to put pre-measured portions in so I can grab n' go. (Amazon makes it TOO easy to spend money!) I have read The Big Book on Gastric Bypass and I got several bariatric cookbooks so I can plan meals that meet the post-op requirements. I think the biggest part of all this for me is the idea of eating differently for the rest of my life. I have failed SO many diets (or they've failed me...) that it's really difficult to think I will really be able to lose my excess weight for good. I know that it is all up to me, and I am really hoping that having a tiny stomach and the new, shorter path for food digestion will be the key I've been looking for. I think it will be, because if I have a reason why I must eat small portions of nutritious foods and cannot eat sugar, that will make it much easier. Before, I could always say, "Oh, screw it, I'll just try again tomorrow" and give in to "mind hunger". That is why, like many of you have said, I will definitely need your support, and the support of my surgeon's clinic, to be successful in the long run. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and may we all be celebrating our successes together soon!

Yes the doctor wants me to lose 10% of my weight before the surgery. Being on the national health service, I guess they want to take extra precautions to make the surgery approved by their boards and directors. 12 weeks seems a really long time, but I've had weight problems for over 30 years so in the grand scheme of things, it's no time at all. Thanks for the suggestion about ways to celebrate my birthday! I've made plans to get my nails done with a friend so that will be great!

So since posting I’ve not been very active and my issue with weight regain has gotten worse. I am now sitting at 270 pounds. That’s 100 total pounds regained. I am miserable. I am going to start a protein shake diet thing for a week starting tomorrow and really try to get active again, but as I mentioned before I am still on night shift and a student as well. My fitness pal seems to cost money these days and im absolutely not paying 20$ a month for that, I wish it was still free. Any tips is awesome, motivations, and even pen pals, I find not having anyone to hold my accountable is really a big problem for me as I tend to convince myself to do as I please (I get it, I need to hold myself accountable, but it’s nice to have a helping hand) thanks for all the comments

If there is a discord, I'll join it. So, I'm staying between 225-228 lbs. I dropped to 221 a couple days ago. Only because I had a colonscopy and I was on a liquid diet for nearly 36 hrs. Otherwise, my weight hasn't moved in more than a month. Edit* Hit the send to fast 😃 To finish what I was writing, I shouldn't be at a maintenance weight, which is what it feels like since ive been in this weight range for 6 weeks or more. If I ate less than I do now, I don't think it would be sustainable. I have my 6 month post op appointments next month. Hopefully by then the scale moves a bit more. I was hoping to be at 200 lbs. Or less by the time I have knee surgery in October.

So, I am almost 2 months post-op, and I am due to have my 8 week check-in with a bariatric nurse. My friend also had the same surgery as me, just the day prior, and she has had this check-in already. She was told that at the current stage we are in post-op, we should be eating 900-1000 calories a day!! 🫠🤯 I genuinely don't think my body is capable! I think I eat around 400-500 on a good day, and I mean a REALLY good day (which is rare), and around 300 on a normal day. Maybe I need to have more protein shakes? I don't know. The prospect of eating that much seems so daunting, and I really get full on what I am already eating!

You hit a stall. There's a lot of posts on here about it. They happen a lot, and it's completely normal. Some of us would gain 3-5 pounds when a stall would hit and then drop like 6-7 pounds as soon as it broke. Others would just stay at the same weight until it broke. Just ride it out, it's normal. It'll happen several more times.

Oh my gosh, me too! But: We got this!! I'm going to get my lab work done next week and I know it should look really good with as long a path I've been on to get to this point and all the vitamins I've been taking! I've been taking the Barimelts multi w/iron (dissolved crazy easily, best I've found) the Calcium from BariatricPal every other day, and some Multi-collagen Peptides w/Probiotics for like, two months. I also had to quit smoking cigarettes and with the help of Chantix I've managed to do it, and just passed my fourth month of not smoking! I use the Baritastic app for my food tracking. There's SO much to the process! I'm nervous and wondering if I'm going to end up feeling like a stranger in my own skin but I'm trying to keep focusing on my reasons for doing all of this - better health, longer life, better quality of life, etc. Feel free to message me; I can be bad about checking my emails but I found an app called Finch that is helping me keep track of everything, thank goodness, and reminds me to CHECK my email. Sorry for the delayed response!

I wish I ate more of the things I loved pre-op LOL!!! Nah jokes aside, WLS is a tool that we utilize towards - hopefully - permanent life changes, if you see it as a means that'll all it'll ever be, if you see it as an effective tool, it will get you where you want to be. I would say, clean up your act, get moving, change your daily habits and get into the fat loss mindset. This doesn't mean going completely cold turkey on everything, but whatever bad habits that led you to needing the surgery in the first place need to be thought of and turned around. I didn't need a liquid diet, my BMI was on the lower side and I worked out consistently my entire life so I didn't much change anything and boy I wished I changed some things because dealing with the discomfort of the surgery, the huge changes in your diet and all the restrictions afterwards is no fun all together. I wish I cut back on caffeine (I had caffeine a week post surgery because I had terrible headaches), I wish I cut out diet soda prior to WLS because I love diet soda so very much and it was tough to think that I can never have this without any mental preparation beforehand. I wouldn't change much else because fortunately for me, I had a good experience post op, the weight dropped off very quick, I never threw up or had severe food aversions and have very effective restriction. But I also had a very balanced diet and workout regimen before WLS and that helped me tremendously and I know that might not be the case for everyone. Also, prepare yourself for a new life and new you, it's cliché but it's very true.

Hello again everyone! I'll start by saying I'm sorry it takes me so long to post my responses. This is because while I do skim posts from my phone, especially when I see an email that has me tagged I find it so much easier to type and properly respond from my desktop computer. So - If I 'Like' a post' just know I'll likely later mention something in one of my long summarized posts, like this one! Yesterday was exhausting for me; I slept poorly Tuesday night due to heartburn and tenderness on the left hand side. I did get a few things done yesterday, though, including making it to Walmart finally to get my returns processed. I'm not sure why I thought I'd need extra bandages and such after my surgery, but I didn't. That said, after reviewing the cost of canned soups and canned chicken, I decided just to buy a rotisserie chicken! Honestly, that's proven to be easier and more economical because after deboning it there is plenty of flavorful chicken to either puree into chicken salad or puree with chicken broth and some canned peas/carrots as a kind of 'no noodle' soup! I also had a ridiculous epiphany this morning - cooking and straining our fruits BEFORE mixing them with yogurt or ricotta works WAY BETTER! This should have been obvious but in my addled mind I've been either 'peeling' the strawberries, or like this morning I thought I'd put the whole blueberry yogurt smoothie through the metal screen to strain and hey - that worked POORLY! Lol - silly the illogical things we do at times, eh? Or maybe it's just me, idk! Oh - I ALSO realized yesterday evening, when I had basically zero energy nor desire to mess with dinner but still was far short of my protein goal that I hadn't started taking the Collagen yet that I bought to help my hair, skin, and nails. Lo and behold when I scoped it out (I ordered Nature Target Multi-Collagen Peptides from Amazon) that one scoop DOES have 9g of Protein! I truly felt like I was cheating the system when I poured a scoop in about 4oz of Gatorade Zero, Orange and called that my dinner. I'm not sure what caused me to sleep better last night - the fact that I held/hugged a pillow ( Thank you again @draikaina8503 for mentioning the pillow your nursing staff gave you!) against my left side during most movements throughout the day, the fact that I was extremely tired, the relief from hearing from my doctor's office, or just time and healing in general) but I DID sleep well and today has gone more smoothly for me. As of today I'm 17 days post op, about a 1/4 of the way into my two weeks of puree diet. @ShoppGirl - I haven't noticed about white spots on the tongue after different types of protein drinks because I've been really aware of any 'filmy texture' so rinse my mouth after each meal, but I do feel like the Ensure is thicker and takes more effort for me to rinse after drinking. Thanks for mentioning the Protein Water! I'm going to look into that to see if it will help me meet my protein goal of 60g/day. @draikaina8503 - I haven't noticed much as far as skin sensitivity goes although my bruises from where they stuck me have taken an AGE to heal! I've been worried about you and hope that the incident with your doggo didn't leave you with any lasting damage (I may see a post about that later as I read). Are you taking Collagen Peptides by chance? I noticed one of the Youtubers who documented their own surgery journey dealt with breakouts afterward while taking Collagen and wondered if maybe it was impurities being purged from their skin as a result of the Collagen itself. If not I'd definitely mention it to your surgeon and double check (not that I think you'd miss anything since you seem VERY thorough) that some ingredient you're intolerant to hasn't snuck its way into your routine. Update: Oh good, I'm glad you got some reassurance from your physician's office. Wow - congratulations on the return to school! The start date is rolling right up, isn't it?! Yeah, timing - eesh - I feel ya! Best of luck in finding a comfortable position in which to do your course work, and the energy to tackle everything at once! So far though it looks like you're nailing it and no reason to think that success won't keep right on coming! Oh - and yeah, I guess I AM blessed to have been given this little bottle of Hibiclens! I had noticed that there was one of those tubs in my hospital room when I got ready to check out and there was another bottle of it in there as well as a couple of 'No rinse' shampoo caps. I snagged everything out of it - figured if my insurance was paying for it, I was gonna grab it for possible later use! I wish I could hand you this extra bottle, honestly! @Pepper_No_Salt - Wow; goodness! Yeah; honestly it sounds like you're doing way too much! I'm only just now starting to feel up to helping load the dishwasher, and today I managed to slowly sort through the clothing in my chest of drawers for size/quality of condition. Even then, I had to have my fella open the drawers for me because it's older and they stick a bit, plus pulling anything makes me tender, much less bending and pulling at the same time! I can't IMAGINE trying to tackle everything you just listed at this stage. I know we all heal at different rates but my surgeon's office told me yesterday that the pain *I* have been mainly experiencing, a pulling/tugging on my left side, can take up to a month or two to recover from. She said to remember that despite how the surface appears to have healed that there is a LOT of repair and healing happening internally. She also said that as frustrating as it is to just try to be patient with myself because the body is adjusting in a lot of ways between not getting hardly any carbs, learning to get its energy from different sources, i.e. stored fat, processing our intake of protein/water differently, and literally healing multiple organs (for me, SADI, intestines and stomach from the sleeve portion) and that takes a lot out of a person. @Justarwaxx - Oh my goodness, that sounds VERY anxiety inducing! This is your body and your journey, I absolutely suggest contacting your surgeon's office to see if they can send you some kind of guideline on what to be doing at your different stages. Also, I will be honest - that sounds like a lot of calories to be intaking during your liquid diet and I can't help but wonder if you're drinking maybe the wrong particular protein shake? I don't say that because I think you SHOULD worry about calories specifically but you DO need to worry about sugar intake. I got tripped up because my surgeon's team gave me a booklet guide for the whole process and I'm not supposed to drink any protein shakes that have less than 15g of Protein and more than 5g of sugar. The protein shakes are deceptive as heck, though! Example: The off brand Equate ones I got are Max Protein with 30g of Protein and less than 1g of sugar, and one time I accidentally bought their Protein Plus which had 20g of sugar in each one! They tasted great - but at the cost of all that sugar it was a hard pass! Also if you are drinking regular Gatorade or Powerade I could see that being a factor; I'm on Zero Sugar for my non-protein beverages. I can totally see how you'd feel at a loss - I spent 10 months working up to my surgery (because I had to quit smoking, etc) and I still feel like I'm winging it. If your surgeon's team didn't mention it, I will - there is an app called Baritastic that is free on the Google Play Store. You can scan the items you intake or search them on the 'Food Log' and it usually pulls up the correct information and lets you put what percent of the listed serving size you consumed. I do suggest checking at least one time to make sure it's pulling up the correct information that matches the Nutrition Facts listed on the item. After that it will be recorded in your 'Recent' list and you can just choose it easily that way. Baritastic also has a built in Timer for 30 minutes you can use to track when you stop drinking and can start drinking after a meal - once you're past the liquid stage and move on to meals that's pretty important across the board as far as I know. The 'No drinking 30 minutes before, during, or after a meal' is important because due to the adjusted size of your stomach it can only fit a certain amount, and you could get overly full of water before or after a meal otherwise, leading to you being sick to your stomach or feeling miserable overall. Honestly, I've been setting a timer when I sit down at my computer as well so I don't get absorbed in what I'm doing and sit for too long. That's been helpful! Best of healing and well wishes to you all - Oh, finally updated my ticker but bummed I can't put 'SADI' as my surgery type. Oh well! Adding: The Finch App continues to help me navigate these waters, big time. I open my free Finch app (Also on the Google Play App store) more often then I open Facebook or any social media. Taking care of that silly cute cartoon bird and getting rewarded for taking care of MY personal business is such a benefit to someone like me who is almost certainly ADHD/Autistic at some level. I even use it to remind me to log my food/liquid intake in Baritastic. OH and I did make solid contact with the testing center I've been on a wait list with - looks like I'll at least be able to get in to a counselor soon, though I'm still on the wait list for actual Autism testing. Ok - that's all for now!

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!

I had the Sleeve 3.5 years ago and I’m pending revision to SADI or bypass (Bypass if he gets in there a can’t do SADI for some reason). From what I have seen on these boards the post op pain level for the sleeve and bypass is pretty similar year still different from person to person. I think the main difference between someone with an easy vs tough recovery depends on whether any air gets trapped in there and causes gas pain. I was really fortunate with the sleeve that I didn’t have any gas pain at all and my recovery was quite easy. I was up a couple hours after being back to my room Bugging then nurses with questions about my urine output 🤣 At one point I even questioned whether they had somehow forgotten to do the surgery. I did feel like I had done about 1000 crunches. And I had to use the bed rails to assist in sitting up for the first day but if I was just lying or standing I felt normal. I even said I didn’t need pain meds right away. They said they suggested they wean me down because I was already on some and may not know it if I’m in pain. I went home the next day on just Tylenol but with a pain script just in case. I did feel fatigued for a while so I took naps daily and I waited the full two weeks before I did much as instructed but I FELT like I could do most things if I had tried. It is an adjustment to remember all the vitamins and figure out what to drink or “eat” and when but I set alarms on my phone and that helped quite a bit. I actually just created alarms for every half hour and then toggled them on as needed to plan my day. You are a step ahead of the game that you are already here and established where you can get support and ask questions if you have any I didn’t find this site until a couple of days before so I was still figuring out how the thing even worked while working through the rest of it. The people here are incredibly helpful to answer questions, cheer you on or just let you vent if you have a bad day. The main thing to keep in mind is your goals and your reasons why you are doing the surgery and that will get you through it. If you ask everyone if they have any regrets about Weight loss Surgery the most common response it that they only wish they had done it sooner. After a few months you should be in your new groove, just losing weight and noticing that you can already do things you haven’t been able to do. If you haven’t already, Check out the “weirdest non scale victories” thread on this site. It sorta turned to just normal non scale victories but it’s pretty inspiring

I am sure you have just reached a stall period, don't let it worry you, EVERYONE has gone through it, or is going through it, as it is raised as a topic here every few days it feels like. Your body is trying to adjust to the new you, new routines etc. so even if the scale has stalled (or even goes up a bit) you may be loosing inches etc. Over the last year I have had a few stalls and it is frustrating but part of the process. It also gets harder/slower as you get closer to your natural weight as there is less to loose. When it has happened I have upped my exercise (an extra walk or longer walk, more time in the pool etc.) to try and give the body a little nudge to get loosing again not sure if it helps or not but makes me feel better. Try not to stress and just keep up the positive changes you have made. It is seriously not that long into this part of your journey.

Hey everyone! I really wanted to reply to everyone individually but I ended up just running out of energy - but reading your replies it made me feel a lot more confident in what I am doing. I appreciate all of your advice. I had my 8 week post-op appointment with my bariatric nurse, and she did say that I am probably eating too little, and this could be being driven by the fact I am not drinking enough. So, goals going forward is to drink more water, and to have breakfast! I feel good overall though, dizziness seems to have stopped 🤞 I just need to find some low sugar snacks to bring with me for my tattoo appointments on Tues & Thurs...hmm...

I was given cream of chicken soup with bits in it at the hospital day 1 after surgery. I was still hopped up on anesthesia at the time and called a nurse in to question why. She took my spoon and looked at it, then said the bits weren't big enough to cause a problem???? I thought well...it is a bariatric hospital so I ate it. It did taste wonderful and thankfully nothing got stuck in my incisions but I still question it. In fact a relative of mine recently had WLS and on a phone consult within week 1 with same hospital nurses, was told to try a bit of bread for nausea??? I immediately remembered the soup they gave me and am now really questioning the nurses at that hospital and their knowledge of care for bariatric patients. I tried calling them to inquire about their iffy advice but never heard back. I need to call my bariatric team nutritionist to give them a heads up. As for OP question about salty cravings. Soup. Bouillons, strained cream soups and my fav... egg drop soup strained from a local Chinese restaurant. I even used a Vitamix to pulverize any bits that could cause problems later on. Good luck on your journey @Sami2209.

Honestly, that's why it's not good to weigh yourself every day. Things like how much you ate and drank, how much salt you had, if you pooped or not can all affect your weight. As hard as it is, weighing yourself once (or if you must, twice) per week, in the morning after you go to the bathroom, before you eat or drink is the best way to see what you true weight is. Weight also fluctuates by a couple of pounds naturally, so if you weigh yourself daily, you'll get discouraged and frustrated and start to think, 5 weeks out, that you've plateaued. Be mindful of slider foods. That's stuff that you can eat more of because it goes down super easy and takes longer to make you feel full. Potatoes are known for this. As I said before, the first 6 months is when you lose the most the fastest. Eating things that slow down that process during that time is counter-productive. This is where you really want to stick to the diet as closely as possible to get the most out of the weight loss. Also move your body. Add in working out, walking, swimming, anything that increases movement over and above what you normally do. Not only does that help, but when you drop weight fast, you can lose muscle. So you want to start working on that.

this is not the first time, but it happened again...and i think it's happened often enough now for me to consider it a "normal" thing: I. Lost. Weight. On. Vacation. it still fascinates me when this happens because the norm prior to wls was to GAIN weight during vacay. Every. Single Time. (even when i was not overweight) Went on vacay 20 days ago, and came back this afternoon. I did not count calories, track food, weigh myself, nor perform a lick of exercise (besides walking) all that time. And lo and behold, i lost 3.1 lbs. which is very unexpected, because me and Mr. basically ate and drank ourselves across a good part of europe, and i fully expected the scale to show a good sized weight gain when i got home (he says HE gained almost 4 lbs). honestly i felt like i ate (and drank) more in the past 3-ish weeks than i ever have since WLS 5+ years ago...but maybe i am mistaken? maybe i should have tracked my food intake after all... anyway, yay! i may just have to fully accept that i got this maintenance thing down pat. i didn't think about calories or portion sizes or whatever...just ate (and drank) what i felt like, in amounts i knew i could handle. yay!

I'm right at 5 months, and over the past few weeks, it has become HARD. In the beginning, I was dropping weight, had zero interest in food, and was totally motivated. But since the beginning of July, I've lost a pound. Actually, I've lost and gained and lost and gained that one pound multiple times. I've started feeling hungry sometimes again, and that's triggering all sorts of bad behaviors like getting up when I'm trying to avoid work (I work from home) and looking in the cupboard for a snack, not to mention craving sweets. It's been a constant fight. Not getting that reward of watching the scale dropping all the time kind of saps the motivation, I think. And the novelty wears off and you start to realize that you're in this for the long haul and maybe you start to rebel a little. You're not alone. You say you're afraid of being judged, but you are judging yourself every time you do things you know you shouldn't do. You said it yourself. You're disgusted by what you're doing, but there's a reason you're doing it, and figuring that out is going to be the key to stopping it and changing. I feel like there is probably a voice you hear in the back of your head telling you that you can't do this. Maybe there's literally someone saying it to you in your life, but most likely it's a voice in your head from a long time ago, one that sounds like you but probably was someone else when you first heard it. For me, it's my grandmother, and to some extent my dad. Never happy, never praising. Expecting perfection and scolding "for your own good" over every little thing. Ridiculing my weight despite being overweight themselves, but also overfeeding me because that's what they knew. Food was the enemy, but also a reward from emotionally stunted caregivers who had no other way to show affection. When you can never fully meet expectations at a young age, you learn quickly that you will always fail. That may be the role you've played in your family. Maybe it's everything, or maybe just one thing, like being overweight. And when you start to succeed, it feels frightening because it challenges everything you have been taught to believe about yourself. If you're not "the fat friend", who are you? Or maybe being "the fat daughter" kept a jealous family member happy because you weren't "competition" that way. There are so many reasons we get into these patterns. But the point is, the patterns feel normal and safe. So you make sure you don't succeed and change too much or for too long. You're used to being disappointing to yourself. You can live with that. But admitting you're capable of succeeding and changing is really scary. Allowing yourself to challenge the roles other people want you to fulfill is the hardest thing you can do. At least that's my experience. As for how to change, my first suggestion is talk to your team. That's why they're there, and they know what's going on because they've seen it before. Face it head on. Nothing they say is going to be any worse than what you are saying, and doing, to yourself. If you can get set up with a therapist, even better. Second, get every source of temptation out of the house. The alcohol. The junk food. Whatever is making you stumble, get rid of it. Do your shopping online from now on, or curbside pickup because it is way easier not to give into temptation that way. You can't binge on what you don't have. But skip the gym. It's really only about 10% of your success, anyway. Focus on water, protein, and vitamins. You don't need the false guilt of the gym to make everything worse. And third, get help from people you trust who are close to you if you can. Accountability is key. If going out to eat is an issue, tell your friends or family that you need their help not letting you go out to eat. Explain why you can't be around snacks, or why you won't be ordering alcohol, and ask for their help. If you trust even one person in your life to tell what is really going on, tell them. You need another voice cheering you on instead of just your own head bringing you down. Bottom line, something about what you are doing right now feels comfortable to you. It's a pattern that you can live with, even if you hate it. Something about what you were doing when you were following the rules was making you uncomfortable. Figure out what and why. You can't change your habits until you change that voice in your head, and until you can love yourself and cheer yourself on instead of being your own worst judge. But you have to believe you're worth it and be willing to do things that scare you in order to get past this fog and get to where you want to be.

I was at probably 200 calories at the two month mark. I'm not sure how they expect you to be consuming 1000 calories a day! I'm almost 7 months post op and not able to get to even 900 calories a day (mind you I workout hard at least 4 days a week, I lift and do Pilates and run and all sorts of cardio). It's a struggle to eat enough, and what I learnt is that I will not force myself to eat any more than I can, I will get there eventually so what is the point of rushing? I would say eat what you can and don't force it, the whole point of surgery is to eat less 🤣

That’s what I’m in the process of doing right now it’s going from the sleeve to a bypass. I have three more months of nutrition classes and then I’ll be having my surgery.

Not sure if you the same but for me when I eat carbs I crave carbs. If you are like that don’t do any food funerals immediately before your pro op. It will only make it that much harder. If you have to do food funerals then just do them a week earlier and eat lower carb the week before your pre op diet. It made it tolerable for me when I did my sleeve.

Its been one month and 9 days and ive been 183 for two weeks now🙃. Im praying this is temporary. I started introducing solids but even in that i cant over indulge. WTF! If i stopped… this will be so disappointing.

Looking great, and I hope you enjoyed the beach! Last summer, I took my kids to an indoor water park at just around my highest ever weight. I had to buy a new suit because nothing I had fit anymore, and looking back at the pictures, oh my goodness. I even looked uncomfortable. We went again a few weeks ago, and I was 4 months post-op. Let's just say that thankfully, the suit from last year went straight to the giveaway bag, and I had to order a new one because even my "skinny" suit from a few years before was a bit roomy. I ordered two new ones and ended up with one that is perfect and one that was a bit tight, but I'm hoping it will fit me well in a few more months. Such a great feeling, and going on the water slides was so much more fun this time than 60 lbs ago, for sure.

Congratulations on your date. Cutting the caffeine is hard. That’s what I’m struggling with right now. My problem is figuring out exactly how much I was drinking because I was getting it from various sources and just drinking it freely. Yesterday I woke up with a massive headache at like 2am. I guess I tried to cut it too much. This morning I was fine though so I think I have a better idea. I only allowed myself 4 weeks because it didn’t even take that last time with the sleeve but forgot about the headaches because last time I could take Alieve but this time I really can’t rely on that. I really hope I didn’t cut this too close.