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I felt hunger from the first week post op, it never disappeared. In fact I was starving on the first week of liquids. at 10+ months post op some days I feel ravenous (especially on days I lift very heavy) and some days I'm not interested in eating. How did/do you cope? To be very honest the first week is very hard and generally the first 6 weeks are tough not gonna lie. I hated eating soups and mushy foods. I hated the feeling of my restriction but what made it all worth it was the progress I witnessed on a daily basis. The pounds were melting off and I was so ecstatic about that. Do you have/need coping mechanisms in place- if so what? I traveled. That really helped, I traveled at 3 weeks post op, 3 months post op, 6 months and 8 months post op. I went back to exercising and took up Pilates. I regularly checked in with a friend who's had VSG before me. All these things helped me cope plus the weight melting off!! Does it get easier? It really does. You will look and feel better, you will re-learn how to eat and it'll be okay. Do you have any helpful advice for a newbie like me? Take it one day at a time. Don't be too hard on yourself. Don't compare yourself or your progress to anyone. The first few months are a gift, use them but also free your mind of food anxiety and accept that you are not perfect and you will make mistakes and learn from them. Oh and indulge in movement you enjoy (it makes a big difference, physically and mentally).

Hi Debby! Please can I ask what the purpose of the detox is? I know people do these for various reasons. If you have regained some weight after your bypass (if so, how much?) and you're wanting to kick start further loss then I agree with the others above - eat your protein first, veg second and fruit/carbs last. If you have another (health?) reason for a detox then it might be OK to follow what sounds like a very restrictive plan. I'd be worried about your protein intake with what you're proposing though.

I just had surgery on 4/2/24 and I had the same. It looked really weird. Like a dent in my fat roll. My doctor said that it was from a suture in one of my abdominal muscles and would eventually go away as I lost weight and healed up. It’s only been a week and mine is completely gone.

Skin doesn’t actually weigh that much. My surgeon did not weigh the skin removed. I had a abdominoplasty, arm lift, and breast lift with implants. You’ll actually probably weigh a bit more in the few days post op due to all the fluid they give you. One week post op I was about 4 lbs below my pre-op weight, but also wasn’t eating much in that post op period.

tomorrow morning, i am getting my excess tummy skin removed and my boobs reduced and lifted. i had rny gastric bypass in september 2022 and lost more than 200 pounds, highest weight 410, and my weight has been stable at 190. i saved up enough money to get plastic surgery in tijuana, mexico, and my work, school, and holidays lined up to get it done! im getting 360 lower body lift, tummy tuck with fleur de lys, and breast reduction and lift. i also want to get an arm lift and inner thigh lift sometime in the future. im nervous for my surgery tomorrow morning, but i’m confident in my decision to have plastic surgery now, and trust my surgeon and medical team. ive done everything i can think of to best prepare for surgery and make sure it’s as successful as possible: i have SO MANY medical supplies; i’ve been taking SO MANY vitamins and iron to make sure my hemoglobin levels are high enough; i’ve had iv infusions of iron, vitamin c, and ozonized (definitely not the correct term) 120 ccs of my blood and pumped it back in; i’ve done too much research; and i’ve saved up thousands of dollars and dragged myself all the way to mexico and tomorrow’s the day! ill update as i drag myself through yet another surgery and recovery! 😅 i also will take any recommendations for healing, post-op recovery, pain management, and expectations. ~kukui

Don't know if you're still working on this or not, but I just passed my 1 year anniversary of my surgery so thought I would share my numbers. 1. Basics: GENDER, AGE, HEIGHT Male, 32, 5' 6" 2. Total Weight lost in the 6 months BEFORE surgery (if any) 24 lbs. 3. Weight on DAY OF SURGERY. 389 4. Weight at 1 MONTH POST surgery 358 5. Weight at 3 MONTHs POST surgery 320 6. Weight at 6 MONTHs POST surgery 275 7. Weight at 12 MONTHs POST surgery 217 8. Type of Surgery (Sleeve, ByPass, etc...) Bypass

I'm a little confused. According to your sidebar you've lost almost 100 lbs in 3 months?? How much were you expecting to lose? I'm guessing your surgery weight was different than your starting weight. To put this in a bit of perspective, I had surgery almost a month before you (Nov. 1st), my highest weight was 320 but my surgery weight was 307 and I'm currently at 251!! And my weight loss is considered quite a good pace and certainly within the realms of an excellent result thus far. That change in clothing size is way more important than a number on the scale! Feelings with these surgeries are tough because for some reason our brains expect years of weight to take a few weeks to come off. LOL Everyone thinks they need to lose faster, even the fastest losers among us. Everyone thinks they should be further along, even if they are quite far. We have really high expectations of ourselves and our bodies, probably in part from years of everyone else having unrealistic expectations of us and our bodies. This surgery is an opportunity to give ourselves a bit more kindness and compassion, and maybe recalibrate our expectations. Healing takes time. Even with surgery, weight loss takes time. And the entire process is SOOOO frustrating! I get it, I experience frustration on a regular basis. Today I was lamenting the fact that suddenly my boobs have flattened like pancakes. 😢😂

my inside exercise is pilates, hot yoga, lane swimming, rock-climbing, and in-front-of-tv-weight-training (i also do a a rotating schedule of different dance classes). my outside exercise is running. i also do alot of other "outdoor activities" but i don't consider them dedicated exercise, its just stuff i do: walking, hiking, biking, softball, beach volleyball. i'm in toronto, Canada, so my outdoor activities are concentrated in the warmer months. in the winter i may go hiking or skiing, but not very often (and i don't run in the winter either). exercise is exercise no matter where you do it....but if you do alot outdoors, don't forget the sunscreen and hats!!

Like the others said before me, I think it is highly unlikely that you have stretched your stomach. Weight will fluctuate (annoying I know) as your body copes with the changes. Please try not to stress yourself out unnecessarily. I think try to find a resource of a dietician, maybe even one online if that is quicker than a local one. Did your care team, at the time, give you any reading material for post-op foods etc? I didn't get much advice for long-term from my team so I spent a lot of time online and found some good online reading material at 'Bariatric Meal Prep', 'My Bariatric Dietitian' and a few other sites/blogs.

I had the sleeve almost 10 years ago, and yes, it does get bigger. However, I still can’t eat near what I used to eat in a sitting. For example, I can eat 3 pieces of pizza now. I used to be able to 5-7. It happened over time, though. I second those who recommend therapy. I am about to have revision to RNY, and I have been in therapy for several months to help me be successful this time around. In my case, because I didn’t truly deal with the reasons I eat, I regained almost of the weight. Best wishes to you!!

When I finally convinced my Dietitian to give me some sort of macros to follow, they actually said "150g per day" for carbs! I thought that sounded WAY too high, and even 100g seems like a lot to me. I've done keto before (and that was the only way I lost any weight at all, prior to VSG), so it's not too difficult for me to cut back there. Thank you for weighing in - I really appreciate it! :)

I was very reluctant to post my before and after. I just don’t feel like I’m done yet? I’m 4.5 months post op and reached my initial goal at 3.5 months post op and went down further more so set myself a new goal weight, which I’m very close to, but thought hey, why not celebrate it anyway? I look good, I feel good and I should get to celebrate that. Every single one of you looks absolutely fantastic, way to go lot ♥️

Exactly this. A lot of Baritastic patients go into this thinking its a "diet" its not! Its a new LIFETIME way of eating. It is nothing more than nourishment to keep your body healthy. "Diets" are meant to be a temporary way to lose weight, bariatric surgery is a permanent way to eat. I'll try and heed your words of warning!

same, same, as the other posters above. i am really, really good at losing weight. I am (was) also really, really good at finding that weight again. i've lost 50-75 lbs three separate times prior to wls, and each time managed to regain it within a year or so, plus a few more pounds for good measure, until i finally hit my highest weight of 235 lbs (i'm 5'2" so thats alot of weight for my height). with WLS (sleeve for me), i lost 120-ish lbs and kept it ALL off (give or take 5lbs) since reaching goal...almost 5 YEARS ago... whats more, maintaining this weight seems relatively effortless compared to before. because i eat so very little in volume (added to the fact that i somehow developed an affection for exercise and activity!), i have quite a bit of leeway in food choices to reach my maintenance calories. i am very grateful for this aspect of my surgery experience, i tell ya. BUT... i will add a disclaimer here that not everyone has the same WLS experience. you won't know what yours will be until you know. though we all of us here already sort of know that low calorie diets alone aren't sustainable long term for us. i mean, that's why we are all here, no?

Hello @ihoneyyou, You are doing so well. I think you look great too. Have you had children ? I ask because you may need a muscle repair to rectify your tummy shape. It may not be all weight loss related

I'm so relieved to see that I'm not the only one flagging here and there. I was doing great up until about midway through last week, going on my walks and trying not to look at the scale because I REALLY wanted to see it tick from just above 300 down into the 290s - finally I weighed in and was SO frustrated that I sat at like, 301 for several days. I'm still there now, too. Another thing - I had bought a pair of size 22 jeans and they fit great so I bought a couple pairs of size 24 I found at a thrift store and was heartbroken when they didn't fit! I'm coaching myself as to the reality that the size 22 I'd bought were super wide leg all the way up vs the ones from the thrift store that were more 'fitted' - being the reason they didn't go up over my thighs. I can see the 'bat wings' on my arms, constantly am having to shift my rings around, and am losing in my back/bum area but my thighs are still my problem. I looked up some exercises I have been trying to do to promote a strong core and hopefully reduce visible belly fat/ excess skin in the thighs and arms, but I backed off some on my exercise over the weekend for sure. Per my Fitbit my average is still high, but I feel awful if I don't get in at least 5k steps per day now. I know I'm getting ready to start my period any day so HOPEFULLY after this comes and goes my weight will have another significant drop. @Justarwaxx and @ShoppGirl - You are both doing so great! It's always nice to pop back on here and see your updates

I’ve had this feeling before but it lasted a very short while. Your body needs the calories to survive and weight loss will still happen. Your stomach is not that same anymore and you won’t be able to eat the same amount or the same types of food anymore. That feeling will pass in due time. You’ll be okay! Just make sure you follow your surgeon’s directives ♥️

Constipation is very common. So your pain may be from that. Remember even though you’re only drinking liquids, those shakes & soups have nutrients that end up as waste once your body has got what it needs from them. Your poop may be small &/or softer or you may have bouts of diarrhoea from all the liquid. Don’t expect to go every day either in the beginning. Back pain can also occur because of your weight loss. Many of us experience this as our bodies try to rebalance ourselves as we get smaller. Our muscles, tendons, etc. have been compensating for our heavier weight & now it doesn’t have to. Our posture & centre of gravity changes too so don’t be surprised when at odd times you lose your balance. The back pain can be from being moved about during the surgery too. But as with all things, if this seems strange or unusual for you or the pain isn’t manageable, contact your medical team. Better to be sure it’s nothing than something. Congrats on your surgery!

Hi everyone. I thought I would pop this on here, and someone who is feeling incredibly frustrated and let down by the whole waiting process. For context; I am waiting for a gastric sleeve date, after almost 5 years on the waitlist with the NHS based in England. Ironically, I could've paid for private surgery almost twice over with the amount of tax I've paid since waiting! I have been 'at the top of the list' since October last year, and have done everything they have asked of me - kept my weight below my initial weight at the beginning of my consultations; diet change; lifestyle change; everything to try and help eleviate some of my PCOS symptoms whilst I wait. I'm just feeling so ticked off today. I missed a call by a couple of seconds whilst I was driving to work, and had a gut feeling it would be from the hospital I'm having the surgery in. I tried to call back, but typical, it was a number that didn't receive incoming calls. I tried for 20 minutes to get through to the right department (had the phone put down on me when I was put through to the wrong team, and asked to be put back to the switchboard?). When I finally managed to call through to surgery admissions, I was advised that because I didn't answer the phone (despite LITERALLY not having a number directly to call back on), they had already called someone else and given my slot away. Livid and heartbroken do not come close to how I felt today. I am so exhausted of the waiting game, even moreso when there's been several times I've had appointments in person cancelled at the last minute, after travelling 2 hours there and back; cancelled phone calls at the last minute; zero in-person physiotherapy despite being told for over 2 years I would receive them. I now have to wait - god knows how long - for the next phone call, that heaven forbid it's unsafe for me to answer my phone at that point in time. Has anyone else in the UK had anything like this before? I just can't believe they wouldn't give me a chance to call back as I did, or call me again within a couple of minutes. I'm self-employed, and as the spring/summer months approach, I may lose out on a lot of work and earnings with surgery recovery, which is why next month would have been perfect. Any support right now would be great. I'm feeling so deflated and worn out by this.

Nah, I haven't had any issues with this post-op once I was past the nausea phase 3 months out. And OMG sex is so much better with less weight on your body! My boobs don't try to suffocate me quite as much... 😂 Maybe your tummy is just having an emo week? Go to bland foods for a few days to see if it settles down. I always revert back to plain foods when mine gets cranky pants, it seems to do the trick.

After 3 weeks of weight stall the scale finally moved some. I think the exercise specialist pointed out a flaw. I would eat something 2 hours before working out, she told me to eat something with a good protein and carb mix 20-30 minutes before my workout. also told me to drink a protein shake after the workout. I've done that the past two weeks. After a 3 week stall I'm not certain if it was that little change or the fact that it was going to have to move anyway. But, at least it moved. Hope everyone else has some scale or non-scale victories.

Welp.... I did it... barely, but it was so nice to see this number! It's been over 20 years since I've been under 200 pounds. (my feet aren't as dirty as they look in the picture! lol) As for the knee, the doctor said he's pretty sure it's sciatica. I would have never guessed that. I have had problems with my sciatic nerve before, but always in the lower back/buttocks area. He explained that the nerve goes down through the back knee, and that's where my pain and swelling are. He saw some arthritis in the x-rays, but not enough to be causing this pain. He's got me on a six-day steroid pack. I'm praying it works because this pain is horrible! Let's hope I can keep the weight down while on steroids! Hope you are all doing well!

@AmberFL God that sounds like a hectic week so far and so much to sort out! Sounds like you are one tough mumma though and holding the fort down! 💪 And congrats to you and your degree! That is such a massive achievement!! ❤️ Kudos to you for continuing the workout, I would have been straight out of the door 😂 I am really trying to drink more water at the moment too, but I just hate having to wee all of the damn time 🤣 I am absolutely terrified of losing my boobs...I am a GG at the moment and I just know they are going to be such a state 😢I do however look forward to having that weight off my chest, literally - but just like you, I feel like surgery will be needed! I really hope it all goes well for you. Spa week sounds lush 😍 I am also going to get my eyebrows and nails done this weekend! Possibly also some lashes but we shall see! Good on you for treating yourself, and I am glad that you got this outlet that you needed x

Well I signed a contact twenty years ago and I wasn't informed all that much about what I signed up for... Maybe because it was so long ago.. I do now know and understand the deal but the problem is simple.. So I had a car hit me when I was crossing the street and spent six months in a hospital followed by six months of a resting home to recover followed by a heart failure and another five months in the hospital followed by multiple hospital trips and lost all my original muscle.. I was always average strength but it's another thing to be told you might have a heart attack if you don't gain muscle. So I did everything I was told to bring me to this point. I have gained ten pounds of muscle in the last two years and I gain average of a pound a month. Only in the sorta person I need advise and someone to tell me what to do so that I don't make mistake. This might be a result of brain damage from my accident or maybe I'm just a big dumb guy I dunno.. But I did my own math if I eat 4200 calories I absorb 2200. So it does make sense I can't bulk however I'm taking enzymes and my doctor said the enzymes turn your ds off so that you can absorb everything you eat with them.. Now I'm fine tuning everything. Maybe my ds is to powerful and I'll learn that I really can't bulk and yes I look more defined in the mirror I think. But because my skin is stretchy it's hard to tell. I have gone from 175 to 178 so hopefully that's going to keep going up. My only real goal of taking the enzymes is to increase my protein which is 6.1. Before I worked out I was capable of maintaining my weight but my doctor told me I lost so much muscle that to not regain it would be dangerous to my health So regardless of anything I have no choice but to gain weight. If that means eventually eating 6000 calories so be it. But I really think the enzymes alone will solve my problems. I plan to take the enzymes for 3 months then get off then for two months then back on them in a bulk cutting kinda formula however I'll admit I don't know that this will work. I've gained weight in the past getting up to 240 in the resting home but that was eating six full meals a day with no working out and tons of high fat snacks and sense then I've gotten hypoglycemia which makes gaining weight difficult because I can't just devour sugar like I used to be able to. Man I used to love pudding cups... Anyways no I didn't know what I was getting into I was 19 and all I wanted was to lose weight but to still be able to eat as much as I wanted. Which is what I got. I never understood the risks. Never. That's why I got all these problems and it's hard to dig your self out of a ditch.. I would work out more if I thought it would help but I just lift weights 3x a week and I have a trainer and a bunch of great doctors who help.. The thing is the DS shouldn't kill me.. I should be able to figure out a way to make this work and my real issue is I'm 6"3 and a man so I require 3200 calories a day is what my trainer said. I only absorb 2200 thus I'm taking enzymes I'm focusing on absorbing protein and enough calories to feed my muscle building and I'm getting blood tests and scanning my body for progress it's a really scary time for me because I know I can lose muscle fast if I forget anything.. finding this website has helped me relearn just got crazy this surgery can be... For real you all helped me so much... But I can not except life as a weakling I'm 39 and a man and people need me so I can't just except things the way they are. If a normal person can build muscle I can to. It may take more work and more intelligence on my part but that fine I'm willing to do anything to be average if that makes sense.. in fact I was debating going to the gym today because my back hurts but you just motivated me to go . 😁 Thank you. Have a nice day. Please information is key here any advise on maybe how many calories you eat or your macros would be helpful to me because I do have a little problems working stuff out in my head and so the more information I can't the better I can deal.

your experience so far is VERY similar to what mine was (BMI wise, at least - as i am much shorter than you). we were both BMI 43-ish at start. we were both BMI 40-ish on surgery day. we were both BMI 30-ish at 14 weeks (yes, i tracked all my stats religiously and have all the records, ha!) so if there is anything we could glean from this series of coincidences (which, by the way, there ISN'T, because we are totally different people, and my experience is totally different and separate from yours, yada, yada), we can at the very least say that what you are looking for is POSSIBLE, since you seem to be travelling the same trajectory as i did, and yes, i got to BMI 25 (your goal) by my one year anniversary. To be more specific, i got to BMI 25 just a little after my 6 month post-op mark (6 months + 1 week to be exact) you're doing great. keep doing what you are doing and you'll keep losing until you don't (i also lost 2-ish lbs a week after the first 2 months...seriously we are like weight loss twins) many have said it before, and i'll say it again, losing the weight is the easy part (comparatively). keeping it off is where the harder work comes in. p.s. i am now past my 5½ year post op mark and i have maintained a BMI 21-22 since reaching goal almost 5 years ago. cross my fingers this continues, but i am not so ignorant that i actually believe i will be this weight forever...though i am definitely enjoying it while i am.