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I went with Bypass because the sleeve wasn't an option back when I had surgery. The lab-band was an option and all the sales points for sleeve now were the selling points for lap-band then. The problems with lap-band weren't well known at that time. If the sleeve was available I'm pretty sure I would have still chosen Bypass. Other than being extremely over weight, my core health was pretty solid, but I could see that about to change. I was a binge eater and wanted a surgery that would restrict meal volume which I believe both Bypass and Sleeve would have achieved. I also wanted the additional bit of malabsorption that comes with the bypass. Then comes the possibility of dumping which at the time I had surgery was about a 50/50 chance. I hoped I would get dumping and as it turned out, I dump on both sugars and fats. It took an amazingly few bouts of dumping to keep my eating in alignment with not dumping. So with restricted volume and very limited amounts of sugar and fats, how could I not succeed? Good luck, Tek

I went with the bypass because it had the better chance of resolving my issues with hypertension, cholesterol, and blood sugar, and much better chance of not developing GERD. I also know the 10-year weight loss/regain numbers are a bit better for bypass. And, just a minor consideration, but I felt better not having part of my body removed. I know, I had my intestines rerouted and all that, but my stomach is still in there and somehow that made me have more peace of mind. 2 weeks out today and my recovery has been fantastic. My doctor moved me along to basically a regular solid food diet at my appointment, with just some restrictions regarding excluding beef/pork/lamb and raw veg for a few more weeks. I've had no issues, only minor pain the first few days, and I feel fantastic. I can walk for an hour or more at a time with no problem. My recovery has been much easier than my brother's when he had the sleeve several years back, though not sure if that has anything to do with the surgery type.

I've had moments of yay each time I was able to fit into the old clothes in my closet that didn't fit anymore. This week I took out my favorite pair of jeans from high school (during my restricting phase no less) and they were perfect. I was also happy when my waist dropped below 40 and 35 inches, which are considered cutoffs for disease risk for men and women respectively, at least in the US. I didn't start taking measurements religiously (once a month) until pretty far into my weight loss, but I ordered an eShakti dress for a wedding in 2018 at about 30 pounds below my highest weight and my measurements were 61-57-70 (chest-waist-hips). The day before surgery, my waist was 46 inches and hips 57 inches. My last measurements, from about a week ago, were 38.5-32.5-39.5. I've lost 30 inches from my hips, 24 from my waist, and 22 from my chest. (Yes, my WHR actually increased, but I've also been taking low dose testosterone for about 2 years.) Things have started to plateau, but I still have a sundress that I want to be able to fit into and I imagine I'll get there.

Band replaced in 2014 so yes 10yr mark and weight gain and no restriction what so ever at this point. Have 14cc band and supposedly I'm at 6cc. He is very cautious will fills. His bed side matter is great but where I live there are not a lot of experts. May go see my original surgery one hour away as he is now in a big group with lots of experts. I have a suspicion that the tube got punctured at my last fill since it took forever to find the port with the needle. He did mention scare tissue, healing, my history of slips etc. Maybe I'm over thinking it. Thanks so much.

This is great advice. I would also ask to speak to the surgeon and clarify the information the rest of his team are giving you. You are on a very restricted diet already, your body will not drop more weight easily without time. Its wrong of them to expect this. Speak out.

Stalls are the worst but you will get used to them and congratulations on your great weight loss. This is what I learned to do on holidays. Breakfasts at hotels are an easy choice for us. Plenty of good choices to be had. Look at every restaurant menu, study it and decide what is good for you before you are seated. I imagine there will be a fridge in your hotel room, stock it with protein yogurt, protein bars and protein drinks. Deli meats, cheese and nuts and seeds are good snack options if you can tolerate them. If at any time you get hungry and there is nothing on the menu - a glass of milk or a skinny latte are really good options If the trip involves a long car journey, plan ahead and pack your meals, drinks and snacks in a cool box. Here is where others will chip in and help you for sure. Enjoy your holiday

I’d ask simply him why. Why he’s removing it & why he wants to do two separate surgeries. Lap bands have dramatically decreased in popularity over the last years & not many surgeons do them any more. Failure, side effects, effectiveness, etc. seem to be the reasons. Some studies say the life span of a lap band is only 7-10 years so you’re at your band’s end of life now. Not all surgeons do the removal & revision in one surgery. Maybe your surgeon is basing his decision on your current health status. Maybe he wants to give you a recovery period between the two surgeries to ensure you’re fully healed. May be he wants to give you time without a weight loss tool to see how you respond in regards to self monitoring your food intake, etc. Just throwing some ideas out there.

I agree with the others. Your rate of loss is fine. I also agree with the concerns about your eating during this losing period. It seems more like how you may chose to eat when you are in maintenance. When we choose how much & how often we have foods like pizza, chips, sweetened drinks, etc. When we decide what foods we’ll to add back into our new way of eating or ones we’ll avoid. When we look at alternative ingredients, or different cooking methods. I also worry about you changing your way of eating so often, going from one extreme to another. (Not including Ramadan in this.) Are you sure you’re meeting your fluid & protein goals? Are you sure you’re getting in a range of nutrients from nutrient dense foods? This is so important when we are only able to eat smaller portions. We all say & are told to stick to our plans for a reason. You mentioned you had a difficult relationship with food/bad eating habits & these current behaviours do seem a continuation of this. Do you still see your dietician? Your therapist? If not, at the very least I’d seek a reference from your surgeon/team to a therapist who specialises in disordered eating. Many find therapy very helpful in changing these behaviours & their relationship with food & identifying strategies to mange them. All the best. PS - Don’t believe the calorie burn on your Apple Watch. It’s known to be inaccurate & tends to inflate the stats. It only uses your height, weight & age & not your individual metabolic rate, your optimal heart rate, the amount of energy you are putting into the activity, etc. Use it as a guide/approximation only.

It’s almost like they’ve conveniently forgotten you’ve lost your pre surgical weight & are just telling you to lose more as per their set playbook. I also love how they’re telling you to lose weight but aren’t supporting & guiding you in how to do it. Where’s their pre surgical diet? Where’s the referral to a dietician?? Like @NickelChip, I would suggest the three shake a day pre surgical diet many are given. Or do two shakes & one meal of 3 or 4 ozs Protein & 1/2 cup steamed vegetables or undressed salad. All the best. So I begin my pre-op diet in just over a weeks time, but to be honest I'm just really worried it won't get rid of the weight I need. My calorie count and nutrition is already so similar to what they want me to do, and I'm still struggling. I have an appointment next week to get some pre-op tests done, presumably weight and bloods etc, and even then I'm petrified if the number is even slightly above what they need, that'll be it. Other than a straight up water and broth fast, I really am stuck on what to do! I will be on all-liquids for the pre-op diet which is fine, but it's difficult to not get hung up on the fact they've drilled into my head that I MUST hit a certain number, regardless of my loss already.

Your weight loss rate is normal and where it should be at this stage, but in my opinion, your eating habits are going to work against long term success if you don't do some work now to establish the best possible habits. You may have the luxury of not being able to overeat for now, but this is a fleeting luxury. It doesn't last. Furthermore, every bite of junk food at this stage when your capacity is so small deprives your body of the nutrients it needs from high quality food. That will not help you lose weight, no matter what the calorie count is, because you need a healthy body. A bite of pizza or a couple chips from the bowl because you were at a party one weekend is totally understandable, if a bit of a slippery slope. But choosing them regularly will fast become a problem (or at least it sure would be for me). And if you change nothing else, sugary drinks should have zero place in your diet now. Your body does not have a restriction for fluids. If you can consume your 64 oz of water, you can just as easily consume that amount of a sugar sweetened beverage in a day. Just one venti iced coffee with classic syrup has 30g of sugar! Request sugar free syrup or bring your own sweetener. I watched this video last night and it really spoke to me, so I'm putting it here in case it helps you too:

10 lbs a month is pretty normal, and so is 40 lbs in three months. Unless you're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life", you need to adjust your expectations or you're going to be disappointed. I was about where you are at that point, and I went on to lose over 200 lbs. that said, you're eating way more than I was at that juncture...and I wasn't eating things like pizza and chips that early out, either. Maybe all of your activity is burning this off, but I'd be really careful and try to stick to the eating plan your clinic gave you. This is your big chance to lose a crap ton of weight - so take advantage of it!! Once your sense of hunger comes roaring back, it's going to get A LOT harder. P.S. the women at your Tuesday Talks are only partly right. People will typically lose 10 lbs a month for a few months, but it really slows down the closer you get to normal weight. I lost about 10 lbs a month for the first six or seven months, then it dropped down to somewhere around five lbs, give or take, and then after I passed the year mark, there were some months I only lost about 2 lbs, despite sticking to my eating plan 100%. It's because at some point what you take in and what it takes to run your body reaches equilibrium.

It’s almost like they’ve conveniently forgotten you’ve lost your pre surgical weight & are just telling you to lose more as per their set playbook. I also love how they’re telling you to lose weight but aren’t supporting & guiding you in how to do it. Where’s their pre surgical diet? Where’s the referral to a dietician?? Like @NickelChip, I would suggest the three shake a day pre surgical diet many are given. Or do two shakes & one meal of 3 or 4 ozs protein & 1/2 cup steamed vegetables or undressed salad. All the best.

I wasn’t focussed on inches so didn’t take measurements either. Was just weight & also clothing size focussed. My goal weight was partly based on being a weight that meant I could wear Australian size 10/12 (US 6/8). Ended up at Aust size 4/6 (US 0/2). I generally find size guides using body measurements when buying clothes online completely useless. According to one guide I’m an Aust size 8 or 10 in their clothes but I actually buy their size 4 or 6 in store. And they’re not the only one. I found understanding how my body looked after I lost most of my weight difficult at first too. Body dysmorphia with a side of disbelief. Photos didn’t seem accurate and mirrors can distort. So crazy as it seems I used to google celebrity weight & height data so I would have an idea of what I might look like.

I had surgery during the Keto/intermittent fasting boom and I relied heavily on that excuse. Was I really fooling anyone? In retrospect, I doubt it. Now with the rise of highly effective weight loss medication and it’s media coverage, people will think whatever they want anyway, despite your well thought out excuse. You can always remain vague and say your health is improving and then immediately switch the conversation to focus on something else. I absolutely love the “enough about me, what about you?” pivot.

I had surgery during the Keto/intermittent fasting boom and I relied heavily on that excuse. Was I really fooling anyone? In retrospect, I doubt it. Now with the rise of highly effective weight loss medication and it’s media coverage, people will think whatever they want anyway, despite your well thought out excuse. You can always remain vague and say your health is improving and then immediately switch the conversation to focus on something else. I absolutely love the “enough about me, what about you?” pivot.

I am 10 years out from a gastric sleeve surgery. I lost 70 pounds and gained it all back plus some. I have suffered from chronic dehydration, despite drinking a gallon or more every day. I feel that it’s due to my stomach not absorbing enough water. Has anyone had issues with this?? I am also anemic and my doctor is playing around with multiple vitamin and supplement dose increases. I just started Zepbound to try to get the weight off again, and that makes the dehydration so much worse. I am just desperate for answers. My weight loss surgeon moved, and I am not established with any other practice. Thank you!!

HI my lovelies ❤️ I am just about 3 months post op (surgery was 12/6/24) and 1 lb shy of being down a total of 40lbs. While this is great I feel like I should be down more, or wish I was down more. I can't help but see others with close to 60+lbs down within the same time frame. I know we're not supposed to compare ourselves, it's literally the worst thing to do, but I can't help it. I was apart of the Tuesday Talks meeting last week which there were 2 women there that assured me that they lost at a similar pace, losing about 10lbs a month every month after the surgery. One of the nice ladies explained that 10lbs/month = to 120lbs down in 1 year. When I thought of it like that, I did feel better and more assured however I am still struggling with self depleting thoughts. Also, the last 2 weeks I been struggling with eating the wrong foods and snacking on foods I shouldn't be eating which I'll beat myself up even more mentally. My biggest struggles are iced coffee with sugary syrups and pizza/chips. I will have these about 1 x a week the last 2 weeks. How the day goes is it's usually a Sunday, I'll get a sugary coffee for breakfast and then end the day with 1 of those single serving bag of chips and 1 slice of pizza. I've done this now the last 2 Sundays. While it may not seem like a lot Im worried that I will start sliding down the wrong path and give into my old ways even more. The luxury of this surgery is Im incapable of overeating now and these foods still stay within a "normal" caloric range for the day (about 1400cals) but still, I know I shouldn't be eating them at all. I also workout 5 days a week now and have been consistent with this since late December. I do about 1.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym 3xs a week and then do a step ups aerobic type of exercise 2 days a week at home. I always leave my workout super sweaty with a high calorie burn on my Apple Watch. So with all this being said, I feel like I eat perfectly 6 days a week w 1 day where I'm "off", workout 5 days a week every single week taking off 2 days usually Wed and Sunday to let my body rest. Is there anything else I could do to speed up my weight loss? Or do you think this is "normal" and I'm on a good path? I also do these week to 2 week challenges with my bf that help me stay on track too. For example we did one from 2/12 - 3/1 and the rules were no junk food, fried foods or sugar and workout 5 days a week. I completed the challenge and lost 6 lbs total. But it was the day after the challenge where I ate pizza and iced coffee w mocha. We started a new challenge today which ends on Saturday 3/9. After that I'll be partaking in Ramadan beginning Monday 3/11 this year which will also help to keep me disciplined. Please do share your thoughts and how you combated your bad food habits? Also, please be kind ❤️ Thanks for reading! xoxo

I have never measured myself on any diet. Am totally focused on weight loss and have absolutely no idea of any body measurements, LOL. I know that others do the opposite. @GreenTealael your post is super interesting including the before and after bodies. Thank you for sharing!!!

Dr. Josh Roller (Roller Weight Loss) has a GREAT segment on the podcast he’s on going over best surgeries if you need revision. I just finished listening to it. It’s on Spotify (& others) “The Skinny Truth”. I’m set up to get the Modified DS in the next few weeks with him.

Hi all, After my prior post regarding the complaint I had - I finally have my surgery date for the 28th of this month, after almost 5 years since my first GP consultation about the sleeve (yippee!). With that being said however, they gave me 4 weeks notice because they now want me to lose another 3.5kg pre-surgery. For context, I was 135kg at my highest, they wanted me to stay below 130kg, and I'm now 124kg. They didn't give me a reason why, I have always had ok blood test results, I'm not pre-diabetic or anything either. The last consultation I had in-person with my surgeon also said 130kg would be fine, so again, don't really understand the change. Believe me when I say, my diet is STRICT. I'm on 1000 calories a day, high protein, super low carb (less than 40g per day easily), lots of water (at least 2 litres minimum), and an average of 10-15k steps per day, with at least one hike per week. I've been doing this for the last couple of weeks, but I am really really struggling to get this last few kg's off beforehand. No sugar - no fruit, nothing. I really think my PCOS is not helping the situation, but I'm really worried in the event I'm not at the 121kg they want. I have been that weight recently, I was down to 119kg this time last year with the help of Saxenda, which I then had to stop taking in June because every pharmacy I could order from were sold out. I haven't been on it since, so the fact I have maintained this weight loss honestly I'm just pleased with at this point. If anyone has any ideas as to how I could lose this last 6lbs or so, I would be greatly appreciative. I've lost 0.5kg so far over the past 4-5 days, but I'm so stressed I'll get to the hospital and they'll turn me away. Thank you! x

I am having the same struggle that you are having.. lately when people have been asking how am I losing the weight I just tell me.. working out 5-6 days a week, high protein, low carb and fat diet. That seems to do the trick. If they want to know more then I will tell them about the flavored waters that I am drinking and some of the high protein food that I am eating.

I am not open about my surgery. Very few choice people know that I have gotten done. When they ask how I lost weight I say, I am sticking to a lower carb diet, cut out alcohol and am walking for 30min 5x a week. This is all true so technically I am not lying lol If they ask why I have lost so much, I just tell them well because my family all have health issues so I want to take control before that happens to me. Usually works. I get compliments and when people ask "Have you lost weight?" I just smile and say ya a little. I just make it light and don't make a big deal about it. This is my journey no one elses.

I didn't have any expectations or set goals regards to inches or weight as I have found before that it is a negative thing for me if I don't achieve, even if I get close and adds more pressure. I am now 8 months post op and have gone in in my jeans from a 3XL to a EU38 so US6. I am finally finding my energy is coming back to me now so I have signed up for an exercise program to do at home. It recommends taking measurements weekly to see where inches are coming off even if weight isn't so I have started as of yesterday and hope to see the measurements improve over the next month or two.

I haven’t been very public about my surgery journey, but I’m not very public about any of my health stuff.  If people ask, I’ll ease in slowly and gauge interest, but usually keep things short. [[I’m okay- aka I’m still not great but not is particularly bad. We’re working on it- meaning my doctors and I Ah, it’s going, meaning it’s pretty bad but you don’t really care about it. ]] For my weight loss- I did it primary as a potential benefit to help my health issues, not particularly for looks. There were two people who pretty much immediately started commenting as soon as I lost like 10 pounds.  Other than that it was only in the past 1-2 months that I have started getting regular comments.  And I am struggling to figure out how I want to deal with them.  If it is strictly compliments, I’ll just say thanks and move on. [I’m still supperrrr awkward about it, but 🤷🏻‍♀️] [I also don’t particularly like the attention, and it makes me want to dress to hide the changes.] But when people continue and ask what are you doing or what’s your motivation or anything like that that’s where I am struggling a little bit more. My goal for the surgery was focused on my health. It also is a little difficult because my health issues are caused my genetic issues, and while weight loss likely will help in the long term, I haven’t really seen any improvements since losing weight.  So it can be awkward for those conversations if other women ask how I have lost weight or if I’m feeling better.  I don’t wanna tell anyone, yeah I don’t really feel better, because I know that for most people it would.  So for those of you who aren’t really sharing about your surgery, what do you say if people ask about how you lost weight? How do you respond when people compliment you? All of that…

I have not been big on taking body measurements during my journey so far. I’ve maybe taken 4 throughout. I’ve also tried to resist frequent weight taking due to the many warnings. I do biweekly (or occasionally weekly 😉) weighing. But!! I have lost 16 inches around my waist which seems like a lot, but I have absolutely no concept and can’t find any thing about expectations for losing inches or what is good for benchmarks. What have been your “YAY!” moments for measurements?