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Before I had my hysterectomy, I noticed my PCOS sort of regulated a bit. Didn't do a whole lot for my hormonal imbalance, skin tags, insulin resistance, and it really made losing weight slower and more difficult, but it straightened out my periods a lot. I would go 2 or 3 months without one, then bleed like niagra falls for 2 weeks straight, then get a light one the next month, then start over. After I dropped my first 70ish pounds, I noticed they were coming in more regularly, and after my first 100ish pounds lost, they were proper length, proper frequency. And it stayed that way until about 4 months before my hysterectomy. Then they started getting wonky again. Skipped 2 months, needed progesterone to get it started the next month which caused HEEAAVY bleeding, then nothing the next month, then hysterectomy and I didn't care lol

@AndreaJD Yea. I woke up with an abdominal binder after surgery and I had to go home with meds too after my sleeve. The binder is just a fabric thing that Velcro’s around you. Warning. Once you take it off. You will most likely need someone else to help you get it back on as snug as them had it if your still in pain. I didn’t really want mine back on though. They told me it was just a matter of personal preference whether I wore it. The meds I went home with were a PPI and pain meds of course and it seems like I got an antibiotic too.this time they told me I will also be on something that is supposed to prevent the hall stones that are common with quick weight loss. Omg. The before pictures. I need to have my husband take them too. I am the same way with photos. I see an entirely different person 😩. If you can, take pictures like every month or so and look at them side by side. It can be just as hard to see the loss iN the mirror but side by side photos really help to see them. Measurements help too, anything to keep you motivated when the scale doesn’t move for a few days and you’re getting discouraged. Ooh yea. The spirometer. I had one too @Greekmom4 after my sleeve. It’s just a little device you blow into that has a little ball or something to let you know you hard you are blowing that you try to get to a certain place and keep trying to get it higher for anyone who’s never had one.

Hi Possum220! I feel like you are very honest and courageous to ask for help because it’s the true first step. Yes, I have been seriously depressed before and yes I am mortified by regain. My last serious depression was way before WLS but I know that the longer it goes without help, the longer it stays. I’m going to suggest you start your healing journey there because it’s life threatening. Please continue to advocate for yourself and your health in that regard! As regards regain, I have had some success with “Glucose Goddess.” Look her up, she’s on all social media platforms. She is a scientist and mathematician who got into a serious accident and needed to heal herself. She cites all the medical papers that she has researched, peer reviewed, and published. You can by her book, but I’m just watching YouTube to get the basics right now. Eating veg, then protein, then carb has seriously slowed my hunger AND stopped the near daily dumping I was experiencing. I was never diabetic but I think the severe dumping syndrome of WLS was making me the equivalent. I swear getting my blood sugar under control has been a game changer. Many studies report lessening depression and less anxiety. It has helped me with asthma because it reduces inflammation. I have lost four pounds this week, and all I did was change the order of foods I eat. So, depression is like asthma, you need to treat it first. But the Glucose Goddess has practical applications that help with those problems and helps with weight loss too. (By the way, it has helped even though I’m on a new medication that has even more steroids too.) I’m wishing you the best! Keep up with therapy and finding a med that works:) You are not alone. Let us know how you’re doing and what you found that helps.

Stories from the other side (i'll be 6 yrs post op this Oct): Sleep: about 1 month after surgery, i was able to sleep through the ENTIRE night without getting up to pee or waking myself up with snoring for the first time in YEARS (decades?). it was (and still IS awesome). I am always well rested and have seemingly endless amounts of energy during the day. the only thing that is a bit of a downer is that i can no longer sleep comfortably on my stomach (which was my previous preferred sleeping position), i've long suspected my lack of stomach padding now seems to contribute to hyper-extending my lower back when i am on my stomach. so its back and/or side sleeping for me now. no biggie though, i've got used to it. Activity: as per my aforementioned endless amount of energy, i am like an energizer bunny during waking hours. i've become a bit of an exercise addict (who me???) and am probably stronger and fitter than i have ever been in my whole adult life (and i'm 52 yrs old for effs sakes). i also LOOK the fittest i have ever looked in my entire adult life...and i was already fit-ISH up until my mid-30s. it's funny and mind-blowing (and ridiculously ego-boosting) when the young 20-30 yr old girls in my Pilates and yoga classes come up to me after class and tell me that they aim to be able to do the things that i do in class, and, wait for it...want to LOOK like me. cray. zee. Fashion: don't even get me started. even before i ran out of "skinny" clothes to wear during weight loss phase, i was already in the throes of being an over-the-top-clothes-buyer (and shoes, and purses, etc lol) i've calmed down a little bit compared to those first couple years, but i do admit i could probably calm down a little bit more. i have way too many clothes in my closet (some of which i haven't even worn in public yet). not sure when i will cure myself of this habit, but i'll enjoy it until i do, ha! one last thing not on your list the deserves mention: CONFIDENCE. i found that i am just bursting with it (maybe too much as i really do think of myself as the absolute BOMB.). but the confidence is not just feeling good about and trusting myself, but it translates also as feeling good about others, trusting others, patience with others and self, calm, peace, courage, all the good stuff! of all the things, the confidence is the one i value the most. thanks WLS. (and thanks ME for doing what i needed to do to get here).

Have you ever mentioned to your doctor, in the past, the things you did to try and lose weight? I have BCBS and they had the same requirement. But I had mentioned to my pcp that I did keto, weight watchers, calorie restriction, and the mediterranean diet. When I mentioned this, she put it in the notes that went to the insurance company and they accepted it and that took 6 months off the process. My pcp was very supportive and was happy for me to do the surgery. I gave her all the requirements from my insurance company (I needed to pass a ekg, her form stating what I've tried to lose weight, my comorbidities, etc...) he jumped right on that and got it done asap. By the time I went to my 1st appt w/ my surgeon, she had already sent all of this to their office. So I was 3/4 of the way finished on day 1 of seeing my surgeon. All I had left to do was the psych eval, blood work the surgeon needed, and then waiting for it all to be submitted and approved by insurance. My first appt with the surgeon was Feb 28th, 2022. My psych eval was March 7th. Everything was submitted to my insurance on March 10th and I got my approval on March 14th 2022. The longest part of this was honestly actually getting to the surgery date because I couldn't have it until May 3rd due to the surgeon's schedule. So honestly, the better prepared you are, the more you do behind the scenes, the faster the whole process will go.

Had my MSK appointment yesterday to discuss my poorly knees and go through my X-rays. Turns out my knees are, and I quote, ‘riddled with arthritis’ and I will need both replacing. It may sound odd but it’s kind of a relief that the pain I feel is justified if that makes sense? The areas of pain on my knees marry up with the worst areas on my X-rays. She did explain that weight loss wouldn’t get rid of the pain but would obviously help with regards to the replacements and quality of life afterwards. I really did appreciate her honesty because the last thing I would want is to think that getting the weight off would make the pains go, and then be disappointed or blaming myself when that didn’t happen. So, can’t have any replacement op until I can get weight off - that’s a given so I was prepared for that. She did say that I was ahead as I’m on the Bariatric pathway which is a huge help. I’m booked in for steroid injections in both knees in 2 weeks. I’ve had these before which weren’t successful but I’m happy to try again, just in case! A couple of weeks after that I will be contacted by physio to see if the injections worked and to have some physio if so. 3 months after that I will be back to see MSK and discuss next steps. It was a huge help that the MSK person was also recovering from a knee replacement op that she had in January. She also needs both replacing and should hopefully have the second before this year is out. She explained recovery and how long it takes etc. It sounds 😬 but needs must and all that. Hopefully, by the time I’m 60 (4 years to go) my weight will be gone, my knees will by done and I will be able to run around with my 2 grandchildren 😊

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!

Congratulations on your weight loss so far! I bet you are feeling amazing! I definitely empathise with the low energy - especially early on! I feel that mine is only just starting to get better 😂 I am going on holiday in September, but I am trying to put off buying clothes until the last possible moment! How is your eating now? I am free to eat "whatever" I want now, but find that I am struggling to manage anywhere between 6-11 mouthfuls. The bariatric nurse says I need to be having at least 20 mouthfuls per meal! Eeek. All that being said, definitely loving feeling healthier, more confident, and more happy!

Not to beat a dead horse, but as others have said, consider therapy. Look for one on your own (or see if your program has one / can refer you to one) who specifically deals with eating disorders. I haven't done had this experience Post-Op, but I've fully been there before during diets I've attempted in the past. For me, there were so many things at play: ongoing depression, feelings of low self-worth were helping me further sabotage myself. I punished myself with food, even while logically knowing better, because it was what I was used to. I hid myself behind my weight, because it became my norm and was easier than dealing with a lot of the trauma and mental health issues lurking in the shadows. It's so, so hard to break these cycles all on our own. Having someone to talk to about it -- a friend, a counselor, support from your program, or us here on the forum can make a world of difference.

One of my VP's at work walked by me and said if you keep losing weight your going to disappear...I just smiled and he laughed and said no really your doing great and you look great. Like I get it people want to comment on it, I have lots of weight and I have never ever ever been this size in my adult life. I think the last time I weight this was when I was 11-12 no joke. we had a new hire and I was training him, he saw pics of me when I was bigger at my desk with my family and said whoa is that you?! so its encouraging to know that new people who meet me or see me in the outside world they only see how I am now. I am battling with my own stuff, being so small now I have no boobs, my butt is 3/4 gone. I mean I workout and I look lean. I am not sure how I am feeling. This entire thing is a whole mind game lol

The first step is to admit it, which you're doing. We all get in moods where we slip. The trick is to catch it, admit it, and start to correct it. You can still fix this, but you say you're not wanting to. So are you just wanting to vent about what you're doing to yourself or do you want to actually start fix it? If you want to vent...ok. But there's not much we can say or offer you if you truly don't want to start over and correct it. If you want to correct it, then we have something to work with. You know the rules, you know the diet, you know what you can and can't eat, drink, and do. You know you need to focus on protein, lower carbs, get in veggies and healthy fats, get in your fluids, cut out alcohol right now, cut way down or even out (for now) salt and sugar. Move your body more. Swim, walk, ride a bike, work out, do things that increase your movement more than you normally do every day. Cut way down (or out for now) soda. Start over and get yourself back on track and ease yourself back into things. You're only 4 months out from surgery, so you're still in the sweet spot of losing weight. So you can still turn this around and get back to dropping weight. If that's what you want to do. Again, if you just want to vent about it but not actually change it, there's not much else I can contribute. You've lost 41 pounds, and that's fantastic over 4 months. Remember your "why" for doing the surgery to begin with. Remind yourself what this meant to you and get back to that and really decide for yourself if that "why" still applies to you.

What do you mean. Did you reach your goal and start to regain or is it something else? I see you are about 40 pounds from your goal now so it certainly seems doable to turn it around if it’s regain. My first piece of advice as someone who regained all their weight and just had revision surgery a week ago is to reach out to your team. My second step would be to reach out for support here or otherwise and you have already done that. I did neither because I was too embarrassed and you can see where that led me. When I finally did reach out to them I wished I had done it sooner because they treated me with nothing but compassion and just wanted to help. For me the only real option was revision but you should have plenty others. My guess is their first plan of attack will be to go back to the basics. Reading labels, Logging your food and counting macros. Protein first, smaller portions and reaching your fluid goals. Seems like from your profile you are pretty active anyways but trying to Incorporate more activity if that has slipped a little. Just go back to it like you are just out of surgery. Well past the staged return to eating I guess but fairly early out anyways. Some people even start with the “pouch reset” Of a liquid diet for a week or two although most say that there is no real evidence that does much to reset anything. Make an appointment with your team now and start logging what you are doing for a week or so giving them a starting point and let them advise you of what you need to work on. There are other options now if diet alone is not enough but if you enjoy healthy eating anyways its likely portion size has increased a little more than you realize and that’s something you should be able to change. Once you do figure it out try to make changes one at a time if necessary to make them more manageable. Set lots of small goals to keep yourself motivated But most importantly keep reaching out to your support networks such as posting here as well as keeping in touch with your team. Your sleeve is still there. It will be a little harder than it was the first time but people have certainly done it. You have already taken the first steps Of recognizing the issue and reaching out here just keep taking steps and before you know it you will be losing again. Keep us Posted on any ups and downs so we can cheer you on. You can do it!!

Today was my last visit before surgery!!! I learned some stuff I didn't know: I only have to be on clear liquids for a few hours the day before surgery; I'll be on my LSD until then. Also, I'll have an abdominal binder after surgery. I haven't heard anything about that from any of my research. Did/will any of you have that? I have to have a few more preop blood tests tomorrow. Also have a lot of meds (seems like a lot to me) that I'll be on for a little while right after surgery. Here's the most interesting thing: they told me to stop taking my blood pressure meds the day of surgery and don't re-start them. The thinking is that they don't want me to get weak/dizzy from low BP when I'm not eating, and after that once I lose sufficient weight I probably won't need them anyway. So I'm going to take my blood pressure every day after surgery just to keep an eye on it. That's cool because I was wondering how that worked. Also yesterday my husband took my "before" pictures for me. They're painful to look at, but they had an interesting effect on me. Seeing them reassured me that I do need this surgery and I am doing the right thing. I learned at Jenny Craig (one of my many diet attempts) that we don't see our bodies accurately in the mirror but photos don't allow our minds to do whatever they do to filter the images. That is certainly true for me; I barely recognize myself in pictures: I'm a lot bigger than I see myself in the mirror. Looking forward to taking those "after" pictures!!!

You have to start walking right away, before you even leave the hospital. For the first 3 weeks, the walking is plenty. It's about increasing the amount you can walk. Around week 4, I started doing the treadmill on a lower incline (not completely flat but a lower incline) and a normal walking speed. I also started doing arm workouts (without weights). I started doing mild step ups, and increased walking even more. At 6 weeks, I started increasing the incline on the treadmill, added low weights to my arm work outs, and added the exercise bike. At week 10, I increased the weights and started doing more strenuous workouts and small hikes. At 12 weeks, I started core work and increased the workouts more. i also do beginner pilates, but I only just started that.

okay, am i the only one who actually DOESN'T like to wear leggings anymore????? when i was thin, i didn't like how my calves looked in them. when i got fat, i didn't wear them, because i felt even FATTER in them. then i lost the weight, and i was all, "oh yeah, look at me in leggings, i'm not fat". but after a while i realized that wearing leggings made may non-existent ass look even more non-existent! unless i constantly flex my butt muscles, you can draw a straight vertical line from my neck to my calves if i stand sideways. i do wear them to exercise classes though, but not in everyday public life lol

I’m literally coming out of it. I was so lost. It hit me heavy. I was informed that losing weight so fast releases certain hormones and/or fluctuates them to the point where we FEEL it even psychologically. Ive never really been a depressed person but since my surgery in june, some days i feel it. Like i said last week was hard for me. But im feeling better this week so im celebrating a small win! You’ll have a good week too! Be encouraged. Youre not alone

Tonight I went to the required education session that my NHS Trust has as a non-negotiable requirement of being accepted for surgery. I will be honest and say I was left feeling completely underwhelmed with it. There was about 16 of us, all pre-op but at different stages of the required tests etc plus some family members (hubby went with me) There was also a Bariatric nurse, a dietitian and a former patient who had had the bypass in 2022. She explained her journey but it seemed very…I don’t know, sterile? Wrong word I know but I don’t know how else to explain her approach. She’s obviously happy with how it all turned out for her but it all seemed very whitewashed, which I found odd. She only mentioned one case of dumping syndrome but everything else was a walk in the park, which had me internally questioning things. She said she was currently in a months long stall but again, everything was hunky-dory. Someone asked about a typical days eating and it seemed really carb-heavy - toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, cheese and crackers for a snack, sausage and chips or mash for dinner etc etc. I asked about what additional protein she had - didn’t/couldn’t answer, asked about exercise - some walking and that’s about it. She mentioned hair loss being an issue but that it all grew back and was great. I know I’m being picky but I honestly wanted a more rounded discussion about of lots of different challenges that we could face with WLS and living the life post-op. I’d say out of the group that was there, maybe 5 had done any wider reading or research. I did find out that the hospitals approach to caffeine post-op is you can have a couple of cups of tea/coffee a day but they would rather patients filled up on foods/drinks that added protein, especially at the beginning. I also found out about the vitamins they give you and that they put the timings on the boxes to aid patients with timings etc, which was useful. Something that was bothering me was if my BMI dipped below 40, would I still be considered for surgery as I don’t have any co-morbidities like diabetes, heart issues etc. I need to get it below 40 before I will be considered for knee surgery, and I’m hoping that will happen end of Oct/beginning of Nov all being well. I was reassured about that, saying that they go off the booking weight reported by the GP when referred initially 🙂 I will be completely honest and say that, apart from some very specific questions I had of my hospital, I actually find this forum of much more use and beneficial to me personally. I have found out so much information from people who are further along in their own WLS journey, plus I know I’ve felt really supported by lots of very lovely and helpful users. There is such a wealth of experience on here that I know that if I have a question, someone will be along to answer it! Roll on the dietitian appointment next week 🤞

Hi me again! So I will say that my journey has been fairly easy. Tracking, eating right and working and the weight has been falling off. I am a weigh everyday-er (I know I know but I am lol) I am only 6months out and pretty close to my goal weight that I set for myself. The scale keeps going up! I am not eating more than 1100 I workout a lot. I weight in at 172ish Wednesday this morning 176ish. LIKE WTF! Is this normal? I cannot physically workout more or eat any less. So idk what is going on, but I absolutely hate it and its really messing with my mindset.

I'm also in the "what to do for the birthday Struggle Club! My surgery is 7th of October and my birthday is tomorrow 25th July. My dr put me on a 12 week milk diet (1.5litres of milk with semi-skimmed milk and 1 salty drink a day) to quickly lose weight before my surgery. So I don't want to jeopardise that and have my usual slices of cake from my favourite bakery. It's also my friend's wedding on Saturday. I can't avoid the wedding are ask people to do something that isn't food related. But I can control my birthday and avoid temptation. I made the decision to go out and get my nails done and go to a comedy club instead! I'm not much of a drinker so the club won't be a temptation and I can't eat while getting my nails done! Next year, I'll be thinner and probably more in the mood to celebrate anyway.

Thanks lovely! I will do my best! The nurse did mention that I have lost 23.3% of my excess body weight so far, so I am definitely happy about that - I just need to do my measurements again as I haven't done that since pre-LRD!

I chose the sleeve. My mother had the bypass back in 2008 and had a lot of problems. She couldn't keep anything down for months after the sugery and the had to operate again and they made a mistake. So she basically couldn't really eat anything at all and suffered for years. She had a bowel perforation due to clot in April of 2023 that they couldn't diagnose until a month later and they couldn't repair because of what went wrong with her bypass surgery and she died in May of 2023. So I'm too afraid of having the same kind of problems. It's not the same hospital or the same surgeon, but I'm still scared. I did wonder if I should even consider any type of surgery at all, but my mother did lose weight and it did extend her life.

Funny you mentioned the ice cream pint. I remember for 3 months straight my husband and I would eat a pint of ice cream each every night LOL. My husband of course has never been overweight and probably never will be, I on the other hand kept getting bigger and bigger, just a few minutes ago I fixed myself a tiny bowl of sugar free belgian chocolate ice cream, added a crushed protein ball on top and 3 salted cashews. I literally had 3 bites and got sick and put it away. The licks do add up but they’ll nowhere be near what we used to eat. But I digress lol As for workouts, I took up Pilates a few months ago and I’m obsessed. I do 3 days of heavy lifting (back/chest, bis/tris/shoulders, legs) and 2 days of pilates. I feel it complements my strength training so well because these sessions work out my big muscles and pilates targets my smaller muscles and I’ve progressed a lot and seeing great definition all over. One of my 2 Pilates sessions is circuit training so it burns quiet a bit and raises my heart rate, the other session is on the reformer and it burns so good! I always end my weight training days with a 20 minute jog to close my steps. Ugh I was a big fan of F45 until my ankle injury!!

I had the same feeling at first. But the important thing is that you personally are going in the right direction. Slow or fast doesn’t matter. (Although i would love the weight to ‘go’ faster). Im at 9weeks and every week shows a tiny bit of progress.

For me, the pain wasn't bad. I needed liquid Tylenol for the first 3 days, a few times per day (tip: look for the ADULT formula because the child formula tastes horrible and is thicker, like gel). I had one incision that would give twinges for about a week, but it passed quickly. I did not experience gas pain. I found a weighted heating pad on my abdomen at night was very soothing. I was very tired and found it difficult to focus. If possible, don't tax yourself.I walked frequently, but not far. So I was moving around but not logging a huge number of steps. By week 3, I felt relatively normal. By the end of month 2, I was pretty much back to my old self with the bonus of quite a bit more energy, and I could navigate eating in restaurants without too much trouble (I went on a weekend trip out of town at around 8 weeks post op).

8 weeks PO today and 14 kg down- 56 more to go- I made myself one of those goal thermometers so I can colour it in week by week- I also have a weight tracking app- but there is something nice about colouring in the thermometer.