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You are not alone & you’re not a F-up. We all likely have experienced various degrees of success losing weight in the past but I’m 100% positive we all failed at keeping it off. If we had been successfully at keeping the weight we’d lost off we wouldn’t have been obese & lined up for the surgery. And I’m pretty sure at some point & in varying degrees we all worried that the surgery wouldn’t work for us either. I’ve never ever been able to maintain a low weight for longer than a month or two. I’d get complacent, think oh eating this won’t hurt. But it did. And very quickly I’d have gained a lot back & I’d be lying in bed at night saying tomorrow I’ll eat better just as @Officially Not Fatty Matty said. What’s made this time different for me is that I realised that I had to really look at what I had been eating, my eating habits & why I would want to eat. I also had to come to accept that this wasn’t a short term diet restricting what I ate for a few weeks or months but a complete forever change of what I ate. I realised if I went back to the way I used to eat, I’d fail again & end up exactly where I had been - obese. If I hadn’t had these ‘come to Jesus’ type realisations I know I would not have lost all my weight & actually be maintaining it. Yes, the surgery helped by reducing my hunger & reducing how much food I can physically eat. But most importantly it gave me the time to reflect on the what, how & why I ate & start to put in place the changes I wanted & needed to make to be truely successful this time. The change of mind set was vital. I was able to do this myself but others seek the support of a therapist. Don’t be reluctant to seek help if you need. There are lots of people on this forum who have had lots of success doing so. It can be very scary to try to imagine & understand how & what you will eat in the future & how you will cope without your old emotional crutch foods. Food grief is real. A therapist can help. The cravings, our emotional drives to eat & our own proclivities never go away, we just learn to better recognise them & develop strategies to manage them. Any one can learn to cook (my sister-in-law’s 74 yr old father just learnt cause his wife died) & this is a great time to experiment. You don’t have to get good enough to enter MasterChef. Simple basic home cooking is all you need but if you enjoy it … I always cooked but have to admit I cook pretty simply now. Food has a different purpose. I look at food more as a source of energy & not as a way to satisfy some craving, an emotional support or social activity. It still has to be yummy but the nutritional content is equally or more important. Sure I have cut a lot of things out of my diet but I still enjoy everything that goes into my mouth. Honestly, when I look at fast food ads, social media pxts of overly sweet foods, massive portions, etc. I’m revolted now. My stomach actually turns over. This is my story & what has been working for me so far. Reality is I’m still pretty much a newbie & am still learning. Like @Jaelzion, I don’t know what the future will bring. Life can throw a lot of crap at you at times. I’m in the dangerous third year when the possibility of the 10lb+/- bounce back regain is high. But damn I’m gonna work hard at continuing to watch my calorie intake & being careful about my food choices. All the best.

I am a month and two weeks out from my sleeve surgery. It’s much easier to drink water now. Is there a certain amount we should be sipping at a time or can we pretty much drink water in one period as much as we can handle? I want to make sure I’m not ingesting it too fast for my stomach or something like that. I don’t feel that much restriction with water so I don’t want to stretch my stomach.

a 10-20 lb regain during year 2 or 3 is pretty common. If you want to lose more weight, you'll have to create a calorie deficit - by either eating less or exercising more - or both. Some people just go back to the rules we got from our programs - not necessarily all the way back to purees and protein shakes, but the whole protein first, then veggies, tnen - if you have room and are still hungry, a small serving of fruit or whole-grain carb. Others have had success with Weight Watchers or Intermittent Fasting. it can be challenging to lose weight after those first magical months, but, it can be done...

First: Yes, we are all different. Second: looking solely (and comparing to others) at TOTAL weight loss at a certain point in time (i.e, at the 8th month mark), does not give the REAL picture of weight loss rate. It doesn't take into account a persons current weight, height, how close they are to goal, etc. Your 2lb weight loss in month eight could actually be statistically "better" than your 15lb weight loss in month 1, depending on what your current weight is, and how close you are to goal or baseline. *** I'm about to get into MATH MODE, so for those whose eyes glaze over at numbers and formulas, the gist is the following, and you can skip the rest, lol: To attain a more telling view of your rate of weight loss, look at weight loss as a percentage of excess weight lost during period x, instead of total weight lost. *** Now for those of you who stuck around to read my schpiel, here goes: Assumption: BMI 25 used as the baseline for goal and calculation of excess weight. I understand that using BMI as baseline is inherently flawed, as it doesn't take into account an individual's biological makeup like muscle mass, bone density, etc, etc., but its the best we can do at an elementary level. I mean, really, not all of us have calipers or full body scanners in our basements, lol. To calculate rate of excess weight lost (rLoss) for a specified period: total_weight_lost_during_time_period / excess_weight_at_start_of_time_period notated as.... rLoss = ( x0 - x1 ) / ( x0 - G ) Where: G = weight at BMI 25 for one's height. x0 = weight at start of monitoring period x1 = weight at end of monitoring period Using my own numbers as an example, at 5'2", my BMI 25 weight is 135. Month 1 (m1): 223 : weight at beginning of m1, 201 : weight at end of m1 25% : excess weight loss rate, calculated as: rLoss = ( 223 - 201 ) / ( 223 - 135 ) Month 6 (m6): 138 : weight at beginning of m6, 129 : weight at end of m6 300% : excess weight loss rate, calculated as: rLoss = ( 138 - 129 ) / ( 138 - 135 ) So really, in m6, although i lost less than 1/2 the total weight I lost in m1, i actually did much, much better (statistically) as I was much smaller in m6. Now fast forward to Month 8, the month you are specifically asking about. I was below BMI 25 by this point so this formula would not apply since my excess weight was zero (I was 119). Despite this, by the end of the 8th month, I lost 2 lbs. So yeah, the weight loss seems to have slowed down quite a bit if you only look at TOTAL weight lost (2 lbs vs the 22 in m1), but when you look at the lbs loss as compared to my actual body weight at the time, it was statistically a waaaaaaaay better rate. Ta-da! MATH, y'all. P.S. I was 116 this morning. P.P.S. Sorry this was so long.

I never had an issue with drinking anything. The PA at my clinic said it wasn't a problem - liquids pretty much go right through you. He said my pouch would tell me if I was drinking too much/too fast. as for food, stick to your clinic's program as closely as possible.

I think yours makes more sense to me than mine did lol. I had a clear liquid diet, all clear fruit juices unlimited. Therefore, lots of carbs. I followed it, lost weight but the jury is still out to why my surgeon preferred that diet. Everything turned out fine in the end. Surgery was fast and successful. But as cellbell said low carb is what shrinks the liver is what I have always read.

I grew as a chubby kid but once I entered school, I was kept in sports my whole life so being skinny was my normal life. It wasn't until I was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 22. I was at 150 pounds. A tad bit overweight but hey, I was a university kid who would party, drink and eat junk all the time. What was I expecting? it's what us, uni kids do... right? PCOS never tempered with my life so why care. It wasn't until I was 24 when the weight became my biggest nightmare. It was as if it came with vengeance, full force. This is when everything 'clicked' for me. I would always do crash diets, starve, Intermediate fasting, juicing... you name it, I've tried it. NOTHING WORKED. I would diet with no weight loss. AND TRUST ME... I CALORIE COUNTED EVERY GRAIN OF RICE OR OUNCE. I would go to the gym religiously for 2 hours at a time...I would weigh myself every morning in hopes I finally lost a pound. This developed an unhealthy addiction and I ended up with an eating disorder. I would give up on dieting and binge eat thousands of calories at a time. I would feel guilty, mentally, emotionally, and psychically. I would vomit and start over. I missed the "skinny" me desperately to the point I jeopardized my body, my mind and killed my metabolism due to my eating disorder. I was sitting at my heaviest at 210. For some, this weight isn't much but keep in mind- I didn't feel like myself anymore. I wasn't happy. I would drink myself to sleep. I would cry because I felt that I could have done better with taking care of my body, But Instead, I tortured my body thinking I was doing the "right thing." Scared and lost, I turned to my last resort and to fix my alcohol addiction and health around with the VSG. I am now 1 month post op and down to 169. I hope to get down to 110 like I used to be. But honestly, I just want to be happy again. This time. HEALTHY, regardless of the weight. People think that only thin people have eating disorders but, oh boy are they wrong. I am still learning how to deal with my new tummy. But What I keep in mind is, that this surgery is a tool. Not a 'miracle' surgery. I still need to eat healthy to get the results. And I aim to do so.

Hi I'm super new here. I was scheduled for surgery on September 1. I live in Sydney, Australia and halfway through my pre-op diet all elective surgery in the state has been postponed. My dietitian isn't responding to messages and my surgeon has simply said 'go back to eating normally' but it feels like a waste of the work I've done this past week. Does anyone have any suggestions about diet for a break (they are suggesting a minimum of a month) that will help set me up for my op, and my life post op, without being own the pre-op fasting diet??

Stall and Loridee, out of necessity I had to form my own support group. Are there others that you know who have had the surgery that you can talk with? I found that just by talking and bouncing ideas around we all benefited. I told my surgeon that he should try to set up a way for his patients to exchange emails so we could network. Prior to covid he had two group meetings a month. He tried zoom meetings but they were not effective. So far he hasn't done it. I subscribe to Dr. Becky Gillespie on you tube. She doesn't give bariatric specific weight loss advice. Hers is geared more for us mere mortals and it's usually backed up with the science behind it. I find that fasting for 12 hrs a day helps me control my weight. I don't eat between 7PM - 7 AM. I'm also considering a longer fast but don't want to try until I'm absolutely sure that I can commit. One thing I've found out from not only my experience but with others, if you do not commit to a plan it will never work.

I am now 1 month post op and I feel GREAT! It really varies person to person. The stomach pain did go away within the 1-2 week period just as my doctor said it would. I found out that with liquids, the stomach is still swollen (it can last up to a month!) and it will be very hard for others to swallow. For me, my stomach was no longer swollen after a week. So I was able to drink my water and shakes like a champ with 0 problem. I thought I was the only one but it turns out It just depends on how fast your stomach stabilizes in terms of inflammation Don't worry about anything! You got this! even though I am losing slowly, I am happy I got the surgery. No regrets so far.

I did calorie cycling years ago (I haven't had WLS yet) by having fast days and non fast days. I can say that I lost a bit of weight, but it was clearly just from eating fewer total calories. Also, on fast days I was really cold. I don't see what the benefit would be after WLS. In fact, I don't recall seeing any evidence for it being good as a diet strategy in humans at all. No better than just counting calories (even intermittent fasting has only been shown to work in mice!)

Personally, I've never had any problem with drinking before meals, even immediately after surgery. But I still find that it's a bad idea to drink much during and right after meals. A few sips is fine, but much more than that, and I'll feel some pain and/or faintness. For about 4-5 months after surgery, I would always feel a bit faint after eating and have to sit and rest a bit before doing much of anything. Now that feeling comes only occasionally, when my stomach has gotten too full. A couple of times that's happened, say, at a holiday meal, where there's a ton of foods and I want to try a bite of lots of things. But usually it happens when I drink too much fluid with/after a meal. When I eat at home, I simply don't serve myself a drink when I eat. But when I go out, they always bring a drink and if I haven't finished it before the meal comes, it's easy to forget and take a few drinks. Studies of gastric emptying show that when you drink water on an empty stomach, it empties from the stomach very quickly. But when you eat a meal, the stomach contents take 2-4 hours to fully leave the stomach. A liquid with a lot of calories (like a protein drink) empties a bit faster than a solid meal, but a liquid meal is closer to a solid meal than water. Even if drinking during/after meals doesn't cause you pain or discomfort, I'd recommend that you still do it. Both patients who have had bariatric surgery and obese patients who have not had surgery are more likely to empty their stomach too quickly (see the linked study). If your stomach empties too quickly, you start to feel hungry again more quickly. Drinking extra water can hurry this along. Doctors suspect that your stomach emptying too fast is actually one of the causes of obesity and/or the reason why some people don't have as much success with bariatric surgery in the long run. This is why different bariatric doctors all suggest not to drink with/after meals (though many differ about drinking before meals.) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26774242_Scintigraphic_Evaluation_of_Gastric_Emptying_in_Obese_Patients_Submitted_to_Sleeve_Gastrectomy_Compared_to_Normal_Subjects

Hello all, My name is Jen. This is my first post and I hope to find some support within this community. I had my gastric sleeve procedure in July 2017 at 22 years old. I was 310 pounds before the two-week fast and was 291 pounds at the time of the surgery. After the surgery, I lost weight rapidly, I was down to 225 pounds by December of that same year. But then my weight loss decreased and for the past 2.5 years, I've been stuck at an average weight of 215 pounds. Since COVID started, I have actually gained weight and am now 235 lbs (not being able to go to the gym has sucked). At one point nearly 2 years after my surgery I had even gotten to 196 lbs, which was a 100-pound weight loss. I want to lose another 100 pounds to meet my goal weight range of 135-140 lbs, which would be a healthy weight for my height and build. But I need help. I have other factors that are making weight loss more difficult. I have PCOS which naturally makes weight loss difficult. I use birth control pills to help regulate the hormones that are affected by PCOS. I also have had bone and joint problems since I was a child. I've been trying to focus on my diet, but I must admit I have a giant sweet tooth and I am a picky eater. Pizza and candy are my banes. I'm also a graduate student who is under a ton of stress and has very limited personal time. This makes exercising and preparing meals difficult. Despite these complications, I don't eat out at all, nor do I order take-in. I have a treadmill that I walk or jog on for at least an hour each day, and I attend Zumba twice a weak (I'm not very good at it haha). I am not diabetic or pre-diabetic but I do have asthma. So, is anyone else in a similar situation that would like to build a little group? I've never had any weight loss support and I am hoping that by building a group, I can find more motivation and encouragement as I lose 100 more pounds. TLDR: 4 years since VSG surgery and I'm still not at goal weight, keep stalling or gaining weight. Need friends in similar situations for support, guidance, motivation, and encouragement.

Surgery date: 07/24/2021 HW: 210 SW: 188 CW 169 Finally got off my two week stall but losing weight is SLOOOW. Lost only one pound since my stall Feeling dreadful. I know I don't weigh much but the weight loss is killing me. Even people who weigh the same as me are losing twice as fast. PCOS is a b*tch.

I use the baritastic app to help me track everything. It is really helpful. I’ve lost 37 total since 6/7/2021, but only 20 since surgery on 6/22/21. I’ve lost a lot of inches. I’m down 1 pants size and 2 shirt sizes. I just don’t feel like I am progressing as fast as others and it scares me

Is there a way to ask for a different dietician? Because she sounds like an absolute nightmare! My dietician is nice and encouraging and if I end up eating something off plan she just tells me that it won't hurt me if it happens as long as it doesn't become a habit or something I do all the time. She tells me every time she sees me (usually when I'm dealing with a stall) that I'm doing great and as long as the trend is downward that no matter how slow the loss is, I'm still losing and that's that what matters. My dietician has me eating 1200-1400 calories and I'm almost 19 months out. When I was 5 months out I think I was probably eating about 800-1000 calories. I think your own dietician is pushing you to eat too much too fast, imo. I would see if it's possible to ask for someone else. I haven't gone to my own bariatric clinic since my 9 month appointment because there is this front office lady that kept rescheduling my 12 month appointment and pissing me off. She made my stress go from 0-100 pretty damn fast and was bugging me about my labs and how they hadn't received them and how she wanted me to call the lab and have them fax my paperwork over, which I'd done, so I kept having to tell her to do it her damn self because I'd already called them and they'd re-faxed it twice already so something was getting lost on their end and they needed to deal with it. Her response was to tell me they needed to reschedule me so I just never rescheduled after about the 9th time because she pissed me the hell off! I get stressed with just the idea of having to call the bariatric doctor because if I get her on the line I will hang the damn phone up! That's why I never made my 18 month appointment and just relied on my PCP to do my labs because of that b*tch! I wish I'd gotten her name on the multiple times she'd called me so I could report her for her incompetence! So yeah, I'd ask for a different dietician, personally.

Hello! I hope some people can give some advice! I have been stewing on this for a number of weeks, and I am not really sure what to do. I will start by saying that my program is in Canada, and it is set up a bit different than most Americans. I go to a bariatric clinic that includes the psychologist, internal medicine doc, Dietitian, Nurse. The surgeon you are referred to after you have jumped through the hoops with the other professions. You are assigned the surgeon who does your surgery, for the most part, you don't get to shop for one...and they have little to do with the Diet/Medical Part (vitamins, labs, etc). The surgeons are general surgeons that obviously know how to do these surgeries, but they are not solely bariatric surgeons. So essentially, if I have questions I go to the bariatric clinic, and not the surgeon. The problem is, I hate my Dietitian. I don't feel like I can ask her anything without her being weird, and control freaky about everything. She has argued with me over my food logs (aggressively suggesting berries instead of the banana I ate everyday pre-op), She got upset with me for taking psyllum husks and omega 3 after surgery because "WHO TOLD ME TO DO THAT??!". I asked her about when my protein requirement would reduce (since I am losing weight obviously), and was told never because the protein requirement was based on my height, and not weight. (????). When I ask what calories I should be at, she won't answer and tell me my calories need to be higher. She also made a point to tell me that my weightloss will greatly slow down now (at my 3 month appointment). I was never a big/fast loser since starting this. Other than the first 2 weeks after surgery...I average out at about 2.5 pounds a week. In my program, regular food started week 4 after surgery. Once I went to solid food at week 4, I eat between 1100 and 1300 calories. I have yet to eat out, the 'worst' thing I have had is a very small bite of Candy to taste it. There is no forbidden food except for carbonated drinks...and obviously they recommend staying away from overly fried, processed, sugary things. Prior to surgery, the last time I had lost weight sucessfully was in 2016 when I went to the gym 6 days a week and tracked all my calories. I used MFP and fitbit. I ruined my knees in the process of that (a whole other story lol). I still use MFP to track food. So right now, MFP has 1300 calories to lose 2 pounds...and I am still a bit over 250. How in the world am I going to keep losing weight if I am supposed to eat more? Currently, my body is doing this thing where I lose 2.5 one week....0.7 the next....2.5 the next...I feel like I stall every 2nd week or so. The dietician doesn't help at all. She always rags on me to eat 5-6 times a day. I get all my protein in, in those 3 meals and I currently still don't experience a hunger sensation at all...so why would I eat more? She wants me to eat more and I feel like what I am doing is okay. I told her I would add more snacks if I need it, and she doesn't like that. I am at 5 months out...I feel like I am trucking along...but then I get really worried that I am not going to continue to lose weight, especially when she is on me to eat more and more often when I frankly don't want to. Everyone wants to believe that they have some tailored medical diet...and we don't. Every single program is done by an expert and they are all different from each other...and it really annoys me when people say 'follow your program'...when it seems every doc has a different idea of what would be successful., and nothing is standardized. Am I too set in CICO that I am frustrating myself? How can I continue to be successful and get to the lowest reasonable point that I can?

I had roux en y gastric bypass because 1) I already had GERD and couldn't bear it getting worse and 2) RnY GB has been around longer than sleeve, and in my mind the long term complications are better understood. My major co-morbidities were hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance (pre-diabetic) and a fatty liver on imaging. The hypertension resolved in the post-op phase. Last pill I took was the day before surgery. Zero GERD since surgery. Haven't had a repeat fasting glucose or ultrasound, but I expect those (and my lipid profile!) to be improved as well. Incidentally, I used to get migraines (with aura) pretty frequently, and those have gotten a LOT better, too. One other factor is that I was self-pay in Canada, and RnY is more expensive than sleeve.

I'm 13 months out, and I can drink pretty much normally. For the first few months, I was only able to sip slowly, but it wasn't too long before I could drink easily. I've never really been one to "chug" water really fast, so my idea of "normal" might not be what you're used to, but I am definitely not limited to sipping. I do still wait 30 minutes before and after meals to drink anything. At first, it was hard to get used to that, but now it feels normal not to drink with meals, and in fact, when I have guests, I sometimes forget to offer beverages at meals!

Holy moly....I have been learning some valuable lessons about eating too fast this week. It's been a really busy couple of weeks with lots of highly emotional things happening. This has resulted in quick meals and I found myself eating quickly and not pausing enough between bites. I was starting to feel these waves of discomfort in my chest just below my sternum for 30-45 minutes after eating. I was starting to get concerned and reached out to my nutritionist and she explained what I was feeling was my esophagus working to squeeze my food down into my small stomach. Basically I was eating too fast causing things to "back up" and making my esophagus work harder which was causing the discomfort. Lesson learned. I've been very committed to setting the timer on my watch and pausing between bites. Since doing that, no discomfort at all. Eating slowly is definitely something that I have to really put forth a very focused effort on. It is amazing to watch people during meals when I do this. I never realized just how FAST everyone eats. It's like a whirlwind and they are done. Meanwhile there I am, putting my fork down for what feels like eternity. I am looking forward to this habit feeling like second nature and now FULLY understand why it's so important on making it happen.

Hi @2ndChance, Higher Covid rates in your area did not happen just to screw you up. It’s not personal, it’s just the ongoing pandemic we are all living in. That said, I’m deeply sorry that you have done all the preparation and plans to have to wait some more. That’s so disappointing! Now, how do you deal with disappointment? If you’re like most of us here, maybe food and drink need to exchange places with therapy and exercise? Seriously last week, two days before surgery, my insurance declined the procedure. My first thought was ice cream and wine. I decided I am a grown up woman and I called the WL office to ask about the therapist. We also talked about what the office was doing about my insurance appeal and what I could do to push it forward fast. Guess what? It all ended up working out ok and I “met” the therapist. Keep Calm and Adult on!

I'm almost 19 months out and I still take smallish sips over gulping things down like I used to because I've made myself feel sick by drinking too much too fast and it's a terrible feeling! On the bright side the protein drink that used to take me over 2 hours to drink now only takes me about 30-45 minutes to drink now, so it does get better!

Oh man, I found that super annoying right after surgery as well. I've always been the thirsty type - when I was a kid at school, my friends used to tease me because I would stop at multiple drinking fountains when walking somewhere. It was super frustrating after surgery when I'd go for exercise and get really thirsty, but not be able to drink as much as I felt I wanted. I also would get a pain like you describe, which I think was very much because air was collecting in my stomach but it was very hard to burp it out properly. Those first few months especially, I would pound on my stomach like I was a baby when I got that pain, which would usually make me burp and start feel better. I feel like maybe when your stomach is so small, it's hard for the air to rise to the top and escape by itself. I'm 18 months out now, and it is much improved. I still can't drink as much or as fast as I want to all the time, but the amount that I can drink at once is much more than it was right after surgery. I've mostly gotten used to it though. I am usually much better about taking water with me when I exercise and drinking something as soon as I get thirsty, rather than letting the feeling build up until I want to gulp the water down. I've also gotten used to drinking more slowly without having to stop and think about it.

I'm back with some new NSV. One of these gets me right in the feels. Comfortably sitting with my legs crossed, arms folded across my belly. This does not get old. One of you mentioned being able to see willy, well....female equivalent is being able to see kitty. Sitting up, lying down she is visible! 😸 Last weekend I had an auntie day with my 7-year-old niece. She loves to run and asked me if I would race her. The look on her face when I said sure! She looked completely shocked then so delighted. We ran three races, she won them all (for real - the kid is fast) and her delight in play racing me was priceless. Had to blink back the tears a bit because it meant so much to her that her auntie was running and playing with her in a way I couldn't just a few months ago.

Three months and five days out from VSG surgery and I am down 50 pounds since surgery and 65 since April when I last saw my primary care doc. I've gone from a size 24 jeans to a size 18 that fit loosely. It is more weight than I thought I'd lose in this period of time and the lowest I've been in nearly 20 years. I love that my feet don't hurt, my ankles don't swell and that I have energy! My family went camping this past weekend and I actually went hiking, including climbing a steep hillside that, afterwards, I knew I'd have never have even tried before. I have had issues with consuming enough calories and finding foods that appeal to me, which I know has contributed to the fast weight loss. I can only eat very small amounts at a time and some days I don't do as well as others with my water and protein intake. While I sometimes miss the pleasure of a big, comforting meal, I don't dwell on it and find that eating to fuel my body has its own appeal. I feel free and that's a wonderful thing.