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It depends on so many factors. One of the biggest - what was your starting weight? The more weight you have to lose, the fast it comes off in the beginning. Another factor - for me - what immediate diet changes can you make? I made 3 drastic changes and a bunch of smaller changes. The drastic ones: 1) significantly reduce soda intake 2) significantly reduce alcohol. I had a full bar at home. I got rid of everything down the drain. 3) significantly reduce carbs. No more rice with my chinese food. Bye-bye pasta. (although I've since found low carb, high protein alternatives). Other factors - how long were you on a pre-op diet? I lost 63 pounds from March 7th to August 14th. 45 pounds was due to dietary changes - and a lot of that was honestly pressure i put on myself because I didn't want to give my surgeon or my dietician any reasons to not sign off on my surgery. I try to get my 10000 steps every day. I probably hit that 5-6 days a week. And I certainly don't mean to be sexist by saying this, but men lose faster. Everything else being equal, men lose weight faster. But - this isn't a race. This is unique in that the first 6-9 months post-op are supposed to be the easiest time to lose weight because of the lack of gherin so you'r just not 'as' hungry. While you definitely want to lose weight in the first 6-9 months post-op, you also want to really learn proper eating. Smaller portions. Better choices. Protein first. Low carbs. More veggies. Water is good. Sugary drinks are bad. But most of all, talk to your doctor and dietician and follow their recommendations for food - and activity! I have no idea what your starting weight was, how much you lost pre-op, and how much you've lost post-op, but 25 pounds lost on a 5'3" frame is still a big deal! It's hard not to compare your success to others (i do it too) but for today - focus on your success. 25 pounds lost so far is GREAT!

Eh... i asked my surgeon about alcohol and carbonation post op and she told me you have to live your life. If you think you will never have anything sinful you’re just setting yourself up for failure. She also said carbonation is fine for some and hard to tolerate for others, but it’s not harmful to your pouch. She said there is a lot of misinformation out there on the topic, many times used as scare tactics to keep people from drinking full sugar soda.

@FluffyChix, Yeah, it makes sense, everything you eat is super lean and protein dense, or veggie filler for the most part. Honestly if I start losing my restriction, that's the direction I will go. Really the only "filler" food I eat is cucumbers when I'm either feeling snacky, or just because I want them. I mean I still keep zucchini, carrots, romaine in my fridge, but I'm always just throwing it away and buying fresh every other week or so You definitely don't want to be my assistant. I have an assistant and I'm pretty sure she hates me most days You chart doesn't look bad at all. From your WLS through July it was pretty consistent losses. I'm sure July drove you crazy though! Oh, I haven't not taken pictures cause my food is sad (although it is), it's just boring. I usually only serve myself what I can eat (so no after pics), and it's literally a chunk of cheese (oh, it's always hard cheese, so around 100 cal/oz, no brie or anything like that). I mean, who wants to see that? Anything I think might be interesting I will put up in the before and after food thread. I'm interested to know how you feel if you aren't forcing the meals, and just eating when you're hungry. And what that will do for loss. I mean it's working for me, weight loss wise, but who knows how anyting will work out long term. I'd like to think it was the beer. We will have to see if wine will do the same thing on this up coming vacay. I'm thinking maybe not, I drink dry wines, so not a lot of sugar or carbs compared to beer. I also generally don't drink as much beer as I do wine. But then again, I'm not usually in Italy Below is my chart. You'll see the 2 significant upticks. One early on, and the other just recently. I'd like to think they were both alcohol related. Early uptick was Mai Tai's (and a little beer) for a week, and then this latest beer one. (I do have a weekend of Mai Tai's coming up though, gulp! )

@GreenTealael Hope you start feeling better soon. I agree, the scale seems to have a mind of it's own! @FluffyChix I still can't figure out how you make 400 cals look like so much food, and such attractive and delicious food. I had the same cals as you yesterday. I ate part of a leftover kebab, chunk of cheese & a protein shake, my pics would have been so sad next to yours! Sorry about the lymphedema, hopefully it subsides today. You lost 5 lbs in a week, so your graph can't be looking too shabby. It would certainly be nice if that gain could be contributed to alcohol and/or beer. I mean I drank beer everyday for 11 days or so. That is not something I would ever do IRL. So if that's all I'd have to do to avoid gains, then I have it made! Ha, ha, wishful thinking, right?!? At the end of next month I take another 10 day vacation. This one will be wine, pasta & gelato, and a lot of walking. We'll see what that does to the scale.

Hi, All, I had the ESG on November 15, 2017. I haven't posted in a really long time, so I thought a quick update might be due. At this point, I haven't lost any additional weight since my last post. My spring and summer were full of parties, guests, business and school and church functions where I was surrounded by incredible food, drink at every turn. I must say, I am pleased that my weight stays in the same range (+-2 lbs) and I am able to eat much less. I learned that it is critically important to be mindful of the quantity of food. It is too easy to take one bite too many and it only becomes clear that it was one too many after the fact. I have lost only about 15% of my original pre-op weight, so I am disappointed that I haven't lost more than that, but I have been able to live like I have always dreamed...I can start my day with a small breakfast and then I am not hungry until many hours later. I can order an appetizer and be satisfied. I do regret that I did not go with the more invasive surgery. Ghrelin is still an issue for me and I learned that sometimes reflux can give a similar feeling to hunger, so I need to remember to take my antacid meds. As for the Ghrelin, I still take contrave and the combination of the ESG and the med seems to keep me really steady. So, I was also afraid that drinking alcohol would be a problem, but it is not at all. Well, one needs to nurse the glass of wine or drink for quite a while longer than normal, but alcohol does not hit me like a ton of bricks (usually.) A good vitamin is an absolute necessity. I have been using Secretagogue Gold (recommended by my Hippie-doctor (integrative med md)). If I don't take an easily digestible multi-vitamin, I have started to get nighttime leg cramps (and I am an absolute baby about them--screaming, dramatic:) As long as I take a good vitamin, I am fine. I had to have foot surgery 6 weeks after my ESG and so I really stopped exercising until the past few weeks. I wasn't able to walk without pain until this summer, so I had to start back slowly and have just started jogging on the treadmill again. Maybe this will help me get off of this weight plane. My sister had surgery the same day and has not had as easy of a time as I have. She is also stuck at the same weight and had to have emergency gall bladder surgery a few weeks ago. I think that was the source of a lot of her issues. She was having gall bladder attacks and thought that it was related to the ESG, but it was not--just a bunch of gall stones. She is much better now, although she is also stuck at the same weight as I am..(..sisters, sigh) She spent a lot more time on the phone with the nutritionist trying to figure out why her weight had stalled...too much food? not enough food? too many carbs? not enough? I just keep reminding her that she hasn't gained any weight (not even after ice cream and other treats.) So, was it worth it? $10K to lose ~30lbs? Well, yes, if this means that this is the new normal, which it seems to be. I can live like this. Eating smaller portions, no panic when I realize that there aren't any low carb items on a menu. I eat less, have less hunger and less body weight. Yes, this was worth it, but I do think that the laparoscopic gastric sleeve would have been a better choice for me in the long run. My 1 year anniversary is just 9 weeks away and I would like to have more weight off by then, but I am really going to have to focus to get that done. I'll let you all know how it goes. Have a good fall! I will check back in around mid November.

Those things arent necessarily off the menu for forever. My dietician told me that there is no reason why I couldn't still enjoy the foods I did before just in moderation. I'm 9 months out from RNY..I eat all the same foods that the rest of the family does I just eat smaller portions. I went to the fair here where I live for the first time in like 8 years this summer (I was 7 months post op when I went). I had a corn dog. Well a bite of one because it doesn't take me much for me to get full. I also had Ice cream and pie a bite or two. I had some funnel cake..I went with my mom, bestfriend and her son. What I didn't eat I gave to them. I've also had alcohol..3 months post op I went out to celebrate my birthday. I was told that I could have alcohol 3 weeks post op. But to be careful how much I drink because alcohol will effect me differently now because its processed faster. I've had no problems at all.. it just takes time to adjust to all the new changes. You've got this! Sent from my SM-G960W using BariatricPal mobile app

I'm dating someone right now who's good with sharing ... I never thought it would be such an important "pro". New check list: employed, 2 or less baby mamas, clean criminal background check, good sharer. I thought the same thing with the gain, I don't think travel edema, the trip wasn't too much different than what I do most weeks. Not salt, overall the food in was not overly salted, actually the opposite. But alcohol is very possible. I've had very little alcohol in the last 6 months, and certainly not alcohol everyday, and certainly not beer. It wasn't all true gain either, as you can see, I had a pretty steep drop in weight once I returned

Oh wow, okkkkkk DEF the late nite hummus and pita! I missed that before! If all you had was that tiny amount of G2. Pfffff. That ain't even enough to deactivate the IF in my HO. I 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000% agree about seeing the menu/planning ahead of time. I plan that meal first from the menu and plug it in, so I know what to do with the rest of the day. LOL! What a goober, right? If it's on the fly...then FM!!! It's very very difficult in that case and triple that if it's Asian or Mexican. *sigh* And yes, I completely get and understand the whole ordering off the App menu or the side menu of the add-on menu. It totally torks me! I WANT an entree! But I've really gotten to where I hate leftovers from restaurants and I used to love them. And I feel so guilty ordering a full size entree. To make matters worse, Mr. F. and I have different food preferences especially now. And I get tired of his stuff. Plus he hates to share. He will eat every last morsel on his plate and if I ask to share, he gives me like a bite or two. LOL. And then I get angry. So yeah, I try to find cheap alternatives and usually do just fine. But still...gah! It's just complicated. Right? I don't know what to say about the metabolism. I also share this fear big time! It's hard to think you are taking in very many cals given your quantities. So the 4.5lbs gain is a stumper. Could that be more travel edema and salt/alcohol/flying rather than real weight gain due to diet? I DO think that increasing calories slowly is easier on us rather than doing it all at once...I've done both and felt like the gradual worked better for me without stalls/gains. The other way, I for sure pack on about 5-10lbs then stall for a few weeks. Then I "may" get back to losing, or maybe I won't. What is strange for me this past week with the IF is that normally, if I eat 1000cals or more, I will be guaranteed to wake up with anything from a 2-6lb gain overnight. That didn't happen here, even on the nights I had a glass of wine and the bread. I'd wake up with maybe 1 to 1 1/2lbs overnight? Maybe? Sometimes, the scale just stayed the same. Then when I would do my DD, the next day I'd either be the same or I'd be down a bit. If I do UDs that are fairly low carb/no wine, then I just start racking up the losses without gains on the UDs. That's been my pattern with JUDDD in the past and it's looking like that may be my pattern again?

That is a fad diet. It is a myth that you can “reset your pouch.” It was invented by someone selling products on the Internet and is not based on science. You need to go back to basics which are eat dense protein first, followed by non-starchy vegetables, weigh and track your food, don’t drink alcohol or soda, cut out simple carbs & processed food, don’t drink during and after meals, limit snacking, and go to therapy if you’re struggling with emotional and/or binge eating. As well, if you’re gaining or maintaining, instead of losing weight, you’re consuming too many calories. As you lose weight, your body requires less calories to subsist.

3.5 weeks post surgery. Went to our state fair tonight and was really sad that I couldn't eat any of the food I love having at fairs. I really wanted a corn dog, and cotton candy, and funnel cake, and alcohol, and, and, and.... We didn't stay long because I was sad plus I still haven't returned to full energy levels since the surgery. Just feeling down and wanted to share.

Smartcakes - monkfruit and sugar alcohols for sweetener, and they are 38 calories each (76 calories a package). No net carbs, fiber-rich, and they are tasty.

I would love to hear from others who struggle with eating too much sugar and how you manage that. For now, I'm sticking with abstaining from eating desserts, but I continue to hope for achieving the ability to eat sweets in moderation. I'm wondering if anyone has found it possible to do so, but in light of having been a person who has a long history of sweets being a slippery slope- have some, want more and more and more. It has every feature of alcoholism, but the substance is desserts, not alcohol.

Love this topic! Started at 353 in July 2015, lost my first 100 lbs in six months, got down to around 185 in a year and just sort of went back to eating junk. I really liked how I looked and carried my weight well, but the pounds began to creep back on. In May, I found myself back at 215 and VERY unhappy about it. Been back on the high protein/low carb/no sugar thing since then, and now I'm actually lower than when I originally stopped losing! Only 29 lbs to go until I'm in the healthy BMI range, but I've got hips/thighs/boobs and wear a size 8/10, so I feel pretty good. Go on 12 mile hikes every weekend, currently training for 5k. It's so weird considering I've been above the 300 lb mark my entire adult life! Just make sure you connect with people who live a healthy life or do activities with you! The hardest thing was having to distance myself from people who constantly pushed food/alcohol/unhealthy stuff despite my protests, and folks who ONLY wanted to hang out when food was involved. Get you some fitness buddies and you'll be good!

Alcohol can be a large contributor to weight gain. It has a lot of carbs. I'd you approach it from that stand point a 750 ml bottle of wine with 5 oz serving size and about 4 carbs per serving would have 5 servings in the bottle. If you drink the whole thing you're basically drinking 4carbs×5 servings and that comes out to about 20 carbs. If you're also getting carbs in other ways it can all add up. Carbs will sneak up in you if you let them back in. A pound or 2 here and you can backslide without realizing it. You have been through so much and you can't let this defeat you! People can suck, a LOT, but at the end is the day, the person you're spending the rest of your life with is you. Love yourself and rise above, you will get through it. As others have said, counseling may be beneficial. If you're insured through your employer they may have covered services for this. Sent from my SM-G930T using BariatricPal mobile app

Hey everyone! I cant believe a year has flown by so fast. I know when I was pre-op I used to seek out these threads to read other's experiences, so I wanted to share mine too. My start weight was 277 the day I scheduled the consult for bariatric surgery, and I was 255 the day of surgery. The first 3 months were a bit of a whirlwind. I dropped 20 pounds in the first month, and I thought it would stay that fast, boy was that some realistic thinking on my part. As real food was reintroduced during my second month I learned what the foamies were...oh my goodness, so not fun. I lost 10 pounds during month two and I remember feeling discouraged and having to reassess my motivation for this surgery. Having to remind myself that this was a change for the rest of my life and that it was okay if the weight didn't just fly off, because if I kept working with my body, then my body would have no choice but to become healthy. The next month I lost 9 pounds and learned that if I didn't chew my food really, really well, that it could get stuck and hurt like hell until it made me vomit. This was not a fun time, but alas I learned, and learned relatively;y quickly. Month 4 came and two things of note happened. I lost 5 pounds and felt confused and a little lost as to what was happening with my body. Also, my hair started falling out like there was no tomorrow! That became my new normal for awhile. 5 pounds a month, hair falling out. Somewhere around 8 months out my hair loss stabilized, but by then I had lost about 2/3rds of the volume I had. Biotin never helped, but I took it from the day I was cleared to begin vitamins post op. Around March I was 6 months post op and I had my first month with no loss, where I actually gained. I was aghast. I had this weird feeling like I wasn't going to get where I needed to be unless I started working harder. So that was the point where I finally changed. I started counting every macro, and working out 3 days a week in April. Initially walking and increasing in length/intensity. That was the beginning of my adventure into exercise. I currently run/walk in intervals a 5k a minimum of 4 times a week. I have never felt stronger or more alive. I was the girl who only ran when chased, I had no idea that underneath all that weight was a body that felt happy when it ran. A brain that felt at peace when it focused on my breathing. I'm still losing at the rate of 5 pounds a month, total weight loss since March of 2016 is 110 pounds. Biggest change has been my brain. I stopped worrying about the scale. It goes down because I'm living the way I am supposed to be. It doesn't have to be big numbers, because this is the way I live my life now. I don't know if that makes sense anywhere except inside my head, but I hope you get it. I only this week made it into the "overweight" bmi category and I have 27 more pounds to go before I am considered to be of a healthy weight. Loose skin? Yep! I'm not even mad about it. To be honest I didn't expect as much on my thighs and thought most of it would be around my midsection, but it's everywhere. I don't think it will ever bother me enough to have it removed, but only the future knows for sure. Dumping. Now to be fair I had my gallbladder removed a few years prior to gastric bypass surgery, so I already had issues with dumping. Bile buildup has a laxative effect on me. If I go more than 12 hours without eating, then just a sip of water can send me running to the bathroom. Fats don't typically bother me and I avoid sugar because I don't like the way it feels when my insulin spikes and then drops. It's scary and not fun. I get fuzzy and light headed, my stomach feels blah and my heart races. I'm human though and I challenge my biology on occasion. Ice cream doesn't love me anymore. It melts in my pouch and foams back up and just feels like it's sitting at the top of my esophagus and making me burp little foamy ice cream burps...I think the only reason I am okay with halo top is because the sugar alcohols scare me enough that I only ever eat a tiny bit because I don't want to live in my bathroom lol. Support systems! These are so important. My spouse is amazing. He's my biggest cheerleader and my companion in all things, including exercise! Make sure the people in your life only want what's best for you. Current diet is low carb (under 20 grams a day) moderate protein (60-80 grams) and moderate fat. This will likely be how I eat the rest of my life and I am okay with that. When I do consume more sugar, my brain starts to crave sweets and I feel like I have to fight with myself. For me personally it's not worth it anymore. That last sentence is a huge nsv for me. It's so weird and amazing/awesome to be nearing 40 and finally feeling like I'm not powerless to food anymore.

Let me just say if your going to write a judgmental, non medically educated opinion please keep scrolling. Thanks in advance. Anyways today I met with my NUT first time post op and it was great. I read a lot of post on here and people talk about what you can’t eat, shame you for what you decide to eat or even for asking for an opinion. So it can be very confusing when trying to figure out what’s good and what’s not. I had a bad reaction to sugar alcohols in sugar free items. Protein shakes were causing me to vomit and I wasn’t getting anything real in. Yesterday I got so sick and tired and she told me I wasn’t getting any CARBS. Yes CARBS. She said carbs are the primary source of energy so even If im getting my protein I can still feel weak which I was because I was trying to avoid carbs. She told me that she would never advise anyone to avoid a food group because that alone causes new issues. thAt while you need to be aware of eating better that the focus is portion control and it’s unrealistic to expect someone to never eat rice or pasta or sweets again. learn to replace carbs if you know you want a slice of cake later. I feel so much more prepared to take on real foods now. What’s your NUT advise?

I think it's a combination. I had a full hysterectomy in 2003 and am an alcoholic...12 years sober. I know that my start weight was 340 lbs. so I get my butt moving even when I don't want to. I would recommend walking. I do alot of it. Sent from my SM-J327P using BariatricPal mobile app

Are the sweetners sugar alcohols such as sorbitol or mannitol? These are known to have a laxative effect (or should that be affect?).

I wonder whether it is the lack of variety that is making you feel unsatisfied. I could not eat the same thing every day for that long and feel it, for sure. Why can't you have a variety of foods at this point? I'm on week 5 and my doctor just cleared me for everything except bread, refined sugars, alcohol, and carbonated beverages. I know every plan is different, but if you're in week 8, you should be able to eat a good variety now. That, combined with the protein, may help. Are you getting all your fluids in?

Some folks have issues with certain sweeteners and sugar alcohols. Could totally be that, still could be the lactose, maybe double a dose of the lactaid and see? Do you typically have issues with whole milk or ice creams?

Ugh, I'm sorry you're around such unpleasant people for so many hours of the day. I have the same peer pressure situation, but about drinking alcohol, not eating. Despite the fact I've said drinking will make me ill, not that it is for weight loss. But thankfully it's not a 5 days a week situation like yours at least.

There are many ways to eat "around" your restriction. One of the most common is slider foods - something like chips or pretzels that usually make you thirsty so that you drink while eating them. This turns them to mush, which slides right past your restriction, enabling you to eat far more than normal. Other sliders are ice cream, soft fruit, bread, crackers, etc. You can pack in a lot of non-nutritive calories in a relatively short period of time. Another major way to fall of the wagon is liquid calories: alcohol, juice, energy drinks, soda, etc. You won't get any restriction from these either and they sure do add up.

I have a HUGE amount of restriction. But you can definitely gain with that restriction. For instance I went on a 12 day vacation, and gained 4.5 lbs. Slider foods, alcohol, eating frequently, eating high calorie foods, all can and do lead to gain, no matter how little or how much restriction you have. It's cliche, but this surgery is a tool. You have to still make good food choices.

Smoke of any kind is going to be bad for your lungs and increase your chances of getting pneumonia post-surgery. That's a big risk. There aren't a lot of studies showing how many of the other tobacco-related risks apply to marijuana, so I'm not sure we can tell you how or whether it'll affect how fast you heal, whether blood clots are more likely, etc. But it seems risky? It's also likely to make it harder to modulate your appetite. And there are documented risks of people performing other addictive behaviors more obsessively, to compensate for their inability to eat to excess, which is part of why we're told to avoid alcohol for the first year. That reasoning applies to marijuana, too, even though it's not physically addictive in the same way alcohol is; you don't want your fun little habit to get totally out of control. My advice is to hold off for at least a while. Maybe a year is too much to ask, though that would be the wisest course. Maybe see how you feel after three months? Six, if you can handle it?

So, my girlfriends and I went out two weekends ago. It was spur of the moment and I didn't get all dolled up or put a lot of effort into looking good for the occasion. Needless to say, a little bit of liquid courage had me acting like the movie "I feel pretty". Literally, I talked to anyone who made eye contact with me or came within talking distance. I complimented people randomly and laughed with strangers. This is not something I would have done pre-weight loss. The next day, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. My friends made comments that they've never seen me like that. That my energy was infectious. That the men were attracted to this confidence (even though I'm very happily married). This is why I said earlier, that I have changed. Alcohol may have played a contributing factor into it, but I know that I wouldn't have acted this way prior to surgery.