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I was an hourglass when I was young, carrying weight in my chest and hips. Always had a relatively slim waist. Have built quite a significant amount of muscle (or retained much more than expected) through a combination of weightlifting and testosterone therapy. Definitely planning on significant skin removal, which should help unveil the few bones that aren't clearly visible due to swaths of skin.

Hello! I had my surgery on the 11th so we’re not far apart! I won’t lie I didn’t last long on the liquid diet I kind of went on to puree around day 8 post op. I don’t think many people are as honest. I cheated and so what. I’m so glad for the surgery and I wish many more losses for the both of us whether it be fast or slow! Weight loss is weight loss !!!

I'm so jealous. I also had surgery 1/24 and have lost 7 pounds. One of the reasons I did the VSG was because when I would try to lose weight, it would come off so slowly---like it would take maybe 6 weeks to lose 5 pounds. It took me 8 months to lose 30 lbs and that was with Qsymia and eating about 1000 calories a day. I would get so frustrated and just give up, I'd go back to my regular diet (which wasn't crazy--usually 1500 - 1800 calories a day) and everything I'd lost would come back. Now, given my usual speed of weight loss, 7 pounds in 9 days is great. But on this liquid diet where I'm getting 300 400 calories a day max, I thought I'd lose more quickly. I was hoping for at least 10-12 lbs by now. Still, I'm happy that I've done this; it's going well and I know that I will succeed. I was just hoping for it to be quicker!

Unfortunately newer GLP-1 agonists like for weightloss like Zepbound (counterpart to mounjaro) and Wegovy have limited availability in Europe. But I believe Saxenda is available in Italy. https://www.politico.eu/article/health-fake-weight-loss-drugs-ozempic-and-wegovy-surge-in-europe/#:~:text=In Europe%2C Wegovy and Ozempic,it's available in the U.S.

Why are you scared of the bypass? The recovery time was really easy and short, there's a hard stop when it comes to eating, not everyone gets dumping syndrome but if you do it teaches you REALLY FAST what not to eat, and you lose more weight faster with it.

Great advice above. Dr Matthew Weiner is a great resource (you tube videos, books, podcast, website). He does encourage a plant based eating style but you can use it as a guide & for ideas especially around increasing vegetable consumption, ingredient alternatives, etc. I didn’t exercise while losing & still don’t as people define exercise. I do 4 x 5 minute sessions of stretching & resistance bands through out the day. Easier to find 5 minute blocks of time throughout the day versus say an hour + at the gym. It’s called exercise snacking. Though as other have said you probably do a lot of running about with your little ones as it is. And yes, stop using the word diet. It’s so filled with negative connotations like restriction & failure. I started saying I’m not on a diet, I just changed the way I eat from when people started noticing my weight loss. (The usual reaction: Oh, you’ve lost weight. What diet are you on?) It’s does contribute to changing your thinking about food & eating. Go back to the basics when you were losing. Meet your protein & fluid goals. Watch your portions. Protein first, then vegetables & then carbs if you’re able. You can start slow & incorporate one or two changes every couple of weeks. Much easier to adopt than jumping in with both feet. Don’t be afraid to touch base with your dietician, surgeon or therapist if only for support & remind you of anything you may have forgotten or missed. All the best.

Mjtcollective, that is fantastic. Congratulations on your weight loss, you are off to a great start!

@RonHall908 I use the Baritastic app also just to make sure I’m getting my protein in. And my weight loss is a little slower than I’d like but I’m also not an exerciser so I definitely need to work on that. I wonder if a few more carbs would help your fatigue, but definitely hoping your IV helps you! @LisaCaryl We’re definitely similar with the nausea. Things that I used to drink tend to make me nauseous now so I just started trying things I didn’t drink before and that seems to be helping 😂. I mean I drank tea occasionally but I was mostly just a plain water drinker at home and now 🤢 oh and yes ty to @NickelChip too for the PB2. I’d heard of it but never tried it before. I love the regular one and the one with cocoa and use them in my yogurt sometimes for a dessert like Ronhall908. Or if I must drink a dreaded shake I add the PB2 and it definitely helps.

It really did! I think I was on the waiting list for Tier 3 for about 2 years. I don't know how they think they are helping those who desperately need help with their weight, by making them wait years and years without any support. I completely empathise with that, although there are a lot of freedoms with being self-employed, it does make some things more difficult. I am glad they have reacted quickly to the complaint - I so hope they take it as seriously as they should and the woman who initially caused stress is actually held accountable. I have my fingers crossed for you! ❤️ Here if you need a friend x

Losing weight. Feeling healthier & better in general. I didn’t have any comorbidities but being almost 54 at the time I knew it was only a matter of time. The surgery was fine. Didn’t experience anything other than what was possible (like the terrible diarrhoea I had one day). My back went into spasm but that was more me & my back than a side effect of the surgery. No complications. Pretty easy actually. I think because I really wanted the surgery & had no doubts I was ready for the changes. And really once through the weight loss phase the changes are minimal & what you choose to do like eating choices, activity choices, etc. I didn’t experience many issues with being unable to tolerate certain foods except for the temporary changes to my taste buds. After two months I was eating pretty much what I wanted (nutritionally appropriate of course). Five years post sleeve & I eat pretty much what I want. There are things I chose not to eat any more simply because I don’t want to go back to how I was before surgery. My food choices are more nutritionally dense & eat more low or no processed foods. Last year my tummy decided it didn’t like eggs any more. Been meaning to test to see if it still doesn’t like them. I’ve always had a quirky tummy that was sensitive to some foods so that’s not a change for me really. I do experience the foamies more often than most but I think that it’s related more to my quirky tummy. I vomited (though more like regurgitating than full out muscle spasming vomiting) a couple of times in the first month or so. Due to the multi vitamins causing nausea more than any thing else. Probably took me a little longer because my energy was low for a while & my blood pressure was pretty low all the time (still is most of the time). Again, I always had a tendency towards low blood pressure so not a big change or adjustment. After the first couple of months, yes, I had more energy. No. I didn’t have any mental health issues prior to surgery & none after. Would say I feel more confident & comfortable about myself in general though. Don’t regret it at all. Yes I would recommend it. However, as I mentioned above you have to be ready for the surgery & the changes you have to make around your eating. There is a lot of head work you have to do around your relationship with food, what may drive you to turn to food & your eating habits. It is a lifetime thing & you will always have to work at it. As we say, the surgery changes your body but it doesn’t change your head & thinking. All the best.

I was barely eating 900 calories at 6 months (almost a cup of food for a meal depending on what it was & one snack) & at my goal weight. But my stats are different from yours. I’m likely older, definitely shorter & I wasn’t & still aren’t overly active. (I eat about 1600 now to maintain my weight.) You have every right to ask for greater guidance around calories, portion sizes, macros, etc. from your nutritionalist if it makes you feel more confident about your choices & comfortable about what you’re doing. If they refuse you may have to find another one who is willing to support you. Yes, I know calorie counting is considered out, but for us it is an important consideration especially until we feel more secure in what we’re doing & helps us to lose/maintain & maintain our health. We need that guidance now as most of us didn’t know what the hell we were doing in regard to appropriate foods to eat, nutrients our bodies needed, appropriate portion sizes, etc. We’re new borns about a lot of this in the beginning. If we knew it all & could do it we wouldn’t have needed the surgery. Honestly, I wasn’t given calories goals or specific macro except protein 60g for me. Just portion size, and low carb, low fat, low sugar. I was okay with that though I would still randomly check for my own interest. I did a lot of my own reading, and was very careful with what I chose to eat & checked with my dietician at every fortnightly appointment. As I said, you have to feel comfortable & confident about what you’re doing. After those first heady weeks of large weekly weight drops &, regardless of our starting weight, our rate of loss slows. One to two pounds a weeks is okay especially as you are on the homeward path now. Remember that 1-2lbs a week is generally considered a healthy rate of lose for anyone losing weight. Wait until you’re almost there & you’re losing ounces not pounds a week. Believe me, the last few pounds to lose are a b*tch to lose.

you need to temper your expectations a bit. At a starting weight of 230 lbs, you were lighter than many of us, and starting BMI is a big factor in how fast the weight comes off - at least initially. I'd lost 52 lbs by month 4 (where you are), but I also started off at almost 400 lbs. You are doing absolutely fine! and the majority of us DO have occasional stalls. It's a normal part of the weight loss process. Your body has to stop once in a while to recalibrate before heading down again. As long as you stick to your eating plan, the stalls WILL break, but they usually last 1-3 weeks (mine were sometimes longer once I got past the one-year mark...but that's true of anyone once you get close to a normal BMI). as long as the stalls and occasional fluctuations (which are also normal) aren't playing with your head, the daily weighing is fine. But it sounds like they were bothering you, which is why I suggested staying off the scale for a while. But it's fine to continue to weigh daily, of course. But remember there WILL be stalls and fluctuations, but as long as the overall trend is down, then you're doing fine.

Yeah, you should have been given either macro goals, or a calorie goal, or ideally, both with the sleeve surgery. It isn't odd to not be able to digest heavy carbs like noodles, pasta, breads, and rice. And they really aren't the best things to be eating in the weight loss phase anyway. Pork can be quite dense, my stomach doesn't like it too much and it hates chicken breast. LOL When you eat things that your stomach is fine with, do you keep it down easily or does it cause vomiting and nausea? If you drink fluids other than water (like milk or a protein shake), does it cause the spitting, or is it just with plain water?

totally normal. Also, your weight loss so far is totally normal. I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations because of shows like "My 600 lb Life" - but you need to remember that those people start out MUCH heavier than the average WLS patient. Most of us seem to lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month. Of course, you'll always find people who lose more or less than that, but most of us seem to fall somewhere in that range. So you're fine. And also, yes, most of us also experience our first stall sometime during the first month or so of surgery. So again, normal.

Sleeve surgery 8/16/23 starting weight 279. Current weight 221. Pic is from 10/14/23

@BlueParis The music festival looks like a wonderful time! And I'm so glad to hear you're in a good place with how you feel about yourself. It makes such a difference, doesn't it? For me, it was a year ago today that I went to my appointment with my weight management doctor and was advised to consider having surgery. I had just finished a 2-week roadtrip, driving around 7,000km from Boston to Denver and back for a writing conference, with some great stops along the way. And by "just finished" I mean I had pulled into my driveway at about 10am that morning, having been delayed at the Canadian border (because the maps app on the iPhone didn't know the little border crossing it was sending me to closed at 4pm and I had to drive a couple more hours to find an open crossing!) and having to stay an extra night in Vermont because it was getting too late to make it home safely. After two weeks of restaurant meals and junk food snacks, I weighed in at my highest ever. A year later, I've lost 65 lb and am just 1.4 lbs away from no longer being classified as obese. I still have a ways to go, but it feels good to have gotten this far. Recently, I've had more trouble with vomiting, so I'm sticking with liquids for 24 hours to see if I can let my stomach rest. It seems I never know what will set me off. I have an appointment with my nutritionist coming up soon and will talk to her about it. I'm also struggling post-vacation with some sugar and carb cravings, along with having zero desire to do any cooking now that summer weather has arrived.

I really don't understand how my weight is distributed. I'm still in the "obese" category and definitely overweight. But I have visible ribs already when I move, including the ones below my collar bones. I didn't see these until I was very thin back in the before times. If I lose another 50-70 pounds, am I going to look like a walking skeleton wearing a leather cloak?

Hello everyone, I was sleeved on Jan 10th. For the past two weeks I have to have chinese takeout in my fridge. I am a college student so I don’t have access to a stove just a microwave (an air fryer really) and fridge. I am pretty content with how much weight i’ve lost. I’m just mourning the loss of my butt. I know it isn’t ideal to always eat chinese food nearly every day but I guess it works for me. I wanted to know if anyone else can relate to being hyper-fixed to a food. My order is usually chicken and broccoli with light sauce and rice or vegetable/chicken lo mein. That’s all I get but because I can eat such small portions, 1 order can last me about a week and a half.

Omg! My belly and back have been itching on and off for weeks. I hadn't connected it to the surgery and weight loss, I thought I was just having some weird reaction or something. I'm so thankful for you all asking questions and sharing knowledge.

Im 5’1. Weighed 195 day of surgery. My bmi was right at 35. I was what one might call a “smaller” heavy person- but my frame was not built to carry that weight. My joints hurt, was struggling with high A1C1 and starting to have trouble sleeping, etc. It was time- and most people wouldn’t have even considered surgery— but it was the best decision for me. The yo-yo dieting and struggles were not working. The surgery gave me my life back. My advice— Think through your whys- and dont let fear of change keep you from moving forward— whatever you choose.

no, weight loss doesn't stop on x date. it stops when YOU stop. it may take more effort as time goes on - because achieving calorie deficit is comparatively more challenging the smaller u get - but its not impossible. good luck! ❤️

Thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate it. I think both of your suggestions are worth taking into consideration and I've decided that if I'm still feeling this bad by the upcoming Friday then I will contact my clinic and ask for recommendations. I think once I see the first week's weight loss that will also give me a boost! I need something to make it feel like it's worth it and I'm sure that will help. Also, I'm just trying to stay positive in general, writing things down and talking to my partner about things to look forward to. Thanks! 🙂

Thank you!!! It's been QUITE the journey lol But I wouldn't change a thing. I honestly never thought I would get this close to my goal weight. And while the last 30 pounds have really been fighting me, I'm DETERMINED to get where I want to be. Even if I go up 5 pounds or so (which I know is normal) once I hit my goal, I just want to get there, see myself in ONEderland, and know that I really did it. I find myself changing things up periodically to "confuse" my body, an when I do, I drop another 2 or 3 pounds. So i know it's working. It's just annoying that it goes so slow at the end LOL

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.

Thank you so much for mentioning this podcast. I had to go to town to have blood drawn this morning, and I started listening to them. I started with the finale, and oh my gosh, they made me cry. When one talks about the best part of the journey so far and describes the thoughts she had as an obese person. I just lost it. I'll be 69 years old next week, and when I think about the hours of my life lost in "obese thoughts," it really hurts. Things like "Am I the largest woman in the room?" "What will the poor person next to me on the airplane think?" "Will I be able to sit at all comfortably in that chair?" "Will I break that plastic chair?" "Do I have to find sturdier beach chairs?" "What are they thinking of me?" etc... the thoughts have been never-ending and all-consuming at times. I'm going to go back and listen to more of their podcasts. Thanks again! @NickelChip Yay on the weight coming off again! So exciting, I'm really happy for you. I can understand the not being interested in food. There are times I even dread it. I try to shop for things that I like and they sound good in the store, but when it comes time to eat, I'm usually apathetic about it. Good luck with your vacation. I found some protein bars I like, but they will melt sadly. In case you haven't tried them, they are https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C4V2ML1C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1