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I wish I ate more of the things I loved pre-op LOL!!! Nah jokes aside, WLS is a tool that we utilize towards - hopefully - permanent life changes, if you see it as a means that'll all it'll ever be, if you see it as an effective tool, it will get you where you want to be. I would say, clean up your act, get moving, change your daily habits and get into the fat loss mindset. This doesn't mean going completely cold turkey on everything, but whatever bad habits that led you to needing the surgery in the first place need to be thought of and turned around. I didn't need a liquid diet, my BMI was on the lower side and I worked out consistently my entire life so I didn't much change anything and boy I wished I changed some things because dealing with the discomfort of the surgery, the huge changes in your diet and all the restrictions afterwards is no fun all together. I wish I cut back on caffeine (I had caffeine a week post surgery because I had terrible headaches), I wish I cut out diet soda prior to WLS because I love diet soda so very much and it was tough to think that I can never have this without any mental preparation beforehand. I wouldn't change much else because fortunately for me, I had a good experience post op, the weight dropped off very quick, I never threw up or had severe food aversions and have very effective restriction. But I also had a very balanced diet and workout regimen before WLS and that helped me tremendously and I know that might not be the case for everyone. Also, prepare yourself for a new life and new you, it's cliché but it's very true.

Did you go with a company/ nhs hospital in the UK ? I am surprised to hear you are getting no help if that's the case. If your surgery was abroad then you need to tell them if they don't respond to your questions then you will be leaving them a truthful bad review. People are really searching these sites for honest feedback and will take note of yours. If its a UK company you need to email the hospital director and ask why you are getting no help. No one can do this without the help of a team, its a huge change for all of us to master, both body and mind. I am maintaining now on 1500 calories a day which I log every meal. I lost weight on anything around 1200 - 1400 calories a day building in 60 grams of protein a day. To loose now you may struggle because your hunger is back. I would imagine that it will be hard to go back to protein and vegetables when you are hungry, leaving the filling carbs off your plate. Keep us posted, you are not alone.

Feb 14th for me. I decided to "love myself" by picking this date. I have my preop visit next week so I'll find out my pre-surgery diet then. I feel like I've been having a lot of "last meals". My greatest goal out of all this is not just the loss of weight but rather re-jump starting my approach to food. I guess it will begin next week.

So I for sure had this issue, but on just one side - my right side. I had always had some version of numbness/hyper sensitivity on the outer side of my right thigh. I had lost a bunch of weight naturally and it did improve. Then with gaining the weight back I felt it far more when I would stand still for too long. I've always equated it to a pinched nerve. After surgery, I had felt that sensation on 1000 often feeling like electricity running through from hip to knee and would not allow me to sleep well for some time like lightning bolts. I did bring it up to my surgeon and he could only offer that it could very well be due to the length of time spent on your back during surgery could have impinged a nerve. His advice was to just give it a little bit of time, with weight loss it should ease up. If it persisted or got worse to consult my PCP. I gave it time and it started to lessen. I had to find some other ways to lay and stretch for a bit, but the weight loss has definitely taken the load off wherever this nerve is. Hope it improves for you.

Hello All- i posted for the first time just about three years ago with some anxieties as a spouse with my wife prepping to undergo the gastric sleeve. I originally noted being concerned about our lifestyle changes, relationship impacts (I had heard all the horror stories) and most of all health concerns into the future. The community was incredibly supportive and I had learned tips and useful knowledge that helped me coach and support my wife through it. I am happy to say we are better than we ever have been and her self confidence is through the roof. However the MAIN reason the surgery ever was even considered was to get her diabetes that started while she was pregnant with our first child and got very concerning bad with our fourth has still stuck around and caused issues….. First- this is Life changing not just for the partner getting the surgery, but the spouse too. We used to be foodies and that all had to go out the door. Same with alcohol. Two bites and you are full, a pint and you are drunk. So activities, dates, etc. and new hobbies should all be prepared for well in advance. Luckily we are both athletes and coaches and this allowed to have an outlet that wasn’t our prior foodies and beer/ brewery culture pastime. Two- Relationship, anyone who tells you that this leads to automatic divorce/ break up is paranoid or lying. Out of her support group offered by our health network, I think only 1 or 2 of about fifteen women ended up separating and that was from the other spouse cheating. I have to say that in many ways, after four kids and all our activities, youth sports and coaching- it created a second honeymoon period for us and really strengthened our romance and relationship because we both focused on our health again jointly and the magnetism increased dramatically. Third- It might not fix the problem…. We did not jointly go into the surgery for cosmetic or weight loss reasons. It was the diabetes and the doctors said it was a solid shot to cure or mitigate the disease. It was for a while, but it keeps back up. despite healthy eating, despite exercise and coaching, despite the surgery- medications came back into the picture and so did the celebrity weight loss drug (which is really supposed to be for diabetes…) This has been keeping everything under control but is a case of the cure being as bad as the sickness. The side effects are brutal and definitely have a quality of life impact, but we both want to live to see grandkids someday….. Fourth- dysmorphia is VERY really. We are both naturally larger people. I was a lineman in high school and college and she was a softball catcher in high school and college and ended up also playing women’s rugby there as well. Even with the surgery she went from an XL to L but she got her college/ high school figure back and as such her confidence went through the roof and started dressing like she hadn’t in years. With the medication though??? Her figure, face shape, everything changed. Down to a Small or Medium. For almost a year and a half she hasn’t recognized herself in the mirror. It’s a double wham with the surgery and the medication. Between her best friends and myself (we have all been in the same friend/ team group since college) the support was to have fun with it and go with the flow. Instead of worrying about it (the dysmorphia) it was embrace the change. All new clothes she could never wear before, she’s been a redhead now and then blonde and still is. Cut her hair shorter, started wearing makeup (never really did)- all just to try and put a positive spin on it. I’ve been the spoiled recipient of having a brand new girl (don’t think I haven’t romanced and spoiled the you-know-what out of her), but at the end of the day it’s been mitigation of all the life changes. The last part has been the most detailed because it’s the most recent and to me has been the most impactful- NOT having the surgery do its intended purpose and the dysmorphia we’re both very difficult given the efforts and life changes made. We’ve done everything we can to make lemonade out of those lemons though. We had an anniversary vacation better than our honeymoon this past summer (she has always been way out of my league and these days it’s very much over the top- I feel incredibly spoiled) and we have made time to ride our bikes together with our oldest babysitting the kids and we come to each others games when we coach. I would tell any spouse; husband or wife of someone who is going to have the surgery and then or also do all the meds: 1. Support. It’s a huge deal and you need to show up. 2. Don’t get insecure about your relationship because of the surgery. If you are worried it means you might not have a great relationship to start with…. 3. You will need to change your life too. Because of my size and my weight lifting, I need a lot of protein and calories. I will never look like a Hollywood star (like she now does) and always an NFL lineman- BUT- if I bring a cannoli, pie or a full growler into the house in addition to steak/ salmon, etc it’s teasing and not fair. You will need to learn self control to support your spouse… 4. Inspire and come up with ideas for positive re-enforcement. If the dysmorphia or depression sets in, you need to find fun things to do, supportive steps to take and positive angles to keep things going. 5. If you are doing all this as a spouse, what about YOU??? Are you going to die a martyr? Take care of YOURSELF too. I go lifting 3 times a week, go fishing in season. And for my 40th birthday when she asked what I wanted?? I got us a long weekend on the Cape, bought her some dresses I wanted to see her in and sent her to get her hair, nails, toes, eyelashes, etc.. done. Said I wanted a long weekend with my movie star wife. It was a great time, kid free and continued to strengthen our marriage. Anyways- why am I writing this? Posterity? Self reflection? Not really…. I just want to give Spouses a roadmap. It’s a huge change and you need to navigate the waters well. If you do you will benefit as much as your loved one. Good luck.

It gets better. I dealt with most everything you mentioned during my first year after WLS. Some more than others. Still deal with occasional nausea and unstable appetite. Persistent pain should be checked out though. Before WLS, I ran across DR V. He doesn't sugarcoat anything and drops the F bomb a lot which made me chuckle. But... he made perfect sense to me, and his truth directed me towards having the surgery despite his warnings and statistics. Watching it again he mentions using baby spoons so I'm pretty sure that's where I picked up my name here. LOL Pitfall #2 is my favorite. Not embracing the honeymoon phase which coincides with Pitfall #5- Believing I will never be hungry again. #6- "It's not gone forever...it's gone for now." (hunger/weight) I'll just leave this here... GL and hope you start feeling better soon. {{hugs}}

I was 388 the day I went into my initial surgery. I had the sleeve and then revision to bypass due to complications. You can see all my stats in my signature. As of today, I've lost 160 pounds. My ideal weight (NOT my target weight, because my ideal weight makes me look sickly) is no higher than 155. The difference between that and what my surgery day weight was is 233 pounds. 65% of that 233 pounds would be 151 pounds, so I've already lost more than that. I have another 30 to go to hit my goal weight, and while it's slow going (I currently just started my 987964610 stall lol) I'll get there. Where there's a will, there's a way. You can do this. I've had 8 surgeries in the last year and a half....7 of them this year....5 of them because of complications. I have 1 more surgery scheduled for next year and then that should be it. And even with all my starts and stops because of surgeries and recovery time, I still lost 160 pounds. Imagine if I was able to just keep going and not have all these health issues.... Anyway, don't get in your head about averages and statistics and all that. Everyone's journey is different. Focus on your health, mobility, mood, and medication amounts drastically improving. Focus on how clothes look and fit on you, what sizes they drop to, and how you feel. These are called non scale victories, and they will absolutely SAVE YOU when you hit stalls. Focus on how you fit in a booth, or in "regular" seats in the movies or in doctor's offices. These things will tell you more than the scale ever will. Getting off meds, no longer having hypertension and diabetes, these were game changers for me.

I've stuck to buying underwired bras - two at a time and only when the current bras were clearly ridiculously large - as I lost weight. I tried to buy reasonably cheap versions - sometimes that worked out and sometimes it didn't! I'm at goal now (regaining a little if anything) and buying 'forever' underwear, LOL. I've never needed anything officially compression but I know others prefer that. I don't mind a bit of saggy skin underneath my underwear. Nobody sees it!

The dreaded "Week 3 Stall". It's normal, and I'm just coming out of it myself (plus a 6lb regain that I just re-lost). I've had several others tell me that the stall will last 2-4 weeks, so just weigh yourself weekly instead of daily to prevent worrying over it as much. Just stick to the diet plan and you'll resume losing weight. The weight loss won't be a straight line, expect it to be more like stair steps with a loss, then a flat line for a bit with a slight regain, before it drops again. I've also heard there's typically a second stall around the 3 month mark that lasts 2-4 weeks as well, so just prepare for that as being normal, and stick to the plan. Best of luck to you!

Yeah, I've received quite a few comments like "you look so thin you look like a cancer patient" and "you should gain some weight because you will look much younger". I usually reply with "well, I'm the healthiest I've ever been. So given the choice between transitory looks vs great blood tests and regular blood pressure... Etc. I chose life." It goes in one ear and out the other ear and accompanied with a scowl lol, but I say it for myself.

Hello Christine and congratulations on your retirement. Nice to run into fellow traveler that had the full cut, though my team called it 'open.' For me the full cut / open surgery with accompanying staples were the worst part of the whole process. Once the staples came out I was a happy camper. Since we're in Rants and Raves, I'll dip my toe into rants... I somewhat agree with your frustration with the changes in nutrition and supplements over the years. So much of what we're told more and more is pulled out of thin air, or from studies taken out of context, or study results that are exaggerated beyond reason, or just conflicting information that people just didn't think through. We're bombarded with all this 'new', 'critical' information that is neither new or critical. It's just the same old stuff packed in a way that will get clicks. People are still looking the buy or sell a new magic bullet to solve their weight and other problems they didn't know they had. It's the same old mundane nothing that does not match up to the hype. First world problems. Good luck on your repairs. Tek

Not exactly the same but yesterday I was told by my (well intentioned I guess) boss that he was concerned I wasn't eating enough as I looked a bit unwell and didn't seem to have much energy yesterday! Sorry but it was 30c / 86f in our office, no air con, no air circulating and I HATE the heat so I felt exhausted plus I hadn't had great sleeps the last few nights. I wasn't the only one struggling in the office yet he seemed to put my struggle down to the fact that he said he didn't think I was getting in enough calories and he had been watching how little I eat! I just said I was suffering from the heat and he had nothing to worry about on the food/calorie intake side of things as I am eating the right portion amounts, was hitting my protein goals most days, had good blood results and if anything I was probably snacking a bit too much on nuts! Then when I repeated this conversation to my Mum last night she then became concerned I wasn't eating enough and that I should look at maybe starting to try to maintain now or even put on a lb or two. Seriously, I have not even got to the goal weight my surgeon set for me (70kg , well it had been 75kg but then when I reached that he brought it to 70kg) and I am still off what I want (66kg). For my Mum though I know her concern comes from me living overseas and not seeing me a lot so she based her comments on the fear (to her) of what my boss said.

I wouldn't be surprised if you losing weight is absolutely terrifying to your ex. As long as you are obese, he can assure himself that you'll never find anyone better than he was, which seems to be important to a lot of people regardless of whether they ended the relationship or you did. It's a pride thing. But when you start losing weight, now you're probably happier with more energy, you might look more attractive, maybe dressing in nicer clothes, too... uh oh! Now he sees you were totally settling for his sorry butt and are likely to find someone way better, and then his ego will be bruised as all your friends and family tell you how lucky you are. My ex, (who is legally not my ex yet, which is very annoying) is the sabotaging type, too. I see him 5 days a week when he picks up the kids for school or drops off from activities. I've had to tell him about the surgery as I'll need his help with the kids, and I am still on a family plan insurance so he'll need to know about deductibles and such, but I fully expect him to start panicking as the weight loss becomes noticeable. I can hardly wait to find out how he'll try to sabotage me.

My first birthday post-op was about eight weeks after surgery. All I remember was I had about two tablespoons of ice cream as a treat, and felt guilty about it for days afterward! (it didn't make me sick, but I was bound and determined from the get-go that I was going to be 100% compliant with my plan until I got all that weight off, so I felt terrible about eating that ice cream!). The next holiday was Thanksgiving. That was about five months after surgery. I took some Light & Fit pumpkin yogurt to eat while the others were eating pumpkin pie, so no guilt! (I will admit I was a bit of a drill sergeant with myself the first year after my surgery, but again, I was 100% determined to get that weight off! I wish I still had that resolve!!)

Interested to see what the dr says on this. I was glad my primary care didn’t do blood work yesterday because I know I hadn’t drank my water like I should. It’s hard for me to do on the road and my drs are 4hrs one way so I’m always slacking when I drive there. Messes all my bloodwork up. 🤦‍♀️ I’m hoping vitamin wise I’m doing ok because I use the patches so there is no issue with nausea or vomiting. They were on the approved list of vitamins from my surgeon and I’m loving them. I’m glad your vitamin infusion helped you feel better. Low energy is awful to deal with. It’s so challenging when you want to be up and moving to get your weight loss moving faster but have no energy to do it. I’ve injured my foot somehow and am supposed to be off of it as much as possible and icing it. I also had to go on a steroid pack for the inflammation since we’re allowed no nsaids. I swear my body is working against me at every turn.

I’m dealing with “you look fine; you’re not that big” 🙄 I politely tell them that this isn’t for them.. and that they’re not the ones having to carry the weight...

Well, when you were gaining weight you simply ate more calories than your body needed. 9 servings might have been too much and maybe 7 servings might have been sufficient enough. What all of these recommendations never seem to consider (or at the very least they're not considering it sufficiently enough) are the individual caloric needs of people. The (traditional) diets of the leanest populations in world contain lots of carbohydrates. I wish we would stop villainizing "carbs", therefore throwing some many-ingredient-concoction I wouldn't even consider "bread" any longer together with rice, fruit, oats etc. (no, when you're eating a banana you might not "have as well a candy bar").

So my surgeon said that because of the conditions it would be better for me to have the 'harder hitting' surgery - by that he means the one that has the slightly higher % of weight loss results afterwards! He also said that the bypass is more effective in balancing out hormonal issues compared to the sleeve, and that what I need is an entire metabolic reset!

Thank you for your reply , yes I do have a dietcian but she seems to think I’m doing just fine and when I told her about my weight over the last month she’s telling me to go back to liquids which I don’t want to do as I find it to extreme . I need to go back to my protein first and watch that I’m not grazing all day which I’ve noticed I’m doing more of . It’s so hard sometimes isn’t it . I was a binge eater before my op and I need work on all this

I feel the same... excited and nervous. I was so lucky that the therapist who did my psych evaluation for the surgeon had the surgery about 10 years ago and has kept her weight off. I'm meeting with her again 2 days before surgery for some reassurance and help with the nerves. All you get for 2 weeks is skimmed milk? that sounds really harsh! I'm not even sure that's sustainable???

My sleeve was on Nov17, anybody on the same date? How ate doing? I think I’m a slow one, my weight lost is very slow and my appetite is still the same 🥲🥲

Hi all how are my 12/27 and 12/28 buddies doing? Had my surgery 12/28. Doing well. Pain is here and there. But down to 198 as of this morning. Highest weight before liquids was 217 🎉. Small wins!!