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I take my multivitamin whenever I wake up (as long as you wake up before 10) and i take my calcium at 12 and 3. I have a recurring alarm set on my phone for the calcium because if I am out and about I will totally forget it. I take calcium in pill form but I have a few chewable ones in my purse in case I am out and don’t have a drink handy. I had some left over from immediately post op when I used to take them so I just use them for that now.

We ended with me lying on the table in the cath lab being told that I am in danger of imminent death. Now before I go on, I should explain something else about me. I’m severely hearing impaired. This is important here, because you have to picture me on that table, feeling pretty good (I think they gave me a Valium), and then waking up to find everyone in the room desperately trying to get my attention. I finally come around from my stupor enough to explain to them that I’m hearing impaired, so I don’t understand what’s going on. I’m pretty good at lip reading, but we’re in basically an operating room and everyone is gowned up and has masks on! Finally I explain that I have partial hearing in my left ear, so if they come around there and speak slowly and close to me I will probably be able to understand. It took a few tries, but I finally gather I really am in imminent danger and they were recommending that they put a stent in me RIGHT NOW. Doing so might seem like a no-brainer, but like lot’s of important decisions, there are always trade-offs. I didn’t feel alert enough, nor did I feel like I understood the options I had, so I told them no. Bottom line, they patched me up and took me out to recovery. (I’m sure they were all thinking I was an idiot and that they’d never see me again.) While in recovery, I asked them if someone could explain my options better. Fortuitously one of the heart surgeons had just finished up a procedure and he came by to discuss my options with me (with my wife present as well). After some soul searching and after better understanding the tradeoffs, I actually opted for open heart surgery. The reason is that if they had done the valve replacement via catheter (something called TAVR), I likely would not have been able to have a second one that way in the future. That would have meant that in 10-12 years, I would have needed another valve replacement and they would have had no option but to do it via an open heart procedure. I figured it’s better to get the open heart procedure done while I’m younger and save TAVR for later when I’m likely less able to tolerate major surgery. Yea, we get it dude, but what does this have to do with WLS? It means that in less than 2 months, I went from being excited to be having weight loss surgery, to knowing I’m living on borrowed time. I’m also realizing at about that time that my dreams of weight loss surgery have been dashed, or so I thought. Instead (assuming I make it to my heart surgery date), I was facing the reality of having one of the most major surgical procedures one can have. Oh yea, and I'd get to do it during peak COVID. How fun! We’ll stop there today, but in case you’re still in suspense, I still survived!

I have the worst time with exercise at all! My daughter and I started out well enough for us at walking 10 min, 3 times a week. But then we had a trip and a wedding and we haven't exercised at all. I know I need exercise, I just have a bad time with motivation and sticking to it. I want to get up in the morning and just do it and get it over with, but since its not a habit yet I haven't succeeded. This month things have to change though, surgery is coming up and I need good habits. I love that you have a reasonable goal and flexibility to your schedule so that you are kind to yourself. I am not going to sub any meals with protien drinks until I have to but I think thats a great idea. I am trying to eat less fat and I'm so proud of myself because I have been able to stop drinking soda completely. My whole life I have been addicted to soda and hated water but now I don't buy any and I don't miss it either. I've noticed I have more energy and I'm less hungry after switching to water too. I think my biggest food challenge is the not drinking with meals. I have tried it and I seem to just get thirstier and thirstier. I think its just a mental thing but its a hard one for me. Even eating out, how do you even get a drink at all? Usually its 30 min for us once the meal has arrived and then get the bill and leave. Maybe I can get a water to go? I don't know lol.

I haven't really had any bone broth in a while, so can't recommend them at this point. If I try a few, I'll be sure to let folks know if some of the are particularly good (or bad!). My goals are probably a little unique to me, but the thing I've learned about being on the diet and exercise yo-yo too many times than I can count, is that I do better if I start SLOOOOOW. For example, right now, my goal this week for exercise is just to ride my recumbent bike at least 3 times a week for 8 minutes each time. Every week between now and my surgery, I plan to up the number of minutes by two. Thus next week, the goal will be 10 minutes, 3 times a week. It's possible that even going up by 2 minutes a week is too aggressive, so if it doesn't happen, I won't sweat it. The reason I picked that amount was that I was hoping to be around 20 minutes a day 3 times a week by the time I hit my surgery week. I think if I get there, I'll feel better and recover faster. I'm sure to some that seems pitiful, but it's what I think I can do. It would do me no good to be too aggressive and then hurt myself. For what it's worth, I don't plan to do any strength training until about 4 months post surgery. I know that probably seems like a long time to some, but I didn't get so badly out of shape overnight. I have to keep reminding myself to be careful and not overdo things. Diet-wise, I have 2 goals right now: Start talking smaller bites and replace 1 meal per day with a protein shake. That's really it. I'm lucky I suppose in that I don't eat a lot of junk food, so I don't have to overcome that issue too. Over time, I really need to start working on the whole complete chewing thing (which is a HUGE problem for me), but I realized I have to start with smaller bites. Until that's a habit, I won't add complete chewing to the regimen.

Mine was dreadful too. All clear liquid diet. 10 days of if. Of your choices, I would totally go for the carb control option.

I didn't really do chips or anything snacky till 6+ months out. One, I didn't have room for them - after my protein and veggies, I just didn't have stomach space for anything else, and two, I was terrified that I would slip back into old habits. I have a really hard time with moderation and I knew that knowing I could eat that stuff would lead me to eating it, so I held off a good long time. That being said, nowadays (10+ months) I do occasionally have a few of the Flex protein chips and they are pretty good. I've never had the Quest chips, so I can't really compare, but even a few regular chips won't break the bank if you can do them in moderation. As for butter/oil, I never stopped using them. If I was sautéing veggies, I would use oil, or if I made soup, I used butter, etc. I've always used them judiciously so the tiny bit included in my portion really wasn't a big deal.

Looks like you have been doing well!! Thats Awesome..... As for myself I still have the mobility issue because I have no ACL in my knee and need a knee replacement done. I had a 5 week stall!!! That sucked big time and talk about being discouraged oh my!! That being said I did start losing again but only a few pounds here and there. I think on an average I may lose 2-3 lbs per week and about 10-12 lbs per month. I go for a weigh in tomorrow. I think I lost about 11 lbs since last month. Not the big lbs that alot of ppl seem to drop but Ill take what I get I guess. Its better than gaining LOL. Keep up the good work and I am sure you will hit your goal in no time!!!

I work 10 hour days so I ordered some 5 ounce reusable bottles to be able to prepare my meals for the days after surgery while still doing liquid. I have also started trying to get used to sugar free yogurt. So far chobani zero greek yogurt is a doable option. Don’t forget you are allowed sugar free popsicles as well!

Hi, kevin! Did your dietitian set the calorie range? Mine won't. She told me to work on getting 60-90 g of protein. I'm averaging about 700 cal a day. Losing about 1-2 lbs a week. I did lose 10 lbs the first 10 days. Have lost 18 lbs since I started liquid diet 6 weeks ago. Made my first goal of 225 already. I was 252 on my first appointment last June.

My surgeon gave me a graph based on my height and surgery weight. Showing how I should drop weight through the first year (based on national averages). It has me at 20lbs for the first 3 months, then around 15 lbs until 7 months and then it hangs out around 10 lbs a month for the rest of the year. At 3 months it has me at -64.1 lbs, at my 3 month follow up I was -77 lbs! Everyone is different. I have really good weeks and very low weeks. But I only weigh on Mondays which was my surgery day. I like the graph just to give me an idea. I also use it as personal "challenge" to stay ahead of my graph even if just by 1 lb. Keeps me focused!

after the first month, a lot of us lose about 10 lbs a month, give or take----and then as you get further out, it drops to around 5 lbs a month (and after the first year, mine dropped to a pokey 2 lbs +/- until my weight loss finally stopped at 20 months out). So it may be a stretch to hope for a 19 lb drop at five months out (not that it's impossible - but not likely). Regardless, looks like you're doing pretty well so far!

I had constipation for the first few days, then once I got through that i had HORRIBLE diarrhea for about 2 weeks. Maybe not as bad as you describe, but every time I "ate" or drank a shake I was in the bathroom within 30 minutes. After that, I am as normal as I can imagine (after 10++ years of constipation issues). I go just about daily and I do not take ANY supplements to help.

Yeah I completed the 3 months of nutrition counseling with the surgeons office, but now they’re requesting a year of documentation that I did work with my PCP on my weight loss. Provided them 10 years of receipts from WW, weight logs from yearly exams, etc to show the weight didn’t magically appear in the last week (apparently that can happen with a BMI over 40 😂😂) SMH lol

I'm on day 10 of 21 days of liver shrinking diet. Last night I started dreaming about food. This is pure savagery. Can't they just put me in an induced coma and hook me up to a drip? Sigh.

I had palpitations every time I walked, even with a stick, my blood pressure was high and my knees and back ached when ever I stood. To prep food I had to sit down as much as possible. Eventually, a few months after surgery. The walking stick stays in the cupboard, my heart doesn't do somersaults when I walk and I no longer have Diabetes and high blood pressure. I feel 10 years younger . It was worth the money and the change of eating. For me it was a rocky road and I still has the odd day of nausea and sickness but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Same. I went from 6mg to 3mg,.. Then 10 days before I vaped a zero nicotine candy grape flavor.

Absolutely, I was determined I was not going to buy new clothes but then it got really bad trying hold up my pants an walk bras were a problem it took me a couple of tries to find the perfect ones an underwear oh my gracious!! It is a great problem to have though isn’t it? I’m down 166lbs an still working on it 10 months out

Yes, you are over thinking this. During this phase, the first month or so, there is virtually zero correlation between your loss rate and what you are doing, as there is a lot going on with your body changing states trying to adapt to this big caloric deficit that you have thrown at it. Do a search here for the three (or third) week stall and you will see lots of anxiety over what is my weight loss doing and what have I done? Your loss will slow, often stall and maybe climb a bit before going down again. It often happens right around the time that our diets are moving from one stage to the next, so "that mush be it!" but it isn't - even those of us who never had all those stages go through something like this. Short answer is that when you go into a serious caloric deficit like this, your body first starts drawing on you glycogen reserves, short term carb reserves stored in you liver and muscles, which give you your quick response bursts of energy. There is a lot of water weight associated with glycogen. Once that is largely consumed, your body usually pauses to see if you are really serious about this caloric deficit thing. Then it will start to draw on your fat stores, which is what we are here to do in the first place. Fat also burns more slowly than glycogen/carbs (its that 9 cal/gm vs 4 cal/gm thing,) and it has to rebuild some of your glycogen reserves again (water weight on) so weight can be real flaky here for a while. If you really feel that you aren't eating enough, then a bit more wouldn't hurt and may be helpful, though that won't be what gets your loss moving again. I was up around 1100 calories fairly quickly, within the first couple of weeks, but I was also progressing on food types more quickly than your program suggests, and we had no specific caloric guidance. Others on these forums at that time were insisting that anything more than 6-800 calories would be death to your weight loss. I did fine, at least with my decent guy metabolism, and they did fine as well. I wouldn't rush things on too much, as it is much easier to add more later if you feel the need to than to cut back once you get used to eating a certain amount. I didn't increase my average calories from there until I was within about 10 lb of goal weight (at about six months) and needed to slow things down.

I had Gastric Sleeve surgery in January of 2021. In the 18 or so months since, I have regained about 10 pounds, even though I try to make healthy choices and exercise daily. In an effort to get this under control before it's too late, I have tried a variety of prescription medications to help curb my appetite. Initially, I used Wegovy, and it was a miracle drug, but with the side effects and the cost after the 6-month trial period, I felt it was unrealistic to continue. Then I tried Tomiramate, with terrible side effects. Finally, I began taking Phentermine, which has no effects whatsoever on my appetite. I have now begun to take Plenity, but I am skeptical that it will be successful. First, it is taken before meals in order to fill the stomach so that you can't eat as much. I feel that if eating large meals were my problem, the sleeve is already handling that; however, that is not my problem. My problem is that I am literally hungry all the time. It must be my stage of life (I'm 54). I am not really a nervous eater, nor do I really use food for psychological reasons. I am always at the mercy of my hormones. Like I said, I am pretty much hungry all the time, but when I have fluctuations in my sugar levels, I am ravenous. I have been diagnosed as "glucose intolerant" but I am not diabetic. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this? I have tried all the dietician's recommendations (cutting back on carbs, packing on protein, staying hydrated, exercise) but nothing seems to help. I was put on Plenity as a last ditch effort, but it hasn't helped so far. I was told to give it a month, because people seem to jump ship with Plenity before it has been given a chance to work (though, I am not sure what's the point of giving it time as I would think this should work immediately). Has anyone else tried Plenity? If I give it time, will I get some sort of impact? Have any of you conquered this problem, and what did you do?

I probably focus on calories more than I should but I'm 10 months out, and I'm a woman with a very small frame and eat between 750-950 calories a day.

You’ve described my behaviour around sugar and processed carbs. I’m a recovering alcoholic- 10 years this time round and 22 years before with a miserable 4 year relapse in between. my thought processes, constant internal arguments, obsessive behaviour, reaction to relapse are identical to how I was with alcohol. But sugar is harder to avoid than alcohol. So I hear you: I knew wls would not cure these issues but I hoped the break from processed food/sugar would make it easier. It didn’t. I do intermittent fasting now - as much to rest my poor pancreas as for any other reason. Fasting is easy for me. I wish I could give up food altogether and take a tablet! I’m on a wait list for help with my disorders eating- I’m hopeful! cw: 140lbs lw - 1 year post wls 120lb, goal weight 130lbs. surgery Dec 16. and all my friends say my cw is fine. It’s only me who thinks I’m fat. A friend told me that at 120lbs I looked like an hiv or cancer patient. I’m sick enough to feel secretly pleased I got that thin…

That's important to do especially on the days you don't want to. I'm in the waiting room of my therapist now, waiting my turn. I was fortunate that I've had the same therapist for almost 30 years now on and off. He's known me as a teenager to now. So we had talks pre-surgery about the instant gratification that bad food is so good at giving and ways to replace caring for myself by shoveling down a pizza with better, more constructive self care. After surgery has been monitoring my mood and letting myself be proud of how far I've come and the major steps I took. The examples I'm setting for my girls, the humongous change for the better I've made in my life and all the places I'm seeing improvement. Also focusing on the reasons I had the surgery and the things I'm looking forward to as I get smaller. When I hit 200 I'm going kayaking... I've always wanted to but was worried if I fell off I wouldn't be able to pull myself back up. I know it sounds silly but list the reasons why you had the surgery, what you want to accomplish, who inspired you to get healthier. It may help if you can see on paper what you want. Then try each day (just try, it's ok if you don't succeed) to do 1 thing that healthy and nice for you. Go stand outside for 10 minutes on a sunny day. Stretch. Take a walk. Start making yourself a priority even when the voice in your head is telling you different. You deserve to be happy and loved and appreciated. This is based on things that help me.

Hi , am following the milk and yogurt liver shrinkage diet .It's 8-10 no fat diet yogurts (60 cals each ) and 1 pint of semi skimmed milk shakes .Has anyone else done this or is doing it now ? thanks x

I'm 6 weeks out to. I don't really feel hungry too often but I've got myself on a schedule for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My body knows when food is coming. If I feel like eating between meals I ask myself why and typically it's boredom and/or old habits trying to creep back in. Have to keep that door slammed shut. As someone said earlier if you do stumble don't focus on that, focus on getting up, dusting off and getting back on your plan. Therapy may help you recognize better when your legit hungry and when emotions are wanting to be stuffed. It will also help you recognize the emotions, face them and allow yourself to leave the negative behind, refocus your energy and discover what you like to do. I did pottery before but I'm finding myself more patient with it then before. I hand build and my pieces are more successful. I've also gotten more into self-care. I'm keeping my legs shaved, exercising more, goodness my 16 year old is giving me makeup tips! I used to not wear any at all but I find I'm more confidant with it. Only it's been 10+ years so I ask her if she could advise me. It been something thats drawn us closer. My youngest (12f) does the switch boxing game with me. We workout together and get some good laughs at our efforts. Once school starts I only have 1 free evening a week! I'm volunteering with my high schools band (my daughter is in it and I work there) 2-3 times a week, I have pottery 1 time a week and then miscellaneous things the other 3. Now is the time to try new things. Things you haven't done in a long time because you were too big or things you always wanted to try but your size helped you back. Carpe diem! Seize the day! You got this!

Ok, I just checked bmi of 25 is border line overweight or slightly overweight. Bmi of 24.9 is normal weight or healthy weight. Most of us on this app would die to be a bmi of 25, i had the sleeve in 2019 and I am a bmi of 30.5. Most places in Mexico have a minimum bmi of 30 plus a comorbidity to do surgery. I did my sleeve in Mexico, my bmi was 35 at the time of surgery. Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app