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As everyone has said, the lack of energy is very common & to be expected given the surgery, low calorie intake, etc. Try adding an electrolyte drink to your fluid rotation. I found them very helpful. You may be doing a little too much this soon after your surgery. How far are you walking? How often are you walking. Sometimes two shorter walks is easier than one long walk. Listen to your body. If it says you’re not ready take a step back with how much you’re doing & learn to love the nana nap. Rest & sleep is best for healing. All the best.

What is different about your evening meal than your breakfast or lunch? Also are you doing physical activities close to or after your evening meal? Are you drinking lots of fluid before your evening meal? More importantly what feedback or suggestions has your surgeon or nutritionist made around the issue?

On the weight loss slowing, everyone here has already said that's totally normal. But since I'm a total nerd and tracked my weight loss, I can tell you exactly how mine slowed down. I've lost a total of 70 lbs over 23 months. Month 1: 3.5 lbs a week, reached -22 lbs Months 2-4: ~1.5-2 lbs a week, reached -41 lbs Months 5-12: 0.5-1 lbs a week, reached -63 lbs and passed my original goal weight at 11 months out Months 13-20: 0.2 lbs a week, currently at -70 lbs, 12 under my original goal Does this mean that you pretty much never dieted before you got surgery? Or are you comparing now to the first 6 months after surgery, where you didn't care about food much simply because you weren't hungry? After reading these boards for a few years, it seems that the people who have long term success do have to pay some attention to their diet to maintain their weight loss. But that takes a lot of different forms according to the specific issues and goals of different people. You won't necessarily have to pay as much attention to it in the long term as you do right now. Right now you're learning what works for you; later it will become habit. Especially if what you said above means that you never dieted much before - in this case you would be learning about what works for you for the first time. But for everyone, after bariatric surgery, you have to learn what your "new normal" is. Personally, my long term goal has been to maintain without having to calorie count. Before surgery, I was pre-diabetic and low carb was the only thing that ever helped me lose weight. After surgery, carbs are still an issue for me, though much, much less of an issue than before. Rather than limiting/counting carbs every day, I've found that having a 4-5 day period of low-carb every 3-4 weeks keeps my carb cravings in check. I still start my day with a protein powder latte and make sure that I have protein with every meal. Veggies help keep me full. If I feel hungry, I eat a snack, but I usually start with a piece of cheese or a few frozen meatballs (I love these things) before I have anything more junky. I eat sweets some days, but not all. I use things like sugar free ice cream or low sugar yogurt for a bit of a treat on other days.

very common. It could take up to a couple of months before your previous energy is back. 8000-10,000 steps a day this soon after surgery would probably be overkill for most people - if it's wearing you out, I'd cut back. Your body needs a lot of energy to heal. You'll be back up there soon enough...

Seems some surgeons recommend bypass over sleeve based on the patient’s weight loss history as well as their health. Bypass is generally considered the stronger surgery but the stats on the success of either surgery & how much weight loss is possible are pretty similar. I mean, they do sleeves on people who started at more than 600lbs on My 600lb Life & they lose weight. Yes, sleeve changes less of your digestive system & malabsorption issues rarely occur, but your general health status, like pre existing reflux/Gerd, may mean bypass is your best way forward.

I am feeling this post so hard. SO HARD!!!!

Yeah, sadly, those heady days of a high rate of weight loss don’t last. You can always depend on your weight loss slowing the closer you are to goal. You’re eating more (which is a normal progression) & getting closer to the number of calories your body needs to maintain your weight. As @catwoman7 said how much food you eat depends on the food you’re eating. A good place to begin is to look at the recommended portion sizes of different foods - start with google & quiz your dietician on what is a serve of beef, of chicken of vegetables, etc. You’re probably getting to close to a recommended serving size now. The problems only start to arise if you’re eating more than that & the only thing that will stop you eating larger portions sizes is you. Plus check the calories of what you’re eating & the nutritional content if you’re not still doing this. 1500 calories is 1500 calories regardless of whether it’s from nutritionally dense food or from cake, sodas, chips, pizza, etc. I eat more often & eat more food in a day now than I did when I was obese. It’s just more nutritionally dense food & my my metabolism is working better. As to what’s bad: carbs, fats or sugar? I think this is a personal thing. You know your medical status which would influence whether you should keep your fat intake low or not. You know your weaknesses - sugar, carbs. I think we should work out a lot of our eating plans based on these things about ourselves. There are recommended daily allowances for fats, sugar & carbs too. Generally, I’m a bit of a balanced diet person. Though I don’t eat a lot of carbs & only multi or whole grains - I used to eat a lot of bread, pasta & rice. I also avoid a lot of sugar, artificial sweeteners & sugar substitutes because I think sugar is the real devil. I get my sweet from fruit. I don’t have dessert as such but have eaten chia pudding (flavoured with vanilla extract). I’ll have a protein bar after dinner if my protein is a little low for the day or will have fruit. How I feel real hunger is very different. I feel restless & I don’t crave a specific food or type (salt, sweet, carb) of food. If my ‘hunger’ is craving something specific it’s head hunger & not real. If there’s an emotional component to the ‘hunger’ (like hangry) it’s not real hunger. Part of the ‘fun’ of maintenance is working out your calorie & nutritional needs. It took me a while to work out what mine was & to be physically able to eat that much food. But you have to find a balance too. If you have to have such a restricted diet to maintain that it compromises you enjoying your life, it’s doomed to fail. It’s about sustainability. If that means you end of weighing a little more than you thought you wanted to be, that’s ok. If you enjoy your latte every day enjoy it. If it worries you try a smaller serve or reduce it to one a day or three cups every two days. There’s always work arounds or substitutes you can make like zucchini noodles instead of spaghetti but still enjoy what you’re eating & not feel like you’re missing out. The truth about exercising is that it will only contribute to 10-20% of any weight you want to lose. Want to lose 10lbs? Exercising will only contribute to you losing 1 or 2 lbs. Plus if you increase your exercising, your hunger will increase. Unfortunately the work doesn’t the end. All the best.

Welcome to the bariatric community. We have so many threads and forums here for you to discover that will guide you through your WLS journey. Feel free to ask or share anything. We're here to support and encourage you.

That doesn't make sense. Can you email him or the nutritionist and get it in writing? Ask why you should only eat 2 oz a day? I have heard some doctors say they want patients to stop using the shakes to eat "real food" but no one who expects you to live on 2 oz of food a day!

Okay so yesterday I felt like I woke up hungry and nothing I was doing was fixing this. So I called my nurse for my program. Turns out since I’m younger- 27 my swelling and healing is going faster than normal and I’m not getting enough calories on clear liquids. Due to this she has recommended me to start drinking protein shakes a day early. I did my first one watered down just to be safe. This morning I have a mixture of a shake and fairlife milk just so I’m getting the most protein I can. It’s going really well so far. I still start my day with a bottle of water so I can take my meds without something thick. Also out of curiosity I weighed my self again- it seems like I’m loosing just under 3 pounds a day! I hope this progress keeps up. I can’t wait until I can get into the gym. 3 more weeks until that can happen. I debated taking a walk but it’s so cold here and slippery I’d be afraid of hurting my self. So I settle with walking my house as much as possible- something my dog is entirely entertained by. :) Last night I didn’t wake up to take my dose of Tylenol and I could definitely tell in the morning. All of my pain is focused around the larger incision to the point where I was starting to get nauseous. I sat in my bathroom on some cold tile- sipped some water until I felt confident I could take the Tylenol. Thank heavens it worked. So far I haven’t thrown up since the procedure- I’ve been reading others stories about how they have been and I couldn’t imagine the pain that would cause. I’m being very cautious- when I first tried my protein drink with water I took a tiny sip and just waited about 15 minutes before trying another sip. Thank you for taking this journey with me. It’s honestly really helpful writing it here and sharing it with people who understand. 💙