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The first two years post op many commented that my transformation was inspiring to them. I even worked out with a few people from my office during that time. One coworker went on to lose quite a bit of weight and I gave her clothes as she was a couple of sizes behind me in her journey. It was inspiring to me to see how others reacted to my journey and that it created a chain reaction. My coworker is now doing more activities with her daughter who is overweight.

My guilty pleasures currently are wine and chocolate. Since surgery, I rarely drink but currently I have upped my calories (and my strength training) so wine and chocolate are a weekly occurrences right now.

I was cleared to exercise after 4 weeks, I would just recommend taking it slowly on core work initially given that it's abdominal surgery. Don't push through any pain, let it be your guide to what you can do early on. Focus on hitting your Protein post op as to help preserve muscle and work your major muscle groups. Initially your caloric deficit will be very big so easing back into exercise versus going all out will also help with muscle retention. However given how little we can eat initially expect to cannibalize some muscle but know that in time it can be built back up. While I doubt that you will become a toothpick, understand the current benefit that your extra weight provides. Pre op, I was physically not fit or strong but because of my physical size and mass I could move heavier loads then as opposed to now. Simply put when I pushed 250+lbs of myself against an object, it moved. Now while I am physically the fittest and strongest I have ever been, pushing 130+lbs against an object, may or may not move it. Did I become weaker? Certainly not, I couldn't do a single push up before and now I can knock out 4 sets of 20 easily but one could interpret my weight loss as strength loss. My point is the your performance may be different post op than pre op and therefore not comparable. Your technique may have to change simply because you won't have the extra mass. Given these outcomes, would I still have had surgery? All day, every day, Yes.

We all lose and carry our weight differently. The "ease" in sizes narrows as we lose weight. When I was heavy, I could gain/lose 20 lbs before noticing a change in clothing. Now it's 5-7 lbs.

Not enough information to answer your WL questions but I do not recommend the 5 day pouch test while breastfeeding as it is so few calories, it may reduce your supply.

Getting full after a few bites if I eat too fast, stomach says no even 3.5 years out to fast eating and then I'll be hungry again in 2 hours. WLS is like Chinese food.

Loose skin bothers some more than others. How skin behaves post op is highly individual. My skin was flabby and floppy with rolls of fat pre op. Now it still flabby and floppy but fat free. I prefer the later.

@@Jenn on a bf scale, it is using electrical impedance- it's highly variable so I would track your trend over time as actual number may not be accurate. Bodybuilding.com is an amazing resource. They are always posting 12 week training programs. To gain muscle requires you to ideally be in a bit of a surplus and hitting protein is crucial. IDK if I would ever actually compete but the prep for bikini will get you shredded. Here's some fitsporation. She is a lap band patient. https://m.facebook.com/amandasnewfitlife/?tsid=0.13101356686092913&source=typeahead

Hope you let us know how that goes for you. Good luck and hope you share tips for us newbies (I'm only 3.5 yrs out ).

The best workout is the one you'll do. So if you'll go to Curves then go for it. I used to go to a Curves style gym. Eventually I outgrew the equipment, it simply wasn't challenging enough after awhile. Maybe sign up for six months and then reassess.

I am at 21%. Thinking about going sub 20% as a goal after the holidays. Right now I am focused on add strength/mass. I want to rebuild my deflated glutes and improve my shoulders, they are weak. Trying to decide if I really go for it in 2017 and prep for a bikini competition. If I do that then bf would ideally be 15%, I would need to lose approx. 8 lbs of fat, more once this bulk is done.

I completely relate to this post as I too am my own worse critic. I don't have any real weight left to lose yet don't like my "problem" areas. In reality they are skin.

1 lb every 3 days is 10 pounds a month. That sounds pretty right to me. Don't be so hard on yourself. At that pace, you'll have lost over 100 lbs in less than a year. That would be amazing by any account. Just keep grinding.

Ami23- hopefully most women know that they gain and lose water weight based on their cycle given that they probably had a cycle pre op. Maybe if I had weighted daily pre op, I wouldn't have gotten to 263 lbs. Post op, I sure as hell weight myself daily. Not weighting is a good way for me to let the pounds creep up. I can gain or lose 10 pounds and still fit in my clothes. I do all kinds of things daily, none of which are "disordered". You may need to learn what disordered means. Allow me to direct you to the DSM 5, I assure you that checking your weight once a day is not in there.

Fancypants- coffee is hard on the stomach and not recommend early on. I now drink it regularly but I'm 3.5 years out. Ask your program what they suggest.

I eliminated all excuses. *Don't want to go to the gym? Then I use the one I put in my house. *Stir crazy and need to get out of the house (I work from home part of the week). Then I go to a class at the gym to socialize. *Lack dedication to use home gym or go to the gym? Then my trainer comes over, I can't ditch out on someone knocking on my door. Consistently working out has now become self fulfilling. It took my a couple of years and some money but now I hate not working out and it is routine for me.

Do you mean how is everyone eating on post op diet at two months out? I so, super small portions and following surgeon and dietician guidelines 100%. You are barely healed at this point.

You can stay keto or low carb as your body is already adapted. Check out Ketogains website for info and to calculate Keto macros.

My endoscopy pre-op showed the damage to my stomach that NSAIDs did. That was enough for me. No to NSAIDs is about risk, some people could get an ulcer and with only 20% of a stomach most surgeons advise against the use.

John early on they are one of the best options since most are on full liquids.

Early on cardio in the form of walking and jogging helped me lose weight as I went from mostly sedentary to moving more. Walking is a great form of exercise and one where distance matters. Ideally you should either increase your time, i.e. walk longer or your intensity i.e. speed. For example, shoot for a distance goal of 3 miles a day to start and then determine if you will jog is and spend about 40 minutes getting there or walk and take an hour to get there. Adding a bit of resistance training at a gym is a good thing too. Start simple: 3 sets of 10 sit ups, push ups, squats and lunges will help you build muscle.

This completely depends on where you are at in your journey. At 3.5 years out, I track carbs along with protein and fat to ensure that I stay within a caloric range and to maintain a certain body composition. Freshly post op, I mostly tracked protein as there wasn't room for much else.

Ambitious but not impossible. You are saying you would lose about 10 lbs a month. Goals are for motivation so don't be discouraged if you are a few pounds short, just keep working.

I use a mix, usually I eat Kodiak protein power cakes with Walden Farms or sugar free syrup.

I had one. I wore it for the first six months or so post op. Thankfully I never had a situation where I needed it. Mine said something like VSG, no NSAIDs no blind NG and had my surgeon's number on it.