Fazzini Bee

I'm so sorry to hear this. I had sleeve and I also had acid reflux before and after surgery. I told my surgeon I was uncomfortable and he put me on carafate. It is a chalky liquid and it's a little difficult to manage at first because no eating or drinking 30 mins before or after. I was on it for 3 months and I no longer get acid at all. Unless I eat something I shouldn't. I am almost 2 years out. I feel like I get heartburn if I over eat more than if I have something I shouldn't. I would try one more time to tell your surgeon how incredibly uncomfortable you are. If he does nothing see someone else. Another bariatric doctor. You did this to improve your quality of life, and you deserve a doctor who wants that for you as well. I really hope this gets handled for you. Good luck. I hope you feel better soon.

The exhaustion lasts a few weeks. Hold tight. I experienced that as well. I started to feel great around 4 months out.


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I'm so sorry to hear this. I had sleeve and I also had acid reflux before and after surgery. I told my surgeon I was uncomfortable and he put me on carafate. It is a chalky liquid and it's a little difficult to manage at first because no eating or drinking 30 mins before or after. I was on it for 3 months and I no longer get acid at all. Unless I eat something I shouldn't. I am almost 2 years out. I feel like I get heartburn if I over eat more than if I have something I shouldn't. I would try one more time to tell your surgeon how incredibly uncomfortable you are. If he does nothing see someone else. Another bariatric doctor. You did this to improve your quality of life, and you deserve a doctor who wants that for you as well. I really hope this gets handled for you. Good luck. I hope you feel better soon.

The exhaustion lasts a few weeks. Hold tight. I experienced that as well. I started to feel great around 4 months out.


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The short answer is yes - by and large, the bariatric recommendations largely reflect our normal maintenance needs for Protein. Now, that amount varies from person to person, primarily based upon their lean body mass (muscles, organs, skin, etc.) A short woman of normalish weight, say 5' 0" and 100-110lb, would need around 50g of protein to maintain her 75lb or so of lean body mass, while a 6'0" 180lb man with around 150 lb of lean body mass will need twice that, around 100g. If one is actively trying to build additional muscle mass (and doing the work to do so,) then they will need additional protein, maybe up to around another 40g or so depending upon what they are trying to do.
But as an average, what the bariatric programs usually recommend is in line with the normal recommendations for normal people, though maybe a bit simplified, and sometimes with a bit of overkill added in (a bit too much is better than not enough.)

I feel almost a pain. Like empty, discomfort? I didn't recognize it as hunger, for a long time. I thought it was just part of the healing process.

Yes. I agree. I had sleeve but I know exactly what you're talking about. I also felt the same before. Like I needed huge quantities to feel satisfied. Now, just a little. And I feel much more comfortable and in control if I want to have something less healthy.

Yes. I agree. I had sleeve but I know exactly what you're talking about. I also felt the same before. Like I needed huge quantities to feel satisfied. Now, just a little. And I feel much more comfortable and in control if I want to have something less healthy.

Can't emphasize this enough.

I am 10 months PO. Haven't lost weight in a month or two. I don't know if I am done losing or if I need to dial in my eating more.
I get around 1000-1200 Cal's a day 60g protien and 30g of sugar. I try to shoot much lower for sugar than that, but that's just an average. I've lost 96 lbs total but would like to lose 20 more.

Omg. Finally, the scale is moving again. That was honestly terrifying for me. I've lost 2 lbs in a week.
I have lost a total of 94 (I think) pounds!

you can always lose more weight. But if you're not losing it at your current calorie level (unless you just happen to be in a stall), then the only thing you can really do is decrease your calories. I had to find the point where I could accept both my weight and my calorie level. At my lowest I was 138 lbs and could certainly get there again if I wanted to (and honestly, I don't), but it would take lowering my calories to a level that I probably wouldn't be able to sustain for long. I'm OK at 150-ish - and I'm OK with the calorie level it takes to maintain at that, too.

I'm almost five years out and still have "big pouch days" and "small pouch days". That amount you're eating sounds like about what I eat in maintenance (unless I'm having a small pouch day!).

you can still lose - it's just harder after the first year. I kept losing until month 20. That second year was REALLY hard, but I was still able to lose my last 30-40 lbs.

I'm only a month post-op, but I've had days where I can barely stuff down 400 calories and a few other days where I am starving and go as high as 1200 calories. Oddly enough, twice now my hungry days have coincided with big weight losses of a pound or more. So I don't feel afraid of my hunger. In fact - I feel like it's part of my broken metabolism healing. Hunger is natural!

Yeah I hear you... I started at 322 and thought it would be nice to get under 200 maybe 185 but here I am 7 months later at 172lbs and still seem to be losing but very slowly of course..
I've upped my calories lately but still seem to be stable sometimes for a week other times I'll lose a lb a week..
I'm not sure exactly if I'm done losing weight it seems the bypass has really changed my metabolism I have added some carbs lately but still seem to be losing or maintaining not gaining..
I've lost 150lbs in 7 months without even really exercising.
it's amazing to see 172lbs on the scales and people starting to call me skinny or to tell me to stop losing...lol

That's an interesting point of view, summerset: I hadn't considered that possibility.
I suppose there's a fine balance to be struck between feeling contented with your weight loss and avoiding significant regain. Life's complicated, innit?!

I think this can be a slippery slope. Too many people think of themselves as "failures" because they don't manage to reach and/or maintain a normal BMI but "only" a BMI of maybe 27 or 28 and are therefore not happy with what they've accomplished.
They only focus on "these last 10 lbs" and make themselves miserable, sometimes almost completely ignoring (or so it seems) the fact that they've maybe lost over 100 lbs.
They cry a river over the fact that they "gained 15 lbs back" despite having lost 150 lbs and now maintain a weight loss of 135 lbs, again feeling like failures.
It makes me sad how people sometimes sabotage themselves this way. And yes, I believe that this is some kind of self-sabotage, too - they're self-sabotaging in regards to "being happy".

…..However, as regards when you know you've lost enough weight - it's when you're happy with your loss and feel good surely?

This is an interesting question, because I thought I'd finished losing weight after 19 months. However, I recently had to do another liver-shrinking diet in anticipation of another operation (subsequently cancelled). I had to diet for 5 days and lost 4 lbs. I ate about 600-800 calories a day. I was surprised that I could manage this and it made me think I could use this again in the future....I could lose weight for 5 days, then just carry on maintaining my weight the rest of the time. Hmmmm….could work!

I agree with all of this.
I knew I was done when I could see every rib and I would have been embarrassed for people to see them. There were some tops I couldn't buy or wear because the collars were too low and people could see a bunch of bones (I'm fine with my collarbones showing - but my ribs, no - that was a bit too much). Plus I had a DEXA scan once which showed a fat percentage of 22% (which is considered lean for a woman) - yet I lost another 15 or so pounds after that -- meaning my body fat was probably WAY too low when I was at my lowest weight. I wanted to at least get back up to a 22% body fat range. Also, I wanted to be at a weight that I could maintain without too much difficulty. I was totally fine with having to watch what I ate and counting calories - as well as getting regular, moderate exercise - but anything where I'd have to take extreme measures to maintain a low weight - no, I didn't want that.
that said, one can always lose more weight. But at some point, do you want to continue doing so - for all those reasons Summerset listed?

Just posted this a week ago, You can blow past your doctors guess and reach any healthy weight. Mix up your calorie intake One day go 1000 next go 500. Also Fasting works do a 10 hour fast then eat healthy then go to bed and fast another 8 while sleeping, You have to trick your body back into burning instead of storing.
Its rather easy to do- For me the fasting broke it loose again.

I know when i got the band my body stopped losing at 143. I am 5'2" and my SW was 232#. There i stayed for 7+ years. Until i had to get her out 3 years ago in 2017. Over the last few years, i put back 30#. I decided to do a revision and got sleeved 8/28/19. SW 173.5, today 129. My weight loss is slowing and currently only losing about a pound a month.
Your body will definitely decide on where it wants to be. But, you have to be doing everything you can to make sure you are doing your part. Continue to portion out your food and exercise. You will benefit greatly from logging in and weighting/portioning what you eat. Exercising in a different way will help also.
If you simply cut back your cal to 1000 per day and up your exercise... you will start to lose again.

Hmmmmmmmmm, IMO I think this is a tough question to answer because one has to take several things into consideration, "desired weight" (can you hear this little voice of vanity in the head?) is unfortunately just one. When I look at BMI 30 my gut reaction is: "You're not done and there is wiggle room!" - but this is just gut reaction and looking at the weight/BMI only.
IMO one should keep several things in mind, e. g.:
- how do you feel physically at this weight?
- how healthy are you now?
- do you like yourself when looking into the mirror? (loose skin being out of the equation)
- does the possibility of having to exercise more sound appalling or appealing?
- do you want to restrict your diet even more?
- you you think you could be happy at the weight you're now?
An interesting concept is that of "best weight". https://obesitycanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Best-Weight-Book.pdf
I think the whole PDF is worth a read but the concept of best weight is explained on page 12 and I think it can be applied to WLS patients as well:

My original goal weight was arbitrary, since I hadn't been anywhere near that weight in more than 30 years. Once I got to my original goal weight, I decided to lose ten more pounds based primarily on a gut reaction (how I looked and felt).
That turned out to be my ideal weight--but I kept losing after I reached it and had to try to gain eight pounds (which was such a strange concept). Since then, it has been a process of trial and error to find the find the right number of calories and types of foods that will keep me there, and I'm still tinkering with it.

You are not done, you can still lose some weight.
Though you are at a lower BMI now, and with your height (and without now your age or incidental activity level) your maintenance calories (before adding in any exercise calorie requirements) would be quite low, and wouldn't leave a lot of scope for slip ups. If you haven't already determine your calorie requirements for maintenance based on your age, gender, current weight, height...from there you can deduct an amount to allow for weight loss (maybe 500 per day?).
If you aren't already make sure you are weighing your foods, eyeballing volumes doesn't cut it, and don't rely on 1/2 cup or cup volumes as calories will vary greatly as contents settle etc. Weigh everything, buy some food scales if you don't already have some.
My fitness pal site can help calculate weight loss calorie requirements, you could also track your current food intake for a week see where its at and where it can be tweaked. If you prefer not to use MFP, start with determining daily calorie requirements. https://tdeecalculator.net/

Its been 5 months since my surgery and i have lost 95lbs. I would have never imagined this much weight to come off before i had the surgery. I am so happy. This is a short post. Just wanted to share my happiness with all of you.