(Deleted through replacement

I'm now almost 2 months out from the ESG, and the scale has jumped up to 240 and refused to move after going so far as 225. I really think I'm supposed to be between 220 and 230, probably closer to 220. I've been losing inches. I've kept very meticulous track of my food and eat around 1000 calories a day still. This has to be a water thing, but am I really carrying 15-20 pounds of water weight? Can I flush this out somehow? I want a more accurate reading and also would like my weight to decrease for some activities that require a lower weight: horseback riding, kayaking, etc.

After thinking a long time, I believe the issue is this: I came off a liquid diet, and then two weeks later I had fully reintroduced solids (which was around the time this happened). I also therefore was able to put some carbs in, so I came off ketosis. (The protein drinks I was on had ~no carbs.) Also, I've been eating probably a bit more salt than I should. From previous experience, keto makes me lose about 10 lbs of glycogen weight in the starting "whoosh." 10 lbs + solid food in various parts of digestion + some water retention from salt = 15-20 lbs depending on the water retention. So it's probable that I just haven't lost nearly as much actual fat as I think I have, which is extremely depressing, but at least there's an explanation. That said, I'm about 4 inches off both my waist and my hips, so clearly something happened. Though given my consistent weight for the past 2 weeks or so, I'm probably stalled right now. I did just start up a 3x/week strenuous weightlifting program, so hopefully that puts a dent in it. My doctor is horrible at getting back to me on any kind of schedule, so I had to attack this myself. The awful part is that 240 lbs is my normal weight pre-pandemic. All that work to return to the status quo.

Crap, so I *have* failed in some catastrophic way, and all this is a wash. But there's no way to gain weight on 1000 cal/day. I very much do track *everything.* And yes, I've continued to lose inches despite the scale going up. There is literally no way I can physically consume enough food (since I'm not eating sweets/lots of carbs) to gain weight with how much I can eat. I've logged it all. My instructions are to eat 1000-1200 calories a day. That's from my doctor.

I was at around 500-800 calories per day before I could eat "chunky" foods and then solids. Now I'm only hungry when my stomach is flat out empty, like in the mornings I get serious hunger pains and nausea. Otherwise, I just get a "hey, maybe you should eat" hints when it's time for a meal. Much improvement!

That is absolutely terrifying.

These are my go-to for savory food. Isopure protein powder has no flavor, and you can mix it into the ramen soup starter. It's good.

I feel you. Some days I feel like I'd kick a puppy for a bite of chicken. Real, solid chicken. Not shredded, not broth.

Ah, I hope I didn't scare you too much!

I said there were none. I'm not sure why rjan said I had them. I definitely had ESG.

2.5 weeks post-op. Surgery weight 260. Height 5'4". Scale is identical. I admit I don't know my tape measurements from pre-op.

Can't eat chicken. I'm on a liquid diet until 45 days out. It's the worst, and I hate it. Why do gastric sleeve folks get to do semi-solids at 2 weeks while I have to wait over a month? There's a "huge incision" on my stomach? I thought ESG didn't have those. Is water retention that big of a deal? I'm female and never had any water retention even with my periods. My weight never fluctuated. Why would it start now? I'm confused.

None. They didn't put me on any kind of diet beforehand. I was taken off the waitlist as a last-minute thing.

But I haven't lost *anything*! It's not a stall, it's "nothing happened" ><

90 grams of protein and 64 oz fluids, so that's 360 calories of protein. I tend to end up around double that in total calories, so like 720-800.

I figured I'd dip a toe in here because this is really the only ESG community I've seen. Hi, everyone. I'm a week out from ESG on March 23. I got it at Brigham and Women's. The surgical team was all very kind and good to me. I started at 5'4" and around 250 lbs, though I am not tracking weight, I'm tracking stuff like appearance and clothing size (because weight will screw up my brain really bad). Doctors can measure weight on their own and do that stuff. I feel like my recovery to basic life took ages. The internet and doctors said 1-3 days, and it took me 6 days to not be so exhausted and nauseous and cramped and dizzy that I could stay awake and focused for more than 2 hours at a time. I'm glad my work is extremely patient. Has anyone else had it that bad? Apparently it took me forever to bring out of anesthesia and get coherent enough for them to say I could go home. They wanted me to walk around at home, but the best I could do was get up, go pee, and sleep for 3 more hours at home. I slept in 1.5 hour intervals or so because every time my sleep cycle would get light (which is how sleep works), I'd feel pain or nausea and wake up, then have to slowly adjust into a comfortable position. I also only sleep on my chest at night. That made it rough. As of Sunday, I was able to do basic stuff like stay awake for long enough to talk to my husband for a while without being loopy as heck. I went back to work yesterday, and so far it's...a thing. I have a few questions. People say they lose weight during their first week. I feel like my body is the same as it was. I don't feel like the most recent slight changes (and I'm pretty obsessive and would notice) have undone, though people online say things like "I lost 10 pounds my first week." 10 is actually a lot for me and does result in something I can feel. Am I doing it wrong? Did the procedure fail? Protein shakes are so boring, and I would do anything to be able to have the sensory experience of eating. I'm only 2 days into feeling okay and I'm already wanting to break people in half for having a burrito within smelling distance. My work social time revolves around lunch, and it's making me feel lonely and awful. (They're all foodies. Like, they try a new kind of cuisine every week. There's adventure to it, and fun. I now can't do *any* of that flavor exploration.) Is there any way I can count soup as a clear fluid without it just being chicken broth out of a bottle? Anything with some mouthfeel to it? Like IDK, cream of chicken soup with some isolate protein to pump it up in the protein count? Is there a way to wring more than the 20% expected results out of this procedure? I can't afford (in time, money, or workplace presence lost) to do any more strenuous procedure. Not at all. So this is it -- this is the most intense thing I can do to lose weight. How can I get above 20% weight lost? Frustratingly, while I'm finding food boring, doctors are demanding I eat like 1000 calories a day, when I know I could get away with like 300 in pure protein and nothing else. I feel like that'd drop the most at once, but I'm trying to stick to what they tell me. I'm confused about the massive anti-fat-in-food bias I'm seeing around. I get that deep-frying everything is not healthy, of course. But the whole "don't use anything with a trace amount of fat as a condiment" -- didn't we prove over the past 10-15 years that low-fat diets are crap and that high protein diets with real fats are the way to go? That if you're going to use mayo, use a tiny bit of full fat instead of that light crap, and egg whites are silly, just eat the yolk dangit? I keep seeing recipes for after liquid phase of like "grilled chicken" and admonishments to never eat butter again. Grilled chicken is the most boring food known to man, no matter how much stuff you sprinkle on it to try to jazz it up. Am I going to have to argue with dieticians to be able to enjoy any kind of food again?

Thanks, KM. This is the kind of perspective I was looking for. What do you mean by the "weight loss phase"? The liquid phase? So if you spent the last 4 months on 10 pounds, that means that it took you 6 months for the other 50. I'm not sure how this translates to someone heavier, but that's a solid rate. I'm hoping for 250 -> 180, which would be 30%. I don't mind protein shakes on their own, but my issue is that I am used to living a very carnivorous life and am missing the flavors of meat and associated stuff. The faux-sugar flavor is great for feeling like I've had a snack, but I miss chicken thighs and steak. I'm wondering what can fill that desire. Have you done any research into your metabolic rate? Obviously at some points beforehand you were eating above maintenance, but did your BMR go down dramatically?

Sorry, with anti-fat, I meant elsewhere, especially in like...packets telling you how to eat post-op. I don't want boring awful food and never getting to eat butter again...