SpartanMaker

There's actually a entire forum dedicated to this topic. It doesn't see a ton of traffic, but there are definitely folks doing this:
https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1101-vegetarian-or-vegan-eating/

Are you a politician, Spartan? lol 😉

For me, 100% this too. I never want to be morbidly obese again and all the things that go with it, including not being able to fit in seats or pain from unnecessary health problems. That is my main motivation.

Even naturally thin people will sometimes have too big of a meal, or eat unhealthy foods. It doesn't even phase them. So after all these years, I have finally wrapped my head around the fact that it is not an all or nothing situation anymore, I just go back to my normal routine the next meal. It took me a long time not to take one slip too serious. So the majority of time, my fridge is stocked with nutritious food so if I get the nibbles, I can reach for a handful of strawberries but sometimes I just really feel like having an apple fritter lol. It is a meal to meal, day to day, month to month, year to year consistency for following my plan 80 to 90% of the time.

The long term success of either surgery depends upon you. Many of the initial benefits of bariatric surgery fade over time. Your hunger comes back, your restriction can soften, it is possible to eat around your smaller tummy & your body’s new set point, etc. What the surgery does do is give you time. Time to make changes to your relationship with food: the why you eat, what you eat, when you eat, how you eat. Time to understand your cravings & develop strategies to better manage them. Time to establish new habits about eating & exercise. Time to work out how you want to eat in the future & what works for you & your body.
Regain occurs for many reasons: psychological, physiological, behavioural. Bounce back regain (usually 20%+/- of the weight lost) around the third year is common. It can be because your body settles into the weight it is happiest at (your set point). Medication changes. The crap life can throw at you (employment, relationships, health, pandemics). Complacency. A too restrictive way of eating or too demanding exercise regime. Not dealing with your relationship with food. And for some it can be a deliberate choice as they themselves feel happier at a higher weight or they make adjustments to their food choices to better suit their life. Not failure of the surgery but the impact of outside factors.
The average weight loss for both sleeve or bypass at the three year mark is about 65% of the weight to be lost. Of course as with all statistics there are some who lose more & some who lose less. If you are considering revision surgery of sleeve to bypass as a sign of the failure of the sleeve, remember many who have revision surgery do so because they developed GERD not necessarily weight gain.
I have a sleeve & lost more than my goal and have pretty much maintained though at only almost 4 years post surgery I’m still somewhat of a bariatric baby. I settled at 49kg (48.5-49.5). I unexpectedly gained about 2kgs about 18months ago (50.5-51) but recently we discovered I wasn’t absorbing my HRT meds. Changed to a patch & my weight is slowly decreasing (49.2-50). Small numbers I know.
Has it been difficult? No, not really. It was very obvious what I had been doing wasn’t working for me & I needed to make changes. I put myself & my health first. I changed my relationship with food. Made a decision to change what, when & how I ate. It became a new mindset. The changes have been sustainable & haven’t restricted my life. I still enjoy food & eating but my desire is for healthier, more nutritious foods. And no I’m not running marathons or spending hours in the gym just some at home stretching & resistance bands.
Sorry long post.

Honestly I don't think it matters if it's related to the surgery or not. Your surgeon just isn't going to have the requisite knowledge and experience to diagnose and treat you.
If this is something that recently started (and not something you had since surgery), my guess is this is related to a systemic change in your body, possibly related to an adverse change to your gut microbiota. Regardless of cause, you really need to see a dermatologist ASAP. They'll be able to diagnose the actual dermatological condition (and there may be more than one), and devise a treatment plan.
If you need to go through your PCP to get that derm referral, then go that route, but I really recommend finding a dermatologist ASAP. In the interim, you may get some relief from OTC allergy medications and/or topical creams.
Good luck.

There's nothing wrong with setting a higher goal for now and reassessing once you get to that weight. If 170 is all you can invision, make that your goal and once you get there, you may have a much better sense of exactly how much lower you can go.
If anything, I think way too many people set an unrealistically low goal and then find themselves disappointed when they can't get there. Keep in mind that obese people have heavier bones, enlarged hearts, more blood volume, etc. You may find that at 150, you look and feel as healthy as someone that was never obese is at 135.

Have you considered seeking the support of a therapist? It seems you may need some help dealing with the why you eat & why you make the food choices you do. They’ll also help you identify strategies to better manage those urges when they arise. Many find therapy extremely helpful.
The hardest part of this is understanding your relationship with food, recognising them when they arise & better managing them. We never completely get rid of those urges but we can take away a lot of their power.
As @BigSue suggested get rid of the food temptation out of your house. If you don’t buy them you can’t eat them. And delete any home delivery apps on your phone. It was one of the best thing I did. Look for some healthier alternatives instead of traditional ‘junk’ food for those times the urge for something salty or sweet or whatever is too strong.
And like @catwoman7 what keeps me motivated is not wanting to be the weight I was again. I want to be able to play with my nieces & nephews. I want to feel better & healthier. I want to easily be able to buy beautiful stylish clothing.

I do a lot of what SpartanMaker suggests and it does work! When I’ve gotten of track, I start with drinking Water to visually see that I am taking care of myself.

I also tell someone I trust. Sometimes just admitting problems makes it more real and then it’s easier to make that small tiny step.

Then I hold myself accountable by talking with the dietitian at my center. I can go into the center and weigh in monthly or every six months and talk with the dietitian.

Finally, I realized I was using food for comfort. I was thinking about Snacks instead of how to improve my life/job situation. It was time for therapy because I needed a professional to coach me into healthier life choices overall. It wasn’t just about food, but food was a symptom that was easy to see.

Only you know what amount/level of support you need. I hope that you make some changes to get the real live support you deserve. Starting here was a great beginning!

I also thought I ate "very little" at the time I signed up for the program and start the process but when I started logging everything I ate, the areas for improvement were very clear. I also have the issue of being a very small person whose maintenance calories are only 1500; 3 meals a day that are "average sized" to a person of normal stature was always going to be too much for me. It's also common for people with weight issues to think they EAT very little but are also drinking a lot of calories throughout the day and don't count those because it's not "food". juice, sweetened coffee with cream, sodas, milk...those are all calories, and it would be beneficial if you're one of the people who drinks their calories to start treating those things as food in your mind, not beverages.
I hate saying this but most of us pre-surgery probably thought we ate much less than we did, and quantity isn't the only thing that matters: especially when we try to space out our meals we often find ourselves eating more calorie-dense food when we do finally eat.
If you have decided to start a relationship with a surgeon to see if it would work for you, this needs to be something you discuss with them during your first visit. One of the first things they're going to ask you to do is keep a food journal and the best thing you can do for yourself is be brutally honest so they and you have an accurate picture of what you are ACTUALLY consuming, and being honest about your portion sizes is a huge part of that.

I'm not sure motivation is what you need. I think you need better habits. As you said, old habits die hard. You're just not going to wake up one day and suddenly start following your plan, track your intake religiously, exercise regularly, etc.
Instead, you have to pick one teeny, tiny change to make at a time. Pick something that seems almost insignificant, and do JUST that one thing for 2-3 weeks until it becomes the new normal for you. Once that becomes habit, then pick another small change to make, and do that one for several weeks until it's automatic as well. Keep building new habits until the old bad habits have been replaced by the new healthy habits you actually want.
As an example, maybe you've found yourself having a glass of wine every evening. Instead of trying to quit cold turkey, try drinking three ounces instead of four. Or if it was two glasses a night, maybe a few days a week, you only have one glass. After a few weeks of that, maybe you skip it entirely one day a week. You get the idea. The changes need to be so small you don't really notice the change.
Another strategy that can really help is to play mind tricks with yourself. Maybe you really LOVE chocolate. Convince yourself that you hate the taste of chocolate. Go ahead and eat it, but the entire time, think of all the sensations about it that you don't like, such as the weird melting sensation, the earthy flavor, etc. You may find after a while of doing this that you really don't crave chocolate much anymore. The mind games don't even have to make much sense, what's important is that you actually start to believe it over time.

There's nothing wrong with setting a higher goal for now and reassessing once you get to that weight. If 170 is all you can invision, make that your goal and once you get there, you may have a much better sense of exactly how much lower you can go.
If anything, I think way too many people set an unrealistically low goal and then find themselves disappointed when they can't get there. Keep in mind that obese people have heavier bones, enlarged hearts, more blood volume, etc. You may find that at 150, you look and feel as healthy as someone that was never obese is at 135.

Can you better explain what you mean by "help me"? Do you need to lose weight? How much? When you say you eat very little, do you know how many calories you're consuming now? Do you know your Resting Metabolic Rate? Do you exercise? What types and how much? Do you have any other medical conditions other than your digestive disorder? Especially disorders that impact your metabolism such as PCOS, Hypothyroidism, Diabetes, etc?
Sorry for all the questions, but details matter.

Can you better explain what you mean by "help me"? Do you need to lose weight? How much? When you say you eat very little, do you know how many calories you're consuming now? Do you know your Resting Metabolic Rate? Do you exercise? What types and how much? Do you have any other medical conditions other than your digestive disorder? Especially disorders that impact your metabolism such as PCOS, Hypothyroidism, Diabetes, etc?
Sorry for all the questions, but details matter.

Can you better explain what you mean by "help me"? Do you need to lose weight? How much? When you say you eat very little, do you know how many calories you're consuming now? Do you know your Resting Metabolic Rate? Do you exercise? What types and how much? Do you have any other medical conditions other than your digestive disorder? Especially disorders that impact your metabolism such as PCOS, Hypothyroidism, Diabetes, etc?
Sorry for all the questions, but details matter.

Are you taking 30 minutes to consume your meals? Are you avoiding drinking 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after your meal? If you're questioning whether or not to be concerned, there's probably a reason you're feeling that way.
food is fuel. It's taken me over 40 years to truly get a grasp on the concept. My understanding is that you can have whatever surgery you want to drop some weight, but if your habits don't change, you may end up right back where you started, or even heavier.
These procedures are tools - there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to maintain weight loss that resulted from one of them. WLS is not an easy way out - and it doesn't give you a free pass.
I agree with the suggestion to talk to a therapist about your relationship with food - I had to do that and it's been helping me a lot. I used to binge eat, skip meals, then scarf down dinner right before bed.
The greatest path to success on any program is loving yourself enough to sacrifice the 'wants' so that you can improve your quality of life.
Best of luck to you!

I feel like you may have a misunderstanding here? (Unfortunately a very common one!)
From the sound of it, you're expecting restriction to be the thing that keeps you from gaining weight, but that's rarely true for most post-surgical patients. A cursory glance at these forums should be proof enough of that. Look at all the posts from people asking for help because they gained a bunch of weight back and don't know what to do now.
Some recommendations:
Consider finding a therapist that specializes in eating disorders and work with them to reset your relationship with food. As long as you have a desire to be "full" and keep pushing the envelope, regain is going to be a real possibility. Talk to a nutritionist to get a handle on proper amounts and types of food that will work for you to maintain your weight. Track your calories and macros. If you don't know how much you're really eating, it's hard to know how much is enough, and how much is too much. Find a way to have your Resting or Basal Metabolic Rate tested (Google it). This will tell you how many calories you're actually burning per day. Use this, along with your food log to make sure you're not eating more than your burning.

There's nothing wrong with setting a higher goal for now and reassessing once you get to that weight. If 170 is all you can invision, make that your goal and once you get there, you may have a much better sense of exactly how much lower you can go.
If anything, I think way too many people set an unrealistically low goal and then find themselves disappointed when they can't get there. Keep in mind that obese people have heavier bones, enlarged hearts, more blood volume, etc. You may find that at 150, you look and feel as healthy as someone that was never obese is at 135.

There's nothing wrong with setting a higher goal for now and reassessing once you get to that weight. If 170 is all you can invision, make that your goal and once you get there, you may have a much better sense of exactly how much lower you can go.
If anything, I think way too many people set an unrealistically low goal and then find themselves disappointed when they can't get there. Keep in mind that obese people have heavier bones, enlarged hearts, more blood volume, etc. You may find that at 150, you look and feel as healthy as someone that was never obese is at 135.

+1 on this. There are lots of benefits to strength training, but the most germaine here is the fact that it will increase your metabolism.

There's nothing wrong with setting a higher goal for now and reassessing once you get to that weight. If 170 is all you can invision, make that your goal and once you get there, you may have a much better sense of exactly how much lower you can go.
If anything, I think way too many people set an unrealistically low goal and then find themselves disappointed when they can't get there. Keep in mind that obese people have heavier bones, enlarged hearts, more blood volume, etc. You may find that at 150, you look and feel as healthy as someone that was never obese is at 135.

+1 on this. There are lots of benefits to strength training, but the most germaine here is the fact that it will increase your metabolism.

I know this doesn’t answer your question directly but, are you doing much strength training? Adding muscle is a sure fire way to increase your daily caloric burn rate. We inevitably lose muscle during the weight loss phase and adding some of it back will facilitate further weight loss if that’s what you are interested in.

In addition to the great advice above, I'd recommend creating a diary or log to help you track this. There are lots of different potential causes, so the more you can document, the more likely you can find the cause. Some things to document:
Start by making note of the following: Any specific symptoms. "Shaky" can mean different things to different people, so you want to be more descriptive. Are you having any other symptoms that either occur at the same time or shortly before or after? The time it starts and the time it stops. Whether this comes on suddenly, or if it's more gradual. Other daily things such as the when you eat, when you drink, when you get up, when you go to bed, etc. what specifically you were doing when it started. What if anything you did to make it stop and how effective it was. After a while, you may start to see some patterns emerge such as
Whether or not this happens only once a day, or multiple times a day. Maybe it happens at roughly the same time every day or maybe it's more random? If it's more random, are you noticing any other patterns? Maybe you are more likely to be in a particular room or participating in a specific activity when this occurs? maybe it's correlated with meals? (Up to 30-60 minutes before or after.) Perhaps it happens after eating something specific? I think you get the idea here. The more details you put into your log, the more likely you are to find help. Once you have this info, I think it will really help your medical team find possible causes.
Also if you have access to a blood pressure monitor and a blood sugar test kit, checking those things multiple times a day, but especially when this issue occurs, would be a really good idea. If you do have access to those, add the readings to your log.
I hope you figure it out. I know from experience that having no idea what's going on with your body is super annoying.

In addition to the great advice above, I'd recommend creating a diary or log to help you track this. There are lots of different potential causes, so the more you can document, the more likely you can find the cause. Some things to document:
Start by making note of the following: Any specific symptoms. "Shaky" can mean different things to different people, so you want to be more descriptive. Are you having any other symptoms that either occur at the same time or shortly before or after? The time it starts and the time it stops. Whether this comes on suddenly, or if it's more gradual. Other daily things such as the when you eat, when you drink, when you get up, when you go to bed, etc. what specifically you were doing when it started. What if anything you did to make it stop and how effective it was. After a while, you may start to see some patterns emerge such as
Whether or not this happens only once a day, or multiple times a day. Maybe it happens at roughly the same time every day or maybe it's more random? If it's more random, are you noticing any other patterns? Maybe you are more likely to be in a particular room or participating in a specific activity when this occurs? maybe it's correlated with meals? (Up to 30-60 minutes before or after.) Perhaps it happens after eating something specific? I think you get the idea here. The more details you put into your log, the more likely you are to find help. Once you have this info, I think it will really help your medical team find possible causes.
Also if you have access to a blood pressure monitor and a blood sugar test kit, checking those things multiple times a day, but especially when this issue occurs, would be a really good idea. If you do have access to those, add the readings to your log.
I hope you figure it out. I know from experience that having no idea what's going on with your body is super annoying.

Regarding medications, I take 30 different medications or supplements per day and really don't have any issues taking them at this point. I obviously don't do them all at once, but it's not like I take them one at a time either. Right now, it's roughly five to seven at a time, spread throughout the day.
I was pretty challenging the first few weeks to get everything in because at that point, I was having to take maybe one or two at a time. I'd say I did that for 3-4 weeks, and slowly started upping the amount I take at once. I'm hopeful I'll eventually get to just twice a day (because some of my meds are BID), but that may be a bit longer still.