NP_WIP

Almost at 5 months and officially 50 lbs to goal weight. Have been following my exercise regime and feel more toned. Clothes that I had saved from many years ago are loose, I may need new clothes for my vacation next month or will use safety pins to wait it out until mid summer. Feeling confident and energetic so booked a few activities that I wouldn't be willing to do prior to surgery. Increased my calorie a little bit since I'm lifting heavier this week but stay within 800 calories.

Almost at 5 months and officially 50 lbs to goal weight. Have been following my exercise regime and feel more toned. Clothes that I had saved from many years ago are loose, I may need new clothes for my vacation next month or will use safety pins to wait it out until mid summer. Feeling confident and energetic so booked a few activities that I wouldn't be willing to do prior to surgery. Increased my calorie a little bit since I'm lifting heavier this week but stay within 800 calories.

I like you felt hungry after surgery, and since I started working out hungrier sooner. Prior to surgery I was like that too, get full fast but hungry often. What I found has help is sticking to an eating schedule, your body gets used to it. I start feeling hungry about 30min or so prior to my eating time which reminds me to stop my fluids to eat. If its before then if i sip some protein shake that helps a lot.

Congratulations!

Pain about 2 weeks, but I'm almost 5 months and still have some of the nerve discomfort in the big incision, not much but sort of tender is i touch hard and when I do intense ab work, has become better since month 3

Are you drinking your fluids? It sounds like you are severely dehydrated. It seems like you just recently had surgery and that is one of the main reasons people have to hospitalized after. Dehydration also worsens constipation, maybe contact your team to see how they can help.

You can have water in between and have shakes/broths/yogurt for meals. and stick to an eating schedule. I was actually hungry after surgery, but It subsided once my body realized that it was not eating outside of schedule. I started getting head hunger at month 2 and it was easier to identify because it was specific.

I had a little bit of itchiness at the beginning, and also had skin, not dandruff, peeling from my scalp, I put coconut oil or castor oil in my scalp once a week and that helped.

I second Dr. Shillingford. I’m in Tampa and did everything virtually. The fee for the surgery as of November 2022 was $11,500 and there is a separate $300 program fee which includes the fee to have the mandatory calls (medical history overview, education class and nutritional class) but it gives you lifetime access to the support group which has 3 meetings per month, one with the nutritionist Dr. Lillian (co-chair of ASMBS-IH FL) and 2 with Sandy/Jennifer the RN (one educational with Q&A and topics, the other for those less than a year out, open floor). I used MD Now for the Preops exams, it was around $300, and the Doctor may require a Covid test even if the hospital does not. Note that the surgery is in the hospital or outpatient facility depending on your BMI. You can send them an email and they will answer pretty quickly, sometimes when I have questions, I get a response in less than 5 minutes.

Everyone's journey is different, you will see those that started to loose fast at the beginning and slowed down, and others that were the opposite. Surgery was end of month, so I count the calendar months to be easier. I lost 1st month 18.70 (including preop), 2nd month 17.4, but after it has been 8-10 per month. I did review my diet and cleaned it up a little and added exercise so I think this month will be different.

The support group nutritionist said that even though stalls are normal and part of the body adjusting, must stalls after the honey moon phase are due to the amount of protein we are consuming and we should start looking at macros at that point (60-80g protein anything above can become fat, 50-60 carbs net if lifting/HIIT, 30g fat). I have seen members of the group have slow losses around month 6 (less than 6lbs per month) and come back with a 15lb loss the next month. But if you are not loosing at all for 2 months, I will call the Doc and see if they can help you. I know you can send the nutritionist your food log and she can review to see if something can be tweaked.

I'm trying to do this so I can meet my next mini goal on time.

You can try adding some greek plain yogurt to the beans to thin them out or broth. Not sure about the dumping. But I was advised to stay aeay from starchy veggies in pureed food since they are high in carbs and sugar, and do not provide any protein. I mainly had crab salad, soft fish, hummus, beans, soups, chicken mousse

I will ask your doctor to confirm since surgery does mess with your hormones. It took me a month to get my period which I didnt have for almost 10 months before that, and then I had a period every 2 weeks until I hit my 4th month.

I'm 4 months post op, 70lbs down since preop diet. I can eat anything I have tried, with carbs hitting heavier. I dislike the taste of beer and have no interest in alcohol. Last month I started exercising and I'm hungrier so trying to figure out how to add a snack even though I should be doing 3 meals until goal. Hoping to loose 15-20lbs before my 6 months since I'm expecting the rate of loss to slow down by then.

They told us about 400 to 600 first 3 months, then it will increase to 600-800, once we get to goal weight we will stay within 1200 calories

We were advised to take our vitamins and make sure we met out protein goal. We were told we can take Biotin or the hair and nail supplement to help with new growth but nothing can help stop it.

I didn't take much but I tend to pack light regardless. Charger, chapstick, wallet (self pay), spare undies, robe (didnt use). Wore a dress and slip sandals, and left the hospital with that.

Definitely increasing the water, we need 64oz at the bare minimum. Also make sure to hit your protein goal.

I can fit into regular width shoes, menstrual cycle is regular, I can jog for 5 mins straight, I can wear my wedding band again

Hope everyone is doing well! I finished my 1 month training program, start a 2 month one on Monday. My weight loss has been slow, I was going to say non existent but then realized I still lost almost 10 lbs this month. I knew starting weights was going to change the way I weight myself since muscle uses water to heal, but there were some weeks were I was loosing a pound. Once I upped the water, which I hit now 78-84 oz easily and my protein is on point, I started to loose again. But can't complain, really haven't had any stalls and if this can count as one, I'm grateful for it. Exercise made me hungry, like crazy hungry. There was a day where I was snacking on cookies, quest chips etc and realized I needed to stop before it became an issue, so I'm doing 3 meals and a protein shake split into 2 snacks. I'm also thinking of doing a few days of shakes only, if I see my weight not moving much this month. I want to be in onederland by 6 months.

Hope everyone is doing well! I finished my 1 month training program, start a 2 month one on Monday. My weight loss has been slow, I was going to say non existent but then realized I still lost almost 10 lbs this month. I knew starting weights was going to change the way I weight myself since muscle uses water to heal, but there were some weeks were I was loosing a pound. Once I upped the water, which I hit now 78-84 oz easily and my protein is on point, I started to loose again. But can't complain, really haven't had any stalls and if this can count as one, I'm grateful for it. Exercise made me hungry, like crazy hungry. There was a day where I was snacking on cookies, quest chips etc and realized I needed to stop before it became an issue, so I'm doing 3 meals and a protein shake split into 2 snacks. I'm also thinking of doing a few days of shakes only, if I see my weight not moving much this month. I want to be in onederland by 6 months.

I use Oikos tripe zero yogurt they have 15g per small container, they also have Oikos Pro (more sugar) with 20g and Ratio yogurts have 25g of protein. If you like chocolate milk, Fairlife Core Elite protein shake taste like it (or what I recall choco milk tasted when I was little, do not care for chocolate much as an adult) and its 42g of protein. I use those if I'm low on protein but use a 14oz bottle in 3 servings since I stay at 60g now that I'm 4 months. I did not have any back pain but I still have discomfort and numbness on the left side where the stomach went out, is not by the incision but near the belly button. The RN said it was normal since nerves are cut and can be 6+ months for it to heal. Regarding fullness cues, at the beg is hard because your stomach is healing and even just eating something new or a new texture will have some sort of reaction which we confuse with fullness or damage. I will usually get hiccups at the beg and sometimes I do now too, but its usually more about me not chewing properly or eating too fast. My guidelines say to eat slow and take 30 min, so I will eat, take a break and continue if I want more within the timeline, otherwise save it for later.

Some protein may be hard at first, and some days one thing will work. But the next it won't. I was going to be referred to an endo for PCOS, but since I was going to go ahead with the surgery I ended up not going. Everyone is different and loses at different rates, try not to compare yourself to others. I know its hard but once you get past that you are able to see how else you are improving. It can be measurements, energy, regular cycles, better sleep etc. The weight will come off, just keep track of your protein amd water intake.

I have had non alcoholic champagne, it did bother a little the first time but if you wait a few after serving is good. I have had ginger ale and some sip of soda and had no issues, but my program says no carb