NickelChip

I was so happy to have chicken Soup flavored "shakes" to offset all the sweet stuff (until they started to taste like chemicals after surgery, lol). I was also able to put unflavored Protein Powder in Tomato Soup, and that was so nice! I would do a coffee flavored shake at Breakfast, chicken soup shake for lunch, and Tomato soup for dinner, plus sugar free Jello. It wasn't too bad after the first several days. Mine lasted 2 weeks. Take it easier if you can, and get lots of Fluid and sleep.

Week 5 Post op

Sw: 155kg /341lbs

Stats to date: - 15.9kgs / -35.05lbs


Huge NSV today, getting ready for work and it being very warm weather i decide to try on a shirt i hadn’t warn in 3-4 years because it didn’t fit anymore. 


It fits great now !


So i went shopping in my old clothes that i haven’t worn since 2019 ish and everything i threw on was fitting so nicely


Crazy ! I hadn’t noticed my weightloss physically until now 


It put a good spring in my step 


I’m feeling good - if a little tired. My surgeon prescribed some Vitamins that are specific to bariatric patients but i swear they are HUGE pills and i can’t swallow them they get stuck 😣


I need to research new Vitamin options in the mean time i’ll continue the powder form that’s not bariatric specific. 


In other news i’m no longer daily weighing or weighing out my food. The pressure is wayyy too much i’d rather weigh once a week and continue measuring my food visually on my little plates. 


Can’t wait for the next few months of new victories on or off the scale 🥳 

That looks delicious. Do you have a recipe?

I was very reluctant to post my before and after. I just don’t feel like I’m done yet? I’m 4.5 months post op and reached my initial goal at 3.5 months post op and went down further more so set myself a new goal weight, which I’m very close to, but thought hey, why not Celebrate it anyway? I look good, I feel good and I should get to celebrate that. Every single one of you looks absolutely fantastic, way to go lot ♥️

@LisaCaryl glad your nausea is better. No Hair loss yet here, I’m taking my Vitamins religiously and make sure to get my Protein in so that I don’t lose it but other than that can only keep my fingers crossed. I was extremely sick a couple of years ago (In and out of ICU and in the hospital for almost a month) and had a huge open abdominal surgery and at the 3-4 mo mark after I was discharged I lost probably 3/4 of my hair. Its just now back to where I want it. 😩
@BlueParis I’m sorry to hear you’re sad. I’m actually a grey, rainy day kind of girl and not a huge sun/light lover (worked as a nightshift RN for almost 25 yrs 🤷🏼‍♀️), but seasonal affective disorder is totally a thing. I wonder if you suffer from this. Maybe your PCP could recommend something for you….meds, light therapy? And I’m really hoping your and @RonHall908 s exhaustion resolves soon!
@NickelChip I wonder as well if your exercise routine is “slowing” your weight loss. Every time I do any extensive exercise, I gain weight the next day and then don’t lose anything for a few days. I’m not actively exercising and honestly have sort of avoided it I hate it. lol . I know it’s just Fluid retention but I still don’t like it. It’s definitely healthier to be fit but I haven’t gotten there yet I guess. You’re probably also gaining muscle while losing fat making the scale stay the same, but I’m sure that will eventually fix itself. I found this video which I found interesting and helpful. oh and did you like the roasted edamame 😊?

I'm also exhausted. I'm in Athens and it's raining and cold and grey. I'm just so done with the cold and rain. I feel it'll never stop. I'm so cold and tired the whole time. Really struggling with the weather being so grim (that said so is everyone I know - this year in Europe has been especially bad), mainly because I'm just so cold and tired and being cold and wet the whole time makes things 10 x worse. But yeah, I wrote it before but the weather is really doing a number on me. I might try and see a shrink soon if my mood re the weather doesn't lift because I'm nearing tears every time I see the weather forecast.

I'm sorry you're having a hard month @NickelChip - I hope your blood tests shed some light on why the loss has slowed for you. @RonHall908 Well done on loosing the inches and all the fat % !!! Actually reassured to hear you're also exhausted because as I've written, I'm really really struggling with being so exhausted and having constant brain fog.

Thanks, all! I certainly count every ounce of the weight I've lost for my own purposes, but I guess I always assumed medicine was a science-y, formula kind of a thing. But every source seems to say something different!

First, a long stall between 3 to 6 months is totally normal and the type of thing doctors should tell us to expect. But weight loss surgery is a game changer. This is no longer about calorie restriction to force your body to shed some weight, and if you think about it logically, it's impossible that your body is carrying out all its bodily functions on less than 1000 calories per day. It's burning fat, and also shifting fluids which account for a lot of what the scale reports to you as weight.
If someone who had not had surgery said I will only 800 calories, you would be concerned for their health. I say this as someone who is in a similar place mentally and emotionally as you are after stalling again for 9 days: you have to stop the dieting mentality.
Calorie restriction got you nowhere before and it will do nothing but hinder you now. Stop counting calories, especially if your team does not require it. Stop weighing yourself. Focus on eating Protein, veggies, fruit, Beans, nuts, and seeds. Focus on avoiding artificial sweeteners, processed foods, and simple carbs. Focus on creating sustainable habits and getting the right balance of foods every time you eat. Weigh yourself in a week. Or a month. This isn't about the scale or what you lose from day to day. It's about getting healthy for the rest of your life. It'll happen but you need to step back and not drive yourself crazy over it.

@NickelChip
Ingredients:
- 500 grams of chicken breasts, thinly pounded
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 packet of mushrooms, sliced
- 1 jar of sundried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 packet of baby spinach
- Light cooking cream
- Fresh Parmesan, grated
Grab your chicken breasts, pound them until they're thin, then marinate with a little olive oil, some salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder then pan fry them until they're cooked around 80% through and set aside. If you have the patience to marinate for a few hours it makes all the difference!
In the same pan add your onions, garlic, the sundried tomatoes (or half, whatever your preference is) and sauté until the onion is translucent, then add the sliced mushrooms. To that add around 1-1.5 cups of cooking cream (I used light cooking cream) I sometimes use 1 cup cooking cream and half a cup of milk, depends on the day. then add the same seasonings you used on the chicken to the sauce, I love to add chili powder but my kids eat the same food so I omit.
once it's about to boil add back your chicken and let it cook until the chicken is cooked through, then add a few handfuls of baby spinach and top with freshly grated parmesan. Serve with white rice, noodles or just veggies!

That looks delicious. Do you have a recipe?

Not gonna lie, it's been a rough month so far. I was doing okay heading into May. On May 1, I reached 203lbs, which officially was the lowest I have been since my 20s. The next day it bounced up, but then I lost steadily, down to 201.6. And then yesterday morning, when I was heading to my 3-month check in with the dietician, I was back up to 203lbs overnight! What the heck?!? Nine days into the month and all progress erased!
And then my dietician said everything I'm doing nutritionally is good, but I've only lost 19 lbs since surgery according to their office scale. I go back on the 21st to see the nurse practitioner and am going to ask what can be done if it hasn't improved by then. My loss of momentum tracks almost exactly to when I started taking my doctor's advice to get regular exercise. It was supposed to speed up my progress, according to the surgeon. Instead, in the past 3 weeks I have lost a total of 1.4 lbs. Color me unimpressed.
Finally, my dietician said I should try to reduce my reliance on Protein Powder, which I have in my morning smoothie and at night before bed. She wants me eating more "real" food (though, in my defense, I do not rely on soft foods and have chicken and vegetables and such every day). So I had scrambled eggs and fruit this morning and it all made me really sick. What a start to the day. smoothies made me feel good and I'm seeing little reason to give them up. I had smoothies all the time pre-op.
I'm hoping they'll run some blood tests at the next appointment to see what's up. Like @RonHall908, I have also been exhausted lately and can't concentrate.

I had my 3-month post-op appointment with my dietician today. She wanted to see 80g or more of Protein with 40% of daily calories from protein, and at least 64oz Water. Those are the only set numbers I was given, although we added up all the macros for a typical day from my journal and it came to around 900 calories, 91g protein, 78g carb, and 29g fat. The fat and carb percentage were roughly 30% each of my daily calories. She said that was very reasonable for this stage and that calories would slowly increase over time.
I was also told I could pretty much eat any type of food now, but she cautioned me about sirloin steak and very fibrous foods like asparagus (the woody stalks, not the soft tips) and pineapple as probably being a bit too tough. But she encouraged me to add in raw veggies and to move away from Protein Powder as much as possible.
Another reason you'll see programs not focusing on calorie counting is because people can make poor choices that way (or am I the only one who used to eat celery for lunch so I could have a big piece of cake and technically not exceed my calorie goals?). If you're choosing a small plate (I use a dessert/bread size plate) and fill one half with lean protein (3-4oz), and the other half with veggies, go easy on the fatty and sugary sauces, and stop eating at the first sign of fullness (for me, that would be hiccups), you will hit the recommendations without really having to stress over counting anything.

@BlueParis We're going back and forth here in Massachusetts, with one day beautiful and sunny, followed by 3 days of rain. It's the time of year when you need to have every single type of clothing in your closet and you might wear them all on one day. But I'm so happy to get outside for walks any day when it isn't actively raining.
@Briss72 I hope your leg infection clears up soon. That sounds so painful.
It's funny, between last night and tonight cooking dinner, I already have enough little containers for the rest of the week for myself. I guess the next few nights I can make the stuff my kids like that I can't really eat since I'm all set. I have to say, the frozen squash "noodles" with marinara and turkey meatball (yes, just managed one) was so good tonight that I don't know why I ever ate it with spaghetti before.

I went with the bypass because it had the better chance of resolving my issues with hypertension, cholesterol, and blood sugar, and much better chance of not developing GERD. I also know the 10-year weight loss/regain numbers are a bit better for bypass. And, just a minor consideration, but I felt better not having part of my body removed. I know, I had my intestines rerouted and all that, but my stomach is still in there and somehow that made me have more peace of mind.
2 weeks out today and my recovery has been fantastic. My doctor moved me along to basically a regular solid food diet at my appointment, with just some restrictions regarding excluding beef/pork/lamb and raw veg for a few more weeks. I've had no issues, only minor pain the first few days, and I feel fantastic. I can walk for an hour or more at a time with no problem. My recovery has been much easier than my brother's when he had the sleeve several years back, though not sure if that has anything to do with the surgery type.

Yeah, I wondered because my dietician gave me this same goal at my 4 week post-op appointment. She recommended 80g protein and that for now, protein should be about 40% of my calories, which means a goal of 800 calories per day. But she definitely said the goal would be shifting over time. I have an appointment with her next Wednesday and I'm curious what she'll say about my targets now that I'll be almost at the 3-month mark. For what it's worth, I've only lost 22lbs since surgery, so mine has been really slow going. If I hear anything interesting from my dietician next week, I'll let you know.

I am also a slow loser and was diagnosed with PCOS in my 20s. I'm also 50, so perimenopause probably comes into play, too. While I've lost 48 lbs in the past 9 months, only 22 of that is post-surgery (almost 3 months). It's frustrating for sure.
First, though, 13 lbs in a month is great, even if you hoped for more. And it really shows in your photos.
Second, your body retains Fluid for several weeks after surgery, so it's hard to say what's really going on.
But most importantly, this is a journey that will take 12-18 months. You're only 1 month in. And while your doctor can talk about trajectories and averages, each person is unique. Each body does what it wants to do when it wants to do it. Try not to focus on the scale (hard, I know). Focus on your health, developing good lifelong habits, and nonscale victories like loose clothing, getting off a medication, or improved lab results. Just because you started off slow doesn't mean you won't make it to a place that makes you happy.

I am counting from my highest ever weight on my tracker on this site (352), but my surgery team and primary care doctor count from my pre-op start weight (321). There's a 2 year and 30lb gap for me, but I'm counting that for me since it was work to break old habits during that period, which helped me set the pace to be more successful post surgery.
As far as sticking to a plan, as others have mentioned, they do use average numbers. Everyone will fluctuate a little above or below at each stage. Also the weight loss progression will look more like stairs/steps rather than a straight line. You can expect a period of weight loss, followed by multiple plateaus. That's just your body freaking out over an unusual weight loss event, and recalibrating things to make sure you're not starving to death. Since it can't know you're doing it intentionally, it will retain fat and fluids as it panics, then release them once it realizes you are safe. Just stay the course, and don't get caught up on seeing a steady loss, otherwise you'll end up worrying over nothing (like I tend to do haha).

My program too counts the highest or starting weight from the beginning. I had bypass 11 days ago and they weighed me at check in. I weighed 211. My Surgeon came to see me and she said wow you lost over 30lbs Sara be proud of yourself. I was confused and said no I only lost 10lbs and that was the pre-op??? Well I “forgot” that last August when I started this program I weighed 245. slowly over the last 8 months I did lose that 30lbs 15 right away with nutrition classes and then a few here and there, but had been stuck at 221-223 for months!! Then I lost 10lbs on the pre-op diet.
So she made me feel wonderful and I went into surgery that day feeling like a rockstar and it was great!
So I am counting my total weight loss because I worked hard for that 30lbs!!!

Wow your life is so full on, and here i am struggling to go to work each day haha. I've got my 3 months post surgery coming up and i really hope my surgeon will be happy with my progress. Starting weight was 118.6kg way back in Oct on day of surgery was 111.9 kg and now sitting at 96.1 kg I've got to keep reminding myself that I've kept off 20kg since starting and that's a huge achievement for me but still want my surgeon to be happy.

I've got a leg infection again at the moment so it has slowed down my walking routine (which annoys me) back to the doc this morning before work - i Just finished 2nd round of antibiotics - the pain feels like I've walked into a tow bar at shin level but constantly oh and i kind of high jump into bed because i can't put any weight on the knee.

I suppose i should be grateful I've got a great gp that has already sent me scans to rule out blood clots.

Other than that working on making better choices on Protein my next dietician appointment is at the end of May and she says we will talk about Macros so I'm looking forward to that.

My hubby went to see my surgeon as he is 233kg and surgeon wants him to get down to 180kg before surgery. Has advised him to go on weight loss medication (our GP gave him a scrip for Ozempic to begin with which is 1 needle a week) and he is off to see my dietician mid June so I'm happy with that. The dietician associated with his other surgeon told him just to eat veggies and 1 meal a day of 300 calories, even i had a protein allowance in my pre diet.
I went for a short walk/hobble at a Lake near our work yesterday and i must of brushed under a tree with ants on it. Got back to work and stripped off clothes picking ants out of everywhere spent next few hours whilst driving bus, picking another Ant out under my clothing the little buggers. Fortunately no bites but i literally had ants in my pants.
I'm on my 4th food tracking app this one i seem to like so hopefully I'll stay with it haha
Anyway have a great day everyone.

@gracesmommy2 Thanks for the suggestion! I've just ordered a 10-pack of the sea salt flavor. I love anything that is small and Protein packed.

Hi there!
My first contribution to this thread, I have been silently getting inspiration from all the yummy food pics y’all post. 4.5 months out, here’s my dinner for today (also my post leg workout meal):
Homemade Teriyaki chicken, 2 tsps white rice, broccolini. Ate the whole thing (around 229 calories)

Oh my gosh, you're almost there! Just over a week to go!
Are you allowed Tomato or butternut squash Soup? I found these blended with unflavored Protein were so much better than the powdered "soups."

So I'm home! I'm 72.5kg (159lbs) this morning so I've made it halfway to my goal like a true @NickelChip twin.
I'm home until Thursday when I fly off again but It's going to be a hectic few days ( and I don't even want to think of all the laundry I have to do!).
Thats means that in the last ten days since I was home I lost 1.7kg or 3.74lbs which is less bad than I thought.
@NickelChip The travelling is hard, I'm usually in hotels with client meetings and lunch and dinners most evenings - I tend to tell them I'm intermittent fasting so manage to skip one meal. I'm not against eating in my room in the evening but do prefer to be out because I just hate the amount of time I spend shut in hotel rooms and prefer to profit from the ambiance of wherever I'm staying. It's just such a massive change for me because I've always been a social butterfly out and about where ever I go ... I went to an international school ( well multiple international schools - I was an "Expat Brat / Third culture Kid") growing up so tend to have acquaintance to visit most places too, or have a random packet to give someones cousin/friend/old neighbor and food and alcohol have always played in a big part in that for me. Eating alone inside isn't really my thing.
I've actually got an airbnb for Athens because it's a longer stay so should be able to cook in the kitchen there, and I reckon there will be better salads, but it's a good idea to keep a tub of hummus and crudités in the fridge, I'm not a great fan of yogurt berry combos, but might try... I have perfected my smile and head tilt for when people I meet say "oh my god thats so lucky you get to travel so much" 🙂

@gracesmommy2 I'm not a fan of chips but could go for edamame! I come from a family of tall thin women with massive boobs - I'm the shortest ( and fattest) by quite a bit, I'm 5 ft 6 and my sisters, aunts etc are between 5ft8 and 6ft and probably have BMI's round 20....
So even when I was skinny I've always had massive boobs, I was a already a double F at 14 when I was 110lbs. When I was up at 200lbs and over they got to ridiculous proportions and I'd have deep dents on my shoulders from my bra straps digging in the whole time. I'm happy they're getting a bit smaller but hope I don't loose too much and that they don't head too far south .. but if they do ..that's what good bras are for. That said I am lucky because they've never caused back pain!
Do take pictures if you feel up to it - they are good to look back at to see progress, you too @LisaCaryl ... I'm sure one day you'll like to look back at them!
@Briss72 @Noelle74 @Eighmmie How are you getting on?

I totally get it. My brother had surgery about 15 years ago and his first few months were dramatic. He was losing so much weight daily, and went on to get from 310lbs to 150lbs in the first year or so (he's since regained to about 230lbs). But when I am tempted to compare myself to him negatively, I have to remember he was a guy (they lose 20% more on average) and in his early 30s at the time. I'm female and 50! Plus, his starting BMI was 6 points higher than mine. All that can make a difference. And even with friends who may seem a lot more like you (similar size and age), there are things you can't see like how much inflammation or Water weight a person had, or how much muscle. But yeah, it's hard. Especially as most of us had tried and failed so many times, having a few good months and then coming to a halt and regaining everything plus some, time and time again. When you are a slower loser, it messes with your mind and plays up your fears.
But I definitely second the idea of measurements. In the past 3 weeks, I have barely budged on the scale, losing only about 3 pounds and doing a lot of bouncing up and down. But I took my measurements and I've lost almost an inch in my bust, over an inch in my waist, and an inch and a half in my hips. At the start of April, I was wearing a size 20w in jeans (albeit roomy, but they stayed up). Yesterday, I had on a 16w and they were comfortable, not even skin tight! I haven't worn a 16 in years! So if the scale is messing with you, see if you have a piece of clothing from your skinnier days that you could try on. You might be amazed.