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Yea. For me whenever I have alot of carbs, I crave them for a few days so just be mindful of that and if that’s the case for you the only real way to get through it is to white knuckle it. One trick I did learn is to use my free foods from my preop diet such as pickles and sugar free popsicles to eat when I’m craving other things. May be one day of a few more calories still but it’s not nearly as bad as another day of high carb. Especially because that would only be followed by another day of the same. This is my first time having a lot of carbs with my revisions so hopefully this still works for me too

not american, so no thanksgiving pics to share, but here are some thingsn i've prepared/eaten the last week or so (NOTE: i'm currently in an effort to gain weight - the horrors! lol - so my food choices may be a little off-the-bariatirc-norm...) 1) bbq pork and seasoned rice one-pot-rice-cooker-meal. my portion: 266 cals...ate almost all of it 2) homemade chilli topped with cilantro and feta cheese, home focaccia and sliced avocado sprinkled with sumac: 599 calories for whats shown. ate everything except the foccacia (too chewy for me!!...mr ate it instead) 3) more of my homemade chili, some cheddar cheese, more cilantro, and some Tostido's Hint of Lime Tortilla chips (my fave!!!) 276 cals...ate it all! 4) homemade guacamole with the above mentioned focaccia that i slow toasted to make crisps with cheddar & cilantro & sour cream: 370 cals...ate all except 2 the focaccia crisps. 5) homemade crispy pork belly...omg THE. BEST. CRISPY. PORK. BELLY. EV-AH!!! this pic is of the entire slab. i had roughly 1/2 cup volume of it. ate it all!! 250 calories! 6) junky snacks: - 2 walkers mini shortbread cookies + 1 chocolate : 123 calories - 2 walkers mini shortbread cookies + 3 sour keys candies 103 calories yep, ate all it ta-da!

not american, so no thanksgiving pics to share, but here are some thingsn i've prepared/eaten the last week or so (NOTE: i'm currently in an effort to gain weight - the horrors! lol - so my food choices may be a little off-the-bariatirc-norm...) 1) bbq pork and seasoned rice one-pot-rice-cooker-meal. my portion: 266 cals...ate almost all of it 2) homemade chilli topped with cilantro and feta cheese, home focaccia and sliced avocado sprinkled with sumac: 599 calories for whats shown. ate everything except the foccacia (too chewy for me!!...mr ate it instead) 3) more of my homemade chili, some cheddar cheese, more cilantro, and some Tostido's Hint of Lime Tortilla chips (my fave!!!) 276 cals...ate it all! 4) homemade guacamole with the above mentioned focaccia that i slow toasted to make crisps with cheddar & cilantro & sour cream: 370 cals...ate all except 2 the focaccia crisps. 5) homemade crispy pork belly...omg THE. BEST. CRISPY. PORK. BELLY. EV-AH!!! this pic is of the entire slab. i had roughly 1/2 cup volume of it. ate it all!! 250 calories! 6) junky snacks: - 2 walkers mini shortbread cookies + 1 chocolate : 123 calories - 2 walkers mini shortbread cookies + 3 sour keys candies 103 calories yep, ate all it ta-da!

I wish it were that simple, but it's not. We have to keep in mind that our weight is made up of a lot more than just fat. There are multiple body composition models used, but the one I recommend most people use when trying to lose fat is a 3 compartment model that consists of the following: Fat Muscle Bone I recommend this one since it's easy for most people to visualise those 3 components. Keep in mind however that roughly 70-75% of muscle mass is water. Why is that important? Because sometimes we can be fooled by the scale into thinking we're not losing fat, or that we're gaining fat when we're not. Most likely, what you're seeing is simply changes in water weight. A really common scenario is for people on low calorie diets (like most people here), to see a plateau and think that means they need exercise more and/or eat less, but when they do that, they actually gain a bit according to the scale. The reality is they didn't gain fat, they retained more water. I think it's important to keep in mind that we all have something called a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the minimum number of calories your body needs simply to stay alive. It can be thought of as the number of calories you expend per day even if you were completely sedentary. BMR is a complicated subject, but on average, the bigger you are, the higher your BMR. Yes, it goes down as you lose fat, since fat is not completely metabolically inert, but fat loss does not have nearly the effect on BMR that losing muscle does. This is one of the main reasons bariatric patients are told to focus on protein intake because protein is needed to help prevent excessive muscle loss when dieting. More muscle = higher BMR = faster weight loss, or being able to eat more at goal weight The average BMR for women is ~1400 k/cal per day. Higher if you are taller or more muscular, lower if you are shorter and/or have lower muscle mass. Men, for obvious reasons tend to have a higher BMR that's more in the 1700 range. My point in telling you all of the above is that it's highly unlikely that someone eating 900 calories a day needs to eat even less if weight loss has stalled. Frankly, if that is the OP, then I'd actually recommend exactly the opposite: try upping your caloric intake a couple hundred k/cal per day and see what happens. I know it seems counter intuitive, but your body is not a simple machine where the calories in vs. calories out paradigm actually works. Happy to discuss more and provide additional info, but this post is already overly long. Best of luck.

then i wanted something crunchy. a bowl of Harvest Cheddar SunChips: 190 calories, ate it all!

yum! i make cookie versions of this all the time! i've made it both sugar and sugar-free in varying degrees of success. for sugar-free i find monk fruit sweetener works best...but it is waaaay sweeter pound for pound so use less! you'll have to add some sort of wet/moist ingredient to make up for the volume loss in the recipe tho...i've used unsweetened almond milk and olive oil...which one depending on how many calories i want per serving in the end, ha.

so a quick google states that a weight loss "stall" or "plateau" is 4 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS of no weight gain NOR loss while on a CONSISTENT calorie intake. basically, this means netting the SAME average amount of calories (intake less expenditure) for 4 weeks and staying at the same weight for said 4 weeks. this generally means that you have reached an equilibrium with your intake (calories) and your expenditure (activity). which means you either have to reduce your intake or increase your expenditure to restart a downward trend. the inverse of this is also true: increase your intake or decrease your expenditure, and you will GAIN weight. sooooo...if you are below 4 weeks of the scale not moving (in conjunction of your measurements not reducing), then stay the course...you are in a stall. if you are ABOVE 4 weeks of the scale (and measurements) not moving, then this would indicate the time to start re-evaluating your lifestyle IF you want to lose more...you are in a plateau. if you are happy with your current lifestyle, and just don't want nor need to make changes, then is a matter of accepting yourself as you are now. ain't nothing wrong with that! not everyone gets to their arbitrary goal weight. and those that do, the majority don't even stay there. find the weight that you are cool with expending the effort to maintain. it's different for everybody. good luck! ❤️

Yep, I'm 9 months post-op and may or may not just be coming out of about a 3-week stall. It's very normal and expected to start slowing down, stalling, and having small weight gains at this point. I hit a low of 170.2 toward the end of October, immediately bounced up a pound, and didn't drop below that low point until 3 days ago. Personally, I find that whenever I hit a new low after a little bit of a stall, especially if it involves a large one-day drop (I went from 170.8 to 169.0 in a day), I'll usually bounce around a little before seeing any steady declines. Most people continue losing weight until at least 12 months, and sometimes a little bit more until 18 or 24 months. But with a lot more stalls, especially the closer you get to a "normal" BMI. (I'm about 14 pounds away from not being considered overweight by the medical charts). The important thing is to develop a healthy eating and exercise routine that is sustainable no matter what the scale says. If you're doing what is reasonable and recommended, keep doing it. There's no need to change what isn't broken. On the other hand, if you know you've been straying from your good habits, focus on getting back to where you know you should be. Eating healthy foods in the correct portions on a regular schedule, moving your body throughout the week, getting the right amount of protein, taking vitamins, and drinking water are all things you will be doing for the rest of your life, even though at some point the scale will stop going down. The advice I am giving myself these days is to try to separate those good things I am doing from the number on the scale. Because for me, if I start seeing weight loss as a "reward" for "being good", it makes it harder to continue the good lifelong habits when that "reward" inevitably goes away. It also won't do you any favors in the long run if you try to introduce a bunch of things you know you will never be able to maintain just to get the scale moving faster. I might be able to drop a few pounds really fast if I went back to 500 calories per day or re-did my 2 week liquid diet, but I can't live like that forever, so it's a false victory. I think we all have to find the right balance of habits we can maintain fairly steadily for a lifetime and a healthy weight we can maintain without torturing ourselves. And remember that just because you hit the 12-month mark doesn't mean the game is over. You can always introduce improvements to your nutrition or your exercise that will result in slow and steady changes over time. You don't have to workout 5 days a week for 2 hours a day if that isn't your thing, but if you add some resistance training a few times per week or an extra walk after dinner, you will see those results down the road.

I am 12 weeks/3 months out. It wasn't my best weekend as far as carbs, but I also don't think it was terrible; it was my highest calorie count since surgery at 1500. The next day, I just tired to really focus on protein and low carbs. I did go walk today and got in a little over 2 miles so that feels good to be more active again.

@Mspretty86 girl good for you!!! I tried to do that but I became too lethargic and cranky! hahaha I wake up at 4am make myself coffee, unsweetened almond milk and a couple of pumps of sugar free sweetener. I also make myself keto toast with Nuttzo butter ,half a banana sprinkled with cinnamon. It starts my day and I know I eat more calories than the average sleeve person (1800-2000 a day) but hey I got to where I am at doing this. Have you found that fasting helped in other ways?

@Mspretty86 I think if I lost more weight I would look frail and I want to look strong and fit. Once I get my boobies in 6 weeks I am going to be feelin' myself HAHAH!!! 😂 Thank you!! We are all winning!! I was strolling on Youtube and this guy who is a personal trainer, Trent Harrison, posted a video how we cannot always live our life in a calorie deficit, that being hungry is normal and a good thing! He has realistic foods that we can buy from a ton of places with high protein and low carb/cal. I have been really trying to dig deep- last couple of weeks I have been binging/grazing and just unmotivated for some reason, like I would still do my workouts but kept looking at the time because I wasnt feelin it or just doing an "easier" workout to say I worked out, but I snapped outta of it and back at it! Now I am feeling like myself! Try out her channel, tomorrow I am doing her glutes and I know I will be feelin it tomorrow whoowee! I used to follow Sydney Cummings- dont get me wrong she is good, but I needed something that pushed me harder and this chick does that. Lemme know what you think!!

I would suggest you do some more research into which surgery to get. There are pros and cons to each. Many people choose the sleeve over gastric bypass because it has a lower risk of dumping syndrome, vitamin deficiencies, and ulcers. Most doctors want to do what’s best for the patient, so they should be able to explain why they recommend the sleeve for you. Do you know how many calories you are eating? Have you tried measuring and tracking your food? At your height and weight, you are eating approximately 2500 calories per day, and you will need to eat less to lose weight. Either surgery works as a tool to help you eat less, which is how you lose the weight.

Wholeheartedly with you on this. I was fit and in shape my whole adolescence, I had both my kids and stayed slim and never tracked anything. I worked out hard, ate well, prioritized protein and had fun on the weekends and that worked for me for over a decade and two pregnancies. My weight ballooned up all of a sudden and kept going up and never stopped, and no matter what I did I was never able to lose weight. I had a very bad ankle injury 2 years ago that caused even more weight gain (33 lbs) on top of what I had already gained and due to the injury my mobility was greatly affected and my weight was spiraling out of control. Even at my highest weight I worked out 5 days a week and ate well and Nothing! So I understand your frustration fully. The only thing that worked was the VSG, the pounds melted off like butter and I regained control. If I were to go back in time, I would track everything I ate to figure out where the issue lay, I would weigh myself multiple times a week and see what the scale is telling me. I would do this before jumping on the surgery wagon. I wish I did that, because no matter how much I worked out and how well I thought I was eating, I was doing something wrong, and the surgery outcome proves it. Now that is my own experience, I am all for living worry-free and being intuitive, however these tools can give us great insight until we are where we need to be. I never weighed myself regularly (went by how my clothes fit), now I do. I never tracked my calories, now I do a few times a week just so I don't go off track again. There are days where I don't track because I know roughly how much I'm eating, and some days I do just for QA. Again, calories from here and there add up, so it's good you're aware of that. Also, there are other tools out there (GLP-1s if you're willing) that can rev up your metabolism and help the weight loss start again. With all that being said, you are doing amazing and it is important you don't lose sight of that ♥️

@Lilia_90 Hi! Congrat on reaching your goal so fast! I have very stubborn fat and weight and I come to the realization that I have to accept that is just how my body is going to be. When I first started I did went all out and use the food scale for the first few months. I bought a set of products that could use an app to keep track, scale, food scale and measure tape. After a few months of using it, I kinda picked up on how big of a size I should cut and how much to take with salad etc. from time to time I still use if it comes to something I am not familiar with. I didn’t use the scale yesterday and put down what I ate on the app, it’s about 1000 calories that I ate. Of course it could be more than 1000 calories if I count the Pam spray that I used and a drizzle of salad dressing, but sometimes it’s very tiring to counts everything, and I don’t want to live like that. Mindfulness and healthy living is the habit that I need to do in this journey. That’s why I stop using the scale every single day. After all we can’t bring scale out to measure everything when we are out and about in places. I also had 1 hour work out and burned about 400 calories. oh while typing I realized I had a cup of unsweetened almond milk that should be about 50 calories that I had yesterday, so I have to be careful about these small things I do without remembering. I guess my frustration is that I feel like I am doing not bad, very healthy compared to how I used to be, and working out. I wanted to at least be able to get rid of 100 lbs… but my body is telling me no. I am usually very hard on myself and always aim for higher. So that’s that and I will learn to deal with it. Doesn’t mean I am giving up though. In the past, I had never dream of being able to stick to gym routine, regular gym is so just boring to me and I could never know what to do with all those machines, like I am just wandering inside. This around , I found something that I enjoyed and worked for me. I found that I need to workout in a group class and having everyone working out at the same time doing the same thing , this actually motivate me, so I started Orange Theory Fitness, and my body retain water stubbornly so I found hot yoga and it’s something I enjoy. The last few appointments with the doctors I kept complaining my slow weight loss, they assured me that I was doing great, but I shouldn’t not be looking into plastic surgery so soon and it’s a long time away to when I should have it done. However, the last appointment, the doctor mentioned that if I really want, I can start with a consultation. Then my nutritionist telling me my weight might be stabilizing… I feel like this is a green light. lol Anyway, I took a few screenshots of the app I use, want to share to this for those that want to try something like this. I bought the Renpho Health products and link them in the app, so I can track my weight, what I eat and measure the inches of my body all in 1 app.

Your food looks balanced and healthy. I would ask you if you track your food using any tools? (MyFitnessPal, etc.)? My first guess is that this might be more than 1000-1200 calories? I could be wrong of course. Do you do track everything down to the grams? I am not a fan of obsessive tracking nor do I practice it to be very honest, but when you are struggling to lose weight and you're doing everything right, then these tools come in handy and really give you an idea of what your intake is vs your output. I would say - if you already don't - do invest in a food scale and all the measuring cups, spoons and apps. Another thing to note which has been said time and again, is that not everybody reaches their goal weight, as long as you're happy, fit and healthy, it is kind of the whole point, plus muscle mass that will affect the scale and the whole shebang. As for stabilization, I stabilized at 9.5 months which is considered very early out, reached goal at 3 months and continued losing until 9.5 months and my weight has been stable for the past two months. That doesn't worry me nor does it affect the fact that this journey has been a success to me, success is very subjective and it comes down to being able to (mostly) maintain whatever weight you have lost + building good habits. If this means that you have lost 78 pounds + started serious exercise + dropped multiple sizes then it's a win in my opinion. Use every tool out there for your benefit, but also remember that you define what success is to you.

Honestly, your food pictures all look pretty healthy, so no notes there. I would watch out for any mindless snacking, just in case you have fallen back into a habit of popping a handful of nuts when you walk past your pantry (guilty!) or adding a lot of cream to your coffee. You know, the type of thing your brain may not even be registering. I had a friend who thought his coffee was fine because he didn't put sweetener in it, but he put a ton of half and half, along the lines of a full cup per day, or an extra 300 calories he forgot about! But other than that, plateaus are normal. I am approaching 9 months post-op and for the past 6 weeks, I have been bouncing up and down by about 2 lbs but never dropping lower than the lowest weight I hit in early October. From everything I've heard and read, it's part of the process and is pretty common the closer you get to a normal weight and the farther out you are from surgery. There are a few things you might try, though. First, increase your protein so you are at 80-100 grams instead of the minimum 60. Try to make that from real food and not a shake. You might also increase your non-starchy veggie intake, which will provide more fiber. Add in another 32oz of water each day. Go to bed an hour earlier if you can. It's counterintuitive, but increase your calories by 100 and cut back on your exercise a little to see what happens. Sometimes, your body starts to conserve too much energy because it fears starvation and giving it a little more while asking it to do a little less breaks that cycle. Also, the fact that you fit into clothing at 195 lbs that your family members wore at 30 lbs lighter suggests that some of your weight is not fat but "infrastructure." When we get very heavy, our body grows more bone and muscle to hold it, and bigger organs to carry out their functions on a larger scale. When we lose weight in a hurry, all that architecture remains in place for quite some time, adding to the number on the scale. You may look now like you did at 10, 20, or even 30 pounds lighter back in the days before you ever became obese. If you have some old photos of a time when you were the goal weight you have in mind now, try doing a side by side comparison. You might already look really close to where you are trying to be even if the scale says otherwise.

@BigSue is right on the mark. I will also add that not everyone reaches their goal. And that’s okay. The win is you’ve lost weight and are healthier than you were. Remember that your goal weight is an arbitrary number you chose not the weight your body settles at & is happiest at as your new set point the surgery has gifted you. The point people’s weight stabilises at is different person to person. You do tend to lose the most in the first 6-12 months but people can lose for another year. Not everyone but some do. It took about 17months for my weight to finally stabilise. Though I reached goal at 6 months I kept losing for another 11months & at a very slow rate. (Took 6 months to lose 31kg then 11 months to lose the final 11kg.) Your rate of loss will get slower and slower as you near your final stabilised weight. It could be ounces a week or even a month near the end. So you may not have finished losing yet. But do check your calorie intake. If you’re maintaining at the calories you’re consuming now you’ll have to eat less to lose more. And you will have to eat fewer calories than you are now if you want to maintain at a lower weight than you are now. Another consideration is you’ve likely built up a lot of muscle with the activity you do. Muscle does way a little more than fat and it will change your physical shape somewhat too which may explain some of the clothing size discrepancies you’re noticed. There are lots of averages and generalisations around weight loss (how fast, how much, when things will happen, how many calories you need, how much activity, etc.). We’re too different for the sane hard and fast rules to apply to everyone, You just have to find what works and is right for you, your lifestyle and your body. PS: Another average, but exercise only accounts for about 10% of the weight you are to lose. Better to look at exercise for the benefits it brings to your cardiac health, muscle strength, flexibility, bone density, etc. & not so much for weight loss.

Hi Sue, I’m eating about 1000-1200 calories a day on the days I am working out. I add a protein drink as my snack for the days I work out. If I am not working out, I eat around 900-1000 calories. I’m still following 3oz protein, 1oz veggie and 1oz carb rule. When I am more hungry I add more protein instead of 3oz protein I eat 5oz protein. You might be right about working out, it might not be the key to losing weight. That’s why my size is shrinking but not my weight. It definitely helps burn the fat though. I think this is also why I have so much excess skin. I have excess skin on my arms, tummy, thigh, back… basically everywhere, I know it will not bounce back just because how much hang I have. Even the weight didn’t change much, the excess skin is getting more wrinkly day by day.

How many calories are you eating? "5-8 oz" is not a meaningful measure of the number of calories you're eating. 5-8 ounces of peanut butter is a lot more calories than 5-8 ounces of cauliflower. If your weight is stable over a long period of time, you're eating a maintenance level of calories. The smaller you are, the fewer calories you burn just to operate and move your body, so if you're eating the same number of calories at 195 pounds as you were eating at 273 pounds, you're not going to lose weight as quickly, and maybe not at all. If you want to keep losing weight, you will have to reduce your calorie intake. Calorie intake is much more important for weight loss than exercise. Exercise is certainly beneficial, but as you have noticed, it makes you hungrier, and it's very easy to eat more extra calories than what you burn from exercise -- especially if you're not monitoring your calorie intake. Also, don't get too hung up on the number on the scale. There's no magic in reaching your goal weight. You might need to reevaluate your expectations. It's quite possible that your goal weight will be too low for your body, especially if you are building muscle. And don't be in such a rush to get plastic surgery, either. Your body will redistribute itself over time, so some parts of your body that you don't like now may improve on their own without plastic surgery. You may still want to get plastic surgery eventually, but there's a reason most surgeons want you to have a stable weight for a while before you get it.

Thank you for your questions. My dieticians said anymore protein and bodies can't process it so it ends up being a waste unless I'm a hard core body builder / marathon runner athlete. They balked about going up even 100 calories...plus protein doesn't register as feeling full for me, it never has long term. I can drink a 26gram protein drink and nothing. Whereas carbs fill me up, so its a constant battle..or it was... It was agreed that I should start Glp-1's. I've been using this tool for the last few months and all I can say for me they're amazing. The constant mind food harassment has stopped! I no longer feel hungry all the time unless its nearing meal time. Plus my scale is finally showing downward progress - 20lbs+! Again, thank you for asking and your kind words.

Sorry you're feeling this way. Did you try upping your protein and calories?

well...we didn't end up going to Costco...whomp whomp we got distracted house hunting and then ended up picking up Popeyes in the way home...double womp womp. an onion ring, 3 boneless chicken wings, and a scoop each of cole slaw & the mashed potatoes. estimated 370 calories for the before pic. ate the sides, a bite of the onion ring (not very good) and 1 of the chicken wings which turned out to have a bone in it, surprise! hahah.

Breakfast (2.5 hours post a weight lifting and jogging session) 1 slice protein toast, 4 slices turkey breast, lite cheese, spicy mayo, lettuce and jalapeños. How I did: Had the rest an hour later. Approximately 314 calories for the whole thing. Also had a protein shake 1.5 hours prior.

oops i did it again: came home from 2.5 hours of hot yoga and was too lazy to fix something so reached for some junk. sour cream & onion chips, 1/4 of a coconut bun and 1 of those dark-chocolate-peanut-butter cups i made the other day. 317 calories for it all. ate almost all of it. (i really need to make sure there is something to eat when i get home from yoga/pilates/rock climbing....need to go grocery shopping!!)

went on a sauce/condiment making rabbit hole yesterday... from left to right: 1) garlic chilli crisp oil 2) ginger green onion sauce 3) simple syrup 4) earl grey infused simple syrup (made this on whim and don't know how i survived all this time without it! #yum) added a generous drizzle over some silken tofu....😋 **last pic: a tbsp each of the chili crisp and the ginger sauce with 50g of Char Sui (aka Chinese bbq pork)...ate it all! (224 calories)