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Did your surgeon discuss Gastric Bypass or the SADI or Duodenal Switch with you? With your starting weight, you might want something that gives you more than the restriction of the sleeve. Especially if you only lost 100 lbs with the band... All three of those surgeries have varying degrees of malabsorption which help you lose weight for longer and the SADI and DS are usually used in patients with a high BMI. But, not every surgeon is trained to do these surgeries. If your surgeon didn't offer them to you, I'd highly recommend finding a surgeon that will. The convo is worth it. Unfortunately I can't comment on how the sleeve feels vs the band, since I never had the band. I have a sleeved stomach (as well as rerouted small intestines) and for the most part it feels normal. Do NOT believe anyone who tells you that you won't be hungry post op. Some are lucky enough to lose their hunger for the first year, a few lose it permanently, but some of us never lose it at all. I woke up in recovery hungry and boy was I mad! LOL But my surgeon had warned me that not everyone loses hunger. The portion of the stomach that is cut out contributes to a number of hormones that can affect hunger and satiety... The rerouting of the intestines that the Gastric Bypass, SADI, and Duodenal Switch do controls a whole host of hormones too, some different than the ones in the stomach, this is why these surgeries are more effective at helping with comorbidities like diabetes and high blood pressure, and why they are a bit more effective for higher BMI patients.

OMG, I think I love you! Thank you so much for such a thoughtful and comprehensive reply. I'm taking a PPI twice a day. Maybe I need to eat 1/4 cup more often. I'm eating that much about 4 times a day and you've suggested 5-6. Your explanation about swelling and healing is super helpful. I'll try the Millie's broth. I'm about to move on to soft foods and maybe that will help, too. I'm encouraged to hear that even after stalls you can have big drops--I have been so worried that I did this and now I'm just going to lose a pound or so a month again. At that rate it will take me almost 4 years to lose the remaining 40 lbs! You can imagine why I'd be discouraged. It's good to know hunger will return to normal too. I realize I'll have to eat more frequent smaller meals. Thank you again for your supportive and reassuring post. ❤️

Oh!! And never look at the number on the scale and compare it to others. If you really feel the need to compare, use percentages. Those at a lower weight tend to lose slower, those at a higher weight tend to lose faster. For instance, your excess weight is 50 lbs. That's the amount you want to lose. A 10 lb loss means you have lost 20% of your excess weight already in 4 weeks! That is a lot even though it doesn't look like a lot on the scale. In comparison, my surgery weight was 307. So for me, 20% is 27.4 lbs. It took me until 9 weeks post op to lose that much... So you are a bit more ahead of schedule than it feels! Percentages are a way better gauge of where your progress really is.

Your feelings are valid @Nan CC, surgery is stressful and the idea that we have done so much for so little loss in the beginning is discouraging and depressing!! I have some thoughts to share about your experiences... 1. That hunger you are experiencing is normal. It doesn't go away for everyone. I woke up in the recovery room ravenous which pissed me off because all they kept saying is I wouldn't be hungry! And I ended up more hungry than I'd been in years!! The first two months I was hungry all the time. True hunger. I think it is because the body is panicking and trying to figure out what is going on. Plus we've been lied to, that growling sound is often not hunger, but just our system digesting and moving air and fluid through our system. After surgery our internal digestive process sounds louder to us for some reason. Maybe because we are paying more attention?? I don't know. But I had true hunger constantly. One thing that will help this is a PPI (proton pump inhibitor). Our tiny tummies are still making enough acid for a normal tummy and that can irritate it as it heals. That gnawing hunger can often come from this and gets worse at night... 2. No, you aren't supposed to automatically feel full with 1/4 cup of food. A lot do, but not all by any means. The reason for this primarily is because all the nerves that communicate fullness to us were cut during surgery. It takes at least 3 full months for those to heal enough to accurately communicate again. The 1/4 cup portion size is to keep you from inadvertently overeating and stressing your healing stomach. At about 8-10 weeks you may notice you can eat more, that's because the internal swelling has gone down. By then you should be able to start gauging your fullness signals. They are often different post op and can look like sneezing, a congested or runny nose, hiccups, pressure in your breastbone, nausea, etc... By 3-4 months out you may be eating more like 1/3 to 1/2 cup of food at a time. Not everyone progresses that way, some have high restriction all the time and have to stick to smaller portions. But the key here is to start building that relationship of listening with your body and learning that the feeling of hunger does not mean you are starving. If you are eating 1/4 cup of food 5-6 times a day, you are getting enough nutrients for your stage in the process. As @AmberFLmentioned, I suggested Millie's sipping broths (you can get a sample pack of all the flavors on Amazon) they help a LOT when you want something, the warmth and savoriness can really soothe the extreme hunger until it balances out on its own. 3. Stalls are normal and can happen early and often. I lost about 15 lbs in the first 3 weeks and then proceeded to stall for 6 weeks and gain and lose the same 4 lbs!! I was horrified and really worried my surgery wasn't going to work. I lose weight VERY slowly, my body is resistant to losing, and I have diabetes and such like you, which I think makes losing hard too. This stall was normal, even though it didn't feel normal. DS patients are known for losing dramatic amounts of weight and my surgery weight was 307, there was no good reason for the stall. But my body needed to take a break and recalibrate and heal, so it did. Finally after those 6 weeks I SLOWLY started losing again. Then at the beginning of February the weight loss finally started to pick up! A lot of people lose a ton at the beginning, I didn't. Apparently my body needed 3 months before it felt safe to start dropping weight steadily... All you can do is get good movement, good sleep (sleep is crucial to weight loss), good hydration, eat every few hours, and stay off the scale for a bit...it will break when it is ready to. 4. Hunger does eventually return to normal, or whatever is normal for you... I'm almost 4 months out and mine is back to what is normal for me. I still have to eat every 3 hours, if I don't I feel drained and irritable and my weight loss slows... I drink plenty of fluids during the day, it helped with the hunger. I feel my fullness signals clearly now, I think all that healing is finally done. I just have to eat slow enough to allow those signals to get to my brain (it takes longer than you think!). Broths, milk, coffee, tea, flavored waters, all these will ease hunger pangs, but the best cure is time and learning to heal your relationship with your hunger so you can feel it and not feel stressed about it. The great thing about eating every 3 hours is the next meal is around the corner, so I can drink something and tell my system to wait until mealtime. This helps heal the insulin resistance too by allowing your body to go through the full insulin response cycle post meal. I'm sorry this feels so hard. I hope your stall breaks soon! And I hope it helps to know you are not alone. ❤️

Well, I have low energy sometimes. I'm at 225 right now. My goal is 170-180. I guess it could be some "head hunger", but I also have spells that seem to me to be hypoglycemia. Also, my stomach growls and I feel sickish. Idk. If it is "head hunger", do you have any tips for getting through it? My psych suggested sipping a warm drink when hunger hits. I'm not a warm drink fan, but have tried herbal tea a few times. I just feel like my weight is coming off so slowly now. Like a pound every 2 weeks. At this rate, I will never reach my goal. I do exercise at least 3 or 4 days a week. I try my darnedest to stay under 1200. But, there are lots of days where I go over and the guilt murders me.

We are surgery twins! I'm sorry that this is happening, it totally sucks! and your feelings are so valid! I do feel hungry so what I had to do is change what I ate. So for bfast instead of a shake I now eat something with substance like eggs with avocado ect..then my shake is my "snack" I eat every 2-3hrs and that has helped me. *knock on wood* I have not hit a stall YET because I am sure one will come. I walk everyday for 30min, i wake up drinking water and my Isopure mix such as mixed berry or mango lime. Then I will have my decaf coffee with sugar free torani syrup and a dash of my nutpod creamer. Then an hour later I eat my food breakfast. It took me time to get there. I eat around 825 cal, 110g of protien, 35g carbs and under 20g of fat. When I am bored or feel hungry I chew gum or @ChunkCat suggested Millie's sipping broths and they are DELICIOUS!! Always protein first, something that I still am working on because I love my carbs LOL You got this and use this platform, we are here for you!

I'm 3 months out from Gastric Sleeve surgery and have the same issue. I had constant hunger before and that never really left. The difference is now my stomach has a governor in place and will fight me if I give in. The 3rd week stall was discouraging but it passed and I lost 15 more pounds before hitting another stall now. I'm trying to change up my diet some and try some new foods, in case I'm deficient in some sort of nutrient and my body is craving it. I did eat some Korean food, sort of a low carb bibimbap type thing, and it seemed to get rid of my head-hunger and my stall broke when I was eating it more frequently, but that lasted about 3 weeks before returning. For some reason I'm really craving beef right now, but my iron levels are actually too high. I find myself constantly wanting to graze while working at my desk, I'm guessing more out of a stress relieving habit rather than true hunger, but it feels real. When I get that urge to graze after a meal, I'm making myself drink a 16oz bottle of water and chew some very flavorful gum to distract from it. It's not a cure, but instead of constant cravings, it seems to buy me 2-3 hours. Good luck, and congrats on your surgery and your progress! Definitely share with us if you find a way to curb the head-hunger feelings.

I need to rant a little! I have always struggled with excess weight in my adult life. Over the years I tried Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, my own thing, you name it. For the past 8 years I have been struggling to lose 50-60 lbs. It was extremely difficult for me to lose anything at all unless I severely limited calories - like 800, 900 per day - which I could only do with the help of prescription medicines. When I'd stop taking them the weight would come back despite that fact that I was rarely overeating, usually around 1500 calories per day. Over the years I gained and lost the same weight this way. I took Contrave, but it hyped me up so badly I couldn't stand it. I took Belviq, which worked well - I didn't care if I ate or not so it was easy to consume so few calories, but it was taken off the market. I used Qysmia, which also worked the same way. I lost 30 lbs, but I was paying out of pocket and couldn't afford it any more. One of my issues is that I lose weight VERY slowly, and it was frustrating to work so hard and lose a pound or 2 a month. After gaining all the weight back plus 10 more pounds in 2 years, I knew I could lose it again by getting back on Qysmia but I couldn't bear the thought of the "yoyo" again. I'm 67 and have diabetes and heart disease in my family, which I was afraid of developing if I didn't take and keep the weight off. I'm on blood pressure and cholesteroI meds already. I can't play with a yoyo any longer at this point in my life and so I began to consider sleeve gastrectomy. I researched and thought about it for a long time before finally having surgery 1/24/24. Yesterday it was 4 weeks since surgery. In the 1st 2 weeks I lost 10 lbs. While I hoped to lose more, this was a good result because before surgery it would have taken me about 6 months to lose 10 lbs. Victory!! Or so I thought. Since then, however, I haven't lost any weight. I've read about the 3 week stall, which I guess is what I am experiencing. I think I get it. And at the same time I am enormously frustrated and sometimes find myself thinking that I made this drastic and permanent change in my life only to have the same result - consuming very little calorically and the weight just not coming off. Except now I'm consuming even fewer calories (still on purees). And on top of that, I am hungry almost all day. After breakfast, I wait 15 minutes and start on water/fluids again. Fifteen minutes after that, I am hungry again. And yes, it's genuine hunger - with growling and an empty feeling. Eating 1/4 cup of food is not filling me up. I am getting usually around 70g of protein each day in what I'm eating and drinking, so it's not that. I had some wild expectations, I'll admit. My doctor gave me a goal weight that requires me to lose 50 lbs. (60 for a "stretch" goal). I (crazily) thought that it would take about 2 months to lose that much. I've since realized that with relatively little to lose it will go slower, but geez! For who knows what reason, I also thought I would hardly ever be hungry. Five days post op, natural hunger returned. I was mad! And surprised, but I relied on this forum and learned that hunger was still normal. I thought once I could actually eat something it would be more like "normal" hunger - like before surgery - when it was about time to eat. Instead I find that I am often just hungry all day (usually worse at night) and the amount I'm eating isn't enough. I eat the recommended 2 oz of food and I never feel full, but I stop because that is the recommended amount. The instructions I've been given have implied that this should be more than enough to fill me at this point and that I might not even be able to finish that much, but it hasn't been the case for me. In 30 minutes or so, it's like I didn't eat anything and I'm hungry again. Of course I realize that a lot of my problem is my unrealistic expectations. But sometimes I do feel frustrated that I did this drastic thing only to have nothing change - I still can't lost weight. Mostly, reason prevails and I know that sooner or later the weight has got to come off. Reason is reassuring for the mental issue I have here, but reason does nothing to help the hunger. Ok, rant over. Does anyone have experience like this? Very slow loss and constant hunger? Does the weight loss pick up? How long does the 3 week stall last? Does the hunger ever return to normal? Help!!

Anyone else experience complications post bypass? I just had an endoscopy that found ulcers inflammation and stricture at the sit where my new stomach connects to my intestines. Apparently it's because of lack of enough blood flow to the area and is the reason I've been so sick since my surgery 6 weeks ago

sip sip sip. i carried a water bottle/insulated cup (and yes, i used a straw...i know people have been told not to use them, but i did...ymmv). around day 2-3 i realized warm/hot water went down easier than cold/room-temp so i started sipping that. was able to stand colder water again by week 2, and also in week 2 i accidentally found out i could gulp water...i was so thirsty and didn't think, so yeah. was able to drink large amounts of water no problem after that.

I am two months out and each program is very different. Follow the nutritionist. I had a two week stall and you just keep doing what they tell you. My protein is 60-80 and water is 64-100. I try to get closer to 100 because that is when I see more weight come off. Everyone is different trust the process! Congrats to you!

I am one week post op and an STRUGGLING to get water in. I’m not worried about food just yet, so just nibbles throughout the day, but I’m forcing water and still can not get my recommended 64. Help!!!

I was told by my bariatric team nurse that it's normally a two week wait, and they would call me at that point to set up my surgery date. BCBS approved me within a week. So, I was surprised when the hospital nurse called me with check in day instructions and found my surgeon had already scheduled my surgery in 10 days. So what normally would have been a 2 week wait for approval, then a 2 week pre-op diet turned into a Fastrack to surgery. My liver shrinking diet was shortened because of it which was OK with me and obviously OK by my doctor. Good luck!

I think it was about two weeks for me.

I think it was about two weeks for me.

I had mu Gastric bypass on the 7th. Mine went pretty well too. I haven't had any issues getting enough fluids. On the blood thinner shots, they will bruise you, it doesn't look pleasant. It something that happens taking thinners. The area where I put the shots looks like I took a couple chuck norris kicks to the mid section. Forgive me if I give to much info. The only problem I have is constipation. I've taken MiraLAX everyday, yet I still had an impaction. I couldn't free it myself and had to go to the ER to get everything to pass. The surgeon told me it could happen after surgery because of pain meds and Anesthesia. Plus I was on a two week pre-op liquid diet and was supposed to be two weeks Post-Op. So you get no fiber to help things along. Since my issue, the Doctor said I could go ahead and eat pureed/soft food. Even starting it early by a week, I've had no issues. Though, I can only intake a cup of food or less. It's very different. Wish you the best of luck.

Hey! Very very new here however not new to the band! (Banded Oct 2022) when I first had it fitted I lost most of the weight I wanted to. Took a good couple of months and 1 fill of 1ml (taking me from 5.5-6.5ml in a 10ml band) I was happy. The weight was coming off, people were noticing, I felt better in my body (less weight to carry around and I felt loads more confident in my appearance too!) over the summer months I really struggled to eat anything with the weather being hot I put a lot of it down to that.. I had 0.5ml removed taking me down to 6ml in total. During winter I debated having some back in but figured with Christmas approaching I wasn’t overly concerned with my weight. I stepped on the scales a few week back and realised I’d regained a whole stone. So I booked in for a fill. I only had 0.25 put in 6.25 total) and I’ve realised very quickly that I literally cannot eat anything!! I can have two bites of a sausage and be done because anymore I’m at the toilet with regurgitation! :( this obviously is not healthy and so far my weight has stalled but I don’t know what to do for the best as if I have some removed, I’m going back to weight gain… can anybody offer any advice on what is the best thing to do?

Hey all, I got VSG in August 2022. I've lost over 150lbs and just found out I'm 5 weeks pregnant (first time!). I've spoken to my surgeon, nutritionist and obgyn, but no one had a solid recommendation for prenatal. My surgeon said to take 2 prenatal vitamins which will give me what I need, while my obgyn said to compare my bariatric multivitamin to prenatal and if possible, stick with what I've been using. I do have a prescription for folic acid that I take daily which is why I assume the obgyn is not entirely worried about the prenatal itself. They also discussed making sure there's not too much iron which could lead to constipation. Anyways, could you guys share what you did or what was recommended to you? I currently take bariatric choice once daily multivitamin. Would also love to know what your daily regiment was (ex: prenatal, calcium chew, etc). Thanks so much!

mine sucks apparently. lol I had one 2 weeks post op and it was for 5min then they havent told me to meet them again...so I have no idea!

That's interesting... I had revision surgery the day before you, so we should be on the same stage, but even over a week after you posted this, I'm only allowed 3oz protein and 1oz veg, fruit, OR starch. 4 oz. total, with no indication that these amounts will ever change moving forward. And I'm being told that I should not be using protein shakes anymore if at all possible. I'm struggling with how to consistently get 20g of protein per meal when I can only have 3oz. at a time. If I could just eat plain chicken breast for every meal, sure. But I'm not cleared for unrestricted textures yet, and canned chicken breast is only 15g protein for 3oz. The dietician also REFUSES to give me any guidance on how many calories I should be aiming for per day and says that I shouldn't be "restricting," because I'm in my "maintenance phase" now. Which I am extremely confused by, because according to their plan, I'm still on "soft foods" until Monday, 2/25. And I have 25-50lbs to lose, still at the high end of the "overweight" BMI range.

Hi everyone, Just checking in to see how you are all doing now that we are 8 months on from the start of July surgeries? As I posted before I had a terrible time with complications; leak, pancreatitis, allergic reactions, abscesses and infections, I even had to be transferred to a hospital in another country for a procedure to stop the leak! But most importantly I made it through and got home from hospital the start of November. I am only starting to get my energy back now and find an interest in doing more than just coping /trying to get through the day, can see small improvements each week. My weight loss has slowed down over the last few weeks but my body, and mind, have been through a crap fest the last few months so not surprised, it will happen when it happens. I still can't always hold food down and get bad pains in my stomach at times, have refulx but it is all an improvement from a few months ago. So far I am down 38kg / 83lbs which is good going considering when in hospital I was on a feeding tube for quite a while and my weight went up due to the nutrition I was being pumped with. I may have to get a revision to bypass if the leak doesn't heal (won't know for another month or so if the treatment worked) but I'll cross that bridge if and when it comes. I hope everyone is doing well.

I went through similar, op in July and only finally home from hospital start of November. While in hospital I found it difficult to hold anything down and was put on a feeding tube for a couple of months and then the second time I was put on a tube it was because I had a leak and they wanted to bypass the area so it could try to heal. I am also on daily medication for my stomach, have to take before I eat anything, and I have strong meds for nausea if needed. Over the last few weeks I have slowly started to increase the calories I take and exercise I do, gone from about 500 cal a day to approx 900 cal but for me the more important aspect is ensuring I get enough protein. I am able to now hold food down but it is hit and miss, like Sunday my dinner did not stay down but it was something I had eaten before without issue, it just depends. I have to push myself to eat three meals a day as I just don't feel the hunger (or interest at times). I don't sleep well and am exhausted all of the time which is why I have tried to push myself the bit more on food intake and exercise. I do see small improvements but I am not where I thought I would be this far out from the op and it can upset me at times but I try to focus on the good things. My weight loss as slowed down over the last 6 weeks or so but I am hoping it is just my body is still in recovery mode after going through so much stress since July. I would think your body is probably going through the same, a lot of trauma has occurred and it is trying to cope. Don't compare yourself to others, everyone has a different experience with the op and we all recover in different ways, just try to focus on the progress you can see in yourself. If your doctor is ok with how you are doing that is important and it will get better for you, just need time to recover and destress. Hopefully you will be slowly able to up the food intake or find a source of high protein that you can keep down. I don't know how you are on fluids but for me I can now take coffee again (even the smell of it turned my stomach for the first six months or so) so I take it with protein powder which means I am getting protein through fluids as well as the food I can eat. Same for collagen, I put it in my coffee also and it is another dose of protein so in two coffees a day I get 20g of my protein requirements. Happy to chat if you want. We can do this. 💪

Awesome!! I will be right behind you on Thursday. I will be doing Lovenox injections also. First week post op is clear liquids and second week is full liquid diet. Hope you continue to recover fabulously!

I agree with Arabesque that your body is probably more along the lines of what things would look like for most people at 4 months. The central line feeding would have been high calorie to prevent malnutrition, so I'm assuming you didn't lose any weight on it? Or did you? I remember reading about your rough start, I'm glad you've been able to get off the feeding tube and that you are able to eat, even though you are taking meds to help with that. Going from the high caloric intake of the central line to an extremely low caloric intake has probably been a shock for your body. Many of us stall somewhere in the first few months, some for a few weeks, some for a month or two, as our body readjusts and tries to decide if it is starving or not. I know you can only get in so much food with your digestion issues, but is there a reason you aren't supplementing with whole milk or shakes a few times a day? These wouldn't be affected by your slow stomach issues. And they may give your body a bit more energy to work with. Protein waters could work too, things like SEEQ are thinner and as easy to get down as water. The watermelon flavor tastes like a watermelon jolly rancher. LOL Weight loss post surgery is a delicate balance. We want to be in enough of a deficit to facilitate good weight loss, but if we are too low our body goes into stress mode and won't release any weight because it thinks we are in a famine and are trying to burn through our reserves. So we have to eat enough to reassure it that we aren't slowly starving to death. Decreasing your activity and increasing your intake a bit (even if it is just a shake or a few glasses of milk) might give your body enough of a signal that you aren't starving and have what you need to continue to lose weight safely. Things like hydration and sleep are crucial too, as these are also markers the body uses to determine how much stress it is under and if it is safe to lose weight. In fact, some studies have shown that sleep is MORE important for weight loss than even exercise is! I tend to think they are both important, but the point is, you have to look at the holistic picture of how much stress load your body thinks you are carrying in relation to how much energy it has to give. My last stall lasted 6 weeks and drove me crazy! But my body broke the stall when it was ready to, I just kept eating well, drinking well, and resting well. That's all you can do really. You can't push the river. ❤️

Welcome Cyd! I had that sensation of things going down every time I swallowed after surgery. It was so weird, I could literally feel air displace in my digestive tract to make way for the fluid! And I would get this gurgling sound like fluid going down a drain! 😂 It was so strange. Fortunately it only lasted about 2 weeks. You have to keep in mind that your stomach has just been cut and stitched together, everything is VERY swollen internally right now, so there is very little space for fluid to go down! It is like a little tunnel right now, so that's why you feel it. Over time the swelling will go down and you'll feel it less and less until it is gone. I had weird stomach twisting pains with every swallow too, so drinking was annoying. But I kept reminding myself that hydration is number 1 for the first two weeks and that if I didn't get my fluid in by drinking I'd end up in the ER needing fluids and I didn't want to end up exposed to the germs. LOL So I drank, discomfort and all!! But everyone is different... Be sure to let your surgeon know you aren't anywhere near your fluid goals. They may need to arrange for you to have some IV hydration until you feel swallowing is less uncomfortable. Also, remember, your body is full of anesthesia that affects mood and surgery itself can induce depression for a bit for some people. So try to be kind with yourself if you are feeling sad. Regrets are not unusual early out after surgery because everything is so new and feels awful. It will ease in time!! You aren't alone. ❤️