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If you lost a bunch of weight pre-surgery your loss post surgery may be slower for a little while. This is because the body has to recalibrate and reassure itself it isn't starving to death. It also has to replenish glycogen and rebalance your fluids and on and on. It's a lot of hard work for it!! And slow to one person is not slow to another person. I'm 6 weeks post op a DS and have lost 20 lbs. I did not lose much pre-op. I have been stalled for several weeks because that's the classic 3 week stall where the body does its thing to recalibrate to lose more weight. I'm not stressing about it, I just had a very major surgery! My body has been working hard! It takes time to recover. You feel like you are starving because you aren't getting your fluids in by mouth. Trust me, once you are getting all your fluids in it becomes a challenge to find times to eat and drink everything you need in a day. Getting fluids by IV will keep making the scale jump by 10 lbs because they fluid load you to last a few days. You are probably losing fat, it just isn't showing on the scales because of the IV fluids. Make sure you take measurements too, those often change when the scale doesn't. I wish you much luck in getting off the IVs!

Oh, I'm 3 weeks post op, almost 4 weeks

I did stall often in the beginning though. About every other week. A good loss one week and stall the next.

Hey y'all! I'm currently one-week post op and I'm trying to interpret when I'm getting close to full. In the beginning, I was starting to consume 4 oz at one time every thirty minutes to get my goals in (I've stopped that since, I take it much slower). I never experienced any real discomfort even then but I'm afraid of hurting my sleeve. What are some signals that are experienced at this stage or what I should look out for? Any help is appreciated!

I am 4 weeks now from surgery. I got my date of 12/27. I have been doing pre op since April but I ran into a health issue that took priority. Now that is taken care of this last stretch has gone quickly. I have a 2 week liquid with one meal a day. Then I have a 1 week liquid only up to surgery. Of course after surgery is the two week post op liquid and then adding in purée food for week three. I don’t know where to start and everything is so expensive. I have gotten some of the stuff I will need but none of it food or the Protein Drinks and shakes. That part I am actually finding rather overwhelming on what to get and how much And advice from anyone?

I'm always cold too. I was cold before surgery and now it feels worse. Also i have a slow healing ulcer in my leg, which is going on three years everytime i get close to it healing somehow i manage to rip the dressing off it. Don't know if it's the extra walking I've been doing that has made it flare up again. On friday i had a fever and literally could not warm up (until i was too hot) that's gone now. Just called in sick for work to get some antibiotics for this leg. (Its Winter over here in Australia)

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. ❤️

I'm always cold too. I was cold before surgery and now it feels worse. Also i have a slow healing ulcer in my leg, which is going on three years everytime i get close to it healing somehow i manage to rip the dressing off it. Don't know if it's the extra walking I've been doing that has made it flare up again. On friday i had a fever and literally could not warm up (until i was too hot) that's gone now. Just called in sick for work to get some antibiotics for this leg. (Its Winter over here in Australia)

So, I work with a lot of heavy lifting (wine boxes and loading them into u-boats, etc) and work has been accommodating to me, but I noticed that I was scheduled for a shift to basically go back into that on my 5th week from surgery date and I was advised to not do heavy lifting until the 6th week; is it going to cause complications? Or do you think it'll be manageable? 😬

Made it to day 2 post op! Not so much in pain, but get some very uncomfortable stomach feelings or cramps. They prescribed oxy and liquid Tylenol which I’ve been taking pretty much every 3-4 hours (woke up every three hours the first night following the procedure). Otherwise I’ve been up and walking in between napping - very tired! I had my procedure Thursday and was planning to go back into my office on Tuesday. Based on how tired I am, I will probably work from home the whole week following the procedure. My dietary guidelines are as follows: Day 1 (procedure day) & Day 2: Clear liquids, supposed to have 64 oz of Gatorade or a diluted fruit juice but I haven’t been able to drink that much at all. They said the first two days are the worst as your stomach heals, so hoping tomorrow is better. 4 weeks: Full liquid diet 2 weeks: Blended/pureed foods 4 weeks: Soft foods Regular food I feel ready but am a little nervous for the amount of drinking I’ll be doing at the office!

Chinese yum cha lunch with girl friends yesterday & a part way through my meal pxt. Half of the Moreton bay bug spring roll & one of the three prawn & scallop siu mai. Took about 45 minutes to eat it all but I was sipping a glass of Louis Roederer champagne & the bubbles were giving me a bit of trouble. Was still worth it though. Lol! PS - Bugs are a local lobster variety. Very yummy: sweet, rich.

First, congrats on your weight loss. Wonderful! Second, is it a stall, a very normal & important part of your weight loss, or is it just your body slowly down the loss to seemingly nothing as you’re nearing or at your body’s new set point weight? If it is your new set point, you will constantly be fighting it to try to lose more. This is where your body is happiest. If your weight loss has slowed/stopped at this weight that means you will need to continue to eat the 1000 calories you are eating now to maintain it. Or less to lose more. Is that sustainable? Is it healthy in the long term? There’s the weight you want to see on the scales & the weight your body wants you to be & is compatible with your life & lifestyle. This alone can take time to accept & wrap your head around. Just some things to consider. Not everyone has a bounce back regain. I didn’t. I still weigh about what I weighed when I first stabilised with the same fluctuation range of about a kilogram/2 lbs at almost 5 years out. And I consume more calories now than I did when I first stabilised (1300 then & 1600 now). I don’t do any real exercise, am a little shorter than you & quite a few years older than you I expect. Also, look at increasing your fluid intake. You should be aiming for 2 litres a day & more on the days you’re more active. Your weight loss isn’t over until it’s over. A stall doesn’t mean it’s over. Just your body taking a break to reassess your current needs.

I was in Eygpt at 8 weeks post op for a couple of weeks and was totally fine!

I am 22 pounds from goal weight and the only exercise I have done for the past year is walking 2-3 miles a day. Casually. To be honest, I joined Planet Fitness since everyone kept telling me I needed to lift weights to avoid too much muscle loss from the rapid weight loss. I went a few times then stopped during flu season and never went back. I had a few different stalls and of course the weight loss slows the closer we get to our goal weight. But on the average, I lost 1-2 pounds per week since RNY WLS in April 2023. I plan to amp up my workouts after I get below my goal weight with resistance training. I used to body build in my 20's so I'm counting on muscle memory to kick in for me. LOL I also knew that weightlifting would increase my appetite and eating more when our bodies can't build muscle during our honeymoon phase didn't seem logical. According to bariatric surgeon, Dr V, we are in a catabolic state for 1 -2 years after surgery. Meaning we cannot build muscle while our body is breaking it down. (losing weight) Makes perfect sense to me. I'm curious if you have gotten a bodyfat test that shows increased muscle mass 9 months after surgery coupled with weightlifting?

Oh that is absolutely normal and actually still a great loss streak! The weight loss path is not a straight path down. It will slow and even stall as your body is adjusting. Weight training can add to it, but honestly your body will adjust throughout. And yes the smaller you get, the slower it gets. I lost about 30lbs in the first month and a half (including the pre-op diet) and yet it's taken me nearly 4 months to lose 12lbs. You are still early on since surgery and have done fantastic. We started about the same weight. We are in this for life so keep doing what you're doing and let everything else speak for itself - the way you feel, take pictures and measurements. The scale is just one factor.

I'm almost 4 months post op from the MDS and I've been asking myself that question, "am I overeating", on and off for the past 2 months. I've been able to figure out 2 body cues so far: feeling full to me is a pain in a specific part of my chest and feeling hungry is a intense pain in my abdomen. But other than trying to avoid those, I feel like I spend a lot of time grazing or snacking. Because of my morbid curiousity, I weigh myself pretty much every day. I didn't experience the "3 wk stall", but my weight has bounced around a bit. Dealing with pain and nausea has made me lose both pounds and inches, which scares me more than it makes me happy. The stress of school made that worse recently, in 4 days I lost 6 lbs. At my last follow up, my dr and dietician said to slow down my weight loss by adding in some carbs. I have been doing that for the last 2 weeks and I've been able to gain/maintain a range of 2-3 pounds, so I agree with @SleeveToBypass2023's advice about the rice and such.

I had my RNY procedure last January at 52. So far so good. 2 days in the hospital, I managed my pain at home with Tylenol instead of the hydrocodone I was given. No complications, I did have a bout of dumping when eating peanut butter for the first time post-surgery. I can tolerate it now. I lost a total of 85 pounds. I had a 3-week stall last March. I am off CPAP. My A1C is at 5.5 and I am feeling great. I love my new body. I am working on minimizing the scars with silicone scar and tretinoin via the advice of my dermatologist. My asthma is way under control so need for my maintenance inhaler. I feel that this was a reset in my life in many ways. I do Zumba, walk, and use dumbells to stay in shape. I make sure to stay hydrated per my surgeon's instructions. I follow my surgical team's advice to the letter. I'm just feeling blessed. Best of luck in your journey.

At the beginning of my fitness journey, I joined a national chain gymnasium for a little over $10 per month. It rhymes with Janet Witness, and had a variety of low impact and muscle building machines to try out. Pushing towards 300 pounds, I had to work up the courage to be there but soon found that everyone was in their own little zone, paying me no mind. I took advantage of their membership benefit that allows one to meet with a trainer to plan a custom routine. Three years later, I am still a member of this gym and am grateful for the healthier lifestyle seeds that they helped me plant.

It was a while ago now but I remember I still wasn’t hitting my protein goal. I wanted to do real food only too & plus I found the shakes disgusting & never touched one after liquids. For breakfast I scrambled eggs with extra milk & took three days to eat them or ate rolled oats again made totally on milk & took three days to eat a serve. Lunch & dinner were often just protein (maybe 2 ozs) & nothing else or with just a green bean or two or a small cauliflower floret with dinner. And yes I’d take a while to eat that - 45 mins +/-. After a week or two on soft food I added a high protein yoghurt or yoghurt drink as an afternoon snack to burst my protein. I wasn’t hungry or really interested in eating. I simply couldn’t eat more than I was but I was following my surgeon’s portion size recommendation of 1/4 - 1/3 cup from purée slowly increasing to a cup by 6 months If you are worried by getting your protein in try protein water. You’ll get about 16oz liquid, 15g protein & about 70 calories. So fewer calories (if you count calories) than a shake (which is really a meal) but not as many nutrients. Just watch those with added sugar or sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners.

Two weeks until surgery!!!! I scheduled an appointment with my surgeon to go over ALL of my last minute questions. One of the concerns I had was of my post op diet. My surgeon seems more "liberal" when it comes to the pre op and I am allowed to eat fruit, eggs, bacon, cottage cheese, protein, vegetables, nuts, cheese etc until two days before surgery. From most of what I've read online it seems like most people go on a liquid diet during this time. I wondered if maybe he thinks patients maybe won't stick to it and that's why he didn't assign it so I made up my own semi liquid diet with the information I gathered which was basically 100% fruit juice Popsicle, sugar free pudding, gelatin, soup, protein shake and ground beef salad everyday. I wrote down what I was doing and handed it to him and he proceeded to ask me where I got this diet from and straight told me that this diet was crap, snacks had no nutritional value which would make me weaker before surgery, Popsicle had a bunch of sugar and that my liver would shrink by cutting Carb and starches alone and that i need to eat and stay off the internet 🤣🤣 Did anyone else's surgeon put them on a diet like this pre op? Don't get me wrong I am of course happy to eat food, but I've never heard of anyone else having such a liberal diet pre op and it makes me wonder...

The first three weeks - I won't be coy here.... were really really hard. Having bones sawed off, and replaced and drilled into place is really painful; at any weight. However, once I got to being able to move around more - once the 34 staples were removed after just over 2 weeks; I was able to start moving around more. I totally gave up on the narcotics by the end of week two. I couldn't hold them down well, and the only thing I could eat was.... basically toast with a bit of jam. I finally at about the middle of week three could start walking a bit outside instead of around my dining room table - and progressed from taking 300 steps a day to over 1000 in that third week. At week 6 I am now able to walk for about 10 minutes with a cane, twice a day, and am able to take care of myself, the house, a flock of chickens (less any heavy lifting), the dog, parrot and reptiles. I weigh basically almost half of what I did at my heaviest. With this surgery,.... right before it, I was very limited in my ability to walk. I had gained 8 pounds from my lowest. After surgery at week 2 I was up another few pounds - Surgeon told me this is normal from how much IV fluids I was getting to keep me going. I am frankly eating A LOT of healthy foods right now. On dr's and nutritionist suggestion to build back muscle, nerve and bone loss. I am told that in another couple weeks I will start to lose the weight again. I am not worried, and I can hang with the process. I am walking about 4,000 to 5000 steps a day - over what I should be for my age and where I am post op.

December 6 is my surgery date, I just got that today. Feels like it’s been forever but it’s really only been three or four months now. all I have left is November 29 a video call with a RN about my weight from that morning my medication list And my new Vitamin list which I’ll be getting from her. Then November 30 I have to go to a three hour “second Pre-op class“ I have to start my two week liquid diet this Thursday Thanksgiving 😞 that’s OK though does anybody have any suggestions about things I need before surgery? any help is appreciated!

From what I gathered, most programs don't really give you a set calorie goal or exact amount of carbs and fat. Mine gave me a protein goal 80-100g and to concentrate on hydration and vitamins. Typically because of restriction, by the time you work around getting to the protein goal, carbs and fats work themselves out. That being said, I am 9 months out and typically have around 1000 cals a day, 80g protein avg, and 50g or less of carbs just because that's how it works out. I don't pay too much mind to fats. Your loss is great and your rate of continuous loss of 1-2lbs a week is great. It definitely slows down as you lose and your body adjusts. Stalls are also common and don't last forever. It took me a month to lose 3lbs and then I lost 3lbs in a week after. It's just part of the process. Every body is different and even your own body will behave differently at different stages.

Hi there. It sounds like you're doing well. As for me, I'm 60, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 223 at time of surgery. I have only lost 12 pounds so far and am at the dreaded 3 week stall. I just have to be more patient.

My dietician wanted me to get at least 90g of protein a day and 30g or less carbs. My energy has been sapped as well. But I also work 55-60 hours a week. So that doesn't help much along with getting in some exercise daily. So, I've been getting in 40-45 g of carbs and that seemed to help some. But I've also had no more than 100 grams.of caffiene every couple days. I use the baritastic app and log everything. It's helps a lot. My dietician can log in and see what I've been doing. She hasn't said anything, but I also don't have an appointment with her until next month. I think my issues are getting enough vitamins and minerals. My hair used to grow very fast, now it doesn't. I take three multivitamins a day and two B-complex vitamins. Along with calcium chews. I also have an appointment with the bariatric center where I had the surgery. I'm certain they will have another round of blood tests to see if I have any deficiencies. Sorry this was a book. 😁