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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.

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. 😁

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.

I just had the sleeve revision to gastric bypass on 6/13/23 and I am a little nervous now after reading a lot of these posts regarding the lack of weight loss.

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

Hi Tynisha! I don’t focus much on carbs, but I try to not go overboard. I eat crackers or a tiny PB&J as a snack most days and may have some oven roasted potatoes with protein for dinner. And I drink whole milk. What has been really important for me is making sure to eat three balanced meals a day, hitting my protein goal (around 110-120 grams daily). I have to have a protein shake or two with milk to get there. If you find you are eating too many carbs, it’s probably because you are snacking too much. If you focus on balanced meals and up your protein goal, you won’t be hungry/want to snack. Veggies and milk aren’t a big impact on carb intake, and help you feel full. Another good way to sneak in more protein is Greek yogurt. I like Oikos mixed berry. Fairly low on carbs/sugars and 15 grams of protein. Basically make sure you are getting enough protein, focus on feeling full from good food, and try to limit snacking. Has worked for me, and I’m still slowly losing weight almost 9 months later. Oh, and work out with weights. Since working out 3 days a week, my body composition has changed quite a bit. Best of luck! Dave

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!

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.

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!

This is terrible. What sort of aftercare is that. Send an email directly to the surgeon if you can listing the questions you have & didn’t receive answers about or didn’t have a chance to ask because you were pushed out the door. I had good follow up which is why I’m very surprised & disappointed for you at your after care. I saw my surgeon at week 2, 1 month & then the 3rd month. A colleague then took up my follow up appointments. I saw them every three months until my third year. I still see this doctor every 6 months. I don’t know for how much longer though. I guess my next appointment at my 5 year mark will tell.

OK so I could eat most of that in one sitting these days! There's no way I could stop when you did, but I'd have a break of a few hours (3 approx) before having to eat again. How long after those three bites of the sandwich and few forkfuls of the greens did you need to eat again OP??

Thank you!! I am incredibly happy. Getting my Vitamin D from 13 to almost 100 has done wonders for my depression. The extra energy DOES feel amazing, especially because I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I never really expected the surgery to impact that favorably. The first 4 weeks were hard energy-wise. I remember how exhausting even taking a shower was until I was past a month out. Bariatric surgery is major surgery and it takes our bodies a while to heal from that. Add in our dietary restrictions as we slowly incorporate food again and it is a great recipe for fatigue. I'd say by about week 8 the nausea disappeared and I noticed I was gaining energy steadily. I could stand in the kitchen and cook. I could go for a short walk. I could shower and actually leave the house without a nap first. I had not been able to do those things in several years so it was a striking difference. Hang in there!! It is a good sign you feel about back to normal energy-wise right now! Yes, according to everything I've read, the goal is 50% by 6 months for a DS surgery, so I'm ahead of my goal. I really hope things continue on steadily. A lot of people lose a chunk early on and then taper down slower after month 3. My body doesn't like to follow general trends, so I stalled out for most of that time and then suddenly my weight loss sped up! It is quicker now than it has been since about a week post op. Isn't that funny? Everyone's body has its own rhythm. It is so, so hard to trust that, but it seems to be true the more people I see go through this surgery.

Really interesting to read about the “starting weight”. I booked my surgery on January 30th and was 96kg (my highest ever weight - stepping on the scales and seeing I was closer to 100 that to 90 was a real shock - I dug out some insurance papers from February 2020 - I was 58kg then and allready heavier than I like to be). My surgery was 3 weeks later because I had to stop smoking first. The day of surgery I was 91.1kg so I lost 5.9kg in the three weeks prior ( I basically did a broth fast and didn’t eat anything solid, only clear broth and tea and coffee). Im now 70kg so since January 30th I’ve lost 26kg (57lbs) in 16 weeks (average of 1.6kg or 3.6lbs a week) so I’m very very happy with the weight loss even if I’m over the weather! I do have a goal weight which is my pre pandemic weight of 52-55kg (114-122 lbs) because I know that that is the weight at which I function best and that feels the best for my legs ( I mentioned earlier in the thread that I have very minor cerebral palsy - I have the impression that the extra pain I have for every gram I weigh over 55kg just isn’t worth it and really impacts my standard of living and my mobility. Because of the CP I have very minimal flexibility so being even slightly over weight just makes moving so so much harder for me as I can barely bend my knees as it is and have no upwards ankle flexibility what so ever. I’m easily out of balance and I fall over often ( the best way to picture it is to imagine the mobility of someone who has had about 3 beers too many), I’m used to it and my physiotherapist always says I’m a very good « faller », a part from bruises and a bruised ego I’ve only ever seriously broken things ( shoulder, wrist and double arm fracture all in one go!) once since being an adult. But being heavier has meant having more issues getting back up after falling over and more and bigger bruises. So my goal isn’t an esthetic one ( even though it will be nice to not be the fattest person in the room anymore - and because I live in Paris where the average female BMI is 21.3 the bar is low!) but a functional one. So I have 15kg (33lbs) left to loose, I know the rate of loss will slow, but I’m hoping to be at least nearly there in September when I take a new position, I really want to do my transition speech feeling ( and looking) like my old self ( just with some extra wrinkles and grey hair). My handover is September 16th - that leaves 17 weeks so I’m not sure I’ll be at 55kg by then because it would mean continuing to loose an average of 0.9kg ( 1.95lbs) a week which is a lot given my current weight. However if I manage to loose an average of 0.5kg (1.1lbs) per week ( which seems a more attainable bar) I should be 61/62kg by then, and I can live with that! ( I’m an unapologetic numbers girl - I don’t track what I eat because that’s not sustainable for me long term - I try to eat protein but other than that - YOLO - but I do track my weight every day if I have a scale and my steps and my activity) A very long post once again. Thanks all for being here. And here is a picture of a Greek island morning! That’s the 9.30AM light!

2 weeks post surgery 3 weeks post surgery 4 weeks post surgery And I'll do a 5 weeks post surgery tonight

Don't worry, it will resume. It's your body panicking because of such a drastic change in a short amount of time. The week 3 stall can last for 3 weeks itself, or sometimes more. During that time, your body can still be burning fat, but its retaining fluid to keep around because it thinks you're in a starvation situation and wants to preserve space to replenish the fat cells. It won't let go of that excess fluid and old cells until it knows you're safe, which it eventually will, and it will establish a new baseline weight as long as you stick to it. You got this!

I haven't posted in a few weeks. November was incredibly frustrating since I stalled for most of the month of November. But the scale is moving again and even when it wasn't I was still losing inches so I'm staying positive. I'm 38 pounds down from my first appointment in July and I'm 18 pounds down from the weight I was on surgery day October 20th. I'm still hoping to be 50 pounds down by the end of the year but I know that with 12 pounds to go and only 23 days left that is a bit of a reach goal.

You may be in a stall ( remember you can experience several of these while you’re losing). Also your rate of weight loss slows as you near your stabilised weight. Remember too, your weightloss does not have a steady straight line down trajectory. It goes up & down, zigs & zags, lose more one week less the next. So don’t give up yet. In saying that, yes, your medication may be a contributing factor as anti depressants are known for weight gain & increasing appetite. Have a chat with your surgeon & your prescribing doctor to be sure. There may be alternatives.

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? 😬

I had my surgery 7/10 and am traveling for work. Thankfully I was able to acquire some protein shakes and triple zero yogurt but man was it a pain to track down. Does anyone have any travel tips and tricks to make sure you’re getting enough protein, hydration, and able to take all the post ops meds and vitamins?

I had surgery on 11/9. I’ve lost 20lbs since surgery 247 down to 227. I have stalled the last few days with no budge on the scale. Should I be worried? It seems pretty early for a plateau?? I’m tracking and getting between 300 and 500 calories a day. Is my weight loss over? I just can’t believe my weight is stalling already. I guess I just need some encouragement.

Woohoo way to go, great end to the week.

Starting week three of my preop diet and one week out from surgery. Diet definitely did get easier once in it and very closely staying on it. Traveling the last few days which has been a little challenging but not too bad. I’ve definitely got some nerves. I wake up about 5 AM some mornings and the brain just takes over a little. Hope things keep progressing for everyone!

They pump you with a lot of fluids after the surgery so you’re probably still peeing that out. When I had my gall out the pumped me with so much fluid I gained a good 2 kgs. Thankfully I’d lost it two or three days later once I’d peed it all out.