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Wow. Let's call a spade a spade—that is abuse on their part. But screw them. They're not going to be supportive no matter what. Let's talk about the reality here. Are there people who could lose 100 lbs. on their own with diet and exercise? Yes. And they all have something they'd really like to sell you. It is NOT the easy way out. It is basically giving you a lifesaving tool—the TEMPORARY ability to restrict your calories and not be starving hungry and tempted to undo it. Basically you are going to get a year or so to reevaluate your relationship with food without having things like a sugar addiction hanging over your head. But it is still diet and exercise. I wish I could beam into your head the wonderment I feel as I shrink down. I'm 6 feet tall and have lost 85 pounds in four months (including pre-op). I haven't broken out into a random sweat; I can work all day (physical labor) and just be tired when the other guys are tired; I can run and jump and fit in spaces meant for average size human beings; I can buy clothes in normal stores; I don't have any comorbidities anymore, and in fact when I got Covid, it was mild and my doctor said my weight loss almost certainly helped with that. tl;dr You do this for you, and the hell with what your gaslighting parents say. Psychiatric ward, my hind foot.

I make a mean strawberry meringue cake (technically a Dacquoise, but i feel like “dacquoise” just doesn’t sound yummy, lol)…layers of nut meringue between layers of a whipped cream-mascarpone mixture and strawberries. It’s actually quite easy to make, but the baking/resting of the meringue takes forever. I wasn’t able to take a big of the whole thing before the fam dove into it, but my slice will have to do. Oh, and that’s 1/3 of a dulce de ledge churro in the bowl: 307 calories. I are the churro and about 1/2 the cake slice, because I had put the bowl down to take a break and someone came by and gobbled it up cuz he assumed I was done. I hate when he does that. 🙄

Eh, as much or little as I felt like, really. I knew if I made it too 'perfect' and too strict I wouldn't do it. I just promised myself: I will walk. 3 times a week. Sometimes with a friend, making it a long frosty trip around the lakes; about 2 hours with bench breaks, looking at the dumb ducks. Sometimes, I'd walk 10 blocks out and 10 blocks back at 9.50pm after a long day at work, 20 minutes or so. I knew I needed positive experiences, and my competitive gene would carry me the rest of the way. Sometimes, I walked more days in a week. Because it wasn't a sad chore, it was something I wanted and could manage. It doesn't matter how fast you walk or run for that matter, all that matters for calories is distance. Actually, the only thing that really matters is you do it. Just walk. Get out there. Promise yourself you make it a short one when it's a rainy day, and that you'll make it a longer one when the sun is shining. Bring people along; a podcast; bread crumbs for the dumb ducks

Hi Charlotte! amazing! They are a fab team and the nurses were amazing during recovery. im doing really well now. I can eat anything in moderation. Still small portions but I’m really happy how it’s gone. yes those first few months were certainly difficult, but remembering the end goal gets you through. Speak with the team if you have any concerns, I assume you have Jane as your dietician and she’s lovely and will help with any advice you need. it’s all about changing your relationship with food, which took me a good few months. I felt i was missing out for a while, but now I can eat out with family, and I navigated Christmas well. I still enjoy food, but I have a different respect for it now. just hold out and take your time and let your body tell you what it needs. Remember vitamins and I also still take baricol for my B12 which Mr Sutton recommend. I’m reaching 1000 calories on a good day but still have restricted days where my stomach just doesn’t allow anything so I stick to protein shakes. Here’s a before and after. (I’ve lost another 6lb since the after photo) i want to loose another 8lbs but it’s slow going now and just letting my body do it’s thing. good luck in your journey! Any advice needed let me know.. loads of lovely people on here to chat to. xx

I had my VSG 7/2015. I never felt much restriction and was hungry from the start. I restricted my calories to 800 per day and followed all the rules for the first 3 months and lost 60lbs… then my mother in law was dropped on my doorstep. LONG story but I was the sole provider for my husband and 2 small kids, working 12 hour night shifts. She had stage 4 emphysema and end stage esophageal cancer with alcoholic dementia to boot. Our house was tiny. She was 69 and weighed 65 lbs … let’s just say I was a bit stressed. I stopped counting calories. I plateaued for a full year and then started gaining. I’m now 6.5 years out and just 27 lbs from where I started. I’m hesitant to revise. My bariatrician tells me people tend to not have as much success with revision. I chose a sleeve because I didn’t want to risk not being able to absorb medications I need but my GERD is so bad I may not have a choice. I’d love to hear if anyone had a similar struggle with their initial surgery and were successful with the second. Those in the thread who had the scar tissue and hernia repair, surely they will allow a follow up procedure.

Eating a few more vegetables than you’re ‘supposed to’ is not going to stretch out your tummy or ruin your weight loss. Unless you’re frequently eating huge portions of high fat, high carb, high sugar foods I wouldn’t worry. Out of curiosity, how far along are you? I ask because as you progress and are able to eat larger portions you’ll find the dilemma of protein vs vegetables isn’t as much of an issue. Just eat your protein first & if you can eat a little more choose vegetables. I like @ShoppGirl’s suggestion to eat vegetables as a snack. There’s a lot to learn & it takes time to discover what works for you. Because we’ve either been where you are or are still working our way through it. We understand & want you to be successful. It’s why we’re all happy to share our experiences & what we’ve learnt along the way. The reason you feel more satisfied eating a smaller portion of toast than vegetables is that the toast tends to swell in your tummy & sit more heavily. It’s why many of us are advised to avoid bread, pasta & rice while losing. (I still avoid them - can’t get my protein in & I feel blah!) Depending on how you cook them they’re relatively low calorie & you’ll get way more nutrients from the vegetables than the toast. I’ve always loved vegetables so eating so few in the beginning was very strange. I remember that first single green bean I was able to eat. So excited. Then I just slowly added a few more as I was able. At 2.6yrs post surgery I eat about 3 ozs of protein & about 1 cup of vegetables & sometimes a meal is only protein. But that works for me. Have a chat with your dietician about portion size (volume vs weight) & calories. It may put your mind at ease.

I think the problem I'm having is that I'm not eating enough calories. Plus I'm also not taking any type of vitamins or either taking my protein shakes. I have tried every protein shakes available on Amazon. I hate them all I don't like the taste of protein shakes makes me want to gag.

I kinda felt the same when I had my VSG in October 2021. I had lost like 16 lbs and stayed that way for a while, eventhough I felt I was eating appropriately. Keep in mind that this a tool, so u still have to work hard to lose the weight. I've felt I've had to work extra hard, more than others. But u gotta keep going. I would say log everything u eat ans measure everything. It's possible you're not eating enough or eating too much. I found was eating only like 400-500cal. A day. U would think I'd be dropping weight like crazy but I wasn't. I pushed myself to eat at least 800-1000 calories daily and I've been losing weight a little more steadily. Also bring your concerns up to your nutritionist & surgeon. Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

One of MANY salads I’ve been consuming of late in an effort to get back down to 115. Though my love of blue cheese is getting in the way, lol!! The blue cheese and blue cheese dressing makes up like half the calories of this thing! Whatever….it’s delicious. Am eating this as we speak while I catch up on on all the “Below Deck” season 9 episodes I missed. I’ll eat whatever I don’t finish later. 587 calories for the whole thing:

It’s a long story. My PCP gave me a referral to a breast surgeon to have breast reduction. I mentioned to the breast surgeon that I’d always thought if I did it I’d have my belly done at the same time. She said that was no problem! She works with a surgeon who does that and they can do it all in one operation. I went to see that surgeon. He told me to see a cosmetic surgeon first. Cosmetic surgeon refused to do it because my BMI is too high for elective cosmetic surgery. (8 years later, I still weigh 240.) It can be done for medical purposes, but not by a cosmetic surgeon. They all recommended I get a gastric bypass and come back. So I’m rolling that around in my head, too, but that means probably two years before I could have plastics, and I’m already 65. I just don’t know what to do. And honestly, my metabolism has been so low since I was sleeved I feel I’ll have to starve for the rest of my life just to not gain. I was tested and only burn 900 calories a day. Sigh. I’m open to all thoughts. Thanks!

I don't have the premium version of My Fitness Pal so I can't see stuff like you can. Plus I just started Weight Watchers three weeks ago and it only tracks points. So this morning I was curious and I put my last several days of WW tracking into into My Fitness Pal and surprisingly my macros were really good. It's about 1100 calories/day. MFP showed that I'd get back into Onederland within the next couple of weeks, which is encouraging. I do enjoy tracking things.

Thanks @lizonaplane I’m in week 3 and couldn’t figure out why the scale stopped moving. It even went up two pounds and I’m only getting 500 calories a day. Glad to know it’s happens to others.

So the family has been bugging me about my alcohol consumption since Covid started. Full disclosure, prior to the new year, I was drinking as least 2 (sometimes 3, on rare occasions 4) drinks A DAY. Either an espresso martini or red wine. So to get them off my back, and prove to myself I could do it, I agreed to cut down to no more than one one a day for a month. I thought this would be a piece of cake, but lol and behold, I ended up non-compliant the first 2 days. Mostly because I “forget” that I am on a mission. So on day 3, I put a sticky note on the vodka bottle when I have a drink to remind me I already had a drink that day….and I tell Mr. so he can remind me at dinner if I absently reach for the wine. Since doing this the past 3 days, it’s been working. When I quit smoking (again) last year (I had quit for 10+ years, went on a vacay in 2019 where I accepted an offered cigarette, and just like that, I was smoking again). And my quitting attempts last spring was also thwarted by me “forgetting “ that I was trying to quit. So I tossed all my lighters, got rid of my outdoor ashtrays and told EVERYONE I was trying to quit, and asked to remind me if I forget , but not to enforce me (cuz I know that will just piss me off), as I want to make the decisions myself. I’ve mostly stopped since about April 2021, but I admit I’ve had maybe 10-15 in the past 9-ish months….which is a heck of a lot better than 10-15 A DAY. Final examples: I log everything I eat. Having a running total of my calories, has a bit of influence on my food choices at the end of the day. I weigh myself every day…so I am aware if my weight starts to move from its happy place. Just a couple other “reminders” for me to keep myself in check. This approach may not work for everyone, but I seem to have moderate success with it. Anyway…this was my long winded attempt to suggest you try to find what it is that works for you and what doesn’t (either on your own or with the help of a therapist), and make efforts to implement this knowledge to achieve your goal(s). You may not be perfect, and that’s ok, small changes for the better are better than non at all. Good Luck! ❤️

There'd a sugar free dark chocolate pudding that satisfied a chocolate craving for me. Adding flavorless protein powder will make it more than empty calories. Sent from my SM-N970U using BariatricPal mobile app

I got surgery around the same time as you. I've lost 70 total, and that includes 11 lbs during pre op. To me, your numbers seem good especially considering you also started at a lower weight than I did. I had two months where I lost 8 lbs each month, which was disappointing but only because I had overly high expectations. 8 lbs is still 8 lbs gone and not a gain. I actually had to add more calories into my diet, and that jump started my loss rate again. Having said that, you mentioned gorging on sweets, cakes and food. Are you tracking? Do you know how many calories you are actually eating? If you aren't tracking, then a first good step would be to start doing so, as accurately as you can, to see where you really are at and then determine steps to shake things up.

I love the wonderful spud. Much better nutritional profile than any pasta, rice, polenta you can find. Did thinly mashed from soft foods, and I have one here and there. Fills me up nicely for few calories and there's minerals in them as well. The problem is obviously what people do to potatoes (poor things)! They're great just plainly boiled.

Hi y'all! I was sleeved December 08, 2021. Surgery Weight: 263 Current Weight: 231 Obviously I know I won't continue to lose at this same rate in the upcoming months but getting such a huge head start has been such a motivation. The struggle will come when I don't see those same numbers and I'm just going to have to remember that slow and steady wins the race. Even though weight loss has been great thus far my energy has sucked. I'm meeting my liquid and protein goals daily and taking a bariatric multivitamin. I don't know if it's just that I have a very active job (Bartender- lots of lifting, squatting, stocking, walking- usually 4-6 miles a day) and I'm currently consuming only a third of the calories I used to....or if its just my Hashimoto's flaring up with all the stress on my body of late, hoping things begin to equalize in the next few weeks though. Being this tired all the time is a real bummer.

I’m a no potato person either (my dad was a potato farmer & is rolling in his grave). First they weren’t allowed on my plan through my weight loss phase. They’re a starchy vegetable & unless you burn off their calories after eating them they’ll turn to fat very quickly. On the coupe of times I’ve tried the odd bite or two in the last two years, I find they sit heavily in my tummy too.

Oh, I meant in comparison to what you likely used to eat which can mess with you too - ‘How can this be enough food? No wonder I’m hungry’ type thinking. That in itself can be a new learning: understanding that this is enough food. I did a lot of general reading, nothing in particular. I watched some of Dr Vuong videos but particularly like Dr Matthew Weiner. They focus on bariatrics not therapy but Dr Vuong had some good ‘come to Jesus’ type moments. (You’ll have to scroll through his Covid videos & other stuff he has - like go back 2+ years). Others may be able to recommend readings, podcasts on eating disorders, etc. https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCp6n4PijvgR_rhDZx_X8xwQ https://m.youtube.com/user/DrMatthewWeiner/videos I wasn’t working for most of the time in the first year post surgery so I had a lot of time to reflect on my life, really think about why I used to eat or not eat & researched. It was pretty obvious what I had been doing didn’t work & I needed to start from scratch. I dud lots of random google searches often from things people said on this forum. Lot of crap out there though so be careful. Check out their qualifications. As a place to start, I found success by asking myself why. Why do I feel hungry? Why do I want something specifically sweet or salty? Why am I looking for something to eat? Sometimes I really have to break down my answer. Sometimes, there’s a legitimate reason. Missed a meal. Been low in my calorie intake for the day. Hot, sweaty day & low salt intake. Then I look for protein rich food, salt some cucumber, have some fruit, etc. If there’s no real reason the cause for me is usually boredom. I try to find something to do to distract myself, have something to drink or make myself wait for 30mins. The wanting to eat disappears 99% of the time which proves it wasn’t a legitimate need for food in the first place. All the best.

I'm surprised they want you on so little food, honestly. What happens if you bump the calories up by 100-200?

UPDATE: So as per my Nutritionists suggestions that I listed above in my last post, for the last 3 weeks I've been strict with logging my daily food intake, keeping my protein AT LEAST 60-70 grams a day and my carbs around 50 and my calories around 800. I've also been trying to keep my water intake up. In the beginning I was unsure of what exercises I was gonna do. I was trying to think of things that would work my entire body, help build muscle (esp. in my legs and arms), but also wanted to do cardio. Combining all that was also a suggestion of my nutritionist. She didn't want me just doing cardio. Last week I made sure to do the treadmill and/or exercise bike several times a week. I also contacted a trainer that I saw online and asked for some advice based on my situation and he in turn sent me some info and suggestions that he said he has all his clients start off with regardless of their abilities. So this week I started that program. It consists of 3 days (Mon, Wed, Fri) of weights and in the first week and one day of cardio for 25 mins. The reps and sets stays the same for the weights for the 4 weeks, but the cardio is slightly increased as the weeks go on. By week two I will be up to 2 days of cardio for 30 mins. But to be honest, I plan on doing the cardio on the two off days from the weights starting in the first week. Maybe more. I've also been tossing in some work with weight bands. Anyway, prior to all of this I was consistently weighing in between 246 and 248. Despite having gotten down to 241.2 on Oct. 25th. So since sticking to this I did get down to 239.4 on Dec. 19th. HOWEVER, I have been consistently weighing in each week since, between 240 and 241. So, the gap from my lowest weigh in is at least a lil closer than what it was doing before. But still not sure why I'm not actively just losing still when I have at least 50-60 more pounds to go! My nutritionist said she wanted to see me if things didn't improve after a few weeks so I'm unsure as to whether I wait it out a lil longer or contact her now. I may wait since I just this week finally got some sort of exercise program going. The first two weeks after talking to her I did not so I wanna give it some time. Oh and, last month when I checked my inches on Dec 4th, I had only lost .25 since the previous month. That was it!!! Well yesterday when I checked my inches I had lost 3.7 more (two of which were from my stomach and breast)!!! So, maybe things are starting to go in the right direction again and I should give it a little more time. I am hopeful and sticking to the plan. Guess we'll see.

Quest makes candy bites that are chocolate and the caramel one is quite tasty. They are 80 calories if I remember correctly and they at least have some protein in them. Perhaps that will fill you up a bit and you will want just one. I found them at target but but not my target. They have them on Amazon if you can’t find them near you.

Mmmm? I wonder if you still have some head work to do. Are you truely hungry or just wanting food to satisfy some other needs? Are you wanting food because you’re bored? Tired? Sad? Happy? So you feel better? Habit? … Have you come to terms with what is a healthy & recommended portion size? 7oz isn’t a mini portion. Depending upon your height, weight, age, level of activity, 1350 calories a day is enough to ensure your body functions effectively. We all have different triggers & realisations about how & why we eat. I still have to watch wanting to eat because I’m bored but I understand it now so I can mange it better. A big learning for me was the difference between eating until I was full and eating until I’d had enough. It’s realising the difference between wanting to eat & needing to eat. Do I need this bite (i.e. does my body need it to function) or do I just want it? Did you see a therapist before or during your weight loss phase? It may be worth going back or getting a referral to one from your surgeon. Years of poor eating habits, poor food choices, our cravings & emotional drives to seek comfort with food don’t ever really disappear. The surgery doesn’t change them. They’re not cut out with our tummy. But we can reduce their power & manage them better. It’s just sometimes we need help & support to do it. All the best.

Then have a chat with your dietician about how many more calories you’ll actually need to consume if you are pregnant. You may be surprised how little extra you’ll need & that will all be consumed by your growing baby. Just don’t fall into the ‘eating for two’ trap. The second is not a fully grown adult. You’re already eating healthier so another bonus to you and your baby. All the best.

Try some chia pudding too - bonus protein. I flavoured mine with vanilla which I love but there are lots of flavour options about - just watch the calories of some of them.