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It's been a much better week even though I've drank a little bit. I'm not proud of it and I'm actually very angry with myself. However, the upside to it was that I didn't get drunk and black out. I've realized too that I need to go to therapy, I still struggle with many things in my life. But I recognize that and I'm willing to take that head on. I have an appointment with my therapist next week to get back on track. I've also been eating much differently than I have been as of late. I'm back to mostly protein and very low carbs. I've been walking daily, even though it's only for about a mile or so it's still better than sitting around. My energy level is rising and I'm putting more thought into what I'm doing physically, mentally and nutritionally. Thanks to all of you that have given encouragement and shown concern. I appreciate it more than you may know. I've let a lot of people down as of late, most notably myself, and know that people actually care is refreshing and empowering. So thank you! Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using BariatricPal mobile app

Im 3 weeks post op and I just want to eat solid food again. Anything solid. You will be surprised how you feel post-op versus pre-op. Your priorities will change.

This sounds so frustrating. Could you track everything you eat, even for one week (on my fitness pal or similar) and get a handle on what you're actually taking in? Do be careful about drinking calories - so easy to do with sweet tea etc. Totally empty. I do that with alcohol sometimes 😟 NickelChip is absolutely right - it might be really helpful to eat more whole and freshly prepared foods. Protein first (it really honestly does fill your sleeve up), veg second and carbs (including coating on chicken, etc) a very long way behind.

OMG, see that size looks amazing on you and I really think that eventually it would on me but I know my brain just takes a while to get used to things and unfortunately I don’t have the time I would prefer. I think you guys have talked me into going for the smaller size though. I really do enjoy my yoga and I have wanted a reduction for years because of them just being in the way during activities, difficulty finding an adequately supportive sports bra as @SpartanMaker mentioned, back and neck pain and ill fitting clothing at any size because my breast are the last place that I lose weight so they stick with me. Volume wise I have only lost one cup size so far and I have lost 80 pounds!! I mean that doesn’t matter now because it’s gonna be all implant anyways in a few months but I’m just saying that I am over the big breast thing. At the same time when you’re used to looking at a pretty large chest for a decade I can imagine that a C cup is gonna look pretty tiny at first. My estimation is I will have like two weeks to get used to it before I start radiation and I’m pretty much locked in to that size. Then again, I will get used to it for six weeks I suppose because I will be flat to begin with. The radiation oncologist did say that it may be possible for me to go with like expanders for one cup size larger and then decide to put in the smaller implant so I intend to ask the surgeon about that at my preop appointment. Maybe I will actually be able to find a really good fitting sports bra and try jogging for the first time since my 20s!!

My win is that I have had zero Halloween candy so far, even though its been in my house and at my office all week! This is a big deal for me because sweets were always my go to before surgery.

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.

No my followup is on the 30th. Wednesday is just a week after I had my psych eval. I called the bariatric clinic Monday they said it takes at least a week for the results and to call back Wednesday and they should have the results then. So tomorrow hopefully I should know how the appointment went.

Maybe check out Dr. Matthew Weiner’s pound of cure weight loss book. He goes over a handful of things that you can change and you can pick which one you want to start with. For me, the fruits and veggies was a good one because I actually like fruits and veggies. Replacing a lot of the process carbs with healthy carbs for me is the most important component to weight loss not just to cut calories in the short run but to stop cravings in the long run. For me processed carbs, make me crave sugar. One cookie and I want pasta I want cake. I want it all and I crave it for a week. Natural carbs do not do that to me and they can help reduce the cravings a little while I get through the week or so to detox from them. Once I am off of the processed carbs so long as I get my protein, I stay feeling full so it’s much easier to sustain a healthy diet. Keto never worked for me either and I have learned post surgery that is most likely because of not being able to eat hardly any carbs at or it was all the processed junk I was eating instead of natural food. They alter things by adding more fiber to cut the carbs and all of that and that may be reducing your calories to help you lose weight, but for me it wasn’t the same for my body as a veggie with fiber. It’s not sustainable because my body was still craving the carbs. I would lose weight in the beginning, but the cravings were horrible and eventually I would give in to them and then I just wanted even more. Anyways, you may not be able to replace every unhealthy carb with healthy carbs on your own before surgery, but if you can reduce some of them by trying out different recipes to find fruits and veggies that you like, it may cut enough to lose your 10% and be a good start to finding healthy carbs that you enjoy

Mid week checkpoint from last week I'm late! I i'm an avid runner. I have taken the last few days off. Crazy how your body craves exercise once you make it a part of your routine. I will say obesity is a smart disease and anyone experiencing stalls for me , I have to constantly find ways to out smart it. If I run at 4am one week, I will run at 6pm the next. It get used to things you do 😡😡😡😡.

Welcome. Sorry to hear you're struggling. I want to touch on a couple of things you said since the truth may be different than what you thought? First, I want to hit on this idea of a "pouch reset". There really is no such thing. Your stomach expands and contracts normally, just like a non-surgical stomach. You can't make it appreciably smaller just by eating less for a few days or weeks. Sometimes people feel like this makes a difference because it mentally helps reset what it feels like to be full. (A lot of people overeat after a few years.) If you really want to go down this road, you certainly can, but just understand it's not going to magically reset the size of your stomach. It might help reset your brain a bit, but the effect won't last long if you go back to eating too much at a time. You can get the same effect by just reducing portion sizes. Second, I want to touch on you gaining muscle from going to the gym. There are a few things to unpack here, but let's start with the fact that scales are NOT your friend and I would strongly advise you to not use the scale as the thing you use to gauge your success. Let me give you a hypothetical situation: If I could give you a magic potion that overnight made you look just like a fitness model, but it also made you weigh 300 pounds, would you take it? I don't know what your answer is, but I'd guess that like most people, you probably would in fact drink the potion. I don't have a magic potion, but doing strength training in the gym is kind of the same thing. It just takes a lot more work and time. The point here is that muscle is a lot denser than fat, so you can in theory be even heavier than you are now, but still look a lot thinner because you've changed your body composition to favor more muscle mass. Keep in mind that most people find more muscle mass more attractive (well up to a point anyway). Also, you are NEVER going to actually lose weight from doing strength training. it's not a great way to actually burn calories, so thinking you're going to go to the gym and lose fat just isn't realistic. Cardio at the gym isn't much better, so don't think that's the secret either. It will burn more calories, but the reality is a couple of things happen when you do cardio (or resistance training) at the gym: You'll be hungrier, so you tend to eat more than you would otherwise (this might be why you're snacking more). It will seem subtle and may be almost unnoticeable, but you will move less the rest of the day because your body is trying to recover from the workout. This means you don't actually burn many, if any additional calories. Said differently, your body will do everything it can to keep you right where you're at, so it is literally slowing your metabolism down to make up for the calories you burned exercising. I'm not trying to discourage you from working out. It has a LOT of health benefits, but as a way to actually lose weight, it's not so great. Now once you get to your goal weight, working out at least 5 hours a week can REALLY help you stay at your goal weight, so keep that in mind as well. The final thing I'll add here since this post is already pretty long is that the one sure-fire way to lose fat is to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day. I know that seems fairly obvious, but people think sometimes they're special, or that it doesn't apply to them. I don't know how many calories you're eating right now, and it honestly does not matter. Right now, whether you're eating 1500 calories or 3500 calories, you're eating at maintenance for you. If you want to lose fat, then you've got to eat less. The way to do that is whatever way works for you. There is no secret diet that works for everyone. All diets can work if they have you eat less than you eat now. You've got to find not only what works for you, but what is a sustainable way of eating for the long term. Crash diets almost always fail, so I wouldn't look for something that works in the short term. What you need is something that you can do for the rest of your life. Best of luck.

same! first day of puree stage i pureed some beef and barfed a little in my mouth at the result. tossed it and just extended my "full fluids" stage another week then went to afterwards "soft foods"

I just wanted to echo what @FifiLux has said - I haven't heard of Drs putting plans in wherein you can eat all food (inc. solids etc) 2.5 weeks after surgery. If that is the case, and you are eating solids and other 'normal' foods, that would likely be the problem. I know that a lot of people have had a strict 4-6 week post-op diet to follow, and solid foods are introduced slowly. I was always advised that I should not have water until 30 minutes after eating, and that is a rule I have stuck by - maybe give it a go! Definitely do check in with your team, though. It seems like you are in a lot of discomfort and it would be good to get some professional advice. I hope you feel better soon.

I had a revision to SADI on 8/7/2024. Lost 70 pounds but then I started chemo for breast cancer that I was diagnosed with a day shy of my 3 month surgiversary. I was told not to lose quite as fast by the oncologist and the oncology dietician so I have since only lost ten more in 2.5 months. Anyways, my double mastectomy is tentatively scheduled for 5/8/2024. During that surgery they remove all the breast tissue and put in Empty bladders they call expanders and then they slowly fill them each week with saline in the office to stretch the skin making room for the implant. The cosmetic dr says that I could take my time and try out all the sizes and go up and down and then do the reconstruction surgery to put in the saline implant when I’m sure of the size I want and I loved that idea because I want to go smaller but I know it’s going to take a while for my brain to get used to it. The problem is that I have to begin radiation 6 weeks post surgery and the process does something to your skin that makes it very hard to stretch so the radiation Dr says I need to decide on a size before I start radiation treatments. Well I don't think it would be a good idea to postpone radiation just to decide on a breast size so I kinda need to know what my goal is right away so he fills it fast enough for me to get there within 6 weeks. At the same time it will hurt worse the faster we go. I am currently a 36 G. I was thinking maybe a 36 C or D would be small enough that they don’t get in the way with exercise and hurt my back and neck but not look too small after seeing myself larger for so many years. Also if I drop more weight and get to say a 34 I would be a D or DD but what if I lose more weight I mean I want to keep going if I can and then I’m a 32 DDD. I was a 32 C when I was younger and I think when I got my implants I went to a small DD but I sorta doubt i will get that small again, honestly. how much weight did you guys lose between band sizes. I was thinking that if I get to 158 I would be thrilled and that’s only 20 more pounds so I know that I won’t get to a 32 at that size. Do you think it’s possible I will get back to the 120’s. I know the last two months threw my pattern off a bit but I was losing steady at 3-4 pounds a week before all of this. Is there anyone with similar stats that can tell me about their experience with SADI or maybe a virgin bypass. My loss trend was similar to that according to the NP at 3 months out. I really wish I could do this after I get to my low weight and stabilize. All I want is to be able to buy bras in a normal store and not have to pay a fortune for lunch lady bras anymore or have my back breaking and poor posture from a too large chest. But at the same time I don’t want to look too small. I figure that I would find the smallest size that I could get used to so when I lose more weight it will probably be perfect but I won’t have time to get used to it like the surgeon and I hoped. 😢 So I get that cup size is a matter of preference but can anyone with similar stats tell me how much they ultimately lost if they were losing 3-4 pounds at 3 months or how much weight they lost between band sizes or 36-34 and 34-32. Or anything else that may help me. I’m so scared I’m gonna decide on a size and my body is going to change but since it’s all implant after this surgery my boobs won’t change with me with loss or gain and I will be way too big or small for my frame.

So glad I found this forum as I'm looking to calm my nerves. My procedure is scheduled next week and my anxiety is BEYOND. 3 years ago I made it until the night before my surgery where I had a total meltdown and canceled the procedure. This time around the process was shorter (less nutrition visits) and I feel like I'm on the speed round, while that may have seemed helpful at first... the countdown has me so frazzled. I'm open to any feedback, tips, suggestions... anything to get me through these next 6 days. Thanks in advance

Just to echo what @SpartanMaker has said in developing a habit - I only started going to the gym a few months back, after pressuring and guilting myself into not going to the gym since the start of my weight loss journey. I just started with going once a week, doing a short full-body workout, and then from there I sort of just fell into it once I realised my body was capable, and I wasn't in pain with it! I think my brain was putting it off so much because I was relating it back to my experiences with exercise when I was 100+ lbs heavier! Needless to say, it was painful and I hated it. Just take baby steps, and find what works for you, even just a short walk to clear your head (which may help with the mental health too), and go from there. Wishing you all the best ❤️ You have smashed it so far, you will smash this too!

I think it's a sad state of affairs when we feel like we have to hide our decisions from others because of how we know others will react. I'm not judging anyone that makes that choice since I did it too. I told my family, but specifically decided not to tell my co-workers since I was expecting people to say dumb things like this. The cheating comment I find specifically odd, personally. To me this was life or death, and I chose life. It definitely wasn't some game where the concept of cheating might be meaningful. I feel like it would be no different than if someone were to say to me that I "cheated" when I had open heart surgery. How could you even think that? My choices were either have the surgery, or die. As to weight loss surgery being "the easy way", as all of us here know there is nothing easy about this. Those of us that have reached our goal weights know that the surgery was just a tool, but the important change is what had to happen between my ears. Nothing about that was or is easy. It's still hard work every. single. day. I also wanted to comment on this: I can virtually guarantee you I eat better and workout harder than your son. I NEVER would have been able to workout as hard while I was still obese. It took losing almost 100 pounds before I could even really walk much. Now I run 40+ miles a week. It's hard for people that are not obese to understand just how hard even simple movement can be. Weight loss surgery was the catalyst that allowed me to be where I'm at today.

As you probably know, PCOS can affect metabolism. This means you may be getting a double whammy from PCOS and your height that really pushes your metabolic rate down. As I mentioned earlier, without having an expensive metabolic test done, we can't know for sure how many calories per day you burn on average. If I had to guess, I think it could be as low as about 1000 to 1200 calories per day for your Basal Metabolic Rate. This is basically the amount your body burns just keeping you alive. If we add in a bit more to account for the fact we all burn some additional calories (even if we're mostly sedentary), then that could put you around 1300 to 1500 calories per day. If you're eating ~1000 calories a day, that means at best, you'd lose about 1 pound a week, but it could easily be closer to 1 pound every 12 days or so. If you do the math (I did ), then this would put you losing right about 2.5 pounds per month or 10 pounds in 4 months, which is right where you're at. Now for the record, I didn't factor in anything for the fact that as a DS patient, you are actually also benefiting from reduced absorption. These are all made up numbers anyway, so don't get too caught up in the hard numbers here. Remember: Even if you think you're super accurate in logging food, variation in caloric content from one piece of food to the next means your calorie counts may or may not be that accurate. Don't trust manufacturer calorie counts as accurate either. They can be as much as 10% or more off. We don't actually know how many calories you burn in a day on average. My guesses are just that, guesses. Bottom line, you've got a few things working against you here, but as long as you continue to follow your surgeon's plans, there's no reason you can't lose the excess weight. It's just going to take you longer than most people. I know that sucks, but it is what it is. Knowledge is power, so hopefully you'll come away from this with a little more knowledge. That should give you a little more power over your unique situation. All the best.

Ohh, I didn't know you had access to a gym! I might have modified this a bit because I was trying to make sure these exercises were something you could do without equipment. Here are some suggested modifications if you are using a gym: If your gym has a hip thrust machine, feel free to use that instead of doing the glute bridge. As I mentioned, hip thrusts offer a bigger range of motion, so are an even better exercise. Push Ups are probably fine as they are, but once you get to doing 10-15 knee pushups, you might also start doing the chest press machine, or doing a bench press with dumbbells. Once you get to unsupported squats, you can start adding some weight. Some gyms have hack squat machines or leg press machines and both will work great here. Another one to consider would be a goblet squat (google it). The nice thing about this one is that it will emphasize your quadriceps a bit more, which might be good since we're hitting your glutes and hamstrings pretty hard with the hip thrusts and lunges. As to rows, feel free to skip all the ones I wrote and do a seated cable row or do something called a bent-over row with dumbbells. With leg raises, do them as listed, but if you get all the way through those, then the next logical progression is to move to hanging leg raises. These can be done on a dedicated machine (sometimes called a captain's chair). The lunge exercises are probably fine as they are, but feel free to add weight (hold some dumbbells in your hands), if you get to where the versions I listed are not enough for you. As an optional thing, if you wanted to add in one additional exercise per session, I'd do a Bicep dominated exercise one day, a Tricep dominated exercise another day, and a Calf dominated exercise the 3rd day. The actual exercise selection does not matter much, so do whatever exercise you like or whatever machine your gym has. You can even do a different one every week. Again, if you're happy without this, then skip it. it's not going to make a huge difference, because we are hitting these muscles some already. Best of luck!

I am in the same saggy boat. It is depressing isn't it to go through all this weight loss, still not be comfortable in our own bodies and just wearing smaller size clothes but still hiding the same areas? For me, I have bad lipoedema so from the knees down is horrible and nothing can be done really unless I want to go down the lipo route and then wear compression gear for life and even then no guarantees. Where I live in Europe, if you can prove justifiable reasons such as saggy skin interfering with your life and mental health following weight loss the national healthy insurance will pay 80% of the costs. I got approved last week for an arm lift so I am just waiting to hear back from the surgeon with a date. When I had my initial consultation with him he said he had a six month wait list so I have asked if possible to be fit in during October or else wait until January as I don't want any impact on my Christmas travel plans etc. I have not told my family yet as I live overseas and they got upset at just the thought of me doing something elective as I had such a bad post-op sleeve experience. My Mum actually broke down in tears when I told her I was going to schedule an initial consultation so not sure how or when I will say anything but will cross that bridge when I have an op date.

I have heard a lot of people talking about completing a liver shrinking diet some weeks before surgery. My surgeon has told me that because my BMI is only 36 I don't need to do this and that it is only for larger people. What's your thoughts on this guys? I carry all of my weight around my midriff, I haver super skinny arms and legs so I'm more inclined to think that my liver does need shrinking before my op. I am intending to do a 2 week diet consisting of meal replacement shakes and at least 2 litres of water. Those that completed a liver shrinking diet, what did you consume? Those that didn't were there any problems with the surgery? Thank you!

I've been away from home for three days and have not gone...poo since. (sorry) I haven't been drinking much Water. I went to Walmart and bought a stool softener, Dulcolax, but am now afriad to take it. It is liquid gels and the outside of the pill is firm. Does anyone have experince, or know of the possibility of these pills getting stuck in the band? I don't know if I need to soak it in water first, or if that would make it even more Gummy. The pill won't open up (at least, I don't think so). My question is only about this gel tablet because I already bought it!!! Yikes! I know of course to up my water intake and all that. THANKS!!!!!!!

Yes. you're all right of course. I'm just blowing this out of proportion. As the saying goes. "it's a bad day. not a bad life." I think I'm stressed about my long trip to on Sunday and seeing people for the first time in 20 years. And your definitely right. I've been eating more than I have in weeks and more than I shoud, but definitely less than this time last year.

Exactly @Spinoza. It’s there all the time. Sometimes just a faint little voice whispering in the distance and sometimes shouting at you. Mine has been shouting a lot lately, Had to give myself a kick in the pants and getting it off my chest here has been a help. Always a such a supportive community here. Was actually thinking about asking my GP for a referral to a menopause specialist. She’s been great right from the start about prescribing HRT and putting me on alternatives when issues arose but I have been thinking I need some extra help. I reduced my estrogen a little last week (3 pumps down to 2.5) because of the bloating and sore breasts but now the daily headaches are back. Sigh! I see my bariatric follow up doctor later this month so I’ll what she says as yes, micro dosing had crossed my mind too. The man I was most surprised by with his bone loss was my cousin @SpartanMaker. He was a walker. Walked for miles, twice a day, up & down hills with his dog when he permanently retired. Still don’t understand that but he had a sedentary job which I think probably contributed and probably does for lots of men and women too these days. My dad was a farmer (horticulturalist) on his feet and lifting things every day. His bones were so hard that when he’d have his bone marrow tests for his multiple myeloma, the doctor would stand on the bed or kneel over my dad to put his weight behind the needle to get it into the bone Yikes!

Even though plans are fundamentally the same, surgeons will have their own requirements many based on you, your health and your needs. Best advice is always follow the plan you have been given. Of course, if you are struggling with the plan, contact your team and discuss alternative substitutions you may be able to include. As for the pre surgical diet I was one who put on a keto diet for those two weeks. (I did about 2.5 weeks.) But I know a friend with the same surgeon, who had a higher starting BMI was on 3 shakes a day. Another, again same surgeon, was put on 2 shakes & one meal (protein & vegetable/undressed salad) a day. If you are concerned speak to your team.

Yes to both questions. 🤗 It was my first thought as well and the first thing I mentioned to both doctors. I think, after doing extensive research after I thought to look at possible ties to GLP's I might have an answer to the sharp nerve pain as well as the hypersensitivity/pain on my leg. Its a very little known side effect of Ozempic-Wegovy type Glp-1's especially at the higher dosages (above .5). Apparently not so with Zepbound. Luckily, I have an appointment with my GP in few weeks at which time I'll mention it. Although, most ppl with this said their doctors dismissed it being associated... but it is listed as a rare side effect and ppl said it stopped upon switching or lowering the dosage. Luckily my doctor is always receptive to my suggestions/questions/research. Fingers crossed! As far as the joints hurting...still researching that! Thank you for your response and questions. Hopefully if anyone else ends up with this they'll find this forum topic!