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I also prep things that freeze well. Chili Make a whole chicken (or turkey) and pull it apart and freeze in desired weight bags. I actually froze my leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and used some last week and make turkey stir fry instead of chicken. It was delicious! I buy the frozen bags of chicken so I can pull 1 or 2 pieces out as needed- Shake and bake is my jam for a quick easy and healthier (15-30 cals per serving) "breaded" chicken or pork. Make a big batch of pasta sauce and freeze in smaller amounts Homemade meat balls and freeze raw or cooked Homemade turkey or regular burgers. Soups freeze well, although I am not a soup person so I don't make them I started freezing more because learning to cook after WLS was not easy..lol.. I threw away tons of food. So I started freezing anything before throwing it away to see how it was after being thawed and reheated. Worse case I just threw it away later but then I knew and learned about what freezes well. I also meal prep lunches for work, so make bulk and eat it for a few days. Mainly to stay on track but it would also save you a lot of time for dinners too. You could cook the lean ground beef/turkey and use it for different things through the week. Spaghetti? Tacos? Etc.. Cook a larger amount of chicken and do the same thing? Chicken salad, chicken stir fry, chicken ON a fresh salad, chicken and veggies..etc.

I dump on sugars and fats. There is early and late dumping. It isn't just a WLS thing as non-ops can dump. Gastric Bypass just makes it easier in many cases. Early dumping usually hits 20-30 minutes after eating. After 20-30 minutes if there is still food in reach there can be vomiting but generally it's just dry heaving with nothing coming up. There is also sweating profusely, weakness, diarrhea, and rapid heart rate, sometimes a headache. Late dumping happens an hour or three later with similar symptoms except for dry heaves. Usually I just start sweating and the other symptoms, if they occur, seem much milder. Dumping is a great educator as it's not something I wanted to repeat so I learned quickly to avoid certain foods. 19 years out from surgery I know what foods in what quantities generally make me dump. But if I am tired, stressed, med conflicts, or a myriad of other situations my dumping threshold could move and I get surprised. At this point it's just something I take as part of the joy of being me. Good luck, Tek

I had revision to bypass on 12/13/22 due to GERD/acid reflux that also caused some regain. Recovery for me was a lot worse than sleeve, but thankfully that sounds uncommon so please do not get nervous reading my story; I only tell it to share my experience. I was scheduled for outpatient surgery, but had to be admitted for one night to the hospital due to not coming out of the anesthesia quickly, an abnormal EKG post-surgery and low blood pressure issues. I spent about 8 hours in post-op recovery and was finally admitted when I didn't improve. I suspect the difference in recovery had to do with the first surgery being done at my doctor's clinic, while the bypass was performed at a hospital (insurance requirement) so same doctor, different surgical team/anesthesiologist. I was given something pre-anesthesia which the nurse told me can make coming out of anesthesia more difficult. I requested that they not give it to me, but I was asleep before the mask went on my nose, so I suspect I was given it even though the nurse told the anesthesiologist I didn't want it. I was also given fentanyl in post-op, which I would not have approved had I been awake enough to object to it. I guess it is common in emergency rooms, but I was not happy to hear them saying they were administering it to me while I was mostly asleep. I also got a corneal abrasion during surgery, which caused intense pain and watering in my left eye in post-op. They gave me drops for it and it calmed it down. Other than these issues, my post-op stay at the hospital was great - I had an amazing team of nurses that seemed like they were dedicated only to my care. Comparing to my sleeve post-op, for that surgery I was released same day just hours after surgery and aside from being sleepy for a day or two, I had no post-op issues except for constipation, which I have not had with bypass. I had a JP drain for 1 week post-surgery. I continued to have low BP for a few weeks post-surgery and very little energy. I didn't eat much for the first 2 weeks (I completely overbought on the liquids and puree foods). I was able to get my water in no problem. I wasn't able to stomach the protein shakes until week 3, they just gave me nausea. At about the 3-week mark I suddenly recovered one day from both the low BP and low energy, and now I am feeling amazing. Aside from a little heart burn a few days out of surgery I have not had any GERD/acid reflux, thank god! So far with bypass I have not regained my hunger pangs yet (yay! hope that lasts a while) and am down 20 lbs, compared to having lost 18 lbs my first month post-sleeve. I'm very happy I had the revision surgery at this point. Try to not feel frustrated, my doc told me many people need a revision, especially with GERD. I didn't realize just how much it affected my sleep, eating, daily life until it went away. Such a relief to have it gone! I wish you the best of luck in your surgery!

I had a revision to bypass on December 13th and the first few weeks were a struggle. No energy, horrible recovery compared to my VSG. i had a brief moment of "what did I do" thinking and then it was gone. At just about the 3-week mark I suddenly got ALL the energy back.. like deep cleaned my entire house energy... almost overdid it! I was SO happy to feel back to normal. You'll get there, too.

I found cauliflower thins to form the crust of my pizza, added pizza sauce and turkey pepperoni topped with mozzarella. At 4 weeks I was puree. 8 weeks soft foods, scrambled eggs, meatloaf, mash potatoes, taco or italian flavored ground turkey with guacamole or marinara respectfully. Just chew well to applesauce texture before swallowing.

There are lots of diet plans, both pre and post WLS so it's hard to say exactly what you should do. Personal preferences also play into this a lot. I'd recommend talking to your team as they will have the best info regarding their plan and what they want you to do. As far as protein drink recommendations, I prefer the Fairlife Nutrition Plan pre-made shakes to most others. On the exercise front, sounds like you have a decent plan already, but I'd add a couple of things: Squats are great, but don't neglect your upper body or core. If you can, add in some planks, side planks, pushups and pullups. All of these can be modified to where you're at physically. For example, if you can't do a regular pushup, start with wall pushups. Progress to an elevated surface such as a bench, then move on to a pushup on your knees, etc. Make sure you keep in mind that you want to keep progressing in both the strength and cardio work. So maybe instead of walking just a mile and quitting, try to extend that a few minutes this week, then do a few more minutes next week, etc. Work up to 45 minutes to an hour a day. Instead of just increasing time, you can also vary your pace with walking "intervals". This would be maybe 30 seconds of all-out walking as fast as you can, followed by 2-3 minutes of a more normal pace to recover. Over time, make the all-out push last longer and/or shorten the recovery period.

if you're anywhere close to a normal BMI (including the "overweight" category), weight loss is going to be excruciatingly slow. I put on 10 lbs over the past year and am now trying to take it off. About 1/2 lb a week is about all I can manage. The reason is, your calorie intake now is probably MUCH lower than before you had surgery. So there are a lot fewer calories you can afford to cut. For example, when I weighed well over 300 lbs, I was probably eating over 3000 calories a day. Pretty easy to find 1000 - or even 1500 - calories in there that could be cut. That means it was theoretically possible for me to lose 2-3 lbs a week (since a pound is 3500 calories). Now, after my weight loss, my maintenance level is about 1600 calories/day. Cutting 1000 calories from that would put me at 600 cal/day. Ah...no way. You'd have to be under medical supervision to eat at that level. And deducting 1500 calories? That would put me at 100 calories a day. So....no. About the most I can cut and still maintain my health - and not be under medical supervision - is 300-400 calories a day. At a 300 kcal deficit per day, that's a 2100 calorie deficit a week - so a little over 1/2 a pound. If I dropped down to 1200 cal/day, then we're talking a 2800 calorie deficit, so maybe 3/4 of a pound a week (and of course, things like activity level, how muscular you are, etc, would also factor into this - but it probably wouldn't make a significant difference). So I have been eating about 1300 calories a day for the last six weeks, so theoretically I would be down 3.6 lbs. I'm actually down about 5 lbs, so I'm doing very well! if I had dieted for six weeks when I weighed over 300 lbs, I probably could have lost 15-20 lbs by now. But nope - 5. my point of all this is, you may be losing, but at a much lower weight, it's going to be S-L-O-W. And if you're at a normal - or near-normal - BMI, we're talking ounces rather than pounds. It WILL come off - but it'll be slow. I used to mentally roll my eyes at these barely overweight women who would moan and complain at how hard it was to lose 10 lbs. "Ha", I thought, "try losing 200 pounds!". Now I get it...

10 weeks post mini bypass and I cannot seem to eat anything as majority of food has an off putting of odour attached to it living on plain biscuits and coffee made with frothed protein milk anyone else experience this , very very disenchanted , have tried loads of foods but nothing is working

No way! Your sugar "slip" is being NORMAL. Hair loss, from surgery? Again, NORMAL. It took me 3 years to get to have surgery. I weighed 357 at my highest and was treated like it was 753 lbs. I went down 27 lbs on my own. However, I had asthma all my life and my body HURT. I retired from a job I LOVED for 25 years due to fears of working in a COVID spread environment and in order to deal with my weight. My pcp gave me phentermine to reach the arbitrary 315 lbs hurdle goal to get into surgery. Now, 6 weeks post op TODAY, it hurts to eat, I HATE protein shakes and it feels like I'm starving. Still, I feel immensely HAPPY. I am grateful for the surgery! I lost 30 first 2 weeks post op, then nothing more and gained back 4 lbs. Yet, I know it's a blip. You lost weight! You lost 60 pounds! That's like putting down a kid who piggy backed on you for however long. You're sixty pounds LIGHTER. Your hair will grow back! EAT foods high iron, biotin, and vitamins for hair skin and nails. My sister went through same and 5 years later she's back to normal, hair and all. She gains a little on holiday's but goes right back to losing what she gained with more activity and WATER. You are NORMAL. Enjoy what you've accomplished! Plus I just read people with surgery are living LONGER!!!😎🤟

Reposting something I posted elsewhere: First, the most common reason for any stall, including the dreaded 3-week stall is simply that you are retaining more Water. There are a few reasons this happens, but around the 3-week mark it comes down to the fact that your body is adjusting to a low carb intake after converting from glycogen to ketones for energy. More water is needed to burn glycogen, so you were retaining more water pre-surgery than you are now that you're using primarily ketones for energy. At about the 3-week mark, your body eventually recognizes that the water loss is long term, so other mechanisms have started kicking in to start holding on to more water. This water loss due to the change between glycogen and ketones is the primary reason for "keto flu", and something that increases your risk of dehydration early after surgery. The other "reasons" for plateaus really don't apply as much at the 3 week mark, but will become more important later in the process. Let's cover those too though so you're prepared: As you lose more weight, your overall metabolic rate will slow down. People sometimes think fat is not metabolically active, but that's not true. Less fat means your metabolism slows down, even if you retain the same amount of muscle. As you lose weight, it takes less effort to move, so the amount of calories you burn from activity also drops quite a bit. As you progress, you'll be able to eat more and especially if you're not tracking intake closely by weighing and measuring your food, you can easily be eating a lot more than you think. This one may be TMI for some, but you may simply be retaining more stool. This is going to be hard for some people to hear, but I can tell you one thing it's not, and that's hormones. Yes, various hormonal processes negatively impact weight loss in a myriad of ways, but they don't overcome basic physics: if you eat less than you are burning, you'll lose weight. What these hormones can do if they're out of whack, is not good things like slowing your metabolism, increasing your hunger, screwing with water weight, or even fooling you into thinking you're eating less than you are. So, with all that sciency stuff out of the way, what do we actually do if we're in a stall? Well, I think it depends on when it happens and how long it lasts: If it's early (a.k.a. the 3-week stall), just keep doing what you're doing and you should be fine. I know people don't like that advice, but as I said, it's just water, so don't worry about it. Later on, especially if the stall is lasting longer than 2-3 weeks. that's when I think it's important that you look closely at what you are actually burning, as well as really tracking what you are eating. If you don't know your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), you should. The closer you are to goal, the harder it is to get the balance right between intake and output to make sure you're not eating too much, so fixing this starts with knowing your BMR and accurate food logging. There's a lot of anecdotal advice thrown around about "ways to break a stall", but there seems to be little scientific evidence for any of it. Most of it certainly won't hurt to try, e.g. breaking up your routine in terms of diet or exercise, but just understand that this change may or may not have had any impact. If it makes you feel better to be proactive, go for it. Longer term, there is one piece of solid advice that's backed up by lots of research: Even if you don't really like working out, do it anyway. Those WLS patients that make a regular habit of exercising for 45 minutes to an hour most days a week are significantly more likely to reach their goal and maintain the weight loss. (One caveat here: significantly changing your exercise routine can make you retain water and possibly even add muscle, so don't freak out if you see a stall or even a gain.) I'll take that exercise advice one step further and say you really should be doing some form of strength training. This is also backed up by lots of studies, but the great thing about strength training is that it makes your burn more calories even at rest (in other words, it increases your metabolic rate). There are lots of other benefits, but the metabolic benefit is the most germaine to the stall question. Those that do strength training are less likely to stall during weight loss.

I just saw my surgeon last week...3 1/2 weeks post op. There's a gym opening right next to my office and I mentioned joining and he told me to just walk for the next 6-8 weeks. At the 3 month post op point he said working out would be fine but to focus on the arms/legs and strengthening muscles and stay away from stomach crunching type exercises like sit ups....which I would have stayed away from regardless of him saying anything.

The U.S HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion created a generic recommendation for all Americans: For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Preferably, aerobic activity should be spread throughout the week. Additional health benefits are gained by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these activities provide additional health benefits. To provide more structured advice, I'd need to understand a few things. First, what do you hope to accomplish from an exercise program? Some common goals might include: Improve overall health (e.g. lessen risk of heart disease, diabetes, etc.) Get stronger / Make day to day living easier Help control weight regain (notice I didn't say lose weight as you can't out exercise a bad diet) Improve mental health / reduce anxiety & depression Sleep better / Have more energy Improve body composition (more muscle mass = more calories burned even at rest) Look good naked Next, are their specific activities you like or don't like? Some people hate gyms, others love them. Some people like to "play" to get exercise (think sports/outdoor recreation), while others love the solitude of walking/running by themselves. Basically what I'm asking is for you to do some self-reflection and think hard about what you think might work best for you. Finally, can you be more specific about what resources you have available? You mentioned a gym (which is not entirely needed), but beyond that? Do you have or can you get: A heart rate monitor (e.g. fitness watch or strap) A place to walk outside or access to a treadmill Other exercise/recreation equipment such as a bike or stationary bike, kayak or canoe, Nintendo Ring Fit Wii Fit, etc. A set of exercise bands and/or dumbbells, Sufficient space to workout at home if you don't go to a gym I'd also really like you to fill out your profile here on Bariatricpal. Details matter. In addition to that, it would be helpful to know some things like: Your age How you'd rate your current fitness level If you have any specific physical or health issues that might impact what exercises/activities you're able to do In short, the more details you can provide, the more tailored I can make a recommendation. Best of luck.

I'm 3 1/2 weeks post op from gastric sleeve surgery and everything is going great. I'm following the protocol to the letter and gradually losing weight. Saturday night my significant other and myself took my two nephews to dinner. I was able to order a bowl of soup/broth with no issues. During the course of dinner I used a spoon and took a taste of the queso that my nephews had ordered. My significant other then proceeded to lecture me about food choices. I told her that soft cheese was ok on my current protocol. This didn't seem to make much difference to her. It sort of hurt my feelings but I didn't say anything. Am I overreacting or should I be thankful that I have someone watching over me so carefully. She has been 100% supportive of me in all ways. I just guess I felt like it was unnecessary for anything to be said at all. It's not like I wolfed down a basket of chips and ate the whole bowl of queso. I was kind of proud of myself as I thought "wow...that's the least amount of queso I've ever eaten in my life!

Stalls are demons that play with your mind. So very annoying too. You will eventually get very used to them. You will say to yourself ' I have not lost for two weeks and am only eating 600 cals a day, I must be over eating' In the last year I think I had 4. Which were 2 x 2 weeks and 1 x 3 weeks and 1 x 9 weeks. Its just your body having a rest and reset. The first one usually comes in at 2-4 weeks after surgery. Someone said there are 17 thousand posts about this stall on this site alone.

The first thing my doctor said was that my BMI was at 31 and that insurance would not approve me. Then she brought up another procedure called Lynx. Some kind of magnetic bead thing that would keep the opening of your stomach closed unless things passed through. I don’t want it. I had the lapband and it’s was the worst and I feel like anything they put in your body that can be removed, it’s not going to help me. My bariatric doctor thinks I have a small hiatal hernia. They took me into radiology and made me drink the dye, but everything looked normal. In a week they are going to look down my throat to see if there is in fact a hernia. I have new insurance this year, but it’s still the same company. If I don’t have a hernia, I’m going to push for the revision or any other options. I can’t keep taking anti acids multiple times a day on top of vitamins, medications, etc.

Do you have what's app group link. My bariatric pal app isn't working. My surgery is Jan 23rd I'm starting my two week liquid diet today.

it's when you go through a period (usually about 1-3 weeks) when you don't lose any weight - or maybe gain and lose the same pound for a 1-3 week stretch - even though you're sticking to your program.

When people talk about stalls what exactly does that mean? Are stalls weeks, months, or what exactly.

I caught myself doing the same thing before I learned it was common and called food funerals. And I can say for one I did not do that great on my pre-opt, and after surgery my doctor said my liver looked perfect and I did well on my pre-opt. Really all I did was cut down and three days of liquids before date. Haha. Everything works out as it's supposed to it. Good luck! you got this!

I was initially told that my surgery would be 4 weeks out. We were going camping and I went out & purchased all of my favorites planning on indulging myself for a week. Not so fast... his office called the 1st day of our trip and said I could have my RNY the next week! That put the kibosh on my plans....🤣

My first stall happened about 2 weeks post surgery and lasted about a month. Now, I seem to stall about every other week. *shrug* As long as I'm staying on track, I'm not worried. The weight is coming off - even if it's a bit slower than I'd like.

I was able to drink anything, gulp even, with no issues - the night I spent in the hospital! I'm incredibly thankful for this, because it has helped keep me from getting dehydrated. I had a little bit of gas, but not much and walking took care of it. I had a tiny bit of nausea for the first couple of days, but nothing concerning and the zofran took care of it. I have yet to vomit (knock on wood). Thankfully, we only have to drink liquids for a few weeks.

I’m a bit nervous since I’m five months past surgery tomorrow and I’ve only lost a little over half of my excess weight. I spent most of October and November in a stall, did well in December and so far in January I’ve lost a little bit but not a lot. I still have 17-18 kilos to go to get to a healthy BMI, and I’m not going to get there in a year if I will only lose a kilo a month from now on. I lost a total of 19 kilos in the first five months, most of it in the beginning and then in December.

It took one year and two weeks post surgery (plus 7 months pre-surgery), but today, nekked, on my own scale, I hit ONEderland, 199.6 lbs. Yipee! I know it's transitory and I'll bounce back and forth for a while, but this is the first time my scale has shown under 200 lbs for about 25 years. I've gone from a size 30-32 to an 18-20. My hair is growing back. My brother is moving back home after 30+ years as an expat. I've booked a southern Caribbean cruise for April and he's going with me. All is good! Just when I finally got all skinny leg pants, I discovered that the "in" style is again baggies. Well, there are some things you just can't win.

So you're barely over a week out - it's major surgery and it does take some time to bounce back from the body-shock. Some have a rougher time than others post-op, which sounds like where you're at. It's definitely not an easy recovery regardless, and some people experience very real hormonal disruption that can really bring on some horrible emotional turmoil. Regret right after surgery is actually pretty common. And I know it's a broken record, but it's honestly true - it gets better. Hard to hear when you're in pain, feeling weak, and are trying to navigate a brand new and often overwhelming new life change, I know, but even folks who had a rough time like you will, months later, attest that it gets better and is worth it. If you could have lost the weight without surgery you would have. We all would have. Never having long-term success is what brought us all to taking the surgical help. Be kind to yourself and like SleeveDiva2022 suggested, a bariatric therapist might be a good idea.