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The best advice I can give is to not try to revamp everything all at once. People that try that rarely succeed long term. Sure, it can work in the short term, but the real goal has to be retraining your body and mind how to be healthy. As such, I would urge you to pick something small to start working on today, or at least in the morning if you want to start fresh. This needs to be something so small as to almost be inconsequential. The reason it needs to be small (aside from helping with compliance), is so that your body and mind don't actually recognize that you're "dieting" or "working out". Continue with that one simple thing for a couple of weeks until it's become a new habit. Once that new habit is established, you can then make another small change. Just keep making small sustainable changes until you reach your goal. Yes, this approach is very slow, certainly much slower than drastic diet and exercise plans that promise quick results. Remember, what does it matter if you lose all the weight quickly if when you get there, you can't maintain the weight loss? Your real goal needs to be learning how you personally need to eat and move for long-term health. What that looks like is different for everyone, so no one here can tell you "eat this way", or "do these exercises" and you'll find success. It has to fit in with your unique needs, tastes and abilities and only you know what those are. If you feel like you need more guidance than that, I'd suggest seeking out professionals such as Registered Dietitians and Certified Personal Trainers. to help put more detailed plans together.

I have my surgery on the 18th if you ever want to talk! I am also working on figuring out some plans on what to eat the two weeks before surgery gets here. You are going to do amazing!

I had VSG so wasn’t aware it was common It’s my second panel - i had one 3-4 months out and it was fine I’ll définately call my doctor later today thanks for the insight

I had my gastric sleeve in Turkey on 1/10/24 couldn’t believe have smooth it went, 2.5 weeks post op and not loosing anything this week 😕

I wanted to go back to the weight I maintained through adulthood and motherhood (between 64-67 Kilos/141-147.7 lbs) Where I felt - and looked - my best and was active and in shape. My surgeon told me that he'll be very pleased if I lose 20 kgs (70 kgs), I was aiming for 65 kgs, and that in my opinion would have been a great success. I got down to 65 kilos in 3 months and kept losing for another 6 months until I stabilized (52.5-54 kgs is my fluctuation) and that is around 11/12 kgs less than what I would have considered an absolute success. It is easy to be hung up on a specific number, however it is how you feel and how you fit into your clothes that matters. I would've never imagined myself at 52 kilos (never been that weight except when I 13) and had you told me that I would've gasped out loud in horror. Now, I feel I look great and really healthy. I have a 15 kg wriggle room, and if I do gain a bit of weight it is no big deal. I loved how I looked at 65 kgs and I love how I look now too.

I am so glad I'm not the only one who eats sweets every day. I told myself that I was not going to restrict myself from eating sweets, knowing that I like sweets, I didn't wanna set myself up for failure so I include them just as I do protein and healthy food that I have to eat. OMG I'm going to try your peanut butter balls. 🤪😋! Simplest form for my cups would be to find your favorite chocolate (no sugar added or high coca content), add coconut oil to it for the fats. Microwave it. I work out a lot I'm not afraid of fats. Buy your cup molds, then really have fun with it put whatever you want in it. I try something new every week. Pop in freezer 30 mins. I don't give measurements cause you'll have to tweak it to your dietary thingy things. 😂, @AmberFL

I am going to ask you a question that I also ask myself when I have periods of consuming things I know I should not have. How did it get in your house? It's one thing to be in a place where temptation strikes. Maybe you go to a wedding and you are handed a glass of champagne. Maybe you go to your friend's birthday party and you take a piece of cake because everyone else has one. Okay, fine. This is not likely to be an ongoing issue unless your social calendar is booked constantly (in which case you need a plan). (But also, not fine because you are at 8 weeks out and your stomach is like a delicate baby that you are feeding trash. More like fine a year from now.) But if you are on day 6 of drinking wine while watching TV at night, all snug on your sofa... why is there wine in your house? Did you buy it? Did someone else bring it in? Is it left over from something? The easiest way not to drink alcohol casually is to have no alcohol in the house. The easiest way not to eat chips, or chocolate, or ice cream is... to not have it around. Get rid of it. I know a lot of us have issues with "wasting" food or drink. What I've come to realize only slowly is that there is no difference between me eating junk I don't need that is not good for me and putting it down the garbage disposal. Except in the second scenario, I don't gain weight. After Easter, I bought a big bag of jelly beans on clearance. They weren't very good. Even so, I kept eating them. I put them in the cupboard and kept getting a handful every time I walked past. And then I would eat a few and say these are really not very good. And then I would KEEP EATING THEM! Finally, after I did this several times, I stopped and asked myself what I was doing. Why was I eating these? Why did I buy them? And my only answer was because I was bored, and a little stressed, and they were there. Also, I like jelly beans. Only I didn't like them. So, I threw them away. An almost full bag, in the garbage. I know! The waste! But I didn't need them, I didn't like them, and they were making me crave all sorts of other sweets. I just kept thinking about the fact they were there. It made me want them. When they were gone, I could no longer eat them, and I didn't care enough to go buy more. For the first year, I did most of my grocery shopping through curbside pick up. I planned what to buy based on a menu plan, and that's all I got. No impulse buys. No clearance bins. No getting a dozen bags of something bad for me because it was on sale. I gave away all my alcohol or poured it down the drain. I threw away the junk food and organized my pantry so I could find things at a glance. I made a list of healthy things that were easy to eat or take along because I know I will always eat what's easy and not what's difficult. I meal prep for the week so that I don't have to cook and prep every single day and I have no excuse to eat out. I'll also be honest that the hardest times for me were before surgery when I was trying to follow a nutrition plan but had a lot of hunger and cravings, and from around 9 months out when weight loss had slowed and my appetite was becoming more noticeable and my weight loss naturally slowed. The fact that you're feeling like this at 8 weeks is concerning because this is the time when your ability to stay motivated should be highest (constant reinforcement when you step on the scale and lose weight almost every day), and your ability to eat is the least. Don't let this drag on without addressing it. Talk to your team. Because it's only going to get harder. Maybe you're bored. Or scared of change. Or you don't believe the surgery will work and you're turning it into a self fulfilling prophecy because that's easier emotionally than trying and failing. Or you just can't help yourself when the food or alcohol is in the house because you're addicted. Whatever it is, the best day to fix it is today. And ask your family and friends for help. Be accountable to others and to yourself. Because you can fix this, but if you don't, you won't reach your goal.

Is it just me, or is it really odd they'd tell you what not to use, but didn't tell you what you should be using? Surely they must have some suggestions that fit what they want here? As far as I know, all meal replacement shakes contain added vitamins as that's sort of the point. They also contain added carbs and fats that most protein shakes don't have. I'd say the vast majority of people here were told to just use protein shakes. That's typically for a few reasons: First, especially if you also take a vitamin supplement, you're not going to suffer any long term harm using protein shakes instead of meal replacement shakes for a few weeks. Second, most meal replacement shakes are lower in protein than a typical protein shake. We want as much protein as possible to help prevent the breakdown of muscle tissue when dieting. Third, most bariatric doctors don't actually want you consuming very many carbs, since one of the main goals of the pre-surgical diet is to shrink your liver to make the surgery safer. The best way to do that is a very low carb diet. (The liver is one of the main ways your body stores glycogen, so by depleting it of glycogen (carbs), it will get smaller, even if no other changes take place.) TL;DR: Ask your team what they want you to use.

You ready for a long story? 😎 My exercise history is definitely one of extremes. I was very athletic in High School (Secondary School). I played football (American), was on the swim team, and ran track and cross country (not all of those every year). Afterward I spent time in the US Army where running was the norm, so I ran quite a bit. My recollection is that I was running roughly 30 miles a week at that time, so actually a lot more than the minimum required. Unfortunately I was badly injured while I was in the service and was barely able to even walk for a long, long time. Once I mostly recovered from that, I got heavily into powerlifting for almost a decade. I had convinced myself that due to bad knees I shouldn't run anymore, so instead i just focused on the strength training as well as a tiny bit of cardio on the elliptical. Unfortunately, I tore up my back in a workplace accident, so from that point on, no more heavy lifting for me. This was really the beginning of my descent into inactivity and severe weight gain. The heavier I got, the less I was able to even move, until using a cane or walker had become the norm. In addition, during this time I ended up having multiple surgeries, including 5 different shoulder surgeries, multiple knee surgeries culminating in a total knee replacement, and even open heart surgery for a bad heart valve. Fast forward a lot and about 9 months after my bypass surgery, I was walking and backpacking pretty consistently. A bit like you, I decided mostly on a on a whim to just try jogging a bit. It was more to see if I could even do it than anything else. You have to understand with my health history, lots of my doctors would say I shouldn't run. I say I'm going to do whatever I need to do to keep myself healthy because I suspect at some point, I'll need both a revision to the knee replacement and a new heart valve. My ability to survive those surgeries at an advanced age is going to be highly dependent on my overall health. Anyway, back to running. I was so shocked at how well and relatively pain-free the running went, that I decided to start training for a 5k. From there it's just snowballed and I've now done around 20 or so different races between 5ks, 10ks and Half Marathons. I'm not super fast (I am 60 afterall), but I am still pretty competitive in my local races, at least for my age. I'm also lucky that I'm now retired. This means I have the time to train appropriately. I typically run 4 to 5 days a week and average between 25 and 35 miles a week. I'll probably ramp that up in 2025 because I'm targeting a fall marathon and I'd like to be around 50-60 miles a week at peak fitness before the race. At this point running is my passion, but I do still strength train twice a week to keep what strength I do still have. As an aside, I'm strongly considering becoming a Certified Personal Trainer. Not really because I needed the knowledge, or because I expect to work in the industry (I am happily retired after all). My real goal is to help others where I can on their journey to fitness. I feel I can better relate to those that are struggling than a lot of CPTs that have always been fit. I also at least want those I work with to know I do have some knowledge of the subject (even though I've frankly probably forgotten more about training than a lot of CPTs even know). I'm really glad you're going to keep after it. You might surprise yourself in terms of what your capable of!

Well, it took 5 years LOL but I finally got there with Gastric Sleeve!! We had COVID, and 2 x interstate moves in that 5 years, so there was a lot going on! Surgery on 16th Jan 2025 - lost almost 16 kg since the journey began and 10kg since surgery 10 weeks ago. This has been so life changing, I am losing slowly, but steadily. Not at all what I expected, I have had friends and colleagues who have been through this and dropped so quickly, my expectations were totally unrealistic as it turns out. I have to keep in mind that losing 16kg in 6 months has not happened before, and probably wouldn't have happened without surgery. Comparison is the cause of so much misery, so I am working hard to not compare and to enjoy this journey for what it is.... my journey! This is me in 2023 probably around 113kg, not my heaviest, I think at one stage around 2010 or so I was over 120kg as my scale at the time only went that high, and it was showing highest for a long time. I will put up After photos when I get there 😂

some things i've eaten the past week... 1) ½ an oven roasted acorn squash with butter and seasonings: est. 150 cals. ate ½ 2) homemade cabbage soup with 5 homemade pork and cabbage meatballs: est. 400 cals, ate/drank it all except for 2 meatballs. 3) ben & jerry's coffee ice cream, sour cream and onion chips, and a dark chocolate Godiva truffle: est. 500 cals, ate it all. 4) beet salad (beets, feta, balsamic glaze, green onion, ginger, vinaigrette): est. 275 cals, ate it all. 5) 1/4 sesame bagel w/ cream cheese and feta, roasted pork belly slices w/ ginger onion condiment : est. 550 calories, ate it all. 6) raspberry (9%) yogurt cup with black pepper: 175 cals, ate it all

some variation of oxy. unlike when i had wls, i finished the entire 2 week prescription (omg i needed it). i didn't even fill the Rx after wls!

Today's win! Went to the park with my 3 year old and didn't complain about being tired even once! I felt stronger and I actually played with him! I feel so much lighter 🥹 can't wait till I lose more weight and grow stronger!

The pre-op diet is probably the hardest thing you will do for the next 10-12 months. It's honestly so difficult, but you can get through it! Once surgery was done, 400-500 calories per day felt totally normal to me for months. A few things that helped me were sugar free jello, sugar free popsicles, and the Millie's sipping broth. Almost no calories in any of these, but you get sort of the feeling of eating, which helps combat the head hunger. Is it perfect? No. But it kind of helps. Also, sugar free gum might help. And if you're truly hungry, ask if you can add more non-starchy veggies throughout the day. I wasn't allowed any meals or veg, just liquid, but since you are, the difference between 2 cups of broccoli and 3 cups, calorie wise, is pretty much nothing. You can eat a whole cucumber for barely any calories, or a salad with baby spinach, cucumbers, shredded carrots, and balsamic vinegar (no oil).

If it puts your mind at ease, the only way to gain 10 lbs of fat in 5 days is to eat 7,000 extra calories per day (in addition to your usual maintenance calories). If you ate like 8,500 calories per day, 5 days in a row, you would remember. Swelling, on the other hand, is an easy way to gain fluid weight really fast. Hope you heal quickly and start feeling back to normal really soon! Once you get through the awkward first several weeks, I'm sure you're going to be thrilled with the results.

Oh wow! Thank you for sharing! I love seeing before and after pics because I'm 6 weeks post-surgery and I want more results and feel impatient but I know it takes time. I'm down almost 30 lbs since beginning pre-op liquids. So you give me hope that I can get there too. I know you feel so much better! That's what I want. More energy and less pain. My rt hip gives me trouble so less weight will help. Hopefully! Well congrats again! You are inspiring me today!! 😍

Here's my one-week update after making some adjustments! I've been focusing on protein-rich meals and keeping my intake under 1,000 calories, leaving a bit of room for those extra nibbles. My protein has been between 70-100 grams, and guess what, ladies? I lost 2.2 kg this week, bringing my total loss to 16 kg! I'm so thrilled—I feel leaner, lighter, and fresher, with no hunger cues at all (which feels strange, honestly). If all goes well, I’ll be out of the 90s in just two weeks, which feels like a dream come true!

I just watched a video on the procare website that you might enjoy. I get my Bariatric vitamins from procare and they always have very informative doctors etc come on. A few key points made 1. everybody loses weight after bariatric surgery. 2. not everybody maintains weight loss. 3. after gastric sleeve 7 to 50% will gain weight after the seventh year Mark . he goes on to state that success is not about fault, but about physiology he goes onto state that surgery does not change your genetics. he goes on to state that those of us who gain weight have a calorie balance issue our body is not balancing it like it should. versus a person who does not gain weight. he goes on to state that movement at least five times a week is very important and that determining physical hunger versus emotional hunger is very important. Etc give it a look

I think your doing great! My program was strict on carb intake which in the beginning I was able to easily adhere to, however veggies, fruit and a bunch of good whole foods have carbs so its okay to eat them. We need them for our energy. Your protein is amazing! I also cook for my family; hubby and 3 kids. I just adjust. I eat what they eat just cut out the carby. With spaghetti, I just eat the meat sauce and put it on top of spaghetti squash or zoodles, or if I am making hamburgers I just eat the patty. My family is eating better now too, now I get lean ground beef, only eat chicken breast, we do lightly breaded chicken, so that might help with your journey too.

well...we didn't end up going to Costco...whomp whomp we got distracted house hunting and then ended up picking up Popeyes in the way home...double womp womp. an onion ring, 3 boneless chicken wings, and a scoop each of cole slaw & the mashed potatoes. estimated 370 calories for the before pic. ate the sides, a bite of the onion ring (not very good) and 1 of the chicken wings which turned out to have a bone in it, surprise! hahah.

Hard agree. One cracker will mean nothing unless it's right before surgery. But more than that will. I hope you can stick to the pre-op diet from here on. I was meant to have 2 weeks on liquids pre-op but that turned into 6 for various reasons. It is by far the worst 6 weeks I've had to experience in the almost 3 years since I signed up for this surgery. It's really really hard not to have SOMETHING with texture in your mouth. Please do know that it will not be long until you can again.

Baked some brown butter chocolate chip cookies and they turned out insane. The whole house smells of caramel/brown butter. I had 3/4 of one. Used much less sugar than the recipe called for and I still feel I could reduce it a tad more.

i did boxing for a spell last year (went 3 times a week for about 2 months). its an arm workout alright! (and abs and back, with a crazy amount of cardio for added measure omg) Mr. says boxing is what gave me my "boulder shoulders" hahahhaha. BUT...i threw out my left shoulder AND right elbow (from going too hard i guess? or probably just bad form) and that ended my boxing career :(... i still have lingering left shoulder injury arg. so the lesson im sharing is: stay healthy during boxing and you can achieve (and maintain!) a pretty awesome physique!

Hi Meg! I had a lapband for 14 years and successfully kept off 100 pounds. I was never hungry with it. Sadly, it died in 2023 and had to be removed. The first weeks without it were glorious-- I was able to eat things I missed--- salads, brocolli, bagels. I told myself I would stil eat smaller meals but it was impossible without my tool. I started eating bagels weekly, would have a second slice of pizza, etc. I tired to keep my calories to 1500 but even then I was still eating more. than the 800 cal a day with the band. The weight packed on quickly. I gained 30 pounds in 4 months. And all 100 pounds within 10 months. I totallty failed. With the added. weight, came all of the medical problems again. My blood pressure went up, I had the rashes and skin rub, my plantar facuitis made it impossible to walk far.I hated myself again. I was finaly approved for a revision and converted to RNYGB a week ago. I am taking my life back and only wish I had pushed for a revision at the get go.

It's awesome when scrolling on social media to block ads for big & tall clothes because those ads are 'Not Relevant' any more. (So far) In 14 months since my surgery I've gone from 4xl/5xl shirts and 48-50" waist pants to xl shirts and 36" waist pants and I've donated to my local thrift store 3 separate times as I 'ungrow' things.