Search the Community

I put mine as the weight on the day I went to my first surgical consult, which was also my highest recorded weight. With the diet and lifestyle changes I made as part of the program, I lost about 13 lbs in the 6 months between then and the start of my pre-op diet. I lost another 13 lbs in those 2 weeks of liquid diet before surgery. But I want credit for all the weight I lost! Interestingly, Dr. Weiner recently said on a podcast that the weight lost on a pre-op diet definitely is credited to the surgery in his opinion. The reasoning was that if you go on a liquid diet, lose 13 lbs, and then try to keep that weight off without having surgery just by eating right, you are going to regain most or all of it in a matter of weeks. The fact that we lose that weight and then keep losing more weight instead of gaining is thanks to the metabolic changes of the surgery. He also told me in a live Q&A support group a while back to use my weight from before the pre-op diet as my starting weight if I wanted to plug it into a prediction calculator. I raised the concern of being a bit behind the prediction based on one of those calculators and he asked me what my weight was before the liquid diet. When we used that number instead of my surgery day weight, it tracked much better (and is still looking very accurate at 9 months out). He said if I had always been 225 lbs (my day of surgery weight) that would be one thing, but in reality, my "true" weight was somewhere between 238 and 251 in terms of what my metabolism was trying to overcome with the surgery. I feel like that's one of those big questions a lot of us have in the beginning and nobody really gives an answer on the calculator sites.

I've been told by my doctor that I'm behind the weight I should be losing. I should be done to 116kg (255 lbs) by now. I really was starting to worry as the weight on the scale kept going up, but then I suddenly went down to 117kg. I had to stand on the scale twice because I couldn't believe the number. It was so easy the first couple of weeks of the pre-op diet and now it doesn't seem to be working as quickly. I'm still doing what I need to, but it's not been easy. I've also been told by my doctor that after surgery, I won't be able to ride my bike for 6 weeks! This is more difficult than not being able to eat solid foods for weeks. My beautiful noble steed (her name is Angelique Iolanthe) will have to be in storage for 6 weeks. 7 more weeks until the surgery. I've been reading more articles and doing more research on the sleeve. I'm not sure if that easing the anxiety or adding to it. Thanks to everyone for sharing your stories! It's one thing to do research and read medial information, but it's so much more reassuring to hear from people who have actually lived it. Even hearing the not so glamourous parts of life post-op.

Hey all, so I’m in the process of getting a revision I have the Lapband wanting to remove it and getting the Sleeve. I have BCBS of MA. How was the process for you guys. What where your requirements, and how long did everything take meaning the whole process and the approval time. I went 2 weeks ago to my consultation, did the nutrition class then my ecg that same day now waiting for to talk to a psych. And the place is taking long I already called bcbs it’s in my network and also got my copay these ppl are taking long I’m ready to start my new journey

I could eat the slices of baked bread, we call it Melba toast at about 6 weeks. It is so crisp and thin it melts away. I tried supermarket white bread and a wrap but I was violently ill with the foamies. It just clumps to a ball of mush in your stomach. At 18 months I found I could eat quality super seeded bread without a problem. At about 150 calories a slice and 5gms of protein, it works for me once a week in a packed lunch Try thin toast from quality bread

Interesting question! I don't have a ton of routine when it comes to meals, with the possible exception of breakfast. Most days I eat a yogurt parfait with Greek yogurt, fresh berries & protein boosted Kind brand granola. That said, I'm not opposed to other things like banana nut pancakes (a favorite), or even cold pizza on occasion! Lunch is most often leftovers from dinner since we still haven't figured out how to cook 1.5 meals (half for me, whole for my wife). Dinner is super varied. We both like to cook and like good food, so it might be just about anything. That said, I have found that I just don't enjoy big slabs of meat anymore. We do occasionally have red meat, but it's probably once a week or less. I'd say we have seafood based dinners 3-4 times a week and 1-2 vegetarian meals per week. I also eat a lot more beans than I used to. Overall, I don't focus much on macros. It's more about eating a variety of healthy foods and enjoying what little I can eat. As far as activity, there is no typical day. It can vary from nothing at all (I do one dedicated rest day a week), to running 12-14 miles or more on my long run day. In a typical week, I run 30-40 miles (my main sport), but I also do strength training a couple days a week and do a little bit of cross training either on the bike or on a stationary rower. Later in the year I'm thinking of starting a marathon training block. If so, I'll be increasing my mileage up into the 50-60 MPW range. I think one of the main reasons my diet may differ from the "typical" post WLS diet is because of the high activity level I have. I just wouldn't be physically able to do that volume of running without eating a lot more carbs to fuel my runs. In fact, getting enough calories is my current challenge, not getting too many. That's another topic for another day however!

Bums sounds cooler 🤭. I'm 2 weeks out and the constipation is definitely in the way. I'm not miserable with bloat or pain, just needing relief b/c these "partial" BM's mean nothing. Today my provider told me it could last about 6 mos and encouraged me to take stool softener everyday.

I remember gaining a pound or two and always just figured it was the time of day or whatever. You know one salty meal or a full bowel can make a two or three pound difference. To this day k weigh two or three pounds more in the afternoon than morning time. Your loss will not be a straight line downwards, but it will trend down. Everyone says it and I know firsthand how hard it is to listen because I didn’t but try to stay off the scale for a while in between because then you will see the real losses. After my sleeve surgery I would weight myself daily but i only recorded it one day of the week so I could better see the number decreasing. Even still it didn’t always go down so honestly if you’re self disciplined enough, weighing like once a month would probably save a ton of mental anguish.

Hi all I’ve had to take a laxative as it’s been over a week since I went to the toilet. This painfully moved everything along. Today I passed a stool with blood in it. Not too much but enough to scare me. I’ve obviously had stomach surgery but this wasn’t mentioned. Is it normal? My sleeve was 6 days ago. My last bowel movement before laxatives was 8 days ago. Tia

As someone who started traveling less than 3 weeks post surgery, my biggest advice is to make sure you load up on what you need before the day starts (proteins that you can "safely" eat) - Just keeping enough snacks/food that you know you can tolerate easily during the flight rather than relying on whatever they provide you. For me, an aisle seat was key on long hauls also just so that I could get up and walk if needed. Extra water for the flight was also very helpful. Mostly, enjoy the extra room! That was seriously a game changer for me. Before surgery, I'd panic if I had to fly coach wondering if I'd get a seatbelt that fit or have someone beside me that was just disgusted at my presence.

For the sleeve, I was told 6 weeks and I was cleared for everything except weight lifting. I was cleared for that at 8 weeks. For the revision to bypass, I was told since that's a longer and more involved surgery, I was cleared for everything at 6 weeks except weight lifting, which was 10 weeks. And nothing full contact until 12 weeks, although I don't do that anyway. Swelling for the sleeve was gone by 6-7 weeks. For the revision, about 8 weeks.

I'm only two weeks post op and it doesn't hurt to eat unless you eat too much. I've learned pretty quickly what "too much" is so it's not painful to eat. Just eat slowly and your restriction will stop you from.being in pain. My mother had bypass in 2008 back whe it was standard to do an open procedure. She was able to eat almost anything and she wasn't in pain when she ate 15 years later. If they are 3+ years post op and still in pain when eating, they are probably either not eating correctly or they should speak to their surgical team.

Everyone has different plans from their doctors but in all of them I have never heard of being on regular food after 2.5 weeks. Do you mean non liquid phase and that you are normal food but soft? I hope so as that is all your stomach should be handling now as you can't digest normal food at this stage, which is what may cause the vomitting and pain. It should be no water 30 minutes before and after a meal so maybe if you are only leaving it 10 minutes that is causing the problem? I did have gas issues but it was caused by complications so not the same for you I am sure. Could you ask your doctor about taking something to help with reflux?

I was supposed to have my surgery Dec 28 last year. I had the option of taking a last-minute cancelation the Monday of Thanksgiving week, but when I told my mom (whose help I needed with my kids), she was totally against it. Said I would ruin everyone's holidays if I had a terrible recovery and kinda made it all about everyone else. So I gave up the date, even though it pained me to do it, because I didn't want to be selfish. A couple weeks later, my hospital discontinued their surgical program and canceled my date. I was devastated. I had to rebook with a different program, which was still affiliated with the parent organization of my hospital, but unfamiliar to me. I didn't end up getting my surgery until February. It was very stressful and I was pretty angry with myself for not choosing what I wanted instead of what other people wanted me to do. Having said that, it did all work out for the best in some ways. Apparently, the November surgery date would have been right after the doctors at my old program were told the center was closing, so maybe that would have meant the surgeon wasn't as focused going into my surgery, which could have been dangerous for me. And I would have had to do all my follow up with a different program, which would've been awkward. And I appreciate that I knocked out my deductible in February so have had full coverage of all my tests and appointments all year. I actually have a biopsy I have to get done next month (not related to bariatric surgery) and that won't have any out of pocket costs, so yay for that. On the other hand, my recovery was pretty much text book, so all my mom's worries over me ruining the holidays with a terrible recovery were baseless. I was pretty self sufficient and back to about 80% functioning by the end of the first week. And 8 months post-surgery, the holidays are rolling around again and guess what? I still can't eat more than a tiny plate of turkey breast, a few green beans, and a bite of pumpkin pie. I still won't be baking a million cookies or drinking a pint of egg nog. So, whether it happens this year or next, your family will have to figure out how to navigate around your new normal. If it were me, I would decide based on what makes financial sense (your deductible, etc.), what works for you with time off work, and would probably avoid the two weeks right before Christmas just because you will need some time to recover in peace without holidays adding to your stress. In retrospect, waiting until February wasn't such a big deal, though, so if you do have to wait, it will be okay. Just make sure you do it for yourself and not for everyone else.

Oh yes, you never open a medication that is a capsule form. can’t belief they told you to do that. The outer shell is to protect your digestive system and to ensure the medication is absorbed slowly. People with sleeve usually don’t need to take as many supplements as those with a bypass, Sadi, etc. as sleevers don’t have as much of a malabsorption issue as they do. I had to take a multivitamin and vitamin D with K. That was it. I only took the D with K for about 3 or 4 months and stopped the multi at about 8 months. But I stress that was me and what my blood work showed I needed (or was lacking in) or in my case didn’t need. Some sleevers are also required to take calcium and iron. Does your blood work show you have existing needs i.e you are lacking in some vitamin? This would be a staring point as to what you may need even pre surgery. Then subsequent tests will show if you drop in anything. As to whether you can take tablets or need to have patches, chewables, liquid, or mouth spray versions is really up to what your surgeons requires and what you are able to tolerate. I could swallow capsules from about day 4 or 5. (Regular sized capsules not those giant horse sized ones 🙂). General advice: take your multi after you’ve eaten. They can cause nausea if taken on an empty tummy. If you have to take two or more multis as your dose, spread them out across the day. Try one in the morning and one in the evening. don’t take your calcium at the same time as your iron. Your body can’t absorb them at the same time. Try one in the morning & the other in the evening. don’t take your iron within an hour or so of consuming any caffeine if you’re allowed caffeine. Caffeine reduces your ability to absorb iron by more than 60%. Ensure you’re getting regular blood tests. My surgeon required once every three months before visits but my GP had me do one in between so I was having one every 1.5 months. That way if anything unexpected was happening, we knew about it quickly. All the best.

It’s not particularly common but it does happen. I actually “eat” every three hours. Something small And I have seen others on here who eat every two hours but they are much further out from surgery than you and me. Also, this is something small and it’s all protein high protein food so if you log all of the calories and macros you can eat more often but still stay on plan. Maybe run this by your team. My nutritionist that I talked to you before my surgery did not think it was a good idea but the nurse practitioner said it was actually fine so long as I wasn’t eating more portion wise than I was supposed to while everything healed. I think the problem with it would be in the future as portions grow a bit if you’re eating five meals a day then you are eating five bits more instead of three bits that adds up faster. as long as you know that you’re able to control the portions and the quality of the food that you’re consuming your team may be on board. In the meantime, check in with yourself to make sure that it’s not what we call head hunger. Are you tired, lonely angry or bored or anything like that when you’re feeling hungry? If so, then talk to your team about that and maybe try journaling to get your feelings out or an alternative behavior such as working on a puzzle or craft or something like that. If that’s not it, there was a lady on here years ago that struggled with hunger that never went away, and she tried everything to get to the bottom of it. In terms of it being head hunger, and it didn’t seem to be she finally said that one thing that helped was warm liquid such as soup, broth, or tea or warm coffee. Another thing is there is not a whole lot of protein in one egg. I know your pouch is small and you can’t consume a lot food wise at this point, so maybe you need to supplement that protein with a little bit of a protein shake in between. I actually have what I call proffee for breakfast for that very reason. I am able to consume an entire protein shake over time with added chilled coffee and that keeps me full until lunch. Of course, don’t go against your teams plan without discussing these ideas with them, but hopefully something here helps. You have to remember that they give you a cookie cutter plan when you start out. But you are very individual and it’s possible that what they gave you just doesn’t work for you so make an appointment to talk to them sooner or email through your patient portal and tell them what’s going on. My suggestion would be to log what you’re eating and your activity and show them so they can have a better idea of what’s going on. I used a Fitness watch that is connected to an app on my phone for my activity and the Baritastic food app, which is free on the phone, but there are others as well. Also, pay attention to your mood or feelings because a lot of of us are emotional eaters. I know that I turned into food a lot of times out of just boredom. But also stress and anxiety. Basically, I realize this by sitting there with my hungry feelings for a few minutes and thinking about what had happened that day and whether it was particularly stressful or how I was feeling about it. If you really take inventory and it doesn’t coincide with emotions, though it is possible for the hunger to come back sooner, it has happened again just very uncommon. It will be easier to explain to your team if you have done a feelings inventory and tried a journal or really thought about if you were, I can’t remember there’s an acronym, but I think it’s stressed, lonely bored or tired. Something like that. After reading the comment above, it reminded me when I was early out. I did not eat food, solid food that often I had shakes in between. Also, yes, it is possible that it’s stomach acid too so ask about a PPI if you aren’t on that already. And please don’t just adjust anything without talking to your team because I don’t even know what surgery you had and everybody’s situation is different but you could run those ideas by them.

Find something you enjoy doing. While I have been a gym rat forever, I always take up things that I look forward to and it has to always be sustainable for me. So some years ago I took up tennis and would go twice a week, I also took up Taekwondo, martial arts and now Pilates. My two Pilates classes a week are the highlights of my week, I look forward to them and I shop cute workout outfits weekly because I like to look good when I go. It is much easier to build on the workouts (movement) you enjoy, so if you enjoy a certain activity (swimming, cycling, tennis, padel, Pilates, yoga, hiking, dancing, whatever it is) you will always feel a bit more motivated to build on that. So for me, I go for Pilates twice a week and I lift and do strength and conditioning another 3 days a week to add to my classes. I love jogging, HIIT and plyos and do that for my cardio, but even brisk walking is really really good to maintain weight loss. Keep it simple. Also, I find it much draining to workout after work, so I workout at 5:30 AM before work (except for my Pilates classes because my studio doesn't run classes that early), this allows me to get it out of the way and have my evenings free to do what I like (which is be with my kids, bake, chill). It also helps that I have a fully equipped gym at home that I have built. I always kept weights, a bench, jump rope and resistance band at my old house and would mostly workout at home early in the morning, if you can keep some weights, a walking pad and some resistance bands at home (if it is an option) do that, it works great for busy days or mornings where you don't have time/the will to go to the gym. This is what has worked for me. It has to be enjoyable and sustainable for you.

That definitely sounds like depression to me. If it’s not impacting your daily living significantly (I mean it’s not the end of the world if you have a bad hair day but if your not doing other basic hygiene for days then that could become a medical issue). If you are safe and not suicidal or anything you could try to just ride it out giving yourself permission to just give into it for a few days or a week if that’s what it takes to get through it. In Dialectical Behavioral Therapy they call it “riding the wave” and I spent a lot of time and money in an intense outpatient therapy program to learn that the technique is as simple as it sounds and it truly does work for me sometimes. If giving yourself permission to feel all of your feelings and do as little or as much as you gotta do (anything not harmful to yourself or anyone else of course) doesn’t work then you may need to seek professional help. Talk therapy can be quite helpful but a prescribing physician may also give you something temporary to help you feel up to taking better care of yourself if that’s what is necessary. Before my bipolar manifested and I was put on permanent meds, I had situational depression when I lost my grandfather and they put me on a low dose antidepressant for a short time because I didn’t cope very well. Just try to remember that depression is temporary and that you will feel more like yourself again even if you need to reach out for help getting there. ❤️

This has also been my biggest struggle. I was going to the gym fairly regularly before surgery, but it's been a struggle since being cleared. For me, it's just prioritizing that time for myself. It's been getting better this week, I've gone twice, walked a lot last night, and I plan on going today!

I do have to say I kinda agree with you here! Seems like such a strict and long LRD for no reason! @NeonRaven8919 if my maths is right, I weighed more than you pre-surgery, and I was on an 800 cal a day LRD for 2 weeks - it is mad to me what they are asking of you! Though, with that being said, you are smashing it and that is just reflective of your own strength!

I had a ton of scar tissue from a butcher surgeon 40 years before my sleeve surgery. The bariatric surgeon noted it and allowed a little more theatre time for me. My surgeon said it was very stuck inside but he did it all keyhole. It just took him longer. This week I was due to have my ovaries and a huge ovarian cyst removed by key hole surgery. I was informed that I may have to be opened up if it became a problem. It was and I was. This is day 6 and I am feeling more like myself and the pain is manageable today without meds. So what are the differences, More pain, your muscles are cut. A big scar and drain holes. And a 12 week ban on house work and lifting, more of a bonus that one really. I hope it goes well for you. It will be worth it even if its not keyhole. Trust me

I wish I could say from experience but I never made it to the maintenance phase with my sleeve and I’m early out from my revision. From being on the boards though it seems what most people do is to add like 100 healthy calories at a time and wait and see if that makes them gain and keep upping it until they find what their body is happy with. Of course if you level of activity or type of calories changes you may have to adjust so I think if you don’t choose to log your food daily you may want to at least spot check it like once a week just so you can see if your habits change gradually and keep on track for what works for your body. Congratulations on nearing maintenance!!

Thanks for this info! So many thrifts in this city. That will be my project in the next few weeks!

Hi Ladies, I’m almost 6 weeks post-op from my gastric bypass. I started at 109.5 kg, and now I’m at 98.6 kg, so I’ve lost about 10 kg. While my nurse and doctor mentioned that I could’ve lost more by now, they said it’s still not bad. Honestly, it didn’t make me feel great, but a loss is a loss, right? I find myself comparing my progress with others, mostly with sleeve patients, which I know isn’t fair. So, I’m here in the bypass forum to hear from others with success stories. Shouldn't the most weight loss happen in the first 2-3 months, and then it slows down? Right now, I’m losing around 1 kg per week, which I know is healthy, but I keep feeling like I should be losing more, and then I panic, wondering if I’m overeating. I’m on a 1200-calorie plan with 8-10 small meals a day. I haven’t been able to stick to the 10 meals, but I do my best to hit 8, and they’re all balanced. My workout routine has been almost non-existent, but I joined the gym TODAY, so that will change! I just need some reassurance that I WILL lose the weight and that I’m not going to fail like I have in the past with weight loss.

Liquid diets or liver shrinking diets before surgery are very common. Different surgeons will want patients to follow specific diets (like all liquid) prior to their surgery usually for about two weeks though can be for longer or shorter. The aim is for you to lose a little more weight before surgery, thus making it safer, and to shrink your liver so the operating field is more visible and your tummy and digestive system easier to access. Different patients will fe given different plans to follow based on their weight, current health status, surgery, etc. Some are given weight loss goals to reach like you, others not. For example, I was put in Keto and not given a specific weight loss goal just had to lose some. I lost 4.5kg (9.9lbs) in just over two weeks. Just follow the diet plan you’ve been given & you’ll be fine.All the best.