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Had to get a new driver’s licence today. They took the new picture which is then run through a facial recognition program where your new photo is compared to your old licence photo as proof of identity. Program runs & runs & runs. Comes back it’s not me. (Well it was when I looked in the mirror this morning.) Had to have another photo taken & had to pull my hair back. (Great. This will be my licence photo for years.) Again the program runs & runs & I’m sitting there with the woman processing my request waiting & waiting. I asked if there was an override to this step. No she says. What happens if it still doesn’t recognise me? We keep taking pictures until it does or the license can’t be issued she says. It does realise I’m 10 years older I ask then I realise: 10 years & 42kgs lighter. Oh… Thankfully, the program decided it was me with the second photo & my new licence will be sent to me in 21 days. (Don’t get me started on that. What happened to them producing the licence there & then & your new licence is warm from the laminated printing process.) Anyone else have unexpected experiences because of their weight loss?

So I have not gotten skin removal YET but I did get a breast augmentation 3 weeks before I hit a year P.O. I lost a lot of weight, work out really hard but my boobs were gonners, between losing and gaining for years, breast feeding two children for 13m each I had skin sacs. I can honestly say that my confidence has sky rocketed- I enjoy wearing cute clothes, I feel better but body dysmorphia is a summa bi&^%, I still see myself at 300lbs, think that I look "fat" and not attractive. I do think once you see your lean fit arms without the extra skin your going to be showing them off as you should! Cant wait to see your "after" pic!

As a general rule, I would not recommend eating back calories burned for a few reasons: People misunderstand metabolism. Our bodies are highly adaptable and our non-exercise calorie burn is also highly variable day-to-day. We know from recent research that your body tends to try to conserve energy balance, meaning unless your burning over ~400 calories per day in exercise, your body will lessen your calorie burn elsewhere during the day to try to "make up" for the exercise calories. In short, you're not burning as many overall calories on those exercise days as you think you are. Our ability to accurately determine calorie burn from exercise is hard and often we think we've burned more calories than we actually have. For example, you may think you've burned say 400 calories, but it may have only been 250. We also aren't very good at accurately tracking caloric intake, so you may be eating a lot more than you think you are. Adding in even more calories to "eat back" your exercise calories is not going to be accurate, even if the two points above were not true. Something here is not adding up for me. You mentioned you're trying to do a body recomp, but also that you still have a lot of weight to lose. That just doesn't make sense. It's fine to say you want to lose fat and gain muscle, and as a newbie to weight training, you can do both, but you really need to make fat loss the priority here. At best as an untrained woman, you might be able to add 10 or 12 pounds of muscle in the course of a year, but in all likelihood it will be less. I don't mean to discourage you, but most obese people already have more muscle mass than a "normal" person, so you can't expect to add as much muscle as they might be able to. My point is that when we talk about a recomp, what we really mean is trying to stay at about the same weight, but simultaneously lose fat and gain muscle. In my opinion, you need to focus on fat loss first, then try a recomp once you're closer to your goal weight. My suggestion would be to focus on two things: Most importantly, are you still losing weight? If not, then you're eating too much. If you are still losing, is it at a reasonable and sustainable rate? I'd want to see no more than about 3% per month considering that you should hopefully be also adding some muscle mass. This factor is really the primary determinant of where your calories should be. If you're losing faster than ~3%, then it's probably a good idea to eat a bit more, but don't change things by more than a couple hundred calories a day. If you're not losing weight, then as I said, you're eating too much and need to consider scaling back. The second factor here is how you're feeling. If you're eating so little that you can't even think about completing your workouts, or you're just exhausted all the time, then that's a sign you probably need to be eating more. Even so, take it slow here. Add in a couple hundred calories a day and see if you feel better. You can go up to where you need to, but keep in mind, you may also slow or even stop the weight loss. If that happens, you may need to modify your workouts. The flip side of this is if you are feeling good, but not losing, that's probably a sign you're eating too much. In the end, it's a balancing act of eating enough to fuel your workouts, but no so much you stop the weight loss. It will take some time to find the right point for you. Best of luck. (Oh, and in the future, I'd strongly recommend just starting a new thread. This one is several years old.)

Congratulations on achieving onderland! Yay! What weight to stop losing at & how to pick a goal weight are interesting questions and you’ll get different responses. I believe it comes down to where your new set point is (the weight your body is happy at & will keep pulling you back to). It’s the weight where you’re not losing anymore and you have reached a sustainable balance of the number of calories you consume and the activity you do. It’s the weight where you’re happy with how you look & feel too. I had a goal (same as yours) which was the low weight I always dropped to before regaining back up from. I exceeded that. I kept losing until my calorie intake which I was increasing and activity level was in balance. I eat in a way that is sustainable & I don’t feel like I’m missing out or if I’m on a continuous diet or that I have to exercise first hours a day. Some reach a weight but found it wasn’t sustainable or they didn’t feel comfortable at so they gain a little. Remember your new set point may not be where you would like it to be. Also your lowest weight may not be where you end up either. Bounce back (a regain of 10 - 20lbs) is always a possibility & can be due to your body resettling, you realising you need more flexibility in the what you eat & the activity you do to find a better life balance, some conplacency, your new set point, etc. Be flexible in your goal. If you don’t reach it, that’s okay. You’ll be in a better healthier place regardless of the number in the scale. Reach a sustainable balance (food intake & activity) in your life that allows you to live & enjoy your life & doesn’t restrict or limit you. All the best.

Getting back to the OP's question about what do do: If they really feel they are accurately logging and are also having a hard time eating less, then the option would be to take steps to increase metabolism. Yes, GLP-1 drugs can do this, but there are other options. First, would be adding muscle mass from strength training. Estimates are that each pound of muscle increases calories burned per day by roughly 6 calories, Each pound of fat contributes ~2 calories burned per day. This latter fact surprises some people, but fat is metabolically active tissue. It's just that muscle is more metabolically active. If someone were to gain ten pounds of muscle and lose ten pounds of fat, that would lead to an increase in BMR of roughly 40 calories. That doesn't sound like much, but it adds up over time. If you also add in EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption), from the strength training needed to add muscle mass, then I'd estimate this would over time lead to ~400-450 extra calories burned in a week. That would lead to a loss of ~6 pounds in a year even while eating the exact same amount of food. If this is not a sufficient amount, then one can always reduce calories a bit as well. Alternately (I know this will sound counter-intuitive), but the OP might well want to consider UPPING their calories a bit for a while. Our bodies were designed to upregulate our metabolisms slightly when calories are available and downregulate it when calories are scarce. This means our bodies can maintain weight at a wide range of calorie intake. If we're constantly in a calorie restrictive diet, our bodies do downregulate metabolism to keep us from what it perceives as starving to death. What I'd recommend instead is going up 200-300 calories per day for about a month. After this "diet reset", drop down again to 1200-1400 for no longer than 2 months before cycling back up again. You can keep this cycle going on indefinitely. One of 2 things will happen here. Most likely the OP won't gain anything during the increased calorie intake diet reset because their metabolism will increase to compensate. However, when they start back at the ~1300 calorie range, their metabolism may not drop immediately, meaning they'll lose a little bit in the following 2 months. If they do find that they gained during the diet reset, but fail to lose when back in the diet phase, then worst case it shouldn't be more than about 2 pounds (less than 1% of body weight). This isn't likely, but even if this does happen, it will at least tell us that 1300 won't work for weight loss for them and they'll need to go lower. I'd also be remiss if I didn't come back to exercise here. I mentioned that low levels of exercise (30 minutes of cardio), really are not going to do anything toward weight loss. It's obviously going to be different for everybody, but current research seems to suggest that the tipping point is about 400 calories per day. What I mean by that is if you can burn OVER 400 calories in exercise in a day, the body can't suppress your metabolism enough in other ways to keep you from going net-negative for the day. Said differently, you'd need to do something that burns more than 400 calories before it "counts" for weight loss and the only part that counts is the part above 400 calories. Unfortunately, 400 calories is A LOT for most people. The good news is the heavier you are the more you burn, but even at 215 pounds, you'd probably have to run over 3 miles to hit 400 calories. Keep in mind, this would just be to break even, so if you're actually trying to burn more calories this way, it will take even more. I'll use myself as an example here. I'm not trying to lose weight right now, but I have found that if I run over roughly 28 miles in a week, I tend to lose weight. If I run less miles, I maintain. Do the math, and for me that's right at about the 400 calories a day mark. In my use case of one, I'm pretty close to the statistical average as shown in the research. Best of luck whatever you decide.

I think I am. )knock on wood). I seem to be doing very well, minus all the "need to gain weight" issues. Thanks!!

Hi! my name is Shana! I had the DS Loop on 10/31/23. My HW was 309.4 pounds. My SW was 263.7 pounds. My GW was 150 pounds, achieved 7/21/24. My LW was 117.7 pounds on 2/3/25. As of this morning, I am 121.6 pounds. I am not too upset about gaining weight because I feel that I look too thin. I have lost 104 inches since WLS day. I am having excess skin removal in 3/17/25 (bilateral tummy tuck and breast implants. Glad to be joint these forums.

I know nothing of Herbalife so I am half informed. I know that any gain in this early stage is of benefit. Its tough to drink enough never mind eat our protein quota. I would say - go with what works for you until you can manage something better.

Checking back in as I am nearly at my new goal weight now. My husband and I joined a gym in November when the weather turned too cold for us to walk/hike outside. We have stuck to going nearly every day except when we are on vacation/traveling/sick. I was on a cruise 1/23-2/3 and I even went to the gym five times onboard! Unfortunately, I got pretty sick as soon as I got home and didn't make it to the gym that first full week back. All that said and done, between the cruise and being sick, I did gain one pound, but I am back on track now and will be going to the gym for the third day in a row this evening. I am back to just "overweight" instead of obese and nearly back to the weight I was when I met my husband 8 years ago.

I am your age, and a mom myself. I never considered WLS until 2 years back when I went through a very bad foot injury that significantly reduced my mobility, prior to that I was always fit and in shape. I was already 15 kilos over my normal weight, and due to my injury I gained another 15 to be 30 kilos over my normal weight. I was at BMI 33 (also on the low side), I am 5'6 and my highest weight was 90 kgs/198 lbs. Aside from my injured ankle, I never had any health issues, my tests always came back fantastic. However, I knew that if I didn't manage my ever creeping weight, mobility - and other health issues - would be in the cards. It took me one whole year to make up my mind about the surgery, I was doing everything right - things that worked for me in the past -, eating well, exercising and being overall healthy, but my weight wouldn't budge. I decided to do it in Feb, and got it in December. Knowing what I know now, and how it has transformed my life, I wish I did it sooner. That's not to say that YOU need to do it, only you can decide that for yourself. And like @ms.sss said, you are ready when you are ready. I just thought sharing my experience would help since we are both close in age/young moms. Feel free to reach out if you need any more info. Good luck ❤️

I’ve lost around 100lbs. I have been gaining and losing the same 4 pounds since last fall, about the same time I hurt my back in the gym. I’m recovered now and need to get back to exercising. The gastric sleeve has been super helpful because even if I have a cheat meal, it’s very small and almost no weight impact. I’ve always liked protein heavy meals so this has been pretty easy for me. Limiting bread and sugars, and not drinking soda has gotten me most of the way there. I have started to drink a few beers a week…I try to keep it to lite low cal/carb beer.

Since 2014 I have been gaining weight. I've gained 75 pounds. I was 150 at 5'7 inches tall and at that time I was relatively inactive but ate normally. A decade later I'm 225 and 34 and have not been able to lose. I cut out sugar, I joined a gym and got a dietician three years ago. I have still gained ten pounds per year. I've been tested for PCOS, Cushing's and Thyroid disorders and they have found no evidence. I eat less now than I did ten years ago. I love in Canada and rely on government healthcare. They won't approve me for gastric bypass. They gave me ozempic last year and it was a nightmare and worsened my IBS. I didn't lose weight I gained another 12 pounds on that drug. I'm out of options. This has basically destroyed my life. I haven't dated in ten years. Tried to commit suicide twice three years ago. The weight gain never stops. It's awful. I'm not doing it to myself. I don't over eat. I exercise, I go to the gym, I don't eat sugar and I just butt. It's a cruel joke this life.

I was curious what kind of enlargements men on here have seen with weight loss. I am not asking anyone here to reveal penis sizes... I'm just curious as to what kind of gains people have seen with 50lb, 100lb, etc weight loss in terms of inches? Or inch? Is there anything else that someone's encountered that may be fun to look forward to or to look for? I'm 10 days post op and looking for various subtleties to look forward to....

First thing, and I know it is really hard to do, is not compare your losses or gains to anyone else from here on out. Our bodies all adjust differently and everyone starts off with different weights, conditions, activity levels etc.. Second thing, don't worry 13lbs is good as don't forgot your system is still in recovery and discovery stage. Think about it, would you have lost 13lbs in just over a month without the surgery??? You will likely have put on a few lbs immediately after the surgery so not sure if you are factoring that into your 13lb loss but still either way you sound like you are on track. Keep following your plan as you start to reintroduce food, for pureed foods I had minced chicken or beef with a spoonful of some mash potato or other veg or stuck with soups (thicker than the liquid stage) and protein shakes. You've got this

Hi fellow people! Can anyone share their success stories with losing weight, when being diagnosed with PCOS? I was diagnosed with PCOS almost 2 years ago, and I did the surgery back in January and now it’s being almost 7 months and I’m over the mini to start and try to get pregnant. So I’m wondering if anyone has success stories with PCOS healing, periods being natural again and on time and conceiving fast and easy if they could please share. thank you so much!!! .

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

Unfortunately weight loss isn’t consistent. You won’t get a lovely perfectly straight line on a graph. It zig & zags. More one week, less the next. None one week and a gain the next. We also have natural fluctuations in our weight which are all normal and when we are weighing ourselves every day they suddenly are very obvious. There are many reasons why we have these fluctuations and I swear sometimes it’s just your body messing with you. As long as your weight loss trend (over weeks and months) is in a downward direction you’re doing well. Add some soluble fibre to your soup or shake each day to help with the constipation. I got into a routine too. No poop for three days I took a stool softener. Remember too at first you’re not consuming much so you don’t have much for your body to excrete from so don’t expect to go every day. Despite some hiccups (like the power outage and loss of food) things seem to be going pretty smoothly for you. Yay!

I'm a 40 y/o mom of 3. HW 265, GW 150, CW 142. Sleeved January 2023. I loss my first 90 lbs within 6 months of being sleeved and maintained for another 6 months (without quite getting to goal). Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2024 I had some health issues (unrelated to the sleeve) and had to have a total hysterectomy. I turned to my old comfort of eating and gained 20 lbs in 2 months. My appetite came back with a vengeance and my head hunger was getting the best of me. In a moment of panic, I seen my Dr and she prescribed Zepbound. OMG, where has this drug been my whole life?! I loss the 20 lbs. I gained plus the rest of the weight I needed to lose to get to goal weight within 5 months. Unlike the sleeve, Zepbound also helps with the head hunger which is an issue for A LOT of us. It's truly a miracle drug! I was on Ozempic pre-surgery for diabetes and it did NOTHING for weight loss so I didn't expect much from Zep but turned out pleasantly surprised. Despite severe constipation in the beginning, my side effects are minimal and manageable. I feel like Zepbound + my gastric sleeve was a match made in heaven. My health is the best it's been in 20+ years. Diabetes gone, fatty liver gone, triglycerides were high and are now in a normal range. My life no longer revolves around food and for once I feel "normal." I maintain with 10mg every 10 days and it's been working perfectly.

It's been years but I just usually say thank you if it's positive. At times, I get negative comments like I look like a cancer patient so I better gain weight or I should gain a little weight because "you look older". The latter are always from family. My reply to the latter is "I'd really be healthy than have high blood pressure..." Like others, I don't give too much information if asked how I lost the weight, unless they can benefit from it.

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.

Hi there! Looking to make friends with people in the UK who use Mounjaro for weight loss currently. I am hoping to lose as much weight as possible on the injection, to potentially avoid surgery. About me: 26 year old female Started Mounjaro on the 13th of November 2024 at my highest weight- 185kg. I am now 171.3kg (maybe even less tomorrow-Weigh day!). Happy to be friends/chat/support anyone who uses it! Just want to feel a bit less alone in my journey 😆

I needed to hear this today! I'm losing around 3 lbs a week since sleeve was done Dec. 2. But went out of town to see my mom and sibs and drank her sweet tea and ate nibbles of things I normally don't now and I'm up in weight. Was 204.2 and now I'm 206.2. (On my phone right now but will change my ticker soon! 206 is better than 215! Lol!) Frustrating! I didn't eat much as I still feel extremely restricted but I think the sugar must cause inflammation and salt always makes me hold water weight. So I'm happy to be back home and working a lot and eating my grapefruit, cucumbers and protein shake, etc. daily. Hopefully I can begin going back down this week. So close to Onederland! Thanks for sharing this. Goes to show just how fast it CAN come back on us. I've lost and gained lots over the years. Hoping this surgery was the tool I needed to help me get my weight down and keep it there. At this point I'd be thrilled just to get to and stay at 199 forever. LOL! But my goal is much lower. But once I get into the 100s I know I always FEEL better. So I'm looking forward to that milestone!

so a quick google states that a weight loss "stall" or "plateau" is 4 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS of no weight gain NOR loss while on a CONSISTENT calorie intake. basically, this means netting the SAME average amount of calories (intake less expenditure) for 4 weeks and staying at the same weight for said 4 weeks. this generally means that you have reached an equilibrium with your intake (calories) and your expenditure (activity). which means you either have to reduce your intake or increase your expenditure to restart a downward trend. the inverse of this is also true: increase your intake or decrease your expenditure, and you will GAIN weight. sooooo...if you are below 4 weeks of the scale not moving (in conjunction of your measurements not reducing), then stay the course...you are in a stall. if you are ABOVE 4 weeks of the scale (and measurements) not moving, then this would indicate the time to start re-evaluating your lifestyle IF you want to lose more...you are in a plateau. if you are happy with your current lifestyle, and just don't want nor need to make changes, then is a matter of accepting yourself as you are now. ain't nothing wrong with that! not everyone gets to their arbitrary goal weight. and those that do, the majority don't even stay there. find the weight that you are cool with expending the effort to maintain. it's different for everybody. good luck! ❤️

For the longest time I wasn't even eligible for any bariatric surgery, by the time I reached BMI 33 (which still doesn't make me eligible in some regions), I also had no comorbidities and no past history of obesity (only was overweight for the past 5 years and most of my weight was gained after a very bad ankle sports injury). I needed to lose weight to relieve my ankle pain, so my surgeon only agreed to VSG. Surprisingly though, I've occasionally gotten very bad indigestion pain that caused me a lot of discomfort, which is considered a symptom of GERD, but I haven't had any episodes except for maybe twice this entire year post VSG and only took medication twice, which I'm thankful for.