Search the Community

Hey all! I had the sleeve in 2017 and never got to my goal weight and I had GERD. So fast forward to 2024 and had my sasi. All is well except now I can’t keep any food down. I’m having diarrhea several times a day for the past month. Any one else had issues like this? Oh and then I found out I have fatty liver. 😫🤷🏽‍♀️😵‍💫 scared! Smh

It sounds like you’ve been through quite a journey, and it's commendable that you're taking such an active role in your health now. The feelings of frustration and sadness you experienced after your sleeve surgery are completely valid, especially considering how much effort you put into your lifestyle changes. Many people feel that the sleeve doesn't provide the same metabolic impact as other surgeries, which can lead to feelings of disappointment when expected results don't materialize. Your decision to pursue the SADI is a brave step, and it’s great to hear that you’re feeling more supported this time around. Finding healthier foods that you enjoy and integrating exercise into your routine are essential for long-term success. It’s understandable to have fears about regain, but it’s important to focus on the progress you’re making towards a healthier lifestyle rather than fixating solely on numbers on a scale. Setting realistic goals is crucial. It’s okay not to hit your ideal weight as long as you’re feeling healthier and more energetic. Remember that every step you take towards better health counts, and it's wonderful that you’re prioritizing your well-being over just weight loss. Celebrate the positive changes, no matter how small, and lean on your support network—they can be a powerful motivator! You're doing an amazing job, and your journey is inspiring to others. Keep pushing forward, and remind yourself that it's all about the journey to a healthier you! Thank you for sharing!

Well I read that like 26% of sleeve patients end up revising whether it’s because of GERD, inadequate weight loss or regain. My surgeon said that it’s less risky and it’s a very good surgery that works fine for many people but it’s just not enough of a metabolic change for some. I honestly think he leaned towards it because my BMi was low (for this surgery at least). I was barely 35BMI but I tried telling him that was only because I was literally dieting my whole life and even then I didn’t eat that bad. I just ate a lot of food. I’m sure he hears that a lot but I think I just needed the bigger change from a more drastic surgery. From day one with my sleeve I felt like I was on a diet. I never did find healthy foods that I enjoyed, I ate chicken breast and one of the three veggies that I liked and downthe road I ate a tiny portion of something not so good for me (nothing terrible but not good either). I also never felt the spurt of energy that I felt this time so I never got into the exercise. It just wasn’t the whole lifestyle change. It was like any other diet when my hunger came back and my portions got bigger but it was healthy food at first. Then I started gaining and it just made me so depressed I was trying so hard and I was gaining already. I went to my surgeon and asked about bypass and he said he didn’t think it was a good option for me. I still don’t understand why he said that and later changed his mind. Anyways, after that I stopped following up with my team, stopped posting on here and I never went to in person groups. All of my friends and familY had already told me how big I was before thinking it was safe to say because I was thinner then so as I continued to gain I knew what they were thinking of me so my confidence just plummeted and that just snowballed into my gaining all of my weight back and then I just said forget it I guess this is just my life and I didn’t even try anymore. Finally one day my doctor said that I should really go ask him why it is that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea because they felt I was a good candidate and he said he would do it and asked me if I ever heard of the SADI. He sent me home to do research on that surgery and come back and tell him which one I wanted. I said I think the SADI and he said he needed tests to make sure I was a good candidate. He did an endoscopy, a barium swallow study and a gastric emptying test and then he said I was good and put me on the schedule. Then at the last minute they figured out I needed the nutritionist visit and the psyc eval that they didn’t think I needed so I did those in a hurry and started my preop diet. This time I told everyone about my surgery. Even though I have terrible fears that I will regain again I know that I need them cheering me on to keep me going as well. I started the In person support groups before I even had my surgery and I started posting here again as well. I have done so much more with finding healthy foods that I don’t dread and adding exercise so I can have things other than chicken breast macro wise as well. I also know this time that even if I don’t reach my goal weight or my secret goal weight that I already feel so much better and hopefully I can keep that In mind and not get caught up trying to do this just to be skinny because that isn’t the most important thing. Last time I reached the first goal I had set for myself but I never did reach the goal that I secretly wanted to get to. But I was only 18 pounds away and I let that make me feel like a failure. I would give anything to be that weight now. I just lost perspective I guess. Being healthy is really why I did it then and now and I’m already on the road to being a lot healthier so if I do lose more that’s really just icing on the cake. I just have to remember that and I think I will be okay.

I agree with catwoman. Better to wait until your weight is stabilized to get the best results. You’re younger, though you may actually not have a lot of extra skin. When I did my sleeve, I did not have a whole lot. Honestly, you may find that if you wait a year that you don’t even need it. If not, you can save your money for when you’re older and you really need something done

a lot of plastic surgeons suggest you wait for a year after hitting your lowest weight, because it's very common to have a 10-20 lb rebound. I waited two years, and I'm glad I did since I did gain that much (actually, a little more). They say a gain of more than 10-15 lbs can affect the results.

Two Big Wins today. First I reached 50 pounds loss today but more importantly I reached a goal in my flex-ability. When I started Yoga I could barely reach past my knees if I’m being honest. The teacher suggested that I get some yoga blocks which are shaped like big wide bricks but made of foam. Well after a few tries of breathing deeper I was able to reach it just barely to touch my fingertips when it was up tall ways. I went from that to being able to do my flat hand on there to this morning where I can finally touch it with it turned down on its side the shorter way. Just with my fingertips and only after a few tries so I am a long ways from the floor still but considering it’s only been like a month I am pretty ecstatic to have improved that much. Now I need to add in something to work on my arm strength. Some of the poses take a lot more strength than I have to support my body weight.

5 months into GB (surgery date 5/9/24). Ive lost 44lbs in 5 months and have a goal to loose 50 more. Weight loss has reaaallly slowed down to next to nothing. Thise 3 lbs came back and i lost 1! I have started walking more. I do notice I’m craving sweets. I also notice i don’t seem to have dumping syndrome that many of you talk about so i really don’t fear eating things i shouldn’t. That scares me because i think thats part of the equation with this surgery. Today gonna start concentrating on how do i feel. Am I really hungry or just craving something.

I wonder if that uses the same technology as the little scale that I ordered on Amazon. It’s called a smart scale and it connects to an app on the phone and it logs all of your composition stats. I have heard from some of the veterans on here that those are not extremely accurate compared to their DEXA scans. Honestly, if that’s the case, I wouldn’t put too much Focus om those results anyways. It was a fairly small amount and if it’s not 100% accurate it’s possible it was not even correct for that little bit. I ended up returning the scale because I figured it would just be another thing for me to stress over every day like the weight that we shouldn’t really be measuring as often as I do. I honestly don’t see how if you’re exercising more now then you have that you would be losing muscle. I mean, I guess at some point we do need to add strength training and they warned me of that. And making sure you’re getting your protein is important they said if you increase your activity, they have me increased my protein. Did you ask about that? My surgery I have to do a little bit more. My first goal was 77 g at minimum. But at my postop appointment, I showed her my activity and she said I need to increase that to 90 minimum along with adding a bit of carbs. Remember, mine might be a little bit higher than yours because I had a different surgery, but I’m just saying I had to increase it by what 13 g because of activity. And that’s just the minimum the maximum goes well over 100.

No it just cuts out a lot of the fat but keeps the protein. I am in the weight loss case so I’m paying attention to fat and carbs. I also had my gallbladder out with my surgery so I have to slowly add fat back in to see how my body reacts. It also cuts the cholesterol which I was borderline high before my surgery. I will eventually work my way back to “skinny omelettes,” which is one whole egg and a few egg whites for a normal sized omelette. I really like to have cheese in my omelette. So I shred my own from a 2% block cheese (which is more flavorful so I use less) and do the egg whites to make up for the fat in the yolk. As long as my body allows it, I will work my way back to regular eggs eventually I’m sure, because I prefer them taste wise.

The InBody test measures body composition using bioelectrical impedance, which can give you an idea of your muscle mass, fat percentage, and water levels. It's more precise than handheld devices but not as accurate as a DEXA scan.(pic attached) However, I’m not really bothering too much with it since the fat gain it shows is pretty minimal. I’ll just make some adjustments to maintain my muscle mass. cant wait for my app to confirm all these questions with my team. Gym staff might have good intentions, but they’re not as trained as medical professionals as u said. It’s always better to get advice from someone who understands the bigger picture.

I am super excited. Just got some shorts out on accident that were too small back when I bought them but I didn’t return because they were inexpensive and I hoped I would lose weight but of course I never did. Well, I tried them and fit me now.

@Kimberly740 I’m a little older at 67 and at first I thought I was too old but my surgeon didn’t think so. He was concerned more about the weight causing so many of my health problems. I went to him for my esophageal hernia to repair and he suggested the sleeve also. Two for one! How are you doing now going on two weeks? Hope everything went well with your surgery!

I just thought of you when I was doing my stretches. My instructor told me to get yoga blocks and at first for a lot of the stretches I still couldn’t even reach the blocks but I have been doing them a couple times a day at home and today I was able to touch it with my fingertips. Not sure what stretches you are doing exactly but maybe these will give you smaller goals to reach that are closer than the floor if you need them. I found mine at a thrift store but I know you said you don’t have any. I bet you could even use a stack of books or a box or something just to reach for it. I dont put any weight on the blocks anyways because I don’t trust that it won’t tip and make me land on my face. I also use the strap when I’m on the floor because I can’t reach my ankles either. Only because it came with the blocks. For that you can use anything. A towel would probably be perfect.

Hi! My surgery was October 1. I am probably the oldest on here. 66. My weight the day of surgery was 279. I need a group of fellow sleeve peeps. I’m not on FB, so I’m looking for alternative forums. Good luck, everybody. Let’s do this!

Well it should be a really good thing that you like water post op. Not sure about the salad. With the surgeries they actually cut your stomach and intestines it’s a while before your allowed salad but do they actually cut anything with the balloon or do they do they fill it after it’s in there somehow? I had the sleeve first, and I recently had a revision to the CB because of weight red and because they didn’t operate on my stomach. I had to wait like two months until everything was healed and now I can eat whatever I want so I’m back to salad earlier than those who had their stomach operated on. I’m sure you’re a doctor will tell you what is appropriate for you though. I really wish one of our restaurants would have Bogo on salads. I actually love them too. I have found that when logging all of my macros in an app that salad is actually not as great for us as we think it is as we tend to eat it. It’s mostly the dressing even one serving is pretty high in calories but if I am careful what I have the rest of the day I’m able to enjoy it on my plan. I finally figured out that if you put it in a bigger container and stir it around with the dressing, it’s easier to get a little bit on all of the lettuce with a smaller amount of dressing. Kind of like they do when they prepare Caesar salad. Of course it’s kind of hard to do that when you’re actually in a restaurant, but then I will just ask for the dressing on the side and dip a little bit as I go. With the smaller stomach, I mostly eat the toppings anyway, and just a tiny bit of lettuce to get the protein and nutrition before I run out of room.

Ah 2 weeks ago I did an inbody test and today I did it again to just see if I am going in the right direction. Well, I've lost "weight" but I think i only lost water and muscles I'm down 1 kg muslce and actually gained 300g fat! Ahhhhhh why does everything have to be complicated? The coach in the gym told ne to up my protien and take PT classes to focus on building strength and muscles but is she right or is she just trying to sell her services? I'll sit n discuss with my team on the 15th and decide what to do. On another note, I tried the power stretch class today and I stretched muscles didn't know existed hahaha it was amazing but tiring like I burnt almost 400 cals. P.s. attaching my 2 weeks and today inbody results

Found this tip a while ago when searching for someone else who was ahead of me on their weight loss but finally got to where I could try it for myself. Since we all know that there is such a huge space between the extended sizes my shirts are very loose yet the next size down is still snug on me so I tried this tip. You turn the shirt inside out (or just do it while wearing but your working on the inside) and grab a small section and use a rubber band to create a gather on the inside sorta like a pony tail. It does shorten the length in that one spot a bit and you have to play with the placement but it really works. I still have a larger bust so it helps to snug the waist area so I still look like I have a shape. Not certain if I explained that very well but hopefully you get the gist and it helps you too.

I finally gained weight!!! I'm officially at 180, and I like that. I feel better, I have more energy, and I don't feel nearly so run down and out of it. Still look super thin, but it is what it is. Now I'm going to work on maintenance since this is where I want to stay. I'm ok with 2 pounds in either direction, but I definitely don't want to drop below 178 again lol I got all the way down to 170 and it was just really bad. I literally don't work out at all anymore because I'm on my feet all day working 5 days per week. I increased my calories to 1700 per day (up from 1500), my carbs to 55 net per day (up from 40 or so), my protein to 100g per day (up from 80), my healthy fats to 80g per day (up from 50), my fiber intake to 30g (10 from supplements and the rest from food - up from 20) and upped my fluids to 120 fl oz per day (up from 90 - 100). I'll add my weekend workouts back in now (nothing crazy, just core and strength but on the lighter side, not heavy) so I don't gain too much now that I've figured out how to finally gain weight lol

So I am a USNavy Veteran. I am getting help through the VA Hospital. They don't offer injections for weight loss help due to the need for those medications to go to Diabetic patients which is what they were made for initially. So not having a larger BMI, the only option available to patients like me is the bariatric balloon. They do not do lap band or anything else similar here in the United States anymore with the VA health system. They offer gastric sleeve/bypass to patients with higher BMI- they said if I was just 10lbs heavier when I was referred to the specialist, they would have approved it 😕 which made me a little upset- if my primary would have known....maybe I would have waited for those extra 10lbs ? Well, any who- I am willing to try what's available to me- so Gastric Balloon it is So they will insert surgically a balloon filled with blue dyed saline solution. Basically, a breast implant in my stomach this will take up a majority of the stomach space- leading to feeling full and staying full feeling for longer. Basically, it is like the injection medications results, but not needing the injections monthly.

sooooo I am with you right now, there has been a lot going on this week, and I know I am going to start my period soon so its heightening everything I am feeling. But I told my boyfriend I feel fat...he looked at me and said "what part of you are you fat?!" I have maintained my weight for the past month and a half ish? upped my weights at the gym and cardio. Idk I have never been in maintenance so I feel weird. I keep wondering okay when will I start gaining again. I look in the mirror and I see 300lb me and start ripping my body apart. I wonder if I really look better or if I look worse. This journey is a total mind EFF!

Sorry I haven't reached out sooner - glad to hear you are out the other end and you are doing okay ❤️ Congratulations! TMI!: I had to have the pessary when I was in the hospital as I just couldn't poo 😂 It did work but I ended up having this strange explosive bowel movement that had lots of old blood in it - proper freaked me out but a nurse told me it was normal and was just residue blood from the surgery. I wish she had warned me about this prior to it happened so I wasn't so concerned about it, but IF anything like this happens, don't worry too much! But either way, apparently doesn't happen to everyone. Definitely keep away from the scales for a bit as a lot of people find that their weight is a bit higher immediately post-op so just wait until you have healed! My surgeon didn't want me weighing myself until at least 8 weeks pot-surgery (I lasted about 4 weeks 😂) Hope you are well ❤️

There are so many different studies on the effects of caffeine on weight loss outcomes, but I cannot find anything specific to our population. Maybe someone else has a resource to share. As for the restrictions, usually the warning is that caffeine is a diuretic and appetite suppressant. That can seriously impact hydration early on. But every program is different, mine didn’t particularly care if you had coffee/tea but you couldn’t count it towards hydration. Here’s an interesting (mouse) study on matcha and it’s effects on obesity (through the liver gut axis) https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.931060/full Anecdotally I’ve never stopped consuming tea (including matcha) but I was never asked to, thank goodness 😅

I know programmes differ hugely but my surgeon placed absolutely no restrictions on caffeine and I was hugely grateful. I have no idea whether there is good evidence that caffeine consumption affects weight loss after bariatric surgery but I suspect very much not. @GreenTealael do you have any evidence to share? I am a coffee, not a matcha drinker, but I know how much I valued those coffees in the weeks and months after my surgery. Might be worth drilling down into the actual evidence based practice with your team if matcha means as much to you!

Keep posting. We are all here for you x Also - stalls are the absolute PITS and gains (although always temporary) DOUBLE PITS!

For me the physical hunger is completely gone now. With my sleeve it was also gone but it did come back. It was around 6 months that it started coming back if I’m remembering correctly. It comes back for most people to varying degrees of intensity. The best case is that you take that time to really change WHAT you eat, not just how much because when the hunger comes back you will likely eat larger portions and if it’s less healthy food you will probably begin to gain. At least I did. With my revision I have changed what I eat entirely. I didn’t do this with my sleeve. I had just a few menu options so it’s no wonder I got board with it and started to eat off plan more often. This time I did research and found several healthy recipes to try and I found quite a few that I enjoy so I don’t get board at all. You may not recall but I have Bipolar and Anxiety. I have found that freezing some healthy meals has come in real handy at times when I am not up to cooking. I also am in touch with my surgical team more often for office visits as well as the support group meetings and those help tremendously. Post op I also had more frequent appointment with my psychiatrist and psychologist as well. I just asked for all of the support I could find because it is a lot of change which I don’t do well with but now that I am two months out and i have a little routine I am feeling better than ever. The exercise that I am finally energized enough to do has helped my mood tremendously and the weight loss and the social aspect of the group fitness classes have helped with my self esteem too. I have so much more structure and routine now which is actually really great for Bipolar. I am able to fall asleep at night and stay asleep and I wake up at the same time and exercise, I set recurring alarms for vitamins/food and I log my food with the Baritastic app and my fitness watch keeps track of all of my activity. I show all of that data to my NP at my checkups and she helps me make adjustments to my nutrition. You will probably see a nutritionist for food related questions but I had a newer surgery called the SADI and the nutritionist wasn’t very helpful with regard to the macros after I got back to normal food. As long as you are managing your mental illness, though, you should be just fine. Just don’t hesitate to ask for whatever help that you need in order to be successful.