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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.

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

I took 2 years to get to my weight of 180, then 12 months to master maintenance. I had some issues and needed surgery and my weight then dropped to 165. I thought at my age I looked shocking and so much skin. I decided to increase my weight back to 180. Just some extra cals a day did the job in 3 months. I feel better at this weight. I am living with my skin, I dont really have a choice, as I could only afford one round and I feel I would look stupid half fixed. In the UK, we wear lots of clothes most of the year and I look ok in clothes. Its just now when on holiday, I wish I could.

63 pounds is quite a bit of weight to lose in 3 months. I also highly recommend that you track your calories, especially during the weight loss phase. It is easy to under/overestimate how much we eat.

As a general rule, the effects of supplementation of any kind on weight loss will be extremely minimal. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say for most people, 90-95% of weight loss is calorie intake alone. Other factors like exercise might make up a few percent, and supplements would be down at the bottom of the list probably only making 1% or less of the impact. Since 1% might mean something like 20 calories a day, you can see how it would be really easy to overcome that effect just by eating a tiny bit more. Keep in mind there is no overcoming basic physics. If you want to lose weight, you have to consume fewer calories than you burn. Things people worry wat too much about in my opinion instead of placing the focus where it matters on calories: Types of diets: Things like keto, low fat, low carb, intermittent fasting, etc. may help with compliance, but otherwise make no appreciable difference in weight loss. Bottom line, eat the way you want as long as you meet your nutrient goals and eat less than you burn in a day. Exercise: Exercise is critical for overall health and fitness, but as a general rule, you are not going to lose much if any weight from exercising. The reason is that your body is really good at stabilizing your overall calories burned in a day/week/month. What I mean is that studies show that for the most part, your body will slow down other processes to "make-up" for the exercise calories you burned, so whether or not you exercised won't actually mean you burn more calories per day. Exercise CAN help in weight loss for some people, but as a general rule, you'd probably need to be doing something that burned more than 400 calories a day, every day for you to see any impact at all. One place where exercise really comes into its own is in weight maintenance post-weight loss. Here the data is super clear. Those that exercise at least 1 hour per day were significantly more likely to maintain their weight loss than those that don't exercise. Supplements: As I pointed out above, at best, supplements might have a very small impact on on weight loss and this impact is really easy to negate by simply eating more. Typically weight loss supplements fall into two categories: Thermogenics (things that increase metabolism), and Appetite Suppressants. Some claim to have both effects. Without going into too much detail, the vast majority of thermogenics work simply because they are stimulants. Caffeine is the most well known and well studied (and frankly probably the most effective), but since you already are a coffee drinker, you're pretty unlikely to get any additional benefit from switching to another source such as green tea. Appetite suppressants are really a mixed bag. These sometimes work for some people, but again, the effects are really small. This is a little old, but I still think worth taking a gander: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8406948/#:~:text=A total of 1945 participants,morbidity%2C costs or patient satisfaction. It's a meta-analysis of the impact of green tea on weight loss. The conclusion they came to after looking at 15 different studies: "Green tea preparations appear to induce a small, statistically non‐significant weight loss in overweight or obese adults. Because the amount of weight loss is small, it is not likely to be clinically important." Best of luck.

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.

Yes and also my weight loss plan doesn’t want us to count protein shakes as protein intake. They want us to eat our protein!

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!

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!

You may reach goal, you may not or you may exceed goal & all are okay. Remember though if you have to work harder & be more restrictive to reach your goal you will always have to work harder & be more restrictive to maintain the lower weight. At that point it becomes all about sustainability: can you maintain the exercise and eating plan in the long term without feeling it’s too restrictive or you’re missing out. As for the possibility of regain, there are a myriad of factors. Could be just the bounce back regain many experience (around 10-20lbs), stressful situations (personal, work, etc.), health issues, changes in meds, too restrictive maintenance, not dealing with issues that lead you to gain in the first place, returning to your old way of eating, etc. Some things we can have some control over and some we have no control over. Personally I maintained for almost 6 years but a complete hysterectomy Sept last year has messed up my hormones and I’m seeing regain. I’m fortunate I have supportive doctors and we’re looking for ways to manage it. Regardless where you settle, you are winning and have successfully made changes to improve your health and life. Enjoy.

I waited about a year after surgery before getting new ink because my skin was still adjusting. Placement mattered more than I expected—anywhere with stretched skin looked way different once I lost weight. A friend of mine got a 3D Areola Tattoo after reconstruction, and it looked super realistic. Always smart to check that your artist has experience with post-weight-loss skin.

I hadn't visiting BP in a while. I had the VSG in 2013 and lost ~90 pounds. I had an abdominoplasty in 2021: Another great decision: My abdomen is so tight and flat! But due to some stress, I gained 20 pounds that I want to lose. I tried Ozempic; eh. I tried Mounjaro and I lost 10 pounds in a month, but it made me itch all over, plus constipation. I might try it again, though. Before the 20 pound regain, I was down to a size 10 [almost an 8!]; now I'm back to a good 12, and pushing into a 14 for some styles. Grr. Pray.

I'm an old VSG Vet, had my surgery in 2014. Initially lost a successful amount of weight. had some serious 'life' events- change of job, change to night shift, loss of parent, went to grad school and graduated, went to a second grad program, changed career path, etc. I was told in 2017 I had a serious metabolic issue with my liver and that helped me really get focused, went to keto and lost all the regain I had plus much more, resulting in 100lb total loss. Since then, though, I've regained probably 50-60 lbs. I still feel some restriction which is great. Long time issue has been GERD, it was severe PRE surgery but my quite renowned surgeon assured me that with the weight loss, the GERD would subside. It did. But with the weight gain over last 2 yrs, it's back and BAD. I have EGD and colonoscopy coming up in a few weeks to assess the damage. I'm very scared due to the ongoing severe nature of the symptoms I'm having. I'm a healthcare provider so I know all of the 'things' that could present. Because of all this, I'm heavily considering a revision. I have been on PPI for over 20 years. While my magnesium is fine, my bones are already having a lot of issues AND I'm scared to death of the brain effects. What should I consider with revision, same doctor, different doctor, etc? Also I know that weight loss can be slower, but what type of rate of weight loss can be expected? Lastly, what kind of time off from my career can I hope for? I took 6 solid weeks with my VSG and it helped get my brain, behaviors etc really corrected before going back into the workplace.

Hello everyone - I need advice. The 16th anniversary of my surgery was yesterday. It's been a wild and wonderful sixteen years. I have lost 90 pounds. Many changes during these years. Mostly all good. I turned 60 years old in April. I have noticed in the past few months that I feel hungry more often, and I've seen my weight go up. It's not going up by much but just the fact that it seems to be increasing is concerning to me. All these years I've been able to literally eat ANYTHING I want with no gain at all. I don't know if my insides have changed or it's the fact that I turned 60, but I want to put a stop to whatever this is RIGHT NOW. For those of you out there to whom this has happened, what did you do? I would appreciate any and all suggestions and tips you might have... Thank you, Lisa in Scranton PA

the experience of one person is no way indicative of what YOU will experience. only way to know for sure how YOU will end up is to go through it yourself. there is no future-reading here, unfortunately. all i can say for sure is that if you make an honest effort to lose weight after wls, you will. and if you make an honest effort to keep the weight off in the following years, you *most likely* will. its easy to lose the weight...its exponentially harder to keep it all off. the vast majority of wls folks will regain SOME amount of weight after reaching their lowest point. exactly how much more is up to you and your habits, as well as your genetics, age, health, etc., etc.,... good luck! ❤️

I first came to this board in March of 2022. I had my 1st surgery (sleeve) in May 2022. I had my revision to bypass (due to A LOT of complications with the sleeve) in June of 2023. Since then I have been complication free. But I was struggling to maintain my weight. I was put on a diet and exercise regimen to gain and then maintain my weight. Well, my metabolism finally sorted itself out, but I wasn't paying attention. I was supposed to weigh myself once a week to see how things are going. I went 4 weeks without weighing myself. And I was just eating whatever I wanted in hopes I would gain. And boy oh boy, I did gain. I went from 176 to 190 in 5 weeks. That shocked me, because I wanted to get to 180 - 183. Now I have to stop eating willy nilly, get my diet back on track, and focus more on my workouts. I became lax with what I needed to do and I found myself going back to old eating habits. Examples include eating whatever I wanted, even when it went against my diet. Not working out as much as I was supposed to because I was tired or didn't feel like it. Eating when I was bored. Eating something because it's there, not because I was hungry. Grazing all day and night, which was ALWAYS my issue. I'm telling you all this because I've seen so many posts where some of you guys really beat yourself up for messing up. You're afraid you'll undo all your progress. I admit, that has creeped into my mind a bit, but I remind myself that I know what to do and what not to do. I know how to get back on track. And I know how to give myself grace while still holding myself accountable. It's just a matter of doing it. So I'm going to course correct, get back to the proper diet and exercise routine, and really work on my eating habits. Just know that EVERYONE can slip up. It's not the end of the world....even if it feels like it is. Just own up to your mistakes, correct your actions, eat and exercise properly, and it'll all be ok. And with that, I need to go work out. Have a good one, and wish me luck that I get this sorted.

After the initial giant weight loss, your individual blood tests dictate what you actually need.

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 LOVE that you're losing at a sustainable rate. There is so much data to suggest that crash diets almost never work, so losing ~1-3% of your total body weight per month is the sweet spot. I'd take it even further and say 1-2%, which is right where you're at. If I could give advice to anyone either trying to maintain after initial weight loss, or fighting regain like you are, it would be threefold: Focus more initially on learning to eat a healthy diet and less on the weight loss itself. People that follow the fad diet du jour when losing weight almost always regain because they very quickly go back to their old eating habits. If instead you focus on first learning to eat like a normal weight person that eats a healthy diet, you'll be setup for real success. Many people find that if they do this first, they don't really have to "diet" because their bodies actually start to self-regulate calories. Part of this is because when we eat a wide variety of foods that are nutrient rich, our bodies don't fire off signals to eat more. If that doesn't happen for you, there are strategies to slowly reduce intake while still maintaining your healthy diet. The second thing is to focus on instituting a regular physical activity routine. I feel like way too many people skip this, but the data is clear: up to 90% of people that have lost a lot of weight and successfully kept it off for years do a lot of exercise. In fact, the average for those successful losers is ~1 hour per day on most days of the week (roughly 300+ minutes a week.) This is twice the minimum recommended amount to stay healthy, and twice what someone needs that was never significantly overweight. I want to be clear, this is not really a huge factor in weight loss, but in weight maintenance, it's critical. Finally, focus on behavioral modification. Let's be honest. Most of us got as big as we did because we had an unhealthy relationship with food. We may never actually "cure" ourselves of that, but we can learn to fight back. Probably the best thing to do is work with a therapist that specializes in behavior modification, especially regarding weight. I realize this is not an option for everyone due to cost or availability, but there are also lots of good resources available online. Anyway, best of luck and keep up the good work!

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.

I was looking for an introductions forum, which was mentioned somewhere, but couldn't find it, and this seemed the most appropriate place! I just joined the site after reading - well listening to - Alec Brecher's book on the gastric bypass. I'm George, I'm 43 year olds and I currently live in Spain after a lot of moving around. I've been overweight all of my adult life, but I have rapidly gained a lot more weight in the last few years. Considering bariatric surgery was first recommended to me by my doctor a few years ago, but it was right before the pandemic and that interrupted the process I was on at the time. I am now scheduled to have (hopefully) gastric by pass on April 15th, privately, at a clinic in Latvia. I decided to pay for it myself since the wait time to do it on my government plan in my part of Spain right now is said to be about three years. Currently I am on Rybelsus to help me loose some weight before the surgery, and there's been /some/ success. I expect to be on the liver reduction diet for a month before the surgery and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it! I look forward from learning from everyone on this forum.

Hi there! I’m Kelly I’m 42 and in January I made the decision to pull the trigger on bariatric surgery. I have been battling my weight my entire adult life. Things started getting really out of control when I was a junior in high school and my mom was diagnosed with cancer. At her behest, I joined Weight Watches when I was 20 years old and I have been a member off and on with mixed results ever since. I managed to lose weight easily after having my first two children but between my second and third child I had a miscarriage, gained 15 pounds and it’s been downhill since. My third child is 11 years old and I still haven’t lost the baby weight despite trying weight watchers, 21 day fix, keto during the keto craze. In 2023 I saw a doctor to inquire about trying at GLP-1 at pretty much exactly the same time as the shortages began. Between shortages and having a doctor tell me that I could never take a GLP-1 because of my mom’s cancer I spent about 6 months researching and trying to get on. GLP-1. I managed to join a telehealth company that fall and I was able to get my hands on prescription and box of Saxenda to hold me over until seeing my new PCP. I did pretty good on Saxenda and my new PCP was able to transition me to Wegovy. I managed to lose almost 35 pounds with Saxenda and Wegovy. Unfortunately, my insurance did away with coverage for all weight loss meds starting January 1 of this year. So I made myself an appointment for myself with a bariatric surgeon. I’ve already accomplished my sleep study, an abdominal ultrasound, an upper GI, and 4 of my 12 ‘lifestyle classes’. My surgeon originally suggested a sleeve for me, but after my scope I think it’s going to be a RnY because despite me thinking I did not have reflux, I had grade B esophagitis. I’m kind of kicking myself, that I didn’t start persuing this when I was messing around trying to get a GLP-1, but hindsight, you? Anyways, I’m happy to be here and happy to get ready to start my new life.

My goal is just to stick with my fitness and nutrition as much as I am able in the midst of my other medical stuff. I actually just left my doctors office today because I didn’t like the plan the nurse had for me that took me off my bariatric diet and I was gaining weight. We came up with a new plan that hopefully will get me back on track for both goals. Well after I detox from all of the carbs anyways. 😩