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omg the week before my period I want to eat EVERYTHINGGGGG!!! I have given in and felt REALLLLYYY guilty! my periods are super short now like 2 days when it used to be 5 lol I just really need to hone in the cravings and giving into them

No, I don't. I didn't think about that, either. I'm going to look into getting one of those next payday. Now that you mentioned it, I'm curious what my daily steps are. I hadn't given it a single thought. Now I wonder how much actual "working out" I'm doing 5 days per week at work....

I technically have a cat. She's 10 years old and when my we got her, I was still living at home. As much as she loved me, she was definitely my mother's cat, and after my mother died, I had to take her to live with my friend who has a more than enough room and a landlord that allows pets. She hates me now, and I understand even though it makes me sad when I see her (usually three times a week. However, she is still my mothers baby and my little fur sister and she is named Wilhelmina Felicity Biggleswade

Exactly, I also was surprised because I learned everything from online and tiktok haha but I will just repeat this I am from the middle east so I think it's a bit different here. She told ne 1st week should be nutritional and waters then week 2 I add the protien shakes and so on. Also since I am typing, TMI warning do u guys happen to get the random runs? Like I thought I was just passing gas but it was more than that. I still haven't done number 2 since my op on Wednesday but I've had this episode for the 2nd time. Not painful but just passing air and liquid

My surgery is July 3. I'm on day 8 of my pre-op liquid diet. My entirely proud of how I've been doing it if Im being honest.. 😐but I am tightening up since I'm now less than a week away.

Again, If what you're doing is working, then I don't see anything that needs changing. If you're in the range of 100-115 grams per day, then you're already eating what I'd call protein forward diet and about where I'd typically recommend for most people. Keep in mind what I mentioned, calories are king. You only lose weight when you eat fewer calories than you burn. Thus if you did want to add more protein, you'd have to do so at the expense of other nutrients. When eating as few calories as you are right now, dropping any more on carbs & fat could have negative effects on health. It's important to get sufficient essential fatty acids since your body can't make these (that's why there called "essential". Technically you can live without carbs since your body can manufacture glycogen from fats and protein, but the problem is that if you reduce these even further, you're going to also have to reduce your intake of fruits and veggies and these convey a lot of other benefits to you nutritionally. Here's what I'd ask your nutritionist about. The most up to date clinical practice guidelines from AACE/TOS/ASMBS/OMA/ASA say to focus on protein intake of 1.2g/kg of bodyweight. https://www.soard.org/article/S1550-7289(08)00163-9/fulltext I recognize that you are not from the USA, but I dare say these organizations have a significant level of money and experience going into these recommendations since obesity is rampant in the USA. For what it's worth, some recent data I saw showed that the USA does far more bariatric surgeries than any other country. In fact, it was roughly the same number of bariatric surgeries as the next 10 countries combined. An impressive but sad statistic. Protein is highly satiating compared to carbs & fats, plus protein takes longer to digest, meaning you'll be full longer. Being full longer equals less cravings and better dietary compliance. Protein has a small but meaningful effect on overall energy balance because on average, for every 100 calories of protein you eat, you burn about 20 calories just to digest it. This is way more than carbs or fats which range from 0 to 3 for fats and 5 or 10 for carbs depending of fiber content. This means the more protein you eat, the better your overall energy balance compared to eating the exact same calorie amount of other foods. Granted, this isn't a lot, but it all adds up. Higher levels of dietary protein help you preserve more muscle mass as you lose weight. (It helps prevent muscle catabolism which is a real risk when eating a very low calorie diet.) Because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, the more muscle mass you preserve as you lose weight, the more calories you'll burn, even at rest. Studies suggest anything above about 1.2g/kg (95% CI), is sufficient for most people to stave off catabolism, which is probably where the dietary guidelines linked above came from. You mentioned something about body recomposition, so I want to touch on that briefly. I LOVE the idea, but you need to understand it's extremely hard (bordering on impossible), to add muscle mass while on a very low calorie diet like you're eating right now. For most people, you actually need to be eating a significant surplus to add muscle mass, so I honestly wouldn't even try until you get closer to your goal weight. If you do decide to add mass, then yes, higher protein amounts than what you're eating now would be recommended (Roughly 2g - 2.5g per kg of bodyweight). This also would require a dedicated hypertrophy training plan though, and that's a bit out of scope for our discussion here. Best of luck.

I think that's the website I was just on - I found a recipe for unstuffed cabbage rolls I'm going to try. I'll go slowly; not trying to push my stomach, but I know these two weeks of purees are supposed to help me get on the path to eating more variety so I guess I've got to jump in sometime!

Before I had my hysterectomy, I noticed my PCOS sort of regulated a bit. Didn't do a whole lot for my hormonal imbalance, skin tags, insulin resistance, and it really made losing weight slower and more difficult, but it straightened out my periods a lot. I would go 2 or 3 months without one, then bleed like niagra falls for 2 weeks straight, then get a light one the next month, then start over. After I dropped my first 70ish pounds, I noticed they were coming in more regularly, and after my first 100ish pounds lost, they were proper length, proper frequency. And it stayed that way until about 4 months before my hysterectomy. Then they started getting wonky again. Skipped 2 months, needed progesterone to get it started the next month which caused HEEAAVY bleeding, then nothing the next month, then hysterectomy and I didn't care lol

Thank you all so much for replying and your comforting words. I can’t believe how nice everyone else. I was almost dreading reading replies because I just knew I was going to see a mean reply but everyone has been so nice and supportive about my emotional rant. Lol. I can’t thank you enough. Yesterday I went to a church service and sat on the bench and I just felt so big and uncomfortable and stuffed. I felt bigger than everyone on my row and probably was. Then I got home and ordered food for my kids and I and ate such a big portion and I remembered all over again exactly why I want this surgery and seeing your words confirmed it. Especially when @DaisyChainOz said “Only you can know if it’s worth it to you”. I really needed to hear that and I’m feeling like it’s really worth it at this point. I really can’t keep feeling like this. I guess if food is always going to be a thing, I’d rather it be a thing while I’m thin and more comfortable in my body. It’s also hard bc I’m not telling a lot of people. Not to be secretive, but bc I know many people won’t understand and I really want this to be my choice without the extra noise and opinions from people who don’t know what it’s like to feel trapped by your own body. I pray for no issues & that I end up being like everyone else in a few months asking myself why I didn’t choose to do this years ago. Can I ask a couple more questions though? Will I ever be able to guzzle water again? Lol. I just love ice cold water after a sweat or when I’m thirsty, just the feeling of chugging ice cold water, will I ever be able to chug a cold glass of water or will I need to sip it forever? If so, that’s fine, I just want to prepare my mind for what I’m giving up. Also, I know a couple of you are only a few weeks in, but has anyone lost too much weight? Not medically but lost too much personally? I’m afraid of getting to a size that’s too small. I don’t think I’ve ever desired to actually be skinny, I just want to be normal/average.

I think my reasoning is because I am low key freaking out because I am *done* losing weight and maintaining and I have never ever ever ever been in this position. Always losing or gaining. So eating close to 2000 calories a day and only being 8months post op, my mind is telling me that I am going to start gaining and this is not sustainable. I have never stayed this active this long either lol Its just a new life that I am not used to, and this week I am panicking (WEIRD!) I am sure that I need to talk to a therapist LOL but you guys are it for me at this moment. 🤣

I couldn’t see anything on your mirror but your mentioning it reminded me. I did a very similar pic in my mirror to show a friend some shorts to ask if she thought they were too short and I couldn’t figure it out because the shorts and my top were black and looked like they had lint on them (a lot of lint). I kept looking down and there was nothing but when I looked into the mirror I would see it again. Well I finally figured out that it was my mirror that hadn’t been cleaned since the day before my surgery because I was a model patient and didn’t do anything like that requiring bending for. 6 whole weeks. I was like OMG that’s my mirror!! Now i’m not Suzy sparkle by any means but it’s never been so bad I thought I was covered in lint. 😆

I was expected to start the vitamins from day 1 post op. They were disgusting chewable ones and I couldn't keep them down (due to complications from my surgery) so I had to wait a month, then started different capsule ones which were fine but two weeks later had to stop when I had to go back into hospital and was put on a feeding tube. Have been back on the capsule ones since finally discharged from hospital.

I'm honestly not sure. Pureed stage is stage 3 for me, but I'm not allowed anything with firm shells until stage 5. Stage 5 is also when I can get canned fruits and things like that too. 9 incisions sounds like a lot, but I know you had a different surgery than I did. I had 5 incisions plus an additional one for the drain. 19 staples. They took the staples out yesterday and then put steristrips on then. But by the end of the day, the steristrips were gone. I don't know if it's just how they were placed or what, but they did not stay long at all. I just ate my first meal of scrambled egg whites. Here's hoping!

Don’t think the small amounts you eat in the beginning is how much you’ll eat forever. After surgery your stomach muscle is very tight so it can’t tolerate much. But as it heals, and you start to introduce more foods, it slowly starts to soften (not stretch) & is able to tolerate more. I was told, though I began with 1/4 - 1/3 cup from the puree stage, by about 6 months I’d be up to about a cup. Which was pretty accurate for me. I’m 5 years out & from about 2 years, I was pretty much eating a recommended portion size. Check the nutrition panel of processed pre prepared foods and google recommended portions of other foods or ingredients to give you an idea. Generally about 3-4ozs of protein & a cup of vegetables, 2 eggs, a small apple, etc. Some days I can’t/not interested in eating that much, other days it’s the perfect portion. The liver shrink diet is not to actually shrink the liver but the fat around the liver. This is to allow your surgeon to have better vision of & access to your tummy during the surgery. This diet does differ surgeon to surgeon, patient to patient. Generally it’s two weeks of a shake three times a day. However, some are four shakes, others two shakes & one lean protein & steamed vegetables meal. Others are only for a week or a couple of days. Mine was keto for two weeks (I started a couple of days earlier). Some people lose seemingly a lot of weight, others only a few pounds. It’s one of those things linked to how much weight you carry. It can be tough as you may experience withdrawal like symptoms (from stopping/reducing sugar, carbs, caffeine) for about 5 days. Apparently my surgeon’s patients who did the two week all shakes called the first week hell week. While tough, remember it is only for two weeks and the big picture benefits & wins makes it so worth it. All the best with your surgery.

Very common for you to experience temporary changes to your sense of taste and sometimes smell after surgery. Everything became super salty or super sweet and certain textures (like the grainy texture of the shakes) became off putting for me. And yes, sometimes foods you didn’t enjoy before become enjoyable though that can change back. For me it was smoked salmon which I strangely began eating regularly once on real food but a few weeks later it was back to nope it’s too strong & rich. I actually embraced the aversion to sweet and lost my desire for a lot of it.

Made refrigerator pickles, dried strawberries, dehydrated bbq zucchini chips, split pea soup, and pikliz (a Haitian pickled slaw) this week. But since I didn’t have lime juice or habanero peppers I used lemon juice and sriracha instead. It’s pretty tasty and I can’t wait to have more with fish stew on Friday. (I’m currently reading a book by a Haitian author and the way she mentions fish stew made my mouth water!) Only ate half the dinner roll but all the soup and half the pikliz.

Got my date August 23,I’ll be having the sleeve. Currently 258.8. I do plan on doing all liquids the week of, I’m only recommended to do liquids the day before. I’m nervous but excited 🤞🏼

It doesn't get any better than this. You are not alone. I was about to write a post about the exact same thing. I was on a 2-week holiday in Thailand and the same thing happened to me. I was 70 kg on the day we started our trip and now I'm 66.5 kg three weeks after. I lost like 3.5 kg or so which is amazing. Not sure if that is a water loss or what but I'm happy haha. I can't say the same about my wife though. She is blaming me for gaining 3 kg on the same trip. We ate like "tourists" and tried the many wonderful Thai dishes and made sure to keep hydrated. We did a lot of walking, a bit of swimming and ate a lot of fruits so that might have helped burn the calories from all the coconut milk rich dishes we tried there. I was burning more calories during the trip and more active according to my Apple Watch. The same thing happened to me on a similar previous trip so I can totally relate.

So if any of you have read my story on here, you will know I have PCOS. I am 28 now, and I was diagnosed when I was 21. I haven't really had a regular cycle, and in the past 2 years I have probably only had 3 times where I have bled REALLY light. I wouldn't even call it a period 🤣 So now I have lost weight, in the past 2 and a bit months I have had 2 periods - proper ones! I am both elated but also now reminded of the annoyance of them 😂 Grateful to my body for functioning, but boy oh boy, the hormones?!?! I have been an absolute wreck this week - angry, depressed, sad, crying, detached, more angry. 🤦‍♀️ On an interesting note though, I was really struggling with my restriction - I really need to be eating more - and I noticed that whilst on my period I could eat more which was good! Anyway, just a bit of an observation from me 😂

Hello all .I am 47 yrs old and was sleeve in 2017..Before surgery I was 295 got down to 175 . Fast forward I am divorced single mother and I began drinking heavily gained 30 lbs so I did the endoscopic revision where they re-tighten the stomach the first week I lost 7 lbs mind u I had my revision 9/5/2024. I am almost a month out I don’t feel any restriction and I never feel full… The surgeon said I won’t feel any real restriction because Im not on a regular diet yet . i am on soft foods now but I feel myself getting very depressed because I haven’t loss anymore weight please any suggestions would be helpful.I really want to feel like myself again and lose these 30 lbs..

Hi @Mandalynne - I'm getting the RNY. It was suggested by my surgeon. What surgery are you having? How did you choose? The liquid only diet is no joke. I started this journey at a weight clinic, and the doctor there put me on one to jump start my weight loss. It's a bear. Still, if I see a broccoli after all this, I'll be running for the hills. I hear you on the grocery shopping. I ended up taking a friend to Costco to stock up on my 3 LSD things, making sure I didn't browse. I've bought the little silverware, jello, 4 oz. containers, water flavors, protein shakes. Need some SF popsicles and broth. Shelf-stable things. That'll get me through the post-surgery liquid phase. It's a week for me. Are you telling people? All I've said is that I'm having a major surgery. I have a public job, so I'm not sure what to say when they see the weight coming off. This whole thing is so real now. I'm super nervous about the surgery and recovery. But I already know how it feels to be the way I am now and can see where I would end up. This is something different. I'm excited to see what happens next. We got this!

Maybe you don’t burn more just sitting there or if your heart rate was the same inside and out but I’m just saying that mine is higher doing what seems to be the same exercise (walking at 2.5mph on flat ground) outside vs inside so that burns more calories. Not sure why but supposedly the Apple Watch heart rate thing is like 99% accurate for lower intensity exercise and I have Ike two weeks of data that show it’s higher when I’m outside. I guess it’s possible I’m missing something but it sure seems like it is the case for me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Hello! I had the sleeve gastrectomy 9.5 months ago. I've been working on exercising and eating right, but I've been in a bit of a stall these past 5 weeks. I went down from 290 to 170 pounds, but I've been stuck at 170 for 5 weeks. I've been eating 1200-1500 calories a day and still not losing weight. I've done some research, and apparently, your body adjusts to low calories after a while of eating at that rate. At the beginning of my post-op phase, there were some complications on my end. I didn't eat ANYTHING for two months straight, not even protein shakes, and I was only hitting about 20oz of water daily (which landed me in the ER, but I'm fine now lol). I've looked online, and it says for my height, age, and weight, a good maintenance level would be 2100 calories. I'm eating well under that in a deficit and heavy weight lifting, so I don't know why my body won't drop anything. I'm worried that my body adjusted to the 0-calorie few months I had, then the 500-1000 calories three months after that. I've only started hitting my 1200-1500 calories in March when I joined the gym. I know the stall is not due to "muscle gain" because I'm not eating in a surplus, and I'm only eating 65-80 grams of protein in hopes of simply maintaining while I drop fat. I also read online that apparently people who go through rapid weight loss have even lower calorie maintenance than the average person, and that makes sense, but surely it cannot be under 1200, right? The majority of bodies need 1500 to operate. I'm so confused! When I ask my surgeon about calories, he says not to worry about them and eat healthy, which I'm doing. It's just frustrating because I want to work on building muscle, but I want to lose some more fat before that. I guess my question is, does anyone know anything about calories after surgery, and/or how many calories are you eating after surgery to help lose weight?

I was sent home with a stronger med for constipation. I didn’t take it. Can’t recall when I started on the coloxyl. I think it was pretty much after that but I only took it (1 tablet) if I hadn’t been for three days. Five years out & I only take it if I need it which may be once one week then no need for a couple of weeks. It is good to keep on top of the constipation but you don’t want to become too reliant on it. Gotta keep your systems working as much on their own as possible. I’m presuming you need to keep things pretty soft after bypass or SADI more so than sleeve simply as you don’t want to strain your intestines at least until you are more healed.