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Oh…I had hubby taking my ‘before journey’ pictures last week and I hated them so much. I don’t know about anyone else but I never really look at myself from the neck down in any mirrors at home. I know I’m fat, I just don’t need the constant reminders! I don’t try things on in a shop, just order online and hope for the best (does it fit? Yep, that will do) This time I actually looked at the photos and oh boy, it was awful. BUT I just have to keep reminding myself that I will NEVER get that big again. Hubby will take more photos if my weight decreases before the surgery, just so I have something to look back on and compare. We have to keep finding the positives!

Welcome and congratulations on choosing your health and yourself as important. As well as pictures, measure yourself with a tape measure, all over. I checked thigh and knee and upper arm girth. I even had my son take photos of my butt with me bending over lol. Really, really, there will be days and months of stalls later on and those before measurements to compare your results will help keep your momentum in choosing self care. You may find yourself in this journey so much stronger in setting healthy boundaries for yourself instead of constantly sacrificing yourself non-stop. Your expectations for your family members will grow and you may be strongly encouraging them to be more independent. You won’t be eating for entertainment nor will you be slaving for kids and spouse and parents. Get a hobby for yourself. Do something for you that you find passion about. Make a bucket list and start fulfilling it.

Congratulations! I'm almost 4 months post-op from gastric bypass and my advice is to watch every video from Dr. Matthew Weiner (Pound of Cure Weight Loss) and Dr. John Pilcher on YouTube. These were by far the best resources I found, and I go back and watch many of them (especially Dr. Weiner's, and also his new podcast) all the time even now. Especially the ones on how to build lifelong behaviors to keep the weight off. One thing I did early on, right after my first bariatric appointment where I weighed in at my highest weight ever (yikes!) was order Dr. Weiner's books. There's The Pound of Cure, which gives a detailed, step by step way to make healthy changes to your diet, plus a second book explaining how bariatric surgery really works and then his bariatric cookbook (I also really like Bariatric Meal Prep Made Easy by Kristin Willard). I made several of the changes recommended by the Pound of Cure (I didn't start with the 2-week diet, just started implementing changes I thought I could manage) and over time I lost about 12 pounds, plus just felt healthier and more in control of what I was eating. One other piece of advice: don't over-buy protein supplements. So many people on this board will tell you this, and I did not heed the advice. Now my cupboard is full of protein supplements I stopped liking after surgery and will never use. I've barely needed supplements after the first month or so, honestly. I feel guilty at how much money I spent on them, but I will likely end up throwing them all away (most are opened so can't be donated). If you want to stock up on anything, an unflavored protein powder is much more likely to be useful to you in the long run than the flavored shakes. But if you're buying flavored ones, consider trying a soup flavored one because the sweet ones get old really fast, even pre-surgery. Oh, and take "before" photos! I know taking photos can be so uncomfortable, but you will want them. Choose something very form fitting to start. I went with a pair of exercise leggings and a tank top that was so tight it was like skin. I took photos about a week after my first appointment, so around my highest weight, and then on the day before surgery and at each month-marker thereafter. So far, I've worn the same clothing each time, although I may need to change that as it becomes too baggy to show the progress clearly. Take your measurements the same day you take your photos. You may struggle to see (or refuse to believe) the changes in yourself, but the photos and measurements don't lie. Even if it's painful to see the photos now, you will be so grateful to have them later. I was in shock and wanted to cry when I truly looked at my highest weight photos, but I'm so glad I took them.

@BlueParis you're looking great! I'm impressed you can stand in those shoes. I think I would end up in the hospital if I tried. And congrats on finally getting below that magical 70kg marker. I'm happy to report that after 7 weeks of very pokey weight loss in which I only lost 4 lbs total and stalled out completely for 2 of those weeks, I have now dropped 4 lbs in 4 days. I cannot begin to express how relieved I am. I know it will slow again soon enough as a pound a day isn't sustainable, but I plan to enjoy it as long as it lasts. NSV for me this week! So, I had gotten down to around 205 lbs back in 2017 through my hospital's nutrition program. Naturally, I bought some clothing back then, though unfortunately I regained steadily over the years. Because I had moved house 4 years ago, I purged most everything in my closet. This included almost all the smaller clothing, plus the remnants of my old "professional" wardrobe that was also in smaller sizes from a good 20 years ago. (I should say, I don't regret that too much as the clothing was way out of style and I never have cause to wear suits these days anyway.) But I did happen to hold onto one springy sort of dress that I guess I must have thought was too nice to get rid of, just in case it ever fit again. Well, I pulled it out of the closet the other day to wear to my daughter's special event at school and not only did it fit, it was loose. I honestly struggle to see the difference when I look at myself in the mirror sometimes, but there's no denying how clothing fits, and I know this dress never fit me loose back then like it does now.

So... It's seems my stall has finally "cracked" - I wouldn't go as far as broken, but cracked... and I'm happy with that. This morning I weighed in at 69.1kg which is 152.3lbs ( 10st12) and puts my BMI just below 25 ( 24.8!! woopeee). I've just voted because it's the EU elections here and am about to pack before I leave home for work for a week. I'm going to Budapest and really don't like the food there so I'll see how I get on. I'm really hoping to see a number starting with 68 when I get home even if I loose just 300g (10oz) this week I'll be happy with that! @Noelle74 I hope you have some better days comming and manage to eat without being miserable! @RonHall908 I have this fear too... Well done on all the activity! How do you find the time. I struggle to get my 10k steps some days with work and even though I've been for a few 5k runs I don't know how I'd find time to work out! @gracesmommy2 I might try those recipies! Thank you @NickelChip I see we share the same live-in housekeeper dream! I don't even have children and am often overwhelmed by my own mess and laundry especially when I do fast turn arounds for trips! I'd also like someone who could remind me to go to bed at the appropriate time, make me coffee in the morning ( to be honest my partner does this if he's around but we don't live together full time as we both want to keep our Paris appartments!), I'd like someone to say "Hey blue, lets go for a walk before bed, just 30 minutes" or "Hey blue, what about getting up 30 minutes earlier and walking to work?" or "Hey Blue, let me sort that ironing for you, why don't you use the time to do some yoga?" @LisaCaryl How are things going for you, how are you dealing with the stall ? @Briss72 How are you feeling? How's your leg? Have you found a dance routine you like ? If not I got myself a dress and don't feel massive in it even though I still don't like my tummy I thought my legs ( massive heels helping) looked pretty ok!

Is this normal ? I did also have a hernia . The first photo is two or three days after surgery and the second photo is 5 days after. I thought the bruising would go away but it is getting bigger . My tummy feels tight and full. My family says I am paranoid. Thanks

This is happening to me too!!! I had my surgery may 17th and I almost convinced myself that they took out the gastric band and didn't do the sleeve. Liquids and protein drinks went down with ease the first week...started getting hungry. Went to puree, that helped curb the hunger. Contacted my surgeon, he advised that everyone is different. If you can tolerate puree, then try soft foods. After that try a little more regular food. That sure cured the hunger issue, and I am only 22 days out of surgery. I use the Baritastic app install of myfitnesspal. This one tracks your protein, calories, carbs and water intake. I am currently eating around 700 to 800 calories per day and I am satisfied. They told me to sip sip sip my water, hell I can gulp gulp gulp. I really watch how much food I am stuffing into that little stomach at one time. It is still trying to heal. On a side note: Baritastic does Not reduce the amount of your calorie intake when you exercise-this keeps you to the 1200 cal range. My Fitness Pal subtracts your exercise from you calories telling you can eat more. We are not suppose to eat more...

I retained water for about a week or two. Felt like i had to pee every 20 minutes. I started drinking plain water between shakes/soup to decrease the sodium. I also found staying hydrated i stopped having to get up so much in the middle of the night now! Hang in there.

I did bone broth, tomato soup with protein powder, every flavor of sugar free drink mix and shakes. As long as i got enough protein and the recommended calories i felt good. I loved sugar free peach tea to help get the fluids in….. sip sip sip. For the first two weeks my surgeon included the shakes as prt of my 64 oz goal.

This really is the big fear, isn't it? I mean, I know when my bad habits hit. It's when I'm stressed and short on time. Like this week, where one kid had a major school presentation and the other was both sick AND had rehearsals for dance recital every night. And they need to be fed, and have all their stuff, and did they remember their water bottles, and money for a snack, and where are the dance shoes, and what time is pick up and...oh, wait, have I eaten anything today? And now all the food I bought to be so good and healthy is still frozen and I'm trying to figure out if I should choke down a protein shake or if putting peanut butter on a Ritz cracker can count as protein... This is definitely where those new, good habits need to be built. Because of course I can anticipate the craziness of a week like this ahead of time and prepare for it. I just need to work on actually doing so because a trip through McDonald's is no longer in the offing or I'll end up right back where I was. The modern world is built for convenience, but not for good health.

Has anyone had experience with needing to take amino acid supplements because most of the 'complete' protein powders they are unable to have? I'm pre-surgery but allergic to the whey protein in milk, and in trying some other protein powders, found that soy, pea, and egg protein powders cause digestive havoc of the TMI variety. I've found that collagen protein powder and hemp protein powder I am perfectly fine with, but I know collagen is missing one of the essential amino acids and hemp protein while complete is low on the essential amino acids. The dietician seem flustered that I can't have whey protein and I've not been able to find anyone talking about using amino acid supplements to make an incomplete protein complete. Also totally open to other suggestions for protein in the weeks pre- and post-surgery while on the liquid diet.

I'm almost four weeks post gastric sleeve. I've lost 28 pounds, which I'm thrilled with. I've felt so good that I pulled some weeds in the front of my house yesterday. Today I have some abdominal pain. It's not horrible, but I'm worried I may have hurt my healing stomach. Should I be worried? No vomiting and I'm eating 1/2 cup of soft food as normal with no issues. Thanks for your help! 💕💕💕

@gracesmommy2 Oh my gosh, I even have all the ingredients for the brownies in my pantry! If I get my house cleaned tomorrow, I may have to make these as my reward. Thanks for the other recipes, too! They both sound excellent and I'll try one out next week for sure. My daughters are 12 and 15, and I swear they barely have a single food they both like that I can also eat. They love pasta and tons of carbs and cheese. They hate meat, except ground meat sometimes. They dislike fish, although the older one is coming around to salmon. One won't eat sauce. The other doesn't like potatoes in any shape or form. Up until surgery started messing with my preferences, I could count on one hand the foods I didn't care for. I don't know where all this pickiness came from. @Noelle74 Being sick from food is the worst. I also find going liquids only the next day can help soothe things. Hang in there! @LisaCaryl So sorry you've joined the stall club! At least you have good company here. @BlueParis What a pain to have the scale stay stuck for this long! I hope you can see some progress soon. Don't lose hope! @RonHall908you stay so active, I imagine your body requires a lot of fuel. And you're right, being able to do something doesn't mean you should!

Ty for the links @NickelChip and yay on the weight loss! Woohoo! I have a major sweet tooth also and have made these brownies twice and think they are pretty good. My twig of a hubby likes them also 😂. I mean they’re not as good as “real” brownies but honestly you get used to it if you stay away from “real” sugar which I do. (Mainly bc I know I’ll go overboard if I try eating sugar again so I just avoid it all together.) I also try to eat and cook mostly keto/very low carb most of the time. This website has some pretty good recipes and directions for freezing and stuff. I’ve tried a few recipes from another website also that I’ll link for you. i don’t make my food separate. My hubby eats whatever I cook for me, just more of it and when my kiddos (20 and 24) were here a couple of weeks ago, they ate what I made for myself also. 😉 of course I try to make stuff I knew they wouldn’t hate 😂. Try these https://thebigmansworld.com/best-fudgy-keto-brownies/ Made these a couple of nights ago https://thebigmansworld.com/keto-stuffed-peppers/ I’ve also made this and so has my daughter and she likes it too, I’ve made it once as written and then doubled the recipe once using lean ground turkey and ground pork. https://www.eatyourselfskinny.com/chicken-egg-roll-in-a-bowl/ plus I’ve made a couple of other recipes on this last website that were good also just trying to mix stuff up…..I hate eating the same crap all the time. oh and we eat the egg roll in a bowl with cauliflower rice 😉

So relieved to report I finally dropped to a new "lowest weight" after my 2-week stall. Weighed in at 198.6 this morning, a drop of 0.6 since yesterday. I really hope that might continue a few days at least before I hit the next rough patch. The cravings for sweets and carbs are real! I'm fortunate that I do feel a lot of restriction, or at least I do if I am eating the right kinds of foods. I can only manage about 2-3 oz (60-85g) of heavier proteins, which include salmon, poultry, beef, and pork. I also get full at around 4 oz (100g) veggies. Sadly, if I do eat bread or crackers, they seem to go down easy. Same with ice cream or candy. I had really hoped that wouldn't be the case. It makes it that much more important for me not to keep those types of things in the house. I'm struggling with what to eat, especially for breakfast. Nothing sounds good. I'm tired of plain yogurt and cottage cheese. I'm tired of protein shakes and smoothies. I was enjoying smoked salmon with cucumbers on rye crisp bread until last week when it made me violently ill. I've become repulsed by eggs. Plus, I don't usually get hungry until later in the morning. Today, I decided to wait, and I finally started to feel some real hunger at 10:00am. So, I'm having a leftover big Italian meatball from dinner a few nights ago. Lunch and dinner options aren't much easier. Cooking is a hassle when you can eat so little, and my kids don't like the kinds of things I can eat. But I worry it sets me up for grazing when I don't have a plan. I'd really like to do some meal prep and have a list of maybe 10 go-to meals that are bariatric approved and easy to make any time of day. I'd like to spend a few hours roasting a sheet pan of veggies and cooking some chicken to store in the fridge for the week and incorporate into meals. I need to clean out the fridge and pantry. I just don't seem to have the motivation to do any of it. It's like all my energy has run dry, although my bloodwork came back good so it's not an issue of something being off. Just my attitude, I guess! I'm feeling stressed and a little overwhelmed, and it shows in my environment because my house is getting cluttered and I have a pile of laundry that is quickly going to consume me. What I wouldn't give for a housekeeper to keep the place tidy and my own cook to make healthy meals and deliver them to me at appropriate times during the day.

Yesterday was a bad day for me. Everything I ate got stuck and I spent a lot of time miserable with a bag nearby ready to be sick. I ended my day with applesauce and called it good. Today started off good with some movement on the scale. Down 1.6 lbs. small change I know but it’s the biggest change I’ve had in a day so I’ll take it. I wanted to weigh in before the weekend when I’ll no doubt eat things I shouldn’t and sit around way more than I should. I’m in no hurry to eat anything today after everything got stuck yesterday. I might stick to liquids today just so I’m not totally miserable all day. We weren’t supposed to get anymore rain til Tuesday but here it is again, cloudy and drizzling. Seems that is all we have seen the last two to three weeks. It’s not cold just dreary. I hope everyone else has a brighter happier day today.

Good morning! I have officially joined the "stallers" club this week. It is sad to see the scale at the same place it was a week ago. But I have all of you going through it, too, and while we don't like it, it does help some. I guess I'm glad to be part of the club lol.

Cucumber, lettuce, carrots, boiled beetroot, leeks, baked squash, roast cauliflower. Early out I had to get my veg in by making different vegetable soups and blitzing it. I had a cup as one of my 6 tiny meals a day. Any soup with added cheese was a particular favourite. Broccoli and stilton, onion and cheddar, carrot and cilantro { see I have been on this forum for so long that I am now using the American } lentil and vegetable and Gazpacho are still my favs. Raw veg other than lettuce tend to fill me for too long. I had some carrot batons this week and I was burping all evening, very unpleasant

I put my surgery day weight in my stats instead of my highest weight because I wanted to track what I was losing since the actual surgery. But if you look at my signature, you can see what my numbers were, and they weren't pretty by any means. Everyone loses at a different weight. It depends on what we have going on with our bodies. It took me 2 years to lose 200 pounds. Some on here have lost more than that in that same time. Some have lost a lot less. We can't compare ourselves to anyone else. HAVING SAID THAT..... you lost, from your surgery date, 367 pounds - 294 pounds = 73 pounds lost. In 4 1/2 months. That's an average loss of roughly 16.5 pounds per month, or just a hair over 4 pounds per week. For reference, I lost 79 pounds by 5 months out. So you're very close to where I was. Don't lose hope or feel discouraged. You're doing well. Maybe try hitting the gym once a week and also going for a nice long walk once a week. You'll see the extra movement really helps a lot, too. Stick to your protein first, then veggies, then carbs, then healthy fats and you'll also do well. If you can't get the protein and fluids in at the amount you need, do your best. Supplement with a protein shake for now, on top of the rest of your foods because that counts for both.

I got calories guideline from my doctor, he expected me to just consume 600 - 1000 calories a day max, with minimum 70gr-100gr of protein. I'm on the first day of my 3rd week today, hope this helps and oh he said to prioritize protein over everything else, good luck for both of us!!

It’s all about finding what works for you. For years I didn’t have breakfast & used to also say that eating breakfast made me hungry for the rest of the day & I would feel sort of blah after. Then I started having breakfast because I thought I should have something. Would deliberately work through that blah feeling & fight any urges to eat until dinner. Now I happily eat breakfast. I discovered that if I eat it after 8:30/9am I feel okay, not ready to eat again until about 1pm. However, if I eat at say 7:30am, I’m hungry much earlier, feel blah as before. Think that was always my problem because I used to eat breakfast at 5/5:30am. It was simply too early for me. My window between eating gets shorter after the intital 4hr to 1pm lunch (3pm, 4:30ish, 6pm (dinner), 7pm) & is when I add my snacks. It may be when you eat, what you eat, how regularly you eat, whether you eat several small meals or three main meals, etc.

Two days out. Nausea is the worst thing. Pretty persistent. No pain whatsoever. The restriction mimics the first days of the VSG surgery. Barely sips of water today. I'll follow a clear liquid diet for 3 days, purees until 2 weeks out, and then soft foods until I can tolerate solids. Definitely wondering if I made decision. The nausea feels like I have lump in my stomach- the kind of feeling you know you'd feel better if you just gagged yourself. I did get 3 different nausea treatments, but had an allergic reaction. So Im trying benedryl (for the all over hives) and emetrol intsead. Not as effective, but its def more tolerable

Back down to 199.2lbs this morning, which was my lowest recorded weight from 12 days ago. Will it start dropping again now? It's a mystery! One thing about these stalls that is a little scary, other than just wondering if you will ever lose any more weight again, is how hard it can be not to give into bad habits and cravings when you start feeling like there's no reward for doing the right thing. The last couple days, all I wanted was sugar and simple carbs. I tried not to indulge in the cravings too much, but I did have a little bit of candy (red licorice bites) and a serving of whole wheat Ritz crackers, which I wasn't eating at all before. As the weather warms up, I'm finding it harder to decide what to eat. Is anyone else struggling? Nothing sounds good. I have discovered a nice treat/light meal that reminds me of the pineapple Dole whip you can get at Disneyland. Fill a single serving smoothie blender cup about 2/3 full with frozen pineapple chunks, plus about half a serving vanilla protein powder, half a cup or so of plain Greek yogurt, and a splash of milk to thin it out. Blend until you get a thick, creamy, frozen consistency. It's got about 20-25g protein depending on what products you use and it was so refreshing when literally nothing sounded good for lunch. @gracesmommy2 this is the pilates bar set I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CCRCG5ZP This is the video I'm going to try: There are so many videos if you search YouTube for "pilates bar workout." I thought 20 minutes was a good starting length, but they have longer, too, and ones that target different body areas. I need a yoga mat for the floor part, though.