I am 6 months out and I have lost a good amount of weight, but, not as much as I was hoping for. I am 6 months out and I am down 61 lbs since surgery. (18 of the pounds was immediate after surgery) Which I no way could have done on my own, but, I just feel like my weight loss is slowed drastically and I really have to work at losing now, going to the gym 4/5 days a week and eating healthy. The honeymoon is over and im scared that if I dont exercise or eat low carb that I will gain and/or just not lose anymore weight. Its exhausting how much effort I have to put into losing weight. I dont want people to think, boy, she had weight loss surgery and she is still fat! Plus I can eat normal size portions. Not big ones, but, I can eat a small meal with my family! I stay away from potatoes, rice, pasta and most bread products, on occasion I will have wheat bread or crackers. Anyway, how are you doing this far out and further? Does the weight still come off after the window of opportunity is passed? I need some hope and encouragement!

I'm not disappointed - I've lost close to a pound a day. Of course I wish it was more - I think everyone does. I'm hoping to lose 100 lbs by June, but if i don't, I'm not gonna freak out about it. I would love to be about 250 by the time I go home to visit family. I'll keep my fingers crossed, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not there.

Yes, I know the feeling. I'm only 8 weeks, and my weight loss is ok, but I'm afraid it will stop and I'll have trouble getting to my goal. I just stay on course and keep believing that it will happen. I sometimes look at Youtube video of people who posted over the course of several months. That is generally always encouraging to see that they do continue to be transformed. You'll get there. Hang in!!

Hi there!

I am VERY disapointed with my so called progress!!! I am a year out and have only lost 80lbs (most of which I have lost before surgery.) I too can eat larger portions than I think I should be able to eat. I was exercising and dieting religiously and would only lose 1 pound every 7-14 days!! Needless to say I gave up! Now, I haven't gained any weight back no matter what I do or don't do, but it's still frustrated!

I should mention that when I had my sleeve done, I also had a nissen fundoplication (a proceedure that helps control severe acid reflux) and I was told that I would never be able to gulp liquids, burp, or vomit...EVER! Guess what? I can do those things (have been doing them frequently) I went to see a different surgeon (my actual surgeon refused to scope me because he thought I was being a lazy cry baby) and she says that my surgeon wasn't supposed to do both proceedures especially not at once and that my stomach is way bigger than it should be for someone who has had a sleeve.....

Get a second opinion!

When I get down and think that I should be losing weight faster I just think to myself.......how many years did it take me to gain all of this weight??????? A long time. So do not expect to lose all of the weight that you want in just a short 6 months. Give you body time and it will do what it needs to do. You will lose the weight and feel much better for it. Keep the faith.

I feel this way sometimes but then I quickly push it out of my head. This can be self destructive if you focus on it too much. I get anxiety when I hear about this window of opportunity. It makes me depressed. But the reality is that 80 percent or so of your stomach is gone. It's not growing back. Even if it stretched out a bit it still wouldn't be what it was. So to me that isn't a window that shuts. It's a permanent open window!! lol It may be faster in the beginning but that is the way it is with all diets. All people lose weight quicker in the beginning of something. Your body is constantly trying to stabilize itself and hold onto the weight. It also adjusts to what you're doing. I think we have to constantly shake things up. Change our routines. Change what we're doing in our exercise plan. Even change what we may be eating. For me, this works. When I find my body has gotten comfortable at a certain weight, I have to do something different to shake it up. As long as I still am going down then I'm ok. Right now I've been stuck in the same range for awhile and it's frustrating. However, I know that in time it will go down and down. As long as we keep working it!! I know you can do it!

Don't get down on yourself. Sometimes it helps to set goals you once thought we were possible to achieve. I started with a couple of goals, running a hal marathon and doing a triathlon. I've done two of each in the last 3 months. My next goals are to do a marathon and, once I get to 180, to jump out of an airplane. The exercise required keeps me motivated and is making me feel better each and every time I force myself to get up at 5:00 am to swim the 2 miles a day I need to reach my goal. I agree with IowaAndy and say keep the faith. Anything is possible in time.

I feel torn. I have pretty much put zero effort into my weightloss. It has been easy. But 170's to some is still "fat" but I am a size 10 and I don't know if I want to have to be so dilligent All the time to get and stay "skinny".....

THERE IS NO HONEYMOON!!

Sorry, had to get that out. The first thing you need to do is shake the idea that you have a time limit or you're a failure.

The reality is that even at six months out you still can't eat but a fraction of what you ate pre-op. Your sleeve is there and it's in perfect working order. Once you're about a year out your sleeve is going to be as big as it gets.

I'm 19 months out and can only eat a few ounces in a sitting. I get stuffed on one egg scrambled with cheese or two ounces of steak.

Prior to surgery I was certain I would hit goal in nine months. After all, I only had 107 pounds to lose. I didn't realize it at the time but I was intentionally ignoring all of the posts about people that lost weight more slowly, had months long stalls or felt discouraged about surgery.

I hit goal in 17 months. The reality is that we all love the folks that make it to goal in 9-10 months but many more people actually reach goal sometime in their second year post op. I lost an average of just over 6 pounds per month. Is that discouraging? Maybe. The difference is that I GOT TO GOAL with the sleeve and never, ever got even remotely close on any diet. I never lost even close to 6 pounds a month on any diet I tried, and even if I had maintaining said diet for the 17 months it took to shed the weight would have been an impossibility prior to my sleeve.

Yes, it's discouraging. We want goal weight now. We had a drastic surgery and we want drastic results. We want to be skinny. Yes, we know in our heads that we didn't gain the weight overnight but darn it, we really want to lose it more quickly than we do.

The reality is that you just have to accept that your body is going to lose at it's own pace, no matter what you do. The good news is that your sleeve is going to stay restrictive and it's going to help you get to goal, even if it takes you 17 months like it did me. Goal is just as sweet when you reach it after nearly a year and a half, I promise.

As for your eating and exercise habits only you know what works for you, but I've posted a number of times about diets today and I think that if it's stressing you out you need to reconsider what you're doing. We want to be happy about ourselves and just being skinny isn't going to do that - we have to be healthy mentally and physically.

Best of luck. It's tough, I know. I had a journey twice as long as I wanted but I am thankful for every minute of it.

~Cheri

hmm , why do u wanna lose weight faster ? give ur body the time to adapt to ur new lifestyle ,im 350 lbs and my goal is not to lose more than 12 pounds a month post op , correct me if im wrong but in this way i can maintain more muscles while losing fat only

I admit that I expected to lose weight faster, but at the same time I am not disappointed. I think almost everyone is farther along than I am at almost 6 weeks post op, but for the first time in my life I am accepting my body and the pace it wants to go.

When I think back to the slow climb to my highest weight, I remember how much I hated my body all the way from my current goal weight to where I ended before surgery. I can now see all the time I wasted on it and have promised myself that I will embrace and enjoy every weight and every size as I take this journey and be proud of every inch and ounce of progress. I am headed toward the destination and no longer feel like I am hopelessly out of control with my eating. That alone is an amazing relief.

I, for one did have weight come on basically overnight - steroids and tumors contributed to my weight nearly doubling in about a year. It was a scary time for me. I know its not going to come off that fast. Hell, it would be nice if it did, but I have to be real about it. Tumors are shrinking and showing less activity - YAY.

I have the rest of my life to be healthy - I can let it get there the right way

hmm , why do u wanna lose weight faster ? give ur body the time to adapt to ur new lifestyle ,im 350 lbs and my goal is not to lose more than 12 pounds a month post op , correct me if im wrong but in this way i can maintain more muscles while losing fat only

Same here "Iwish". Losing too fast can be a bad thing because a lot, if not most of that weight will be muscle. I've lost well over 40 pounds in 3+ months and some people would think that's failure. But I'm also really close to my strength (weight room marks) as I was before I lost the weight. So I now I've retained a lot of muscle, so most of my weight loss has been fat. Slow, steady weightloss works for me.

Hang in there "Emmasmom" and don't get discouraged. You're doing well, just enjoy life and be reasonable with food and exercise.

I think it's common for people with weight issues to be an "instant gratification" type personality. Heck it may be more than just overweight people. As human beings, I think most of us want instant gratification. When I was younger and wanted to lose the weight, part of the reason it was hard for me to stick to a diet was because choosing between tasting something delicious right now when I am ________ (fill in emotion of your choice: stressed, upset, mad, happy, bored) or sticking to a healthy way of eating and waiting on the lbs to leave. It's hard to do for anyone. That's the beauty of the Sleeve, it gives us the ability to control our portions even when we aren't at our strongest emotionally. I knew going in that everyone is different, and to not compare myself to anyone. And while I have heard of the 6 month honeymoon period, I have seen way too many people on these forums continue to lose 2+ yrs and maintain pretty easily. So yes, I do wish I had lost more, but I am not going to give up by any means. I've worked too hard and came too far for that. We tend to want to keep falling back into the "diet" mentality. But we are going to have to eat this way, or pretty healthy for the remainder of our lives to continue to lose, then maintain. This is a lifestyle change for me, not a diet. I know and accept that I am a slow loser and I have long stalls. It's not fun, but it's how I lost before the sleeve. We don't have the malabsorption to drop the weight fast. I chose to not deal with the issues than can come with that. Age and hormones also determine these things. We all have our individual journeys to become healthier. I think a lot of wanting to reach our goals quickly, is that we are all so afraid of failure. And when some of us don't lose as fast as others, it seems like the Sleeve isn't working for us. It does definitely mess with our heads and our insecurities. I refuse to give up, no matter how hard things get or how slow my weight comes off. I feel so much better now, it inspires me want to feel even better and become even healthier by continuing to work toward my goals. We can do this together Sleevers!!

I definately hoped to lose a little faster than I have, but I'm not dissapointed. I am glad I had the sleeve done and it has made it much easier to get a perspective on how much food I was eating. I've only lost 35 lbs in 9 weeks. It seems I have a stall every other week, then only lose 1 lb. I do everything by the book and it is still very slow. I have bad days occasionally and need to vent, but most days I'm positive that I will get to my goal no matter how long it takes. I also try not to compare my results with everyone else's....I'm in my 50's and won't lose the way a 20 yr. old does.

I do get disappointed at times. I lost most of my weight directly after surgery and now am averaging 1-2 pounds per week. I am eating on average 1100-1200 cals/day and am rather sedentary.

I'll remind myself that I'm losing consistently, mostly do not feel the insanity with food--the BEST GIFT I could've been given, and am making permanent changes in the way I eat.

I know I'll not only reach my goal in time but more importantly will be able to manage my weight long-term. In my experience, reaching goal quickly lends to more grandiosity which leads to rebound weight gain.