Hi every one ! I'm jack and regular reader of all the post . I'm in fifteen Weeks post op. My SW was 265 lbs & CW is 217 lbs . My dr office told me that u have to work hard & excercise we'll for every day up to six months post op, because after six months ur weight will stop reducing. I want to know is that really it stop decreasing ? Or just he was making me to push for more hard work ? Is anyone can help.

I lost most of the weight I've lost so far by the 6 month mark. I started at 332, I was 297 the morning of surgery, at my 6 month mark I was 220.8, and this morning I was 191.4 (I'll be a year out tomorrow). You can keep losing but it does get harder. Part of what gets harder for me is now I am able to eat anything, and now I have to CHOOSE to eat what I am supposed to. Keep working, you are doing great! The weight loss doesn't have to stop at 6 months

They call the first 6 months the "Honeymoon" stage as this is when your weight loss will be "easiest". I use that term lightly, though, as this is just something you have to experience to understand, I think. For me, after 6 months, I was able to tolerate just about anything. These first 6 months are your opportunity to learn new eating habits, find an exercise routine which you can maintain and basically find your groove for your new lifestyle. That meant I also needed to do some soul searching discovering the core reasons why I had such a poor relationship with food.

For some folks, after the 6 month mark, they discover they can eat a doughnut, so they do. They return to their old eating habits and continue to abuse food. This is where the "real" work begins to take place.

The bottom line is as long as you follow the guidelines for sleevers, you can lose the weight you want and maintain the weight you want for yourself. Stop following the guidelines and you will struggle. This is true at 6 months, 2 years, 5 years ...

The weight does come off slower after the first six months without question. That being said if you continue the good habits you learned the first 6 months you will likely still lose. Next month is my 1 year and I am still losing but is more at a pace of 1 to 2 pounds per week and some weeks none at all.

PDX has it right. My own thoughts on the topic, based on info from my surgeon plus my own experience:

• As your stomach heals, you can't eat much at all - perfect opportunity to lose fast in the early days, so take advantage of it. After 6 months, you are pretty much healed up, so more food is easier to get down (read "easier to screw up").
• Your metabolism "reset" that allowed you to lose very fast in the first 6 months may start to slow down. My dr says the "window" closes around 18 months and weight loss stops at that point.
• I definitely lose at half the rate post-honeymoon than I did early on. One pound a week instead of two (I'm a slow loser to start with).
• My surgeon's goal was 60% of my excess weight off by 6 months, which I was able to do, even with my slow loss rate.
• I still have my food issues, but at least I am very aware of them now and I feel like I have more control. I know now that I eat "bad" food for reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. While I am not always successful, I do have some go-to strategies post-6 months to help me get through those times, and they work most of the time. I have the sleeve to thank for that because it never would have worked for me before. The honeymoon was a great period to work through these issues and learn good habits.
• Bottom line: you can lose after 6 months, however, it will likely be much more difficult than the first 6 months when everything is new. The honeymoon is a wonderful time for loss and not to be wasted.

Best of luck to you.

jack35

"honeymoon" period

first 6 months+ are really nice, enjoyable

initial weight comes off a bit easier

at 6 months and 1 day..........

work hard - then things work for you

continue to live your life well

follow things you've learned

your honeymoon period might last up to 22 years and then some!!!!

oh, i think i'm talking about my marriage

I see you've already lost 48 lbs since surgery

OMG thats great

keep up the good work for the rest of your healthier, happier, longer life

kathy

congrats

Edited March 24, 201412 yr by proudgrammy

I was told the honeymoon period was the first year. I knew there was no way i was losing 150+ in a year so I asked my NUT what that really meant to me. Did it mean I was destined to remaining "overweight"?

She told me that I could keep losing and maintaining as long as I keep "working that sleeve" - there was no expiration date on that. She was RIGHT. Yes, weight loss slows down... thank goodness really! I got to my initial goal in 14 months and have lost another 10# since then. I am 2 years and 3+ months post op now and I know I could lose even more weight if I were so inclined (which I am not). It is really about working the sleeve. I am not saying it is easy, and I do agree that you are well served to be as diligent as possible that first year (or 6 months or whatever) as it does get harder, but the only limits exist in our own minds.

I lost pretty effortlessly the first 4 months. I did no exercise, and didn't count calories or anything. I would lose and lose and lose. When I hit 4 months, the weight stopped coming off so easy. Now I have to work. I knew the day would come. I eat very well (mostly dense Protein and very little carbs). I also get about 30-60 min of cardio every day as well as some strength work. Anyway, sooner or later you have to eat well and exercise. The neat part is, it actually works. It's not like before the surgery when it all felt hopeless. I would try to restrict calories and exercise and nothing would happen. UGH. So the surgery is a huge push in the right direction. It's a tool you can either use, or abuse. Treat the head, it's where the real problem lies.

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you every one

I'm really very thankful for your replies & making my view very clear.i promise I will work hard exercise well & develop healthy food habitués . Once again thank you very much all for wonderful advices.

I am just hitting the 6 month mark. I have lost 54 lbs so far and did recently start adding in some exercise. I think the first couple of months are the hardest but also the time where the weight peels off. I still try and stress eat and that is my trigger to eat poorly but I cannot eat nearly as much as I used to. I have days where my pouch is really right and other days where I can drink 2 drinks and eat a small app for dinner-but this is really rare. I feel it works but you have to work too. It is a great tool, but you have to out it to work. I love walking and hiking again and am trying to get back into the gym, I am just not.that big on hamster like exercise so find something you like to do and it becomes easier to do it.

I lost alot of weight by 6-7 months out... over 100#. I reached a crossroads since by 8 months I wasn't losing much at all. I sort of had to ask myself the question of "is this good enough?" i don't think there is a right or wrong answer to that question, but I personally really wanted to be normal weight and not still overweight. I also realized that weighing under 200# was a heck of a lot better than weighing over 300# so i didn't want to get trapped by thinking I was a failure at losing "only" 100 pounds....

So, I saw the NUT and we had a real discussion about it. I decided to go for it... so I refocused, i gave up Protein bars which had turned into my snack food of choice. I was in a way abusing them.. using them like a candy/snack substitute. I had to just quit them for awhile because 1-2 per day was adding carbs especially that I didn't need. I also increased the intensity of my exercise - I started doing high intensity interval training, took up spinning and gave up the exercises that were time consuming and low intensity. Those had their place earlier on in the process, but I needed to change to get to my ultimate goal. Those two things got me back to losing that 8-10 per month instead of 2-3 per month.

THAT is how I made the final push to goal and a "normal" BMI.

So, the answer to your question is that whether you make it to goal or not in the first 6-8-12 months - at some point you will start feeling more hunger, you may start wandering back to old habits... you might need to face a certain crossroads like i did.

Thanks Andreamy7 & cowgirljane I really appreciate ur advices & suggestion , those will make me to excercise & lifestyle on track after six months post opp. Once again thanks a lot .