Hello everyone. I've been reading these forums for several months but just now joined. I went to my surgeon last July for a consult to get some hernias fixed. He said it would not be a good idea to fix them unless I lost some weight and asked if I had ever thought about weight loss surgery. I must admit I was offended at first because I knew I was overweight but never thought I was morbidly obese. I had also been trying very hard to lose weight and had some success in that my highest weight was 276 and I had got down to 250. But when I talked more with him I admitted that it had been a pattern all my life that I would lose only to gain what I lost plus some more. So I agreed to try to get insurance approval to have the gastric sleeve surgery thinking that there was no way they would approve it because I had just fought a long battle to have some medications that I needed for my RLS approved. I actually was on a medication that worked and the insurance company decided to no longer cover it so I had many appeals for that. So I was very shocked when they approved my gastric sleeve surgery. I remember getting the call at the beginning of November and they said they had scheduled surgery for the 13th and I said what month? and they said November and I was like "in less than two weeks November?" and they said yes.

Now I have my six month follow up in less that two weeks and I feel like a failure. I am only down 36 pounds since my surgery and most of that was within the first two months. I don't think I've lost anything the last two months other than a pound or two that goes and comes back. I get up every day at 4:00 am and go to the gym before work. I eat around 800-1000 calories per day. I know I look better and clothes are smaller but I feel stuck and worry that this is it and I will never get my hernias repaired. I don't get enough sleep and I am sure that is part of the problem but not sure what I can do about that.

Anyway, enough with my whining. I just wanted to reach out to others who have been through this journey. I feel alone and don't really have anyone that I can talk to about it. I am so grateful for everyone who shares their struggles and successes.

how much of that 800 - 1000 is from protein?

You also may be on the low side calories wise depending on your activity level.

maybe a protein shake with breakfast to raise your protein intake and bump your calories a little bit.

Also are you getting enough water? when we get real busy we can forget to drink on a regular basis.

I am getting at least 60 grams of protein per day. As for the water, I am drinking at least 64 ounces of Crystal Light each day. I have wondered if I should only have plain water.

Your not a failure. I’m learning this is really hard! Everyone says you just have to find your own way which isn’t how it seems pre op and can be discouraging. Sleep is HUGE. It can lead to a sense of hunger or thirst. And when your body isn’t functioning optimally it is difficult to lose weight. Right now post op I need 10-12 hours and when I don’t get it I am not ok. Talk to you doctor about natural sleep supports and google sleep hygiene-there are a ton of resources. Best of luck

As above, make sure you are getting at least 8 hours quality sleep, that makes a huge difference for me even before I had my surgery. Also, if you're clothing is fitting better despite not dropping weight, you are probably losing fat while gaining lean muscle mass with all the work at the gym (which is a very GOOD thing, as the more muscle you are gaining the better your resting metabolism will be). A lot of people who have lost and regained many times lose at least some muscle mass and regain fat (especially on common high carb, low fat, low protein restrictive diets) so now your body is working to rebuild muscle as you lose fat.

Talk to your nutrionist. If you are hitting your water and protein targets, you may need to alter the exercise you are regularly doing, you might even need to up your calories a little depending on how much you are burning away at the gym?

Life including Bariatric life is not a sprint as much,as a grueling marathon. If you're on it to win it, no matter how tortured the path, you will have success.?

Thanks everyone. I know the sleep thing is really something I need to focus on. I have been encouraged in that when I went to the nutritionist and weighed on their scale that shows what is lost in water, fat, and muscle I had not lost hardly any muscle at all. I just wish I had the huge drop in pounds like I've seen from others who had the same beginning weight and surgery date as me. For now I will just keep taking one day at a time and hopefully keep the scale going down instead of up even if it is slower than I would like.