Hi Guys. Still planning for my sleeve. I know that 2-3 weeks is the ideal time to take off work for recovery and that it really just varies person to person how much time is needed. But how much time did you ACTUALLY take off. And how physical is your job? Teacher here, getting sleeved right before he new school year and I don’t wanna take the first couple weeks of the school year off. Thanks for replying.

I'm in IT' as well. I scheduled 4 weeks off. I want to be done with pain and getting into a normal eating routine before I go back. The walk from the parking lot would take me prob 10 min instead of the 5 it used to

I think with teaching part of it would depend on what age level and subject you teach. I had my surgery 7/30, so it worked out that I had just finished teaching summer school and had four weeks before we report back. The first two weeks were really nice to have, the second couple have been nice vacation-wise but made it easy to spend all day obsessing about my weight.

If you teach something more active like PE or you teach younger kids who might not be good about being gentle and/or who need more active teacher, I’d say it’d be good to be closer to three weeks. Otherwise I think two weeks off would have been fine, just plan on being really exhausted the first week or so back...

I took a full 2 months off for each WLS I had. With the band, I was driving 110 miles a day, and I didn't want to deal with any issues on that long drive, the job was database management, so, minimal movement required. For the bypass, I'm working IT for a hospital, LOTS of walking, lifting, crawling, etc etc etc. I took the 2 months mainly because I wanted time to start to figure out foods, I wasn't cleared to start experimenting with food until the 6 week mark, I didn't want to end up dumping at work... so I took the extra time so I could be 100% sure of everything going back.

Hi there,

So I met with the psychologist and nutritionist yesterday and was surprised when they told me I would need to take a month off of work, even though I work a desk job. Everything I'd read online said 1-2 weeks would be good. I see a lot of people here posting about 10-14 days is how long it took them to feel good going back to work. However, I would love to know if that 10-14 days is for those who got the sleeve or gastric bypass. I'm going to get gastric bypass and wanted to know if I should allot the 4 weeks that was recommended. If that is truly the case I will need to push off my surgery since I'm starting a new job.

I'm a Crisis Screener in an ER and in the community. I took the full 6 weeks and I am going back to work next week. I actually decided that I'm not returning to the same company as it's high stress and is not healthy given my recent surgery and ongoing self care needed especially in the beginning. I took a position doing the same work but for a different organization, in a different county, with lower demand for the services I provide. Just do what's best for you as this is a life changing surgery. Mine was actually a revision due to complications. I only took off for 2 weeks for the first one and regret that. Your job will survive without you for an extra couple of weeks...take as much as your doctor will give you. YOU are more important than your job! [emoji3]

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I had gastric bypass and was back after 2 weeks. I am a dental hygienist and have a physical job so I was a little tired the first week back. Now I feel back to normal. My Dr cleared me to go back after the 1st week but I took 2.

I have desk job. Surgery on Thursday and back to work on Tuesday

2 weeks was more than enough time off for me

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I had a gastric sleeve and just passed the 3-week mark. I could physically go back to work this week (couldn’t have after 2 weeks) but will probably take a total of 5 weeks off. I had a lot of pain at first but have had a fast recovery. I am still incredibly tired and need to concentrate on organizing my meals, pills and walks every day. I think this comes to other people more easily but it takes a lot of effort for me. I also have a lot of responsibility at my job and have to be “on” all the time. I made the decision to be very ready to get back to work before I make that step. I also am an American living in Europe and Europeans have very different ideas about sick leave here. My HR colleague has been very supportive and suggested that I should take twice my original estimated time off (6 weeks rather than 3 weeks). Feeling lucky to have done the surgery in this context.