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Weight loss post-op vs pre-op



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I’ve got a question for everyone out there. I had the sleeve done on the 17 of December, so I just hit my one month mark. I started at 524 pounds, so bigger than most. Interesting thing though is that during the 6 week pre-op diet I lost 58 pounds. In the four weeks post surgery I have lost 21. Has anyone had a similar experience? Does anyone have knowledge as to why this might happen? How would weight loss post surgery be so much slower then before? Post surgery has been much more restrictive than my diet leading up to surgery and I am trying to understand why.

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I am no expert, but possibly pre-op you may have had a lot of excess Fluid which when you well low cal/carb you lost along with some fat. Then first few weeks post op you have a lot of inflammation/fluid retention form the IV fluids plus the dreaded 3rd/4th week stall as the post op diet switches up a gear (swapping from liquid/puree/soft etc) which typically hinders scale weight loss.

While you may not be losing a lot via the scale, it is likely you are losing lots of inches.

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Congrats! I only had to do a two week pre-op diet and I lost a few pounds, it was a calorie-restricted 1500 calories per day. My guess is twofold. One has to do with Water weight pre-op and losing a lot of it. The other is that your body went under something drastic and traumatic and doesn't know how to respond just yet to the post-surgery you. I'm just 6 weeks post-op myself I stalled during Weeks 4 and 5 when transitioning from fluids to soft foods to real food because my body just didn't know what to do with all of the changes, but now in Week 6 the scale is finally starting to move again.

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Not at all unusual, as typically when we start any major weight loss effort, surgical or otherwise, the loss tends to be front-loaded, in that there is usually a fair bit of Water weight that is lost initially as the body adjusts to the radically lower intake, particularly from carbohydrates (though not exclusively.) Had you not done a pre-op diet, you would no doubt be losing that 58 lb, and quite possibly a bit more, during your first six weeks post-op.

Starting at a much lower level than you, I lost about 32lb the first month (no pre-op diet) followed by 15lb each of the next two months. Similar drops from the first month of weight loss effort to the second is quite normal, and you should probably expect to be losing 15-20 per month the next couple of months, and generally declining in loss rate as you proceed (after all, it takes fewer calories to move 400lb around all day long than 500, and fewer still to move 300, etc.)

Good luck, and keep up the good work...

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there are several factors that influence your rate of weight loss. Whether or not you dropped a lot of weight before surgery is one of them. Like one of the above posters said, weight loss is front-loaded - a lot of the initial drop is from losing Water weight.

people who have lost a ton of weight pre-surgery, as you have, don't usually experience those big drops right after surgery. That's because they've already had their initial water weight drop. I was the same way - I lost 57 lbs pre-op, and just 16 lbs the first month after surgery. Don't let it discourage you, though - I did end up losing all of my excess weight (over 200 lbs). As long as you stick to the program, the weight WILL come off.

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Thank you all for posting. Some good insight and much appreciated.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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