I am 6 months post op from sleeve surgery. I've lost 73 pounds from my highest weight, but only 58 pounds since surgery. I'm eating 800-1000 calories a day, getting my protein and liquids, taking all my vitamins and exercising 5 or 6 days a week. The weight loss has stalled over the last 2 months, and I am so frustrated. I feel great physically, but am discouraged and disappointed. My primary care doctor spoke to me yesterday about trying Contrave. Have any of you tried it after surgery? What was your experience?

I've not done this, but I do know Contrave affects cravings and reduces hunger. Given you are already only eating 800-1000 calories a day, I would question why this is even needed.

Have you consulted with the nutritionists at your practice? Every place is different, but at mine, they expect me to be at 1200 calories at 6 months, maybe more if I am exercising seriously 5-6 times a week. Have you tried increasing your calories to see if that would help?

I was always hungry since the day I got out of surgery. I had been on metformin for weight loss (I don't have diabetes) and it made me less hungry, so after I couldn't stand being hungry all the time, they put me back on it, and it has really helped a lot. Some people get nausea or diarrhea from it.

I also would talk to your nutritionist about how much you SHOULD be eating. It could be that you're eating too little and actually need to increase your calories.

I haven't tried contrave but make sure your insurance will cover it because it's going to be very expensive most likely.

Sometimes it takes eating MORE to break a stall. Stalls occur for a couple of reasons: 1) to let your body catch up, and 2) because your metabolism is in starvation mode. If you eat MORE it may trigger your metabolism to speed up since it's no longer in starvation mode. It's counter-intuitive to eat MORE, but it frequently works. Perhaps you could eat 1100-1200 calories a day and see what happens.

21 hours ago, Sunnyway said:

Sometimes it takes eating MORE to break a stall. Stalls occur for a couple of reasons: 1) to let your body catch up, and 2) because your metabolism is in starvation mode. If you eat MORE it may trigger your metabolism to speed up since it's no longer in starvation mode. It's counter-intuitive to eat MORE, but it frequently works. Perhaps you could eat 1100-1200 calories a day and see what happens.

I agree. If your body isn't getting enough nutrients it literally hold on to every calorie. Take a look at this article.

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/a19998301/what-is-starvation-mode/