I had gastric sleeve surgery on July 21st. Over the first six weeks I lost 30lbs. I haven't lost a single pound since then..... My doctor keeps saying I need to keep my daily calorie intake to 800 or less to lose weight. I haven't been logging everything but I think I'm staying around that number... I'm not a very disciplined person so keeping track of that every day usually doesn't happen. I'm super frustrated and getting depressed over this. If I was able to lose weight by sticking to a very strict diet and exercise program I would have done that a long time ago and never had the surgery. I had a big part of my stomach removed for nothing.... Anybody else out there who can't lose weight even after weight loss surgery? I don't know what to do....

Don't get discouraged! You can do this. One thing that really helped me was to measure just about everything into 1/4 sized meals and freezing them. I always had a high protein, portion -controlled lunch or dinner available every day. The best advice I can give you is to focus on behavior modification. Veering away from the behaviors that we learned prior to surgery will almost definitely result in weight regain down the road (TRUST ME).

We're here to support each other. The fact is, Goodmange's outcome is a real possibility for anyone.

Preaching and lecturing is counterproductive: nonjudgmental tips and strategies are helpful & productive.

Yeah I know it's better to help people than judge people

The very last line of OP’s original post was “I don’t know what to do”. Many, many people here have been successful with this surgery and exceeded the expectations. They (and I) did so by following their team’s guidelines. Advising OP to go back and check in with their team, and to follow the guidelines they’ve been given isn’t preaching or judgemental in any way, rather is offering the help OP asked for. 

10 minutes ago, kristieshannon said:

The very last line of OP’s original post was “I don’t know what to do”. Many, many people here have been successful with this surgery and exceeded the expectations. They (and I) did so by following their team’s guidelines. Advising OP to go back and check in with their team, and to follow the guidelines they’ve been given isn’t preaching or judgemental in any way, rather is offering the help OP asked for.

I think if you read back through more of the thread, you'll see people accusing her of being a downer, negative, and implying that she hasn't tried hard enough, which, particularly without knowing this person, is highly judgmental. As stated above, realistic tips and strategies are always productive and positive, so yes, you are correct, and there's previous agreement on that point.

Hey, just want to say I am Sorry it's been a tough go and disappointment for you. I think we all know what it takes to lose weight but it's not easy. If we were going to lose our weight without surgery we would have done it already. At 49 yrs old I know it will only get harder to do it on my own. My skin is still elastic and I have the best chance now to be my best.

Hang in there. Log your food, every single bite, lick and taste. ( those little BLT's make a big difference.) Keep at it. Follow Jamie Mills on FB etc... she is a registered dietician and fellow WLS survivor. I love water exercise,,aquacise, boosts the mood and muscles.. my balance has really improved also.. Best of luck.

Edited November 30, 20214 yr by JKUENZI

If you don’t want to log your food everyday perhaps you could do it for a few weeks and then just check in every once In a while to make sure you are on track. I know that I only cook so many meals and I have it in my head how many calories it is for one slice of cauliflower crust pizza or one burrito or whatever. I have a shake for breakfast and a P3 protein pack for lunch most days so I know how many calories I am allowed for dinner and have figured out what I can have that is on plan so I don’t have to count calories every day. I also have snacks that are around 100 calories (some are 80 some 120 but it averages out) so I just have to keep track of how many I have in a day not the actual calories. Maybe something like this would work for you. I hate to see you wasting time just being disappointed and depressed because your hunger will come back eventually and it will no longer be as easy to make the good food choices.I know that you are only eating low calorie food but you can still overeat even if it’s the right things. But you don’t necessarily have to count calories daily, Just figure out how many calories you are allowed for each meal and snack and then the first time you have the meal you have to measure and calorie count but from then on you know whether it’s on plan or not and you can either have it or you can’t unless you skip a snack or whatever. Just try a version of this that works for you.

Edited November 30, 20214 yr by ShoppGirl

36 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

If you don’t want to log your food everyday perhaps you could do it for a few weeks and then just check in every once In a while to make sure you are on track. I know that I only cook so many meals and I have it in my head how many calories it is for one slice of cauliflower crust pizza or one burrito or whatever. I have a shake for breakfast and a P3 Protein pack for lunch most days so I know how many calories I am allowed for dinner and have figured out what I can have that is on plan so I don’t have to count calories every day. I also have Snacks that are around 100 calories (some are 80 some 120 but it averages out) so I just have to keep track of how many I have in a day not the actual calories. Maybe something like this would work for you. I hate to see you wasting time just being disappointed and depressed because your hunger will come back eventually and it will no longer be as easy to make the good food choices.I know that you are only eating low calorie food but you can still overeat even if it’s the right things. But you don’t necessarily have to count calories daily, Just figure out how many calories you are allowed for each meal and snack and then the first time you have the meal you have to measure and calorie count but from then on you know whether it’s on plan or not and you can either have it or you can’t unless you skip a snack or whatever. Just try a version of this that works for you.

I agree. When i lost my band and went 2.5 years without wls I thought I could just do it without help. I was wrong. I started gaining and before i knew it I had put back 30lbs. In my mind (overweight brain) I wasn't "eating that bad" but when I started going back to logging my food, I was clearly eating badly. I was at 1000 cal before lunch. This is why logging is so important. I know I didn't realize how much I was actually eating. If the OP would just try logging everything and being honest 100% for one week he/she would see. But honestly he/she seem like they don't want to put in any work to make the SX successful.

It's also possible that the OP hasn't had any support from their surgical/bariatric team. That is certainly the case for me, which is why I keep turning up on this board like a bad penny. They could be just venting their frustration, albeit in an emotional way that invites emotional responses.

6 hours ago, JKUENZI said:

Hey, just want to say I am Sorry it's been a tough go and disappointment for you. I think we all know what it takes to lose weight but it's not easy. If we were going to lose our weight without surgery we would have done it already. At 49 yrs old I know it will only get harder to do it on my own. My skin is still elastic and I have the best chance now to be my best.

Hang in there. Log your food, every single bite, lick and taste. ( those little BLT's make a big difference.) Keep at it. Follow Jamie Mills on FB etc... she is a registered dietician and fellow WLS survivor. I love Water exercise,,aquacise, boosts the mood and muscles.. my balance has really improved also.. Best of luck.

Good advice, and I'm going to follow Jamie just now. Thanks!

4 minutes ago, LadyH said:

Good advice, and I'm going to follow Jamie just now. Thanks!

Hey--lots of Jamie Mills on FB. Can you help me to ID which is the correct one to follow?

On 11/30/2021 at 07:40, sunshineangela said:

I had the surgery gastric sleeve a few months ago. My weight has stalled at 45-50 lbs lost. I understand your frustration. I have a issue getting all the Protein. When I do consistently get all the protein 60grams a day thats when I start losing. Maybe that can help you too. I don’t lose weight when I am not getting the protein.

I find the same thing happening with me. I’m 4 months out and sort of stalled at 50 pounds.

16 hours ago, LadyH said:

Hey--lots of Jamie Mills on FB. Can you help me to ID which is the correct one to follow?

Yes, Jamie Mills is also known as the sleeved dietician. Here is a link to her web page. https://www.thesleeveddietitian.com/about-jamie

Hey, just want to say I am Sorry it's been a tough go and disappointment for you. I think we all know what it takes to lose weight but it's not easy. If we were going to lose our weight without surgery we would have done it already. At 49 yrs old I know it will only get harder to do it on my own. My skin is still elastic and I have the best chance now to be my best.

Hang in there. Log your food, every single bite, link and taste. ( those little BLT's make a big difference.) Keep at it. Follow Jamie Mills on FB etc... she is a registered dietician and fellow WLS survivor. I love water exercise,,aquacise, boosts the mood and muscles.. my balance has really improved also.. Best of luck.

On 11/28/2021 at 11:12 AM, goodmanje said:

That's all great advice. I agree 100%. All of the advice given would work without having surgery. That's all I'm saying. If you want to lose weight it's all down to diet and exercise. With or without surgery.... So my advise to anyone considering the surgery is don't do it. All you have to do is work hard, follow a plan and don't give up. It's your choice.

Good luck with that.

I have had some of the same thoughts as you are having. I have to say you are not correct. I could not eat more than I do at meals because I reach a restriction. Surgery gave me that restriction and I slow my eating and stop eating based on the restriction. If you are eating a lot of fatty or carb loaded foods between meals in smaller amounts you will not reach the restriction during those snacks and will defeat the purpose. This is not only a physical challenge but a mental challenge so you seems to need help on the mental side of it. I think you need to consider counselling to help with that side of it. Finally....I track everything....everything...if you don't then you would be floored when you find out what you are eating and not tracking.

I'm sorry you're struggling. Hitting a plateau or weight loss stall is so frustrating. It's a time when we are very vulnerable and likely to give up on ourselves, go back to unhealthy habits and resist support or advice. It feels like nobody understands what we're going through, or how we feel, and that old self-loathing starts to rear it's ugly and counterproductive head. Please don't give up on yourself. You made a decision to move forward with surgery because you wanted something very badly, don't let it go. Now that it's done, give yourself some grace and try to get back into the headspace where you can take advantage of the benefits.

You've made changes, but are not getting the desired results. So, you need to make some tweaks to nudge your body back into the weight loss track. In order to make those tweaks, you're going to need to buckle down for a short time and track your eating. There's really no other way to go about figuring out what has you stalled without taking a very close look at that. It's a major pain int he a$$ and it takes discipline, but it's not forever. Commit to doing it 100% for just one week, that's long enough to reveal where the pitfalls are and find a solution. It's entirely possible that you are not eating enough. My longest stall was broken when I made a very moderate increase to my protein and fat. It was literally a difference of about 4 ounces of food a day that flipped my weight loss from stop to go.

Tracking can be approached in different ways: you can either use an app to track things as you eat, write things down each time you eat then log everything into an app or website at the end of each day, or make a menu, log it at that time and stick to that religiously. I cycle through these methods depending on the other things going on in my life at any point. The last scenario is easiest to manage if you put aside time to do your meal prep for the week, so the food is ready for you to just reheat (if necessary) and eat. I can never stick to a planned menu unless I have the food ready to grab n go. I've tried a few apps, my favorite is MyFitnessPal.

After tracking for 7 days, take a good critical look at your macros - calories, protein, fat, carbs, fiber and sodium (my personal demon) - and see if anything jumps out at you as higher or lower than you were assuming. Share your diet and macros here and you will find advice on making adjustments that will have you back on track in short order. You could find that a small change can net big results.

However you decide to move forward, I wish you the best and hope you enjoy the holiday season with your family and friends.