Has anyone had the gastric sleeve after going through menopause? Can you share your thoughts and experiences.

I was 69 when I had my sleeve done. Is there anything specific you want to know ?

What percentage of weight loss did you achieve?

I don't know the percentage , but I lost 25ish pounds so far. My doc said weight loss at my age will be alittle slower because my metabolism has slowed down. So far so good !

How long ago did you have surgery, mine was 12/27/2023.

Mine was May 22 of last year. When I first met my surgeon I asked if there was an upper age limit and he said no I thought I'd be too old , but I guess it all depends on your health at the time. It's great to see results,isn't it ?

It is, I guess I worry to much because the scales are not showing weight loss each week.

I did. Perimenopause & then menopause saw me gain 30kgs (15kg above my usual high weight of my fluctuation range). Tired to lose it for about 4 years but couldn't. No co morbidities. Was almost 54 & on HRT when I had my surgery. Reached goal at 6 months (a 23 BMI & my usual low weight of my range) & then lost another 11kgs over the next 11/12 months. So I lost about 135% of the weight I was hoping to lose. Haven’t weighed this since I was about 12 years old. And I have pretty much maintained my weight at almost 5 years post surgery.

My rate of weight loss seemed pretty average. Didn’t exercise (don’t like it). Was a low calorie eater in comparison to many others. My hunger didn’t return for about 12 months. All my menopause symptoms disappeared while losing (still had some breakthrough symptoms though on HRT). Thank you that oestrogen hormonal flush that occurs while losing. They came back after I lost most of my weight though. Sigh! Almost 59 now, still menopausal, still on HRT. No real issues with the surgery or after. My tendency to have low blood pressure drops occasionally before occurs every day now. Had my gall bladder out at the two years mark which left me with a protein malabsorption issue. Blood work otherwise always good. Haven’t taken vitamins since 8 months out (except Vit D in winter). Have reflux but had it before surgery too just mild then. Tummy can be a little sensitive but it was before surgery too. I have episodes of the foamies but I think my oesophagus is more sensitive too. So really just some quirks that are special to me. LOL!

19 hours ago, Sherry57 said:

It is, I guess I worry to much because the scales are not showing weight loss each week.

you won't always show loss every week. In fact, most people experience occasional stalls when they won't lose anything for 1-3 weeks, even though they're sticking to their plan 100%. If and when you hit those, just make sure you're following your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. The stall WILL break as long as you're following all the rules.

I had bypass, not sleeve, but I was post-menopausal. I lost over 200 lbs.

I had the menopause in my very early 40's and this surgery at 62. The only things that I have noticed a difference are - My hair had already thinned so I got really worried at one stage and had to cut it really short, I can notice my scalp with wet hair but hide it after styling.

- My skin is a mess. I lost elasticity after menopause. I have decided to not have the surgery. It looks too brutal and having to pay myself it would be out of my reach for all the work I would need.

I have lost a huge amount of weight and mostly without exercise or having a busy work life. I had a lot of long stalls but I tried not to compare myself with others who were storming along. You will get there in the end, Have a chat with your team. I found it useful.

Thank you everyone for sharing your experience. I am 57, do not take HRT. I track Macros (protein, carb, fat) which totals 1000 calories a day. I would consider myself fairly active (just got done with mowing/weed eating a large backyard but not someone who exercises daily but try to get on my walking pad 15 minutes a day. Since 12/27 to date I have lost between 35-40 lbs. On the edge of 3 month post op I am noticing a few more hairs on my sink when styling. I think, well here we go on the next part of this journey. Lucky I have always wore my hair short and sassy and like mentioned when wet you can see my scalp but after drying scalp is not visible. I’m don’t wish time away but wish I could get a glimpse of a year from now. lol For those monitoring macros/calories what is your average daily calories?

well, i *thought* i was in menopause before I had my surgery (i hadn't had period in about 1-2 years).

a few weeks after surgery i got my period and it came like clockwork every month for the next 2-3 years (i guess it wasn't menopause and i was just fat? or maybe the estrogen release from my diminishing fat stores that re-activated my period? i dunno.)

Anyway, a couple years ago when i was at maybe 3 years post op, my period disappeared again, and i haven't had it since (except for a singe errant period when i was on vacaiton of all places last year). im 5+ years post op now and i guess to answer your question i was both perimenopausal and menopausal AND post-menopausal before, during and after the entire experience.

i don't know if being in that state affected my weight loss in any way as i have nothing to compare to, but i can tell you i reached goal by 7 months post op (lost 108 lbs by goal date) and was down a total of 126 lbs by 1 year post op (i was 235 lbs 2 wks before surgery).

like i said above, i'm 5+ years post op now and am still down 120-ish lbs today.

Were you able to exercise? What do you feel was the biggest attributing factor to have accomplished it in 7 months?

yep, i sorta became an exercise fiend at around 3 months. i tried my hand at many things to see what i liked...i ended up sticking with yoga, zumba, dance class and running. i also did some strength training, but only the bare minimum cuz i hate it lol.

i'm 5+ years out now and while i don't run 5K every day like i used to (AND go to 4-5 classes a week), i still run 1-2 times a week, go to pilates 2-3 times a week, and i have a weekly tap class.

21 minutes ago, Sherry57 said:

What do you feel was the biggest attributing factor to have accomplished it in 7 months?

low calorie intake. hands down.

Do you recall your daily caloric max during that time?

why yes, i do know! lol. i was/am one of those "diligent" trackers so i have over 5 yrs of food log data to statisticize, ha!

on AVERAGE:

weeks 1-2: 400 cals a WEEK...this was a weird time.

week 3 to about 3 mnths: 400-500 cals A DAY.

months 4-6: 600-700 cals a day

month 7: 800-ish cals a day

at this point made efforts to increase cals and by 9 months i was at about 1700-1800 cals a day.

2-3 years post-op was 2300+ a day cuz i was exercising heavily.

today im at 1800-ish a day with moderate exercise (been at this calorie level for 2-ish yrs now)