Where’s the weight loss?!

[Jaxxamillion 5]

I’m 3 months post gastric sleeve and I haven’t loss much weight. No I’m not very active but I changed my eating habits 100% I stopped eating meat, added more vegetables, fruit, and Water to my diet. I don’t eat much anyway. Why am I not getting smaller? I don’t drink soda/juice, eat candy or chips or even pasta! I changed the way I ate but it doesn’t seem to show any difference

[Lilia_90 604]

Can you share details on your stats? height/weight/starting weight/current weight? Calories consumed?

[Jaxxamillion 5]

Starting height before surgery 5’8/389lb - January 8, 2025

Today - same height/326lb
April 29, 2025

I’m not sure on exact calories consumed.. but I know for a FACT it’s less than 700 a day

[SpartanMaker 1,149]

Am I understanding you've lost over 60 pounds in 3 months and you think that's "not much weight?" By my perspective, you're doing fantastic and should be very proud of your success so far.

I'm not sure where your expectations came from regarding weight loss, but I feel like maybe you had unrealistic expectations here?

[Jaxxamillion 5]

I only expected to be smaller… I’ve NEVER been “not fat” in all 30 years of my life

[SpartanMaker 1,149]

But you are smaller!

By my calculation, you've lost ~15% of your overall bodyweight in just 3 months! That's an amazing amount of weight loss. If you were thinking you'd be at a normal weight in 3 months, that's just not even close to realistic or in fact possible considering where you started. Most people will continue to lose for at least a year, some for much, much longer.

You're doing great so far and as long as you keep following the plan outlined by your team, you'll continue to lose for some time to come.

Edited April 29 by SpartanMaker

[Jaxxamillion 5]

Thank you 💕

[WendyJane 26]

You said that you stopped eating meat, are you taking Protein supplements like shakes? You should be having a high protein diet and not so much in carbs, and some veggies are carbs, like peas for example. fruit has natural sugar in them, you should be focusing on protein.

I strongly urge you to talk to your dietician with your surgical team, and make a better diet plan than what you are on.

Something you can do in the meantime is to look at the bariatric bowls and plates available on Amazon, and look at the portion sizes of fruits and veggies, then look at the size of the plate for protein.

It may not be what you are eating, but could be your portion size. But based on your initial post, you are eating fruits and salads, you are not focused on protein. I say again, check with your nutrition specialist with your surgical team.

I will say what others have, 60 pounds is a good amount of weight to lose. Remember that your surgery is a tool, and not a cure. It takes time to gain the weight, it will take time to lose it, when you are eating correctly and as your nutritionist says, contact your surgical team.

Congratulations on your journey, you are doing great so far!!

[SpartanMaker 1,149]

@WendyJane made a great point. I sort of assumed you were getting your Protein other ways, since it's certainly possible to do so without eating meat. That said, transitioning to vegetarian or vegan would be really hard to do right after bariatric surgery. While that sort of diet can be a healthy choice, getting enough protein has to be your main goal.

Hopefully your team gave you a minimum protein goal. If not, at 3 months out I would want to see at least 70 grams per day minimum, with 100 as a better goal. As you get to 6 months, 120+ would be ideal, though even more is beneficial.

We focus on protein during weight loss for several reasons:

1. Protein is essential to your body. While you also need a small amount of essential fats, you could in theory get those from a supplement. Dietary carbs are not essential because your body can convert protein and fat to glycogen to fuel your body.
2. Protein is highly satiating compared to carbs, plus it takes longer to digest than fats, meaning you'll be full longer.
3. Protein is actually harder to digest, meaning on average, for every 100 calories on protein you eat, you burn about 20 calories just to digest it. This means the more protein you eat, the lower your overall caloric intake compared to carbs and fats.
4. Higher levels of dietary protein help you preserve more muscle mass as you lose weight. Because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, the more muscle mass you preserve as you lose weight, the more calories you'll burn, even at rest.

In short, protein, protein, protein. You really can't eat too much protein at this point after surgery.

[Jaxxamillion 5]

Oh I never said I didn’t consume any Protein lol. I have whey Protein Powder, and I eat things like eggs and the plant based meat that I eat has protein in it as well.

[Lilia_90 604]

17 hours ago, Jaxxamillion said:

Starting height before surgery 5’8/389lb - January 8, 2025

Today - same height/326lb
April 29, 2025

I’m not sure on exact calories consumed.. but I know for a FACT it’s less than 700 a day

63 pounds is quite a bit of weight to lose in 3 months.

I also highly recommend that you track your calories, especially during the weight loss phase. It is easy to under/overestimate how much we eat.

[Jaxxamillion 5]

Thank you so much

[NickelChip 1,355]

Just jumping in to say that 60lbs in 3 months is a tremendous amount of weight to lose! Have you ever lost that much in three months before? Or at all? Pre-surgery, I could never lose more than about 40lbs before I plateaued and then slowly started to regain.

But, I understand you have a long way left to go, so it probably feels like you'll never get there. Focus on building the good habits now, like you are. If you can, go for a daily walk. That may be plenty of exercise for now if you are currently sedentary. But Protein, vegetables, and fruits are great choices. Also, take photos of yourself to see the progress. I swear that even at over a year out and within 10 lbs of a normal BMI, I still FEEL obese sometimes. And then I see a recent photo of myself and I am shocked to see a normal weight woman who kinda looks like me. How can I see myself so wrong in my own head? In the first year, I took a progress photo every month on the 21st so I could compare. I'm so glad I did.

[SpartanMaker 1,149]

@NickelChip made a great point about photos. Another really good way to "see" the difference is to take measurements with a tape measure. I wouldn't do so more than about once a month, personally. There are multiple places you can measure and you certainly don't have to do them all, but I'd say the most common would be:

• Neck (probably more for men since this is good to know for dress shirts)
• Bust / Chest (at widest part)
• Under Bust (mostly for women only since this is needed for bra size)
• Each Upper Arm (either at the largest point or midway between the shoulder and elbow if you can't tell)
• Belly / Natural Waist
• Under belly (especially for men since this is where casual men's pants typically sit)
• Hips / Butt (you can do both if your hips and your butt are perhaps larger at different places)
• Each Thigh (typically at the widest point)
• Each Calf

If you do this, it's important to try to be consistent in where and how you measure. It can also be really helpful to have help for some of these.

[catwoman7 11,247]

you lost way more than I did in the first three months - and I started out around the same weight..