Hi everyone,

I had my gastric sleeve surgery on February 3rd, 2022. My lowest weight after surgery was around 59 kg, but now I’m back to 71 kg and I honestly feel stuck and frustrated. I feel like I’m doing everything I can, but nothing really works.

I go to the gym, but I feel like it just builds up more muscle on my legs instead of helping me slim down — and that’s the opposite of what I want. I try to eat small portions, but sometimes I snack too much or drink calories without realizing it. I’m worried my sleeve has stretched or that I’ve slipped back into bad habits.

If you’ve been in my shoes, what helped you get back on track after some weight regain?
Did you do a pouch reset, change your meals, get help from a specialist?
I would really appreciate any real tips, daily meal plans, or mindset tricks that worked for you.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. It means a lot to hear from people who truly understand what this journey feels like.

Welcome. Sorry to hear you're struggling.

I want to touch on a couple of things you said since the truth may be different than what you thought?

First, I want to hit on this idea of a "pouch reset". There really is no such thing. Your stomach expands and contracts normally, just like a non-surgical stomach. You can't make it appreciably smaller just by eating less for a few days or weeks. Sometimes people feel like this makes a difference because it mentally helps reset what it feels like to be full. (A lot of people overeat after a few years.) If you really want to go down this road, you certainly can, but just understand it's not going to magically reset the size of your stomach. It might help reset your brain a bit, but the effect won't last long if you go back to eating too much at a time. You can get the same effect by just reducing portion sizes.

Second, I want to touch on you gaining muscle from going to the gym. There are a few things to unpack here, but let's start with the fact that scales are NOT your friend and I would strongly advise you to not use the scale as the thing you use to gauge your success. Let me give you a hypothetical situation: If I could give you a magic potion that overnight made you look just like a fitness model, but it also made you weigh 300 pounds, would you take it? I don't know what your answer is, but I'd guess that like most people, you probably would in fact drink the potion.

I don't have a magic potion, but doing strength training in the gym is kind of the same thing. It just takes a lot more work and time. The point here is that muscle is a lot denser than fat, so you can in theory be even heavier than you are now, but still look a lot thinner because you've changed your body composition to favor more muscle mass. Keep in mind that most people find more muscle mass more attractive (well up to a point anyway).

Also, you are NEVER going to actually lose weight from doing strength training. it's not a great way to actually burn calories, so thinking you're going to go to the gym and lose fat just isn't realistic.

Cardio at the gym isn't much better, so don't think that's the secret either. It will burn more calories, but the reality is a couple of things happen when you do cardio (or resistance training) at the gym:

• You'll be hungrier, so you tend to eat more than you would otherwise (this might be why you're snacking more).
• It will seem subtle and may be almost unnoticeable, but you will move less the rest of the day because your body is trying to recover from the workout. This means you don't actually burn many, if any additional calories. Said differently, your body will do everything it can to keep you right where you're at, so it is literally slowing your metabolism down to make up for the calories you burned exercising.

I'm not trying to discourage you from working out. It has a LOT of health benefits, but as a way to actually lose weight, it's not so great. Now once you get to your goal weight, working out at least 5 hours a week can REALLY help you stay at your goal weight, so keep that in mind as well.

The final thing I'll add here since this post is already pretty long is that the one sure-fire way to lose fat is to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day. I know that seems fairly obvious, but people think sometimes they're special, or that it doesn't apply to them. I don't know how many calories you're eating right now, and it honestly does not matter. Right now, whether you're eating 1500 calories or 3500 calories, you're eating at maintenance for you. If you want to lose fat, then you've got to eat less. The way to do that is whatever way works for you.

There is no secret diet that works for everyone. All diets can work if they have you eat less than you eat now. You've got to find not only what works for you, but what is a sustainable way of eating for the long term. Crash diets almost always fail, so I wouldn't look for something that works in the short term. What you need is something that you can do for the rest of your life.

Best of luck.

Hey, you’re not alone. I asked for help from my dietitian. I went to meetings with other bariatric patients. I watched videos online. I got a therapist. Obesity is a disease and if one thing isn’t working, go to your doctor and tweak something else.

I found I have to weigh and measure everything. I prep my food. I’m really boring and do better when I eat mostly the same things for breakfast and lunch. I’m someone that needs to eat breakfast. I have to have a regular schedule most days. When I need to loose weight, I need to also concentrate on more aerobic activities, very low weights.

What you need for you is going to be very individualistic for you. In the bariatric groups I attend or stream, one person got the DS portion done. One person uses gl-1 meds, another need’s metformin. A different person needed more yoga and Pilates and made it her career. Another person found starting her day with morning mass and volunteering in the community filled her with energy that wasn’t food. My coworker got a dog that needed lots of walks AND agility training. She got back to goal and found a stress relief and joy. So you’re going to have to do some research on yourself, because getting healthy and staying healthy is a multi pronged approach. It’s a little like finding the right combination of medical, physical, emotional, spiritual tools, and realizing the ruby red shoes on your feet can help. You can do this!

You are not alone. And regain can be very stressful and emotional. Many experience regain over time of varying amounts. I’ve had a small regain this year able it has been very upsetting. Many things can contribute to this regain. Life in general, which can throw crap at us. Medical reasons. Emotional or mental health issues. Complacency. From what you said it seems like complacency maybe a factor for you.

Unlike @learn2cook, I’m not a tracker of my food. I’m a random checker though like @learn2cook I’m also very routine and predictable in my eating (what I eat & when I eat) but it is what works for me. You may find it useful to measure and record everything I eat & drink for a couple of weeks to identify where those snacks, larger portions, calorie drinks or whatever are sneaking in. Can help to make note of why you think you snacked, or ate a little larger portion, and such too. Look over what you’ve recorded and then start to make changes. Just one or two at a time for a couple of weeks then make another change or two. Slow and steady adjustments are always easier to adopt and adapt to & are more sustainable in the long term.

Checking in with a dietician can also be helpful to ensure you’re on the right path. If you think there may be an emotional factor involved, a therapist may be able to support you too. Many find a therapist very helpful.

Unfortunately, managing our weight will always be a battle to some degree we just have some extra tools and knowledge to help us now than we did before our surgery.

All the best.

When I feel that I need to snack, I drink a protein shake, that takes my hunger away. I get my movement in and do both strength training as well as cardio, now that I got clearance to do so. I track everything I put in my mouth from the water I drink to ever morsel of food. If you think you need a therapist, I would suggest spending only 40 bucks a month and join BariNation. They have groups with licensed people, including social workers, counselors, dieticians, physicians, and quite frankly there are people just like you and me and everyone in this forum, all bariatric patients and we help and support each other. You can attend any group or meet-up you wish, and there are so many ways to track your wins every day, particularly your non-scale victories. Just a nudge to check things out, you will be surprised. To see a little bit, they have YouTube videos too, for free if you want to check them out. All of the professionals in BariNation are well versed in working with Bariatric patients/clients. Community is therapy.

Hope for the best!

Regain happens, and you’re clearly putting in the effort, which matters. I’m still pre-op, but from what I’ve seen here, going back to basics like focusing on protein, cutting out snacking, and watching liquid calories has helped others get back on track. Tracking everything, even the small stuff, might help you spot what’s getting in the way. You’re not alone in this.

You are definitely not alone! I still meet with my dietitian every month. I had gotten down to around 163–165 lbs, but after my BA, my weight went up to 175 and no matter what I do, I can’t seem to get back below that. I’ve tried strict tracking, changing my macros, hitting 10k+ steps a day, lifting regularly… all of it. When I told my dietitian this, she said that this might be where my body is happiest. At this point, I think my body is just really happy here. I feel strong, my clothes fit great, my workouts feel solid, and honestly I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been.

Focusing less on the number and more on how I feel has helped me so much. There are so many other ways to measure progress besides the scale!

Yes non-scale victories (NSVs) are sometimes just as important than being a healthier you. The scale is not what you should be on every day. Choose one day a week and just keep track.

It is about health and wellness, not just loss of weight.

On 6/30/2025 at 7:59 AM, VGRaluca said:

I try to eat small portions, but sometimes I snack too much or drink calories without realizing it. I’m worried my sleeve has stretched or that I’ve slipped back into bad habits.

i am a big proponent of food tracking...but im anal and love spreadsheets and data so its actually kinda fun for me.

so i get that its not for everyone and may actually be harmful for some in terms of anxiety, et. al.

BUT...if you can commit to tracking everything you put in your mouth for a week (preferably two!) you can determine exactly what your habits are instead of guessing that you are "mostly on track". you will be surprised how much we underestimate what we eat (and for this very reason i used to always OVER-estimate everything i track/tracked).

hopefully this data/info you collect can help you come up with a plan for YOU.

but yeah, it takes a bit of commitment and effort.

if this is not for you, the simplified version of my advice would be to do something else if the thing you are doing is not working.

good luck! ❤️