Hello there. My name is Michele and I am from Chillicothe, Ohio. I am new here on the forum, but definitely not new to weight loss. It seems I have been doing this my entire life. At my heaviest, I was 368. I had gastric bypass surgery in August and even though I have lost some, I am not losing like I was told I would and while it has changed my life in terms of a lot of things I can do and eat, but when the limits are pushed, I feel like I am back to where I started. I have been a comfort eater all my life. I was told that when I tried to over eat after the surgery, I would get sick and it would help me to not want to overeat anymore. I have not once got sick. I have not pushed to the point where I would throw up, but from day one, I have not had any of the typical reactions of someone having this surgery. I did not do the puree stage because looking at it made me sick. I can't drink the protein drinks because of the taste and the aftertaste. I basically went straight to mushy and then graduated to regular food. I just can't have nearly as much. Also, I developed blood clots after my surgery, so I haven't been able to start exercising. Since the surgery, I have lost about 30 pounds and that has been 3 and a half months ago. So I am just very discouraged. I try to walk as much as my doctor allows me, but we will not know about the clots until I have more ultrasounds next week. So I just try to eat the best way I can, getting as much protein as I can through food alone. I try to drink as much water as I can and try not to get as discouraged as I do, but it is hard. I have been off off all of my medication since the day before the surgery and my blood sugars and blood pressures have been in normal range. I have lost inches and I am in clothes that I haven't been able to wear in years. But that number on the scale is getting to me. My goal is 160-170. At still 304-309, I am far from that. Anyway, I love the info I have found on this site so far and I am looking forward to getting to know some of you and to working my way through this journey with a new set of friends by my side.

I'm new too. I know nothing about gastric bypass, but it seems that 30 pounds in three months without exercise is pretty good. You clearly need to cut yourself some slack until the blood clots are resolved. What good is weight loss if you have a massive stroke and die? It sounds like your doing all you can for now.

Whatever your situation, there is a thread for you! This place is a great wealth of information for many different topics! Good Luck.

Hello and

Congrats on your loss. Unfortunately, weight does not fall off overnight, even with surgery (which I have not had). Some people lose it faster than others but for most of us it is a long, slow process.

But it can be FUN if we make it so, and there are a lot of threads here in the boards to challenge and encourage us. Please feel free to look around and jump in wherever you feel you fit.

A lot of us are doing this, and you can too!

Thank you all so much for the welcome! I am really going to like this site! You all are the best!

Welcome to 3fc's Michele! I haven't had WLS so I'm not much help with that but wanted to wish you good luck with your goals and I hope the clot issue resolves itself.

Welcome, Michele! I haven't had gastric bypass, but my sister did. She was able to lose a massive amount of weight her first year, but she didn't treat the surgery as she should have. She still ate whatever she wanted, which meant fast food and milkshakes every day, and thought because she could only eat small amounts at a time, she'd be fine. Well, her surgery was 10 years ago, and she's pretty much gained every last pound back. The only difference is, because of the initial weight loss and subsequent surgeries to remove excess skin, she now has scars running across her entire body. I still don't think she understands the repercussions of her lifestyle because she continues to eat junk and not exercise. One of my coworkers here also had the procedure done and she looks absolutely fantastic. If you saw her today, you'd never know she was ever obese. She didn't lose the weight as fast, but she was able to do lose it and not have to have excess skin removed and has maintained her current weight for almost two years now. I think the surgery affects different peoples' weight loss differently and the rest is up to you. Don't get too discouraged; 10lbs. a month is pretty good; that was about the rate my sister lost. After 8 months, she was 75lbs. lighter. Are you making the right food choices? Are you eating the right kinds of protein? As soon as you get the all clear from your doctor, what exercises do you intend on starting? It's important to make the decision now whether you wanna do this right, or do it like my sister. There's a sub-forum for WLS here that is really helpful. My knowledge is limited since I haven't gone through it myself. But as soon as you're physically ready, please do take a look at some of our challenges going on. It's really helped to keep me motivated and on track. Good luck, congrats on your weight loss so far, and I look forward to seeing you around the forum!!

Thank you so much for your encouraging words. I can't wait to get to know all of you here in the forums.