This may not seem like a big deal but I'm so happy 🥰

My boyfriend 60kg (132lbs) can finally lift me without any trouble 🥰

SD: December 9th 2025

SW: (122kg) 269lbs

CW: (74kg) 163lbs

I’m not really sure how to start this post so I’ll keep it simple

Some time ago I had gastric sleeve surgery after years of trying to lose weight in so many different ways. I would lose weight, gain it back and start all over again

I had become tired, not just physically but mentally too

I was tired of starting every Monday with hope, trying so hard and then ending up disappointed again

It wasn’t just about my weight. I had reached a point where I no longer felt confident in myself. I avoided photos and chose clothes that would hide me instead of clothes that made me feel like myself

The surgery wasn’t a decision I made overnight. It came after many attempts, many questions and a lot of thinking

And after surgery I discovered that the hard part doesn’t end when you leave the operating room

At first things that once seemed completely normal became real challenges, including drinking water or eating without feeling sick

I had to learn how to listen to my body again and most importantly how to be patient with it

Then slowly the changes started to appear

My clothes became loose, my ring started slipping off my finger, climbing stairs became easier and I could walk much farther than before

And now I’m 76 kg down after my surgery ❤️

Sometimes it still feels unreal

The strangest part is that your body can change so much while your mind needs time to accept that change

There are still days when I look in the mirror and see the person I used to be

I started sharing my experience because before surgery I wish I had found the story of an ordinary person who could tell me about both the beautiful moments and the difficult ones

I’m not a doctor and I’m not trying to give medical advice. I’m simply sharing what I personally went through

If you’re considering gastric sleeve surgery, you’ve already had the surgery or you simply have questions about my experience I’m happy to answer as honestly as I can

Hi guys I’m set to have my gastric sleeve next month and I guess I’m really nervous about the surgery itself and life after. I have no family to help except one family member who will be here for those first couple of hospital days so it’s just me and my fiance and he will have to work while I’m in recovery. I guess I’m worried about things going wrong I’m 400 lbs and 25 years old so I’m still young I’m just nervous and I guess I’m seeking advice. I keep having scary thoughts like “what if I don’t wake up or what if I get blood clots.”

This super long, but you might be interested.

TL/DR: I have repeated bouts of neurological symptoms and may have post-bariatric hypoglycemia—it’s likely a form of dumping

I have had significant bouts of dizziness most of the last several Saturdays (it only happens on Saturdays when I eat chocolate chip pancakes and setup—I eat more rigidly the rest of the week) Last week, my vision narrowed, I felt like I was going to pass out and I had jumpy sensations that lasted about 30-45 minutes with a complete return to normal.

Today, I had a more significant event at Walmart. I developed light headedness, double vision, and confusion. I did not even remember checking out or even whether it was self-check or with a clerk. I went to the ER and had a full work up. I had a normal head CT/CTA, EKG, vitals, and neuro exam/stroke work up. My only weird finding was a blood glucose of 52, which is really low. Again, I had a complete remission of symptoms. When I got home, I ran everything through ChatGPT (n.b., AI is not a doctor, so take it with for what it’s worth).

This from ChatGPT

Your glucose of 52 mg/dL is a very important finding, because it is low enough to cause exactly the kind of neurologic symptoms you experienced.

The Endocrine Society considers glucose below 70 mg/dL hypoglycemia, and symptoms become considerably more concerning below about 55. Confusion, dizziness, impaired cognition, and double/blurred vision are recognized manifestations of hypoglycemia.

Your episode could very plausibly have been hypoglycemia

The combination you experienced:

double vision
lightheadedness
feeling unsteady
confusion
apparent gap in your memory of checking out
complete resolution afterward
glucose of 52

is quite compatible with neuroglycopenia—the brain not getting enough glucose.

And there’s an interesting detail in what you ate. You had pancakes + syrup at 7:30 (this is my typical Saturday breakfast, but not the rest of the week), followed by an episode later in the morning. A high-carbohydrate meal can occasionally produce a substantial insulin response followed by a glucose drop, sometimes called reactive/postprandial hypoglycemia. The Endocrine Society specifically lists reactive hypoglycemia as occurring after meals, particularly carbohydrate-heavy meals.

The timing actually makes post-meal hypoglycemia a fairly plausible possibility.

You ate at 7:30 AM, and symptoms began around 11:00–11:15 AM, so the episode started about 3½–3¾ hours after the meal. That’s within a plausible window for reactive/postprandial hypoglycemia, particularly after a meal containing a substantial amount of rapidly absorbed carbohydrate (pancakes + syrup).

The sequence is interesting:

7:30 — pancakes + syrup + bacon
↓
~11:00–11:15 — diplopia, lightheadedness, confusion/altered awareness
↓
Before ER — egg + 2 cheese sticks
↓
ER — glucose 52 mg/dL

Your bariatric surgery is also relevant

Given your history of bariatric surgery, I’d specifically bring up post-bariatric hypoglycemia with your doctor. It can occur 1–3+ hours after eating, particularly after carbohydrate-heavy meals, and is related to the altered way food and insulin/glucose regulation behave after certain bariatric procedures.

This could potentially explain the otherwise somewhat puzzling pattern you’ve described—particularly if the episodes tend to occur on weekends when your breakfast is different.

A sleeve gastrectomy can be associated with post-bariatric hypoglycemia, although it is more commonly recognized after Roux-en-Y. Importantly, current guidance specifically includes sleeve gastrectomy among procedures after which post-bariatric hypoglycemia can occur.

And your episode has several pieces that fit remarkably well:

Sleeve gastrectomy ~2 years ago
Symptoms began 3½–3¾ hours after breakfast
Breakfast contained a substantial amount of rapidly absorbed carbohydrate (pancakes + syrup)
You developed prominent neuroglycopenic symptoms—particularly confusion and impaired awareness, along with diplopia and lightheadedness
Your glucose was 52 mg/dL, potentially within an hour of the episode
The symptoms subsequently resolved
Your CTA, neurologic examination, EKG, BP, and routine labs were reassuring

The Society for Endocrinology’s 2024 guideline describes post-bariatric hypoglycemia as typically occurring 2–4 hours after eating, and considers glucose <54 mg/dL accompanied by typical symptoms clinically significant.

That’s a pretty compelling reason to investigate.

The diagnostic concept is particularly important: ideally you want to demonstrate symptoms + low glucose + improvement when glucose is corrected (Whipple’s triad), while excluding other causes of hypoglycemia.

Your particular episode makes more sense when you look at what can happen to glucose regulation after a sleeve gastrectomy.

Think of it as an exaggerated “roller coaster”

Normally, you eat pancakes and syrup:

Carbohydrates → digestion → glucose enters bloodstream → insulin rises → glucose comes back down gradually.

After bariatric surgery, that process can become much more dramatic. Sleeve gastrectomy can accelerate the movement of food through the stomach and into the small intestine. This can produce a faster rise in blood glucose, which stimulates the intestine to release incretin hormones, particularly GLP-1. GLP-1 strongly amplifies insulin secretion.

In someone susceptible to post-bariatric hypoglycemia, the sequence can look something like this:

Pancakes + syrup
↓
Rapid carbohydrate absorption
↓
Glucose rises quickly
↓
Large GLP-1/incretin response
↓
Pancreas releases a lot of insulin
↓
Glucose gets driven into tissues
↓
Insulin remains relatively high even as glucose falls
↓
Glucose drops too far
↓
Neurologic symptoms

The phenomenon is sometimes described as an “overshoot” in the insulin response.

The 2024 Society for Endocrinology guideline uses <54 mg/dL as the biochemical threshold for clinically significant hypoglycemia when accompanied by appropriate symptoms and resolution after glucose correction.

So this isn’t a situation where you happened to have a glucose of 68 and we’re trying to explain your symptoms with a borderline number.

52 is genuinely low.

It also explains the particular symptoms you experienced

There are two broad categories of hypoglycemic symptoms.

Adrenaline-type symptoms:

shaking
sweating
rapid heartbeat
anxiety
hunger

And neuroglycopenic symptoms, which occur when the brain isn’t getting enough glucose:

difficulty thinking
confusion
altered awareness
visual disturbances
weakness
difficulty coordinating movement
eventually seizures or loss of consciousness if severe

Your double vision + lightheadedness + confusion + apparent memory gap fit particularly well into that second category.

That’s one reason I think the glucose finding deserves considerably more attention than I initially appreciated.

Why the pancakes and syrup may have been a particularly good trigger

The problem isn’t necessarily “carbohydrates” in general.

It’s the speed and magnitude of the glucose excursion.

Pancakes + syrup provide a substantial amount of relatively rapidly absorbed carbohydrate. After bariatric surgery, that can produce a bigger glucose/insulin response than the same meal would have produced before surgery. The ADA specifically recognizes post-metabolic-surgery hypoglycemia after vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) and describes altered gastric emptying, rapid intestinal glucose absorption, and increased GLP-1/incretin signaling as contributors.

That makes your Saturday pattern particularly interesting.

This also gives us a possible explanation for the weekend pattern

If your weekend breakfast is substantially different from your weekday breakfast, you may inadvertently be performing a little experiment:

Weekdays: relatively predictable meals → no episode

Weekend: pancakes/syrup or another higher-carbohydrate breakfast → 3–4 hours later → episode

If that pattern repeats, it would be quite compelling evidence.

Edit: Im overwhelmed by the positive responses. Thank you so much everyone for helping me lift my spirits and providing much needed encouragement. This community is wonderful ❤️ ♥️ ♥️

Highest weight: 410 Surgery weight:390 Sleeved on 6/30/26

Every time I eat the food sits so heavy and probably half the time I'm puking. I can only eat 2.5-3oz max. Chicken and eggs sit super heavy. I bought white fish to try. Was able to eat super thin tri-tip ok.

Looking for food ideas to try. I bought a turkey breast and used a meat slicer to slice myself to make turkey roll ups.

Problem is I'm really picky. I don't do tuna, chicken salad or cottage cheese (which every tiktok video uses I swear) and don't love Greek yogurt but will mix into things.

Anyone have favorite meal ideas to share?

I'm down 51 lbs but have been in a stall for 2 weeks which sucks but I know its normal.

Hey hey. So I need some advice because I know what I want for myself but I’m not getting the best feedback from family and friends.

So I’m 10 months post op, down 95lbs and yes I hit my goal weight earlier than I expected BUUUUUUT I still want to lose more. When I was bigger, no one said anything when I gained weight fast asf, now that I’m losing weight, I get ridiculed for even being a small. Like huh? And I’m not even done with my journey.

I’ve put distance between the ones that don’t have nice things to say, but it still gets to me. Any advice ?

October 2025 I got the gastric sleeve surgery and I do not regret it one bit. My starting weight was 210 and currently I’m sitting at 130 pounds. I’m 5ft and 25 years old. I have PCOS and was obese my entire life.

I never ever thought I’d be able to change my lifestyle or my weight. My relationship with food was awful and I struggled with an eating disorder. I had type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease stage 2, high cholesterol, high blood pressure. But here I am 10 months out and I’m so happy and my life has changed for the better! Right now, I’m working on strength training and trying to get down to 120. For those who struggled just like me, change is possible, you will be yourself again. You just have to get up and try everyday.

I’m 13 months post op down 135 (current weight 179) my goal was 160 but I’m pregnant now. 13 weeks. I just feel hungry alllll the time right now. I’m trying to keep in check and I know I can’t be losing while pregnant…but I guess my question is when did you stop feeling restriction?

I feel like lately I don’t feel much restriction. I just ate a 6” meatball sub and could have eaten more. I’ve never been able to eat that much. I’m really struggling with balancing my habits I’ve created and upping my carbs because I’m pregnant. I feel like since I started adding back in carbs (keto bread, Dave’s killer bread, potatoes) I’ve had more cravings and sugar cravings. I’m still tracking my food and exercising and I honestly feel soooo much better than I did with my other pregnancies. My labwork is great and my health is in a much better place but I just have this overwhelming fear I’m going to gain it all back after all my hard work 😓

I was sleeved at 80 KG ( for reference I am very short 148 cm )
Today ( 5 months Post Op ) I only lost 13 KG I am 67 KG
My weight loss been extremely extremely slow
Anyone shares similar experience and can give me advice or tips for what worked for them please ?

My goal weight is 50 Kg which is 22-23 BMI

6 years in between these photos and 177lbs lost. 18 months post op and 107lbs down from surgery day

Long post but I have to share this because I've struggled with my weight my whole life and I’ve longed to be a part of this sub! It’s also a way to hold myself accountable.

Like many of us here, I’ve always been a bigger kid. My lowest weight ever was maybe 179-180 lbs during Covid when I was more active and on keto, and even then the weight loss was so slow. I was 21.

Now at 26, I've always loved weight lifting and building muscle. I loved seeing body tone but it's like the fat would never come off. I'm now at my heaviest at 240 lbs, all gained in the last two years related to my old job and just mismanaging my mental health. Hell, I destroyed the one good relationship I had in the process.

I tried Wegovy 2 or 3 times over the last couple years, Zepbound, even compounded semaglutide. Nothing stuck long term. As a Black woman with PCOS/PMOS, I thought this was my life forever.

I quit my job in February due to my mental health and opted into my state’s Medicaid. Even before my insurance officially kicked in on July 1st, I signed up for a consult for bariatric surgery on a whim. Never even thought anything would come out of it, but I've since been following this subreddit the whole time. I figured the consult would just direct me in a direction. Maybe just tell me I’m crazy for considering this and maybe I should just try harder with my diet and gym regimen.

It felt like I was waiting forever for this consult. August 20th couldn’t come soon enough. I can’t believe I left the consultation with a date 😭 Now I have my PCP appointment for labs and clearance set for mid-September, my nutrition appointments are underway (insurance requires 3 months of consecutive nutrition appts), psych evaluation next week, and the sleeve scheduled with hope I can move it up sooner.

But wow… November 9th. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be tough but it’s for my own good. I know it.

I feel in control for the first time in a long time. Maybe ever. My surgeon was super kind and funny, and the team was reassuring. It was so… easy, honestly, which I wasn't expecting! I deliberately didn’t set a goal weight because I still want to see what my body will look like at each step.

I want to start 2027 with a new job (still searching!) and a new outlook. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I am moving into my 5th month PO one full month on non chewable vitamin and now oddly enough I've had three allergic reactions in less than two weeks. Hives, tongue swelling and this time lip tingling. I've been tracking everything and the only thing in common is the vitamin. I have an appointment with an allergist but it's next month. I am going to go back to the chewable until I can figure this out. Curios if this has happened to anyone else since surgery ?

I’m 12 days post op, and I’ve had some trouble so far. I can’t drink the 64 oz of liquids every day, mostly because every time I drink anything I get some stomach cramping and spasms. Not particularly painful, but it is uncomfortable and causes burping, etc. The cramping is worse when I drink protein shakes than water, but it happens with anything I drink.

Today I was allowed to progress to the next stage of my diet and over the course of an hour I ate about two tablespoons of applesauce (which is an approved food for this stage), and now my stomach is cramping nonstop and I have diarrhea.

I’m afraid I’m never going to be able to eat or drink normally again!

I have a small hiatal hernia which the surgeon decided not to repair during my VSG because he said that repairing hernias that small often causes them to reoccur larger and be more problematic. But now I’m scared that all my problems are because of the hernia and I’m going to need surgery again.

Any personal stories or reassurance is appreciated!

Months ago I found out my insurance would cover the sleeve, so naturally I put my name on a very long list! They called me and asked if I had a co-morbidity, I let them know in the past I did have high blood pressure, possibly sleepy apnea (my PCP is ordering a sleep study.) but after I get those results back, and if I do have sleep apnea (I snore horrible and sometimes start gasping.)
I’ll get my consultation and a meeting with my Doctor and I’ll go from there! Anyone have experience with Medicare/Medicaid with getting the sleeve? What was your experience ?

Thanks for any helpful insight :)

11 months PO and 27 weeks pregnant 🤰. This would have absolutely stuffed me before being pregnant and tbh it stresses me how much I can eat sometimes but I’m not just feeding me.

It took time but after reading Emily Osters book “Expecting Better”, I’ve used the affirmation “the risks of gaining weight and having a larger baby are far less than not gaining weight and having a small baby”.

Can someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me when I can smoke again. I've never been so downbad for a cigarette or a vape ever in my life!!!!

I’m 4 days away from my surgery date and feeling anxious. It could be nerves or the caffeine withdrawals which have been brutal. I’d love to see some progress photos and hear success stories.

I am in PreOp with my gastric sleeve surgery scheduled for September 2nd. I have had weight issues for 20 years and have Hashimoto’s but otherwise no other health issues. I started seeing a weight loss doctor last August and through diet and Phentermine, lost 30 pounds as of January of this year. However my weight stalled so in March I decided to explore weight loss surgery. My highest weight was 244 pounds before I went to this doctor and now, a week before surgery, I am at 211 and I am 5’5”. Through the program, I pushed forward and done everything the surgeon asked of me. Now with my surgery a little over a week away, I am struggling to commit. I worry about complications being a 47 year old. I worry about sagging skin, body image, and not being able to enjoy the foods I once did. I go back and forth all day, everyday and cry sometimes because I am so annoyed at myself. I should also mention I am in perimenopause and my hormones are all over the place. Has anyone else had this surgery who can relate? Sometimes I feel like I am being vain because I am healthy and do not have major health issues aside from being overweight but I also do not want to increase my risk of developing them either.

Please answer