One or two year honeymoon period?

My dh and I both had the bypass surgery (me first, then dh 20 months ago).  My dh had only 80 pounds to lose (he was 250 and 5'9"), but has lost 90 and is still losing after 20 months.  He is wearing medium sized clothes and they are hanging off of him. The doctor says it is normal to lose for the first two years, then level off, then regain.  I am VERY familiar with the regain issue, but I think the initial weight loss period is a year at most (especially for a 'lightweight' like my husband). So, if you could take a minute can you tell me how long you lost initially and how much you had to lose? Thanks,

I'm 19-1/2 months out and I stopped losing after about 16 months. I've been holding steady at 126-129 pounds for the last couple of months. I'm scared. How much did you regain after a couple of years? I honestly could back off some of my eating - I eat a LOT. I'd just like to keep it that way.

Thanks for your reply.  I think your weight loss lasted longer than my dh's because you had a lot more to lose. As for the regaining, I have to say I never made it to my goal of 141.  I had my surgery 3 and a half years ago and the lowest I ever got was 149 and I am currently 157.  On the positive side, I ate whatever I wanted for the last couple of years.  ON the negative side, it is harder to lose now than before surgery -- mainly because the motivation isn't so strong when you are a size 12 rather than a 22. Thanks again,  

I stopped losing after about 12 months, and have been struggling to lose mroe ever since!  I lost just under 100 pounds and now weigh 170lbs. In an ideal world (fantasy land) I would like to get to 135, but in reality I would be happy to get to normal bmi that's 154lbs. It will be interesting to read other replies...

I went from a surgery wt of about 320 to 222 from May 10 to the early part of December 2007. I attended support meetings every month. Then I stopped the meetings. 2 months later, I weighte 222. Got back to meetings, and got back down to my initial 222. Then  I changed to liquid vitamins and powdered calcium, and got down to 204 in the next few months. The "honeymood period" is normally about the first 8 months--the period of time where it's very easy to lose weight. Past that point, you really have to follow your surgeon's protocol very closely to attain more weight loss.

Weight loss lasts as long as the calories remain lower than the amount needed to maintain. For some people here that is 3+ years and for others 6 months. A lot has to do with how much you weigh to begin with, how quickly you lose and how compliant you are with the post op rules. I am 18 months out and have lost every month but the 17th, going from 327 pounds to my current 144. Im hoping not to lose more but time will tell. I am still not eating enough to maintain this weight most days so I will probably lose a few more pounds before I stabilize. My BIL is 5'7 and a very muscular army man, he wears smalls and is 140ish pounds. He looks awesome :) So 5'9 and 160 doesnt sound too far off of him ;) HUGS PK

Karen, I think the majority will tell you the honeymoon period is between 12-18 months for MOST, for some it is shorter, others longer.  It's really how an individuals body responds. Saying this I reached goal at 9 months post-op and continued to lose up to 1 year....my beginning weight was 260 lbs, at one year post-op I weighed 119 lbs....I've since regained some to a comfortable weight then an additional 8 lbs that fortunately I was able to get off with healthy eating pretty quickly.

Karen I just went and looked at my weekly chart, I started at 213; Wk#84 08/24/06 121 -1lb 90 lbs BMI-21.4 This was my last recorded week. It's about 1-1/2 yrs for me. I have not lost anymore since then and today I am at 127.5 so I fluate 5 up and down now. It sounds to me like you are worried your husband is loosing too much. I can sympathize with that. My husband did not have surgery but all his life was about 220. 5'10.5 and he lost just be eating what I feed him and is 147-150 much lower than I like to see him at but all his dr's say its much healthier for him. I perfer for him to be 165-170.Men just loose more and faster than us. However even with his weight lowered and eating healthy he still had a heart attack last June. He always wore a 17 neck and bought him all new clothes 2 yrs ago and they are all too big..he is wearing a 33 waist, he was that size in 9th grade.

My highest weight was 280 lbs and the day of surgery weighed 255.  By 13 months postop I was down to 159 pounds (I'm 5'8").  I went down a couple of extra pounds and bounced between 157-160 until I hit the 24 month mark.  Currently I'm 3 years postop and 10 pounds up from my lowest weight.

Karen, greetings from up the road.  I will be 2 years post-op on 4/10/08.  I lost most of my weight the first 12 - 14 months (+/- 250 pounds).  My weight has fluctuated anywhere between the mid 170's to mid 180's since then, depending on how much I've been working out at the gym.  I've found that I've been able to increase the quantity of food I eat, but never more than 8 oz. a meal, and still mostly protein.  Hope this helps.  Good luck. John