A Year of Climbing Out
If you have been following since the summer, you will know that the last update here was less of a “life with a gastric sleeve” post and more of a health horror anthology. What was meant to be a few weeks away from writing turned into nine months of survival mode, and then another year of climbing out of it.
This post was written as we emerged from that second phase – not quite at the top yet, but able to see the top from where we were standing. We are sharing it now, updated, because it captures something true about what year two of bariatric recovery can look like when life does not cooperate.
What the Hard Year Actually Looked Like
James’s nutritional deficiency crisis hit at month eleven. Fatigue serious enough to affect work. Brain fog that made holding a conversation feel effortful. Cold intolerance – wearing layers in a warm room, never quite feeling right. It took several rounds of blood tests, a GP who was willing to look beyond the obvious, and a corrected supplementation regime before things began to shift.
At the same time, Kirsten was in a Crohn’s flare. Crohn’s disease does not pause to accommodate a recovery timeline. The dietary restrictions that help with Crohn’s and the restrictions that come with a gastric sleeve do not always align neatly, and managing both simultaneously required the kind of daily attention that leaves little capacity for anything else – including writing blog posts.
The two of us were depleted at the same time, which meant neither of us was in a position to be the steady one for the other. We got through it by being honest about that rather than pretending.
The Unexpected Gifts of a Hard Patch
Something shifts when you come through a genuinely difficult stretch. Not immediately – it takes some distance before you can see it clearly. But the period when we were both at our lowest forced us to be honest with each other in ways that strengthened something in the relationship. You cannot perform being okay to someone who is living through the same thing.
The bariatric community was more valuable during that period than at any other point in the journey. People who had been through their own version of month eleven, their own unexpected health complications, their own blog silences – those people understood without needing an explanation. The shorthand exists in bariatric communities in a way it does not elsewhere, and during a hard year it matters more than during a good one.
Moving Forward
Coming back to writing felt different from the first time we started the blog. Then, we were excited and uncertain. Coming back after a hard year, we were steadier. We knew what the surgery had done for us. We knew what it had cost. We knew that both things could be true simultaneously.
James had corrected his deficiencies and was back in the gym. Kirsten’s Crohn’s was more stable. We were both past the rapid weight-loss phase and moving into maintenance. The dramatic changes of the first year had plateaued into something that felt, for the first time, sustainable.
We were back. Not the same as before – better in some ways, more realistic in others.
What We Want You to Take From This
If you are reading this from inside a hard patch of your own, the most useful thing we can offer is this: the surgery works even when everything else is difficult. The weight loss continued during the months we were not blogging. The health improvements that had happened in those first weeks and months – James’s liver function returning to normal within three weeks of surgery, his blood pressure normalising and pre-diabetic markers clearing by month three – those stayed. The surgery does not stop doing its job because life gets hard.
What does get harder is everything else. And that is worth knowing going in.
Two years on, from June 2026, we are well. Genuinely well – not performing wellness for the blog. That is the ending the hard year deserved.
Sources
NICE CG189 – Obesity: identification, assessment and management
BOMSS – Guidelines on the peri-operative nutritional management of bariatric patients
NHS – Weight loss surgery: what to expect afterwards
About this content
This blog is written by James and Kirsten, a couple from the UK who had gastric sleeve surgery together in March 2024.
We started this blog because we couldn't find any sources of content that details before surgery, the surgery and then life post surgery - so we decided to write one ourselves.
Everything on this site is based on our own experience and the research we have done along the way. It is not medical advice. Gastric sleeve surgery is a serious procedure and every patient's journey is different. Please always consult your own bariatric team or GP before making any decisions about your health or treatment.
Some posts on this site may contain featured or sponsored content, or affiliate links. Where this is the case, it will always be clearly stated at the top of the article. Our opinions are always our own.
Publish Date: 27 October 2025 | Last Reviewed: 7 June 2026 | Next Planned Review: 7 December 2027