When we first started writing here, we did not really know what we were doing. Our early posts were short. Sometimes only 200 or 300 words. A quick update, a thought, a milestone. We were living the experience and just about managing to document it at the same time. There was not much time or headspace for anything more polished than that, and honestly, that was fine. The rawness was kind of the point.
Two years on, things look a bit different. We are both firmly in the maintenance phase now, life has settled into something resembling normal, and we have spent the past few months doing something we should probably have done a long time ago: going back through every single post on this blog and turning it into something genuinely useful.
Why the original posts needed updating
The short posts we published in the early months were honest, and they still are, but they were written by two people who were very much in the thick of it. We knew what we were experiencing in that moment, but we did not yet have the full picture. We had no idea what month six would feel like, or year two, or what the nutritional deficiency crisis at month eleven would teach us about how seriously you have to take your supplements.
Over time, people started finding the blog through Google. They were coming here with real questions: about surgery, about recovery, about long-term life with a sleeve. Some of those early 200-word posts were not giving them much to go on. So we decided to change that.
What we changed
We have gone back and rewritten or significantly expanded almost every post on the site. The personal perspective is still there. That has always been what this blog is about. But we have woven in the things we know now that we did not know then. Every article is written from two years of lived experience rather than just a snapshot in time.
Some posts that were a few hundred words are now proper, detailed articles. We have added context, answered the questions we actually get asked, and been more direct about the parts that are harder to talk about. Nothing has been sanitised. If anything, we have leaned into the honesty more than we did when we were just starting out.
New categories and filters
We have also reorganised the entire blog. Previously everything was jumbled together, which made it genuinely difficult to find what you were looking for. We have now set up five main categories: Decision and Preparation, Recovery and Adaptation, Living With the Sleeve, Personal Reflections, and Skin Removal. Each has sub-categories and filters so you can navigate to the content that is relevant to where you are in your own journey.
Whether you are still deciding whether surgery is right for you, in the early weeks of recovery, or two years down the line wondering why your relationship with food still feels complicated, there is a section of this blog for that now. We hope it makes the site a lot easier to use.
Updated imagery from 2026
We have also updated the imagery across the site. The older photos showed where we were in the first year. The new ones are from 2026, showing where we actually are right now. That feels like a more honest representation of what long-term life after gastric sleeve looks like. Two years in, things look different. The photos should reflect that.
What is coming next: skin removal
The other big thing we want to flag: James is now actively progressing with skin removal surgery. It is something that has been on the horizon for a while, and we are at the point where real decisions are being made and conversations are being had. We are going to document this the same way we have documented everything else: in real time, honestly, without glossing over the difficult parts.
We are building out a dedicated section for skin removal on the site. If you are at or approaching the point where you are thinking about this yourself, we hope it will be as useful as the rest of the blog has tried to be.
Still just us
All of this has been a lot of work, but the point of it has stayed the same throughout. This blog exists because when we were making the decision about surgery, we could not find many people who were documenting what it was actually like in a real, unfiltered way. We wanted to be that resource.
Two years on, that is still what we are here for. The posts are longer now, the site is easier to navigate, and the photos are more recent. But it is still just the two of us, sharing what this has actually been like.
Thanks for being here with us.
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: 6 June 2026 | Last Reviewed: 7 June 2026 | Next Planned Review: 7 December 2027