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I haven’t gotten rid of anything yet. I’ve lost about 85 pounds so far. I did move some of them from my closet to the basement though! I bought new tops and a few new shorts to get me through summer. I will need new jeans for sure but I probably won’t consider buying a pair until it starts to get cool mid-sept where I live. I haven’t accepted I lost weight yet. It’s been almost 11 weeks since surgery and I really needed new sizes just 4 weeks ago.

I think it's important to talk about what we're eating. We do a lot of that. In minutia. We lable foods good and evil. We obsess about the "right" diet, calories, choices, etc.... But that's really the easy part. The hard part is figuring out WHY we're eating. WHY we ate ourselves to morbid obesity, and what need we were trying to address when we put that food in our bodies. I feel like if those needs aren't figured out and meaningfully delt with this whole process is really vulnerable to failure. I feel like we never talk about why we ate so much. I'm not saying we need pity party hour with extensive confessionals chronicallying every challenge, insecurity and poopy life event...lol. But I feel like sharing those little eureka moments were we've identified some little unmet need that resulted in bad choices....would be a good thing. For instance.... I used to get the KFC six million calorie dinner with the 12 pieces of chicken, 3 sides, biscuits and the chocolate chip cake....after grocery shopping. It was almost an unwritten thing. I deserved it. In some weird justification, I figured that I was shopping, carrying stuff in, putting things away, selflessly giving up time to a task I sort of despised for my family. Of course I deserved chicken! But really, what I wanted at the core of things....was support. I wanted to feel appreciated, and rewarded for being a good doobie. I wanted to feel nurtured after a stressful task that I hated. These days....we have a new rule at the house. The person who does the grocery shopping gets to relax and take a bath while the other person does the cooking. And you know what? It works. I feel appreciated, supported. And I eat a more balanced decent dinner and have a win. That feels good. I learned that I geninely don't like asking for help...and that I need to more often. Just writing that makes me cringe. My bariatric therapist did a lot of talking about the "whys" of over eating, and finding ways to get the desired needs met that aren't self sabotaging. I wish we talked about the "whys" more.

Hi, everyone, first of all, English is not my native language, so please, take it easy. I went through Gastric Bypass surgery on May 19th, it's been 45 days today, July 3rd. I found out that I had a stricture 10 days ago (anastomatic stenosis), the diameter of the stricture was 8mm and through endoscopy, the doctor could enlarge it to 12mm. But even after it, it was difficult to eat soft foods, so I was hospitalized once again and yesterday I had my stricture enlarged again, now to 15mm. The doctor told me to eat only pureed foods for 30 days until I get another endoscopy done and see if it's okay to eat solid foods again. So in the best scenario, according to the doctor, I would reintroduce solid foods only within 1 month and 1 week. It feels like an eternity, I crave to eat something else than creamy soups and fruit and protein shakes. I'm thinking about trying to introduce soft foods a little before that to know how it feels, like chicken soup, with soft potatoes and minced chicken. Would you do that too? Have you ever had a stricture? If so, how did you take care of it? I'm so worried and impatient about my case. Thank you!

The amount of sugar from the fruits prob caused dumping.

I started working (desk job, remote) 2 weeks after being sleeved and got through it but the exhaustion was terrible. I'm 8 weeks out and have just started noticing having energy again.

I can handle the protein shakes, fortunately. I get 60 grams of my prescribed 60 to 80 from to of the Pure Protein brand shakes. Eight or so more from 3 ounces of cottage cheese. I may still try the GENEPRO to see whether it's palatable mixed in oatmeal. For me, water doesn't taste bad, I just can't drink very much at once.

Thank You. Yes I'm home and recovering. Trying to slowing take in my liquids, but Thank Goodness everything went well and I'm home with my boys . Thank you so much

I agree - "why" is a key question. I expressed it this way in an earlier post:

I had surgery in November of 2020 and I'm 32 lbs away from my goal weight of 175lbs. I can relate to what you are talking about. I am way smaller than what I was and I have pictures to compare myself to but it isn't how I "feel". I still feel really big and sometimes feel very bloated and puffy. I think I really have a distorted view of my size. My boyfriend tried to help me with my perspective when we were on a hike this past weekend. He very discretely and quietly showed me women who were larger or smaller than me. Friends in WLS please don't think we are judging these people. He was only trying to give me a visual perspective of my journey so far. He also reminded me of times we went hiking in the past and how I would sweat profusely and be out of breathe and so very tired when we finished a hike. It really helped me realize that the main reason I did this was to get healthy and my size or number on the scale doesn't matter. It only mattered that I was able to continue to do what I love (hike) more easily and with greater energy so that I could better enjoy this hobby with him.

I have not yet received any bills for the two issues I'm about to discuss, just the EOBs (Explanation of Benefits). For non-US readers, this is a notice that an insurance company must send the patient whenever the insurance has received a bill. It explains to the patient about the bill: the medical provider, the service rendered to the patient, the charge from the medical provider, how much of that charge will be covered by insurance, and how much the patient can expect to self-pay. My original surgery date was delayed/changed due to the hospital's COVID-related closure to elective procedures. I therefore ended up having surgery about 6 weeks after my original date. I just received the EOB relating to the hospital's $55,000 charge. The EOB states the charge has been denied due to "preauthorization was not obtained". I went through all the paperwork I've collected since my journey began and found the preauthorization approval notice for the original date of surgery... but it seems I never got a preauthorization approval notice for the new surgery date. Naturally, the surgeon's office has several people whose job it is to get insurance approvals/preauthorizations prior to surgery... I'm worried that the person handling my case dropped the ball... The second billing issue concerns an EOB that shows I will owe $900 for the nurse anesthetist's bill ($500 deductible plus 50% copay). The anesthesiologist's bill was covered at 100%, but the issue is that his assistant (the nurse anesthetist) apparently doesn't participate with my insurance so I'd be responsible for the high out-of-network charges! Naturally, I as the patient only get to pick my surgeon... I don't get to pick the anesthesiologist or the nurse anesthetist or any of the nurses, for that matter. Again, the team used for my procedure is something that my surgeon's office and the hospital should have put together properly. I called my surgeon's office a week ago and was transferred to the insurance specialist's voicemail. I've not received a call back. I'll try again tomorrow (Monday) but I'm worried... should I be? I know a lot of people here have had their surgery dates moved around due to COVID, so this can't be the first time this issue has come up...? I'd appreciate advice and opinions. Thank you!