CowgirlJane

I got this private message today and it is representative of what I get a few times a week: "I was told you had plastics don't in Mexico? What all did you have done and how much did everything cost?" Okay, it is a PITA to type from your phone so that probably explains the lack of an intro or a please or thank you - but I am getting sort of burned out on these kind of messages. I have always answered them in some detail but a part of me wonders... does this person even read on the plastics forum? I am also sure that if people are only shopping on price, they can likely find someone cheaper then Dr Sauceda. So, did I just wake up on the wrong side of the bed or is it annoying to get a "hand me all your info on a silver platter" request a couple of times a week? LOL 2 more sleeps till Mexico!

So, after my injury with a greenie personal trainer, i have been working with a very experienced person who has a physical therapy background. She has determined that I am very strong in some areas but often the strong muscles "take over" and certain exercises I am not really doing right even though my form looks okay. Example, my shoulders tend to take over alot of the work that my mid back should do. Well, i have really strong legs. Probably from a lifetime of packing around alot of extra weight, but also because I ride bikes and horseback ride and maybe a genetic component. She noted that my abductors (both in and out) are crazy strong for a woman, my quads are strong, but my hamstrings are tight and my gluts don't do enough of the work. That imbalance is typical - alot of people rely on the quads too much but apparently I am more out of wack than average. One of my goals in working with a personal trainer was to build up a bit more of a rounded butt. I have slender hips and I want more of a balanced look. Anyway, she pointed out that I don't have much curve in my lower back so what feels like a neutral position to me is actually a tipped pelvis position. That combined with not really engaging the gluts properly is why my bum doesn't seem as round as it should be. I am very interested to see if she is right and if through exercise I can change this shape. In the meantime, I am supposed to practice with my sternum up, shoulders relaxed, and my butt pooched out a little...haha. I hope it doesn't look as weird as it feels.

Georgia - so sorry! My mother got shingles too and I remember how much she suffered. grrr... just seems like getting more "mature" has enough challenges - why this??? Anyway, get better soon! Dorrie - your remarks about insane out of control hunger really hit home with me. I saw this counselor again about a week and a half ago. She had a theory that my weird mood swings (more specifically, that feeling like I just got devastating news, my stomach sink to to floor horrible bad feeling for no reason, that lasts very short term) had more to do with blood sugar than hormones. i try to eat by listening to my body anyway (no tracking) so I kinda let myself eat when hungry over the last week or two. Well, besides baking that stupid peppermint chocolate "cake" and polishing off the last of the bread and peanut butter my son left... grrr.... I mostly ate fairly healthy but huge quantities. I gained SIX FREAKING POUNDS in less than two weeks but nary a mood swing. Puzzle isn't it. Yesterday I buckled down and of course am even stricter today and guess what... I had one of those "moments" this morning. I was able to reflect on it intellectually and the feeling passed very quickly so I am okay, but I am wondering... is it a physical low blood sugar response? Is it "all in my head" missing carbs and freewheel eating? I really don't know because eating doesn't cheer me up or make me feel better anymore - I just observed no "drop to the pit of my stomach" moods during the freewheeling binge. I would really love it if those of you who are experiencing "mood" issues try to start notice it in conjunction with fasting or not. I am journalling. I moved my "90 day" challenge to a private journal and I am including this stuff in my daily log too. In my case, it was the day after having a stricter eating day. It may still be hormonal and I do have an appointment with my doctor to look to see if i need a different bio-identicical cream. I feel like my vaginal moisture issue is not being resolved by the one i am on. At least it doesn't make me itchy like that horrible premarin did, but I want to try a different formulation next time. I recall that saying "youth is wasted on the young" and I am really feeling that right now. What I would give to have my 22 year old body with the knowledge and life experiences I have now. I wasted those years either worrying about being fat or actually being fat... and lots of other pointless things. Now, I am ready to conquer the world - that is- if my knees hold up, there is enough light for me to read the fine print and I don't get shingles... haha.

One of the keys to keeping that feeling of restriction/tightness is to consistently eat to "satisfied" and not "full". It is like re-training your brain that absence of hunger not a feeling of "fullness" is the goal. SMALL QUANTITIES of dense Protein and veggies first! Protein Bars often slide down pretty easy and some of them are really high carb so be careful of them Good luck!

Thank you for sharing this. I am very carb sensitive - it has been the "rosetta stone" of figuring out how to get to a normal weight. I do eat carbs, but I find that restricting them is more important than restricting calories because carbs trigger hunger too! I have a healthy fear/respect of regain. This is why I still weigh myself daily and maintain a tight "bounce" range. I am fairly sure that if I ever stop it, i will regain. I am only 2 years and 3 months out from my sleeve surgery. My hunger initially returned after about 7/8 months but I have recently encountered yet another uptick in hunger. I think that for many of us that is something to be dealt with. It is STILL much better than the 24/7 all consuming hunger I felt pre op.

Not all of us had the same "rules" anyway. If I ate like your friend I would weigh 300 again. If I eat anything even approaching a "normal" diet I gain pounds. It is just how it is, I need to be a small eater of dense Protein and veggies FOREVER. I do have "treats" like alcohol sometimes but not a daily thing. My daily habits generally follow the "sleever" rules.

I am not sure how much it can mecanically or physically stretch - I have not researched it by reading actual research papers/data. What I do know is that you can sort of "lose" that feeling of restriction by behavior. I know that I can always get it back by changing my behavior which makes me think that any stretching is minor and that the real issues are getting used to a feeling of a "packed pouch" and the other remarks I made above regarding acid etc etc.

one day of eating half way decent and I am down to 152. Hopefully I can start to lose more of this water weight in the next few days! Globe, I tend to agree with what others said, but what also occurs to me is that your current situation is intentionally temporary. Think about these feelings when you create your next "base camp". I know that although I am very social there is a part of me that wants to build the fences and lock the gates if you know what I mean. In my case, I think it is age related because i have noticed the same dang thing happening to some of my girlfriends. My friend Tamara's place looks like fort knox although they haven't mounted rifle towers yet I wouldn't be surprised if that is next. Seriously, security cameras, automatic gates and just everything being positioned so you can monitor for invasions. It's a little weird but I have found my brain going that direction myself though I haven't acted on any of it. A comment about the grass being greener. I shared that when I had dinner with two very unhappily married friends who are my age... they were envious of how good I have it. I was shocked and not sure they have a realistic picture, but the point being is that no matter our circumstances it is easy to think some other way is "better". What I hope I am learning is that the key is to find out what you want your story to be... what you want your life to be. You may have to make compromises and choices to get that. I have been putting alot of thought into that lately for myself and have been developing at least a rough idea of a plan.

Amazing.. 2 months before my plastic surgery. No spanx, decidedly a melted snowman look The cocktail party in February - also no spanx. I think even I didn't quite realize how big of a change till I saw that pic from august

I use Premier Protein (chocolate and strawberry but not fond of the vanilla) but for a "powder" I think that Syntrax nectar is a good choice. Uber low carb, low calorie and lots of flavors. i like vanilla bean the best.

I found another picture of Greta Garbo that reminded me a little of my mother... interesting. I have been told before that my looks are a little exotic - but honestly I think that was a wild hair day...haha. I bet it is more something that I do with my makeup or something that i am not even aware of that is perhaps a bit old fashioned... not sure. So, I am doing pretty good right now. I had a horrible weekend. Well, Friday was amazingly awesome but the rest was just hard hard work, no real fun. I got my truck stuck in the mud and felt very alone at that moment... The good news is that it really clarified some things I need to do differently on my little farmette to make things more manageable for me. I have found it very empowering to reframe things the way that counselor said. Each struggle and moment of angst is really just a growing pain. It is really forward progress because i am learning how to do things and cope with things by myself. A big part of what I am becoming self aware of is that I hate asking for help. I don't even like hiring help on most things. What I really mean to say is that I only feel like certain people do I trust to ask for help - like my EX. I called Steven when I got my truck stuck and he was going to come rescue me but after talking it over decided he was likely to get his truck stuck too...so I found another solution. It is sort of working out for me to have him - like if I really need him he will drop everything to help me but... in general his life is even more of a messed up hassle than mine so he isn't exactly sitting around waiting for a damsel in distress to help out. I guess it is like having a security blanket but one that should only be used when things are really dire...lol I feel like I should be able to do it all, but of course I cannot. I am making it a priority to "sort things out" and really figure out what I need to do and what it makes sense to hire out and what I just need to get rid of (lighten the load so to speak). It feels good to be thinking that way and making plans toward a good direction, but it is also hard. My anxiety levels are dropping week by week, though it still rears it's head sometimes. I am getting much better at recognizing it early before it spins up and I can do things to prevent feeling bad. Seeing my EX makes me anxious but I think it is just a reminder of how pent up all that bad feelings were for so long. I am liking living alone - not because he did anything wrong - but that navigating through a situation you can't understand is a real burden on the mind and soul... and i am relieved to be done with it. I am thinking of all of you. Don't let that mean ole scale get you down! Only reason I cared about body fat % is I wanted to get down to 25% in 2014, somewhat of an arbitrary fitness goal...LOL. I think I should already be at 25% so I don't really get it but oh well! I am still puzzled what triggered my out of control hunger. I went out to lunch today and was pretty well behaved so working one step at a time to get back on track. I do find it very interesting that during the week or so I let myself scarf food nonstop, i didn't have any mood swings. Maybe it is not hormonal but rather HUNGER related. I AM going to see my doc in a few days and talk to her about hormone management. I am embarrassed to admit but my main hormone problem is a very annoying lack of vaginal moisture. I hate it. Makes me feel old. LOL. I have a bio-identical cream I use a few times a week but I don't think it is working well.

Vacay - staying with my friend Priscilla who accompanied me to Dr Sauceda. She lives in todos santos near Cabos. I am really looking forward to it although it turned out to be a terrible time to be away from work!

My over eating began with just big quantities of my normal diet. Hungry. Then, I had some bread and I had bought peanut butter for my son while he stayed with me for 4 days... and it went downhill from there. I found a peppermint chocolate bread/cake mix from Trader joes that I meant to make over the holidays. This is pre-meditated overeating. I baked it and it sat on my counter for 3 days allowing me to grab a slice here and there. I finally tossed the remainder, but downed most of it. I still feel gross in my guts from it. I am wondering though what triggered me to be so hungry. I don't think it is head hunger. Anyway, I am still in a good weight range so not freaking just wish I was heading to mexico feeling skinny not bloated. I am there March 7-15. I am bringing a swimsuit, but mostly plan to wear shorts and tops. I need to keep my scars out of the sun so that is going to be a challenge on warm days. I am told that sunscreen isn't good enough - really I need to keep them out of the sun. The only ones that are an issue are the arm scars is I can't imagine going long sleeved in hot weather. I have to watch my sun exposure anyway - fair Irish skin stays younger looking if I avoid that intense sun! Besides, my mom had skin cancer so always a little paranoid about that.

Don't worry about what other people think - I think that is too much pressure to feel "watched". I think just focusing on our own health is the way to go! I have had a weird food bender last week or two. I have gained weight incredibly fast but other times the scale has held steady even when I think I am overeating... weird. Anyway, I think this is a normal part of maintenance the key is just getting things back in good control ASAP! Happy Monday!

I am up more than a couple. Wow. I was 146-148 range just two weeks ago. This morning... 154.3 holy crap! The weight comes on so easy! I think at least some of it is swelling, I am getting a lot more low belly swelling these days and it is really annoying. I get on a plane for Mexico in a few days so I need to be a little strict this week. My clothes all fit fine and everything so I am not gonna stress over it but I don't want to go any higher.

Good to see you dorrie. I have had one week of overeating and am up a couple. I can't explain where the appetite came from! Went shopping for Mexico! Need a new pair of sandals and I am ready. Had a fairly crappy Sat and Sunday..including getting my truck stuck in mud. Worked really hard on my farm. Ate too much and feel cruddy.

Don't be depressed and housebound. Honestly even when I weighed 300plus I was still active and enjoyed life best I could. It's good practice for when you are sleeved and get HAWT...HAHA!

I don't believe in calorie math anyone. I do best low carb and.mixing it up....high and low intake days. Been eating non stop last week and gained. Did prove counselor theory that my mood swings may be related to low blood sugar. Nary a down moment whilst eating constantly. Now getting back on track but evidence that my mood issues may not be crazy but physical response to something. Still collecting evidence but happy to feel like there are reasons. Here is a weird and random thought. Steven keeps telling me I look like a beauty from the 1940s...most recently Greta Garbo. Interesting...and I wonder what it is about my look or make up or whatever that triggers that comparison. When I was 10# heavier it was Betty Boop..haha.

Learn something new everyday! Happy St David Day!

This is how I spent my Friday afternoon!

I have a bathroom scale that measures body fat and they did the pinch test at the gym and they were within a percent of each other. I have been eating a lot the last 2 days and i am not sure why. I need to stop it though. I observe that it started after my EX visited but that might be just a coincidence.

My body fat is in the 28-29 range and doesn't seem to move at all either...

I love that the you spotted me ad an Irish girl...Haha...what was the give away? So just so you know, the whole bra wings (or commonly know as side boobs) are not easily resolved via plastics. I didn't have an upper body lift so accept them...

You MIGHT not need plastics. My advice to everyone is to not worry about excess skin during the weight loss phases. I am being completely honest...being a healthy weight even with the skin issue is 1000 times better than obesety.

I need to get around to creating a before and after collage. Sweetpee, I need to compliment you too. You have described very well how hard plastics really are over many posts. I LOVE my results.and am so glad I did it, but wow, it was no cake walk. You have accurately described how long it takes to be normal again. Maybe it is better I didn't really know that in advance. .. haha