Ava324

I'd think not. If by full liquid, you mean you're in the broth stage, then no. I was told to strain absolutely everything. Contact your team to confirm, or wait til you can have yogurt to be safe.

The procedure is working. It's a process and your body is responding to the shock of it. The fluids you got during surgery could explain it alone. Glycogen plays a big role, and your body is working to mobilize fat for energy use: http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.php. During all of your frequent future and lengthy stalls, you may be losing inches instead. I found that I'd lose -> shrink -> lose -> shrink. You're right. It is quite actually impossible to not to lose weight when you're complying with the post-op plan. The FitBit app, where I log my daily weight, graphs my progress. It isn't a straight and pretty line to goal. I've gained a few pounds back here and there. At first this made me panic. Then, I'd be happy by it! If I gained 2, I knew a quick 5lb loss was at the end of it. The human body is a very complex machine on a cellular level. No body is the same, and yours is just "doing it's thing". This journey is a long and emotional process. Your procedure is working and your body is processing. If you take the steps to be successful, you will be. Period.

146. One pound and one week to go. This sucker is coming off so hard!

Ditto on the hunger and cravings. I jumped off the food logging wagon a month ago, and I have pretty much stalled and wildly fluctuated between 147 - 152 since. I really do want to get to 140, but don't quite have enough motivation to be as rigid as I was before..

I use truvia and Monk Fruit in the Raw. I couldn't tolerate the pure natural stevia I found. That bitter after-taste is too funky for me.

I'm a ways from getting plastics, as I'm still on a pride high on my loss and don't mind that my arms "give me away". Two years from now I may feel differently about them, and if I was going to nip/tuck something, it'd be my arms. Pre-op, mine were shaped like this: http://www.dbreath.com/images_content/before-arm-lift-knoxville-brachioplasty.jpg I still have that crease line, and that's actually the marker I use for measuring consistency. >< Scar wise, I could totally live with this: http://www.allaboutplasticsurgery.com/revis-photos/set2brachi8.jpg I went to the Your Weight Matters 2014 convention in September, and the attendants (500ish) were pretty much all WLS peeps at various stages. I saw lots of plastics. What I noticed most and what I'm more afraid of than the scar is that it'll look chopped. I saw tons of that at the convention! Let's say there was no scarring.... I'd rather keep my bat wings over this... http://www.palmaplasticsurgery.com/photos/brachioplasty_pt_5_right_front_after.jpg To me the unnatural appearance is far more noticeable.

I haven't noticed a change in my nose specifically, but my face in general looks slimmer. Everything slims. I've had to take out links in my watch three times. I've gone from a 8.5/9 Wide shoe to 7.5 regular. Just Saturday I dropped off my wedding rings to get re-sized. I went from a 8.5 to a very comfortable 6! The jeweler said he'd even feel comfortable cutting them down to a 5.5, but they'd get a bit snug during crawfish season.

I'd never heard of post-race gain, but that's actually making a lot of sense! Thanks for the info, and it sounds like I could have a similar response. Good to know, because I'm going to do another 5K this evening. I won't get discouraged if it goes up again.

I wish.... I measured before starting pre-op diet. I was sleeved 12/10/13 and didn't record my measurements until April. I had started working out sooner. Happily, I've been kicking serious butt for months, but it's hard not to long for where I could be at this point. I had known that on a very basic level, the sleeve just allows you to crash diet without feeling much hunger and filling up quickly. You crash diet, and you feel those consequences. Bouts of weakness and dizziness. The hair loss. Possibly needing your gallbladder removed on an emergency basis. There are a bunch of physiological changes too that separate it from a regular crash diet, but still. I knew how real the "window of opportunity" is. Lose as much as you can as fast as you can, because hunger can return with a vengeance and losing gets much harder. I would have a sleeve of steal and I would need a will of steal. I had expected the sleeve to force behavioral changes on me through negative reinforcement and conditioning, but that hasn't really been the case. I have not thrown up once. I have not been nauseous once. I haven't and will not have bread, pasta or rice, but I've tolerated everything so far (eating too fast is painful though). Happily again, the decision to get the sleeve was a commitment to my health across the board, and I've overhauled my lifestyle and choices completely. I didn't know how big of a role choices would be in my success. I thought the sleeve would largely take bad choices off the table. Not the case. I knew that obesity is an incurable and chronic disease. I'm 8lbs from my goal, and I can't express how badly my body wants to pack back on the weight and how hard I'm having to work to get these last few off.. Fat cells don't go away. They shrink. They lie in wait, ready to plump back up and store store store. My body's "set point" is 289lbs, my highest ever weight. That's its default. In order not to get back to that, I will forever have to actively treat my disease.

If only there was a pumpkin diet! Can't get enough of the stuff. I make a skinny pumpkin frapuccinos, pumpkin Protein smoothies, pumpkin overnight oatmeal, and a coconut flour charob chip pumpkin mug cookie.. I've also made a pumpkin face mask and body sugar scrub. Did I mention I can't get enough? Lol. Oh, and pumpkin spice oil diffusers all around the house.

Today: 148 Last Friday: 147, so I'm up a pound. But! On Tuesday I was 1-freaking-54 (up 7 in 4 days, even with a 5K Saturday!). If I let up just a little bit, my body is ready to pack it on. I have to kick constant butt to keep it down, and getting to my goal is nonnegotiable.

Whoa! You are smokin'. My goal is around 135-140, and I hope I look that good. My body wants so badly to be above 150. ><

147. Only 2 lbs from hitting my challenge goal, but the real goal will be to stay there. My body really likes 150+.

Ugly sweater holiday run sounds like a blast! And congrats on the good time.

Third 5K coming up this Saturday morning. It starts at 9AM, and it's going to be warm and muggy. This will be my first day time 5K, so I'm a little anxious. Then next Saturday evening we're doing an Oktoberfest 5K. That one's pretty cool. Registration includes passes to all three weekends of the local Oktoberfest and two beer vouchers each on race day. Which means 4 for the hubby. Lol. Not signed up for any others until the mini marathon (4 miles) 11/23. We'll see if I can go a month without. I've got the bug!

Piggy backing on your thread. I stopped using the app because of annoyances, but I'm seeing weird changes to the regular site as well.. It seems like I can't edit my older posts anymore... in Chrome or Explorer on my PC. So bizarre. And I'm no longer able to paste an image into the body of a post, which I've done before like this: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/314933-funnynerdymeme-workout-shirts/?p=3553841. EDIT: So apparently I can edit a recent post... How long does it take before the posts get locked un-editable? Maybe I just never noticed that before. But not being able to paste a pic is new for sure.

It figures that for my first "challenge", I'd wildly fluctuate like never before. 152 for me. Up 3 since Monday. ><

Thanks, and congrats to you both! Can't wait to see y'all's "afters".

You'll hear a ton of different answers. My doctor doesn't recommend pregnancy for 18 months after surgery. He said that pregnancy under 6 months could be dangerous, and if I were to get pregnant before 6 months, I should consider termination for my safety. Also, he warned that even if the pregnancy was uncomplicated (although miscarriage is common), developmental delays were very possible if under 6 months. I'm happy to be out of that zone, but I'll be waiting at least 18 months before discussing trying with my husband.

Sorry for the delay! I was out of town for the weekend. 149 for me.

I found this website, and the shirts just crack me up. http://www.lookhuman.com/browse/apparel?collection=401-athletics I ordered this one: Here are some other faves:

I came down with a cold about two weeks after surgery too. Without considering the consequences, I took NyQuil one night. Don't! It burned, and I was staggering drunk when I got up to use the restroom during the night. Watch out for alcohol in the liquid cold meds.