Oak Park Lorena

I am not a huge Spanx or any shapewear fan, in the summer months. Generally, all that shapewear in addition to making me hot (I'm always on the hot side) just squishes your fat down around your knees so if you're wearing something at or above the knee, it looks worse than if you're wearing nothing. I have quite a bit of saggy, loose skin on my upper thighs and above then knee. I have used the product Skinnies Instant Lifts, linked below, and can recommend them. It's basically like a big piece of sticky silicon that you put on your upper thigh and it lifts up a lot of the crepy skin. I wore them a lot last summer and have to say, they are a bit odd and take some getting used to, but they really do smooth your leg above the knee out very nicely. Takes a bit of practice to get on right, but I wore them with shorter skirts, dresses, even wore it playing tennis! https://www.amazon.com/Skinnies-Instant-THIGHS-Adhesive-Instantly/dp/B00CA7VAX2

@@jess9395 @ I do pilates reformer classes. This is on the equipment with all the pullies that look like a medieval torture device! The "pilates mat" classes do generally seem to be favored by the blue-haired set. They are very different than the reformer classes, though. The classes on the equipment are very rigourous, it's not cardio, it's just very intense. The mat classes I think are just kind of like some stretching and maybe a plank or two, it's not really"pilates," I don't think Joseph Pilates would approve! I brought my mother, who has done her ladies mat pilates for about 10 years now to my reformer class when she was visiting, she's in great shape, but she kept saying, "oh my, this is much more difficult" for the whole hour! I take a group class, it's not too bad, about $25 a class, the privates at my gym are around $60 depending on the instructor. It is expensive, but I really think it has helped me a great deal. Other than the obvious benefits to your core, although I don't have back issues, my back has always been weak, pilates has helped tremendously with that. I had my first pilates class since my surgery last night and I am so incredibly sore! It's a good reminder of how much I get out of those classes!

@@ML573663 It was almost 3 months for me. It's not just the surgical clearance and scheduling, some WLS centers have a specific program that you have to complete even before they will schedule you for a procedure. I had my surgery at the University of Chicago and there were several classes I had to attend as well as getting a psych eval prior to scheduling a date. Also, I don't know if you've already had your procedure pre-certified with your insurer, but they may have hoops for you to jump through as well. Finally, your surgeon is going to want you to do a pre-op diet of at least two weeks that is more about surgical safety--shrinking your liver--than losing weight, so you have to build in time for that as well.

They have power plate group and individual classes at my gym. It's like the pilates reformers and cadillacs, you can't just hop on and use it, you have to take a class and pay extra. I've done it before, it is a good work out. I guess the best way to describe it is that the vibration intensifies whatever it is that you're doing. They claim that it increases circulation and reduces post-work out soreness, I don't know that I could verify either of those claims, but you certainly can get a good work out in a short period of time. The problem is that even for the group class it's $20 a pop, I'd rather spend the money on pilates reformer classes. Pilates is life!

@@jess9395 you weren't kidding about the yoga arms--rock on! To be honest, what I noticed first in the pics, though, is that wonderful smile on your face in every one of them--you look very happy

I know everyone says to take Vitamin B (biotin) for hair and nails, but Vitamins C and E have actually been more effective, at least in my case. I started taking fairly large doses (I am not recommending this for everyone, talk to your doctor!) of both C and E and I have seen profound changes in my skin and my hair. My hair is thicker, stronger and definitely shinier than a year ago. I take a full-spectrum gamma E, 1,200 mg a day in 3 doses and 4,000 mg of Vitamin C in 4 doses.

I totally agree with @@ShelterDog64 about Isopure, though I just had my first one today, I wish I'd known about them post-surgery, I could not stand yacking down those chalky protien shakes, bleech! I bought the pre-mixed drink, not the powder. It does not exactly taste good, I would describe it as G2 Gatorade with some extra sweaty substance in it! Does have quite a bit of sodium, but it's fat fee and carb free and, as he said, much easier to drink. They are not cheap, even ordering on Amazon, they're about $5 for a 20 oz bottle. These would have made life MUCH easier for me those first few weeks, so I would recommend those of you with my same aversion to chalky whey glop to try one before you go under the knife!

@ absolutely agree with you there! I too feel that I look better at a higher weight than a BMI chart would suggest. Whether one looks better or worse at a certain point on the BMI chart, I think is a different question than whether it is healthy or normal to be at a certain point on that chart. I think that if you're aiming to be in the "normal weight" range, that seems like a reasonable goal if that's how you like yourself to look. And I love that "real 154" picture! I was out the other night with a group of friends--men and women, the women in the group are all quite fit, some of them on the tall side. Somehow the topic of weight came up and we asked the men to guess our weights, they all guessed that the thinner women weighed 110-120 and the thicker were 130-135. None of the women at the table weighed less than 150. It was kind a funny experiement--men have no clue what women weigh!

A 5 foot 7 woman at 135 pounds has a BMI of 21.1, that's well within the range of "normal" weight. I don't think it is necessary to categorize a normal weight as "extreme" or potentially pathological and "unhealthy" because it is not our preference.

You look fabulous, and what a terrific smile on your face in the recent pic!

@@SleeveSoon yes, I think that' a wise strategy! In addition to some lovely IPAs, I also have a nice stash of lambics that are delicious and pretty low alcohol/low calorie. It was a long, tough winter for me being laid up with the foot surgery and a house full of BA Russian Imperials! I talked to my surgeon extensively about beer and it being part of a healthy post-surgical diet, it definitely can be, just have to be a bit more careful and definitely keep off it when I don't have exercise to counter-balance! Thanks for the post and cheers!

@CariDickensen thanks for the nice message! I do love bike riding, but I live in a kind of urban/suburban area, hard to find a good place to ride without all the cars and stop signs. I'm back to the running and yoga and tonight I go back and join my pilates group, I'm sure it will be painful! It is hard to get back to exercising when you've been away from it, but I know I can get back in shape, just frustrating that what takes 6 months to a year of regular hard work kind of goes south in a few weeks! And wow, I just looked at your ticker, 153 pounds lost in 6 months--that is phenomenal!

@@jess9395 I'm totally on board for an accountability group, that's a great idea! Given that I really do have some significant pounds to lose, I think I'm going to try the 6 days of two liquid meals and one small meal and one day of fasting. I think that is more doable for me than trying a 16/8 schedule, though I think it is always a good idea not to eat anything in the late evening/night time (which I do given my habit of staying up too late!) I kind of like the liquid meals, they are easy and I have a very high tolerance for boring meals! I also have been reading about ketosis-inducing diets, it sounds good and very effective, but in order to do and keep up with rigorous exercise you have to do periodic carb loading. Everything I read about it was for hard-core body builders. It sounds like it is a good way to get lean v. losing pounds, but it's rather complicated and think I need something simple to start with right now! As for your struggle with what you call your "vanity pounds," it sounds to me that you are pretty self-aware and are conscious of what your motivations are. I think it is up to each of us to decide what type of figure we want. I myself prefer myself with a few more pounds than perhaps the BMI charts would because my face gets very thin when I am in the "normal range." I also like having round hips and a booty I have a friend who is a true size zero, she gets lots of tsks and "she must have an eating disorder." She does not, in fact she's a foodie and a great cook, she just likes herself at that weight and works hard to stay there. I think if you are doing it for the right reasons, you can make your body what you want. And a regular routine of Ashtanga yoga will certainly help you there--I admire you, I've been working up to doing the standing and sitting poses of Ashtanga for some time, you must be in great shape!

Doing some digging on Google Scholar, came across this recent analysis of 9 different intermittent fasting studies. Conclusion is that intermittent fasting may not be better than continuous calorie restriction, but it appears to be at least as good and possibly easier to do long term that restricting your calories 24/7. http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/8/6/354/htm Interestingly, another study also finds that intermittent fasting is as good as continuous dieting, but it also found that people who had two liquid meals per day + a dinner of 400-600 calorie dinner for 6 days a week and fasted one day lost more weight than people who had three meals a day with the same number of calories for 6 days and fasted one day a week. I guess we may never escape those protien drinks after all! https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-11-98 I have not yet come across any study that establishes which type of intermittent fasting works best--they are all over the map from the 16/8 that @@Wolfgirl78 follows, to the 5:2 method to even fasting every other day. They all seem to work.

Thanks @@Wolfgirl78 Interesting, can you explain a bit more about the 16/8--sixteen hours no eating/eight hours eating? You do this every day? How many calories do you eat during the 8 hours? Are you able to work out in the morning?

Thanks for this post @@jess9395 @@CBT and I have been exchanging messages about 5:2 and we're both interested as well. I think the challenge for sleevers with 5:2 is that most of us are already eating many fewer calories per day than most people, so the question is what do you do on the 2 fasting days? I have to exercise every day to lose or even maintain my weight, I don't know that I could do a complete fast and still work out. Any input from people who have been doing 5:2 and have had sucess or failure or somewhere in between would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you, Kate! I know exactly what you mean about the depravation making you want something more. I'm boxing up some of the big calorie beers I have and storing them in my friend's basement! Craft beer is a hobby for me, I go to beer releases, attend beer events, and I homebrew. It's not about the alcohol, in fact I often wish the alchol could be removed, it's about the taste. For people who know nothing about craft beer, this is perhaps a revelation. Over the years, I've amassed a very large collection of stouts. It's very tempting to pop one open and enjoy it in the evening, so I've decided that for the time being, it's safer to have them far enough away from me that's it's not an option! So, I've got some nice, lower calorie IPAs and sours in the fridge. I'm allowed to have one after I run. Seems like a reasonable compromise to me! When I've gotten the weight under control, I think it will be safe to enjoy a higher calorie beer trreat once in a while, just not every day. Thanks for the nice message and the support! It's good to hear that someone else has wrangled their treat demon!

Ha! Yes, though there is what's behind door number 3 to consider as well . . .

I got extensions about 8 months after my sleeve and would definitely recommend them. I have very long, thick hair and it was coming out in handfuls. A friend suggested I try extensions to help me ride out the hair loss phase. I got Great Lengths keratin bond extensions. I absolutely loved them and have continued to get them even though much of my hair grew back. Yes, extensions can damage your hair, you first have to find someone expert at putting them in and you have to commit to extra hair care to keep them in shape and keep your own hair from being compromised. A good extension stylist knows how to install them on even fine hair without over-stressing your hair. I've never tried the tape extensions. They are definitely likely to cause the least damage and they are probably the most economical because you can re-use the hair (can't really do that with the bonded type), but, my concern with them is that I think they are going to feel very fake both to you and anyone who touches your hair. I've heard that there are newer types with thinner pieces of tape, but it's still tape! I don't recommend the beads or rings, you can't get your hair colored without removing them and you can definitely feel them on your head much more than the keratin bond type. As far as removal of the bonded type, you need to have the stylist remove them with the remover and pliers (yes, pliers!). I've never lost any hair during this process. If you accidentally pull one out, you could take some of your hair with it, but they generally don't come out until you take them out. You do have to brush the extensions pretty religiously to keep them from getting tangled. I wouldn't be scared off extensions because of possible hair damage, but there is definitely damage to your pocketbook to be afraid of!

I started around 200 lbs. As I know others have said, shoes are critical. I went to a running store that has a treadmill in the store, they fit you with a couple of different types of shoes and watch you run. That same store offered a free running clinic where they evaluate your gait, posture and foot positioning. I learned a lot from that and was able to make changes that were helpful. I was never a pronator before WLS, but I am now. Who knows why, so the shoes that are appropriate and most protective for me now are different than what I would have worn 10 or 20 years ago. I love the brand Mizuno, they provide the anti-pronation support I need while still feeling light and flexible, not like the "foot jail" that many brands do! Good luck and see you on the trails soon!

I realize this is a bit of an old thread, but I was so thrilled to find it, just have to say thank you, thank you for such a detailed and running-positive post! I had been a runner during periods of weight loss thorughout my adulthood and always loved it, not just because it burns a huge number of calories, but it is the one exercise I have found that really transports me to my happy place during and after! I started running about six months after my sleeve, so February 2014. In October 2014, I ran in the Bourbon Chase, it's a 200-mile relay marathon. The rest of my team members were all 20 years younger than me, all much thinner and much faster runners, but I loved every minute of it (even the gu!) I finished all three of my legs for a total of almost 20 miles. I got up to running 40 miles a week on a regular basis. It really helped me with the weight loss/maintenenance and it was a very positive thing in my life. I did it on vacation, I did it on business trips--one of the things I love about it is that you can do it almost anywhere if you've got your shoes! Unfortunately, I have a congenital foot condition that finally caught up with me and I had to have surgery. The running had nothing to do with it, in fact, my ortho had strongly encouraged me to run as long as I could before the surgery to keep up my conditioning. I was off running and pretty much everything else except some sad chair yoga for many months. I gained weight, watched in horror as my quads seemed to melt down to nothing, winced as my hamstrings seemed to want to roll themselves into little unhappy balls. It was not a fun experience. I've been back to the running for a few weeks now, started the day my ortho cleared me and started really slowly, walk/run/walk run for a few miles. I did my first 5-mile run yesterday. My surgical foot is doing terrific, the rest of me is still adjusting to the long period of inactivity! Thank you for taking the time to write such an encouraging post for those of us who are not skinny, I love running and it is a bit frustrating how negative so many people are about it (you can't run, you're fat, ugh!!!

I really appreciated the site traffic information site that you've linked to, wish I'd known about that before plunking down $$ for some dating sites that seem to have about 4 users! I understand that you were being helpful and that you apologized when you saw that the OP was irked. That's not really what I'm responding to, it's those who felt the need to attack her. I haven't really been on this site since my sleeve in 2013 and have to say that there is a definite chill in the air that wasn't here before.

Nah, don't shove the lamb down their throat, that would be a waste of quality Protein I literally cringed when I read your post. I cringed because I can feel how raw and painful it is for you and I have had similar fun experiences that still hurt. Family, even the crazy ones, have the ability to cut to the quick like no one else. I had my sleeve in August and I saw the whole family for Thanksgiving after I'd dropped 70 pounds. I cannot tell you how many times I had to bite my tongue to stop myself when I heard things like, "she didn't really lose weight, she cheated and got her stomach taken out," "don't worry, she's an eater, we'll see next Thanksgiving." And these are the people who love me! I just keep repeating my mantra: in with anger, out with love, in with anger, out with love, in with anger, out with cursing and body blows...ooops!

Really, funny, shows a response on the 22nd, that's hardly makes it a stale thread by this forum's standards. It showed up as one of the more recent threads in the forum list as well. But, no worries, I will add to the list of the rules perpetuated by the Flaming Forum Trolls: no responses to threads after. . .sorry, how many days before we aren't allowed to respond? I'd hate to make another mistake. Maybe you can add to your forum overlord duties to post "CONVERSATION CLOSED" on threads you deem closed. That way it's clear as an unmuddied lake to the rest of us who are just here to engage in pleasant conversations and mutual support

This is a direct quote from the OP who started the singles forum: In fact, it may be time to date again! You can come here to the BariatricPal singles forum to mingle with other singles who have or are thinking about bariatric surgery. It can be a lot easier to start a relationship when you know the other person has the same health values as you, and understands what you’re going through. Seems to me that was exactly what the OP of this thread was doing, no? Perhaps all of you who were so outraged that a woman had the nerve to look for fellow single sleevers on a forum called "singles forum" that appears to have been created for that very purpose, should start your own competing "bizarro singles forum" in which married and attached people lecture single people about being single, a topic which we all know people who aren't single know more about than single people. Then those of us who are single and want to talk to other single people can avoid it!