SkinnyDown

That is great that you have figured this out about yourself. It's going to help you so much, to get into therapy means you are holding yourself accountable, and that's a huge step. You're so right about the cold turkey thing, we can't quit eating food, but we sure can make better choices. I know the foods that made me fat, they were all carb heavy things, and I simply don't even attempt to claim I'm just going to have a bite, I don't buy it, it doesn't come into my house, and I don't eat it. Entire aisles in the grocery store are really obsolete for me now. I had a date last week and he brought over pastries, not realizing that it was like bringing heroin into an addict's house. I thanked him, but told him he had to take them home with him. LOL He understands now, I can't base things around food anymore. I have a different perspective, and have realized, just how food-centric people are. Wait.....did you hear what I just said? I had a date. Just a few days short of 9 years since I have dated a man, and I actually not only had one date with this man, but 4, in the last week and a half. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A man took me out 4 times, and one date lasted over 7 hours! Sorry this is so off topic,but OMG! I am dating now.

Thank you!!

That is great that you have figured this out about yourself. It's going to help you so much, to get into therapy means you are holding yourself accountable, and that's a huge step. You're so right about the cold turkey thing, we can't quit eating food, but we sure can make better choices. I know the foods that made me fat, they were all carb heavy things, and I simply don't even attempt to claim I'm just going to have a bite, I don't buy it, it doesn't come into my house, and I don't eat it. Entire aisles in the grocery store are really obsolete for me now. I had a date last week and he brought over pastries, not realizing that it was like bringing heroin into an addict's house. I thanked him, but told him he had to take them home with him. LOL He understands now, I can't base things around food anymore. I have a different perspective, and have realized, just how food-centric people are.

WOW..I literally had no idea about this. It makes me feel even better about this journey to the ultimate lifestyle change. As WLS patients we are really given the tools and its just up to us what we do with them. This is very encouraging. Sent from my SM-G925T using the BariatricPal App Aww thanks:) Sent from my SM-G925T using the BariatricPal App Thank you

You bring up a very interesting point because the surgery is done on our stomachs and not our brains. I think its quite interesting insurance only requires one visit to a psychiatrist and that is before surgery (nothing after). I completely agree that patients are monitored and cared for as far as any physical changes after surgery (i.e. complications) but what about mental changes? Complications can occur there too. If a person doesn't understand why they have a problem with their weight (and how to fix or properly cope), having surgery or going on a diet is only putting a band aid on a gunshot wound. Sent from my SM-G925T using the BariatricPal App That is why I spent a year in therapy before surgery, and continue therapy for my food addiction issues. It's a shame so many people suffer even after surgery with head hunger and end up gaining it all back. I think that could be avoided, I care so little about food now, because I found other things in my life to keep me occupied/busy. Have to fix the brain first. That's not easy either, it took me 48 years to even admit I was an addict. Yes, just like a heroin addict. I was hiding food, I was lying about food, I was spending a LOT on food, I am an addict. Simple as that, and once I admitted that, life got a hell of a lot easier. You made some excellent points too, putting a bandage on a gunshot wound....that's exactly right.

I am a broken record with this, because it's so obvious. There is a faction of obesity and weight loss they just don't talk about. food ADDICTION. The real reason why people fail. Why I have failed time and time again through my life. Who in their right mind would gobble down an entire bag of potato chips? ME. A person with a food addiction. I don't care what diet someone is on, or what kind of surgery they have had, the weight will not stay off, if you don't get help for your addiction. People don't get fat because they walked past the box of krispy kremes, and just smelled them. Sure, it's good to know about the metabolism, but that's inconsequential I think, if you have someone eating an entire bag of potato chips. Trying to fill up a big empty space inside you is psychological. Not physical. Here's a good idea, don't bring the crap into your house, and you can't eat it. Simple as that. If you know it's crap and you are feeding it to your family, that's beyond my help at this point. Why would you feed crap to your family? Even the bariatric center I go to gives so little help with the psychological aspect of weight loss, and why a person like me ate their way up to 345 lbs. It's all in my head. That is what I had to fix...my head, because losing weight after surgery is easy. In my opinion anyway. Just my 2c, my truth doesn't have to be yours.

I can't do bread. I get a stuck feeling and it's terrible. I used to love hot dogs and liverwurst....no more. Dogs get stuck, and liverwurst just tastes nasty now. I have no clue why, I used to eat it all the time, since I was a kid. I'll give it another try again now that I am almost a year out from surgery. I can't do raw veggies, they go right through me. I'm reduced to pretty much mushy cooked vegetables and/or veggies, in Soups. eggs, not loving too much anymore. I used to eat them all the time. Hard boiled are the easiest for me, now. I'm so glad I can do cottage cheese, or I would be screwed! lol

I don't eat bread, I tried once, on a recent hospital visit, and was I sorry. I choose not to do bread, rice, or Pasta, it's way too high in carbs. Is brown rice really that much better for anyone? It has fiber, but the carbs are about the same. SUPER HIGH! That's what makes you fat. Once in awhile, I will do half a serving of crackers, various types, if I want to have some tuna salad or cheese spreads on a few crackers. That is enough to fill me up, with just a half serving. I keep as many carbs out as possible. I shoot for under 80 per day. I usually end up around 50-60. I keep careful track of the carbs, as I know, that is what I was stuffing and fattening myself with pre-surgery. I don't even really care about food anymore. I eat only because I have to. I still have no physical hunger. 1 year of therapy helped the food addiction issue. I'm just being very very careful about any transfer addictions popping up.

I'm not even sure what this "Dexa" scan is, that you mentioned. @ OutsideMatchInside I do know this. I am tiny. I was meant to be tiny, that is completely visible to me even at 196 lbs, my wrists are so tiny that the bracelets I have, even adjustable with lobster clasps, I am putting on as tight at they will go, and they are still loose. I just feel like I was always meant to be a truly petite person. I'm only 5' 1", some people here are tall, and going to look completely "average/normal/thin" at a much higher weight. Some people even if short have a larger frame. I don't. I was quite surprised to find out just how tiny I am, under this fat, since I don't remember ever a time when I wasn't fat. I will naturally lose more weight after belly and thigh loose skin is removed. I have been overweight from age 5 and progressed to super morbidly obese by the time I reached college. That's 45 years, of stretched skin, so they have quite a lot to remove. Perhaps I will have a better idea after that, and know the right weight for me. Maybe my surgeon knows I'll lose 25 lbs in skin. I really don't know how much skin-weight people lose. I have quite an extensive large hanging belly and thighs which look like they are melting over my knees at this point. Thank goodness for good supportive leggings, they are somewhat forgiving. lol 149lbs gone, and 46 more lbs to go! I think I will know better after all that, what a good weight for me will be.

I set up a goal weight reluctantly with my surgeon at my consult, and at the time of course he used that BMI chart to show me how horribly unhealthy I was, but when it came time to set a goal weight he tossed the BMI chart out the window. That made no sense to me. I'm short, 5' 1" and he actually set the goal at 150, (which is overweight) I'm 47 lbs away from that goal, but I want to be smaller. At 150 we can talk plastics, and my insurance should cover belly and thighs, not sure how much I will lose from that. At my height, I should weigh about 100-130 to be in the "healthy" category. My surgeon said he never wanted to see me below 125, I have no idea why. I will meet his goal, have the plastics, see where I am, and shoot for my own personal goal which is 115. which is right in the middle of "healthy" for my height. The problem is they can't use their special BMI chart for one purpose and not another. That's where I have issues. I'm using their same chart that told me I was super morbidly obese, to find out what healthy is.

I had it, and it was terrible! I saw my podiatrist, and she said buy a pair of Crocs. I did, and I haven't had a problem since, that was 5 or 6 years ago. The key is to get them on your feet before your feet actually hit the floor and you stand up, and to wear them all the time when walking. There are plenty of styles, I wear the clog style a lot, around the house it's easy. I used to wear slippers or go bare footed, around the house. That is what caused the Plantar Fasciitis, she said. I can wear regular shoes when out, at this point, and that doesn't seem to bother me at all. I've also done the frozen Water bottle to help with swelling, but as soon as I started to wear the Crocs my foot got so much better, and it fully healed! I tried expensive sneakers, with inserts, no luck at all. Ohh....real Crocs, not the cheap knock-offs. I still always wear Crocs when I am at home. From the moment I get up!

I'm 5' 1" I'm not done losing, but I have progress pics in my gallery. If you look at my profile, click on "gallery". There is a collage I made from the day of surgery May 20, 2015 to March 4th 2016, (9.5 month mark), and I am down another 10 lbs. since that last pic. (March 4, 2016) Yes, I have thigh gap. I have no idea where that came from or why, but it's there. craziest thing. Of course It looks like the rest of my thighs are melting over my knees at this point, the loose skin is unbelievable. My starting weight was 345lbs, and my surgeons goal is 150 lbs, then we'll talk plastics, and eventually I would like to be 115-120 or so. That same chart that they used to tell me I was 'super morbidly obese' is the same chart I am looking at that tells me I should weigh about 115 lbs. for my height. My surgeon says he never wants to see me under 125. *shrugs*

I wish I knew. I take Biotin every day, and I've lost at least 2/3 of my hair volume, and I can't leave the house without a wig on now. I have 6 wigs at this point, so I do enjoy changing up my hairstyles and colors all the time. I'm getting new hair growth, and at 10 months the hair loss is slowing down, but it has left not just extremely thin hair, but bald spots and my hair is completely coarse even the new hair growth is. The promising thing is that there is new hair growth, and I know it will take time to completely grow out, but hopefully at some point I have fairly good hair again. To be fair, I already had thin hair, due to poly cystic ovarian disorder. But this is just beyond my comfort zone of being seen in public like that. I wish I had better news to report on this topic, but it is what it is. There are always consequences it seems to everything in life. It's also destroyed my once beautiful nails. They were so long, healthy, and strong, and now, they are so weak and just bend and have all broken off. I was warned about these things though, before surgery. It will be interesting to see what others are doing, and if anyone else has lost enough hair to warrant wearing a wig, now. I still wouldn't change a thing. Wigs and artificial nails are there for a reason.