blashlee

I was horrifically emotional the first few weeks post op. My doctor examined that as your body sheds excess fat, it releases stored estrogen. This can give you emotions similar to PMS or even post partum mood swings if you've ever been pregnant. I started to level off recently, especially once I started exercising. Endorphins I guess. I share your concern with losing curves. Unfortunately the areas comprised of the most fat tend to be the first to drop off. This means BOOBS! But not for everybody. When I lose weight though I notice it in my boobs first and my stomach dead last. I feel like I've lost some booty, but I think I can combat that with some serious squat and lunge days at the gym. I'd let it all go. Small price to pay to be healthy and happy.

I don't struggle with this feeling because it's not easy. I somewhat struggle with the possibility that others will perceive this as taking the easy way out, but then I realize that most people that haven't had WLS don't know **** about it and therefore their opinions don't matter. If it was easy, every overweight person would do it. If it was easy, it would just be "the way." It's not easy. It's a complete lifestyle change FOREVER. It's relearning how to eat and properly treat your body for life. You didn't cheat. You did what you had to do to take your life back. I refuse to take this second chance at living to the fullest for granted.

I was off for 4 weeks. Mostly because I've been very fatigued and having some trouble eating and drinking. I didn't wanna go back to work until I was doing better eating. Getting sick at work wasn't on my list of fun things to do post-op.

And having a hard time with the "welcome back, where have you been?!" And the "you've lost weight haven't you?" Remarks. Mostly I just smile say thanks and scurry off. Glad I wore sweats LOL Anybody else horrible with weight loss comments? I always have been, I feel like such a jerk but compliments legitimately make me uncomfortable haha.

Trust me once you don't chew something once, you'll never forget that feeling and you'll chew your food until it's Soup in your mouth from now on. Good for you for getting a head start on something that's so hard. Also, talking while eating. I'm always asking people to leave me alone while I eat so I can focus on chewing.

Any bypass patients take Zzzzquil post op? My doctor said it was fine to take. But I'm curious how fast it'll take effect now that I've had my bypass. I don't wanna pass out washing dishes and I don't wanna sleep through my alarm either. Thanks in advance!

The Disneyland half marathon. It's during Labor Day weekend. I don't believe the 5Ks have a pace requirement and if they do it's very lax. The 5Ks are kid friendly and a lot of people even do them with strollers. We did the Tinkerbell 5K last year and finished in about an hour we were just walking. The 10k and half marathons they require a 16:00 mile pace. I'm going to try to train at about a 12 or 13 min mile. I don't care if I'm dead last, I just want to finish.

Yeah I'm signed up for a 10k next weekend but I'm skipping it. I don't quite feel ready for that and the time requirement isn't as lax as this one. I hate to not do it but I need to make sure I'm healed well or it could be a bad day. It was a good feeling to get out there today and finish and feel good the whole way through! Thanks for the kind words!

I use both. I don't use the MFP macros for any other reason than to track my protein and my water. I don't rely on eating the calories because for someone my weight it recommends 1500. 4 weeks after bypass I'm lucky if I can get down 600 of that.

One thing I know that helps is being part of a team or getting a coach or sponsor. The competitions are no joke and most of the competitors are repeaters. A lot of them win in other circuits and end up being popular favorites in that community. We have a lot of that here in San Diego. It's competitive for sure and you'll have to work really hard and train and eat just right, but if it's a goal you have I say absolutely go for it.

Your weight loss on the scale could be slowing because muscle weighs more than fat. But you're likely still losing mass. You should take monthly body measurements instead of just relying on the scale. I measure once a month and it gives me relief to see how those numbers change when I don't see what I was hoping to see on the scale.

I signed up for the FroYo5k a couple of weeks before surgery, and today was the day! There were a lot of people there and a ton of strollers, but in the areas where the course opened up, I ran. Not fast, but consistently. I would say I maybe ran just under half the total course. And it felt really good. My feet didn't hurt, my shins didn't burn, I was able to maintain my breathing, and I finished in less than 50 minutes! It's so much easier to move this body without an extra 52 lbs to slow me down and crush my knees. Now I feel a lot more confident about preparing for the Disneyland Half Marathon later this year.

My username is tinytummybiglife

My surgeons instructions say to avoid breads, pastas and rice indefinitely. But I know a lot of people who are much further out and eat these things in moderation. At 5 weeks out, I wouldn't eat pasta. You could try spiralized veggies with your favorite pasta sauce. I used to eat a lot of "zoodles" in lieu of spaghetti. It's not the exact same taste but it's still very satisfying and works as a good vehicle for your pasta sauce.

I truly only knew about this one from the loud colorful commercials that aired on TV. If you follow @targetstyle on Instagram or Twitter they usually announce the collections. Unfortunately, they sell out pretty quickly. Especially this one. This one, people rampaged Target and bought things in mass to resell them at ridiculous mark ups :-/ this particular jumpsuit was $44 and I've seen it online as high as $100. Crazy.

I had some jeans I bought in the wrong size 2 years ago. The store had a no returns policy on sale items so I was stuck with them. I decided to make them goal jeans. In those 2 years I got into them once...for a day. I tried them on yesterday and I'm betting I've probably got many another 10 lbs before I'll have to put them in the "goodbyes" pile. Victory indeed! Thanks! Storytelling is my favorite, if only someone lingers around long enough to listen LOL there's never a "short" story. Haha That makes two of us!! Thanks for the kind words everyone! It feels amazing to be killing it on the loser's bench! Don't worry I will. I think I might have to take a trip to Palm Springs simply so this outfit gets the attention it truly deserves

It's gotten so much better. What helps is if I drink something else watered down and keep adding water to it until it eventually is just plain water. As long as it's not first thing in the morning or on a totally empty stomach it goes down ok. Today my mom and my boyfriend noticed I was drinking faster than I have been without looking uncomfortable after. Thank the heavens. Cuz I loooove crisp fresh water.

Here it is! And a "before" picture for reference

I swore off shopping during my pre-op. I was losing weight pretty quickly (down almost 50 lbs in 3 months) and knew it would just be a waste of money to buy any new clothes. So when the Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection launched, I didn't even wanna look at it because I knew I would shop. Well...that turned out not to even be an issue because before I even woke up that morning, the Target website had crashed and most stores looked like a tornado had come through and picked up all of the Lilly items. So I moved on with my life LOL I went to Target today for cleaning supplies, face wash, and a trash can. That was all. Of course, I had a Cartwheel for 15% off one of their brands of women's apparel, so I thought whats the harm in taking a look? Maybe I'll find a nice maxi dress to transition around in. I walk by the women's section and see a very familiar print of white and green. Could it be? No...there's no way...is that...that's a piece of Lilly Pulitzer for Target. I'd recognize that cheery print anywhere. It's a jumpsuit I had coveted when sneak peeks of the line started showing up online. I picked it up and found no flaws or marks or tears in it...how could this possibly be here?! I check the tag and it's a standard XL. Well, I usually need an XXL at Target, and that's not always a good fit. I usually have to go to their plus section and I almost never find anything. This item is not stretchy. And it has a zipper. At this moment, I am terrified. Me and zippers don't have a pleasant history. I take it to the fitting room, hang it up and examine it again. If it doesn't fit AND has a tear, then i'll feel better because I don't want a torn item anyway. There's not a single mark or tear. Suck it up Ashlee. Try it on. I put one leg in...I put the other leg in...I pull it up and it actually passes my hips. I take a deep breath (actually I sucked it in is what I did LOL) and pull it up the rest of the way. So far so good. But does it zip?? I reach behind me the best I can and pull up that tiny white zipper. And it stops. OMG. I KNEW IT. IT DOESN'T FIT. I turn around to see where i've stopped and lo and behold...i've zipped it all the way up. This thing fits. And not only does it fit, it fits damn good! It's a wee bit snug at my chest, which tells me I've got a little room to make so I can wear this thing out properly. Even though I've sworn off shopping, I absolutely cannot walk away without this item. According to the girl working the fitting room, a woman had returned the item last night and since they no longer have any of the collection in stock, there's no where to properly hang it. So it was mixed in with "similar" colored items. I wasn't even gonna go to this particular Target today, but I didn't feel like going to my usual Target closer to home. So if I had to analyze it, I'd say that the good lord above compelled that woman to return that jumpsuit and then led me to that store on purpose so that I could find it and realize that I have shrunk my way down to standard sizes! In the words of Ice Cube...today was a good day. PS if you read that whole story, you're my hero. Sometimes I feel like storytelling.

The day of surgery I was allowed nothing to drink. I was allowed to rinse my mouth out with Water and mouthwash to keep from being too dry, but nothing i could swallow. The day after surgery I had a swallow test and an X-ray done to make sure i didn't have any leaks and that fluids were going where they were supposed to go. Immediately after that x-ray tech said I was good i begged for a cup of water and went to town on water, unsweetened tea and ice chips for the rest of the day.

When I started my research I was interested in the band because I thought it was a less invasive and easier to manage option. That's not true. It's still a hospital stay and is still required a pretty major surgery. I also wasn't comfortable with the port in my skin and a foreign object in my body long term. I wasn't really sure about the sleeve because it was fairly new and I didn't want parts of my stomach removed from my body. My surgeon doesn't perform the sleeve and doesn't believe there's enough long term data yet to know exactly how successful it is. The gastric bypass has been performed for decade and is the gold standard in weight loss surgery. While it seemed a bit more extreme than the band I was originally interested in, I did a little soul searching and realized that in spite of potential complications and in spite of the potential for malabsorption and not being able to tolerate certain foods, it was the best option for me. Maybe not being able to eat whatever I want is a good thing. Being able to eat what I wanted in any amount is what led to my obesity to begin with. Taking vitamins sucks but it helps me establish routine. I wake up and take the same vitamins at the same time throughout the day and I keep track of how much I eat and drink all day. I wouldn't ever do that if I didn't HAVE to. Do your homework. Write down pros and cons. Really self analyze what your pitfall is when it comes to your weight and diet and exercise and see which surgery and subsequent program seems to be the best fit for you. Sleeve patients love their sleeve, bandits love their band and bypassers love our pouches. You have to kind of determine on your own and with your doctor which one you think will be best. Every body is different.

I'm 28. I had gastric bypass on 4/6 and so far I'm doing great. Im down 18 lbs since surgery (47 lbs overall). I haven't had any bad reactions to any foods I've tried but my eating is pretty limited to a list of acceptable folds my doctor gave me. I am having a difficult time getting my liquids in everyday and some days I am beyond tired and feel like I'm struggling to get things done. My doctor said the fatigue periods should end after 6-8 weeks post op. Right now I'm just doing the best I can and going through the motions of healing and relearning how to eat and drink again. Everything's so different but so far, not at all in a bad way.

I was on what my doctor calls a "liver shrinking diet" up until 2 weeks before my surgery. Basically it was Protein and veggies only. No fruit, dairy, starches or grains. Two weeks before surgery I was on a 100% liquid diet which continued for a week after surgery and then I was moved to soft foods. My doctor doesn't do this to lower BMI or to make you lose a specific amount of weight. It's to decrease the size of your liver so that it's not in the way during surgery. Obviously since it's so restrictive you'll definitely lose weight, but she doesn't set a specific number.

I registered with them and they told me I was approved. But I haven't gotten anything since.

I wasn't comfortable with the idea of a foreign object in my body on a long term basis. The sleeve I wasn't sure about because of how new it is and I wasn't really comfortable with the removal of parts vs the "rerouting" of parts. I'm a recent bypass patient myself.