OutsideMatchInside

I have all of the feelings you have, but I have to remind myself that thin people have some of these same feelings. Everyone feels fat trying on jeans, lol. When I started wearing regular sizes and shopping in regular stores and hearing other women talk to each other about clothes and sizes I realized a lot of the things I was feeling other people were feeling too. that helps. The loose skin I have makes me feel fat, well more accurately, it reminds me of how fat I let myself become in the past. It is a constant reminder of my past mistakes and something I can't really hide. I also had to realize that even with plastic surgery I am never going to have the body of a person that wasn't as fat as I was. My body is always going to be different because of my previous weight. Realizing that, made me not feel so desperate for skin surgery. I really have to learn to be comfortable with myself and forgive myself for my past mistakes. It is a long process.

Stalls can be hard to accept. I just try to think like I am my body. My body was used to being in a certain weight range for a long time. Then I made a change. It went along with it for a while, then it said nope, I'm tired I quit. If I keep doing the same things it has no choice but to change. What we are doing is a shock to most of our bodies and they are trying to fight back. This is going to be a life long thing unfortunately for most of us, maintain this weight so there isn't really a rush. Last year I felt a rush because I really wanted skin surgery, I got over those issues, and now I am in no rush. I am really glad I didn't rush to skin surgery because a year later my body looks better without plastic surgery than a lot of people look post-op. You can't complain about this to non WLS people because they just feel like you should be happy to be X, and they don't really understand the frustration and pressure. At least I personally feel a lot of pressure to be successful because this cost so much money and time, and also my friend helped me by coming to be with me for surgery and I feel like if I fail I let everyone down. Just keep doing what you are doing the weight will come off. You are also probably still dealing with water retention and swelling from your skin removal, it takes 6 months to heal. Relax and keep going.

@hillnicole34 The site also changed a lot once the app became popular. None of the other WLS forums have working apps, so this one has the most traffic, which is good and terrible.

Short story, everyone got banned/left. This is just a shell of what the site was when I started. A lot of the knowledge and experience is just gone.

You regained on 4 to 6 ounces lean dense protein per meal? Like I already stated. I can eat tons of junk if I choose to. If eat what I am supposed to, my capacity is the same. That is not a stretched sleeve. I can't blame poor food choices on my sleeve, that is my fault.

@Aginn10 MY tastebuds have not changed at all. I also gave up soda like 2 years before surgery, and it took me a really long time to do it, so I am pretty dedicated to not drinking soda. The only time I have something carbonated is with alcohol, but I don't really drink. I gave up alcohol a few years before surgery also. I did both in an effort to lose weight and be healthy, I wasn't thinking about WLS at the time. When I gave up sugar, alcohol and soda and still wasn't losing weight in large numbers that is one of the things that pushed me to surgery. Taste has nothing to do with not having it, carbonation just involves things that don't benefit me or my goals. If I am going to drink alcohol I have to change my macros and calories for 2 days, it isn't worth wasting the calories on alcohol I could spend on pork chops. I think of my calories as currency, alcohol is a poor value compared to meat. I love food, I'm a foodie. I eat lots of great and interesting stuff. I just refuse to waste calories. I was food snob before and I am more of a food snob now. I was a picky eater before, no leftovers, food has to be piping hot, my food can't touch. Tastebuds are unchanged. Lifestyle is changed.

You might want to try different temps of water like Rainbow suggested. I couldn't tolerate cold water. My water had to be room temp or warm. I don't suggest adding fruit to your water. If you have to add flavoring get sugar free water drops. Sip on water all day, when you are on liquids you can drink all day, no need to wait before or after "meals" As you heal you are able to drink more water faster. By one year I was drinking at close to a normal rate, now I can drink like someone that didn't have surgery. I just had 16 ounces of water in shot just now as I took my morning vitamins.

You can click on his name and see his activity. Like most people that post here and cause a ton of drama, he never came back.

Actually losing weight is the easy part, maintenance is the hardest thing.

A pound of feathers weighs the same as a pound of rocks. A pound is a pound. Density and volume are different. @NYCDreamer It is pretty normal to stall and for an extended period of time. I had a stall like that, I thought I was done losing. In that time I dropped 2 sizes, then I started dropping weight again and lost like another 30 pounds. If you have been losing steady all this time, your body is just probably taking a break.

THIS How much a person can eat prior to 6 months is not their real size or restriction. You are not healed until 6 months post-op. That is your real restriction. My first soft food was scrambled eggs. I had 2 bites and was done. That was not my real restriction or capacity. One scrambled eggs are gross and I never eat them, I was forcing myself because they were on my list. Also they hurt like hell because my sleeve was swollen. 4 ounces of dense protein is supposed to be our capacity. It also happens to be the proper serving size of protein that EVERYONE, not just WLS patients are supposed to be eating. There is no stretching of a properly formed sleeve. Just possible bad surgeons and poor food choices and eating habits. As far as sliders, in addition to whatever the other posters have said. You can make anything a slider by drinking and eating at the same time, even steak.

I was going to post that I would have gone nuts on soft foods for months, but I realized that I was basically on soft foods that long. I ate soft baked fish for basically the first 6 months. Anyway my only luck with unflavored protein powder was in broth, other than that it is terrible.

It depends on how carbonated it is. I waited until over a year post op. Fountain drinks, okay, poured out of a container and allowed to sit a little, okay. I would never drink straight from a can or a bottle. It doesn't bother me and I have had carbonation less than 5 times. It doesn't interest me. It doesn't hurt but it isn't exactly pleasant either depending on the level.

I have never in my life been as aware of my stomach, and the location of it until the past 2 years. It takes getting used to, but I still feel every bite and every drink.

@makemyownluck OP started with a BMI of 70, she has plenty of muscle in her legs just from carrying that weight. She is still at a BMI of 52, she needs to drop the excess fat to get the results. OP is still at a higher point than most people even start at. Telling her to try and add muscle for definition is useless. You can't see muscles under layers of fat. Plus she wants smaller legs, she can only get there by losing more weight. That is going to help with her arthritis. I have arthritis in my knee, once I got under 220, not one pain, no matter how much I walk. No aches with the rain, nothing, it is like it never even happened. The solution to most problems is lose more weight.

I mean no one has to be sitting in a 3 piece suit around the house. Still it doesn't hurt to have something on with a firm waist band. Like Jeans or khakis. Even my leggings from Fabletics have a firm waistband. Clothes that are completely stretchy are terrible for showing weight loss because you can wear them forever without needing to change sizes so it doesn't FEEL like you are making progress and they are terrible to maintenance because you can eat a on in them and easily gain. I don't expect everyone to agree on this or even share my opinion, but there are lots of people that read here that do no post, so it might help someone else. I changed my whole lifestyle and outlook to match and support a healthy lifestyle. There are lots of little things we can do to keep us mindful.

I bookmarked your site, lots of great recipes. Thanks for posting!

If you are on the website you can just scroll down to the very bottom and and it is on the right. On the app, no idea.

I can't wait to try this! No one ever post recipes I like! Thank you so much. I am going to make this soon.

That is exactly how I got massive. I work from home. I can wear whatever I want. Sitting around all day in lounge clothes and only getting dressed in normal clothes every once in a while allowed me to easily balloon in size and not notice it. You said you are weighing yourself so it shouldn't be an issue for you, but I am just telling my story. I weigh myself and keep accountability in my clothes. I also started getting dressed every day for work, even though I am in the house alone. I found that I work better, I am more focused and it creates better work life balance/lines. I get up shower, and get dressed just like I am going to work, and it helps create boundaries. You are still early post-op, but you might want to make some changes for long term success, your changes might not be like my changes, but sometimes you have to change other things that seem unrelated to make WLS work in the long term. Lifestyle changes are the only way to make this easy/effective long term. I work from home and live alone, I have made a lot of lifestyle adjustments in the past 3 years to create more structure in my home work environment because it was allowing me to eat and gain weight with no stops. I can cook all my meals, which also means I can eat all day and there is no one to judge me or notice I am eating all day or making bad choices. I have no set breaks or lunches. I can basically do whatever I want because not only do I work from home, I work for myself. I don't have anyone to answer to. I was eating any time of the day, any amount. That is why I started intermittent fasting before surgery to create some boundaries on when I could eat and it helped cut my calories. As some other people said try on clothes in your closet all the time. A lot of my clothes by the time I got around to trying them on, they were too big.

Yogurt is basically a liquid if it isn't a greek yogurt. You really shouldn't be eating until full. That is a bad habit to start. Measure your portions and only eat that amount.

I'm not going to scream but your food choices are terrible. I eat Sous Vide Egg bites when I am out because they are easy, and I am usually low on calories but I am also, basically at goal. The egg white version while lower in calories is a worse choice than the bacon and gruyere version because it is higher in carbs. The carbs are exactly equal to the protein. The bacon and cheese version the protein out numbers the carbs 2 to 1. So if you need a Starbucks breakfast because, that is what is easy, get black coffee and the Bacon and Cheese version. If the egg bites aren't worth having black coffee, then don't get them. That morning drink you are making is also bad. Why not just have coffee? Or have coffee and 2 tablespoons of half and half? Half and half is only 40 calories. A cup of milk is 120. Yeah you are getting protein but it is coming with 6 grams of sugar. The "sugar free" breakfast essentials, has 12 carbs, 7 of which are sugar. Drinking that you are having 18 grams of carbs for 18 grams of protein. You could have a premier shake, less calories, more protein, less sugar. The frozen entree at lunch, just stop that. Either go out and get a burger and don't eat the bun. Bring just lunch meat, get a sandwich and just eat the meat. There are a ton of better options. I used to get Italian beef from the sandwich shop by the office and have them put it in a bowl for me with cheese. All protein and and a little fat from the cheese, and low calorie. The snack with the yogurt or the frappe. Replace that with protein. Lunch meat, grilled chicken cut into strips, quest protein chips, a protein bar, anything but what you are eating. Dinner, Just eat protein and when you finish your protein eat a Veggie. Your calories are high and so are your carbs so you are not losing. Until you get to goal, you can't eat normal just in smaller portions. You will not lose like that. People also regain eating just like that. Eventually you are going to stop being stalled and just start regaining. Plus you don't really seem like you are logging or tracking. How much spaghetti did you have? Did you portion it and weigh it on a scale first? With enough sauce it is just slider and you can eat a lot of it. If you really want to lose, you are going to have to change your food choices and tighten up your habits. You can do it, you just have to choose to.

The best way to get through stalls is to learn yourself. You can do that with tracking, and noticing trends. Like it took me months to realize I stalled/gained with my cycle each month, then dropped all that weight and more. If I let my calories dip too low, I stalled. If I let them get too high I stalled. I had to find the sweet spot. I would have never been able to do that without diligent tracking. That means tracking every single bite, and weighing all my food, and condiments on a scale.

@pumpedandready I never ate slowly and I have lost over 180 pounds. I hate cold food. I usually eat in 10 minutes or less. If you have weighed your food, eating your proper portion fast is not going to make you sick because you are not over eating. As long as you are weighing your food prior and not over eating there is no harm in eating fast. Ideally you should eat slowly but that just isn't a reality for everyone. If my food gets cold or even lukewarm, I won't eat it, so I eat faster than most people.

At 2 months your swelling should be down decently and you probably don't need to sip. Like if you needed to sip you would sip, because it would hurt. People heal at different rates and have different pain tolerance levels. I drink normally at 2 years post-op and I have been drinking normally since about year 1. I can guzzle water with the best of them. As long as you are drinking water and not calories, it doesn't matter.