OutsideMatchInside

I think an inpatient eating disorder clinic would help you a lot. Even though you had WLS these issues are just typical anorexic behavior. At a minimum you need a program, and not a just a therapist. At this point, based on what you said about your blood pressure and A1C your health is already at risk. You really need a Doctor, ASAP.

My life has changed for the better but losing weight just trades some problems for different ones. Negative: People treat me differently. I would write a dissertation about it. Shifting identity was hard to deal with (I also had a lot of other life changes in the same time period so it all piled up) Loose skin (although that is getting better/more normalized) I hate shopping. I have to try every single thing I buy on and there are too many variations in womens sizing. I used to love shopping and was a shopaholic and now I just find it annoying. I have so few clothes when I had closets of clothes, tons of shoes, and lots of beautiful winter coats Replacing every single thing that touches my body, everything from jewelry, clothing, shoes, purses, towels, to socks were too large. Positive: I fit everywhere. I don't have to think about if a chair can hold me or if I can slide in a booth. Airplane seats are comfortable I have boundless energy. Sleeping is just basically an annoyance to me I sleep deeply, and wake up entirely refreshed, and I need very little sleep I can keep up with everyone else and lead, being active on vacations I am outdoors more, which I love My lap dog has a lot more lap to work with Everything I own that touches my body is new I have to shop all the time because I am still constantly changing and need things i enjoy time with people so much more because I am less focused on food (dinner is about the companionship not the food) People treat me differently

The only regret I have from my honeymoon period is I started dating at 3 months which was a waste of time but it did not have a negative impact on my WL. It was just a bad choice overall. I wish I had started with DEXA scans and RMR testing earlier but honestly when I was in the 300s I would not have fit on the table. I barely fit when I started in the 200s. I feel like I knocked the food and tracking part out because it helped me change my relationship with food and it made post-op life easy mode. As a super morbidly obese person, I did not need to add any lean mass. I already had more lean mass than most people (still do ) so my only concern was losing fat while keeping my lean mass, which I did by exceeding my Dr protein goals and keeping my protein at 90 or above from day 2. I am in the 120-130 grams of protein a day range right now. Working with a sports medicine team for my nutrition and fitness I think had yielded better results for me than following a WLS post-op plan, but that is a personal choice. Oh I forgot at like 5 months I slowed my weight loss down on purpose because the month before I had lost like 20 pounds really fast, it happened all in like 10 days and it scared the hell out of me. That was a mistake, I should have just kept going the same way I was but, it was a lesson I needed to learn. I don't think there is any losing too fast, it is better to let your body peel the weight off at the pace it wants. Your body is more in control than you are. It will take a break when it needs to, you don't have to build one.

There are a lot of different ways to intermittent fast. I keep it simple with 16:8 Just because it is suitable to my lifestyle. All intermittent fasting does is help you keep your calories controlled. It also teaches discipline. I think one meal a day is a very bad bad idea for recovering food addicts. It basically enforces binging. WLS patients can never get their protein goals with one meal. A lot of the best that used to post here did 5:2 fasting in maintenance. I think fasting is great and having a sleeve makes it super easy but 16:8, 5:2 are better options for WLS patients than some of the other extremes.

You are asking a question that you already know the answer to and you have already answered it in your post. You can drink with no effects so you are drinking as much as you want. You know that is counter productive to weight loss. Stop drinking, until you are at goal. If you can't stop, seek help.

I'm going to be honest with you. You are super morbidly obese. Your chances of losing weight and keeping it off 5 years is less than 5%. When someone gets super morbidly obese (my start BMI was 60/61), it is basically impossible to lose weight. It is not normal for a body to get that heavy. Once your body does get to that weight it will defend that weight. The best option for resetting your body is WLS. You can waste your youth and time trying to lose weight on your own, but it is very unlikely you will be successful and in the meantime you are going to miss out on travel and professional opportunities. WLS is about more than just dieting. It resets your metabolism and sets off a chain of metabolic changes in the body that you will never get with diet and exercise. WLS patients hate when people say WLS is the easy way out. It might not be the easy way out, but it is the easiest you are ever going to lose weight if you work with it instead of against it. You are doing so much damage to your body every single day at the weight you are at, you really don't have the luxury of trying to lose weight on your own. It would be better to have WLS and get the excess weight off as fast as possible as soon as possible. I suggest you find a therapist and stat working with one. The last year of college is stressful and when you don't have food as a coping mechanism, you might experience some issue. The best defense is a good offense so start with therapy now, so you have fewer issues later on. Good Luck @d6g007

If going to the gym is going to make you miserable. Don't go. I was burning like an extra 500-1000 calories last year just playing Pokemon and walking to hatch my eggs. There are lots of ways to exercise and be active. Going to the gym is just a way to mimic being active in a way that people used to naturally be active. Going to work out in a gym is a relatively new concept in human history. Most people were active enough in their daily life (and their portions were in control) that they did not work out formally. If you can't trust yourself to work out on your own and you need structure. I suggest finding a Crossfit Gym. The classes are basically small group personal training. The exercises are tailored to your ability, as you get stronger and fitter, you adjust. At the Cross Fit gym near my home, there are ladies in their 70s and super ripped guys (the reason I go ), and then everyone in between. I hate being indoors so gyms aren't for me. the only way I tolerate Cross Fit is because most of the time the doors (think like garage doors) are open. At home I do weights and yoga on my deck and I walk in the park and in my neighborhood. Now that is is summer, I kayak and ride my bicycle. I think the whole idea you have to go to a gym holds a lot of people back from being active.

I started dating at about 3 months post-op. I was already dating before surgery. I took a break for surgery and then start again at the 3 months mark. Vets that posted here at the time said wait till the 1 year mark. My hormones wouldn't allow me to adhere to that advice. I wish I would have waited until 1 year. It mainly has to do with just being used to your sleeve and being able to easily navigate food and other situations. At the 1 year mark, you are basically a normal person with few special needs. It is just all around easier. All the questions that people asking about telling about their surgery, if people wait till the 1 year mark, almost all of the issues are resolved. A person can eat close to normal amounts of food, enough that what you eat doesn't stand out. At 1 year, people should be used to their sleeve, what it tolerates, how much they can eat and easily able to make good selections. so instead of feeling like you need to disclose your personal medical information to a stranger, you can get to know them and tell them if they are going to be around. Like James said, the weight loss phase is pretty short. Might as well maximize it with as few distractions as possible.

I don't drink often but when I do I just drink hard liquor on the rocks or with water. I have never been a beer or wine drinker really. I will have a few sips of wine with a meal if it compliments the meal. My alcohol tolerance is exactly the same. Insanely high. I couldn't get drunk if I tried.

How you brew coffee and how the beans are roasted totally affect the acidity. French Roast is low acid because of how the beans are roasted. Cold Brew and French Press brewing are low acid. Espresso is low acid. When you get into the various kind of drip coffee makers, there comes your acidity. I had to stop using my Verismo and drink cold brew at first. Then I switched to my french press. I still use my Verismo, but I limit myself to one cup a day or I just use it for Espresso. I can tell the difference in acidity as soon as I take a sip. I don't have acid issues, but I also don't push it.

@sc09 i drink 8 to 10 cups of coffee a day so I am definitely not anti coffee or anti-caffeine. I discussed it with my Dr though.

I think most Chai Tea is high in sugar. I would be more worried about the calories and sugar than the caffeine. You could get the chai tea from trader joes, and make your own. http://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/spiced-chai Like Big Viffer said, ask your Dr.

If you aren't close to them, why tell them? Do you share all your other medical decisions with them? This kind of stuff shouldn't even be discussed in the workplace anyway.

BCBS does everything electronic, once submitted, less than 5 business days

Surgery is inexpensive and if you have good credit, financing surgery is pretty easy. I would rather save than finance. It wouldn't take me long to get the money together if I was dedicated to it, 2 to 3 months. WLS patients come from many different walks of life and a wide variety of age groups. Surgery in most Latin countries is about 1/2 what it costs in the US, even with travel. The one reason I would go out of the country is because of the recovery houses, since you need help doing things and I live alone. I could have a friend with me, but I don't even want my friends seeing me sliced and diced like that.

Ohh it doesn't show as spoilers on the webpage. It tell you that you have people blocked. I don't use the app.

I wouldn't put off the sleeve for the marathon. If you are already in decent shape, then your recovery should be pretty easy. You can only walk/jog really for the first 6 weeks of recovery, then you can do more. You will probably have to find a way to up your calories to work out, which might mean extra protein shakes. So even if you had surgery early to mid august, you should be fine for C25K, because it is easy, the rest of it, the issue is going to be getting enough calories in to fuel long runs.

I mean if you have the sleeve now, you would probably be okay to start training by the end of august. C25K is pretty easy, by the time it gets semi hard, its the end. I don't know your weight but I wouldn't run extremely over weight. You are just damaging your joints and risking injury. Your health is more important than a half marathon, there will always be marathons. http://www.health.harvard.edu/pain/why-weight-matters-when-it-comes-to-joint-pain http://www.menshealth.com/health/biggest-running-myth-debunked I'm not saying don't run, but losing some weight before can only help you.

I'm glad you went to the ER. Stay chill

Track as you eat, using an app on your phone Eat the same things, then you already know their nutrition and you aren't searching all the time Check resturants and get the nutrition information from their website I track everything metric (grams, ml) because it is easier to break it up At home when you have a scale, learn to use the tare feature. Example, I'm making a salad, I put the bowl on, zero out the weight, add the salad greens, track it, then zero out the weight, add the dressing, track it, zero out the weight, add grated parm, track it zero out the weight. You can think like that with recipes too. Like if I make an omelette I don't make that a recipe, I just weigh each thing and track each thing in the app. I used to make a lot of recipes but its pointless because I cook from the top of my head not with a real recipe so its different every time. The main thing is to make it a habit. So it is like second nature. It is easy to do early on because your diet is not varied. If you make the habit easy you can keep it later on.

You can get back on track but it won't be easy. You are going to have to motivate yourself. I lost most of my weight the first year but I still lost in the 2nd year and that is even with not being as strict and not having as much to lose. I start out near where you started. I lost around 129 pounds my first year and then another 40 or so over the last 12 months not really trying that hard. So you can definitely lose, you just have to want to. Your tool is still there, you just have to get back to dense protein and you can do it.

Nutritionist are worthless. They are the grifters of the medical field.

No idea why they shows as spoilers. I didn't even know we had a spoilers option on this forum My grandmother and her friends always said to wear girdles, not only did it hold you in but it prevented you from over eating. That is totally true. Anything tight sitting on my torso makes it hard for me to eat. Tight new bra, and/or shapewear is a no no if i want to eat 4 ounces. I can probably eat 2 comfortably.

I didn't have months leading up to surgery, I had been working on improving my health and losing weight for about 2-3 years before surgery. Then I moved and had to get a new Dr. This Dr did a complete workup on my and my health was just tanking. My weight wasn't going anywhere, I was developing high blood pressure in addition to the diabetes I already had. My heart was enlarged and acting abnormally (that is genetic but the weight was not helping). All of this before the age of 40. Those are all old people problems. My grandparents didn't have blood pressure issues until their 70s. No one in my family is diabetic. I come from a family of slim athletic people. All my issues boiled down to my life choices. I decided enough was enough. Surgery was my last ditch effort to improve my health. I felt like I was dying slowly anyway, and I felt the worse outcome I could have with surgery would be a faster death. I felt like I had absolutely nothing to lose. The process to get qualified for surgery because of my heart went all the way from EKG to Cardiac Cath. No one my age should have been undergoing a Cardiac Cath. The fact it was happening to me just because I was basically crushing my heart with fat was just too much. Signing those waiver forms was a pretty frightening experience. So no after that I had no fears. I also didn't have months to wait for surgery. I went from first visit to surgery in 8 weeks. I saw my new Dr for the first time in early April. Attended a bariatric seminar at the end of April. Saw the Surgeon the first time mid May, had surgery mid July. Once I decided that was the path I was on I rushed and made it go as fast as possible. If I didn't have insurance I would have self paid at that point to make it happen quickly. Post-op early on I had moments of doubt because I had low carb dieted before, lost weight but plateaued. I had moments of doubt that this would be no different. The difference is there is no quitting your diet post-op. When you stall out and are frustrated there is no ordering a large pizza and downing it with a 2 liter (even though people that post here still manage to do it). You are just kind of stuck eating the same, so you work through plateaus and you keep losing. Even by the time I had my first stall though, my health had improved so much, it was already well worth it.