ButterflyRainbow

I do crossfit. I had rny on Feb 10 last year. I started doing crossfit in July and have never been happier. I love my new muscles and being able to do those tough wods. I never thought I would enjoy running and push ups:)

I drink weak skinny lattes made with high Protein milk. Couldn't function without them

I was told the same as jj7481. My nut said its the dehydration issue.
Also she said coffee can spur on old habits meaning if you are like me, if I have a coffee I normally will want to eat something with it (coffee and chocolate is my ultimate food combo).
My nut said I should stop at 2 cups of normal coffee a day.

At least your posting makes sense. I got on Facebook talking to my daughter a few hours after surgery. I needed supervision. ....lol

I have started going out more, went to the baseball game a few times this year, and I like going places where I can walk like out door malls or big stores like bass pro. I love that I can walk and get around easier without being winded or tired after. I walk with my daycare kiddos when the weather lets me. We walk about 2/3 of a mile on our walks. Plus right now I am about 20 pounds from goal so I am going to the gym everyday except Sunday's. I use to send me last kiddo home at 6, fix dinner and eat, then lay in bed the rest of the night because I was so tired. Now I send my last kiddo home, leave for gym, shop or run errands and by the time I get home it is 9:30-10 so I do go to bed, but now it is because I was at the gym for two hours. But I would really like to start making more friends as I really don't have any close friends because my hubby is a preacher people only get so close to you. If is just a part of the job that people don't get to close because they are afraid you are going to move on, see their faults, etc. I don't look at it that way and I wish others didn't also.

Speaking from someone who've just lost 100 lbs so far I feel different in a good way. I feel more confident, and attractive again. I now take pride in what I wear and I'm getting comfortable in the skin I'm in. I used to stay to myself, depressed and isolated. I was ignored by the opposite sex and now when I go out I find heads turn again and conversations being initiated. It's an awesome feeling.

I had RNY to get healthier. It was the only reason. I had type 2 diabetes, severe Gerd, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stage 3 kidney disease and severe Migraines almost every other day.
All I cared about was extending my life so I would not die at an early age like my mom did.
Within a few weeks of my surgery many of my comorbitities were in remission and I was removed from all mess. I got well fast!
My severe migraines went from every other day to maybe 1 every 6 weeks on average. No more diabetes, stage 3 kidney disease, Gerd, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and sleep apnea. All gone!
The I started to notice how great I was starting to look. I went from a size 26 jeans to a size 12 which are now too big, I have to go shopping for 10's.
I never ever thought I would ever care about clothes shopping but once you realize you can walk into any store and buy clothes, that becomes exciting and fun. I try stuff on just because I can!
I have never regretted it for 1 second, going in for my surgery felt like Christmas morning and I am serious about that. Sure I was nervous the whole week before but mostly it was because of the change I knew was coming.
My only regret is that I did not do this 15 years ago before I did all this damage to my joints and spine.
Best of luck to you!

I'm three months out.
I had one of the rougher recoveries. I've had kidney stones from struggles to stay hydrated. I've cried over food more times in the past 10 weeks than I've cried in my life. I've been hormonal as hell. Dumping is boarder line torture.
But you know what, I wouldn't trade this for anything. Feeling normal comes back with time.
I don't have to shop in plus sizes any more.
I'm completely off all my heartburn meds.
I can actually sleep through the night now.
I ran my fastest mile ever my first day back at the gym.
People don't treat me different because of my weight anymore.
I feel more confident.
I have a new healthy relationship with food.
Being on an airplane doesn't hurt anymore or feel awkward.
Working out is actually fun now.
I can take a bath that's more Water instead of fat filling the tub.
I enjoy having people take my picture now.
It's a whole new world but I love it. Don't get me wrong, it's very very hard. But as tough as it's been i would do it again in a heartbeat cuz I'm finally enjoying the life I deserve to have. I also realized we have similar starting stats. I'm 5'6, was 257 at my highest recorded weight. I probably weighed more tho honestly. I got down to 235 on my surgery day. And now I'm 189 10 weeks post op.   

You should be even more scared if you weren't scared at all.
So you wanna know about regret. I think your throwing coins into a wishing well hoping they will jump back in your hand.... Not to many people will want to answer that question.
Most people don't want to give you false hope and the others don't want you running away from the surgery.
Reality is having this surgery takes a lot of self control to maintain and be successful. I can only offer my honest opinion.
I am 9 years out as of dec 6.
Was my surgery a success ? Yes
Do i regret having surgery? Some days
Have i had any regain ? Yes
Was it hard to deal with the skinny body ? Yes, this was a very emotional thing for me personally because i felt i was happy at a heavier weight and honestly i probably would have never had the surgery but i wanted to eliminate my diabetes. Unfortunately i still have it but it is so much easier to control after the surgery.
Do i sometimes wish i would have just exercised and dieted harder instead of surgery? Absolutely
At the end of the day do i regret my lifestyle change ? ABSOLUTELY NOT, I am so much healthier now. I have self inspired motivation now.
I hope i helped and i wish you luck.

I am 4 months out and have a small cup every day. No problems whatsoever and my doc said it was fine. I use a splash of creamer and am very happy.

It is great to plan ahead, but I wouldn't agonize over it.
How far out after surgery are you? Is it a catered party? Is it potluck? Will it be a sit-down meal or heavy h'ourderve's (it figures autocorrect has nothing when I really need help with spelling on the fly).
Talk to whoever is planning the party and see what is on the menu. It may not be too late to put in a special request if there isn't anything you can have. If it's a potluck, take something you know you can eat.
Focus on eating Protein (turkey, cheese, etc.) are fairly common during the holidays.
In a pinch, take a Protein Bar or other snack that you can have in your purse just in case. Eat ahead of time, too if you are unsure. That way you won't be starving when you get there.
Most of all, have fun and enjoy yourself.

@jhammer2 It's a slippery slope, so just say "No" to cheat days! Instead, find alternatives to the foods you want to "cheat" with and you'll have a Win/Win situation. Here's one example ... I love pizza and life without it just seemed like it would be dreadful. Instead, I searched and researched and found a recipe that I tweaked to my own taste and voila - I get to eat pizza! It's bariatric friendly of course (the crust is made out of ground chicken breast) but it tastes super delicious. I now but the 3 lb. container of Perdue ground chicken breast so I can make 19 individual crusts at one time. They freeze beautifully and then I can have pizza within minutes. The cost, breaks down to about 60 cents per crust. I have other recipes for quiche, cheese cracker crisps, pudding and frozen yogurt bars. Let me know if you'd like any of them and I'll gladly share.

Go buy a lot of sweaters because you are going to need them. The feeling cold started about 1 week preop during my liquid diet and has gotten worse. I am 6 months postop. My Iron level is fine. All of my levels for that matter. I sleep with flannel sheets and a heavy blanket every night. My poor husband. I wear boots because they at least keep my feet warm. I live in Houston so the a/c is on everywhere still. It hasn't even gotten close to cold outside and I am a little scared. Luckily the number of hot days outnumber the cold days here.

The same thing happened to me and it will pass.... It's like the scale knows and there's a speed bump on 200 - in fact, I've found that every 10lb interval is a hurdle with that imaginary bump at 90, 80 , 70 and so on . Stick to the plan and you'll get there! Good luck and enjoy ONEderland

Thanks everyone! I worked out for 30 minutes this morning, and have been eating nothing but Protein and Water. I weighed myself an hour ago for curiosity and I hit wonderland! Finally lol after 7 years. Now I'm not looking back and I have to keep maintaining progress

My reward will be either going to Hawaii or taking a cruise. ????

Mine will be having some plastics done after a stabilization period.

So... I'm overweight. I am no longer obese. It's so weird. I have been obese for over half my life. To see that "overweight" BMI was sort of a shock to me. It's weird how the little things surprise me so much. Like the other day I bought a medium shirt. A freaking Medium. I always buy XL. Or how I fit more comfortably in the bathtub. Or wearing boots outside of my jeans. Or.... well there are so many. I just love life today

I have 4 kids and a husband that I cook for. I was worried about this too before my surgery. Right after surgery when you're in the liquid stages and the soft pureed foods, I didn't really eat anything my family ate. Once I was able to eat regular foods, I just made the decision that even though none of them need to lose weight, they all need to be healthy. I try to cook mostly healthy meals for them and I make sure there is some part of the meal that I can eat. If I make Pasta, I make sure there is a vegetable or salad and Protein with it. Then, I can eat the protein and veggies and just not eat the pasta. They have also been introduced to spaghetti squash instead of noodles. I'll make a beef stew and just won't eat the potatoes or I'll make it with sweet potatoes. They haven't complained and they are getting much healthier meals than they got before my surgery.

I somewhat disagree. This is by no means easy! But at the same time, I realized yesterday while getting full enough after two ounces of salmon and 1 cup of salad that I could not have stopped before I was sleeved. Thank goodness for my sleeve! Thank goodness for the restriction! Thank goodness for this opportunity to change my eating habits! Thank goodness for the easy way that I can push away from the table and stop eating! Thank goodness for the disappearance of cravings that haunted me prior to the sleeve. Thank goodness for the physical dumping and need to stay home from work the next day because I ate something I shouldn't and the fear of that haunted me the next time I considered it. For these reasons it is easier. And for so many other reasons like the learning curve and The pain of getting my body going after 30 years of laziness!
I love my sleeve for all the easy and hard reasons.

Came across this article on FB today. It was exactly what I needed to see. I've gotten comfortable with the fact that I can still indulge in small amounts and not see any weight gain or experience dumping. Well, that's NOT a good thing for someone like me, because it will simply continue and then eventually I will see regain. I don't want to waste all the hard work I have put in and everything I've endured to take my health back into my own hands.
Having said that, some parts of this surgery might strike chords. Please remember that I didn't write it LOL so don't attack me if something makes you feel some type of way, especially that last header/paragraph. That's a sentence we all probably will take issue with, but please try to keep things in context...
http://www.bariatriceating.com/2015/05/not-what-you-want-to-hear-bariatric-nos/
Don’t eat bread! That latte has 35g sugar! No macaroni salad. NO tortillas. No rice.
It won’t last without change
There is no delicate way to say this. We have always set ourselves apart from other bariatric groups in that we don’t look the other way while post ops continue to eat the bad carbs. We try and bring them back to the bariatric reality. We coax you to knock off the Pasta, rice, tortillas or bread and often people get mad or try and justify it. For years we’ve watched people blow through this surgery and they all have the same story. Everyone thinks they are ‘Different’, that they can handle the bad carbs and the sugar (they don’t get sick!) and ‘because they have lost 100 pounds in 7 months they must be doing something right’.
The first hundred pounds is the surgery
Hate to keep making the same point, but your surgery did it, not you. Remember that you are not driving the car for the first year. Eating the same foods that grew you to 300 pounds, but in smaller amounts is not a good long term plan as eventually you will be able to eat larger portions. Ask yourself why eating the same bad carbs would be a good plan. No doctor has advised you to eat the same way post op as you did pre op. Post ops pick this up somewhere, latch on to it and defend it, often to the bitter end of a total regain.
No one fights for broccoli carbs!
It’s not that the bagel will kill you, it’s that these carbs make you hungry. They rapidly turn to glucose and burn… poof, gone, #Lookingformore. They don’t give you any nutrients. They don’t create a feeling of satiety or lasting fullness. The empty carbs work against what you are trying to achieve. If you were arguing for eating salad or green bean carbs, more power to you… but people are trying to hang on to foods without value. If this big argument was for VEGETABLES… well it wouldn’t be a debate as vegetables didn’t make us fat, it was those ‘other’ carbs. Did you ever meet an obese vegetarian and wonder ‘HUH?’… how’d they get obese if they are vegetarian? Same deal… its not the vegetables, its the other stuff… the carbs… the potatoes, bread, macaroni, rice, tortillas and sugar!
Square peg… round hole
Stop looking for slightly better substitutes for bad choices and find new healthier foods to love instead. We keep trying to force that square peg into that round hole. Stop EATING crackers and chips… don’t find ones that you can justify because they have fewer carbs. Enough with the terrible fishy Shirataki tofu noodles. Learn to live without bread and Pasta so it will not call your name. We aren’t changing the behavior or trend if we continue eating them, just slightly shifting it. Before long you’ve got your hand back in the Doritos bag & fork in the Mac and cheese.
Look It’s Protein Cheesecake!
Don’t add Protein to muffins and convince yourself they’re good for you. Stop with the Starbucks Creme Brûlée Lattes because ‘they’re your one indulgence’; they have 500 calories and thin people don’t even drink them. Stay the heck out of Wendy’s. I read an article the other day touting all the ‘good choices’ in fast food restaurants. How about stay out of them. That’s the best choice of all! Why go to the place where you know there is danger. Before you know it, oops… there are fries in your bag!
You know people gain back weight, right?
In our first month of new Facebook Support group I have cried for new members who have gained back all their weight. I am not immune either after fourteen years, three bariatric books and knowing better. When life hit the fan, I comforted my bruises in the way I knew best and it has taken me ten months to lose fifty pounds of it. People are having revisions, a lovely sounding word for a second serious body damaging operation. What will change? Unless there is major change along with that new surgery, won’t it have the same result?
Step away from the bagel!
Own that there was and maybe still is something wrong with your food picker! Use surgery as an opportunity to change, not cheat. I used be bothered by the ‘word on the street’ that we were the carb or food police, but am now proud of it. If you want to promote the virtues of Everything in Moderation while eating half a Subway, there are plenty of groups that will help you do it. If you want to eat right and learn new behaviors to make the feeling of slipping on those skinny jeans last… we have a support group that’s a healthier fit.
Bariatric Surgery IS the easy way out
It’s a personal food cop that is always with us, that helps us push away from the table. We make it hard when we don’t live by the bariatric rules we’ve been given. There is nothing harder then gaining weight back after surgery. There is nothing better than losing it a second time. Control is empowering.
If you need to pick up and start losing again… If you need to work off a regain… it’s not too late and your pouch works just fine if you choose the right foods. Clean those lethal carbs from your life and go back to Bariatric Eating – protein first and lots of fresh salad and vegetables. We’ve got the support for you to make that change!

The scale can drive you absolutely crazy if you let it. I put mine in my linen closet and am only allowed to take it out Sunday mornings, this week I lost 1 whole pound, so the damn scale will stay in the closet for 2 weeks. I look at it as this is my journey, not the damn scales and I Will not let it discourage me any more than I Would allow a person to discourage me, so if it has nothing positive to report, then I Will punish it to the closet until I feel it will give me positive results.

@@ButterflyRainbow
The hair loss issue is a shock that is hard to prepare yourself for. I started losing mine immediately (with 8 weeks post op). I started losing what I thought to be a lot. Then at 4 months my hair started coming out to the point where it scared the heck out of me.
I am now 10 months post op and yes, it Is still coming out however it is not as bad as it was a month ago.
I was lucky enough to start with a very thick head of course hair. I have lost 3/4 of it. At 6 months I cut it in a short bob. It looked much better than before. I have been taking Biotin since the beginning and have lots and lots of new growth.
Here is the thing, I am 52 years old and of course very grey but I have my hair tinted each month. My Hair growth is still what it was before. I can tell because the roots grow about 1/2 inch every 4 weeks. I call it the skunk look. LOL. My hair has not stopped growing.
Your hair will continue to grow long, it will just shed and new hair will come in. Obviously when your hair is longer it is more noticeable, especially to you! The only people who have noticed is my husband and stylist.
Try not to woody about it growing back if you cut it short. It will.

I guarantee its not as noticeable to others as it is to you. Mine came back and It's full and as healthy as it was before. You'll be able to wear it as long as you want!--Lisa

@@goodnuff, you're welcome. I'd been hearing that docs were making pouches bigger than previously to help with complications for which I am grateful no doubt, but I wanted to see numbers closer to my cohort and I just wasn't until now. I have not changed exercising, but what did happen with the loss of appetite was that I stopped snacking COMPLETELY. I know a lot of folks on here abide by snacking, and coolers and having all kinds of food on hand but for someone with a tendency to overeat, it just triggers grazing which is a bad habit to break and always comes with some sort of unnecessary justification. I think that made the difference for me actually allowing myself to get lost in something and feeling hunger. It takes awhile but it can happen.