RetroGirl

Yes, I did it! I'm 211.

Thank you for the challenge.

Sorry I'm late. My Monday weight was 215.

Sorry I'm late. My Monday weight was 215.

217 this week.

Not that great, but I did reach the 35 BMI, which is kinda cool.

Well this wasn't a great week.

I'm 219, meaning I only lost 1 pound.

What part of Poland are you from? I was in Krakow last year for work. Wonderful beautiful place. Was the idiot from England? Those hooligans were a plague when I was there.

No, the guy was actually Polish. I suppose he might have even grown in to a decent man... Never date a guy in his early twenties, I guess.

I'm from Warsaw, for some reason we're not experiencing the British plague here. I guess vomiting and pissing in public is only fun in Cracow.

When I was 22 I went on a date with a pretty cool guy whom I met at a party. We had a coffee that turned to be wine and after that we went for a walk for about an hour. It was freezing and started snowing, so I invited him over to my place – nothing more intended. The date was actually going well, he seemed interested and I was enjoying the night. Until…

We got to my place and after 10 minutes my flatmate (male) came home. It turned out they were good friends in middle school and they immediately started to act like they were still 12 or 13… Suddenly it seemed I was no longer in the room –the guys were just having their bro-get-together, laughing like pigs/ wild donkeys. I sat there for about 30-40 minutes (I spent the first 5 minutes kicking my clueless friend under the table) and got bored to death, so I actually laid down on the couch and fell asleep from the winter wine combination.The guys got drunk and judging by the sounds they both threw up all the beer they had plus some internal organs and a few pieces of soul. Disgusting. I almost tripped over one of them in the dark when I woke up in the middle of the night to get some Water.

Anyway, I met the guy couple of days later and he said something like ‘Oh I had a great time’. I laughed.

220 this morning.

I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that although there are people with faster and with slower metabolism, and although it's harder to maintain the weight if you used to be overweight, most people who are thin just don't eat as much and/or they exercise.

Of course when someone slim tells me 'I've just eaten two donuts' my first thought is exactly the same as your. But I must honestly and unwillingly admit that I didn't get obese by eating one donut per day - I overate in terms of calories and portions every single day, and I could easily stuff myself with 3-4 donuts a time. I know not everyone works out and watches the food intake, but still... I'm pretty sure they don't binge like I use to.

I'm glad I live in a country where Halloween is not a thing. My first challenge will be Christmas.

Good luck with the recipes!

How important do you think it is that I have a perfect or at least, flat tummy?

It's only as important as you make it.

I can relate since I'm worried about how my skin will look in a couple months, but seriously... Being overweight/obese used to stop me from doing so many things I wanted, I'm not letting myself think like that anymore, and I'm certainly not going to wait until my body is 'perfect', because that won't happen. Ever.

227 this morning.

It seems like my scale knows that I log my weight on Monday. During the week there is barely any loss, and than there's usually 2 pounds Sunday-Monday.

I may be delusional, but I've eaten out a few times and no one seems to notice. I eat slowly, say I'm doing low carb (true!) so I skip the bread and potatoes, order fish, and take some home. For example, tonight we went out for Greek food. I had most of piece of saganaki, a tbsp. of hummus (no pita) and ordered a shrimp appetizer dish. Ate two shrimp, brought the rest home. Everyone was so busy eating and talking no one noticed what I ate.

I think it really depends on the person... Some people are more nosy than others. In my case eating out wasn't an option because I was very early on and my diet plan didn't give me many options, not to say almost any.

You are right though, in the restaurant everyone is pretty much busy with their own meal. But once they invite you to their place, they usually pay more attention and it's harder to hide.

I had one binging session 3 months prior to the surgery, when I was on my NUT eating plan. Next day I felt horrible about it and decided there is no way I would do that again, because I didn't want to feel bad about anything related to what I hoped to be the best decision in my life.

From that point I sticked to my pre-op diet and now I feel the same about the post-op one.

My weight this morning 230 lbs.

Oh I did the exact same thing. And it wasn't easy, because apparently no two items that have a label suggesting they are the same size are ACTUALLY the same size. It's also a little confusing since it's not my usual organizational system for the closet.

One thing I'm a bit worried about tough is I'm pretty sure I will throw out a lot of the clothes I have. My style has changed so much since I was able to wear them couple years ago. Maybe I'll alter some of them - suddenly learning how to saw seems like the best financial decision I made in my life!

Thank you for that post.

One thing I would add is if your weight loss has slowed down, but you're still losing, it's not a stall...

I haven't told my PCP, because I only see him once a year or so... I don't get sick very often. I doubt he even knows how I look.

I did tell my physical therapist and my orthopaedist.

don't tell anyone I ate. It is none of their business and short of being in a serious relationship where at some point I may be married to them, I have no intention of ever telling anyone.

I thought the same thing and I agree it's a very personal matter.

Also, I suppose people can be quite judgemental about WLS. I actually think bringing things like that up in the early stages can be a bit of a self-sabotage... When you barely no the other person some things seem like deal breakers, but once you form an emotional connection they don't really matter.

In this particular case I felt all the effort that went into keeping it secret was in the way of me having a good time.

Warning: this is more or less a variation on the never ending ‘should I tell a guy I’m dating’ & ‘how quys react to WLS’ theme, so if you are tired of that jibber jabber, move on to something else.

I’m just 1 month out. I’ve recently met a guy and although I’m not exactly into dating at the moment, we immediately hit it off. So we went on a couple of foodless, Decaf, non-alcoholic dates, and surprisingly had a lot of fun. Apart from me constantly having to come up with reasons for my unconventional dating behavior while still giving the impression of a sane person, of course.

I hate lying on dates (not that I have moral issues, it just makes me more nervous), so coming up with answers that were truthful but wouldn’t expose the fact I had WLS has been EXHAUSTING. This is just a sample dialog: ‘Does 6 pm work for you?’ ‘Can we make it 7?’ ‘That’s fine. What do you do at 6?’ ‘I’m having dinner’ ‘Couldn’t we have dinner together?’ ‘I don’t think that’s the best idea’ ‘Why, do you have celery for dinner? ’ etc.

So yesterday he invited me over and it was all going very smoothly, except he kept offering me something to drink, and I just got tired of excuses, so… I told him I recently had the surgery to help me lose weight and I was in recovery, following a special diet.

After a minute or two of what seemed to me like an awkward silence, ‘Ok. So are you allowed to have sex yet?’

Am I crazy to think out of all the answers he could have given, that one was actually pretty good?

I’ve been training white voice singing (a very distinct traditional singing style from Eastern Europe) for the last 3 years. Unfortunately since I had the surgery my diaphragm has been giving me hard time, I hope it will bounce back quickly.

I also like cooking for friends and family.

And I love salsa.

Well, in my case, I feel like I was in the 'on hold' mode most of my life. Not because I was obese (I never had mobility problems or other physical issues related to my weight), but because of how it made me feel. I always felt there were so many things I couldn't do because I was afraid of humuliation.

I think this changed for my after the accident I had 18 months ago, which caused a partial motor dysfunction of my left arm. For about a year I was postponing all my plans and focusing on full recovery, until I realised that's just ridiculous and may never happen. So I stopped caring so much about how other people would perceive me. I figured I can wait for something I have limited control over, or I can just enjoy what I have now.

I joined a salsa class (something I haven't done for 15 years). And then I had an epiphany - if I don't mind dancing with a slightly disabled arm, why the hell do I care that I'm fat? I can still swing my hips.

Ok, so this morning

CW: 233

GW: 213

I'm in!

- that my family would be pigging out so much! My mom baked a freaking cake the first day I came home! Stating it was for her bday because she was gonna stop pigging out as of this week, mind you her bday is 9/25! Then when that cake was gone, she bought a pound cake and ice cream from the store! She had el pollo loco (fast food) twice since I've been home, and purchased my fav vanilla Wafer Cookies from trader joe's! Then she asked me to pick up a dozen donuts for her this morning...yup, that really happened and I did it, just to prove to myself I can do it! But the freaking icing on the cake...she asked me or she can use MY CAR to go have Thai food at a restaurant tonight, and the whole fam went without me...I can't stand any of them right now lol its not even so much about the food, it's the lack of support. Then I realized my relationship with my mom and brother revolves around food...how are we gonna maintain this now??

I get this can be frustrating and irritating, but try not to perceive it as lack of support. Having a weight loss surgery is a huge step which changes your entire life, but your family didn't have the surgery - you did. It's great to have friends and family members who understand how hard this process is and who are willing to change their lifestyle with you, but I don't think that's the usual case.

Maybe you should just ask your family to be slightly more sensitive and understanding - explain them how you feel. Tell them you need your own kitchen cupboard and fridge shelf so you're not tempted by unhealthy meals they bring into the house. Tell them if they want to buy fast food or sweets, you would like them to pick it up themselves. When I used to diet (I was still living with my parents back then), I knew one way to make them eat healthier food was to cook it myself for all of us. That way I limited the number of temptations around me.

And most importantly, come up with some ideas for family activities that don't involve food, so you can all enjoy it and you don't feel left out. Unfortunately food is a huge part of social and family life, but it's not the only one - if you can't make them give up eating during your family time, meet them half way and get them do something where food is just one of the many things to enjoy. That way you can focus on other aspects and stiil have a great time.

I would call your doctor just to be sure he doesn't mind. Operating table is not the best place for a surprise.

Doctors are different, some are stricter than others. I know some of them don't even require the pre-op diet, just not etaing 24 hours prior to the surgery.

Another thing I didn't really expect: I think I'm growing a baby lion/bear in my stomach. The roaring and growling...