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lilbeanie

Gastric Sleeve Patients
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Posts posted by lilbeanie

  2. Posted · Edited by lilbeanie

    @@lilbeanie We had surgery on the same day! I'm not losing nearly as much as I was. AND... I see new growth along the hairline. I have gone to a chin length layered cut. It has some natural wave, which keeps me from looking too scalpy. I try to only Shampoo every other day, but I usually wake up the second day looking a bit witchy. I spray it with a leave in conditioner and scrunch it. That helps.

    @@RILEYSMOM22 That's so interesting - looks like we not only had the same surgery date, but the same starting weight as well! True surgery twins, lol :)

    For second day hair, using a dry shampoo works wonders. One of my personal favorites is the Klorane Dry Shampoo. They have a tinted version if your hair is darker. Dry shampoos are also great to give some volume as well, which is definitely beneficial for anyone who's really feeling like they lost a lot of hair!

    As far as extending the length of time between shampoos, you really have to train your scalp for it. Shampoo strips the oil that our scalp produces, so it will overcompensate by creating more oil if it is being washed all of the time. Even for myself, I really feel a little gross going out more than two days without having washed it (I wash my hair at night - it takes forever to dry and I don't use a blowdryer), so I try to use days when I don't have to go anywhere to drag it out a little longer.

    I do use clarifying shampoos from time to time as sometimes I need something to get rid of product buildup, but I find it best to use a shampoo with tea tree oil in it. I'll also use an apple cider vinegar rinse (diluted with water) from time to time as it is the most clarifying method I've found and it also leaves my hair super shiny. Apple cinder vinegar is great for your hair!

    Can anyone tell I'm a huge hair enthusiast? haha :)

  4. Posted

    Well my hair has stopped falling out at such a high rate (started a little over 3 1/2 months and stopped at about 6 months) but now my hair has a straw-like consistency. Any ideas on how best to get my hair not feel like straw?

    What kinds of products are you currently using on it? Using too many products with Proteins in them can cause the hair to become brittle. Any heat styling can really dry it out. How often are you washing your hair? Do you get your hair colored?

    I recommend washing your hair every other day at a minimum and really try to avoid heat styling. If you want to blow dry, curl, or straighten your hair, make sure you use a heat protectant (serums, sprays). Try to buy sulfate-free shampoos. Just be as gentle as possible with your hair. Even brushing your hair too much can cause damage. I switched to only using a comb several years ago and I feel it's really helped with my hair's health. I've always colored my hair a lot (including bleach) but it's remained healthy.

    My surgery was on 9/23 and my Hair loss started right around Christmas time. It just stopped falling out as much about two weeks ago - so it was falling out for a similar amount of time. I'm very relieved it stopped. I ended up cutting off quite a bit of my hair as well. I do have a lot of hair so while it did thin out, the hair loss wasn't too noticeable. I was starting to get worried!

  7. Posted

    I've been taking Wellbutrin for about 7 years (I guess 8 come this fall) for depression. When I first started taking it, it really decreased my appetite and I lost about 25 pounds. Then after I got a new boyfriend all of the weight came back... so many restaurants. But ever since that weight gain, Wellbutrin never helped me to lose weight again.

    Energy and motivation have always been big issues for me and I would say that even when I'm taking the Wellbutrin, I still struggle with them. I just know that if I stop taking it I get more of the depression symptoms (sadness, suicidal thoughts). On Wellbutrin I just kind of feel that I'm evened out. I rarely feel very happy and I rarely feel very sad.

    I do have anxiety and insomnia as well but the insomnia started before I started taking Wellbutrin and the anxiety, I believe, is a genetic thing (same with the depression). I do take other medication to help with the insomnia and anxiety but I won't get too into that. Just wanted to mention that I do also suffer from those things but I do not believe them to be caused by taking Wellbutrin.

    My PCP has recommended I try lowering my dose once the weather gets warmer out, but I really don't think I am affected much by seasonal affective disorder. My depression is a constant thing regardless of the time of year - so I most likely won't change the dose. In fact, I'd like to start going back to a real psychiatrist so I can maybe take another antidepressant in combination with Wellbutrin that may help with the energy.

    And lastly, the Wellbutrin doesn't affect my sex drive at all. I have always had and will probably always have a low sex drive.

    People seem to have much better or much worse experiences with it than I have, but I'm not sure if that's because I've been taking it for so long.

  11. Posted

    Neither my nutritionist nor my doctor told me I wasn't allowed to snack. My calories per meal range between 150-300 and my Snacks are about the same. So I guess in a way, you could say I'm eating 4-5 small meals a day... even though some of those "meals" just end up being "cheese with cheese". I am most comfortable eating 4 times a day but after reading the forums a lot, I feel like a lot of successful veterans mention that they eat 5 times a day, so I've been trying to do that. It doesn't always work out. I usually try to stick to about 900-950 calories a day and 85-90 grams of Protein. Babybels are my best friends.

  12. Posted · Edited by lilbeanie

    I hardly saw anyone when I was at my highest weight... I work from home but the weight also made me avoid any other human interaction. I was ashamed of how big I got. But I saw my hair stylist when I was pretty close. I just went to get a haircut last weekend for the first time in a year. She immediately noticed the loss and tried talking to me about it for several minutes. I just told her that I was eating less, doing low carb, and trying to exercise a bit more (which is all true). The rest of the time she kept asking me how I was feeling, if I was excited, etc. Even if she hadn't brought up my weight loss I probably would have mentioned it myself because I have no other excuse to give for my Hair loss. She's very familiar with my hair and she would have noticed on her own if I didn't bring it up ahead of time.

    My immediate family, my boyfriend, and a few online friends know about it. Some people know I got surgery, just not what for. I don't have plans to tell anyone who asks. I'll just keep saying the small portions and low carb thing, most likely.

  16. Posted

    I'm almost 5 months out............and am still the same wide width.........but have gained a size.

    I went from 13W to 14W or sometimes 15W on some shoes.

    Clearly there is some Voodoo in the mix here......but it's good Voodoo as with bigger feet have come a bigger..............shoe?

    Maybe your feet have become extra muscular :)

  17. Posted

    Congrats! I am trying to add in a little bit of jogging into my walks too and it only takes me about a minute before I get too winded to continue. At my highest weight I wouldn't have even bothered trying... so I know the feeling!

    @@JamieLogical Thanks for mentioning how you got into starting the first week of C25K. I tried to do the first week but hurt myself just going into it right away. I had been looking up C25K on the boards here for a while and saw you post about it several times, which was definitely one of the reasons why I was motivated to start doing it myself. I don't think I came across a post where you said you had to work up to being able to do the first week too. For now, I am just going to try to work up my endurance just so I can do the first week like you did. It stinks that I'm not even in shape enough to start out at "couch" end of the C25K, but I'm really excited at the idea of even being able to jog for 10 minutes at a time someday :)

  19. Posted

    Does my diet when I went away to college of "one cup of Easy Mac per day" count? lol!

    At that point I honestly had no appetite so I really had no desire to eat anything else, except maybe some salad from the meal hall or their Pasta dishes you could customize (pasta + broccoli + garlic + olive oil was my favorite). I did lose 15 pounds while I was there, though - mostly due to hardly eating and a ton of walking. I left the school after a semester and a half and of course I gained all the weight (and much more) back.

    Other than that, the craziest thing I ever tried was the Zi Xiu Tang Bee Pollen pills. The ingredients seem fine and all, but there are so many different companies trying to market the same thing so you never know if you're really getting the legitimate product. Plus the FDA found that some of the Zi Xui Tang pills being sold had other harmful substances in them. Here's a link to a consumer update about them: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm401676.htm Scary! Even when you google the Zi Xiu Tang pills there are several sites that are claiming to be the "official" pills so it's difficult to find out which one is actually legitimate. I took it for a few months and I thought it might have worked, but I stopped taking it when it became so difficult to figure out which website was selling the real deal. My friend at the time recommended them to me so that's why I tried it to begin with. She told me one of her friends lost 30 pounds using the pills. I don't think I lost more than 5-10 pounds while I was taking them - can't remember bad side effects, either. I just know it was risky.

  22. Posted

    My fear is that I won't get to my goal, or anywhere close. I've lost over 80 pounds since my highest weight, but am currently at a weight that I was stuck at and somewhat comfortable with for several years - from about age 18-23. I lost about 12 pounds in the 3 weeks before hitting the 245 mark, and since then, the scale has been moving very slowly. I have this fear that I am going to be stuck at this weight. It would definitely be a very inopportune time for a stall, especially considering I haven't encountered a real stall yet! I've also been a somewhat slow loser in general since my surgery. I'm trying to be extra vigilant with my diet just so I can get away from this specific weight and rid myself of the paranoia.

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