Berry78

I try to restrain myself.. I'm not always updating her on my weight loss (I try to avoid that conversation!) But.. I couldn't help showing her the label on my new pair of pants when she guessed I was in an 18 (it's a 12! A TWELVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).. can't let that one slide!!!! Lol. (Too bad today's 12 was size 16 only 20 years ago.. so it's not all THAT great.. but still, even for 20 years ago, I'm still not an 18! See, I can get excited a bit.. mostly since last March I was in a 24 (What would THAT have been 20 years ago??). So, yeah.. I'm excited!)
But for all the excitement I show here.. I just showed her the label (that at first she read as "1x".. no glasses. WHAT THE HECK! I brought her a magnifying glass, waited for her to exclaim "TWELVE?!" and then went on my way.) You should be proud.
Ok, but after 7 months, and that was the first time my clothing size was brought up.. so I guess it was due.
Anyhoo.. the problem with jealousy is that even though she's now wanting to watch what she eats, it's undertaken under duress, so she's, like, frantic. No plan, just an after-the-fact, counting (guessing) of caloric intake for the day. Woo hoo.. I only ate 700 calories today.. sheesh. That isn't the goal. She's not thinking about counting Protein or Vitamin requirements or any of the parts of postop life that make limited caloric intake work.
I have a lot of work to do with her to get her to tackle this thing in a healthy way. Her problem is she's so independent that my advice falls on deaf ears. (For years, she has had chronic low potassium or magnesium that results in debilitating muscle cramps. When she drinks low sodium v8, she doesn't get them. So.. drink that stuff every day, right? Nope.. just after the fact). Sigh.

Do you mean the bariatric patient is jealous of someone, or that someone is jealous of the patient?
If you mean the latter, absolutely! (The former.. not so much.. )
My MIL lives with me, (was 100 pounds overweight herself), and when I started losing enough to "show".. boy did those green eyes come out! Now she's working on losing, herself, and has done well so far. Jealousy isn't always bad, if it motivates change for the better...

I try to restrain myself.. I'm not always updating her on my weight loss (I try to avoid that conversation!) But.. I couldn't help showing her the label on my new pair of pants when she guessed I was in an 18 (it's a 12! A TWELVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).. can't let that one slide!!!! Lol. (Too bad today's 12 was size 16 only 20 years ago.. so it's not all THAT great.. but still, even for 20 years ago, I'm still not an 18! See, I can get excited a bit.. mostly since last March I was in a 24 (What would THAT have been 20 years ago??). So, yeah.. I'm excited!)
But for all the excitement I show here.. I just showed her the label (that at first she read as "1x".. no glasses. WHAT THE HECK! I brought her a magnifying glass, waited for her to exclaim "TWELVE?!" and then went on my way.) You should be proud.
Ok, but after 7 months, and that was the first time my clothing size was brought up.. so I guess it was due.
Anyhoo.. the problem with jealousy is that even though she's now wanting to watch what she eats, it's undertaken under duress, so she's, like, frantic. No plan, just an after-the-fact, counting (guessing) of caloric intake for the day. Woo hoo.. I only ate 700 calories today.. sheesh. That isn't the goal. She's not thinking about counting Protein or Vitamin requirements or any of the parts of postop life that make limited caloric intake work.
I have a lot of work to do with her to get her to tackle this thing in a healthy way. Her problem is she's so independent that my advice falls on deaf ears. (For years, she has had chronic low potassium or magnesium that results in debilitating muscle cramps. When she drinks low sodium v8, she doesn't get them. So.. drink that stuff every day, right? Nope.. just after the fact). Sigh.

Do you mean the bariatric patient is jealous of someone, or that someone is jealous of the patient?
If you mean the latter, absolutely! (The former.. not so much.. )
My MIL lives with me, (was 100 pounds overweight herself), and when I started losing enough to "show".. boy did those green eyes come out! Now she's working on losing, herself, and has done well so far. Jealousy isn't always bad, if it motivates change for the better...

Ok, I'm responding without having read the other responses.
If you lose the same as the average patient postop, you will get to 183lbs. That's only 21 more pounds. If you lose a pound a week, you'll have reached goal by 6 months postop! I personally think you'll do better than average... but you're right on track.

What you may be saying to yourself right now is: "but you don't understand! I lost 25 of those pounds during the first 2 weeks!"
The thing is, the body likes losing slow and steady. When you drop more than an average amount (say, 1-2lbs a week)... a LOT of your losses are Water. Water comes and goes, and can play havoc with the scale.
For example, let's say you DID see a 25 pound shift on the scale over the first 2 weeks. Sorry, it wasn't 25lbs of FAT. A good chunk of that was just water (probably 15-20 pounds of it). Over time, your body has cycled through water and fat, and by now, you probably HAVE lost about 37lbs of fat.
It looks like you are 11 weeks out. I had lost 36lbs during the first 11 weeks postop. (I started at 305lbs).
I'm now 8.5 months out and have lost 101lbs. You've just got to give it time. I figure it might take me another 8+ months to get to goal. But who cares? What else am I gonna do?

Day-yaaam... (Gotto be careful my hubby doesn't catch me lookin' at this thread!)
Congrats on your success so far! Only 3 incisions? Love Dr. Illan's handiwork.

Hey y'all, long time no see!
I'm 14 months postop, and have lost 111lbs. The losses pretty much stopped at 10 months postop.
Nowadays I can eat any and everything. My taste changes weren't terribly long-lived. I can eat 2 cups of food at a time, so basically everything feels like I never even had surgery!
I still don't drink with my meals, but I do drink right up until I start eating.
About 11 months postop I started having problems from my Vitamins. My toes swelled up and were painful. I don't know what I was getting too much of, so I just quit them. I still am taking B12 and A and D, but no more multis.
Oops, got to go!

Hey y'all, long time no see!
I'm 14 months postop, and have lost 111lbs. The losses pretty much stopped at 10 months postop.
Nowadays I can eat any and everything. My taste changes weren't terribly long-lived. I can eat 2 cups of food at a time, so basically everything feels like I never even had surgery!
I still don't drink with my meals, but I do drink right up until I start eating.
About 11 months postop I started having problems from my Vitamins. My toes swelled up and were painful. I don't know what I was getting too much of, so I just quit them. I still am taking B12 and A and D, but no more multis.
Oops, got to go!

I just wanted to point out that, although you want to lose 45-50lbs, you are only 33lbs away from a healthy bmi.
Most of us lose around 15lbs on the preop diet, so you seriously want to risk life and limb over a measly 18lbs?
Please visit the complications forum before making your final decision. Everyone really should do that.

Have you tried some warm tea, or something that is super cold? Many times a different temperature will help. But if you still can't drink, you need to go back to your doctor. You'll need IV fluids very soon if you don't drink. Maybe the doc can get you some different pain med...

Fat gives calories, but once your essential fatty acids are accounted for, you don't need more. (Same with protein.. 4 meals of 30g each is about all you can digest for the amino acids..the rest is just calories).
Carbs are where you get your Vitamins, minerals, Fiber. And you can't get too much of those.
Fluff... Meryline is basically at goal and can handle an increased carb load (she needs to get her nutrition up). I wouldn't give myself or someone else the same advice necessarily.
When I run into a goal meal I can't fit all in at once, I eat what I can, then return to finish it an hour later. Mery.. you can do that with your oatmeal.
Increasing fat in the short term is fine.. just have a plan on working towards getting those carbs up. The more carbs you have (within reason), the more efficiently your body can use your Protein. At the moment you may be using protein for energy instead of repair.

You look perfect!

Rice is especially bad for me. I had about 1/2 cup once, and the next day I had cravings I hadn't had since surgery. I really need to put that stuff into the "never eat again" category.
I have exchanged regular Pasta for bean noodles. Acceptable on my plan, and doesn't cause cravings.
I used to LOVE Ezekial bread, but I just tried it again for the first time, and it tasted like cardboard. A little sad, but probably no big loss.

What on earth could you possibly be consuming to get 2000 calories at 2 weeks postop?
Even if you drank 2 quarts of whole milk, that'd only be 1200....

Ok, funny story. So my first boyfriend did just this. I had just met him, and we weren't going out, but somehow the fact that he had a "vienna sausage" came up in conversation. I was a virgin, so that was an appealing characteristic! Lol!

They aren't concerned about you getting less than 20oz of Fluid a day?
Well, you should become familiar with what dehydration feels like.. dark urine, confusion, and dizziness. When you stand up, you'll get light-headed, and may have an interruption in vision or hearing. You should be urinating at least 4 times a day.
People that don't drink much preop are still eating food, and carbohydrates provide the body with some amount of Water during the digestion process. Postop, we aren't eating, so our only source of water is the fluids we drink.

Alright, then you have a plan. I do think you're more concerned about the HCG than you have to be. Just get a note from the abortion place that you had an abortion and the date, that should take care of it for the surgery.
It will all work out, I'm sure!

People can have significant bleeding during healthy pregnancies, so it's impossible to say. Fingers crossed that the issue has resolved itself.

I'm hearing a lot of uncertainty. I think you should talk to someone (preferably a doctor) to find out just how risky this pregnancy would actually be. You should absolutely do what is right for you, but I hate for you to make this big of a decision based on an insurance deductible. Money comes and goes, but regret might be there forever.
You may also be feeling some pressure because of your hubby getting a vasectomy. You are closing the door to the possibility of a post-op pregnancy as well. (There are less permanent forms of birth control if you decide to go ahead with the surgery now, and leave the possibility of another pregnancy open for a later date after you've lost weight).
Don't worry about depriving your kids of a sibling. Kids don't like to share, anyway. This is about you and your vision of the future.

Do me a favor. When you are 8 weeks post-op, buy some vanilla pepsi. Set it out so it goes flat, then taste it. I'll bet $20 that you'll be willing to kill a bus full of nuns to NOT have to drink that stuff ever again!!!
Oh, and congrats on your surgery! Good luck!

"Yes! If I wanted to stay in the 120's I would have to eat 1000-1200 per day! If I'm happy with 135-140 I can eat more than 2000! Crazy!"
Ok this is a quote from you, Jess, from the other thread. It kinda shows what I mean. You lost to the 120's, but when you started eating, it went up to 135. Now, you seem to have made the right decision to stay put and be happy. But what if you continued striving after that 120? You'd be struggling and miserable.
So, yes, your example shows set point and the idea of the body needing to rebuild after hitting goal.
My concern is if people spend their entire weight loss phase living on, say, low carb and low fat.. Protein Shakes and artificial sugar, then exercise on top of it, then they will be so depleted that they may regain 50lbs while their body tries to heal the damage.
We should all attempt to eat for a strong, healthy body, not just weight loss, and if we consume enough of the right fuel, then exercise and muscle building can come easily, and the body can stay happy and nourished throughout.

Ok, so it IS time to take stock. I went through your other posts, but didn't see where you said much about you.
What are your stats? Height, starting weight, current weight.
I think you said you used to take Metformin, but stopped. You may want to talk to your doc about continuing it because it could potentially help with weight loss during this phase. While you are talking with your doc, you may double check when the last time you had your thyroid levels tested and how they were.
Tell us about your diet/exercise routine.

This is my dilemma as well. I have a husband that would benefit. At the moment he isn't a candidate for surgery, but I've opened the discussion as in.. down the road when it would be feasible. He's like NOPE, NUH-UH, NEVER, NOT ME. Slams conversation door shut.
The reality is there is nothing I can say to convince him, so I won't bring it up again. He has just started eating on a new diet similar to what I am doing (a few days ago), so he's starting to want to change some things. We'll see how long it lasts But at least he's trying. He's in the "craving everything he sees in the store or on commercials" phase. And so far, he's holding out. We ought to take bets how quickly it'll all crumble. (He goes away for work for 3 weeks in August, so I guarantee we'll have to start all over when he gets back).
MAJOR soda addiction, that one!
How did I convince him to go on the diet? I didn't. After watching me eat restricted portions for 4 months straight, and hit the 60lb down mark.. that was the motivation. (We used to weigh the same, even though he's almost a foot taller than me.. so it's hurting his feelings being left in the dust).
Bring up the idea of dieting or surgery ONCE, then drop it. They'll come around, or they won't. But it has to be the right timing for THEM.

This is an interesting one for me.
Preop, I never used anything on my skin. Body wash in the shower. That's it!
Postop I started using lotion after every shower to try and ward off loose skin, if at all possible.
So, I had 10 years worth of lotions laying around that were almost never used. They are all used up now, and I had to buy my first bottle. I found a huge bottle of cocoa butter for like $2, so am using that right now. Actually smells like chocolate!
Now, for my face, I use a facial moisturizer that has sunscreen. First I grabbed Cetaphil, and it seemed to work well.
When that ran out, I went with CeraVe, but noticed my pores seemed to be clogged a lot more. Took a while to decide to change moisturizers. So tried Aveeno. Same thing. Went back to Cetaphil, and within a week the clogs were gone!
At like $14 a small bottle, it's rich, but I'm sold. It does last a while.
I do notice a bottle of body lotion used to last a couple weeks, now lasts over a month. Smaller body uses less!