PAstudent

Go you! You look great

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can:

Also, I know advice coming from a 21 year old probably won't be given any credence, but perhaps assuming the best in others and having a positive and humble outlook would help with your healing process. It would definitely help with stress levels, reducing cortisol levels in your system. If you decide to continue to participate in this forum, a humble and positive attitude and a thicker skin would also really help in terms of interacting with others. We're all here to learn and lean on each other when things get tough, it'd be nice to think of the members of this site as a family. Please don't assume every comment that doesn't praise you is malicious. Some people might just use a different tone when writing.

I legitimately think Greensleevie was coming from a place of good and trying to help you in the comment quoted. Perhaps the tone wasn't particularly pleasant, but let's look at what she's actually saying: we should be humble (weight loss is relatively easy right now because we're so fresh out of surgery, we also don't know what struggles lie ahead), she's asking you to be cognizant of the fact that a large number of people do gain some weight back and she doesn't want you to be one of them, finally, she admits that she also doesn't know what happens down the road for her just like you don't know what happens in your future. The vets on here have experienced everything we're going through. It would be wise to learn from their mistakes and successes.

Have you tried compression leggings? Shapewear like spanx? Those spandex "waist cinchers" that the Kardashians have popularized?

I'm not familiar enough with various brands to recommend a specific ones, but those are some good starting places. Good luck and post some pictures for us if you get the chance!

I'm really happy for you! Putting your diabetes in remission is huge! Good luck to you man.

Thanks you guys
I started comparing myself to others and freaked out about "only" losing 8 pounds for my second month so I increased my exercise. I was under the impression you can never do too much low intensity cardio, but in retrospect, I think I was doing moderate intensity stuff.

Actually reading this back to myself, I now see that my exercise program for the last few weeks has been a bit more intense than it should be for where I'm at right now. Some rest and time off sounds good to me!

I think it's understandable and not too surprising that we see people "falling off the wagon" so to speak. Food isn't something we can completely cut out of our lives like a lot of other addictions. It's something that we have to constantly face and be mindful every time we encounter. We've formed these habits over several years, one major surgery isn't necessarily going to fix years or even decades of emotional eating and bad habits.

At least for me, my insurance flat out doesn't cover bariatric surgery so I paid out of pocket. This meant that I only had a single consult with the surgeon before being able to schedule for surgery. There were no psych evals, no mandatory monitored diets, no mandatory group sessions, and minimal nutrition classes. So, if I hadn't done large amounts of research beforehand, I probably would've gone through the surgery thinking it was a magic solution and life would now be super easy and then gotten blindsided after.

Now, I did take the nutrition classes and I have regular check ups with my surgeon so I know what the right things to do are, but my dietician isn't with me every second of every day preparing my meals and watching what I put in my mouth. That's on me. I think it's those moments when we feel like no one is watching that it's easiest to fall back into old habits and turn to food for comfort.

It looks like you've lost 28 pounds since day of surgery. That's fantastic! If you mean you haven't lost any weight this week, it's likely water weight. Our bodies do silly thing like retain water from time to time (due to hormonal fluctuations, salt intake, and seemingly every other arbitrary reason under the sun). Your weight will continue to drop. Stalls happen to all of us. Just stick to your meal plan, keep hydrated, and don't lose hope!

I hope some good rest helps how you've been feeling lately!
I've found that my "creaky" joints get a lot after regularly drinking collagen for a few weeks. Just something to take into consideration. I've also heard it could help deter loose skin, but I'm a little skeptical.

Thanks! I am definitely stronger through the strength training I've been doing since 2 weeks post op so there's probably some small level of muscle gain. I'm really just focusing on maintaining what muscle I have now (which is probably significant considering my body is used to carrying 250 lbs around haha)

The issue is that for the kind of muscle gains I want, the general consensus is that the conditions needed to build muscle are very similar to gaining fat (excess calories, but with lean meats and complex carbs). You need the extra calories to fuel your workouts and also need the extra calories and carbs to give your body energy to repair itself.
I'd like to eventually see changes along the lines of this:

You're doing great!! Just keep on doing what you know you should be doing and you'll get to where you want to be

DedicatedLady I really like using Myfitnesspal, I'm tia_527 on there. It's a really nice way to track weight, exercise, and keep a food journal all in one place. Plus, if you have friends on there that have allowed it in their privacy settings, you can see what their meals are and get some ideas!

Apple1 I'd be really interested to see what your results are! I believe an undertaking like this would best be spanned over the course of months or years for best results. I find that I have to look at what I've done for at least the last couple of weeks, not days, to see what I'm doing right or wrong in terms of weight loss.

As a side note: I told my surgeon about the workouts I was doing and they recommended that I increase the calories (I now get in almost 900 calories a day, but they didn't give me a specific number for calories) and up my protein goal from 40-60g to 70g. My weight loss has slowed to a crawl in the last couple weeks, but I suspect it may be the dreaded 3 week stall.

My surgeon said I had no weight or activity restrictions, just that I shouldn't push myself too hard right out of surgery. Definitely trying to avoid injury! In terms of cardio, which I do after strength training, I'm at higher inclines, but I keep the intensity low (so my heart rate is supposed to be around 140-150)

My trainer says it's to be expected that I feel tired easily and don't put on muscle as quickly as someone who hasn't had the surgery. (It's near impossible to gain muscle mass on such an extreme calorie deficit) But we're working on maintaining the muscles I have now and making going to the gym a regular part of my life. I'm working on getting up to 3 days of strength training a week: push, pull, and lower body. I work my core on all of these days

I don't know if you guys are familiar with weight training at all, but it's such a strange and unsettling feeling to get your muscles to the point of failure. I'll try to go for my last rep and my arms just won't go any further for a few seconds hahaha! On the bright side, I've increased 10 pounds on my chest press! On the not so bright side, I still really struggle on the absolute lowest weight the machine has for the shoulder press.

Hoping I'll be fit someday

I'm not TOO heartbroken about waiting a bit longer On the bright side, since giving up junk foods, my skin has gotten SO much better!