ChaosUnlimited

Just an FYI for those struggling with hair that is brittle, dry, and frizzy: A few days ago I got a professional keratin relaxer done on my hair. What a huge difference! I wish I had done this before, my hair feels the healthiest it has been in months. Not sure yet how this will work over the long term, but it certainly helps a lot with the regrowth that formed a halo of frizz around my head. It is all relaxed and looks really pretty and smooth.

Good to know! Thanks for the heads up, and glad you made it through!

This! Exercise is important, and is stressed at my follow up visits, but I believe exercise helps you be fit, and diet helps to lose or maintain weight. To a small extent, you can probably eat a little bit more if you are exercising heavily, but it's true that you can eat many more calories in much less time and with less effort than it takes to burn them off. I am a cardio person, I like cardio - running, hiking, aerobics and zumba classes, etc. I know I need to work more on muscle building. But... I have to ask, for those of you who are very active or do a lot of workouts, do you work outside of the home? Because I am struggling with building a consistent workout routine around my work schedule. I work long shifts, and my schedule differs each week, and on the days I work it is so hard to try to get a work out in, I'm just exhausted. I'm also busy on my days off with different things, but I try to at least go run or if it fits in my schedule to take a class at the gym, but I'm not consistently working out. For those who work, how do you commit to an exercise routine and still get everything else done? Sometimes I wish I could be a kept woman and just worry about focusing on my exercise and diet!

Yes! I am very partial to things being symmetrical, so I notice when something is even a little bit lopsided. Don't worry, the body goes through a lot of odd changes during the rapid weightless phase. It will eventually even out.

I feel like the person I used to be before my weight gain, like the person I always was on the inside is showing on the outside again. Physically, I can do more, faster, and with less effort. I have less aches and pains. I still can't believe it's me when I pass by a reflective window or mirror. I want to stop and stare but I know how weird that would look, lol. I wonder how it feels to a person who has always been thin, because I keep thinking of myself as "normal" now, and it makes me sad to think that I ever thought of myself as less worthy because of my weight. We are our own worst critics. I still obsess about diet and exercise. I have to, because it would be so easy to revert to old habits. I'm sure the people around me are sick of hearing about it! I need to find some groups that want to exercise and do active things as a form of socializing instead of going out to eat.

I can't imagine how horribly disappointing that must be. I do believe that everything happens for a reason, even if we can't see that reason at the time. I hope they can get you cleared and that you can still do the procedure. I can't imagine the surgeon charging for an incomplete surgery, hopefully they will be able to do it again without significant cost to you.

It gets a little better every day. Just keep plugging along!

Walk as much as possible! It's the best way to get the gas moving out. The incisions just have to heal. If they bother you when moving, try using a small pillow to splint, or apply pressure, when getting up or sitting down.

You look great! Enjoy clothes shopping, and take lots of pictures, you will be so glad you did!

That is excellent, congrats! I hope you sleep like a baby tonight!

I agree that it is getting better in the US, but it is so pricey to buy the organic things, and even our local farmers market is pretty pricey as well. Luckily since I don't eat as much it balances out! One of the things I miss most about vacation - the food and someone else that cooks it!

Maybe it's the fat content? Here is the first thing that popped up on Google: The egg white contains about 4 grams of protein, 55 mg of sodium and only 17 calories. The egg yolkscarry the cholesterol, the fat and saturated fat of the egg. One egg yolk has around 55 calories, 4.5 grams of total fat and 1.6 grams of saturated fat, 210 mg of cholesterol, 8 mg of sodium, and 2.7 grams of protein.

I weigh every day as soon as I wake up. I don't know why, it's been a habit for as many years as I can remember. I don't freak if I'm up a lb or so occasionally because it's typically water weight, and if I'm retaining I know I need to drink more. I only record my weight for a progress record once a week on Monday, so that's where I look at my trend. Just an aside, I have a friend who said she records her weight weekly, but only if she lost, she won't record her gains or stalls. I find it helpful though, because if I stall or gain, I can look back at my food journal and see what I was doing differently, or see what I was eating when I was making the best progress.

I had mild hair loss at about 4 months, but it was the 6-8th months that I felt it was the worst. I had clumps of hair falling out in the shower. At first I wasn't worried because I have always had a thick head of hair, but as it became thinner and thinner, it started to worry me. I have been taking biotin since before surgery and maybe it would have been worse without it, but I'm not sure that it helped with the loss. I had to stop blow drying my hair and stop getting my straightening treatment. My hair is semi curly and very frizzy, so that has been so difficult for me. I also noticed that my hair loss was greater on the days when I would pull my hair back in a ponytail or a hair band, any little stress on it pulled more out. Ladies, I looked a mess! So now, my hair is much thinner, but it is starting to grow back, and the most annoying thing is that I have a halo of frizz around my head from the short hairs that have grown back, no matter the style I use. I have purchased just about every product in the Diva Curl line to reduce the frizz, it works better than the more expensive keratin shampoo and conditioner I was buying. I am still forcing myself to try to work with the curl and use no heat styling if I can help it. I'm getting a keratin treatment this weekend to try to help with the frizz. Wish me luck!

It matters if your floor is level also. My bathroom floor is very uneven, thanks to my husbands attempt at doing our own tile job, and having the scale on an uneven floor makes it completely inaccurate. I have one spot that I can set the scale to weigh on, I had to get a scale with a base smaller than my 12"x12" tiles so it would fit on the one that is level without hanging off, lol.

Every time I make a healthy eating choice over what I would have eaten before I count as a victory! Now that I'm over a year out it is getting harder to do, my appetite has returned and so have my cravings for stuff that I should stay away from. A recent personal victory for me: When on vacation we were watching a shepherd demonstrate his working dogs herding sheep. He caught a sheep to shear and wanted a volunteer to come help. I never would have done it before because people were videotaping and I would not have wanted my fat body on camera! When no one else stepped forward, I did, and went up to shear a sheep with him, and then fed the lambs with a giant bottle. I was glad I got to experience it!

Right after surgery I used the Premier Protein RTD cartons even though they were more expensive. They were recommended by another of my doctors patients who already had surgery, the reason being that it may take a while to finish a shake and the powdered mixes separate and don't taste as good when they sit for a while. I still buy them but use them for coffee creamer or if I need something quick and easy - like running out the door late for work - so I don't go through them as fast. For powdered mix, I have found different flavors by different brands. I have a lot of NitroTech powder because it's what my husband also uses (he hasn't had surgery, just works out) and the flavors are good. We showed the nutrition label and ingredients to my nutritionist and she approved it. We get it from bodybuilding.com, there are different sizes so you can get a small one to try, and the site has lots of discounts and a rewards program. Here is a link to the one I use, but there are different types: Nitro Tech Powder

I had made the comment to my mom that salads seem so much fresher while in Europe, you can tell they don't get it out of a bag, lol. I flew on United. It wasn't gourmet for sure, but the gluten free meal did seem better than the regular one to me. I was hungry though so anything I could eat was looking pretty good. I was thankful I didn't get served a croissant for breakfast because I wouldn't have been able to eat it.

I used gas-x chewables, but they are $$, better if you can find generic simethicone chewables.

It could be any number of things that fall outside of the normal range, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's something harmful. They have to check out anything that is not in the normal range to make sure that going through surgery won't be a problem. I think that if it was something bad, you would have been brought back in immediately rather than waiting for an appointment a couple weeks down the road. I only say that to ease your mind, I'm not trying to be dismissive at all, I know how it is to be told that something isn't right and have to wait for the next test to figure out what's going on. If it's really making you anxious, you can call and request to speak to the doctor who referred you for the consult and ask what it is they saw.

I think it is a very personal choice as far as whether or not you want to tell anyone, and your feelings may differ on it over the coming months as you get closer and go through the process. You can simply say that you have to take time for medical reasons, or that you have to have surgery, and leave it at that. I wouldn't make up a story and say you have to have your gallbladder out (unless they are doing that at the same time) because what if you have gallbladder problems later and really have to have it taken out, that may be hard to explain, lol.

If you are looking for a post op vitamin it depends on what surgery you have. For example, a bypass patient may have different vitamin requirements than a sleeve patient. Your surgeon should recommend the one you will need.

It would be best to call your surgeons office and let them know.

I just spent about 2 weeks in Scotland and I'm happy to report I didn't gain even a pound while on vacation, I actually lost one or two! When I first got there I tried to be very cautious about what I ate because I was traveling with a group and typically if I eat the "wrong" things here in the US I get horrible, embarrassing gas. By "wrong" foods I mean mostly carbs like bread, rice, anything made with wheat, chips or pretzels, desserts, and even some protein snacks get my stomach riled up. I very rarely partake in the "forbidden" foods because I can't be around people if I do, lol. I started to notice that I didn't have nearly as much gastric upset even when I tasted the things I was being cautious about while in the UK. I wanted to at least try the things that were unique to that area of the county, and by the end of my two weeks I was eating just about anything in moderation without any stomach problems. The last couple nights I even ate a small piece of bread while waiting for dinner - no gas, no bloating, no stomach pain. I was amazed because I can't do that here in the US without terrible consequences. We came home Saturday night, and within 24 hrs of being back home I had horrible gas and stomach pain again. I actually have a CT scheduled this week after discussing my stomach pain with my doc at my last follow up because although I felt it was related to having gas, he wants to be sure it's nothing else. What I'm wondering is what does that say about our food here in the US? I suppose it could be coincidence that I just didn't have any issues while traveling, but I feel that my system was able to better process the food I ate in the UK but has a hard time with whatever we use in our food here in the US. Has anyone else experienced this while traveling?