GwenSue

My husband and son know, since they live with me and all that, otherwise I haven't said a thing. I had mentioned interest in it a year ago to my sister and a bunch of negative filth spewed out of her mouth, so I haven't brought it up since. I don't know anyone up here and my negative family is 700+ miles away, so I doubt people will ever know.

Keto was great, it got me to the required # for wls. I saw a lot of people in the Facebook groups go nuts with the fat bombs and sugar free candy and wondered why the scale didn't move down. It's not a free for all with the fats lol Paleo is also great, but one needs to be wary of those paleo sites with 23984923874 'paleo' baked good recipes. Those treats will get you on the wrong path quick. Whole30 is my favorite thus far. It confirmed those pesky grains were doing all sorts of bad stuff to my intestines and made me feel so much better. Keto/low carb with mostly Whole30 rules works best for me.

You look amazing!!! I'm so happy for you!!!

I have PCOS and the worst of it was when I was 25-35 years old. When I was 27 I gained 100 pounds in a year and kept gaining until I was 316. I have experienced many of the symptoms and can say laser treatments aren't as painful as people claim and will change your life. Low carb is the way to go with this and triple the exercise. Hiking and weights work best for me. 75 pounds came off that way, but I kept getting 'stuck'. So I got the weight loss surgery to use as an additional tool to get the rest of the pesky pounds off. Both of my children were born after I had lost 40 pounds in weight and led more active and healthy low carb lifestyles. I have curly hair, so it mostly hides the hair loss from PCOS. I'm checking out wigs in case the hair loss goes nuts from the surgery.

Lots of my sleeved friends do the keto/low carb pizza recipes on Pinterest. They are great if you are craving, but don't want the carb overload.

Your stomach will expand and you will lose the tool you've worked so hard for

I did 30 laps around the wing (I was told it was a record) and no gas. Lying down flat and carefully rotating my hips sideways helped. There are yoga poses, but of course with our stomach muscles hurting we can't do them x.x

If you haven't used more than you were advised and have run out, they should give them to you. Not having them and being in pain can delay healing.

I gained 11 from just a foot operation in Oct, the IV really packs in those fluids!!

There are liquid options available these days as well.

I told my 7 year old son what I'm having done and when far ahead of time. He understands it's a tool to help me live longer and do more things with him. He's been very supportive and goes on hikes with me. He has Autism, so telling him and preparing him for everything will help make it go smoothly when I'm in the hospital. Including them in your journey to being healthy and fit will help them be healthy teens and adults and not end up where we did.

I started at 316 pounds (this was in 2000) and my surgery date is 7/11 too. My scale didn't move for three months and I was hiking 6 days a week and those were 4-6 mile hikes. Then I got a foot injury and have been on my butt for 5 weeks and lost weight! omg It's very frustrating. Just keep on the plan. It will happen.

Awesome job!

I started my journey a couple years ago with switching to doing rounds of Whole30, Paleo, and low carb versions of the two ways of eating and learned to view those 'junk' foods as not being real food, but food-like items. It helped a great deal in the process of weaning myself from them and has also improved my taste buds a great deal. Now that I'm getting closer to surgery, I don't feel the need to consume those things, as they aren't real food and I'm no longer emotionally attached to them. I'll miss salads, since many have said that's the last thing they were able to tolerate, so have been enjoying a few of those a week. Most food is not gone forever, our ability to eat these things will return for the most part, it will just be whatever doesn't give us dumping syndrome and things will be in smaller amounts. It will still be up to us to decide if we want to make the better choice or not.

10K-17K steps a day on the treadmill, walking the dog, elliptical, etc. Resistance bands/weights alternating upper and lower body days Fitbit has helped me stay on top of things. I have to stay accountable, since other people can see if I'm getting my steps in