karen_marie

I second @Matt Z's advice and comments, especially waiting until you're a year+ out from surgery. I'd add maybe seeing a nutritionist before you plan to actually do the hike - even before any long training hikes prior to your trip. They may have some good tips on hiking-friendly foods that will work for us special folks Seeing them early enough will allow you to test out nutrition on your training hikes to see what works for you. And PS I'm suuuuper jealous! Would love to hike even part of the PCT someday.

I had gastric bypass, but all of your points translate to us as well. Can't agree with you more, and I'm only 10mos out from my surgery. Congrats on your success! And YES, everyone should spend some time really dissecting the what/when/why they go to food as a comfort or a compensator. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but will be the biggest reason why you have long term success. I also found a new passion in doing active things that I never thought my body could do - it's incredibly empowering to see your body accomplish things you never thought it could do. It definitely drives me to see just what I can get my body to do lol

I'm down a total of 106.2 from my highest! Down from a size 24 to a 14, 3XL tops down to L/XL tops. Even my feet are smaller lol From a 10.5 wide to a 10 regular. A year ago, I was happy to finish a 5k in under an hour with interval running (run/walk method). Now, I'm training to run my first half marathon. Ran 4.5mi twice this week, and have an 8mi run on the schedule for Sunday morning. Never in a MILLION YEARS did I think I'd ever be able to accomplish something like this! Also scheduled my 100lb loss milestone reward for next Saturday - horesback trail ride! I love riding and haven't been able to do it in over a decade because I've been too heavy. Not anymore!! Make it a GREAT weekend everyone!!

Congratulations!!!!!! I'm inching my way to the 100lb loss mark and Onderland myself!

Girl the struggle is REAL LOL

yeah I've had to plan for more time to get ready in the morning to allow the extra minutes needed to corral as much hair as possible

oh man do I feel you on that lol the amount of hair falling out is INSANE. I've been back in the habit of taking super high strength biotin (10,000 mg pill a day) to try and help lessen the blow, as well as help my splitting finger nails. I know my overall vitamin levels are good (labs were stellar), so it's just the usual 3mo+ hair loss issue. Ugh, hair EVERYWHERE lol

So sorry to hear you have to deal with all this! Don't let the BS steal your resolve, just know that the surgery will happen but maybe not when you thought. Frustrating as all hell, but you'll get your surgery

I don't think you should worry too much about how much water/fluids you're drinking, but def work to not gulp. Start getting into the idea of 'smaller over longer time' - applies to drinking and eventually eating. Already being used to sipping liquids will make taking smaller bites of food a more normal idea. Congrats on being almost a week out!

I can do hard boiled eggs, the occasional over easy egg and soft scrambled eggs, but if I cook the scrambled egg too much the texture is disgusting to me. So I generally avoid scrambled eggs. Also have not had sliced bread in forever. Seems to sit like a brick in my stomach and I usually end up spitting it up. I figured I'd try again a little later on. I'm about 3.5 mos out from surgery at this point.

You're doing awesome! Yeah I've noticed this thread has gotten quiet, too. I think now that we're all a few months out, the focus has shifted to just living our new lives now haha Not as much to talk about I guess unless someone has a specific post-op question or concern. I've got my 3mo appointment with surgeon on 1/31 so I hope my vitamin levels in my updated lab work are up to snuff.

Welcome welcome! And just keep pushing forward - when that little seed of doubt pops up, confront it and really think about what the 'real' reason it's whispering in your ear. Usually, it's the fear of the changes that you'll have to make - no more mindless snacking, no more 'I had a sh*t day so I'm gonna binge on pizza,' no more of the stuff we shouldn't have been doing in the first place. When I would think about the doubt in that way, it just made the doubt smaller each time, and my resolve stronger. PS I think I'll be out in Berlin at the end of May for a business trip (with some added vacation days, of course!). I may poke you for some ideas on things to see - maybe we could even meet up for an international Bariatric Pal social!

I'm still buying the chewable Bariatric Advantage calcium. I may change to something less expensive or not bariatric-specific at some point, but I figured for the first few months at least I would stick to bariatric-specific vitamins.

Try cutting that in half - I think I did up to 4oz at a time for awhile after surgery. My timeline was basically something like this during my full liquid phase immediately after surgery once I was home from the hospital: 8am-8:30am Drink 4oz protein shake/other protein rich liquid as a meal 8:30am-9am Wait 30min before drinking again 9am-10am Drink water/liquids Repeat 6x/day