rs

In Honor of Black History Month

Yogurt with sliced almonds

Our Valentines Day Date Outfits lol

Check for insurance coverage of WLS
Primary physician
Get a referral to Bariatric surgeon
Decide if its right for you
Eat at favorite restaurant
Begin required diet/testing
Wonder if you can just do it "naturally"
Tell family/friends
Hear horror stories
Eat at your second favorite restaurant
Gain 5lbs & decide it's time to get serious
Complete all prerequisites
Wait for insurance approval & receive it
Schedule surgery
Wonder if you should just do it "naturally"
Decide to do it anyway
Start and finish some form of pre-op diet
Have surgery
*The rest is up to you*
Good Luck

Wow what a story! So glad it had a happy ending! Thanks for sharing. I wish you many more happy days to come!

LOL, yep, 27 years in April. We have 2 adult sons that go to college and still live at home, 2 dogs, 2 goats, 2 chickens, a duck, and 3 cats (plus however many foster kitties we happen to have). Mr. Angie is a bit (a lot) of an introvert and HATES pics of himself (which is lame, as he’s very cute).
My students are absolutely awesome as well. I’m very lucky to have the job I have and be able to work with them.

This past weekend I ran a 5K (3.1mi) and half marathon (13.1mi) in Miami. I had so much energy and it felt oh so good!

Thank you! My students have a great attitude. They comment a lot on my clothing (as I do on theirs, because dang they are a fashionable lot!).
As far as weight, they don't really mention it unless I do, and they are interested in the process. Students are one demographic that don't treat me any differently than when I was closer to 300 lbs. Men my age and older are much nicer to me now, which was pretty irritating that it was such a drastic difference. I was still deserving of respect and kindness prior to weight loss.
When we talk about it, my students are always interested in the social aspects like that, etc. I've been pretty open. One of my dreams is that young people won't spend as many years and as much bandwidth fussing over weight and body image, you know? One of our current crafty collabs is with a group on coming to love themselves as they are. With that in mind, my students never say "wow you look great!" because they are VERY adamant that I looked great before. I love and respect them for that. And they aren't wrong. But damn is it easier to go through the world as a smaller person. For so many reasons.
I did have a couple of students concerned that I wasn't eating enough. We try to keep an eye on each other's stress levels and self-care. It was sweet of them, and my body image was WAY off, I admit. That conversation is one of the reasons I'm really pretty okay with staying at this weight rather than continuing to try to lose. My husband likes me curvy anyway. And TBH - I like me curvy! I will get this tummy skin/flab dealt with, but otherwise I'm tickled with where I'm at.

Today I’m all in on tweed. My skirt is super high waisted, which I like, but it’s taking a bit of getting used to. I got it super on sale from ModCloth. It was too small, but now zips up fine 🤷🏻‍♀️ My weight hasn’t changed much, so things are shifting around I think. The tweed jacket I thrifted.
OMG I am realizing how much use I’ve gotten out of my 2 pair of tall boots. I think I must have a TON of tall boot wearing time to make up for since I missed so many years of bootential!
 s

So continuing in the vein of "finding a new focus after weight loss"...
Main Point: I think its important to have a bag of other "foucuses" after weight loss. My go-to feel-better-about-myself activity was running/exercise. Due to my slower than anticipated PS recovery, and other self-inflicted setbacks, this coping mechanism is not available to me.
With no other thing to employ to pick myself up, I totally cliché-ed out and actually started drinking more for the purpose of feeling better. After realizing where I was going with that, I am making conscious decisions to NOT drink when I am feeling sh*tty (which is hard, man...work in progress).
Then, I guess I fell back to focusing on my diet and weight as this was one thing I knew I could do and do well, and control, and I knew in the past it made me feel good and accomplished. But the thing is, I don't need to lose any weight. So wth.
So now I am trying to find something I can focus on that I can do in my current state, that is beneficial to my health and well-being, and that I can derive some enjoyment/accomplishment from. This is proving to be difficult and frustrating, and creating a negative feedback loop.
#workingOnIt

So continuing in the vein of "finding a new focus after weight loss"...
Main Point: I think its important to have a bag of other "foucuses" after weight loss. My go-to feel-better-about-myself activity was running/exercise. Due to my slower than anticipated PS recovery, and other self-inflicted setbacks, this coping mechanism is not available to me.
With no other thing to employ to pick myself up, I totally cliché-ed out and actually started drinking more for the purpose of feeling better. After realizing where I was going with that, I am making conscious decisions to NOT drink when I am feeling sh*tty (which is hard, man...work in progress).
Then, I guess I fell back to focusing on my diet and weight as this was one thing I knew I could do and do well, and control, and I knew in the past it made me feel good and accomplished. But the thing is, I don't need to lose any weight. So wth.
So now I am trying to find something I can focus on that I can do in my current state, that is beneficial to my health and well-being, and that I can derive some enjoyment/accomplishment from. This is proving to be difficult and frustrating, and creating a negative feedback loop.
#workingOnIt

Hey Guys.. It's exactly 3 months out Today !!!! see any NSVs in these pics ??? which one ?

Mr. texted me to get dressed and meet him downtown for dinner later. Finally get to wear one of my Shein.com outfits out of the house!
Feels good to get dressed up and go out again...

[mention=334772]rs[/mention] ... Le Sigh. It's annoying...I know what I need to do, but feel like I just don't care/not getting any enjoyment from projects/setting or achieving goals/etc like I used to. I can feel my anal Type A tendencies disappearing...and I find that I'm saying to myself "Why Bother?"

You know, (I forget where you are located..was it Washington?) I think it was mentioned on another thread, but perhaps the recurring theme of the blahs and general malaise for many on this forum I have been reading on threads lately is due to the weather this time of year? (Well, plus we also had PS, so there's that).

Maybe that is why we are having difficulty staying the course?

Maybe we will feel better come spring?

I am going to take your #onedayatatime hashtag to heart today. Eff yesterday, eff tomorrow, eff getting so pissed about my perceived inability to "just do it already".

I am scrapping food and exercise goals today. I will do what I will do and be ok with it. My ONE SINGLE focus for today is to get to the end ofit without getting pissed at what I'm doing or not doing.

Ya with me?

I'm not too sure if the PS is playing a role in my issues because I only had my arms done and I'm doing fine with all of that. I can see where your TT is still wreaking havoc for you. Plus the fact that you were running a lot before and now you're not would certainly factor in.

I agree, we need to be kind to ourselves and ride this wave and focus just one day at a time. Being hard on ourselves will likely make it worse, at least that's what I've experienced during my overweight years.

We've got this - even though I am now going to crawl into bed and try hard not to cry.

Xo

18 hours ago, ms.sss said:

feeling first hand what I think is the whole "letting things slide" conundrum that some WLS folks go through in maintenance.

So much this. I am going through the same thing and it really scares me. Tonight I ate nearly an entire bag of chips in addition to other crap. I just couldn't, wouldn't stop.

I wondered when the honeymoon period would end, and apparently for me it seems it is at 18 mos post sleeve surgery. I accept that over all this time I truly haven't conquered my emotional eating issues, nor have I committed to exercising. Wrapped up in all this I think is that I'm basically just lazy and I don't like any type of discomfort, physical or mental. Gosh I just really like food, damnit. It does bring me comfort.

I will continue to work the mental aspect of this journey. #onedayatatime

7 hours ago, ms.sss said:

your skin on your tummy is FLAWLESS. It looks like a Barbie Doll tummy (in a GOOD WAY).

So true!

@sillykitty it really looks great!

I just had my arm lift last Wednesday. The pain has not been to bad at all. I’ve just been taking Tylenol. I was able to shower two days after and I was kind of surprised when I took the bandages off, how much skin was left. I’m really, really hoping once the swelling goes down they will look better. Did this happen to anyone else after their arm lift? I have my follow up on Wednesday with my dr. I’m going to ask him. I was realistic going in that I wasn’t going to have the arms of an athlete. I just wanted to be comfortable wearing sleeveless tops. I hope this wasn’t a waste of money! Fingers crossed it gets better.

I'm so very sorry for your unimaginable loss. My heart breaks for you. Sending prayers.

2 hours ago, MarvelGirl25 said:

Am I the only one who read that as “I’ve had some pretty good s*x in the past”?

That's how read it too! Then I wondered why the eff would @ms.sss need to Google that?!? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Congratulations! One of my favorite milestones I've reached over my 18 month journey.

Thanks ️
I did get a little bit of worry planted in me since the appt with my doc. HIs "concern" about my inability to fully extend my arms got me all thinking and now I'm obsessed with stretching them out. I feel like a kid who is behind in class!

Another meeting day

It's been 6 weeks since surgery...

Tomorrow will be 6 weeks since I had my trinity of PS procedures, and I'm heading in for a follow up appointment with my surgeon. Took a picture tonite in rare moment with all my garments and sliicone tape off and put this side-by-side comparison together.
I'm pretty pleased with the results so far