Boldilocks

It's all about her and not about you and your health. My husband is extremely unsupportive. I didn't even tell him about the surgery as he had previous from for trying to cancel my much needed breast reduction behind my back 5 years ago. I texted him after the surgery and had left a whole folder of useful info and a letter explaining why I hadn't told him waiting on the kitchen countertop. I leaned on my very supportive friends who helped me with all travel especially. He now says it was the best decision I could have made, and that I was smart not to tell him as he wouldn't have understood and would have tried to stop it. You do you - it's your health and no one else's. She wouldn't like you telling her what to do with her body.

I'm 8.5 months out at this point and am crawling along at a snail's pace. At my 6 month follow up the NP said I was doing so great, and only had 10 lbs to go - I said that I really had about 20 lbs to go, but you know how they formulate it differently to have as many success stories as possible. 70% of excess weight rather than healthy BMI. But whatever, I told her my personal goal was 128 not 138. I asked for guidance on how much I should be eating as I was aware of less restriction and more hunger - she told me 600 cals a day until I go back at the 1 year mark. That seemed extreme to me, but I did it for a while. I'm a compulsive tracker - have 8 years worth of tracking on MFP. Daily, I track weight, calories, protein, water, carbs, fat, steps, exercise, bowel movements, menstruation, ovulation. The scale didn't move on 600 and I gained a little. And my energy was terrible, my skin awful, and I began having more food cravings. Honestly - and I am a PCOS weirdo, and none of us are in any way typical at all, and I am not saying anyone else should do this - I only see consistent downward movement on the scale when I up my calories to 1100-1200 and up my carbs to 100g. It is terrifying to me to eat more carbs, but for now I'm going with it. My stats, graphs, and charts show a real correlation that I don't think is coincidence. I am well used to being disciplined - I think as PCOSers we all are - so I will stay on this protocol for a while and if it stops working, it won't be hard for me to go lower again. I avoided coming on here for a while as I felt like I was a fraud or a cheat or I would be admonished for not doing things the "right" way - but I know my body and I'm honest with myself about what I put into it, so for right now this is what is working for me, and me alone. I don't think it helps that it is the last 20 lbs I am trying to lose, and everyone always says they just don't want to budge. (I am also a vegetarian BTW - have been since I was 6 - and I don't have any trouble getting plenty of protein from food. I haven't had to have protein shakes since 6 weeks out. I do a lot of dairy though: FF cottage cheese, FF Greek yoghurt, light babybel cheeses.)

How have your cycles been since the surgery? I jest not - I had my surgery on Feb 5th, and my period started on Feb 6th (not really fun at the time). And ever since I have had perfect 30 day cycles! I can predict exactly when it is going to come now - like a normal person! My periods are also not as heavy or painful. Bleeding lasts 3 days instead of 5+. I so enjoy not having cycles that are anywhere between 15 days and 100 days!

This happened to me on my 3 month and 6 month post-op blood draws and I didn't even think of it - doh! On surgery day they stuck me 4 times, couldn't do it, then the anaesthesiologist had to come and do it with a baby needle on my inside wrist. Ouch. Big difference now. Congrats to us! The NSVs just keep racking up!

I always had the issue too - it used to put me off taking vitamins and I knew that wouldn't wash with surgery. Now I take 2 Flintstones chewables with iron, 2 biotin gummies, and a dissolve under the tongue B12 in the AM. A calcium soft chew at lunch time, and another in the PM. Just had my 6 month b/w done and all my levels are perfect. I can take the morning vitamins without anything in my stomach, as I'm not a breakfast person.

Agreeing with he posts about metabolism above. Our guidelines would help some people - but not people with other stuff going on. Post-op, my diet is not that different from pre-op. I've been vegetarian since I was about 8, I have been logging food and exercise daily in MFP for 7 years and keeping to a calorie deficit, I drink the same amount that I did before (124 oz or more a day). My calories are a little lower right now as I was going on 1300 or less a day for the years before surgery, but not much difference. When I went home for the summer, my old friends didn't notice much of a difference in the amounts I eat now and the amounts I used to eat. But I have PCOS and my hormones were beyond messed up - I really believe that surgery was the only thing that was going to work for me. Even with that, it's taking ages for the weight to come off - I was told to expect extremely slow loss, but it was still a bit of a shock how slow compared to others. So now I try not to compare, LOL.

I mostly stayed on the stouts and I was fine - about 6 pints is my limit for the night. No hangovers, no throwing up, no weight gain. It was a grand time!

Same!

No need - any sleep apnea I might have had has definitely been resolved. The difference to my sleep quality has been one of the biggest impacts of surgery.

Never needed it, thanks for asking! Since surgery my sleep has been wonderful - it's like night and day. I fall asleep faster, sleep through for 7-8 hrs, and wake up earlier feeling like I really slept and ready to get up. I have no doubt that I did have sleep apnea that has now been resolved, because my sleep quality has changed so drastically!

I also think that the people who see us day to day are so used to us being large, that when we are a bit smaller it looks like we're tiny to them. I've had the OMG are you sick comments - because my surgery was in the winter when everyone hibernates around here and my neighbours hadn't really seen me for months. The truth is that I'm only *just* out of the Obese BMI and into the Overweight category - but people the same height as me but 20+ lbs lighter think I look too thin! Bizarre. I'm going home to Ireland for my yearly visit in 2 weeks, and no one there has seen me since last summer, waaaay pre-op. I'm readying myself for the onslaught.

It's a new one on me too.

I just passed my halfway point, and am feeling really good today! It may be slow, but it's better than not losing at all, or gaining. Feeling strong and knowing I can do this!

I just went on the trampoline we have in our backyard with my daughters - it was so much fun!!!

Definitely! I fall into the category of super, ultra slow loser too. I don't really compare, but do feel that pressure and have a lot of anxiety that my window will close. I almost started a thread tonight for the ot6her tortoises like me.