ms.sss

ok, so i just gotta say: while your spreadsheets and plans and DETAILS is like porn to ME (i love it!), i want to let OTHERS reading this that this is not for everyone. its OK to be flexible and/or slack off sometimes. we all can't be perfect 100% of the time. have a plan (as detailed or NOT detailed as you want) and do the best you can. if you stick to it, AWESOME! if you don't, try not to give into any angst about it. just learn whatever lesson you can from it and keep going. the goal is to lose some weight, however way you do it. ❤️

I would assume that your medical team will provide you with the stages they would like you to go through. everyone one here were given widely differing sets of instructions post op, so it may get a little confusing with all the differing accounts. best to pick one program (easiest one would be the one provided by your team) and follow that. remember they are guidelines, so if you are unable to do a stage or meet a goal or have issues, do something else. don't force it. and get in touch with your team with that said, here was mine (almost 5 years ago): week 1: clear liquids week 2-3: full liquids week 4: purees (i skipped this one, i just did full liquids for another week because purees were YUCK! lol week 5-6: minced ...after that i was cleared for everything/anything (just reminded to chew alot).

i don't know what my numbers were, but at my 1 week post op appt my doc had me take b12 out of my vitamin regimen. and he would often comment on my higher levels at most of. my followups (but i never thought to ask what he considered "higher" levels). full disclosure: i stopped taking all my vitamins around 1.5 years post op (by choice, not direction) and all my labs since then have come back with zero issues. i had my 50-year-old-woman full range of tests and checks and screenings a couple years ago and i am the picture of pure health (my words, not theirs, lol) congrats of feeling great, and with the labs to support it! YAY!

wow! looks delicious! did u make that????

stuff i ate today that i took pics of: i had my first meal of the day with a cat ❤️ and the last meal of the day with a sunset. ate everything shown (eventually) except the last pic. for that "leftovers" bowl, i ate all the pad thai, all the poke bowl toppings, but left most the rice alone (it was too hard for my liking...it was sitting in the fridge too long) also had a bunch of snacks here and there but no pics of those...

holy crap. i am giving you a standing ovation for sticking to that schedule for 14 days! drinking EVERY 5 minutes AND walking around EVERY 10 minutes for 12 HOURS every day???? AND still doing regular daily living stuff??? that is amazing. i can tell you are going to do very well p.s. love your spreadsheet!

hot yoga is basically yoga type efforts in a heated room (temp anywhere from 90 to 110°F) there are the traditional yoga flow and meditative classes led at my studio, plus power yoga, mat pilates, and boxing all in a heated room (personally i dont care for the low intensity meditative ones, and prefer the strenuous or prolonged stretching or high intensity ones) im telling you it feels AWESOME during and afterwards. but its not for everyone...you have to be ok being completely drenched in sweat (if ur doing it properly) and have generally good heart health and have no issues with dehydration nor prolonged heat. also, people generally wear minimal clothing because, yeah, the sweat. lol. pilates is great too. i do reformer pilates (with the machine) at another studio. i was already pretty bendy, but the last several months has made me SUPER DUPER bendy.

i was JUST posting about this. (and "arguing" with mr. about it) for me, though, its not guilt...is actual pain. since ive been doing pilates and hot yoga (i started again after a years-long hiatus 8 months ago) i have discovered that all the aches and pains and stiffness and soreness i seem to constantly experience in certain areas in my body goes away soon after i start a session and lasts for several hours afterwards. then it comes back. then it goes away again when i go back to the studio. i don't get as much of the relief after a run, but its the best during/after hot yoga...i feel AWESOME and pain free. im sure the super hot room contributes to this. so i like to go everyday, and if i dont, i feel not as awesome. back in october last year, i was doing hot yoga once a week, pilates 3x a week, and a 5k maybe once every 1-2 weeks, if im lucky. plus my lazy-mans strength training in front of the tv. so i generally had 2 full rest days per week (the weekend for me). now, 8 months later, per week, i do hot yoga 7x, pilates 3x, a 5k 1-2x, rock climbing 2x plus the lazy workouts. which has me doing multiple "sessions" per day with zero rest days. been at this level of activity for about 3 months straight. oddly enough i dont feel any worse for wear, other than the usual aches after my hot yoga magic wears off. i am still an insomniac and have energizer bunny energy. but i am definitely stronger, so there's that (well i still suck at opening jars...hot yoga doesn't work on my grip strength lol) anyway, long-a$$ story short, i know i need rest days for recovery and injury prevention. i just really like the several pain-free hours after a strenuous, sweaty session, and missing a day sucks, but not out of guilt... wow. sorry! this was really long.

along with the nuts, some more stuff i ate yesterday... ate everything shown (eventually). i ate other stuff too, but alas, no pics of those.

yep, yep and yep, i went from being an avid avoider or sweat pre-op, to a dedicated walker around my kitchen island post-op, to walking around the block, to walking around the block multiple times, to RUNNING around said block, to running 5K every other day...etc. i had a bit of an exercise lull (for me) due to an injured toe for a couple years for a bit back there, but today (at 5+ years out) i perform some sort of dedicated exercise 1-2 hours every day (the majority if which is in the form of pilates or hot yoga or running, with a side of 10-15 mins of strength training). full disclosure: i probably have some sort of low grade mental issue/addiction because i actually feel sorta bad or fomo-ish if i miss a day. mr. keeps telling me that need to take a rest day but i just cant seem to do it without feeling yuck. am working on it...🤷🏻‍♀️

i was able (and allowed) to take tylenol the day after surgery, with no issues. i did have some trouble swallowing those giant horse-pill sized calcium tablets so i stopped trying. 1 month or out i was able to get them down with a tablespoon of greek yogurt, but eventually switched to calcium chews. went back to tablets around 4 months post. (note i was able to take all my other- smaller! - tablets: vit D, & pre-natal vitamin since day 1).

i painstakingly removed all the raisins from my mixed nuts lunch (i hate raisins)...which wasn't easy cuz there are dried cranberries in there (which i love)! 350 cals for the bowl, am gonna snack on them for next couple hours as i plant myself in the couch and watch the French Open on tv.

looks yuuuuummmm! *reminds self to buy butter to bake biscuits tomorrow*

ok. first let me say that regular exercise may not affect the number on the scale as much as diet does, but it does WONDERS for your appearance and well being. starting something that is beyond your capabilities or desire is a sure fire way to alienate yourself from exercise even more. how about starting small: walk around your neighbourhood; vacuum your entire house more often. do some gardening or yard work. you can even start SUPER-small; take the stairs instead on the escalator; park further away from your destinations and walk the difference. once you get ur body used to moving regularly and hopefully develop an actual liking of endorphins, it may be easier to make the transition to something more regular and challenging. good luck! ❤️

i may be missing a point here, but doesn't the nurse's statement leave the door open for an extension? are u able to provide documentation? i should think this would be as easy as a written statement?...

had a double header of hot yoga then pilates this morning. i was STARVING afterwards, but then a class friend asked me out for coffee. so of course u went cuz i love coffee and chats on a patio on a lovely day. finally got home at 3pm and realized i wasn't hungry anymore. now i cant believe that my earlier hunger was head hunger because other than water and 2 coffees my stomach was empty! fixed myself this avocado-cucumber-tomato-chicken salad thing cuz i knew i needed to eat SOMETHING, but didn't get very far. ate less than ½ and called it quits. not sure what my body is trying to tell me... anyway, its almost 5pm and im probably only at about 250 calories today...lets see if i feel hungry later...🤷🏻‍♀️

yes, it will, a little! the contrast between dark hair and white scalp is more noticeable so going lighter towards the colour of your scalp will help with the illusion....unless of course your scalp is like florescent white lol

both. when my hair was long when it first started coming out, the weight of the hair still on my head pulled it down and actually made the whiteness of my scalp more prominent...make me look more bald! the pixie cut made it easier to fluff up the roots to camouflage my scalp a little more, looking less bald lol. and yeah, the shorter cut meant less shedded hair to clean up around the house which is always a good thing. p.s. you may be surprised oh how well you could rock a shorter cut with your slimmer face though....but i get it, there can be some low key trauma to see all that hair on the cutting room floor. but i've had a pixie 2 other times in my life so i had pre-trauma to get over it lol.

oh the hair loss blues. if its gonna happen its gonna happen. mine started dropping out at 3 months, i had CARPETS of hair all over the house. bit the bullet and cut it to a pixie cut cuz i got tired of vaccuming and snaking the shower drain of all that effing hair. at around 6-7 months post op i noticed little chicken hairs sticking straight up all over my head. by 2 years, all those little chicken hairs were the same length as the rest of my shoulder length hair. by 4 years, my hair was just as long as it was pre-wls AND it was thicker AND curlier (bonus!). i aslo had regular haircuts throughout all this, so i'm sure it would have been longer if i didn't...but it probably wouldn't have looked as healthy.... i'll be 6 years post op in October and my hair is still long and lovely. here's a collage i made when i was 4 years post op to show the hair state progression. the last pic is of me 2 years ago, i'll see if i can post one of my hair today after i shower, if i don't get to lazy.

hiya! alot of us worried about rapid weight loss and getting too thin. more often than not it really becomes a non-issue. very very very rarely does someone lose too much weight to the point that it affects thier health. aesthetics though, may be a different story. you (or others) may believe you are too skinny, but your labs will likely say otherwise. you are taller and weighed less than me when we started. i too was "normal-sized" for the majority of my life. my weight gain was in my 30's, and early 40's (kids, family, work, mortgage, lol). went from 130-235 lbs. but at 5 months post op, we are both very close in weight loss PERCENTAGE WISE. you lost 66% of your body weight, i lost 65%. ** EDIT: CORRECTION, did my math wrong: you lost 34% of your body weight, i lost 35%. (i used end 5m body weight vs weight lost at 5 months for original calc..oospies!) ** and i can tell you that i did not get dangerously thin, nor was my surgeon or primary care doc worried at any point during my weight loss (nor during maintenance). i DID think i got really skeletor-looking when i reached 127 lbs, BUT i was 118.4 lbs this morning (and over 5 years out now), and honestly, i think i have not looked better since i was a teenager (i was firmer as a teen vs now lololozzzz). stuff shifts around, and the same number will look totally different on you at different times of your life. regular exercise does WONDERS for your appearance (and well being). anyway, i know i can't really just TELL you to stop worrying and you will magically stop worrying. i worried for a month or so as well way back when i decided to enter maintenance. alot of us felt the same way. maybe we all need to just go THROUGH the worry to get OVER it. good luck! ❤️

my inside exercise is pilates, hot yoga, lane swimming, rock-climbing, and in-front-of-tv-weight-training (i also do a a rotating schedule of different dance classes). my outside exercise is running. i also do alot of other "outdoor activities" but i don't consider them dedicated exercise, its just stuff i do: walking, hiking, biking, softball, beach volleyball. i'm in toronto, Canada, so my outdoor activities are concentrated in the warmer months. in the winter i may go hiking or skiing, but not very often (and i don't run in the winter either). exercise is exercise no matter where you do it....but if you do alot outdoors, don't forget the sunscreen and hats!!

just read my response over and feel like i should clarify: some may buy processed because of time and accessibility constraints. not everyone has the means, time nor access to sustain a totally (or even MOSTLY totally) "healthy" diet. (there is also just plain laziness...which i fully admit to doing. some days it just suits me to eat something processed out of a bag. i can't make an all natural scratch made meal every day. well, actually maybe i could, but i choose not to.)

im gonna venture a guess: because its delicious! lol ...and more often than not, cheaper and more convenient than fresh.

food for thought: do we have metal issues because we are overweight? or are we overweight because we have mental issues? i sometimes think is one way and then other times the other...

an NSV in the same vein: vacation packing is soooooo much more satisfying. our smaller clothes take up way less room so we can either: (a) bring more clothes, yay! no need to pick and choose, just bring it all!! OR (b) bring smaller luggage, yay again! i have been on many vacations now (several of them for 2 weeks or longer) where i only needed a carry on for my stuff. Win!