ms.sss

well that the first time i heard that one!

i feel like any word used as a synonym for "fat" and even more so, "very fat" is often construed as offensive and/or mean. especially by those who are. or were. a young daughter of a friend of mine maintains that "fat" is a bad word. i suppose alot of it has to do with how the word fat (or obese or heavy or bigger or overweight or large, etc) is used. but the intended use and the eventual receipt of the word(s) is highly subjective. given that we are a demographic that is very familiar with all these words, i wonder what word everyone would prefer be used? specifically by medical personnel? p.s. on another note, now that i am on the other side of things (for now, at least), i bristle when people refer to me as "stick" or "nothing" or, my all time (not) favourite: "skinny b***h". i mean, really. 🙄

if you are feeling some sort of way about being "food policed" now, it *may* get worse later (...or better, who knows?) either way, it doesn't hurt to have a conversation with her about how being called out made you feel. preferably not in front of nephews at meal times. Good Luck! ❤️

on top of all the great advice above, i would really suggest you find something you actually LIKE to do....as you will be more likely to keep doing it. Good Luck! ❤️

yeah i got the sweats. still do now on occasion...im 4+ yrs post op. the sweats were almost always accompanied with accelerated heart beat. sometimes lethargy and nausea. and more rarely, vomiting/diarrhea/"passing out"....all varying degrees of dumping for me as a result of consuming too much sugar or eating too fast.

"journey" "3 week stall" "only x lbs" (in a dismissive way in referring to lbs lost) and, similar to @Tomo, i have a pet peeve about the ANGST folks unnecessarily put upon themselves when comparing their own results to others without CONTEXT. Yes, Sally may drop 30 lbs the first month because she started off at 350 lbs, vs Jane who lost "only" 10 and started off at 200. And yes, Joe, who is also 350 lbs lost 50 lbs, but he is like 8 inches shorter than Sally and is a dude. and there is brenda who lost 5 lbs cuz she has a medical condition and hasn't yet learned how to adjust her lifestyle around it. we all have the same goal: to lose weight. in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter sh*t if i lost faster/slower more/less than some random stranger on the internet. *rant over*

yep, what they said 👆🏼 ...the largest pound "droppages" (is that a word??) happen in the first 1-2 months. i lost 21 and 17 lbs the first two months respectively and then roughly 10lbs each month thereafter until goal (lost as little as 9 lbs in month 6 and as high as 13 in month 4) i weighed 235 two weeks before surgery (BMI 43 cuz im a short 5'2") and 223 on surgery day. am 4+ years out and have gratefully stayed below goal the entire time (so far). this AM i weighed 120 even.

445 calories for a (very late) first meal of the day: prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe with some truffle cheddar.

my household loves bacon. and chocolate. so...i made candied bacon brownies! baked them in a muffin pan cuz everyone always fights over the outer/corner pieces...this way, every brownie has the crunchy edge. (we also love cheese, but maybe i'll save that combination for another time lol). clockwise from top left: - Crispy bacon stuffed w/ candied bacon topping: 183 cals each - Chocolate almond stuffed w/ candied bacon topping: 173 cals each - Plain: 133 cals each - Chocolate almond stuffed: 153 cals each Haven't had one yet (i just ate dinner) and its going to be too late to eat one later so i staked my claim on one of the bacon bacon ones and will enjoy it tomorrow...yum, can't wait!

starting to go through all the food that didn't get served/eaten over the past several days of holiday parties! i forgot to defrost this Tuna Tataki in time for an NYE party so we are eating it for brunch today. Am actually glad i forgot cuz its delicious! more for us! 😂 270 calories for the plate, ate a little bit more than half (gonna log it at 60%, so like 162 cals for MFP for tracking purposes)

...probably the same reasons people don't talk about therapy outside of the bariatric universe. i dont think the taboo that is (unfairly) assigned to mental health management is specific to us as a group. 🤷🏻‍♀️

the number on the scale is notoriously finicky. I've been known to drop a good 2-3 lbs after a good poop. How your clothes fit (or a tape measure to various body parts) is a good way to monitor body shrinkage. I had a pair of "goal jeans" that i kept trying on until they magically zipped up. But then they got too big that measuring myself against them was pointless. Now I have a pair of jeans that i wear that i refuse to size out of, so if they ever get too tight i know i'm going in the wrong direction. BTW, Pro Tip for taking your body measurements (if you do that): Take a long 2-3 inch wide strip of paper (I used wrapping paper) and wrap it around whatever body part you are measuring. Mark the circumference on the paper and then measure the paper out with measuring tape. This way you minimize the margin of error due to measuring techniques. I found this was the only way to properly measure my upper arm specifically because I was very inconsistent just using the measuring tape...like sometimes i would pull the tape too tight (which was a problem when my arm skin got really loose) or I would not be measuring in the same place every time. Good Luck! ❤️

I started losing large amounts of hair around 3 months post, and cut it into a pixie a week or so after. The shorter hair was easier to style and fluff (and stay) up to give the illusion of volume vs the longer hair, which weighed down against my scalp, making the scalp more visible and looking bald-ish. Plus i was sick of vacuuming up the carpets of long hair i kept shedding around the house. Little chicken hairs started to sprout up around 6 months post and by 2 years post those chicken hairs were down to the tops of my shoulders. Im a little over 4 years post op today and its almost exactly like it was before surgery. I say "almost" because i believe it's actually thicker looking now, but that may also be due to the fact that the hairs came in wavier/bendier that before. which im not hating at all. 😉 Below my hair progress pic lol. I actually had a lot of fun putting this collage together...i spent a good couple hours trying to find a pre-op pic of me with my hair down (i almost always have my hair in a bun or ponytail), and i was marvelling at all my obese pictures! i am in shock at how big i was...i could've sworn i was never that big! crazy. just crazy.

yep. i'm over 4 yrs out (and been my current weight more or less the last 3.5 years!) and i still, on occasion, ask my fam "do i look fat in this?" ...then they roll their eyes and say no, but still some part of me thinks they are lying. (...of course there ARE days when i look in the mirror pat myself on the back and do a mental mic drop, lol. i guess it all depends on the day)

me! im tired and have a cold and TOTALLY social'ed out. i can't wait until holiday season is over and i can get back to doing nothing.

i did. i had a tummy tuck, arm lift and breast lift all in one shot back in 2019. im in canada (ontario) though, so the following prices may not apply depending on where you are from: i paid roughly 15k CAD in total (~11k USD in todays dollars) my provincial insurance covered the pannilectumy portion of the surgery and i paid the difference to "upgrade" to a tummy tuck (which is essentially muscle tightening and a bit of lipo on the flanks)...and i think that "upgrade" cost me 2-3k CAD? up here in ontario, pannilectumy is apparently covered if there is infection or whatever from the hanging over skin (which i did not have?, or if you lost 100+ lbs (which i did). i did not know this until my chosen surgeon informed me of it. i was already willing to pay for the whole thing, so the insurance coverage for that portion of it was just bonus for me. p.s. i booked the next available surgery as soon as i reached goal which was 6-7 months later (so i had the deeds done at 14 months post wls)

What to do when you don't want to eat? Honestly, i Just won't. During weight loss phase, if i didn't want to eat, i didn't (still employ this tactic today at 4 yrs out). And yes, i was way under calorie goals too. I had labs done at least 4 times the first 6 months post and there was zero concern from the team (or from myself) about the state of my health. What does YOUR team say?

yummmmmmmm

I use My Fitness Pal...but I have the paid version ($70 CAD per year...$50 USD/year, i think?). I got the paid version because it allowed me to set macro goals in grams and view macros by meal and it has food timestamps...but the free version is also good as is. I probably don't really need the paid version anymore, but i keep it anyway cuz i'm used to the features and i like to collect data for fun lol.

The word "obsession", used in this context, implies a negative connotation, which insinuates that the referenced behaviour is undesirable, and that the actor of this behaviour is somehow wrong or damaged. Maybe......you can look at it as accepting that for our particular demographic, we may need to put a little more extra effort to maintain our weights than the "normies". Maybe, instead of looking at it with angst as an "obsession", it can be be kindly looked on as a HABIT. Like the way brushing your teeth is a habit, or how washing your hands before eating is a habit, or putting food/dishes away after meals is a habit, or checking your blind spot when you change lanes while driving, or petting your cats each time you walk by them....etc etc. Maybe keeping an eye on your food intake could be just another thing on a long list of things you do everyday with minimal thought or effort. Maybe? P.S. Of course, the word "obsessed" could also be used in a more positive-leaning take, like when the Kid says "OMG, i am OBSESSED with the shade of lip gloss!". lolololzzzz.

*raises hand* I do! I bake holiday treats! (i bake non-holiday treats all year long too, ha) I was a baker (and eater) of treats pre-wls and it continued after...with a vengeance for some reason. First couple years after surgery, i didn't eat any of it. Just baked for the fam (and gave away lots to other family, friends and neighbours...during covid lockdowns i would leave boxes of desserts at their respective doorsteps, signed "the dessert fairy". that was alot of fun, *sigh*) nowadays i'll have a bit of what i make (very small for taste really, compared to pre-wls though)...otherwise i'll dump.

first meal of day (which was the fam's last meal of the day yesterday) beefsteak, rice and onions. basically ate it all, less a bit that mr. ate. 269 calories.

4+ years out for me. i still track all my calories and weigh myself every morning. if my scale shows an upward trend for an extended period of time, i make adjustments in calorie intake for a while....though i haven't had to do these "adjustments" since i upped my personal acceptable weight limit by 5lbs over a year ago. i found that the effort to maintain a lower weight was just not worth it. yes its a small amount, but not having to worry about those extra 5 lbs and being able to maintain my current weight with little extra effort with my current eating habits and activity level is golden to me. p.s. i do dedicated exercise about 3-4 times a week p.p.s. not sure if it's worth noting that i also inadvertently practice 16:8 IF (i don't normally eat until after noon out of years habit; and i generally stop eating around 7-8 so i sleep on an empty stomach..habit created after wls to avoid nighttime regurgitation.)