ms.sss

Ok, so here is a different kind of Before and After. Been having Body Fat Percentage on the brain after a short discussion of it on the Food B&A thread. I’m 5’2”, 118.8 lbs this morning, down from 235 lbs 4 years ago. Picture on the left is me 2 years ago (Summer, 2020), when i was working out regularly and eating pretty low-carb. I was probably 115 (or less) at the time, body fat percentage 13-18%. Picture in the right is me today (118.8 lbs), wearing the same shirt and bra, but not the weight belt that i was wearing in the 2020 pic (which is why my waist looks tiny in that pic). Body fat estimated at 29%. I def do like better how my bod looked a couple years ago, but not soooo much that im willing to put in the effort to get back there, ha! So lesson(s) for the day are: 1. number on the scale is NOT the only factor that determines “health” or fitness level. 2. Sometimes u need to weigh a particular goal with the effort required to achieve/maintain it and decide if its for you. 3. Getting to and staying at a particular fitness level takes effort. Regular, and consistent, effort. I am in awe and admiration of those who can get and STAY fit. It’s hard, man!

Edited to add: sorry, am realizing this post should probably be put in a more appropriate thread. But im too lazy to move it, ha! ———————— Yep. so the first time i got my body fat measures via scan, it was 38%. But this was already 3+ months in, and 70 lbs lost. So i would guess I was probably 50-55% body fat pre-wls given my body measurements at the time. Yikes. After weight loss, at around 1.5 years post, dexa clocked me at 15% (at 115 lbs) My most recent one was Jan of this year and i was at 23% (at 118 lbs that day) My home body scale, while varying wildly day to day, generally reflected these numbers when taken as an average over the time period. Sooooo, if i can count on the averages of my home scale, as of this morning, I’ve averaged 29% body fat reading for the past 30 days. I am 118.8 this morning. Now i still think calling me skinny fat is a stretch since technically im still in the healthy body fat percentage for my stats, i am definitely much less fit than i was before (I’ve basically doubled my body fat percentage over past 2+ years.) With all that said (which was alot, sorry!), i am content enough with my appearance and lifestyle that i have little interest in doing anything drastic to change it. I’m just not very keen on other people unsolicitedly pointing out their precieved deficiencies of my body. But i mean, who does??? P.S. btw, there ARE physical benefits of a higher body fat percentage: my face is less gaunt and my boobs are bigger. Win!

Ok, twist my arm, i’ll play too! Unfortunately this is as far in as the blanket would go 😂 Granted my pants are alot smaller than they used to be. Lololololzzz. P.S. I’ve shoved hot water bottles in my pants…now THAT feel nice!

Actually i think she’s reconstructing/revisiting an old thread where someone indeed shoved a blanket in their pants lol:

No difference in actual eating (but i did/do) burp an awful lot. Fullness felt different…it was/is a pressure in my chest instead of a bloated feeling in my lower abdomen. further…when drank alcohol the first time (about 3 weeks post op) for swear i could feel it travelling down my intestines. After a few months (can’t remember exactly when) alcohol no longer produced that sensation.

Dinner. A cute little dinner roll with a slice of havarti and 3 anchovies (don’t judge me, it was YUM, lol) Ate it all: 238 calories.

I loooove looking at old photos (and showing others these same photos!) Just think its so cool how different I looked and marvel at the difference. There aren’t many of me in my “obese years”, cuz like u (and many others, i suppose) i often hid from the camera, or was the one taking the pictures. Now im in so many and the timer on my camera phone is used ALOT, lol. Its funny cuz now I wish I had more pics of myself from that time. P.S. Its also fun to make Before-and-After collages 😂

Dunno why, but I just felt for oatmeal for breakfast this morning…which is weird because (1) I probably haven’t had oatmeal in probably 10+ years and (2) I don’t normally eat breakfast hahhaha Anyhoo, 260 calories for the bowl, ate roughly half. (Microwaved 1/3 cup steel cut oats with 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup milk…topped with brown sugar, cinnamon, blueberries and pistachios) The after pic doesn’t look so great, sorry!

5-15 lbs per WEEK?!? For the first few MONTHS?!? That is a bold (and borderline irresponsible) statement for a publication to make. If I lost 15 lbs per week i would’ve been NEGATIVE 5 lbs in 4 months. Dust Particles. Anti-matter? Does anti-matter have negative mass??…i digress… I didn’t even hit an average of 5lbs per week (for first 4 months), and from reading on here i was one of the faster losers. Pro tip: manage (lower?) ur expectations and revel in your accomplishments. It will save you alot of angst. P.S. Congrats on the 20lb loss! That is no small feat in a month.

Things that happened that i did not already know or read about beforehand: 1) 1 month post: my period would come back (i hadn’t had it in 2 years…thought i was in menopause..i was wrong), and continue to come like clockwork every month…im 4 years post now, and its still as regular. 2) 1-2 months post: my armpit stink would disappear (I don’t even need to wear deodorant anymore) 3) i no longer needed my ADHD meds. I had to pause taking them after surgery as advised by doc, but discovered i didn’t need to get back on them. 4) 1-2 months post: super human bladder control. I used to pee 1-2 times an hour during waking hours and got up from bed 4-6 times a night. After 1-2 months i noticed i could sleep the entire night with no bathroom visits and can go for several hours without during day. 5) 2-3 months post: the endless amounts of energy. In would have thought i would be dead woman waking given the so few calories i was taking in, but it was just the opposite Thats all i can think of for now. Im sure there were plenty more but its been so long i forget, lol.

Tonight’s dinner. Asparagus, some stuffing and 1/3 a smashed potato. I felt that the default MFP entries didn’t account for the butter and olive oil I used to cook so I logged them separately for good measure. Still not the caliber of “healthiness” i said i wanted to get to, but whatevs. Like i said, im lazy, arg. Ate all the asparagus and stuffing but just had one bite of the potatoes (the Kid ate the majority of it…she liked it better than i did, ha) 202 calories for what is shown.

Further to what the others have said, “skinny-fat” is a term used to describe someone who looks thin but is otherwise unfit and “unhealthy”. My husband said I was “soft” recently…another way of saying im skinny-fat. I guess its the general consensus around here that i need to eat better and exercise more. Geez. Its true i guess…while im only a couple lbs heavier than i was in my exercise heyday, I definitely look waaaay less fit than i used too. I’ve likely lost a considerable amount of muscle mass and replaced it with fat. Im not so bothered by it that i want to make drastic changes, but the comments are definitely annoying.

Posting on this thread makes me realize i need to clean up my diet (despite the fact that i am already logging everything i eat!) 1/8 of a monte cristo sandwich and some sour cream and onion chips : 356 calories (which includes an espresso martini that I drank beforehand, not shown). Ate it all. I have seriously been so lazy the past few months to make something more suitable. My cousin that i saw for (Canadian) Thanksgiving, whom I haven’t seen in a couple years (eff u Covid) actually called me “skinny-fat” to my face over the weekend. Inner outrage aside, i kinda agree with her. *Sigh*…Next meal is gonna be a salad, swearsies.

Im 4 yrs post op sleeve and i generally eat about 1 cup of food in volume. More if its salad, less if its dense meat or fluffy bread in one sitting In the first 6 months it was like 1/2 a cup. And the first month or two it was like less than 1/4 cup. The first 2 weeks was essentially nothing, yikes. Im a grazer though so i can get enough food/calories in by the end the day. Compare this to pre-surgery when I could easily get in maybe 4-5 cups of food in one sitting. I would be stuffed, but i’d get it in (im rarely stuffed like that anymore as i actively try not to reach that point because its a quite uncomfortable - in not painful - feeling) Everyone will have different experiences, best to pay attention to how food volumes (and types of food) affect YOU, and act accordingly. Good Luck! ❤️

Confession: i like cute food. Anything mini or sample sized is my jam, lol. Got these red bean salted egg yolk pastries as a gift and omg aren’t the little containers they are in adorable??? On top of that, they were DELICIOUS. Ate one, 210 calories. Yummmmmm.

Dinner! A cute little bowl of homemade Mao Pao Tofu (Szechuan seasoned ground pork w/ tofu cubes) over rice; with an espresso martini beforehand (not shown): 320 calories Yum. Ate it all!

Same. i was worried that i was going to go under and never wake up. I remember even trying to fight the anesthesia, lol (was not successful obvs…counting down from ten, i think i only got down to 6 or 7 ,ha) When i did wake up in the recovery room, my first thought was “YES!! I’m alive!”

Often people (regardless of gender) who don’t ask for help won’t be open to unsolicited advice, however well-meaning it is provided. Ongoing unsolicited advice, especially when all previous advice has already been ignored, can be construed as “nagging”. Which is unpleasant for everyone involved. You have voiced your loving concern. He has chosen to do his own thing. If he was a child or some other type of dependent, one could make a case to further persist and/or intervene. But he is a grown man and can make decisions on his own. Yes, he *may* have undesirable effects from his choices (but so far so good, though, I understand?). And his outcome, however good or bad will be his, and his alone. Sometimes the best way learn something is to learn it yourself. And this is not to say that he is destined to hurt himself. Maybe the lesson to be learned is that what he’s doing is fine for HIS body. And then again, maybe its not. Only he (and his body) can say. That said, i agree that bacon and eggs at 2 weeks post op is not part of the food transition plan than even i was given. But he seemed to have tolerated it well and he would not be the first person i’ve heard/read who did not follow the plan and came out unscathed (health-wise, at least…) Good Luck! ❤️

Haha..lucky then I didn’t take and post an “after” photo. Those eggs where soft boiled…😂

Im 4 years post op this month and have been pretty much at this weight (+/- a few pounds) since i got into maintenance 3+ years ago. (I was 118.3 lbs this morning) I actually used to eat over 2500+ cals regularly in years 2-3 post-op but that was because I exercised a heck of alot more during that period than I do now. Im 5’2”. In your decision to decide if u want to lower calories to lose more weight, i suggest you figure out what u are willing to do to achieve that. Do you want to eat less? You mentioned you are happy at 1800 cals a day. Will you be even happier at a lower weight, but have to offset that with less cals? Will you still be able to be at peace with your life and lifestyle to achieve (and maintain) a lower body weight? If the answer is yes, then go for it! Lower your cals, increase your exercise and get to where you want to be. However, if the answer is no and you see yourself suffering angst that takes away from peaceful content living, then I say it ain’t worth it in the long run. But thats just me. Good Luck! ❤️

I generally can eat about 1 cup of food in volume (more if its salad or dry stuff, less if its dense protein or fluffy bread) in one sitting. If I wait a couple hours i could eat another cups worth. But mostly im a grazer and just eat small amounts throughout the day….usually totalling 1800-2000 average a day…usually.

I chose 120 lbs…which was the midpoint of the “healthy” BMI range for my height. In had been 120 lbs in my adult life before (last time was in my late 20’s, i started gaining weight on the road to obesity after my daughter was born) so i knew it was relatively doable. 4 years post-wls now and i was 118.3 lbs this morning, so i figure i guessed right 🤷🏻‍♀️ Of course I realize that i will not be this weight forever, i’ll just go with it for now and make changes if i feel i need (or want) to. A year or so ago i made efforts to stay close (or under) 115, but decided it was more effort than I wanted to expend (which wasn’t much really, but still) and upped my “acceptable” weight to 120. Its been INFINITELY easier to stay below the higher number, and i like it this way.

First meal of the day. Bagel, eggs and strawberry jam. Ate it all: 280 calories * (* Plus spices I didn’t log cuz i figure the calories are negligible: salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika and cayenne)

You’ll likely get a wide range of answers here cuz we all started off at different weights, have different heights, different diets/exercise habits/genes (you will also read alot of variations of what i just said, ha). Not counting the first two months when i recorded my highest per-month-losses, i basically lost about 10 lbs a month until i hit goal. But i started out at 235 lbs, am 5’2”, and female. To factor out starting weights and heights, you could ask for people’s percentage weight loss month over month…but this involves math 😂😂😂