ms.sss

I definitely reduced my alcohol intake during weight loss phase (maybe 5 or so the entire time, and not even full servings).

Usually, the first 2-3 days are the most challenging. Hang in there, and your body *should* get used to it and it won't be as annoying. Try to stick it out to the end of day 3 at least...otherwise you may have to "restart the clock". Of course, this only deals with the physical responses, any mental ones will have to be dealt with accordingly. Suggestions: drink some water, go for a walk, take a shower, do some chores, do a jigsaw puzzle, meditate. Good luck!

MyFitnessPal (this screenshot was from the web version, but i use it on my phone the majority of the time) As an alternative, I’ve read many others use Baristatic App

This is also my second holiday season. Am Canadian, so my first big holiday event after surgery was xmas 2018. I don't remember it being too, too, difficult, but I do remember making sure that my couple fl oz of wine I served myself lasted basically the entire night, due to a really bad dumping experience about a week or so prior. Here is what I ate that day. I would have been 2 moths post op. At the time, it was a "big calorie day", comparatively, at least. In all, i was perfectly happy to be around fam and friends rather than stuffing myself with food like I did before.

SMOKING: I started smoking again on vacation last sept after being smoke free for 11 YEARS. I said it would just be on vacation, which led to just finish this pack I brought home with me, to just while its warm outside, to basically smoking as if I never stopped all these years. Slippery slope indeed. I made 2-3 attempts to quit during the past year+ but if I'm honest, I haven't tried so very hard. Am still smoking. DRINKING: On paper, apparently I am an "excessive drinker" now. I was a "social drinker" pre-wls, maybe 3-4 drinks a MONTH, max. This slowing started increasing since last summer, to where I was drinking maybe 2-3 drinks a WEEK by Christmas. Always when I was out, or at a party. Now (especially since pandemic started) I drink pretty much everyday, and at home. According to literature, "excessive drinking" in women is when 7 or more drinks are consumed in a week. Yep, that's me. On paper, based on what I've been reading, I just barely fit the criteria of being a High Functioning Alcoholic. Barely, but I do fit. Am still drinking. OBSESSION PREOCCUPATION with food: This one I don't consider to be too damaging, but it is a little eyebrow-raising. I think about food probably 1/2 of my waking hours. The things I find I spend ALOT of time on and/or get actual pleasure from: spending time looking at food pics, organizing the pics and Urls based on interest, planning and shopping for meals, cooking/baking, plating food, taking pics of the finished product, watching people eat it, smelling it, reading an ENTIRE menu to the last detail often multiple times, ordering off said menu, having Food Network on TV as my background noise. Actually EATING the food is very low on the enjoyment priority scale. Sure I'll eat/taste something if I deem it "worthy", but more often than not, I'd rather do any number of the former things instead. Am still preoccupied with food.

I probably paid about $5-6K-ish (Canadian dollars) for the TT part of my surgeries (I had 3 that day! : TT, arm lift, breast lift). OHIP paid for the panniculectumy portion of the procedure, and I paid the rest (muscle tightening & lipo). I see you are in Ontario too, so this can be an option for you as well! Discuss with your surgeon. As far as recovery, I will not lie, it was pretty rough (a lot of it was self-inflicted though...I wasn't the best patient in terms of listening to my doc about what I should/shouldn't be doing)

Well, I got a Tummy Tuck last winter, so that definitely helped some! If you look at the pictures prior to Dec 2019 (i.e., <= Day 385 in the pic collage), you can see that I for sure had loose/wrinkly skin on my abdomen and inner thighs. One of the unexpected benefits of the tummy tuck was that is smoothed out my thighs some (my backside is a different story, lol) In terms of exercise though, I started doing more than walking at about 3 months: I started out with 1-2 hours a week of various types of activity (zumba, hot yoga, bouldering, tap dancing, etc) as well as maybe 30 mins total of some very sad weight lifting a week (I hate weight lifting/strength training with the fire of a thousand suns). On top of this, I continued with my daily morning walks that I started on Day 1. By month five, I was doing about 2 one-hour classes a week of some cardio activity, + half-walking/half-running for about 1.5 hours a day + 15-20 minutes of strength training on one body part or another (still hated it). By the end of weight loss phase I was full on running at least 5km every day (sometimes twice a day) + the dreaded 20 minutes of strength training (why do i do it since I hate it so much, you ask? because it works. dammit.) Also threw in some class or other once or twice a week. Today (2+ years out), i'm alot lazier since end of last year: After the months long recovery of plastics from last December, and then the beginnings of Covid-inspired laziness in March, I am really only running about 3-4 times (min 5 km at time) a week now, 20-30 mins of strength training maybe 2 times a week, and ZERO classes. I have noticed the difference in energy levels since the reduction (mind you, there are probably other factors to this, but still). Sorry this was so long. I tend to type (and talk) LOTS. 🤣

@MaybeMeow2: First, I'm going to echo the other poster's response that the struggles with food addiction following WLS isn't discussed enough. Having said that that, I'm sending you a both a virtual high five and hug for your honesty and expression of vulnerability ❤️. From reading your post, the first thing that comes to mind is that you may benefit from some therapy (this is not a bad thing!). Its easy to say "just do this or that", but until you get to the source of why you do the "other" this or that, its definitely an uphill battle. Its not easy, and it takes alot of work to change course from a lifetime of learned behaviour...but it can be done. The fact that you can admit this to yourself and post it on here for all to see is a VERY significant first step. There will always be more steps to take, but with effort (and kindness to yourself throughout the process), hopefully you can reach some peace with it all. ❤️

After giving this a second thought (after it showed up on my feed again), I take this back. It *could* hurt. You don’t really know what’s in it, nor how it can affect you (both short- and long-term). May be in your best interest to consult a professional medical oppinion.

your eating times are very similar to mine! didn't eat until after noon, stopped eating at 7 (cuz I wanted to go to bed on a fully empty stomach due to a bad spit up experience in the middle of night once). I later learned I was intermittent fasting without even knowing it.

LOLOLzzz...I had to rack my brain to remember why I was doing that. Now I remember: I didn't usually eat until noon (was never a breakfast person, never was pre-op, and still am not), and I had to take 3 calcium pills a day, which had to be taken with something in my tum lest I get an upset stomach. Sooooo...for my morning dose, I scooped out a tsp of greek yogurt, buried my calcium pill in it and swallowed! Edit to add: soon after than I switched to the chocolate flavoured calcium chews so didn't have to do that anymore. They were like 10 cals each, but I decided to take the hit cuz they were delicious, lol.

At 3 months, I still had lots of restriction, and after eating my protein, there really wasn't much room for it. I started eating my beloved salads in earnest around the 5 month mark (though I did definitely stick to the lower net carb veggies during weight loss phase).

When I was able to eat solids (at 1 month) I was closer to 300 cals. By the end of weight loss phase I was up to 750-ish (7 months post-op). Once in maintenance, I worked my self up to around 1800-2000 cals (this took me about 2-3 months). These days I'm getting in about 1200-1500 cuz I'm trying to lose the last couple pounds of the Covid weight I gained. At this rate, its slow going, and I could probably lose more faster if I went lower, but honestly, I don't want to! LOL. My clothes still fit fine so there is no rush on my part. P.S. To answer your last question, according to myFitnessPal, my cal goal at the 3 month mark was 650 per day...but I rarely reached that. Truth be told, for some reason I liked to stay way under whatever calorie goal I set during the phases...just made me feel accomplished or something, I guess. I suppose I hated it when my carb and calorie numbers turned red, lol. So I made an extra special effort to keep them all green. P.P.S Further to this, my nutritionist's calorie goal for me was 1000-1200 at 3 months, but I was all, um, no thanks. I would get the "you should really try to eat more" schpeel at my followups, but she didn't seem to be too concerned/upset/whatever when I showed her my food diaries. By the time my 6th month follow up came around, this same nutritionist oohed and aaahhed at my results. In my head I was all "Lady, if I listened to you, I wouldn't be at this point today". Disclaimer to all: I am not advocating non-compliance to your nutritionist's instructions. We are all grown ups here and can make decisions for ourselves. My choice to do my own thing was based on my own personal research and effects on my body. This worked for me, it may not have the same effect on others.

Adorable! Congrats on the weight loss!

*wolf-whistles* looking good, lady. those side slits are sexy!

Yippppeeeeee! 🙌

I looked up what I was eating at the 3 month mark, and i took some screenshots of 4 consecutive days of eating. (I tended to eat the same stuff for days based on what was in the fridge/pantry, an it seems like it was anchovies, pepperettes and beef jerky that week, LOLOLOLOLzzz) In terms of volume, each "meal" was probably around 1/2 cup.

I did a quick google search on this and it seems kinda sketchy. It claims to "put you in ketosis" and "keep you there longer". I'm not going to go into the explanation into this here but it can easily be found on the internet. That said, it looks like there is very little supporting research that the consumption of these types of supplements actually aid in weight loss. You are probably better off just doing the keto/low carb diet proper if you are looking to getting into ketosis. Though it looks like you already have them, so it wouldn't hurt to try them and see if they work. Good Luck!

Ribeye Steak. ’Nuff said. My portion: 2.5 oz: 175 calories + glass of red wine (5 fl oz): 108 calories = 283 calories total

I believe there was an e.coli issue and the stock was affected 😭😭😭😭 Your salad looks MOUTHWATERING.

I love mine. I've had one since they first came out. The one I have now the Third Generation, which I've had for a couple years...I haven't felt the need to upgrade since (I think they are at the Sixth Generation now). *WARNING: this is long* Things I love: the regular health/activity stuff: activity tracker/heart rate monitor/flights climbed/ waterproof: can even track my swimming laps! can keep my phone in my purse/pocket as I get all my notifications on my watch...just pull it out when I need to remote control my phone's camera from a distance, for those wider angle group shots. can answer my phone on my watch if my phone is in another room (I don't do this often because I feel ridiculous talking to my wrist - a la star trek - but its handy for emergencies). Can also talk to Siri this way, but again, I feel stupid. Control phone's music (play, pause, select songs, etc)...esp handy when on runs the timer...i know this is a basic feature, but its probably the feature I used/use the most. It was especially useful when I was timing my bites back in my weight loss phase. Apple Pay from the watch. Durability. I don't know how many times I've banged the thing on stuff, and it still doesn't have a scratch on it...still looks like what it did when I got it out of the box. Things I'm not crazy about: Face Size. I initially had the bigger faced-one but even when I was obese, it looked so big on my my wrist. I can only imagine how the bigger one would look on me now. With that said, I have the smaller-faced one now, but my old-age-deteriorating eyesight is making it difficult to read. Wish the screen had a zoom function or something. In-the-box Band Size of the Sport Band: I have smallish wrists and I had to wear it on the second smallest notch (after I lost some weight) which resulted in all this extra band left tucked under. I did just get a smaller after-market one online, but its not as good quality as the original Apple Sport Band. Battery-life. I think alot of other smart watches can last 3-4 days on a single charge. Mine lasts about 24-30 hours. So I end up just putting it on the charger before I go to bed, so I have never been able to really try out the sleep monitoring function is has. Boo. On the bright side, it doesn't take long to charge it to an acceptable level (20-30 mins) if I happen to forget to charge one night. The "lift-wrist-to-wake" functionality is not 100% consistent (I'd give it maybe an 80-85%), and the opposite "tap-to-wake" function is sorta annoying (but works 100% of the time). This may have been addressed in later versions, though. It's not very pretty...especially when the screen off. I mean, it is a smart watch, so what do I expect, but I wish it looked more like a classic analog watch, or something.

This first delivery of (many) items I have been online shopping for given all the deals these days. The next few days are gonna feel like Christmas every time I open the front door! #yayNewClothes #booHavingNowhwereToGoToWearThem Someday I need to haul a pile of clothes to the tailor to get altered/hemmed. This jumpsuit included. Sigh. #beingShortSucks

I had the panniculectomy portion of my tummy tuck covered by insurance...so basically I just had to pay for the lipo and muscle tightening, which was probably around 30% of the total cost had I had to pay for the entire TT. I am in Canada though, and this was covered by provincial insurance, and the requirements to qualify may be different with with U.S. based Monila/Medicaid. ...Just did a quick google search and it seems Medicaid does cover panniculectomies, but the rules vary by state. Best to call and find out for confirmation. Good Luck!

It can be done. I was able lose 11.8 lbs during the 2 week pre-op diet, doing 2-3 shakes a day. It was a little challenging the first 3 days or so (in terms of wanting to eat something), but after that I got used to it, and it was much easier. You have about 3 weeks until the 16th, so you don't have to go as drastic. Did your team say what would happen if you don't lose the 9 lbs? (not that you can't, of course)