Sheribear68

You guys are cracking me up! I don’t have an OOTD as I’m in a purchasing holding pattern.

Good idea, especially with the holidays here. Wow, 6 months ago my answer would’ve been way different as I’m currently at a weight I never thought I’d see. Today my answer is as of now I’m at the highest weight I ever want to be-exactly 150.0 pounds. I’d love to live somewhere in the 145 median range

Soooo exciting that your dates are coming soon. I’m just now putting my big toe in the plastics pool. probably looking to start looking for docs to have consults with starting next February or March. Has anyone really been able to agree on what the best timing is? I’m thinking at least one year PO, because even though I’m losing tiny amounts monthly compared to months past, the difference in “just” 5 pounds is startling....

True on the whole clothes sizes changing. Right now I’m an 8/10 and size medium and when I was 15-25 pounds lighter than I am today, I was wearing similar sizes. Now the last time I weighed under 150 was in ‘96, because I got preggo in October of 96 and that’s when I gained the 90+ pounds and never recovered (until now). Oddly enough, I had already had my son when that wedding pic was taken. My body bounced back within a year of having him, but not so much with my daughter.

Oh my rejection is such a difficult topic, yet we truly can learn so much from it. Okay, so the one true time I was (IMO unjustly) rejected was for a job back in 2012. My former boss sold his business and the new owner promptly closed down a store and almost all of us were laid off. The reason for it was the new owner had a daughter who had just graduated pharmacy school and a son who was in retail management and he gave them the jobs and I had less than 2 weeks to find a new job. Because of the schedule change, I was free to attend an OU tailgate and it just so happened that’s where I met hubs. At that time, he lived 150 miles away and was in town for that one weekend. So.... total fluke we met and we’d have never met otherwise had I been in previous job.

Okay so I definitely weigh more than my mid 20’s self and waaaaay more than my teen self. Jeez, I can remember when I got to 125 in my senior year in HS and cried bc I was “fat”. Found this pic from 1995. I was 27 and matron of honor for my sisters wedding. I weighed around 130-135 here and was upset bc I was 10 pounds over my college weight. So this pic is 20 pounds lighter (and almost 25 years younger) version of me. I think now I’m def carrying less fat for my weight

Okay so I can eat really fast. As in 3oz meat and 1/2 cup salad in 10 mins fast. My saving grace on that is that I’m veeeery careful to pre-package/measure beforehand so I don’t gobble up too much too fast. If I’m eating something super-delicious and find myself looking longingly at leftovers, I set an alarm for 15 minutes. If I’m still hungry after that time then I go get 1 spoonful of whatever I wanted and then make myself savor it slowly. it took me 3-4 months to figure this out, but the first signal I’ve eaten too much is a runny nose, followed by sneezing. once the sneezing stops, I better not take another bite bc then the pain/stomach cramping starts. still haven’t thrown up once since surgery, but it’s mostly bc I’m super cautious and am lucky enough to have a cast-iron sleeve

Okay so weighed in at 150.0 again today. Lol, why is it that when I’m trying to breakthrough a huge milestone the scale stops? ?? Anyway, need to leave for work in 5 mins,but today my menu is simple: Tuna, cottage cheese, 5 olives, a p3 pack, and an 11oz carton premier protein to add to some iced coffee. Should be somwhere in the 70’s for protein and somewhere in the high teens for carbs. Prolly around 700-800 Cals Maybe it’s wrong for me to be lazy about logging, but I feel as long as I stay with foods that I know it’s okay not to log

Okay so my hair was definitely better back in middle school. I mean, it was the 80’s. Lol I’m still losing a noticeable amount and I’m now over 9 months PO, so I’m really sick and tired of trying to hide the loss. Oh well, better to be -100 pounds than have my thick hair back The season I love most is also spring. Maybe fall would be my fave if: 1. It lasted more than 5 days, and 2. Work wasn’t so dang crazy at this time of year.

Okay so this is the way it was explained to me by my bariatric clinic: Insulin-resistance plays a HUGE part in how our metabolisms work and the longer we have disordered diets (binge/purge, or binge/crash diet, or calorie restrict/binge exercise) we mess with all of our hormones and homeostasis signals get their wires crossed and our set points keep going up,up,up, and up. WLS disrupts all of the “bad” data and our bodies “forget” the previous set point. We go into free-fall and actually start mobilizing stored fat for energy instead of our bodies storing MORE fat in response to calorie deprivation. The exact mechanism of action is unknown, but VGS and Bypass have the same effect. Sadly the phenomenon seems to stop somewhere around the 12-18 month PO mark, and then our bodies yet again start recording data and “punishing” us for bad decisions. Metabolic free-fall ends and we better be able to make good choices or else we start the vicious cycle all over again.

Good questions to raise, and these exact issues are what I’m looking for as I continue to progress and I hope if any of them rear their ugly head, I will both recognize and have the tools to deal with them. That being said though, many WLS patients already had so many of these issues, which is why so many of us got to be MO in the first place. Honestly, IF kinda falls into a “disordered eating pattern” if not done correctly so it’s a real tough issue to recognize and then make an action plan for. So where is the boundary and where is the beginning of the slippery slope? I’m thinking there isn’t one pat answer and that each of us need to continually keep ourselves and out outlook in check to periodically make sure we are where each of us as individuals needs to be. Over the last few weeks I’ve started to listen more to my body and look at the data to see what it’s trying to tell me. For now (and this could change next week or not until a couple of months from now) I’m transitioning into pre-maintenance. What helps me define that is if I were in traffic and saw a stoplight turn yellow, but I’m still a few hundred feet from the light. I know I’m going to have to stop, but I can’t exactly stop dead in the middle of the road so instead I’m going to take my foot off of the accelerator, and prepare myself to hit the brakes....when the timing is right. So that’s what I’m doing for now. My foot is off of the accelerator, but I’m still a couple hundred yards away so I’ve still got a little bit to go and in the meantime, I’ve got to keep it all under control and not drive off into a ditch.

Okay so I’ve missed out on a couple of days, but I’ve got some more thankful items to post: Day 11: One of the movies I’m most grateful for is Steel Magnolias. Such a great ensemble and very strong and powerful ladies. Day 12: I’m most grateful for my husband,sister, kids. These people were my main “why” when it came to trying to extend my life with this surgery. I want to be there for all of them for as long as I can and be as healthy and fit as I can so I can be there for them in the best possible way.

Agreed. Okay, so I will say that I’m more of a “tough love” kind of person and can be blunt sometimes. Part of that is decades as a healthcare practitioner (do NOT try to lie to me and tell me that the dog ate your Xanax and you need it filled early) and part of it is that I carry around a lot of mother/daughter issues with my mom. In short, she’s one of the biggest enablers on the planet and then tells lies/omits truth about it. Trying to confront her about it is like trying to punch a marshmallow, so how I compensate is to be brutally honest to the point of being (seemingly) outright rude at times. I used to feel bad about it, but as I get older, I’m more of a “take me or leave me” kind of person. I need to find a good support group— so far I can only find ones online. Both bariatric centers near me have crap format and hours. Meh. Anyway, just discovered this thread. Yay! I’ll probably lurk here more than post bc I don’t log food as often or as thoroughly as I should but I love seeing the menus

This resonates bc I’m slowly discovering the same and I’ve only been in maintenance for a month. My very first goal ever was to weight at or below 175. Being such a math head, and knowing what my weight was going in, the type of surgery I was having, and calculating approximately my “excess fat” I knew it would be pushing the upper limit (80% excess fat lost) to get to 175. The whole time as I was prepping and doing the head work and the physical prep, this was my absolute gold standard. If I could hit 175, then I’d accomplished EVERYTHING I’d set out to do and had hoped and dreamed for. At 175 pounds, i would’ve lost 80 pounds out of my 100 excess pounds of fat. In short, absolutely worth it and considered a success. Well, as I started losing, my inner-voice started talking to me about how nice it would be if I could lose 90 pounds excess fat. So then I started toying with the idea of 165. Then that voice started to get greedy “why not shoot for an even 100 pounds?”, the voice said. So 4 weeks ago I hit 155 and I was ready to stop. Except I’ve lost another 5 pounds in those 4 weeks and I feel as if I look and feel even better now than I did 4 weeks ago. I don’t want to get addicted to losing weight, but I now think that I’m going to shoot for 145 (which originally was the rock-bottom number I wanted to hit to be at the low end of maintenance). Yeah, so I’m also taking the “crossing that bridge” mentality bc this whole process is just plain freaky at times. Never ever in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen— and I’m a slow loser/metabolizer

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Anyone else wake up to a nice freezing slap from Mother Nature this morning? Okay so I’m working all late shifts this week, but no excuse not to head off to morning Pilates. Oh and FYI guys.... that sweater dress is a size medium. Can’t even imagine myself in a small???

Agree! That’s why I will endlessly post about my 4-6 week love affair with milk. ??

Okay so how are you with just plain milk? I too despaired of getting in enough protein initially, and plain fairlife milk got me through many days Not only is milk very good for staying hydrated, the protein content makes it a win/win if your tummy can tolerate it

Honestly for me protein comes after water, but I consider pretty dang important. I can (and do) take my bariatric supplements daily. I haven’t had a single piece of fruit since February and I have zero vitamin deficiencies. Almost all of my non-protein calories are in the form of veggie-carbs and a bit of fat— usually animal fat as I tend to eat very high protein most days. I can consume 700 calories in a day and get in >90gm protein and <20 gm carbs. In fact, I do that at least 3-4 days weekly. That being said, I have practiced IF and only get in 20-ish gm protein on my fasting days if I don’t supplement with a shake.

Also drinking plain milk is very beneficial. If it hadn’t been for fairlife, I probably wouldn’t have hit any protein goals for 6-8 weeks

Yeah the headwork is serious business. One of the biggest reasons why I plan on coming here pretty much daily. Not only do I learn new things weekly, but I continue to be impressed and inspired by everyone here

#8. The lesson I’m most grateful for is basically everything I learned about myself dealing with breast cancer. I’d had my fair share of adversity in life and was pretty sure I could deal with most anything but that year turned me into Betty Bad-A$$. 9. Very difficult to answer is I’ve not traveled much in life. My favorite place is Belize. I’ve gone there twice with hubs and we love how simple life is there. And speaking of hubs.... I’d always realized how lucky and blessed I was to get a second chance at happiness later in life with him, but this last year has shown me exactly how freaking amazing the man is. Every time I’ve asked for something, he’s delivered without complaint or hesitation.

I cannot “like” this post enough times! ????

I’m sorry that you’re hurting I’m sorry that you’re struggling I am going to call you out though for lashing out very rudely. Whether you like the advice or not, someone took time out to give a response. Yes, maybe the wording was a bit harsh, but please take the message and go back to all of the months of physical and psychological prep that went into this. There are many of us here from decades-long veterans to those surgeried just in the last few weeks that can help. The first 2 weeks are the absolute worst. Your body is tired, your mind is tired and everything is dramatically different. However, I haven’t heard of a single weight loss patient who didn’t know this going in, so refer to your action plan and work the plan. Drink Protein shakes (if possible) Vitamins Rest Work with your NUT and bariatric clinic. They don’t disappear after surgery, they are there and want you to succeed. For the first 8 days post-op, I “consumed” a total of 800 calories. For 8 days. Didn’t hit a single protein goal ANY of those days. Emailed my NUT panicked 3 times that week bc I couldn’t hold in anything thicker than water. Her advice was to relax and not stress too much about the protein as long as the water happened. She was right and within 2 more weeks I finally hit my first protein goal. It took me 3 weeks after surgery to do that, so you’re still good. It won’t always be easy, but life changing measures seldom come easily.

Yes I’m a VGS patient and the main reason I chose VGS over bypass was exactly bc of malabsorption. Had I been even 10 years older, I might have chosen bypass, but I’ve still got to work full time while maintaining super-high levels of energy and focus. This info stays here, but my career is extremely youth-oriented. It’s extremely difficult for those of us >50 to keep up. Lately at my age and stage I was STRUGGLING physically to hang in there. A chain retail pharmacists MUST be able to work 10-12 hour shifts with zero breaks, downtime or relief all the while being able to multi-task incredibly heavy burdens. One moment of distraction (which most commonly is a result of a full bladder, empty stomach, or physically worn out body) can be deadly and every single one of us is aware of this at all times. For me, side effects from malabsorption, whether it be dumping or fatigue from vitamin and nutrient deficiency wasn’t an option if I want to be as safe to the public as each and every person deserves. On the other hand, being chronically tired and physically wrung out due to carrying around 100+ pounds excess weight wasn’t helping so that had to change. I figure with just the weight I’ve lost so far, I’ve given myself another 10-12 years extended career time, which is amazing since I’m 51 and I’d love to keep working part-time after age 65. I’ve always been a slow metabolizer. Even when I was a thin college student, I’d gain weight easily if I didn’t keep track of calories and activity. Even though WLS gives us a metabolic reset, mine prior to being completely messed up wasn’t the best so I’m expecting that I’ll never be the girl who can maintain in the 1800-2000 range even with increased activity. Honestly I’m okay with that. If I have to maintain at 1200-1400 daily, then that’s what I’ll do. I have this tool. I plan on using it for the rest of my life. I will use my tool and I will use IF. I do battle intense constipation. Like Sillykitty, I’m a 1-2 times weekly “mover” and once it hits 4/5 days, I’m uncomfortable. It does take me at least 3 days though bc the discomfort starts. I use senna/mom about once weekly, and that’s on top of my daily miralax. I drink plenty of water, but I’ve always battled chronic constipation so it’s nothing new. Side note: weighed myself this morning (still slightly constipated,BTW) and I’m now exactly GW -5 pounds. I’m thinking I’m going to set a goal to lose 2.5 more pounds between now and thanksgiving so if I do have some holiday bounce I can stay right around 150.

Yeah I’ll just spare every one here and NOT post saggy butt pics either. Honestly I want lipo on my thighs almost as much as I want a facelift Jury is still out on my stomach....