blackcatsandbaddecisions

I take Kirkland signature everything, no special Vitamins here because my levels were running too high with them. I take a multi Vitamin, vitamin d, and a b complex. Perfect bloodwork at my one year appointment.

I always take my Vitamins in the evening. Lord knows I don’t need one more thing to add to my morning routine.

I think some people reacted strongly because of OP stating “this surgery is bullshit”, which is a pretty bold statement and runs counter to many of our experiences. This surgery isn’t appropriate for a number of people who get it, certainly. Some surgeons are lazy or greedy and push people through who aren’t mentally prepared to make the necessary changes. But that doesn’t make the surgery itself bullshit.

If you aren’t planning on making any changes to your life, and don’t want to track (be it calories, Protein, water) I honestly don’t recommend it. I’ve had some friends tell me confidently that they plan on getting surgery and eating exactly as they are now, but relying on Portion Control that the surgery provides. I cringe, because it’s so easy to bypass the restriction with snacking, eating calorically dense food, etc.

OP, what’s done is done. I wish for your sake you could go back and reverse the surgery, but you can’t. I hope you can find a way to move forward and either use your surgery to lose further, or find a way to live eating the way you want without regard to weight loss. I’m sorry that your surgical team failed you- you deserved more support than you got.

And a quick note, you might not be on Bariatric Vitamins forever depending on your surgery and eating habits. I am a bit over a year out from a sleeve and my MD took me off the bariatric vitamins because some of my levels were too high. I take a Kirkland signature Multivitamin, b complex, and Vitamin D pill every day. My one year labs came back perfect.

I also eat a good variety of food including fruit, vegetables, etc. if I encountered some kind of issue where I was wasting away I’d just eat more calorically dense food more often. Unfortunately it appears that my body is plenty capable of using its calories so to maintain my healthy bmi I still have to be conscious of what I’m eating.

I decided against surgery multiple times and committed to a serious diet and exercise regime. I knew I could do it on my own this time.

Then a few years later after making zero sustained progress on those regimes I got the surgery, lost 170+ lbs, and got down to a healthy BMI for the first time in decades. So I guess by calculations I’ve lost 100%+ of my excess weight. I still want to lose another 10 or so lbs, just purely for aesthetics at this point.

If you think you can do it on your own, you should! I wish I could have, and I would never have considered surgery if I hadn’t tried and failed for decades. This should not be someone’s first choice for weight loss.

Evening grazing is my downfall too! I stay on track all day at work but after dinner I have to restrain myself from multiple Snacks. You’ve done great and you look great too! Keep up the great representation of our November 2020 sleeve crew!

Ha, long shot but I’ll try. Anyone here now that we are hitting our one year anniversary? How’d everyone do? I lost a bit over 170 lbs, and am a normal BMI now.

Surgery was one year ago today. Down 170.4 lbs, weighed in this morning at 168.6. 24 BMI.

Alright today is the day- one year ago today I was sleeved! It has been an incredible year. I weigh less than I’ve lost now. I am a normal weight, I run and row every day, I am not embarrassed of my pictures anymore. I have zero regrets about this surgery. It has literally changed the course of my life, and I’m happier than I ever thought I’d be.

I started at 339 at 5’10. Sleeved last November. Best case scenarios for me showed me getting to above 200, 230, around that range. I’m currently at 170 and I’m still losing.

Statistics are just numbers. You’re a person, so you control if you do better or worse.

So I have a lot of experience with surgeons because of my career, and honestly some of them are just that way. If you don’t have an option to change surgeons I’d just move on and tell him you’re sure you want the surgery (if that’s the case) and use the forums as much as possible for your support.

The surgeon will supply you with the tool- it’s up to you to use it appropriately. If you believe in yourself and know that you’ll make the commitment and do what it takes to utilize your surgery then he can think whatever he wants.

I’m almost annoyed I have nowhere to go via plane because the humiliation of not fitting in a plane seat was one of my many reasons to get this surgery. I could always buckle but never keep my butt anywhere near fitting in the seat. I could not have flown by myself because I had to stress endlessly about taking up half my husband seat with my butt and hips overflow.

I always say these are the things that someone who has never been very obese would understand. Planes and their stupid seat size!

My weirdest thing was chairs. Like not having to worry about chairs in restaurants, the embarrassment of not fitting in chairs in a conference room at work, weight limits on patio chairs, etc. I can’t list how many amazing things have happened to me since I lost almost 170 lbs but every time I sit in a chair in the conference room at work and there is tons of room on either side as I sit with my legs crossed (another fun victory) it’s a reminder how far I came.

My standard answer is “a lot” and if they persist I say something like “twelve pounds” then when they are like no seriously, I say “ok you got me it’s actually 13 pounds”.

I can keep this up all day.

For me day one was difficult and then after that it was pretty much smooth sailing. I also was like…should this be so easy? Where’s the suffering I’ve heard so much about? I was worried it meant I wouldn’t be successful long term. It’s just continued on being pretty easy for a year now, 167 pounds of weight loss later.

I know a lady who had this surgery 8 years ago and she still describes it as the easiest diet she ever had. Sometimes things just work out!

I started drinking through a straw a few months ago and I’ve never had a problem. I only drink iced coffee and iced lattes through a straw though so I’m not a frequent utilizer of one. I noticed absolutely no problems or difference. I’d wait til a few months post op before trying it.

I do abide by the no carbonation thing…except for beer. 😎

My advice is to think about how you want your life to be and what’s most important to you. I mean ideally I wanted to be thin but also to be able to eat candy and Snacks and huge portions nonstop, but that’s not reality. If given the option I wanted to be normal weight more than I wanted to gorge on food. I felt ashamed by how fixated I was on food, and how much garbage I ate. I felt almost compelled to eat, but I wasn’t happy with how I felt, and at the end of the day I didn’t want to be that way.

Life is about compromise. WLS means giving up one thing to get another, and if food is something that is your top priority and you really don’t want to change that long term, it might not be a good choice.

I still in some senses wish I could eat the way I used to over a year ago. But I know someone who is a former drug addict who feels the same. They still want the drug and probably always will, but they recognize their life is better without it. My life is better without my old eating habits.

Best way to break a stall is time… haha I wish I had a better answer but there it is. I’m now down to 172 and I’m slowing down so much but still slowly making my way to goal. Still feel proud every day to have a weight that starts with a “1” instead of a “3”.

I’m close to a year post-op, so can I just ease your fears and tell you that this isn’t going to be the last time you ever get to eat Pasta? I don’t eat pasta often but it’s certainly something I can eat, albeit a much smaller portion than I used to have.

I was convinced pre-op that I would never be able to eat my favorite comfort food, homemade tuna noodle casserole, ever again. I just made it last night and greatly enjoyed my small portion size, noodles and all. Life isn’t over after surgery- it’s very restrictive for a period of time but this pasta will still be there for you in the future.

Month 11, 172.4 as of this morning. I feel like my body is slamming the brakes on weight loss, but I’m still going down so I’ll get there eventually!

This month I increased my running speed and distance, and I’m getting some body weight work outs into my routine. I am also back firmly into a size 12 pants, which was my “dream size” from that brief moment so long ago when I got back down to a healthy weight. I’m pretty tall for a woman so I’m not sure that single digit sizes are even a possibility for me, so I’m very happy with this size.

I am also NOT OVERWEIGHT!! I have actually reached a healthy weight for my height! I realize a lot of people who are close to 50 bmi like I was will never get here and I’m so grateful that I have.

Next month goals- get into the 160s, increase my daily running distance, and Celebrate my one year sleeve-a-versary!

I’ve only found them at Trader Joe’s but the One Bar Peanut Butter pie flavor is amazing. So peanut buttery.

I recently got some of the Smart Sweets at Target- 100 calories a bag or so. I really like them- they don’t taste exactly like real candy but that’s a good thing for me. I don’t feel compelled to eat them. And they have so much Fiber in each bag I wouldn’t dare eat more than one a day because it would be disastrous, let’s just say. Also no sugar alcohols which is super important to me because of how sick those make me.

My personal favorites are the sour patch kids knock off, and the regular Gummy bears.

Well I’m a November 2020 but I’ll weigh in- def getting harder to lose weight but I’m still slooooowly trucking along. I’m down over 160 lbs so still feeling great about life. I’m a normal weight (barely) which is crazy to think about. I still feel like an overweight person in my head.

My focus now is on really limiting Snacks and keeping my exercise up. I want to run a 5k next spring, and build body strength to where I can do a push up and a pull up. A singular of each would be fine. 😂

Like you, I try to keep focus on the huge change I committed to. I didn’t cut out most of my stomach in order to sit and snack all day. I just need to be reminded of that on occasion and get back on course.

I couldn’t agree more- the people I know in life who haven’t kept the weight off long term had zero desire to change their eating habits- they just relied on the surgery to limit portions. That works for a while, but not for long.

I’m close to 11 months out, and I don’t eat the same foods that I used to. I used to be a carb freak, and loved snack foods and candy and the like. I’m over a year candy free, and I just don’t bring snack foods in the house anymore. The surgery gave me time to detox from some very bad habits, and I’m committing each day to not backsliding.

Oof, Hair loss does suck. I have fine hair but I always had a lot of it. I started losing a few months after surgery and it has been ongoing it seems like ever since. I had long hair but it started getting stringy so I cut it to just above shoulder length and I’m much happier with it. I can see a ton of regrowth coming in so I am pretty sure it’s just temporary. That being said, nobody but my hairdresser and my husband have even noticed. It’s not like I have bald Patches or anything- it’s just less full.

The nice thing is that I feel like I can pull off shorter hair much better when I’m thinner- I kept my hair long when I was fatter because I felt like it helped balance out my body size, but now I don’t need to hide behind hair anymore. I might even cut my hair shorter, just for fun and because I can.