STLoser

All the "junk" foods are slider foods for me. chips, candy, etc. But I don't eat them often so it's not a worry. Strangely, popcorn really fills me up when I eat it now. Before surgery I could eat tons, now I can do about 2 cups and then I know it's time to stop. I love popcorn but don't eat it often. It's nice to be able l control it now when I do.

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Thanks for the reply STL. When I posted, I was 3 1/2 weeks out, now I'm 6 weeks out and I can definitely see things from your perspective. I was definitely overly sensitive on the night it happened, but after reading more and more about the future after surgery, I realize that myself and those around me are coming from a position of love and caring. The more I read, the more I'm starting to actually fear what happens after the "honeymoon" phase is over. When you've spent your entire life craving food all the time and you no longer do, it's amazing to not be constantly hungry...and it's hard to imagine that this feeling won't last. But then when you start reading and understanding things more clearly about the post-op journey, you realize that it's all about learning to control what and how much you eat from here on out....or things will spiral out of control. Thanks for responding.

I can give you my perspective as someone who went through wls two years before my husband. I try HARD not to food police him but I have at times because I have been through it and I just want him to have the easiest time and be successful. He HAS been successful. I lost 205 pounds in 2 years and he has lost that much since MAY. [emoji15]But I just want him to be healthy and I know he's in the honeymoon period still and I want him to understand that it gets much harder the farther you get, and he doesn't follow his plan by the book like I did, so I just try to prepare him for later when it gets harder.
I do tend to be pretty bossy so I try my best to never say anything to him, but when I do, it's absolutely out of love for him. I want us BOTH to never be more than 200 pounds overweight again.

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Except the first 6 months or so post op, when the shakes were disgusting to me, I have tolerated most food really well, but I do notice that I hardly ever eat or want cheese anymore which I LOVED before surgery. It just doesn't taste as good to me now.

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I was super cold for almost the first 2 years. I was always a hot natured person before, but for a while after surgery I had to sleep in several layers of clothing and blankets and had to wear long sleeves all the time. I never could stand to wear long sleeves before because I would get too hot. I'm 2.5 years out now and I seem to be mostly back to normal again. I do get colder than before but it's not like it was after surgery when I was freezing all the time. I'm back to being hot natured again and I'm actually disappointed because I can deal with being cold much better. I hate to be hot!

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I tell the truth. I'm a pretty open and honest person, and I don't care what they think of me. I am not a good liar and I just think for me it would be much harder to try to come up with some other story.

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For the first LITERALLY EVER my drivers license weight is TRUE!!! haha
Even when I got my drivers license at 16 y/o I weighed more than I put on it.

My husband is a very frugal guy and he was thrilled at what a "cheap date" I became after surgery. Now that he's had it too, we are able to split meals all the time and it's so cheap to eat at nice restaurants. We usually end up having enough leftovers for another meal even when we split an entree. It's great!
Also, I can shop at thrift stores and spend so much less on clothes and I love that!

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It's nice to see finally see your body's shape & not just rolls when you see your shadow!

Congratulations on your 1 year surgiversary! What an amazing accomplishment!!

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omg I understand the saltaholic to too salty thing… i was sleeved 11/3 and for the first time in my 22 year marriage i thought something was too salty and my husband didn’t!!!

I started maintenance in July and had been doing pretty well, but I have been dealing with a lot of stress with an aging mother who has a serious health problem that started in 2021. The stress has really gotten to me lately and for the past few weeks I wasn't tracking my food anymore and doing a lot of stress eating. There has been candy in the house from Halloween and I have eaten more of than I should. I finally weighed last week and was up 5 pounds. Some of that was probably Water because of my period, but I got back on track after that. I'm proud to say I have tracked my food all week and didn't eat a bunch of junk and my weight is back down!
I have been so scared since I got to maintenance that I won't be able to keep this weight off, or that if I did gain some I would get discouraged and not get back on track, so this week made me realize I CAN do it. [emoji4]

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I have always been a saltaholic, but after surgery most things tasted too salty to me. I also couldn't stand the taste of any of the Protein Shakes because they were all too sweet. I'm over 2 years out now and all of that is better, but I have noticed that I really don't care that much for cheese now, which I have always LOVED. I still like it on or in things, but just to snack on by itself I just don't care for it anymore. It's weird.


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Thank you so much for sharing! You've done such an amazing job and are such an inspiration. You look gorgeous!!!

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Okay, here's a weird one and an unclear "victory":
I was going through airport security and after they did the backscatter screen, the one where they look at your naked body through your clothes with X-rays, they called me aside and did a very invasive and thorough pat-down, focusing on my groin area. This has never happened to me before, save at the Kathmandu airport where I'm pretty sure everyone just gets grabbed by the crotch as part of standard procedure.
As far as I can gather, I've now lost enough weight that my panniculus looks less like a fat belly and more like a low-slung bum bag full of drugs/explosives on their machine. Hoping that as it deflates, it looks less alarming and triggers fewer groin probings.

Bedside*

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I'm lucky that my surgeon is really good AND had a great beside manner, but I can tell you as a nurse who's been around a lot of surgeons, some of them are great at what they do, but not at dealing with people. As long as they weren't egregiously rude, I wouldn't necessarily rule one out for not having the best bedside manner, but I would definitely get another opinion if someone made me uncomfortable. There are plenty of excellent surgeons who also have excellent besides banners out there.
Good luck to you!

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Absolutely. I was wearing a 10 wide or extra wide and often that didn't fit. Now I wear a 9 wide or extra wide. Unfortunately for me, my feet have always been wide. I actually just went to Fleet Feet to get new walking shoes and they do a scan and show you how wide your feet are in comparison to other women. Yeah. Mine are at top. [emoji849]
That being said, they were also wider at my highest weight, so how they're just my "normal" wide width. Lol And I can see the bones and veins in my feet!

I am a shoe junkie and had a lot of really nice, expensive shoes I had to get rid of, which made me a little sad, but I sure have enjoyed buying new ones. [emoji12]

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Giving up carbonated Water, which was my favorite thing to drink. I am allowed to have it occasionally now if I want, but I don't like the way my stomach feels if I drink it and it also just doesn't taste as good to me, so I just don't drink it anymore and don't miss it like I thought I would.

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I have a wonderful husband who has always been supportive. He loves me for who I am. I love him for who he is.
I had wls first (over 2 years ago) , and he was my biggest cheerleader. He just had his 6 months ago and now I am his cheerleader.
We did struggle in the bedroom because we were both so big before. Things just don't work the same, not to mention how we had no physical stamina.
So in that respect, our relationship has changed 100 percent for the better!
Otherwise, our relationship is no different than it ever was because it has always been a good one!


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And a little head to toe colour from me. Was attending a lunch for a charity of which a friend is a director. It supports families who have lost a child from gestational losses to children in their 20s. First gala lunch they’ve been able to hold in 2 years. Tickets sold out in 5 minutes so they had to have additional people in a second function room & also live steamed the event. They raised $91 000. So marvellous for a worthy cause.

My Halloween costume, which I'm pretty darn thrilled about. I have always wanted a poodle skirt and I found this vintage one on ebay and I'm so excited.
I pieced the rest together with thrift store items and Amazon, and had the shoes already. I wanted saddle shoes, but they're too expensive. Lol

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These leather boots. They are "Born" boots and usually around 200 bucks. I got them at Goodwill for 8 bucks. My calf was 23.5 at my highest weight and I really couldn't get knee high boots. I had a pair of extra wide calf boots back then that I broke the zipper on with my meaty old calves! I've always had "athletic" (I used that word extremely loosely here lol) calves so even now I'm around 15.5 inches, but these are regular calf boots and I could zip them and I'm so happy!

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NOPE!!! No way, no how. Best thing I ever did!

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(Warning: this is long)
tldr; for ME, in MAINTENANCE, carbs consumption makes little difference to my weight.
K.
My NUT didn’t give me a carb goal/limit per se, but did instruct me to aim for my meals to consist of 25% carbs/starches (with another 25% being Protein and the remaining 50% to be low-glycemic veggies).
With that said, i did my own thing (and told her so): i ended up doing ultra-low carb, i.e., less than 25g NET carbs per day.
Got to goal in 7 months, remained carbophobic, lost a few more pounds and basically still went out of my way to avoid them. I wasn’t ultra-low carb as during weight loss phase, but i was still pretty low.
Eventually, i started eating more and nowadays (4 years post), i probably eat as much carbs as a “regular” person.
I have remained under goal weight this entire time.
These are my takeaways of going low-carb (and this is from MY experience, YMMV)
1) weight loss is rapid. but you need to remain low carb for an extended period. If i carb up on a day, the weight loss slows down or pauses. There is a science to this phenomenon regarding ketosis, the explanation of which is beyond the scope of my post (just google it if ur interested). Also want to say that i was also ultra-low calorie so obvs that contributed!
2) there is a period of a few days that, once passed, my cravings for carbohydrates went away. (Which is why once u start, stick to it because u may have to go thu the “white-knuckle” phase again to alleviate urself of the cravings (see note 1 above)
3) now here is the kicker: during MAINTENANCE (i cant say if this applies to weight loss phase because i didn’t try it)…i discovered that, for ME, it does not matter if my 1800 cals average i eat a day consists of 20g of carbs or 200g. My weight stays the same regardless. What does make a difference is CALORIES. So long as my calories stay at around 1800 (however it is comprised) then im good.
4) carb consumption affects my looks. When i low carb, my body is more defined (which i like) and my face more gaunt (which I don’t like). These days my face is lovely (lol), but my body could be better. Mind u i have also been slacking on the exercise front so that is also a factor, but i digress. In any case, the point is i am still basically the same weight as my low-carb maintenance days.
And that concludes my dissertation for this evening lol.
P.S. I want to point out also that i am NOT insulin-resitant, nor suffer any other medical conditions that affect my weight, nor take any medications that would either. So this may not be everyone’s experience.
P.P.S. Sorry this was so long!