pdc1605

sorry for derailing this thread, but when I took that picture, I didn't realize how wrinkly my head was. I have loose skin everywhere, including I guess the top of my head.

This is me, 4 months postop... but I was bald before surgery.

Yep, you know what you’re doing is not helping you & the only person who can get you back on track is you. The process is not easy. It takes a lot to examine your eating habits & implement the changes you need to make to be successful. It can be quite stressful which could be why you’re turning back to your old comfort food.
As @catwoman7 said you’re in the prime weight losing time. Grab this opportunity with both hands. There’s a lot of us who at some stage have been tempted & sometime we may weaken & slip. But if we want to be successful we pick ourselves up & get back on our journey.
Get rid of the food that tempts you down the wrong path out of your house. Prep meals ahead & freeze so all you have to do is reheat. Quick & easy. I’m a big believer in freezing individual meal portions. It helped me stay on track & not consistently worry about what I was going to eat.
Good luck.

yes you do need to get back into it, or you're going to fail the surgery. You're in the stage where it's fairly easy to lose a ton of weight, so you need to take full advantage of that. It's never going to be easier in your life to take off a bunch of weight than it is right now, so don't blow it. The further out from surgery you go, the harder it is. If you really want to lose the weight and be successful, then you know what you have to do...

Well I am 72 years old, a keen observer of life, never l8ved more than 60 miles from my birthplace but do travel through the lives of people I have met. A lifelong Republican but not a Trumpertarion, blame him on someone else please! Have been a wife , widow, mother of 3, 2 still living, only child of middle-aged parents. Have been telephone operator, Girl Friday in small office, worked in retail sales 11 years, Long Term Healthcare 25 years, loved people, loved making their lives better. No subject is ever beyond my comments. I think I am fun to be around!🎈😜🎈

63yr old retired IT Network Technician. - first client to put the enterprise software on a virtual server (I loved server work). Mom of 4, grandmother of 9, square dancer, hiker, traveler, fabric accumulator, sewing n quilt maniac, direct, sarcastic, great cook, read and research incessantly, love BBC movies, Irish movies, love 1940's hairstyles and clothing, have a maine coon cat.

I am a 25 year old, 6th grade teacher. I love hanging with my boyfriend and watching tv. I used to love to eat; now I cannot eat. Hope to embrace and instill this healthy lifestyle! I truly want it, but I truly miss my old ways of eating.

52 Minnesotan married mother of 3, but currently empty nester. Registered nurse. Former social worker. Love outdoor activities, reading, board games. Happy to have my life back! Oh! Gotta update my ticker! I hit 90 pounds down over the weekend! Whoopee!

28 year old wife and mother of 2. ER nurse. Army vet. Total foodie and into traveling. I'm hoping to start my masters degree this winter!

I'm a 31 year old nerd who loves to travel and go on adventures with her husband, do crossword puzzles, read books, and play boardgames. My job is teaching kids who are in mental health partial hospitalization program so they don't get behind on school credits while they're in treatment. It's my 11th year teaching and my 2nd year in the position and sometimes I still can't believe how perfect this new job is for me. I also have a wonderful 11 year old puppy.

I'm bad at being brief, I guess! To make up for it I'm including a puppy picture

I’m back from surgery!!! Everything went great. Surgeon ended up picking 355 cc’d, high profile, Mentir implants (gummy bears). I got a quick peek when I was in recovery and am loving my results so far!

No pain yet, so I’m obviously still feeling the effects of the anesthesia. I just took a pain pill now to stay agreed if it. Chilling in my recliner with my compression machine.

Thanks so much everyone for thinkin of me today! You are the best!! Xoxo!!!

photo on the left was at my heaviest.
photo on the right was last week (pardon the mess in my room lol)
my rny was september 25, 2020 - down 63 lbs so far. still have about a 100 to go but feeling great! i have way more energy and recently started swimming at the Y.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SURGERY! Best decision I ever made.

Okay, I'll play along! I don't have a "before" pic that really represents how big I was, because I generally avoided being photographed back then. My before is from a chorus concert I did--and I will admit that I was wearing a "man girdle" at the time. (Cringe.)
I went from 250 to a low of 132 before bouncing back up to 142.

I'm a guy but hope this helps. This came up as one of those "memories" timeline photos - MAY 2019 vs MAY 2020 on the same day. Surgery is a helpful tool, but you have to put in work as well! (VSG not bypass - but same concept)

first picture was me before I started my six-month supervised diet (2014). I think I was at my highest weight ever. Second picture (from 2017) is of me when I was two years out of surgery (this was before I had my skin removal surgery, though...I had that in Aug 2018 and March 2019). Last one was of me on my 60th birthday (last year). I've put on some weight since the 2017 picture - but excess skin is gone!

Congrats on your surgery.
What’s your plan? At 4 weeks most are just starting soft food - think mushy foods, soft fish, stews, etc., foods with little bite, crunch or chew. Pork skin wouldn't be considered a soft food neither would pizza or a pizza alternative. It’s important to go through the stages so you don’t damage your tummy, etc, post surgery - you’re still healing. Were you given a a food plan of what you can or can’t eat in the first couple of months by your surgeon &/or your dietician?
At 4 weeks, I wasn’t hungry at all & was lucky if I could eat about 1/4 cup of food three times a day, no snacking. Are you really hungry or is it head hunger? If your craving foods you used to eat like chips, pizza, etc., it’s likely head hunger & not real hunger. If it’s a legitimate hunger, try eating small pieces of Protein like cheese, chicken, egg, yoghurt or sip a Protein Shake or some broth. I found that sprinkling a little extra salt on food like egg, cucumber or chicken helped with any desire for a salty snack.
There’s a lot of learning about why you eat, what you eat & why you eat and the weight loss phase is the best time to understand what all that means for you. Now’s the time to break old food habits & start new ones. You’ll be able to work it out. If you’re feeling lost or confused, speak to your dietician, your medical team or bring it up in this forum - lots of people here happy to help.
Hope I don’t sound like I’m lecturing. ☹️ We all have our own experiences on this journey. Good luck on yours.

You look ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! You look slender, fit, and toned.
But I 100% understand where you're coming from. In the past, I lost a lot of weight with WW and was still horrified to have my picture taken. I look back on those pictures now and I don't know what I was thinking. I looked great! I'm sure others around me also thought so too. But there's still a part of us that just can't see what others are seeing. We walk around with those fat goggles on and judge ourselves to death, not letting ourselves enjoy a single victory. I learned from that experience, though. I've learned that my self-perception will be faulty, so I should just trust how good I feel inside and what my wonderful body can do, and ignore the self-sabotaging little voice I hear when looking in the mirror. Because that little voice lies.

Awesome responses -thank you guys! I just received a new Fitbit for Christmas so that would be a great way to start after surgery and keep track of those steps! I figured I'd be sleeping a lot I just want to make myself as comfortable as possible which I normally don't worry about. But now I really do and I don't want to short-change myself during this process. There is a lot of hard work ahead.

I do. I only started after surgery, since I had to quit my 2 to 3 glasses of wine method. I also bought melatonin 3AM for when I wake up in the middle of the night. I seem to be getting better sleep (according to my apple watch!)

This is going to sound silly but I’ve been stubbing my toes in my kitchen a lot over the last few months. Kicking the dishwasher, the fridge, the skirting boards, cupboards - lots of swearing, hobbling, cracked toe nails & pain. Couldn’t work out why I mean it’s my kitchen. I know where everything is.
Then yesterday, when I was putting ice on my bruised big toe, I realised why. I don’t have a large stomach that protrudes out & reaches the kitchen bench before my toes do anymore.
How ridiculous is that. Subconsciously, I walk up to the bench & stop when my tummy hits it. Now when my tummy reaches the bench, my toes have already slammed into the cupboards.
Also realised while I often have bruises on my lower legs now, probably for the same reason I stub my toes, I don’t have the bruises I used to have on my upper thighs which I’d get from knocking my old large body into furniture.
Boy do I need to work on my spatial awareness in regards to my smaller body... if only to protect my poor little toes. 😁

Here’s a Vitamin guide based on the procedure you had https://store.bariatricpal.com/pages/vitamins

Currently doing my pre op diet. Was called by thr surgeons office to have my surgery on 1/23. I have my preop appt and anesthesia appt on the 13th.
I'm so excited. Just wanted a journey twin
Hw:300lbs (during pregnancy)
Cw: 280lbs
Sw: TBD
I'M IN CHICAGO, IL

Sent from my SM-N986U using BariatricPal mobile app

My recliner from Amazon still hasn’t shipped, so we picked this one up at Ollies! I had a 20% off coupon too! Woo hoo!

It’s super comfy!

I am now exactly 13 months out and I am settling in to new habits. I still eat everything I may have a craving for, but I have trained myself (and used my sleeve) to only have a couple bites of the bad things. I have found that for me physiologically I do much better when I am not as restricted by WHAT I eat, but rather HOW MUCH. High Protein and low carb are my normal now and I couldn’t be happier!
Day of surgery weight: 321 (although pic is 340) After pic weight: 194 3XL shirts are now large 46in waist now 34