lizonaplane

I have tried that. I went to a special website and wrote in all my issues, and I still hated the bras that were recommended. I think I just hate wearing bras but it's uncomfortable not to.

I have already gone into my smaller bra (I only have one that fits now, so I also wear the two that are too big), and I'm only down 27lbs. I gave up on underwires years ago. The wires kept breaking and stabbing me. Does that get better when you are thinner?

Well, these are not perishables, but they are already old and it was a ridiculous amount. Like 20 bags of various types of flour. So, I kept a bag of flour, but gave away the rest. And I gave away away things like merengue powder that I'd bought a year ago and never opened, a container of cocoa powder that someone gave me but I already had three others...

I haven't, but they haven't told me anything about what I can and cannot do around surgery. I haven't had sex in several years, so not an issue for me.

I think I'm only wondering if I'll miss having baking as a way to cope with sadness and anxiety. I baked a lot after my grandmother died and also during the first six months of the pandemic. I may be able to bake again someday, but for now I just don't feel able to bake and not eat too much of what I bake (during the pandemic I gave away a ton of what I made to my neighbors, but I still ate too much). So, giving away lots of baking supplies is a little sad.

If you didn't like the side effects from the lexapro, that's okay, there are lots of other medications for depression and anxiety out there you can try. Talk to a psychiatrist or psychopharmacologist rather than just your primary care doctor, if you haven't already. They specialize in this and can assist with finding the right medication - and it can take a bit of trial an error to find the right one. If you don't want to use medication, try talk therapy. There are a lot of services like BetterHelp that do therapy using things like zoom. Exercise and sunlight help many people. Some people find journaling helpful, but I haven't seen much research on it. Also, your body has gone through a trauma, don't minimize the fact that this will have an effect on your mental and emotional health. Your surgery program should have a bariatric psychologist, and if not, try to find someone who has experience in this area for at least one session to talk through your feelings that you're discussing here.

In the past when I've lost weight I've been determined not to grow back into my old clothes so I've gotten rid of them... then it's been too depressing to keep the smaller clothes when I gained the weight back, so I got rid of those, too. Also, since I have so little storage space, keeping all those sizes would have been impossible. I have had to resize rings, which I feel are worth keeping since they cost money and don't take up much space.

I've bought a lot of foods too, like bone broth, and those "vitamin water" type beverages for after surgery, but my surgery is still months away so I haven't bought too much. And most of the food I'm buying now is refrigerated. I have canned beans and tomatoes and coconut milk in my pantry, things like that. Also tons of spices. I have gone through the fridge and freezer many times because I have a small (by American standards) fridge and freezer, since I live in a small apartment so I can't keep things in there too long. At least I live alone so I don't have to worry about having "junk food" around for family/friends.

I am not a big fan of meat, although I love veggies, fruits, cheese, dairy, etc. I also loved bread and sweets, which is how I got so overweight. I haven't had surgery yet but I have switched to low carb and have been adding more protein via greek yogurt, protein drinks, and more fish and meat (small servings) and I have lost 27 lbs in 3 months! I couldn't believe it. The best part is, I'm not as hungry as I used to be when I ate more carbs. I also find that I crave sweets less now that I eat fewer sweet things (I still eat a fair amount of fruit). I am now a little concerned about what @Ellen_Marie is saying because some days I'm well over 100 g of protein now. I'll have to ask my surgery center.

I've only lost 30 lbs and I haven't had surgery yet, but I just noticed this yesterday. My shoelaces came untied and I didn't have to sit down to tie them; I just bent over and I didn't want to vomit!

I've been changing my diet a lot to prepare for WLS while I jump through insurance hoops. I stopped drinking diet soda in January (I was at a friend's house yesterday and all she had was diet soda since she's remodeling her kitchen so her sink wasn't working. I tried it and it was gross!!! I can't believe I used to drink five a day!), and I've been minimizing carbs and increasing protein. So... I'm cleaning out my pantry and it's insane. Over the pandemic I was baking every day for a while and I had about 15-20 bags of various types of flour saved up. I listed them on my local buy-nothing Facebook group (where I gave away all my baking!) and now they'll all be gone by tomorrow. Now I have room for my protein drinks that were all over my floor. Have other people done a major pantry clean out while they prepared for surgery? Did it make you more sad or more happy? I can't tell how I feel yet.

Did you ask your nutritionist how many calories to eat? I haven't had surgery yet, so I don't know. I think a lot of them go by volume, not calories (like only eating 2 oz or 1/2 cup of food,) and I don't know how far out that lasts. good luck! If you have any questions about your progress, I would call your nutritionist.

I was in a support group meeting last night and one of the people was saying her vision has changed too. I haven't had surgery yet and I haven't really had my eyes checked in decades, so I can't say.

I agree, except that you don't have to go to a gym and strain and groan under barbells or even do traditional "lifting" to gain/retain muscle mass. Isometric exercises or other exercises that use your own bodyweight can help with this. You can use videos on YouTube or ask your treatment team for muscle building exercises or even look into things like leg lifts, wall push ups, planks, yoga, etc. All of these will help prevent you from losing too much muscle mass as you lose weight. I should take my own advice. I hate doing these type of activity. They are so hard and I find them boring.

No, the pre-op diet is after the nutrition classes. I ended up making my weight loss only 5 lbs instead of the 9 I really lost. Now they're saying they only "encourage" weight loss, not require it. I wish I could get a real answer...

It doesn't seem like there is one universal way of doing anything with WLS! My surgery site didn't give me a goal weight or tell me what I should weigh or anything. The surgeon just said I might lose 70lbs. Which would still put me at a BMI 37!!! Which would not make me happy. I'm hoping I'll lose more, especially since I've already lost 27lbs since I started the pre-op hoop-jumping.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I just found out my surgery center requires a 5-10% weight loss during the period of the nutrition classes, so it almost doesn't matter. I don't know how I'm going to lose 5-10% unless they count the time since I first called them. I've lost 8% of my body weight in the three months since I called them.

When I was about 34-35 I lost about 100lbs and I didn't have any excess skin that I noticed. Of course, I still had more fat to go when I started gaining the weight back, so who knows?

I think a lot of it is totally variable, independent of age. Some people's skin will snap back into place and some people's won't. I've heard that it can depend on how long you've been obese. If it really bothers you, once you're totally sure your weight is stable you can have plastic surgery, but that is much harder surgery than the WLS in terms of pain during recovery. Sometimes insurance will pay for the abdominal or br***t surgery if you have infections from the rubbing, but you will need a lot of documentation and photos to get that, and it will depend on insurance, of course.

This sounds great! I just emailed it to myself so I'll have it on file for when I have surgery

I haven't had surgery yet but I'm heard a lot of people have "buyer's remorse" at the beginning of recovery, because it can be so miserable. I'm sorry you feel so lousy right now. I hope you have some junk TV to watch, or good podcasts or books or whatever you can to distract yourself, and I hope you feel better soon.

I have four months of nutrition classes pre-op, and they are online due to COVID. They ask us to send in our weights prior to each class. I sent in 262.6, my true weight, for the first class a month ago. My weight this morning is 253.2. I'm thinking about saying 256.6, my weight from last night. It's sort of dumb but I'm worried I will gain weight next month because I have vacation next month with my parents and it's harder to eat well with them while traveling and also, it's just getting hard to maintain this pace. I'm worried because the surgery center said that insurance companies often want to see that patients lose a few pounds during the four months of classes. My insurance company says I don't have to lose weight over the period of the classes, but I think the person I spoke to was mistaken, even though I read the policy and it doesn't say anything about losing weight. I trust insurance companies bout as far as I can throw them. Should I lie about my weight so it doesn't look like I am gaining weight after losing so much the first month??

I just bought the grapefruit for the first time this week, and I like it. I'm not a big cranberry juice person. There's another brand of diet juice drinks that has mango and I like that even better. Can't remember the brand name, since I finished it so quickly.

I want to kick your nutritionist. We need to stop shaming people who can't or don't breast feed their children. Fed is best. My friend had a breast reduction in college so she could run and was told she likely wouldn't be able to breast feed. When she got pregnant at 40 the nursing team made her feel so bad about not trying harder that her kid ended up in the hospital. It sounds like your nutritionist was just trying to make you feel bad for not breastfeeding and giving you one more reason to feel guilty. You can lose the weight and while it might be slightly harder in the short term, moms all over the world have formula fed and gone on to lose weight. You got this!