Candace76

My winter boots have a decorative strap on the calf that snaps into place. This strap used to always come undone and dangle, necessitating multiple re-snaps every time I wore them. Well, I wore them Monday and the strap did not come undone once. A silly, small moment of joy.

I cut my toenails for the first time since surgery today (don't judge! I usually get pedicures!). It was shockingly easy to contort myself to be able to do it without 60 lbs of stomach in the way!

Sent from my SM-N976V using BariatricPal mobile app

Was able to teach my son how to ride a bike without being winded

fitting into chairs at my GPs office!

So it turns out that 7kg or about 15.5 pounds is what I need now. Took some trial and error but my buoyancy seemed pretty good with that weight.
Another weird NSV - I play the violin and I am going to need a new shoulder rest. There is a lot more room between my chin and shoulder now. I hadn't even thought about that until I wondered why I was cramping up during rehearsal the other night.

Hey July buddies!

how are we all.
So Im coming to the realisation that my body is starting to plateau! For the first time. Yes I’ve been very lucky I’ve lost weight every week since surgery, sometimes 1lb, sometimes 5lb.

however the last 3 weeks I’ve been sitting between 149-147lbs. It goes up and down. Sometimes daily!
i started at 210. So I’m really happy with what Ive achieved!l so far! However I kinda wanted to be around the 138 mark as a overall target.

my BMI is now in the green for ‘normal’ does this mean I’ve hit my end goal? Is my body telling me that’s it now?
i mean I can’t complain I’ve gone from a UK18-20 to a UK8-10!
but I’m still a little disappointed.
either that or I need to just bide my time and wait. I’m hitting about 1200 calories on a good day - 600 on restricted days. But have notice the last few weeks I can eat a little more per portion.

perhaps I need to exercise more.. if im honest I don’t do much… im not good at exercise 🤦🏻‍♀️

just leaving this here as I complain to my family and friends and they think I’m being weird and just thought you guys would understand where I’m coming from.

xxx

If you don’t want to log your food everyday perhaps you could do it for a few weeks and then just check in every once In a while to make sure you are on track. I know that I only cook so many meals and I have it in my head how many calories it is for one slice of cauliflower crust pizza or one burrito or whatever. I have a shake for Breakfast and a P3 Protein pack for lunch most days so I know how many calories I am allowed for dinner and have figured out what I can have that is on plan so I don’t have to count calories every day. I also have Snacks that are around 100 calories (some are 80 some 120 but it averages out) so I just have to keep track of how many I have in a day not the actual calories. Maybe something like this would work for you. I hate to see you wasting time just being disappointed and depressed because your hunger will come back eventually and it will no longer be as easy to make the good food choices.I know that you are only eating low calorie food but you can still overeat even if it’s the right things. But you don’t necessarily have to count calories daily, Just figure out how many calories you are allowed for each meal and snack and then the first time you have the meal you have to measure and calorie count but from then on you know whether it’s on plan or not and you can either have it or you can’t unless you skip a snack or whatever. Just try a version of this that works for you.

So as not to hijack an existing thread, I thought I'd start a new one.
Since I began looking into bariatric surgery in 2019, I've done much research and reading. On the internet, I limited myself to sites that I knew were reputable and were evidence-based (i.e., mayo Clinic) rather than sites that were trying to sell surgery. Once I was accepted into my program, I watched videos suggested by the program (i.e., Dr. Matthew Weiner) and took to heart the information I was given from my program. I came into the program with a lot of pre-existing knowledge on nutrition and diet having grown up with a Type 1 diabetic father and myself a Type 2. Despite that knowledge base, I obviously wasn't applying it or I would not have been to the point where I was considering surgery. One of the hardest things I had to do throughout my surgery preparation appointments and meetings was to go in and actually listen. I accepted that my way wasn't working and if I was going to proceed with a body and life-altering surgery, I needed to adopt what I was being taught. As you can see in my stats, it's worked. But I know I'm not done learning, maintaining and working on making good decisions and healthy choices for the long-term.
In my classes, the dietician warned about social-media, weight-loss surgery groups. I admit that I move in and out of some groups. The overall lack of information and sharing of misinformation boggles my mind. It certainly proved that there are programs and doctors simply out to make money and there are patients willing to believe anything they are told without doing their own research or taking accountability for their own actions.
I was grateful to find this site and have a source of information rather than opinion. I was happy to hear from WLS veterans who have gone through the process and how they are successfully maintaining. I wanted to hear what those experiences were so that I can learn from them. I did not want them to sugar-coat the truth and I did not expect unmitigated "support." If my understanding or behavior was counterproductive, I wanted to hear that. I needed to hear that. I still do. There seems to be a misconception that in order to be supportive, someone needs to say your choices are ok. Being truthful with someone, does not always mean saying what and how you are doing things is ok.

Whole bunch of non-scale victories lately.
1. I am no longer morbidly obese because my BMI is under 40. Combined with the resolution of my comorbidities, I no longer qualify for surgery. 😁
2. My A1c is 5.1. A physician friend of mine said he hasn't seen anyone under 5.4 in a long time.
3. I needed to get into the bed of the ranch truck today and the tailgate was blocked off... so I went over the side using the (not small) tire. My balance is so much better!
4. I can do burpees like I'm on springs now, at least 10 in a row. Before I would do what are popularly known as "grief burpees" (look it up on Google Video search).
5. I got in trouble with my sleep doctor. It took me 6 weeks to get a video appointment and my CPAP (technically APAP) was choking me with all the air it was putting out. It's locked down, so I found the manual (in Russian), translated it, guessed the password, and reset the lower bound. I sleep better now (and my suspicion was correct, previous range was 10-20 cm H2O, now that I've lowered it, I average about 8 over a night).
6. I ran a mile for the first time ever in my entire life. It wasn't very fast (10:26) but it was a real mile and there was no walking or stopping.

Met up with some old school high school friends (who hadn’t seen me throughout my obese period in my 30s and 40s) and they said i still look the same and haven’t changed all these 30+ years. 💪🏼 Ha! Little do they know.:.😜
Also…was fascinated the other day when I discovered that I could get up from sitting cross legged on the floor to a standing position without even using my arms to get up 😳

In February, I bought a nice water-resistant jacket on Amazon. When I bought it, it was TIGHT on me. I could zip it and wear it, but I had no room to move in my shoulders/upper back.
When the cold weather hit us last week, I went to put it on and I looked like a teenager trying to wear his dad's jacket. I was drowning in it -- I knew I had lost weight, but that was one of the first times where it really hit me how much smaller I had gotten.

Back with more NSVs and LOVING reading all of yours. Here we go:
I am fitting into the smallest "skinny pants" I bought back in June. When I bought them I couldn't get the zipper even close, but today I am wearing them. My mom is at my house rehabbing and I am giving her a lot of intensive round-the-clock physical care. There is no way I could have done this without the weight loss I've had. I have so much collarbone and a lovely visible jawline. I can't stop looking at them every time I pass a mirror. Space between my toes. I can cross my arms across my waist and still fold forward, in fact it turns out that without a big belly in the way this is a very comfortable position. I can also cross my legs or sit on the floor in a resting position with one leg comfortably crooked up into a bend. my balance, it is so much better.

realizing that I no longer have "sausage toes" there are actually spaces between them and looking long and skinny...LOL

Have a mixed NSV from today! I'm 5 weeks out, and flew Southwest today to visit my parents for the holiday. I paid in advance for the COS extra seat policy, and when I got there I was stopped by a supervisor and told I wasn't big enough to qualify. I'm down 30lbs since surgery and about 45 since I last flew. The downside is that I'm still big enough that people don't exactly look thrilled to have me as a seatmate!

I was at a CVS and the automatic doors got stuck half open/half closed. I was able to fit through to get in. I would not have been able to even a year ago. I had gotten down to 141 pounds for a long time then became an alcoholic and gained back 40 pounds. 1 year ago I went to rehab and have been sober since. I have lost 52 pounds so am down to 135.4 pounds. My lowest since the WLS. My surgeon's goal weight was 135. I want to be at 125 I think.

I've had to sew up the side seams of my underwear and swimwear because they are too big and I don't want to buy new ones at this stage of my journey.

I have a funny one...
I have lost 155 lb and have a lot of wrinkles. So, I bought some compression pants and shirt. I had to go to Home Depot to buy a few building supplies. I put my sweat pants on over my brand new compression clothes and was walking through the parking lot with an arm load of stuff. And.... My sweatpants fell down to my ankles. Hahaha, I was so embarrassed. Watch out for those slippery compression pants when your butt is flat as a pancake. 😂😂😂

Now I can scratch that spot on my back that I could never reach. Ahhhaaaa........

Today it has been a full month that I haven’t had to get up in the middle of the night to pee!! And no waking up with headaches either.. I was never tested for sleep apnea, but I suspect I had it and it’s gone now! 😁

My surgery was in July, but My favorite NSV so far is: Went to universal and fit on every ride easily. Last time I went I couldn’t do two of the rides!

sleeping on the couch without half my body hanging off I fit now. 😆

I know I just posted recently, but I had another NSV today!
I was at the gas station & didn't need to open my door to reach down to open the fuel door. I read this NSV on here from other posters before & remembered knowing exactly what they meant.
It is so nice to be noticing all these little things now.

I have a few NSV's to share!😁
Yesterday, I went to a restaurant that I went to before surgery. We sat outside in patio chairs, and I had no problem sitting in the chair, the arms of the chair were not cutting into the sides of my thighs. (I still don't trust those plastic white ones, though.)
Also, yesterday, a neighbor asked if I lost weight & said I looked great. It was surprising to hear from someone who doesn't know about my surgery. It was also the first time I heard anything from someone who didn't know.
Today, I tried on the bridesmaid dress I will be wearing for my brother's wedding in April. At the end of September, I ordered a size 16 even though I couldn't quite zip it, hoping that by April it would fit, or possibly need to be taken in. Well, it zipped with a little room!
Another NSV is my shirts are getting very baggy on me. I am trying to hold off on buying lots of clothes in between sizes, but every time I wear something lately, I feel like it may be the last time. (Although, I guess this isn't really a weird NSV🤷‍♀️)
BTW- I love reading everyone's NSV's and can relate to so many of them. It is so nice to hear about other's progress & really start seeing some of my own. 🤗

Since finishing the soft food phase, I have not wanted any tuna or avocados, but I think I'll like them again. I have also not wanted eggs for the past 2 weeks. Like eholmes89 & Tony B - NJ, I seem to prefer fish & shrimp at this point. Most bread is difficult to eat, I have tried low carb, high Protein breads that are ok, but not the same as the bread I used to eat. Multi- grain crackers seem to go down easier.
Before the surgery I loved my coffee, but it just does not taste the same to me or feel good going down. It also uses to be more enjoyable when it was paired with my Breakfast or Desserts. I do miss drinking with my meals, but I'm getting used to it. I have started to have hot chocolate in the evening & I add some protein power to it.
Hoping you all are doing well.

Hi Tony!

you sound like me! I miss bread so much! Toast, sandwiches, baguettes 😩 all my favourite things!
but the same here, couple of bites of bread and I’m reaching for the Gaviscon!
i might try a really saucy chicken salad, and see if that helps.
i am also leaning more towards fish, soft white fish, prawns. It seems to go down nicely and it’s flavoursome. Gonna miss a fishfinger sandwich though!

I’m not missing sweet much either, you would always find me at the savoury end of a buffet 😉