vikingbeast

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

Question for the sleeved athletes out there.
How far back did surgery set you in the gym?
I'm a (former) competitive strongman and I really enjoy being strong, I just don't enjoy being obese with all the comorbidities. I know I'm going to lose some muscle mass as a result of surgery, and thus some strength both from that and from forced separation from the gym.
For those of you who got sleeved, how far of a setback was it? Were you able to regain some of your former strength? Am I just going to have to be "regular", but with added bonus mobility, endurance (running!), ability to do gymnastics (a pull-up without swinging like a monkey!), etc.?
How long did it take before you were comfortable swinging a barbell around? Before you felt like you could truly brace your core for a lift again?
I'm doing the surgery regardless. There are too many good outcomes to worry overmuch about it. I just want to have some idea what to expect when I do return to the gym. Obviously I'm not going to go in to try and PR my deadlift, I will ease back in like I did after the Covid closures.
Thank you in advance for any advice, and my apologies if this is the wrong forum for this.

Weight loss is weight loss, of course, but there are things that LGBTQ+ people may have to deal with that don't really have parallels in the straight community. As an example:
The bear movement among gay men was started in direct response to body-shaming of fat gay men by lean gay men. It was truly awful—gay bars, which were the only safe spaces, started putting what were called "cow catchers" out front—poles set narrowly together, so that only people with lean body types could pass through without turning their bodies or hitching. If you couldn't pass through without turning or hitching, you couldn't go in. So the fat hairy gay men created their own safe spaces (440 Castro in SF and Rockbar in NYC are examples) and their own community.
But flash forward thirty years or so and now the bear community has its own judgmental labels and body shaming. Oh, he's not fat enough to be a bear. Oh, he's not hairy enough to be a bear, he's just a chub. Oh, he thinks he's a cub but he's just a skinny old otter. Someone who is gay and identifies as a bear (hi!) who then loses the weight may lose his community, which makes compliance just that much harder. Or he could lose his relationship, because maybe his partner is only into big bears.
I'm fortunate in that I don't think I'll have that problem, but it's an example of a situation that only gay men face. There could be situations particular to lesbian women, to trans people (who face issues getting quality medical care even when not obese), for anyone in the LGBTQ+ community.
Does it warrant its own forum? I don't know. Maybe, because if you're a member of the LGBTQ+ community and you're searching for answers to your problems, finding a "safe space", or at least a collection of LGBTQ+ WLS issues all in one place, could be a really good thing. I just don't know how much traffic it would see.

Congratulations in advance!!!

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you to all y'all. I found this site a while ago and have been lurking and reading and learning.

The honest talk helped me with a lot of the anxiety I was having about surgery. The photos inspired me so much—so many of you changed your lives and kept them changed. The folks who are really into exercise reassured me that it isn't over (I love my CrossFit, and I can't wait until my weight isn't the limiting factor). And just the fact that so many people's lives improved finally got me over the "shame hump".

I called for a referral, had my initial consultation last week, and am tentatively scheduled for VSG in late August. (My insurance has been frankly amazing. So few roadblocks that I kept checking to make sure they were talking about bariatric surgery.) To say I can't wait for this is an understatement.

I just want y'all to know you're changing lives for me and for other lurkers who haven't clicked that "sign up" button yet. Thank you.