Smanky

That's brilliant. Happy surgiversary Summerseeker! Rejoining the world is definitely the biggest prize. Here's to your well deserved messy coastal knees-up! 🤪😎🥂

Definitely relax. If your team didn't specifically say "no coffee" then it's fine. I was offered coffee in hospital the very first night. Been drinking it the whole way along with no issues.

^ All of this. If she wants to f*ck around, let her find out. Toxic manipulators really don't deserve any chances, especially when they are clearly in the process of gleefully causing damage.

I'm thankfully pretty shielded from this most of the time, since I'm self-employed and work from home. I imagine if you work in an office or on-site, then the comments would happen. I had my first a week or so ago, when visiting a friend and she quietly said I looked skinny and asked if I was well. She hasn't seen me in a while, so I guess there is a noticeable weight drop and I KNOW my collar bones and neck sinews stick out prominently now. It still triggered a weird body dysmorphic patch in me, and thankfully my partner put my mind at ease. In her defense, she was coming from a place of care, and she has suffered from restrictive eating disorders in the past so I know she was just seeing my jutting bones and making unconscious connections to her own past. My real test will be Xmas and going interstate to see the family and in-laws for the first time in about half a year. I am a good size and a half smaller since they last saw me. All that said, anyone calling out to a stranger OR an acquaintance with the word "fat" needs a kick between the legs. Inexcusably rude, fundamentally unfunny.

I've kept carbs to a minimum most of the way along. I've relaxed that a bit in the last 2 months, and can tolerate a little rice and very small amounts of wheat-based carbs like noodles. But bread and I just don't get along well since surgery. It hits my stomach like a brick, and that happens after two bites of a sandwich. So while I'll always love bread in a general sense, it's something I can only have an occasional taste of. This may well change in time, but my stomach remains happiest with just protein and vegetables.

I'm another who can't tolerate protein shakes post-op. They're just too sweet. There's one brand I can stomach (BSc Clean Vegan), but I only drink it occasionally when I want to hit most of my protein in one "meal", and I definitely don't enjoy it. Instead I drink protein water throughout the day to supplement my food-based intake. Adding unflavoured powder to soups etc was basically like adding mud. Completely inedible. It's probably a different story with whey protein, but plant-based protein powder needs a lot of flavouring and help to be palatable. It's strange how the taste buds change, as I was absolutely fine drinking protein shakes before my bypass. The tolerance for them hasn't come back, and I'm over a year post-op now.

Honestly, I'm just loving how happy you are as you progress. It's a joy to see!

My surgeon prefers it to the RNY as he's seen better long-term results and it's a shorter surgery than the classic RNY. Everyone's surgeon will likely favour certain procedures, but I am supremely happy with my mini. No dumping, and no other issues.

You look young, so you're in with a much better chance of skin regaining some elasticity over time than someone my age. My neck was the first part of me to really start showing the ol' skin-slack, so much so I just had to have a sense of humour about it. That said, with a consistent, targeted skin care regime with high actives, there's been definite improvements to both my face and neck (my body on the other hand, I'm just gonna have to learn to love that loose skin). From what others have said who are years out, your body will go through a settling period, so don't assume you've achieved your "final form" until a good stretch of time. Hydration, nutrition, some good skincare and spf, and patience and you'll likely see things settle.

Lifestyle issues: none. I went vegetarian back in 1989, and have been vegan for about 7 years now. Likewise my partner. I've always been a supplement taker, so I've never been anemic or had any issues (outside of eating too much junk food and carbs, of course, leading me here!). Post-op, my labs have been consistently good, so even with the malabsorbtion factor, I've been able to nourish myself well. The only thing any blood test has found was 8 weeks ago when I landed in hospital after a bike accident and the labs showed I was low in magnesium. So I've been taking a mag supplement since then which is fixing that. Never a whisper of kidney stones. It's tough recommending any protein drinks since I'm in Australia and we don't have access to the same brands as you guys over there. The best protein water I've found that's both tasty and not absolutely drowning in stevia is MyProtein's Clear Vegan Protein. I know you can get that one internationally. It's not as much protein per serve as a shake (it's 10g per serve), but since I have to drink a couple of litres of water a day anyway, getting 3 of those in means I've got over half my daily minimum protein intake plus water, so I love the double-up. Other vegan protein waters with higher protein counts that I've tried have either been too cloyingly sweet or just straight up revolting. The MyProtein one is like drinking cordial. Minus the sugar. The Apple & Elderflower flavour is the bomb. Also: vegan protein will absorb as well as non-vegan. I promise it's a myth that you can't get enough protein from plants. Plenty of vegan athletes and body builders can attest! 💪

It's major surgery, and it hurts. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck for a solid week. That said, my nausea and pain medication did help. Call your team if you're not able to manage yours.

I completely get the need-to-cook thing as I've always loved cooking and baking. Post-op I would leap at the chance to cook because when it's just myself and my partner, I don't really do it like I used to and I love the whole process. I missed it so much I recently took a second job as a cafe cook, which is a job I haven't done in well over 10 years (and currently on hold after breaking my leg but that's another story). But it scratches the cooking itch! I'm very much in the love-cooking-for-people-but-not-eating-it camp. If you're eating your efforts with strict portion control then I also don't see the problem. If you're grazing while cooking though, be careful there!

Hi, certified vegan bypasser here! 🤓 It's totally doable, and I've had no issues at all hitting my protein goals both with and without vegan protein water. The protein water has been a big help, but honestly, even if I wasn't vegan I'd still be using the protein water as there are days when I just want to eat vegetables and don't want to deal with heavy seitans. Speaking of, seitan (wheat meat/faux meats) are the best source of high protein I've found. The best ones can be sourced from good Chinese grocers in the freezer section. If you have a Trader Joes or Wholefoods near you, I expect they'd have a great vegan section. Some examples of the protein counts in the seitans I have access to: Chinese supermarket Not Pork 100g serve = 165 cal, 21g protein Chinese supermarket Not Duck 100g serve = 150 cal, 19g protein Princess G brand "Crispy G" 100g serve = 266 cal, 17g protein Sayur Not Pork 100g serve = 155 cal, 21g protein Lamyong is another great faux meat brand. But if you can't source good faux meats, good old tofu comes through: Firm Tofu (½ cup/126g) = 181 cal, 21.8g protein Marinate that tofu in something delicious, and fry it up with some asian greens! Some mung bean pastas are high in protein. Not the nicest wheat pasta substitute, but with a nice tangy tomato sauce and a little vegan Parmesan, it's acceptable. Also check the nutritional info on the back of Gardein products, I think they're pretty easy to find. Soy milk has about 8g of protein per serve, so that's another way of slipping some extra protein in, especially if you can tolerate protein shakes. Protein fortified soy milk (10g per serve) in a plant based protein shake gives me a whopping 40g of protein in one go, so again, on days when I'm just craving vegetables, I can do a shake for breakfast and a protein water or two throughout the day and easily hit my goals. Some vegetables are also higher in protein, like edamame, but I honestly just stick with protein water and seitans, as that's what I enjoy. Hope that helps!

Gotta love a milestone! That's awesome - and you've earned it!

Nobody has said that. In fact, everyone's said the opposite.

That lady is still in a process, and so long as her doctor and team are on-board and guiding her, good for her. Someone else's happiness is no-one else's business. Consider how many people thought our obese bodies were disgusting and they'd "rather die" than look like us. Thinking the same of a skinny person is the exact same energy. Glad you're finding your happy place weight wise, but no need to be judging others on the way. We've all had our fill of that, surely?

My partner and I would ride our bikes at dawn around the bay on the days I wasn't doing my second job and loving it until I fell off said bike seven weeks ago and broke my tibial plateau (along with tearing my ACL, PCL and meniscus). I've had to stay immobile for the first seven weeks because of the nature of the break (multiple pieces), and the surgeons wanting to try to heal the bone without surgery. I have a long road of physio to get back ON my bike, but get back on I will, since I'll likely never run again after this injury. ACL reconstruction surgery is still on the table, depending on how things go. I will, however, be joining my local gym once I get the medical all clear because I enjoy weight training and will need to get strength back into my poor wasted leg. It's amazing how terrified I was of injuring myself when I was morbidly obese, and yet slim me managed to do this! Oops. This was a motorbike-level injury, achieved on a pushbike going at maybe 10km max, coming to slow turn. This seems to be my unwanted super-power - hurting myself badly doing the bare minimum. I don't even get a good story out of it! It's a skill! I only managed to do this because I stupidly took my hand off the handlebar to indicate a right turn, knowing full well I don't have good one-handed balance. So lesson here is learned. I have NEVER felt pain like I did with this injury. Knocked the gallstone attack pain right off the top of the ladder, and I thought that was bad (not even close!). 0/10, don't recommend!

OMG, three ligaments - argh! Cringing at the very thought of how much pain you were in. Yeah, these sorts of injuries are the long-haul type. I tore the ACL off the bone in my OTHER knee in a skiing accident way back in 2002, so at least I'm already familiar with the very long process of soft-tissue damage never healing 100%. I did get a ligament reconstruction a year later. It's now going to be my "good knee" 🙃. I swear, it's like I just have it in for knee ligaments. Like they've personally offended me over the years.

Over a year post-op. I did get my sweet tolerance back, but it's very touchy. Doesn't take much at all to make me feel sick. I prefer "barely sweet" to "proper sweet", and sugar-free to both of those. Still detest protein shakes though - never got that back. Cannot eat coconut-based dairy alternatives post-bypass. Coconut milk/cream is just waaaaaay too rich for me now. Makes me ill. No dumping. I'm pretty careful with the foods that can typically cause it. Occasional mild foamies. If I eat or drink too much I get very burpy and uncomfortable.

That is excellent, I wish we had that service down here. One less tablet to swallow daily would be very welcome! Also: you really are rocking that pixie cut Summerseeker!

Which surgery did you have? If you had the sleeve, a multi may be all you need. This is a question you really need to ask your Dietician or Nutritionist. Depending on what your blood work says, you may need something else, or you may not. I take a lot of supplements daily, but I had a bypass, am vegan, and have my Dietician guiding me. It can't hurt to take a hair and skin supplement though, to help your body through any upcoming hair loss. Won't stop it, but the extra supplements will help with the eventual regrowth. A good bariatric-multi should be covering most bases, though.

I didn’t feel anything while eating, but I was also super paranoid about eating too much and hurting my healing guts. Now when I do eat to a feeling of fullness, I get burpy and don’t feel well. It’s an ongoing juggle with me.

Well I did say I’m a wimp! 😅

I’ve always felt the cold when the temperature drops, but yeah - I feel it even more since surgery. We just had our winter down here and I was a wimp! I’m really curious to see how I fare as summer hits without all the body fat I used to have.

I did absolutely everything both in the months leading up to and after to stop hair loss. Did ALL the bells and whistles diligently. Still lost hair. Perhaps I didn't lose as *much* as I may have had I not done all the supplemental support, but without a clone of myself who didn't do all that, I'll never know. I have thin hair naturally. I was probably the only person who noticed the thinning. What helped IMMENSELY was getting a short pixie cut. That is a forgiving haircut for thin hair and disguised the thinning perfectly. I had probably a total of four months where my hair fall was causing thinning. Then it stopped, and now it's grown back. And it will grow back. And honestly, four months of wearing scarves/hats is a small price to pay for the relief and freedom of not being morbidly obese. THAT is WAY scarier than hair thinning, for me. Just remember, it's temporary.