pintsizedmallrat

Fair warning: I dumped eating banana baby food on purees. Obviously, everyone is different but my stomach was not ready for that.

I am cisgender and was born female, but I do know trans men (who were assigned female at birth) who still menstruate every month.

I use the BariMelts iron + vitamin C, they're the only ones that don't make me nauseous. They dissolve so I just put them under my tongue for a few minutes until they're basically a powder and then swallow.

I put a scoop of collagen in my coffee every morning, and I feel like it's made a difference in my skin and hair. I slacked off on using it for a month or so and feel like my skin looked noticeably "saggier". My hair regrowth has been fantastic, my hair was on the thin side before my surgery but it's now growing back thick and oddly, curly! In addition to the collagen, I take a pretty big dose of biotin alongside my multivitamin (6000 mcg) and that seems to be helping.

I probably focus on calories more than I should but I'm 10 months out, and I'm a woman with a very small frame and eat between 750-950 calories a day.

I have been with my fiance for four years, we have been engaged for a little over two, and we're getting married next month. Our relationship hit some bumps right after my surgery--I was and still am the primary food shopper/preparer in our house, and I could tell about a month, two months in, he was really ready for things to be back to "normal", and we had some minor friction. I had a ROUGH first couple months, and at one point nearly died from pneumonia...and I think the realization he might lose me has made us closer. He took care of me the whole time I was recovering. I had become very depressed about my weight the summer leading up to my surgery, and now I think my improved mood and energy level has made both of us healthier...he was originally planning to have surgery himself but has lost 25 pounds on his own, just due to the new way we do things around the house, and we're both much more active. I don't think surgery and all the changes that come with it are bad for everyone, but I do think that people who were already unhappy in their relationships often find the strength to leave with their newfound confidence. TL;DR: My four-year relationship is stronger than ever and we're getting married in a month.

I buy a tub of pulled white meat rotisserie chicken at walmart almost every week, it lasts quite a while when it's being portioned out two ounces at a time, and you can do so much with it. I eat a lot of spinach salads, with 2 oz of chicken, 1/4 of an ounce of walnuts or pumpkin seeds, and a handful of blueberries or other low glycemic fruit. Toss it in half a serving of salad dressing (I am hooked on poppyseed which is kind of sugary but I don't use that much and it's encouraging me to eat all those veggies, so I just factor it in). I literally ate one of these salads for all 3 meals the other day, which I know isn't great but it's healthy, tasty, and the numbers work out right. I also make "pizza melts" which are a low carb tortilla with mozzarella, turkey pepperoni, and whatever "pizza topping" veggies I have on hand (olives, onions, peppers, tomatoes, etc). I heat it on my george forman grill and then dip the pieces into pizza sauce. If you use the La Banderita street tacos the whole thing ends up being about 200 calories (with 1/2 serving of mozzarella and 1/2 serving of turkey pepperoni). They're very filling. One of my favorite dinners recently is cubed boneless/skinless chicken thighs cooked in the air fryer, which gives them a nice crust on the outside and makes it taste like takeout Chinese without the breading, and then add some sauteed broccoli and some green onion, with just enough teriyaki sauce to cover it (usually about half the amount the bottle says is a serving.). No rice, just broccoli and chicken. I usually sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Yes, actually. Even snacks. I measure/weight them out and if an hour later, I am truly hungry again, I will eat something else. Never from the package, and if it's something I know I shouldn't eat all of, I take only the portion I am ok with eating (for instance, I occasionally will get a breakfast sandwich and will either throw away the top piece of bread and eat it open-faced or cut it in half.) You have to be honest with yourself that if portion sizes are an issue for you, you have to take steps to make eating too much not an option.

I SWORE the girls had shrunk. I went to a bra boutique and got professionally fitted, and I have gone from a 44DD to a 32F. I do NOT feel like an F cup but it fits, so who knows

They've been pulled from the market in a few countries, they can get "stuck" or move around, and like the lap band the procedure is not permanent and will result in a higher rate of regain than a permanent procedure like the sleeve or bypass. Read here, it's been linked to 18 deaths: https://www.medtechdive.com/news/fda-18-deaths-linked-to-apollo-endosurgery-intragastric-balloon-weight-loss-treatment/576874/ It's a new device and I would be wary of it. There are already a lot of red flags that it is ineffective and potentially dangerous.

Ride my motorcycle!

I’m just going to say this because no one else has yet—While you didn’t elaborate on the nature of her special needs, I’m concerned with your characterization that she “had” to have the surgery. Was it not her decision?

I think the answer most people are going to give in the US is that our insurance doesn’t cover it—mine would only do a RNY or VSG.

I had a VSG in September. I was permitted to have raw vegetables at three months, along with carbs. I haven’t had any issues with veggies but it does seem like the few times I’ve had “conventional carbs” like a piece of bread or a little pasta it hasn’t agreed with me so I avoid them (I make “sandwiches” with low carb or cauliflower tortillas, or on lettuce, when I want something like that.) Alcohol they told me to wait at least six months, preferably a year…I’ve had alcohol twice, and while I havent gotten ill or anything it is a lot of empty calories and I can’t have club soda, tonic water, diet soda as mixers or something like beer or White Claw because of the bubbles. Be warned; the first time you drink after that long and after losing six months worth of weight, it’s going to hit you much harder. Be careful.

I have been donating/giving them away. Some of my stuff has gotten “repurposed” (cami that used to be tight and is now super loose? Throw a sports bra under that thing and it’s a workout tank now!)

Ginger or peppermint tea with Splenda. If I absolutely cannot choke anything else down I will eat a couple saltines very slowly. I haven’t had any issues with feeling nauseous in a while but those helped me.

My hair loss has kept getting worse, and I had to chop all of mine off…as in, half an inch too long for a buzz cut.

I have huge bald spots all over my head at six months post surgery. I won’t go out in public without a hat or bandana on. My hair was lower-back length and I had to cut it to just above my shoulders so I wouldn’t have SO MUCH HAIR going down the drain and getting in my vacuum. My hair was thinning before (due to probable but unconfirmed PCOS), and I had a really rough go of it between months 2 and 4 where I know I was malnourished. It’s starting to grow back already, but that’s probably my biggest frustration right now is my hair.

I don’t feel like it gives me the munchies. I usually have a couple of Delta 8 gummies after dinner so I can sleep (I don’t live in a state where “regular stuff” is legal). The only thing I usually eat after I have dinner is a very small piece of dark chocolate as a treat (as in, a single square from a bar)

I really like the apple pecan salad at Wendys too. Other favorites are the Fuji Apple chicken salad at Panera and I really like the protein bowls at Subway with rotisserie chicken. I don’t know if you’ve got a Culver’s near you but their salads are also really good.

I went through a phase like that—couldn’t choke much of anything down to a point where I wasn’t even getting enough fluids. Talk to your dietitian/team. I ended up having to set a goal of increasing my intake by 100 calories a day each week. I was only eating about 200 a day and now I’m up to 800. Another possibility causing this is acid reflux—my stomach was so irritated that I was feeling full much faster than I should have which is why my “meals” were one or two bites.

Treated myself to a motorcycle now that I don’t have to worry so much about people being jerks to me when I’m out and about! Clothes. So many clothes. Spending so much less on food has freed up a lot of room in my budget!

That’s a good feeling—I got on my motorcycle for the first time two weeks ago and have discovered I actually need a new helmet because it’s loose around my face now.

Is it making you cough? The only reason I ask is because I had acid reflux and I was coughing up foul smelling, brown/yellow phlegm. It turns out I had inhaled stomach acid into my lungs in my sleep and had developed bacterial pneumonia. I was in the hospital for a week. Please get it checked out especially if it’s the result of a cough.

I am six months out and have lost probably 60% of my hair, and it was thin before. I am at a point where if I leave the house I have to wear a hat. I’m starting to get the little “chicken hairs” but it’s really frustrating that I waited my whole adult life to feel cute and now I’m practically bald. I’ve been taking collagen, a supplement for hair growth (vital proteins hair boost), calcium, iron, and zinc…all of which is supposed to help. I guess we will find out!