SleeveToBypass2023

so you don't put shrimp on the barbie??? lol

So my doctor has me seriously ticked off. She told me she'd like to see my weight and bmi down. I said "WHAT???? I weigh 183 and my bmi is 30. What's wrong with it???" She told me she wants to see my weight around 155 or 160 and me at a normal bmi. I was like "if I do that, I'll look sickly!!! I've always been bigger boned and somewhat curvy, I carry my weight differently. Not one person would look at me right now and think I look like I weigh 183. No way would I look healthy if I went down to 160" and she said it would be better for my health and I should at least think about it. I told her "my blood pressure already runs on the low side of normal. I struggle to keep it up to 103/55!!! My A1c is 5.0 and my glucose is 96. I'm not on any meds except what I take for my MS. All my labs come back perfect. What else do you want??" I told her I feel amazing, I'm really active, I'm able to work as a clinical medical assistant for a busy specialty practice (infectious disease) which has always been my dream, I hike, I work out, literally I'm living the life I only dreamed about. What am I missing here???? I was so mad. And she said we'll discuss it at our appt on the 17th. I said "oh we'll discuss some stuff, alright, but that ain't happening". She's going based off my height, weight, bmi, and their supposed "ideal weight" BS. My bariatric surgeon is ecstatic with my progress. He actually said I've lost more, with both surgeries, than he realistically expected that I would. My neurologist is thrilled because losing all the weight has significantly improved my MS symptoms. My gastroenterologist is thrilled because all of my GI issues have gone away. Just this idiot yahoo isn't happy. I definitely think I need a new doctor. This is just too much. For reference, here's what I looked like when I first started seeing her, and here's what I look like now, literally this week....as in Monday and yesterday.....

When I know I have to poo, I weigh myself before and after. Makes me feel better to see a pound or 2 just fall away lol

I use cacao powder instead.

bless yer heart = you're an idiot yonto = do you want to ya'll = you all gimme some sugar = give me a kiss touched in the head = crazy use-ta-could = use to be able to ain't = am not or isn't you best not = you better not The list goes on and on lol And the madder I get, the thicker my accent gets LMAO And don't ask us for directions, cuz WE know what we're talkin about but you'll never figure out where we're directing you to go LMAO

I'm from the South. and if I start lettin ya'll know some of the stuff we say, you'd be twice as confused as I am about your vocabulary lol

OMG I never even thought about the Australian lingo. I'll never learn that lol You guys have the MOST....unique....vocabulary lol

We need calcium citrate

EXACTLY. So I've decided that if you don't pay my bills or sleep in my bed, your opinion of me doesn't matter. I'm below my goal weight, through no fault of my own lol I'm actually TRYING to get back up to 190, but I still seem to be losing (I thought I was all set at 185 but I'm now 183 lol). Eventually my body will get where it wants to be, and it'll stay there. People can be so rude. First they had something to say because I was too fat and now they have something to say because I'm too thin. They can go suck a rotten egg at this point. I'm over it.

And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks.....

Body Armour Lyte is also another one they have in gas stations, if you can find it. And sometimes in WalMart. I like those, too.

swimming costume = bathing suit, and useless waffle = rambling...right?? Did I get it???

I like Propel water (flavors watermelon, blackberry, and strawberry kiwi), gatorade zero (the blue one...can't remember the name), sugar free water flavoring powder (tropical mango, strawberry mango, raspberry lemonade, blueberry acai), Prime hydration (strawberry watermelon, meta moon, ice pop), Starbucks matcha lemonade (sweetened with sugar free vanilla sweetener), mushroom coffee with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and sweetened with monk fruit sweetener (I add cacao powder if I want a chocolate flavor or 1 pump of Jordan's sugar free vanilla syrup if I want a vanilla flavor), green tea (with 2 packets of monk fruit sweetener), black tea (with 1 tbsp almond milk and 2 packets of monk fruit sweetener), sugar free mango splash juice (from WalMart). I think that's everything I drink lol

But that's only at the beginning. It's definitely not like that forever. It has to be that way at first because your stomach has to heal and your body needs time to get use to food again.

If you remember from your first surgery, taste buds change post surgery. Don't stock up. Buy a little, just to see how you'll like it after. I stocked up before my first surgery and paid for it lol But we didn't have the money to change it up so I had to suffer through it. Learned my lesson with the revision lol And sure enough, my taste buds changed AGAIN lol

That's how you learn your new limits, though. Your mind will tell you it's not enough food. Ignore that hater. We don't know her anymore. She a bish that wanna cause drama and chaos. She got us into this mess to begin with. Listen to your body. THAT'S what will lead you to the Promised Land.

I'm further out, so what you will be able to eat right after and what I can eat now are pretty far apart. What I can eat now, 1 year post revision surgery, is what I consider a normal amount. For example, last night for dinner, I had 2 chicken drum sticks, 1/2 a cup of french cut green beans, and 1/2 cup sauteed squash. It was delicious and I was satisfied and between comfortable and full. I ate that at 6pm and had my final snack at 9pm, which was a small handful (maybe 12 or 14) of lightly salted almonds and 7 colby jack cheese cubes. And I went to bed at 10pm. For breakfast this morning I had a 2 egg omelet with colby jack cheese and half a sliced avocado with my mushroom coffee. For my first snack of the day, I'm having strawberries and blueberries (about a half a cup of each) and a vanilla protein smoothie (mostly just because I find them yummy for a snack sometimes). For lunch I'm having a salad with cucumbers (3 sliced cut in half), bacon bits (just a small sprinkle), sliced grilled chicken (3 strips cut in half), spinach and romaine lettuce (about a cup), about half a handful of chick peas (aka garbanzo beans), and 4 tbsp of ranch dressing. No idea what I'm having beyond that today. But that gives you an idea of what is normal for me. Everyone is different, though. You have to see what will end up working for your body, your lifestyle, and your needs. It'll come in time, just be patient and trust the process.

It's normal and will eventually slow down. Mine stopped after my first surgery around month 9. After my revision, around month 11. I cut my hair shorter this time around and it REALLY helped. I also use thickening and volumizing shampoo and conditioner, and I changed up how I style my hair so the part at the top of my head isn't so obvious. For extra protein, add a protein shake in at some point during the day. Use it as one of your snacks, or have it right before bed. That will give you a ton of extra protein, which is what your hair needs to grow. Hair can't produce protein, even though it needs it. Biotin helps hair be healthy but does not reduce hair loss or promote growth. Same with collagen and keratin. Only thing that really helps is protein. But I promise, no matter how it feels, you won't go bald.

I ate cottage cheese, avocado spread, hummus, protein pudding, protein yogurt, and even 3 or 4 teaspoon fulls of split pea soup (my husband had to eat the rest because it was REALLY filling). I also ate some tuna (but VERY sparingly), oatmeal (again, very sparingly and only 2 or 3 teaspoon fulls...my daughter ate the rest of the bowl because it was really filling), sauteed squash (used extra virgin olive oil and it was soft and soooo good), 1 scrambled egg (only had about 2 small bites and then hubby added the rest to his eggs and finished it). I was just so happy to be able to eat stuff, but I was absolutely NOT ready for how little I could actually eat lol

I had to do the diet when I had the sleeve surgery 2 years ago AND when I had the revision 1 year ago to bypass. Some surgeons require 2 weeks, some require 1 week, and some only 2 days. Just depends on your weight, bmi, and surgeon preferences. My first time, I had to do 2 weeks. It was all liquid. I was on protein shakes, bone broth, protein pudding, jello, Propel drinks, protein gatorade, smoothies. I was 421 pounds when I started it and 388 the day of surgery because of that diet. It sucked, but was very effective. Thank goodness it wasn't anything I would need to do long term, because no way, no how lol My 2nd time was for a week. It was slightly less strict. Same liquids except I could also have things like 1 meal of ministrone soup, protein yogurts with fruit in it, or hummus, avocado spread, and cottage cheese. This one was much more tolerable, and while I did still lose weight o it, it wasn't as much and it wasn't as bad. Still sucked, though. But at least I knew it was for a very limited amount of time. Both times, I knew it was worth it to make my surgeries as safe as possible. That was the most important thing to me.

Yes, you definitely need to drop out of Google University and get off line. You've already had a bariatric surgery, and didn't have the issues you read about. You already know what you're in for, more or less. You can absolutely schedule an appointment with one of the NPs in your surgeon's office (at least in my surgeon's office, I only see the actual surgeon at the first appt, the pre-op appt, and the day of surgery, and the day after to see if I can be released). There's absolutely no harm in getting yourself some peace of mind. But I'll say this, you're making yourself a little nuts about this lol I know it's a big decision, and it can be a bit nerve wracking. But you know why you're doing it, and what will happen if you don't. So remind yourself of your why, take a deep breath, trust the process, and get off online. It'll all be ok

Yep, yep, yep! I had pcos (I say had because I had a total hysterectomy including my ovaries removed and am on hormones now) and would gain 3-5 pounds EVERY SINGLE TIME I would hit a stall. And every time I hit a stall, it lasted longer and longer. And then when it would break, I would drop like 5-7 pounds all at one time. It's normal, and sucks, and frustrating.

YEP!!! I'm getting this literally right now. I have people that I've known for 15, 20, even 25 years that have never seen me below 250 pounds. So to see me at 185 pounds is understandably jarring for them. But once the compliments stopped the critiques started. "You're starting to look sickly, slow down the weight loss" and "you're going to look like you have an ED if you keep losing weight" and "your sagging skin is going to get so much worse if you don't stop losing weight". I mean...seriously????? My body FINALLY found its new set point and is happy where it's at and now the weight is resettling and redistributing itself. There's nothing I can do about it. Your comments are UNhelpful and UNnecessary. Ugh.....

Girl....WHAT did I tell you about SMILING??? lol Seriously tho, you look amazing. You're doing so well!!!!!

Reading this about the meds makes me scared for anyone needing specialty meds out there. I have MS and I take Tecfidera (specialty med that CANNOT under ANY circumstances have even a single missed dose), Baclofen (best muscle relaxer for people with MS for our spasms), and Gabapentin (for MS, it's used to control the "MS hug" feeling we get when we have upper body pressure, it takes care of the sharp tingles from nerve ending misfires, and Jacksonian seizures specific to MS sufferers). If we were to miss doses of ANY of these, we would be in a WORLD of trouble. I'm sad for you all, and anyone else, that has any meds that you really need that you have a hard time getting because of their system