AmberFL

On Realself.com her reviews are good, on Yelp not so much. She specializes on all BMI's, which attracted me to her. Alot of women who had a lot of skin and she made them look great. The reviews are all older, not super recent. Read the reviews for Dr. Katzen and his yelp reviews aren't great either. Maybe its a yelp thing! lol

Happyyyyyy Monday!!!! Yesterday I ran 2.5miles with my pup and that was a HUGE NSV for me! I have been working up to it, but kinda of a weird weekend. It was such a busy weekend so I grazed a bit instead of sitting down and eating a full meal. so that annoyed me that I did that when its not my typical eating habits. Other than that, so far so good!

Thank you all for making me feel justified! I have an appt with my surgeon today and plan on speaking to him in regards to her comments. Also talking to him about goal weights and such. I felt like I self sabotaged this weekend. I didn't eat terrible but I didn't eat great either. We were so busy, I grazed. still tracked it but didn't sit and eat a meal which of course made me graze. But today is a new day!

I have 3 kids 12, 6 and 2. I did not tell them. The day that I went my mom stayed over and hubs and I told the kids that I had to go to the doctors because my stomach needed to get checked and fixed. Now all they see is that my eating habits have changed, and I workout every day. So they just think that I made a lifestyle change and got thinner that way. My oldest is my step son and his mom is very very body conscious and body shames? She struggles with her weight and has made comments how my daughter has slimmed down, or how the 12 has finally lost his baby weight and will barely eat. I nip that in the butt quick! I have to tell her that we cannot speak negatively in front of our kids, its going to cause a complex like we have. I grew up with my mom always talking about weight and she still does. I try my best to not surround our conversations on negative body image. I do home work outs 2-3x a week and sometimes with my daughter who is 6 asks to work out with me to get skinny, I tell her its not to get skinny its to get strong and stay healthy. So I try to just surround our convos around that. Its tough with kids!

So what I eat is ALWAYS on my mind. I meal prep every single week and have my weeks very calculated already pre-tracked and I stay within my calories. I workout 6days a week. But I am about 5 months post op and this weekend, hubs and I took the kids to Dave's Hot chicken, I ate the kale slaw and half a tender 4-5 fries. I felt so guilty! But at the same time it felt so good to eat with my family and it not be chicken and veggies while going out. I ate very small amount because I did not want to eat to restriction, but I was able to hang out with my family and not worry about food. Then that night we got Ice cream and I had 4 bites of hubbies delicious Cold Stone Chocolate Ice cream, those 4 bites I was satisfied and didn't feel like crap. I still woke up drank my protein coffee, did my work out and continued my normal diet. In a way, I am happy that it didn't turn into a binge like it would normally when I would previously diet, then again I feel like I halted my progress. Thanks for reading

Just coming in to say I am in the same boat. One day I washed my hair and so much came out I got scared. I started adding collagen to help with new growth and I have been taking biotin since before surgery. Its just one of those things. Nothing we can control. Just take all your vitamins, collagen, biotin to help with the new growth so it comes in healthy. I am actually contemplating a shorter hair cut. which I have never done so I am panicky a bit lol but im vain LOL

have you tried taking some alcohol on a q-tip and cleaning it? could be just residual but is it happening alot?

Chicken wings!! My whole family eats it this way, then we all add the sauces we want or keep sauce-less. I dip mine in Bolthouse Ranch Dressing. So good! Also found this site that I might try next week! https://wow.bariatriceating.com/air-frying-recipes-for-bariatric-eating/#lp-pom-box-229

I have to agree, it has to be sustainable. I know there are other things I can eat the healthier version of foods, But sometimes you want one slice of pizza from your fav pizza joint. I had a convo with my sister who is thin and she asked me when will I get to eat normal portions- I told her well my stomach wont let me but I do small indulgences, I brought her cookies that I made and I don't eat them however I love baking (my mom calls it projecting) but my sister told me that I have good willpower to not eat them. Instead of eating 6-7slices of pizza I am eating one with no crust. Ill eat a protein pizza or cauliflower crust one. I am super rambling lol

mine says the same, I was 43BMI but no comorbidities. I was approved.

100% I am not going through this to be miserable, I did this to learn how to live "normally" with food. I like this!

all good comments thank you! I am on plan 90% if not 95%. I do eat the alternatives but sometimes they aren't the option (such as this restaurant) and I wasn't sure If I was alone but it seems like everyone has a different perspective. My hubs even asked if it was okay that he could eat it another time without me or something (he has no weight problems). I am proud of myself that the meal didn't end up being going into an uphill battle to get back on track. I felt guilty eating them and felt like I messed up, but just continued the next day. I feel as though that mindset is getting me out of the "diet" mentality and allowing me to live this way forever.

oh yummy!! I know for me these protein bars are good small meal for me to eat about an hour or so before I hit the gym. Its not heavy and gives me good energy for the hourish that I am there.

I LOVE THIS!!! I do not want to fee like I am on a perpetual diet either, I want that mind set just as yours. Thank you thank you!! ❤️

They aren't easy to find! I happen to stumble across it when I was looking at the protein bars and it was 2 bars for $4 so I figured I would grab them with how little calories and carb high protein. They only have the salted caramel and the peanut butter chocolate, I put them in the fridge and holy moly DELISH!

SO I am pretty early in my journey. I am about 5months post op and have about 11lbs to get to "goal" I may be okay where I am at. I did increase my calories by 100 to see if that would help things. I do weight lift and workout so I am starting to look on the side of "too thin" We will see what this week looks like I weigh in on Wednesday. Its the first week I increased them. I may go back down, but I have been consistently losing 3-6lbs a week so I was worried that I was withering away LOL

For Protein Shakes already made: Premier Protein- they have really good flavors. Every single morning I drink the caffee latte with a decaf cold brew. start my day with 30g protein. For a powder: Isopure the dutch chocolate or the vanilla For Protein Bars: RxBar or Fulfil I have tried A LOT! and these are the best for me

gotta love an oldie! that yogurt looks so good! Ill have to grab one to try.

deviled eggs, cottage cheese and skinless fruits, soups that are usually chunky but purreed, greek yogurts, canned chicken or tuna with reduced fat mayo and mustard

Ooooo that does look good! I am interested in that brownie yogurt- yummy!! I have found this protein bar called Fulfil OH. MY. GOSH! 150-160 CAL 5g fat, 15g carbs, 15g of protein and 1g of sugar. They make a few of flavors. I put it in the fridge or freezer and its literally such a dessert it feels like I am cheating lol More Yumminess (probably way more than you want lol) "dessert/sweet treats" -100cal bag of Emerald Nuts and a Ghirardelli dark chocolate square -Chomps make these taco flavored beef sticks 100cal, 7g fat, 0g carbs, 10g protein that are really good - Quest makes Frosted Cookies either chocolate or birthday cake 90cal 7g fat 1g sugar 5g protein -Fage 0% Greek yogurt, w/ slivered almonds, fresh fruit and honey drizzle -Carb Smart Mini Bars 50cal -Echo Earth Cocao Bliss (this is very very good and filled with nutrients) [https://earthechofoods.com/products/cacao-bliss-pouch]: 1scoop, with 4-8oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk topped with fat free whipped cream Meals: -Iced Coffee: Caffe Latte Premier Protein with decaf cold brew -Egg cups: 2C of liquid egg white, spinach, plum tomatoes, pepper, top each with Sargento thin sliced cheese and 1 piece of turkey bacon -Just Bare Bites Chicken tossed in 0cal Franks wing sauce -Cilantro Enchilada Crockpot chicken: Chicken breast, sliced onion, half a can of enchilada sauce then its cooked, shred it up and then add the cilantro I put it on top of cauliflower rice - Turkey Taco Salads- turkey, corn, black beans, tomatoes, reduced fat cheese with spinach -Spaghetti with turkey or very lean ground beef and low sugar or sodium sauce, instead of Pasta, I use Pasta Zero, its in the tofu section Okay Im done lol! These just are my top that I have made and liked and are in my loop of food.

My boobies are skin sacs, I did not expect them to look like this- I figured that it would be less volume but oof! Anywho! I would love to do all things; boob job, bbl, tummy tuck, thigh lift, arm lift but in reality I do not want to spend that much money but I want a boob job for sure. I would settle for just that. Do I need to wait the full year to get boobs done?

so I started looking and booked a consultation with one for next Friday. I wont get surgery till my weight has settled but I want to get an idea of pricing, what can be done, and possible book someone I like in a future date. But I am excited!

HELLLLLL YESSSS!!! I AM HAPPY DANCING FOR YOU RIGHT NOW AT WORK IN MY CUBICLE! HAHA!

So I finally reached out my bariatric team and they said my post op appts "slipped through the cracks", So instead of having a 3 and 6 month appt I am have one next week (at 5months ish) that will combine my 3 and 6 month post op appt. ANYWAYS to my point! I got my blood work and everything is normal range! my A1C even went down from 5.6 to 5.3 which is pretty groovy! Also my iron is normal for the first time in my life! However my B12 is 1116 which from what I read optimal results are >500 for bariatric patients? So does that mean I am doubly good? My Vitamin D is at 119 and toxic levels are over 100. So my assumption is I could probably cut back on those vitamins lol. I feel great! I am down to 185 as of last week. Hair is still shedding but tis life. Thanks for coming to my ted talk!

B-12 doesn't sound like it would be concerning from what you all are saying. although I am salty af that all my labs are great but my hair is still shedding HAHA!