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I have an in-person consultation with her on 11/21 to "determine the quality of my tissue" and to discuss in person exactly what I am looking for since I dont want fat grafting etc to my butt/thighs like some women prefer ... I reached out to Chelle Jett on here because she has had surgery by Dr. Cardenas. There are others on ObesityHelp as well that recommended her. I will be honest - I live in the Los Angeles area and we hear the horror stories about plastic surgery that goes wrong out of Tijuana so it's been a huge back/forth thing for me to even look into going down there.... I think bc so many people on these forums have recommended her - thats the only reason I will entertain Dr. Cardenas along with the fact that she has spoken at many medical conferences with Dr. Timothy Katzen from Beverly Hills. I am scheduled to have an 360 LBL and Inner Thigh Lift with him on 1/20/2020 however I will be cancelling because I cannot get over the fact that I absolutely hate his bellybuttons that he makes ... its the little things! I have quotes from Dr. Katzen, Dr. Joseph Michaels (Maryland), Dr. Cardenas (MX), and have a consultation tomorrow (11/15) with Dr. Agha (newport beach).

Be glad the shakes are filling you up! Also I call BS on the liver shrinking thing. My pre-op diet? 1 day. Day before surgery. Surgeon told me my liver looked fabulous. MAYBE if you've been drinking or eating tons of fatty food up until your surgery date but most of us went on some sort of diet to get to a goal weight to qualify for surgery and I think that shrinks your liver enough.

Fu*k! I'm eighteen months and take in on average this week about 1000cals per day. I'd be exhausted too with that schedule! Do you really walk 10mi per day? Do you really go to the gym 4 days per week? Do you really do elliptical on top of that? Do you also do yoga and stretching and your doctor thinks you aren't DOING ENOUGH? For reals? That's total insanity! You're getting in 500cals or less per day. I gotta call BS. No wonder your tired. The real question is, how are you not dead?

Okay so I definitely weigh more than my mid 20’s self and waaaaay more than my teen self. Jeez, I can remember when I got to 125 in my senior year in HS and cried bc I was “fat”. Found this pic from 1995. I was 27 and matron of honor for my sisters wedding. I weighed around 130-135 here and was upset bc I was 10 pounds over my college weight. So this pic is 20 pounds lighter (and almost 25 years younger) version of me. I think now I’m def carrying less fat for my weight

Okay so I can eat really fast. As in 3oz meat and 1/2 cup salad in 10 mins fast. My saving grace on that is that I’m veeeery careful to pre-package/measure beforehand so I don’t gobble up too much too fast. If I’m eating something super-delicious and find myself looking longingly at leftovers, I set an alarm for 15 minutes. If I’m still hungry after that time then I go get 1 spoonful of whatever I wanted and then make myself savor it slowly. it took me 3-4 months to figure this out, but the first signal I’ve eaten too much is a runny nose, followed by sneezing. once the sneezing stops, I better not take another bite bc then the pain/stomach cramping starts. still haven’t thrown up once since surgery, but it’s mostly bc I’m super cautious and am lucky enough to have a cast-iron sleeve

Had a hungry hungry heifer day yesterday so ate as much lean protein as I wanted while keeping carbs low. There is no doubt the hungrier days at the top of the week are due to eating more food and more carbs on the weekend--even though my weekend choices are not very bad. Another busy day today! You guys are all rock stars and your menus look delish!!!!! @ms.sss You look like you are maintaining like a champ and that you have this down! @Tracyringo are you back in your window? If not, you are soooo close!!! Tuesday 11.12 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 131.6 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) + 1 hb egg L-Big A*s salad with salmon and veg (iceberg, cucumbers, red bell peppers, purp onion, carrots, sliced olives, feta, Grk dressing) + 1 hb egg AS-herb ox chicken bouillon + grilled chickie boob D-grilled chicken parm + garlic broccoli + avo/tomato BS-1/2 s'mores quest bar + decaff/peppermint mocha latte Daily Totals: 1117cals; 101g protein; 66g fat; 33g carbs; 14g fiber; 19g net carbs

So funny you should mention this. I take bc pill. Two days after my surgery my period started 2 weeks early. Something about the surgery throwing my system into shock and hormones out of whack.

Hello 👋🏼 so my revision surgery was on October 16/19 the night before surgery I weighed around 237lbs... almost a month out I’m 222... total loss of 15lbs... Haven’t lost anything in almost a week and I’m getting discouraged. I was told after 4 weeks I can start eating soft foods... do you guys have any recommendations? I’ve honestly been eating eggs 🥚 after I reached my 3rd week... I know I shouldn’t have but I got so tired of broth and protein shakes. I can eat 2 scrambled eggs in one day... I know that’s not much but that’s what I’ve been eating so far. I’m scared to eat mashed potatoes bc I loveeeeeee potatoes!!!! Lol ... any food ideas would be great... I get to see my nut in a week but for now I’ll take you guys suggestions thank you!

Yesterday was a busy busy day moving our storage unit across town. I fell asleep by 7pm then woke up hungry at midnight. So what did I do? I ate! Ugh! LOL Can tell my arm is unhappy with all the activity and salt from yesterday, cuz I'm having a lymphedema flare in my left arm, chest, and back. Oy veh. Time for compression. I estimate I'm carrying about a lb or more of fluid. Monday 11.11 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 132.0 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) L-Big A*s salad with shrimp and veg (iceberg, cucumbers, red bell peppers, purp onion, carrots, sliced olives, feta, Grk dressing) + 1/4 of Italian sausage and marinara appetizer (ate about 1/3 of the salad). AS-nothing D-gg brancrisp flatbread + LS peanut butter BS-cottage cheese, ff grk yogurt + walnuts + SF da vinci pumpkin spice syrup Daily Totals: 756 cals; 57g protein; 48g fat; 33g carbs; 11g fiber (Psst: I have that crazy feeling of being at the top of my weight window at 132lbs and need to really skimp on food today to have the scale move back down to 130lbs.) @ms.sss

I, too, have developed thin, peeling fingernails and I take 1000-1500 mg of calcium a day, so I don't think it is a calcium deficiency. I'm almost 8 months out, and first noticed this a few months ago. I got so fed up with my nails, I posted on here and got some great advice about powder dip nails. I wish you the best! Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Agreed. Okay, so I will say that I’m more of a “tough love” kind of person and can be blunt sometimes. Part of that is decades as a healthcare practitioner (do NOT try to lie to me and tell me that the dog ate your Xanax and you need it filled early) and part of it is that I carry around a lot of mother/daughter issues with my mom. In short, she’s one of the biggest enablers on the planet and then tells lies/omits truth about it. Trying to confront her about it is like trying to punch a marshmallow, so how I compensate is to be brutally honest to the point of being (seemingly) outright rude at times. I used to feel bad about it, but as I get older, I’m more of a “take me or leave me” kind of person. I need to find a good support group— so far I can only find ones online. Both bariatric centers near me have crap format and hours. Meh. Anyway, just discovered this thread. Yay! I’ll probably lurk here more than post bc I don’t log food as often or as thoroughly as I should but I love seeing the menus

This resonates bc I’m slowly discovering the same and I’ve only been in maintenance for a month. My very first goal ever was to weight at or below 175. Being such a math head, and knowing what my weight was going in, the type of surgery I was having, and calculating approximately my “excess fat” I knew it would be pushing the upper limit (80% excess fat lost) to get to 175. The whole time as I was prepping and doing the head work and the physical prep, this was my absolute gold standard. If I could hit 175, then I’d accomplished EVERYTHING I’d set out to do and had hoped and dreamed for. At 175 pounds, i would’ve lost 80 pounds out of my 100 excess pounds of fat. In short, absolutely worth it and considered a success. Well, as I started losing, my inner-voice started talking to me about how nice it would be if I could lose 90 pounds excess fat. So then I started toying with the idea of 165. Then that voice started to get greedy “why not shoot for an even 100 pounds?”, the voice said. So 4 weeks ago I hit 155 and I was ready to stop. Except I’ve lost another 5 pounds in those 4 weeks and I feel as if I look and feel even better now than I did 4 weeks ago. I don’t want to get addicted to losing weight, but I now think that I’m going to shoot for 145 (which originally was the rock-bottom number I wanted to hit to be at the low end of maintenance). Yeah, so I’m also taking the “crossing that bridge” mentality bc this whole process is just plain freaky at times. Never ever in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen— and I’m a slow loser/metabolizer

Liquid stevia doesn't usually cause laxative distress of pains. That's why making your own gummies from grass fed gelatin and adding your own flavors and liquid stevia and citric acid might do the trick for you!!! You could also play around with adding protein powder to them. They are dead easy to make!! You can just pour it out into a tray, let them jel up then cut them into cubes. Very healthy!!

Back on track yesterday. But up a little bit today. No surprise. 😕 That's my usual Monday situation. Ha! Sunday 11.10 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 131.6 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) L-Big A*s Salad with shrimp & chicken + blue cheese + pumpkin seeds + veg (rbp, cucumbers, toms) (ate it in 2 portions) AS-(the other half of my salad) + almonds D-atlantic salmon mustard coated + grilled chicken + broccoli in garlic + avo/tom BS-gg brancrisp flatbread + peanut butter Daily Totals: 1064 cals; 84g protein; 69g fat; 36g carbs; 16g fiber; 20g net carbs

im so curious why everyone i have heard from says it is banned. I wonder why? Ugh its hard when Drs are inconsistent because then you wonder if it is all BS.... Im too scared to try it.

I’m sorry that you’re hurting I’m sorry that you’re struggling I am going to call you out though for lashing out very rudely. Whether you like the advice or not, someone took time out to give a response. Yes, maybe the wording was a bit harsh, but please take the message and go back to all of the months of physical and psychological prep that went into this. There are many of us here from decades-long veterans to those surgeried just in the last few weeks that can help. The first 2 weeks are the absolute worst. Your body is tired, your mind is tired and everything is dramatically different. However, I haven’t heard of a single weight loss patient who didn’t know this going in, so refer to your action plan and work the plan. Drink Protein shakes (if possible) Vitamins Rest Work with your NUT and bariatric clinic. They don’t disappear after surgery, they are there and want you to succeed. For the first 8 days post-op, I “consumed” a total of 800 calories. For 8 days. Didn’t hit a single protein goal ANY of those days. Emailed my NUT panicked 3 times that week bc I couldn’t hold in anything thicker than water. Her advice was to relax and not stress too much about the protein as long as the water happened. She was right and within 2 more weeks I finally hit my first protein goal. It took me 3 weeks after surgery to do that, so you’re still good. It won’t always be easy, but life changing measures seldom come easily.

Yes I’m a VGS patient and the main reason I chose VGS over bypass was exactly bc of malabsorption. Had I been even 10 years older, I might have chosen bypass, but I’ve still got to work full time while maintaining super-high levels of energy and focus. This info stays here, but my career is extremely youth-oriented. It’s extremely difficult for those of us >50 to keep up. Lately at my age and stage I was STRUGGLING physically to hang in there. A chain retail pharmacists MUST be able to work 10-12 hour shifts with zero breaks, downtime or relief all the while being able to multi-task incredibly heavy burdens. One moment of distraction (which most commonly is a result of a full bladder, empty stomach, or physically worn out body) can be deadly and every single one of us is aware of this at all times. For me, side effects from malabsorption, whether it be dumping or fatigue from vitamin and nutrient deficiency wasn’t an option if I want to be as safe to the public as each and every person deserves. On the other hand, being chronically tired and physically wrung out due to carrying around 100+ pounds excess weight wasn’t helping so that had to change. I figure with just the weight I’ve lost so far, I’ve given myself another 10-12 years extended career time, which is amazing since I’m 51 and I’d love to keep working part-time after age 65. I’ve always been a slow metabolizer. Even when I was a thin college student, I’d gain weight easily if I didn’t keep track of calories and activity. Even though WLS gives us a metabolic reset, mine prior to being completely messed up wasn’t the best so I’m expecting that I’ll never be the girl who can maintain in the 1800-2000 range even with increased activity. Honestly I’m okay with that. If I have to maintain at 1200-1400 daily, then that’s what I’ll do. I have this tool. I plan on using it for the rest of my life. I will use my tool and I will use IF. I do battle intense constipation. Like Sillykitty, I’m a 1-2 times weekly “mover” and once it hits 4/5 days, I’m uncomfortable. It does take me at least 3 days though bc the discomfort starts. I use senna/mom about once weekly, and that’s on top of my daily miralax. I drink plenty of water, but I’ve always battled chronic constipation so it’s nothing new. Side note: weighed myself this morning (still slightly constipated,BTW) and I’m now exactly GW -5 pounds. I’m thinking I’m going to set a goal to lose 2.5 more pounds between now and thanksgiving so if I do have some holiday bounce I can stay right around 150.

Friday 11.08 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 130.4 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) L-Sardines in water (drained) + yellow mustard + cucumbers with ACV & Tajin spice + baby carrots AS-wasn't hungry D-italian sausage + marinara + parm + 2 glasses cabernet sauvignon + 1/2 small dinner salad + blue cheese dressing + grilled shrimp (sorry forgot to take a pic) BS-cottage cheese + pln grk yogurt + bananas & cream PP + frozen blueberries + walnuts + hemp hearts + chia seeds Daily Totals: 1195 cals; 73g protein; 51g fat; 53g carbs; 10g fiber; 41g net carbs My hunger stayed in check yesterday. Yay! Dinner was date night and extended, so we started with sharing Italian sausage in marinara and having a glass of wine. Then later we had dinner and a second glass of wine. I'm likely overestimating dinner--I found a hair in it about 1/3 of the way in and that was it for me. But I later got hungry, so went for my flavah fave... Today is a swamped day! Y'all have a good one!! @ms.sss Ha! We're posting at the same time! Will bbiaf after I've read your posts!!!

Gosh I honestly could NOT remember how to find the thread yesterday!!! TY yall for posting and bringing it back to trending topics!! Yesterday was like the third day of hungry hungry heifer. So I threw more protein at the hunger and tried to keep "containment". I was really starting to worry last night about it, if this was a new phase or if my carbs were giving me bg issues and insulin probs. But I think I was just in a protein deficit. I've read a recent study on obesity theory that talks about hunger increases when protein is kept too low over a long period of time? And that once you eat and eat and eat until your protein "reserves" (kinda sorta) are refilled, your hunger hormones will be psycho killers. Interestingly, after eating so much protein over the past 3 days, I woke up prepared to fight the urge to eat and low and behold...I wasn't hungry until around 12:30pm. I had my same lattes to get my extra protein in, but didn't feel inclined to eat breakfast. I had a huge lunch and now feel totally satisfied with an abscence of food cues or cravings. So maybe there is something to that theory? It will be interesting to see how the rest of the day shakes out from here. Planning a salad with shrimp tonight @ms.sss (oh yes, I'm talking about you Missy! The salad queen!) @Tracyringo wooohooooo! And BAM! Just like that baybbbbbby! You are back in your window! It feels ridiculously good, doesn't it? Congrats!! Your menus have looked so yummy and gorgeous! @ms.sss I seriously heart you! Love your menus. Love that you are fearless about trying different things and love that you're able to eat late and not gain! I've been having some nightly snacking going down...it's mostly corralled, but it gives me hope that I can have my cake peanut butter and cheese and eat it too! hehe. Ok, so here goes: Thursday 11.07 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 130.6 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) L-Green Soup (ate it in 2 portions) AS-1/2c 2% Daisy Cottage Cheese + pepper (YUM!) + 1 frigo lite cheese stick D-atlantic salmon mustard coated + broccoli in garlic + avo/tom BS-Longhorn cheddar + peanut butter Daily Totals: 1006 cals; 97g protein; 53g fat; 36g carbs; 9g fiber; 27g net carbs (Oh and I didn't walk yesterday. I was so exhausted and just felt flat and empty without reserves. So I took a day off. But this morning I woke up, peppy, full of energy, jazzed for the day and ran = rawlked for 55 minutes straight.)

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Current Weight 149 BMI 27 Happiness 8/10 😂 It's been a wild ride y'all. Still I firmly believe it was a fantastic choice. You don't know the end results when you begin a project (including tje hiccups) but thays perfectly fine. I don't mind a challenge. I have started in one place (VSG) changed to another (RNY) which i never imagined as a possibility or necessity for me because i never had reflux prior but i remain excited and hopeful about the future and about all of life. My weightloss is old news to most people. Its no longer jarring, shocking, surprising, exciting or headlining so I get to settle into real life and stay the course permanently. Am I afraid of regain? Yes and No. I am afraid of going above a certain weight 160-170s (Beyonce pre Coachella weight 😂) but everything under that is gravy 😍 I will not eat myself into a higher range. I also will not exercise my self artificially lower. I spoke with my nutritionist about a year ago about this ans its not for me. If it happens it will be medically induced, and Ya girl will be honestband open about everything going on. Do I have perfect food habits? Yes and No. My habits are perfect for me. Balanced. I can eat a salad and dessert. And feel no guilt. Dial up or down my intake according to need. (*I do no/never have food addiction* so in this way I believe I got off easy. If I had to contend with that I'm not sure where I would currently be, but hindsight wise choosen full DS, IMHO anything else is not a good choice) Do I love my post WLS body more? Yes and No. I loved my body from the start. Never hated it ever. But when I was heavier I began to become randomly sicker i a matter of weeks. I had to have surgery. No choice really. But now I feel the same way I NEED plastics. No way around it. I don't look horribly melty but I'm heading in that direction if i lose anymore weight. Have I gained any new insight now vs earlier... You've guessed it! Yes and No. I'm still the same old GTL albeit updated model 😎 but I have learned to meet people where they are and work with them there amd move on when the path diverges. No more people projects. I have a few real projects I'm still not done with so i need to focus on important stuff 😥 I'm a little more chill in certain ways But a little more aggressive in others (i STILL call people out on their BS) Pics soon I'm on the move...

Much of my hierarchy is in line with fluffy’s. That being said, now that I’ve hit goal weight, I’m finding my inner narcissist and I’m doing my best to improve appearances. My husband fell in love with me and married me while I was MO. a huge benefit to a second marriage is that neither of us were young and we could see beyond the physical. My husband is happier now bc I am happier now. He has always indulged me—it was a financial sacrifice to do this and plastics will be even more, but he’s willing to sacrifice with me and for me bc of how happy and healthy I am now. The biggest boost I’ve received over the last 9 months is that people treat me so much differently now. It’s not fair—people should be treated the same regardless of size— but that’s simply not how the world works. People are nicer and more willing to talk,take you seriously, make eye-contact ,smile,help you more when you’re a “normal” BMI.

Very interesting thoughts on BMR and what factors may or may not influence it. Like many post-menopausal women, I just KNOW I’ve got a sluggish metabolism. I’m months behind many of you guys, so I also know I’m still a honeymooner for sure, so I’m really hesitant to push any boundaries at this point. I can’t help but wonder if there’s some super-secret recorder in my body keeping track of every bad choice I’ve made since surgery and is just waiting for the honeymoon to be over so it can punish me with outrageous regain. Yes, that’s not the worlds most rational thought process, but there are days where I still feel so frustrated with my slooooooooooooooow loss thus far and my inability to shake off bad days. I’ve had a couple of wicked stalls that still haunt me bc I feel as if valuable honeymoon time got “wasted” and even though I really do know better, it still gets to me. I’m frightened to move forward. I keep telling myself that I need to lost “just a few more pounds” to give myself that cushion. I’m not weighing myself often-which is probably the best thing possible right now for my mental health- because I’m afraid to see a number higher than goal weight. I’m particularly struggling this week due to the crazy schedule and constipation. Tomorrow will definitely be a mom day (5 days no poop now) and eating even small amounts is making my tummy feel overstuffed because of said constipation. I feel gross and completely stuffed to the gills and I just had a dinner of about 1/2 cup pork and salad.

Well I am at 5 months now and since I was 3 months I’ve honestly eaten basically every type of meat. I limit the red meat and don’t tolerate greasy food well so I limit it a lot, but I have tried about everything without issue. I prefer shrimp and other seafoods or chicken because they are less likely to make me feel bad. I haven’t eaten ground turkey yet and don’t really plan to start. It is super unappealing to me. I like regular turkey but ground turkey and chicken are not something I am interested in trying. I also love beans for variety. I think adapting to focusing all my meals on protein has been a big change for me personally. Has taken some adapting but the results have been awesome so I’m all in. I also gave up yogurt after week 4 bc I was able to hit protein goal without it.

I had mine 10/16/2019 it was a rough start... the first 5 days after surgery I was in so much pain! I’m 3 weeks out and I’ve gone from 237 to 220... I can barely eat anything and I constantly crave water bc I feel dehydrated 24/7. Although I’m supposed to be on full liquids for another 2 weeks I’ve added a soft scrambled egg to my diet, I did consult my surgeon and he told me it was ok. I don’t try to do it often.

Hahahaha! Let's! We'll be fed and home by 5pm! bahahahaaha!