I am scheduled for February 18th. I will be first in. Wow, this process takes forever.

18 hours ago, Recidivist said:

I find that I am also able to eat more now, and I haven't experienced any discomfort from eating in several weeks. It's nice to feel "normal" again, but I do wonder whether this mans the honeymoon phase is ending. I am still sticking to the diet, but eating a bit more of everything. I've discovered packages of "protein bites" in cheddar cheese, pizza and Cookies and cream flavors. Each pack contains 90 calories and 13 g of Protein. Those have become my snacks.

So, after posting the above message yesterday, I decided to have a modest amount of sashimi today as a treat. Now I am horribly nauseous. I can't even think of eating for the rest of the day.

Okay so I’m on a weekend vacation to NOLA.
Not tracking, just eating til restriction hits and I’ll go back to tracking next week.
Here is a before and after pic from breakfast.

Dang restriction is an effective tool!

How is everyone doing today?

I have pulled back again and my weight is creeping slowly down again. I keep reminding myself that this is a lifetime change... There will be ebbs and flows in the weight loss. Just have to be patient and trust the process.

What is just so bizarre is the stuff in the head... I was feeling really great for a while. I felt so much slimmer and even bordering on sexy! lol. I got some new clothes and felt good. However, the last couple of weeks I've been feeling dumpy and fat again. This is all in my head. I'm still the same person I was 2 weeks ago, maybe even a bit smaller, so it's all in the head. I've also figured out (due to another thread) that my ssri isn't working as well as it should be - I've been very weepy and having some panic attacks. I don't think I'm absorbing my sertraline properly and this MUST be having an impact on my mental health and therefore my weight loss process. So I'm going to the dr on Tuesday to figure this out and maybe get on some liquid ssri.

It’s like the scale knows you are in a stall and is working on everything it can to beat you down and make you lose hope. I ffirst saw the “270’s” on JUNE 7 (279). Then the range between 275-270 has been fluctuating since JUNE 20. It is now July 23. I have been going to the gym 6 days a week for the last 3 weeks before work eating great and even today it wouldn’t budge past 270.1. Is this even a stall anymore or is it just where I’m going to stop after 90 lbs of weight loss

On 7/21/2019 at 11:41 AM, froufrou said:

How is everyone doing today?

I have pulled back again and my weight is creeping slowly down again. I keep reminding myself that this is a lifetime change... There will be ebbs and flows in the weight loss. Just have to be patient and trust the process.

What is just so bizarre is the stuff in the head... I was feeling really great for a while. I felt so much slimmer and even bordering on sexy! lol. I got some new clothes and felt good. However, the last couple of weeks I've been feeling dumpy and fat again. This is all in my head. I'm still the same person I was 2 weeks ago, maybe even a bit smaller, so it's all in the head. I've also figured out (due to another thread) that my ssri isn't working as well as it should be - I've been very weepy and having some panic attacks. I don't think I'm absorbing my sertraline properly and this MUST be having an impact on my mental health and therefore my weight loss process. So I'm going to the dr on Tuesday to figure this out and maybe get on some liquid ssri.

Like everyone else posted, I'm eating more too. And this post from Frou Frou - is so precise. I felt good about myself -really, really good... then I adjusted, now I feel "fat" again. How the hell could I feel fat when I'm smaller than I was in high school!?! There is some psychology going on here that I don't understand. I will say, during the "really really" good phase that I bought a bunch of bikinis. I was strutting around all over the place and even took some pictures. Well, that did it really. I saw the pictures. In my head I looked better.

The restriction is still working for me. I was on vacation from Thurs-Monday. I lost a pound. But it was an active vacation - boating, walking, swimming...

I can eat larger portions now, I am eating like 1/2 a hotdog, 1/2 a taco... and last night I ate 3 triscuits with easy cheese IN BED (gross). But I only ate 3. Meals I'm still eating 80/20 (80 being whatever sounds good/20 being lean meats and veggies). Weight loss has slowed, but I do feel better overall. Also the epidurals in my back have been alleviating my pain so I'm moving around more these days.

Overall better here....

10 hours ago, Everythinganna said:

Like everyone else posted, I'm eating more too. And this post from Frou Frou - is so precise. I felt good about myself -really, really good... then I adjusted, now I feel "fat" again. How the hell could I feel fat when I'm smaller than I was in high school!?! There is some psychology going on here that I don't understand. I will say, during the "really really" good phase that I bought a bunch of bikinis. I was strutting around all over the place and even took some pictures. Well, that did it really. I saw the pictures. In my head I looked better.

The restriction is still working for me. I was on vacation from Thurs-Monday. I lost a pound. But it was an active vacation - boating, walking, swimming...

I can eat larger portions now, I am eating like 1/2 a hotdog, 1/2 a taco... and last night I ate 3 triscuits with easy cheese IN BED (gross). But I only ate 3. Meals I'm still eating 80/20 (80 being whatever sounds good/20 being lean meats and veggies). Weight loss has slowed, but I do feel better overall. Also the epidurals in my back have been alleviating my pain so I'm moving around more these days.

Overall better here....

Froufrou---what did your doctor say about the effectiveness of your SSRI? I also take an SSRI and have not noticed any changes yet...wondering if I will???

11 minutes ago, Gottajustdoit said:

Froufrou---what did your doctor say about the effectiveness of your SSRI? I also take an SSRI and have not noticed any changes yet...wondering if I will???

I take them as well and it hasn't been an issue. If anything, things have been better since my surgery. However, my doctor did change my pills to immediate release from extended release.

I stalled for a couple of weeks. I started tracking more carefully and getting consistent with intermittent fasting. It has helped and the scale is moving again. I think the stall was actually good, It seemed like my body was changing faster than my head was. I was struggling with body dysmorphia and need a little space. The stall gave me that bit of time to let my brain catch up to my body, if that makes any sense. I feel a lot better now and am looking forward to my 6 month check up in a couple of weeks.

I had never even heard of this before and looked it up. Sounds pretty serious https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/body-dysmorphic-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353938

I reached 150 this morning, which was my original goal weight. Before surgery I thought 150 was unrealistic and that I would be satisfied with 170. Now I've adjusted my goal weight down to 140 and am quite confident of reaching it. (I weighted 127 when I went into the Army!)

In reference to the body dysmorphia comment, I still think of myself as fat, and I'm shocked every time I see myself in a mirror or a shop window. I wonder whether that ever goes away.

1 hour ago, Everythinganna said:

I had never even heard of this before and looked it up. Sounds pretty serious https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/body-dysmorphic-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353938

Very interesting information. I think, as with many disorders, there is a wide range of symptoms, from minor to extreme. Perhaps going through a major body change such as WLS brings on a temporary condition, which resolves as the brain catches up with the body. I mean, losing over 100 in a year, for anyone, means a really big image distortion that one has to adapt to. The Mayo article brought out that some people will obsess over 1 part of their body that no one else notices. I can relate to this. I think my face and neck look awful, along with my bat wings, but people tell me I look younger and my family denies any weirdness with any of it, so I have to accept their appraisal as more realistic than my own. It's good to have honest feedback. Like others, I look in the mirror and think I am looking at someone else. But what horrifies me even more is when I look at "before" pictures. I cannot believe I was that big. I have patients who are very large, and I was even larger. When I was fat, I saw myself as a bit overweight - not morbidly obese. I feel so embarrassed by those pictures, and even more by my denial I was living in.

Fortunately, for nearly all of us, we are going to get through this just fine as we adjust to the new shapes and sizes. The article is a good reminder, however, not to become extremely obsessive over something that others probably don't even notice. Thanks for posting it.

3 hours ago, AZhiker said:

will obsess over 1 part of their body

That’s me now - my stomach. I can’t even enjoy my weight loss because I can’t stop focusing on the one imperfect thing. Lumpy, scars.... Only time will tell what more weight loss makes it look like. I’ve never been able to show my stomach my entire life and I was really looking forward to it....

18 hours ago, Gottajustdoit said:

Froufrou---what did your doctor say about the effectiveness of your SSRI? I also take an SSRI and have not noticed any changes yet...wondering if I will???

He agreed that I might be experiencing a decrease in effectiveness and has prescribed me the liquid form. Unfortunately he's gone and prescribed the wrong dose, but I will have to fix that.

In other news, I have seen my bariatric surgeon today and he suspects I have a stricture. He said from everything I have described, (vomiting, avoiding protein, etc) he is pretty positive I have one. However, before they do an endoscopy, I have asked for an Upper GI test to make sure. Bah humbug - I wish I could avoid this.

A stricture? Wow, that's not good news at all! How does that happen? Are you still having trouble keeping most foods down? Keep us posted on what the GI test shows. NOT FUN! SO sorry to hear this.

6 hours ago, Everythinganna said:

That’s me now - my stomach. I can’t even enjoy my weight loss because I can’t stop focusing on the one imperfect thing. Lumpy, scars.... Only time will tell what more weight loss makes it look like. I’ve never been able to show my stomach my entire life and I was really looking forward to it....

I seriously had to zoom in and try and see where these "lumps" are. I couldn't find them! If my stomach looked like this, I would be showing it off! It looks great!!