I got my date as August 21.

CW 295

What all are you doing to prepare? I'm worried about starting pre-op diet too early and potentially running out of willpower in advance. I'm also looking for therapy for disordered eating to begin ASAP and continue through the process. I'm also working on not drinking during meals and thinking about how to start increasing my water uptake. I'm also contemplating how I can prepare meals with veg and protein for easy access.

Hey guys I’m baaaaack. Sorry for the long delay. I had a bit of a complicated recovery from the masectomy. My body was already weak from chemo and hypothyroid (induced by immunotherapy). I am still on immunotherapy kicking my butt further and then my surgery was a little bigger than expected. Couple that with my iron getting really low because I couldn’t take my bariatric vitamin regularly for a while and I was just exhausted. Got a couple infusions and rested ALOT though and I’m doing better. I am still maintaining my loss which is 99 pounds now. My goal is 100. Echo once in a while, but the immunotherapy causes inflammation so I try not to be too hard on myself. I will be starting radiation soon and I think they’re going to expect me to see the same way because after my simulation, my body can’t change or the beams will be off I believe. Anyways, I have I think about three more weeks and I’m hoping I can drop that 1 pound and get back into my exercise because they said the radiation is going to cause even more fatigue and exercising is really good to keep up my stamina if I can handle it. I guess just like the rest of it we’ll see, but I’m hoping I can get back in my routine now that it’ll be a little easier to maintain. I’m so glad to hear about people reaching their goals and others accepting where they are and not letting some arbitrary number get in your head like I did the first time gain it all back and have to start all over because I’m telling you that 10 pounds over your goal is way better than being obese forever!!

Hi everyone!!

I thought I would check back in since it's August. It has been almost a year since my surgery (August 28th, 2024). I have lost over 70 lbs, which is amazing but definitely not the amount that I thought I would lose in the first year/ "honeymoon phase". I am going to continue trying to lose what I can and hopefully get to my goal of 175, but it has been slow going the past couple of months (like 2 lbs a month vs 2 lbs a week like it was at the beginning). I'm currently at 193 and it felt really hard, but really rewarding to get and stay under 200 lbs! I'm in a size large shirt, which is crazy to me since I was an XXL before, but I struggle to lose weight in my hips and things so I'm still a size 16 in pants, down from a 20.

@ShoppGirl and @Justarwaxx thanks for all the support on this journey! Sorry I haven't been around lately, but I felt like I was doing good and going steady.

I hope everyone else is doing well!

On 8/8/2025 at 12:16 PM, Chatterboxdea said:

Hi everyone!!

I thought I would check back in since it's August. It has been almost a year since my surgery (August 28th, 2024). I have lost over 70 lbs, which is amazing but definitely not the amount that I thought I would lose in the first year/ "honeymoon phase". I am going to continue trying to lose what I can and hopefully get to my goal of 175, but it has been slow going the past couple of months (like 2 lbs a month vs 2 lbs a week like it was at the beginning). I'm currently at 193 and it felt really hard, but really rewarding to get and stay under 200 lbs! I'm in a size large shirt, which is crazy to me since I was an XXL before, but I struggle to lose weight in my hips and things so I'm still a size 16 in pants, down from a 20.

@ShoppGirl and @Justarwaxx thanks for all the support on this journey! Sorry I haven't been around lately, but I felt like I was doing good and going steady.

I hope everyone else is doing well!

Omg wow it has been a year for most of us or darn near it. Crazy what a journey it has been. Just being and maintaining under 200 is awesome!! Keep up the work at eating nutritious foods and being active and the weight will come off eventually if that is where you body wants to be. You know for some of us our bodies are happy at a certain weight and we can choose to fight to get lower but it will be a constant battle or we can take the non scale victories and run with them. I reached my conservative goal of 100 pounds but I had a pretty aggressive surgery so it was a little easier for me I think. I decided though that I am comfortable in my own skin where I am and I feel good physically (aside from the side effects from my treatments) so I’m going to love the skin I’m in. Treat my body like the amazing machine that it is and nourish it and exercise like I need to but not necessarily to lose more, rather to just treat my body as it deserves. If I lose more i do and if I don’t I don’t. I am still about 35 plus pounds heavier than my young adult weight (I was pretty tiny) so I’d love to be thinner, but I feel like I can do the things I want to do now and I don’t want to be a slave to the scale so I’m just eating healthy for the right reasons and whatever happens happens. Do NOT let a certain number in your mind sabotage all the amazing progress you have made like I did with the sleeve. You are thinner and healthier for it and I’m guessing feeling a lot better. These things are huge and we tend to give them less weight than a certain size of jeans and I have no clue why. It’s so backwards!! Or at least I did that and it was so ridiculous. I was like 18 pounds from my goal and I just threw in the towel. Do not fall into that trap. I promise you when your back to your starting weight or even heavier because you know that’s how it goes when you lose and gain it back you will kick yourself for it and wish you were this size again. You have done so amazing. Don’t stop trying to get to your goal but don’t let it be the end all be all. It is after all just a number and how you FEEL is sooooooo much more important. Great to hear from you.

PS I think we should try to check in at least every august and just touch base. I think I said that before but I really want to keep track of everyone and hear how you are doing. Good or bad. We are in this together.

On 5/29/2024 at 1:45 AM, Averdra said:

I got my date as August 21.

CW 295

What all are you doing to prepare? I'm worried about starting pre-op diet too early and potentially running out of willpower in advance. I'm also looking for therapy for disordered eating to begin ASAP and continue through the process. I'm also working on not drinking during meals and thinking about how to start increasing my water uptake. I'm also contemplating how I can prepare meals with veg and protein for easy access.

The only ‘pre operative diet’ I have for my program is they gave me a sheet for their ERAS program which is not a program based on Taylor Swift (😆) but it’s Enhanced Recovery After Surgery and it’s a sheet that tells you to add certain things to your daily eating and to add 30 min of exercise starting one week before surgery. The day before surgery to eat lightly and to add gatorade or powerade during the day and to stop food after midnight and to drink clear fluids up to 3 hours before surgery.

I told my therapist I was worried about eating leading up to surgery and she told me to focus on adding that stuff to my diet and to be kind to myself and try not to obsess.

Hiii ladies and happy 1 year anniversary! I cant believe its been 1 year! Im so proud of all of you!! Im also so happy n proud of myself for losing 70 lbs.. also i do wish I reached my goal weight 145 lbs .. currently stuck at 170 lbs which is amazing of course.. thanks for reminder to be proud of this progress. I am in the process of trying to lose them to reach my goal weight but my weight has been stuck since May :(

4 hours ago, Justarwaxx said:

Hiii ladies and happy 1 year anniversary! I cant believe its been 1 year! Im so proud of all of you!! Im also so happy n proud of myself for losing 70 lbs.. also i do wish I reached my goal weight 145 lbs .. currently stuck at 170 lbs which is amazing of course.. thanks for reminder to be proud of this progress. I am in the process of trying to lose them to reach my goal weight but my weight has been stuck since May :(

70 pounds is Amazing 🤩 and how do you FEEL?! That’s what is most important in all of this. Your health and your practical life…not a number or a size!! You are doing great. Just focus on your health and overall happiness with your life. You would be surprised when letting go of the stress about it your cortisol drops and your weight may follow just because of that. Your BP and everything else that really matters certainly will. Keep trying but don’t obsess. That’s just my two cents but it’s working for me.

14 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

70 pounds is Amazing 🤩 and how do you FEEL?! That’s what is most important in all of this. Your health and your practical life…not a number or a size!! You are doing great. Just focus on your health and overall happiness with your life. You would be surprised when letting go of the stress about it your cortisol drops and your weight may follow just because of that. Your BP and everything else that really matters certainly will. Keep trying but don’t obsess. That’s just my two cents but it’s working for me.

Oo I feel amazing. I just came back from vacation from Vietnam and Thailand and I was walking pain-free and going over 15k steps daily without a sweat. It was amazing to redo my trip from 2024 where it was a nightmare to even walk for 10 mins. You're right. I must think about the positives more than what I didnt achieve yet. I hate being or feeling ungrateful.. I truly am happy with what I achieved. Next week ill start going off my BP pills to see if I can be off them! Wish me luck x

Thanks for the reminder shoppgirl

On 8/16/2025 at 12:07 PM, Justarwaxx said:

Oo I feel amazing. I just came back from vacation from Vietnam and Thailand and I was walking pain-free and going over 15k steps daily without a sweat. It was amazing to redo my trip from 2024 where it was a nightmare to even walk for 10 mins. You're right. I must think about the positives more than what I didnt achieve yet. I hate being or feeling ungrateful.. I truly am happy with what I achieved. Next week ill start going off my BP pills to see if I can be off them! Wish me luck x

Thanks for the reminder shoppgirl

You are so welcome. We all need a reminder of where we started once in a while to appreciate that where we are now may not be what we envisioned as perfection but it can still be incredible progress!! I had a therapist years ago who would say at least once and sometimes 5 times a session that often times 90% is good enough!! I am really thrilled to hear about your trip. Now that’s a non scale victory to shout about

On 8/14/2025 at 2:55 AM, ShoppGirl said:

PS I think we should try to check in at least every august and just touch base. I think I said that before but I really want to keep track of everyone and hear how you are doing. Good or bad. We are in this together.

I think this is a great idea! I will try to check back occasionally, but especially in August! Keep up the good work everyone; we are all seeing weight loss and we just need to stay focused and keep putting in the hard work. One day at a time!

Okay I think I need to hear all the things from my fellow weight loss friends. This is really long and rambling but, I seriously need something to reel me back in because I’m spiraling. My treatment is working but it’s pretty much kicking my a**, first my thyroid and then my joints were all hurting like I aged 30 years over night. I tried the steroid dose pack and it worked magically while I was on it, but started hurting again when I stopped. But that got back burned when I went into acute kidney failure from my treatment and now I’m on steroids for that so my joints are good again for now at least

The good news is the kidney thing was acute and is now okay (being monitored very closely though because I will have to stop treatment for good if it happens again but so far so good). To let my kidneys heal from the inflammation, I had to hold treatment for 7 weeks and go on high dose steroids plus a zillion other meds which are making my thyroid med not work as well and my endo is being a jerk and refusing to adjust the meds even though I’m hypothyroid now (another fun side effect of this treatment is thyroid issues) because he “expects fluctuations and I should only be checking it every few months in case it corrects itself.”

Well, it’s off now and so are my symptoms so what difference does it make if we know the cause is different meds that aren’t changing anytime soon. Also, they have me on steroids so I’m eating everything in sight and I’m getting lazy again (that’s what happened when the hypothyroid thing started).

Now I have gained 10 pounds in a short time despite DESPERATELY trying to eat well. I also messed up something in my knee. I have no clue how or when, but it kept swelling up Real bad with activity and I could barely walk by the end of the day. I went to the ortho doc thinking they were going to give me a pill or shot for arthritis or something and instead I left on crutches. They thought it was fractured based on X-ray, but then the CT showed no fracture so at least I’m off the crutches now (technically I’m “weight bearing as tolerated” but I can’t stand them things so I have them in the car but I haven’t used them).

Now he thinks it’s a torn Miniscus but the only way to confirm that is with an MRI which I can’t do because of the metal that’s in the tissue expanders in my breast or a CT with contrast which I shouldn’t do right now because of the risk to my kidneys. Basically the Dr says just take it easy until after my reconstruction surgery and we will do an MRI if it’s still hurting to see what to do from there. I’m allowed to do Yoga only and “no hot yoga.” He acts like months of no exercise is no big deal. He has no clue how hard it is for me to start a habit like exercise and what not doing anything for months will do to me

I just feel like the entire world is against me right now in terms of my weight loss journey. I was trying to be okay with my 100 pound loss because I know that’s huge, and less exercise because I was still doing some but, the hits just keep coming.

I had wanted to lose even more and I stopped losing to appease the oncology doctors while I was on chemo and now that I’m just on immunotherapy and they say I can lose slowly again I can’t totally kick the carbs I added to stop the loss, I can’t really exercise at all and my metabolism and hormones are working against me big time. Plus I’m really afraid to know what pain I will have in my joints when they stop these steroids but that’s another story

I’m in my early 40’s and the treatment also zapped my ovaries so I am now POST Menopause and this really is a just a lot of changes within one year for me and had been very hard to swallow it all so quickly. I think my emotions are maybe a bit all over the place from the menopause and my body is also adjusting.

I just feel like I’m fighting for a life that Isn’t going to be worth living if I got back to being obese and feeling all depressed and invisible again. I only got to actually enjoy the loss for a few months before this roller coaster started. I am thrilled to be alive and I’m still fighting, don’t get me wrong, but I’m in my head and having a really sh*tty day. I’m just feeling discouraged.

I’m SO scared that my body is going to be in such bad shape after all of this that I’m not going to be able to sustain any kind of exercise or have the energy to keep up with the nutrition. I brought up GLP-1 to my oncologist and he says absolutely I can do them at some point if I need them but I don’t need them now and that 10 pounds is not a big deal. But it is a very big deal to me. I feel everything slipping away.

Plus, it’s not just 10 pounds up from my ideal weight, I have a tiny frame, I wanted to still lose more weight. Not only am I not losing, or even maintaining, It’s 10 pounds in the wrong direction!! Part of me knows that this entire pity party/ freak out is premature, but I swear I am just so terrified to go back there again.

This WAS my do over. I would be hard pressed to find a doctor that would do a revision to a SADI and I doubt I could lose as much with a THiRD surgery if they could even do it with all the scar tissue from two surgeries. They probably would be scared with all my body has been through recently anyways. Not to mention that I have another year almost of immunotherapy so surgery now would be crazy and insurance wouldn’t pay unless I wait until i roller coaster back up to certain weight again which is so hard on your liver the up and down which I’ve already done twice just before chemo so not ideal!!

I just need someone to talk me down that this is not going where I feel it’s going. Or maybe I just needed to get that out. I tried to explain to two doctors who have no clue, a friend and my husband. Not one of them gets just how monumental this is in my mind. In my life. I was finally starting to get it back and along comes Cancer to make it all seem impossible. Its already taken a year of my life and some of my relationships which have changed probably forever. I just can’t let it screw this up too!!

On 10/13/2025 at 5:16 AM, ShoppGirl said:

Okay I think I need to hear all the things from my fellow weight loss friends. This is really long and rambling but, I seriously need something to reel me back in because I’m spiraling. My treatment is working but it’s pretty much kicking my a**, first my thyroid and then my joints were all hurting like I aged 30 years over night. I tried the steroid dose pack and it worked magically while I was on it, but started hurting again when I stopped. But that got back burned when I went into acute kidney failure from my treatment and now I’m on steroids for that so my joints are good again for now at least

The good news is the kidney thing was acute and is now okay (being monitored very closely though because I will have to stop treatment for good if it happens again but so far so good). To let my kidneys heal from the inflammation, I had to hold treatment for 7 weeks and go on high dose steroids plus a zillion other meds which are making my thyroid med not work as well and my endo is being a jerk and refusing to adjust the meds even though I’m hypothyroid now (another fun side effect of this treatment is thyroid issues) because he “expects fluctuations and I should only be checking it every few months in case it corrects itself.”

Well, it’s off now and so are my symptoms so what difference does it make if we know the cause is different meds that aren’t changing anytime soon. Also, they have me on steroids so I’m eating everything in sight and I’m getting lazy again (that’s what happened when the hypothyroid thing started).

Now I have gained 10 pounds in a short time despite DESPERATELY trying to eat well. I also messed up something in my knee. I have no clue how or when, but it kept swelling up Real bad with activity and I could barely walk by the end of the day. I went to the ortho doc thinking they were going to give me a pill or shot for arthritis or something and instead I left on crutches. They thought it was fractured based on X-ray, but then the CT showed no fracture so at least I’m off the crutches now (technically I’m “weight bearing as tolerated” but I can’t stand them things so I have them in the car but I haven’t used them).

Now he thinks it’s a torn Miniscus but the only way to confirm that is with an MRI which I can’t do because of the metal that’s in the tissue expanders in my breast or a CT with contrast which I shouldn’t do right now because of the risk to my kidneys. Basically the Dr says just take it easy until after my reconstruction surgery and we will do an MRI if it’s still hurting to see what to do from there. I’m allowed to do Yoga only and “no hot yoga.” He acts like months of no exercise is no big deal. He has no clue how hard it is for me to start a habit like exercise and what not doing anything for months will do to me

I just feel like the entire world is against me right now in terms of my weight loss journey. I was trying to be okay with my 100 pound loss because I know that’s huge, and less exercise because I was still doing some but, the hits just keep coming.

I had wanted to lose even more and I stopped losing to appease the oncology doctors while I was on chemo and now that I’m just on immunotherapy and they say I can lose slowly again I can’t totally kick the carbs I added to stop the loss, I can’t really exercise at all and my metabolism and hormones are working against me big time. Plus I’m really afraid to know what pain I will have in my joints when they stop these steroids but that’s another story

I’m in my early 40’s and the treatment also zapped my ovaries so I am now POST Menopause and this really is a just a lot of changes within one year for me and had been very hard to swallow it all so quickly. I think my emotions are maybe a bit all over the place from the menopause and my body is also adjusting.

I just feel like I’m fighting for a life that Isn’t going to be worth living if I got back to being obese and feeling all depressed and invisible again. I only got to actually enjoy the loss for a few months before this roller coaster started. I am thrilled to be alive and I’m still fighting, don’t get me wrong, but I’m in my head and having a really sh*tty day. I’m just feeling discouraged.

I’m SO scared that my body is going to be in such bad shape after all of this that I’m not going to be able to sustain any kind of exercise or have the energy to keep up with the nutrition. I brought up GLP-1 to my oncologist and he says absolutely I can do them at some point if I need them but I don’t need them now and that 10 pounds is not a big deal. But it is a very big deal to me. I feel everything slipping away.

Plus, it’s not just 10 pounds up from my ideal weight, I have a tiny frame, I wanted to still lose more weight. Not only am I not losing, or even maintaining, It’s 10 pounds in the wrong direction!! Part of me knows that this entire pity party/ freak out is premature, but I swear I am just so terrified to go back there again.

This WAS my do over. I would be hard pressed to find a doctor that would do a revision to a SADI and I doubt I could lose as much with a THiRD surgery if they could even do it with all the scar tissue from two surgeries. They probably would be scared with all my body has been through recently anyways. Not to mention that I have another year almost of immunotherapy so surgery now would be crazy and insurance wouldn’t pay unless I wait until i roller coaster back up to certain weight again which is so hard on your liver the up and down which I’ve already done twice just before chemo so not ideal!!

I just need someone to talk me down that this is not going where I feel it’s going. Or maybe I just needed to get that out. I tried to explain to two doctors who have no clue, a friend and my husband. Not one of them gets just how monumental this is in my mind. In my life. I was finally starting to get it back and along comes Cancer to make it all seem impossible. Its already taken a year of my life and some of my relationships which have changed probably forever. I just can’t let it screw this up too!!

Oh sweetheart, I just came across your post and I’m so sorry for not seeing it earlier. I know you’ve been dealing with so much lately, and I just want to say how proud I am of you for pushing through everything. Sometimes the focus naturally shifts from weight to health, and that’s perfectly okay because right now ur body needs care, patience, and gentleness more than anything else.

Please don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re on several things that can affect ur body & mood, and that’s not your fault. Healing isn’t always visible on the scale, sometimes it’s in the energy you slowly regain, the days u manage to get up and move, or simply the moments u allow yourself to rest.

Just do ur best each day, that’s all ur body is asking 4. The rest will follow in time. u’ve already shown so much strength just by continuing to show up for yourself.

I’ll try to be more active and respond faster next time. Sending you all my love and healing wishes. Take care of your beautiful self first, the rest will fall into place. 🤍

6 hours ago, Justarwaxx said:

Oh sweetheart, I just came across your post and I’m so sorry for not seeing it earlier. I know you’ve been dealing with so much lately, and I just want to say how proud I am of you for pushing through everything. Sometimes the focus naturally shifts from weight to health, and that’s perfectly okay because right now ur body needs care, patience, and gentleness more than anything else.

Please don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re on several things that can affect ur body & mood, and that’s not your fault. Healing isn’t always visible on the scale, sometimes it’s in the energy you slowly regain, the days u manage to get up and move, or simply the moments u allow yourself to rest.

Just do ur best each day, that’s all ur body is asking 4. The rest will follow in time. u’ve already shown so much strength just by continuing to show up for yourself.

I’ll try to be more active and respond faster next time. Sending you all my love and healing wishes. Take care of your beautiful self first, the rest will fall into place. 🤍

Thank you so much for that. I really think I just needed to get my feelings out in a safe space with people who don’t judge me as if I don’t care or realize that I have cancer and I’m lucky to be alive. I totally get that and I’m grateful to be where I am. It’s not vanity like these doctors seem to think. I just really want to keep my eye on the ball with my weight as well so that I’m not at square one when I am done treating.

I know that weight isn’t everything, but we all know that It is quite important. I know the biggest piece of advice I gave to others was to not get discouraged with being a few pounds shy of Goal or Gaining a bit back and not to do what I did after my sleeve which was basically to just give up and start eating everything I wanted again over a few pounds. Because after gaining it all back I would have done anything to be back to the weight I was so disappointed with before.

I need to somehow take my own advice. This time I was down to 158 and secretly hoped to get under 150. Now I’m back Up to 175 which on my mind is 25 more than I Wanted. Even still, that’s not a terrible and it’s not 260 and gaining fast like where I was when I started! I Just need to remember that It’s not all or nothing (black or white) like I tend to think and end up sabotaging myself again.

How is everyone doing on their journey. Any cool plans for the holidays. I’m trying to talk my hubby into doing something since the holidays are slow for his work and he can take a little vacation time without the world ending at his work. In his mind at least. 😂

15 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

Thank you so much for that. I really think I just needed to get my feelings out in a safe space with people who don’t judge me as if I don’t care or realize that I have cancer and I’m lucky to be alive. I totally get that and I’m grateful to be where I am. It’s not vanity like these doctors seem to think. I just really want to keep my eye on the ball with my weight as well so that I’m not at square one when I am done treating.

I know that weight isn’t everything, but we all know that It is quite important. I know the biggest piece of advice I gave to others was to not get discouraged with being a few pounds shy of Goal or Gaining a bit back and not to do what I did after my sleeve which was basically to just give up and start eating everything I wanted again over a few pounds. Because after gaining it all back I would have done anything to be back to the weight I was so disappointed with before.

I need to somehow take my own advice. This time I was down to 158 and secretly hoped to get under 150. Now I’m back Up to 175 which on my mind is 25 more than I Wanted. Even still, that’s not a terrible and it’s not 260 and gaining fast like where I was when I started! I Just need to remember that It’s not all or nothing (black or white) like I tend to think and end up sabotaging myself again.

you’re absolutely right, weight loss is important. None of us want to go backwards after everything we’ve been through, and I know how hard it is to see the scale move in a direction we don’t want. But your situation is truly special, and you need to give yourself so much more kindness right now.

Having cancer is not easy, and your body is fighting a battle that demands every bit of strength and care. Food isn’t just comfort right now — it’s part of your healing. You’re doing what your body needs to recover, and that’s something to be proud of, not guilty about.

Try your best to maintain, and remember that even if your weight shifts a bit, it doesn’t erase how far you’ve come. Whatever small changes you’re seeing are probably your body doing everything it can to heal and absorb what’s needed to get better.

And please, vent all you want here — that’s exactly what this space is for. We all have our own moments of guilt and struggle, and it’s okay to let it out. You’re not alone in this 🤍

30 minutes ago, Justarwaxx said:

you’re absolutely right, weight loss is important. None of us want to go backwards after everything we’ve been through, and I know how hard it is to see the scale move in a direction we don’t want. But your situation is truly special, and you need to give yourself so much more kindness right now.

Having cancer is not easy, and your body is fighting a battle that demands every bit of strength and care. Food isn’t just comfort right now — it’s part of your healing. You’re doing what your body needs to recover, and that’s something to be proud of, not guilty about.

Try your best to maintain, and remember that even if your weight shifts a bit, it doesn’t erase how far you’ve come. Whatever small changes you’re seeing are probably your body doing everything it can to heal and absorb what’s needed to get better.

And please, vent all you want here — that’s exactly what this space is for. We all have our own moments of guilt and struggle, and it’s okay to let it out. You’re not alone in this 🤍

How are you doing?? Any new trips planned??