Leaderboard

My daughter came home today and she told me I should try on some of her dresses from her college formal days. Never, ever, ever did I expect them to fit. I feel pretty good after I looked at these photos. Of course, I've got the whole "bat wings" going on, but I'm not going to stress over the details. Just wanted to share my joy of the moment!

A little over year since my VSG, hair loss started about three months later. I have noticed in the past week, that hair loss has substanitally reduced when showering/washing hair, woohoo! I have fine curly hair and while showering hair loss was about three to four times my usual, I don't think anyone noticed but my hairdresser and me, if anyone did notice they certainly didn't didn't mention it to me. Coming into Autumn soon, hair growth is likely to slow down again due to seaonal changes, but I don't expect that the loss rate will pick up again;

I am pretty far out from surgery and still have bouts w constipation (7/2018 sleeved) When it happens I start putting a scoop of miralax in my coffee in the morning and if it doesn’t work the first day it does by the second day. Works for me.

I also had really intense constipation for the first month after the sleeve. I took Benefiber and stool softeners and drank 90 oz of water a day, but I still had long bouts of painful constipation (5 days or more). At my one month check-in with the nutritionist, she told me it was fine to use Milk of Magnesia every other day prophylactically until I started getting more plant fiber in my diet. She also told me to add chia seeds to my Greek yogurt. This worked for that second month and, now 2.5 months out, I am able to eat more veggies and not taking the Milk of Magnesia anymore and am totally regular lol. TL;DR In my experience, getting enough fiber gets easier every week. Talk to your surgeon or nutritionist about Milk of Magnesia. My nutritionist didn't want people relying on it indefinitely, but was fine with me using it very regularly for a month until I started getting more fiber.

This description of the dangers of Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCD) from the University of Michigan describes some of the metabolic issues that are associated with sustained diets under 1000 calories a day. https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/aa144561 (from the above link) The following are the changes your body goes through during a VLCD: Your metabolism slows to conserve energy because the body thinks it is starving. A slower metabolism burns fewer calories. To get the carbohydrate it needs, your body breaks down protein. You lose lean body tissues (muscle and organ tissue). It is important to preserve lean tissue, because it increases your basal metabolic rate. Losing too much lean tissue increases the percentage of fat in your body. The result is a reduced metabolism. This is one reason why it is so easy to regain weight after you lose weight quickly. In a VLCD (or during starvation), about half the weight you lose is fat and the other half is lean tissue, such as muscle. On a more moderate diet, you lose 3 times more fat than lean tissue. It is important to preserve lean tissue, since it increases your resting metabolic rate. Mineral and electrolyte imbalances can occur. These imbalances can be life-threatening. This is the reason these VLCDs must only be used under a health professional's supervision. Bone mass is lost. This is more risky for women, because they diet more often than men, and they are also at higher risk for osteoporosis.

I hit 50# weight loss ( pre-op and post-op). I am getting closer to Wonderland! Gastric Sleeve is making the difference and making this seem doable and I feel in control for once. HW 264 ( 10/30/20) SW 235 ( 2/24/21) CW 214 ( 3/27/21) GW 130 ( TBD)

My naturopath recommended Garth Davis as a resource, but I’m struggling with the idea of being 100% plant-based. We buy organic/grass fed meat from small farms and I’m okay with it - we are not huge meat eaters anyways. Anyone strive for a balance? I’m starting my pre-op diet in a week and I ordered Pirq and Iconic, one is plant based protein drink and the other is grass fed.

I can't use the words I'd like to to describe this "friend"! Like others have said, I suspect it's jealousy that YOU are being successful with your weight loss and they are struggling. I'm sure there will be some folks that disagree - YES, this surgery IS like starting a race well ahead of anyone else trying to "run the race" with you. However, it sure has hell doesn't meal prep or force you to eat the right foods and follow the plan. YOU make the choices of what goes into your body. YOU make the choice to follow the plan (especially with the sleeve since we generally can tolerate just about any foods). YOU are making the effort to be successful. That my friend is a win! Hang in there! You've got support on this board and look at the positive - These folks may have been fun to hang out with, but now they've shown you who they really are and it's up to YOU to choose whether or not they remain on your friends list - If not.... well...we all know that the world is far friendlier to people who aren't overweight and you have a new opportunity to find them!

I have mine in my breast bone, its a bit of a pain with underwired bra’s so i wear sports ones- unusual place for mine too

I make my own cheesy sauce that is great with pasta or veggies like broccoli. I do not use the processed products, as I don't think they taste that good, they are expensive, and I try not to use processed food products as a rule. To make a cheesy like sauce, I soak cashews for 30 to 60 minutes in hot water. Then I put them in the blender with a cooked yellow potato, soy milk, a small avocado, and sometimes some tofu.. Add a good amount of nutritional yeast and some miso paste, pepper to taste. Blend until smooth. The avocado taste does NOT come through, but the fat makes it "creamier." I will admit that the Beyond Beef burgers are pretty tasty. I might have one of those once a month or so, but not often. My protein comes from a wide variety of legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, tofu, tempeh, soy milk/yogurt or Nancy's Oatmilk yogurt which is pretty high in protein. I easily get 60 grams a day. Sometimes I will add a half scoop of protein powder to a smoothie or yogurt bowl.