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a lot of people think that we just lose weight because of the surgery and we don't make any of those changes. Now some don't and just rely on the surgery. I know for me, those around me have seen me put in the work, with the foods I eat, the exercise, and the overall change in lifestyle. Also, some are just jealous they aren't able to do the surgery.

First and foremost, I'm not going to preach abstinence, we are all adults and can make our own decisions. For me, apparently, I'm not an adult enough to be responsible. I've let alcohol take over, I drink daily and I've gained weight back. My spiral started around 4 years ago and has progressed steadily. Until recently, I was in control. I could drink and be ok. I would get drunk and know what happened the next day. Now however, I will get drunk and can't remember a thing. The next day I have massive brain fog, can't concentrate, can't orate correctly, I feel like crap, have the shakes etc. To be clear, I never leave my house and drive. I worry however that it could come to that. My weight is making my back problem even more painful. My clothes are tight, I'm depressed, and it's just awful. I feel like it's groundhogs day every day. I say I'm going to stop and I last a few days and then I slip back. However today I've made a decision to stop drinking entirely. I'm done. I'm not drinking ever again. I clearly can't control my self. I'm an addict with food and now alcohol. Much like food did, booze will ruin my life if I continue. I'm going to join AA and clean my life up yet again. Writing this is a first step for me. I'm not looking for pity, or to be chastised. I need to be self shamed and admit what I am. I'm an alcoholic. However, I can change this, I will change this. I will be healthier soon, it will be hard but I'm going to get there. So please, be careful with alcohol. We all spent a lot of time and money to say nothing of the physical and mental pain we've been through, don't throw it away. Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using BariatricPal mobile app

I agree, but I think it's worth noting that there are multiple types of "Bad Posture", so i think my recommendation would be to see a physical therapist (I think you call the Physios in the UK?). They can take a look at your posture and recommend exercises to address your specific issues.

I wish it were that simple, but it's not. We have to keep in mind that our weight is made up of a lot more than just fat. There are multiple body composition models used, but the one I recommend most people use when trying to lose fat is a 3 compartment model that consists of the following: Fat Muscle Bone I recommend this one since it's easy for most people to visualise those 3 components. Keep in mind however that roughly 70-75% of muscle mass is water. Why is that important? Because sometimes we can be fooled by the scale into thinking we're not losing fat, or that we're gaining fat when we're not. Most likely, what you're seeing is simply changes in water weight. A really common scenario is for people on low calorie diets (like most people here), to see a plateau and think that means they need exercise more and/or eat less, but when they do that, they actually gain a bit according to the scale. The reality is they didn't gain fat, they retained more water. I think it's important to keep in mind that we all have something called a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the minimum number of calories your body needs simply to stay alive. It can be thought of as the number of calories you expend per day even if you were completely sedentary. BMR is a complicated subject, but on average, the bigger you are, the higher your BMR. Yes, it goes down as you lose fat, since fat is not completely metabolically inert, but fat loss does not have nearly the effect on BMR that losing muscle does. This is one of the main reasons bariatric patients are told to focus on protein intake because protein is needed to help prevent excessive muscle loss when dieting. More muscle = higher BMR = faster weight loss, or being able to eat more at goal weight The average BMR for women is ~1400 k/cal per day. Higher if you are taller or more muscular, lower if you are shorter and/or have lower muscle mass. Men, for obvious reasons tend to have a higher BMR that's more in the 1700 range. My point in telling you all of the above is that it's highly unlikely that someone eating 900 calories a day needs to eat even less if weight loss has stalled. Frankly, if that is the OP, then I'd actually recommend exactly the opposite: try upping your caloric intake a couple hundred k/cal per day and see what happens. I know it seems counter intuitive, but your body is not a simple machine where the calories in vs. calories out paradigm actually works. Happy to discuss more and provide additional info, but this post is already overly long. Best of luck.

I thought maybe you were working on instructor certifications! Have ever considered it?

I’m going to eat a little of everything. I am just going I pay for it for like a week because when I do carbs my body craves carbs. Just have to pay the price I guess.

so a quick google states that a weight loss "stall" or "plateau" is 4 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS of no weight gain NOR loss while on a CONSISTENT calorie intake. basically, this means netting the SAME average amount of calories (intake less expenditure) for 4 weeks and staying at the same weight for said 4 weeks. this generally means that you have reached an equilibrium with your intake (calories) and your expenditure (activity). which means you either have to reduce your intake or increase your expenditure to restart a downward trend. the inverse of this is also true: increase your intake or decrease your expenditure, and you will GAIN weight. sooooo...if you are below 4 weeks of the scale not moving (in conjunction of your measurements not reducing), then stay the course...you are in a stall. if you are ABOVE 4 weeks of the scale (and measurements) not moving, then this would indicate the time to start re-evaluating your lifestyle IF you want to lose more...you are in a plateau. if you are happy with your current lifestyle, and just don't want nor need to make changes, then is a matter of accepting yourself as you are now. ain't nothing wrong with that! not everyone gets to their arbitrary goal weight. and those that do, the majority don't even stay there. find the weight that you are cool with expending the effort to maintain. it's different for everybody. good luck! ❤️

Isn't it amazing how a number on a scale can drive us to take action when none is necessary. How it can control our emotions. We tell ourselves we won't give the scale such power over us yet here we are. We can get there from here without a scale. Good luck. Tek

OK, we need recipes for those as well. 😂

Nothing much to report this week, everything is just ticking over. Weight is stable, no losses this week after the unexpected losses of the week before. Happily going to the gym 3 times a week and I do feel improvements even if I can’t see them. Been to see my GP today (she’s the one who put me forward for Bariatric surgery) I’ve had a sharp pain smack bang in the middle of my chest. First time was a couple of months ago - it woke me up and lasted about 5 minutes or so. Could only be eased by sitting forward. Then nothing else until the pain happened again yesterday afternoon. The area still felt tender when I woke up this morning so rang the docs and actually got a face to face appointment - the shock!! Anyway, GP listened to my heart and chest, asked a stack of questions and came to the conclusion that it’s some sort of ligament pain where something is slightly out of alignment. I then explained about the endoscopy 💩show I had - pinned down, thrashing around etc and she thinks it could be caused by that as the timing adds up. She did ask if I was taking ibuprofen and I said no and explained about not taking anything until my next set of bloods (17th) in order to give my liver some breathing space. Advised to take after my bloods if needed as it will help recovery. Thankfully the gym isn’t causing any pain so I was cleared to carry on with that. We did have a chat about WLS and how everything has been so far. She is so incredibly supportive, it makes such a change. She said she’s updated with everything from the hospital and is really pleased with how things are going, so that was nice! So, that’s about it. Hope everyone is having a great week so far. Onwards and Downwards 😉