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Be careful of those whims! At about 18 months post-op I was walking consistently. I felt that with the right push off that I could fly. We generally went down to the strip and called it people watching. One day we didn't want to go to the strip so we went to a local park that had a walking/running course. On a whim [There it is, all innocent] I ran the last hundred yards and it felt good. I decided to see if I could complete a C25K (Couch to 5K) program, and lo! in no time I could run 5K. I never ran an official 5K but I did increase my distance. Eventually I was up to 10k. Then 15k. Then I decided to keep track of such things in miles. Then 10 miles, then 13.2 (yes, the Garmin said it so it must be true). I still had not participated in any official events. About this time I got it in my silly little head to run a marathon. I started training for a marathon. Training was progressing well, when I had a business trip in SoCal. I saw there was a marathon in Long Beach that weekend, which wasn't far from where I was. My long training runs were up to 16 miles, so I thought it would be cool to use it as training run and have my spouse pick me up at around mile 16. To save y'all from an exciting mile by mile story, it should be obvious by now that I completed my first official race, the Long Beach Marathon. I ran 5 marathons which including one in San Francisco where I got to run across the Golden Gate bridge (twice). 500+ pounds previously this was not even a passing thought. All on a whim. Good luck, Tek

chiming in to say i had a similar start to running like AmberFL. (note though that i am a track or round-my-600m-neighbourhood-block runner, and not a follow-my-nose-runnner lol). started off walking around the track/block, then jogging one side of it, to jogging 1/2 of it, to jogging every other lap to full on jogging non-stop, then doing the same progression, this time interspersing with running. then longer and/or faster runs. by the end of my running heyday, i was running at least 5K every day (sometimes twice a day) with a longer 10K maybe once a week. then...i hurt my foot. didn't run for 3 months, and never went back to it with the same intensity. these days, i probably get a 5K in 1-2 times a week (less when its too cold). but i do get my exercise in other ways, so its all good. as for fuel, its been a while, but i do remember feeling quite hungry after runs and would actually eat food before noon (not my usual M.O.), could also be because i always ran on an empty stomach (by choice, i hate - and still do - the feeling of something in my stomach when i exercise). to the OP, its effing awesome that you are discovering a fondness for exercise...it really does make a world of difference, for your health, your sleep, your body's ability for recovery, your mental clarity....your overall well-being! plus, it makes you feel grrrrrrrreaaat and look hawt. ❤️

https://www.designveronique.com/ This is where I got my post op bra for my Augmentation and lift

I know for me, this is the hardest time of the year. It's cold (-8F this morning according to my car, which is just insane). It's still kinda dark in the mornings and dark pretty early at night, too. The holidays are over so a lot of the fun you may have been anticipating a while back is done and the routine feels hard and boring. It's not a motivation-inspiring season. So my advice is that sometimes it's okay to take care of your mental health, and that can be as important as your physical health. Within reason, of course, so you don't let yourself slide into terrible habits. But if you have 10 things to do and you can only manage 5, pick the 5 that matter most to you. Don't do what I sometimes do and spend so much time stressing and lamenting over the 5 you can't get done that you end up not doing anything at all. 5 things is okay when 10 isn't possible. You need to move your body, but you don't need to walk AND do yoga, AND do pilates, AND... It's okay to pick one thing. It's okay to skip the gym and go for a walk with a friend. Or skip the walk and get a pedicure one day because your body is just tired. Sometimes that's what will give you energy to do the other stuff. As long as your hair is reasonably clean, sometimes you just need a ponytail. Or a hat. Not all days are cute days. Plan to get done what you must get done plus what you really want to get done, until you feel able to do more and pushing yourself to do it only takes average effort. I think sometimes we deplete our energy to the point that our bodies and minds have to insist on recharging. Give yourself the chance to recharge without guilt.

Depression can definitely impact motivation, so your husband may be on to something? That said, there is a difference between clinical depression and situational depression. Clinical depression is generally a lot more serious and long lasting, whereas situational depression tends to be less severe and tends to get better over time once you are further out from the triggering event. I'm not a mental health professional, but it certainly seems more like situational depression to me if you're really stressed about the work/funding situation. I think if you are concerned, the best course of action would be to talk to a mental health professional. We all go through some rough stuff every now and again, so if you need help, please get it. With that out of the way, I do also want to give you my thoughts on general overall motivation to exercise when you are struggling with that. What people often fail to understand is that humans are literally designed to conserve calorie expenditure. This is a key survival instinct, or at least it was back when food was a lot more scarce than it is today. I mention this because sometimes people think there's something wrong with them when they are not motivated to workout. Actually just the opposite is true. That feeling to want to do just about anything else other than workout is instinctual. So what do we do about this? well, since calorie conservation is such a strong instinct, we need even stronger things to overcome that feeling. Below are some ways we can do that. These are roughly in order of importance (at least in my opinion): Probably the single most important thing is to really understand your why. By that I mean if you don't really know why you want to exercise, or if the reason is somewhat vague (such as just feeling like you're supposed to), that just may never be enough. Really explore what caused you to want to make this change. If the reason is sufficiently important (for me it was not wanting to die an early death), then it makes everything else a lot easier because you can always refer back to the why when you'd rather just do something else. Make it a habit. Let's be honest. There are certain things you do in life that are just habits and you don't really need motivation to do them. They may not even be things you enjoy, but you do them anyway. For me that's things like laundry or dishes. Showering or brushing my teeth might be more examples. I don't really need a lot of motivation to do them, I just do them because that's part of what I do day to day. What we want to do is get to the point that exercising is just another habit. This could be a pretty long post in and of itself, but one tip I have is something called "habit stacking". I blatantly stole this idea from a book by author James Clear called "Atomic Habits". (I Highly recommend reading it by the way.) The idea here is to attach the new habit you want, such as working out, to an existing one you already do like eating dinner. It might look like this: "After I eat dinner, I will go for a walk around the block" Set realistic goals and update them as you progress. Realistic is the key here because I often find that people either set too easy of a goal, or much more likely, too hard of a goal. If your goal is to workout 5 days a week for 30 minutes at a time when right now, you're basically doing nothing, that's simply too much at once. A much better goal would be something like "I'm going to go to the gym once this week". For some people, just getting out the door and to the gym is the hardest part, so if the goal is just getting there, it overcomes the biggest challenge. Most likely, once you're there, you'll at least do something (you won't just turn around and come home). The same can be true if you're goal is walking around the neighborhood. Often just getting out the door is the hardest part, so instead of saying I'm going to walk 30 minutes a day, simply make the goal getting out the door once this week. This one is a little harder, but you need to explore your feelings and determine what your intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are. Some people are motivated almost exclusively by one of the other, but my experience is that most people are motivated at least in part by both internal and external things. When you know what these things are, it makes motivation a lot easier. As an example, I really love the way working out makes me feel, which is a strong internal motivator. That said, I also really enjoy looking fit. (I'm vain, sue me). I use these two things to my advantage. Put it on your schedule. Way too many people say they are just too busy to workout, but most of the time, that's just an excuse. If it's important, then you'll put it on your calendar just like anything else that's important. "Pre-prep" for your workout. This can vary depending on what you do, but a lot of people that workout in the morning (or immediately after work), find that if they lay out their workout clothes, or pack their gym bags before they go to bet the night before, it takes away one of the biggest challenges they have to getting the workout started. This removes an excuse not to do the workout, and in addition, serves as a reminder to actually do the workout. These are the biggest ones that come to mind for me. There are other tricks and tips I could give (like finding an accountability partner), but this post is already pretty long. One final thing I wanted to mention. A lot of people have found (and research backs this up), that regular exercise can actually significantly lessen symptoms of depression. While I do still recommend talking to a professional, you may find that working out actually helps you feel better. Best of luck!

girl my first time on the stairmaster I barely made it 5min and not even going fast LOL I told myself that every other day I would add 1 min. Its one hellova cardio workout! Now I can do 30 min no problem at level 12. Took a couple of months to get there though! Try it! and who cares if you last only 2min! not a lot of people tackle the stair master because well its hard

I have always spotted for a few days before my period; I look at it as my warning that its coming. It has calmed down some now, but for the first 3-4 months after surgery, my period was like when I was a teenager again. I had terrible cramps and a heavier flow; apparently there is estrogen in your fat cells and when you start losing weight, it releases the estrogen so it can make your periods worse.

@Mspretty86 The healing is going great! They look fantastic, I am definitely a full DD which is what I wanted. I still have scabs on my under boobs where they placed the implant, I still wake up swollen but it goes away in like 5min of getting up which is great. I still cannot work out which sucks but hopefully today when I go see him he clears me at least start walking or something. No new bras yet I am still in my post op bra for 8 weeks minimum he said. I have shopped for lingerie and actually wore some for the misters bday and man oh man was that fun LOL He is very much liking them however he's more looking than touching HAHA! He's nervous that he will mess something up, but he's been amazing this entire experience.

I think trying to compare yourself to others to determine what's "normal" is a losing game. Plenty of people struggle with various things like fluid intake or nausea early on, but lots of others (like me), had very few issues at all. There really is no normal here. Regarding weight loss, it's only been a week. I'm quite sure you've actually lost some fat in the last week, but you are probably hanging onto some water weight after the surgery. That's quite common. I would suggest that you keep in mind that you're "playing the long game" here. Daily or even weekly variation in your weight are not things to be concerned over. It would be physiologically impossible for someone to eat 600 calories a day and not lose fat. It probably takes more calories than that just to keep your brain alive (much less the rest of you), every single day. If I can give you one piece of advice, try not to stress the process because stress can derail your success really quickly. People sometimes don't realize this, but stress can have a bigger impact on weight loss success than just about anything else. Stress will suppress your metabolism and also cause you to retain fluid, thus even further masking weight loss. I know it's hard, but trust your doctor, trust the process, and follow your post-op diet. It will work, as long as you do what you're supposed to do.

It’s not easy at first for many of us but as long as you’re making an effort & aren’t too far off your goal you’ll be okay. Yes, to just sipping all day. Yes, to trying different temperatures of liquids. And try sipping at night. I still do this. Every time I get in or out of bed (usually to pee cause you know drinking a lot 😉) I drink. If I’m reading in bed, I’ll regularly sip too - every few pages. I also found it easier to drink from a glass versus a sippy cup, straw, water bottle. And I drank more frequently too. Not sure why. And don’t forget during your liquids stage you can count your shakes & broths/soups towards your liquid total as well.