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As some of you may know, I have been trying to go to classes and upping my exercise in general. I did an LBT class on Monday, and yesterday I decided to do a BodyBalance class. It was harder than expected - I am definitely not flexible 🤣 I also found that as it was my first time ever doing yoga-type exercises, it was taking me a while to figure out what to do! It was good though, at the end of the 45 minutes my body felt relaxed and I could feel that a lot of tension had left me. The final piece the instructor did was a relaxation, where we all just lie down and she turns off the light, and there is nice calm music on, and you just relax your body...and I just started crying! I have no idea why this happened, but I felt like a right muppet 🤣 I might go back, I just need to prepare myself for that end bit haha. Anyone else experienced something like this?

Loving all of these NSV. We covered this topic at my in person support group the other night and I mentioned how many amazing ones I have heard on this thread and that I think it’s a great place for people that are nervous about surgery to hear about the pros of the surgery and I noticed one lady wrote down the site that is pre surgery. It’s one thing to say I lost 30 pounds or even 150 or more but to talk about that real life changes is so much more powerful. These surgeries are so life changing.

Thanks for sharing! My bypass was yesterday and I go home later today. I feel much better than I thought I would at this early stage of recovery. I remember what it was like trying to get all of that water down -- it's good practice for post-surgery as you have to work back up to that level too. Best wishes on your recovery!

Good for you for trying so many new things. It’s amazing to see you taking this opportunity for change and running with it. That hasn’t happened to me yet but, it does release a lot of pent up emotions so I’m not at all surprised. I bet you just needed a good cry.. I hope it made you feel good afterwards. I can’t tell you haw much I love my yoga. I’m dealing with so many doctors appointments right now and I get so bummed when the only time they can get me In interferes with my yoga mornings 😂 At firsr I would say I will have to miss my yoga thinking it’s a doctors office and Yoga is good for me so they would get it, but the front desk girls had such little empathy for that so now I just say I have another appointment to try to avoid that time. I’m so glad to hear you will go again. I am still not super flexible either but I am getting a little more than I was. Honestly that’s all that matters. Yoga has been so amazing for me. It is Like a mini vacation from all the stress in the world. I hope you love it as much as I do. I think it’s good for our mental health as well as our physical health and where else can you get all of that in such as short time.

omg and lol *raises hand* i totally used to bawl during savasana at the end of almost every yoga class i took in the beginning!!! my instructors said its a common occurrence....something about releasing tension and emotion?? lasted about a month or so for me (mind u i went/go to class 1-2 times daily so i fast tracked the ugly-cry phase lol). i do remember it was very disconcerting at the time. when i try to explain it to non-yoga-ers, the best i could describe was that i wasn't feeling sadness nor happiness exactly...more like feeling overwhelmed, with what exactly, its hard to pinpoint...relief? gratitude? unworthiness? its been a while since i did that in class so my memory is foggy.... in any case, it normal apparently!

Weird as it may sound but I can SEE and feel my collarbone 🤣🤣🤣. I can also feel my hip/pelvis pelvis bone! I'm seeing and feeling bones I never felt! 💪🏼

I am here to add my vote for meal planning. I also have ADHD tendencies and I LOATHE food tracking. In the early days after surgery when I absolutely had to make sure I got in my protein and water, I managed to track by keeping a physical tracking notebook next to me at all times. I had to see the book to remember to do it. I stopped tracking around 5 months when I was consistently hitting my goals. Now that I am almost a year out, my weight loss has slowed (as expected) and I am finding it too easy to make poor choices if I don't plan ahead. I forced myself to actually track for a couple days and was shocked by how many calories I could eat and what I was choosing even when I "thought" I had been pretty reasonable. So, instead of tracking, which I am still terrible at, I've started meal planning and prepping ahead. For breakfast and lunch, I came up with a selection of maybe three or four choices I liked that have around 20g protein and entered them into my meal tracking app. For example, a spinach frittata for breakfast that I can slice into several servings, fruit cups that I make ahead for the week, single-serve packets of protein oatmeal or a protein bar for those days when I have to grab and go. For lunch, I make homemade chicken veg soup and also salad jars. I also like to make a batch of turkey chili to have on hand, which I store in single-serve containers. I also came up with a few snacks I like such as Greek yogurt with blueberries, or an apple with cheese. I also entered in my typical favorite 6 or 7 homemade dinners as recipes or meals in the app so I could easily add them to my day with one click. Before my shopping day, I try to plan my meals for the coming week. If I see my calories going too high or my protein not being enough, or whatever, on any given day, I can adjust accordingly. On a day that I eat oatmeal, I make sure my other choices are less carb heavy. If I have eggs for breakfast, I might plan to have a carb at dinner. I have the tab easy to get to on my computer, but printing it out each day would also work, as would entering each meal as a reminder in your phone's task list or calendar app. It is so much easier for me to look at my menu and follow it than it is for me to decide what to eat every day in the moment. It also means that if I can eat what I plan most of the time, I can have a restaurant meal or a dessert a few times a month without worrying about it or trying to track it. And since I tend to package up most of my make-ahead meals in single-serve containers, it's pretty easy to grab something to take along if I'm going to be out and don't want to have to hunt for food on the go and risk being off plan. The worst days for me are when everything in the house is an ingredient instead of a meal. That's exhausting and inevitably leads to snacking or poor choices. I find I need to set a regular day of the week for shopping when I can also have time to prep some items right away, before the food even goes in the fridge. I have the most success for the week when all my produce enters the fridge already washed, sliced, and portioned into fruit cups and salad jars, and when I can kick off a batch of chili in the slow cooker, a frittata in the oven, and a batch of taco meat to store for later in the week all at once. Freezing complete single-serve meals is another great strategy for those busy days when you might otherwise get off track. Like any habit, it takes a while to establish and may not be 100% perfect all the time, but I definitely find this helping me.

Me again. My ex- and still incredibly close friend and I went out this past Saturday, going a Costco run before she cancelled her membership, then we hit up a thrift store. There, already now wearing a 36" waist pants, down from 50" when I started on this road, I tried on a random blazer that caught my eye. It fit like it was custom tailored right down to the length of the sleeves. Checking the labels inside I literally laughed out loud seeing it was a 46R. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever see myself in anything that 'small'. Added bonus? It was $12 and looks like it was never worn.

Down 143lbs since my RnY in Sept '23, all of my fitted baseball hats are too big and I've had to tighten the back straps on all of the others. That's not something I ever expected.

Check out my butt in this plane seat! There's some chair left over! About an inch. I'm counting it as a win