JamieLogical

I was overweight my entire life, though not obese until I was into my 20's. I had lost and regained massive amounts of weight in the past, but never maintained at anything approaching "normal" for very long. Honestly, my friends and family had seen me lose and regain weight so many times, that they never really commented on my weight-loss post-WLS. I think they were all afraid I would gain it back again. Not until I was very close to goal did I start getting comments about being "too skinny", though I am still technically "overweight" even now. I had some coworkers who didn't know me as long who did compliment and comment on my weight loss quite a bit. That always made me feel pretty good. The weird category is people who never knew me when I was fat. I've been at goal for 15+ months now and was close to normal-looking for probably 20 pounds or so before goal, so I actually have a lot of coworkers and acquaintances now who never knew what I was like before. That's a weird dynamic. The are always shocked if I tell them I used to be fat or show them old pictures. They can't really comprehend it, I guess. Dating-wise... I did separate from my husband last May (now officially divorced) and dipped my toes into the dating pool. I definitely get a lot of attention from guys now. I don't do online dating, but I do a lot of Meetups and I am usually pretty popular at them. I am confident and happy. I think that has as much to do with it as my actual physical appearance. I still have moments when I will walk into a store and head over towards the plus sizes. Or walk into a store that doesn't carry plus sizes and feel self-conscious like people are looking at me like I don't belong in there. But those experiences are fewer and further between the further out from surgery I get.

My first instinct is to just not respond to this because it is so discouraging to me when I see posts like this. Stalls happen. Everyone loses weight at different rates. Are you getting your Water and Protein in? Are you following your food stages? Are you eating on a schedule and measuring/weighing your food? Are you getting up and moving every day? If yes to all of those questions, you are doing nothing wrong. I "only" lost 15 pounds my first month and I still got to goal and have been maintaining for 15 months. This is a marathon, not a sprint. There is literally ZERO reason for you to have to lose the weight "fast". Your sleeve is forever!

I simply meant that by the time you are losing hair, whatever triggered the hair loss took place months ago so there is nothing you can do *right now* to stop it. The vast vast majority of WLS patients lose some hair. Some lose a lot of hair. There are so many attributing factors, that it's not really possible to predict how much hair you will lose or how long you will lose it for. The only things within your control are your nutritional intake, but that is just one small piece of the puzzle. WLS have a quadruple whammy when it comes to hair loss. Anesthesia has been shown to cause hair loss. Rapid weight loss has been shown to cause hair loss. Stress and trauma have been shown to cause hair loss. And malnutrition has been shown to cause hair loss. WLS patients are usually subject to three or four of these.

I just remembered that I've had sushi with quinoa and brown rice from my local grocery store two or three times post-op! So I lied in my earlier post! But still, I definitely don't eat rice with any sort of regularity.

The only rice I've had in the 2+ years since my surgery has just been the little bit that stuck to the Protein in dishes I've eaten that came with rice. Think I might have ingested a bit that was stuck to my refried Beans or some chicken or something at a restaurant or party.... I believe I was allowed rice around 3 months post-op by my nutrition plan and I probably could have physically handled it much sooner than that. But it is a complete and utter waste of space. Like Pasta, I just never bother wasting space on it when I could be having protein instead!

I don't think you can consume too few calories on the pre-op diet, because it's so short. I was only eating about 450 calories a day on mine, because it was just NO food. Three shakes a day at 150 calories each. That's all I was allowed. Consuming too few calories *might* be an issue post-op when you are doing it for more prolonged periods of time. 450 calories a day for two weeks as an obese person isn't going to cause long term damage. 450 calories a day for three months on the other hand will completely wreck your metabolism.

You can definitely enjoy treats like ice cream post-op. Not immediately post-op, obviously, but certainly by the time you are in maintenance. I had half a piece of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake last night! The most important things post-op will be Protein and Water. You need need need to put protein first. But if you are meeting your protein goals, then a little ice cream or mashed potatoes or whatever once in a while is fine. I think right now, pre-op, there are some things you can work on that will make your post-op life easier. Start going ahead and putting protein first. Eat your protein before your starches or vegetables at each meal. Start working on finding high protein Snacks you can enjoy (greek yogurt, cottage cheese, string cheese, nuts, Jerky, turkey sticks, etc.). Start tracking your protein. Ideally you will want to get up to 100 grams a day. Start getting a sense of how much protein is in the foods you eat regularly. Start cutting back on carbs. Your pre-op diet will likely be a no-carb diet. So it will only help you to kick that carb habit sooner than later! If you smoke, quit now! You will be required to quit prior to surgery and giving up smoking AND food at the same time will be too much to handle. Cut back on caffeine and alcohol too. You won't be allowed any of either for at least 30 days post-op by most plans, so again, easier to phase it out now than have to go cold turkey at the time of your surgery. Start eating slowly and trying to not eat and drink at the same time. The not eating and drinking at the same time thing will seem impossible at first. For me, I had to just not even have a beverage within reach while eating, otherwise I would drink it without even thinking about it. As for eating slowly... chew each bite as thoroughly as possible and set your fork down between bites.

The important thing is to not allow cheating to send you into a downward spiral. It's easy to say "well I already cheated, so this week is a waste" and then use the cheating as an excuse to cheat more. It's also easy to beat yourself up, make yourself depressed, and then cheat even more for either comfort or as a form of self-punishment. You need to just put it behind you, move on, and focus on making the next choice a good one.

That sounds amazing in every way! Hope you have a fantastic time!

Don't stock up too much ahead of time. As @@2goldengirl, so people experience changes in their sense of taste immediately post-op and something your boyfriend likes now might be completely repulsive to him post op. So my advice would be to go for variety in your pre-op shopping. That way if one things tastes bad to him or upsets his stomach, you will have other options on hand.

That really depends on which surgeon you choose. Several surgeons in Mexico offer extensive follow-up care. I am over 2 years out and I could call up my nutritionist at OCC today and get answers to my questions. They still send me questionnaires and check in with me regularly.

Oh, don't even get me started on that! People who don't keep their protein up and don't exercise are completely dooming themselves. By the time I reached my goal weight I had GAINED seven pounds of muscle. That is definitely key to helping keep metabolism strong. By the numbers, you would think I was a slow loser (and I was), but one of the reasons those fast losers lose so fast is they are losing precious precious muscle.

I mean, everyone is going to be a little different depending on their activity level. When I was post-op, the first thing I did was try to push up over 800-850 calories ASAP, before starting ANY kind of real exercise (besides walking). Then I pushed to get up over 1100 so I could start running. I would say through most of my weight loss phase, I was around 1400-1500 calories a day, while running and biking about 5 days a week. Then, once I got to maintenance, I needed about 1900 a day to maintain while not doing intense cardio and closer to 2400 a day while training for my half marathon and marathon. The thing is, you really really don't want to be below 1000 calories a day for long. You will have to be in the very beginning, because it'll be too hard to get above that. But I'd say by about 2 months post-op, there is no reason you can't get above 1000 by eating some calorie-dense high-Protein foods like nuts and cheeses. Shoot for a minimum of 1000 calories and then make sure to eat back calories you burn via cardio. So if you are burning 400-500 calories 5-6 days a week through exercise, aim more for the 1400-1500 range.

Hmm... if you are just viewing the site on your phone, you may not be able to see the Gallery unless you actually browse to the site in your web browser instead of using the app. In a web browser, you can click on my name on the left-hand side of my posts and that will take you to my Profile, which then has a link to my Gallery on the left-hand side.

@@BigViffer I am sure that was challenging for you, but it's also hilarious. The post-op hormone dump is serious business!

Absolutely! I reached goal right around the one year mark and have maintained for 15+ months. Through those 15 months I have moved twice, gotten divorced, and run a half marathon and a fill marathon. It has be an insane, emotional roller coaster. 2016 was BY FAR the hardest year of my life. The amount of stress, the emotional ups and downs, the disruptions to my normal routines.... any and all of that would have led me to gain 50 pounds or more in the past. But I have managed to maintain through it all. Even when I have cut back on exercise because of demands on my time and being out of my routine, I've managed to maintain. NO WAY could I have done that without my sleeve. No chance.

I'm 5'6 and my highest weight was 270. I have lots of pics in my gallery if you want to take a look. I reached goal right around my 1 year mark and have been maintaining for the last 15+ months. I have run a half marathon and a full marathon!

I think your ability to lose weight a couple years out from WLS is completely dependent upon what you did to your metabolism immediately post-op. Some people have *clearly* wrecked their metabolism by restricting calories WAY too much. I have seen people on these forums who claim to gain weight if they eat any more than 850 or 1000 calories a day a couple years post-op. I would accuse them of inaccurately tracking their calories, but there have been too many of them to ignore. Meanwhile, if you lost more slowly, ate enough to keep your metabolism up, and did some exercise to help keep your metabolism working, there is no reason you shouldn't be able to lose weight a couple years out, because your metabolism should still be intact. You should still be able to lose weight through a simple caloric deficit created by restricting calories and increasing activity. For example, I am maintaining now. I am a pretty serious runner, but haven't run for the past two months, because I have had literally NO time as I have moved into and am renovating my new home. Back when I was running regularly, I had to eat 2200 to 2400 calories a day in order to NOT lose weight. Now that I haven't been running regularly, I have gained a few pounds, which is to be expected, since I haven't really cut back on my eating. I fully anticipate that I will be able to lose those pounds when I begin training for my next half marathon later this month.

Oh, that's another excellent point. The amount of time you have to miss from work with all the appointments! I went to Mexico and still just took two weeks off for the surgery like I would have if I'd had it in the US. No other time off work leading up to that. Actually, I didn't even miss a full two weeks from work, because I scheduled my surgery for Labor Day, which is a Holiday in the US, but not in Mexico!

The general rule of thumb with skin removal surgery is to be at your goal weight for at least a year. Certainly, you would want to be at or near goal when you meet with surgeons for consultations. They would probably have their own guidelines about how long to wait after that for the surgery.

I should note that not all 2 ounces are created equal. 2 ounces of cottage cheese is MUCH easier to handle than 2 ounces of tuna salad, for instance.

The best thing you can do is work hard to get your Protein, Vitamins, and Water in as soon as possible post-op. By the time you are losing hair, the damage is already done and the best you can hope for is to encourage regrowth. Some people swear by Biotin and medicated shampoos, but chances are your bariatric Multivitamin already has ample biotin in it.

I would have had to wait 5 years to qualify under my insurance. They require a documented history of a BMI over 40 and since I had lost and re-gained a bunch of weight on my own in the preceding years, I was JUST back up over a BMI of 40 when I decided to pursue surgery. So, for me the choice was easy! Wait 5 year and then go through all the hoops and still end up paying a bunch of money for copays and deductibles and whatnot or have my surgery within the next couple of months. So I did my research, picked a great surgeon, had a great experience, and I couldn't be happier. My PCP here in the States handled my follow-up bloodwork while my surgical team and nutritionist in Mexico answered all of my post-op questions and concerns. Worked out really great for me!

Mine didn't get THAT bad. I lost heavily from about 3.5 months to 5.5 months post-op, then it all started growing back. Honestly all the new little baby hairs sticking out everywhere once it started coming back were more noticeable than the thinning hair had been.

We store hormones in our fat. As fat breaks down, those hormones are released back into our systems. It is incredibly common to be moody, emotional, and irrational as you are rapidly breaking down fat. Edit: PS, if you are a female of child-bearing age, that release of hormones can also make you extremely fertile, so make sure you are using back-up birth control!