OutsideMatchInside

@jas84047 Thanks for responding. I was afraid no one would respond, most people haven't posted here in over a year. How much more do you need to lose? What are your daily macros and calories like?

WLS is something that someone needs to choose for themselves or they are just going to be miserable and regret it post-op. Also trying to change someone, not matter what the circumstance is the death of a relationship.

Let me be clear. I am specifically replying to @JupiterinVirgo and her specific situation because she is almost 2 years from surgery, almost at goal, and her hair loss from post-op had previously stopped. Which means her hair loss is not surgery related and is not because of a massive hormone dump, because at this point her weight loss is very slow. So the issue is vitamin deficiency or something else (stress). Since her hair loss had stopped but it now picking up. If you are less than a year from surgery, this doesn't apply to you. Your hair loss is surgery, massive weight loss related. Long term you still have to have your vitamins checked on a regular basis even if you are taking them regularly, because sometimes adjustments are needed. @JupiterinVirgo you should have posted this in the Vets forum

Hmm, it is really complicated and long. First as far as identity and image that isn't just about body image. I spent my entire adult life as a plus sized woman. I shopped in the same stores. I had a certain style. I had a body I was familiar with, and that I did not hate. When I dropped enough weight, suddenly I had to find all new stores to shop in. I went from being an Apple shape to an hourglass. I had to change my style. I used to be able to look at clothes and know if they would work for me. I have to try every single thing on. Even now when my weigh has been fairly stable within 5 pounds for a few months I am still dropping inches and things no longer fit. I was comfortable as a plus sized person and that was part of my identity. Now I am no longer in the plus size club. I am smaller than the average woman in America who is now a size 16 or 18. Not only has the way I think about myself in relation to the rest of the world changed, but how people treat me and react to me has changed a lot also. Women are not as friendly to me as they used to be when I was plus sized. I have always worn a lot of makeup and had big hair. When I used to be in Sephora as a fat girl with a beat face, people talked to me all the time. Normal size, beat face, cheek bones poppin even without highlighter, not as much convo. Men however treat me very differently. I always had men smile and talk to me, but now they really go out of their way to be super polite to me. Some of it has to do with how I dress now, usually dresses (typically bodycon or sheath) and heels. Looking more feminine really gains a lot of reaction from men, especially since most women rarely wear dresses and skirts and that is pretty much all I wear (they last a lot longer and are more forgiving to changing sizes). As far as body image. I read a book that helped me a lot. Spending a lot of time on the internet plus what I do for my career, I am forced to look at what seems like perfect bodies all the time. That isn't really how people look. I use photoshop every day. I know all these images are fake, but I am still a victim of feeling like I don't measure up to those images. About 9 months ago I had a really hard time with my loose skin, but it has gotten better mentally, and physically. The longer I stay in the same size range, the better my skin gets and the better I look. Shapewear and dressing right for your body and personality can fix anything. Watching people whine on skin tight on TLC helps too. I realized they are making their problems worse by having a bad attitude about it. Most of them can't dress to save their lives and that is 90% of the problem. Also I accepted that I earned this body the hard way. Most people will never have the loose skin I have but they will also have never lost as much weight as I have. I wear shorts, sleeveless tops and work out in sports bra and leggings. I earned all these stripes. I think if I didn't like my body before then maybe it would be easier to accept my new body but I didn't hate myself before. If I could be fat and healthy I would probably still be fat. I wasn't a miserable fat person, I was a person with failing health, which was making me miserable. http://a.co/fI9AKK1 I look great in clothes. I look great in clothes even without shapewear now. My boobs look great in a bra and they are fine if I am on my back . Like seriously the number of people that are ever going to see you naked, even if you are dating a lot is really low on a planet of 7 billion. It doesn't matter. Therapists are useless, imo. I looked and tried out a few and all of them are just as dumb as the rest of the general pop. The ones I talked to just assumed that losing weight solves your problems, and their solutions for body image issues were trash. That book helped me think about myself more as a whole person and not a bunch of body parts and remember the real purpose of my body (even if you aren't religious, you can benefit)

How do you know it didn't work for you when You had surgery 2 months ago and are not even fully healed? Get back to us in a year.

Have you talked to your Dr? Feeling nauseous all the time is not normal. Anyone would feel miserable in those circumstances. Also if you are not eating or drinking enough, you are always going to feel terrible. You can't starve and think you are going to feel good. What does your Dr say about this?

I don't think it matters what you count it as. I eat 4-6 times a day depending on my mood and activity level. The only reason my meals get any category is just because I have to put them some place in my tracker I would just count a protien shake as a snack though. It isn't a meal.

Pros: The whole thing was shockingly easy. The surgery was fast and almost painless. The recovery was easy. 2 years later I still barely have an appetite. Lost weight without much effort. Cons: Everyone talks about addiction transfers and alcoholism and compulsive shopping. No one addresses identity, and body image issues post-op. Not nearly as much as they talk about alcoholism etc. I felt I was very unprepared for the emotional issues that come with massive weight loss.

I have been taking vitamins the whole time. I still ended up with Low Vitamin D and Low Iron. Having low vitamin D and Iron will make your hair fall out. The first place to start with hair loss is checking your vitamin levels.

If you change your lifestyle and your eating habits. There are no lies told. People ask about my weight loss and I tell them I am eating healthy and being active. It is no different than people asking how many kids I have. I don't go in depth on how I prevent that from happening either.

I never used a blender. It just puts air in your food and makes it thicker, pretty much the exact opposite of what you want post-op. Food Scale Ready made shakes, sometimes even just shaking a shaker is too much Good firm pillows to prop yourself up

Have your labs done. Low Vitamin D or low iron can make your hair fall out.

No. If you saw me eat you would never know I had WLS. At all. I never cut dime size pieces, I don't even have the patience for that at all.

And in the online dating threads people wonder why I am so mercenary with how I date. This is exactly why. Too many bitter men (mostly middle aged), upset about not getting what they want. They feel entitled to women, and to a certain type of woman and if you don't respond how they want, they flip on you. Women have to be careful, very careful.

What was the age of this guy? I imagine people in their 20s and 30s would expect perfect or nice bodies but that isn't really the case with people over 40. I have never had a guy comment on my loose skin. Men just tell me I am beautiful. I don't date bums either, I date well established well educated men that have their choice of women. I look good in clothes and for my age group, I still look decent without clothes. I have my own issues with it, but the more weight I lose and maintain relative stability the better it gets. Also when I was in my 20s I dated a guy that had massive weight loss naturally, and he had a ton of lose skin on his torso. I didn't care he was 6'7. LOL all is forgiven at that height.

The people that post on forums are either success or failures. No one in the in between posts really. Everyone is going to lose weight in the first 6 months just because you are healing. After that it is up to you and how you eat. If you read enough forum posts, lots of people are stalled at month 9 and regaining by month 12 or 18. You have to understand that these numbers are averages of everyone. People that are successful and people that are not. If one person loses 100% of excess weight, another loses 50% and one only loses 25%. You average that out and it is 58%. I got an A in stats but I really hate it, so you can work the rest out on your own. There are tons of studies about WLS, there are lots of forums you can read. The people to pay the most attention to are the people that feel they have failed, have not met their goal. You learn the most from them, in what not to do.

7 grams is on the high side when there are so many other options that are lower. When your calories and just general consumption is low post-op, 7g is pretty significant when you are taking in less than 100 calories a day. At 2 years out I eat a lot, so 7 grams wouldn't be a big deal to me, but I would never blow 7 grams of my carbs on a protein shake. I think about my macros and nutrients as $$ and I try to get the most bang for my buck.

I drink Cold Brew most of the time because of the lower acid and I just like the smooth taste. If I brew coffee I drink Jamaican Blue Mountain or a french roast. I never gave up caffeine or was required to. I did discuss it with my Dr Pre-op and post-op and he was cool with it, while not thrilled.

Actually that is kind of correct. Most people that are super morbidly obese never lose enough weight to get close to a healthy weight. Even with WLS. Most people that are super morbidly obese are food addicts on a different level. Without significant therapy and life style changes they just are not successful. Think about it like this. If someone is 100 pounds overweight but loses 50 pounds, yes they are still obese but they are a lot closer to a normal range. Going from 250 to 200, puts you closer to normal and since most people are over weight you won't stand out too much. If you are 200 plus pounds over weight and you lose 100 pounds, you are still morbidly obese and possible on the low end of super morbidly obese. When you are more to lose, you have to lose a lot more to make a dent. When I lost 100 pounds my life wasn't that different. I was still wearing plus sizes and shopping at the same stores. When I lost 160 pounds my life became radically different. The chances of starting at the weight I started at and losing 160 pounds in 2 years with WLS is less than 20%. I have actually managed to lose more than that, but 160 is the number when I got into normal sized clothes not plus sizes and I had to change a lot about my life. Almost most people who don't make real life style changes, start regaining their weight around 18 months. The people that keep losing well into year 2 and 3 are rare.

@P-Diddy I started with a 60/61 BMI I'm 5'6 but they measured me at 5'5. Anyway. I have cut my BMI in half in 2 years. Even if you have the sleeve you are still going to have to take vitamins. I took vitamins before surgery and I basically take the same vitamins, so there is no change for me. The amount and type of vitamins you take with the sleeve is less than with Bypass. I think this DR is full of it. I mean if they were really going to push the most effective surgery on you, they would be pushing the DS, which is flat out the highest weight loss period. It is also the most radical with the most maintenance required. Honestly, it doesn't matter what surgery you have. What matters is your dedication, will power (yes you still need will power after WLS). You can eat around any surgery. I have lost more weight than most people in my weight range that had Bypass and I just had a sleeve. My way of eating works for me, I like it and don't feel deprived. I am not in diet mode and I don't cheat. I have a way of eating and I follow it. My sleeve makes it easy for me to follow, because I have very little to no appetite and I am satisfied with very small amounts. Yes, when you weight less you move more. In big and small ways. I used to kill myself to make one trip up the stairs with shopping bags, now I will make multiple trips, I don't care. I used to take relaxing food vacations, now I have active vacations with hiking and watersports. The key is to lose enough weight, fast enough that you feel the benefits of weight loss and want to maintain it and keep going. I think a lot of people don't see results, they never get close to goal so eating poorly doesn't matter to them, they have nothing to lose. Good luck.

@lkerrigan Honestly at 7 years post-op unless you are having some kind of gastro issues, you don't really need a bariatric Dr. A starting point would be to have lab work done and get your vitamins in order if they are not in order. Once you are that far post-op, losing weight is basically the same as it is for anyone else. Track your food, all of it Weigh your food for accurate tracking Be active even if that is just walking Eat dense protein, eat real food. Good luck. Congrats on being clean

maybe 600 max 3 premier shakes a day is what I was on at the 2 week mark

My taste buds never changed, food tastes the same to me. However newly post-op food was just kind of frightening because it might hurt or be hard to digest, so I just wasn't that interested in food beyond eating enough to meet my goals. That changed as time went on. I still love food and I really enjoy my food. I just don't get like a buzz off eating. That mental connection seems severed forever.

I would not bank on it.

This is a really temporary thing. As you heal life becomes more normalized and food is definitely satisfying.