OutsideMatchInside

I have never had a keloid. My scars did not keloid and you can barely see them. I can only pick them out because I know exactly where they are. My hair shed but all of the shedding was not due to WLS or losing weight. I'm prone to anemia and if my iron slips just a little, my hair sheds. It also sheds with stress, and my business is very stressful. My hair is growing and filling in very fast this year. I wear wigs anyway so it doesn't matter to me. I like wearing wigs because they support a more active lifestyle. I keep my hair braided so I don't have to care about it for exercise and I wear wigs when I go places. I really love it. I'm also natural so wearing wigs allows me to many more styles than I would normally. Any time you take a lot of vitamins it can cause a texture change in your hair for some people but not all. My hair is like a #4 but if I am really pounding iron, it will go to a 1B (not talking texture but color), my texture stays the same.

For DS and Bypass patients, yeah, pretty much.

If people post in here, we respond.

I cook for one every day. I don't eat leftovers and I cook all my meals fresh. I don't meal prep, I hate leftovers and I am not going to punish myself with them. Plus I just won't eat them anyway. I keep it simple and cook a piece of protein. Grilled, baked or pan fried. I buy my meat usually a pound or 2 at a time, fresh, with the exception of my grass fed beef which is frozen and some seafood. I eat raw veggies mostly, baby spinach. I buy a bag or 2 when I buy my meat, I try to eat a bag a day. I don't make recipes, a waste of time and money. When I do make recipes it is something like pizza that I don't mind eating more than once, or cream cheese pancakes, which are a serving for one anyway,

I think it is the brands and time. You are a lot further out from surgery than me. I am still adjusting to how small my clothes are now. I am getting better at guessing what fits and what doesn't but I have only been semi stable at this size a few months.

I'm friendly, outgoing, and I have never been shy. I have a big personality and I always talk to people, make eye contact and engage in conversation. My friends have theories. I try not to think about it too much and just live in the moment because it makes me crazy when I think about it. The current working theory is, when I was huge, the fact I did my make up, wore nice clothes and had nice designer accessories and big hair was viewed as "ohh how nice, she is till trying" "good for you big girl". Now that I am "normal" size it is more like who does this B*$%^# think she is. People discount overweight people a lot. I don't ever think I was invisible before but I was non-threatening. Basically I had to realize that previously people didn't value me that much in general. Prior to surgery I might have been worth $.65 on the dollar, but now it is like $.90 cents on the dollar. Also, yeah it is nice to be able to buy clothes anywhere. I had a great time recently shopping on vacation. I was able to buy random thing at the street vendor and not have to worry about them fitting me. One size fits all actually applies to me now. Still when shopping in stores, because sizing is not standardized for women, trying everything on is really annoying. Plus sizes are more standardized because their are fewer vendors. Vanity sizing in normal sizes is insane.

In general people were nicer to me when I was fat. They talked to me more, everything. People still talk to me, but not as much as they used to. They will just say I am pretty or something but they don't try to actively engage me in conversation as much. I never had problems with Men, I could always pull them. but random men are just super nice to me. They go out of their way, like I can be in the middle of the parking lot and they will stand at the door holding the door open for me, waiting for me to walk up there, I'm talking like I'm on the far edge of the handicap spots. Still I had more guys ask me out in person when I was larger. Men won't talk to me in public that much unless they are older or younger than me, it is like I am invisible to men my own age (I look about 10 years younger than my age to most people), but they approach me in droves online. Women are not as nice to me, flat out. I could write a lot about that, but I don't really feel like revisiting it. When i was fat I wasn't a threat and women were nicer to me. Now I get met with a lot of outright hostility. I wear 3 to 4 inch heels pretty much all the time unless I am walking my dog and that seems to be some kind of hate crime to other women. I don't get it but, I get snide comments about it pretty often. If I want to get heels to the grocery store, that is my business. I'm aggressive and assertive, always have been. When I was fat that didn't seem to bother people much but now that I am smaller it is like I am Cersei Lannister.

I'm not sure why people are acting like chicken wings are the devil in this thread. The only issue I have with chicken wings is they are a pain to track, and you can't really track them accurately. There seems to be an idea that people can't tolerate things, and honestly that is pretty rare. My opinion on that is it is based on one, a lot of previous WLS patients that were old, and already in bad health and had RNY. Then when you add in people that had lap band and all the issues that came with it, there is this idea that eating is hard, it isn't. A sleeve is really just a small stomach, so unless you had some other issues before, you are still going to tolerate almost everything. Which is why as sleevers, nutrition and life long changes are very important. I eat chicken wings because it is fattier white meat and basically the only way I can tolerate chicken. Chicken breasts are too dry and painful to eat. As long as they aren't coated in mounds of flour they aren't an issue.

@ryan_86 You do nt look gaunt you look great. I can understand not feeling like either picture looks like you. When I was larger I always felt I was smaller. Now that I am smaller my face is a completely different shape and I look different from pictures of myself. I had a round face for most of my life and that is no longer the case. It has taken me a few months, but I have got used to my new face, but still sometimes I catch myself in the mirror like WTF. It gets better with time.

I think an inpatient eating disorder clinic would help you a lot. Even though you had WLS these issues are just typical anorexic behavior. At a minimum you need a program, and not a just a therapist. At this point, based on what you said about your blood pressure and A1C your health is already at risk. You really need a Doctor, ASAP.

My life has changed for the better but losing weight just trades some problems for different ones. Negative: People treat me differently. I would write a dissertation about it. Shifting identity was hard to deal with (I also had a lot of other life changes in the same time period so it all piled up) Loose skin (although that is getting better/more normalized) I hate shopping. I have to try every single thing I buy on and there are too many variations in womens sizing. I used to love shopping and was a shopaholic and now I just find it annoying. I have so few clothes when I had closets of clothes, tons of shoes, and lots of beautiful winter coats Replacing every single thing that touches my body, everything from jewelry, clothing, shoes, purses, towels, to socks were too large. Positive: I fit everywhere. I don't have to think about if a chair can hold me or if I can slide in a booth. Airplane seats are comfortable I have boundless energy. Sleeping is just basically an annoyance to me I sleep deeply, and wake up entirely refreshed, and I need very little sleep I can keep up with everyone else and lead, being active on vacations I am outdoors more, which I love My lap dog has a lot more lap to work with Everything I own that touches my body is new I have to shop all the time because I am still constantly changing and need things i enjoy time with people so much more because I am less focused on food (dinner is about the companionship not the food) People treat me differently

The only regret I have from my honeymoon period is I started dating at 3 months which was a waste of time but it did not have a negative impact on my WL. It was just a bad choice overall. I wish I had started with DEXA scans and RMR testing earlier but honestly when I was in the 300s I would not have fit on the table. I barely fit when I started in the 200s. I feel like I knocked the food and tracking part out because it helped me change my relationship with food and it made post-op life easy mode. As a super morbidly obese person, I did not need to add any lean mass. I already had more lean mass than most people (still do ) so my only concern was losing fat while keeping my lean mass, which I did by exceeding my Dr protein goals and keeping my protein at 90 or above from day 2. I am in the 120-130 grams of protein a day range right now. Working with a sports medicine team for my nutrition and fitness I think had yielded better results for me than following a WLS post-op plan, but that is a personal choice. Oh I forgot at like 5 months I slowed my weight loss down on purpose because the month before I had lost like 20 pounds really fast, it happened all in like 10 days and it scared the hell out of me. That was a mistake, I should have just kept going the same way I was but, it was a lesson I needed to learn. I don't think there is any losing too fast, it is better to let your body peel the weight off at the pace it wants. Your body is more in control than you are. It will take a break when it needs to, you don't have to build one.

There are a lot of different ways to intermittent fast. I keep it simple with 16:8 Just because it is suitable to my lifestyle. All intermittent fasting does is help you keep your calories controlled. It also teaches discipline. I think one meal a day is a very bad bad idea for recovering food addicts. It basically enforces binging. WLS patients can never get their protein goals with one meal. A lot of the best that used to post here did 5:2 fasting in maintenance. I think fasting is great and having a sleeve makes it super easy but 16:8, 5:2 are better options for WLS patients than some of the other extremes.

You are asking a question that you already know the answer to and you have already answered it in your post. You can drink with no effects so you are drinking as much as you want. You know that is counter productive to weight loss. Stop drinking, until you are at goal. If you can't stop, seek help.

I'm going to be honest with you. You are super morbidly obese. Your chances of losing weight and keeping it off 5 years is less than 5%. When someone gets super morbidly obese (my start BMI was 60/61), it is basically impossible to lose weight. It is not normal for a body to get that heavy. Once your body does get to that weight it will defend that weight. The best option for resetting your body is WLS. You can waste your youth and time trying to lose weight on your own, but it is very unlikely you will be successful and in the meantime you are going to miss out on travel and professional opportunities. WLS is about more than just dieting. It resets your metabolism and sets off a chain of metabolic changes in the body that you will never get with diet and exercise. WLS patients hate when people say WLS is the easy way out. It might not be the easy way out, but it is the easiest you are ever going to lose weight if you work with it instead of against it. You are doing so much damage to your body every single day at the weight you are at, you really don't have the luxury of trying to lose weight on your own. It would be better to have WLS and get the excess weight off as fast as possible as soon as possible. I suggest you find a therapist and stat working with one. The last year of college is stressful and when you don't have food as a coping mechanism, you might experience some issue. The best defense is a good offense so start with therapy now, so you have fewer issues later on. Good Luck @d6g007

If going to the gym is going to make you miserable. Don't go. I was burning like an extra 500-1000 calories last year just playing Pokemon and walking to hatch my eggs. There are lots of ways to exercise and be active. Going to the gym is just a way to mimic being active in a way that people used to naturally be active. Going to work out in a gym is a relatively new concept in human history. Most people were active enough in their daily life (and their portions were in control) that they did not work out formally. If you can't trust yourself to work out on your own and you need structure. I suggest finding a Crossfit Gym. The classes are basically small group personal training. The exercises are tailored to your ability, as you get stronger and fitter, you adjust. At the Cross Fit gym near my home, there are ladies in their 70s and super ripped guys (the reason I go ), and then everyone in between. I hate being indoors so gyms aren't for me. the only way I tolerate Cross Fit is because most of the time the doors (think like garage doors) are open. At home I do weights and yoga on my deck and I walk in the park and in my neighborhood. Now that is is summer, I kayak and ride my bicycle. I think the whole idea you have to go to a gym holds a lot of people back from being active.

I started dating at about 3 months post-op. I was already dating before surgery. I took a break for surgery and then start again at the 3 months mark. Vets that posted here at the time said wait till the 1 year mark. My hormones wouldn't allow me to adhere to that advice. I wish I would have waited until 1 year. It mainly has to do with just being used to your sleeve and being able to easily navigate food and other situations. At the 1 year mark, you are basically a normal person with few special needs. It is just all around easier. All the questions that people asking about telling about their surgery, if people wait till the 1 year mark, almost all of the issues are resolved. A person can eat close to normal amounts of food, enough that what you eat doesn't stand out. At 1 year, people should be used to their sleeve, what it tolerates, how much they can eat and easily able to make good selections. so instead of feeling like you need to disclose your personal medical information to a stranger, you can get to know them and tell them if they are going to be around. Like James said, the weight loss phase is pretty short. Might as well maximize it with as few distractions as possible.

I don't drink often but when I do I just drink hard liquor on the rocks or with water. I have never been a beer or wine drinker really. I will have a few sips of wine with a meal if it compliments the meal. My alcohol tolerance is exactly the same. Insanely high. I couldn't get drunk if I tried.

How you brew coffee and how the beans are roasted totally affect the acidity. French Roast is low acid because of how the beans are roasted. Cold Brew and French Press brewing are low acid. Espresso is low acid. When you get into the various kind of drip coffee makers, there comes your acidity. I had to stop using my Verismo and drink cold brew at first. Then I switched to my french press. I still use my Verismo, but I limit myself to one cup a day or I just use it for Espresso. I can tell the difference in acidity as soon as I take a sip. I don't have acid issues, but I also don't push it.

@sc09 i drink 8 to 10 cups of coffee a day so I am definitely not anti coffee or anti-caffeine. I discussed it with my Dr though.

I think most Chai Tea is high in sugar. I would be more worried about the calories and sugar than the caffeine. You could get the chai tea from trader joes, and make your own. http://www.traderjoes.com/digin/post/spiced-chai Like Big Viffer said, ask your Dr.

If you aren't close to them, why tell them? Do you share all your other medical decisions with them? This kind of stuff shouldn't even be discussed in the workplace anyway.

BCBS does everything electronic, once submitted, less than 5 business days

Surgery is inexpensive and if you have good credit, financing surgery is pretty easy. I would rather save than finance. It wouldn't take me long to get the money together if I was dedicated to it, 2 to 3 months. WLS patients come from many different walks of life and a wide variety of age groups. Surgery in most Latin countries is about 1/2 what it costs in the US, even with travel. The one reason I would go out of the country is because of the recovery houses, since you need help doing things and I live alone. I could have a friend with me, but I don't even want my friends seeing me sliced and diced like that.