AliAqua

I found this PS in my area who specializes in bariatric patients and he has a few dozen before and afters of various surgeries. I am going to link to the "pretty" page that is SFW, with a warning that when you click through to the individual procedures there are naked before and afters. These are seriously amazing transformations. And a lot of the patients had multiple procedures, so even though there isn't a breast section, there are a lot of lifts and/or implants. Peter Fisher ETA: I havent' contacted him and don't know anything about prices, etc, sorry. I'm just planning waaaay ahead.

@@Kiwisleeve If you download them on both devices, all you have to do is log into the same account on the devices. Easy! Sometimes mine fails to sync, but it is resolved the next time I open the app.

@@CurvyCooper Heya, my little elliptical came today. I only did 20 minutes after I assembled it. 5 seated to get used to it, 10 standing, then 5 minutes seated. While I was standing I half of the time held on to the back of a kitchen step stool (like this) so I was a little bent over, which is totally cheating. But it does take some practice (and good grippy shoes -- I couldn't find my sneakers today), changing of foot positions, and getting into a groove so you don't accidentally lock/hyperextend your knees as you do a rotation (but I'm a hyperextending sort of girl, so that may not matter to most people. my joints are really flexible.). It said I did 4.6 miles in 20 minutes, which seems unlikely, but whatever.

Nah, you're fine. Glad you made it through!

@@Daisee68 I totally agree with the flavored broths! I love to add sriracha sauce, garlic, and lemongrass to chicken broth. Sometimes Miso sauce and ginger. Fish sauce is great too! There are a ton of ways to mess with boring old broths. (I get sick a lot because I have a 3 year old in preschool and she's mommy's little patient zero, so I had plenty of ramen-only days.)

@@rking I have 90 days of a supervised diet. I'm so freaking glad that's all my insurance asks for -- if I had to do this for six months before surgery I think I might throw in the towel because that seems SO FAR AWAY. But ALL of their patients do this, and the practice has amazing results overall, so I'm going to be an adult about it as best I can. This month is for getting into ketosis and getting the macros balanced and hitting targets -- tons of fat (75%), tiny bit of carbs (5%) from veggies (almost) only, moderate protien (20%). I'm not even supposed to work out until 21 days in, because of the raging bitch syndrome/exhaustion/hot mess/keto flu that accompanies sugar/carb withdrawal. And I'm not supposed to restrict calories too much this month, either -- 1890 per day. Next month they'll tweak the plan based on my feedback, drop the calories a bit and up the cardio and I'll have to start seeing their trainer at their gym. Same thing during the third month -- drop the calories, up the cardio, fix what isn't working. Then the two week pre-surgery diet, which is two or three protien shakes and a meal per day. After surgery there is one week of Clear liquids, two more week of all liquids, two weeks of soft foods, then a "New Normal" plan that is also a ketosis diet for at least the first 6 months. My docs REALLY ride the heck out of the honeymoon period. They expect their patients to lose 25% of their total body weight by 6 months post op, and if they haven't, they have plans for that, too. It is FAR MORE INTENSE than I was expecting from lurking on these forums for a few months. So far I have made good choices. White carbs, grains, Beans, starchy veg, fruit, bread, tortillas, sugar, honey, sodas, milk, lattes, chai lattes, etc are all totally gone. I did go over my carb allotment one day because I used 4 Ricola cough drops without logging them and didn't realize they have a bunch of carbs, but other than that I've stuck to the plan.

@@CurvyCooper Yup, that's why I got it! Cheaper than 3 months at Gold's Gym, totally able to send it back, can be used sitting or standing, and won't have to ditch the kids/hurt my knees/activate my allergies/go running in 100 degree weather/deal with pizza Night at Planet Fitness. For muscle toning I'm just doing body weight stuff, nothing fancy, but cardio is the first priority, according to my doc.

@@CurvyCooper Mine isn't here yet, but I tested out my friend's twice this week. I didn't use the bands (will try it later when I'm not scared of going ass over teakettle) and kept a chair in front of me in case I needed to grab something for support. I got mostly used to it within 15 minutes the first time. You get into a rhythm. It is a much smaller "step" than a gym elliptical. Takes a little getting used to, but I didn't find it annoying. There's also this one that I looked at -- it has handles.

@@rking My surgeon's practice puts all his patients on ketosis diets, beginning while on our 1-6 month long supervised diets and continuing forever, more or less. (They make you make the majority of your eating and lifestyle changes before surgery instead of after. Wasn't expecting that!) I'm thirteen days in and thought I was going to DIE only having 20g of carbs a day. Last weekend I almost cried while my husband and kids were debating where to go for lunch, but this weekend is SO MUCH BETTER.

I just bought a portable elliptical with resistance bands (This one from Amazon). Very (comparatively) inexpensive, and you can use it standing or while sitting at your desk/couch. Only $140 and small enough to push under the coffee table or behind the couch. Not too shabby.

I love my Mirena, too. I had it inserted a couple months after I had my daughter and was still breastfeeding, so my options were the Mirena IUD or the mini-pill (and the mini pill sounded like a pain in the butt). Not sure what I would have chosen if I could have had the copper IUD, Mirena, or the implant, but I'm very happy with my choice. I'm one of the lucky ones that doesn't get period -- I've literally not had a period since I got pregnant 4.5 years ago.

@@j16 I'm right at the beginning of my bariatric nutritionist supervised diet requirement (90 days total, I'm 5 days in) and still going back and forth about surgery. I've had or will have all my "other" visits and evaluations my doctor and insurance require by next week (iDXA body composition scan, sleep apnea test, psych eval, and upper endoscopy), and I've decided not to fully decide until the 90 days are over, but I'm about 85% sure that I'll have the surgery if approved. My surgeon has an extensive pre and post surgery plan that starts the day you see the surgeon for the first time. I was really surprised. I'm going to stick to their diet (ketogenic diet -- oof. I miss sugar. But it was shockingly easy to quit drinking 1000-1400 calories a day in chai lattes and Dr Pepper. I would probably kick a puppy for a Breakfast taco, though.) and see what happens over the next 85 days. Their pre surgery diet isn't much different, aside from portion sizes, from their after-surgery diet (once you're past the first 5 weeks after surgery, of course). If I can't stick to the plan for the next 3 months, then I know I won't do well on their plan after surgery, either, and I'll re-asses my plans then. And if I lose more than 20 pounds in the next two months on their plan, AND I feel like I can keep it up without a sleeve or bypass (I also have GERD, and we're waiting until the endoscopy to decide) then maybe I'll switch to a non-surgical patient and continue with their nutrition/medical plan. The practice's compliant surgical patients have excellent outcomes 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 years out, and do far better than the non-surgical ones, though, so it is a big maybe on not having surgery.

@@DivaSoBlessed I know what you mean about blowing it out of proportion! I was worried we'd spend the whole time focusing on the bad parts of my life and all the ways I feel like I fail myself and those around me, all the ways I suck, etc. But it wasn't like that. I think the major thrust of the psych eval is to make sure you're not totally cuckoo-bananas, if you are cuckoo-bananas then you're working on it, that you're doing WLS of your own accord, that you're realistic about yourself and life and surgery, and that you've got people in your corner you can go to when you hit obstacles. I was nervous so I talked a mile a minute, and was kinda surprised by how much info I offered up. Yay for confidentiality!

Oh! Something I can help with! I had my psych eval today. First there was a 200ish item computer questionnaire, mostly true/false. Example questions were things like "I often overhear people talking poorly about me", "I always stay away from social situations", "I have not seen a car in ten years," "I often want people to acknowledge my talents", "I am often cruel to the people around me to punish them", and all sorts of things like that. That took 15-20 minutes. After that I talked to the counselor for about an hour. We discussed my husband and kids, relationships, support systems, past anxiety and depression and how I plan to handle future episodes, coping mechanisms, typical diet, how I handled past traumas, work, then we started talking about the surgery. She wanted to make sure I'm prepared and have realistic goals, and that I am aware there is work and pain involved in the process. At the end she said she had fun talking to me and that she'd write up my approval next week. Overall it was super easy, kinda fun, kinda boring, and a little weird. I was a little anxious about it and moved up my date a week so I wouldn't spend so much time worrying about a psych eval.