KarenLR75

I SO GET THIS!!!!!

Just starting today so a few days late. I actually have been thinking about needing to be more positive and grateful so once again, you have started a wonderful monthly challenge. 1. Personal Goal - lose and reach a goal I want badly for myself even though it is not 'low enough' for my height. I want to be around 170. The "charts" all want me to be 140 but I've been 170 before throughout many years of my adult life however that being said, I was younger and more physically fit and I had a SMALL waist and flat stomach so most ppl assumed I was much lighter than I was. So perhaps when I hit 170 with all of my excess skin, I may realize that I need to change this goal but for now that is the weight I'd love to reach. 2. Had RNY on 7/25 - Post-Op losing weight stage 3. Am 281.4 as of this morning (from high of 390) and BMI just hit 45!! Can't believe when I started this journey 2 years ago and started a low carb lifestyle (15+ months BEFORE surgery), that my BMI was 62.9! 11/1: Grateful I had WLS. Wish I had done it sooner, but glad I got it done 11/2: Computers & internet connectivity that make it possible to work on employer's network while working remotely. Was such a huge blessing to have a flexible schedule (although we work insane hrs) to help care for my best friend during her battle with brain cancer and then my Mom's awful 3 year battle with dementia. 11/3: Grateful I made it to another bday alive..although I'm not enamored of whole 'aging' thing, as my Dad used to say "it beats the alternative". Kind of feels weird as I'm am getting 'older' yet due to the weight loss and exercising, I feel better than I did in my 40's! I don't 'feel' my age. Oh yeah, food I'm most grateful for - Kroger Carbmaster yogurt! 11/4: Like others said - the birth of my kids. So many sweet memories of them when they were younger. But ANY memory of my Mom & Dad are some of the most precious ones I have. I had INCREDIBLE parents. One of my sweetest memories with my Mom (at start of dementia journey) was us seeing Susan Boyle perform at Bass Performance Hall. It was my bday present for her. My youngest brother paid to rent a 'limo' to see us to concert "in style". Well, this is TX but boy were we SHOCKED when a HUGE white limo with horns on it pulled into her driveway. It was so OVER THE TOP. My best friend who was still fighting her brain cancer battle cracked up hysterically over pics of my Mom in this limo with me & neon lighting all around..she said "your Mom looks like she is being held hostage". We both were laughing when the limo deposited us outside the performance hall and everyone was checking us out...LOL. The concert was lovely and my Mom who smiled all the time but often does not smile in pics...was so happy. We nestled against each other for most of the concert. Oh sweet Jesus, I miss her so much..thank you for letting me have her as a Mom.

I have only had RNY surgery once, but I have several metabolic challenges that result in me being a VERY SLOW LOSER no matter how 'on point' my eating/exercising/etc. is. I was very concerned about my very slow loss, especially as this is the only time I've had surgery. In the first 2 weeks I was under 200 calories a day and the next 4+ weeks, I was under 400-450 a day so the 'math' did not add up. I was told the exact same thing by my doctor and his nutritionist - that after I had healed more, the weight loss would pick up SOME. It did, but I am still a slow loser. HOWEVER, now I am over 3 months out and those 'small numbers' that dismayed me are all adding up. I think I read somewhere, and hopefully one of the veterans can correct me if I have this wrong, but when comparing amount of weight lost at about 2 years out, those who lost 'fast' and those who lost 'slow'...ended up with very comparable amounts of weight lost by that time (assuming all things are equal - like the slow losers didn't give up out of frustration - they continued to work and stick to their plan and exercised just as much if not more as others).

Personally, I don't think children should be allowed to have gender 'changing' surgery. This is another area where I think that they need to be fully grown adults. I realize people may not agree, this is just my opinion. If either of my kids had wanted something like this, I would have insisted they wait until they were out of puberty. I would want them fully aware of firm, absolute decisions on gender and not possibly something that is more just trying to figure out who they are and what they prefer (experimenting). Changing your gender is no joke either. However, that being said since I haven't been in that position and I have heard stories of how desperate some young people are, I will be honest and say that while I've stated my opinion, if it had actually happened, I can 'allow' that maybe my answer would be different, but I definitely do not feel ANYTHING would change my mind if my child was 12 (or any age under 16). On the whole 'should kids be allowed to have WLS' - I think we go back to the point of who is enabling these kids. I'd want to see that controlled or fixed first before any child undergoing surgery. If they are facing life or death consequences due to their weight...well crud...I'd wonder why we'd leave a child in a home where they are being allowed to jeopardize their health to the point of possibly dying but that is another can of worms (do we classify people who enable a child to weigh 300+ lbs at the age of 12 or 13 as being neglectful? I would say so).. Again, this is just my opinion for my own family.

@ARMoma45 - I am so sorry you are going through this! What a struggle...you must have a spine of steel and great determination to have continued working out to that degree with so little calories! Bless your heart...you are back in the calorie territory of our first few weeks! I'm glad you are going to give body a break....did your doctor say anything or have suggestions to help with your vomiting? I think you will definitely shake up your weight loss...where you were at every day, I can only imagine your body was hanging on to everything that it could in order to keep going. Am sending thoughts and prayers your way for a quick rebound!!

I know that those of use who have had a big drinking night in earlier years...and/or had kids...has encountered projectile vomiting. Tonight, that isn't exactly what happened...but it scared me enough to make me feel I need to ask about it. I had 3 oz's of shredded pork (have eaten past 2 days, no prob). This time I added about 8 small pieces of salad to it and had about 1 TBSP of dressing. (Have not had dressing really for a while, nor have I had pieces of salad). I knew after 2 bites...that all was not well with my pouch. I've had plenty of foamies and what I call mini-vomiting sessions but nothing prepared me for this...turn away now as TMI is coming!! I threw up everything I had eaten...had intermittent foamies going on too...then it felt like pouch was making 1 more push to upchuck everything although there was hardly anything left. As I felt pouch start to clench/spasm to force whatever TINY thing that was left, my whole upper body starting from both shoulders and across my chest actually locked up and shook with extreme force of the last amount that was expelled from my pouch. I have never ever ever had a vomiting episode make me feel like my arms were being pulled from my sockets. I almost felt like it was a hard core seizing...I could feel an overall upper body spasm and truth be told, especially in the shoulder and chest area, I felt so much stunning pain, that I was literally afraid as much as my upper body was seized tightly...that I may break something. I know this has to sound completely NUTS! The pain was so bad I could feel my vision starting to dim. I don't know if my esophagus spasmed at the same time as the pouch but whatever it was...it scared me even more than the days I've mentioned in other posts where I've been in so much pain I lay in bed day and night curled in a fetal position..crying off and on. I'm praying someone has some idea of what I'm talking about.

Back in a stall. Am not happy to be honest. Over the past 2 to 2.5 ks I've actually went up almost 2 lbs. I cut my calories for the past few days back from the 800 calories my dr gave me and was hitting around 600 to 700 calories. I managed to get '1' lb off... I intellectually understand that stalls happen but inside my head panic sets in and thinks if I can now only lose ONE or TWO lbs a month - this will TAKE FOREVER! I was settling for maybe a 1-2 lb a week weight loss and had lowered my expectations...as that would give me a loss of anywhere from 4.2 to 8.4 lbs a month. NOTHING like what I'm seeing with most people especially as I'm 10 days shy of being 3 months past surgery. This is the "time" when we are supposed to lose the most weight so I'm getting a bit concerned.

What a difference! Pretty woman before and still are, but you can see how well defined your cheekbones are, etc. Great job!!

Don't feel the only option to someone asking for clarification is to remove your topic. If I followed you correctly, is your main question around the fact that you will now be put into/facing menopause and you've been dealing with several of the symptoms. You've considered natural supplements for menopause but are concerned about impact on weight loss journey. You are additionally concerned as your metabolism basically is nonexistent and are just wondering what other women who are doing this journey while in menopause..have handled things - the whole sluggish metabolism, the hot flashes, the sweats, the hormones dropping....how have we managed to deal with all of this and still lose weight. Is that mainly the question?

OK, some of you know I've adjusted my macros to follow my dr's plan instead of doing my own version which is much lower carb. Basically he has me eating way more carbs a day than I was comfortable with but the carbs are the 'low or lower glycemic impacting' ones. That being said, while it has helped the scale move down a bit...it is like I will go for let's say...8 to 10 days weighing about the same..maybe inching up or down by less than a lb. Then I will drop 2 or 3 lbs. I get leery of updating my 'progress' as I'm still distrustful that the next day or 2 the scale won't just 'jump up' again.. Since I have increased my carbs, I have noticed a direct increase in hunger pangs...growly stomach. Hitting my water finally so ruled that out...I never had relief (except for 2 days) from hunger so I've had to deal with it this whole time but I try to double check whether it is head hunger, old habits cropping up, etc. but honestly...I did not have this same hunger in the weeks where I kept my carbs under 20 grams a day. I felt more..let's say 'satiety' when I was eating more of a keto based diet. I've been a bit frustrated at dealing with the increase in hunger and the DECREASE in feeling well..not fullness...but feeling like I had eaten 'something' and had no desire to even eat another bit. So, I decided the other day that I was not going to wait 30 minutes to drink water. This was a particularly rough day..actually one of the days that I have felt the absolute hungriest since the initial week of pre-op liquid diet. After I have gotten my protein in, then veggies, followed by carb/fruits...and my pouch is not feeling 'yucky', I have started to drink after 10 or 15 minutes if my stomach is still growling. This usually takes care of the feeling of hunger. Anyone else resort to drinking (WATER!) as a way to 'cut their hunger' after eating?

@FluffyChix & @Orchids&Dragons I was going to try to dive into the IF fasting thread and made it as far as detailing out your (Fluffy's) Down Days, up days and I think um..medium days. While I don't mind doing research, I was wondering if along the journey with IF which spans many many pages, did you change over to something other than what you started your IF journey with? I see ppl post 16:8 - is that 16 hrs of not eating followed by 8? I did try to follow some of that & am HIGHLY HIGHLY interested in research and cold hard facts about extending telomeres (sp?)..I think they are called (re: aging). So specifically looking for something targeted to getting physical age when measured by a physician to improve over my true bio age...does that make sense. ABOVE ALL OF THIS THOUGH, I know I have a very metabolically resistant body. Part is going into early menopause in 40's...a crap diet for over 15 years...inflammation issues with messed up knee. IBS issues since a kid (keto helped me out with this a lot). Starting to have ovarian pain so am worried about cysts...you know the deal. Was diagnosed with malignant melanoma last year, early stage, but I know melanoma is a tricky...very very tricky and insidious cancer sneak. I feel like my body is screaming out for help and I want to do what I can, even at this age...to finally...care for it. See if I can reign in or stop progression of some things Of course, one of the top pty's is continuing to lose as much weight as possible during this our honeymoon period as I call it Serious @FluffyChix I would even consider paying you for a session just to help me get a quicker grasp on things. Weight Watchers started that recently with 'coaches' you could hire and schedule time with. Think about it perhaps?

THIS!! 🔼 I forgot completely about what you said here! This ties into my increase in hunger when I have a meal that incorporates one of the low glycemic 'carbs' my dr. has wanted me to eat. I read somewhere...that you should try to eat your fruit with your protein..to counter the impact on blood sugar? I seem to get much hungrier "sooner' and have less satiety when I eat a few ounces of sweet potato than I do with oatmeal...unsure if that makes any sense or not...when I eat strawberries I do not get as hungry as quickly as when I eat a few grapes. I recall strawberries are one of the lower carb fruits... I DID feel tempted to eat more with some of these additions. To make it harder I've been having a rough time this past month with nausea and food like deli meat suddenly just...being almost repulsive but my pouch LOVES carbs (again, not talking white bread, processed sugar...I mean oatmeal, sweet potato, brown rice/quinoa) - things my dr has on my 'approved carb list'..lol). If I eat oatmeal it is as if I took a phenergan for nausea. I was kind of hoping my pouch would NOT like these things as much. On one day when it was really bad at the start of this rough period, I had only gotten in 200 calories for the day and it was 10 PM. I had not yet bought the 'better carb' stuff on my dr's list...I ended up pulling the small 'instant mashed potato' box out of the corner & made 1/2 c. serving...and was able to eat 80%! I had taken phenergan twice that day to try and get the nausea to settle down. Unfortunately/fortunately...those potatoes were like Moses parting the red sea. I told my husband that night...I can't go down this road with things like the instant potatoes/white potatoes...they are too much of a trigger food for me. The next day I got myself to the store and stocked up a modest amount of the 'good carb stuff'. So many things to think about

Yeah..same with me on any carbs...fruit, oatmeal, etc. I had done keto (under 20 grams a day) for 15 months prior to talking to Cigna about surgery..and my dr is supportive of low carb/keto; however, he did want me to change things up as I'm a very slow loser. I figure I have to at least try to follow what his plan is...so I'll just keep following the macros he set which has me at 60 grams a day for carbs...80 grams for protein, and 27 grams for fat. It's an 800 calorie a day (or less I guess) plan with 40% coming from protein; 30% coming from carbs and 30% coming from fat. Fluffychix recognized what it was right off...I just seem to forget even more things each day.

Congrats, Mikeyy!!

CONGRATULATIONS!! What an accomplishment!!! Look at you...shrinking all over!! Am beyond happy for you!!

Good idea to start a topic that would help bring other people dealing with the challenges of severe metabolic challenges. What I'd like for you is to see if some of the recommendations of those who have lived through it, whether they had any med situations that might also contribute to the issue, is actually just to see if how they have found ways to eat that best deal with metabolic resistance could benefit you...period. So that it is a bit more specific to severe metabolic issues..perhaps a slight adjustment to the wording "Severe metabolic challenges almost no weight loss - please help"..something specific about the metabolic issues. I, in NO way, want to discount the role that one or more of your meds might be playing, but in a way I wonder if you set that to the side for now...as I don't think it will hurt...because we have several ppl also on Seroquel plus my loved one who is in her 20's and has severe metabolic issues..has managed to lose 17 lbs in 9 months and has NOT had WLS. Please understand, I KNOW all too well that this realm of meds we are talking about can definitely impact you exactly the way you have mentioned...I don't want you thinking that I'm saying "well, no one else is having this issue with Seroquel"...I just know how much heartache the side effects of these meds and others can cause so emotionally/mentally I just thought for myself...to set that issue aside and see if maybe input of ppl who have tried and true results that have overcome severe metabolic challenges - which is the root problem you want help with..might be easier for ppl to give input on and for you to be able to isolate maybe a new nutritional approach REGARDLESS of the meds.... Does that make any sense at all? lol....

lol...i was a couch potato..and oddly ok with it. I say 'oddly' as there was a part of me realizing how much of life I was missing out on and being older than 45..it's NOT like I'm going to get an extension..ya know? If you had told me that I'd be doing on small day hikes and ENJOYING it, I would have looked for the # of a good therapist for you..LOL!! LOL..you cracked me up with:

Sounds like you have a lot of metabolic challenges going on. There are veterans on here that know WAY more than I do about how bodies that for whatever reason, throw up intense metabolic..let's say 'resistance'...they have a wealth of knowledge and experience with losing weight, even if it is slower, with most of these conditions. I actually am a fan of low carb..like VERY low carb, put you in 'ketosis' low carb as I am a slow loser. My dr's plan though..dang @Fluffychix knew exactly the name for it...I'll look up her reply to my post and put it here...he had me increasing..now that I was, at the time they gave me my 'macros' for moving forward into the 'real food arena)...he had me UP the carbs but carbs isolated to the low glycemic/better for you carbs...kept protein high of course, and put fat as the lowest % which I understood (the fat part of it). the calories were the EXACT same that I had been doing since eating SOME real food....and I was losing like..2 lbs a week...then down to 1 lb...then down to nothing for over 10 days...my 2nd or 3rd 'stall'... Finally I bit the bullet and went into my fitnesspal and changed my macros around....I ate protein oatmeal...feeling guilty the whole time. I also ran into a 'picky pouch' issue and suddenly things i had been able to eat like 1 slice of turkey deli meat...was repulsing me. My calories ended up actually starting to tank into under 400 on some days which threw my body off too. Ironically, the oatmeal stayed down and some days was the only thing i could get in..as well as half a protein drink. Flash forward to past 4 days...got self back to 800 calories but on my dr's version, not mine...and I went to an oktoberfest dinner 2 nights ago with a group of ladies I know. I had baby bites of almost everything. I ate tiny bites of a dumpling, of the meat (NOT sausage, more like a roast)...cucumbers....and as there is another woman there who had WLS who is 1.5 years out, we were talking about what things would be safer for me to try than others..and the whole table started talking about the fact that several German dishes, especially the salads, involved lemon juice, vinegar, etc. - things known to help with digestion. As we had several courses, the "meal" was eaten over 2 to 2.5 hrs. I made sure to stop WAY before what I know my pouch could handle. I skipped a few things that I knew might be 'dicey'..but honestly..over the course of that meal, I ate MORE calories than I had in days when I added it to the rest of the day. I never hit my restriction..truly took BABY teeny tiny bites of things......this morning, i got on the scale and I'm suddenly down 4 lbs! This is with still seeing my ankles slightly swollen from yesterday's jaunting around town. I think sometimes we get so 'set' in what our macros are...that our bodies need to be shaken up. This could mean you need to change your macros and so many other variables. I was going to look into IF (intermittent fasting) before agreeing with members here that I actually should try what my dr and his nutritionist were suggesting which was actually increasing good carbs. I mean..I was stuck...so really...all that could happen is potentially a 'gain and if I did...I'd wait it out to see if it was my body just 'reacting' again. I really thought I'd see a small gain this morning or stay the same. It goes to show how wrong some of my old thinking can be sometimes....and there are MANY MANY ppl on here who can share from their experience...also being ppl who are 'slower losers' than some (i.e fight having metabolism challenges)...I would need to re-read what you posted but I think there are other options that remain unexplored that are available to you to try. And I say this being a person that is ON Seroquel. My loved one is on Seroquel AND topomax. She had a very bad reaction to Latuda which was disappointing. She is making MINOR changes in her meals..and is hiking with me..both of us are SEVERELY out of shape but we do mini-hikes.....I know if she can lose weight with her tiny changes....there are definitely ANSWERS/HELP out there for you..many things still to try DESPITE the meds. I wish you nothing but the best!!

One of my loved ones is BP II and they are now trying to decided if she also has BPD. She gained a TON of weight from Abilify..which was billed inititally as 'Weight-Neutral". Weight-Neutral my AS*! She also takes Seroquel and now I'm wondering how much a role this might have played in her carb binging (although this is also typical of Bipolar disorder as well - i.e. not in relation to a med alone). She was on Lamictal as her first line mood stabilizer for a long time and just recently had to be switched to Lithium. I am not BP but I have been on Seroquel for a few years for sleep and anxiety. I have a fairly vicious shift work disorder situation going on and regular sleep meds like Temazepam just don't cut it. I'm on 150 mgs. I haven't noticed weight gain on it but I know meds like this along with the front line mood stabilizers...can bring with them much good, but also sometimes very undesired side effects. I've normally seen the ppl in my life gain the most from the atypical anti-psychotics. I DO know seroquel can impact your cholesterol for sure. The one thing I know for sure is that all of these very important meds bring a host of side effects and many are known impacters on several things that could negatively impact your weight along with simply having bipolar. Would be nice to see more conversations about trying to do this while dealing with some fairly difficult...emotional/mental/spiritual challenges. I know how hard a road it is to walk...with significant challenges like this, while I do not have BP myself, someone who is EXTREMELY close to me...I watch her suffer so much...it breaks my heart over and over...and then add on top of it that she has gained over 100 lbs in a year...on top of already being MO. I just love her so much..and am tired of seeing how life...just continues to throw so many unfair and awful situations her way. I KNOW life is NOT fair, but when you have something like bipolar as a diagnosis..unless you've been there/been beside someone going thru it, it is hard to explain how much it impacts every single aspect of your life sometimes...

Ironically, I never worked out prior to surgery..well, I did often swim because I have a pool but due to having a torn up right knee, I cannot swim laps like I used to when I was a teen on the swim team at school. What I have found since surgery...and I'm roughly..um..11 or 12 weeks out so still in the 'early phase'..not in terms of the 'liquid vs. pureed vs soft food stages', but in terms of the weight loss journey...I have never DESIRED to walk/hike, etc. but I have found that I have surges of energy...and the actual...looking forward to my easy/flat/even/off road hikes. I have found out along with these energy surges, if I'm not careful, they can 'erode' based on what I've been able to consume in terms of water and protein, if it is 100 degrees outside, particularly if humid, how many calories I've been able to get in, if I've taken all my vitamins, etc. What I find so surprising is I didn't realize I would feel ANY energy surges. I find myself not sleeping in as long on the weekends...and getting out of bed with more energy. Back in the earlier weeks....like weeks 3-5 after surgery, I started to feel this but found out I had to be careful not to 'run full tilt' with the energy as I would overdo things. Now if at home and overdoing it, let's just say maybe I swam/paddled around pool and then got out and tackled X # of chores, I could all of a sudden get hit with feeling worn out. This is no prob as I could stop, sit down, hydrate, try to get protein in...it is when I was OUT, that I had to be careful about...'trying to keep my energy output more controlled'... Does this make sense at all? Example, if into trying to hit 2 miles on a hike with temps of anywhere from 98 to 100+ degrees AND it was really HUMID, I could find myself in a great deal of distress that would hit suddenly as I was not just expending energy walking, but also the environmental conditions - temp, humidity, etc. would leech so much from my body that I could find myself in mid-hike feeling dizzy...wiped out...and in some places..nowhere to sit and recover..and then wondering if I could even turn around at that point and make it back to the car! I finally compensated for this by basically not only counting steps, but timing how long I was out in the heat and basically 'under-hiking'. It was far more important to know I had gotten some exercise but also safely make it back. Next week we are supposed to drop into the high 70's here!! I can't wait to see how far I can go in these temps..plus now I'm 11 weeks out...and I have a better feel for what I can do...although I will still get surprised every now & then.

I'm the 'stand in person' at the last moment to take my 89 year old MIL to see Phantom of the Opera at the Bass Hall here in Fort Worth. The dress is LEGIT forest green and has white twisting vine/flower things on it. I'm freaked out as I absolutely have no idea what color shoes to wear with this color combo. I only have my extra large black sandals (not nice enough for the event) that I wear as my feet swell..and um...another pair of black sandals, slightly nicer. Do I try to find what...nude/tan shoes? silver shoes? White shoes (did the whole 'don't wear white after Labor Day' finally go away? Serious legit head explosion going to happen...the event is this coming Saturday so i have roughly 4 days to find shoes. I just bought this dress for this occasion and hate the idea of scrapping it. Help all you fabulous DIVA and OOTD savvy dressing ladies!!

LOL..too funny. I was an Air Force brat...was born up North..but like 'literal' North from Texas...was born in North Dakota. Also rest of family is in PA

And we are BOTH in Texas...LOL

OK, ladies! After unearthing all of my clutches/evening bags and even one purse that I think is oversized for the occasion..and it has a gold embellishment...as does one of the small oops Anne Klein evening bag/mini purse. I had thought about going the 'silver route' The 2 evening bags that I have, however are black with silver. They are pictured. I also have a Chanel bag that is brand new and it has silver accents where the handles attach. Then I found 2 pairs of shoes that are not my 'daily run down sandals'. I think the color of the one pair is more of a 'pewter'...unsure if this would look ok..i.e. not silver..when they are on my feet. The other pair is completely black ..they are not super comfortable but I could probably stand them for a 2.5 hour show. I may have to see if my feet will fit into them....but this is a general idea of what I have. I am prepared to go get a pair of shoes tonight if it doesn't look like these will work, there are a few places having decent sales. My MIL is a very...semi high society lady and while we had our differences when I was younger. I've grown to appreciate her and love her. I adored my FIL and like my parents...I miss them all so very much. The one other thing I realized today is that the very last time I went to Bass Hall was with my Mom to see Susan Boyle sing. This was right when her dementia was starting in (we didn't know it yet)..so it is going to be hard in some ways to walk back in there. Anyways, back to decisions, decisions...I'm hoping some pics may help. I truly appreciate everyone's help with this. I

I love this...but I'm like day-glo pasty white..lol. I totally get what you actually mean though!