sideeye

The concern is TSS, toxic shock syndrome - you don’t know what’s going to happen during surgery or how you’ll recover, so my hospital just removed the variable. If there’s no tampon, there’s no risk of anyone forgetting about it. It’s a similar thing to when my friend went into a coma and only three weeks in did anyone think to say “...****, are her contacts in her eyes still!?” Really stupid small things can be overlooked, so better to remove the risk entirely if you can.

Oh, damn, okay - now I’ve got cystic acne cropping up. I cannot express how massively unusual it is for me to get anything but whiteheads (yes, I am that obnoxious person). But I am apparently also exactly the person that the literature describes as unsuited for IF. It was an interesting ride my friends, but I am full-on bailing on this one on day 12: deep cystic zits, atypically delayed Shark Week, progressive fatigue, not just a stall but a slight gain... and my skin hasn’t been looking great either, despite drinking tons of water I’ve seemed drawn and my skin has looked thinner/more translucent than usual. I’m going back to the tried and true schedule.

Premeditated cheat confessional: I am going to do a TimTam slam. It’s going to be amazing.

Oh god, just record and transcribe the entire consult, because we are going to ask every question under the sun. I want to hear the rationale behind lift with implant versus lift without implant!

Nope, decided just to blow everything the hell up today. 12 hour eating window, and a diet mainly consisting of coffee, chocolate and dairy. Come and get me, Jaws.

Totally off the rails today, hit the pantry hard and kept going: Wheat Thins, slices of a chocolate orange, chocolate chip cookies, milk milk and more milk, a Starbucks mocha latte, the remains of a solid chocolate Santa (approximately shins on down), a bunch of Swiss cheese, I think I had a maple cookie in there as well... I'm sure there's other stuff I forgot. NO REGRETS! However I am now going out to buy some spinach.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/01/weight-loss-essay-tomlinson/579832/ Interesting but also a little curious - I think he nails the sensation of being fat in our society, and he knows the science that frustrates weight loss... but two-thirds through the article he discounts WLS. I’m sure there are plenty of personal reasons to do so, but I’ve never seen someone lay out the case for WLS so clearly and then choose the diet-and-exercise path regardless. I wish him luck, obviously, but would have liked to hear a lot more about why he decided against surgery when he’s got all the success data in front of him.

It's likely the stitch in your big incision, and one day you'll feel a POP. Freaky stuff but it's just the stitch dissolving to the point that it'll suddenly go.

Bring an empty water bottle (or dump it out in the bathroom before security) and some of the individual packets of Crystal Lite. When you're on the other side of security, tip the Crystal Lite into your water bottle and fill at a water fountain. That's what I do, I carry about six of those packets with me for any trip. Based on what I've seen from other frequent flyers, one thing that will surprise you is how LITTLE you need to eat on the plane now. I always, ALWAYS over-purchase in a panic in the airport (protein bar, drinkable yogurt, nuts, spare water) and then end up carrying it around with me the rest of the trip. It's also annoying because some airports now require you to pull snacks out of your bag during screening (they won't tell me why). More and more I've found myself just doing the water bottle/Crystal Lite and a small bag of cashews or something. If I'm on Alaska Air, I'll buy one of their in-flight cheese plates. If you're seven months out, there's little you need to worry about after landing. Before four months out things get sticky and I advise that people check a bag with things in it like protein shakes and jerky and other stage-appropriate foods. But after four months you can pretty much source anything you need onsite.

Exactly - it's an interesting gap in his thinking, and he doesn't really address it. It's okay to say "I consider the surgery too risky, so I'm not going to pursue it" but he didn't. He just did this weird narrative 180 and said "now I'm going to pursue the path I've just spent 2000 words describing as almost futile".

Anyone read this article? https://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting-women If things don’t normalize in the next few days, I think I’m going to taper back on IF and aim for 12:12. I’m spooked by the delay of Shark Week and I’ve got enough hormone-related stuff on my radar already. Hmmmmm, also this article: http://paleoforwomen.com/shattering-the-myth-of-fasting-for-women-a-review-of-female-specific-responses-to-fasting-in-the-literature/ I’m definitely not trying to put anyone off, but I wasn’t aware there was such a difference between sexes.

It ebbs and flows. A lot of the people I remember being really active when I started lurking here a year ago aren’t around anymore - some announced their departure, some ghosted. It feels like sometime between 12 and 18 months post-op, people just reprioritize and discussing this surgery just isn’t on their radar anymore. Well, that and there are no truly new WLS-related things to discover at that stage.

I've realized I have no photos for dating apps, which is awkward - a combo of having conditioned people never to take my photo and also any photos they HAVE taken of me are old and now look nothing like me. So have to get on that. In the meantime I'm going to drag a coworker out to a bar tomorrow afternoon, get a read on that scene.

Advice appreciated - will report back when I'm .000005% copper. And I also apologize for hijacking the IF thread. Speaking of IF, how frequently do you have a cheat day (hours-wise, not calorie-wise). Not like "I feel lightheaded so I need to drink some protein or eat some cashews", I'm talking "I am going to go to the bar and drink a gin and tonic and then eat some damn tiny canapés". I'm only a week in, but was very tempted by option 2 tonight.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD, I just made an appointment this afternoon! Are you bugging my phone? Though I am going for the non-hormonal copper version instead of Mirena - my hormones are haywire enough without introducing more variables.

....well. Maybe.

Tindery Bumble, kind of.

I'm going on vacation and my cardio partner who lives in that country just texted to inform me "I am clearing that entire week". Woo! But that is over two months away and I am just going to get flat-out mean if I don't get this dating thing spun up. What's the best dating app everyone's using? I'm thinking of trying Coffee Meets Bagel. The "I'm looking for a serious relationship" apps terrify me and I don't want those, and I also can't believe there's not an actual co-branded "Netflix and Chill" app, which is pretty much what I'm looking for.

I've got a notoriously unreliable cycle (think "on 3 weeks, off 1 week, on 1 week, off 7 weeks, on 2 weeks, off one OH JUST KIDDING on five weeks..."), but it's been calming the hell down over the past few years. According to the app that desperately tries to keep up, I should've started two days ago. And yet... here we are. And I'm usually not one to scale-watch, but two pounds up after a three-week stall just feels mean. Cranky! Bored! God, I'm in quite the mood, aren't I?

I am ravenous this morning and have gained two pounds since I started IF. And my period is AWOL. The hell.

A lot of parents see this as a voluntary surgery, and if you view it with that framing, their freakout kind of makes sense - why volunteer for a procedure that has risk? You're fine! Sure, a little fat, but fine! Just diet and exercise to lose a little weight and don't go through a voluntary medical procedure! Many of them hear the medical reasoning, but revert right back to the cosmetic as the core argument, and that's how they convince themselves it's just vain and unnecessary. It's a very in-the-moment calculation, though. When you sit them down and say "you realize that if I keep going like this, I'm likely going to have to replace joints, right? Multiple surgeries?" and then talk about increased risk of illness when you carry a lot of weight, or talk about the impacts of diabetes, etc - that's when it lands that a relatively safe surgical procedure right now is actively warding off MULTIPLE, NON-voluntary surgeries in future. They have a hard time untethering their view from the individual in front of them who might be fat, but is coping. Get them to project 10 years down the line with you having made no changes, and they'll understand that one surgery now is better than four or five down the line, when you're not as young and able to rebound.

This is a significant factor in my “how to alleviate boredom” outlook. Plan trip, maybe book other trip, lure in paramours.

Meanwhile, I literally threw out my 15 year old kimono the day before you got yours. I don’t know what that means, but it’s weird.

On it - two weeks in March. Most of the tabs on my computer are excursions and hotels. Might be too far away, might need to schedule one next month. Aaaaargh!

Definitely like the longer kimono one - keep it! I’ll try to get a photo of the Natori robe tomorrow, I’m loving the drape on it and also it’s got pockets. I love pockets. I’m hitting this really weird phase where I’m just terribly bored all the time. I’ve had about six months where mental activity/planning has been a huge component of my life - buying property, dealing with a friebd’s sickness, adjusting to a new role, a lot of travel. Prior to that was the whole pre/post op obsession, probably another good 9 months. And now I expected to sort of settle back into my pre-chaos life and I’m really not the same person anymore, somehow? Nothing has really changed, I’m just no longer as content as I used to be with my own company. I’m feeling much more of an urge to socialize and just be OUT. I take huge long walks with the dog in a whim. I’m even going to have to canvas my friends for photos of me to put on dating apps - not necessarily to find The One, but to just provide myself with entertaining things to look forward to. Meh! I thought IF would turn out to be an entertaining distraction but turns out it’s pretty easy. Anyone else hitting this sort of wall 9 months out? It’s like I’ve been engaged in a fascinating science experiment much of the year and my letdown isn’t diet fatigue or lack of inspiration, it’s more “well NOW WHAT?!”