ms.sss

OMG! I LOVE the dress! You look ridiculously hot in it. (I may have to get over my hatred of shipping costs and get the grey one for myself)

First: I want to say that I LOOOOVE looking at my old food logs, so thank you for giving me an actual excuse to do so, LOL. Secondly: the mandatory disclaimer: we are all really different and how I ate may not be doable nor desirable for others. Always check with a medical professional for nutritional advice and make informed decisions. Anyhoo, I looked up what I was eating at the 1 month mark and it was quite empty, so I fast forwarded a couple weeks to when I started eating more "food", so to speak. Here are screenshots of 6 consecutive food dairy logs at the 1.5 month mark. I tended (and sort of still do) to eat the same thing for days, which was/is fine for me. Note that the last screenshot of 150-ish calories was a one-off for this period, I think I may have run out of protein powder or something. As you can see i only once hit my 60-70g protein goal during this 6 day period (though i think i was surpassing my water goals by alot). This improved in the later months.

Well, hello fellow Ontarian! What did you Day? That Today is the Say? LOL (The subject line of your post just gave me a much needed laugh this morning ❤️😂 thanks, lol.) Congrats, and good luck with the surgery! Keep us posted!

Hi! I'm 2+ years out and my sleeve is just as effective as ever, in terms of portion control. The main difference, honestly, between now and the first year-ish is that I am less militant about what I put in my mouth. I was very strict during weight loss phase, and have since loosened the reins since being in maintenance. I don't go nuts or anything, I just allow myself stuff now that I didn't before (i.e., alcohol and dessert, and the occasional processed carb). Given that, I have still basically maintained my weight +/- 5-6 lbs for the past 1.5 years. When I go up a few lbs for a sustained period of time, I cut calories and get back down to my happy place. My sleeve still works as it always did, its just my choices and behaviour has changed.

Scar healing/fading will vary from person to person. You could probably predict where you will fall on the scale by how YOU healed historically. I am on the far end of the scale of slow/bad healing/fading. I am 2+ years out from surgery and my scars are still pretty dark. They have faded somewhat from the early months (and at least now they are flat!) but they are still very noticeable (see pic below...the scars pointed at by red arrows are my WLS incision scars which are 2 years, 2 months old. My belly button is also healing from scarring from plastics 1 year ago.) Generally though, for ALL scar care, it is often recommended to keep them clean and dry while healing, and then moisturize often when they close. Also, it's recommended to reduce alcohol during healing (as it may act as a blood thinner and prevent clots), and refrain from smoking (as it may affect healing as well: stress on heart, de-oxygenates blood, etc, etc...). Further, there has been some evidence of Retinol and Vitamin E topical applications to help by stimulating collagen growth which reduces the appearance of skin imperfections.... Edited to add: Just remembered! For really bad scars, I can vouch for steroid shots. I had some applied to the arm lift scars on my arm a few weeks ago and they have visibly improved. Still not to the level of near-invisibility like i've seen on others (i'm looking at you @sillykitty), but def much better than before.

Whoa. I really should keep up with the app's release notes! No, I haven't tried it (as I just learned about it this second, lol), but I am intrigued...will def try it out! Atta girl!! Edited to add: looking back, my biggest inspiration/motivator was watching my weight loss graph going down, down, down (I weighed every day, and still do, and took my measurements every Wednesday..though don't do this anymore). As well, taking pics of myself during the process and putting them side by side to watch myself getting smaller was quite empowering (but that's just me...)

I only use coconut flour if I am making something that I want to taste coconut-y 👩🏼‍🍳

I think alot of people have had some covid weight gain. Both wls people and non-wls people. Reduction of activity, boredom, stress, proximity to the fridge/pantry all day long, etc., etc. I had a small gain of 6 lbs that I acknowledged mid-summer. As of this week I finally said good bye to those stinkin’ pounds. There really wasn’t a secret strategy to the loss: I cut calories and increased exercise a smidge. Took me 4.5 months (which is a stark reminder that weight loss is not as fast/easy as it once was, as the ease of not eating has decreased by a lot). I’m sure I could have probably done this faster by cutting more calories, but honestly, I just didn’t want to. I accepted the slower loss in exchange for extra cals. Its actually a good thing that you “caught” the gain and are making (it seems) an effort to address it now rather than later if/when the gain is much, much more. Remind yourself the eventual outcome if you continue on this path (an old Before Picture, perhaps?). Rid your place of the foods that are contributing to the gain, and replace with more appropriate foods if u are able. When the urge to eat when u are not truly hungry comes around, do something else: drink water, do some yoga, wash the dishes. If f u still want to eat 45 mins later, portion out a small-ish amount (like 1/3 cup or something) and commit to only eating that until another 45 mins has passed. Rinse and repeat. You know what to do. Its up to you to find it in yourself to do it.

Ok, I know no one asked, but because I am anal and a self-proclaimed research queen, I did a bit of a deeper dive of the reviews on Baritastic and downloaded the app for a bit of UAT: (Mind you I have been using MyFitnessPal for 3 or so years so I am a little biased) I find Baritastic layout quite busy/cluttered (MFP is waaaay cleaner) The set up for daily log is by 3 meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner) and snacks which is fine if this is how you eat, but I eat many little meals a day so.... I HATE ads. Page loading is noticeably slower than MFP (though this could just be me) If I wanted extended services, like social groups, recipes, reminders, etc, this app would be a nice all-in-one. But I dont, so.... Looks like there is no desktop version? Not sure this is such a big deal, but I do find it much easier to import recipes and edit them on a desktop. From the very small sample of reviews that I read, there is a general consensus that MFP's food database is superior (I have not used B enough to have an opinion on this). The big PRO of B for me is that it offers two of the things I paid premium for in MFP for free: Net carbs & timestamps. Based on this, I'd probably still go with MFP as my needs are less "bariatric-wholistic" and I'm a sucker for simplicity (use and looks). If I never used MFP, all the above may not bother me so much. But I did, so....

Oh for goodness sakes. This functionality has been around for 4 months now? And I didn't even notice! This would have been handy 2 years ago!! Just turned it on....😎

Had I not already put in months of data into My Fitness Pal, I might have given Baritastic a trial run...there seems to be generally favourable reviews on it.

I ended up getting the subscription shortly after surgery. I was all about macros during weight loss phase and the Premium version shows macro breakdown goals in grams while the free does not. There are a bunch of other features, but this was the main reason I got it (and to a lesser extent, I also appreciated the timestamp functionality in the paid version). I'm in maintenance now and can probably go back to the free version as I don't watch my macros as diligently anymore. When my subscription year is up, I will likely cancel. Aside: The one thing that I don't like about My Fitness Pal is that it doesn't immediately show NET carbs (i.e., Total Carbs minus Fibre and Sugar Alcohols), though simple math on my part can figure this out. But Still. Would've be nice to have it displayed automatically.

Agreed. Having an established Red Line, along with regular "checks" - like weight or how your pants fit - may help you to keep in check and address the issue before you "suddenly" end up 50lbs heavier or busting out of your pants. While I can handle (mentally) that my weight may fluctuate 5+ lbs, I REFUSE to have to buy bigger pants. That is my ultimate motivation, LOL.

I always think of a younger Tormund Giantsbane whenever I see a pic of Jake...LOL, its the red hair and beard. Love it. Winter is coming....

Meh...Old, Shmold. Alot of us are probably fitter than we have ever been in our adult lives! P.S. if your avatar is any indication, you look great. AND happy! ❤️

@ChubRub, @FindYourFire: Oh, going-back-to-work day is going to be FUN! Reminds me of a wedding I went to when I was about 7 months post op in June 2019. I hadn't seen a lot of the extended family since the Christmas prior, so I looked pretty different, to say the least. I saw one of Mr's uncles who is one of my faves and walked up to him and said hi and leaned in to give him a peck on the cheek. He looked at me very surprised (which I expected), but then he spoke to me very coldly (which I did not expect), and excused himself rather quickly. Ok, so that was weird. During the ceremony, he leaned over the pew from behind me and gave me a hug from behind. When the ceremony was over he explained that when he saw me earlier he didn't know it was me and incorrectly assumed that Mr' and I had broken up or something and that I was the new girlfriend!! 😂😂😂😂😂 His wife had set him straight during the ceremony, hence the hug, LOL. Glad to know that if Mr and I ever broke up, fave uncle has my back! @ChubRub, @FindYourFire: Maybe you guys can show up pretending to be a new hire and see how far you get, lololololzzzzz

I'm 2+ years out and have basically crossed off all the things that were on my as-soon-as-I'm-smaller bucket list, except one: The entire fam became avid scuba divers about 6-7 years ago and it was one of the few activities that I could participate in with them that my weight and overall lack of fitness didn't hold me back from. Anyway...i had to wear a men's XL wetsuit that ended up being way too long on my legs (I'm 5'2"), AND I had to carry 20+ lbs of weights in my vest; which is ALOT...the rest of the fam all need less than 10lbs of weights. I can't wait to be able to wear a regular women's size wetsuit (skin tight and schexy to boot!), and triumphantly reduce the number of weights I need...which, along with my own body weight loss, would make make walking to entry soooooo much easier. Unfortunately, Covid nixed those plans this year 😭. Eff you Covid.

Ok, maybe not the best compliment, but definitely the funniest: The first time the Kid's boyfriend (now ex) met me, I overheard him tell her "Whoa, your mom is hot". He was 15. I was all "awwww" and "ewwww" at the same time. 😂😂😂😂

Correction: I would rather the excess skin vs. the excess body.

I've read of some people using a mini crock pot, or a mug warmer, or insulated bowls to keep their food warmer, longer. In the early days it took me 1.5 HOURS to eat. I just got used to eating cold food. Nowadays I'm even perfectly fine eating leftovers straight out of the fridge. I think one could get used to anything if they do it long enough?

I am noticing this too. It seemed to always come up on here but lately the number of posts of people with the excess skin concern in increasing. To the OP: like most, I would rather the excess skin the the excess body. Note that I did have plastics to address some areas, but other areas (i.e., my butt, and to a lesser degree my inner thighs) are still pretty saggy/soft looking. Of which I would still rather have any day of the week vs firm skin that is filled with fat. You will get alot of responses about creams, exercises, and slower weight loss to ensure skin elasticity. The truth is you won't know how you will fare until you lose the weight. So many things will factor into your end result, as many of the above have stated. The only sure fire way to ensure you don't have loose skin is to NOT lose weight. Though even then, age will eventually catch up to you and there will be loose skin anyway. And fat. It's probably best if expectations are managed and assume that one WILL have loose skin, and there isn't, its just a lovely bonus. The goal here is to lose weight, not to be a bikini model. Apologies to those who DO aim to be bikini models! 😂❤️

After weight loss phase I worked myself up to about 1800-2000 cals a day, BUT I was also exercising moderately to high every day. However, I gained about 6lbs during pandemic due to decrease in regular exercise (and increase in desserts and alcohol, lol). So I cut my cals to about 1200-1500 (and exercised a little bit more regularly, but not to pre-weight-gain levels cuz I'm lazy) around mid-summer and am basically back to 115lbs today (weighed in at 115.6 this morning). Soooo....based on this, if I exercise every day then I can maintain at 1800-2000 cals a day. If I stick to the amount of exercise that I am currently doing, I am guessing I can maintain at around 1700-1800 cals a day. If I don't exercise at all, it would probably be around 1500. Keep in mind though that other factors need to be considered to determine each persons' calorie maintenance level (age, metabolic rate, medication, malabsorbative functions of different surgeries, thyroid function, etc. etc....)