ms.sss

dinner: panzenella salad, yum! 386 cals for the bowl. (i normally cut up the buratta and drizzle balsamic on it, but it wouldn't have made a pretty picture so i left the buratta in one chunk and added the balsamic after i took the pic) ate about 1/2 of it. again, so yum!!

breakfast of champions (ok not really lol) : chicharron i have not been eating much lately and felt i needed a calorie boost. this tiny snack tupperware cup of 3 peices of the stuff is 111 calories. (my cat sorta photobombed the shot haha)

methinks perhaps they aren't actually sugar-free....

i hear ya. i've been known to have a bowl of popcorn for dinner.

Bulgogi and lettuce (intended to make lettuce wraps but these leaves were too small! 😂) 305 calories for the bowl (ate about 1/2)

finally got a chance to eat something today (gym, vet appt and grocery shopping kept me occupied until now). anyway i was "starving" by the time i got home and i seriously wolfed this down: 1/2 a bagel w/ butter, havarti, and a dollop of labneh: 348 calories and ate it all!

omg that pork belly looks sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

mine started at 3 months...and i lost quite a bit (you could see my scalp). i cut it all off into a pixie to camouflage it a bit. started seeing little chicken hairs sprout up around 6-7 months. those chicken hairs grew to be about the same length as the rest of my hair (about chin length) in another year. and now (4.5+ yrs post op) i have a lovely full head of underboob-length hair. and it even grew in with a bit if a wave to it, so bonus! hang in there, its only temporary. in time it will be just another annoyance in your rear view mirror. Good Luck! ❤️

SHORT ANSWER: (in my opinion) omg yes, totally worth it. its a serious game changer. 1. Does that price sound outrageous? Again it’s a good size job and I’m sure it’s more bc of that?? I've read similar pricing like that on here at times so not totally outrageous...but I am from Canada and it seems prices up here are comparatively lower. I also had my TT supplement with provincial insurance so that helped reduce the cost.  2. Is there anything else I can do to reduce this tummy I know the big procedure is the only way to really do it but do these fat loss clinics (must be Lipo? ) clinics work? If the rest of you is already "small", then probably not. its not possible to "spot-lose" weight without surgery. Lipo adresses fat, it will do nothing for excess skin. 3. How painful was this? Um...really painful. but im a bit of a low-tolerance pain-baby, so.   4. Would you do this in office? I had a choice to get it done in my surgeon's office or in the hospital. But since insurance was covering part of it, the premium to have in hospital was also covered, so it was a no-brainer: hospital. BUT, if i did have to pay, i would probably have done in hospital regardless just for peace of mind. i remember being low-key scared of not waking up after surgery and the idea that there were all these doctors and equipment to revive me made me feel a little better (dramatic, yes, but still!!). plus i could stay overnight with 24hr care.

i started walking the evening of surgery. started with walking the hospital halls, to a couple loops around my kitchen island, to a walk down the street, to around the block, to several times around the block, to an hour of walking around that darn block, lol. By 3 months post op i started trying out other things (dance, yoga, zumba, boudlering, swimming, running). Only running and yoga stayed in the regular rotation. i did dabble with strength training for a bit, but i hate it, so i only did it as a necessary evil for a couple years. i don't do it anymore (surprise, surprise!). PRO Tip: find something you actually like to do and you will more likely stick with it. Good Luck! ❤️

I reached goal and decided to stop. I was eating about 800 cals at the time. i admit it was a little challenging to up my calories...a combination issue with my own stomach restriction and the unanticipated mental block of having to actually eat more. it took me another 3 or so months (and another 10+ lbs lost) to figure out how many calories i needed to consume to keep my weight steady. it was well over 2000 cals at that time (i exercised alot!) I ate alot of low volume/higher cal foods to get around my restriction. Fast forward another year or so when my exercise/activity drastically reduced and then had to figure out again what my maintenance calories were. Settled into 1800-2000 and that is where i am at now (am 4.5+ yrs out). I still track my food intake and weigh myself every morning (which i credit to helping me figure stuff out when a "tweaking" is required.)

had surgery 4.5+ years ago. i told a total of 5 people: Mr., the Kid, Mom, Sis & BFF...all of whom i knew would not say anything to anybody if i asked them not to. BFF was the only one who brought up the "cheat" word, but i was prepared for it, and just took it in stride. People around me would constantly ask about my evident weight loss (un-solicited advice about speed of loss, amount i ate, how much weight loss was "enough", how i sick i looked, etc)...and i too became a master-subject-changer (earlier OP has it right, people LOVE to talk about themselves, so subject-changing is relatively easy, for the most part). If its any consolation, as the months and years go by, you and your weight loss become old news and it is rarely, or ever, brought up again. ...Now...im going to bring up something that is sorta against the grain here: while i don't think WLS is "cheating" by any means (i mean, weight loss is not an exam for effs sakes! there are no rules or laws about how it should be done 🙄), i do actually sympathize with the idea that it was the easy way...or at least one of the "easi-ER" ways. In all my attempts at weight loss, no other method (at least for ME) was as "easy" to adhere to than WLS. Getting the sleeve helped me lose more weight in less time than any other time in my life. I had to put up waaaay more effort to control food intake in all my previous diets than i ever did with WLS. with WLS, it definitely was comparatively "easy". And the icing on the cake is that i have (so far) kept it off. I would only manage to keep the weight off before for like maybe 6 or so months. This time around, the weight has stayed off for 4 YEARS (again, so far - i am not so delusional that i will look like this forever...but i'll try lol) So in short (sorry it took so long for me to get here): 1. People suck. Ignore them, OR just feed their narcissism. 2. Suckiness is temporary. Ride it out until its behind you. 3. WLS makes losing weight easier. 4. You look fab!

4.5+ years out. This one made me laugh way back then, and still does:

YUMMMMMMMERRRRRR!

ah...i see what u are asking now...i just googled how to make labneh, lol. looks like u start with regular full fat yogurt then make it into a greek like one. though wouldn't starting with a greek-like one be more efficient?? 🤷🏻‍♀️ ...off to google more...

i've never made it...always just picked it up at a local bakery....it's definitely a thicker greek like yogurt consistency rather than the thin kind. though now that u bring it up, maybe i should try to make this from scratch...i do have a still-unused "yogurt" button on my instant pot! and i can add my own toppings...ooh the possibilities! lol (thanks for the idea ha!)

bunchy-lunch: texas chilli with rice, parmesan shavings, focaccia and pesto labneh (again, lol) 416 calories for all of what is shown. ate *almost* all of it...left about 1/3 the chilli & rice and one if the focaccia pieces, but someone ate it before i could take an "after" picture....

agreed 😂

feels like forever since i've posted an OOTD! its' skirt and tshirt weather over here today (finally!) ...didnt even need to wear a jacket (but i did get cold in the grocery store though...)

also, my "dinner" just now: provolone and kale focaccia and a couple tablespoons of pesto labneh (omg so good). it was 408 cals for all of it, butbased on the after pic, im gonna log 1/3 of the total as mr. already ate my leftovers.

been remiss about logging my food again since back from vacay. well here we go again! brunch: blueberries, pumpkin seeds and a couple dates: 181 calories ate it all!

i've pretty much been below goal weight since reaching it. i guess you could say i fluctuate, but it happens below goal. i stabilized in the 110-115 lbs range for about a year or two once into maintenance. but the past couple years i mostly live in the 115-120 range. though the past couple months i've ventured above 120 more often than i would like so im keeping an eye on it! (i still weigh myself every day)

old-ish timer here. not sure if my info fits the vibe here, but here it is anyway: 4.5 yrs post and am 114 lbs lighter today than i was when i started. i eat all foods like a "normal" person, but at much smaller quantities per sitting.

to your question: i lost 22 lbs first month after surgery, and 17 lbs the second month. after that it was roughly 10lbs per month until goal. lost a few more lbs while i figured out how to eat "normally" again, gained back a few, lost, gained the same few lbs, etc. today am still sitting below goal weight (i had surgery 4.5 yrs ago. but keep in mind i was 235 at start. lost 11 or so lbs during 2-wk pre-op, and am barely 5'2" tall. its may or may not be ur experience. but one thing for sure, stick with ur program and we all end up in the same place eventually. good luck! ❤️