ms.sss

I’m at the 3 year mark as well (just a little over). I order whatever I feel for (always more that I can actually eat every time, btw) and eat whatever I feel like I can eat. Those that knew me before the weight loss long ago stopped commenting on my eating habits (it’s old news now). People that don’t know me very well, or not at all (of whom are rare meal companions, especially since COVID) have yet to comment, so I don’t really have a go-to response. But I suppose if they did, I’d likely respond with something along the lines of “I’m good, thanks”.

I have been (im)patiently waiting 2 years to cross one of my final bucket list items: to go diving in a perfectly fitting women’s sized wetsuit (not a too-long limbed men’s size XL that I used to wear) WITHOUT having to load up on almost 20lbs of weights in my BCD to counteract all that fat that was keeping me buoyant. COViD has been blocking me from doing this (I’m in Canada and need to FLY somewhere to do this, dammit!)…but fingers crossed this will finally happen by the end of this year 🤞🏼

Some anecdotal input: I’ve never attempted the carnivore diet myself (I love me some salad way too much, lol), BUT, my cousin (39 yrs old, male, 5,9”) has been on the carnivore diet now for almost 4 years now. He was NOT overweight by any stretch of the imagination…I think he told me he was 160 lbs when he started. Today he is 130 lbs. He tells me he feels good, has lots of energy, and while he does not poop often, it is not uncomfortable. He drinks a sh*t tonne of water. As with anything, what works for one may not work for another….your best way to figure it out is to try yourself (with a suggestion to do so under eye of some medical professional)…though it sounds like you already found evidence that you are of that latter group that doesn’t play well with this diet? Are you looking to try it again?

Well if it makes u feel any better, my NUT wanted me averaging 1000+ at my 3 month mark. I didn’t hit that until 2 months AFTER I got to goal, lol My only advice is do the best you can, and so long as your labs come back satisfactorily and you don’t suffer physically, then you should be golden. Good Luck!

One thing that is oft overlooked in terms of weight loss/weight maintenance is muscle mass. Generally speaking, the higher the muscle mass, the more efficient one’s metabolism becomes. From a very un-scientific study of a sample of one (i.e., me, lol) when my body fat percentage was at like 12-15%, I was able to maintain a weight of approx 115 lbs while consuming well over 2300+ cals a day. These days, I am at about 23-26% body fat (119 lbs today) and maintain at around 1800 cals a day. Of course there are other factors at play: I eat way more carbs now than then, and I exercise about 60-70% of the the amount I used to. I think weight loss and maintenance is/will be a forever ongoing series of checks and balances that require monitoring and adjustments and resetting of expectations as needed. I came to terms long ago that this is not a “set it and forget it” type of thing. If I want to stay this way, i have to make some effort to do so…and, if I am unwilling, then I will have to change what I want. Good Luck! ❤️

5’2” female. At the 6 month mark, I was at 97 lbs lost. But this includes ~12 lbs lost during my 2 week pre-op diet, so really it was more like 85 lbs lost in the first 6 months immediately after surgery. FYI, during weight loss phase i went with volume and calories measures way to monitor intake (cuz there is a huge diff between 1oz of steak and 1oz of salad or 1oz of almonds in terms of “eat-ability” AND calories) With that said, at my 6 month mark, I was averaging about 700-ish calories a day, with each “meal” coming up to no more than 1 cup in volume (if I remember correctly). I use the term “meal” loosely as I was (and sorta still am) a grazer. But I’ve read enough on here to learn that my experience differs from many (and is similar to some). I have also learned that while everyone loses at their own pace and implements their own strategies, we all end up in the same place eventually so long as we stick with our plan and make adjustments as necessary. Good Luck! ❤️ P.S. I am 3+ years out now and have maintained below goal weight the entire time. I average about 1800 cals a day with moderate exercise. …. Though, full disclosure, I was 2lbs outside my “happy weight range” a couple days ago, which has since been lost (a couple good poops did it, I think, lol…that and I cut down on the copious amounts of Xmas chocolates I’ve been porking on). This morning I was 119 lbs even, but I feel better when I’m closer to the lower end of my happy weight range so am gonna shoot for 115 and see if I can get back down there without too much discomfort, ha!….we shall see.

Cottage cheese lover here. I often like it savoury too. I’ll sprinkle black pepper, cayenne powder, garlic powder, or salt (or any combination of the aforementioned, lol). Beyond soft food phase, there are endless others savoury things to pair it with, yum!

Food pic dump! Yesterday’s snack: homemade milk bread, chicken salad, Parmesan, & crunchy garlic chilli oil. Ate one of them : 169 calories Yesterday’s dinner : Salad! : 336 calories for the whole thing. Leftovers shown, which i tossed cuz it just wasn’t yummy enough to go back to. I blame the pate, it was kinda yuk (as you can see how i pushed it all to the side) and it touched the other food and made it smell like paté, lol. Todays breakfast/lunch : Another salad! 373 calories. Currently eating it. If don’t finish (which I already know I won’t) I’ll eat rest for a snack cuz it’s delicious.

*raises hand* I do my running (usually 5k, sometimes more) in the mornings on an empty stomach and prefer it that way. I feel like a filled or partially filled stomach slows me down. Though this is probably just in my head, lol Pte-Covid I used to go to the gym in the mornings before eating as well. Was able to do weights or zumba or hot yoga just fine. YMMV. Good Luck! ❤️

Im not “several” years into maintenance yet (i’ve been holding steady at my current weight for about 2.5 years only), but the 2 main things I credit to this is my daily food tracking and weighing. Keeping track and making adjustments (if needed) is key for ME. Its not for everyone, but i know in my heart of hearts that if it wasn’t for this i’d be packing the pounds back on for sure.

Yep, me too. Not a breakfast eater and never was…even pre-op. My first meal of the day is generally after noon. But I do have my coffee (black) soon after I wake up in the morning. Oh, but in the early months after surgery, I used to eat a tablespoon of yogurt to help my calcium pills go down easier…if i didn't, i’d get all sorts of stomach cramping cuz my stomach was empty. Am 3 years out now and the no-breakfast eating seems to have had/have no effect to my weight loss nor maintenance. Good luck! ❤️

Maybe this is where the disconnect is. When one doesn’t understand another’s position or where they are coming from, any advice doled out by the un-understanding one may be more about them vs the the one they are thinking they are helping. Just a thought.

I think this is the mindset that too many suffer from. Results are not as immediate as expected and hands get thrown up in the air. I hope you don’t give up, and continue the course even if it is “slower” than you wanted. We will all end up in the same place eventually (some at slower rates than others), so long as you just keep with it. Figure out what you really want and do all that you can to achieve it. Good Luck! ❤️

There was some swelling, but not so much that I couldn’t fit into my pre-surgery pants just fine. For me (others may be different), my clothing size didn’t change at all. I just didn’t have skin oozing out the tops of my pants anymore, lol. I also had an boob lift with excess side boob skin removed, so i longer had skin oozing out my tank top arm holes…and shirt sizes also remained the same. when is your TT scheduled? So excited for you! PS is a game changer!!!

Small plates are my absolute fave way to eat a restaurant meal (I.e., dim sum, tapas, izakaya, tasting menus). One can sample a variety of food without the commitment of a full entrée. Here was last night’s 13 course meal. Each course was probably the size of a fork head (no more than 2 normal sized bites each). Didn’t eat everything put in front of me…I marked the items I passed on with an X below for reference…which someone gladly ate lol. Figured I ate about 2 (maybe 2.5) cups total in food volume over a span of 3+ hours. Was more than satisfied, on the verge of stuffed…almost, but not quite. There was no easy way to figure out the calories for everything so I just logged 1800 cals for the night (I also had 2 glasses of wine). Now while me and the Kid were happy, the men wanted to go for pizza after 🙄

TreeS! Nice!!

Do you “feel” you haven’t lost weight, or actually haven’t lost weight? Any meaningful feedback to ur post will depend on your answer….

I was given binders and used them until the faja i ordered off amazon came. Unfortunately the faja was too big (and it didn’t come in smaller sizes) so I ended up wearing my binder on top of it. I liked it this way cuz the binder stayed put with the faja under and was less itchy overall. I also liked how i didn’t get muffin tops (nor muffin bottoms, lol) with this setup.

Yeah i still have dumping issues, but only with sugar (all the other stuff is, and always was, fair gane). The dumping symptoms have eased up somewhat along the years…its not as severe and my tolerance for sugar amounts have increased a little. While a few sips of a sugar laden cocktail was past my limit already then, now i could probably have that entire drink, but nursed over a period of time…and NOT on an empty stomach. At 3 minths post a couple spoonfuls of this creamy fruit salad desert made me so sick i wanted to roll over and and die…now,I could probably eat 1/4 cup of it and still want to live lol…but again only if there is something in my stomach already. Now if that fruit salad didn’t have dairy in it, i could manage probably 1/2 cup (i learned mixing dairy and excess sugar hits me particularly hard..,I’m talking to you, ice cream) if i do dump on something, it’s less severe. For instance, just the other day when i decided to skip dinner cuz I wasn’t feeling it, i absently ate a couple sour key candies the Kid was eating while watching tv later that night. The heart racing started in about 10 mins, then I started to feel hot and feel that “hung-over” feeling. I laid down and slept it off. I didn’t want to die, but i did feel pretty sh*tty. No barf nor diarrhea that time, but my poop was noticeably looser the next day. So yeah, i still dump. Its both good and bad I guess. But whatevs, its just part of life now.

The same steps to take even if u didn’t have WLS : condoms, BC pills/patches, UID, vasectomy/tubal ligation, abstinence. Or any combination of the aforementioned.

Some people lose their hunger for a while at first, some for much longer, some not at all. You won’t know how you will fare until you do. It sucks, it may seem unfair, but the truth of the matter is some people will just have to work “harder” than others for the same result. You can only give your honest best that YOU are willing to give and accept the results, whatever that may be. Good luck! ❤️

Junky afternoon snack while watching John Wick for like the 20th time. Sour cream and onion chips and a peanut butter cup: 292 calories Yes, i eat chips and chocolate. Mr. ate a little less than 1/2 the PB cup and a couple chips and i ate the rest.

Always eye opening to see the volume of food we used to be able to eat before vs now. Crazy.

Never say never. I’m 3 years out, and i can (and do) eat anything. Well, except excess sugar in one sitting (i dump)…when i do eat sugar (i.e., dessert) its always just a little at a time. I eat bread, cookies, chocolate, fried foods, sauces, the occasional pizza slice (albeit only when Mr. makes it, as its delicious), rice (in my sushi), pasta (again only when Mr. makes it), and drink alcohol. I go out to eat at restaurants regularly. I’d go even more if it wasn’t so Covid-y out there. So long as my average calories stays at or below my maintenance calories (i track EVERYTHING), then its all good. If my weight goes north of my self-imposed high weight limit (i weigh myself everyday) for 3-4 consecutive days, i cut cals for a while, until I’m in my happy weight range again. I had to do this 3 times in year 2…haven’t had to do it again so far *crosses fingers*. All my labs come back uneventfully. I have maintained below goal weight (127lbs) for 2.5 years…i was 116.6lbs this morning. So i figure I’m doing something right. Some people can have a similar lifestyle, others not due to a host of things (food tolerances, medical issues, temperament, activity levels, etc…). Where you will end up on the spectrum of “foodie-ability” can and will be determined only by you. Yes, you may be one of those that will not be able to “enjoy” food and keep weight off. BUT, you also may be one of the ones who do. Alot of it is up to you. My take is that you have to decide which is more important to you: the *possible* loss of your current food enjoyment OR the possibility of weight loss. There is no wrong answer. P.S. Of course, these aren’t the only two outcomes: there is also “possible weight loss with a NEW way of enjoying food”.

Lunchtime! (Technically breakfast actually) Baked salmon, beef brisket with BBQ sauce and 1/2 a sweet dinner roll: 370 calories. Ate one bite of the brisket and al of the rest. The BBQ sauce i poured over the brisket was too sweet to eat for first meal of the day. I put it back in the the fridge but I already know im not going to eat it later…got too turned off, boo.