STLoser

I swear by Miconazorb AF powder for rashes like this. I get it on Amazon. The only caveat is that it can be hard to find in stock on there and can take a while to ship. But it really works. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Yes yes yes! Very well said. I was also a person who waiting forever. I was 48 when I had my surgery, but I THOUGHT about it for 20 years. I wish I had done it 20 years ago when I only had 100 pounds to lose instead of when I was almost 50 and had over 200 to lose. And I agree, I don't want to be around anyone who thinks I took the easy way out! It is a life altering surgery, but absolutely worth it! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

I did cut my hair. It was already fairly short, but I went shorter. I got it cut chin length and this did help with the regrowth. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

I had already experienced hair loss (for unknown reasons) before surgery, and I started losing more around 3 months after surgery. It was just a TON of shedding. My hair got so thin that I needed little tiny toddler ponytail holders. I have curly hair so it was easier to hide than if it was straight. I'm two years post op now and I have a lot of regrowth. It will never be as thick as it was when I was young but it's acceptable again. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Also, even if it WERE the easy way out, which it is not, what is so wrong with doing something the easy way!? So we should do everything the hard way or it doesn't count!? We have so many things to make our lives easier (washing machines, dishwashers, etc) and no one accuses us of taking the easy way out with those. Maybe we should just go back to hand washing all our clothes with a washboard. Wouldn't want to take the easy way out! I'm sorry. I'm ranty today. [emoji51] Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Since obesity is considered a disease, how can it be the easy way out to take the most effective treatment for it? If someone has some other disease like diabetes, no one would say they took the easy way out for taking insulin for it. There's so much fat stigma in this society. We can't win. We don't do anything about our weight, people criticize and judge us. We use an effective tool (wls) to lose weight, they also criticize and judge us and say we took the easy way out. I think part of it is that people want to feel superior and feel like obesity could never happen to them. This world would be so much better off if people would learn some empathy, and not judge each other until they've walked in each other's shoes! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

And also, it's one thing if they recommend it in the early stages when you can't eat much. I'm just saying long term. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

When I was in nursing school in the late 90s, during my pediatric clinicals, I took care of a baby that had hundreds of seizures a day, and they put her on the keto diet to try to help. THAT'S what the keto diet was originally for, but some fad to lose weight. I wouldn't go to any surgeon who recommended ANY type of strict diet to me that left out whole food groups. Now, my surgeon did recommended very low carbs at first, but gradually adding them in. It is a very balanced approach and no food is completely off limits, in moderation, of course. I eat mostly vegetarian so that was important to me. Now, I am not a complete vegetarian and I was willing to eat some chicken and fish to get more protein after my surgery. Anyway. All surgeons are different. If you're not happy with their plan, find another doctor who is more aligned with the way you want to eat. This has to be permanent lifestyle change, and to be successful it's important to find something you can stick with long term. Some of my family does keto and it's always all or nothing with them. One minute they're totally strict, the next minute they're living on processed carbs.. It's a total diet mentality which I don't believe in. I don't want to get on my soapbox here. Just wanted to tell you that not all surgeons are gonna say you have to do keto. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Yes. Before I was really fat I (when I was young) wore a size 8.5 or 9 wide. After I gained all that weight I wore a 10 wide and sometimes 11. After losing my weight, my feet are back to an 8.5 or 9 wide. Unfortunately, my feet have been wide since the day I was born. I wish I could lose that too! It's wonderful buying smaller shoes though! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

I felt so guilty when my son was a baby because I had no lap to hold him on. He's 11 now and for the first time in his life he can sit on my lap. But now he's about as tall as me and doesn't really want to be held. Lol Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Our house is in a culdesac at the bottom of a street that is about a half mile long, and we live at the bottom of that street down the hill, which is very steep the whole way up. It is a HUGE hill. I never could walk even partially up that hill without having an asthma attack or having to stop to try to catch my breath a million times. My son started school yesterday and I made a goal to walk every morning after I drop him off. I have wanted to conquer that hill for so long. Most people that walk in our neighborhood never go on that hill because of how steep it is, even the really fit people. Our culdesac is very quiet as a result lol. I didn't get to walk yesterday, so I started today. I walked completely up that steep half mile hill without stopping and was able to keep going around the rest of the subdivision, which is fairly flat compared to our hill. I can't believe I can do this now! It feels so good to not have my weight holding me back anymore! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

This was one of my happiest moments after surgery. I had no lap and had to bend to the side to pick stuff up because of how big my stomach was. Now I can just bed right over, even in the car! Isn't that a great feeling? Congratulations! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Ha ha ha I was gonna say the same thing. I'll NEVER stop buying new clothes! [emoji23] I have been a pretty consistent size for the past 6 months or so though, so I don't HAVE to buy new stuff. But I still do. [emoji12] Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

You're doing amazing. That's really good weight loss for such a short time! We all lose at different rates. I started out pretty fast for me and lost most of my weight the first year, but after about 6 months is slowed down considerably, but I still lost all the weight I wanted to lose (over 200 pounds) by my 2 year surgiversary this past July. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Normal BP, although it had only been high requiring meds in the months prior to surgery. Normal blood glucose. I was right at borderline before. Normal liver enzymes; I have NASH, so that is a big deal! My asthma is COMPLETELY improved. I could not tolerate exercise before because I would start coughing and wheezing and get short of breath. Now I can do things like run upstairs and not even be slightly winded. In the past year I have needed my rescue inhaler once. I used to need it several times a week. I never cough or wheeze anymore. I can't even tell I have asthma anymore and it's amazing! I just had my spirometry testing and it was perfect. I feel like I can do anything now. Then I remember I'm 51 and my body doesn't always agree. [emoji23] Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

This is great! I posted something similar after my surgery a couple years ago. I'm also short and it's wonderful not having thr steering wheel dig into my stomach. Congratulations!!! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

was where you were in 2020. I had my gallbladder removed, found out I had fatty liver with hepatic fibrosis, and was told I would not make it to 60 if I didn't lose weight. I was 48 at the time and just turned 51. I underwent the SADI-S on July 23rd, 2020, and lost 205 pounds. My high weight was 393 pounds at 5'3" inches tall. My liver enzymes are now in the normal range. Only you can decide if wls is right for you. It might be helpful to take your boyfriend to your appt. With a bariatric surgeon. Research as much as you can. Hopefully he will come around. There are people on this board who have family members and spouses aren't supportive. Luckily there is lots of support here. Your bf may just need to learn more about it. In the end, he will have to understand that this is YOUR decision. Good luck to you. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Just came back from a trip to Orange Beach, Alabama. I took a walk every day on the beach and I can't explain the freedom I feel being able to walk so easily in the sand and not be completely out of breath and sweaty with my heart pounding. I think I posted last year that it was great to walk on the beach in Navarre, Florida, but I I weighed 40 pounds more then so it's even better now! Also, being able to go in any store and buy souvenir t shirts is such a great feeling. I never could get those before. And I bought 2 swim cover ups in ONE SIZE FITS ALL and they fit with room! That baffles me! I didn't even need those cover ups because I already have several. I just bought them because I could. Lol Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

For a woman that weighed almost 400 pounds, I could have been a lot worse off. I was able to still do most activities and walk, but everything was SO much harder for me, especially since I have asthma.. I was short of breath with very little activity, and with a bum knee that's had 2 arthroscopies, an unrepaired ruptured ACL, and arthritis, steps were very difficult, between that and the asthma. My recovery was actually wonderful because even a little weight loss helped so much. I don't feel like being as big as I was made recovery any worse at all. Now after losing 205 pounds I can run up the stairs with no pain or shortness of breath and I feel like I can do anything! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

That's so scary. Even before I attempted to lose weight I learned a lot about nutrition and cut most of that stuff out of my diet. It's just all so bad for you, and it really doesn't taste good, especially if you've been away from it. It was hard for me at first with all of this because of the artificial sweeteners in the shakes and stuff. I worked to cut all of that out of my diet a long time ago and I hated it having to add some of it back. I'm happy to be able to avoid all that stuff again. When my son was little I was so picky about everything I fed him, then he went to school and got exposed to all that junk food. He never even had soda until last year at a school party and now he likes it. [emoji849] It's so frustrating, because it's everywhere. Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

This makes me remember my son's teacher conferences. They would always want us to sit in the tiny student chairs. My husband is 6'10" and a big guy and I was almost 400 pounds. Um. Nope! [emoji23] That's awesome to be able to fit into a student desk! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

That's awesome! I love that my size medium and large clothes fit on a hanger so much better than 5x! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Thank you! [emoji4] Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Glad to be here Arabesque! [emoji16] Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

Aw thank you so much! [emoji8] I had a wonderful day! Thanks for the pretty posies. [emoji16] Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app