Smanky

I was a slow loser, so absolutely not true for me. These things are just guides, they're not absolutes.

I don't know your height, but a size 18 is a smaller starting point, so as Catwoman said, you may not lose much. However, you don't get to choose, unfortunately! Weight comes off where it comes off. I haven't lost much in cup-size; I went from an E cup to a DD. But they are a sad, sad shadow of their former selves in terms of firmness! You might be fine, but you won't know until you hit goal, then it's a question of whether you go the plastics route, or learn to love the looser version of yourself!

I kept my skin in the best condition I could with collagen support supplements, biotin, hydration and body lotions with actives like retinol in it. Oh and a daily and pedantic application of 50+ SPF. I still have a lot of loose skin (I'm 51, so it's not gonna bounce back much), but the scars are almost gone and my skin is as happy as it can be. There's no escaping at least some loose skin with big weight loss, and unless plastics are an option down the track, leaning to love it is all you can do!

It's life-altering surgery, so I think it's fair to say almost everyone has their "oh my god I'm actually doing this???" phase before surgery day. A massive life change is a big thing to process and nerves are totally natural as it's unknown territory. When my nerves kicked in, I put on music and danced the nerves off to keep myself in a good headspace. But it's not as scary as the mind makes it out. Anxiety will turn everything into a bigger issue than it is. You won't fail if you stick to your plan, and the surgery is a very powerful tool that helps you. Trust me, I always had rubbish self-control, and it still worked. You can talk through every step of the journey and get good support from folks on this forum. Breathe, and focus on why you're doing this and visualise that better way of living, and the goals you want to hit. Post surgery, every little milestone is worth celebrating. It's incredible how the body bounces back into health when you give it a chance!

It was totally meant to be funny - I can't help myself, even when I'm attempting a serious point! Maybe "obesey" will catch on. And I love "morbidly luscious". I think that needs to be adopted immediately.

^This. All this. Especially the bolded. I get that confronting your own weight isn't nice, I get it. It's not nice to hear you're obese. But certain people on social media trying to insist it's a "slur" just makes me livid. I have NEVER had people yell "Eat a salad OBESEY!" or yell "OBESE!!!" at me from a passing car. It's a medical term. What hand-holding gently-gently kid gloves term is permissible now that everyone's offended by everything? Had to rant. It really really gets on my wick.

So you're barely over a week out - it's major surgery and it does take some time to bounce back from the body-shock. Some have a rougher time than others post-op, which sounds like where you're at. It's definitely not an easy recovery regardless, and some people experience very real hormonal disruption that can really bring on some horrible emotional turmoil. Regret right after surgery is actually pretty common. And I know it's a broken record, but it's honestly true - it gets better. Hard to hear when you're in pain, feeling weak, and are trying to navigate a brand new and often overwhelming new life change, I know, but even folks who had a rough time like you will, months later, attest that it gets better and is worth it. If you could have lost the weight without surgery you would have. We all would have. Never having long-term success is what brought us all to taking the surgical help. Be kind to yourself and like SleeveDiva2022 suggested, a bariatric therapist might be a good idea.

When is your surgery? It's pretty common for people to have "food funerals". Leading up to my pre-surgery liver-shrinking diet I did a lot of baking and cooking as a "last hurrah". I'm talking making and eating entire batches of hokey pokey/honeycomb/sponge candy within a day or two, cakes, slabs of foccacia... By the time my liver-shrinking diet came around, I was super ready to just get on with it. I kind of needed to get the baking-and-eating out of my system. Sticking to the liver-shrinking diet like glue was important. However if you really are feeling out of control, I'd start seeing a bariatric therapist who can help.

I weighed myself weekly to begin with, but once it became clear that I was going to be a serial-staller, I stopped weekly weigh ins and went with bi-weekly to monthly. As I got closer to goal, I weighed myself less and less, letting months go by. I found that actually really healthy, mentally. So I hit milestones like "under 100kg", and finally "goal weight" without even realising until weeks later. Obsessing about the scale isn't helpful. I could feel my clothes getting looser, which was much more significant, and I was sticking to my plan so even when weight loss slowed down, I knew I was heading in the right direction.

100% the word "pouch". It's up there with "moist" for me. I won't use it. "Smaller stomach" or just plain old "stomach" work fine for me, since I still actually have one despite it's reduced size. Everything else I'm completely neutral on.

Apples. I'm obsessed with them and having a hard time accepting that Rockit apple season is a couple of months away yet. I like Envy and Bravo varieties too, but the little sweet crisp Rockit variety are the ones I buy by the huge bagful when they're available. Otherwise it's other easy-grab fruit like seedless black grapes, lychees and cherries. I also love rice crackers, including the "crispbread" ones, which I love with Nuttelex and Vegemite. We have a local Chinese bakery that does the best red bean sesame balls and red bean mochi balls, which both my partner and I LOVE. Those are treats to have with a nice soy latte or mug of tea.

Have you had an MRI of the area? I would honestly make enough noise that your doctor has a second look. Sometimes you really need to stress to them that you are truly in considerable pain - and that your medical history will prove you're not a hypochondriac or opioid addict. I haven't had exactly what you describe, but I will say that with my own experience, gallbladders and their removal aren't simple or even cure the issue. I had my gallbladder removed in 2015, years before my WLS. I had a terrible gallstone attack that landed me in ER. Since then, I have had, on and off, gallstone-like attacks despite no longer having a gallbladder. Same sensation. Same building pressure that can bad enough that I have to lie down and just groan the pain out (I live in fear of it happening while driving). I get very sore right under my right rib where my liver is. Then it goes away again within a few minutes, sometimes less, depending on the severity. My gallbladder surgeon was also my WLS surgeon, so I've been able to tell him about it the last couple of times I've seen him. We're keeping an eye on it, and if it gets worse we'll have to talk options, however he's warned me that the "cure" can sometimes cause even worse issues, so I'm unlikely to choose a surgical fix. Apparently what I have can happen - sorry I don't recall the details (I was talking to him right before he did a gastroscopy on me so I was dopey), but from memory, some people can continue to have "attacks" because of new issues with the bile duct leading from the liver. Anyway, that's a long winded way of saying "chase this up because post-gallbladder-removal issues absolutely happen".

I stalled early (week two was my first), and I stalled often - and 14 months later, I hit my goal. I know (TRUST me I know) how irritating and frustrating stalling is, but stick to the program because it is absolutely working.

The BMI is a flawed guide, with "guide" being the operative word. I'm *JUST* in the "normal BMI" range now, and I'm a US6-8/AU10-12, at 5 foot 7 inches. My collarbone, neck tendons, chest bones all stick out, I can see my ribs, my muscles and tendons in my arms etc. I can even see my hip bones through the loose skin. I look skinny - I know I do, because I get a shock every time I see my full-body reflection, and I've been called skinny by others. But my BMI and the Hip/Waist ratio markers all suggest I'm not. My Hip/Waist ratio tells me I'm still quite overweight! It really doesn't take body shape into account as I've never had an hourglass figure - I joke that I'm shaped like a plank with tits. Straight up and down. So don't take the BMI to heart, and I think it would be a good idea to tell this doctor your history. Some doctors don't think beyond their charts, unfortunately.

62 pounds in six months is a totally decent rate of loss. I had lost around that much at that stage. Hair loss is normal and most of us go through it, and I daresay all of us have had a day or so of going over the calorie allowance due to a birthday, or Christmas, or a holiday. There's absolutely nothing to lose hope about here - everything you've described is perfectly normal.

Seriously! I never thought I'd miss anything about being big... but THAT. Floating over the waves beyond the breakers in the ocean was a delight. That is the one thing I'll genuinely miss, because I won't be going that far out ever again! 😬

The cold-sensitivity hit me late. Wasn't so bad as I was losing, but in the last couple of months I have really felt it. I am looking for a jacket now the second the temp drops, even in summer (which has been mild so far, I'm hoping the opposite will be true - that I can stand the heat more when the high numbers start to hit).

I struggle to call this a "victory", because I consider it a negative (Non-Scale-Negative? Non-Scale-Oops?), but I've lost all buoyancy. Was at my sister's Xmas day, and I haven't been swimming in a year. Blobbing around like a human pool float was always my jam. Nope. Not anymore! Welcome to sink-like-a-stone-town! I was treading water in the deep end like a wind-up bath toy, mildly horrified at how hard I had to work to stay afloat. Thus ends my confidence in the water. I may well be the adult with the pool wings next time I go to the beach. And if I do, I intend to make that fashion accessory work. Bonus Non-Scale-Negative: I was so cold in that water my nephew remarked that my back was covered in gooseflesh. I lasted maybe five minutes before I had to get out and get warm. In Summer. In Queensland Australia. 🤦‍♀️

I got on the scale this morning to find I've hit goal (in fact, I'm below goal). I'm floored. There's always that doubt in the back of the mind that says "ahh, you'll never make it", leftover from a lifetime of yo-yo dieting failure and self-sabotage, so to actually get here is surreal. This is the first time in my life I've been a normal BMI. I thought it would take me months to shed the final kilogram, especially since I feel like I'm eating in a maintenance way now and not really watching calories like a hawk, but I feel like it dropped off me super quick in the last month (with an extra kilo as a bonus). For info purposes, it took 14.5 months to go from a 42 BMI to 25. Hard, hard work, but so worth it, and I despite the constant "am I eating too much" voice in my head, I feel like I do have a healthier relationship with food now, in that there's no guilt and shame anymore, even when I've had a mouthful too much. So happy, stunned and grateful that I'm actually, finally here.

I picked 75kg, because I vaguely remembered that being my weight back in 1998 when I was at my thinnest and wearing a size US 8/ AUS 12. I set that as my goal, as I felt confident at that weight. My surgeon's goal for me was 80kg, but I was just fixated on being the 1998 size again. I've well surpassed his, and even slipped under mine. Beyond this I'd like to get to 73kg for that bit of wiggle room, but I don't want to lose too much more as I'm already quite skinny looking.

Took me 14.5 months, and it really slowed down at around the ten month mark. It can definitely feel like it's never going all come off, especially when it does slow down, but as I just found out on the scale this morning, you do get there. Be patient.

If your plan allows for coffee, just use a low fat milk if you can't have the full fat version, or try a plant milk (oat is great in coffee). And of course, no sugar or flavoured syrup. I'm in Australia, so I'm not familiar with Starbucks/Dunkin Donuts coffee, but I've been happily having a soy latte (small size only) since about week 3 post-op. I would take ages to drink it, so I bought a thermos mug and had the baristas make it for me in that. A good latte was almost a daily treat for me, and the soy milk added about 7grams of protein to my daily total as a bonus. A small soy latte is about 75 calories, so one a day worked just fine into my plan. And of course, even less calories in a filter/plunger coffee with just a splash of soy milk. One coffee a day was generally enough to scratch the itch, and even now over a year out, 2 lattes is my maximum, and I often only drink half of the second one. Still LOVE and crave coffee, but I'm not downing four or more cups a day any more. Now TEA on the other hand...

Hair loss definitely affects all of us who experience it. I was on the very cusp of covering my thinning hair up when leaving the house, but managed to make it work with a bleached pixie. Like Tomo, I feel you - I had to really work to keep my sense of humour up during my hair loss phase. Have you looked into head coverings like turbans and head scarves? When looking for alternatives to hats, I found a number of websites that make lovely scarves and turbans for chemo patients and folks with alopecia. It's an alternative to wigs while your hair grows back. Your weight loss so far is fantastic, though! Keep that in the front of your mind and remember that as depressing as it is when in the the midst of it, it's not forever.

Yep, I'm in the bony ass syndrome club too. I almost have negative space where my butt once was. There's just nothing there to act as a natural cushion and likewise it's uncomfortable if I sit for too long. I can feel my tailbone now, which I've never been able to do. So I may be investing in a donut cushion in the near future.

Distract yourself with everything you can. The pre-surgery diet is universally the hardest bit, and everyone just has to soldier through it. The first week is the worst, as it's pure cold-turkey and that means withdrawals from carbs and sugar which are rough. Ask your team if you can at least eat vegetables for some texture? If not, find any distractions, whether it's walking, reading, playing games, doing some DIY. It feels like forever when you start it, but the time does go. By week two, my looming surgery brought pre-op nerves that helped distract me from the starvation diet.