Hope4NewMe

I'm not exactly sure where to ask questions about plastic surgery but I'm hoping someone here might have some ideas. I'm wondering if I got a tummy tuck in early jan if I will be fine for my cruise I have already booked that leaves at the end of april. Its a 2 week transatlantic so a long time and a lot of walking. I would love to look my best for the cruise and see this as like the perfect ending but I also don't want to risk being in pain and ruin my cruise. Is early jan to the end of april for sure enough time to heal and be ready? I will for sure be doing the tummy tuck but depending on cost I might be adding other things in like the breasts and a bbl or at least a butt lift because I have nothing but saggy skin in the butt area anymore lol. Any thoughts or experience?

I'm a year out from my surgery and at my last dietitian meeting we discussed maintenance calories which I have been looking forward to that discussion for forever but I was really shocked and I can't believe I didn't know this after all of my research before and after surgery. He said my calorie goals for life should be between 1300 and 1500 and I had no idea that was going to be so low. I honestly went into surgery thinking that the average calories a person eats is 2000 so I must be eating 3000 or more to be so over weight and I just needed to get back to normal. I thought that I would be able to use the surgery and lack of hunger to eat super low calories and lose the weight and since month 3 I've been at 1000 a day. My hunger is back and 1000 is a struggle now and I'm using all my years of diet experience to fill up on low calorie food as well as hitting all my protein and water goals. I thought that soon I'll be able to eat more so it's just a temporary situation, but now I'm worried about long term success. If I'm hungry at 1000, I don't think 300 more calories is really going make a huge difference. So now I'm wondering if the reason why so many people gain the weight back after surgery is because to keep it off we have to keep our calories so low forever? Also, why do we have to keep our calories so low? Why is the average calories 2000 but for bariatric patients 1300 to 1500 is the goal? I always thought that anything under 1500 wasn't a safe number but when I asked my dietitian all of these questions he didn't know. He just knew that to maintain the weight loss, that's the normal goal and that if I wanted to eat more I could exercise more. So did everyone else know that the calories after surgery were going to be low for life and I just somehow missed this important fact? Anyone know why our average doesn't match the so called normal average? I was really excited to be close to goal but now I'm scared because I can see now how easily it can all go away.

I got a variety of cheap soups since I would be throwing away most of the contents unless I could convince my husband to eat them. I think my favorite flavor turned out to be vegetable beef. I bought broths but didn't end up liking any of them but many other people did so maybe you would too. Good luck and take care!

I live on low fat string cheese and oikos triple zero yogurt. I have it for breakfast every day and sometimes lunch too. I don't know why I haven't gotten tired of them after a year but I still look forward to my cheese and yogurt lol. Do you find that you eat a lot of the same food now? I used to get bored with foods and change often but after the surgery I eat the same foods happily and don't want to change. It's a weird side effect of the surgery for me at least. Grapes are my other food I live on but that's not the protein food you were looking for.

This has been amazingly helpful to hear everyone's experiences and advice. Thank you so much for the understanding, support and great information. I've learned a lot and I'm grateful. I'm fine on my 1000 calorie diet for now until I reach goal and then I'll do some experimenting and see what calories my body wants to be at. I know I'll have to keep watching it over the years too because I'm worried about that 3 year gain I've heard about. It was a shock because I just wanted to feel like I had achieved becoming normal if that makes any sense. Now it seems that 2000 calories isn't exactly normal so I don't have to feel left out. Thank you for the support and help!

I checked your link and it says 1500 to 1700 based on my goal weight, height, activity and age. So I guess that's technically close to what my dietitian said but at least a more normal number. So I wonder why 2000 is the normal/average number when it seems that that's not really the case? Either way, all evidence and advice is that 2000 is not a good goal for me if I want to keep this weight off. I've had to change the way I look at food and daily calories for the last year, so I know I can do this. It was just sad at the time to think I could hit goal and still not be able to be considered normal I guess.

Thank you for that info. At least I can now know that my dietitian wasn't crazy and that it's actually true that I'll have to eat less because of having been obese. I'm guessing we slowed our metabolism permanently. I just wasn't ready to hear that but I can accept it and adapt to it. I'm just going to have to see what my own calorie limits are when I get to that point but not expect it to be 2000.

Those calorie amounts are still in your losing phase right? Or are you planning on staying at that amount for life? I agree that I haven't even tried seeing how filling an extra 400 calories is so it might end up being a non issue in the long run but it was just a shock mentally. I always though the goal was to become average/normal but it doesn't seem to be the actual goal and that switch surprised me.

Today is my 1 year anniversary and I am happy and sad at the same time. I got so very close to goal but I have spent the last month in a stall so I really don't have that awesome feeling that I hoped to have at the 1 year mark. I know this stall will pass too and I'm happy with how far I've come. I made it to normal bmi which I didn't think I would ever see again. I still want to lose at least 10 more lbs so that I'm safely in the normal range but 10 lbs seems doable after the last year. I still have trouble accepting that I've changed but little things make me so happy, like crossing my legs and feeling bones that were hidden. I'm happy my hair has stopped falling out and is starting to slowly grow back. Slower than before but I'll take slow as long as it grows lol. I started a journal at the beginning and set goals for myself and guessed at sizes my arms, thighs, waist etc should be. I had no idea what I should set those to so I looked them up in google for averages for women my height and I actually hit or beat all those measurements except my waist I set to 30 inches and I got to 33. I have a ton of extra skin there though and hope to have that removed so I still might hit that goal I took pictures along the way and wore the exact same outfit and its amazing so see how far I've come. I'll see if I can figure out how to add it here. Its not a great picture of me but it for sure shows the weight loss . I hope everyone else is doing well and I hope to see more updates from others. Take care!

That's an amazing update! Sorry you have had to deal with some bad complications but I love your positive outlook. I hope they can fix everything soon. Congrats on one underland! That's such a fun achievement, That's nice that your surgeon was helpful to reference plastic surgeons. Mine just said that there were 2 in the area and that was it lol. Your current stats for exercise ect is impressive, great job! It's so nice to see how far people have come in a year. The year flew by pretty quick too.

You have done amazing! What a difference a year and a lot of work makes! My last drs appt is this coming up week but my 1 year anniversary isn't until the 19th. So I'll hopefully update at my 1 year mark to make it official I have the same outfit from the beginning that I have been taking pictures in. Its been fun to watch the difference. I haven't taken pictures the last few months though because the weight loss really slowed down but I'll have to take one for the year mark. If I can figure out how to share it here then I will

I am impressed by both of you and your exercise dedication. It amazes me and you should be proud

Congrats on all you have accomplished! You are doing amazing. I love food but I hate exercise which is why I needed the surgery to begin with lol. How much exercise is a lot to be able to eat that many calories? I think if you exercise the calories off then its about the same as not eating the calories to begin with. Maybe its healthier to do it that way? Exercise for me has not been sustainable and I'm just barely hanging on by doing 2 miles on the bike every day which only takes me 10 min. That's all I can motivate myself to do. Maybe that's the reality though. That to stay thinner we have to eat less than the average person or exercise more.

Thank you for your kind words! So you are ok mentally to stay at 800- 1000 calories forever? To me I get scared that that would not be a healthy number for anyone and that we are training ourselves into eating disorders. I find myself very close to being counted as having an eating disorder because of how much I count my calories and weigh my food etc. It's not officially an issue because we're under medical supervision but soon at the 1 year mark we are supposed to be mostly set free, at least I am. I go to every 6 months visits instead of 3 months with the dr. The line is blurry between what we do to to lose weight because we've had this surgery and we have lots of weight to lose and what is healthy long term. I was always under the impression that the goal was to eventually get back to eating a more normal amount of calories, but if we can't without gaining the weight back, what do you do? Is this the reason that so many surgeries fail? Its just scary to me no matter which way I look at it lol. I still am sooo happy to have lost this weight though and I would have the surgery again in a heartbeat. I just need to figure out this next step in the journey. I don't want to fail.

I can't believe its almost been a year already! I hit my 1st major goal of 155 which is what I have been trying to hit for over 20 years but then I of course have been in a stall and have been going up and down the same 3 lbs and haven't hit it again since. So I'm hoping this stall will break soon and that I can keep going. Its so sad to not really feel happy about hitting that goal because I gained the next time I weighed myself and so I can't count it in my head yet. I'm close though so I'm happy about that. Once I hit 152 I'll have lost 80 lbs which is my next goal lol. I'm scared because I seem to have to be very strict with my calories to be able to lose and not gain. I have to be under 1200 and over 800 and I have to exercise. If I don't exercise then even with that range of calories I start to gain or stall. Which means I might be stuck at 1200 and under for life which is depressing because my hunger is really coming back and I've never had a great restriction so every day is a harder battle. I'm using veggies to fill in the hunger gaps and water too but its scary. I was hoping that after this amount of time that eating less and eating better would be natural and normal for me so that it wouldn't feel like a diet. For awhile it was like that but now with the hunger back I can easily eat too much and my brain still thinks I should be eating bigger portions. I'm still working on it though and I'm still hoping to reach more goals so I hope I don't fail this close to the finish line. One day at a time

It does seem to vary from clinic to clinic but my dietitian said that the goal was to get to be eating 8oz to 12 oz from 6 months to a year out from surgery and to stay at that range for life.

My dr recommended around 800 at months 2-3 as a general goal and to make sure to hit 60-80 gm protein.

I had something similar after my bypass from having the iv in for 3 days. It was a very painful solid bump right under the skin where the iv was. It was about an inch long so not huge. I asked my dr and he said it was clot and that it would go away on its own but to use warm compresses on it to help it feel better and heal faster. It took several weeks for it to go away but it did eventually fade. I don't know if that's what you have though so I can't tell you if you should worry about your spot or not. I hope it gets better for you soon!

Female 47 at time of surgery 5ft 5.5 inches. Lost 5 lbs in 2 week pre surgery diet. 232.2 on surgery day. 206.2 after 1 month, 190.1 at 3 months. 171.5 at 6 months and I'm not to a year yet but this month was 9 months and I was 159.2. That was actually fun to look up those stats and see my progress like that. Take care!

I love Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener. Its pricier but it tastes very close to real sugar and doesn't have that chemical flavor most of the others have. I was allowed to use sugar free sweeteners right from the beginning.

Glad you are feeling so well so fast! The liquid diet was the hardest, hopefully you can move to more interesting food soon. The time does go faster than I expected though. Great job on the weight loss!

Every plan and dr is different and my dr says that between 6 months and a year that the oz should be 8-12 with just 3 meal per day. I also have calorie goals instead of just oz though and at 6 months it was 1000- 1200 but the calorie goal was more individual based because if you were not stalling then you could maybe be at less but if you were stalled for more than 3 weeks then you would increase the calories by 100 per week. It was never decrease which hurt my brain because I so wanted to do the opposite lol.

I have had severe pain off and on since jan and had a ct scan done that saw nothing. I don't have any for sure answers either but it might be adhesions from the surgery. My pain was always worse about an hour after eating and my location was slightly different but adhesions can be anywhere that was affected by the surgery. From what I've been told, there really isn't anything you can do to fix an adhesion though. I'm not saying that's what you have, just my experience with strange sharp pains and about the same time frame. I hope you get some for sure answers and feel better soon!

Wow, you are doing amazing!! Thank you for sharing how you are doing. I keep wondering how our group is progressing. You look wonderful and sounds like you are on a great track. My progress has slowed down sooo much. I even adjusted my goal to just hit normal weight so that it would look closer and help my brain mentality. I am really close but I sat at the same weight for almost 2 months and just last week had a nice 5 lb loss all at once. So I'm guessing it was the breaking of the stall at last, But these last 10 lbs and hopefully more might take me another year at the rate I'm going. My restriction is still the same, which was never very restricted to begin with. I'm still not super hungry yet which I'm happy about. My hair loss is slowing and I have baby hairs sprouting up in curls which looks weird but I'm happy to have them. I need to get back into the positive mindset because these last few month of no loss or very little loss has been depressing and I need to start appreciating all the good changes. Thank you for updating though and I hope more people come back and update too

The biotin my Dr told me to take does seem to be helping. I'm still losing hair but its like half of what I was losing. I'll take every bit of help I can get lol. Sounds like you are doing great though - good job! Hope our hair issues are a thing of the past soon.