Lilia_90

Did an intense leg workout followed by a slow jog on the treadmill. Then it was time for dinner. We had pesto chicken sandwiches for dinner, with air fried breaded chicken breast, pesto, melted cheddar and sliced heirloom tomatoes. I grabbed a half (already had bitten into it as you can see) How I did: Not sufficient protein obv, will have a protein shake before bed.

2024 was a great year. I lost a sh*t ton of weight and became HOT and athletic again, landed a dream job, my relationship transformed and its the best its ever been, I am thriving and thankful. 2025: Travel (3 trips booked) Build my booty back Manage my anxiety through guided meditation Read 40 books (read 38 in 2024) Save more (have been so reckless with my spending) Continue eating the way I do, never depriving myself of anything but never going overboard with anything either, taste and put it down if I didn't like it, prioritize protein, nourish my body and continue to be anxiety free regarding food and lifestyle

For the longest time I wasn't even eligible for any bariatric surgery, by the time I reached BMI 33 (which still doesn't make me eligible in some regions), I also had no comorbidities and no past history of obesity (only was overweight for the past 5 years and most of my weight was gained after a very bad ankle sports injury). I needed to lose weight to relieve my ankle pain, so my surgeon only agreed to VSG. Surprisingly though, I've occasionally gotten very bad indigestion pain that caused me a lot of discomfort, which is considered a symptom of GERD, but I haven't had any episodes except for maybe twice this entire year post VSG and only took medication twice, which I'm thankful for.

I too skipped the whole pureed stage, continued on thicker liquids (mainly lentil and chicken soup) and protein shakes.

I had an appointment with my dentist to get braces which I cancelled after reading your replies LMAO (yes I am serious). I will probably try next year Haha

I have tried my fair share of whey protein and recently tried the biotech caffe latte protein powder and it's so good. It doesn't have an aftertaste and it just blends so well and isn't too sweet so I've been taking it for months are not close to being sick of it yet! Give it a try.

I’ve recently hit the one year mark since my VSG. While I’ve reached goal much earlier on, I feel the past few months have been really transformative. My body composition has improved so much, I look lean, my abs are visible, my arms and legs are defined and I feel so good. My biggest fear (the culprit to not considering VSG earlier) was that I won’t be able to workout as intensely or lift heavy, and that my muscles will wither and die, which couldn’t be farthest from the truth. I workout almost daily, I lift heavy and have excellent muscle tone. I am also so grateful that I don’t have loose skin and don’t need plastics! Life is so much better in every way. I would do it every year if need be. So grateful ❤️ before: After:

I don't know if I'm a good example, but I'll share my experience anyway. I reached goal at 3 months, but continued to lose until about 9.5 months, stabilized for nearly 3 months before losing a bit of weight again now (12 months postop exactly). I lost most of my weight in the first 4 months, then a total of 10 kgs in the next 5. If we look strictly at my journey then my weight loss and stabilization happened early on, however, if we look at how much (context) then it makes sense. I lost around 38 kilos starting at a BMI of 33. Will I lose more weight? Maybe, Maybe not. Now, everything about my journey has been fast, the weight loss has been intense and rapid, my restriction was(is) the bane of my existence, and during the first 4 months I barely ate to survive. I learned that that is not the case with everyone, I have seen people who were able to eat much more than I did and lose a ton of weight, some people ate little and lost weight very slowly, I heard stories where people continued losing for 24 months post op. Your diet is the most important factor and exactly how much you eat, your activity and your new metabolism will determine when you stop losing and what weight you stabilize at. As long as you are conscious about what your intake is and maintaining some level of activity (that is sustainable for you in the long run), I don't see why you won't reach your goal, but when depends of the former factors. Another thing is, what gets measured gets managed. While I'm not a fan of obsessive tracking, keeping an eye on your weight and caloric intake can really help you stay accountable and understand what needs to be tweaked, added or omitted. I say, don't sweat it and don't compare yourself or your progress to anyone. Also, life is too short to live in anxiety and fear, if you lost weight then that is already a win, I feel we get so hung up on a certain number or BMI or percentage or size forgetting that living in fear and anxiety is the worst way to exist, no matter what our body fat percentage is. And, Well done on your success so far!

Congratulations!!! I’m so so happy for you! What an achievement!!

Stalls are normal, and I believe 1 month is very reasonable. While I didn't stall during weight loss, I stabilized at 9.5 months only to lose weight again 3 months later! Now I believe that I was probably in a weight stall for 3 months (I was more than happy to stabilize and stop losing weight, but the point is that it was probably a stall). The best thing to do is to stick to your plan, eat well, walk your steps (8-10k a day), get your protein in and introduce some sort of exercise you enjoy. It will come off

You look dashing!!!

I had a colleague come up to me during my coffee break and hovering over my head saying "can I ask you a question?" and I instantly knew what he was going to say, and he goes "are you okay? You look really thin and frail these days" he is a sweetheart and he is someone I have worked with a long time ago and have great rapport with, so I just smiled and told him yes I am okay and thanked him for his concern. Not a day goes by that I don't receive comments from multiple people on my physical appearance. How thin I look, how awesome I look ...etc. and it's just a multitude of opinions varying from you look awesome to are you sure you're not terminally ill? I asked my husband the other day if he thinks I look like death and he goes you look like a sports illustrated model, which at the end of the day, is the only opinion I value besides my own opinion of myself. People see it as drastic weight loss, I see it as one of the greatest successes of my life, using a tool that helped me lose weight and running with it resulting in great satisfaction and a much healthier body image. I don't take these comments to heart, I look and feel great, and often think that most of these comments aren't personal, they are probably the byproduct of shock. Yes a fraction of them are ill-intended but then again, why should they matter to me? The good and bad, they're just opinions and they belong to others, not me.

Happy birthday to your kid!! ❤️❤️

Weighed myself today and saw that I lost weight after stabilizing for almost 3 months, yikes. So ice cream it was, took the kids for an after dinner ice cream run and decided to have one myself. I was reluctant and decided to lick some off theirs because I didn’t want to dump, but after driving around and deciding that it was a really good soft serve, and I would eat some and toss the rest away if needed, I went back and grabbed one. Fortunately the soft serve machine ran out of ice cream and I ended up with 1/3 of the portion (divine intervention I tell ya) so this was what I was left with, ate it all! (Also cracked the waffle cone that was sticking out and threw it away, nobody has time to dump this late)

I have two weddings in December. Been on the hunt for a nice fitting dress and bought this for one of them. It’s navy but looks black in the picture. I ordered it in the smallest size available (XXS, 0 whatever you want to call it) and unfortunately it was loose on the waist and the hips, I altered it but it’s still a tad loose. Love it nonetheless and thinking of getting it in other colors.

I don’t know about weird, but definitely a win for me. I grew a little a booty!! My booty was such a signature one back in the day LMAO, it went completely flat after VSG. I have been hitting legs HEAVY twice to three times a week and man do I feel the difference. My weight is pretty much the same (although my running average has gone down a bit to the lower end of my stabilized weight). But I am 100% sure my body fat has significantly dropped and muscle mass has gone up (wishful thinking, indulge me).

Love this quote!!

Fixed myself a snack: Spicy Halloumi and Zataar flatbread, which chili paste. Before: After: No idea of the calorie count 🤷‍♀️

I can't for the life of me eat anything that doesn't have spice to it. I'm a spicy food lover since childhood. I was very worried that I won't be able to eat spice post sleeve (GERD) but thank goodness I eat spice the way I used to with no issues. If my food isn't spicy, I'm not eating it.

Not a before and after, BUT! Been obsessed with these baked pretzel crisps and literally can’t stop eating them. They literally taste like thin crust pizza!

Wholeheartedly with you on this. I was fit and in shape my whole adolescence, I had both my kids and stayed slim and never tracked anything. I worked out hard, ate well, prioritized protein and had fun on the weekends and that worked for me for over a decade and two pregnancies. My weight ballooned up all of a sudden and kept going up and never stopped, and no matter what I did I was never able to lose weight. I had a very bad ankle injury 2 years ago that caused even more weight gain (33 lbs) on top of what I had already gained and due to the injury my mobility was greatly affected and my weight was spiraling out of control. Even at my highest weight I worked out 5 days a week and ate well and Nothing! So I understand your frustration fully. The only thing that worked was the VSG, the pounds melted off like butter and I regained control. If I were to go back in time, I would track everything I ate to figure out where the issue lay, I would weigh myself multiple times a week and see what the scale is telling me. I would do this before jumping on the surgery wagon. I wish I did that, because no matter how much I worked out and how well I thought I was eating, I was doing something wrong, and the surgery outcome proves it. Now that is my own experience, I am all for living worry-free and being intuitive, however these tools can give us great insight until we are where we need to be. I never weighed myself regularly (went by how my clothes fit), now I do. I never tracked my calories, now I do a few times a week just so I don't go off track again. There are days where I don't track because I know roughly how much I'm eating, and some days I do just for QA. Again, calories from here and there add up, so it's good you're aware of that. Also, there are other tools out there (GLP-1s if you're willing) that can rev up your metabolism and help the weight loss start again. With all that being said, you are doing amazing and it is important you don't lose sight of that ♥️

Your food looks balanced and healthy. I would ask you if you track your food using any tools? (MyFitnessPal, etc.)? My first guess is that this might be more than 1000-1200 calories? I could be wrong of course. Do you do track everything down to the grams? I am not a fan of obsessive tracking nor do I practice it to be very honest, but when you are struggling to lose weight and you're doing everything right, then these tools come in handy and really give you an idea of what your intake is vs your output. I would say - if you already don't - do invest in a food scale and all the measuring cups, spoons and apps. Another thing to note which has been said time and again, is that not everybody reaches their goal weight, as long as you're happy, fit and healthy, it is kind of the whole point, plus muscle mass that will affect the scale and the whole shebang. As for stabilization, I stabilized at 9.5 months which is considered very early out, reached goal at 3 months and continued losing until 9.5 months and my weight has been stable for the past two months. That doesn't worry me nor does it affect the fact that this journey has been a success to me, success is very subjective and it comes down to being able to (mostly) maintain whatever weight you have lost + building good habits. If this means that you have lost 78 pounds + started serious exercise + dropped multiple sizes then it's a win in my opinion. Use every tool out there for your benefit, but also remember that you define what success is to you.

Trying this high protein, lower sugar cereal that’s supposed resemble Cheerios. Served myself 1/3 cup with 1/3 skim milk. It was okay but way too sweet for my liking.

Made high protein absolutely decadent chocolate mousse using silken tofu, melted stevia orange dark chocolate, cocoa powder, vanilla and cafe latte whey protein. This is so creamy, chocolatey and tastes like the real deal. I had one of the smaller ramekins.

So I made shakshuka for the fam this morning. There was tomato gravy left that I later heated and cracked two eggs in with a slice of sesame sourdough. What I plated (very ambitious, but what’s new) How I did. Has almost one whole white and two bites of the sourdough.