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Just finished a Half Marathon in ~2:10. Not too shabby for an old man that had a total knee replacement and open heart surgery, and that used to weight >330 lbs a couple of years ago. That's all, thanks for indulging me! 😀

i'm with @catwoman7. i am sooooooo pleased with my much smaller boobs now. clothes fit soooooo much better (no more gaping buttons, or required safety pins); exercise/running is so much more comfortable (no black eyes, lol); bras and bathing suits no longer dig into my shoulders; i can go braless and be completely fine. i love it. my boobie before and after: (note that i am quite small...5'2", 113.5 lbs this morning, so my bra size and the boobs that fill them will not look the same on a bigger frame). oh, also i had a breast lift in dec 2019, so that totally helped with the deflated-sagging-boob-tube-sock look.

Congratulations on achieving onderland! Yay! What weight to stop losing at & how to pick a goal weight are interesting questions and you’ll get different responses. I believe it comes down to where your new set point is (the weight your body is happy at & will keep pulling you back to). It’s the weight where you’re not losing anymore and you have reached a sustainable balance of the number of calories you consume and the activity you do. It’s the weight where you’re happy with how you look & feel too. I had a goal (same as yours) which was the low weight I always dropped to before regaining back up from. I exceeded that. I kept losing until my calorie intake which I was increasing and activity level was in balance. I eat in a way that is sustainable & I don’t feel like I’m missing out or if I’m on a continuous diet or that I have to exercise first hours a day. Some reach a weight but found it wasn’t sustainable or they didn’t feel comfortable at so they gain a little. Remember your new set point may not be where you would like it to be. Also your lowest weight may not be where you end up either. Bounce back (a regain of 10 - 20lbs) is always a possibility & can be due to your body resettling, you realising you need more flexibility in the what you eat & the activity you do to find a better life balance, some conplacency, your new set point, etc. Be flexible in your goal. If you don’t reach it, that’s okay. You’ll be in a better healthier place regardless of the number in the scale. Reach a sustainable balance (food intake & activity) in your life that allows you to live & enjoy your life & doesn’t restrict or limit you. All the best.

Hi Meg! I had a lapband for 14 years and successfully kept off 100 pounds. I was never hungry with it. Sadly, it died in 2023 and had to be removed. The first weeks without it were glorious-- I was able to eat things I missed--- salads, brocolli, bagels. I told myself I would stil eat smaller meals but it was impossible without my tool. I started eating bagels weekly, would have a second slice of pizza, etc. I tired to keep my calories to 1500 but even then I was still eating more. than the 800 cal a day with the band. The weight packed on quickly. I gained 30 pounds in 4 months. And all 100 pounds within 10 months. I totallty failed. With the added. weight, came all of the medical problems again. My blood pressure went up, I had the rashes and skin rub, my plantar facuitis made it impossible to walk far.I hated myself again. I was finaly approved for a revision and converted to RNYGB a week ago. I am taking my life back and only wish I had pushed for a revision at the get go.

Everyone has different plans from their doctors but in all of them I have never heard of being on regular food after 2.5 weeks. Do you mean non liquid phase and that you are normal food but soft? I hope so as that is all your stomach should be handling now as you can't digest normal food at this stage, which is what may cause the vomitting and pain. It should be no water 30 minutes before and after a meal so maybe if you are only leaving it 10 minutes that is causing the problem? I did have gas issues but it was caused by complications so not the same for you I am sure. Could you ask your doctor about taking something to help with reflux?

Congrats on 10 years! I think we all will have ups and downs our whole lives! Just life! I too was 277 at my highest ever. Lost 100 lbs before and 60 lbs three times, and 20 and 30 lbs several times and it always came back slowly over the next few years. So I got the sleeve done Dec 2 last year and have gone from 244 at start of liquids before surgery to 202.4 today. Almost to Onederland! I love all the tips you shared. Snacking and drinking calories are DEFINITELY culprits to regaining our weight! I bring divided out grapefruit every day lately if I do want something. Or berries or cucumbers. And I've been drinking water during the week and add in my tea and coffee on the weekends usually. But I use Stevia. I was divorced a few years back also and remarried and my husband is pre-diabetic. He doesn't eat sugar now so that helps me too. 🙂 He eats healthier than I do since he found that out too. Determined to not become diabetic. He eats baked fish, grilled shrimp, spinach and cabbage, etc. LOL! He's got some great willpower. You and I seem to have lots in common! But I don't like beer. LOL! It's probably better for me though than pina coladas, which are my fave! LOL! I haven't had one in a year or longer. And just had surgery about 3 months ago. You can tell I hardly drink at all. 🤣 I am so glad to know restriction stays! Some people say it fades. I'm glad it doesn't! Hopefully we can continue to lose and get to a weight we are happy with this year! 💗

Hi. I’m also 4 weeks pos-op and I have lost 19 lbs. I had the sleeve as well.

Research does support the idea that BMR will be lower in a formerly obese person vs. someone of the same body composition that was never obese, but the magnitude of the effect was only 3-5%. I'm not discounting the 300-400 calorie number entirely, I'm just saying that if it's accurate, only maybe 50-70 calories of that is coming from BMR. The rest is coming from something else like activity level. Keep in mind that the most common way to quantify total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), is with a 4 component model: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is sometimes listed as Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), although that is slightly different. Either way, this is a way of quantifying how much energy your body burns just to keep you alive. Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (EAT). This is calories burned in intentional exercise, such as running, cycling, etc. Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). This is all the other activity you do aside from intentional exercise. You can think of this as things like cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. Some people refer to this type of thing as "activities of daily living", although other things also fall into the NEAT bucket like fidgeting, how much you stand vs. sit, etc. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF). Note there is no such thing as a negative calorie food. That said, it does take some calories to digest the food we eat. On average, it's about 10% (so if you eat 1500 calories, it takes 150 calories to digest that). Note that protein tends to be a higher percentage, yet another reason to eat more protein. While it's potentially possible that formerly obese people are somehow more efficient at digestion (meaning some of the effect could come from here), this could only account for a very small difference since TEF is just a small percent of your overall calorie burn to start with. The reason I wanted to list all that is if BMR of formerly obese people is only downregulated 3-5%, then any potential 300-400 kcal/day difference would have to come from somewhere else like NEAT. Since NEAT is known to be lower in obese people as well, it's likely the bulk of the difference here is simply coming from less daily movement (perhaps habit?). This also means it's likely highly variable. The good news to me is this should also mean it's changeable as well. Food for thought.

Well, my win is that I'm surviving doing my overnight shifts at work, doing school (I started my IV certification class and my QMAP class during the day), and picking up an extra overnight shift here and there when possible. OMG I'm so tired lol But I'm so so happy with the fact that I'm in a size 8/10 Medium now. I started off in a 26/28 and sometimes a 30 (5x). I keep my jacket in a size Large because I like them a little bigger. And that absolutely BLOWS MY MIND that a size large is a little big on me lol My husband was looking for me in the store, and he said he saw me come around the corner and it took him looking past me and then back at me twice before he realized it was me because he said I look so thin that he just totally didn't recognize me LOL

Here I am down to the finish line waiting and waiting to hear from my insurance if I’m approved for my surgery tomorrow @12pm. My primary and I have butted heads because the office didn’t send the request until 10/17 and sent it in as standard when I begged them to send it in as expedited???? If it doesn’t get approved by 9:30am in the morning it will probably be rescheduled. It takes 2hrs to get to the hospital. My suffering with the pre op diet, I feel would have been for nothing. But I have to still plan for it in case I’m on for it. AGGRAVATING.

both i guess. good cuz my inner fat person is glad that i gave myself a bigger skinny buffer from my happy weight; bad because i didn't do it on purpose and i am actually not entirely happy with how it looks on me (sort of), plus my clothes are effing too big on me and i REFUSE to buy new clothes, because i KNOW i will regain the weight eventually. or hope. (background: i got braces on my teeth back in september, and i discovered that i HATE the feeling of food stuck in my braces, so i have to brush and waterpik my teeth EVERY SINGLE TIME i eat something solid....then i discovered i HATE having to clean my teeth like a gazillion times a day, so i just don't eat. yeah, i know, not the greatest reasoning, but there you go. as a result, i lost like 10 lbs (which is actually alot since i was already 115lbs)....but, since i started adding a morning protein shake and eating higher calorie foods when i DO eat, i seem to have stopped/slowed down the weight loss...so we'll see...) sooo maybe if anyone wants to try, getting braces may be a good weight loss tool for you too. lololololzzzzz.

@buildabetteranna Hi, I just had my sleeve done yesterday 10/21 w/hernia repair. For me only…I have to be truthful the surgery came off great but recovery has been very ruff. It almost didn’t happen , it was approved the morning of because of primary not following through. The pain level has been high but today it’s been more easily managed. Still there especially if not on schedule. Doc came in today and showed me pics of operation…neat..going home tomorrow! The diet before and after it’s going to be hard for me. Not use to limiting myself on anything. Chit chat later maybe?

I've officially lost one of me! I was always 108-120lbs until the last 10 years, I weighed in today and have officially lost 121bs A whole other me and boy am I glad to see her go..she wasn't the nicest person..always making me feel like garbage! AND Its getting cold out and I dug through my clothes looking for my fleece leggings, once I found them I didn't think...put them on, stood up and they dropped to my ankles, I about tripped! Happy and sad all at once...they used to be my favorite cozy warm leggings!

Congratulations on your new you! My RNY surgery was August 12, 2021. My biggest fear before WLS was maintenance. I kept loosing until 2yrs, 3mo. There were a number of stalls, a couple of gains, but maintenance isn’t that bad. The stats are in the file on here, but I lost 75lbs before surgery, and 75lbs after. My tops are the same size as when I was 5’7” and 140lbs at age 20 so I think I’m there (I’ve aged and shrunk, and acquired a load of skin since then. It all hangs around my belly apron and above my knees.) I’m 56yrs old and love being active and staying active is my passion. The trick is to find activities you love, then let yourself obsess over them! The secret to my maintenance is smell. I have wicked allergies and noticed I loose weight easily when I can’t smell anything. So, I “forget” to take my nasal spray, or wear a mask with peppermint scent in it. Viola, 5-10 lbs falls off in a week. Thankfully, I also dump on sugar so I don’t need to do the smell trick often :)

I did keto a lot before surgery, it was vogue as we’ve all done a million diets in our lives... It works, but cravings. The preop and post diet are similar. Just way more liquids. For the fatigue and headaches, broth was the key. You would dehydrate rapidly and would suffer without the salt. The sugar detox is real, often once it passes you are a ton less Hungery. For those like me, and sugar can start the cravings. 100% agree with others who posted. It takes me about a full week for those to stop. Distractions help, exercise helps, just going to bed helps. I am always less hungry after mild exercise, mostly sweaty and thirsty. It helped stopped the food focus more than plain distractions. Heavy exercise increased the hunger the next day. This might sound crazy, but I had to constantly know when my next meal was. Lunch done, wait 2 hours then sugar free jello, then 1 hour and sugar free popsicle, then start to prep dinner, etc. knowing I was eating something in 1-2 hours helped. I tend to panic eat. Food was scarce as a kid and I tend to stuff myself if it’s not readily at hand and I’m hungry… my next meal is 3 bananas as fast a I can shove them in and I remain food panic triggered and have to talk myself down. I’m working through my hunger panic. I’m 100% not super thin now, I’m huge and need help… it’s why we are all here. :). To give and get support. And trying to not be a clean your plate club, eat any meal you are offered, all meals need a dessert, eat till you have pain and call that “full” kinda gal. I’d also make sure I got all of my sleep. I’m a 10 hour person. Plan a small exercise before you know your mega Hunger hits (I’m lunch). A 15 min walk helps divert my blood to my limbs and gets me craving fluids. Call your food what it is. A popsicle is a dessert. A pudding is a dessert. Sometimes reframing these help, ok in 2 hours I’m having protein pudding as a dessert, followed in 2 hours by a dessert popsicle. We are all different, so need different things. If after dinner I have a popsicle every night before bed, I call it dessert and I always know it’s coming and I will be getting more food… and I’m ok not being as full at dinner. This.. might have been too personal, but… helps me.

I did keto a lot before surgery, it was vogue as we’ve all done a million diets in our lives... It works, but cravings. The preop and post diet are similar. Just way more liquids. For the fatigue and headaches, broth was the key. You would dehydrate rapidly and would suffer without the salt. The sugar detox is real, often once it passes you are a ton less Hungery. For those like me, and sugar can start the cravings. 100% agree with others who posted. It takes me about a full week for those to stop. Distractions help, exercise helps, just going to bed helps. I am always less hungry after mild exercise, mostly sweaty and thirsty. It helped stopped the food focus more than plain distractions. Heavy exercise increased the hunger the next day. This might sound crazy, but I had to constantly know when my next meal was. Lunch done, wait 2 hours then sugar free jello, then 1 hour and sugar free popsicle, then start to prep dinner, etc. knowing I was eating something in 1-2 hours helped. I tend to panic eat. Food was scarce as a kid and I tend to stuff myself if it’s not readily at hand and I’m hungry… my next meal is 3 bananas as fast a I can shove them in and I remain food panic triggered and have to talk myself down. I’m working through my hunger panic. I’m 100% not super thin now, I’m huge and need help… it’s why we are all here. :). To give and get support. And trying to not be a clean your plate club, eat any meal you are offered, all meals need a dessert, eat till you have pain and call that “full” kinda gal. I’d also make sure I got all of my sleep. I’m a 10 hour person. Plan a small exercise before you know your mega Hunger hits (I’m lunch). A 15 min walk helps divert my blood to my limbs and gets me craving fluids. Call your food what it is. A popsicle is a dessert. A pudding is a dessert. Sometimes reframing these help, ok in 2 hours I’m having protein pudding as a dessert, followed in 2 hours by a dessert popsicle. We are all different, so need different things. If after dinner I have a popsicle every night before bed, I call it dessert and I always know it’s coming and I will be getting more food… and I’m ok not being as full at dinner. This.. might have been too personal, but… helps me.

Hello, in 2020 I had a sleeve did well lost 100lb. In 22 I got sick and ended up with prednisone shots which made me gain weight. 50/100 that I had lost was back but any how now I’m scheduled for the sedi on 10/24 . Just wanted to get everyone’s intake in there experience

Forgot because it’s been awhile since I’ve had any abdominal surgery. Thought it best to inform my surgeon of my multiple scar tissue and adhesions from 7-8 abdominal surgeries starting in 1981-2018. Have video appointment 10/11 but first…. 2nd one with nutritionist, then my pre op exam by primary, then pre op with nurse of surgeon, maybe another with nutritionist? Then surgery for gastric sleeve & esophageal hernia repair! Hope there is no problem with the previous surgeries?!

So I’m 3 weeks post-op with a gastric sleeve. My first disappointment was when the week before my surgery my doctor told me I wasn’t a strong enough candidate for bypass. Ok, fine. But then he wouldn’t tell me how much of my stomach was removed, he didn’t give me incremental goal weights or a final goal weight. 11 days post surgery I had already lost 14lbs, (beg wt on 1/24 was 270lbs, date of surgery 232lbs). I’m trying not to be obsessive about my weight so I’m weighing in every 10-14 days. That being said, I’m already feeling like I’m stalling in my weight loss and even worried about gaining already. Is this a normal feeling? I’m trying to get all my protein but usually fall short. I’m on “soft foods” but can barely get down a 1/4 of a cup of food. The rest of my intake is liquid. Has anyone else had these feelings? Should I bite the bullet and go weigh in? Thank you in advance for any tidbits and opinions.

Be careful of those whims! At about 18 months post-op I was walking consistently. I felt that with the right push off that I could fly. We generally went down to the strip and called it people watching. One day we didn't want to go to the strip so we went to a local park that had a walking/running course. On a whim [There it is, all innocent] I ran the last hundred yards and it felt good. I decided to see if I could complete a C25K (Couch to 5K) program, and lo! in no time I could run 5K. I never ran an official 5K but I did increase my distance. Eventually I was up to 10k. Then 15k. Then I decided to keep track of such things in miles. Then 10 miles, then 13.2 (yes, the Garmin said it so it must be true). I still had not participated in any official events. About this time I got it in my silly little head to run a marathon. I started training for a marathon. Training was progressing well, when I had a business trip in SoCal. I saw there was a marathon in Long Beach that weekend, which wasn't far from where I was. My long training runs were up to 16 miles, so I thought it would be cool to use it as training run and have my spouse pick me up at around mile 16. To save y'all from an exciting mile by mile story, it should be obvious by now that I completed my first official race, the Long Beach Marathon. I ran 5 marathons which including one in San Francisco where I got to run across the Golden Gate bridge (twice). 500+ pounds previously this was not even a passing thought. All on a whim. Good luck, Tek

Hello, First time posting, I had my sleeve surgery 10/09/2024 as a outpatient procedure, went home and was good for a couple hours then that evening my blood pressure dropped and had to go to the ER. I ended up having a post op hematoma and spent 2 days in the hospital with nothing but IV fluids. I am home now and doing a lot better. Unfortunately I am paranoid about every little ache or pain now. How is everyone doing with pain and how are you sleeping at night? I cannot get a good nights sleep

When I was a size 5x/30, I was basically wearing moomoo's because there wasn't much else. At 3x I finally found a couple of things that were ok, but still not great. Size 2x started to get better. Then a whole new world opened up for me when I hit XL lol And now I'm size large/size 10 and I honestly forgot what it's like to go into any store anywhere (in person or online) and find cute, well fitting, stylish, flattering, pretty clothes to wear. Now it's a matter of "do I love this enough to spend my money on it" instead of "hey, at least it's not a moomoo" when I'm shopping now. I'm still convinced size 10 won't fit when I look at it. I mean, it looks so dang small!!! Then I put it on and OMG it fits perfectly!!! I wonder if I'll ever get use to it....

It wasn’t too hard. My appetite wasn’t 100% gone like with the sleeve but given that I was already on the low-carb for a couple weeks before and the changes it made it was quite a bit easier to stick to it. In fact, it was night and day. The surgery was so much better for me. It actually made metabolic changes that got me up and exercising and that made me feel good. I was eating 100% clean for four months. Then I had some other medical issues that have sort of just put me in the stall mode but I am going to get back to it. I’m actually not allowed to eat like I was eating. I have to maintain my weight because I am in chemo, but I’m still exercising through chemo and before surgery, I was like 100% sedentary so the surgery definitely made some changes, not just to the stomach or the intestines, but to my metabolism to make me start up my exercise again, multiple times when I’ve had to stop because I was in the hospital for 10 days with pneumonia and then I had to stop because of different scans that they didn’t allow me to exercise for a couple of days and then I had to stop because I developed hyperthyroid, and my pulse was dangerously high for a couple weeks and every time I have started up again with my exercise so it’s kind of insane because without the surgery there’s no way I could’ve done that. I really hope it’s the same for you. I mean minus the chemo, of course, but that it changes your metabolism and that it works for you for me I could tell from very early out that it was gonna work this time. I lost 75 pounds and the first four months and I was so motivated that I kept exercising and eating clean through my first month after a cancer diagnosis going to all of the doctors and PET scans and all of that stuff even traveling all around the state I still stayed on my plan. Then with chemo, they didn’t want me staying at a calorie deficit so that threw things off a little bit but I have maintained the 90 pound loss and tomorrow is actually my last chemo treatment so hopefully I will be allowed to start losing again, but we’ll see. According to my bariatric team I need to continue eating enough for radiation, but I’m gonna see what the radiation doctor says. Anyways, I’m not talking about the cancer thing for any reason other than to say there’s no way I could’ve maintained any kind of loss before the surgery because I would’ve been eating for comfort. For a situation like this and definitely used it as an excuse to not exercise. And I have had a couple of days where I’ve eaten for comfort and I’ve used it for an excuse to not exercise, but unlike before when that meant everything was out the window for good I’ve gotten right back on track. Best of luck to you. For me it has been a life changer.

@pinkneymm@aol.com Another AOL account? Great, have you had it for a long time? I’ve always had mine. Anyway I’m on my 2nd week of pre op diet and having a hard time with it because I don’t know why?? I’ve lost a lb a day so far and my esophageal hernia started really acting up and it hurts to swallow anything. But other than that it’s great to already be losing weight. I can even fit into some clothes that I couldn’t before. My surgery is 10/21…really looking forward to it! Yours is not too far away! Yay!!! Best to you!

I'm killing it, body fat down below 10 percent, I'm working out at least 4 times a week, am lean and strong. But I've found solace in whiskey. I drink it neat, no mixers. I don't drink during the day, but need to quiet my mind. Good quality whiskey does that, after 35 + years of total sobriety. I'm in Texas, so pot is largely illegal- and the illicit vapes make me paranoid. Crazy thing is I don't wake up with a hang over- I take Pharma sleep meds but am careful about the combo. I did talk to one guy who lost a crazy amount of weight through surgery and told me that heavy alcohol consumption is not uncommon. I was not fixated on food before surgery, but gained a lot during Covid sitting on my ass without serious exercise. I'm now working hard at the gym with a good trainer, and the results have been impressive. But the alcohol is an issue. I don't drive or go out when I drink, I'm home. I'm a high functioning boozer, but still. I hate being dependent on any substance, but I need to turn down the noise in my head. There are some legal CBD outlets in Texas which I can explore. I know the volume of whiskey I'm consuming is not necessary good for long life, but it definitely chills me out. Would love input from others who have had the same experience. Physically I'm in amazing shape, and generally, my mental attitude is quite positive. TIA!