Search the Community

I think the curly is cute and if it’s less maintenance it’s a win win Isn’t it so weird, though how hormones and other brain chemicals that “act as hormones” can change our hair. I am on a mood stabilizer and antidepressant and over the years my hair has changed texture entirely. It’s the strangest thing. It used to be super silky fine and board straight to the point when I cut it short I had to add color to try and damage it because it wouldn’t do anything even with all kinds of product. Now it’s a little thicker, more coarse (or more normal) and sorta curly when I wake up (but nothing like yours, mine brushes out) Ooh and it changed color (which dr Google says that part may just be aging but also due to hormonal changes). 🤷🏼‍♀️

Of course!! I have my alarms set for 9, 12, 3, 6 and 9 (every 3 hours). I am up before the 9am but I do my Yoga or walk in the morning and then it takes me a while to drink that big proffee drink so it’s usually 8:30 or 9 when I finish it. It’s more of a reminder if I set it down and forget about it. Lunch at noon, small snack at 3, dinner at 6 and small snack at 9. This works really well for me for food and I am able to get my multi, 3 calcium’s and then my magnesium and hair vitamin all separated by a few hours. Ooh and Chomps Turkey Jerky is a good snack to keep on hand as well. They have mini turkey sticks but the pepperoni ones are better tasting. I just eat half and save half for later. I also have a pack of ziplocks in my car.

That's a lot of calories so early out, and yes, alcohol will definitely stop your progress. Especially this early out. What are you eating? How often are you eating? Slider foods can also derail things. Prioritize protein first, then veggies, then carbs and healthy fats. Make sure you get enough fiber, hit your fluid goals, and cut way down the alcohol. There are significant dietary changes you have to make with weight loss surgery. Eventually, like at a year or more out, you can start to live/eat/drink more normally, but this soon out, there are big changes that should be made to maximize your weight loss.

It happened to me with BOTH surgeries. Started around month 3 after my sleeve and my once really thick hair shed so much it thinned out to the point that I needed to cut my hair and change how I styled it so you couldn't see how much it thinned out. It finally stopped at 9 months, but then at 13 months out I had my revision, and it started again at 2 months out. Here I am 11 months out from the revision and it finally stopped. I got another hair cut and this time decided no more straightening my hair, and now the shorter length and the waves and curls really help hide the additional thinning. Honestly, biotin doesn't promote hair growth or prevent shedding. It just makes the existing hair soft, shiny, and somewhat healthier. The protein is what makes the biggest difference since hair needs it but can't produce it. There really isn't anything that will prevent or lessen the shedding. It just is what it is and has to run its course. I would use volumizing hair care products, have a shorter hair length, possibly style it differently, and just wait it out. That's really all you can do.

That is now 7 Amazon deliveries due in the next few days and an order from About You. This weight loss journey is so expensive 😂

Well loss still excruciatingly slow here! 😩 I had a weird thing with the scales this week. I was 97.4 kg, then the battery died in my scale, so changed it, to find I was up to 98.8 WTF!! Hubster weighed he was also 1.5kg above where he had been. We now don't know if pre or post battery change is correct! And I don't feel like I have lost any, still feeling very fat. Eating an average of 800 cals, but makes little difference if I eat much more or less. It's a bit over a month since surgery, and I have lost 8 kg or 16lbs, most of that in the first week. I am trying to meet water and protein goals, not always hitting it, but do often (avg 67gm from 70 goal) Despairing a bit here tbh.

This coming Friday is my 6 month “surgiversary” and I’m 174 today (down 84 pounds from 258 pre-pre op diet so technically 6.5 months next week I guess). I totally thrilled with my loss so far. I feel good and I’m relatively happy with the way I look, but the anniversary is making me look at the numbers. Does anyone know when they calculate BMI if we should go by our young adult BMI or our current one. I mean our bones still weigh the same as our tallest height I would assume but I have shrunk at least an inch. I am just curious to know when I will reach a “normal” BMI. I went from 40.4 to 27.3. I’m getting close 🎉

It's a common trait that many of us put ourselves second to our spouses, signficant others, and children. Often we are guilted when we try to put ourselves first. This for many of us is something that must change in order to succeed at surgery and weight loss. Evaluate your situation. Perhaps this is when you should start taking care of yourself first. Good luck, Tek

Today's podcast episode was really good in addressing weight loss plateaus and making reasonable dietary changes:

Do you track your food? That would help! I rarely feel "full" I just eat what I know I should be. 3-4oz of protein, veggies then carbs (if I even eat them). Lots of water. Snacks are meat sticks, cheese, PB balls, fruit and ect...Also moving is huge! Building up the exercise, example I started at walking 1/4 mile in 30 min to now I run 3.25miles in 30min, its been a huge success to my weight loss. Movement really will help!

Good job! I'm not going to say the hardest part is over, because it's not addiction for a lot of people is a continual struggle. What I will say is that alcohol is a depressant, so by giving it up it could effect your life in so many ways for the better. Less depression means more happiness, more willingness to interact with people, more ability to workout and want to take care of yourself. All things to help in your sobriety and with your weight loss journey. Good luck to you in this time of change; change is never easy, but it's worth it.

Hi April Surgery buddies how are we doing? How is the weight loss coming?

Its early days, lots of us find some foods totally repellant, for me it was foods that I loved. pre surgery. Chicken, fish and especially salmon were very off my menu. If I even thought of them I heaved. It was like being pregnant all over again. Then some kind soul on here explained that as we loose fat cells they release hormones. Early on we are flooded with these cells because we are loosing so rapidly. It does settle down as weight loss slows. At 3+ years fish isnt totally off my menu but it isnt front and centre either. Eggs revolted me before surgery, now I eat them most days.

Great weight loss story. Your team must be thrilled with you. Major congratulations coming your way. I personally would love to hear the missing pages of your journey

This surgery is something none of us have had before & so we have no understanding or experience of how it feels post surgery. Add to that our bodies often respond differently to the surgery, it can be hard to predict exactly how you will feel & respond & how long you will be affected. Like I had no gas pain at all with my sleeve (don’t hate me) but when my surgeon removed my gall bladder two years later boy oh boy did I have gas pain. Also even if we are told things or it’s in the material we’re given, the information overload & usual emotional stress of the surgery means it can be easily missed or forgotten. So 100% no judgement. We’re always happy to share our experiences, advice & any tips we found helpful here. PS: I do have some judgment for any surgeon or team if they don’t ensure you’re well prepared for the very common post surgical experiences like hair loss, constipation, nausea from vitamins, etc. though.

Thank you!!! I loved my waves in high school, then for whatever reason I just started to dislike them about 20 years ago and was always straightening my hair. This time around, I had the big surgeries (hysterectomy and emergency surgery right after) and decided that I wasn't in the mood to bother. I cut my hair again because again, didn't want to deal with it, and then waves came back in full force. I decided I love them again lol So now I don't straighten my hair, I don't put a lot of product in it, I just let it live and breath. And I'm finding the shorter, wavier hair is actually a lot more flattering than long straight hair. So yay!! lol

I wish it were that simple, but it's not. We have to keep in mind that our weight is made up of a lot more than just fat. There are multiple body composition models used, but the one I recommend most people use when trying to lose fat is a 3 compartment model that consists of the following: Fat Muscle Bone I recommend this one since it's easy for most people to visualise those 3 components. Keep in mind however that roughly 70-75% of muscle mass is water. Why is that important? Because sometimes we can be fooled by the scale into thinking we're not losing fat, or that we're gaining fat when we're not. Most likely, what you're seeing is simply changes in water weight. A really common scenario is for people on low calorie diets (like most people here), to see a plateau and think that means they need exercise more and/or eat less, but when they do that, they actually gain a bit according to the scale. The reality is they didn't gain fat, they retained more water. I think it's important to keep in mind that we all have something called a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the minimum number of calories your body needs simply to stay alive. It can be thought of as the number of calories you expend per day even if you were completely sedentary. BMR is a complicated subject, but on average, the bigger you are, the higher your BMR. Yes, it goes down as you lose fat, since fat is not completely metabolically inert, but fat loss does not have nearly the effect on BMR that losing muscle does. This is one of the main reasons bariatric patients are told to focus on protein intake because protein is needed to help prevent excessive muscle loss when dieting. More muscle = higher BMR = faster weight loss, or being able to eat more at goal weight The average BMR for women is ~1400 k/cal per day. Higher if you are taller or more muscular, lower if you are shorter and/or have lower muscle mass. Men, for obvious reasons tend to have a higher BMR that's more in the 1700 range. My point in telling you all of the above is that it's highly unlikely that someone eating 900 calories a day needs to eat even less if weight loss has stalled. Frankly, if that is the OP, then I'd actually recommend exactly the opposite: try upping your caloric intake a couple hundred k/cal per day and see what happens. I know it seems counter intuitive, but your body is not a simple machine where the calories in vs. calories out paradigm actually works. Happy to discuss more and provide additional info, but this post is already overly long. Best of luck.

Thanks for the reminder that I need to put it on my calendar to do mine next week for my one month post op and congratulations on your loss!! Keep it up.

I always liked VB dresses too - very elegant and well tailored so was so glad to find this one. Have another I’m saving for my niece's wedding (in October) but unfortunately paid full price for that one. Am keeping my eye out for another bargain one. I used to say my legs were only good from the ankles down. 😁 Though my legs look better now since my weight loss (calves aren’t so big), I still like a longer line for certain dresses. Pretty easy for us shortees though. Tee hee! This dress is probably tea length or just below the calf on taller girls.

My GP warned me that it'll happen to most patients, but won't be permanent -- just something we have to put up with for 6-12mo before it stops falling out and starts growing back properly. He kind of made me feel like keeping up on my multi-vitamins & supplements were the only thing that would have it eventually stabilize, and that most 'solutions' like biotin patches and special hair treatments were just going to be an expensive placebo for time & improved nutrition. It actually kind of depressed me, because I have thin straight hair to begin with -- I can't afford much hair loss. I ended up shaving half my head (undercut only) months prior to my WLS just to be sure I could handle losing that much volume. Would love to hear from anyone with a great personal experience with additional supplements / treatments that they feel worked? But if not, I'm happy to rock a short do for the next year or so.

(( I just wanted to say, I love your hair! Those waves are honestly my dream goals -- my hair has always been pin straight, flat and refuses to hold a curl ))

yum! i make cookie versions of this all the time! i've made it both sugar and sugar-free in varying degrees of success. for sugar-free i find monk fruit sweetener works best...but it is waaaay sweeter pound for pound so use less! you'll have to add some sort of wet/moist ingredient to make up for the volume loss in the recipe tho...i've used unsweetened almond milk and olive oil...which one depending on how many calories i want per serving in the end, ha.

agree with poster above...you don't look too small at all....just right IMO. AND your boobs look very much intact..still good sized, yet higher up than your before pic! (sorry for objectifying you...you look fab!) ...also the lighter hair colour in the after pic suits you better!

some people experience hormone-related depression for a few weeks after weight loss surgery, but weight loss surgery would not have caused bipolar disorder.

Get your protein up to your recommended intake. That should always be your focus. Then ensure you reach those fluid goals. Are you having regular blood work taken? Is that indicating you are lacking in anything? Actually there aren’t any rigorous scientific research into the benefits of collagen on hair growth or strength. The studies that exist are funded by companies that produce collagen supplements. Best to get all your protein in so you’re getting all the complete amino acids your body needs not the few in collagen. Hair is made of keratin, not collagen, and you need the complete range of amino acids (protein) for your body to produce the necessary keratin. The different lengths of your new growth hair could just be from the different times it starts coming in (it doesn’t all grow in at the same time). But maybe give the bleach a rest for a while until things settle. Have a chat with your doctor &/or maybe a dermatologist to check your scalp & hair health. Has your hairdresser said anything?