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I've lost 193 pounds and am hoping to lose at least 20 more. I do have quite a bit of loose skin. It's almost all on my stomach and legs. I was always worried about getting loose skin, mostly because I was afraid it would be heavy and uncomfortable, but it really doesn't bother me much. I'm 50 years old and I don't know if I will get it removed. I already paid out of pocket for my wls, so I really can't afford a bunch of plastic surgery right now. You really can't see it under my clothes and my husband and I are the only ones who see me naked and he doesn't care. I was 393 pounds and I will take this loose skin any day over carrying all that weight around on my 5'3" frame. I included a Pic of me from New Year's eve. My arms have always been on the smaller side for a big girl so there isn't much loose skin there but I do have some. Most of mine is from the waist down. Keep in mind I am still losing weight so I don't know what it will look like later. The only skin that really bothers me is on my face. You really couldn't see a lot of wrinkles at my high weight, and you definitely can now. I feel like a look older than before. But again, I'll take this over weighing almost 400 pounds. I am healthy now and that's why I did this! Sent from my Pixel 5a using BariatricPal mobile app

What kind of surgery are you looking to get? You will loose weight but its a process and you have to stick to it. Which is why most hospitals have support groups, nutrition classes and such to help you. Part of my preop is attending the support groups which i have next week.

I’m struggling feeling like this isn’t going to work and not strong enough to do this! Please help!

@lizonaplane I’d def get to goal first that way you are in maintenance mode. Bc if you still have more weight you want to lose then you dont want to have to go bk a second time and tuck those loose areas again. That would be expensive for a second time. It’s already expensive once! Lol Let us know how you’re progressing! Sounds like you are really close!

I’m at the 3 year mark as well (just a little over). I order whatever I feel for (always more that I can actually eat every time, btw) and eat whatever I feel like I can eat. Those that knew me before the weight loss long ago stopped commenting on my eating habits (it’s old news now). People that don’t know me very well, or not at all (of whom are rare meal companions, especially since COVID) have yet to comment, so I don’t really have a go-to response. But I suppose if they did, I’d likely respond with something along the lines of “I’m good, thanks”.

I have been (im)patiently waiting 2 years to cross one of my final bucket list items: to go diving in a perfectly fitting women’s sized wetsuit (not a too-long limbed men’s size XL that I used to wear) WITHOUT having to load up on almost 20lbs of weights in my BCD to counteract all that fat that was keeping me buoyant. COViD has been blocking me from doing this (I’m in Canada and need to FLY somewhere to do this, dammit!)…but fingers crossed this will finally happen by the end of this year 🤞🏼

Yes, it happens. There are at least a couple of reasons: 1. Lack of padding. As we lose weight, there's simply less of us to cushion us from the cold. Think about why bears eat so much before hibernating—they get fat both to insulate themselves and to nourish themselvesˀ. 2. Temperature regulation. This is related to #1. Our bodies are used to having the thermostat 'set' a certain way. Now that thermostat isn't keeping us as warm anymore and it takes time to catch up. 3. Iron deficiency. This is a big one, especially if it's your hands and feet that are especially cold. Right after surgery we struggle to get enough iron. And even if you supplement with iron, your body may not use it as efficiently as you need. And one of the signs of anaemia is... feeling cold a lot.

I can only answer the first one: yes, I am experiencing the same thing. I am constantly cold, even when bundled up and everyone else around me is fine or even warm. I do have times I feel normal, but I then I will get super cold again. I read somewhere it has something to do with the hypothalamus not compensating for the reduced weight, but honestly I'm not sure if that is true or hogwash. I'd love to better understand what is happening.

1 g protein per kg lean body mass seems like too little protein. I have a significant amount of LBM (enough that it alone puts me overweight without any body fat) and that would result in a daily protein intake of 89g. An average six-foot man with 15% body fat at the top of the "normal" weight would be eating 70g a day of protein. My protein target (set by nutritionist) is about 1.58 g of protein per kg lean body mass. BUT! I am also extremely active and do physical work as well as working out.

One thing that is oft overlooked in terms of weight loss/weight maintenance is muscle mass. Generally speaking, the higher the muscle mass, the more efficient one’s metabolism becomes. From a very un-scientific study of a sample of one (i.e., me, lol) when my body fat percentage was at like 12-15%, I was able to maintain a weight of approx 115 lbs while consuming well over 2300+ cals a day. These days, I am at about 23-26% body fat (119 lbs today) and maintain at around 1800 cals a day. Of course there are other factors at play: I eat way more carbs now than then, and I exercise about 60-70% of the the amount I used to. I think weight loss and maintenance is/will be a forever ongoing series of checks and balances that require monitoring and adjustments and resetting of expectations as needed. I came to terms long ago that this is not a “set it and forget it” type of thing. If I want to stay this way, i have to make some effort to do so…and, if I am unwilling, then I will have to change what I want. Good Luck! ❤️

Congrats! You are almost at onederland. I was 241.5 surgery date. Didn’t lose anything before surgery (Dec 17th) which was annoying since I wasn’t eating and I was walking 10,000 steps a day minimum. 7 days out of surgery I was down to 228 (13.5 lb loss) and then stagnated at 228 for about the next 2 weeks. Pretty sure pms and my menstrual cycle prevented me from losing more weight. I stopped obsessing over the scale because I was feeling like I wasn’t losing after the first initial loss so now I will only weigh in this coming Friday and every Friday thereafter, however I do feel the difference in my close. I can’t wait to be out of the 200’s. It hasn’t even been 3 weeks out of surgery but I want to be “skinny” already lol, but I also don’t want the extra loose skin so I need to remind myself to be patient and be positive that I am on my way to a healthier life. Also I can’t remember the last time I lost 13.5 lbs so fast so I need to see that as a win! You are on your way as well. Happy for you and that you are feeling better now and seeing results!

I would recommend going to your library and checking out a nutrition TEXTBOOK. Not some diet book, but a textbook on nutrition, and one that is recent. I did this years ago. It not only explains what you need in terms of macros, but also why. There is no firm answer as to how many grams of protein, carbs, fats, sugars because there are so many different schools of thought. If there is flour in the cauliflower pasta, it's essentially just pasta. I made this mistake with cauliflower crust pizza. I thought it would be low carb, but it's mostly flours (rice flour is still just flour) and it wasn't low carb at all. Look at the ingredient list for words like flour, rice syrup, cane sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, etc. These are not good, but you won't be able to avoid them completely, so make sure they are towards the end of the ingredients list - by law, ingredients must be listed in order of most to least, so if the first, second, or third ingredient is one of the ones listed (these are not the only ones) then it probably is high in refined sugar or flour. You can't completely avoid carbs, but try to eat whole grains like quinoa, wild or brown rice, farro, steel cut oats... Here is a general rule of thumb: the more "processed" a grain or food is, the more calories your body can absorb from it. For examples, if you eat 100 calories of corn meal, you will be getting more calories than if you ate 100 calories of corn on the cob, because it's easier for your body to digest the calories in corn meal (this is a particularly gross example, but your poo will contain some undigested corn if you eat corn on the cob but you will not see this with corn meal). I personally have read a lot of clinical studies on artificial sweeteners, and have talked to my doctor and nutritionist about this. There is no issue with artificial sweeteners. Those studies where they say people gained weight due to artificial sweeteners were not very good studies (I have a degree is research methodology, so this is my field of study). Some people get digestive or other issues from certain artificial sweeteners, but if you're not one of them, I say enjoy! The protein drinks have artificial sweeteners. Are you eating a P3 pack for lunch because you don't have room for anything else? Or is just because it's easy? Try to have some non-starchy vegetables (ie, not potato or corn) with your meals, or some fresh or frozen fruit. The P3s are pretty processed so they may pass through quickly (I eat them too, as snacks while traveling). Try switching that for tuna fish (no bread) or rotisserie chicken etc. Refried beans with cheese also provides good levels of fiber (important for a lot of reasons), some protein, and slow-digesting carbs. Sorry, this has turned into a book!

I am eating around 1000-1200 calories and aim for 80 grams of protein (I am 169 pounds so that’s almost right at 1 gram per 2 pounds coincidentally MiniGastricBypassDude) I do not know my lean body mass Vikingbeast but will have to look into that and see what that calculates out to and ask my team which numbers they want me to go by) I only drink one shake in the morning because it’s convenient and I like the taste and the caffeine boost (caffe latte by premiere protein) and I usually have a Turkey and cheese lunchable for lunch or a P3 pack. My weight loss had been steady and my protein has been fine on the two labs so far so I think my calories and protein are fine for the phase I am in. I just want to better understand WHAT I am getting my calories from. Like I did not know, Arabesque, the recommended sugar amounts for women is 25 of added sugar. I don’t know the recommendation for fat or carbs either. GradyCat, my team does not offer free visits but I wouldn’t mind paying if I felt that I would get the answers I am looking for. I just did not feel like the lady they sent me to answered my questions. I assume she knows what she is talking about, she just makes it sooooo technical and talks over my head on this topic. I need to understand the basics first. SleeverSk, I have the Baritastic app and I used that for a while but I am a creature of habit and have the same handful of meals so for the most part I know the calories and that was all I was looking at. I may have to start using it again now that I am looking at that other stuff. I just need guidelines for me for each of those numbers. Not necessarily for weight loss cause I am losing without paying too much attention to them (just eating reasonably healthy foods) but to make sure I am not eating junk. What started all of this was a chat about cauliflower pasta when I realized that I do not really know for sure whether it is a good (at least better than the real deal) or a great option. There are some flours listed in the ingredients that I need to do some research on to see if they are nutritious or if it’s just pasta disguised as cauliflower. But to start I just want to know for example how much fat is recommended for me per day and how many carbs. Like your peanut butter, Arabesque, that was something bad disguised as good I do not want to fall into those traps so I need to get educated about all this.

Yeah, a part of me does kind of feel like…ok what next? But I do still want to lose a bit more weight, and I’m trying to increase my running distance so I always have something to work on. I must confess I do kind of miss the days of dramatic drops in weight…it was pretty exciting!

Thank you everyone for the insight and kind words - I really appreciate them and everyone was very helpful. I ended up telling Emily a few days after making this post. I said that it was something I had been thinking about, and that my doctor said that the hernia could be repaired during the gastric sleeve procedure. I showed her some of the papers I had gotten from the doctor, my vitamins, and tried to answer all her questions. She was definitely thrown for a look - for her this was entirely out of left field. But she said that she supported me no matter what and just wanted me to be healthy. I feel like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders. I don't think I'll tell anyone else yet, at least not until after the surgery is over, but it feels nice to have someone in my corner.

I was told 0.7 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of /lean body mass/ - not weight. Which presumes you know your LBM (I do)—you can get a test to figure this out, or use a machine and get a guesstimate of your body fat percentage, and then do math. I am three and a half months out and am eating 1500-1600 calories a day—140 g of protein, 50 g of fat, and 120-150 g of carbohydrates depending on my need for physical exertion for the day. "The scale eats first," which means I weigh and portion everything and track it before I put it in my mouth (this is easier when you portion out a couple or three days' worth of food at a time to reheat).

See if you can get back in to your dietician & with their guidance develop an eating plan that is sustainable in the long term. It’s best to design a way of eating that works for you & not for someone else. You’re physiologically & psychologically different to everyone else. You may find you don’t follow a specific ‘diet’ but pick & choose across a few eating styles. Like low carb but not low fat or incorporate some vegan or vegetarian meals each week. In the meantime, & as a starting point, keep in mind the recommended daily amounts for the ‘average’ person who’s maintaining like 6 teaspoons or 25g added sugar per day for women. You will need to consume less if you still want to lose. Take into account your plan, lifestyle & personal needs. How many calories are you eating a day? It seems like it could be low if you’re still on shakes. It’s not sustainable to be still having shakes for breakfast & most lunches. You need to be eating real food, especially as you seem to be almost at your goal weight, to get the nutrients your body needs. I stopped taking multivitamins from maintenance because I got all I needed from the food I ate. I was so happy not to have to take them or buy them! I don’t buy a lot of prepared foods, sauces, condiments, etc. simply so I can control the ingredients & how they’re prepared/cooked. If I do, I study the nutrition panel & look for low processed foods, low sugar content, low fat content, multi & whole grains, no or low artificial sweeteners, Watch the ‘front of the jar’ labelling though. No added sugar usually means they’ve used artificial sweeteners or sugar alternatives or they’ve upped the fat. I bought a 25% less fat ‘lite’ peanut paste. It actually had 50% more carbs, 20% more sugar & only 16 calories less per serve.

5’2” female. At the 6 month mark, I was at 97 lbs lost. But this includes ~12 lbs lost during my 2 week pre-op diet, so really it was more like 85 lbs lost in the first 6 months immediately after surgery. FYI, during weight loss phase i went with volume and calories measures way to monitor intake (cuz there is a huge diff between 1oz of steak and 1oz of salad or 1oz of almonds in terms of “eat-ability” AND calories) With that said, at my 6 month mark, I was averaging about 700-ish calories a day, with each “meal” coming up to no more than 1 cup in volume (if I remember correctly). I use the term “meal” loosely as I was (and sorta still am) a grazer. But I’ve read enough on here to learn that my experience differs from many (and is similar to some). I have also learned that while everyone loses at their own pace and implements their own strategies, we all end up in the same place eventually so long as we stick with our plan and make adjustments as necessary. Good Luck! ❤️ P.S. I am 3+ years out now and have maintained below goal weight the entire time. I average about 1800 cals a day with moderate exercise. …. Though, full disclosure, I was 2lbs outside my “happy weight range” a couple days ago, which has since been lost (a couple good poops did it, I think, lol…that and I cut down on the copious amounts of Xmas chocolates I’ve been porking on). This morning I was 119 lbs even, but I feel better when I’m closer to the lower end of my happy weight range so am gonna shoot for 115 and see if I can get back down there without too much discomfort, ha!….we shall see.

That’s three pounds a week. Not sure if your stats but I agree that sounds like your doing fine. Especially if you had a low ish starting weight. I am almost nine months out and have only lost 51 pounds post surgery and my team is totally thrilled with my loss so far.

I had my surgery on Dec 1 the first week was ROUGH! I was debating if I did the right thing. 5 weeks later I KNOW I did highest weight 245 surgery weight 225 current weight 205 35yrs old 5’7

P.S. if you're expecting to drop like 30 lbs a month, you need to adjust your expectations. Almost no one loses that much that quickly unless they're the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life". Unfortunately, I think shows like that give people unrealistic ideas and expectations about weight loss surgery. Us "normal" WLS patients, with very few exceptions, just don't lose that fast. After the first month, many of us settle into about a 10-lb a month (give or take) rate...and the further out you get, the slower the loss.

I don't know what your starting weight was, but I started at 373 lbs and lost 16 lbs the first month. I don't remember where I was at the six-week point (it's been a few years since I had surgery - and I only have my monthly weights in my spreadsheet), but I was probably not that far ahead of you. that pound you gained could be anything - water retention, more stool than usual in your intestines, hormone related - I wouldn't worry about a pound. Weight fluctuates all the time. As long as your overall trend is down, you're good.

This was also my experience this year! My weight loss actually ramped up between Thanksgiving and New Years - I lost 16 lbs in that time, when my previous two months were half that amount. It has been nuts. I tracked as much as I could (and I was averaging more calories than I had been previously, per my nutritionist's advice) but there were the inevitable days where I couldn't track because I wasn't the one preparing food. But, I tried to be somewhat smart about things and not go too off the rails. I enjoyed the holidays food wise, but I didn't come out of them with the usual guilt and regret. I'm enjoying the feeling.

I think we all were at the very least a little scared of possible complications going into surgery. What helped me was learning that statistically you are more likely to die in a car accident than from this surgery. I just thought to myself, the fear of a possible complication of driving (a tragic accident) doesn’t keep me from driving so why would that same fear keep me from having a surgery that I need? That rationalization sort of calmed my fears. I was definitely worried about failure too. I am almost 9 months out and I am 9 pounds from goal and I am sorry to admit I am still afraid. Afraid that I will gain it all back and now everyone knows I had surgery and will think I am even more of a failure. I am not sure how to talk myself out of that one. Only that other people keep it off and I know in my heart that I am trying my best so hopefully it will be okay. I think having done the yo yo dieting for sooooooo many years we will always be at least a little afraid of gaining it back. Also, I had many food funerals. People even refer to their dinner before pre op diet as their last supper. Many of us have a complicated relationship with food and the thought of having it taken away is a scary thing. But I was afraid of that for no reason. I have tried small amounts of everything I ate prior to surgery without any issues so once I get to my goal weight I know that I can have everything in moderation again. Some people do have foods they can’t tolerate post surgery but most people say they also no longer crave them so it’s not like they really miss them anymore. More like they just no longer enjoy those foods.

This was my first time going on a foreign vacation and not gaining 5-10 lbs. I was in Mexico and tries rosca and concha because I'd never had them before, and I ate parts of tortillas at most meals (I mean... how can you avoid it!?). I can see that the sweets are definitely a slider food for me - even though I was stuffed after dinner I tried them and ate more than I planned. I lost about 2 lbs in 5 days! I still have a LOT of restriction, but I am going to have to be careful when that stops.