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Insurance in Australia doesn’t cover pharmaceuticals in there same way as the US. Prescription meds here are either on the PBS (pharmaceutical benefits scheme which are meds subsidised by the government to keep the costs low - about $31) or not. If you have private health insurance they may cover some of the costs of non PBS drugs but I think it depends on your insurance company and your cover. My insurance would pay the difference in the cost of a prescribed non PBS med and if it was a PBS drug. So if non PBS drug cost me $35, I’d get $4 back. Think ozempic is on the PBS but there have been lots of shortages & there are restrictions on who can be prescribed it (diabetics only I believe). Not sure about the other semaglutides. Wegovy only recently became available here for weight loss - it’s not on the PBS currently.

I got pregnant with pcos, but that was way WAY before I ever thought about weight loss surgery, so I can't help you with any of your questions, really. I had so many losses that I had to do treatments to get pregnant with my daughter (got pregnant with my son naturally). Never was able to get pregnant again after my daughter, and I just recently had a total hysterectomy (including ovaries) now that I've lost all the weight I want to lose after my surgery, so I won't be having more babies. I second what @ShoppGirl said...posting on 1 or 2 existing pregnancy and pcos threads is definitely the way to go to hopefully get some answers.

These friends and family - have they experienced your life and upbringing? Do they have weight issues? Do they have a food addiction? Do they have the medical issues that you have? If the answer to any of those questions is ‘no’, you must ask yourself why you have listened to them instead of going with your gut feelings? It seems that 9 years have passed since you first contemplated WLS and things haven’t improved for you. If simple diet and exercise was enough, none of us would be overweight 🙂 Unfortunately everyone is different, with different bodies, metabolisms, abilities, disabilities, mental blocks, imperfect childhoods etc. Only you can decide on what happens next. WLS is scary, it is a massive decision, one which shouldn’t be taken lightly. You have to decide on what YOU want, what your goals are, what you dream about for your future. This forum is a great place to discuss anything and everything connected to weight loss surgery, the reasons we need it, our fears, our hopes, our wins and our losses. I recommend reading what you can, asking questions if you’re unsure and being completely honest with yourself. You deserve a chance of a better life and a healthy future 🙂

Had this happen to me quite often. A year ago I picked up a brand new pair of Jennifer Lopez jeans size 16 at a rummage sale, thinking I'll put away for a future time. Got home and curiously tried them on and they fit!! Buttoned.. zipped up and comfortable to wear. Fast forward to now, I bought a new pair of Old Navy shorts size 8 in Goodwill, In my mind I doubted they would fit but did. Amazing feeling and it's been many many years since I wore a size 8. Oh and today I put on a XX boho style shirt and wore it as a dress. 😎 I remember thinking this same thing but it was usually weight loss after any food centered holiday. That's never happened to me ..eva. Glamping at the lake every weekend doesn't seem to have much effect on my weight loss either. I'm very thankful.

How is everyone doing?! Almost at Christmas now! This is my first Christmas post-surgery, and I am actually feeling alright about it! I know that I won't eat anything at all like I did last year, and I will feel a little strange when everyone else around me is eating normally 😂 But other than this I am feeling kinda prepared! I am going to buy some Lindt 90% dark chocolate so I can have a little "sweet" treat if I feel like it and bring that with me to my parents! I am also so happy that I am close-ish to my 1st goal of 12 stone - even if it does feel like miles off still - but I am celebrating the fact I got into a new stone bracket this morning ❤️ On a more serious note, I do have a check-up in the new year for suspected breast cancer as I have found a little lump - but I am not sure if it is just because I have lost so much weight that my breasts feel different, or if there is actually something there - either way! Best to get it checked, especially as I have a strong family history of breast cancer. Kind of just putting it out of my mind until I need to worry about it! Hope everyone is feeling good, and looking forward to the holidays ❤️

All we have to do is stick to the plan and we should be just fine. Hiding the scale is actually a really good idea. I have already gone through this once so I already know that my weight can fluctuate by a few pounds even from morning to night so I know to expect it, yet i stepped on the scale yesterday and it went up a pound and it caused me a bit of anxiety. I was like I ate low calories, did all my fluids and actually exercised more than i have in years, how is this possible?! My husband was like one pound, this happens, remember. So thankful to have him as my voice of reason.

I've had a very up-and-down sort of week, mentally/emotionally (and weight-wise too, I guess). It started in that I'd finally gotten out of a stall, and everything stayed good for 10 days or so? And then a week with absolutely no weightloss. On the back of a stall, it just crushed my spirit. I said fine, by next week it'll be better, stay off the scale... and instead I hopped back on 2 days later to a 1.4lb gain. I think I went into a sort of zombie-state. I was still doing what I needed to (work-wise, diet-wise, exercise-wise) but it was like some kind of emotional shock: I was functioning but apathetic about pretty much everything. My brain and heart just couldn't take it, and shut down. Then the physical side. I'm sure it will surprise nobody here, but when you're behaving kind of like an automaton you don't pay enough attention to things like time, or specifically eating slowly. Cue the foamies and vomitting. I think four times in the past week. Luckily, most of the time I caught it early enough to prevent anything too intense, but yeah. I'd thought I was smart enough / experienced enough at this point to learn from my mistakes, but that one I just kept making. Afterwards, the lingering nausea kept me from eating enough -- so the protein goals were not met for five days in a row. (Until I found Greek Yogurt Cheesecake Pudding which turned things around so I was exceeding my goals) I'm doing better-ish, now? I still feel mildly dissociated, but the past couple days it's been like... life & energy slowly returning and my mood improving. The universe waited for me to be in a better mental place, and all of a sudden knocked 4 lbs off the scale this morning. Sunday, I had a great NSV that I didn't feel hit me until today -- I'm wearing a 1X for the first time in over a decade. (Top and bottom, which is another NSV because ever since my late 20s, my bottom has always required me to go one size up from whatever shirt size I was wearing) But even this NSV, I'm able to acknowledge it and told a couple people about it because I knew they'd be happy for me, but it still just all feels pretty superficial. I only seem to be able to get excited and enthused about other peoples' good news, lol.

So my doctor has me seriously ticked off. She told me she'd like to see my weight and bmi down. I said "WHAT???? I weigh 183 and my bmi is 30. What's wrong with it???" She told me she wants to see my weight around 155 or 160 and me at a normal bmi. I was like "if I do that, I'll look sickly!!! I've always been bigger boned and somewhat curvy, I carry my weight differently. Not one person would look at me right now and think I look like I weigh 183. No way would I look healthy if I went down to 160" and she said it would be better for my health and I should at least think about it. I told her "my blood pressure already runs on the low side of normal. I struggle to keep it up to 103/55!!! My A1c is 5.0 and my glucose is 96. I'm not on any meds except what I take for my MS. All my labs come back perfect. What else do you want??" I told her I feel amazing, I'm really active, I'm able to work as a clinical medical assistant for a busy specialty practice (infectious disease) which has always been my dream, I hike, I work out, literally I'm living the life I only dreamed about. What am I missing here???? I was so mad. And she said we'll discuss it at our appt on the 17th. I said "oh we'll discuss some stuff, alright, but that ain't happening". She's going based off my height, weight, bmi, and their supposed "ideal weight" BS. My bariatric surgeon is ecstatic with my progress. He actually said I've lost more, with both surgeries, than he realistically expected that I would. My neurologist is thrilled because losing all the weight has significantly improved my MS symptoms. My gastroenterologist is thrilled because all of my GI issues have gone away. Just this idiot yahoo isn't happy. I definitely think I need a new doctor. This is just too much. For reference, here's what I looked like when I first started seeing her, and here's what I look like now, literally this week....as in Monday and yesterday.....

I'm the same. I'll be honest, its not that I don't like the gym...I don't like exercising gym or anywhere. I dread every minute of it. I walk (boring) and lift free weights (boring and tedious), I refuse to swim - that would require going to a public pool and putting on a swimsuit and looking like a newborn shar pei. It isn't going to make me want to publicly swim. When we had our own pool I use do laps sometimes. I like hiking, but that involves traveling somewhere and dealing with weather. Its all boring! I have: 1. Free weights 2. Treadmill 3. Nintendo Switch exercise games 4. The Total Gym 5. Exercise bands 6. The Cubii Move I don't like doing any of them. Its not laziness; its tedious and boring! Add on top of that I don't like being sweaty. I do yoga which I used to enjoy, now I don't. I can foresee due to the boredom and not enjoying it not doing any of it soon. I get tired of people, dieticians, doctors, physical therapists etc., telling me I just need to find something I'd enjoy doing. Please, please tell me what that is!? So, rest assured its not just you. I'm struggling with it as well. Also, I have permanent shin splints..so running, walking anything where I have to travel involves a mile of constant pain until it settles regardless of stretching beforehand.

1. Female, 49, 163cm / 5ft 3in 2. None, put on about 5kg / 11lb 3. 120.20kg / 265lb 4 & 5. Don't recall as was in hospital still at that point but not much as they were pumping me full of nutrients 6. 92kg / 202lb 7. 72kg / 158lb Now one year and three weeks I am at 68.6kg / 151lb and just a few pounds away from my goal weight.

I rarely bought brand new clothes while losing post-op. I love thrifting and had a blast as I shopped for smaller and smaller sizes. I sometimes hardly had a chance to wear some of the clothes I bought before I outgrew them. I go through my closet once a month pulling out what I have outgrown and donating. It's slowing down now as I near goal weight. When I was at my largest I could never find anything to fit me locally. I mostly ordered online and even then a lot didn't fit right. 4-5x Funny now that I'm in a smaller size, I'm finding cute plus size stuff. Go figure. But I ain't complaining. Here's a pic of my latest closet clean out. Yeah I wear a lot of black. I'm trying to change that but boy a few of these items were hard to part with. I did find a loved one who wanted a bunch of it so that made it a bit easier to let go.....

I think I'm lucky in that I never actually added protein *powders* to anything - I met most of my protein goals with meat and pulses. It did take a bit of planning and monitoring and spacing things out. In the first six months I had some protein shakes and protein yoghurts as supplements but not that many. If you can meet your goals with pea protein surely stick to that. Your horizons will widen as time goes on. Looks like you're doing absolutely great weight loss wise.

No it just cuts out a lot of the fat but keeps the protein. I am in the weight loss case so I’m paying attention to fat and carbs. I also had my gallbladder out with my surgery so I have to slowly add fat back in to see how my body reacts. It also cuts the cholesterol which I was borderline high before my surgery. I will eventually work my way back to “skinny omelettes,” which is one whole egg and a few egg whites for a normal sized omelette. I really like to have cheese in my omelette. So I shred my own from a 2% block cheese (which is more flavorful so I use less) and do the egg whites to make up for the fat in the yolk. As long as my body allows it, I will work my way back to regular eggs eventually I’m sure, because I prefer them taste wise.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! I just snapped at my husband for asking what I wanted him to cook for dinner! How awful, especially since he picked up the LSD groceries I ordered yesterday. Thanks for the question, ShoppGirl, I wondered if it was because of the diet. I'm scared of what I'll be like when I start to lose weight and all that fat-stored estrogen starts being released into my system. Release the Kraken!!!

I thought I'll put my progress for more context: 1. Basics: GENDER, AGE, HEIGHT F, 33, 168 CM 5'5/5'6? 2. Total Weight lost in the 6 months BEFORE surgery (if any) 0 3. Weight on DAY OF SURGERY. 198/90 KG 4. Weight at 1 MONTH POST surgery 172/78.2 KG 5. Weight at 3 MONTHs POST surgery 148/67.4 KG I am at 5 months post op 131.78/59.9 KG 8. Type of Surgery (Sleeve, ByPass, etc...) Gastric sleeve

I know it is hard to do but really you just need to try and relax, stop blaming yourself and do a mental reset if you can. These are slips, you are not a failure. Everything takes time and you need to be kind to yourself. Is it possible that even when you can't stop eating you are still eating less than you would have before the weight loss journey? If so that is a step forward. If you don't qualify for any therapy from your medical team could you find someone online, it means it may be more affordable and more accessible? You can do some research and hopefully find a more suitable therapist. I was lucky with the therapist I got, she really helped with my post surgery ptsd but I have found more help here than I have with the dieticians they have given me. Would it be possible to work from home for a bit more, that way be away from temptation until you can get to a place where you feel comfortable being around food? Do you have someone within your family circle that can help you stay on track (as much as possible) in the coming days and maybe a work colleague for the time in the office?

I'm right at 5 months, and over the past few weeks, it has become HARD. In the beginning, I was dropping weight, had zero interest in food, and was totally motivated. But since the beginning of July, I've lost a pound. Actually, I've lost and gained and lost and gained that one pound multiple times. I've started feeling hungry sometimes again, and that's triggering all sorts of bad behaviors like getting up when I'm trying to avoid work (I work from home) and looking in the cupboard for a snack, not to mention craving sweets. It's been a constant fight. Not getting that reward of watching the scale dropping all the time kind of saps the motivation, I think. And the novelty wears off and you start to realize that you're in this for the long haul and maybe you start to rebel a little. You're not alone. You say you're afraid of being judged, but you are judging yourself every time you do things you know you shouldn't do. You said it yourself. You're disgusted by what you're doing, but there's a reason you're doing it, and figuring that out is going to be the key to stopping it and changing. I feel like there is probably a voice you hear in the back of your head telling you that you can't do this. Maybe there's literally someone saying it to you in your life, but most likely it's a voice in your head from a long time ago, one that sounds like you but probably was someone else when you first heard it. For me, it's my grandmother, and to some extent my dad. Never happy, never praising. Expecting perfection and scolding "for your own good" over every little thing. Ridiculing my weight despite being overweight themselves, but also overfeeding me because that's what they knew. Food was the enemy, but also a reward from emotionally stunted caregivers who had no other way to show affection. When you can never fully meet expectations at a young age, you learn quickly that you will always fail. That may be the role you've played in your family. Maybe it's everything, or maybe just one thing, like being overweight. And when you start to succeed, it feels frightening because it challenges everything you have been taught to believe about yourself. If you're not "the fat friend", who are you? Or maybe being "the fat daughter" kept a jealous family member happy because you weren't "competition" that way. There are so many reasons we get into these patterns. But the point is, the patterns feel normal and safe. So you make sure you don't succeed and change too much or for too long. You're used to being disappointing to yourself. You can live with that. But admitting you're capable of succeeding and changing is really scary. Allowing yourself to challenge the roles other people want you to fulfill is the hardest thing you can do. At least that's my experience. As for how to change, my first suggestion is talk to your team. That's why they're there, and they know what's going on because they've seen it before. Face it head on. Nothing they say is going to be any worse than what you are saying, and doing, to yourself. If you can get set up with a therapist, even better. Second, get every source of temptation out of the house. The alcohol. The junk food. Whatever is making you stumble, get rid of it. Do your shopping online from now on, or curbside pickup because it is way easier not to give into temptation that way. You can't binge on what you don't have. But skip the gym. It's really only about 10% of your success, anyway. Focus on water, protein, and vitamins. You don't need the false guilt of the gym to make everything worse. And third, get help from people you trust who are close to you if you can. Accountability is key. If going out to eat is an issue, tell your friends or family that you need their help not letting you go out to eat. Explain why you can't be around snacks, or why you won't be ordering alcohol, and ask for their help. If you trust even one person in your life to tell what is really going on, tell them. You need another voice cheering you on instead of just your own head bringing you down. Bottom line, something about what you are doing right now feels comfortable to you. It's a pattern that you can live with, even if you hate it. Something about what you were doing when you were following the rules was making you uncomfortable. Figure out what and why. You can't change your habits until you change that voice in your head, and until you can love yourself and cheer yourself on instead of being your own worst judge. But you have to believe you're worth it and be willing to do things that scare you in order to get past this fog and get to where you want to be.

That is honestly an amazing loss! I think the key thing to remember here (as others have said) is that we are all different - our bodies all have their own individual quirks, different metabolic set points & needs, so one persons weight loss may be +/- than yours, and that is normal! I have been speaking to this lovely person who had the same surgery as me, same surgeon, PCOS & everything, just the day before me. Her start weight was a little lower so I fully expected to lose weight at a quicker rate than her, but it was the opposite way around! I remember feeling a little upset that I wasn't keeping up with my peers, but I really had to check myself to remind myself that 1) it isn't a competition, and 2) my body is losing at the rate it needs to. You are doing amazingly, be proud of yourself! Celebrate every win, no matter how small

You must be so incredibly frustrated! Which type of surgery did you get, the sleeve or the bypass? I'm at about 7 weeks post op from getting the sleeve + intestinal revision and my calorie consumption ranges from 500-700/day, with my carb intake less than 35/day and a protein goal of 60/day with fluids of at least 48oz/day. I agree with others - it seems like a good idea, regardless of any advice you get from this forum, to revisit your surgeon. That said, I do believe you hit the nail on the head for one with the alcohol, and secondly I'd ask how many of your calories are coming from carbs. It's ok to include carbs in your diet, but really, this early, unless you are very physically active there isn't cause for many of them. At this stage it's typical to eat no more than 1/2cup - 1 cup of total food per meal, three times a day (or spaced out into 4 meals if needed). That's including your protein, which as someone else said should be the first thing you eat. Another thing about alcohol - it tends to cause dehydration - so you'd need to be consuming even MORE water throughout the day to compensate for that, just like caffeine. If you aren't hitting your hydration goal (PLUS, because of alcohol) then your body will struggle to convert your stored fat into energy, which is what causes most of the weight loss. An example of what my diet looks like at this stage is a single serve yogurt for breakfast (I have been getting the Aikos zero sugar or 2Good ones) - Remember no drinking 30 minutes before or after, and your meal should last at least 20-30 minutes. For lunch I might have a 'tuna melt' - which I make out of 1/3 can of tuna in water, a zero net carb small tortilla, and maybe 1/8 cup of shredded cheese or a low fat string cheese (I cook it folded over like a quesadilla) with maybe 1/8 cup of low fat cottage cheese, then for dinner a serving of one of the many bariatric recipes - there's a ricotta bake (lasagna with no noodles, basically), unstuffed cabbage rolls (Kind of like egg roll filling), or maybe chicken or tuna salad made with low fat mayo and a dab of relish with some cucumber slices/2-4 saltine crackers. I use the free Baritastic App to track my food and fluid intake. Using a tracking app increases weight loss significantly from what I've been told because you can see and understand what exactly you're putting in your body. The good news is that as far as I know, it isn't too late to backpedal and reset yourself! I'm NOT a doctor but my understanding is that if you get off track after weight loss surgery, especially this soon, one way to 'reset' is to go back on a liquid diet for a week or two, with zero-sugar jello, zero sugar pudding, and protein shakes (less than 5g of sugar each) to hit your goals. After that, work your way back up to puree foods for a week, then soft foods for a week. I strongly recommend eyeballing the nutrition information on any shake you think of buying, too, because there are some that are loaded with sugar and have as many as 22g of carbs EACH. After weight loss surgery it's also strongly discouraged to have fried food at all for the first 6 months, and after that maybe once per month. The same goes for sweets and baked goods. I hope this helps, and again - I feel like you should really follow up with your surgeon and a nutritionist! Best wishes!

In reference to a comment above, I had a DEXA scan and found it very helpful. I thought I had more weight I could lose since I was near the top of my normal BMI range - but the technician said "no - you're done. You're at 21% fat, which is on the low end for a woman". I was shocked. But like the commenter said, you're always going to have more bone and muscle than someone who's never been obese. And I remember being told at one point by someone in my clinic that that is why we often look 10 lbs lighter than the scale would suggest (you do lose bone and muscle while losing weight - but that's fine because we don't need it anymore - we had all that infrastructure to hold up all that weight we once had. We do lose some of it, but not all). some pain isn't uncommon because of shifting architecture, as someone else said. You're carrying your body differently now, and your bones and joints aren't used to it. I'm not sure if that happened to me, but I'd get major butt pain if I sat for too long. I had to buy coccyx pillows for my car and office chair. I don't really get that any more (although I keep a coccyx pillow in my car for long drives) - not sure if I just figured out how to sit on it so it doesn't produce pain, or what.. re: unrealistic goals - after successfully getting down to around 170 lbs, I told one of the staff members at my clinic that I was going to shoot for 150 (which is a normal BMI for someone my height). I was told that wasn't realistic, that only about 10-15% of their patients make it that far. Most end up in the "overweight" or "class 1 obese" category (which isn't very obese). The research I read back that up (I did end up making it - actually got quite a bit lower than that - but years later, I'm now technically "overweight"). Anyway, that's what your surgeon might have been referring to. Not many of us make it all the way down to normal BMI.

Has anyone experienced an increase in their cholesterol levels? Before surgery, mine sat around 5 regardless of my weight (healthy, overweight or obese). In the first 3 years post surgery it was about 4. Then it went to 5 again. Okay I thought just where my body wants to be. But it’s 5.7 now. Like what?? My surgery follow up doctor suggested I speak to my GP about a coronary artery calcium store test. My dad had a higher cholesterol level but not enough for meds. One brother’s is about what mine is now but he follows one of those fat is good diet (I swear he slathers his toast with butter like an inch thick). My mum, other brother, aunts, uncles, grandparents levels are/were ok. Rest of my blood work was great.

1. Basics: GENDER, AGE, HEIGHT Female, 50, 5 feet 0 inches 2. Total Weight lost in the 6 months BEFORE surgery (if any) 6.4 kilos or 14 pounds 3. Weight on DAY OF SURGERY. 148.6 kilos or 327 pounds 4. Weight at 1 MONTH POST surgery 137.6 kilos or 302 pounds 5. Weight at 3 MONTHs POST surgery 127.8 kilograms or 281 pounds 6. Weight at 6 MONTHs POST surgery 117 kilograms or 257.4 pounds 7. Weight at 12 MONTHs POST surgery 105.7 kilograms or 232.5 pounds

It is so good to hear an update from you. I am so frustrated for you that you had to go through a stall because of conflicting information but at least you’re on track now. I am on a pretty similar plan my breakfast every morning is a proffee which is a caramel shake with iced coffee on top. Then I eat every three hours so luncheon dinner with two high protein snacks. this actually works well for me to remember all of my vitamins too because I have to take vitamins at five different times a day. that’s so exciting to hear about the clothes fitting and you were so lucky but you have someone to borrow. I think for me my most exciting moment was clearing out some of the things that are way too big for me now. I was actually thinking of asking my team if we could do a clothing exchange at the support group meeting. for the wheats, if you don’t have any look on marketplace consider discount stores as well. I checked several thrift stores for mine, and apparently they sell them separately because I found them in several stores but only one. I ended up finding some at a discount store for 599 for the set. Alternatively, check your library, city, and county websites for classes that use weights. Mine has all the weights there for you to use. And the group classes are really fun, Inexpensive and there’s no commitment. At mine it’s a really cool environment too. It’s nothing like a gym. The women are just average women that are there to get healthy. Nothing competitive whatsoever everyone choose each other on to beat their own personal best or just totally mines their own business. They even gave me my first class free to see if I liked it. I’m sure I mentioned that I started with yoga. I never in 1 million years would’ve considered myself someone who would survive one yoga class never mind love it. Of course I’m horrible and can’t do half of but it’s still a workout and I am getting more flexible and my balance is getting a bit better because of it anyways, congratulations on your loss and finding your groove. Keep doing what you’re doing and keep us posted.

I'm up for my driver's license renewal and my face has changed due to the weight loss in the last 10 years. Sorry you had to go through that, but thank you so much for the heads up!