February 2019 weight loss buds

[Sheribear68 3,200]

On 09/01/2019 at 20:00, Goody222 said:

I had the same problem with the ursodial, I got so nauseous I had to get an infusion to snap back. I have not taken it since. Hoping my gall bladder can hang in there. Also, @Sheribear68 I am trying the intermittent fasting 16/8 . Thanks for the suggestion. I will report back on how it goes. Like everyone else, the six month point (and a little before that to be honest), the stall happened. Do we ever get out of the stall or is it just a lot harder from now on?

Yay I’m so excited you’re gonna try the 16:8.
I find the structure to be very soothing and it removes stress to know I’ve got between 11-7 to eat most days. Then again, if life throws an unexpected curve ball at me, I eat at whatever interval I can and just go back to it the next day. The biggest comfort for me is that TRE (time restricted eating) is always available for me to pick back up any day of the week depending on my schedule.

I’ve been modestly successful in month 6. Lost 6.8 pounds over the month of August and since I had a feast day yesterday (first OU game of the year and we had a big party ) I don’t plan on weighing in til Thursday or Friday.
Tomorrow and Thursday I’ve got 20:4 fasts planned and will stick to 16:8 today and Wednesday.

My goal for September is to lose 5-6 pounds, which according to my surgeon might be a bit of an overreach, but I’m going to try for it and not get discouraged if I don’t make it

[Sheribear68 3,200]

On 09/01/2019 at 15:45, EmzBee said:

Thought I'd upload a shot if me wearing that dress. Same one I wore onstage in my band all those years ago [emoji4]

Went to a conference and wore it at a cocktail party. Lots of people there didn't even recognize me!

I've finally transitioned from 'obese' to 'overweight', by BMI standards, anyway! I'm still losing significant weight atm (I think over 10 pounds last month) but I'm expecting a stall soon. My stalls are getting longer and longer... it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if I lost nothing this month at all.

Hope everyone's doing well and keeping positive!

Where's Recidivist at? Have you moved to winterless Australia yet, my friend?? Can't wait to hear about your move! Stay away from the TimTams. Hehe! [emoji23]

Sent from my CPH1719 using BariatricPal mobile app

LOVE this!

Your hair looks like it might be gaining in some fullness, but your body continues to get skinnier.
Woot!

[Sheribear68 3,200]

On 08/28/2019 at 18:46, froufrou said:

I just read in an article about elevated cholesterol and rapid weight loss that exercise can help, and I do seem to remember that from many years ago on some other weight loss journey (there's been too many to count). It kind of mops it up. I haven't been too concerned about exercise, but I think I might start now just for that reason alone.

At the age of 50, I knew going hard-core anything really wasn’t on the table for me.
Especially at the start of this with a healing from surgery body and still carrying around so much weight.
That’s why finding Pilates was such a life saver for me in the beginning.
I’ve started getting more aggressive on my treadmill and can’t wait to start actually running again.
I’ve always loved running (even though I’ve never been a natural for it) and I fully give running credit for saving my life over 10 years ago. I had turned 40 at the end of 2008 and decided to make another stab at losing weight and getting fit.
Well I lost 40 pounds over 8 months and started running. It was when I would go on my longer runs (4-5 miles or more) that I would notice chest pains.
That made me go to my PCP who saw I was 40 and recommended a mammogram in addition to the ekg.
Turns out my chest pains weren’t heart related, they were because I had a tumor in my left breast. Would’ve never found it til too late according to many doctors.

Anyway, exercise for me will never be triathlon/iron man kind of stuff, but I do love getting a bit of a sweat on and I love the control that Pilates gives me over my body now.

[froufrou 678]

1 hour ago, Sheribear68 said:

At the age of 50, I knew going hard-core anything really wasn’t on the table for me.
Especially at the start of this with a healing from surgery body and still carrying around so much weight.
That’s why finding Pilates was such a life saver for me in the beginning.
I’ve started getting more aggressive on my treadmill and can’t wait to start actually running again.
I’ve always loved running (even though I’ve never been a natural for it) and I fully give running credit for saving my life over 10 years ago. I had turned 40 at the end of 2008 and decided to make another stab at losing weight and getting fit.
Well I lost 40 pounds over 8 months and started running. It was when I would go on my longer runs (4-5 miles or more) that I would notice chest pains.
That made me go to my PCP who saw I was 40 and recommended a mammogram in addition to the ekg.
Turns out my chest pains weren’t heart related, they were because I had a tumor in my left breast. Would’ve never found it til too late according to many doctors.

Anyway, exercise for me will never be triathlon/iron man kind of stuff, but I do love getting a bit of a sweat on and I love the control that Pilates gives me over my body now.

Oh wow! Was the tumour cancerous? Thank goodness you got it looked at. I have the same issue with some chest pain, but I have benign fibroadenomas... lots of them. Makes checking for lumps really annoying and kind of scary. I know I should check more often, but it freaks me out a bit.

Getting old is not for the faint hearted! But it really is an honour, I must say.

[Sheribear68 3,200]

Yes. Cancerous. It was triple-negative breast cancer. Which is one of the most aggressive and fastest-growing ones you can have. it only has a 50% survivor rate and that’s when you catch it early. If it’s caught after it gets into lymph nodes..... game over.

I was very very lucky. We got it when it was 1/8 away from my chest wall. Spent a whole year on very aggressive chemo and did a 7 week stint with radiation in the middle of the chemo.

Because I was so MO (even though I’d lost 40 pounds, I was still in the 230’s) and my breasts were so large, nobody would’ve ever found that tumor until it was too late.
Thank goodness for the running-induced chest pains

[froufrou 678]

That’s crazy Sheri - yes thank goodness for the running! I hope all is well now? So very scary. You are a trooper!!

[Sheribear68 3,200]

09/02/2019 02:25 PM, froufrou said:

That’s crazy Sheri - yes thank goodness for the running! I hope all is well now? So very scary. You are a trooper!!

lol, well lying down and dying wasn’t an option so I chose plan A— survival 😂😂
Seriously though... thanks. It’s hard even now after 10 years to accept that what I did was quite phenomenal. In the moment, it was just surviving til the next step was over.

I will say this though: people automatically assume getting cancer and being on chemo will make you emaciated— um... nope! I gained OVER 25 pounds of that hard-fought 40 and then added another 15 in the next year.
The whole year of being on steriods, followed by the metabolic disaster of the chemo finally did in what my chronic dieting had not already destroyed.
It took me a few years to admit it, but my metabolism was completely and hopelessly damaged.

What funny is now that I know this, I see many many patients of mine who have also come out successfully the other side of chemo complain about inability to lose weight, pre-diabetes, and even full-blown type 2DM years later.

Edited to add: 

It was a second cancer scare in early 2018 that got my butt motivated to do something like WLS to get this weight off.  Not sure if everyone knows this, but the number one risk factor for ANY kind of cancer is obesity.  Still being MO for 10 years post cancer was stressing me out so much.  

Luckily scare #2 was just that— a false alarm, but I’m thankful now that it happened bc it was the wake up call I needed to make  this drastic of a lifestyle change.  

[Everything 388]

On 9/1/2019 at 10:17 AM, ldawn said:

I’m down 76 pounds. My mini goal is to be 100 down by thanksgiving. That gives me right at 3 months to lose 24 pounds. I need to exercise. I signed up for 4 weeks of gladiator camps. I will likely drop dead during class but the fact that it was $10 made it hard to pass up. Not sure I can meet this goal but I’m going to try. I have some slow months for weight loss which is very frustrating.

Congratulations!!!

[Everything 388]

On 8/29/2019 at 1:04 PM, Sheribear68 said:

Okay. Saw my surgeon a couple of hours ago.
I’ve officially lost 78 pounds since surgery day and he laughed when I was bummed that it wasn’t an even 80.
According to him, I’ve lost right at around 80% of my excess fat, which qualifies as “success” in his book.

When I discussed that while I was very grateful for the 80 pounds, my ultimate goal was another 23-25 more.
He nodded and agreed that it was a totally reasonable goal, but to allow that it might take another 6 months for that to happen and to not be alarmed if immediately after that I find 5-10 pounds of “bounce”.
He says that if I keep on running my program the way I have been, I should be able to get there.
And in case I do not get there, then it’s my body telling me I’m not meant to be there.
When I asked him what someone with my BMI and progress should expect on a monthly basis, he said 4-5 pounds max is what I could expect.
That number somewhat bums me out (I was hoping he’d say 7-8) but his numbers make more sense within another 5-6 month time window vs my goal

So I’ve got some labs ordered that I’ll do sometime next week and I won’t know results of those til about this time next month.

I’ve got a FU with my NUT in 3 months, but my surgeon says he doesn’t need to see me til I’m 12 months P.O.

He also told me he’s taking me off of the ursodiol (he jokingly said that I’ll never again lose 78 pounds in 6 months so there’s no need) and wants me off of my pantoprazole.

One big reason is that med leaches Calcium from your bones and that coupled with my VGS and carrying around less body weight, and being post-menopausal can lead to bone density issues later.

He said to keep up with Pilates and my walk/run/incline training on the treadmill and I should be fine.

Congrats Sheri!

I had a funny experience referencing you the other day. I was talking to my MIL and I was telling them about some of the new snack ideas I got from asking this group. I caught myself saying “ yeah my friend had this great idea, she uses Pork rinds to eat hummus!”. Then I realized I referred to you as my friend and I have never even met you!! I have never been on a forum like this where I have shared personal information and hadn’t realized how attached I had become to you guys! Haha

[Everything 388]

On 9/1/2019 at 4:27 PM, Gottajustdoit said:

That sounds like a tough four weeks of camp! I have never gotten into exercising and now that my weight is leveling off I'm very discouraged. I've tried gym memberships many times and have lost a lot of money. If I enjoyed it and maintained it, I doubt I would have gotten as heavy as I was. I still have no interest. I've gained two pounds from my lowest weight and feel as if the scale is set and I now I need to work really, really hard to maintain the weight I am at now (even though I was hoping to be a size 8, not 12). I have to be honest with myself: I'm not going to be able to keep it off with exercise. 😞 Maybe someday as you all inspire me. I'm sure Gladiator classes would kill me too. Good luck to you!

Last night I had dinner with a friend who is about 8 years older than me and she is considering botox. I know I look older since the weight loss and have been wondering about going down that road. Has anyone done it? What do you think about it? I have so many other areas I also want to work on, like a breast reduction. I swear the girls are just flapping into each other now and it's ugly and uncomfortable. The extra tummy skin is yech, but tolerable with Shapewear. Sorry for the complaining. I do feel blessed to have been able to lose 60 lbs since surgery, but am at a scary point. I have done too much googling about people who have gained some or all of their weight back since gastric bypass. To be honest, I didn't even think gaining all the weight back was doable! What about the lack of absorbing calories? Can I really stretch out that egg-shaped stomach so much? It's daunting. The surgery was tough, the mental prep was tough....where is the good news about people who have kept it all off? I need to start reading success stories!

I am a Botox junkie and I can answer any questions you have about it. I stopped doing it about a year ago and just had it done for the first time two weeks ago because like yourself I had some concerns about my face. I have kept the fullness in my cheeks but I just didn’t feel pretty. So I have 54 units stuck in my face. In fact just today they sent me a buy one get one free coupon for fillers so that will be my next task although I will say after the Botox I look pretty freaking good relative to how I did before. Very very happy with the results. I say, if it feels good - do it!

I think you should stop reading the horror stories about weight gain. Everybody is so different. Celebrate those 60 pounds and don’t worry about them coming back but of course you need to stay mindful of your caloric intake just like the rest of us do. It’s not a problem till it’s a problem right?

[Everything 388]

On 9/1/2019 at 4:45 PM, EmzBee said:

Thought I'd upload a shot if me wearing that dress. Same one I wore onstage in my band all those years ago

Went to a conference and wore it at a cocktail party. Lots of people there didn't even recognize me!

I've finally transitioned from 'obese' to 'overweight', by BMI standards, anyway! I'm still losing significant weight atm (I think over 10 pounds last month) but I'm expecting a stall soon. My stalls are getting longer and longer... it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if I lost nothing this month at all.

Hope everyone's doing well and keeping positive!

Where's Recidivist at? Have you moved to winterless Australia yet, my friend?? Can't wait to hear about your move! Stay away from the TimTams. Hehe!

Sent from my CPH1719 using BariatricPal mobile app

I love your dress and I love love love your hair!!!!! Your a doll!

[Everything 388]

On 9/2/2019 at 6:33 PM, Sheribear68 said:

lol, well lying down and dying wasn’t an option so I chose plan A— survival 😂😂
Seriously though... thanks. It’s hard even now after 10 years to accept that what I did was quite phenomenal. In the moment, it was just surviving til the next step was over.

I will say this though: people automatically assume getting cancer and being on chemo will make you emaciated— um... nope! I gained OVER 25 pounds of that hard-fought 40 and then added another 15 in the next year.
The whole year of being on steriods, followed by the metabolic disaster of the chemo finally did in what my chronic dieting had not already destroyed.
It took me a few years to admit it, but my metabolism was completely and hopelessly damaged.

What funny is now that I know this, I see many many patients of mine who have also come out successfully the other side of chemo complain about inability to lose weight, pre-diabetes, and even full-blown type 2DM years later.

Edited to add:

It was a second cancer scare in early 2018 that got my butt motivated to do something like WLS to get this weight off. Not sure if everyone knows this, but the number one risk factor for ANY kind of cancer is obesity. Still being MO for 10 years post cancer was stressing me out so much.

Luckily scare #2 was just that— a false alarm, but I’m thankful now that it happened bc it was the wake up call I needed to make this drastic of a lifestyle change.

Wow what a crazy story! I’m so glad you fought hard! I went to the doctor last week because I thought I had a urinary tract infection. I called my weight-loss surgeon and they said that is common because we urinate less frequently because our fluids typically go down. I had all the symptoms of it and they put me on antibiotics. While I was there they took my blood pressure and then I immediately did an EKG because my blood pressure has been exceptionally high on back to back visits

Unfortunately my husband had a midlife crisis and resigned his job so now I do not have insurance. I have an order for blood work, I have an order to see a neurosurgeon, I have an order for a neurologist, I have an order for a mammogram, 2 orders for epidurals and I have no insurance. Also they called me and told me to stop taking the antibiotics because I tested negative for the urinary tract infection so no one knows what’s wrong with me. It’s pretty scary.

Additionally my husband lied to me about quitting his job and this is about the seventh time he has done this. It has put a terrible strain on our marriage. He better be careful because I think I look pretty damn hot now and I have truly started having thoughts about leaving him. I don’t have a full-time job right now but I would be lying if I said it’s not in the back of my mind. I have 11 years invested in my marriage but I am furious about this health insurance and the lying. I really need to get a clear scope of what’s going on with my health and I had paid $10,000 against my deductible this year and had hit my out of pocket so I was pretty excited About having totally free health services the rest of the year. That is now blown I assume but I ask him to call and ask about cobra. Waiting to find out on that.

This just happened the other day AND in the middle of the mandatory evacuation from the hurricane. This past week has been a b***h. I was in pain with the “supposed” UTI, constipated, took Dulcolax and then I had major diarrhea for 24 hours after that, was pissed off at my husband, and stuck in my house. Today was the first day I got the hell out of the house and went to Dillards and bought myself some jeans to make myself feel better. JUNIORS jeans mind you - take that hubby. Heh heh heh

[Everything 388]

Didn’t take a before picture but here is my after results of the Botox. I am 42 years old. I had my fourhead done, glabella, crows feet. You can kind of see where my hair is thinning in the middle although I professionally spray-painted it on the sides. So never mind that. But I had a lot of creases in my four head and in between my brows. You can see there is still faint lines but major improvement!

[froufrou 678]

@Everythinganna - how much does Botox cost you for what you have done? Can it help with sagging? I'm thinking probably not... that's my main concern right now. I've been using my Nuface thingy, but I think I probably need a more drastic lift 😱

[Everything 388]

36 minutes ago, froufrou said:

@Everythinganna - how much does Botox cost you for what you have done? Can it help with sagging? I'm thinking probably not... that's my main concern right now. I've been using my Nuface thingy, but I think I probably need a more drastic lift 😱

Sounds like a filler may be more along the lines you are looking for. I don’t know where you live but here in Florida Botox typically ranges between eight and $14 a unit. I got mine on a buy one get one the other day so I only paid six dollars a unit. I wait for specials and sales and shop around.

Depends on where you are sagging but you could do some filler in your cheek bone which will give your lower face a bit of a lift. Without seeing you or knowing the specifics that’s the best I can recommend... You could go to any med spa that does those services and they will give you a free estimate and recommendations. That’s probably the best place to start and free of charge to you.

Fillers tend to be more expensive; usually $500-$700 or so is a guesstimate. I know a lot less about fillers because I’ve only used them once and that was to have my lips done in Arizona. I figure when I start getting into prices with “commas” I may as well just have a surgical lift done.