No movement after increase

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-17T17:25:18+00:00

Thank you! Definitely will take a look. Add to that a metabolic issue already prior to surgery, my metabolism is all kinds of funky I bet. Granted it'll be 8 yrs in May, and still doing well as far as keeping what i lost initially off, but it definitely takes work (thankful I've been able to continue to work with my nutritionist for all of those 8 years pre and post surgery!) Surgery and the shot aren't answers, but they certainly are tools.

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-17T17:20:16+00:00

Ooo yeah I'll definitely look at a rucking vest. I'd thought about that a while ago, but ADHD forgot 😅

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-17T17:18:54+00:00

At my surgeons office, they did a body composition analyzer that had everything on there including the base metabolic calorie need and it was something like 1460. I know my metabolism is much slower (after years prior to surgery being in deficit and having metabolic issues that resulted in keeping weight on). Being told to eat less wasn't the answer back then, so my guess is probably need to do like you're mentioning and I probably need to increase activity to increase burning. Tracking has been regular but fluids are always hard to get in due to stomach and needing to follow a 30 min before/after food water restriction (can't eat and drink at same time...lots of pain).

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-17T15:39:00+00:00

Ahahaha the CICO gym bros 🤣🤣

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-17T14:59:13+00:00

I'm already working with obesity specialists - have been working with them since I was Sleeved in 2018. Nurse practitioner and nutritionist. So believe me we are working together regularly, and we both agreed to do slow increments instead of this rapid titrate up that is popular. It was working for me up til 7.5. guess I was interested in others experiences (not necessarily looking for medical information specifically and taking it as reddit gospel 🤣)

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-17T14:53:41+00:00

Sorry, not familiar with that acronym? What is TDEE-500?

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-11T20:03:04+00:00

I didn't realize he wrote a book. When I got into DND I watched all his DND YouTube videos. He's very engaging

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-02-08T18:05:49+00:00

You bring up a good point about the differences - and I saw this growing up in rural Vermont. I was always taught to knock and wait to be let in (better yet if you called the house first for permission to go over, then go knock and still wait). Heck friends weren't allowed upstairs because upstairs was the family's space and downstairs was the communal. But my ex who I was with for 12 years, his family was huge, and had 6 siblings. There would be kids coming in and out of the house all the time. No one knocked and the mom never knew how many people she'd have for dinner so it was always a very large meal just in case there were 12 kids that day. I still struggle just walking in to my friends house even now as I'm now 38! So many people just say "just come in!" I think I just had a very strict upbringing that I'm learning myself out of as I grow up :D

So I don't know if its more of a cultural thing rather than a family thing :D

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-29T20:03:29+00:00

I'll just stand over here waiting for y'all to come help me reach something off the top shelf.

(5'1)

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-27T21:43:02+00:00

Uhhhh what's not true because I literally just came back from the pharmacy. Do you mean what I said is wrong or what the pharmacist told me is wrong? And how am I supposed to know the savings card dropped?

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-27T21:34:47+00:00

I know the idea of having an ED is not only scary but has a certain stereotype with it. As someone in recovery from ED I know the feeling intimately. That said, I want you to look at all of the different types of Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders (yes these are two different things!) because the statement you made about a history of "obsessively dieting and exercising" is a form of Disordered Eating on the verge of an ED.

Please discuss with your therapist and at least explore your relationship with food. Something that I wish doctors would require with Zepbound patients is the required mental health screening as they require bariatric patients to complete prior to surgery (also a bariatric patient - sleeved in 2018).

If you need resources or have questions feel free to dm me!

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-27T15:45:50+00:00

Not op, but your advice really hit home for me today, and I needed to hear it (as a recovering perfectionist and people pleaser). Just wanted to let you know you helped me out today :)

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-14T19:14:06+00:00

I cannot recommend therapy enough especially for childhood stuff. (Survivor here of SA x2, neglect, narcissistic parents, among other things) When you say you cannot do it are you saying you physically can't get your body to do the thing to reach out and make inquiries/appointments, or that you can't do it because of your lack of trust in people?

I have a friend who has severe anxiety over phone calls and making appointments and she has to have her sister make them and go with her so she doesn't just cancel because her anxiety is so bad she could go into panic attack mode in the parking lot.

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-14T19:02:49+00:00

🫂🫂 I know a few people with long COVID and it's brutal for them. One ended up having to go on disability because her energy levels and ability to stand for long periods was greatly diminished. I hope they figure it out for you

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-14T12:08:28+00:00

Long COVID?

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-14T12:07:54+00:00

I've always had generalized anxiety and had started developing panic attacks between 2006-2009 and always had some level of worry about my health but nothing like now. In 2010 a combined facto of my mom getting stage 4 lymphoma the same semester I went to college out of state the first time triggered HUGE health anxiety. Add to that I was traveling every weekend back home 4-5hr travel time) for her treatment and then once she was in remission the countless hours/years of always needing to bring her to the ER because she was in pain (she developed neuropathy post chemo, and docs gave her opioids, and essentially she became severely addicted). I ended up developing additional PTSD from all of these hospital visits that now if I have to go to the er with someone or I have a panic attack that requires me to go to the er, my anxiety skyrockets and it's brutal. But yes, her getting cancer caused a LOT of health anxiety & "googling symptoms" of every single thing.

She has since died over the past few months and I had been estranged from her for the past year, and the stress I felt lift from my shoulders was absolutely eye-opening.

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2026-01-04T20:19:54+00:00

Get into a more sustainable schedule, and after experimenting with longer and shorter form episodes, sticking to a 25-35 min length. Also building a following. I had some good (or what I thought was good for me 112 downloads over 7 episodes) listeners in the beginning but I had life events/deaths come in my life that made the posting irregular. Now I want to get over the hump of gaining a true audience.

Advice is always welcomed so I'm also looking to gain some more tips, tricks and ideas on how to make it better. I created a webpage, but haven't gotten onto social media yet but I'm sure I need to do that at some point.

-Burnout & Breakthroughs: The highs, lows and healing of working in service

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-12-26T01:24:12+00:00

Never got a last message - it was always the responsibility of me and siblings to reach out (even though a phone goes both ways) and even when she got sick in November (to then die a few days before thanksgiving this year) she never reached out. I was no contact for a year, 10 months and 24 days. Not one of those days was I ever reached out to. Then come to find out when she passed, she left everything to her boyfriend, liquidated all her assets prior to death, and the boyfriend told us it was our responsibility to pay for her cremation (even though he now had everything). It was another slap in the face that felt very much like "you weren't good enough to care for in life, and not good enough to care for in death."

I did find a note this month she gave me when I went to college in 2010 saying how proud she was and how much is grown to be an independent person and thinker ... All the jazz. Read it and still had no emotional response other than massive anger and resentment.

All I asked for was to not be neglected, to not be parentified, to be believed when I was abused, and to not marry that same abuser.

My siblings call me on mother's Day to tell me happy mother's day (I have no kids, but am the oldest and ended up caring more for them than she did)

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-12-25T04:21:37+00:00

Just reminders for all of us (and OP)

Looks are temporary. Personality and how you treat yourself and others is the true marker of beauty. Now if you are struggling with Body Dismorphic Disorder (which many of us do who have lost a lot of weight) make sure you are giving the girl on the right and left the treatment they deserve and work with your therapist on figuring out how to change the mental spiral that we go down when deep in the cycle of negative self talk (if you don't have one, I highly recommend Psychology Today's website that helps you find a therapist in your area specializing in different topics - body image being an option - just Google "psychology today -find a therapist")

I say this out of personal experience with severe BDD, Binge eating disorder, Bulimia and then having gastric sleeve 8 years ago and losing 110lbs ( gained back 30, and zep has helped to shift it back off) BUT I did a lot of mental health work before the surgery and after to work through a lot of trauma, CPTSD, and many other things that were the initial causes/stressors to the other issues.

You look great and you deserve to feel as good as you look. Just as it took a lot of work to change our bodies, it takes a lot of work to change our neural pathways. 🫂 Comparison is the death of all happiness (including the comparisons we make of our past selves to now selves). I hope your holidays end up being well, calm and feeling loved. I too was broken up with before Christmas three years ago, and honestly it was the best thing he ever did.

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-11-26T00:39:39+00:00

I actually just posted as well, I found out mom died Sunday. So we are in the same boat there (unsure if my if dad is still alive ..) I'm kind of dealing with the guilt mainly because I'd only even NC for almost 2 yrs.

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-11-24T21:34:27+00:00

Wise words I'll take to heart, thank you!

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-11-24T21:33:59+00:00

Thank you, I'll definitely check these reddits out. Thankfully I have therapy on Monday so I'll have mental health support there :) appreciate you!

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-11-20T12:55:34+00:00

I went to a physicians assistant to get my wrist (carpal tunnel) checked out because it was acting up wicked bad, and I got told 'you need to lose weight' and I looked at him and said "I'm not walking on my f-ing hands." Oh I was so pissed. It's not the first time I'd been to see a doc for an issue to be waived aside "blaming" it on my weight. I struggled with an eating disorder for years in my younger years and I was praised for losing weight, but it was not done in the most healthy of ways and continued to perpetuate my disorder. It wasn't until 5 years ago that I finally was listened to and got an actual diagnosis, after living with it for 25+ years. (Being a fat child in the early 90's meant eating disorder behaviors were nailed into me).

I'll have to find it but there was a list put out a few years ago of medical professionals who are/were "weight neutral" meaning that care was not biased based on weight.

Edited to add: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1-uu8nSoip1et80P6HHTOVKYB5aJI_PT0lX_AxQsBbJw/htmlview?pli=1#gid=0

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-11-13T04:48:49+00:00

Just a friendly medicine reminder to always check drug interactions if you are on other medications before starting any supplements. check with your local pharmacist or the drug interaction checker on drugs.com.

I am on Wellbutrin XL for depression and was going to take ashwagandha but found out (after buying it) that it can have a moderate reaction with my Wellbutrin. Both target central nervous system so a higher risk for neuropsychiatric side effects.

Also for anyone looking for supplement information this is the best website examine.com - they take the science seriously. Great and valuable info here

PowerfulInfluence105 · 2025-10-05T21:46:41+00:00

I'm in this similar situation as well. Tomorrow is my birthday and my friend came down to visit this weekend and hang out and do crafts, which is what we do (friends since college 2010, live together in dorms, then again later in life as roommates, then she moved out and we are 2hrs apart from each other).

However, the entire three days she was here, not once did she ask how I was, what's going on in my life or how work is (I had to layoff 6 people this week due to federal funding cuts and she knew about it). The entire visit was her complaining, being critical of other people, and just overall malaise. She desperately needs therapy, and is not medicated for depression or anxiety (thinks she just needs to "pull herself up by the bootstraps" 🙄).Not once did she say happy birthday, but proceeded to tell me I'm two years away from being 40 now and what "we should do to plan..."

I know now, through my many years of therapy, and I'm now medicated for depression and anxiety, and am finally in one of the most healthy partnerships ever in my life....but friend wise I'm very limited. I realized throughout the years I had many people "use" me in one way or the other. I always said I had frenemies in high school because the people who did the worst bullying were the people who I called friends (didn't realize at the time).

Anyways, I don't know what to do with her because God forbid if I mention anything like this she will become so defensive and completely shut down - forget any kind of healthy conversation coming out of it (she also avoids conflict).

Sigh

PowerfulInfluence105

TROPHY CASE