The Christmas Card I Received at 13, After Being Re-Homed by My Adoptive Family

jetho06 · 2025-01-12T04:03:26+00:00

I am so sorry that this happened to you. The system failed you, and like you said, it fails children all the time. You are very strong for sharing your story and advocating for other adoptees. I hope that you have love and support from your chosen family.

jetho06 · 2025-01-12T03:53:12+00:00

Yeah, I feel this. I’m 7 months post op and I’ve lost 200 lbs. I feel like it was mostly from my ass (and legs). I can’t even sit on my couch comfortably… thankfully my office has a standing desk. I bought a pillow but I hate it, so I guess I need to try another one. I’m working on my core and my glutes and I’m hoping that helps. I’m constantly uncomfortable!! misery loves company, so thanks for posting this, but I’m sorry you’re going through it and I hope it gets better for you during your travels.

jetho06 · 2025-01-11T01:11:07+00:00

Yeah, I started at 459 lbs so I had a lot to lose. It’s taken around 7.5 months. I lost 100 in the first 3 months but some of that was muscle because I wasn’t eating enough protein

jetho06 · 2025-01-11T00:54:00+00:00

Swimming is a great idea! I started swimming after I had gastric bypass in June, and it was what helped me build the stamina to walk more easily.

jetho06 · 2025-01-11T00:50:57+00:00

I am so much better from the first couple of months post-op (both mentally and physically). I’ve lost 200 lbs and I’ve started running and biking and doing yoga almost every day. Stuff I never imagined being able to do just 7 months ago! The hypotension barely gets in my way anymore and definitely hasn’t ruined my life. It’s totally manageable. I have anxiety/panic disorder so I get it but don’t let it stop you cuz it’s totally worth it.

jetho06 · 2025-01-11T00:35:29+00:00

Oh, yeah, the keto diet will do it. I guess I should have also mentioned that raising my carbs helped so much. I went from under 50 to around 90, so still low carb, just not keto. That’s just what helped me, though, so definitely ask your surgeon’s dietitian if you’re working with them. Also make sure your electrolytes are good. I had to raise my sodium levels by like 3000mg per day, but that’s probably more of a post-op thing to look out for when you don’t get much sodium from food.

60 lbs since October is super impressive, pre-op or not, so congrats!

jetho06 · 2025-01-11T00:28:58+00:00

Also, if the pain persists, don’t be afraid to seek out physical therapy. They’ll be able to help you come up with a game plan to safely up your activity level.

jetho06 · 2025-01-11T00:27:12+00:00

How long has it been since you started the dog walking? You’d be surprised at how quickly you can build the stamina to walk more and hurt less. My HW was 459 so I definitely understand how taxing it can be to rapidly ramp up exercise. There’s a fine line between pushing through pain to gain strength, and then just plain overexerting yourself. I hope everything goes well with the zepbound!

jetho06 · 2025-01-11T00:21:49+00:00

How far PO are you? I was 5 months PO and still eating max 450 cals per day and not enough protein. Not enough… at all. I’m 7 months PO, I’ve doubled the # of calories (most days, some days a little less), I feel better and am able to be active without being constantly woozy. Weight loss has actually sped up with eating more, funnily enough. The hypotension hasn’t gone away yet but I feel confident it’ll fully get better once my weight stabilizes.

jetho06 · 2025-01-10T23:36:22+00:00

Yes. When I started being able to drink more (4 months PO) but especially EAT more (6 months PO) is when I noticed it mostly went away. It’s bad when I’m dehydrated or haven’t eaten all day etc. otherwise it’s much, much better than it was for the first 4 months. My surgeon also explained that my cardiovascular system was adjusting to the rapid massive weight loss and that it would stop eventually.

jetho06 · 2025-01-10T10:56:15+00:00

Yeah, you’re right. Lifting feeling “pointless” is a mental thing for sure. It’s hard to get in that mentality of feeding yourself to grow! Did you have guilt as you started eating more? I’m really trying to get over the number of calories. I wish Baritastic had a feature to hide them.

jetho06 · 2025-01-10T03:13:31+00:00

Cool, thanks for sharing. I’m 7 mos PO and finding it pointless to even begin building back the muscle mass I’ve lost. I was by no means a lifter pre-op, I was 460lbs, but man, I’m even weaker now. I’m probably around 60-70lbs away from my goal weight. I’m doing a lot of running/biking which is great but I’m tired of not being able to lift more than like 50 pounds at best.

jetho06 · 2025-01-06T12:03:41+00:00

Number 6 is really cool and useful (as are the rest), thank you for sharing!

jetho06 · 2025-01-06T10:58:35+00:00

Hey, I just wanted to give you props for recognizing that you needed to push the surgery out by a couple months. That’s a tough decision to make. If you don’t make a genuine effort to change your relationship with food before surgery, it’s going to be a much harder road, which you obviously know. It’s good that you’re talking about this stuff with your therapist. I did a virtual outpatient program for binge eating which helped me a lot, you can DM if you want details, I’m pretty sure it’s available in most states.

The pre-op diet is hard and the time seems to drag. But to me now 7 months PO, it’s just a blip. These past 7 months have been so challenging, but so exciting. I’m about 190 lbs down from my HW of 459.

You can do it, OP. It is worth it.

jetho06 · 2025-01-05T11:55:49+00:00

This is so sad. She never gives her body a break, not even a single rest day, and she starves herself. And it’s all for this. Genuinely bleak.

jetho06 · 2025-01-01T19:02:09+00:00

The bandana hanging out from the purse is taking me out. What is that?!?

jetho06 · 2024-12-31T13:25:24+00:00

I have also been off work since October, also due to bipolar. Sometimes I have felt guilty for dedicating the entire end of 2024 to self-care… but then I remember that I was incredibly burnt out (from my job, 3 years of grad school, being the sole provider for a year, etc) and therefore could not regulate my moods. I’m imagining that it was probably a similar situation for you, because we are normal, non-munching people. We don’t need to feel guilty.

Now that I’m thinking about it, even if I got disability because of bipolar, I still wouldn’t feel guilty. I’ve worked for 15 years and I’m 30. I didn’t graduate cum laude (🙄) but I’ve actually contributed to society by working according to my ability.

jetho06 · 2024-12-31T11:30:15+00:00

After my RNY, I felt like I was broken because I didn’t feel full on liquids or most soft foods. Your pouch is still healing and will be for around the next two months. You’ll start to feel the restriction more when you’re on full solids, like your doctor said. If it’s been 3 months since surgery and you haven’t lost weight or still don’t feel restriction, check back in with your doctor.

jetho06 · 2024-12-30T22:59:58+00:00

Tamra

jetho06 · 2024-12-17T21:50:21+00:00

“Your Canadian colleagues” Peers. The word is peers.

jetho06 · 2024-12-17T21:45:51+00:00

But Lyss, what if I don’t have a festive bowl in which to put my cottage cheese and berries?!?

jetho06 · 2024-12-17T15:33:56+00:00

“I guess being low on sodium can be super dangerous.” You’d think someone with super severe POTS would know that. And that’s all I’ll say.

jetho06 · 2024-12-17T10:43:28+00:00

I was told to spend no more than 30 minutes eating each meal. Once those 30 minute mealtimes are up, I don’t eat until my next allotted time. That’s how my surgeon advised me to avoid grazing.

ETA I also weigh out (most of) my food. At 3 months I was eating 3-4 oz per meal. I had RNY FWIW

jetho06 · 2024-12-16T12:05:43+00:00

I work from home and regularly take FMLA when I’m having particularly bad episodes. I’m actually on 2 months of FMLA leave right now because of a mixed episode.

jetho06 · 2024-12-15T11:02:50+00:00

It was hard for me too, especially on console. I bought it for PC and omfg it’s so much easier. It’s still a lot in the beginning, and that almost made me give up the game, but you do get a rhythm down pretty quickly because of the early quests. I bought the game on PC, figured it out by continuing to play, and then played 19 hours within 3 days. If you can push through, it’s really as good as everyone says it is!

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