The Changing Faces Of Me..

[femfrankie]

I'm fine thanks Oopsey .. Battling with a 10lb water retention issue & trying not to let it stress me out. It's clearly water as the gain was literally overnight and I have been really quite good with food and drinking. Lost 8lb over the past 3days so it is shifting but just not quickly for impatient me grumble grumble. It's an all over retention but my right leg bore the brunt of it. Tender and swollen by 3+ inches I couldn't even put my boots on comfortably . At least it's shifting now though. Had my granddaughter here too & as we are potty training at the moment I couldn't take my eye off the ball not even for a minute over the past four days. Maybe that's why I'm stressed out I'm getting too old for all that palaver nowadays hehe. We seem to be getting there though & thankfully I now have the next few days to myself .. Sort of.

 

[Llora]

Femfrenkie, do you know the reason why you get this water retention? have you ever thought about getting some herbal remedies that could/would help with water retention? Or shall we say help to avoid the liquids building up so much?

 

[femfrankie]

I suffer from lipo-lymphoedema Llora and already on diuretics (furosemide). Going to see doc this week to see if there is anything more that I/he can do. These swings when I was over 27st where bearable because they were just a drop in the ocean pardon the pun. Now they are just intolerabley stressful. Watch this space x

 

[Lilacglittergirl]

I hope the doc can review and get something sorted, coz 10lbs of built-up fluid is not goof ... As you say, stressful! And can I say demoralising xx

 

[kurstywursty]

How are you doing today Frankie?

 

[femfrankie]

Weight is going up and down like a pendulum and trying to get an appointment is ni on imposs... On a curious note though my boobies where extremely tender last night and I suffered really bad period like pains earlier today ... It wouldnt be so bad but I had a hysterectomy in 1996 (1 ovary left in place). I have über restriction today too which has made eating almost impossible .. I tried to push it a little with my chicken at lunch time (do I ever learn?) and yep my pushyness got me the frothies and the awful retching. It's been a while since I have experienced it but it certainly is an apt reminder to oneself that I just can't and shouldn't do it!
Lilac it is so demoralising but I refuse to get stressed by it all. I know this is fluid as I can physically feel it swishing around my lower extremities. It will shift when it decides to. A bit fool hardy at this time but I bought a pair of small (10/12) wonder fit skinny jeans from Asda specifically for my "get into pile" only to find that despite the retention they fit perfectly!! They look tiny and my brain still refuses to accept that my mentally huge body will fit in them. I have met a couple of people this week who have commented "surely that will be you at goal weight now?" And then look genuinely shocked when I say nope over a stone to go yet. All have told me how much younger I look. Okay they're maybe just token comments but they have come at a time when I need a boost my mood

 

[ceecie74]

You do indeed look younger, happier, sexier....keep your chin up sweetie, you are simply gorgeous xxx

 

[Lilacglittergirl]

Totally agree with Ceecie ... xxxxxx

 

[femfrankie]

Thank you ladies :sign0168:

 

[Lilacglittergirl]

I sorted out the last of my big clothes last week - summer ones I had packed away from Summer 13 when I had my bypass and never got out in 2014 as I moved and the bag got 'lost' in the eves. In it was a dress I loved sooooo much but could never wear as it was like a sausage skin on me. Debenhams size 22 ... I put it on and could not believe how HUGE it was! Was I really ever that big?! Seemingly so!!! And am I REALLY this small? Seemingly so. I cannot put into words how it felt: shock, elation, shame, pride, are just some of the emotions that went through me looking in the mirror. All the negatives I dealt with there and then as the person I was is gone, and the new me was standing there looking directly back at me ... I think it dealt with some very nasty demons that have been 'haunting' me for 18months. I will take a pic and post it on my thread for everyone to see ... It does not need words. I think that is maybe something you need to do Frankie if you still have any of your big clothes as it has really helped convince me that the person I am now is real and not a figment of my imagination xxxx

 

[Llora]

I sorted out the last of my big clothes last week - summer ones I had packed away from Summer 13 when I had my bypass and never got out in 2014 as I moved and the bag got 'lost' in the eves. In it was a dress I loved sooooo much but could never wear as it was like a sausage skin on me. Debenhams size 22 ... I put it on and could not believe how HUGE it was! Was I really ever that big?! Seemingly so!!! And am I REALLY this small? Seemingly so. I cannot put into words how it felt: shock, elation, shame, pride, are just some of the emotions that went through me looking in the mirror. All the negatives I dealt with there and then as the person I was is gone, and the new me was standing there looking directly back at me ... I think it dealt with some very nasty demons that have been 'haunting' me for 18months. I will take a pic and post it on my thread for everyone to see ... It does not need words. I think that is maybe something you need to do Frankie if you still have any of your big clothes as it has really helped convince me that the person I am now is real and not a figment of my imagination xxxx

Cant wait to see the picture!!!

 

[ceecie74]

Me neither! Get on with it!!!

 

[femfrankie]

I can't wait either Lilac & thank you hun I do have an old pair of jeans and 2 jumpers I kept back ..all size 36. In all honesty I just looked at them in December and felt exactly like you did both ashamed & repulsed I quickly put them back in the bag lilac... Is that bad to feel like that?? They are enormous and I mean eeeenouuurmous!. I took out the little jeans I bought last night when setting clothes up for today and looked at them incredulously. As if reading my mind my OH said yes they are yours skinny. That is the surreal part of all of this...it dosent feel real yet it blatently is

 

[Lilacglittergirl]

Exactly! I shudder when I see photos of the old me, or look at that dress hanging on me as I knew I was big but not THAT big ... I bought a skirt in the Zara sale today in a L and got a bit anxious as I am buying S or maybe M in shops these days, so L felt in my head that it was huge! And what would I have given 18 months ago to get into anything in there at all, and now I've got a downer on an L ...

 

[shell-]

I'm a bit over halfway to where I want to be, and I get that feeling now, too. I was sorting through old clothes that I'm selling on ebay, and I was ashamed (and horrified) at the size of the old 24s that I was selling that are swimming on me now. Then I found a pair of 28 that fit like a second skin before my op. I just held them up, stunned at the fact my body fit into them quite snugly (and there were times they were far too small). Then I went to put away a pair of size 18 superskinny jeans that I'd recently bought, and was stunned at how small they were, and thought they'd never fit me - tried them on and they're actually slightly big on me.

The brain, it does weird things with this weight loss stuff.

 

[Llora]

Why does the brain have to be so complicated???!!!

To be honest Frankie i dont even imagine how you feel.. As you have lost so much weight.. I am struggling even after loosing only a drop of weight that you have lost in total... And your change was (and still is) so much bigger!!!

I admire you and your lovely personality!!

 

[Lilacglittergirl]

THE pic is posted on my thread ... Oh deary deary me! :fear:

 

[femfrankie]

Why does the brain have to be so complicated???!!!

To be honest Frankie i dont even imagine how you feel.. As you have lost so much weight.. I am struggling even after loosing only a drop of weight that you have lost in total... And your change was (and still is) so much bigger!!!

I admire you and your lovely personality!!

Awww thank you Llora
It'll happen hun. For me it was like a light switch and all of a sudden I could see the drastic change even though I still do have the perspective all wrong. I just can't see the old me at all now I think because my face has so completely altered ...people I haven't seen for a while just don't recognise me now until I speak to them!

I'm a bit over halfway to where I want to be, and I get that feeling now, too. I was sorting through old clothes that I'm selling on ebay, and I was ashamed (and horrified) at the size of the old 24s that I was selling that are swimming on me now. Then I found a pair of 28 that fit like a second skin before my op. I just held them up, stunned at the fact my body fit into them quite snugly (and there were times they were far too small). Then I went to put away a pair of size 18 superskinny jeans that I'd recently bought, and was stunned at how small they were, and thought they'd never fit me - tried them on and they're actually slightly big on me.

The brain, it does weird things with this weight loss stuff.

It certainly does Shell ... The unexpected reflections in shop windows/mirrors still through me a loop. I have finally got rid of my bathrobe on Monday .. It weighed a bloody ton! And was so massive it went round me twice with towelling to spare

Exactly! I shudder when I see photos of the old me, or look at that dress hanging on me as I knew I was big but not THAT big ... I bought a skirt in the Zara sale today in a L and got a bit anxious as I am buying S or maybe M in shops these days, so L felt in my head that it was huge! And what would I have given 18 months ago to get into anything in there at all, and now I've got a downer on an L ...

Lilac I so get this ... It feels almost like you have taken an unwitting step backwards and I begrudge buying something that makes me feel that way. Shops really ought to get their act together as regard their sizes. Motherinlaw told me the other day that there is someone online that if you send them all your sizes they will tell you what size you are in certain shops ... Great in theory but it's notthefirst time I havebought the same item from the sameshopin the same size only to find that one fits while the other doesn't! Asaarrrggghhhh

 

[ThinnerJemima]

Frances, did you say somewhere recently that if you drink cold drinks your stomach goes into spasms?

 

[femfrankie]

Yes jemima it does. I used to get hiccups BEFORE My bypass with iced drinks and now bypassed it feels like a painful knot when I try and it takes about five minutes to recover itself. I hiccup when I try and swallow a piping hot drink now so I have to let if cool slightly