Escape_Pod

Ok ladies, I'm done dinkin' around. I've been about the same weight, give or take 5 (or umm.... 10) pounds since the end of FEBRUARY! And I know darn well it's because I haven't been working it. The exercise comes and goes. The eating swings wildly off track, and then gets reined in, only to swing wildly off track again. But no more. I draw the line here. Makin' no excuses, takin' no prisoners. I'd love to hit my dream goal before the end of the year, and while it's only 11 pounds and that should be utterly doable, I'm going to focus on doing what I know I need to do and see where it takes me. I can't control what my body decides to do, but I can control what I eat, how much I eat, and the exercise I'm getting. I'm posting here, because apparently I need some accountability in my life, and I know you all will understand! So, here are the promises I'm making to myself: (1) Do my exercise, and do it regularly! Let that personal trainer kick my butt, and get at least 3 additional cardio sessions in during the week. (2) No more eating crap. It turns into a week-long free-for-all, makes me feel terrible, and I spend weeks trying to lose the pounds I gain doing it. (3) Back to basics - eat more slowly, pay attention to my food as I'm consuming it, and stop when you're satisfied dang it!! Rant over, thanks for listening!! :ph34r:

Woohoo Meg!!! Awesome!!!

Just joining the chorus to say I also have to really watch the slider foods or I can get in a lot of trouble fast. I'm about 14 months post-op, and I can put on 8 pounds over the course of a week going into binge mode. Once I get carbs / sugar in my system I become like an addict and want to eat and eat and eat. And at the same time I feel bloated and lethargic and no longer want to exercise - a really bad combination! Fortunately, if I can get myself back on track, after 3-4 days it becomes much easier and the pounds come off again. Those first few days require a heck of a lot of self-discipline, and every strategy I can come up with to fight the munchies, but I'm getting pretty good at the strategies. I can see I'll never maintain my weight loss if I don't conquer this though. I'm ok with that though, I may have to fight the head hunger, but at least I'm not also fighting real, physical hunger too. I don't think my sleeve is as tight as some of you report (I've never gotten a case of the slimeys, or had food come back up if I ate that one bite too much), but it will do the job if I do my part too. I didn't have the surgery to be able to eat anything I want. I had the surgery to be able to DO anything I want - to live a life as an active, healthy, confident woman. Am I willing to exercise regularly, and give up doughnuts and chocolate for that? You betcha!

If you haven't already, check out theworldaccordingtoeggface blog. She has several pumpkin recipes that are great!

With my surgeon, the BLIS insurance was included in his rate (BLIS only insures certain surgeons). My total cost was approximately $20K - covered the surgeon's (and his assistant's) fee, hospital fees, the anesthesiologist, and of course the insurance. I consulted briefly with another surgeon, and their office quoted me approx. $3300 for the BLIS insurance portion, which covered embolism, infection, leak, bleeding, perforation and such for 90 days, and stricture for up to 18 months. In my experience, self-pay rates vary enormously from one city to another, and even within cities due to the difference in hospital fees. A year ago the local sleeve "outpatient" facility (operates in their own facilities, not a hospital, no overnight stay) was closer to $15K, but that didn't offer the insurance. Other areas of the US have rates even lower. I'm a professional worry-wart, so I was determined to have the insurance. I'm certain if you contacted BLIS they could advise you in finding a covered surgeon wherever. They also offer surgical financing if that's something you're interested in (I didn't go that route, so I have no idea what their rates look like...) If you want to stay local, attend the local hospital bariatric surgical seminars. I found the surgeons to be completely open about their rates for self-pay patients - they see quite a few of us. And it's kind of nice to go hear them speak in person and get a sense of what they're like - ideally you'll be meeting them for follow-up appointments for years. Of course, price is hardly the most important factor in choosing a surgeon, but it does help to know whether you can afford it. :-)

I was self-pay, and I decided I wasn't willing to consider a surgeon that didn't offer BLIS insurance (for post-op complications). I didn't want to budget for surgery and then end up with a much larger medical bill due to unanticipated health problems afterwards. It was also worth it to me to have the surgery here at home, with a surgeon I'd be able to follow-up with regularly. But I realize I was fortunate to be able to afford that option.

Yep - I said salt. Salt can help enhance sweet flavors, just as you put salt in sweet baked goods, or... think about salted caramel which is all the rage these days. To me, it helps balance the over-sweet taste of a lot of protein powders.

I've pretty much had the "sleeve of steel", but when something hasn't quite agreed with me, it sort of feels like I've swallowed a boulder - it just sits there in my stomach. Or, I have a bit of discomfort, like it's stuck. Or a couple of times I gave in to temptation and had something really sweet, and I ended up with a stomach ache, and felt really queasy. Some people get the "foamies". Peanut sauce is probably higher in fat than protein - could you be having gall bladder issues? Can you be more specific than "stomach problems"?

I start my day off with a protein hot cocoa: 1c. almond milk heated to quite warm (not HOT - that will make the protein clump), add 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (I like Ghirardelli), a generous dash of salt, and 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I use Unjury). Thin with hot water to taste. Usually I have my coffee afterwards, but sometimes I mix in a half packet of Starbucks Via. I'm also pretty partial to the Click Mocha, though I prefer that made into soft-serve for an afternoon or evening treat.

Lovely post Meg, I don't think it sounds silly at all! I'm going to give that a try this week.

Oh please, please be careful! You've had major surgery done on your stomach, and it will be months before the nerve endings heal, so you can be hurting yourself and not feel it! Your stomach has so much healing to do, which is why your surgeon puts you on a liquid and then puree diet - digesting normal food takes a lot of rockin' and rollin' for your stomach, which it is just not up to at this point. Also, this is your best opportunity to develop a new relationship with food. For a few weeks they ask you to eat what's gentle on you body, not what you crave, or what sounds good, or what tastes good. You're putting your body through huge changes, and this is the ideal time to build new, healthy habits. Don't waste it. Believe me, maintaining those new eating habits gets harder with time, not easier. You'll never be more committed to this change than you are right after surgery. Make the most of it!

I'd second the recommendation for Dr. Chebli - I couldn't be happier!

I've been really tempted by the froyo shop in my office building, but I don't go there because of the carbs. They just lead me down a path to trouble, and slow my weight loss. I know not everyone has issues with carbs, so you may be fine with it, but you can make your own if you're interested in alternatives. I've gotten into the habit of making something like soft-serve froyo with protein powder. I do a mocha kind of thing with almond milk, Click mocha protein, some unsweetened cocoa powder and ice cubes - with a really good blender / Ninja / magic bullet it makes pretty convincing soft-serve. If you want tart, you could do the same but with vanilla protein and maybe some lemon sf syrup , or those packets of true lemon, or even some lemon crystal light, or other tart flavors. Some greek yogurt can help with the tartness too, and help thicken it. If the ice makes it too watery, you can make ice cubes out of something like sf lemonade and use those instead. When I was eating soft foods, I also would make lemon jello with just the hot water, add greek yogurt instead of cold water, and then mix in a scoop or two of vanilla protein powder. It made a kind of "fluff" that was very appealing in the summer, cool and tart.

Well, surgeons aren't always right about everything, but sometimes they do give us things to think about. Right now, your capacity is still fairly limited, so if you're eating 3 meals and 2 Snacks you're still keeping your calories at a reasonable level, you're getting great exercise in, and you're making great progress! It's possible that down the road as you can eat more, you will eat more. Each of those meals and snacks may become a little larger, and since they're already a habit, it could be difficult to cut back. And eating that frequently could turn into "grazing", which can tun into a lot of calories in a day. It's possible your surgeon has seen patients get into trouble down the road because they got into the habit of eating frequently during the day. That does not mean you're going to be one of those patients. But, it might be a good reason for you to take a hard look at yourself and where your triggers and bad habits lurk to think about whether you might turn out to be one of those patients. It sounds to me like you're doing great. Awesome, in fact. But I know a lot of successful maintainers that never went over 800 calories during the losing stage, and mostly kept closer to 600, and were getting in substantial exercise on top of it. I'm not one of those people, I think at 6 months I was closer to 1000 calories like you, particularly if I was burning 300+ calories in a workout, and like you, I never experienced a real stall (I went 5 days once without losing, and that was my worst so-called wimpy "stall"). But it definitely gets harder the further out you are post-op. I've been dinking around trying to lose the last 10 pounds for 6 months now, and I know I'd have sped past "goal" if I'd been one of those more disciplined folks. I don't exactly regret the path I took, but there are pros and cons to each path. I'm not telling you to change what you're doing, but just to consider it. In the mean time, congratulations! (And post some progress pics so we can all ooh and aah about how awesome you look!!)

Some people seem to have more swelling early out, I think that's why they can have so much trouble getting anything down. I also have a "sleeve of steel" - I've never experienced the "foamies", and even in the first few months it was really rare for any food to cause me even the slightest discomfort. But do be aware that it can take months for your cut nerves in your stomach to heal, which is why you don't want to rely on a sensation of fullness to control your portions - measure, measure, measure. I'd say the vast majority of us end up eventually (in maintenance) being able to eat more than we should, particularly if we're getting away from dense protein and letting "slider" foods back in. That's where building good habits will keep you on track, regardless of the size of your sleeve. The last time I had a check-in with my surgeon, he was shaking his head over the difference in patients. He's been amazed that I've lost more than 100% of my "excess weight" (by his goal measurements), even though I have a sleeve (he has more bypass patients). He was talking about the fact that on the inside, we all end up with more or less the same "tool" to work with, but some of us go so much further with it than others. Certainly part of that is metabolism and other factors beyond our control, but a lot of it can be your personal determination about how you're going to live your life going forward. Make good food choices, move your body (a lot) more, deal with the mental/emotional reasons behind your obesity. If you can manage all that, you'll be a raging success regardless of the size of your sleeve. I've certainly had my struggles along the way, and I've eaten things I wish I hadn't let back into my diet, but I think if you can keep yourself on track, you'll be a success. In the mean time, know that stalls are part of the journey for most of us, and they're extremely frustrating, but if you stay on track the scale will start moving again. If it doesn't, it's time to take a really good look at what you're eating, and how much. Track every last bite you're consuming, even those chewable vitamins. Figure out whether too many carbs are stalling you journey. And in the mean time, focus on how much progress you've made already, dig out those "before" photos and measurements, go try on some smaller clothes, and make a list of your "NSVs" - non-scale victories. Once you get to maintenance you're going to need something other than plummeting numbers on a scale to give you the positive reinforcement you need to stay on track. Stalls are a great opportunity to practice that skill! (And learn to laugh at the stupid scale. I remember shaking my head at the goofiness of weighing exactly the same amount for five days in a row, down to the tenth of a pound. I mean, what are the chances of that? Even variations in hydration levels should cause more variation than that! At that point I was checking my scale batteries! But I did my best to laugh at the ridiculousness of it.)

I ate very soft scrambled eggs sometimes. You can cook them with a little cottage cheese to keep them moist and soft. I also made egg custards - I think the Eggface blog has a recipe, if not send me a message and I'll email you one. It's basically unsweetened condensed milk, eggs, a little sweetener (like Splenda), some cinnamon and/or nutmeg if you like those. Very easy, and very easy to digest, good warm or cold. You can also do plain greek yogurt - I like it with a bit of protein powder mixed in, like the Nectar cherry protein, or a banana flavor. If you don't have any protein powders like that, you can add vanilla protein and some sf torani syrup.

I'm an emotional eater / binge eater. I was sleeved about 15 months ago, and I've lost most of the weight I hoped to (passed my surgeon's goal, reached normal weight), but I'm still about 10 pounds from my dream goal, and I know it's because I still fight with those bad eating habits. This doesn't mean you shouldn't get the sleeve, but it does mean you're still going to have to work on those issues to be successful and keep the weight off. The good news is, the sleeve helps a lot, and particularly in the first months provides such restriction that it really boosts your efforts to develop better habits. But the key is building those good habits and sticking to them, and getting some help dealing with the emotional / mental aspects of why you're overeating. The sleeve hasn't solved my eating problems, but it's sure a lot better to be fighting emotional eating from that place of emotional strength and self-confidence that losing so much weight can get you to! After a few months of watching the numbers on the scale plummet, you'll find just about anything else in your life seems conquerable.

There are lots of over-the-counter options now, both for H2 blockers and PPIs (two different mechanisms for controlling heartburn), but none of them are really a good idea to take for more than a few weeks if you can avoid it - studies show they interfere with calcium absorbtion, and can cause other health issues. I'd say it's best to get a recommendation from your doctor - either your surgeon or your primary care physician. Whatever they prescribe you can likely get over the counter cheaper, but you do want them to be aware you're taking it. I've been on a PPI for a couple of years now and am trying hard to get off of it, but the rebound acid is a real problem - they can make the problem worse long-term unless you're willing to be on them for life.

I used the Nectars early on when I was drinking a lot of shakes and needed a break from the vanilla-chocolate-strawberry routine. I liked Fuzzy Navel, Twisted Cherry, and Lemon Tea. Now I still love a bit of the cherry mixed in to some plain greek yogurt - YUM! There are a couple of places that will sell you single-pack samples of the Nectars so you can try them out without committing to a large jug - Vitalady.com sells single- servings, and BJs Bariatrics does an 11-pack sampler that lets you pick which flavors you want to include and how many of each.

I think I only had to break open the capsule for the first six weeks. I put the pill contents on a spoon, blobbed some applesauce on top of it, and did my best to get the spoonful swallowed without touching any taste buds. The Actigall was by far the worst of my meds, but I didn't have to do it very long before I could just swallow the pill.

I like mine like hot cocoa. 8 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk, heated, 2T unsweetened cocoa, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, and a pinch of salt. You can add sugar free syrups like Torani or Davinci for flavor variation too. And PB2 (defatted, peanut powder) - yum!!

Carol, Carbs started to creep back in to my eating, and I'm learning quickly that if I don't stop it, it quickly leads to weight gain, not just a stall. The further out I am from surgery, the easier such things to down - my smaller stomach does not help me here. Fortunately, I learned during the pre-op diet that getting the carb count VERY low for a few days completely kicks the cravings and makes it much easier for me to stay on track. So, when I get into trouble, I have to white-knuckle it through about three days, and then it tends to be smooth sailing. I'm afraid I'm coming to the conclusion there are some foods I just have to say goodbye to if I want to keep my weight off. I'm not an "everything in moderation" kind of girl. Happily, I'm learning to find substitutes I enjoy, and am discovering a world of low-carb, sugar free baking options for those times I just have to have a treat. See if you can go "cold turkey" for about 3 days, it might be all you need to get back on track.

Actually, Quest Bars are now beginning to show up in GNC and Vitamin Shoppe stores - not always the best flavors (apple pie is my favorite!), but hopefully that will change.

I really like the Protein bars from Quest Bars - they come in yummy flavors like apple pie or lemon or pb&j, and the nutritional profile is really great. You'll find the best flavor selection ordering direct from them, but they're starting to show up in GNC and Vitamin Shoppe stores, or you can use their online store locator tool. Just a few seconds in the microwave makes them really yummy. I second the recommendation for the Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles - they'd be great with a little melted cheese. Or you could do ham or canadian bacon / cheese roll-ups. You can even grill the roll-up a little in a frypan. Try a search for low carb pancake recipes (often made with cottage cheese). I also like the low carb pancake mix from Big Train, but it's not really high enough in protein for me to have as more than an occasional treat. Or if you can tolerate the egg in another form, look for low carb microwave "muffin" recipes - Eggface's blog has a lot of them, but they do call for an egg. They also have protein powder in them (provides the bulk for the muffin rather than regular flour), but it might be worth a try, and would help you use up protein powder if it doesn't cause you issues in another form.

Umm.... 71 pounds in two months?? How is that even possible?? That's pretty amazing. Congratulations! But just a note, i see a LOT of people early post-op who apparently EXPECT to lose that kind of weight in the first few weeks, and if they don't they feel like they're failing. Many of us don't lose anywhere nearly that fast. As they say in the fine print on those TV ads .... results not typical! I don't want to take away from your achievement, but I hate to see others end up with unrealistic expectations. In the mean time ... you're a rocket! Go girl!