LilMissDiva Irene

Hello Bariatric Pals! I just wanted to remind you all that the chatroom (down at the bottom of your browser page) is always open. If you like to give support or if you're in need of support please check in and say hi.\ Thank you for always making this site a great place to give and to receive support and advice. Good luck on your journeys!

We should ask this same question about Fast Food restaurants because I have a whole other opinion about entirely!

Hello @@starlight82 - I feel you! I also was banded in 2008 and I had mine removed for nearly the same exact reasons. I was revised to the VSG on 9/15/10 and for the first 3 years I did fantastic. It worked awesome but something happened in the last year that I gained some weight back. My surgery turns out that it morphed into 2 stomachs. I have no idea how that happened but since then my eating stinks because I get literally hungry an hour after eating. Also, I have extremely bad GERD that I have to take medication for it day and night. I am working on a revision to the bypass hopefully soon. My advice is it sounds like you're doing really good. I do agree with your surgeon that you add more Water to your day. How much are you getting? The minimum really is 64 Oz, so if anything try to shoot for that. Also eat low sodium it will help with the water retention you have going on. Good luck to you and I'm interested to follow your progress!

@@nepagirl CONGRATS!! You have your priorities in order, you will do great. How exciting!

It's not something I prefer to do, I like to stay home and cook because I know exactly what ingredients I'm using. Restaurants are notorious for adding extra sodium and sugar to their menus, which is a major reason why their food can be addicting. If we do decide to go out, which is maybe 1-2x per month at the most. When we do go out to eat I usually choose a meal that is more Protein than anything else and choose veggies as my side dishes. If there are any carbs, no matter what it is I will eat a few bites of it. You only live once! Especially since I don't eat like that at home.

@@Dr-Patient my husband always tells me the skin does not bother him at all, and he proves it. For the most part my skin issues are in my head. I do plan to have my skin removed someday. ETA: for me personally some loose skin would be okay on my husband. But if he had a large amount of it from say, losing maybe 200+ Lbs I can see it being a turn off for me. My hubby is an attractive guy and admittedly is what attracted me to him initially. He is a bit overweight by maybe 30 Lbs now as he's losing some weight himself, I doubt he will have little or any skin to worry over.

@@proudgrammy yes non-surgical intervention is great too! I had some Juvederm put into my lips and honestly just that helps with the looking younger believe it or not!

I think it's also important to remember that those articles being read are for normal everyday people. Post weight loss surgery people are no longer considered in the normal category. We need to always stay on top of our nutritive intake, and especially Water. I personally would never read a WebMD suggestion and take that as face value that it's okay to not get my recommended daily intake per my surgeon and bariatric medical advice.

@@proudgrammy Hey Kathy I wouldn't worry so much, the facelift procedure is very common and rarely ever have mistake incidents. You're already cute as a button so I don't think that's an issue. Just research your surgeon thoroughly and make sure they have extra credentials and perhaps a portfolio on work they have done. Good luck!

@@Lili14 it's your body and your decision whether you want to tell anyone. That said, in my personal view and opinion if you are serious enough in a relationship you really should tell your significant other of things such as this. It's not a small thing and a part of any good relationship is being open and honest about anything important. I wouldn't dream of not telling my husband about such an important life change. Good luck.

Ha! You're afraid? Of what my dear?? You had surgery and removed 85% of your stomach. You are no longer allowed to use the excuse of being afraid of anything.

@@NMJG Absolutely yes it can be done. Nothing wrong with vanity pounds imo I want to do the same thing. I wonder though if perhaps you can just keep doing what you're doing but add in an extra 30 minutes of workout time? That might help move things along. Make it something other than what you are used to doing, our bodies can become stagnant and resistant doing the same thing all the time. You can probably try to lose 5 more and then see how you turn out with your skin removal. That will likely take off a few pounds on its own and perhaps an extra size or two. Good luck.

@@☠carolinagirl☠ I too have lost my total mobility. I loved to run and in the past year have been forbidden to ever do it again with the threat of having a double total knee replacement within ten years. I also have been forbidden from squats, kettlebells and anything that places too much stress on my knees. I see it for what it is and it took me a little while to get over it, but I now just need to find workouts that can burn significant calories without too much stress on the knees. Not only that I am far more in tune with the realization that I cannot sustain a healthy weight without healthy eating. Good luck to you!

Do you fear the word “diet”? Then why are we required to see “diet-icians”? I’ll tell you why, because the true definition of diet is a personal style of eating. Either you have a good diet, or you have a bad diet – but most think of it as being on a diet, as in eating horrible, boring food for a set period of time, only to go back to one’s old way of eating which sadly is usually not healthy. The dietician teaches us a healthy – guess what word I’m going to use next – diet. It includes all of the basic food groups, proteins, fruits & vegetables, carbohydrates that are high in fiber and other nutrients our bodies need to survive, dairies, fats and let’s not forget WATER. There are other groups but are usually lumped into one of the major groups, such as legumes are considered either proteins or sometimes good carbs. Anyhow, you get what I’m saying I hope – that our diet is just that – our means of eating to survive. Good diets… what can we do to avoid using the word diet without causing a panic? We should set our diet in a healthy way. Why? Because to see the word diet and understand that it is a lifestyle change to make our bodies healthy and happy is the only way. It’s for life, not in the temporary sense. Choose meals with as close to clean and basic as possible. Lean proteins, keeping colorful and fresh fruits and vegetables around, carbohydrates that are high in fiber, dairies that are low in fat, and fats that are high in the Omegas and low in saturation. Look on the internet or ask friends for good healthy recipes! This helps to keep the stigma of boring out of your vocabulary. I’ve had a fish meal in about a hundred different ways, and many different types of fish so I never get bored! It doesn’t always have to be baked and bland. Explore seasonings that are low in sodium and dress it up with some cook-able fruits and vegetables. You will be pleasantly surprised at how tasty a “boring diet” can be. It’s definitely something you can continue on forever and have a healthy diet. Keep a log of what you are eating and if you notice that you are eating something too often, change it up. Keep it off your “To Cook” list for a few weeks. Boring diets can become a problem and make you crave foods that are not healthy for you. You don’t have to eat chicken breasts every day to be considered a good bariatric patient. There are many cuts of protein that you can make in a healthier way. Which brings me to the next bullet point – you can basically eat any cut of meat you prefer. They all have B-12 which our bodies LOVE obviously. Not only that, beef is very high in iron, pork is considered the other white meat (just be sure to trim the fat!) and best of all most bariatric folks get fuller faster and stay satiated for a longer time on these cuts. Ensure you are chewing very well with these cuts and are far out enough from surgery to not get “stuck”. Not only that but eat slowly and judge each bite to recognize your full signal. Always choose all different kinds of fruits and vegetables and get a minimum of 5 servings per day. A serving of fruit is one half of a medium sized fruit. Get plenty of vegetables of all varieties. Yes greens are awesome, but many other vegetables get ignored simply because they are of a different color, but yet they are packed full of vitamins that are hard for us to get otherwise. We will forever be bound to the supplement, but we shouldn’t ignore this group because we get it in a pill. They are very tasty too, some are sweeter and some are full of vigor but any will dress up a meal! Drink plenty of water. I don’t think this is a shock to anyone! Water will make you feel energized and alive during the weight loss process. It does also constantly flush your body of toxins, sodium and water weight (I know it seems like it would be opposite but it’s not) which shows up nicely on the scale. As bariatric patients we no longer are able to get our H2O from foods we eat, because we simply don’t eat enough. I’m telling you that 64 Oz per day should be anyone’s goal. If you can get in more great, if you’re not getting that in – time yourself. 8 Oz every hour for 8 hours, or for myself I do one 16.9 Oz bottle every 2 hours. Now for the evil bad diets… Just don’t do it. If you must have a snack that is not healthy, limit yourself. You never need more than one serving of anything bad. Bad is considered high in saturated fat, refined sugar, added sugar, high in sodium, and high in calories that might put you over your daily limit. When partaking in eating non-nutritive foods, enjoy it! Sit in a quiet spot and truly taste your food you have chosen. Do not mindlessly eat it; you will just keep going back for more to try to fulfill the desire. Sad to say it usually never registers. Think about what you just ate, and judge it. Was it as delicious as you envisioned it in your mind? If so, what was good about it? If not, why did you eat it? Will you eat it again? Do not allow non-nutritive foods become a regular part of your diet. They should be a treat, once in a while. Remember our stomachs can only hold so much nutrient dense food, but non-nutritive foods usually come without capacity. The further out from surgery we get the more “bad diet” we can fit in and if you don’t teach yourself limits this WILL become a problem. When you hear someone say, I don’t diet – I am doing a lifestyle change, that’s really great. But all they are really saying and doing is changing their bad diet to a good one, permanently.

I can only speak for myself on this subject, but for me I lose weight a lot faster and easier when I am staying hydrated. It helps flush out sodium and ketones thus reducing Water weight. Not only that it helps to keep your other pipes moving and is a major contributor in keeping us feeling motivated to move more. Being dehydrated is no fun, and makes us feel run down quite easily. As WLS patients we should be especially vigilant of staying hydrated because we do not eat enough anymore to get some fluids from eating. For good health I like to stay well hydrated, and I should hope everyone else does too.

@@moonlitestarbrite when I say "diet" I am referring to ones way of eating, which is a diet. Not being on a diet where people starve themselves to lose weight. Eating a healthy diet permanently is a lifestyle change.

@@marfar7 ROFL!! Great Post! Yes it does seem like there are some really super perfect WLS folks out there. All I know is if it was so easy to be perfect, I never would have needed WLS in the first place. ETA: Saying that you had WLS so that you will never have to diet again you will find is a big fat lie to ourself. We will always need to remain conscious of what and how much we are eating. The "tool" is just that and will never ever keep us full on junk such as Cadbury eggs. In time, most will find this out. Every day, every month, every year is a new journey. It's better to get started on healthy eating now than to struggle later on. Sorry if I bursted anyone's bubble but it's just the truth.

Howdy folks, planning and controlling your is the best key to success. Beat mindless eating by planning ahead. A good friend of mine gave me the idea for a weekly meal planner and I am running with it! I have attached it if you'd like to use it. Good luck to us all! This is a trial daily. Weekly Meal Planner NEW.doc

@@Bridgette Black the extra moodiness is from weight loss. You're body is hungry even though you don't feel it physically and this plays a major role in how we feel. Not only that as your fat cells release they also release stored hormones, which might even mess with your cycle. Double whammy. It does calm down in time, not to worry. I am also a curvy girl and I ended up losing a lot of my boobs, but my butt just got cuter. My thighs have always been thick and they stayed that way too. You should turn out lovely!! I got a breast augmentation anyway and they came out great. Good luck!

@@Heidi7799 Yay Welcome to the losers bench!

Yes but how do we really know that's your picture? Oh because I believe everything I read and see on the internets... ETA: You're a lovely lady!

That is great, she looks amazing and healthy. I'm very happy for her!

/cosign

Nice article, thanks for sharing.

If your surgery was within the last few months then it's possible you're moving too quickly along the post op plan. Everyone is different and if you're having issues with chicken then you might still need to puree it. Add some low sodium broth and take pea sized bites and chew chew chew. Do this for another few weeks and try normally again. Good luck.