livvsmum

Great ideas. Reminds me that I need a new crockpot.....a smaller one for the smaller batches of stuff I'll be making now. I really need to work on my chili game. I think I'll try to make some Carol Shelby's white chicken chili next weekend and see how it works out.....using ground chicken and ground turkey. Ohhhh chili, yes....I forgot that! That is a staple for me! :-)

I can relate! Just about the same time - 7 or 8 months post op - I got so sick of what I was eating because it was the same thing every day. A few of my go-to's are a scoop of chicken salad (light mayo, of course) with a tiny side salad, a handful of frozen shrimp sauteed up in light soy sauce with a few florets of frozen broccoli (only takes a few minutes to cook up from frozen), and I like to do chicken breasts in the crock pot with a bottle of FF Italian dressing. That way I can eat them all week as a main dish or on a salad, etc. I'm a big crock pot person because it's just the easiest way to cook with working and having kids. I also do turkey meatballs in in, pulled chicken bbq in it, etc. Hope that helps!

I had a difficult time eating eggs for the first few months after surgery. They just did not agree with my new stomach. However, as time progressed I was able to eat them with no trouble...maybe around 6 or 7 months post op.

Are you taking b12 supplements? That helped me a lot with the fatigue. As for the skin, I think the best thing you can do is start with your PCP. Even if he/she wants you to try over the counter treatments at least you can get them documented. Then from there they can prescribe you other creams/meds to try to show insurance that you have tried a variety of things and they didn't ultimately cure it (because ultimately you will still have the skin issue). That is what I did for about 4-5 months and then submitted to insurance. They completely covered my TT & panni. Good luck! I hope you get some relief in the meantime!

For breakfast I usually have Protein oatmeal or a hard boiled egg or scrambled egg with a slice of cheese melted on top. For lunch I usually have a scoop of chicken salad made with "light" mayo & a tiny side salad. Other things I've done for lunch include a subway chicken teriyaki salad, chili, basically some kind of lean protein and if I still have room some veggie of some sort. For afternoon/evening snack I usually have either protein hot chocolate, greek yogurt, ff cheese stick , peanuts, hard boiled egg, celery with Peanut Butter (probably can't do that though at 2 moths post op) For dinner I sometimes just have the protein part of whatever my family is eating, but if that doesn't work something quick and easy is to keep a big bag of frozen shrimp or chicken breast cutlets, throw a couple on the stove and saute them with light soy sauce and a few florets of frozen broccoli. I also like crockpot quickies. i like to throw some frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot with a bottle of fat free Italian dressing and that gets me through much of the week. I can eat them alone, on a side salad, etc. Hope that helps!

Yes! I had surgery over 2 years ago and my family knows, and then only a handful of close friends who I chose to tell. Others may suspect it. I don't know. But I didn't feel an obligation to tell anyone other than my immediate family. I mean, I'm sure my friends and co-workers don't tell me everything about their medical history, so I don't feel compelled to either. :-)

I'm read to do this! I've gotten extremely lazy with my food choices and exercise, and it's no one's fault but my own. I'm at my highest weight post-tummy tuck and that sucks!! I am determined to get these last 10 pounds off by the new year if it kills me....and I'm pretty sure it won't :-) Good luck everyone! CW: 138 GW: 125

I'm so bad at follow-through on these, but I want to really try on this one. I'd love to get down to my lowest weight by New Years. That would be a great way to start 2016! I'll post my starting weight on Monday, but my goal weight will be 125

Thank you! I try to be as honest as possible about the good and the bad :-)

Well, I followed pretty much the same procedure I followed to get my VSG covered. First I called the insurance company and found out what their requirements were to have it covered. I have 2 insurances (one through my work and one through my husbands). My husband's plan wouldn't cover it no matter what. My plan covered it given you meet the following: (1) be 18+ months post op, (2) have a surgeon submit photographs, (3) have 4+ months of medical records showing tried and failed medical treatments to treat the issues that the skin is causing. I had my PCP work with me on documenting things for several months, then I went to the surgeon to have the photos, then the surgeon submitted everything. It was approved within a couple of weeks. :-)

That would have been tough for me at that stage. Greet yogurt was a staple of my post-op diet. It helped a great deal in reaching my Protein numbers. I still have it several times a week

I feel great physically. I became an avid runner (currently training for a marathon) and found that I love to try new kinds of work outs like group classes, etc. I never would have been confident enough to step foot into a group class before. I also find that I am, overall, just more confident and more willing to speak up in meetings, assert myself, etc. I think some of that is in part due to the many, many months of therapy I've done alongside the new eating habits. I've learned that I am worth it, I deserve good things, and I can be heard. I've gone to an amusement park with my family and rode all the bit roller coasters, which I couldn't fit into before. I wore not one, not two, but three bikinis this summer which I have never in my LIFE done - not even before I gained all the weight. AND this is crazy, but I had enough confidence and satisfaction with my body to have boudoir photos taken as a thank you to my husband for all his support through my surgeries. I would say that I feel like a new person, but that is not true. Honestly I feel like the same person at 130 pounds as I did at 278 pounds, which was probably the biggest surprise to me. But I feel like a more confident, happy, satisfied, and healthy version of myself. :-)

I drink the Protein hot chocolate quite a bit. Sometimes I find if I'm craving a snack, a hot drink will help take the craving away.

That is really remarkable! Congrats!

Congrats on your long-term success!!

It's really hard to tell. I think that age, heredity, skin elasticity and more. I would say you would likely expect some excess skin. But honestly - for me anyway - even with the excess skin, it was worth it

Or....sometimes it's just easy to revert to old behaviors. I mean, we did them for many, many years and sometimes it's just too easy to go back to those habits, routines, etc. I think - again - being mindful is a key in breaking that.

What I've learned from working with a nutritionist and years (literally) of therapy with an eating disorder therapist is that when we skip meals our body kind of goes a little crazy and the urge to binge (even though a binge post-sleeve looks really different than pre-sleeve) is almost uncontrollable. And it's all our brain can think about. So definitely try to eat even if you're super busy or don't feel hungry. It will keep you from overdoing it later. Another thing I learned that your situation made me think of is "bolting". I'm very similar to you. I have a pretty busy career, 4 kids, a hubby and lots of other commitments so my mind is always going and it's super easy for me to stress eat. So who knows if this applies to you - well I guess only YOU know...lol - but I have found that I am a "bolter". That terminology comes from Geneen Roth's "Women, food & God" which is an amazing book and is not religious so don't let the title throw you. Anyway, when a situation becomes too ___________ (fill in the blank - stressful, sad, frustrating, etc) I often have used food in that moment as a way to emotionally and mentally "bolt" from what is going on at the moment and focus on the food. At that point my mind fills itself with all of the self-hate that you stated in your original post and there's no room left to think about the stress of the moment I'm in. SO.....I would lie if I said I never "bolt" anymore. Because I do, and it often leads to weeks on end of little cheats. But, I am mindful of what I am doing now, which is huge. And I try as much as I can to be present in the moment. I've even gone as far as to - when I'm feeling an urge to eat something unhealthy or have a mini binge - to literally out loud say "Ok, right now I'm feeling __________ (angry, exhausted, unappreciated, etc) and this food will not help that." or something similar. Anyway..... just my experiences that your post made me think of.

Definitely just sticking to the basics (Water, Protein, carbs, etc). I track them religiously in mfp & it keeps me on track. And I've also been going to therapy since about 8 months post into deal with my underlying food issues so I can ensure I never go back! So far so good, 2 years post op & 150 pounds down.

I only took 2 weeks off. I probably should have taken 4. It was at least 4 until my energy came back

Milk of magnesia works like a charm

Congrats on your success thus far! I agree with you. The emotional work, to me, is way harder than the diet changes or physical parts of it. What has helped me is therapy & the book "When Food is Love." I highly recommend it :-)

Yes. It didn't regulate again for about a year.

You're definitely still healing. Protein shakes & powders were hard for me to stomach the first month or so. Have you tried protein hot chocolate, jello or pudding from bariatricchoice.com? That was my go-to.

Not to just echo what others have said, but I would strongly encourage you to see a therapist that deals with eating disorders about the depression, anorexia & self-destruction. I'm also surprised about the aging. I think I've aged in reverse through my weight loss. Are you getting enough Water?