magtart

Combine 1 egg beaten 1/4 low fat mayo 1 tablespoon basil and 1 tspoon garlic paste 1 cup breadcrumbs/Panko 1/3 cup red onion 3 cups left over/ rotisserie shredded chicken and youcan stir in onion and breadcrumbs towards the end. Once combined should stick together form you cakes about 1/4 cup of mixture or you can make mini appetizer sizes.heat some oil medium heat 3 min on each side. For the mayo 1/2 low fat mayo 1 tablespoon cilantro and 1 tablespoon garlic paste. Then put on top of that yummy chicken cake!!

It should get a little better each day. Good luck!

That looks yummy! I didn't get anything, not even Water, the first day. The 2nd day, when I could show that I could sip some Powerade zero, they sent me home. ?!?!? I didn't get any of that delicious food, um, liquid. Oh wait, I did get some kind of barium concoction to test for leaks.

Why in the world would you allow a random teeny bopper to have control over your feelings for even a moment?

Unless she was wearing a stethoscope and you were writing her a check for your medical treatment, her words are meaningless.

I can understand having doubts, but please don't take medical advice from some random person you have never met or from well-meaning but ill informed friends and family.

I have been following this forum for several months now. I know many of you by name, though you don't know me. (sounds a little creepy!)
Many of you and your honesty were the reason I decided to join this forum. I am very simple guy. I don't have Facebook, twitter, or whatever else is cool these days. But this forum gives me a place to vent and to learn from others.....so thank you.
I was 340 lbs when I started this journey back in June, By day of surgery (9/30/15), I was down to 300lbs. Today I weighed in at 252 LBS. I feel great, I have been working out and lifting, something I haven't done since H.S.
I started this journey for a couple a big reason, 1) for my own health and to be around longer, and 2) the big reason. MY FAMILY.
My wife is my rock, and best friend. She is greatest support I can have. My beautiful daughter, and lastly my "HERO SON". He has hard life since he was born. He was born extremely premature at 1LB-6 oz.. This year he was recently diagnosed with autism. I am doing mostly for him, because I want to be there to protect him and help him with the struggles he has every day. He is only 7 and goes through therapy every day. If he can do it...so can I.
Thank you all for reading and I hope that above doesn't sound too corny, just wanted to give a quick background on myself. This was a big step for me to join....never have belonged to any kind of online "family" before. I hope to get to know some of you more now.

Did you initiate the conversation or did they approach you?
I've personally not "convinced" anyone to have surgery nor would I broach the subject with someone. When I was a fatty, I knew it. I didn't need anyone suggesting the newest diet, cookbook or weight loss plan. I certainly didn't need anyone suggesting a life altering, permanent ELECTIVE surgery. I, too, would have been highly offended.
While I am an open person, my health and my body are my business, no one else's. I pity anyone who thinks my body is their business.

Thank you All for your comments. It really makes me stronger to do something about my issue.
It’s really hard to discuss this at home as they really don’t understand my food problems. My partner and his sons have quite healthy relation with food and they all are skinny. Hubby is very helpful but I am not 100% sure he deeply understand what I am struggling with.
Yes, I am attending therapy sessions since my surgery (5 weeks out). And this is one of the issue I will work out. Just wanted to know if I am alone or anybody else has similar problems.
I think it comes from my childhood. I was raised by my grandmother. She survived very hard times during 2nd World War in Poland. And food was really precious to her. She always had to have stored food and nothing could be wasted.
Your comments help me understand that I am not a garbage really, and throwing out some amount of food it’s not a tragedy. Especially I am not a poor person and food is relatively cheap so I can get it every time I need. Also what @@Djmohr suggested about using vacuum sealer seems very promising to me. Currently I am working with a lot of plastic boxes but they use lot of space in the freezer.

Have you considered seeing a therapist about it? It sounds like a form of OCD.

I just had surgery this morning. So far my sleeves name is MF'ing Beyotch (subject to change)

Whoo hoo finally on the losers bench.. I had to stay over night but when home next day... Only pain is gas and gas-x strips are helping that and some nausea.. Other than that it went well????

I've been going up and down 2 lbs for a month now. It is getting tiresome, but it happens. Weight loss is not linear.

Hi...
I hope this is the best place to introduce myself. I'm new to all of this stuff still, although I've been thinking about it since March or April.
I'm in the research stage, although hopefully coming to the end of it soon. I've been reading here, various clinic sites, studies, etc so that I'm as informed as I can be.
I've struggled with weight for my whole life... I was an Atkins success story around 2008, but that quickly turned to a nightmare turning the 120 I lost into a 160 gain. I hit rock bottom a couple of summers ago being diagnosed with type II and blood pressure so high they almost called the squad. The type II diagnosis scared the hell out of me... I have a family member who is so type II they have an insulin pump and eat what they want. That kicked me into gear and I started eating better and exercising. I was down 60, but I've put some of that back on due to several stressors in my life.
My diabetes is largely managed. My doc was happy with my progress, but I've not had much lasting success on the weight loss front. I made an off-handed comment to him "now if I can only get the weight off". His response was "Have you considered surgery?" Needless to say, after another couple of talks with him, here I am.
I'm leaning towards surgery... on paper it all makes sense. I just am trying to figure out if I'm trading one set of problems for a different set that are more difficult for me. I also feel a bit like I'm cheating... that I'm taking the easy way out. I know it's not, and that it's a lot of work.
Well, anyway, here I am, looking forward talking with everyone.

My grandma raised 12 kids during the Great Depression and never threw anything out. Consequently, we rarely got fresh food to eat. We were always eating bits and pieces of the bad apples before anyone would get a good apple. We had to drink the almost sour milk before we could drink fresh milk. Leftovers from dinner showed up for Breakfast - consequently, we never got a fresh-cooked Breakfast. Anything else that just was not edible was given to the dogs and if the dogs would not eat it, it was given to the hogs.
Since having my surgery, I have to remember two things: 1) Leftovers that I would eat because no one else will, just need to be thought of as hog feed. 2) I can throw dabs of this and that away or just directly tape them to my hips.

It is a big issue, especially in a culture where food is abundant but we are hard wired to survive famines.
There is a new documentary out about food surplus (a different term for food waste). I can't remember the title, but the filmmakers were interviewed on NPR this week.
Another documentary I recommend is THE GLEANERS AND I (French) about waste in the food supply.
Just remember, you are not a garbage can. Eating something you don't need is not better than throwing something away.

I. think it comes from my food addiction ... I respect and adore food.< /p>
. I have an obsession on planning. If I have in the fridge something with close expiry date then all my thoughts are how to use it quickly. Sometimes I cannot throw it away even if the expiry date passes. The other family members does not have this obsession. .. I cannot stop thinking that I need to utilize that remaining food....I think this problem it’s a part of my unhealthy relation with the food. And WLS didn’t solve this problem so far. I need to work this out by myself.
Just wondering if anyone else has this or similar food disorder.
You don't need to solve this all by yourself. you can get help. You've self-diagnosed with some serious issues surrounding food. I really encourage you to see a counselor or therapist, preferably one who specializes in issues with OCD and/or eating disorders.
While all of us need to change the ways in which we relate to and use food, you have voiced some concerns over and above those that most of us have to deal with. You don't have to do this alone.
Good luck!

@@magtart
LOL
i have those moments too
guess what, we are both the same age!!
but YOU are 3 months older than i am!!!
we are both 29
from one ol' fart to another
we are the new 40!!!
keep up the great job
good luck
kathy

I've been going up and down 2 lbs for a month now. It is getting tiresome, but it happens. Weight loss is not linear.

Thanks for mentioning the name change. I thought I was having another senior moment.

Have you considered seeing a therapist about it? It sounds like a form of OCD.

I've been going up and down 2 lbs for a month now. It is getting tiresome, but it happens. Weight loss is not linear.

I don't know. Try side stretches and swinging your arms around.
Sorry, I never had the gas problem.

I don't know. Try side stretches and swinging your arms around.
Sorry, I never had the gas problem.

MFP has a recipe builder where you can enter your own recipe and get the stats per serving.

I'm a year a three months out of my surgery, and I figured this is as good a time as any to share my story. I always found other people's journeys so helpful, and I hope someone can benefit from hearing mine.
I definitely struggled a bit with my weight when I was younger. Even with playing sports I was heavier than my friends, and I have a critical mother who frequently put me on one diet after another, fostering some pretty unhealthy feelings about food. My weight didn't really become an issue until my late teens, when I struggled with some mental health issues that resulted in a weight gain of more than 50 pounds in a year.
In between high school and college, I went to a summer weight loss camp, and that helped bring me down to a more regular, albeit still unhealthy, weight. However, the following years I really struggled and was eventually diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. In the period leading up my my diagnosis, some poor medication decisions and my emotional struggles contributed to a rapid weight gain of around 80 pounds, bringing me to my all time high of 250lbs. I tried dieting, weight loss programs, weight controlling medication, and I never could get more than 20lbs off. I had finally got my psychotropic medications right, but I was left feeling pretty defeated and exhausted by everything that had transpired.
Even though I was struggling, I was always an excellent student and I was accepted to attend an Ivy League school for my master's degree. My program was extremely intense, and my peers were all very high achieving and disciplined. I was one of two people in our class of over 100 with a weight problem, and I isolated myself a bit because I was so uncomfortable.
I am an avid traveler and studied and work in the International Development field. During my lower weight in college, I spent close to a year studying and working in Madagascar and Uganda, and felt very much at home traveling and learning about other people and cultures, and working on projects to tackle rural poverty. My early twenties were very fulfilling, and I went to grad school wanting to continue the work I had done.
Towards the end of grad school, I was on a trip to Alaska with my family and it struck me how miserable I had become because of my weight. I had already been participating in a weight loss program luckily run by a physician, and so when I decided to have surgery I had already fulfilled all of the requirements. I decided to have the sleeve, and within a month I had surgery.
My life has improved drastically and I am ten thousand percent certain that this was the best and only option for me to be successful. Seven months into surgery, I accepted a position with a very large US NGO, and was relocated to South Africa to begin managing the NGO's 21 country programs in Africa. I work on public health programs for people with intellectual disabilities, and am so thankful that I have been able to work in an area that I am passionate about. I would not have been able to do this job at the weight that I was.
Just in the seven months I've worked in South Africa, I have traveled to our programs in Nigeria, Uganda, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. These trips require a lot of physical activity, and I'm often in areas where you have to walk long distances is very warm weather, and spend a lot of time sitting on the ground and working long hours. For a vacation this summer, I went on a horse trek to Kyrgyzstan, riding for 6-8 hours a day and sleeping on mats in rural yurts with nomadic people. I cannot properly articulate how amazing it feels to be able to do the things I've always wanted to do.
Having WLS was certainly not a walk in the park. I struggled a lot for the first several months with fatigue and a series of frustrating medical issues. I had my gallbladder removed a month after surgery, and I got c diff in the hospital. Finally being able to lose a significant amount of weight helped me to stick with the program and kept me motivated. As of this morning, I've lost 103 pounds and am solidly a normal weight. I'm still working on those last stubborn pounds, but I feel confident that I am going to reach my goal.
I'll end with this--last week I was working in Malawi at a training for Optometry students to help them learn how to work with people who have intellectual disabilities. We screened a hundred kids, and many of them got new glasses to improve their vision. It was close to 100 degrees, and I was able to walk kids between different locations and carry heavy equipment for over eight hours. People didn't look at me strangely like they did when I was obese (unsurprisingly, obesity isn't as common in many parts of Africa), and I just felt normal. I've realized that being a healthy weight doesn't necessarily induce euphoria like I imagined it would when I was at my highest weight. Instead, it is the constant noticeable absences of discomfort, shame, and sadness. We all have our own feelings about body image and weight, but for me, I have a new perspective and appreciation for my "normal" problems. My boss might piss me off, I might get stressed about money, I might just have generally bad days sometimes, but I don't spend my day feeling like everything about my body is uncomfortable, embarrassing, and limiting.
I very much admire and appreciate everyone on this site. If you are new, know that there will be some very serious struggles, and that perfection is not a long term reality. The further out you are the harder it gets to stay focused. But don't let that stop you from fighting. The sleeve helps stop the spiraling out of control that many of us have experienced, but ultimately your brain and attitude are responsible for keeping you on track. Good luck to everyone, and when you inevitably fall, get the hell back up.