Steamywindows

Thanks arts137, the results are very encouraging, particularly the observation that earlier intervention produces better outcomes...

I told my husband my high weight - I've been hiding the number from him for 17 years. I was silently embarrassed that he and I have weighed the same for the past 10 years. He had no clue I got to 256 pounds - he was so shocked at that. I cried when I told him. He understood at that point that I had to go thru this surgery for my health. It wasn't about wanting to be skinny - he knew I was in danger. I now share my weight with him every week (even during this fu*&ing stall!!!!!!!).

I certainly relate to your comments. In my case, I had gained and lost a significant amount of weight in the past 25 years. About seven years ago, I lost over a hundred pounds...but my husband still never knew what my weight was. As I slowly slid up and up, he has made comments very rarely, but indicated he was aware / noticed my struggle. I am very unhappy being a fat person. Something HAD to change. When I went to my doctor in June and stepped on the scale and was hit full in the face with my over two hundred pound weight, I finally shared with him. It was an important step for me to stop hiding from it myself and with him. I introduced the idea of WLS, which he wasn't keen on...but in the end, with my doctors support, I made the decision to sleeve, which I am grateful for every day. So with each pound I've lost this time around I share. Now he is trying to lose the 15 pounds he doesn't want(LOL)...and is trying to eat along with me. It is fun. Who knew?

Thank you Georgia! Very interesting and credible.

Great article, thank you for posting!

I haven't yet, but sure intend to try, so I'll be interested in hearing about anyone's experience...assuming tax laws have similarities and differences to keep in mind...

lunch Avocado Egg salad Wrap

Great solution to the wrap issue!

Just wanted to thank everyone for the support and update this post. Well I finally went through with surgery, which was a breeze all the dr's and nurses were great, the anesthesiologist was the best he sensed I was really nervous and just before going into the operating room gave me sleepy meds and the next thing I remember is my wife asking me if I wanted Jello and spoon feeding me lol. The only thing that sucked was that it took me awhile pee but finally did and the soreness for the first couple of days but feeling better ever since.

Congratulations!

I'll keep an eye out for it, if anyone sees its coming up, please post?

That's great, I don't get PBS so I'll be interested to hear what you thought.

http://www.nutritionistinthekitch.com/2013/07/11/protein-packed-banana-bread-can-be-gluten-free/

Protein-Packed banana bread (can be gluten free!) Print Prep time 5 mins Cook time 20 mins Total time 25 mins

Serves: 14

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas ¾ cup of oat flour (GF if needed) ¾ cup vanilla whey Protein powder 1 cup of 0% fat Plain Greek yogurt ⅓ cup egg whites ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce 6 packets of stevia (I used Krisda brand) 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract 1 teaspoon of baking soda Pinch of salt pecans or walnuts (optional). I added a few chocolate chips melted on top

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pace bananas in a mixing bowl and mash until you have a thick pudding-like consistency. Add all remaining ingredients to bowl and mix well. Prepare an 8×8 baking pan with cooking spray or coconut oil, or use 2 small loaf pans (this is what I used). Evenly place batter in pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick pulls clean when tested.

Nutritional Information

Serving size: 1 slice/square Calories: 75kcal Fat: 1g Carbohydrates: 9g Sugar: 3g Fiber: 1g Protein: 9g

I made this for our post Christmas staff meeting, it was a hit!

has anyone heard about the documentary about weight loss surgery that will be shown on PBS this spring? The documentary is called All of Me, http://www.allofmemovie.com. A Post Op & A Doc mentioned this in their newsletter....

Sorry steamywindows, I deleted the post you just made, it was a quote of the extremely long post made by Gamegirl early on, but it had no response and lots of code showing up mixed in... hope you don't mind....

Not at all! I had some sort of random act of posting issue, I hit the reply button and it froze. Thanks for deleting. I was trying going to say thanks, I really appreciated the post. A few years ago I went to a national obesity summit, and was intrigued by a presentation from a researcher from the states who had looked into the economics issues...both taxes and subsidies and made the point that years ago, (perhaps in Reagan's era) when corn producers were over producing the market, the government introduced subsidies, thus the food industry got a very very very cheap, readily available source of corn Syrup which of course as you know has found it way into nearly all processed foods...ugh. What goes on behind the closed doors of our benevolent governments eh? Good for economics, bad for population health!

Just wondering what everyones docs said about drinking alcohol?! I was never given a specific timeframe, so just wondering when its safe...

Mine says not for 6 months and never any carbonated! Makes me sad as I really really love Crabbies ginger beer...

They say that alcohol affects you differently as it passes into the gut more quickly, so a little goes a long way.

I ate salad day one of full solids (post-op week 5). It was Christmas Day, in which I ate turkey with a bit of gravy first and then a very small bit of mixed greens with a vinegret. It was fine. I haven't had much in terms of broccoli or other fresh Veg's as I still have trouble getting my protien in.

I agree with the comments about testing. Try a small amount. I am however not saying to go against explicit doctors recommendations, just to use common sense...whatever that is LOL

3 days postoperative Bypass, 1really rough day, last two better n better. Took 5 years to have it done, now my new life begins.

Congratulations!

The b***h of it is. Nobody notices the first 50 pounds you lose.A friend put it well: " you look normal, like you always did.".

How true! Then, ironically there gets to be a point where the comments turn too...negative things like "you aren't going to get too thin are you?". Of course I was no where near thin...I think this is sabotage.

I think the article posted recently about the nutrition myths has it right: not all carbs are bad. If any food should be considered " bad" it would be refined, processed foods... Which one could argue isn't really food...think twinkies here.

That said, we can overheat any food, so I am kind of traditional in the sense that I think "moderation". Of course this hasn't been my fortee, thus this need for VSG. Seems reasonable to stick with protien first, Water and then Vegs and fruits.....

Thanks for all the encouragement, cause of my occupation I'll be off from work for a month, so I won't be able to keep my surgery a secret from coworkers, especially afterwards since we all eat together most of the time.

I have not shared my surgery with any but a couple of co-workers. Some ask what I am doing which I honestly reply...high Protein, no Water with meals, low calorie. I was on full fluids when I went back, so I was pretty sure it would be noted, but since I was pretty low key, it just didn't come up. I think lots of people may be interested in the surgery element but I will only discuss it if the conversation is genuine and relevant....not just curiosity... That is just my thought...

Well, I am five weeks pot VSG. I feel great and had no complication what-so-ever. Until this week it was really hard to tell i had even had surgery to remove the majority of my stomach. Well except the 47 lbs I have lost. *grins*.

I too have lost a ton of weight, several times. Didn't/couldn't keep it on. Since I am only 5wks, I can't speak to the long term results personally, but the research does! (See the research threads for some great recent posts)

What I can say is I have NO regrets. Best of luck! I look forward to hearing about your progress....

Most atheists are actually agnostic as are most Christians when you dig deeper by chatting about their beliefs. When you hear "god is so powerful no one can know".....<bam> bring out the agnostic label. I used to be atheist, meditated (fairly intensely) for a decade and am now more an agnostic. Buddhism/non-duality here.

I read this piece recently posted on the "Daily writing" blog...thought the line on " I am coming around to a sugar-agnostic position" might tickle you all (since we can hardly take such a position ourselves)....of course I had no idea I could be agnostic about more than religion!

"I thought I knew the meaning of the word agnostic until I read this in an article about the Common Core State Standards:

Some teachers were angered, not by his pedagogical vision per se but by the fact that the author of the standards seemed to be telling them how to teach, even when the standards themselves are agnostic about pedagogy.

Thomas Huxley (1825-1895) coined the word agnostic to describe his attitude towards God and religion. He felt he lacked sufficient knowledge to determine if God existed or not. He formed the word by adding the prefix a- to the word gnostic. The prefix added the sense of “without, not, -less.” Gnostic means “knowledge.” Agnostic means “lack of knowledge.”

The word agnostic can be a noun or an adjective. An agnostic is a person who withholds an opinion as to whether or not God exists. As an adjective, agnostic means “relating to the belief that the existence of anything beyond and behind material phenomena is unknown and (as far as can be judged) unknowable.”

The use of agnostic in a nonreligious context led me to uses I’d been unaware of. Here are some examples:

Progressive adherents defend the Common Core State Standards Initiative as culturally and morally agnostic.

I had to [think of] a recipe that would be apple agnostic—it had to work no matter if they were sweet or tart, red or green, tender or crisp.

“Political agnostics” are people who ignore politics and current events.

“The rescues I knew that did foster homes were mostly purebred rescues, like for collies or Persian [cats],” says Wootton,…”I didn’t know of any that just took dogs, or just took cats…We are breed-agnostic — we don’t discriminate.”

I am coming round to a sugar-agnostic position.

The burgeoning use of the word agnostic in nonreligious contexts may derive from its use in the world of technology. A software program that will run on any computer operating system is said to be “platform agnostic.”

In extended use, agnostic can mean “not committed to a particular point of view, “non-partisan,” or “equivocal.”

To me, the use of agnostic to refer to apples, sugar, and dogs seems more than a little inapt. And a word that can mean “equivocal” doesn’t seem the best choice to describe educational standards."

Thank you for posting this Alex.

I an wary of the pity issue....so will give that some thought. I think pity might be as useful as bitterness. Do you know the saying "bitterness is the acid you throw on yourself"?

That is really congruent with what I have read. Not that it is extensive...I know Geneen Roth has written a number of books. (Feeding the hungry heart etc )However I have not read them yet: I am uncertain of the evidence which she bases her work on. As complex as the issue is, I am very interested. Thank you so much for posting!

Thank you! I would be interested to know if your search included any of the psychology -behaviour arenas?

I am very very honored to have been allowed to read and therefore "share" the feelings and thoughts of the posters in this thread. Thank you. Every. One. We share many similarities, differ in some ways but we have all suffered. Have had a life which had both blessings and struggles. Though I love my family dearly, they were certainly the origins of my deepest issues. I was born five years after my brother, who was without doubt my mother's favorite. He never got over losing the only child status and for my entire childhood, resented me. My mother has demons that prevented her from relating to either of us in a healthy way. food was love, comfort and connectedness with her. My father was a typical male of his generation, and not suited to dealing with a controlling, but not healthy functioning wife. Both my brother and I have struggled to overcome our backgrounds. I have made some very good choices in overcomming the drama triangle (especially with my mother) and I feel very happy with how much I have been able to move forward. That said, my struggle with my weight has a lot to do with the feelings of shame that I see roots of in my childhood. I recall innumerable examples of messages from my family-of-origin which scripted things like: "I am not as smart", capable, pretty, socially skilled, focused, etc etc as my brother, cousins, contemporaries or virtually anyone else in the world....was it their intent? No. The result? YES! I have never gone to therapy, and am not opposed to therapy...but also think there are a lot of tools to retrain those FOO messages. We can rewrite those scripts, stop the negative self talk....and defeat the shame trap that has lead ME to me addiction to self medicating myself with food. Food does not give the little girl I was the message that she (I) is/am good enough. I recently saw Brene Brown on TED Talks about shame, it's connection to addiction, especially eating disorders and what we need to do about it. I hope if anyone else watches it, you will post your thoughts....

Again, thank you (especially you, Madame Rev) for creating this open space to share, to shed a light on shame and eliminate its power and influence in my life.

Steamy

Thank you for this post. It is very helpful.