sweetie716

It's Day 3! Love this challenge. Last night I made banana bread for my husband and one for my work people. I don't know why, but when I go liquid I get in the baking mood. It happened last December when I had my surgery, too. This morning I'm making him a quiche. While grocery shopping for the bake-fest I'm having over here, I found 4 new seasonal teas that I'm very excited about: Eggnog'n, Caramel Apple Dream, Peppermint Bark, and Gingerbread. I've tried 2 out of the 4 so far and they are great. Happy liquids everyone!

I would say definitely not irrelevant. I have been helped greatly through your posts many times. I'm almost a year out now, but even pre-op and in the very early post-op days I loved finding posts from you and several others that had been through everything before me! Practical and down to earth advice from a successful sleever- probably more relevant than many others who weren't "tried and true" as far as having been through things and successful long term.

My weigh in days are Wednesdays and Sundays- it was very hard not to peek, probably will be even harder tomorrow! I half expect to lose nothing since the calories will be so lo, but part of me has hope. I love this because I don't have to plan what I'm gonna eat. It takes some of the decisions out of my day.

Enjoying the last shake of the day right now. Day 1 down, 4 to go. Still super pumped about this!!

I have now skipped my traditional "mid morning cheese" and am patiently waiting for my shake at lunch. I am, however, drinking some delicious peach iced tea flavored crystal light in my Water this morning. It feels good

This is so exciting. I've been having a rough time with starting to transition in to maintenance because I don't know what to eat, how to increase calories, etc. in order to up my calories while keeping the consistency and routines that helped me to get the weight off and find food peace. I've been significantly less peaceful about my eating habits since getting to my bounce range. (I still want to lose 6, but need to coast into maintenance pretty quickly after that to avoid losing too much.) This will help me to get the routine back. Thanks for the suggestion Elode! With other people it makes it more like a team effort. Can't wait to check in at the end of the day!

I'm in too. Just read this and already had my morning 2 slices of cheese after my walk, but I'll go liquid starting now. When is 5 days over? lol

@@JamieLogical What kind of bars do you usually eat? Do you happen to know the carb/protein stats? I'm always on the lookout for good Protein bar alternatives. I've eaten pure protein, Premier Protein, and Quest sometimes.

I would try not to worry about it. It's not really something you can predict/control. I'm lucky in that I now get mistaken for a student all the time (I'm a hs teacher). I feel like I have more lines around my mouth now, but it doesn't bother me overall. I feel better and look better and feel a sense of accomplishment since I've tackled an almost 200 pound weight loss. I don't have that feeling of hopelessness or overwhelmed feeling that I used to have most of the time when I was so overweight and couldn't ever lose enough or keep it off before surgery.

10 months on Sunday and eating 800-1000.

I do sometimes get hungry, but I pretty much stick to my eating schedule. I walk every day for about 45 minutes first thing in the morning, but I don't do weight lifting or much running. I feel pretty good energy wise. I have noticed that each time I bump up the calories things seem to move faster again. I made an appointment with the nutritionist to see about how to transition into maintenance once I get down a little more. I am nervous about adding more calories because I don't want to undo what I've done so far.

I'm 10 months out and getting about 900-1000.

I keep pretty much the same diet rules that were given to me post op. I eat at least 60 g of Protein each day, normally it ends up being between 70-80. I also drink water- although lately i've been having trouble since school started back up and I get in about 6.5 each day at the moment. That is a goal of mine for this week. Also, are you taking your Vitamins? Sometimes missing Water and/or vitamins blocks the process of breaking down body fat. You need both water and certain nutrients for your body to be able to do what it needs to do. I do not ever eat bread, rice, potatoes, etc. I LOVE(d) them, but they do not do anything good for me. I eat cheese, meat, and protein bars/shakes, and some nuts. Wait 30 minutes after meals to drink so that you get the full feeling/avoid washing food through prematurely. I also weigh/track all of my food. That helps me a lot I think because I know I'm eating good portion sizes and I also know where I am protein and carb wise for the day. My PA told me to limit carbs to 50g/day. I hope this helps!

What are you eating right now? Protein, carb, Water intake? Are you exercising at all? Also, how long have you been stuck?

I think it is normal to hate liquids by the time you are done. I know I was definitely ready for something to chew by the end. I do still drink a shake most days at lunch, but it is awesome not to have to drink exclusively. You will probably start to feel better around the time you get to eat. It is a long stretch to be on liquids, but it will be worth it. Just stick with it. Before surgery I really had a hard time when I tried not to eat my favorites, but I had a 6 month preop diet and then liquids for a month before surgery, and then liquids for 2-3 weeks postop. By the time surgery rolled around I'd already made major changes to the way I ate and by reducing my carbs drastically by doctor order. I found that almost all of my cravings had already subsided. If you didn't have that time before surgery to get used to that, give it some time and you may find that it gets much easier as time passes. I wish you all the best!

I would try to have someone on call in case you or your kids need something, but I was one of the lucky ones who got released next day and did some shopping that day. I did get tired more easily for a while, but I was baking and cooking for my inlaws who were in town at the time during that first week out of the hospital. They did all the laundry since that required more lifting and they also did stuff like get out the mixer and lift the casserole dish stack out of the cupboard, etc. I would probably focus on making sure that you and your kids have a lot of clean clothes since it will be a little bit before you want to be twisting/bending. They are probably old enough to help out with some of the house stuff by now (loading/unloading dishwasher or washer/dryer with supervision). Make sure that you have a few meals prepped for them for when you get home. There are lots of make ahead and freeze recipes that you can do so you won't have to be prepping meals right when you get home. (I just made a couple of small lasagnas for my husband.) I would keep some Protein shake powder and rtd Protein shakes on hand, maybe a bottle or two of Isopure for the first couple days when you're on Clear liquids, also maybe some boullion/broth. One thing I didn't think about before hand was gauze/clear adhesive meant to keep Water out of incisions. That was one thing we had to go to the store for. (They told me that my incisions could go in the shower fine, but I was too paranoid, so I cleaned them separately after my shower for the first week). I hope everything goes great

How much more are you looking to lose? Great job on what you've done so far!! (I had to look up that 6.5 stone is about 91 pounds).

That doesn't sound fun. I even hate it when people study me for a minute and ask how much I lost. Even when people are excited/happy for me, it just sucks to be evaluated in that way. It would suck even worse to have people compare me with others. I normally try to steer the conversation elsewhere or just completely change the topic if I'm just not having it that day. I hope that you're able to just tune it out in time and just do what you need to do. Was your surgery actually in Nov 99?

My dog is now conditioned to go when I get up, so if I were to sit or lay back down in the morning, he would give me grief until I took him for his walk. I also sleep in what I'm going to wear to work out in, so all i need to do is slip on my shoes and go. I also tell myself that Friday is my rest day, so it is only ever a few days away, but I always end up exercising then, too because I know I just feel so much better when I do.

I was an 8.5 when i was a teenager (the last time i wasn't obese), then typically bought 9s once I put on the weight. I also preferred wide shoes when I was up toward my heaviest. Now I'm back to an 8.5 normal width.

I am getting them all the time. My doctor thinks it will resolve once my body stabilizes, but I've had a few times where I was worried about actually fainting (thankfully it hasn't happened yet). I am pretty good about Water, although sometimes I get only 7 instead of the 8 recommended glasses, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have never been on blood pressure meds. My bp is on the low side of normal now. She suggested increasing water more. She also said that she has told one of her patients to drink the caffeinated version of coffee/tea once a day to help increase bp a little bit.

Hi- I'm experiencing a much lower sex drive than I had before surgery. I kind of expected it to be the opposite. In general I feel so much better physically and self-esteem wise, but I'm kind of just going through the motions when it comes to sex. Not only am i not as active, but I'm also resorting to lube much more frequently. I'm 6 months out and 29 years old. Did anyone else have this? I don't know if it's a hormonal thing or a calories/energy thing, or if it is in any way related to the wls, but I've only noticed it since surgery. Any insight appreciated.

Grocery shopping is so much faster now. I go around the perimeter of the store- just like all the health food shows have been telling me to do for years!

Seeing bones I haven't seen in a VERY long time. Also getting to be more selective about the clothes I buy. Before I would buy multiple colors of the same thing if it fit and I felt like it made me look okay. Now I have so many more options and don't feel the pressure to get it just because it fits on my body.

Most days I don't miss food, but sometimes the weirdest things pop in my head because I never really thought of them as a favorite before surgery. Baked Beans, malt-o-meal, ritz crackers, corn on the cob (that was a fav, but not one I ate a lot). Anyway, a lot of the foods I thought I would miss the most turned out not to be a problem, thankfully.