MrsSugarbabe

Thanks for the information that riced califlower and other riced veggies are available in the frozen section of the market!
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It’s not rice and vegetables. It’s ”riced” vegetables. If eating more vegetables is on your list of 2017 resolutions, eating them in a “riced” version can make those veggies more exciting.


“Ricing” refers to vegetables cut up into small pieces about the size of rice. Cauliflower has gotten the most attention, but other veggies are getting in on the trend. Years ago, the South Beach Diet included a recipe for mashed cauliflower to take the place of mashed potatoes. The new kid on the block is riced cauliflower. The color is similar to rice and can be cut to look like rice. Some say it has a similar taste to rice, but use your own taste buds to figure this out. For bariatrics patients, riced cauliflower doesn’t have the type of carbohydrate that can swell in your stomach pouch, like regular rice does. Once you can add vegetables back to your food choices, you’ve now got a vegetable choice that can be seasoned many ways. Click here for a Riced Cauliflower recipe from www.whatscookingamerica.net, which also includes several flavor options. For an easier version, Green Giant and Birds’ Eye already have riced cauliflower and other riced vegetables in the freezer section. You’ll be able to whip up a vegetable side dish in a jiffy! Pizza Crust recipes with riced cauliflower have also been enjoyed by our patients for several years. Yum! You now have a trendy, fun and tasty way to eat your veggies. Enjoy!

I am always fascinated to hear that people struggle to take their Vitamins regularly. For me, it's part of my routine and I almost never forget to take them. The only times I do forget is when I am out of my routine for some reason, like out of town or on vacation or something. Why is it that you struggle? Is it that your life doesn't allow for a regular routine? Is it that you never get into a routine with them i the first place? Have you tried the various med/vitamin reminder apps that are available?

I stayed on plan. I didn't want to risk damaging my new sleeve stomach and didn't want it to have to work harder because of what I had eaten - it had to work hard enough at healing itself that it wasn't worth the risk. I encountered complications 6 days post-op which didn't help the healing process either. I am what is called a compliant patient when it comes to my healthcare, as well as being an educated consumer

So glad to hear you're getting what you need here.
I agree with @@JamieLogical and @Chrmow. I have found BP members to be very helpful and encouraging. Real life experiences and insight certainly help on the WLS road.

I'm with @JamieLogical.
Talk with your doctor about it; know that there are medications available to help control it, IF you do develop GERD.
I take Previcid daily and probably will for the rest of my life. Several years ago, way before my WLS, my breathing kept getting harder and harder, even just while standing and talking with someone I would have to pause for a deep breath to be able to continue talking; gasping at times. And I can't begin to tell you how frustrating the shortness of breath was anytime I was exercising! It kept getting worse over about a 2 year period. I got checked out for heart issues, none, got checked out for asthma, mild. Then the pulmonologist I was seeing saw something on an x-ray of my throat that caused him concern; sent me for a CT of my throat which confirmed his suspicions. He referred me to an otolaryngologist who I saw within 2 days. As soon as he scoped me to look at my trach and esophagus, he immediately scheduled me for surgery -- diagnosis: subglottic stenosis (Google it). I am a rare case because 1) I'm an adult 2) I'd never been on a ventilator. Even though I rarely had "acid" reflux, apparently I had asymptomatic GERD during the night. My body created this scar tissue barrier across my trachea to protect it from the GERD. Fortunately, my vocal chords were not affected by the GERD. At this point, he said it was no wonder I was having trouble breathing because my trach was 80% blocked by the scar tissue and it was like I was "sucking air through a straw." On to my very first surgery ever. Laser surgery to remove the scar tissue. Surgery was successful and several years down the road now, no reoccurrence of the subglottic stenosis. After a few tests before the surgery on my throat, and one to follow, he came to the conclusion about the "non-acidic" GERD and put me on Prevacid 2 times per day. The dose was reduced to once per day just before my WLS.
I'm not sharing my story to scare you, just to reinforce the fact that GERD is very treatable.

Everyone is dying to get off the liquids, I knew that was the most import phase for healing, so I would not have considered asking about advancing that. Glad you would ask first, my best advice for soft and purees when you do get there is measure measure measure. Not everyone is as anal about following plan as I am and that is where people get into trouble, also my tip is if you are allowed 1/2 cup and you are feeling full on 1/4 Stop!!! Early stages are not the time to test limits. Be mindful about what and how you eat. That is what worked for me. I have friends who vomited non stop as they started stages, so know you may have to drop back a stage and that is ok and normal too. In solids you'll find some things work, others don't. Sometimes they work day 1 and not on day two. Take things slowly and start with smaller portions than you think you need.

I stuck to the plan. Sometimes it sucked and I wanted something more "substantial". Especially during the puréed stage. But I kept it in mind that this part was only temporary and to ensure I healed properly and let my body get adjusted to the changes I persevered. There's light, you'll be on to solids before you know it.

I followed my plan to the letter. None of us has any idea what the condition of our stomach is since we can't actually see it. I just wasn't willing to take any risks over some random food and a few random days.

An excellent, well-written real life experience with realistic suggestions and observations. Nothing offensive in my opinion. Keep on keeping on and don't worry about those who felt offended......a singing bird probably offends them.

I am so glad to hear that this has been your experience. I find that overall this group is very supportive and informative.

So glad to hear you are getting what you need from this community. It was invaluable to me through my journey as well.

Hello All,
I just want to say thank you for all your input, and support and love.
I really appreciate it.
I had joined a different weight loss and bariatric surgery forum a while back and didn't have a good experience.
I poured my heart out in a post, crying out for help, even mentioned that I was suicidal because of my weight.
I only received spam replies and a reply from someone offering to do hypnosis with me for a fee.
Needless to say I was thoroughly disappointed.
My experience here has been great and I appreciate you all.

I just had my first Oikos Triple Zero Greek yogurt, can I tell you this stuff rocks!
120 calories, 0 fat, 8 net carbs and 15 protein!
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Why are you afraid of it? I have to be on omeprazole daily now, post-op, but it's no big deal. I just take it along with all of my Vitamins.< /p>

I also saw a photo that gave me that OMG moment. Every time I tried to talk myself out of going ahead with the surgery, I just looked at that photo to remind myself that was what I was going to remain if I didn't do something about it. It helped me move forward.
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I refused to be in pictures for the last few years but had a similar moment when I saw myself in a full sized mirror at the dog groomers. I think a lot of us are in some denial and at some point something just snaps you out of it. even when i saw the occasional photo of myself id think, "oh it's just a bad angle".
realizing there's a problem is always an important step in getting better. good luck at your WLS appt. you're on your way now!

I'm scratching my head at WHAT could be the problem with the info you put out. You wording, your advice was just fine. I wasn't there at the meeting, but good on 'ya for taking time to pass your experiences on to the newbies or newbies to be.

Try the Syntrax trophix or matrix in hot coffee - delicious!

Good morning, ladies!!! Can I hop on this train?
Thank you for sharing your struggles with getting to goal; I'm right there with you. For the past year I have hovered within about a 15 lb. range. Got so close to moving into Onederland this time last year only to fall off the track. (I need to update my current weight on here to reflect my reality ) I'm working my way back to doing the basics that I know worked for me in the past just after surgery. So thankful that my sleeve keeps my food and liquid intake real.......real small; it's the bad choices I've made and the slippery slope I've been on that's the problem. Fortunately, I never stopped exercising, weighing and measuring, did get lazy logging food, but that's changed back to being on track.
Let's do this!!!

@@Mrs.ChangingTX
Thanks! And I agree.....accountability helps with reaching goals and keeping it real and honest with ourselves.
I just updated my weight tracker to this morning's weight. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to do that as a step toward being more honest with myself.
Onward to goal we go!! @@Mrs.ChangingTX and @@ProudMomof2 and anyone else who wants to come along.
@@JamieLogical - You are and always have been an encouragement to me and you always have sound advice. I appreciate your honesty and encouragement and your words of wisdom....always!

The general rule of thumb is to be at/near goal for a full year before having skin removal surgery. I think I was actually only at goal for about 8 months prior to mine. When you start having consults with surgeons, they will let you know what they think and what their guidelines are.
Same thing goes for the order of the surgeries. Depending on what you need done, they will put together a plan that ensures you aren't under anesthesia for too long in one go and that you have adequate recovery time between surgeries. If it were up to me, I'd advise having the "easier" surgeries with shorter recovery first, like arms and boobs. A LBL or TT will have a really long recovery time and can be pretty brutal. Wouldn't want a difficult recovery from that to deter you from getting the other surgeries.
As for how much weight you can plan to lose with skin removal, the answer is none. Yes, the skin you have removed will have potentially significant weight to it. But the swelling from an LBL or TT last MONTHS. Literally months. At least 2-3 months, In my case, I had soft tissue swelling that lasted NINE months. You will be virtually immobile in he early days and have very limited/restricted activity for probably at least two months. So between the swelling and reduced activity, by the time you achieve your true "results", you probably will have re-gained some weight. It will definitely be impossible to tell how the weight of the skin removed affected your overall weight.

After truly a lifetime of trying to lose weight I am finally so close to my goal weight. I have been fat my whole life, being over 300 pounds at my heaviest. I am now 51 years old and finally I am in a normal weight range. I am trying to decide what to make my actual goal weight and also what to do in terms of all of this massive skin.
This is the first time I am really thinking about skin removal surgery so I'm sorry if these questions have been covered previously but there are just so, so many posts.
I am hoping that some of you can give me your experiences and opinions.
1. How long were you at your goal weight before you had skin removal surgery?
2. Is there a suggested order for removal? I have to have everything done. Is it better to do a full body lift first and then breasts, arms, thighs ..... does it matter which order each section is done in?
3. I guess this is more of a personal preference or personal experience question but I will ask it anyway. I am about 140 pounds lower than my highest weight. I am struggling with the last 20 pounds, to lose them. It is difficult for me to estimate how much the actual skin weighs. For those of you that had the skin removal, did you think it was essential to get down to absolute goal weight or did you have the skin removal done at a weight you were just comfortable with? How much did you actually lose with having skin removal over your whole body? I know this is probably a strange question and maybe I am being impulsive and impatient. I really want all of this skin off but struggling with that last 20 pounds. It just sounds crazy actually now writing this so maybe I need to just persevere and get that last 20 pounds off!
I will do more reading on these boards to find experiences of people with massive skin removal. But thank you for listening.

I'm glad the sleeve kept your weight down 67 pounds. Good luck with everything

Sure, I think it is a great idea for you to join us. We can support each other. I think we should all make a commitment to check in at least once a weekl? I truly believe the support will help us reach our goals.
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