FrankyG

So I eat these ALL THE TIME NOW. Like I will never eat plain eggs again.
Four ingredients (not counting salt or pepper to taste):
1 egg
1 pat butter
1/2 tablespoon of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (smooth blended sauce)
1/2-1 full tablespoon of plain greek yogurt (I have the zero fat version, but the full fat would be fine too if you want the extra fat)
Heat small frying pan with butter until bubbly (I ususally do a medium high heat for this phase to get the pan hot and melt the butter before adding egg). While pan is heating, crack egg into bowl, add ingredients and then scramble up until the mixture is combined well. Turn heat down to medium low heat (lower is better to achieve a creamy/custardy texture to the egg), add egg to pan and stir constantly until egg is almost done. Remove from heat while still looking a bit "wet" as the egg continues to cook for a few seconds due to residual heat, and this prevents the egg from getting hard and overcooked. Plate, add salt and pepper to taste.
I use chipotle chilies in adobo sauce but the kind where they've blended it all up so it's a sauce with no chunks (you can buy the cans with the peppers still whole and just blend them yourself but this way is less to clean up). Adding dairy (greek yogurt) is a chef secret to get creamy fluffy eggs - any dairy will help, but especially sour cream or greek yogurt and the yogurt adds more protein! Cooking the egg on low heat, constant stirring and removing the egg from heat right before it is considered "done" results in a better egg too.
This results in a very creamy textured scrambled egg that has a lovely smoky slightly spicy flavor and works beautifully with sausage, bacon or ham. If you're unfamiliar with how chipotles taste, you might want to add less to start with (but if you like spicy without a hard burn, this is good stuff - add more if you want more spicy).

So I eat these ALL THE TIME NOW. Like I will never eat plain eggs again.
Four ingredients (not counting salt or pepper to taste):
1 egg
1 pat butter
1/2 tablespoon of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (smooth blended sauce)
1/2-1 full tablespoon of plain greek yogurt (I have the zero fat version, but the full fat would be fine too if you want the extra fat)
Heat small frying pan with butter until bubbly (I ususally do a medium high heat for this phase to get the pan hot and melt the butter before adding egg). While pan is heating, crack egg into bowl, add ingredients and then scramble up until the mixture is combined well. Turn heat down to medium low heat (lower is better to achieve a creamy/custardy texture to the egg), add egg to pan and stir constantly until egg is almost done. Remove from heat while still looking a bit "wet" as the egg continues to cook for a few seconds due to residual heat, and this prevents the egg from getting hard and overcooked. Plate, add salt and pepper to taste.
I use chipotle chilies in adobo sauce but the kind where they've blended it all up so it's a sauce with no chunks (you can buy the cans with the peppers still whole and just blend them yourself but this way is less to clean up). Adding dairy (greek yogurt) is a chef secret to get creamy fluffy eggs - any dairy will help, but especially sour cream or greek yogurt and the yogurt adds more protein! Cooking the egg on low heat, constant stirring and removing the egg from heat right before it is considered "done" results in a better egg too.
This results in a very creamy textured scrambled egg that has a lovely smoky slightly spicy flavor and works beautifully with sausage, bacon or ham. If you're unfamiliar with how chipotles taste, you might want to add less to start with (but if you like spicy without a hard burn, this is good stuff - add more if you want more spicy).

I've had a few drinks off and on after surgery (none before the 1 year mark tho). I was never a big drinker anyway, and mostly I don't care to waste the calories on it. Occasional glass of Maker's Mark and Cherry Coke Zero or half a glass of wine but that's every 2-3 months at the most.
I do keep some wine around because I make a killer shrimp scampi and it requires some white wine.

The day of the surgery, just after the nurse had placed the IV in my hand, I had a mini panic attack and wanted to rip the IV out and run from the hospital. I wanted to go HOME. Took about 10 minutes to talk myself off the ledge.
We have all been there in one way or another. It is scary, and the long term ramifications are hard to take in at this point.
But it is also worth it.
You will be able to eventually do all those things again. You may not want to tho, or if you do it will probably be much less often and you'll be happy about it too.
It is not the end of things you love. It is the end of things that have controlled you, made you unhealthy and held you back. It is the beginning of taking back your life, your happiness and being able to do whatever you want because you feel good and have the energy and health to do so.
Good luck, and recognize that the fears are normal, but shouldn't keep you from going forward.

I'm kind of over trying to help any more of the posts along the "I ate something really fatty/sugary/solids" or "Gee, is smoking really bad?" variety. So much anger and pissy responses because I didn't pat them on the head and tell them it was just fine and no, you special little snowflake you, it isn't a bad idea to do whatever the hell you want just cause you are craving it or uncomfortable denying yourself. SMDH.
I had surgery to be healthy, which included me admitting that I ignored or tried to downplay the stupid @#! I did, and putting an end to all of it (overeating, binging, poor eating habits in general, lack of good exercise/smoking). This was the most difficult thing I think I've ever done in my life, but I did it and it seems like the dumbest thing I would ever do if I were to go back to any of those habits and destroy everything I've worked so, so hard to accomplish.
I guess a portion of folks out there are would rather live with their delusions and pretend their poor habits won't result in regain/sickness/addictions. Just have to realize that some people are violently in denial about how messed up they are and don't want real help - just a magic potion or something that will let them continue their unhealthy habits without consequences.
I do admire y'all that still fight to cut through the BS if only to keep the misinformation down for the ones that read here and don't post. I just don't have it in me any more.

Totally my opinion...
If you have to beg others (friends and strangers) to afford something like this, then you can't afford it.
Reduce your spending, save money and pay for it yourself. Living below your means (which means you aren't spending every last penny of your paycheck and that you are saving a good percentage) should be a given. Just off the top of my head - cut out the high phone bill (plenty of low cost phone plans out there below $40/month - I pay around $30/for TWO phone plans!), stop eating out, cook in bulk and freeze meals, do away with shopping for fun or things like car washes, manicures or cable... just about everyone has one or two (or 10) things that they do that could be stopped to save up without causing real pain. The money is there, you just have to give up some other luxury to find it.
Again, completely my opinion, but I think it is a really sad sign that some people think they are owed an easy time just because they want something, instead of working hard and making some effort to do it themselves.

It's not a stall if you're losing fat and gaining muscles. You need to start measuring (arms, chest, waist, hips, legs) and track that every month. The clothing fitting looser is a sign that things are working the way they're supposed to, but if you're only using the scale to check in on your progress, then you're probably getting pretty frustrated.
Fat is more bulky than muscle, so a pound of fat gone and replaced with leaner muscle means you're losing what you need to lose and gaining lean muscle mass.
You need to reframe what it means to get successful - it isn't just straight up weight loss. You gaining muscle in place of fat is WONDERFUL. The more fat you lose and replace with muscle the better your body is going to operate and the actual weight loss (when it does start happening again) will go even better than before.
Just keep monitoring your Protein intake, watch the calories and carbs and drink your Water. Get your exercise in and if you haven't started seeing the scale start moving down again soon, try adding in a few hundred extra calories of Protein and complex carbs (like Beans with a small portion of brown rice) to see if you might be needing a bit more fuel to get your metabolism kick started.

I'm kind of over trying to help any more of the posts along the "I ate something really fatty/sugary/solids" or "Gee, is smoking really bad?" variety. So much anger and pissy responses because I didn't pat them on the head and tell them it was just fine and no, you special little snowflake you, it isn't a bad idea to do whatever the hell you want just cause you are craving it or uncomfortable denying yourself. SMDH.
I had surgery to be healthy, which included me admitting that I ignored or tried to downplay the stupid @#! I did, and putting an end to all of it (overeating, binging, poor eating habits in general, lack of good exercise/smoking). This was the most difficult thing I think I've ever done in my life, but I did it and it seems like the dumbest thing I would ever do if I were to go back to any of those habits and destroy everything I've worked so, so hard to accomplish.
I guess a portion of folks out there are would rather live with their delusions and pretend their poor habits won't result in regain/sickness/addictions. Just have to realize that some people are violently in denial about how messed up they are and don't want real help - just a magic potion or something that will let them continue their unhealthy habits without consequences.
I do admire y'all that still fight to cut through the BS if only to keep the misinformation down for the ones that read here and don't post. I just don't have it in me any more.

I had my gallbladder out almost 20 years ago. My pain was horrible, usually right after eating a high fat meal, but it manifested as intense pain in a band around my upper abdomen, but radiating out from my spine (which is NOT normal). I definitely would throw up, and no drugs or anything could touch the pain of the attacks. They would last around 20 minutes usually and started with me throwing up and then the pain and writhing on the floor in agony.
After removal, the only lasting effect was IBS - I got to know where the bathrooms were in every store, restaurant and public building I visited very well.

I've never bought any bariatric foods from here or any other place. Doing just fine and my grocery bill is tiny even feeding two adults.
I don't eat much any pre-packaged/prepared foods after I realized they were part of the problem (most are crammed with fat/carbs/sodium). I cook from scratch with whole food sources about 75% of the time. Things like marinara sauce or turkey pepperoni I do buy prepared, but I get the lowest carb/highest Fiber versions, and avoid high sodium, and other questionable things.
I read nutrition labels of everything. It also works to help me put things back if I'm suddenly craving them and want to buy - one look at a package containing 50 grams of carbs per serving and I can't stick that sucker back on the shelf fast enough!
I buy lots of chicken and fish. We eat on a chicken drumsticks or thighs at least once a week, and I usually do them in the slow cooker so I can create broth from the fat/bones and then make a lovely Soup with it later in the week. We eat lots of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, turnip greens and spinach, okra, brussel sprouts, (not so much of the carby veggies like carrots, potatoes, peas). eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, Beans (kidney, black Beans, pintos, great Northern), and brown rice. High Fiber wheat bread on occasion. Pork rinds are a great snack substitute when I'm desperate for the crunch of chips (but eaten sparingly since they are so high in sodium).
I have a very large variety of awesome recipes that are low carb, high Protein and moderate fat.

I don't know why the doctors don't warn every patient about this...
Fat stores hormones. When you start dropping fat, the hormones are flushed back into your bloodstream. So you can experience SEVERE mood swings, crying jags, anger, depression and elation. And this can go on for as long as you are actively losing weight... so over a year or two - until your weight stabilizes and your hormone dumps get processed and normal production resumes.
Warn your family/friends that you may have a hair trigger because of this (if you feel like it may be an issue) and be prepared to do some serious self monitoring when you feel angry/irritated/depressed and remind yourself that it is likely hormone related, and give yourself permission to take a time out to deal with the feelings and do some self care if necessary.

I think I've been going about this all wrong. BariatricPal is only helpful if you're a dumbass, apparently. I have been wasting my time trying to help and be helped. It really doesn't matter one damn bit if you're trying to do this right, get some support and learn a thing or two. The only people who stand to gain anything here are idiots who want to be enabled. So, since I can't remove myself gracefully, (can't delete your own profile) I believe I will go out with a bang and self-destruct. Yes, it's petty and childish, but I am old and tired and having hot flashes so I don't much care about what strangers on the internet think of me anymore.
The people who know what they should be doing don't have time to hang out here and tell the crybabies how hard this is and it's okay if they just need a cheeseburger to make it all okay. The people who want to help others succeed get banned when they finally get fed up and snap. If all goes as planned, I will be the next one to get banned, because frankly am tired of dancing around the BULLSHIT on this website.
If you have the patience to stay here and play the game, good on ya. I'm outta here. Somebody help me out and report this post. Thanks!

I don't know why the doctors don't warn every patient about this...
Fat stores hormones. When you start dropping fat, the hormones are flushed back into your bloodstream. So you can experience SEVERE mood swings, crying jags, anger, depression and elation. And this can go on for as long as you are actively losing weight... so over a year or two - until your weight stabilizes and your hormone dumps get processed and normal production resumes.
Warn your family/friends that you may have a hair trigger because of this (if you feel like it may be an issue) and be prepared to do some serious self monitoring when you feel angry/irritated/depressed and remind yourself that it is likely hormone related, and give yourself permission to take a time out to deal with the feelings and do some self care if necessary.

I don't know why the doctors don't warn every patient about this...
Fat stores hormones. When you start dropping fat, the hormones are flushed back into your bloodstream. So you can experience SEVERE mood swings, crying jags, anger, depression and elation. And this can go on for as long as you are actively losing weight... so over a year or two - until your weight stabilizes and your hormone dumps get processed and normal production resumes.
Warn your family/friends that you may have a hair trigger because of this (if you feel like it may be an issue) and be prepared to do some serious self monitoring when you feel angry/irritated/depressed and remind yourself that it is likely hormone related, and give yourself permission to take a time out to deal with the feelings and do some self care if necessary.

Almost all the points mentioned above are temporary effects. Your stomach size is permanently reduced, but it is very, very easy to "eat around the sleeve" by consuming high fat/carb foods, drinking while eating, eating "slider" foods (foods that liquefy like most breads, chips, ice cream, etc... and are easy to overeat since they take up no real volume in the stomach and slide through quickly, so you never feel full).
My doctor emphasized that anyone will lose weight for the first year or so after surgery, even eating total crap and going through the drive through every night. But those people will slowly stall out, and then start gaining within a year or so and likely blame their sleeve for failing when it's really their own fault. The sleeve just levels the playing field for those of us that needed the help to do the hard work of relearning how to eat and get active. It won't carry you if you continue to make poor decisions after the honeymoon period is over.
While the feelings of hunger can disappear for some time, they do come back. It is hoped that if/when that happens, you know how to differentiate between head hunger and actual hunger, and you've learned how to eat healthy, whole foods by that point.
The reason that VGS works is that you get about 1 year (can be up to 18 months) called the "honeymoon" sometimes, where you have both the restriction of the smaller stomach AND a lessening of the ravenous hunger that sometimes happens when a person tends towards binge eating. The quick dropping of a large amount of weight is so encouraging, most folks get really excited and that makes them work harder to preserve their success.
Since you have to let your stomach heal in the first few months, you're on a reduced diet plan of high Protein, low carb foods, and as you add back in real food, you're encouraged to make better choices overall since you have so little room, and to choose healthy/whole foods instead of packaged crap and fast food garbage.
It takes some time to throw out bad habits and relearn good ones, but the truly successful ones do this. Working with a counselor if you had issues with food (binge eating/overeating/food disorders in general) and working with a nutritionist to learn exactly what foods you should be eating, tracking every bite of food/drink and learning how to read nutrition labels and what daily macros you actually need, and using the new reduced stomach size to make sure you're learning proper portion sizes... along with increasing exercise/activity... that's how you achieve long term success.
Skip any of those steps, and you're likely going to fail. But if you figure this stuff out during the "honeymoon" period, then in addition to losing a large amount of weight, you'll have the blueprints to KEEP the weight off for the rest of your life.

Almost all the points mentioned above are temporary effects. Your stomach size is permanently reduced, but it is very, very easy to "eat around the sleeve" by consuming high fat/carb foods, drinking while eating, eating "slider" foods (foods that liquefy like most breads, chips, ice cream, etc... and are easy to overeat since they take up no real volume in the stomach and slide through quickly, so you never feel full).
My doctor emphasized that anyone will lose weight for the first year or so after surgery, even eating total crap and going through the drive through every night. But those people will slowly stall out, and then start gaining within a year or so and likely blame their sleeve for failing when it's really their own fault. The sleeve just levels the playing field for those of us that needed the help to do the hard work of relearning how to eat and get active. It won't carry you if you continue to make poor decisions after the honeymoon period is over.
While the feelings of hunger can disappear for some time, they do come back. It is hoped that if/when that happens, you know how to differentiate between head hunger and actual hunger, and you've learned how to eat healthy, whole foods by that point.
The reason that VGS works is that you get about 1 year (can be up to 18 months) called the "honeymoon" sometimes, where you have both the restriction of the smaller stomach AND a lessening of the ravenous hunger that sometimes happens when a person tends towards binge eating. The quick dropping of a large amount of weight is so encouraging, most folks get really excited and that makes them work harder to preserve their success.
Since you have to let your stomach heal in the first few months, you're on a reduced diet plan of high Protein, low carb foods, and as you add back in real food, you're encouraged to make better choices overall since you have so little room, and to choose healthy/whole foods instead of packaged crap and fast food garbage.
It takes some time to throw out bad habits and relearn good ones, but the truly successful ones do this. Working with a counselor if you had issues with food (binge eating/overeating/food disorders in general) and working with a nutritionist to learn exactly what foods you should be eating, tracking every bite of food/drink and learning how to read nutrition labels and what daily macros you actually need, and using the new reduced stomach size to make sure you're learning proper portion sizes... along with increasing exercise/activity... that's how you achieve long term success.
Skip any of those steps, and you're likely going to fail. But if you figure this stuff out during the "honeymoon" period, then in addition to losing a large amount of weight, you'll have the blueprints to KEEP the weight off for the rest of your life.

I think you need to stop googling stuff. Seriously. I could go out there and put up all manner of scare tactics and inflated ridiculous stories about why this or that is super scary dangerous and you are going to regret doing X, Y or Z. But you know what? It's all crap unless you know the site is reputable.
That site is a Blogspot. You do get that means it's some joe schmoe that has no accreditation or even paid for their site (it's a Blogger site - ANYONE can make an "official" looking site on there!) And you're throwing yourself into a panic because they found a nearly 10 year old study that has been discredited already and was lacking randomized trials and included all deaths of patients - including the ones that died from suicide, drug overdoses and other obesity related events that were set in motion before they had WLS. In other words, the study sited is flawed.
And did you read the invited critique of that study the website sited? It says not only was the study not done to look at bariatric surgery in real randomized trials but found... "Collectively these data suggest that the operations are not dangerous and that it may be a greater hazard to not induce weight loss for morbidly obese patients with concomitant medical complications"
http://archsurg.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=400686
Please call your doctor first thing Monday morning and ask for help. You need counseling STAT, and get in and see the doctor and tell them you are in a state of panic and need to get answers to help calm you down.
It is going to be okay, really. You did something good for your health. It will work out in the end. But you have to stop focusing on bad things and panicking yourself. Stop looking on the web for stuff - you're only going to make yourself feel worse. Get real help from your doctor and from a therapist that you can speak with face to face. It will make a difference.

Are you on any sort of stomach acid reducer? Many times the feelings of acid reflux/heartburn will "read" as hunger after surgery. I was on a PPI (Omeprazole which is the generic for Prilosec) for about 6 months after surgery, and still take an antacid occasionally 2 years out.
And sipping flavored Water (I am addicted to no cal fruit punch) is really helpful to get in fluids and fill you up as well.
Otherwise I'd suggest speaking with your Nutritionist/doctor about calorie levels and types of food and find out if you're doing okay or may be okay to up your calories at some point.

Hormones will make you crazy. The hormones stored in fat flush out into your bloodstream and cause you to feel out of control sometimes. Depressed (serious deep depression), anger, bouts of crying and instant irritation (short fuse syndrome) are all possible, for as long as you are losing weight. Would have liked to know before for this and alert close family that sometimes I might blow up or start crying and might need to excuse myself (or ask for help).
That the surgery is not the magic bullet you think it is. There is real work involved and it's not just healing from surgery - you have to use the honeymoon time to throw out ALL of your bad eating habits and learn what it means to eat healthy, whole foods. If you don't do this, you will lapse back into eating the old way, and likely regain most of the weight you lose in the first year or two. The surgery does help to reduce your portions permanently, but it mainly is a tool that helps you to lose a large amount of weight and reduce hunger and give you a fighting chance to replace the unhealthy eating habits. This is the most important part of this whole thing - and they just don't emphasize this enough from what I've read over the last couple of years. It is REALLY easy to eat around a sleeve if you go back to crap foods (high carb, fat, calorie foods).
How important it is to face up to your unhealthy food issues/relationship (binging, eating for comfort, using it as an emotional crutch, whatever). And find healthy non-food ways to reward, comfort, deal with stress. It has been HARD realizing how much I used food for so many things beside basic nourishment.

You're still filled with fluids from surgery - you likely gained several pounds just from that.
The only thing you should be concerned about is healing and getting in Water and any liquid nourishment you're able to tolerate. Weight gain/loss is meaningless right now.
Stay off the scale for at least the next few weeks unless you can accept that your body's priority right now is healing and that may mean lots of changes in weight - fluctuations up and down are really and truly pointless to worry about until later.

You're still filled with fluids from surgery - you likely gained several pounds just from that.
The only thing you should be concerned about is healing and getting in Water and any liquid nourishment you're able to tolerate. Weight gain/loss is meaningless right now.
Stay off the scale for at least the next few weeks unless you can accept that your body's priority right now is healing and that may mean lots of changes in weight - fluctuations up and down are really and truly pointless to worry about until later.

You're still filled with fluids from surgery - you likely gained several pounds just from that.
The only thing you should be concerned about is healing and getting in Water and any liquid nourishment you're able to tolerate. Weight gain/loss is meaningless right now.
Stay off the scale for at least the next few weeks unless you can accept that your body's priority right now is healing and that may mean lots of changes in weight - fluctuations up and down are really and truly pointless to worry about until later.

Well, I wouldn't say so since they're still roughage even if they are cooked. 4 weeks is still healing, so avoid anything that is on the no list no matter how it is prepared. Sticking with the diet plan your doctor gave you for the stage you're at is always the best advice.
If any food/drink is in doubt, ask your doctor.

Hormones will make you crazy. The hormones stored in fat flush out into your bloodstream and cause you to feel out of control sometimes. Depressed (serious deep depression), anger, bouts of crying and instant irritation (short fuse syndrome) are all possible, for as long as you are losing weight. Would have liked to know before for this and alert close family that sometimes I might blow up or start crying and might need to excuse myself (or ask for help).
That the surgery is not the magic bullet you think it is. There is real work involved and it's not just healing from surgery - you have to use the honeymoon time to throw out ALL of your bad eating habits and learn what it means to eat healthy, whole foods. If you don't do this, you will lapse back into eating the old way, and likely regain most of the weight you lose in the first year or two. The surgery does help to reduce your portions permanently, but it mainly is a tool that helps you to lose a large amount of weight and reduce hunger and give you a fighting chance to replace the unhealthy eating habits. This is the most important part of this whole thing - and they just don't emphasize this enough from what I've read over the last couple of years. It is REALLY easy to eat around a sleeve if you go back to crap foods (high carb, fat, calorie foods).
How important it is to face up to your unhealthy food issues/relationship (binging, eating for comfort, using it as an emotional crutch, whatever). And find healthy non-food ways to reward, comfort, deal with stress. It has been HARD realizing how much I used food for so many things beside basic nourishment.

Well, I wouldn't say so since they're still roughage even if they are cooked. 4 weeks is still healing, so avoid anything that is on the no list no matter how it is prepared. Sticking with the diet plan your doctor gave you for the stage you're at is always the best advice.
If any food/drink is in doubt, ask your doctor.