lauraellen80

I'm 6 months post-op and at goal. My husband's family has requested that I make my baked French toast for Christmas morning Breakfast, to go with the egg & sausage casserole my sister-in-law is making. I'm planning to eat a little bit of the French toast along with the eggs and work it into my meal plan for the day, since it's a favorite of mine that I only have once a year. I'm also planning to take a nice long walk with my dogs in between the festivities to work off the Christmas treats! The only thing I'm really going to miss this year is that I can't have my traditional shot of Bailey's Irish Cream in my coffee on Christmas morning.

I just hit (and am now below) goal, but For a couple months now I have had a couple tablespoons of granola on my Greek yogurt almost every day. I buy either "Bear Naked" or "Kind" brand granolas that have higher Protein and lower carbs/sugar than most and are not as processed. Now, I usually have my yogurt for an evening snack, so if I had something earlier in the day that put me higher in calories and/or carbs than I would like, I cut back or leave off the granola. For me, regular Cereal with milk is a huge trigger, so I am not planning on having that anytime soon, if ever. But I do fine with the granola.

I do the grocery shopping, and my husband is 1) very supportive of my surgery, and 2) also trying to lose weight himself, so he doesn't mind that I no longer buy bread, cereal, pasta, His mom is living with us currently, and she has her own section of the cupboard where she does keep some of that kind of stuff, but I just pretend it's not there. I do love to bake, but I try to get it out of the house immediately and give it away to people when I do so that it's not around tempting me.

Like the previous poster, constipation is more of an issue for me.

My surgeon told me that he's not convinced that sleeve patients need the calcium the way RNY patients do--this was when I asked about a potential link between calcium supplements and heart problems (which came up when my dad was in the hospital for heart failure recently). He told me that he was OK with me taking 1/2 of the recommended calcium citrate, saying that the risk is small but so is the benefit. I haven't had my 6 mo labs yet, so we'll see where I am then.

Yeah, I'm not sure. But even now at below 135, my fingers don't touch when I do that.

Well, that just sucks. I'm supposed to be 110 pounds by that formula. I haven't been 110 pounds since 5th grade. I was between 115 and 125 when I was dancing.

Most days, I have either a mix of cashews, pistachios, and almonds or the Blue Diamond dark chocolate and salted caramel almonds for a mid-afternoon snack, but what I do is weigh them out in 1 oz servings and pack them in a little container to take to work. When I look at the amount that is an actual serving, I think about how my pre-op inclination would have been to grab a handful 2-3 times as big! So easy to overdo it on nuts!

I'm not a medical professional, but what you're describing sounds like reactive hypoglycemia. I know there are others on this forum who have dealt with it--try doing a search. Are you hitting your Protein and Fluid goals? Are you limiting starchy foods? If not, that's a place to start.

I drink 1 or 2 cups a day, starting about a month post op. I use 2% Fairlife milk and sugar-free Torani syrups. No problems so far!

I'm glad that I'm not the only one for whom picking up dog poop without pain is a NSV.

I lost in the face first, which is also where I always gain first. I also noticed my shoes fitting more loosely pretty early on, and my legs slimming down. I'm less than 5 lbs from goal, but I am struggling with getting my waist slimmer--I wanted it to be under 30", ideally 28", and it's still between 30" and 31". But my middle is also when I have the most loose skin, so that may just be how it is.:/

I am so sorry. That is just awful. But you're right, you need to make sure you're taking care of yourself, too. About a month after my surgery, we found out that my dad was in heart failure and had to be immediately admitted to the heart hospital. I booked a one-way ticket and flew out to Indiana from Pennsylvania first thing the next day and ended up spending over two weeks there while he had all sorts of tests and eventually a triple bypass (he made it through and is doing fairly well now). Scrounging meals in airports and hospital cafeterias was not how I anticipated that my introduction back to solid foods would go, but I managed. I brought Protein powder and my shaker bottle with me (since I couldn't fly with RTD shakes)--I'm sure my seatmate on the plane was annoyed by my ordering a milk from the drink cart and proceeding to vigorously mix a Protein shake right then and there, but oh well! I picked up cheese sticks and other portable protein Snacks, and packed a little cooler every day to take to the hospital. I walked the halls of the hospital a lot, and drug my mom outside to take laps around the building when I felt like she needed a break. Bottom line is--you'll be better able to give your son the support he needs if you are as healthy as possible. Being readmitted to the hospital for dehydration is definitely not going to help! Keep plugging away at the Water and protein. I'm keeping you and your family in my thoughts.

I make up a batch of protein Greek yogurt at the beginning of the week and have some each evening, usually with a tablespoon or two of low-sugar granola or crushed nuts.

The pic on the left is from my brother-in-law's wedding last December. The pic on the right is from a friend's wedding over the weekend. Not quite at goal yet, but thought the difference was enough to share!

At bar-and-grill type places, I often order some sort of salad with grilled chicken. Cobb is good because it usually has additional Protein in the form of hardboiled egg, cheese, and bacon. I make sure that each forkful has a bite of chicken and other protein with a little bit of lettuce/greens/etc. and I dip my fork into the dressing (which I get on the side). I usually only eat about 1/4 of an entree-sized salad (I'm 5.5 months out). Depends on the salad to whether I take home the leftovers--some get soggy and gross. At Asian restaurants, I have found that chicken lettuce wraps are a good option; they are usually listed as an appetizer. I typically have enough leftover for another 2 meals. Diners and Breakfast places are easy--my go-to is a Denver omelette (ham, peppers, and onions) with cheese. I can eat about 1/3 to 1/2 of it. I either ask for them to leave off the potatoes and toast, or I give them to my husband. I might take a tiny bite of hash browns if they look really delicious.

I'm 34, about to turn 35, and I completely emphasize with feeling like you're in an "in-between" stage in life. I continue to wonder when I'll feel like I'm truly a "real" grownup! A lot of people on both sides of my family struggle with their weight, and I lost an aunt almost exactly a year ago to complications from diabetes and morbid obesity, so talking about surgery to my family wasn't an issue. My mom was the one who brought up the idea to me in the first place (which, yeah, I didn't take well initially). As far as friends, though... my husband and my circle of friends mainly consist of super-healthy people who do triathlons and ultra marathons and stuff. I felt weird about telling them because, like your dad, I felt like they just wouldn't get where I was coming from. But honestly, they surprised me by being very supportive (we went to the shore with them a couple weeks after my surgery, when I had just started puréed/soft foods, and I couldn't get my incisions wet in the ocean yet, so obviously something was up). So, the people in your life may surprise you--and if not, keep reminding yourself that you are indeed a "grown-ass woman" and don't need anyone's permission to do what's best for you! Good luck!

I'm almost 5 1/2 months out. I cooked dinner for my husband's family, as usual. I promised that I wouldn't make any weird "diet" food. I had a Protein shake for Breakfast instead of my normal oatmeal since I knew I'd be eating more carbs than usual, and I had a light Babybel cheese and 1/2 oz of mixed nuts around 11:30 (we ate dinner at 2). My husband and I took our dogs for a walk while the turkey was roasting to get some exercise in before dinner. At dinner, I measured out 2 oz. of turkey breast, put some gravy on it, and had a little dab (1-1.5 TB or so) of green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, brussels sprouts with bacon, and stuffing, and a 1/4 slice of jellied cranberry sauce. I ate most of my turkey, most of the green Beans, and less of the rest. For dessert, I had a small bit off a piece of Dutch apple pie, and a tiny bit of flourless chocolate cake. Definitely much more decadent than my typical meals! My stomach responded by imitating whale mating calls for the next hour or so. Like, really loudly. Glad it was just family! I didn't feel sick or pass gas or anything... my stomach/guts were just really noisy. Now I'm having a little dish of my homemade pumpkin protein Greek yogurt with a few crushed dark chocolate and salted caramel almonds.

Tried on dresses the other day, and couldn't find the size I needed in one of them. Asked the fitting room attendant if they had any, and she came back saying, "I'm sorry, miss, we don't have any smaller than a 6, but we may be able to order you a 4." Never thought I'd hear that!!!!!

I agree with @shriner37. I had surgery two days before you, and I'm at 900-1000 calories per day now (per my NUT). Especially if you're working out a fair amount, you need more calories.

Also, I will say that while I saw the scale go down, for the first few weeks I still felt pretty bloated. Once the post-op swelling went down and my body started healing, it was much better.

I decided to stay off the scale until my 1-week follow up appointment with my surgeon, since I was so full of IV fluids and stuff.

I started having 2-3 baby dills with my lunch at a couple months out. Still love 'em, no problems with 'em.

I'm going to be cooking dinner for my husband's family. I've already promised that I won't try to substitute weird diet versions of Thanksgiving recipes. I plan on having a small piece of turkey breast with gravy, and a bite each of green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce--in that order, so I get a taste of my favorites if I get full. Not sure if I'll have a bite of dessert or not--if it's not chocolate, I don't care that much.

I use a couple tablespoons of sugar-free Torani flavored syrup in my coffee, along with 2-3 tablespoons of light vanilla almond or soy milk, or fat-free Fairlife milk. Lately I've been into mixing 1 tb of the chocolate syrup and 1 tb of the salted caramel... not quite the same as a Starbucks salted caramel mocha, but pretty darn good!