SassyScienceNerd

I have always wanted to do yoga, but when I have, I was pretty limited by my size. I'm very excited to make this my first post-op workout routine. I'd start gently, but how soon after surgery did everyone start exercising beyond just walking?

I went on a date recently with someone and he decided on a whim that he wanted to take me out for sushi. I tried to suggest something else, but he was hungry. I ordered a few pieces of sashimi and ate the fish without the rice and told him I'm low-carbing it. But I spent so much time chewing it into a paste that I hardly talked, and since I only ate 3 pieces, he noticed and asked me what was up. I just told him I wasn't hungry to begin with, and it seemed fine from there. But I don't want to keep having these awkward interactions. I don't tell people about surgery. If I get into a more serious relationship, I'll reveal it, but I am still uncomfortable with people knowing yet. So give me some fun date ideas that don't involve going out to eat! I have had a blast mini-golfing on a date, and going to the batting cages. But I'm here to gather ideas so I can have good suggestions on hand the next time someone suggests we go out to dinner. Give me your favorites.

Does your doctor require a pre-op liquid diet? If so, how long are you to be on it? What foods are recommended? What foods are allowed and not allowed? Is the goal ketosis (liver shrinking)? I'm trying to get an idea of what everyone else is being directed to do, because my clinic is sending contradictory information. I'm trying to see if what I'm being told is in line with others. It seems a little kooky to me. Thanks y'all.

I know I'm a day late on this, but I haven't come up with what I am giving up for Lent this year. We had a sermon a few years ago about how Lent is not a diet plan, it's not meant to be a second chance at re-starting a New Year's resolution. That sort of kicked me right in the guilt-button, because I had given up sugar before and the whole focus ended up being how great I felt and how much weight I had lost. Not the point of Lent. So all you Anglicans/Catholics, tell me what you chose and why!

Uh, I'm over a year out and I definitely want to. Lol. Cravings are real. They don't magically go away. Bread doesn't sit well with me anymore, so a bagel sounds delicious until I have two bites. Even knowing that now, I get cravings for bagels. And burgers on buns. and roasted beet paninis with goat cheese and arugula. There's a disconnect between the part of my brain that makes my mouth water for whitefish spread on a toasted egg bagel and the part of my brain that knows that a bagel will make me nauseated and ruin half my day. I don't know how long it will take that disconnect to catch up. But it definitely didn't go away. I'd be cautious about telling newbies that it's just as simple as "you won't want that anymore."

I had sharp left side pain for 6-8 months after the surgery. I'm a little over a year out and it's totally gone now.

Yesterday was my 1-year surgiversary too! Happy anniversary to us! <3

So proud of your milestone!!

I posted this on my own thread a while back but I'd like it to live forever here, too! 100 lbs down and a little past goal in this pic.

I just want to give a shout of encouragement to you April 2018 sleevers! I was an April 2017 sleever and my life is so incredible now. It can get a little bumpy, but man, it is so worth it. You guys will be on the April 2019 threads doing the same thing this time next year. I wish you all the best!!

I love eating out now! I am not plagued by cravings 11 months after surgery. That may come for you as well. One tip I love is to get online and check out the menu first. That's a holdover from my old Weight Watcher's days. That way you can plan what you'd like to have, do the calorie and macro counting, and avoid temptations on the menu when you get there. When my boyfriend and I go out, I just plan to share a little of his meal because I eat so little that it hardly makes sense for me to get a full meal of my own. If he wants something I shouldn't have, it's no big deal, I order the soup or a side of veggies. If there's something on the menu I know will reheat well and I don't mind having a few more times that week, I get a full meal and take home leftovers. Sometimes I do appetizers if they are not too unhealthy, but they tend to be fried or really indulgent most of the time. I never order off of the kids' menu. A lot of people do after surgery, but I can't get over how awful the food choices are. Cheeseburgers, corn dogs, chicken tenders, and mac and cheese. Yawn. I don't even let my kids order food off of kids' menus. Right after surgery, you'll probably find that there are lots of soups out there that you never even knew about, almost every restaurant has some. It's a great option for eating out, and it helps make the pureed/soft phase a little more tolerable to be on it while enjoying a out with your wife and friends.

Hello Twinsie! This time next year you'll be shopping for a bathing suit in a single digit waiting on the weather to warm up enough to flaunt it!

I also wonder if naturally skinny people leave the house feeling as fly as I do right now. I feel like every eye is on me and my smokin' hot bod. Hahaha!

Yes!! I've had this same thought myself. Do normal people just walk into a kitchen and leave without things on the shelves in the pantry and fridge calling to them? Was this always their life? There are times I have actual hunger and I'm in front of the fridge and nothing in particular is screaming my name. It makes it so much easier to make a healthy choice when I don't have that burning desire to eat the salty-fatty-starchy thing anymore.

I reached my goal and could not be more satisfied! My sleeve was the best decision of my life. 10 months of learning how to use this tool brought me from a size 20 to a size 6.

It helped me to do the "bicycle motion" like I used to do on my gassy babies- lay in bed (on my side or on my back- 3 DPO you're probably better off on your side) and draw your knee up as close to your chest as possible nice and slowly, then stretch your leg straight out again. Do it a few times then roll over and switch sides.

It's a lovely feeling to just be normal and average! I wish my 14 year old self knew that. Ha! Congratulations on being completely unremarkable when boarding an airplane, nothing-to-see-here when standing in a line to order food, totally un-noteworthy when using a machine at the gym, and living your very best life!!

My aunt is a size 0-2 and can indulge in anything she wants to eat, anytime. She has the genetic advantage. So I bought myself a little surgical advantage. People think that thin people look that way because they work hard and have good willpower. Sometimes that is the case. Often it is not. So there's this stigma with WLS that it's cheating because everyone wants to think they earned the right to be thin with their own hard work. Most of the time it's BS. You are giving yourself an advantage so you don't have to struggle as hard. Now there will be new struggles, restriction, vitamin deficiency, etc. You're choosing your new struggle, but no one waved a magic wand. Some people it won't be worth trying to convince. Just let them be and move along. Others will listen and their minds will be opened. Little by little, that stigma might subside, but it's not going away anytime soon.

I adore Halo Top. The mint chip, salted caramel, and red velvet are my favorites. My kids even eat it and like it.

Favorite on-plan meal is the "noodle" bake I make with spaghetti squash, ground turkey, low sugar tomato sauce (pizza sauce, basically) cottage cheese, and parmesan. Now that I'm in maintenance mode, I add a little mozzarella, just not the 1/2 in thick layer I would have in the old days. So super good! And the kids inhale it, which is a big win around these parts. We are trying a version with zucchini zoodles added to the squash noodles for a little extra texture. I also make a yummy tomato soup with spinach, 3 kinds of beans, turkey sausage, feta, and tortellini, but I just dip mine out without the tortellini.

Here's a rant: You know what I don't like? Country music. So when I stumble into a local bar called "Cowboy Saloon" and there's a room called "This Room Is All Basically Country Music At High Volume" and they are, in fact, playing country music, you know what I do? I leave. I leave as voluntarily as I came in. You know what I don't do? I don't walk around the bar full of people enjoying country music telling them that it's soulless and cliche and isn't what I like to hear and offends my ears and I demand they stop. I just leave. I don't make some big scene and scream "Country music is the worst and I am leaving!" I just... you know, take off, and find a bar playing jazz music. Or sit in my car and listen to NPR.

I'm 10 months out and I have the opposite problem of most on here- I have had maybe 3 solid stools the whole time. I just know now to stay near a bathroom and keep hydrated. Because seriously, it's like water. And I can't figure out specifically what's causing it.

I swear this morning on my FB surgery group someone posted "I've only lost 50 lbs in 5 months, what am I doing wrong??" YOU LOST FIFTY POUNDS IN FIVE MONTHS. YOU LOST THE EQUIVALENT OF A BAG OF DOG FOOD AND A FOUR YEAR OLD HONEY BOO-BOO. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU IS BASICALLY ACTUAL SORCERY, SO SERIOUSLY, SHUT. UP.

I definitely don't think I'm *any* of those... :deny, deny, deny: but I did I just laugh my size 6 ass off.....

I made some creamy based soups with cauliflower, canned chicken, cheddar cheese, and broccoli and added protein powder and then popped it all in the blender. The blender takes care of the clumping, and it's pretty tasty. I add a little extra cream for fat, but I follow a keto diet. You could omit the cream and still have a nice protein packed, "sippable" soup with less fat. Now that I'm not in pureed foods anymore, I don't blend the entire thing, just the cauli, cream, protein, and cheese, and I just add steamed broccoli and chicken.