SassyScienceNerd

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.

1 hour ago, Polymorphing said:

LOL, it's crazy how our stats are A MATCH! We even have the same goal weight! I hope to be as successful as you are, in 10 months! I'm one of those "pretty face" fatties, and it always angered me how people told me I didn't *need* to lose weight as if having the full package was somehow not permitted.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

All the tops I was trying on looked weird on me and I was feeling discouraged (I hate shopping). I tried on a cute one I really liked on the hanger and thought it was boxy on me and a little slouchy in the waist. I complained to my friend, who took a look at me and said "Well duh, it's way too big." Turns out I am in a size small now and I had no idea. The small fit me perfectly and I am kind of excited to shop now!

Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Vomit on my sweater already, mom's spaghetti.... no wait, that's something else.

But #ForRealTho I get uncomfortably full to where I feel like it's right at the base of my throat. My heart pounds, I get sweaty and shaky, and I want to move around to get it to digest faster, but I can't without feeling like I'm going to vomit, so I just need to lay back and rest until the overfull feeling passes. I'm very careful, but it happens occasionally when I'm paying attention to something besides what I'm eating.

I am a secret sleever, I only told a few friends and my doctors (one of whom is a very good friend of mine). I won't get into all my reasons why, but I just decided to keep it to myself.

I always knew that when I started dating, I would have to decide when I was serious enough about someone to tell them. It's been 9 months and a lot of bad dates, but I met someone in October and he is incredible. I knew right away he was a keeper, and I pretty much dreaded the "so I've got this thing to tell you" conversation. I don't know if I just thought he would be scared off by the idea of meals always revolving around my restrictions, or that he would think I was a lazy failed dieter who took the easy way out, or if he'd see me as someone who was sick or something. But I finally told him the reason I only have a side of veggies or a cup of Soup or a few bites of my dinner when we go out is that I had most of my stomach removed. And of course, he was relieved. He said he noticed me eating like a bird and worried I might have an eating disorder, because he knew I used to be much heavier a year ago and now I'm not. I explained everything to him and that I really don't have much in the way of things I can't eat except bread and drinking milk which both give me tummy issues, so I avoid bread and I've switched to almond milk in my coffee. But other than that, nothing really is different except the amount of food I can eat. He was very accepting. When we eat out together, he confers with me on his order so we can just split his meal. He gets the veggies instead of fries on the side. He's just been lovely. And the first time I stayed over at his house, I tip-toed downstairs in the morning to find that he had bought some almond milk for me to have in my coffee.

I'm so glad I told him and I feel so silly for worrying over what he would think. This was a big step and the first "new" person I've told besides my initial support group of close friends. It was a big deal and I'm very glad it's behind me!