Pondlife

You should embrace that mirror! You look great!

Number 14, ask for help ....
I finally started using this one. It was so hard for me to actually ask for help, yet I was always there whenever anyone else needed help.
I finally realised that I too need and deserve help, at times....
Thank you @@Inner Surfer Girl,
Great reading xxx

You should embrace that mirror! You look great!

Don't be afraid I had a doctor once tell me; "you have more of A probability of dieing in a car accident then you do in a surgery." I do believe him to an extent. I still think about that till this day. You will be fine this is why they check everything before u go into surgery.
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Oh, another one I love is Drea vsg. She is very inspirational.

I think that it might not be obvious to people reading this thread that it's in the "Rants and Raves" section. I know sometimes on my phone I don't see what section the thread is from.

I don't mind the redundant questions as much as I mind the questions of those who are simply looking for validation for bad behavior. While I wish people would use the search bar more, I'd be really happy if people used their heads more.
And then when they get mad because someone tells them something they don't want to hear? It's amazing. That's all I can call it. Amazing.

It's interesting how easy it is to identify the people that are likely to be the WLS cautionary tale of the person who only lost 40 pounds after surgery and then regained it plus 20 more six months later, and say WLS "didn't work for me."
Wash that fried chicken down with some Coke, and then when your stomach has a little room, have a cookie. You got this.

I'm just catching this thread and I'm going to say something right here. I abhor the use of the word "slutty" when referring to a woman's appearance (or behavior). The fact that other females "liked" this post is seriously appalling. A woman has every right to wear what she wants without being subjected to such a horrible characterization. The words sl*t and wh0re are as degrading as the "c" word and shame on anyone who supports the use of them.

In my opinion, I can't resent anyone or anything when I'm the one that is abnormal and needs to be corrected. The world is not designed for the obese. I can't rage against the size of the seats in an airplane or in an arena, because they aren't made for me. They're made for the "normal" person. Obviously with obesity becoming an epidemic in the US, the definition of "normal" is kind of changing...but I don't think that's really a healthy or good thing.
I cannot expect other people to modify their behavior to suit me, when it's ME that needs to modify his behavior. So I will do what I need to do in order to achieve my weight loss goals, and I won't expect anyone else to cater to me. I can control myself...especially now that I'm post-surgery and I have no real choice in the matter, and I'm not dominated by hunger.
The diet you're on now pales in comparison to the two week, all-liquid pre-op diet most of us went through (some went even three weeks on it). Nothing but liquid or semi-liquid (sugar-free)...it's brutal, because you still have the hunger. Just soldier through it, because once you've had the surgery, none of it will matter anymore. You won't have hunger (only head hunger, which you can deal with) and you'll have to start focusing on re-training your brain to accommodate the new stomach. Nobody can really do any of that for you, it's all going to be on you. You're responsible for yourself, don't expect anyone else to change.

Look, we live in a non bariatric friendly world. There's parties, holidays, events, restaurants around every corner, work functions, movies, graduations....everything seems to revolve around food. We can't expect the world to stop because we had the surgery, because it certainly won't. We have to commit to making the changes ourselves and adapting to the world around us.
Sure, the pre op diet is hard, then first few weeks after surgery when you are on liquids or soft food and feel more like a patient than a normal person. But in the grand scheme of things, it's such a short amount of time. Once you're eating 'normal' food again, there should be nothing stopping you from going out to breakfast and doing all those things mentioned above. You just have to learn to make the right choices when you do. You certainly could have gone with them and had some eggs and even a peice of bacon or two. That's what I have when I go to breakfast all the time! I've NEVER missed an opportunity to go out and have a good time just because I had WLS. Now I just focus more on the company and not the food, and my life is so much better for it.
In the end, it's on us to make the changes needed to succeed, not anyone else. I've adapted, you will too.

Having spent time in Korea myself I will say that it doesn't surprise me one bit that surgeons are willing to perform the sleeve on very low BMI patients.
The most appearance obsessed place I have ever been.
Not an unexciting thread at all by the way, carry on.

I'm 37 and when I think about all of the life I missed because of my weight it makes me wish I could have done this at your age.

Hello all. Thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Mary, I live in Wisconsin, run a dairy farm with my hubby and we have two grown children and two grandbabies. I had been a large gal my whole life, no doubt in part due to the fact that beer, brats and cheese are staples in any good Wisconsinite's diet . After climbing to a BMI of 50 and feeling quite useless due to my physical limitations, I finally decided to have WLS in 2010. I ended up going to Mexico since my insurance company would only pay for bypass or Lapband because they considered VSG experimental. Fortunately, my daughter is a gastroenterologist and she used her connections to hand pick me a surgeon who was renown in the international bariatric community.
My recovery and overall weight-loss journey was fairly easy and uneventful. Even though I had surgery in Mexico, I still attended local WLS support groups throughout the entire process. It was nice just to be around people going through the same thing. Over the years I saw dozens (probably hundreds) of patients come and go. Very few veterans stuck around. But for some reason I felt a certain level of responsibility to help those coming behind me. In addition to the group meetings, I saw a therapist on a regular basis for the first couple years. That, by far, has been the secret to my success.
About 6 months ago I quit attending the support group meetings. A new coordinator came on board and we didn't exactly see eye to eye on a number of things. Basically she felt threatened by my vast knowledge and experience and I thought she was a stupid twit (at least that's my take on it ). So I decided to leave "real" people behind and enter the world of cyber support. I've been lurking for quite awhile and finally decided to join up.
From what I've observed so far, the problems and issues I read about online are not dissimilar to what I heard in the support group. The biggest difference is there are a LOT more whiners and non-compliant patients online. Maybe being anonymous just makes folks more comfortable with complaining. Maybe the online patients left their support groups to seek justification for their bad behaviors from strangers (cause we never coddled them in our group sessions!) Or maybe they are trying their best but their programs did not properly prepare them or they don't have local support groups. Unfortunately the naivety of some of the people giving advice on here is a little scary to say the least. And then there are the delusional individuals like that organic milk chic. No one like that would ever pass the psych evaluation in a real bariatric program so I've missed out on that type of sparkling personality in group session. Of course I may have been a little biased by her username.....my husband always jokes, "we prefer our milk with a healthy dose of antibiotics".
Anyways, just tonight I realized my 6 year surgiversary was 2 days ago and I missed it. Oops. I guess that's a good thing, though.....means my new skinny life is so normal I forgot about my surgery! Either that or I'm just old and senile. In either case it's been fun and I hope I can continue to encourage people to take full advantage of their new lease on life after WLS.

I bet one of those yeti type cups would work. The Walmart brand is about $7 for the small one.

I have not taken the time to share my story, as a matter of fact I have still not changed my Facebook pictures, or the ones of me at work. food. I believe I had an actual addiction to food, the same as an addict, I didn't see it as an issue... But now I realize that I had a problem.
I eat to live now, instead of living to eat. The surgery helped by taking away the cravings, but I worry that if I reintroduce things like breads, fried foods, and other crap, I will develop the addiction again, just as if an alcoholic was to just have " 1 drink". It is a disease, with horrible side effects including low self confidence, depression, and humiliation.
I have made it my mission to find healthy foods, and replace all of my old favs, with healthy... And what I call, feel good foods. An FG food is one that I can eat comfortably, and they just basically feel good. for me, my list of items that I probably have a little of everyday would include... Chobani Flips. (190-210 cal, 12 gram protein)... These are my go to, if I haven't eaten in a while and am hungry, I can put this down a bit faster, and the size is pretty perfect for a meal. Love them all! Pickles- (0-5 cals) I love the spicy pickles, but I can eat them all. Pickles have become a regular snack in my life. Spears, slices, whatever, they all rock! Soup, soup, and more soup!!! My souls have been a huge part of my success. I make a huge crock of soup and it lasts me weeks. You can freeze some, but always have some in the fridge ready to microwave. I make a few varieties, but the basis is always the same. chicken broth base, cut with Water. Chicken or Cod fish, yep... I said fish! My family hates the smell of my "fish soup" but I loved it! However if you are not a big fish can just go with chicken. Vegetables- carrots, onions, mushrooms, kale, spinach, and even Brussels sprouts... Whatever you like and then I would spice it up with Cayenne and red pepper flakes, I even used Sriracha at times. This soup has been a staple for me since the 3rd month post, and I still make a lot here and there now. It was just great for me to grab a coffee cup, fill it, microwave it, and enjoy it.
I pushed myself to walk, and then I started "1 TED" lol. That means 1 thing every day. If it was parking in the back of the parking lot when at a store, or walking down the street and back when going to pick up the mail, I would just push to do 1 thing, which then would keep except use in the front of my mind.
Get an Apple Watch or Fitbit, make goals and hit them! What I learned is that we are capable of so much! When you are used to walking around with an additional 100 plus, your body has been working out for a long time. Now when the weight is gone, you still have that strong frame. Put it to work! I made some new friends that are athletic, I try and play Pickleball ( the game kicks ass, combo of tennis, volleyball, & ping pong) instead of cardio... I want to transition to a healthy lifestyle, not a 30 minute gym session that I won't be looking forward to.
Think of your weight loss as a super power, but only if you stick to the guidelines. This works for me, and I believe it to be a super power... Let me explain.
Since the weight loss, the world has been easier for me. I can go to an amusement park and get on the rides. I can fly on a plane and not need an extension. I can walk into a crowded bar and not start sweating my ass off! I can buy clothes at a normal store, and with actual brand names on them. I can tie my damn shoes, and without holding my breathe! I can sit in any chair, and not just the ones without sides... I can even sit in the plastic ones.
Woman treat me so differently! I am no longer just the funny guy... Even though I haven't changed! Life has just become much easier, much better, and much healthier, and I never want to go back, so I will continue to treat it as an addiction and will not look to be able to re introduce "everything" back into my eating habits, but instead I will work to find better foods. The nice thing about eating less, is that you can afford to buy smaller portions allowing for better quality foods. Take advantage of that! I always have almonds in the house, and I love veggie chips, especially the jalepeno, but now I grab a handful and walk away... If I want another handful, I will go get it at 30 cals, per handful, but I am going to force myself to get up and walk to the kitchen to get a handful
I feel so lucky to have had this surgery, and if I can help you in anyway let me know! I hope you have found this helpful, I know that writing it has helped me... So thanks!
 


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first thing that comes to mind is that I do not have to choose 1 activity on my days off -
in otherwords, if I go hiking I will not be able to get my chores done - or if I work in the garden I can not go hiking due to fatigue, body pain, etc.
now it is no problem to do multiple things a day - or to do household chores when I return home freeing up more weekend time for leisure activities.
secondly the fact that I do not have to worry if I eat this or eat that (Fruit is the main choice in this category) will my blood sugar go high - what will my A1c be - is my Metformin controlling it? is it worth taking the Metformin (side effects) - no worries because I am no longer considered a diabetic, no longer on any prescription medications. this is also a huge, freeing truth.

Freed me from being self-conscious. Nobody wants to walk in every room, at every party, every meeting being the "fat guy" or the most heavy.

Try not to fret about exact numbers. Staying calm and focused will help. I am not getting enough Protein yet either. I also had a prolonged period of "starvation" mode.
Trying tiny amounts of all sorts of foods can help boost your Protein input. And might help with the hypos.
Once your liquid diet is finished, and if your team allows it, concentrate on just nibbling things that your sleeve likes.
I could tolerate some broth so continuously had the slow cooker on with beef and bones in it. I then slowly started adding tiny amounts of lentils. I also put carrots in as I can tolerate them.
I always have some of that broth handy. It has both good protein and carbs in. Even if I can only drink the broth throughout the day, my body is getting nutrition.
I also nibble on anything that might help boost my protein. Crackers with slivers of hard cheese, cheese crackers with cottage cheese, tiny apple (no skin) slivers dipped in Peanut Butter.
Crispy (which turns mushy) textures seem to be tolerated by my sleeve.
But as ill (with c diff) as I am, I still push my body to try different Proteins often.
Even minute amounts of different foods will add up over 24 hours.
I also found that I was in the routine of not eating anything from 6 pm to 9 am pre op, quite normal especially as I have reflux issues.
But post op, it was so easy to become both dehydrated because of that routine and that I was going too long without anything going in on top of only a 300 calorie daily intake.
So now I make sure that I have something as soon as I wake up (I keep Lucozade beside my bed just in case) and that I have something just before I go to sleep.
I hope that helps.
Hang in there. I do really understand how you are feeling.
Stay calm, breathe, drink Water, nibble, sip broth. Even Bone Broth has protein in it. Push your food boundaries every day. Protein can come from a myriad of sources, think outside the box.
It is now your sleeve, we don't all fit inside the regular sleeve "box" so explore (with caution), what works for you.
If a food offends your sleeve this week, it's okay. You can try it again later. I keep trying with egg because I know it is valuable in protein. Egg drop Soup will work for me but I know that I must push my texture boundaries so I try deviled eggs.
I really hate the waste so am learning to only prepare minute quantities where possible.
You will be okay.
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I'm not real good at looking away if you haven't noticed. Why? Because there are SO MANY LURKERS in this forum who are reading, reading, reading and if no one speaks up, they are absorbing bad advice and patronizing warm fuzzy validations.
Am I wasting my time? Absolutely. Am I ever going to win any popularity contests for having strong opinions and a big mouth? Probably not. (And I really don't care. I have real life friends who live outside my computer.) Did I get my fair share of finger shakes', eye rolls and kicks in the pants as I went through this process? YUP. Did I learn from those "meanies"? Without a doubt (and DANG I miss them!!) Was I always happy about it? NO FREAKING WAY. But I listened and ultimately, I earned back my health and a MUCH smaller number on the scale.
Giving myself permission to eat what I wanted against the advice of WWs and Jenny Craig and Atkins and South Beach and my doctor got me to 264 pounds. Clearly I **didn't** know my body best and caving to the head hunger and cravings did some permanent damage to my body that can never be undone.
So if even one person can be reached and jolted back into their new reality of WLS, FABULOUS. That's why I waste my time.

I have to confess I did something similar with no ill effects. I bought what I was required to buy and threw a lot of it away and used products I could actually stomach. I was very careful to count up what I would have ingested: calories, carbs, sugar, and Protein -- and made my numbers as close to identical as possible.
The only magic Bariatric Advantage has is to extract money from your wallet and place it in your bariatric team's pocket. I'm usually all about strictly following the orders you get from your team, but I pull way back from that when they have a direct financial interest in a product they are selling you.

I use a lot of weight watcher recipes, they include the serving size and all the nutritional facts in the recipes and really 95% of the recipes are really good. Some sites I use are www.skinnytaste.com and www.emilybites.com I also recently picked up a Weight watcher slow cooker magazine and many of those recipes have been great!
You really have to make food you WANT to eat so you don't feel deprived or punished for eating healthy. Healthy food can be delicious, it's a lot of trial and error. After surgery you may not be able to tolerate certain foods. My NUT advised to just try things! If it goes down good then great but if it doesn't sit well, don't eat it for a few weeks. She said a few weeks later you may be able to tolerate it.
It will be really important to measure, weigh, and track everything. Not only your food and calories but also your shakes, Water, or other fluids. I have a REALLY hard time getting to my Protein, Fluid, and calorie goals. I am almost 4 months out (sleeved 5/27) and it's a real struggle for me. I have had a bunch of complications though that threw my intake way off kilter (I wasn't able to eat or drink for over a month). I am only recently able to start to eat and drink again, it's a lot to learn and you have to listen to your stomach and work up to the higher intake. Don't push yourself.
I hope this helps at all. Good luck!
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In order for the stomach to work efficiently you need to let the stomach work on the food only. Fluids -I assume you mean water- will Water down the stomach acid and not allow it to break down your food correctly. One doctor told me he has never served drinks with his meals. He was slim and trim and said the stomach works effectively without added fluids.
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Us n00bs are just gonna take way more than we can give up until we aren't newbies anymore. I could definitely see how that could be frustrating- especially when you're getting piled on for sharing your knowledge.
Not to sound like #1 creeper but just know that plenty of us are spending a lot of time reading through your old posts, soaking up knowledge, taking notes, trying to succeed. That goes to all of you vets, but especially you @@Kindle I really get a lot from your posts.

@Outsidemachine Thanks for the reminder about bananas and the list of other lesser carb foods to choose from. Theres no debate about whats a healthier choice I think the statement "They basically have the same macros as 3 oreo Cookies. Almost no Fiber, lots of sugar and just pure carbs." may have been read by some as THEY'RE NO BETTER THAN AN OREO and I don't think that was the point. It was an informative post for those who happen to be following a lower carb diet. I think we all have been down the banana ave. once or twice as I'm willing to bet 99% of us were chronic yo-yo dieters prior to WLS and the whole deal about bananas usually comes up at some point.
Many are on their journey and hit stalls. They may wonder how to break it as @innersurfergirl always reminds us that stalls are a normal part of the weight loss process. Banana's could very well be a culprit if you have them regularly. No one is saying never eat them. I have the equivalent of 1 banana per 7 days in various forms 1/4 banana cut up in a chia bowl, 1/4 tossed in a smoothie, or a portion of a banana as pre or post workout snack.< /p>
The moral of this story-- Bananas are good. They are a complex carb that can be a great source of Fiber and potassium and help sweeten our foods (oatmeal, Cereal, smoothies) naturally which may help curb a sweet tooth. Like anything else enjoy in moderation. Those of you knocking back bananas and still seeing weight loss-- HAVE at IT! Those of you hitting stalls-- fill in the blank.