Little Green

Yep I hear ya hon. I kept asking in recovery, "Hey, I thought I was supposed to have a bunch of gas bloating and pain in my shoulders and stuff." LOL. They told me that the doctor evacuated as much of the gas as they could out of my abdomen. It was flat and soft and pliable! I was amazed! And had zero gas pain or bloating!
It truly was the easiest of all my surgeries and definitely easier than any of the cancer or reconstruction surgeries! Def easier than my hysterectomy too.
I didn't even suck on energy. It's been sickeningly WONDERFUL and easy. I just don't get it really. All that angst for nothin!

New surgery date... May 17

I'M ADDING EVERYONE WHO MADE FUN OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO MY BLOCK LIST IMMEDIATELY.

@Newme17 those Mary's crackers are SO DARN GOOD. I couldn't believe the first 3 ingredients were rice, flaxseeds, and quinoa! It really goes to show how delicious herbs can make things! And I love how crunchy they are.

New surgery date... May 17

New surgery date... May 17

I've watched every single episode of My 600 pound life at least a half a dozen times.
I put them on in the background when I'm on my elliptical, or walking laps around the house, or just generally trying to be active. They keep me moving.
I love that Dr. Now is extremely compassionate, but also really honest. I love that he gives people multiple chances, but also doesn't accept manipulation and excuses.
Have seen some fascinating people try...and it's pretty hard to play him. He's a smart cookie. I get extreme satisfaction from him telling it like it is, and letting people know he sees through their crazy behaviors. I like that he keeps people accountable. He seems to genuinely care.
He's like my adorable little imaginary weight-loss fairy god father. I think of him saying..."Creekimp, how is your eating habit?" when I'm struggling. Or..."You did well, I'm proud of you!" when the scale moves and I hit my next mini-goal.
I know this post sounds totally goofy...and it is. This is a ridiculous post. A REALLY ridiculous post.
But it's true...I just love Dr. Now. He inspires me.
Think about dedicating your life's work...to helping folks who are so heavy other clinics won't work with them. It takes an amazing person to dedicate their lives to helping a population that other doctors are afraid to work with.
I dunno. I just wanted to sing his praises a minute and admit my goofy secret.... One of my support people...whose no-nonsense approach helps motivate me every single day....is this reality TV doc who doesn't know I exist. LOL.
Thank you Dr. Now. You're wonderful:)

You know this is like beating a dead horse. Pretty soon someone's getting cited for abuse of a corpse

Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

Not sure it's good to fantasize about our favorite unhealthy foods while we're trying to focus on changing our diets! LOL

I'm sorry you're dealing with the nut allergy! That's sooo frustrating. Definitely glad to hear that your NUT is open to a plant-based diet!
For whole food concentrated Protein, like you said, Beans are definitely the way to go. You can eat hummus or refried beans as well, they are a bit smoother/less filling so you might be able to eat more that way. Another good option is soy, particular soy milk. Make a smoothie with soy milk or add it to your oatmeal and that's 8-12g of protein just from the milk depending on how much you use. (Most other plant milks are low in protein.)
In terms of non-concentrated protein, you can get it from literally any whole food. Whole grain Pasta has a pretty good amount, about 4 grams in half a serving (1 oz dry). Most plant foods will have 1-3g in a serving and throughout the day that adds up.
For plant-based protein that's more processed, like a supplemental protein (which you will definitely need this early post-op) there are some really tasty protein bars I've found called Nugo which are vegan and made from soy protein. I believe many of the flavors do not contain nuts, but you'd have to check to be sure. You can buy them on Amazon or in the Protein Bar aisle at Whole Foods. (And maybe other places!) You can also look for protein powders made from pea protein, brown rice protein, etc. as well. Orgain is one common brand. I just found some ready-made vegan shakes (like premier protein) at Target that I believe are Evolve brand, but I haven't tried them yet. Hopefully they taste all right!
Probiotics... well that's a whole other discussion LOL (basically if you're not eating animal products you likely don't have a big need for probiotics as the plants help your gut bacteria stay happy on their own) but to answer your direct question, there are some fermented plant options! Sauerkraut if you like it, and kombucha tea are two good places to start. You can also make yogurt and kefir from soy milk, although I haven't done it myself (yet!) so I can't give you specific guidance.
Good luck!!

No, I don't. And I'm not the OP, so I'm not sure why you issued this sarcastic response. Editing is only allowed during a brief window, maybe 10-20 minutes after the post. So I legitimately don't understand why the fact that the posts are edited is worth a critical comment.

Hmm? I'm not sure I understand this criticism.

Thanks to each of you for warming my heart and making me feel your love and support!!! ((hugs))
Surgery went so smoothly. The hardest thing was the anesthesiologist trying to get a vein with the iv catheter. They stuck me like 13 times! NO kidding! But the nurse anesthetist was giving me laughing gas and anesthesia by then and we were talking and laughing and telling jokes while he was suffering trying to find a vein! Luckily the iv in my finger held until they took it out today!
I am sipping/walking/having Clear Liquids today and tomorrow--then on to full liquids and Protein drinks. I just weighed (at night) lol, and I'm up 5 lbs from anesthesia but that's fine. I will lose it. Also I appear to be full of sh*t! The surgeon said my colon had a ton of stool that I need to get cleaned out! Sorry for TMI! But apparently pooting and pooping are big things to them! I finally pooted tonight! HA!
The real challenge is limiting myself to 4oz per hour! I'm able to drink very easily. I have very little pain and am controlling it now with tramadol and gabapentin. I'm doing so well! Walking, sipping, visiting, napping in my recliner and watching movies!
Thank you to all for your prayers and support! I love each of you. I can't believe I finally had the surgery and it's over! I will tell you, that my desire/cravings for food right now are non-existent. And it really doesn't bother me to be on clear liquids. Also, the surgeon said it went so well. I had some adhesions that she removed and that my liver was pink and beautiful and that it was a very easy surgery! Yeeeehawwww! I'm on the losers' bench with ya now!!!

((hugs))

Hope you're doing well, Fluffy.

I knowwww, I feel like we got in WAY too early and now we have to sit and wait for the general public release lol. But, they just posted a new teaser trailer on their facebook!

Thank you peoples! Just wanted to give a brief update. My husband went back to work today, yay! It ended up being very easy once we got our hands on the medical records, so all the worrying was for naught. Thankful for health insurance
I've decided to postpone my surgery. I was honestly thinking about canceling the whole damn thing, which is why I took some time to think about it before being rash, lol. I feel like I was a sprinter and I had trained for weeks... and I was on the starting block, whole body tense and waiting for the gun, and instead they were like................. just kidding go sit on the bench for two weeks and come back. I needed more time than that to process things. So it'll be May some time, waiting on a call for the date.
I regained some weight after I stopped the liquid diet so right now my goal is to lose 30-35 pounds between now and May. Then if I lose 15-20 on the liquid diet, I'll be under 300 for my surgery.

Ok I have one what color should my poop be once it stops exploding? This horrible dark dark green shade is scaring the **** out of my[emoji13]





Pre op diet 188
Surgery day 180
Cw 172.8

I'M ADDING EVERYONE WHO MADE FUN OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO MY BLOCK LIST IMMEDIATELY.

MY world revolves around you.

No, you're definitely not! As you have gained weight your body chemistry has changed and many factors are in play in your body that are designed to keep you overweight. It's crazy how different our bodies are, metabolically, compared to normal weight individuals. The surgery resets us metabolically. (Some studies have shown improved metabolic markers after surgery even for people who don't lose very much weight!) And the junk food we all eat (ate!) was literally engineered using top-secret additives and ingredients to increase pleasure, influence your neural pathways, and keep your hand moving to your mouth. Get angry at the food industry and use that anger to rebel against it by eating whole, nutritious foods instead. Surgery will make that much easier.
I use the analogy of climbing a mountain. When we're obese it's like we are climbing it with a gigantic boulder on our backs, weighing us down and preventing us from going very far. Some tiny subset of people are so strong they are able to make it to the top, but most of us never will. Surgery takes the boulder off. We still have to do the climb ourselves - there's no chair lift to the top - but it gives us the opportunity to actually be successful.
Here's a wonderful video from Dr. Matthew Weiner about deciding to have WLS:

see this is a perfect illustration of the problem with the viral, social-media inspired, fad-like popularity of the ketogenic diet..... it is vastly misunderstood and not followed properly.
in order to achieve nutritional ketosis (based on blood ketones, not urine sticks. get yourself a blood ketone meter and prick yourself at least twice a day, or don't bother with the diet), the average person needs to consume upwards of 80% fat. you must "go crazy with the fat" to use your terminology. like, snack on spoonfuls of coconut oil crazy. which is extremely unpalatable and unsustainable. hence ONE of the problems with the regimen. too often, people use it as an excuse to also eat high amounts of Protein, thinking it has no effect on blood sugar. incorrect. thru a process called gluconeogenesis, protein can be broken down and used as a source of glucose. thus kicking you out of ketosis.

add in the stress on the HPT feedback loop and adrenal fatigue. keep that up for a while and your thyroid WILL give. but that's if you get thru the persistent dry eyes and sleep issues that usually set in around week 3 of any properly executed ketogenic diet.
and then, you'll just have to follow this extreme, 80% fat diet for the rest of your life. because the moment you get off of it, your set point will ricochet the scale back to where you were before, probably with "some interest".
the real kicker? the human body does not need to be in full blown, >2.5mmol/L nutritional ketosis in order to lose weight. so you're doing all this for no GD reason.
but don't let me stop you with research and experience. because it's, like, reeeeeallly popular on reddit and stuff... and omg my sister lost SO much weight on it!!! LOVE!

please, for the love of god, do not start the g*dd*amn keto diet...

there is the possibility that genetically this is your new set point. you haven't "failed" and there is nothing wrong with you.

and your challenge now is to accept that fact, Celebrate the progress you have made, and commit to eating and living healthy in the future.

our healthcare system is so f'd.
if i went thru insurance, it would have taken 6-12 months. so i decided to pay cash. from my first intro appt with the doctor to surgery day was 3.5 weeks.
keep your head up Little Green. this too shall pass...

I'm sorry you're dealing with the nut allergy! That's sooo frustrating. Definitely glad to hear that your NUT is open to a plant-based diet!
For whole food concentrated Protein, like you said, Beans are definitely the way to go. You can eat hummus or refried beans as well, they are a bit smoother/less filling so you might be able to eat more that way. Another good option is soy, particular soy milk. Make a smoothie with soy milk or add it to your oatmeal and that's 8-12g of protein just from the milk depending on how much you use. (Most other plant milks are low in protein.)
In terms of non-concentrated protein, you can get it from literally any whole food. Whole grain Pasta has a pretty good amount, about 4 grams in half a serving (1 oz dry). Most plant foods will have 1-3g in a serving and throughout the day that adds up.
For plant-based protein that's more processed, like a supplemental protein (which you will definitely need this early post-op) there are some really tasty protein bars I've found called Nugo which are vegan and made from soy protein. I believe many of the flavors do not contain nuts, but you'd have to check to be sure. You can buy them on Amazon or in the Protein Bar aisle at Whole Foods. (And maybe other places!) You can also look for protein powders made from pea protein, brown rice protein, etc. as well. Orgain is one common brand. I just found some ready-made vegan shakes (like premier protein) at Target that I believe are Evolve brand, but I haven't tried them yet. Hopefully they taste all right!
Probiotics... well that's a whole other discussion LOL (basically if you're not eating animal products you likely don't have a big need for probiotics as the plants help your gut bacteria stay happy on their own) but to answer your direct question, there are some fermented plant options! Sauerkraut if you like it, and kombucha tea are two good places to start. You can also make yogurt and kefir from soy milk, although I haven't done it myself (yet!) so I can't give you specific guidance.
Good luck!!

I'M ADDING EVERYONE WHO MADE FUN OF COUNTRY MUSIC TO MY BLOCK LIST IMMEDIATELY.