njgal

So sorry for your child's hurt. Please seek therapy for the family.
This is going to sound a little odd, but when you relive it over and over in your mind and try to take blame you are just causing that pain to yourself. The original pain has already happened and you cannot change the incident; while it takes healing and dealing with that when you revisit it you yourself are continuing it. I know it is new information and takes time to absorb. Don't give it power by hurting yourself with food, then you become a victim and it wins again.
if you can't do therapy for whatever reason, go to the library and look up books by Byron Katie, one I found useful was 'Loving What Is'. There are others and other authors that help with trauma.
At your desk, bring snack bags of 20 almonds, a couple string cheese, and maybe a greek yogurt. I know you say you don't move around much at work, but I worked a desk job and I know you are allowed breaks - so especially at the break after lunch I insist you take it and you walk for 10 minutes, and don't eat lunch at your desk. You are actually more productive if you take those breaks.
You are already a success with your weight loss. Honor that now by continuing. Good luck.

You didn't really give any specifics of what foods or behaviors were at issue.
Eating fast foods? Soda? Sweets? Grazing all day? Nighttime eating? Not eating vegetables? Pasta, rice, bread? Not drinking Water?
You asked if we struggled and if we changed habits. Yes to both. But change one habit permanently and build from that - I stopped all soda and drank ice tea - no sugar, but used tiny amount of sweetener. Then cut out all fast food, etc.
After surgery the healing time and restriction force a change of habits, but it will not fix your head and will be much harder unless you work on changing ahead of time.
It's good that you are in therapy. I wish you the best on this journey.

It's funny reading something I wrote only a couple months ago, and I would say something a bit different now.
You are right.. the losses preop have little to do with the success/failure of the surgery. I think I was going to say that the losses preop could predict the RATE of loss postop. Oops, my bad.
There is a line of thinking that the surgery will lower our "set points". This is a theory, there is no real way to test it. If our set points are lowered, then our bodies stop constantly trying to regain the weight... thus the losses after surgery tend to be durable.
My original response was basically saying, hey, the surgery moved your set point only so much, now it will be much harder to lose.
I think I've had a new epiphany over the last several weeks. I now think the surgery works because of the caloric restriction it permits. I'm sure there are lots of chemical/hormonal/metabolic changes as well, but those are things that we, as patients, can't control or interact directly with. So there is no point in talking about them in stall/regain posts.
The thing that causes fat loss is consuming fewer calories than we burn. It's easy to eat very few calories for the first 6 months postop. But, then our stomachs relax, we can eat more, and hunger comes back. Calories can increase, weight loss slows, then stops.
And we wonder why we haven't reached goal.
If this is true, then "set point" only means the weight that an individual carries based on their average daily intake (in relation to their metabolic rate).
So, if you want to lose more weight, you have to eat fewer calories. It's as simple as that. The trick is to still feel like you've eaten while minimizing calories. This means eating whole, unprocessed foods that have a lot of bulk and nutrition for relatively few calories.
I think my epiphany came when reading posts from patients that had surgery, then immediately were consuming maintenance-level calories (1500-2000). They didn't lose any weight. If the surgery does something really special, it wouldn't matter how many calories we ate, we'd still lose.
Ok, so with all of that.. those people that are eating very few calories and are stalling early in the process have something else going on. Their bodies are retaining Fluid. I don't know why we retain fluid (there are theories), but we do... and we can hold onto it for a couple weeks, then it'll leave with a "flush", sometimes 5lbs overnight.
The way to tell if you're just hanging onto fluid is if the scale stays the same but your clothes get looser. Also, if you are eating fewer than 1000 calories a day, I can pretty much guarantee it's fluid.
The only way I know to limit these fluid-retaining stalls is to eat more calories and exercise less. The body is less stressed and doesn't retain as much. BUT, you might be setting yourself up for poor overall losses if you do it this way.
Personally, I've eaten an average of 1100 calories since 8 weeks postop (I'm almost 8 months out now), and haven't exercised, and haven't really stalled. But, I also am not losing as quickly as someone that eats 800 calories and goes to the gym. (And since I'm not at goal yet, I can't say whether I'll even get there, or how maintenance will be. I do plan to start exercising for strength and fitness though).

1 mo/25 lb out and someone I hadn’t seen in a while did a double take and couldn’t help commenting. People are usually not that much of a blabber mouth with me at work but this gentleman just couldn’t otherwise. He doesn’t know about the surgery.

11/13/17..Phase change from all liquid to puree. Yuck. Gross. How the hell am I gonna get through this? Puree is just...yuck.
Luckily, I can have scrambled egg beaters, yogurt and smoothies. So gonna start making smoothies with my Ninja bullet and get through this stage.
The good news is I am down another 5.5 pounds and weigh 229.9. Yeah I know- 230..but 229 sounds better. :-)

What a lovely note of recognition!

Thanksgiving represents the extremes of weight loss surgery. You get to experience the joy of family and friends, and some of your favorite foods, but it comes at a high cost to your health and weight loss. You have undoubtedly been overfull at times after your Thanksgiving dinner and may have even felt sick after weight loss surgery.
This year’s holiday offers a chance to redo Thanksgiving and to ace it. You can still have your favorite flavors, but enjoy them a little more responsibly. Here are a few recipe ideas and other tips for a healthy Thanksgiving.


Low-Carb Stuffing
Cut grease by skipping the loads of butter that go in stuffing, and by baking it alongside the turkey instead of in the bird. Slash carbs by skipping bread or rice, and subbing cauliflower or even eggplant. Here’s one idea for low-carb stuffing.
Sautee celery, onions, and turkey sausage in a small amount of oil. Add chopped cauliflower, walnuts, cranberries, poultry seasoning, and sage. Each serving has less than a quarter the carbs and saturated fat of regular bread and sausage stuffing.
You can also use the same base of onions and celery, and try:
Rice stuffing made with riced cauliflower instead of white rice Bread stuffing made with a mixture of low-carb, high-fiber bread and cauliflower Pecan stuffing made with apples and cranberries. Eggplant stuffing made with turnip, thyme, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, and an egg. Squash Casserole
After weight loss surgery, candied sweet potatoes won’t just make you gain weight. They can make you sick. Unless you want to spend the rest of the day in the bathroom, you may be better off with a sub. These ideas can help you cut the carbs in half and avoid added sugars.
Use butternut or acorn squash instead of sweet potatoes. Make it fluffier by whipping the cooked squash with egg whites before cooking. Use almond milk instead of butter for creaminess. Top with crumbled Moon Cheese for a more savory casserole, or cinnamon and crushed Cinnamon vanilla Protein Cereal for a sweeter casserole. Apple Pecan Pie Cup
What’s better than 1 slice of pie? Two slices! Better yet? Getting the flavors of two favorite pies, minus 1,000 calories and 100 grams of carbs. Here’s one way you can get your apple and pecan pie fix.
Chop or peel and spiralize apples. Stew them with cinnamon. Mix in chopped pecans. Serve crustless or over Maple Brown Sugar Protein Oatmeal mixed with a small amount of Water to make it crumbly. More Tips
Turkey is good! Have 3 ounces of skinless dark or white meat for under 150 calories, and 0 carbs. Add 10 calories with some deli mustard for flavor. Help yourself…to vegetables. With 15 calories per cup and a lot of chewing satisfaction, salad can be best if you can tolerate it. Otherwise, roasted vegetables such as green Beans, asparagus (watch the strings!), or turnips work nicely, too. Enjoy the company. The more you talk, the less you eat. Take advantage of conversation with rarely-seen relatives or friends to catch up, and eat less. Even if you are not close to them, they can help distract you from too much food. Protect yourself from leftovers. Send your guests home with a doggie bag so you are not stuck with leftovers. If you are a guest, politely refuse. If all else fails and you are stuck with the leftovers, throw them away if you fear they will make you overeat later. Plan a Friday morning workout. It can keep you motivated and make you remember that you are serious about weight loss. Thanksgiving is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity for you to excel and be proud of yourself. Take some time to make your game plan, and you can get through the meal with some delicious dishes and without an overly full stomach. Happy Thanksgiving!

Alrighty folks! Update time.

I am now 2.5 weeks post op and am slowly learning to listen to my body. I’m experimenting with food but find that variety isn’t that attractive at the moment. I’ll eat something a couple of days in a row if it works.

I plan for the whole 4 ounces at each meal but mostly push it away about halfway through. I also still drink Protein Shakes twice a day.

I’m not feeling hungry, except for when I go way past my designated eating time.

I’ve lost 20 lbs but honestly I only weigh myself for the record, I am more concerned about establishing habits.

I’ve been spotting on and off since I came home and there’s slight bruising on my left side. Both minor inconveniences really.

My knees don’t hurt anymore and I’ve already sent off one bag of clothing.

I always make it a point to reach my goal of 10k steps everyday. That usually involves 40-50 minutes on the treadmill at 2 mph, no incline. I was advised not to do exercise that breaks a sweat just yet but honestly it’s what I feel comfortable with anyway.

No Protein Shake
not enough Water
caffeine
chocolates
god I feel terrible writing this

Hello! I am one week post-op, Lap-Band to RNY, with a surprise hiatal hernia repair as an added bonus.

When I'm anxious, I prepare. So I prepared lists of foods to have during each stage, lists of things to bring with me to the hospital, lists of things to have on hand upon my return. But I also did a lot of reading about others' experiences, and I took care to read messages from the same people right after surgery and then months on. I am SO glad I did. Over and over, I'd read, from the just post-surgical, "What have I done?!" And then weeks or months later, from those same people, "I am so glad I did this." I made a note to myself (a physical note) to expect to feel regret amid the pain and discomfort and to keep in mind that it would almost certainly pass.

There were a couple of days last week where I would have given a limb to rewind to the week before surgery. Those were some VERY challenging times. But one of my comforts and the thing that kept me thinking forward was that note. There isn't anything that's been more valuable than the lived experience of those who've come before. At this point, at the very beginning of this, the knowledge that things will look very different in a few days, a few weeks, and a few months, is the best thing I have.

So, thank you, so much, to those who share their lives. And for those yet to have surgery, I hope you find that bit of knowledge as important and comforting as I did -- and do.

You could do literally any other thing than eat.
You can also eat, just a smaller amount. If anyone gives you grief about it, tell them this is how you Celebrate now.

Tapas place might work as well, easier to blend in... but definitely all of the above. It is for you to make the suggestion and find out what works [emoji4] and congratulations [emoji324][emoji322][emoji898]

I believe it's complicated because there are so many factors genetically, physically, physiologically, and mentally. (We can talk ourselves into and out of things in a nano second.)
As far as rules - don't we all live by rules with everything? Pay your bills on time, go to school by 8:05, get to work by 7:45, no alcohol at work, drive responsibly? If you could apply that logic to eating instead of how it makes you 'feel' there would be less confusion. But then - chemically - food supplies neurotransmitters that signal pleasure to our brains the same as drugs. Some of us are more sensitive to this than others. Okay now add society's ills and mental health issues. Put some viruses and bad gut bacteria and fast food in there and you have the perfect storm.
But back to rules for just a minute. Two of my four children, now adults, are type I diabetics - they have no choice but to follow the rules, if they want to live. Eat on time, eat correctly as possible, test, monitor, exercise, get checkups and hope for the best research. One wears a monitor that constantly tells her phone what her blood sugar levels are as she can go low very quickly, have a convulsion, and die. I have given so many glucagon shots to this child to save her from a coma and death. (Her monitor alerts several family members as well.) And yet she is so grateful to be a mother and to have this technology now, and the laser technology to save her eyesight when diabetic retinopathy builds unneeded blood vessels and she works hard at it every day. So tell me again how hard it is to follow a few healthy rules?
Forget how other people made fun of you as a fat child, or the father that threatened to whip you for not finishing your food, or the anorexic mother that made you ashamed, the b!tchy cheerleader that taunted you, or the girl that wouldn't date you because you were fat, forget the golden arches - LIVE. Live like you have no choice.
This isn't meant to make anyone feel guilty for their choices or situations, but to make you see that the gift of this chance should be celebrated and utilized to its full extent. Honor yourself and what you mean to your family by working hard at this. Figure out what you have to do to achieve this. Don't give food any more due than it deserves.

My husband and I had the same issue for out 25th wedding anniversary this year. Everything seemed to revolve around food. We decided that we would make a date and go and see one of our favourite artists who is playing at a venue we can all go to. If others want to eat they can but we will be in where the music is. It's a bit of a waste of money for me to eat out. I'm only 11 weeks post bypass so I can't eat much and I'm still trying out what works for me. If it has to be food I would pick tapas or dim sum or something you can just have small things.

Sent from my CPH1607 using BariatricPal mobile app

Pretty sure the "eff it, I'm not gonna live with rules" is what most of us did prior to gaining the weight that landed us in the surgical suite.
The world we lived in during our development as a species... it's not the world we live in today. Our biological programming has no idea what to do with all the readily-available foodstuffs that are concurrently devoid of nutrition.
food. Taste good. Eat. Need nutrients. Eat more. Need nutrients. Eat more. Need nutrients. Eat more.
If the problem was with us, individually, it wouldn't affect 70% of Americans. It's a society-wide problem. So, what to do?
We each have to figure out a system that works for us that will nourish our bodies while allowing us to maintain our desired weight. In other words, to become healthy amidst a sea of junk food.
Bella, you feel eating doughnuts in line ..... (for real?) ..... is the answer. Hey, we each have our own row to hoe, and I wish you well on your journey.
Sleeve or no sleeve, I could easily polish off a dozen doughnuts in fairly short order if I let myself go there. Sugar is basically toxic to me. At least when I used to eat it, my brain would take a nice little vacation...

Sure feels like it but yes, 10/10 but all good. So far it’s been worth the wait!

Yeah.. that's how I would roll, except the kids have learned that if they refuse my dinner that they can go wake up their grandmother, drag her out of bed, and that she would make them something else.
Sigh...
I figure when they grow up they'll figure it out or not.. won't be my problem anymore. (Half of those food refusals are from the inlaws themselves...)
No wonder I packed up and went to Mexico to get chopped on.. (lucky I chose Dr. Illan and was actually well taken care of and got a refreshing vacation out of it... but the unending frustration helped me make the decision)...

Thank you!

Check under the personal journey forum; there are tons. Start with mine if you like there’s tons of reading you can do on this board, it’s really very helpful and always feel free to ask questions!

I’m thinking of getting gastric sleeve. Can anyone tell me from start to finish how long the process takes (especially with insurance approval). Thanks to all! [emoji4]

Yes, just recently. Already have an appointment in, just doing some research.

Thanks!

I had a small hemorrhage, which they said was normal, and did the procedure. Everyone was so kind and it went well. I’m feeling relieved this is over and now I can focus on my up coming surgery. Thank all you ladies for your support

This is crazy weight loss already when you think about how many calories a body must burn to incinerate 1 kg of body fat.

Totally fine to eat this stuff. Some people tend to throw out the baby with the bathwater when it comes to carbs. They're so afraid of eating "carbs" that they miss out the nutritional benefits of fruits, legumes, starchy vegetables and grains just like other people are so afraid of "fats" that they miss out the benefits of nuts and seeds.

Doesn't have that amount of Protein as well.
Protein Cookies or brownies are very filling. I used to eat them in the beginning (got tired of them after a few weeks though).
I don't buy into this "might as well eat"-mentality. Black and white. With protein cookies or brownies you eat only one - and that's it. With regular cookies... well, I suppose there might be room for a few others after the first?
I also don't get the hype about Quest bars. They taste like pure artificial sweetener to me. *YUCK*

A friend recommended it to me.