GotProlactinoma

Don’t forget the gut bugs and feeding them. Make sure you are taking Probiotics (some commercial ones are worthless so vary which ones you take) and eating some resistant starch to feed them. They are an important part of digestion and doctors forget to mention them.

One soil based probiotic that saved me once when I had chronic d, is called Prescript Assist. Amazon has it. I take it daily since surgery too, just to make sure, because I can’t eat as much. If you can’t take pills, there are kids probiotics in powder form. And you can eat raw fermented veggies (find at Whole Foods etc). Of course there is yogurt, always good to eat high Protein plain full fat Greek style.

Resistant starch is found in lots of foods, but since we can’t eat much, best to choose one of the root veggies that has a high population. Potatoes both white and sweet. Highest resistant starch is after they’ve been cooked and cooled. Like potato salad. Or bake a bunch of potatoes and keep them in the fridge, add a part of one to each meal (feel free to warm it up for your meal, that doesn’t ale away the resistant starch content to be reheated). If you are too close out from surgery, there is another way. Use a powdered resistant starch like potato starch or inulin (NOT INSULIN, inulin comes from artichokes and tastes a bit sweet). Put a teaspoon in your smoothie or Protein Drink. Work up to a tablespoon.

Our gut bacteria population takes so much care of us - from our immune system to our moods to our digestion. It is a shame not to take care of them even if we’ve had WLS. They are still in there and we do need to keep the good ones happy. If you can even get 1 tablespoon of cheap and tasteless potato starch into one of your Protein Drinks today, tomorrow you will feel much better on the potty.

You look great! Congrats on reaching your goal and getting to this point. I can’t believe it myself (that I am almost here). That’s good you don’t have a tiny baby, and your big kids can help. I am single so I am concerned I might need to hire a nurse / mama’s helper to come in for a few days. I might jut start with boobs alone.

I have also been told I can go ahead. I’m 6 lbs from goal weight and I will be there by July. I’m over 50 so there s really no reason to wait. My diet is pretty permanent, I eat super healthy and low carb. So I don’t see me “ruining” the plastics by suddenly turning to junk food I haven’t eaten in years. Life is short, hon.

By the way, I wasn’t sure which person in any of the pics was you, nor does it matter. If the surgeon is fine with your doing plastics now, and you are, then go for it. However, if that is your newborn, I could see you choosing to do it sooner rather than later, because you won’t be able to pick her up and stuff for a while, and frankly, when babies are younger, they can handle a substitute better than later sometimes... just another reason to proceed and be in great shape after when she is crawling or mobile.

You look FANTASTIC! WOW. I’m sorry about all the pain but it sure looks like this will be so worth it, what a great body you now have, to show off all that weight loss.

Ms V, that is awesome, so glad you are getting everything done you wanted. You were a brave woman to get the two most painful ones right off the bat, arms and inner thighs. I am too chicken to do that.

I have so many questions for you. When would you say you felt back to normal after the inner thighs and the arms? When were you allowed to work out again? If you work out.

Did you have the same surgeon do all three of your first surgeries? Did you choose an expert in post WLS plastics?

Interesting you say that about your back. I am finding I have the same negative feeling about my side boob skin right now. I am wondering if a regular boob lift and implant takes care of the side boob area, getting rid of all that extra skin. It really bothers me.

is it true that you cannot have the boob lift and implant at the same time?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my newbie questions.

Look at you! Looking great! Enjoy the journey!

Just my opinion:

this is the greatest chance you will ever get to get off sweet tasting food. I used this to get off it all. My surgery nutritionist even asked us to not eat fruit at all for 6 months. She called fruit “sugar bombs.” It has nothing we need in it that we can’t get from veg. So I drank only Water or Bone Broth (you could have unsweetened teas and coffees ). I ate only unflavored unsweetened Protein powder (I mixed it with raw milk which was already a staple in my diet and full of Probiotics etc). I eat absolutely no breads or baked goods or Desserts. My treat was dark chocolate, when I was ready to have a snack. I started with 85% and now I am at 90% dark and above.

I do use a little maple Syrup in my batch of granola i make a week, and have a little bit each day. At 6 months out, I added berries - about 1/2 c a day.

If you don’t eat sweet tasting things, you get enough pleasure from roasted veggies, potatoes, etc. really sweet things make me feel sick now. I am SO GLAD. Just giving you this in case you want to reset our sweet tooth. So glad I did. I think I wold have lost weight after surgery anyway, as most people do eat sweet foods all the time. But I think my getting off all sweeteners and sweet foods will help me when I’m in maintenance.

You look gorgeous! Congrats!

My experience: I did IF in my chubby life before surgery, to keep blood sugars at bay etc. I’d eat Breakfast after noon, and then have a dinner. (And often an after dinner snack).

After surgery, with the deficit of everything, fluids, Protein, everything, I think trying for IF is very bad. We should be shooting for drinking Water all the time, protein when we can, and we will get shaky for more protein about every 2 hours. I think that is important during recovery.

Now, 10 months out, I could try and push it longer between meals. I’ve done it here and there. If this is a goal for you (good for the sugar sensitive low carb people), just wait til you are 6 months out. And give it a try, and if you are at work or working out and find yourself shaky for protein, that is TRUE HUNGER and you should give in. Intermittent fasting is for health. It isn’t supposed to make you starving and needing to digest your own muscle for protein. Try skipping an afternoon snack, try skipping a late night snack, or try waiting another hour for breakfast. Don’t deprive yourself of protein.

I remember when you were nervously starting this journey, and whut?? In just 4 months you’ve lost 100 lbs??? I just wanted to say congrats. Absolutely amazing. Your energy and humor have got to be part of your success.

its been 10 months for me and I’ve been losing so slowly, getting close to 60 lbs down and within 10 of original goal weight. I’m ok losing so slowly but it is amazing to see someone do so well so quickly.

And if you lose your hair like I did, I have one very fun word: extensions. I’m thin (ish) with long hair now! Enjoy your life.

Yes, go and see. For all I know (which isn’t much), your youth might allow you to get the results you need with less than a full tt. I think with my age (over 50) I need the full tt.

Has anyone hired a nurse to stay or stop by for a few days? I have only my adult sons and they can’t help with like getting me to the bathroom or changing bandages or the parts that are being worked on. They can fix me meals and take care of the little kids for me but I have no female to help if I need more private help.

On 4/26/2018 at 7:24 AM, FabBy55 said:

I have not met with a plastic surgeon but I am thinking top and bottom. Do the top - boobs, arms and maybe neck. And then a year or so later do tummy tuck/LBL and thighs.

My thighs are actually the worst but I can hide them with clothes. Even longer shorts.

I’m scared to do too much together. I’m motivated to start with boobs because I saw my friend go through it and it really doesn’t look so hard, plus you look awesome in clothing pretty soon, and that might make up for the lower stuff still looking not quite right.

Stella, how bad was recovery with breasts and all the lower bodies done at once? Was the three lower body parts together called a lower body lift? How do they get the outer thighs done with the stomach and butt? And how happy are you with the results?

This is the biggest life transformation for me. I already had an amazing diet with some quantity issues, lol. I now want to work out. I am sick, bad cold, and for a couple days I couldn’t work out, me sick, and caring for a worse sick child. I missed it so much I found a way to work in a workout this morning even though not really very well. What a difference. Before surgery, I would have been glad to have an excuse not to work out! You can’t work out when you have a bad cold, you need to rest! No way, I wanted to work out even sick. What a change.

And like the others, I enjoy using my body now, pushing heavy car hatches, carrying bags of earth, getting on the scooters with my kids, whatever. It’s amazing. I love it.

I read the fit vets and while I knew I had to start working out like them, I didn’t really believe they loved working out. Now I believe it. To newbies, just start really easy and slow. I signed on to Jillian Michaels’ app and it was perfect for the total beginner I was once cleared to work out.

My favorite is NorCal grass fed unflavored. It needs mixing in cold liquids but all whey does. I feel it is the healthiest. I don’t use any other.

While you are all correct and I do stay away from drinking 30 mins before and after eating, I only said that since we are allowed to eat Soup, it is ok if during a meal you mix in your mouth if necessary a teaspoon of Water in. Like if you feel you will choke or something. If one of your bites at an entire meal is liquidy, especially many months after surgery, it’s ok to think of that bite as if you had taken one mouthful of soup. That’s all I meant. I don’t drink like I used to during a meal.

I also like Lose It. It remembers my foods and makes it easy to track.

I’ve had 4 c sections, this was easier. If that helps.

And the older child can help sometimes with the younger child. I needed full on help for one week, and half assed help for one more, then I could muddle through on my own again, with people doing any lifting for me or errands here and there.

there are so many fears you have beforehand, which makes sense. We are cautious and want to be safe. But 95% or more of sleevers have no serious complications and the surgery and recovery go along very well. A very few will have one of the two complications and their lives will be a living hell for a while. Very few of us are thst unlucky. I have zero regrets. Best thing I ever did for my health. I sometimes still (almost 10 months out now) have to remind myself I’m not obese or really even fat anymore (slightly overweight). I don’t need the plus sized corner any more. It’s still kind of a surprise.

On 4/26/2018 at 2:26 PM, SleeveinIL said:

I am a bleu cheese girl. I love bleu cheese, can't get enough blue cheese! That being said, we can still have cheese but I have changed to reduced fat or fat free. I still feel like I am getting cheese, but I am not going to eat something that is 95% fat anymore. Do I still want it? Heck yeah, but I am doing really well curbing my head craving.

Totally none of my business but this journey has shown me in black and white that fat doesn’t make me fat. So while I completely avoid sugar and sweet tasting things (for the first 6 months I did not touch fruit even), I ate full fat meat and dairy and cooked with olive oil and coconut oil. I write down everything I eat in an app (I use Lose It). Every single day of 9 months of weight loss, I have eaten over 50% of my calories in fat. I had heard fat doesn’t make you fat, but I didn’t really internalize it as a fact until I saw it didn’t make ME fat!

Not trying to get you back on the cheese Jones at all, lol, but I thought you might find that interesting. Daily eating a ton of fat, while daily losing weight. I’m sold. Good fats don’t make us fat. But I do watch the carbs.

I’ve had the “did you mean to lose this much weight?” Thing too. Right, thanks, I look like I have cancer. Sheesh. At least when we were fat no one asked us, so, did you mean to get this fat, or are you on steroid meds? Or just really bloated?

On 4/9/2018 at 11:29 AM, AshAsh1 said:

The other day my girl friends and I went to a bar/restaurant and they ordered drinks upon entering. I said, "nothing for me". Later she brought us our menus and their drinks. The waitress didn't say anything then, but eventually said "So why aren't we drinking anything? Why aren't you hydrating? Fluids are friends!" I told her I don't eat and drink at the same time. It seemed to suffice her curiosity. But it made me think that there has to be some weird stuff people have heard!

I stopped the No liquids Near Me At Mealtimes pretty soon after recovering from surgery. One day I was eating a bite of scrambled egg and nearly choked to death. At this point it is instinctive for me not to throw back gulps of Water when I eat, but I need some water nearby in case my mouth is dry yet full of food that is hard to get down. Remember that Soup is always allowed. So putting a teaspoon or tablespoon of water in your mouth while eating a dry solid will not kill you; it might help you prevent solid bit aspiration. It is ok to make a dry food into a soup in the mouth to help chew. I rarely do that but I like the water near enough so thst I cold if I need to.

You need Protein, clearly. I have the same hunger every 2-2.5 hrs. It’s real hunger, your body needs protein. I always give it fat with the protein. I take a kid’s lunchbox with me on the go, with a freezer pack in it and tiny metal containers with my unflavored, unsweetened whey Protein Powder mixed with full fat plain no flavor Greek yogurt. It doesn’t actually taste good so it is eaten for protein and satisfying the hunger ONLY. Breakfast and dinner at home I will choose tasty food. But mid days I only wish to shut up the hunger and keep on keeping on.

i am losing slower than you, only 53 lbs in 9 mos. but that is ok. And I don’t walk nearly as much as you though I love weights too.

I never lost 10 lbs ever. Single digits only. Mostly in the 4-6 lb range a month. For the first 4 months I lost oz EVERY DAY. Then I had a stall around then, which lasted a couple weeks, then again, ounces down every day. Then at around 6-7 mos out, I started stalling almost weekly. Now I can spend a week or more on the same 2 lbs. down, up. Then suddenly I drop 3 lbs and then hover on thst weight a while. It’s weird. Almost 10 mos out. Getting close to goal. Eating more, but working out too. Feeling around for how to keep dropping weight.

Thanks, will do!