FluffyChix

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!! May you all find a "matcha" just for you!!! Oh, and I did 3 days of 18:6 IF this week and the scale is finally cooperating! I'm down to 145.4lbs this morning. Hoping to stick the landing. I'm only 1/2lb away from my lowest low! Wooohooo! Today, I could only make it 13hours. Woke up Starvin' Marvin'!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all the matcha-loving BariBuddies out there!!! @GreenTealael Ohhhhh you know you're at the top of the tree shakin' the branches on this... ...and lovin' it! (I'm craving a meal of this preferentially over other things quite often...sound familiar? Maybe it's cuz of poppies...POPPPIEEEESSS!) That's a cup of my green tea in the background, waiting patiently on its warmer for the 1hour clock to pass!

Dang!! 80lbs in 9 months!!! That's amazing @MIZ60!!!! You should be SO dang proud of yourself girlie!!!! So great to have all your co-morbidities reverse and go into remission!!! So so happy for you!!

You're right on target with your present consumption. Focus on meeting protein and water needs the way your doc and RD tell you to do it.

Obesity is a disease. The AMA says it, the insurance companies say it...etc. It is multifactoral in origin. But once someone is sufficiently metabolically deranged as we are as morbidly obese people, the chances of "doing this on our own" are as slim as winning the lottery. The surgery is only a tool that helps break the metabolic/hormonal cycle that drives obesity. But like any tool, it will only work if applied correctly. A hammer is a tool. But it will only drive the nail that holds up the scaffold, if you pick it up and apply action and the force of your determination. Same thing with the whole WLS stuff. You HAVE to change your behaviors with food in order to lose all the weight you want to lose. It isn't magic bean surgery. And that goes WAYYYY beyond just "mystically, magically learning how to eat small portions." There will come a day when you CAN and WILL eat again--more than you should--of things you should not be eating. Life will get messy and in the way. And there is no operation in the world that will healthfully keep you from eating your feelings unless you do the hard head work involved. WLS is a tool to help put morbid obesity into remission. Once ANYONE is morbidly obese, you can consider yourself to have an intractable, incurable, degenerative disease. But, with the surgery, and with proper attention and care and help, you can put it into remission.

Wow! What a crapton of stress and worry! I get it! Life definitely happens while we're trying to improve ourselves!! I think the idea of having low carb/low fat/healthier options on hand will be very helpful. I also think it's important to get up each day (only take that 1 day) and make a 1-10 check list of plans. Scratch them off as you complete them. Make doing self-care part of that plan. Cuz if you're well, the kids will be healthier. Try making yourself a deal for 1 day only. Make a deal not to have ANYTHING sweet all day (whether or not that is sugar or sugar subs). And include making it a no crap day--so no chips crackers etc. If you need to clean all the crap out of the pantry, frig and freezer! The kids don't need the crap either! Lock it in the trunk of your car if you must! Then any time you're hungry, drink a glass of water as quickly as you can. Then wait 20 minutes--get busy with something else. If at the end of 20 minutes you are still hungry and it's not time for your meal, then have a small protein and veggie based 100cal snack. Follow your rules of eating/drinking. If it is time to eat, then have your meal that you've planned. The rule is that if you're hungry, you eat protein/veg at 100cals per pop. No sweet. I use things like boiled eggs, al dente steamed broccoli, raw veg like leafy greens, rbp, carrots, celery, etc. If I'm hungry enough to eat, then I will eat a boiled egg and some veg! Hard to binge when you're full of boiled egg and veg! Then once you complete the day...do it again tomorrow. Just only commit for 1 day. If you screw up, then continue moving forward taking the next best bite. Don't throw the day away cuz of a slip or an isolated meal or snack. Put the snack in the trash, get the crap out of the house...etc. You can do this. It IS worth it! You are worth it. Your family is worth it. Find a counselor!!! Talk to your doc and RD!!!! Get them to help. It is in their best interest to help you through this rough patch, cuz you are part of their outcomes of surgery. They want to have good stats.

Dr. V. - one of his regain videos I posted.

Yeppers.

Yeah I hear ya. I would get so mad over the amount of calories and carbs they contributed to my daily total. When you're only eating 3-500cals per day and using 60 of those for vitamins and 10carbs or something. GRRRRR! LOL. But you just gotta suckitupbuttercup and geterdone.

I used chewables for the first 3 months except for calcium and I still use easy swallow capsules for that.

Beautiful!! You had me at hello!

Of course it is. And so you should. We all did our homework. It's expected. Just no more frantic "HELLLLLLPPPPSSSSS", cuz it just alienates peeps.

You can also Google your questions and it will bring up stuff from this site and another big site called Obesity Help. They have more DSers over there I think? It's not a commonly performed procedure. The analogy to this is that it's like bringing a Howitzer to a knife fight. As a first line surgery...

Sounds like you're on the right track. Don't worry about "too few cals", just worry about keeping carbs lower and getting your protein and fluids (especially your fluids) and vites down your gob!

Ok, it may not help. IDK. But I had so much foot/ankle swelling from heart problems and being morbidly obese. I also had huge left arm lymphedema leftover from cancer treatment. And I've lost 140lbs. I'm no longer on any of my bp meds, the fluid around my heart is getting smaller, no more swollen feet or ankles, and my lymphedema is maybe maybe a little better on some days? This is a wise thing you are doing!!!! And we will be twins, 1 year apart! Mine was Feb 20, 2018. I can just say, what a difference a year makes!

Wow, at 2 weeks. Congrats! I was only just starting softs at 2 weeks if I remember. Don't overadd cheese. Your bowels may be whacked for a while. And cheese will really stop you up. You need to be sure you are "going" well right now. I'd add stuff like canned chicken, tuna and salmon pouches, sardines, hb eggs or sb eggs, soft scrambled eggs, poached fish, mashed cauliflower, soft green beans, broccoli cooked to beyond hell, keep the yogurt. Add some avocado. Add a little good healthy fats. Add a couple of olives. I was between 500-800cals through most of my loss. I still have to be down around 700cals to lose on average.

Dude. Are you having surgery tomorrow? LOL. Relax. Chill. Quit typing in all caps and yellin' for help. LOL. There aren't a whole lot of DS peeps on this board. There are a few...but flooding the boards won't get 'em to you any quicker. You're better served using the Search Function on the site.

Why are you limiting yourself to 1 PP drink per day? You should aim for 2 or 3? I'd do that over Fairlife, but that's just me. At 2weeks I was between 3-500cals/day. But if you MUST have Fairlife (which doesn't have as much protein and has more carbs), then I would use SF Hershey's Chocolate Syrup in it rather than do the Chocolate Fairlife cuz of the amount of carbs/sugar in it.

Woohoooo! Congrats to you!!! That's amazing!!! I'd say at 186 and 5'10" you look fabulous!!!! Go get your gym on!!

Ok, well don't just tease us! Tell us what everything is? Is that hummus, babaganoush, falafel, and omelet? Are those french fries? What an incredible breakfast! Do they eat like that every morning or would that be a feast morning? Beautiful!

They all add an aftertaste in my opinion. But I used Isopure Unflavored. If you add small amounts to everything, then it adds up quickly (the protein) without affecting taste too terribly. You have to mix it into liquids slowly while still room temp--then warm it up. If you try to put it in hot soup it clumps. So I just used that method of warm after mixing.

Ave. weight loss post surgery is 2-4lbs. Congrats for being at the top of average. When was the last time you lost 8lbs in 2 weeks?

Cool! It's important to know, that I made sure to "clean myself out" before socking the psyllium and fiber crackers to it. Cuz otherwise I risked a blockage. And I also was trying to get as many probiotics in as quickly as possible!

Here's another interview with Dr. Perlmutter and Dr. Walter Longo on his book/research on The Longevity Diet which is a fasting mimicking diet. His main bias for me is that he doesn't believe in the use of ketogenic diets and is very much against meat. But it was a very interesting interview. https://www.drperlmutter.com/the-empowering-neurologist-david-perlmutter-md-and-dr-valter-longo/