FluffyChix

It's very normal to have body dysmorphia. You are losing weight quickly and it's really hard for our brains to adapt and keep up. But counseling is never a bad idea IMHO. Good for you for doing it!!! Also, I totally believe in the side-by-side comparison that others suggested!!! You look fabulous!! I can see how much you've lost, as can everyone else. You will be able to see it soon. It just takes a little bit of time. Part of your issue is you see yourself nekkid--and we are all our own worst critics! And your jeans are too big! Now go shop for some cheap clothes in your size at Goodwill!!!! My new wardrobe is almost all Goodwill $1-$3 clothes, or hand-me-downs from my sissies, or Old Navy super sales of 50% offs! Congrats girlie!!! Here is the side-by-side I had to study to see my losses. I still find it hard to look at myself and still see myself as much heavier than other people say I am. It's completely illogical--but it is real. Body dysmorphia...you bi*ch.

When I was losing the best was between 450-650 cals per day. I could get a buttload of food in with that. Here's one of my logs from that time:

Yay!!!!!!!!! I'm gonna do a 16:8 or 18:6 one of those. LOL with the whole addition of breaking my fast with protein coffee...um, did I mention rationalization here? hahaha! Now, we want to hear more about how you plan to alter your undies. And discuss cardio. Ok, go!

First off, congrats on your surgeries! Ok, next...both of you, stop. And breathe. Take deep breaths and step away from the ledge. It's going to be ok...if you tread carefully. OK? About 2 weeks ago, you had surgery. They SERIOUSLY jacked with your nerves, and your tummy is NOT fully communicating with your brain right now. So even if you "could" feel the same sensation of fullness--you really "can't". And sadly, most of us will never experience "fullness" feelings like we did pre-op. The fullness feelings manifest in different and much less satisfying ways now post-surg. The sadness that comes from missing that is a head thing we have to work on in dealing with food relationships. So what you're doing now, is you are chasing a feeling that you cannot have. Not now anyway. It's called "Chasing Fullness" and it "can" be a pouch killer! Cuz it will cause you to overeat--once in a while/no prob--people screw up. But do it often enough or chronically and you will stretch out your stoma and possibly stretch out your new anatomy--not to mention that you will undo your hard work of conditioning your brain and habits to expect less food. The feeling of fullness may come back with time--in some derivation. Mine did. But it was several months (like month 4) before I started feeling satiety. And also, it came with eating very dense, solid foods. Very. DENSE. Solid. Proteins. Al Dente Veggies. SOLID. LOL. Ok? I still don't feel any restriction with things like salads, and snack foods, or soft foods like yogurt and stuff. So here is what you are eating right now in your current stages: Yogurt: Counts as liquid on my post op plan and is a slider food. It causes very little feelings of fullness for a lot of people. The Cheese--could be an issue -- so don't overdo it. It could constipate you. Some feel fullness from it, others don't. But it's easy to overeat it and the calories rack up QUICKLY. In the early weight loss months, calories are king. Seriously! Eggs, depending on how hard you cook them, could either be slidery or might be just fine! Some have issues/some have satiety from them. Some don't. For me it depends on HOW you cook them. Scramble, fry, soft fry, soft boil--slider. Hard boil, eat by themselves--very filling. And so the moral of this story is, "Just because you CAN eat more, doesn't mean you SHOULD eat more." LOL. Especially right now in your present stage. Eat ONLY what your doc prescribes for quantities. Eat ONLY the meals he tells you to eat. Do not eat anything else. There WILL be hunger--even starvin' marvin' days. When that happens, drink a glass of water and get busy doing something else. Seriously. We will still experience hunger. But hunger doesn't constitute an emergency any more. And I've learned that most of my inappropriate hunger is caused by dehydration. Good luck. You'll figure things out. Just always remember to breathe! ((hugs))

Yay! Glad you're back! I made it to 4pm yesterday then caved. "The Rationalization" is strong in that one... hahaha Did you really trash your scale? I had a ridiculously gorgeous dinner last night. Standing rib was on sale, so made a 1bone roast with horse radish sauce, smashed roasted cauliflower, sauteed mushies, and asparagus in brown butter. It was delish! And oddly, I'm down 1 pound this morning. LOL.Scales suck and are so weird.

Also, never sneer at a salad in a jar, turkey and cheese rollups, lettuce wraps of all kinds, low carb sandwich wraps of all kinds! Cans of sardines (your office mates will hate you), tuna pouches, apples and nut butters, carrots and hummus, rbp and hummus (anything and hummus). I keep lunch fairly simple and try for super low low everything so I can have more cals at dinner without feeling guilty or stopping momentum.

Dang Christine! You look FANCY!!!!! (And gorgeous!!! Congrats!)

Jazz Hands!

Good lord girlie! Just beautiful. Love the whole outfit too!!!

Thank you Ken! Appreciate your hard work!

Just popped up again for the third time:

Hi Ken! Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. Here is where I got it: It popped up as a Notification (upper right of screen--third message down) and it keeps popping up. Then when I click on it, it leads me to this screen. But my email is exactly the same. No change. Then it wants me to type in my password. But nothing has changed and it set off alarm bells that maybe some bad guy was trying to capture my password.

You may not be "overeating." But you said your problem is constant hunger. So continual eating without scheduled meals and grazing is a recipe for disaster and actually FUELS your hunger and makes it worse.

Hi guys! My email hasn't changed, yet I got this message popping up wanting me to update my email. And when I did it gave me this message wanting me to re-enter my password. I didn't change my email. It's still valid. And still in use, and I'm getting email notifications from BP. So why am I being prompted to enter my password. Am I being hacked by someone using a disguise of BP in order to capture my pw? Thanks! Fluffy

Awesome sauce!!!!

You're biggest downfall is only getting 35oz of water. Holy cow! Chronic dehydration if that's really all the water you're getting. What are your other fluids and how much total fluid per day? And yeah, crackers are sliders and will absolutely keep you STARVIN' MARVIN! LOL. And eating all day is effectively eating around your surgery. By your time, I was eating 3 meals per day.

Awesome ones @Matt Z! Keep 'em coming! Let's compile all our tips and tricks into one place then we can just direct people who are struggling to it!!

Dayum!!! 177lbs down? I totally missed that! Pfffft! Don't worry about a little scale hiccup! Congrats girl. You rock!!!

Sneaking Extra Protein into Cream Soups and Pureed Soups: It's easy to add small amounts of extra protein into everything from cream soups, to pureed soups/stews/chilis, yogurts, kefirs. 1. Use Isopure or Unjury Unflavored Protein Powder, Fairlife FF Milk, Plain Greek Yogurt, or even powdered peanut butter and use as much as you can tolerate without changing the taste to up the protein content of a meal/snack. If you are smell sensitive, breath through your mouth while adding the protein so you don't have to be turned off by the smell. Here are some common unflavored protein powders and yogurt and Fairlife FF Milk macros. It's easy to see you can up the protein content of a liquid substantially by adding small amounts into each drink or meal! Even an extra tablespoon will add up in protein over the course of a day! 2. Make protein enriched milk to up the protein count of the milk. The World According to Eggface has instructions about this, but this is an old low carb trick that existed long before that. Mix it well, seal, and refrigerate over night. Best is consumed ice cold. You can also sweeten or flavor it. Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup works great for Chocolate Milk!!! You can make this high protein milk and use it in soups, gravies, stews and any place that calls for regular milk, or drink it plain (ice cold). Or make hot cocoa out of it! 1/4 cup Dry Non-Fat Instant Milk 8fl oz Fairlife Fat Free Milk Optional: 2tbsp (16g) Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Milk Shake or whisk until combined. Seal and chill!

Favorite REAL food ways to get Protein down when in Stage 1 and Stage 2, for those who don't want to press the "easy button" and can't tolerate the taste of artificially sweetened Protein Drinks and powders: Real Food Broths: 1. Egg "Drop" Re-enforced Broth 8fl oz chicken broth (or beef broth) 1 large egg, beaten 1 pinch ground ginger 1 pinch granulated garlic 1/8 tsp soy sauce or tamari sauce 1/8 tsp toasted sesame oil 1 tbsp Walden Farm Asian Dressing or Sesame Ginger Dressing (optional) This broth doesn't have actual egg threads in it. You stir beaten egg into broth while cold. All all seasoning and gently warm over medium heat to about 145 degrees. Going over 160* will cause the egg to curdle. If it curdles you have to blend it up. If you are concerned about salmonella, use pasteurized eggs in their shell or egg whites from a carton. 2. Tortilla-less Soup 8fl oz chicken broth (or beef broth) 1 large egg, beaten 1 pinch granulated garlic 1-2 tbsp mild Taco Bell Hot Sauce This broth doesn't have actual egg threads in it. You stir beaten egg into broth while cold. All all seasoning and gently warm over medium heat to about 145 degrees. Going over 160* will cause the egg to curdle. If it curdles you have to blend it up. If you are concerned about salmonella, use pasteurized eggs in their shell or egg whites from a carton. 3. Pizza Soup 8fl oz chicken broth (or beef broth) 1 large egg, beaten 1 pinch granulated garlic 1 pinch dried basil, crush leaves in hand 1 pinch dried oregano, crush leaves in hand 1-2 tbsp marinara sauce (use the lowest carb, lowest added sugar marinara you can buy) 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese This broth doesn't have actual egg threads in it. You stir beaten egg into broth while cold. All all seasoning and gently warm over medium heat to about 145 degrees. Going over 160* will cause the egg to curdle. If it curdles you have to blend it up. If you are concerned about salmonella, use pasteurized eggs in their shell or egg whites from a carton.

Favorite REAL FOOD ways to get protein down when in Stage 1 and Stage 2, for those who don't want to press the "easy button" and can't tolerate the taste of artificially sweetened protein drinks and powders: Real Food Smoothie: 6-8oz Fairlife Milk Fat Free 2oz Yogurt (Greek, plain, unsweetened) 1-2oz frozen fruit (frozen blueberries, peaches, bananas--any fruit that is low glycemic without seeds. You can use strawberries, but you would have to thaw them and push the pulp through a fine strainer to remove seeds or use Walden Farm Strawberry Pancake Syrup (zero cal)) Ice Cubes to desired consistency Bottled Water to desired consistency Optional Ingredients: 6-12g Peanut Butter Powder (PB2 or Vitacost Peanut Butter Slim, or Peanut Flour) Frozen or Fresh Baby Spinach or Kale

Favorite Protein Powders and RTD meal replacements: Premier Protein RTD shakes mixed into decaff coffee. (Bananas and Cream, Chocolate, Vanilla, Caramel). Drink either hot or over ice. You can also make a frappacino by pouring Premier Protein into ice cube trays and freezing into cubes then blending with cold coffee to make a protein frappacino. Premier Protein RTD shakes mixed into decaff green or black tea. (Vanilla for Chai Lattes, Peaches and Cream, Strawberries and Cream). Drink either hot or over ice. You can also make a frappacino by pouring Premier Protein into ice cube trays and freezing into cubes then blending with cold tea to make a protein frappacino. Premier Protein CLEAR RTD shakes (Fruit Punch, Orange Mango) mixed 50/50 with bottle water and poured over ice. Premier Protein CLEAR RTD shakes mixed 50/50 with decaff green or black tea and poured over ice. Synthrax Nectar Lemon Iced Tea shakes mixed up and allowed to sit so the foam goes away. Mix to desired strength with regular decaff iced tea or bottled water. Synthrax Fuzzy Navel shakes mixed up and allowed to sit so the foam goes away. Mixed to desired strength with bottled water. Isopure Protein Powders (Creamy Vanilla, Bananas and Cream, Dutch Chocolate) mixed with Fairlife Milk, or almond milk, cashew milk. Isopure Unflavored Protein Powder mixed slowly into cold clear and cream soups to make a runny paste, then thinned to desired consistency and gently warmed over low heat or slowly in the microwave until warm. Do not exceed 140* or the protein will clump.

Ok y'all! Let's play a game to help the newbies (immediately post surgery)!!!!! For all of you who've already been through this forest and figured out the path to Gran'mas house, share your tips and secrets for meeting and exceeding your protein goals in Stage 1 and Stage 2 right out from surgery!!!!! (Stage 1=Full Liquids); (Stage 2=Full Liquids/Pureed liquids). So many newbies HATE and GAK at the protein drinks, so let's give them some practical advice they can refer back to and that we can re-post the link to for getting their protein in so they heal and get to progress down the path to post WLS life!! (Psssssst!!! Calling all sophomores, juniors, and VETS!!! Please let's play?!!! Please include your favorite protein drinks too!!!) Ok, let the games begin!!!!

Welcome! Glad you came out of hiding. Now post a lot!