FluffyChix

Yeah...welcome to maintenance. It's too early for you to be here yet. Good that you know where you derailed and it's a learning experience. And sobering... Get back at it girl!

Welcome! Congrats on surgery. I look on this time as a right of passage. There is no where to go but onward through the fog. You know? So like you just said, you just gotta get through this time and on to better days -- which DO come. Swear! And you feel malnourished, cuz you are hon! You don't have to like it. You just have to figure out a way to do it. Whatever that way is...hot protein, cold protein, luke warm/room temp protein, hidden in soups, protein powder, or real thinned down sources of protein, hidden eggs, baby food thinned down into soups--whatever it takes to get to your 60g of protein per day + 64oz of liquids (that do include ALL liquids even protein drinks, but not really soups so much). The more water you can get down your gob, the better you will feel and the faster you will heal! Hang in there, you will feel fullness soon--when you're eating real food.

So great to hear from you! And so happy you are maintaining. Congrats on 144.8lbs girl!!! That's terrific! You sound happy and busy! Can't wait for you to be able to come play again at some point!!!

I think that sounds like too much honestly. Sometimes it takes a while for our nerves to rewire to our brains. The best way to limit your size is to only take what you are allowed to eat for that stage and then make a plan that does not include "seconds" or "thirds". Meatballs/meatloaf "can" be sliderish food. I also had an ability to eat more and have more capacity to this day. So I chose lean very dense dry protein--the drier the better!!! Grilled chicken breasts, grilled center cut pork chops, steak with a lot of chew (lean), turkey breast patties, salmon, shrimp are all great proteins. Avoid any meat lube (ie gravies, sauces, condiments that make things slide on through). Eat veggies cooked al dente and eat the very fiberous ones! Sauteed spinach, kale, swiss chard, collards, turnip greens, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, zoodles, and raw veggies are great choices. Eat avocado for your fats cuz it also has bulk and fiber. I am thinking at 2months, you should be at: 2oz protein + 1oz al dente veg + 1oz avocado/.5oz tomato--that's about 1/2cup of food by volume and about 3-4oz by weight. Rather than allowing yourself to eat big meals, eat 4-5 meals per day of this size and composition. At first it's hard to get your brain to cooperate. If you were a volume eater pre-op, it's especially true. You may have some days of hunger here or there--that's natural. Just hydrate like crazy! Drink a glass of water every time you feel hungry!!! Also, if you are able to eat that well, drop the protein drinks and liquid calories to a minimum. I was having 2-4oz of protein drink as coffee creamer by this time and getting the remainder of my protein from real food.

Dayum. The scale is not my friend this morning. I'm not gonna share what it said...before I hit it with a sledge hammer... I had ALL. THE. BAD. THINGS this weekend including: (oh and no IF in sight anywhere) Breakfasts Lunches Pre-Dinner Snacks + Wine Dinner + Wine Post Dinner Snacks + Wine Holy fu*k! So so so so so so bad. The. End. I'm now into hour 11 of my IF. Where I'll stop no one knows, but I'm just saying, yesterday popcorn and chili and tamales were involved in the shenanigans. Newsflash: popcorn is a slider food. *sigh* *gulp* On a brighter note. I am testing out whether I can do without my last BP med. I took the last one on Thursday, so Friday morning no med. This is the 4th day so the real test is going to be from here forward: what happens to my BP and what happens to my weight. Fingers crossed my high BP is now officially in remission and another medicine is discontinued making it 6 meds I've gotten off of since WLS. Yay team!

So far I've lost about 73% of my EBW. The first 60% was "easier", but far from easy. LOL. I followed a plan and stuck to it. I lost weight. It was and IS a diet. Make no mistakes about that. LOL. Many are lucky in that the rule: Even blind squirrels will find a nut every now and then...applies to them with surgery. The surgery does a lot of the heavy lifting. But I was not so fortunate. I have to work for every pound lost. And if you want to get beyond your 60%, it takes outright work, cunning, hacking, revising, and continuing to walk the WLS walk, every damn day. But it is worth it. I dreamed big. My RD told me it was unrealistic, but I was not gonna settle for "Overweight" after having major tum surgery. I want to be in the normal weight range and that is anything below about 140lbs. My goal is 125-130lbs. It may take another year to get there. LOL.

MUAH! Backatcha missy. I happen to be at the head of your fan club girlie!!! ((hugs))

KISS. No need for special tools, special bowls/plates/utensils, etc. You will outgrow them quicker than you think. I track everything still in MFP (food, water, exercise, poops, BP, BGs. LOL. I use a digital scale daily and stainless measuring cups/spoons daily. I use a saucer/bread plate for meals and regular salad forks and coffee spoons for food. Beyond that--that's it.

Have you tried cooking them "less"? Like: soft boiled eggs with firm whites but runny yolks? (about 6.5 minutes in boiling water) fried over medium (done whites, runny yolks) soft scrambled (just coagulated but still very soft) or you can add a big spoon of Greek yogurt and stir well just as they are about set up.

Ok, so one reason I love IF is that it allows me to have "cheat days" or "cheat weekends". LOL, this was a cheat weekend for sure! Holy cow. I won't even discuss yesterday but it was a humdinger of 3 square meals! BIG meals. *sigh*. I had been maintaining and stuck at 148.8 going between 148.4 and 148.8 all week. *bigger sigh*. My body was only less than 150lbs for a brief time as a senior in high school. So getting down to 140lbs is a big challenge for me and for it. And it doesn't help that I had a "really BIG weekend" LOL. But TG for IF. I'm making a rib roast today as our "early TG"--they were on sale and beautiful. So it "had to be done" and I will make all the fixins: smashed roasted cauliflower, roasted asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, horseradish sauce. I'm gonna try to eat halfway early-er for us. LOL. About 7pm. Then I'm done. I'm going to start another IF of at LEAST 24 hours, but may try to push it 36-48 hours. Anyone want to join in? I'm gonna try to hook up with Dr. Boz to see if she's gonna fast too. My goal is to at least be 148lbs prior to TG day meal! Hahahaaha! Gonna do a long walk this morning and try to be extra active today as well. How is everyone doing? How are you doing with IF?

Your body has a memory. Specifically, your pancreas and liver. The more you eat, the more insulin gets released. And if the next day you don't eat so much, it realeases the same amount of insulin it did for that meal on the previous day. So fluctuations in how much you eat, result in blood sugar roller coasters. It's compounded by not only eating different amounts, but also different macro nutrient amounts too. So the more constant you keep your food from meal to meal/day to day (including keeping your macros similar for that meal), the less hunger and the more stable your blood sugar/insulin response. So it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ignoring your food quantities and the more you eat, the hungrier you get. The more stable you keep everything (shooting for 1 cup of food), the less hungry you will feel. Assuming you are eating the right balance of foods/nutrients for your particular metabolic needs.

Here's a food log of mine from 3.21.18. I was 4 weeks + 1 day Post Op. It "is" possible to get 60g of protein in for around 450ish cals/day. I did it quit often in the early days. But it takes some real strategy. Part 1 (click to enlarge) Part 2 (click to enlarge)

Holy moly! You look wonderful! Congrats!

I get iced tea. I also sometimes get a Virgin Bloody Mary. And I also get club soda and lime or lemon and stir it up and let it sit until a lot of the gas escapes. Then sip slowly.

I think losing weight, and losing weight QUICKLY is hard on the liver. It is not uncommon for liver enzymes to elevate in the first year(s) after WLS. I also think there are highly processed foods in our lives that pose a liver challenge on top of the extreme diet we follow. By extreme I mean, most of us are on a VLC (very low calorie) diet in the early days. These highly processed foods in my opinion are: 1. Anything prepared/pre-packaged (most soy-based food products that resemble something else fit into this category). So does why protein isolate/concentrate and any veg protein. 2. Whey or veg protein bars/snacks/desserts 3. Eating more protein than we need to be protein adequate can present a liver stress, especially if you have other things going on in your body that make your liver and kidneys vulnerable, or any drugs that you might take. 4. Some vitamins may add a liver insult on top of all the other stress. 5. High carbohydrate/high insulin diets add extra stress to the hepato-pancreatic system *** If it were me, I would ask your liver doc for his protein recommendations and protein sources and follow that. I honestly would only eat my protein adequate (or whatever the doc told me), using the cleanest, most close to nature, organic, non-GMO protein sources I could find and afford in my neighborhood. I would eat the plants (especially leafy greens) and healthy fats that the doc recommend, and I'd probably avoid fruits or anything high fructose (especially hard on the liver) with the exception of small servings of berries now and then. I'd probably avoid dairy. And seek out things that are healthy to the liver. Good luck! Sorry for your struggles. Glad your U/S went well!

Not trying to start an argument with you. I can see where you are coming from and am only offering this alternative. My RD also said the same thing to me essentially. She said that most people live comfortably eating about 1 cup of food once the new anatomy is fully healed and matured, but there is some fluctuation. She said raw veg and salads most people can eat more of...some foods are sliders and go out almost as quickly as they come in, so people can eat more of those as well. Then there are the minorities. Those who have larger stomas. Those with tummies whose muscles relax more, etc. She said for those minorities, they have to figure out long term hacks to be able to assuage hunger and maintain good habits and practices. Things like ALWAYS eating what your protein prescription is for your current size/build/activity level/age, etc. And only eating that much--not overeating it. Always eat the amount of fat in your life-long prescription. Concentrating on low glycemic veggies to add the bulk. She said those could be eaten to satiety. She said to eat the amount of fruit, dairy, nuts/seeds, and complex whole grains that are prescribed in the diet if there is room after getting the protein fat and veggies in. But, she did say, that we need to arrive at a quantity that is sustainable for us and stick with it. Don't let our habits over ride our need to control our calories/macros. So no eating around our surgery. No reverting to old food habits with crap food, no filling up on highly dense caloric crap. That kind of thing... So even though I "can" eat more than 1cup of food at a sitting. I'm pretty comfy at 1 1/4 to 1 1/2c of food. And I measure and stop there. In 3 years, I hope I am still measuring and stopping at 1 1/4 to 1 1/2c of food. And 2cups salad.

Interesting study: Effects of a low carbohydrate diet on energy expenditure during weight loss maintenance: randomized trial https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4583 Article: The Case Against Carbohydrates Gets Stronger http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-ludwig-carbohydrate-insulin-study-20181114-story.html You know that I believe TRULY, that not everyone is cut out to be low carb/keto or even low glycemic/low glycemic load (which is most technically what I am). I think we all must find the way that works, and works for us long term. But this new article came up on my Mozilla screen this morning and it was significant enough for me to share with my IF buddies. Cuz through IF we are all seeking to effect hormonal changes in our body that may be able to change the course of our life and disease that may affect us later. This study is significant in that: 1. It has a significant number of study participants 2. It is one of the Gold Standards of study design: Randomized Controlled Study 3. It has very little conflicting interests 4. It was well designed with ACTUAL low carb partitions, not just a falsely labeled specious "low carb diet" that was actually a high carb diet at 51%... So anyway, just wanted to share, not trying to influence anyone or cram my lifestyle down anyone's throat claiming mine is superior. Only showing that this is just a new study that provides food for thoughts. Not trying to spark a war here btw. So please, only civil discourse in our little Shangri La!

Hello. My name is Fluff C. And I'm an addict. Every day I feel compelled to eat a big ass salad. And I eat capacious amounts of them--over and over and over again. I jones and yearn for them so. Today I sinned with turkey, super greens, spinach, red/green cabbage, radish, onion, rbp. Did I mention onion? Avocado too. Pumpkin seeds and RF feta, and my beloved WF Italian dressing was lusciously slathered to and fro, from hither to yon and in between! And I ate it all. Every last delicious leaf. Now I'm stuffed. And feel guilty for my extreme gustatory pleasure. I vow to never eat again. Help save me from myself and this evil addiction.

Welcome! Jump right in and post. Congrats on the coming surgery!

Note to self: Remember, "You're sitting in the suck right now!"

I started softs at 2 weeks post op.

We're all different and only you can say for sure. I work from home and was working at 4 days. But I had a very very easy time of things and could rest when I needed. And my "bitchy boss" actually allowed me to take naps at will...hehe

^^^This. Great post. Also you might mention that the surgery helps you lose and maintain weight loss easier (but it is NOT easy). And tell him that the sex will get better again with the surgery. That should shut him up...for a minute. (j/k guys! Only directing that rude sexist comment to dudes who are non-supportive of their wives. And I will come up with one for chix who are unsupportive of their hubs efforts in this as well if you want!)

Immediate post surgery is a mind fu*k and an endurance contest. Rest. Be gentle. Be creative to figure out how to do YOUR part in healing (water, protein, walking, sleeping/resting). And watch lots of good flicks on TV! it will get batter. Swearsies.

Oh my gosh. I was grinning ear to ear while I read this post!!!! I'm so happy for you it's crazy! You're totes gorgeous girl!!! What a great post! Thanks for sharing your story and journey! Congrats!!!