FluffyChix

@MsBrown76 your struggles are atypical. They are definitely related to this issue: Ileus. You need to re-contact your surgeon and tell them of your continued struggle and what can and can't be swallowed. You need to get liquids and protein in. Did you ever end up pooping fully?

Honestly, this will be unpopular but if you start drinking during WLM, you risk NEVER reaching your goal. You are playing with fire. And did you REALLY have surgery and think you wouldn't have to change your behaviors with the things that got you MO in the first place? WL is very hard on the liver and drinking on top of it adds another insult to an already at risk and taxed organ. I do drink now. And I did drink rarely and minimally during WLM. But when I did, I almost always saw a loss of 4 days of active weight loss. And frankly, most can't afford to squander their honeymoon period. Drinking alcohol is one of the leading contributors to weight regain.

You have to retrain your tum just as someone said, like an infant. So you can't easily go from liquids (yogurt is considered a liquid in my program) to dense solids without issues. Use meat lube (broths, gravy, braising liquid, and sauces) to lubricate your bites. Make EACH bite the size of a pencil eraser. Chew to kingdom come. Add a little lube. And swallow. Then wait a minute or two to see how it settles and repeat the next bite. If you feel discomfort, stop. My progression was: Foil wrapped fish (white fish litely poached in broth and seasoning in foil). tuna and salmon mixed with tons of Greek yogurt and dijon mustard, hb egg, and 2% cottage cheese and blended until almost smooth. It was VERY wet and loose. soft scrambled eggs mixed with Greek yogurt of light sour cream to make them very loose and creamy. soft boiled eggs with butter. over easy fried eggs. egg white puffs (my fave!!) sugar free and savory egg custards. roasted smashed cauliflower (like mashed potatoes but low carb). refried pumpkin soups/stewps/chili made with turkey chicken (canned) green bean casserole made baristyle chicken pot pie casserole (no crust) made baristyle lasagna bake no pasta made baristyle and then I progressed to things like salmon, ground meats, then chicken, pork, beef dense and lean. I could not do burgers for months--way too dense and heavy feeling and too much fat.

Wow you are a great patient. Super healing!!!

We are actually gonna do her book in early 2020. I think we're gonna start in January with Connie Stapleton's book.

wanking...winge-ing meh...what's a verb or two between friends? bahahahahaahaha! Good times!

Some ideas for you about being able to eat your veg. My RD gave me (and all her patients this advice). Go ahead and have a protein drink at the top of the day. Get in and prime the pump with 25-30g of protein. That way, you have room for more veggies and don't have to make every meal all about protein. So I still do this with a couple to 4 ounces of PP as creamer in my coffee or because I'm hungry for a smoothie. And then if I want to snack, I will have a salad, or raw veg, or sometimes a half a small apple or berries. And my salads don't have to have 3oz of protein if I don't want to. Cuz 1-2oz will work and leave more room for the veg.

This dear friend is the cruel irony of WLS. I've seen so many people who start developing swallowing issues with dense food. Or for whatever reason, have uncomfy feelings with dense food. And so what do they do? They think they're gonna starve to death. So they start thinking they are smarter than their doc and will just start adding back easy to swallow foods: carbalicious craptastic shenanigans. Cuz you know...crackers, chips, cookies, potatoes, pasta all go down so easy and their pouch doesn't hurt or resist or feel full. And then suddenly they wonder why weight loss has either stalled or that they are gaining. But honestly, the tool is doing what it's supposed to be doing in that phase of your WLM journey! It's making it so you eat very little. And we have thousands of cals strapped to our bodies--trapped and asking for release. And that release won't happen as long as we're feeding the fat stores rather than our healthy cells and mitochondria. You are SUPPOSED to be able to eat only a very small amount. Right? That's why you had the surgery!

Dunno dude. Cuz at 33BMI I was at a snails pace too. It is so tough trying to know what to do. One thing that helped me no end was doing the IF. You should TOTALLY come join us over in the IF thread. I lost my last 40lbs because of adding the IF to my game. We've seen many people do exactly the same too! Here it is. Start on page 1. TONS of great info and articles and vids. And it gets easier and easier every time you do it. It would really help cut you.

Yes! I so wanted to hear this answer. TY! (Cuz you know I also do a lot of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should...") lol. But yeah, I get so amused to make a big ass salad for like 47 cals BD&F (before dressing and fun)

double fontaining Earl Grey is not good times. hahahahaha.

I think after WLS, the body takes a minute to figure out that it can defend a lower set point. I was "stalled" out for weeks in the 146-155 range. And I thought, that I was at goal. And I was so sad. Right? Nothin I did could blast me out of it. I could for a day or two, then it would go back up. Then it just like went "poof" and I was in a new decade. Then it started defending 135-140. And it was a true bi*ch! I even changed my goal weight so I could call goal cuz I was convinced I'd never hit my Goal #3. LOL. As soon as I did that my body dropped into the 130-135lb range and is now happily defending from about 131-135 very easily. LOL. And this is with me living life. M-F I'm all about TCB on plan, eating low and super dense nutrition. And F night, Sat, Sun I do what ever I want. And the Monday comes and it's back to TCB. I could likely get to my top secret BDG Goal weight of 125 if I cut out the weekend shenanigans. But at this point, it's very easy to rationalize poor choices. Right? So I wonder if you just hang tight, if that same thing isn't gonna happen to you? The only other option is to examine and tighten it up (your diet and exercise plan). But you're a big guy. So I'm betting your close to that last 20lbs thing.

This times infinity!!!

Bahahahaha! Ok, for reals? Or will this asplode my monitor? Like, let's see if I can get her to do this boneheaded stunt and press control 7 then shift G!!! Good times! Now let's watch and see what she does!

I think it's because the last 10-20lbs is always the most difficult to lose. I also think that it was my first set point from high school and my body thought it needed to settle there and defend that new position. I also know that it happened in the sophomore phase and this is the phase where we notoriously start living life again. So some of it could be that I slacked off in my choices with a greater frequency of "treat" meals when going out? And before, I cooked almost everything at home. So I think it's probably a combination of metabolic stuff + behavior. Also, that chart doesn't look like it, but the line is actually down at the 130-135 level. It looks more like it's 140ish. Here's a close up of it for the last 90 days.

To me it almost feels like there are two groups. Group1: Those still early on from surgery who have resistance and are not yet "fully mature pouches." Group2: Those who are progressed to fully mature pouch status who have a larger capacity. In that case, it's like Dr. Weiner says here. If you are hungry, fill it up with healthy veg, fruit, some nuts/seeds/beans, etc:

I think you're really gonna need to work with your RD/holistic doc to get a good gameplan up to where you are able to get enough nutrients and calories in you! Having to do elimination on TOP of vegan on TOP of ADF seem very scary larry to me. Just being frank here. But the healing that comes from activating SIRT genes is very real and well documented. I think you must listen to your body and its health first before making huge ginormous goals that zap your strength...((hugs))

I heart questions like this! I too face a dilemma of this. I can easily eat a small regular side salad with lots of diff watery crisp veggies. And I can eat 2-3oz of protein. But the question is, should I? Does it really do any damage if I'm kinda "wide open?" Or is it just an opportunity to get in lots of healthy vits and mins from the veg!?! Will be interested in hearing everyone's opinion and advice girlie!!! (Also, I've been making a big salad like that and at the meal I will eat almost all the protein first. Then will eat about 1/2 the salad. I put it away until mid-afternoon snack time when I feel peckish around 4pm. I then eat the rest of the salad and tiny bit of protein that's left.) AND BTW!!! That big ass salad looks AHHHHHH-MAY-ZING!!! I need it, STAT!!! Like, Get. IN. MAH. BELLEH!!!!!

TY! I couldn't remember if you had a lift or the twins or not! I knew you were having the implants and the LBL and that you had decided not to do the thighs/butt. Did he lipo anywhere? Has he commented on things like how little fat you have under your skin, etc? Did he say how much the skin weighed or how little fat was left in the tummy pooch you hated? (Um, inquiring minds and all. hehe.)

Hope you like it. I love it and still fall back on it. It really cured my asthma and helped my chronic pain and inflammation! And I find it's very easy to do 500cals per day. The real challenge comes once you are used to it, in getting enough cals on the UP days that you keep your metabolism stoked.

Yes exactly. I do that all the time! In fact it's super helpful as ADF. You should get this book. This is the one that started it all for me. He was one of the first ones to come out with it. The Alternate Day Diet

Sorry bout the pain hon!!! Be sure to keep your pain meds on a schedule to stay on top of it!!! What all did you end up having done again? Love the idea of extremely muscular PA. I'm so excited for you!!!!

Wow! What a load!!! So sorry to hear this but ecstatic about the no Barrett's part!!! I have no doubts you are gonna figure this out!!!! So glad you're having more tests and will be working with your new holistic health doc!!! Yay!!!!

I hear ya!!!! It is SO hard!!!! One thing that helps me is that M-Thurs I try really hard to just make those days TCB days. That means back to basics of the FD and exercise. Like a normal week. I try to eat as skinny as possible. Then on Friday I make the early part of the day as good as possible. Then Fri-Sun night I have fun. I try to negotiaate having some "good meals" or skipping a meal so that at dinner I can just relax and have fun. So far it's working. But I suspect the holiday lattes I've allowed back into my life are spiking my blood sugar and putting me on a rollercoaster with carb/sugar cravings and craving protein like a mofo. So my cals are up up and away!

It is hard. And it's SUPER hard when you compare--it's also human. When I was in WLM, I was losing SO SLOWLY in comparison to everyone else around me. And the last 20lbs took as much time to lose as all the other initial weight. I think a 120lb loss is phenomenal so please give yourself proppahs for an amazing journey well done!! I also understand having a laser focus and being wigged out when the scale is up rather than down! Please stick around and post a lot here so you can get involved and we can all work to support each other. Especially during the crazy craving holiday season! Also, please go fill out your profile so we can see where you started, how old you are, when your surgery was, what kind of surgery, how tall you are, and even a ticker in your signature! Do you plan, weigh and measure your food? What is your daily food intake look like. Are you drinking any alcohol or caloric beverages, eating protein bars, having a lot of protein drinks? Hang in there! It IS hard!!!