FluffyChix

Gosh I honestly could NOT remember how to find the thread yesterday!!! TY yall for posting and bringing it back to trending topics!! Yesterday was like the third day of hungry hungry heifer. So I threw more protein at the hunger and tried to keep "containment". I was really starting to worry last night about it, if this was a new phase or if my carbs were giving me bg issues and insulin probs. But I think I was just in a protein deficit. I've read a recent study on obesity theory that talks about hunger increases when protein is kept too low over a long period of time? And that once you eat and eat and eat until your protein "reserves" (kinda sorta) are refilled, your hunger hormones will be psycho killers. Interestingly, after eating so much protein over the past 3 days, I woke up prepared to fight the urge to eat and low and behold...I wasn't hungry until around 12:30pm. I had my same lattes to get my extra protein in, but didn't feel inclined to eat breakfast. I had a huge lunch and now feel totally satisfied with an abscence of food cues or cravings. So maybe there is something to that theory? It will be interesting to see how the rest of the day shakes out from here. Planning a salad with shrimp tonight @ms.sss (oh yes, I'm talking about you Missy! The salad queen!) @Tracyringo wooohooooo! And BAM! Just like that baybbbbbby! You are back in your window! It feels ridiculously good, doesn't it? Congrats!! Your menus have looked so yummy and gorgeous! @ms.sss I seriously heart you! Love your menus. Love that you are fearless about trying different things and love that you're able to eat late and not gain! I've been having some nightly snacking going down...it's mostly corralled, but it gives me hope that I can have my cake peanut butter and cheese and eat it too! hehe. Ok, so here goes: Thursday 11.07 - Maintenance : 5'4" / 57y F/ 19.5mo PO RNY / 130.6 lbs B-Protein lattes (4oz PP) L-Green Soup (ate it in 2 portions) AS-1/2c 2% Daisy Cottage Cheese + pepper (YUM!) + 1 frigo lite cheese stick D-atlantic salmon mustard coated + broccoli in garlic + avo/tom BS-Longhorn cheddar + peanut butter Daily Totals: 1006 cals; 97g protein; 53g fat; 36g carbs; 9g fiber; 27g net carbs (Oh and I didn't walk yesterday. I was so exhausted and just felt flat and empty without reserves. So I took a day off. But this morning I woke up, peppy, full of energy, jazzed for the day and ran = rawlked for 55 minutes straight.)

Yep. Sorry. Should have said the crab would be perfect...it was exactly the cream cheese and mayo that would have sent me to the morgue. LOL. Especially early days, I did not do well with heavy, fatty dishes. I still don't.

Happy Happy 2 Year Anniversary!! You're a rockstar!!! Congrats. I've loved watching your journey and am inspired by you!!! Thanks for keeping us motivated, positive, and filling the place with fun, humor and joy!!! ((hugs))

So sorry to hear this. Call your surgeon's office and talk to his office assistant/nurse. I'm sure you can reschedule. I hope your dad continues to improve. I'm sorry you are experiencing this!! ((hugs))

We know nothing about you. Maybe fill out your profile so we can see how far out you are, what kind of surgery you had, etc. Simple and low fat low cal is best to maximize your weight loss during this brief honeymoon period. People typically lose their most weight in the first 2 months when they don't or can't eat much and what little they do eat is very low in calories, high in nutrients and protein. I skipped puree. I was able to go per my doc to mushies, but I ate puree level stuff (fork mashable). I had things like: tuna and egg salad mixed with 2% cottage cheese and greek yogurt and dijon canned chicken with low cal/low carb gravy and smashed cauliflower soups (broths and cream with extra protein) chili (not so good--too much fat and too much spice) yogurt + cottage cheese + apple sauce (unsweetened) green smoothies foil wrapped fish canned veg or frozen veg cooked until death

Sorry you are experiencing your reality. But I don't share your reality. My team over the 6 months leading up to the surgery prepared me FULLY. And I did my due-diligence to learn what I needed to do to take responsibility for my mood, emotions, and well being. I did this by research, reading and talking with many, many, many people here and on other sites to help me deal with expectations. I was not blindsided by one single thing--including how tough it is in the first few days. My team warned me about the temporary buyers' remorse many patients seem to experience. They did not expect my recovery to be difficult. In fact, they told me I was over-dramatizing the expectations--that it would be so so so easy. It was. I kept questioning if I really had surgery. Actually the ONLY thing I wasn't prepared for was for how frickin' dickin' easy it was to recover from this surgery. But I also worked my a*s off pre-surgery for 6 months getting rid of habits, breaking up with foods that had their hold on me, and was low carb, caffeine free, booze free, stimulant free...so recovery was not also a time of detoxing. I never once had any regret. I just felt this ENORMOUS feeling of gratitude to have the opportunity to reclaim my life and get rid of the pain and suffering from being diseased and super MO.

OMG! Love that outfit on you both!!! Isn't she adorable? Love the smile and the whole style she sports! Beautiful, classy lady!!! (And you as well SillyKitty, but you know I'm a fangirl. )

Don't test the envelope. Follow your doc's progression and limits for you so you maximize your time and protect your healing tummy. I didn't feel restriction until about month 3 or 4. Until then, my nerves were healing and weren't giving good signals to my brain. So I ate on a schedule and only ate what I was supposed to eat in a meal volume determined by my doc and RD. I too had no trouble getting fluids in or taking in yogurt. I felt no restriction--until month 3-4. But by following the rules, I was at my Goal #1 by month 8 I think? I can eat more than others to this day. Always could. That is why the myth of restriction is a myth. Pouch size is only important and significantly associated with lack of loss or regain when volume exceeds 9oz by volume. That is right at my volume level. I can hold 9-10oz of cottage cheese by volume. It is more important HOW you fill your pouch and even more importantly, HOW OFTEN you fill it. Fill it with low cal, low fat, high protein, low carb, intensely nutritious food and you should not have issues...

As @GreenTealael said, the only way through it is through it. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Right now THE most important thing is liquid. Get your water in. Get up early if you need to in order to accomplish this. It's vital to your health and can quickly land you in the ER if you don't. Plus the bonus is, the more hydrated you keep your new tool, the easier time you will have in your protein drinks. Tips for getting your protein and water in: Vary the temperature and find the one your pouch prefers the most. That's the temp of both protein and water (both count towards fluid totals for the day) where things go down easiest with the least pain. Vary the thickness of your protein and water to find the thickness that is the easiest to go through your tool. The thinnest would be water, the thickest would be like a Premier Protein RTD drink or cream soup. I had the best results by cutting PP RTD drinks with things like decaf coffee, decaff tea, water, unsweetened cashew or almond milk, fat free Fairlife or other Protein Milk, etc. Vary the strength of your protein to find a sweetness level that you tolerate. I did best with a 50/50 mix of PP RTD and Isopure Drinks also Premier Protein Clear mixed with fluids that cut the sweetness such as fat free Fairlife Milk or Mootopia (adds protein from the milk), decaff coffee, decaff tea, water. Add unflavored whey protein to soups, both broths and strained creamed soups. This gives a savory protein option. Also BP Store here has lots of lovely individually packaged protein soups. Use fat free Fairlife or Protein Milk to thin soups too, for even more protein. Make yogurt soup using Premier Protein RTD drinks mixed with Greek yogurt or Kefir (both fat free). For the first week or so don't worry too much about your protein. Focus on getting a minimum of 64oz of liquid made up from water, decaff coffee, decaff tea, protein drinks, warm cocoa (sf protein style), popsicles (sf), ice chips, whatever you need to function. The last tip I have for you is that we all have an individual level of emotional maturity. Temper tantrums and rants are sometimes necessary to vent emotions but left unchecked can be detrimental. Not only to you but to your immediate peers in a support group. I found that when I took my power back and seized action by reframing the situation, my mood and outlook improved. The energy drain was stopped. And the future looked brighter and more hopeful. I would really encourage you to take your control back and plan your actions for success. It truly helps. Hope you feel better soon. Oh and don't forget to walk! Walk it off. Walk walk walk. It helps with the hunger, helps with mood, helps with strength.

Thank you! Those are our "sock monkey boys". LOL. They play socker and get us out of a lot of "things" when we need them to.

Your thighs have changed in the last couple months! They were fabulous before, but they look so amazingly toned and perfectly proportioned to you waist and hiney! (Not that they didn't before, but you look smaller all over and you were small to begin with!! )

beautiful! Spanx or no spanx? Your legs and figure are amazeballs!

I honestly think it's too soon to tell for me. For the last 9 months really, I was certain of these things: 1. Was certain I'd stopped losing around 140-145 lbs. The scale was neither going up nor down no matter too much of what I did. I'd eat bad choices with about 2000cals (food/booze) and gain like a champ. So quickly. But then would go back to WLM eating and it would eventually return to my baseline 140-145lbs. Then for no reason, I drop into a new half decade. 2. Was certain I'd stopped losing around 135-140 lbs. See above. Was CERTAIN I'd never hit 130lbs. Remember? I even asked y'alls permission to change my goal to 135lbs so I could call Goal and get the stress off of me. Then I dropped. 3. Now lately I've been defending 130-135 lbs. This time, it's really about eating maintenance cals of average 1100-1200 ish average per day over a week. I'm eating in maintenance cals (or so I think since I gain very easily if I eat and drink freely). But one day last week, I saw 129lbs which leads me to believe I may still be dropping. I truly believe that the RNY surgery helped me metabolically defend new lower set points without upping my hunger hormones or other fat storage hormones. I think that's the only way I'm losing now. But I also honestly don't know how many more cals I need in order to maintain. Cuz truly, it's not maintenance for me, it's simply gaining and losing the same 5 lbs ad-nauseum. Some days I feel like Sysiphus (sp?). LOL Or GHDWL (Ground Hog Day Weight Loss=gaining and losing the same lbs all over again world without end amen.) Here's my weight loss graph to illustrate this. I purposely try to eat more each weekend in order to test your theory that upping the cals then ups the metabolism or keeps my body guessing.

Hahaha! I sooo get it!!! Congrats on maintaining so well!!

No. They are very tight and stretchy though. I will try to remember to take a pic of the tag later. They do really lift my saggy bottom up though! LOL.

How cool!! I'll beta test it. Thanks for the tip about iron absorption! Does it need to be red meat? And does it matter if a tiny bit of cheese is consumed in the meal? Think about 5-14g of cheese on a salad as part of the salad matrix?

Wow! Thanks so much for reaching out and updating/educating me!!! You should totally make an iron supp with your formulation. I would totally be on board to buy it! I'd be on board to do the meal replacement as long as it doesn't stain my teeth or contain soy!! I love Celebrate Iron Chewables (the chalky not the soft chews) in tangerine, but they turn my tongue black and stain my teeth. Can you tell me, does eating chicken livers, calf liver, liverwurst help our iron absorption at all, or would we have to eat such a significant quantity of it daily to affect changes?

Oh man...must have blue cheese dip! So the dry rub wings are good? Which flavor do you get? I've been tempted to order those but am scared of hidden sugar in the rubs... Ahhh the syrup. I just figured that 2 bites might not make a huge impact! Booo! ((hugs)) Good to know on the honey wings!

Thank you! It's difficult for me to look at the side image. The tighter jeans show how pouchy my fold-over tummy flap is and how it sticks out like a belleh. The bigger pants don't make the stick out pooch quite so noticeable...but they make me overall look bigger. You know? All magic has a price. LOL. Smaller pants = more thigh compression and smaller looking legs with a tiny bit of thigh gap = tight tummy = poochy belleh. hahahaha

There is a hierarchy of needs in WLS just as in life-a Maslow's Hierarchy of sorts. I think it looks quite a lot like this one below that I just made up. We all advance on the rungs at different rates. And for me, the looking/feeling sexy came WAY after a lot of other "stuff." It was not my primary motivation. But each of us have different reasons for our WHY. They are all valid regardless of where they plug into the ladder (hierarchy). I couldn't even address what I call my "vanity pound weight loss" = the last 10-15lbs, until I was there...and that took me 140ish pounds and 2 years to get there... WLS Hierarchy of NEEDS Ladder: BONUS! Yahtzee!!! The thirteenth (bonus) rung up from there is SELF-ACTUALIZATION 12. The twelfth rung up from there is to REACH PERSONAL WEIGHT GOALS 11. The eleventh rung up from there is a DESIRE TO CLAIM SEXINESS/BEAUTY/ALL-THAT-AND-A-BUCKET-OF-CHEESE 10. The tenth rung up from there is an INCREASED DESIRE FOR ACTIVITY/SOCIALIZATION 09. The nineth rung up from there is SHOPPING (hehe) 08. The eighth rung up from there is not feeling afraid to be EXPOSED RATHER THAN INVISIBLE 07. The seventh rung up from there is IMPROVED/NEW RELATIONSHIPS/JOB/FINANCES 06. The sixth rung up from there is CHANGING NEEDS/DEMANDS FROM RELATIONSHIPS 05. The fifth rung up from that is IMPROVED CONFIDENCE 04. The fourth rung up from that is FEELING BETTER EMOTIONALLY 03. The third rung up from that is FEELING BETTER PHYSICALLY 02. The second rung up from that is GETTING OFF MEDS 01. The bottom foundation for most of us is: HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS

Yeah, I'd heard that too, but so many VSGers here have issues with RH and dumping. So was just curious. I know @ms.sss had shared that she does have issues with dumping. So was wondering if the honey wings had beaten her down yesterday. (Sorry to hear that about coffee for you! That's got to suck!) Is your dumping just diarhea or do you get the full-on sweats, shakes, feeling like you're gonna hurl, and have heart speed up, feeling like your gonna die? I'm wondering about the same thing with the stoma v. the valve. But I think the valve still empties your stomach faster than normal per Dr. Matthew Weiner? I can eat 3-4oz of protein (dry dense) and around 3-4oz of veggies (when 2 of those ounces are slider veggies like avocado and tomato=total sliders for me). I will eat 1-2oz of a dense al dente veggie like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, etc. I eat this in about a 20-45 minute window. I'm satisfied, but not overly full. And I rarely use meat lube, sauces, or casseroles that make food more sliderish. All snacktastic stuff is a slider for me. I could eat a whole box of cheezits. Or a whole can of Pringles if I wanted...

I had dumping sensations. -ish. I was thinking more about the honey chicken wings. I adore BWW Asian Wings but if I eat 2, then 2 hours later I'm fetal on the bathroom floor. I do kinda miss them--a LOT! Though it does still take me a relatively long time. See that's what I thought. I figured you ate over an extended period. I can eat a lot in a 30-45 minute window. When counting chicken wings, do you count by piece or by actual chicken-wing equivalent I count them per piece of wing (drummette + flat = 2 pieces). I just use Buffalo Wild Wings in MFP and do them nekkidy then add the sauce quantity. Cuz I get sauce on the side any more and get the wings traditional, extra crispy.

I'm so sorry this continues to sadden you. ((hugs)) I had to let that sh*t go. Like Elsa...set it free. LOL. Cuz it would have eaten me alive had I chosen to keep it. Hope you find your way to the point where you can set the garbage on the curb. Give it one last one-finger-salute then walk away without looking back. You know this is your theme song right? Or maybe this...