Biddy zz 🏳️🌈

For a while post surgery I relied on the own-branded protein soups you get from the bariatricpal store. I bought a mixed pack and tried them all to pick my favourite. @Newbie34can you post a photo of the protein h2go bottle? I have never seen it here in New Zealand, I don’t think...

Hi there I had a band for years and we had to play with it for a long time but over or underfilling, a slippage, reflux, a breakage, an abscess - none of it made me nauseous. The slippage hurt, made me cough. It felt - dull pain. I wonder if it is something unconnected to the band? A bug, maybe. (Pregnancy springs to mind? None of my business of course but...) I reckon check out all the other options? Are you eating ok, swallowing ok?

I was in hospital (open surgery) and my spouse’s dad hasd a heart attack the morning after the surgery, went into a coma for 4 days and then died. So of course I was alone. And it was fine. I went to a hotel three days after surgery, for a week. Pretty much had to tend to myself and it was ok. I couldn’t’ve Gone shopping, but with basic supplies in I could make shakes, get cottage cheese and mix it with flavourings, make powdered protein soups - everything I needed to get by. I rested, did small walks. Emotionally it was tough - but come here! Plenty of understanding folks to chat with!!

That can last ages. I know I couldnt really eat scrambled egg for months - it sort of gummed up. Others report not being able to eat bread (I can but mostly don’t) or meat. What’s your issues?

Good about the food. The marathon thing is hard. I know in my first three months it felt so danged slow - but 5he weight graph I kept on myfitnesspal says otherwise - no-one noticed, I was a bit disheartened. But then it just kept going and going and I was averaging 3lb a week and then 2lb a week and I overshot my goal, and overshot my new goal. I weigh daily - I loved graphing the loss. Of course being the ocd I am, then I worried about how to STOP the weight loss (a real thing!) but it all worked out. I know it is hard but focus on your protein, your eating habits, not snacking. What will your new forever-routines look like? Because now is the time to experiment, invent your alternative go-to foods, and set your new eating habits. You’ll have some stalls (about a month is common - can last a week or two! But it passes) and in those stalls I always found I dropped a clothing size! And despite the stalls, if you eat on programme, and start exercising well, that weight just drifts off, a little each day. It is magic! And hard work re the eating habits, and starv8ng out the carb cravings, tho! x

I am a year out - and some things STILL feel awkward! Do you mean mentally? Like, after dinner and not really hungry, fruit ‘feels wrong’ where desert would have felt right! Or morning tea, it ‘feels wrong’ to have coffee without the biscuit! I am surprised these things are still weird. My old habits still pop up as ‘normal eating’ for me. I reckon it might take years to change THAT - and to break the snacking habit all together!

Hi there Try to ride this bit out. The pooping will settle (does your surgical team know?) and when it does - well, there’s 6 pounds! But seriously, 18 lbs in 4 weeks is GREAT! Have you ever lost like that before? That is actually pretty decent going! This is a marathon, not a sprint, remember. How’s the eating plan going? Have you found protein that works etc?

Welcome to the losers’ bench! Yep, it is 100% normal. I became half convinced I had been cut open, sewn up, no surgery - and I have seen many other threads of people saying the same! But you are eating less, once you are back on a more normal eating regime you’ll see the impact. Stick to your plan and this is the best thing in the world!

You might find using a NutriBullet to mix is better than a blender, if you have one. I do this and add ice - get myself a protein slushie. Mmmmmmm.....

My surgeon says that the ‘soda Can stretch your pouch’ is a myth - why would it stretch your pouch when there is an easy exit (burping)!! And heavy overeating is the stretch culprit! Anyway, I was a huge soda (and then, when I got fat, diet soda) drinker. Not I drink carbonated water from a sodastream, and add lemon slices or watermelon bits or occasionally 10% low sugar cranberry juice as a flavour. No stomach stretching at all, one year out!

Oh man, you are gorgeous! You looked lovely and friendly before, but now you have great muscles too! All round winning, I would say. Well done - this programme isn’t easy, and you have clearly worked your butt off. Literally 🤣

Last Christmas, I was one week post op. Sore hips, knees. Versus now. Running, diving, cycling and loving a whole new life, 100lbs lighter. A smooth run all year, rigid adherence to my programme for the first 9 months, more relaxed in maintenance mode but hold myself in a 133-137 lb range with good diet (lowish protein - except today because it is Christmas so I am relaxed about it!) and 80g protein a day (ham and turkey are ON my plan today!) and exercise. Love love love this new life.

This time a year ago, I was lying in hospital having had open surgery. I had my gastric band removed, including the port which had been replaced using mesh which had rolled up and caused a few issues including abscesses and infections on and around my liver. I had the band removed, and a ‘fobi pouch’ variety of the RNY - with a slightly longer but narrower stomach than is usual, with a small silastic ring sutured loosely around its middle - no stomach stretching for me! Initially I made my weight goal the same as my gastric band low - 80kg (176lbs) and then as the weight dropped, reset it at the top of the ‘not overweight bmi’ range for my height 70kg (156lbs) - this seemed wildly optimistic to me. I dropped just below that at my 6 month mark - remember, though, I was a ‘lightweight’ at the start at 106kg (234lbs) pre surgery, down from my 260 top weight pre the gastric band 10 years ago. I dropped another few kilos when I got gallstones, bringing me down to about 145lbs or so, and all together pretty healthy and happy. But getting OFF my weighloss treadmill (metaphorical) was a challenge. Changing to maintenance eating was harder than I imagined, and giving away that desire to see the scales drop a small bit every morning was very hard indeed. I could see how eating disorders could take root at that point! Anyway, in July I decided that if I was going to have a successful maintenance, exercise needed to be a regular feature in my life. I started the Couch 2 5k programme using an app, and from not being able to run for one full minute at the beginning, I now run 5-8km (3-4 miles) three times a week, and do weights at the gym the other four days. And I am loving LOVING the new me! Being mid 50s and starting running is a bit unusual, but building muscles long since forgotten is a new challenge and I love seeing the gains. Running a bit faster has replace being a bit lighter. Lifting a bit heavier has the added bonus of toning and making that lose skin a bit less bothersome! I eat 1200 calories a day, including 70-80g protein at least. I have three meals a day, with one healthy snack - necessary to get the calories up - I really needed to stop losing weight as I got down to 130lbs briefly and it felt TOO light - 135-137 is a good range for me, mostly psychologically! I try to limit useless carbs - if I eat sweet rubbish (even sweetener instead of sugar) the sweet cravings return with a vengeance. I suspect this is addiction-like and I will have to guard against backsliding in this area for a long long time. The worst part of the journey? - dealing with people constantly asking when I will stop losing weight, telling me I am too thin, telling me I am taking it too far etc. Only women, by the way - blokes have been uniformly complimentary. Most women too - I love being told I look strong. People comment on how much more energy I have, how strong I seem. People literally don’t recognise me in the street. I see them thinking ‘I think I know this person’ and then jolting in surprise. I have not one, single bad word to say about this whole experience - but, I utterly, religiously and with the help of many here, stuck to my programme. No excuses. Some slips - but straight back in the saddle (after a ‘penance’ session on the hated elliptical!) THIS WORKS.

Cycling on a real bike without an electric motor, making it all the way to work and then home AND looking like I fit. When I started this journey, sitting on my bike with its skinny tyres in my red jacket, I always thought I looked a bit like a candy apple!!

I worried about this, due to long-term hip pain that NSAIDs dealt with well. But since surgery, weight loss, gym strength training - I have needed painkillers only twice all YEAR (previously that was a typical week!) both for headaches. I used codeine and it worked fine. I have been amazed by my medication decreases...

Seriously @GreenTealael - six pies times the square root of 23? That is 28.77 pies. That is a LOT of pie......

The usual advice in this situation is - find your old eating plans and get back to the beginning, start again, try and catch the passion you felt for this new life back then. If you don’t still have your eating plan, there are plenty in the food and nutrition area - borrow one, make it your only life mission for a while. Hard work but really worth it...

The gallstone pain was - well, entire abdominal would be the best explanation. It certainly wasn’t in any way localized. I have heard it said it is one of the more significant pain events one can experience. I’d attest to that!

No! I don’t have that!! Or the eraser. I am gonna complain. This is discrimination, taking away my freedom of speech-erasure. Or maybe I’ll Download the recent iPhone software update and see if that works!

No I can’t find the little s with a line thru! I want one!!! I have only the usual three: B I and U

Starting 7 days of MACAW (Meat and Cheese and Wholefoood). Plus three runs to total 15 miles, and three strength sessions with a weight step up in one each of leg, arm and core exercises. Monday (tomorrow) disappears into the magical ether of international flights so that can’t be a strength training day - but I will count it for zero carbs 😂🤣😂 Health week!

Fantastic. Clean, healthy eating week - you’re on. Good initiative.

Sounds horribly like my gallstones... a known side effect of bypass surgery (well, rapid weight loss really). Mine hit me in Hong Kong Airport! 3 hours of waves of intense pain, bad diarrhoea, feel like vomiting until after a bowel motion, then it settled to milder pain, less sweating, but 1/2 hour later started all over again. See your doc. It isn’t normal - and if it is gallstones, the surgery is quick and simple...

Are you talking the gas they pump in to your body cavity at surgery, and getting it gone? If so, then walking, moving about, and time. Nasty, but it does pass. Indigestion tablets don’t really help much because the gas is outside your digestive system! Or are you talking intestinal gas - like a need to fart? Not passing wind? Then tablets can help, but also look at your diet. If you have just had surgery - welcome to the “loser’s bench”. It is a wild ride, but life changing!

Hi y’all I won’t join you but I am gonna just do a low carb week, no “treats” and good healthy eating. My wife is a vegetarian who personally struggles with my eating meat any time she has to see (or smell) it, but is supportive given my surgery. An all-meat-all-week week would do her head in! That said, if anyone is interested in a special meat and cheese week from 18th Dec up to (but I think not including!) Christmas Day, I am in! That is a ‘batchelor’ week for me, with my other half having already headed off to family, and I don’t join them all until late on 24th. So that week I have been planning steak, pork ribs, black pudding, bacon... mmmmmmmmm