MrsGamgee

So far in the last four weeks, I've had only one day without vomiting. I've come to realize that much of it is triggered by my pills, or eating too soon after taking my pills. And with 10 pills a day, that's a lot of opportunity for them to cause problems. It does raise some concern that I'm not getting the full benefit of my meds/supplements when I'm vomiting so much after I take them. I'm switching my Vitamin D to drops as soon as I run out of my pills, and I should be off my last blood pressure med soon, so that will knock it down to 7 pills. The big culprit is my calcium citrate. It's a huge pill. I crush it and take it with apple sauce, but even that's not 100% successful. I swear managing all the pills is a full time job.

Specific foods, and how I eat (speed, bite size, etc) are still key factors, but at least I am gaining a bit of confidence in trying new things. I managed 2oz of a pork sirloin chop the other day with no adverse effects.

10 hours ago, MusicalKate13 said:

recipes? !

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Gladly! Both are mashups of a two or three different recipes. Obviously, tweak as suits your tastes. The chicken has lots of spices, but isn't spicy.

Moroccan Grilled Chicken

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves grated or finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional (I used a few dashes tabasco because I was out of cayenne)
• zest and juice of half a lemon
• 1 (20-ounce) package boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I did 8 chicken thighs)

In a glass/plastic bowl with a lid, or in a Ziploc bag, combine all the ingredients except the chicken and whisk until well combined. Add chicken to marinade and toss to coat thoroughly. Allow to marinate in the fridge for 2-8 hours (I did 6 hours and it was great). Allow meat to come back to room temp, remove from marinade and pat dry. Grill on medium high for 3-4 minutes a side, until well browned and cooked through. For an added bonus, grill the other half of the lemon, cut side down, and then squeeze the juice over the meat before serving.

Tabbouleh

• 2 bunches flat leaf/Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 bunch mint leaves (remove stems), coarsely chopped
• 4 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 2 cloves garlic, grated or finally chopped
• 1 cup farro
• 1 english cucumber, diced
• 2 medium/1 large Tomato, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook farro in a pot of salted boiling Water according to package directions (takes about 45 minutes for the kind I use, but some take as little as 20 minutes). Drain and set aside. In a large bowl combine parsley, mint, green onions, red onion, cucumber, and tomato. In a small jar combine olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt, and pepper. shake to combine. When farro has cooled slightly, add to herb and veg mix. Toss with dressing. Can be served warm, room temp, or cold.

Both recipes made a ton of food, and managed to satisfy my hubs and summer-hungry wee-lings. I hope you like them.

dinner tonight was awesome! I only wish I could have eaten one more bite. Moroccan grilled chicken thighs (boneless, skinless), tabbouleh (made with farro rather than couscous or bulgar wheat). So very yummy.

I've attached my before and after shots, as well as my 8yo's plate for comparison. She went back for seconds on the salad.   

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1 minute ago, Healthy_life2 said:

I don't rely on the numbers. I focus on my fitness goals.

All watches, exercise machines, apps give estimates of calories burned. I agree, the estimates can be way off. I don’t eat back the extra calories from workout's that myfitnesspal totals. I keep my food in my weight loss calories/macro's range.

I run sustained for an hour (10K run) and lift. In weight loss mode, my diet does not change because of my workout. My diet changes is for half/full marathons. I do a tapper and carb load seven days pre-race to support the intensity and recovery.

I don't eat my exercise calories, I don't touch them. Really, I couldn't eat an extra 400-800 cals if I tried. I'm just a person who likes to know my stats, and it drives me a little dingy to do my 5km every morning and get such different interpretations.

When I was first home from the hospital I was only able to manage a few 10 minute walks each day. I slowly worked up to 20 minutes at a time. About a week and a half post op, I pushed myself too hard and did a 3km walk, and felt awful for a few days. But I'm now managing 5km and other than some muscle aches I'm doing pretty well. Good luck with your surgery!

Hi all,

So I've been getting back into exercising and I've come across a quandary. Both the fitness tracker that I wear, and the one built into my phone (separate apps) show my workout as burning 800ish calories, even though they don't exactly match up on distance. But MyFitnessPal, which I am able to link to one of my fitness tracker apps, only shows that I've burned 400ish calories.

I know they're not exact, but to see such a discrepancy is problematic to me.

How do you interpret what your fitness apps are telling you about your calories burned?

5 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢📢

*Time Out Question*

I'm looking through the arm before photos and EVERYONE'S arms look very normal to me.

Am I just used to my type of arms, or are we not that worse for wear?

👉👈👉👈👉👈👉👈👉👈👉👈👉👈👉👈👉👈👉👈

Maybe a little bit of both? We are all super critical of ourselves so we are quick to point out our self-perceived flaws, but we're also so accustomed to what our arms look like and so it looks normal-ish to us all.

14 hours ago, ms.sss said:

Guest B-side question:

What/where is the best beach you've ever been to/want to go to?

I'm not a beach girl. Never really have been, despite spending my teen years in the sunny Okanagan. Honestly, I find the sand irritating and it's messy... lol. The nicest beach I've ever been to was probably in Spain, but that was more years ago than I care to admit.

Oops... missed yesterday's arm workout. But I still got in my 5km yesterday and today. I'm listening to a fun YA audiobook while I walk. It doesn't help my pace the way music does, but the time goes by faster. Did a mishmash of the arm workouts and my arms feel good and tired.

Yesterday's pic... a beach. Living on the prairies, there aren't many beaches to be had, but there's a man made lake less than an hour away, and we went there for Canada Day last year.

Today's pic... family. A shot from my MIL's 80th birthday celebration.  

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I make my hubs play that game too. I have him go through our acquaintances who are plus size and ask him to compare. He hates it.

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My first cycle post op was on schedule... ish. It was a really wacky cycle, with several days of spotting before anything really happened, and then it was hard core intense for 2 days, then done. Surgery itself can mess us up royally, and then throw in the estrogen (was stored in fat) that's currently being dumped into our systems, the sudden lack of nutrients/vitamins, and our poor bodies get thoroughly confused. I've read some women take a few months for things to regulate again post op.

My personal hormonal battle right now is wicked acne. I've never had acne like this before, even in high school.

Hope things even out for you soon!

Bravo!

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The cravings can get super intense. I've found myself craving things I haven't had in years and years. I go in for major distractions when they get bad. Go for a walk, read a book, do some writing. I've had to seriously talk myself into closing the fridge and walking away from the pantry. I've been doing my best to keep danger foods out of the house, but with a husband and two wee-lings, I'm not always successful, and I swear those damn goldfish crackers call my name.

Canada Day/game day food... 1/2 a grilled smokie (reduced fat and salt) and Tomato wedges. Didn't work out too well, but I had to try.  

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I use them in overnight oats too or chia puddings. I also add them to my homemade vinaigrettes.

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3 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

B-Side Question(s):

Did you have realistic or dysmorphic views of your body prior to surgery? Did it change?

📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷📷

I didn't realize what i looked like until insaw photos... Still the same

I think I was (and still am) rather dysmorphic. The only time it would really hit home was when I would go clothes shopping and in the change rooms at the plus size shop I would frequent they had floor to ceiling mirrors. Getting undressed in front of those mirrors was always a slap to the head about my reality. Now, I'm struggling to see the changes in my body, but that's normal. I have to remind myself to look for little things... I can cross my legs easily now, and yesterday at church, I was sitting with my hands clasped over my stomach and the back of my arms were touching the back of the pew. It was a bit startling to realize that I hadn't felt that before.

Did my 5km walk this morning, used my walking poles. I was slower than a herd of turtles, but I did it. Also did my arm workout.

My before pic of my glorious bat wing... and a pic of my wee boy enjoying the sun and samples at the farmer's market on Saturday. It's thundering here today (Happy Canada Day by the way!), but they say it's supposed to clear up for fireworks tonight.  

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1 minute ago, Jezzabelle360 said:

So funny. They told me to take it and didn't tell me to quit 2 weeks before and I am getting blood work at my appointment in August.

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Wow... well at least they know you're taking it. Even the mayo Clinic says to stop taking it a minimum of two weeks before blood work.

We've had a pretty cool and wet start to summer here on the frozen flatland (Central Alberta), and I've noticed that I haven't needed to put away my double layer fleece blanket yet. I mostly notice the cold in my hands and feet, and it takes forever for them to warm up. The real test will be next winter, I think. I'm normally a stickler for not turning the furnace on until November 1, but I may be singing a different tune in October.

While I can't speak to pregnancy post WLS, other than I've heard that many women do it successfully with the support of their OB and bariatric team, I was an AMA (advanced maternal age) mom for both of my successful pregnancies.

I was 38 when my youngest was born. To be honest, I was the poster child for why fat 'old' ladies shouldn't get pregnant. Both pregnancies brought on complications that were largely weight related. High blood pressure, gestational diabetes (heavily insulin dependant), etc. In my last pregnancy, I underwent a lot of extra testing and scans just to be sure that all was well with the wee boy. But even with those issues, both pregnancies turned out very well. Both of the wee-lings ended up in the NICU for a bit because of their blood sugars, my eldest for only a few hours, my youngest for a few days, but there have been no lasting health issues for them. Both pregnancies ended with C-sections... the second one was scheduled because it was less than 1.5 years after my first.

Talk to your doctors... your pcp, your ob, and your bariatric team. Let them know what your plans are so that you all can be on the same page about your goals. I commend you for taking control of your health before moving forward with another potentially high risk pregnancy. Good luck to you for your surgery and growing your family!

Your pharmacist may be able to answer that too.

Hair loss is something that I think is pretty inevitable, only the degree of loss will vary from person to person. As has been mentioned, Biotin doesn't really help with the loss, just with the regrowth. And please make sure your medical team knows that you're taking it. You need to stop taking it 2 weeks before any blood work. It can be read as a thyroid problem.

I eat between 600-750 calories a day, and I'm 6 weeks out. I know that once I'm able to ditch the Protein Shakes that will come down. Exercise isn't consistent yet (that's July's goal), but I'm shooting for 5km walk per day, 5 days per week. At least for the good weather months.

There were some carbs (oatmeal, mashed potatoes) on my soft foods diet. I do a 1/4-1/3 cup of oatmeal 6 mornings a week (done as refrigerator oats, mixed with Protein Powder, chia seeds, greek yoghurt, and almond milk).

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It sounds to me like he would really benefit from attending an info seminar. He may be more inclined to accept info about how WLS actually works from a medical professional. Having your primary support people on board is important.

And your question about hair loss... I don't know that there's a real difference between those who get the sleeve vs. those who get bypass. One of my SIL had sleeve, the other RnY and both lost about the same amount of hair. I had RnY and am on track to lose a bit more hair than either of them. I think genetics and Protein consumption play significant roles. My personal outlook on Hair loss is that if it means my co-morbidities are brought under control and/or eliminated, then I can live with less hair for a while. Me bald is better than me missing limbs due to diabetes or dead from a heart attack.