Orchids&Dragons

No advice, but have an awesome trip!!!

I agree. I thought it was pretty good, relatively speaking. It is more expensive, though.

Look toward the southeast. I was out around 6:30

That might work!

It's gonna be hard to find one that likes New York winter weather!

Average male 5'7"! They sure don't live around me. Texas must grow 'em big!

Sorry your tummy was unhappy. I doubt it was the drinking, though. That's quite a lot of food for 3 weeks out, even eating just half of it. 1/2 cup max is probably all your pouch can hold.

Nope, gotta get up early. Apparently, it's been very bright for a while now, but I haven't been taking my pre-dawn walks since the last surgery. NBD, I'm used to it. If I plan to take pics, I bring a tripod.

Yup! Christmas star! Kept looking around for the wise men, but I guess (being wise) they were all still asleep ? My hands have always been shaky. Good thing I didn't aspire to be a surgeon!

No, I didn't have my phone with me. But my hands are so shaky the pics would have been a blur anyway ☹️

Check this out! I'm soooo close!

That is the hardest part. We've trained ourselves that food will make us feel better and now we have to find other things to fill that void. I wish I had more to offer but I wish you well ((hug))

Did anyone see Venus this morning? It was shining soooo brightly. Just gorgeous! I was taking a walk before sunrise and I was shocked at how brilliant it was. Didn't recognize it as Venus because it was so bright. Had to google it.

I am so sorry about your Mother. She would have been so proud of you. The operation fixes our stomachs but not our brains. We all like to eat. Not only is the taste pleasurable, but eating releases hormones that make us feel warm and fuzzy. Mentally, you're in a place where you crave more "warm and fuzzy" feelings. You've had a rough year. Cravings are a b!tch. Do you have access to a therapist or even a support group to help you through this?

Chugging isn't good, but you don't need to take tiny sips anymore. That's just in the beginning when everything is swollen. You should be able to drink normally now and if you do, then you shouldn't get so thirsty that you need to chug.

Thank you, but noooooo, you don't want to imitate me! Due to esophagus issues, I was on soft foods for 8 months! Then because of reflux I had a revision from sleeve to bypass on Halloween. It's been a long year. Hope you have a smoother journey ? Do you still have a lap band?

Happy holidays to you and yours!

All the time. We've failed at this so often in the past it's hard to imagine a different outcome

Do you need all 5-6 meals to hit your protein goal? If not, my dietitian was OK with me swapping out a couple of my meals for fruit/veggies.

Yes, I'm thinking this is the way I'll have to go once I'm a bit further out.

I don't any more most of the time. I sometimes forget since I'm retraining myself.

I miss my string bean! I feel utterly out of control. Now I understand regain, it didn't make sense to me before unless you were making really poor choices.

OK, you guys just have to explain this to me: why would anyone do wls that didn't provide restriction? If I were any freaking good at controlling my portions I wouldn't have been obese in the first place.

I had a follow-up with the surgeon yesterday and left feeling hopeless and doomed to failure, again. He was happy to see the wide range of foods I've been able to eat since the revision to bypass, but I told him I was concerned that I didn't feel any restriction at all, even on dense proteins. He said my restriction is gone - period. That when they did the revision, the pouch just empties into the intestine, the food doesn't stay in the pouch at all. He said that its different for a bypass on a "virgin" stomach, they should have restriction, but I won't. I wish I hadn't had the revision surgery. He said, well, with the bypass, you still can't process carbs, they'll go right through you. So I had to tell him that, at least so far, I don't dump on anything, not carbs, not fats, not simple sugars. I'm screwed once my appetite comes back. My tool is gone and I'm utterly devastated.

So long as you can drink without pain, you're fine. At 10 days out, a lot of people can drink normally. Don't gulp, but drinking faster than sipping is fine.