Pearldrop

eggs Benedict is one of my all time favorite things to get at a local restaurant. Even if I get the half order...which I'm glad they offer...I still have left overs, and Eggs Benedict really doesn't reheat or travel well.
I get that it feels like a shame scraping that into the trash.
Ask anyone at your table if they have a dog. If I have leftovers we can't eat, pretty often my puppy gets a treat.
And yep...she loves Eggs Benedict.
At least someone gets to enjoy it that way:)

I knew going into this that there was going to be some food waste. I really didn't think it would bother me. But it does.
I eat out very frequently due to traveling for work. Even appetizers are much more than I can consume. For instance at an Italian restaurant I ordered meatballs, it came with 5, I could eat one. I've ordered carpaccio, seared tuna, etc, even smaller appetizer portions are wasteful. I do best with a cup of Soup, but more often than not it's cream based it seems.
Of course sometimes the appetizers are either not appealing or not a healthy-ish choices, so I have to order a main. That is even more waste. It is ridiculous to have a whole plate of food be tossed after eating only about 2 oz of it. This also keeps me from sometimes ordering what I really want, like fresh fish or lamb. Even though it's not my money, I can't justifying ordering a dish that costs $40+ just to see it thrown away. I'll order the chicken or a salad instead..
The eating out waste even happens when I'm home. I'll take home leftovers but not have time to eat most of it before I have to leave town.
Unfortunately this issue even spills over when I'm at home too. Cooking is discouraging because small portions are hard. Two oz dried Protein Pasta, 2 meatballs and a half cup of sauce is 4 meals. Some of my favorite meals in the Instapot or slow cooker are just impossible to scale down. I only have so much freezer space. Fortunately I have a good rotation of prepared or simple food that are healthy in the house. But I miss some of the things I used to cook.
Last week when I was traveling I struggled with hunger. I'm unsure if it was real hunger or head hunger, since they are sometime tough for me to distinguish between. I made some not so smart choices with what I ate. So I wanted to set myself up to eat healthily this weekend. I grilled some fish and veggies. I peeled and sliced up a cucumber. I made some fat free coleslaw. And now I'm leaving in the morning, and most of that is going to go into the trash.
I know I can somewhat control the waste at home. I need to buy chicken tenders, instead of full breasts for instance, buy just a few spears of asparagus. But it just feels like the rest of it is going to be my life forever now. I'm not even getting into the attention my eating habits attract when I'm dining with colleagues and customers.
I don't regret my sleeve at all. I love being satisfied after eating so little. I am just taken by surprise how much all the food waste I generate gets me down.

See, seafood is one I can already cross off because I don’t like it!! Lol

I had a food funeral today. Allowed myself a little bbq at a restaurant here. What's surprising is I didn't eat much. I'm actually full, because I've been trying to prep myself for my surgery and pre op diet. My husband says he's taking me out for seafood (final food funeral) next weekend and than pre op diet.

Hate to mention this....but you're probably not even close to done with the dietitian. Your dietitian will likely do your presurgical diet instructions, your post surgical diet instructions... and will probably want to see you regularly after surgery as you start to introduce new foods. I just saw my dietitian for my 6 month check up.
I'm glad to be done for 6 months, though:) Have to see both my doc and dietitian at one year.
Very best wishes on your upcoming surgery!

I did my 6th and final visit with the dietician Thursday! So they are submitting ASAP and I should have an answer from insurance within 2 weeks. Excited and nervous. I've been very busy and stressed at work and so I'm not looking forward to finding time to take off but my office manager is great at working with me. I'm a dental hygienist so basically we are just recheduling a week's patients, because I'm already booking appointments for December and January so there's no way around it. I can't plan my life 6-7 months in advance! Anyway, just wanted to update everyone. Looking forward to having some surgery buddies when I know my date!
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Update: Third trimester!!! So far so good!!! Baby is healthy! Mom is healthy!!!

Due to my being a Bariatric patient the glucose testing has been altered. Testing glucose levels 4 times a day, first fasting and 2 hours after every meal for 7 Days. So far so good. Ready to ride this last stretch out with minimal weight gain and a happy and healthy mom and new baby girl💜💕💞🙏🏽 Total wt gain thus far=10-14lbs. 😔

I’m about 3 weeks shy of my 2-year surgiversary. My husband and I are expecting our 2nd child, 1st one after WLS. My surgeon’s goal weight loss was 100 lbs. I lost 90 lbs prior to this pregnancy. I still track my daily intake on MFP and make support group meeting when possible. Prior to this pregnancy I consumed about 150 less calories/day. My OB/GYN says she thinks I can make it through this pregnancy with only a 10lb weight gain. Unfortunately, any amount of weight gain terrifies me. At 18 weeks visit I was up 3 lbs . Baby is healthy, we are expecting a girl & hoping I can make it with very little weight gain and reach goal weight ASAP after our baby girl is born.

Hello, I am eating Jello and yogurt so far. My throat is still sore from the incurbation so swallowing is a challenge but it is getting better. I have my 1st week follow-up tues. also I’m not hungry. what are eating?

I had the sleeve surgery on June 5. I weighed 222lbs that day, my heaviest was 247 in January. I lost 13 pounds by myself and then 12 on the liquid diet. I threw my scale out before the liquid diet so I won't obsess with it. I am meeting my nutritionnist next week and i will weigh in then.

I am curious about what you're eating at that point.

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Congratulations on reaching your goal. You look fantastic, such a beautiful smile

Mine was 4 June. My heaviest is what I was on day of surgery. Over the past 18 months I gained 20kgs (44 pounds).
Im feeling great so far but am staying off the scales until the 30 June. I’m concentrating on Water & Protein intake for the first month. I know I’ll drop weight as I’m not eating a lot.
I’m meeting with my nutritionist next week to talk about calorie & protein goals for my soft/mushy food stage.
im looking forward to seeing everyone meet their goals

So today I made goal! Here I am, one week shy of six months post surgery, and my official BMI is ‘normal’. Not overweight and not obese, any more.
So I know that having blooming gallstones has helped with this last few pounds - eating low fat (gallstones), low Protein (liver damage) and low carb (dumping syndrome) is pretty restrictive, but I will have my gallbladder out in a week or two (that will drop me another 1/4 pound 🤣) and then I am into my maintenance diet.
And here, the difference:

Well, I am home “on leave” for the weekend, back tomorrow for a blood test and back in bed Monday. Liver function tests are slowly reducing, so that is good. If they get to ‘normal’ then I go on a non-acute wait list for surgery 26th June and hope no gall bladder event before that. If they don’t then it is more urgent and I will get acute patient surgery this week.
Meanwhile eating is a challenge, no sugar (dumping), low Protein (damaged liver) and avoid all fat (gall bladder) so lettuce is my friend! And chickpeas.
But looking on the bright side - I am only 1 lb from goal now!!

I made my husband throw away the rest of the feta after I snacked on it AGAIN just now. I neglected to say this in my earlier post but whether I'm not tolerating it period or just the amounts of it, it's not agreeing with me and gives me cramping nausea feelings. And yet despite that I haven't been able to stop snacking on it since last night when I bought it... whether it's the creaminess, the saltiness, the funkiness, whatever it is-- it's too much for my pleasure-starved brain AND for my poor little RNY. That's the only thing I've eaten in the last 22 days that's given me an upset stomach. So... bingeing (not really sure if "bingeing" is the right term) on feta cheese is a mistake. I'm glad I've learned that. I wish I didn't have to feel like garbage to have learned it, though. Trying to sip my Water and deep-breathe through the bad tummy feelings.
It just goes to show that WLS is NOT brain surgery... the desire to keep mindlessly eating something for the taste alone is still up there in the ol' noggin... d*mn you, dopamine!!!
Hopefully this does not set me back in the eating department the way the hummus did. Crossing my fingers that after a good night's sleep I'll be ready for some more wholesome and less addictive food choices.

Oh, also! My blood pressure today was 109/75!

Tomorrow (today) I have my rescheduled post-op visit with the surgeon! I have gone against my word and been weighing myself every day - that obsessive mindset is so hard to shake no matter how much I tell myself not to engage it. My weight has been bouncing around from 323 to 325 for just about 8 or 9 days now, so I'm still in the 17-19 lb range lost since surgery. Of course I would have loved another week of an 8-10 lb loss but so far things just ain't moving. I'm irritated but not concerned... I know it will move, and after tomorrow's appointment I'm going to try my damnedest not to get back on the scale until the 17th for a one-month weigh-in!
I've been much happier since I started taking my Vitamins earlier this week; I'm not exactly sure what could be in them that would boost my mood, but I'm all for it! I'm taking the Bariatric Fusion chewables. So far I like the tropical flavor and don't particularly care for the mixed berry. They are definitely a mouthful, regardless of the flavor! I'm still taking pantoprazole and just started actigall, plus my AD. So I have a very simple twice a day pill routine and I don't have to worry about spacing things or remembering to take pills at various hours, etc. I'm really pleased with this, so far!
Belly pain is minimal, just a few zaps from around the numb area here and there. Bowel movements are easy to pass and regular. Eating has been getting easier as the days go by and to be entirely truthful I think it's because I'm not really following the puree rules. Unless the food is naturally pureed (mashed potatoes, applesauce) I'm either mashing with a fork (banana w/ peanut butter) or just mushing it to bits in my mouth before swallowing (potato Soups, tuna). Maybe the puree texture was what was really messing with my mind. I still can't do the hummus ever since I had the meltdown that set off the eating issues. (Disclaimer: please follow your surgeon's guidelines instead of going off-track like me!)
Possibly because of the added textures from the not-so-pureed foods, I've finally started feeling some feedback from my pouch here and there. I still haven't had any issues with what I'm eating, I seem to tolerate it all fine - but I do think I've been eating too fast because I definitely got some feedback after eating quickly, once yesterday and twice today so I'm going to work on "bariatric etiquette" including putting my fork down between bites and separating food and Water. What I felt was mostly a weird, squeezing sensation (maybe a very low-grade pain) in my pouch with a very loud, overwhelming STOP! signal attached. It almost feels like a vagal response, like the first little bit of fuzz in your brain when you are about to faint. I don't actually faint or anything, though! And I'm still so happy that I haven't (yet) had vomiting, slimes, foamies, nausea, etc. or anything of the sort. I feel very lucky in that regard.
I still don't have any sense of hunger or fullness. I'm eating because I know I should and stopping when my serving is gone. Maybe as I head into week four (can't believe it's been 3 weeks post-op today!!!!) I'll start getting some of those senses.
I have had some cravings for gross, fatty food recently and I think it's because I've been eating a lot of prepared/purchased food, like Beans from Taco Bell and mashed potatoes from Bojangle's. So I'm still keying into that "alone in my car going to drive-throughs" ritual that was such a problem for me. It also may be because I've chosen to reincorporate animal products, particularly cheese, in the soups and such that I've been eating. Because, to be frank, almost all the cravings I've been having are for products either made of or covered with cheese! Crispy melty mozzarella sticks, a Rally's burger dripping with cheese sauce, chicken fried rice from the local Mexican restaurant (which is basically just Spanish rice and grilled chicken with a crapton of queso blanco poured over it), a 5-layer burrito from Taco Bell... all have been on my mind lately. (Dr. Neal Barnard has some really interesting insights on cheese and addiction-like responses in the brain if you want to read more about why eating cheese might be making me crave cheese!)
Right now I'm relying on my tiny pouch, lack of hunger, and a sincere desire NOT to harm myself by eating foods beyond the mushy/soft stage to overcome those cravings, but that stuff won't last forever. So in this last week of puree, I'm going to keep eating the foods that have been working for me, in the interest of calories and Protein - but starting next week in the official soft food stage when I can experiment more, I'll be focusing on building back up a plant-based diet that helps my mind stay away from those types of cravings. Part of that will be planning meals and bulk cooking, and part of it will be rebuilding my cardio ability so that I have more energy for cooking!
Well, I think this post is certainly long enough. One day soon I'll have to copy all this over to a word document so I don't lose any of my post-op journals if BP ever goes kaput!

That is excellent! Yeah you!! 🤩

Well done Pealdrop ! Good for you for planning ahead and still enjoying your time !

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From what I have read, that is too few calories for someone three months post op. You won't have put on fat weight, it is more likely Fluid retention plus possibly bulk from the extra food. It is only temporary, a bit like when people go through the post op diet stages, as they progress they typically have a stall or gains, but once their bodies adapt weight loss kicks in again.
While WLS does typically result in a lower calorie intake, you don't want to go so low that it comprises your health: body using muscle for nutrition - you want to maintain muscle as much as possible, Hair loss, lack of energy etc.
Bear in mind, now that you are already in the healthy BMI range, that weight loss will be lower per week than it was immediately following your surgery.
Please do listen to your nutritionist.

Hi!!
I am worry because I am 3 months postoperation. But in the last 9 days I had gained 4 kg!!! Is a lot. I don’t understand what is happening. I still eating small portions but my nutritionist said me to eat every two hours. Because I was eating before like 300-400 calories per day. Since that I have been gaining wait. I am so frustrated. I think I will keep eating 300-400 calories per day if I want to loss weight.

Hi guys and gals,

This is insane! I started my journey at 287, a size 24 pant (that were a little on the tight side.) I had surgery on May 14th at 260. Today, just shy of 4 weeks out I weighed in at 239 (finally broke that damn stall).

Anyways my clothes have literally been FALLING off me. I was just fine until about a week ago. So I went shopping today and grabbed some size 22s. Too big. So I grabbed some 20s. Still too big. So in total awe I grabbed some size 18s and holy mackerel they FIT. I almost died. And I tried on a shirt that was size 14/16 and it fit! I am on cloud 9 right now 😍.

Hope all my fellow May surgery buddies are doing well!

I’m ok with Protein Shakes but sometimes I need something savory. My saving grace had been Bone Broth with some soy sauce, garlic and a few drops of sesame oil, I then add some non flavored Protein and then thicken it with some corn starch.

For cheese lovers .... my go to snack/small meal that I crave.
Laughing cow cheese wedge on 34 degree crackers. One wedge on 5 crackers is only 63 calories, but tastes decadent.

I hate Protein Shakes.
I hate them in the rain, I hate them on a train. I hate them in the sun and perhaps they would be better with rum?