Naughty Glitter Goddess

I love her! She was part of an exhibition here last summer and it was amazing. My daughters and I saw it together. We went back twice while it was in town. Powerful.

I had not thought about it but that's a great idea❤️

Does this sparkly manicure count? I realized after taking this picture my hands seem to be aging faster than my face! I guess it's better than the reverse...

I am also not a fan of purees. The texture is absolutely nauseating, especially with things that you wouldn't normally eat pureed. Trying porridge was a great move - I'd try adding some unflavored protein powder to see if you can get that extra bit of nutrition in. The thing that helped for me was to make these things look like a mini casserole with the cheese melted on top. That way, I couldn't see what gross stuff was under there. Things I liked the best were things that I didn't have to puree - they already come that way. ie: refried beans, yogurt, thick soups, pudding, guacamole, hummus, etc. It's been a week since your post - I hope it's going better!

I looove this closet!

Favorite item of clothing: the top I wore on my first date with my husband We'd been close friends for years before we were single at the same time and decided* to take it to the next level I almost tossed it 2 yrs ago because I was certain I'd never wear it again. Now I'm only about 30lbs away! *decided: woke up in my bed together after a drunken night of debauchery, hehehe

I feel attacked. jkjk 😂🤣...but seriously, you could be talking about me here. Back on track today, pushing forward

Someone who makes me smile - Lizzo! I rememer hearing her singles Batches & Cookies and Rapture ages ago and loving it. Seeing her get this long-overdue attention, endorsement deals and talk show appearances is great. But she's been great since way back. Do yourself a favor and get a dance party going with your daughters like I do. I also used to play the flute and now my oldest wants to try it thanks to Lizzo. Representation matters!

Genuine smiles are always beautiful no matter how many wrinkles you have. One of my favorite smiles on earth was my grandmother's, and she was so soft and wrinkly!

Day 5 Something that makes you smile: art In particular, this piece titled “Egghead” I viewed last week. A portrait of what appears to be Van Gogh made from resin cast chewing gum mounted to the bottom of a wood coffee table. An incredible piece by American artist, Sean Healy. I’ve made it a priority again recently to date myself on my days off instead of catching up on TV, chores and errands. I’ve been touring art galleries, hiking, going to the symphony, fishing, lounging in one of our many great coffee shops and taking piano lessons again. It is enriching my life and slowly replacing food as my “go to” comfort source. Highly recommend!

Hi! I had a rather large umbilical hernia repaired at the same time of my bypass on Aug 15. My surgeon did say that I would be at a greater risk of a hernia in the future but that I should still be able to exercise. My program requires follow up appointments every 3 months including with a physical therapist. He had me start with just walking post op. I progressed to adding weight machines for stability with a low weight after a couple of weeks. About 3 months post op I moved on to free weights and now at 6 months I continue to be able to increase the weight I use during my strength training. I check in with my body a lot to make sure I'm not getting any tingling or burning sensations around my belly button (first indicator things are having too much tension) and I always wear a weight belt. He did tell me that it would probably be smart to stay away from jerk & cleans and other rapid heavy-weight moves. But there's very little overall that I have to stay away from. I would highly recommend going slowly with increasing weight. The other thing is that it was 3 months before I was able to do any ab-focused exercises. It was really uncomfortable.

My gym is really nice and I worried about people being judgmental when I first started going. All I could see were lots of fit people looking cute in spandex. But now that I go regularly, I see all the people who are larger like me. And all the older people working out with a buddy. And several people with disabilities getting it done. Every single person is either wearing headphones or talking to their workout buddy. Literally everyone is in their own little world. It's weird, but also nice. I will say I was guilty of judging someone last week while I was on the elliptical. Someone to my left had several instances of horrible gas in a 10 min period of time. I eventually had to leave the area. I'm proud of myself for not making a rude face or comment but inside my head, I had a lot to say!!!! 😂🤣😂🤣

In one of my prior weight loss adventures several years ago, I worked pretty intensely with a personal trainer twice a week for about 8 months. I learned a ton! Most important thing I learned was how to be efficient with my workouts. Basically, if you want maximum benefit from minimal time, resistance training is where it's at. For me, that is weight lifting because that's what I like the most. Second most important thing I learned was to find out what you actually like or you're not going to do it long term. I keep trying to force myself to like yoga but it just won't take; it looks so fantastic! My current workout is 10 min cardio warm up on elliptical or running on treadmill followed by 30 min of weight training. I monitor how I feel and change up the exercises periodically and increase the weight. Results: My physical therapist says I have one of the best muscle retention/weight loss ratios that he's seen for a post op bypass patient. Yay!

My team is pretty low-key with eating instructions. They want me to meet my water and protein goals and that's about it. I've been cautioned by psych to really consider what triggers bad eating habits for me and develop and eating schedule/plan that minimizes that. I define "snacking" as unnecessary and unplanned eating between meals. If you are eating in between meals because you are focusing on trying to meet a protein requirement and aren't able to do it with meals alone - it counts as a mini-meal, not a snack to me. The healthiest choice mentally for me is to stick to a plan that meets my nutritional needs and to minimize eating any foods that make me wish I could eat more of them. I can eat a lot of calories especially when I'm focusing on just proteins and fats. I don't worry too much about it because it only happens on days when I'm too tired or unprepared to cook. Other days, I eat a lot fewer calories because I got my crap together and actually cooked a stir fry or made a beautiful salad to enjoy. I do log everything so I can be alerted to any problematic trends and I have had to make myself a hard cutoff for no eating after dinner. Period. If I haven't met my protein for the day, and I can't get it in with the dinner I have planned - I change the plan to a dinner that will meet my goals or I drink my protein instead. That works for me and it works for my team.

Woooo! Congrats!

Thank you! Putting on the list!

Welcome to the forums! It's a great place to learn - you can find a variety of opinions and advice on just about any little thing here. I stalked this site for months before my surgery and learned a ton! Expect the unexpected is really the only open-ended advice that works, ha! But you can always rely on this wonderful group for words of encouragement, commiserating and humor. I'm so glad you are here. Good luck and keep us posted on your journey!❤️

I have had great success losing weight without surgery. In fact, I've done it several times in my adult life because I have been unable to maintain it without this tool. I also had some success losing 40 lbs before my bypass surgery in August. But let me tell you, I know it was because I knew the end was in sight. I knew that this was finally going to be the ticket for me to not only lose the weight but have a significantly better chance of maintaining it long term. My doctor told me it was going to prevent me from getting diabetes (I was prediabetic), and prevent me from getting severe heart disease (runs in my fam). It's going to be work and regain is a real thing even after surgery. For me, the mental struggle has been the most challenging but having this tool has allowed me to feel optimistic about the future even when I was having a tough time. Keep talking to your docs, your support system and the folks here. Find out the answers to all your questions and you'll be able to decide if it's right for you. Listen to yourself rather than considering what others might think about your decision. I let my fear of losing weight the "easy way" (hahahahaaaahaaaahahaha!!!!!) prevent me from looking into this option for 4 years too long. I'm so so happy now. Good luck! Hope you find the support and answers that you need.❤️

Hi, I'm 6 months post op bypass. It is going to be really tricky to figure out food volumes for a few reasons. Everyone's volumes differ, sometimes by quite a bit. Your ability to eat/drink volume-wise is still going to change day to day for a while. And it will greatly depend on what you are trying to eat. Some things you will have a lot of trouble with and some things will go down easily. When you eat very liquid things they slide right through your pouch which is why you're able to eat so much more soup than you expected. That is totally fine and it's great to find something you tolerate well to help get your protein in. Consider adding unflavored protein powder to soups if those work well for you. As for estimating volume amounts, just make sure you measure what you're about to eat/drink. Then keep track/log what you eat and drink; you'll start seeing trends in what you can tolerate and how much. But try to mostly worry about your protein intake and whatever parameters your team has given you. This stuff can take time to figure out. I cried at my 3 month post op nutritionist appointment because I was so frustrated that I was having a hard time figuring out what I could eat and how much. I could eat the same thing 2 days in a row and either be fine or foaming up. But, now at 6 mo, I'm pretty good at estimating how much and what I can eat. Be patient, you've got this! And there are hundreds of people here rooting for you and willing to listen to your rants when needed. ❤️

From a bday party last night with friends I haven't seen in ages. My obesity prevented me from socializing and several of the girls there I had not seen in almost 4 years. It's almost unbelievable. So, today is a great day to forgive myself for withdrawing from life for a while. Instead of beating myself up about it, feeling guilty and worrying about what people think, I'm just going to try showing up.

I need to hear more about these cauliflower pancakes. Is this another one your recipes that is random stuff thrown together without measuring or do you have stats on these things? 😜

Little salad: lettuces, grilled chicken, cheddar, toasted sliced almonds, cucumber, carrot, red onion, homemade lemon tarragon vinaigrette, total of about 1c volume Just realized I forgot to add the AVOCADO, what!? 😢 No leftovers; I'm getting better at estimating how much I can comfortably eat! I probably could have had more but I felt satisfied and I didn't have to wait until I started sneezing and hiccuping before I quit 😊

Fave facial feature & body part: eyes and eyelashes I'm hoping to progress to the point of loving more parts of my body from the neck down. I'm getting there! I can really appreciate how strong my legs/butt are getting, but love them? Not quite yet... Late night pic after a fun party, first time since surgery; pretty fun last night, not so much this morning

Yes, I have also received this "compliment". As well as the more viscous "You would be so pretty if you lost some weight" *insert middle finger emoji*

Thank you!