ms.sss

I'm all healed up now...the last of my wounds finally fully healed in March (3 months after the surgery, geez) I have no pain, and full range movement on all affected areas. My tum is still swollen though, which annoys me. Scars still reddish, but I tend to scar badly so that was expected. Im still wearing silicone tape on all my incisions and as well as my abdominal binder when at home. In spite of it all, I am very pleased with my results and have been confidently sporting a bikini poolside, lol ?

Yes, I did! It ended up getting marinated for almost 2 days (due to me gilling them the day after I originally meant to)! Since I had more chops than usual, I tripled the recipe below, and then before grilling, I boiled the marinade to reduce a little then added 1/2 tsp of cornstarch to thicken a bit more. I then used this as a baste during grilling (careful: the oil and sugar content will cause mighty flare ups if it gets to drippy!) 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup honey (or brown sugar) 3 tbsp minced garlic 2 tsp sesame oil 2 tsp ginger minced 2 tbsp sriracha sauce 1 tsp black pepper * can make this more Keto if you sub the soy sauce for tamari, the honey with brown sugar stevia, and the sriracha with chilli flakes or cayenne. And if you want to baste, sub the cornstarch with xanthan gum. I wasn't planning on having any (I had chicken) so I did it the regular way.

Grilled pork chops, grilled chicken drumsticks, assorted grilled veggies and leftover Mac n’ Cheese from lunch. I had one drumstick and the bone from one of Mr.’s chops (is it just me or do others like gnawing on meat bones?? And no, I won’t go to town on a bone in public...just in the privacy of my own home where I can be as Fred Flintstone-y as I want!...or also maybe in someone’s backyard bbq...) Oh, and I had about 1/2 cup of the veggies. ...and a pre-meal coffee martini (not shown).

Well there you are!! Nice work, lady. You must be feeling like a gazillion bucks. ♥️??? P.S. I don't think your clothes are too tight at all. In fact, I think your top could go down a size...i see some pooling fabric at the side! My own personal motto is the tighter the better. Show em what you got, baby. P.P.S. Loving that ottoman in the background...would go perfectly in my tv room, lol

Period: I got mine about 2 weeks or so after surgery. It was the first one I had in months. And it was like a deluge, and lasted for over a week (which is really long for me as when I was regular pre-op, it used to only last 3-4 days, and very light, at that). I did have cramps (which I don't normally get), and I took a Midol or two. I think it helped. P.S. since surgery, I have been period-ing like clockwork, every 4 weeks almost to the day, lasting 3-4 days. Pressure in chest: This may or may not be associated with your period. It may just be a normal result of the surgery. I still get pressure in my chest, but I've learned (for me) that it is my new sign of fullness, as I don't feel the same stomach-area fullness anymore. It also means (for me) that I may have eaten too fast. Are you taking an acid reducer? Straws: My surgeon also said to refrain from straws. The reason being that one will end up sucking up a bit of air that is in the straw before the actual liquid. Nursing over a drink, doing this over and over again, results in a large amount of accumulated, sucked up air (which is not your friend). Like you, I also found drinking with a straw much easier, soooooo....I made sure that my straw was always as submerged in the liquid as possible to reduce the amount of air that is initially in the straw before sipping. Sometimes this meant continually re-filling my glass so the liquid level was way up there. Worked for me. Oh, and I also used sport-water bottles with spouts. Made sure to tip it up before I took a sip (again to reduce the amount of air sucked in). With all that said, do have a chat with your team to get some professional guidance. Especially about the chest/esophagus/nausea thing. Good Luck!

@Darktowerdream, yay! glad to hear from you! Like @ChubRub, I was checking on here to see if you had posted. Glad everything seems to have gone at least as expected, and that you seem/read in your endearing, i-got-****-but-i-deal, will-try attitude. LOL. Reading your first post after surgery brought me flashbacks of how exhausting it was for me to type out a long one those first couple days. Rest up, OK? Pro Tip #1: Do what you need to do in the early days to keep yourself regular/moving (drink water, watch the iron/pain meds, move around, take stool softeners). I had the awful experience of being backed up for 13 days. *shudder*. Pro Tip #2: Walking around hunching over put a def strain on my back at first. My mom ended up feeling sorry for me and let me use HER cane for a few weeks. LOL. It helped. (Love you mom). Pro Tip #3: My biggest self-imposed regret was doing to much too soon. I pushed myself (started exercising and other stuff too early) and ended up reopening several areas along the various incisions. TWICE. This resulted in a longer, and more painful, annoying, irritating recovery for me. AND i think some of the re-opened side scarring is worse than others. So....TAKE IT EASY. KEEP YOUR WOUNDS CLEAN. TRY TO POOP. Keep us posted!

We love pics of food here, btw...just saying.

Apologies for aiding in the picket line crossing but here it is: Butter Chicken: https://twosleevers.com/instant-pot-butter-chicken/ (I did the butter/cream version and used skin-on chicken drumsticks cuz it was all I had...not enough meat in my opinion..thighs would have been better, breasts if you want leaner, but I think breasts would not get soft enough. And I added extra cayenne pepper cuz we like heat) Also, I would go with a touch LESS cinnamon if/when you make this. Further, I boiled some potatoes separately and added it to the curry after the pressure cooking and let it sit for about 30 mins so it could soak up some goodness. Garam Masala: https://twosleevers.com/home-made-garam-masala-recipe/ (can always use store bought, but anytime i have an excuse to use the mortar and pestle, i take, so I made my own, lol) Indian Cucumber Salad: https://twosleevers.com/indian-cucumber-peanut-salad/#indian-cucumber-peanut-salad-kakadi-chi-koshimbir (I just used regular peanuts that I roasted for a bit, and I used regular yellow mustard seeds. Also used my teeny-tiny cast iron to prepare the oil. Careful: it really does splatter...almost dropped the pan when that first pop startled me)

I just realized that you are in Florida so you must get super discounted tix to Disney World. Let's put it on the itinerary when I visit, LOL

So what was the verdict? Btw, was this in Instant Pot recipe?

Me Too! Though I still continue to have extra batteries...not as supercharged as before, but still on a pretty high setting (and I'm still pretty insomniac-ish) I never thought about it being a result of Ketosis...interesting.

+1 ❤️❤️❤️

?????? MC Hammer. Classic. ? I was up to a 20 in pants (44” waist), now I can do size 0-2 (25” wst). Though...as we speak, I am wearing my kid’s hand-me-down sweatpants, which is a child’s size large (13-14), hahaha In tops, I was a 2XL (48” bust), and now Im an XXS-XS (33” bust. R.I.P. boobs ?). Edited to add: I just checked my weight loss records (yeah, i have weight-loss records, don’t judge me! Lol), and when I was 130 lbs, my waist was 27”, so that would have been about a size 4. So yeah, size 8 would’ve been waaaaaay too big.

Ah, I have read some posts on here of people feeling tired months out...I guess you won't know if you will be Team-Tired until you get to that point? Though if you are worried, and want to hedge your bets, you could always let your daughter know your position so that an alternate host can be secured? Or maybe you could co-host? P.S. I was/am part of Team NOT-Tired, despite the rapid weight loss. I had quite a bit of energy after the first couple weeks, more than I ever had in years (and still do actually)

Barring any (statistically unlikely) complications, you should be perfectly fine to host a baby shower at 3 months out (and party all night long, lol)

At 5'2" and 129 lbs, I would think you would be positively SWIMMING in a size 8 (let alone size 12!). We are the same height and I think when I was 130 lbs, size 8's would have been falling off...buy smaller sizes, girl!

Dinner tonite: Instant Pot Butter Chicken w/ potatoes + Indian Cucumber salad w/ peanuts The fam's serving on a dinner plate (??? cals) vs. mine on a saucer (194 cals): Aside: the oddly fluorescent-look of the cucumbers I think was due to the turmeric...lol

Well, well, well, someone is a talented food photographer! ...AND that same someone has activated my salivating glands with something vegan! Am going to try out a modified version that tart recipe now! (will likely add butter and eggs). P.S. you guys are all making my list of foods to try/make super long!

Never had jello, but I was cottage-cheesing at 2 weeks post op.

Oopsies, it's 3pm and I just realized I haven't eaten yet. Whipped up this NON-dessert-based (lol) salad: Spring Mix w/ vinaigrette, cucumbers, carrots, red bell peppers, 1/4 cup cole slaw, 1/2 fl oz pumpkin seeds & 100g of leftovers of almond flour-and-pork-rind crusted basa fillet (and some fresh cilantro for garnish) 350 calories.

Noooo...she invited ME!!! Lol

Every single time I go, I pick up 2 packages of the 6-pack romaine lettuce and a container of baby spinach. Not only generally cheaper than regular grocery stores, but I find they last longer in the fridge....

If I ever get off my do-it-don’t-do-it carousel of indecision, I just may take u up on that! ?

@FluffyChix hasn't been around in a few months (Come back, Fluffy! I miss you!). ....but to answer your question in her absence, it looks like its from MyFitnessPal (I say *looks* because it doesn't exactly look like what I see on my iPhone nor my Mac/Safari...but it may be because these screenshots were taken from an Android, or other...)

I wanna see a better lit pic! But I like what I DO see, lol. Next time you sport these babies, maybe pop by some photo studio.....