momof3_angels

Glad to hear it! I hope she becomes supportive. Keep us posted and good luck tomorrow!

Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

You are fine. Honestly, at this stage you shouldn't worry so much about Calories. Drink your Water, eat your Protein, and if you have a little room and can tolerate, get a few veggies in. Control your quantity and quality of your food. Eat small meals/snacks every 2 1/2 - 3 hours or so (or whatever your doctor/nutritionist advises). Take your time eating (something I still struggle with nearly 6 months out). Don't snack between meals.

Congrats! I am just about to MY goal weight, but already at a "happy" weight (Normal BMI!). It feels great, doesn't it?! You look great too!

I am so excited! So... my height in this site and with my surgeon is listed at 5'4" as my surgeon rounds down (and here half inches are not possible to enter). But my REAL height is between 5'4.5" to 5'4.75" according to all my other doctor's offices and what I have always known it to be. So, periodically I put my real height into the National Institute of Health BMI calculator. Today I put in 5'4.5" in, and that has me at 24.9 for my bmi... which is the highest of the NORMAL WEIGHT BMI's! I am 12.6 pounds below my doctors goal weight of 160. And I am 12.4 pounds from my personal goal weight of 135. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to lose the last 12.4 pounds. I do hope I get there, but I am thrilled where I am now too... so any weight lost at this point and beyond is simply "bonus" for me.
I will be 5 months post op tomorrow. I have lost a total of 46 inches as of 2/1/2020 (all measurements together, neck, chest, waist, hips, thighs and biceps). I wear mostly women's size 8 in pants, but I do have a couple size 6 pants that fit and look fine. I wear mostly women's medium tops, but some are looking a bit big and I can wear SOME size smalls. My weight loss has truly slowed down. I go many days with a 2-3 pound fluctuation, and then a little drop, then many days again with 2-3 pounds fluctuation. While I hate that the loss is slower, I know it is normal at this point. And the inches are still coming off, which is great. I am also so much more active than I was this time last year.

Yes, I’ve hiked both the Great Divide Trail and the West Coast Trail in Canada, the Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand, and the Via Francigena in France and Italy. Of course, I had a full-size stomach on those journeys.
Do you plan on carrying Water bottles, or will you be using a hydration pack? Water isn’t light, so I’m still trying to determine how much I’ll need to carry between refills before buying a pack specifically for this hike. I am fairly athletic and have a pack that I currently use on long cycling trips, but at 2 litres it might be too heavy (4.4lbs) for me to carry on foot.
I use a bariatric-specific Multi-Vitamin that is complete including Iron, so will only need to carry 35 of those in addition to 70 calcium citrate mini-tabs purchased specifically for this trip (800 mg of calcium citrate plus 800 IU of Vitamin D3 per tab, brand is “Rainbow Light”).
I see a WLS nutritionist who is also an expert in bariathlete nutrition, and as I move closer to the departure date, I’ll be asking her for Camino-specific advice. I would be happy to post her suggestions here, though keep in mind they will be specific to plant-based whole foods eaters.

Tazo passion tea is really good if you like a fruity tea with floral undertones. Smells wonderful too!

Also great are Celestial Seasonings mixes- peach passion, black cherry etc.. you don't even miss sweetness that much.

Definitely work with your therapist on this. A lot may be your perception of your body image. But it is also possible that you are not losing the weight consistently throughout your body yet, but if you stick to the diet you will get there. I know I lose my boobs long before my belly. Arms before legs. Doesn't mean the changes aren't happening and that you won't lose your belly. But I agree with others, you are probably losing more than you realize. That is where the therapist can help you. Do you track measurements? I measure every month on the 1st of the month (surgery was on the 4th of September so it is close to the anniversary day... but I can remember the 1st better). I haven't lost a whole lot of weight in the past few months. I lost a ton the first 2 1/2 months and now I am lucky to lose a pound a week (mind you, I AM close to my goal weight now too). While the scale moved slowly the last couple months... the measurement changes have still been very noticeable. If you aren't taking measurements and tracking, it is harder to "see" the changes. Measurement are how I know I am still making progress despite the lack of pounds shedding. Measure today and start tracking! I put my measurements in the bariastic app. It tells me how many total inches I have lost. It helps a ton. I measure chest, hips, waist, biceps, thighs, and calves. It tells me total inches lost when adding all those areas together, and I can look at the actual measurements if I want to see changes in one part of my body over time.

I just told people that my surgery was for "stomach issues". I left it vague. When people asked about my post op weight loss... I told them, "well, surgery fixed some issues I was having and now the weight is coming off". I left it as simple as that. I still tell some people just that. But I have also now told many people the truth. Most are supportive and interested. The only kind of negative response I got was someone who is MUCH bigger than I was who asked how I was doing it... and I felt I should be honest with her... and her response was "well I am not ready to do THAT"... but then she and I moved on from the conversation and never discussed it again lol. Before surgery I only told my husband, daughter, and maybe 3 people I work with (one had the surgery herself). Now most of my office knows and have been great.

Definitely work with your therapist on this. A lot may be your perception of your body image. But it is also possible that you are not losing the weight consistently throughout your body yet, but if you stick to the diet you will get there. I know I lose my boobs long before my belly. Arms before legs. Doesn't mean the changes aren't happening and that you won't lose your belly. But I agree with others, you are probably losing more than you realize. That is where the therapist can help you. Do you track measurements? I measure every month on the 1st of the month (surgery was on the 4th of September so it is close to the anniversary day... but I can remember the 1st better). I haven't lost a whole lot of weight in the past few months. I lost a ton the first 2 1/2 months and now I am lucky to lose a pound a week (mind you, I AM close to my goal weight now too). While the scale moved slowly the last couple months... the measurement changes have still been very noticeable. If you aren't taking measurements and tracking, it is harder to "see" the changes. Measurement are how I know I am still making progress despite the lack of pounds shedding. Measure today and start tracking! I put my measurements in the bariastic app. It tells me how many total inches I have lost. It helps a ton. I measure chest, hips, waist, biceps, thighs, and calves. It tells me total inches lost when adding all those areas together, and I can look at the actual measurements if I want to see changes in one part of my body over time.

Yes, I try to. They make me nauseous lately too. Gotta get a better non-meat Protein diet going!

That is fantastic! Brag away! I think it is just important that we post our successes as it is to post about our struggles. I remind myself of that everytime I want to post my positive updates (AKA bragging).

Yes... I am definitely throwing up mostly mucus (and lots of it)... with food in it. This stinks... chicken is the only Protein source I consistently like. I am not much of a carnivore. I eat meat, but I prefer not to eat it most days, but when I do eat it, I prefer chicken. I also eat eggs, but don't really like them much. Don't like fish. Rarely eat pork. And so far can only tolerate ground beef, preferably moist ground beef (soups and such are best).

Anyhow... not going to cut out chicken just yet... but I will if this happens more!

New food intolerance is what I am thinking so far. All three times have been with chicken. Not ready to think gallbladder yet... but maybe. Got my routine blood work drawn today, will see what is up with that in a couple days. I see the bariatric nurse practitioner in a few weeks.

And nope... no other life changes. No real dietary changes either.

@momof3angels that gives me hope. I have my last preop appt this afternoon so I'll know for sure then.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

It is fairly common. H. Phylori is the main reason they do the endoscopy. They need to treat it before surgery. 2 weeks should be plenty of time to clear it up before surgery, but ask your doc your questions for the most accurate answers. Whether or not you have to eat with antibiotics, depends on the antibiotic. Ask the pharmacist. But even on a liquid diet, you could eat something on your diet with your antibiotic.

Congrats! And enjoy your food funeral... but don't go TOO crazy with it!

Well, I am not confident enough in my body to raid HER closet lol. Plus, teenage girls can get away with a lot more than a 48 year old woman. She wears a lot of those crop style shirts and such. Her pants are also smaller (although we are close to being the same size - she is size 4-6, I am 6-8) and all her jeans are majorly ripped jeans lol. So unfortunately the clothing exchange is still a one sided theft that only she can partake in haha

On a separate note... I got a new bathing suit that I love One piece so that my stomach is held a little flatter than it really is.

I’m going to the doctor at 2

Like I said, find out what she is afraid of... she is afraid of something. It might be that you will get skinny and leave her. She might be afraid because she is ill-informed. Weird food? Well, that is a "cover-up the real fear" excuse if I ever heard one.

I'd definitely call that a non-scale victory, although it sounds like your daughter is the victorious one...😁

Husband and I are both RN's. Hubby was against surgery... but he was simply afraid I would die during surgery. Nothing I could say would ease his fear. I simply insisted I am doing it and needed his support. He stayed with me in the hospital and made sure I was OK. In retrospect, he realizes I made the right choice and is proud that am doing so well. Find out what your wife is so afraid of. Then you can deal with it.

Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

Like I said, find out what she is afraid of... she is afraid of something. It might be that you will get skinny and leave her. She might be afraid because she is ill-informed. Weird food? Well, that is a "cover-up the real fear" excuse if I ever heard one.

That's awesome you and your daughter can now share clothes and probably look like sisters now

OMG, who knew it would be so hard to get back into a routine doing Pilates? I belong to a HOA and they offer Pilates and Yoga at our Clubhouse/Fitness Center. They WERE offering them 3 evenings a week plus Saturday mornings. But with my daughter's activity schedule, getting there was a challenge. Finally forced myself to start going only to find one afternoon they were cancelled. Another afternoon the classes were being taught by my new employee (AWKWARD!). The 3rd day the class was great... but again getting there was a problem. I kept trying to do it at home, but there was no space, or my daughter would "critique me", or my husband would make unsolicited comments. Wasn't working. AT ALL. I finally finished cleaning out one of my son's bedrooms. Took months to finish it. Put my daughter's gymnastics mat on the floor, with my Pilates mat on top of it for extra cushioning. Bought a new TV... just big enough to do the job, but not too big... with built in Roku. Downloaded a ton of apps and sampled the ones I could until I finally found a "channel" that I like. I also have a DVD player with DVD's... but if those are all I have I would get bored quickly. Then I deleted all the apps I didn't like (because I kept opening them and never finding what I wanted). Anyhow... even though I have done Pilates regularly in the past, I found a beginner progression series to get me going again. It is a little more talk than I like, but the teacher is doing an excellent job of describing and demonstrating every move. I am doing the beginner moves, but so much more aware of positioning than I was in the past. And I am so proud... I can do most of what she is demonstrating! Except the Teaser... OMG I canNOT do the teaser yet! It was hard before, but my abdomen is still way too weak. Despite that... For the last week I have done an hour of Pilates everyday except yesterday. Today I did it twice! It feels go good to be getting back into a fitness routine and I love my new workout room. My husband and daughter still try to interrupt me, but I can lock the door if I want to.