Arabesque

So wonderful that you’re doing so well ChubRub. Aren’t showers amazing for making you feel way better - even if they’re exhausting. Hope you continue to recover well. 😁

The amount of food people can eat post surgery does vary a little as do their post surgery plans. Does yours specify a recommended portion size? Does it allow bread? Does it recommend a caloric goal as well as protein & water goals? If it doesn’t speak with your support team. It may be helpful. I didn’t have a caloric goal just recommended portion sizes. At 3 months I was eating about a third of a cup of food for a meal & most was protein. I was eating three times a day & 2 snacks (yoghurt & a small piece of fruit). My plan was no bread. The only carb I was allowed was rolled oats (a serve took 4 days to eat at 3 months) & the carbs in fruit & vegetables. The plan was no bread because of how it fills your tummy & offers little nutritional value. I still don’t eat bread at 20 months out. My question would be are you really feeling hungry? If you had a sleeve, most of the area that produces your hunger hormone has been removed. Are you ‘hungry’ out of habit? Is a craving driving the ‘hunger’? Working out the difference between head hunger & real hunger isn’t easy. It’s working out if you need to eat or just want to eat. Are you eating slowly? It takes time for the message you are full to get from your tummy to your head. By the time it does you are likely more than full. There’s a lot of learning on this journey & working out what’s right for us. You’ll work out what’s best for you. Good luck.

I always thought the rare pxts of me at my highest weight were just unflattering photos. I knew what I weighed & what size clothes I wore but the understanding of my actually physical size was way off. I certainly didn’t see it in the mirror. It took a while post surgery to realise what size I am now but even then I don’t truly believe it. I still am surprised by the size of the clothes I wear now & when randomly catching my reflection in mirrors or windows. Some days I think my thighs are still fat. I know I still don’t think I see my true self in the mirror or in photos so I often check the height & weight of actresses so I get a better understanding of my size in comparison. Sshh don’t tell anyone I do that. It’s my little secret - lol! Good luck with your surgery. I hope all goes well.

First congrats on your weight loss. Whoo hoo! Body dysmorphia is the worst. It is hard to come to terms with how you look now & how your body feels & works. Even, as I discovered recently, the size of your body in relation to things around you - sort of like spatial awareness. Have you been taking photos of yourself as you’ve been losing or recording body measurements? It can help you come to terms with how you look now. As does comparing your old clothes to what you’re wearing now. Honestly, it wasn’t until I was at goal that I started to see my real new size. Little things like seeing a reflection in a shop window & thinking how good the woman looked & then realising it was me helped. Once I was trying on shoes & glanced up & thought gee that lady has good legs. They were my legs in a mirror. It’s weird when it happens. I used to think I was pretty flexible but the reality was it was just my fat giving me a false sense of achievement. Like I always thought I could bend over & practically touch my head to my knees. It was really just my head reaching my fat legs & tummy. I wasn’t that bent over - lol. The general feeling of weakness does get better too when you’re closer to goal & start maintenance when you’re eating a little more. I found sipping on diluted hydra lite gave me a bit more energy as did adding a small amount of whole or multi grains to my diet like rolled oats for breakfast. The loose skin is part of the weight loss process. How much you have depends on lots of factors like gender, your age, how long you were at your highest weight, etc. If it really bothers you, you can always explore plastic surgery. A lot do. I didn’t but that was my choice. I have very empty breasts now too. I sort of wish I had some lipo & transferred the fat into my upper breasts when I reached my goal cause there ain’t much fat left anywhere now - lol! As you lose weight, oestrogen that is stored in your fat is released into your blood stream hence the change to your menstrual cycle. It will get back to normal (maybe even better) as you get closer to your goal weight & aren’t losing as much. I still don’t get all my water in which is odd cause I was a big water drinking pre surgery. I compensate by eating water rich foods like lettuce, beans, melon, berries, lychees, etc., making extra milky porridge, etc. I pee a lot & it’s pretty light in colour so I must be doing ok. It’s ok to feel like you’ve lost your self on this journey. You’re not the same as you were - overweight & unhealthy. Give yourself time to come to terms & accept your changing body & to discover yourself again in a slim & healthy body. Good luck.

Yep, you have to kill the sugar cravings. Avoid artificial sweeteners & sugar substitutes too as they still feed the craving for sugar. It’s hard cause it seems like sugar or sweeteners are in everything. I used fruit to help sweeten foods if I had too like in plain yoghurt or to give me a little burst of sweetness. Just watch dried fruit cause the fructose is concentrated & it’s easy to eat a lot. (Remember 2 pieces of dried apricot are a whole apricot & a prune is 1 plum.) Big thing is to get it out of your house. If it’s not in the cupboard you can’t eat it. Oh, you may suffer some side effects from the withdrawals but they will pass. Good luck.

I haven’t eaten rice any more nor pastas or noodles until before my surgery. I used to eat it a lot but I don’t miss it at all now. @BigSue & @catwoman7 are correct. Rice, like pasta & noodles, provides very little nutrition & it swells in your tummy. Your small tummy can only hold a very small amount of food. That’s why you can only eat about 1/3 cup +/- of food. If you eat rice, it’s going to fill up that 1/3 cup pretty darn quickly before you get in your essential protein & other nutrient rich foods like vegetables, fruits, dairy. Once you reach maintenance & are eating a little more, you may be able to have small amounts of brown rice if your tummy will tolerate it. But still eat your protein first, then your vegetables, etc. & leave the rice till the end of your meal if you can fit it in. You can only try when you’re much further down your journey. In the meantime, try vegetable alternatives like cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles, etc.

Yep, you know what you’re doing is not helping you & the only person who can get you back on track is you. The process is not easy. It takes a lot to examine your eating habits & implement the changes you need to make to be successful. It can be quite stressful which could be why you’re turning back to your old comfort food. As @catwoman7 said you’re in the prime weight losing time. Grab this opportunity with both hands. There’s a lot of us who at some stage have been tempted & sometime we may weaken & slip. But if we want to be successful we pick ourselves up & get back on our journey. Get rid of the food that tempts you down the wrong path out of your house. Prep meals ahead & freeze so all you have to do is reheat. Quick & easy. I’m a big believer in freezing individual meal portions. It helped me stay on track & not consistently worry about what I was going to eat. Good luck.

I didn’t start at as high a bmi as you but I still thought I’d share my experience so far. I chose sleeve with my surgeon’s support, even though I suffered from stress related gerd. Yes, I have some issues but manage it with medication. I chose sleeve surgery because it doesn’t change the digestive tract as much as other surgeries. Yes my stomach is smaller but it is the same length as it was as are my intestines. I think this is why absorption is not as great an issue with sleeve. My nutrient absorption is good. I haven’t taken multi vitamins since I reached my goal a year ago & my blood work come back fine. Yes, bypass patients do tend to lose weight more quickly to begin but the 5 year average of weight lost & maintained across both surgeries is about the same - 60-65% of the weight initially to be lost. Dr Vuong has a great video that explains this very well. Think it’s called how to maximise your weight loss. The amount of weight you successfully lose & maintain really comes down to the individual. Even though I’ve exceeded my original goal (lost about 135%), I’ve had the view that I would find a place of balance between maintaining my weight & maintaining my lifestyle. I believe that if you restrict your food choices & intake to a point you can not enjoy your life & the things you like to do your diet will fail because you will consciously or subconsciously revolt against the restrictions you employed. Honestly, my diet is still pretty restrictive but I’m not quite 2 years out so I have a long way to go to find the balance of what works for me. Currently, I eat low sugar & artificial sweeteners, low fat, moderate carbs (whole or multi grains but no breads, rice, pasta), fruits, vegetables & of course I’m protein & portion control focussed. I have the odd glass of alcohol but I often don’t finish the glass. It’s easy to manage & doesn’t affect how I socialise so far. The keto debate is an interesting one. My 3 week pre surgery diet was keto but I know I could not maintain the high fat requirement long term but that is me - I don’t like overly fatty foods. But it certainly gave me a kick start. There is research that says the high fat content causes cholesterol problems. There’s research that shows that while it may help people with diabetes to begin, long term it can cause erratic insulin levels due to the low carb intake. And of course there’s research that it’s great. I think you have to find the diet that works for you. Good luck whichever surgery you choose.

Stalls happen. You just have to breathe through them. Your body is just coming to terms with all the changes - diet, weight loss, changes in activity, etc. Don’t stress your body or yourself more with worrying over a number on the scale. If the scale upsets you, put it away for a few days. When I was in a stall, I would look at the graph of my weight loss & enjoy the general trend downwards not my actual daily weight. Sometimes even if the number on the scale isn’t changing, a tape measure may reveal a smaller number. Or you may realise your general fitness level has increased. Or a pair of pants are looser.... Look for the small wins. The scales will start to move downwards again.

As you lose weight a lot of hormones, etc. are released into your body that were stored in your fat which can cause issues. For me, the oestrogen that was released stopped my menopause symptoms (they came back when I reached my goal weight unfortunately) & my cholesterol levels rose very quickly (back to the level it was pre surgery now). My general liver function was off too. My GP & surgeon were concerned & I was having monthly blood tests & scans. It was my dietician who explained what was happening & that things would settle when I reached my goal which they did. I was still glad I had all the tests though - better safe than sorry. This could be what’s happening to you too. It’s worth discussing with your endocrinologist. Hope they find a answer soon. PS - feeling cold is very common as you lose weight. All that insulation is disappearing. I almost need to wear thermals to go grocery shopping in the middle of summer.

It’s quite common for people post surgery to experience changes in their taste buds & a sensitive sense of smell. For me it was just my taste that changed. Foods I usually enjoyed suddenly tasted disgusting. It does go back to what it was in a few months. The unexpected vomiting can happen too. I was eating a meal I’d made & frozen individual serves. Had a bite fine. Had a second bite & oh no & a mad dash to the bathroom. Didn’t affect me when I ate it the first time & it didn’t do it a couple weeks later when I tried it again. I just blamed my petulant, temper tantrum throwing tummy. Good luck on your journey.

Everyone looks so great. Congrats on your success. I lost 31kg in 6 months which was my goal & a further 11kg in the last 13 months. The first pxt was about 6 months before surgery - can’t believe I was that big. The second was last week. It’s a big decision to change how your body functions so your worries are understandable. Having surgery was the best decision I ever made. My journey was pretty smooth. A couple of little hiccups (low blood pressure, a little hyperglycaemia) all manageable & all things I’d experienced in the past when I had been slim. Certainly nothing that makes me regret my decision. Good luck on your journey.

I had a couple of stalls. I just stuck to my program like Catwoman7 did & the weight would start to drop again. Give your body a break. It’s going through a lot. Put the scales away for a few days if it’s frustrating you & breathe. Remember stalls are very, very common. I’m sorry about your daughter’s health but you will be in a much better position to help her with your weight loss than if you didn’t have weight loss surgery. Your health would have been more likely to be compromised by donating your kidney if you were at your old weight or they may have ruled you out as a candidate because of your size. Losing the weight will be of benefit to you & your daughter & it likely is a very fortunate decision you made. Good wishes to you both.

Your tummy is a bit like a petulant child in the beginning. Some days it happily plays then the next it’s throwing tantrums. Something you’d been eating successfully suddenly makes you feel unwell or sits like a lump in your tummy. Something you enjoy eating suddenly tastes disgusting. It does settle just give it time. Your body’s been through a lot with the surgery & reduced calories so I guess it’s understandable that it’s sensitive. Oh yeah the tiredness. Thankfully that improves too. Just enjoy having nana naps. I loved my afternoon doze on the couch.

That one definitely goes in the keep pile Greentealael. Hot!

This is going to sound silly but I’ve been stubbing my toes in my kitchen a lot over the last few months. Kicking the dishwasher, the fridge, the skirting boards, cupboards - lots of swearing, hobbling, cracked toe nails & pain. Couldn’t work out why I mean it’s my kitchen. I know where everything is. Then yesterday, when I was putting ice on my bruised big toe, I realised why. I don’t have a large stomach that protrudes out & reaches the kitchen bench before my toes do anymore. How ridiculous is that. Subconsciously, I walk up to the bench & stop when my tummy hits it. Now when my tummy reaches the bench, my toes have already slammed into the cupboards. Also realised while I often have bruises on my lower legs now, probably for the same reason I stub my toes, I don’t have the bruises I used to have on my upper thighs which I’d get from knocking my old large body into furniture. Boy do I need to work on my spatial awareness in regards to my smaller body... if only to protect my poor little toes. 😁

When I first started adding vegetables, I was only eating a small cauliflower floret or 1 or 2 green beans or a dessertspoon of steamed cabbage. I added a small amount of fruit as an afternoon or after dinner snack. Get your protein in first then eat the vegetables if you can. As @Jaelzion said over time you will be able to eat more. I have fruit/vegetables 4 times a day now. Blueberries on my rolled oats, salad for lunch, vegetables with dinner, some fruit after dinner. Yes, the serving portions are less than the recommended size but are pretty close. Take it slowly. It does take time to work out how to get a balanced diet that is right for you but you’ll get there. Make yourself a smoothie on high protein yoghurt, milk, fruit, add some soluble fibre & sip it all day. You’ll get extra protein, some fibre & some fruit plus it contributes to your fluid intake.

Berries are good. I ate a lot of water melon at first because it helped with my fluid intake. I’d probably avoid the pineapple to begin because of its acid & fibrous nature. Like most foods, it’s trial & error as to which ones you’ll be able to tolerate. I love mangoes & lychees but they tend to trigger my restriction pretty darn quickly. And remember because of the temporary change to your taste buds you may not enjoy eating your favourite fruits at first.

There’s nothing you can do to stop it or slow it down. It’s a very normal side effect of your natural hair loss cycle speeding up due to the shock of the surgery & reduced nutrient intake. As my surgeon said: your body has better things to do with the nutrients you’re eating than grow hair. The article @TheMoxieMama posted is very good. Any supplements you take will only help your regrowth at the root. The hair on your head is already dead so nothing will help that - lol. I lost quite a bit of hair - my hairdresser thought a good 40%. Thank goodness I had a lot to begin with. Your hair will grow back too. In fact new hair is growing now, just at its normal rate, you just can’t see it yet.

Congrats on your surgery. What’s your plan? At 4 weeks most are just starting soft food - think mushy foods, soft fish, stews, etc., foods with little bite, crunch or chew. Pork skin wouldn't be considered a soft food neither would pizza or a pizza alternative. It’s important to go through the stages so you don’t damage your tummy, etc, post surgery - you’re still healing. Were you given a a food plan of what you can or can’t eat in the first couple of months by your surgeon &/or your dietician? At 4 weeks, I wasn’t hungry at all & was lucky if I could eat about 1/4 cup of food three times a day, no snacking. Are you really hungry or is it head hunger? If your craving foods you used to eat like chips, pizza, etc., it’s likely head hunger & not real hunger. If it’s a legitimate hunger, try eating small pieces of protein like cheese, chicken, egg, yoghurt or sip a protein shake or some broth. I found that sprinkling a little extra salt on food like egg, cucumber or chicken helped with any desire for a salty snack. There’s a lot of learning about why you eat, what you eat & why you eat and the weight loss phase is the best time to understand what all that means for you. Now’s the time to break old food habits & start new ones. You’ll be able to work it out. If you’re feeling lost or confused, speak to your dietician, your medical team or bring it up in this forum - lots of people here happy to help. Hope I don’t sound like I’m lecturing. ☹️ We all have our own experiences on this journey. Good luck on yours.

As you lose weight a lot of the oestrogen stored in your fat is released into your body. It’s why a lot of women suddenly start having heavier, more frequent or more uncomfortable periods after surgery. In my case it made my life easier as all my menopausal symptoms disappeared. Once I hit my goal & lost more, my symptoms returned because I wasn’t releasing oestrogen any more. I’m wondering if this is why you have been experiencing something like a period & I have to admit I thought you might have small amounts of endometriosis too. If your periods are being caused by the release of oestrogen, I would think adding more oestrogen would make it worse. But I’m not a doctor. Just throwing thoughts about.

Just curious as to why you have to restart taking your vitamins? Have you had a recent blood test which showed your levels are low? I ask as I stopped taking mine a year ago about 8 months after my surgery & 2 months into maintenance. They’d make me so nauseated. I used to have the same problem before surgery whenever I’d think I needed to take them for a boost. My understanding was that as a sleeve patient there was not a long term need for multivitamins if I could absorb all my requirements through what I eat. My surgeon was fine with my decision & all my bloods come back fine. Had a test this morning so fingers crossed nothing’s changed.

Congratulations. You’ve done so well & are looking fabulous.

The skin on my body improved too. I used to have dry skin with bumps on my arms & my legs would get super itchy. Didn’t matter how much moisturiser I used or how much I exfoliated there was never a change. Now I have soft smooth skin. My legs still get a little itchy in odd occasions but no dry skin anywhere. It’s like the lotions are working now but I use less than half the amount I used too. Lol! I love my skin now. So soft. I often find i’m gently caressing the skin on my arms & legs. 😂. I’ve even had people compliment me on my skin. I think it’s because of the greatly reduced sugar & carbs in my diet. It’s a great non scale victory.

They are lovely friends. And thank you for your kind comments. ❤️ Hey Sophie good to see you back. You look gorgeous all rugged up for winter.