Arabesque

So sorry you went through this. Obesity is complex especially the psychological component of it. And it is something that we likely will always carry. We learn our triggers. We learn how to better manage them but that takes time. None of us is perfect. Slip ups and back steps will happen and that’s okay. Look at what happened not as a failure & certainly not something to punish yourself for, but as a learning experience. This won’t be the only birthday party, large group gathering, event or celebration but you’ll be better able to cope the next time by trying different strategies. For example maybe a time out would help: find a quiet place away from where the food is being served and recenter yourself for as long as you need before returning. (Say you’re going to the bathroom, or you’re feeling hit, or it’s a bit noisy, …) You might find it helpful to take a friend with you to chat with & distract yourself. If you haven’t or currently aren’t seeing a therapist, it might be helpful if you can access one (your team should be able to recommend someone who specialises disordered eating & supporting bariatric patients). All the best.

Weight loss is hard on your liver. It’s not unusual to have elevated liver enzymes especially after surgery for a while (at least until you’ve lost the most of your weight). If you’ve already lost weight as part of your surgery diet or your approval process it’s likely why your liver function results are elevated. Your surgery wouldn’t be delayed if that is the cause. Of course I’m not a doctor and don’t know your medical history, but give your team a call to be sure. All the best with your surgery. Big & amazing changes are ahead.

Doesn’t matter the protein source as long as you’re getting it in or at least are close to your goal. Honestly it can be difficult the first weeks when you’re still healing and struggling to eat/drink much at all. So don’t worry too much. You can only do what you can and if that means other protein sources than shakes that’s okay. I was told to start with 1/4 - 1/3 of a cup from the week 3 purée stage (which would include yoghurt and the protein pudding density) which is a little more than your initial two tablespoons. I’d think the advice to only eat applesauce as a last resort is because it has no protein (& could have added sugars). It wasn’t in my allowed foods at all nor was mashed potatoes which some have on the their list.

Sorry no. My issue with the shakes was textural & sweetness. I’d suffer one every morning and then had soup for my other ‘meals’. How do you go with other protein sources? Bone broth (though I found this too salty), protein water, yoghurt drink (blend plain yoghurt with milk until thin enough to sip), cream soups or consommés? What do you mean by warm up food? When you say you can eat two tablespoons of this food per day, do you mean as a single meal or across the day?

This won’t be an every day or even a regular occurrence so I wouldn’t beat yourself up or worry too much. It’s only for a couple of days. Once you’re home you’ll be back in your usual routine. Certainly your smaller tummy, restriction, won’t allow you to eat large amounts which will help. As will all the additional activity you’ll do. Just make the best choices you can & that includes the portions. You have to be able to live and enjoy your life. Enjoy your vacation.

Thank you @BayougirlMrsS. How lovely to see you here again. It’s been a while. Hope things have been going well for you.

I’m going to presume that you have some days when you’re on the road for work & do t have access to refrigeration to keep food chilled or a microwaves to reheat meals. For a while I didn’t have access to those things either where I worked. I had a small insulated bag that could neatly fit an ice brick in the base. I also kept a lot of single portion cooked meats in my freezer. In the morning I’d grab some chicken, a high protein yoghurt & cheese sticks & add to the insulated bag. Ready made salad bowls or bags of salad leaves are easy to pick up from a grocery store & you can simply add the chicken or have some tuna packs, tins of salmon, etc. that can be e added too fir variety. Nuts, beef jerky are also easy to have in your pantry and you just throw them in your bag in the morning. If traveling many of these things can be picked up from a grocery stores each day. If your hotel room doesn’t have a freezer section in the fridge in your room ask reception if they have a freezer & if they minded refreezing your ice brick. I also kept a small buffet fork/spork in the insulated bag. I used it for the salads and to eat the yoghurt.

Have you spoken to your surgeon or their team about this? There must be a reason you’re struggling. I wonder if you have a stricture? These are easy to fix if you do.

Depending on where you’re pain is, have you tried anti-inflammatory creams like Voltaren, Nurofen gel, feldene gel, etc. because they’re applied topically you’re abounding your digestive system so they shouldn’t be an issue but do check with your surgeon or their team first. I know what you mean @ShoppGirl . Here they often say just take a Panadol (paracetamol) or they just give you those in hospital. I think they’re useless. A tic tac would have the same effect on any pain for me.

It's by Recipe Tin an Australian cook Nagi with lots of great recipes @ShoppGirl . I love how you can adjust a slide to change the portions and the ingredients adjust. I used pistachios, honey, olive oil lemon rind and thyme leaves for my topping on the dip. Even though she said using Greek feta makes the dip grainy, I think I’ll try half danish & half Greek next time to reduce the saltiness. It did go down well despite how salty it was - the crudities helped. Oh and I think adding a little more honey than you think when drizzling will also help balance the saltiness. https://www.recipetineats.com/creamy-feta-dip/

Once your post has been published/saved you’ll notice there are three small dots in the upper right hand corner of your post. Click those and Edit is one of the options in the dropdown. 😁

Made a feta dip to take to drinks this afternoon. Only problem is it’s a bit salty because it uses danish feta - glad I didn’t add the salt they had in the recipe. If worse comes to worse can always just eat the crudités! 8g of protein per serve so plus (not mentioning the sugar from the honey or fat content from the feta & cream cheese though 😁).

You say you know what to eat but the snacking between is the issue. My question then is why do you think you are snacking? Are you bored, is it out of habit, are you anxious, frustrated, angry, sad, are you craving a specific food, taste or texture, etc., etc. I wonder if a therapist may be of better help. Many find therapy vey helpful to discover the reason behind their eating and for identifying strategies to help. Some have sort therapy to lose more weight or to maintain their weight loss. Your bariatric team or doctor should be able to refer you to someone who specialises in disordered eating and have worked with bariatric patients. As we always say, the surgery changes our body and doesn’t do anything about our head and thinking. All the heart. PS - I’m surprised you couldn’t be prescribed a GLP-1 medication. Doctors in the US see happy to prescribe them to people with minimal weight to lose or is it an issue with cost and your insurance?

I wonder if maybe it’s another one of those cases of working out what dose combination works for you. It may be the two stool softeners and the miralax they’ve suggested or it might be one stool softener & the miralax or just one or the other. I also wonder if some other more natural intervention could be added, like that smooth tea or prune juice, so you don’t need as much of the softeners & miralax. So is this maintenance regime a forever thing or just for while you’re on the meds for your kidneys?

Ten pounds of weight is usually the difference in sizes up to about size large which is the 2 inch difference in the width in the cut (except in those Amazon jeans @ShoppGirl - WTF). Some brands are more generous in their cuts others are neater in their cuts. I’ve discovered that UK sizes are supposed to be the same as Australian sizes but I find they are a neater cut so on the smaller side of the size. US sizes are usually more generous and are 2 sizes smaller than Australian sizes. Japanese clothing tends to be neater. And then the variations in the same brand or the labels that have created their own sizing. I mean we’ve got no hope. At least if you are between sizes you can have a larger size tailored down to fit. Any more than one size difference in fit becomes more of a challenge to tailor down though. I had to get a dress let out across my back recently because, thanks to using resistance bands, I’ve become broader across my back. The dress fit fine last year but this year it was a struggle to zip up the last couple of inches. Thank goodness for seam allowances in the armholes/sleeves. What I dislike most of all are shoes manufacturers that don’t do half sizes. Buy the size up and your foot flops around inside or you walk out of them. By down and you get sore toes, blisters & pressure marks. Can’t do anything about it And no you can’t stretch them out even if sales people say they can. And heel grips, etc. just push your feet up or down in the shoe & more pressure points in your feet.

Good idea to hold unto the one you like so far. My sister-in-law is having trouble finding something to wear too. She doesn't have a lot of time to look. She found find some sequin pants she liked but didn’t get them. I told her to just buy them (esp as they are on sale & could sell out) & she could return them later if she found something else. You never find anything you really like a couple of days before an event which is what she’ll end up doing. Ours is a formal wedding & long dresses specified but my s-i-l is more of a pants person & I think they will work well. Ours is sort of a destination wedding in that it’s a ‘luxury country retreat’ & most guests will be staying at the retreat. Can’t wait to see your pxts.

It’s not you it’s the manufacturers & designers. Can’t trust sizing on tags and I’ve found you can’t trust size guides either. (Never forgotten the size guide that said I needed a size 10 according to their measurements when I’m a size 6 and wear XXS in their knitwear.) I rarely buy on line because I don’t trust sizing and I don’t want the hassle of the trek to the post office to return the clothing. The only things I buy on line is if it’s from a label I know very well (sizing and cut yet still no guarantee) otherwise it’s got to be an in store purchase only. I have found the cheaper and more mass produced the clothing the more often the sizing is super small (looking at you H&M, Zara, etc.) or badly cut so the fit is very poor. But I get the power of the size of the clothes. It’s like the power of the number on the scales. We’ve programmed ourselves over the years to value certain numbers regardless of how many times we tell ourselves it’s not important and there’s too much variation to take it as gospel. Hopefully one day that will become the dominant thinking and the size on the tag or number on the scale will be meaningless & worthy only of a shrug & not an a reason to beat ourselves up. PS Where’s the wedding? Family or friend? I have an October wedding too for my niece #2. We must share our wedding day outfits on OOTD.

I bought a couple of sachets of baby food during my pureed stage (weeks 3 & 4). Can’t recall the brands. I did eat two because I struggled with taste and texture pureeing my own foods during that stage. What I noticed is that they are very low in protein so spend some time reading the nutritional panels first other nutrients too. I guess you could add in some protein powder to boost it. I really survived on high protein yoghurts, very thin milky instant rolled oats, thin scrambled eggs & soup. Is your surgeon concerned about your struggles to eat solid foods? Three months out and still on purées is uncommon. Plus it can be difficult meeting your protein goal on purée. What protein sources are you eating? Are you meeting your protein goal?I know I have a sleeve but at three months as I was eating a broad range of solid foods: meats, vegetables and fruit.

This really is one you need to check with your bariatric surgeon. My first thought was you should be okay because a baby aspirin dose is so low usually 75mg once a day versus 300mg for a single tablet of adult aspirin but I’m not your surgeon & I don’t know your medical history. I know many surgeons ease the no nsaid restrictions for sleeve patients depending upon their medical history after a couple of years so it may be the same for band patients.

So sorry you have been through so many challenges. Honestly, I’m surprised your doctor won’t put you on a GLP -1 med as any weight loss will help with your back and knees. Is there some contraindications that the GLP-1s won’t play well with your pain or other medications as that would be the only reason I could think of that would make your doctor say no but I’m not a doctor. Many bariatric specialists do prescribe GLP-1s to their patients so if your doctor won’t maybe your bariatric surgeon will. Haven’t heard of a third revision but that’s not to say it can’t be done … maybe to Sadi-s or duodenal switch??? Please keep us updated. I do hope you get some help soon.

I ended up binging all three episodes of the documentary (ironically while doing my afternoon stretches through some of it). Did anyone notice how they said the show generated $100m profit in total yet the response to the contestant who asked for a program of therapy and support be put in place for contestants after they participated was told there was no money to do it. And how Jillian whispered to the first winner thank you, you just won me a million dollars. So we know her and a Bob’s motivation. And don’t get me started on the producer & Bob’s pompous and total lack of remorse was quite horrifying. Exploitative? 100% Wonder if such a program would get green lit today. Though with the number of toxic gym bros on social media berating any one without a 6 (or 12) pack, zero body fat, butchering 300g of protein a day, etc, etc., it probably would. We have learnt nothing.

Thought this may be an interesting topic of conversation. Who’s watched it. Who’s watching and who’s not. I’m in episode two and it’s making me mad. Honestly I only watched odd episodes across a couple of seasons when the show began and it upset me then so I shouldn’t be surprised. They were making profit & ‘good tv’ from people’s emotional, physical & psychological pain & in the documentary they sound proud of it. They didn’t provide any support. They didn’t teach the participants anything about nutrition or sustainable eating habits for the future. Just watched a doctor telling the participants that 800 or fewer calories was dangerous & then Jillian Michaels telling them not to listen to the doctor and keep eating fewer calories. Then a comp where if they are the most junk food from a table they could see their families and likening it to a real world scenario of going to a restaurant or buying groceries. As if choosing a slice of pizza affects whether you see your family or not in the real world. Horrifying.

Not everyone has the same post surgery experiences. For example I had issues swallowing for a couple of days but I had no gas pains at all. Neither was a cause of concern. I say enjoy being able to swallow easily. Couple of things to remember. Fluids go through your tummy much more quickly than solid foods. Because we sip small amounts slowly we never fill with fluids like we did gulping down a very large drink in the past. Secondly, a lot of nerves are cut during surgery so messages liked feeling full either don’t get through out the signals are different. This is why it is very important to eat & drink small amounts slowly. It takes 6 or so weeks to heal and for those nerve endings to start functioning again. I still have times it seems like I can feel liquid going down into my tummy especially cold drinks & I’m 6 years out. It’s a weird feeling. Nothing to worry about if you can or can’t it’s just one of those quirks of your body. Like my tummy is very noisy. Grumbles and growls (like I have my own poltergeist in my tummy rattling its chains) just about every time I eat or drink. Just me and a quirk I have.

It’s likely the headaches are from withdrawal. You’re withdrawing from the caffeine, sugar & carbs you used to eat and are experiencing withdrawal symptoms like headaches. Fatigue, loss of concentration, irritability, nausea are other symptoms. It will pass as your body gets used to your changed diet. Don’t worry if you’re not hitting your protein goals in the first weeks. It can be pretty hard to do so. Some days will be easier than others. As long as you’re getting closer you’ll be okay. Getting your fluids in is probably more important in the beginning. PS - Bone broth is also another good source of protein as is protein water. You can blend Greek yoghurt with milk to make a smoothie & count the milk as another fluid too.

It really is a personal thing. Some do. Some don’t. Some do occasionally. As with your food choices, you have to be able to live your life. If that means having a drink that’s your choice & it’s okay. (As long as you aware of addiction transfer.) I was never a ‘big’ drinker before but I’d enjoy a large glass of wine every night before surgery. After surgery, I lost my taste for it. I had a g&t about 2 or so months after surgery at my cousin’s 40th. I nursed it for hours. After that I might have had a drink maybe once a month or so if I was out & depending upon the situation. Again, would nurse it for hours. Now more than 6 years out I probably still only have a drink about once a month. Of course, there are occasions I may drink a little more often depending on what I’m doing & what’s happening but generally it’s still only one glass over an hour or so. I usually say now I’d rather have one glass of a good quality wine, champagne or spirit over multiple glasses of a cheaper one: quality over quantity. 😁 I am conscious of the wasted calories and that it can slow your metabolism a little but really it just doesn’t interest me as much. I have a friend who drinks a glass or two most nights since her surgery (5yrs ago) and another (7 yrs ago) who was drinking a lot for a while (a few of us were worried about addiction transfer). Both have regained some weight. How much is related to drinking who knows.