Arabesque

It’s lined with tulle @GreenTealael so no lining at all. Probably supposed to wear those knickers/shorty shorts underneath but I wasn’t doing that ?. I wore a slum full slip which is why I couldn’t tuck my shirt in (you’d see the tucked in part).

Thank you @DaisyChainOz & @summerseeker. Told my sister-in-law she’s going to be my official photographer from now on.

Welcome. The first week is probably the most difficult then you’ll slowly start to notice improvement. The gas pains are almost or all gone. The swelling in your throat from the intubation tube making it difficult to swallow goes. General pain and discomfort disappears too. Though don’t be surprised to have odd days you feel you’ve gone back a step or two. You’ve had pretty major surgery and it takes a good 6-8 weeks to heal & recover. Best advice is to take it slowly. Don’t push yourself to do more than your body is ready for even if you think you should be doing this or feeling that so listen to your body. It does get better & easier. Congratulations on your surgery.

Stretching your tummy out again is really just a false scare tactic that anti surgery people spread. To stretch your tummy again you would have to eat very large meals regularly for a long time. You’d have to be committed to doing this. You’d have to eat through the discomfort of your restriction. You’d likely vomit to bring up the excess food you’ve eaten at those large meals. Would you want to do this? The stomach muscle will soften in the months after surgery which allows you to eat a little more as the months pass than you can immediately after surgery but the little more gets you to a point your eating around an acceptable & recommended portion size and allows you to get the nutrients in you need. For example after surgery I could only eat about 1/4 - 1/3 of a cup of food. I’m 6 years post surgery & my meal fits on a side plate now so about 3ozs cooked meat and a cup of vegetables to give you an idea.

I saw this Victoria Beckham lace & sequin skirt a few weeks back at my favourite boutique but didn’t get it. Then saw it on 40% off but was shopping with my mum & didn’t try it in. Then 2 weeks ago, I was still thinking about it & thought my size will be gone by now (only one of each size available) but checked online and the UK 6 was still there. Yippee! I tied it on the next day & it was perfect. The greatest win was it was another 20% off so 60% off. It was meant to be mine. Another win was it was still full price on VB’s website and her price was more than the original price where I bought it so got it for 75% off Victoria’s price. Wore it to my 60th birthday lunch yesterday with a silk blouse I knotted in the front.

Made lamb shanks in my slow cooker last week for my mum. Have to say it tasted damn good. No red wine. So added some brandy. Threw it a small handful of barley which gave it an even more rustic taste. My birthday tomorrow (so I’m still 59 today ?) and had a lunch with girlfriends at one of my favourite restaurants yesterday. It’s a wood fired restaurant and the plates come out to share. Lots of champagne was drunk. There were several appetiser plates which disappeared before I had a chance to take pxts but here are a couple I did get. Smoked lamb neck with green tomato pickles & roast king Edward potatoes with onion cream & sesame praline as the main. Salted zucchini with peanut tarator & burnt leek oil. These were amazing. Would have eaten the whole bowl myself blow my tiny tummy. Judging by the empty plates I think the food went down well ? My little birthday dessert of dark chocolate names aka (biscuit crumbs) with cardamom ice cream & almond coffee. I did eat all of this but it was only like three spoons.

It’s a big one @GreenTealael. My 7yr old nephew told me yesterday that I don’t look like someone who’s turning 60 & I look like I’m only in my 40s. He’s my favourite now ?. (Mind you he told my mum that at 85 she was almost 100 but looked like someone a little less than 100. He’s not her favourite at the moment ?) Am going to lunch on Saturday with some of my dearest girlfriends. Hopefully we’ll remember to take some pxts to share. This will be the first significant birthday that I’m not overweight or obese. Yay! What did you do to celebrate?

Congratulations & happy anniversary @GreenTealael. 6 years post revision - Whoo hoo! (I turned 6 this year too.) Happy birthday for the other day as well. (Those of us born in July are the best!)

Congratulations @DaisyChainOz. You’ve been doing so well. 20kgs is great and you shouldn’t be disappointed thinking it’s not enough. Remember we lose at the rate that’s right for us and that includes being right for our lifestyle & how we want to live our lives. Remember too, your life was pretty stressful before your surgery with your mum’s passing, your husband’s diagnosis and treatment (hope his recovery is going smoothly). You have been carrying a heavy emotional and psychological load which makes your weight loss and your commitment an even greater achievement.

Congrats on your surgery. As to your symptoms, I didn’t experience these nor can I recall anyone else here saying experiencing them. It’s not uncommon to have a sore throat or difficulty swallowing the first couple of days after surgery due to swelling from the air tube they insert during surgery. You may have picked up a bug??? They may have put your jaw out during intubation??? Have you contacted your surgeon? I’d certainly do that. A lot of the cravings you are feeling now are likely emotional cravings. The surgery is stressful and a lot of emotions can be stirred up (consciously or subconsciously consciously) and your brain tells you to eat to sooth and comfort yourself. Recognising why you may be craving a specific food, flavour or texture is an important learning. Of course understanding the why of it doesn’t stop the craving unfortunately. We always say the surgery changes the digestive system it doesn’t change of brain & thinking. We do get better at managing them but they are always there in some form or another. Things that can help: Dustraction is a big one. Go for a walk as you are able, play a game, ring a friend or family member, check social media & this forum, read, etc. Sometimes a warm drink can help. If a chick-fil-A ad or other tempting food ads come on change the channel, switch the tv off or walk away for a minute or so. All the best.

It might be worth getting in contact with your dietician again to review your current eating, activity, etc. to help devise a plan which will meet your current nutritional needs and support your weight loss. Things change in our lives, like changing to a less stressful & less active job, which can mean what worked for us before doesn’t now. Looks like you’ve made a good start in getting back on track (congrats on your weight loss so far) and you just might need little tweaks to refine. Remember stalls are part of our weight loss and that could be what’s happening now not that you’re doing something wrong. All the best.

Making the decision to improve your health and reclaim your life is huge so congratulations. And yes starting now can start to get you into the right frame of mind and help you start establishing better habits and new routines. You don’t have to jump in with everything. Small changes are often easier to adopt and adapt to. Here are some ideas you could start with. Just pick a couple which you think you could begin to introduce. Finding time to be more active when you work full time, for long hours and sit all day. But you can carve out short blocks of time throughout the day. The little bits of 5 mins here 10 there add up so don’t think you have to find a solid 30 - 60 mins a day to improve your health. Go for a walk at lunch time even 10 mins is better than nothing. If you take public transport get off at the stop before your office or home. Take stairs not the lift. Walk up escalators. Park further away from where you’re going. A lot of us start off with these small changes and then build and incorporate more activity as they go on. I still do short boosts of activity (stretches and bands) and incorporate these other behavioural changes in my usual chores I do day to day. May be start reducing or dropping those late night snacks. Up your fluid intake. Reduce portion sizes. Up your protein intake. Avoid following any fad or social media trending diet tips, diets or food fear mongering. They usually don’t work, are never sustainable & not based in any truth. Have you found a surgeon yet?

Have you gone back to your surgeon & team for assistance? The fertility treatments you have been undertaking may be contributing to your difficulties losing weight again even if you are currently not taking any. Worth exploring - hormones can certainly hinder weight loss. May be get a thorough blood test for everything including hormone levels and thyroid levels to see if anything is revealed. Also maybe discuss trying GLP-1s with your surgeon. All the best.

I wonder if your feeling uncomfortable at this lower weight is to do with body dysmorphia or a similar disorder. It takes time for our head to catch up with reality and see ourselves as we really are after surgery. Our sense of who we are in ourselves and in society has changed. We’re not the big girl anymore but we may not see ourselves as a slim girl yet. We lose what we think is our identity. Our understanding of our actual physical size is different and hard to come to terms with. And so on. These feelings are not uncommon after weight loss. They seem to manifest in different ways but common seems to be feeling uncomfortable in your self and that you don’t know or can’t see yourself anymore. A lot of your head space during your weight loss has been filled with a second surgery, pregnancy and now caring for a baby. How much has been directed to you yourself? Before embarking on trying to regain your weight, it may be helpful to look into therapy. It can’t hurt & many here have found it useful when dealing with these and similar issues.

Your PCOS is probably your worst enemy when battling your weight. Hormones were certainly mine. From puberty I started gaining and I bounced between 60 & 75kgs most of my adult life using a multitude of diets & exercises programs to manage it. Generally I was a low calorie eater even regularly skipping meals to limit calorie intake. I went to a dietician once who told me I wasn’t eating enough. (Never lost a pound seeing her.) Perimenopause hit and I suddenly went from 60 to 80. Then menopause and I was 91. All gained seemingly overnight. Couldn't lose except a couple of kilos on a 500 calorie a day diet and it took weeks to lose that. Nothing worked until I had surgery. When hormones come into play how many calories you eat, how much you manage the quality of the food you eat, how much activity you do, you are fighting a battle with the odds against you. One of the benefit of the surgery is that it alters your hormones (gut, metabolic, reproductive and other hormones like cortisol) to varying degrees. This is why it may help you. A lot of others on the forum with PCOS have found success with the surgery & hopefully some will respond with their experiences. But as others have mentioned you have to be mentally & emotionally ready for surgery. It’s not easy with a lot of head work involved. It takes a lot of commitment. And it is a lifelong commitment but so worth it All the best, whatever you decide to do.

You are not alone. And regain can be very stressful and emotional. Many experience regain over time of varying amounts. I’ve had a small regain this year able it has been very upsetting. Many things can contribute to this regain. Life in general, which can throw crap at us. Medical reasons. Emotional or mental health issues. Complacency. From what you said it seems like complacency maybe a factor for you. Unlike @learn2cook, I’m not a tracker of my food. I’m a random checker though like @learn2cook I’m also very routine and predictable in my eating (what I eat & when I eat) but it is what works for me. You may find it useful to measure and record everything I eat & drink for a couple of weeks to identify where those snacks, larger portions, calorie drinks or whatever are sneaking in. Can help to make note of why you think you snacked, or ate a little larger portion, and such too. Look over what you’ve recorded and then start to make changes. Just one or two at a time for a couple of weeks then make another change or two. Slow and steady adjustments are always easier to adopt and adapt to & are more sustainable in the long term. Checking in with a dietician can also be helpful to ensure you’re on the right path. If you think there may be an emotional factor involved, a therapist may be able to support you too. Many find a therapist very helpful. Unfortunately, managing our weight will always be a battle to some degree we just have some extra tools and knowledge to help us now than we did before our surgery. All the best.

The emotional rollercoaster after surgery can really screw up your hunger signals. Your head hunger signals go into overdrive as your head tells you to eat to make you feel better. Not helped by surges in estrogen that is released from our fat as we lose weight messing with our emotions too. Also many nerves are cut during surgery plus the swelling & inflammation @SpartanMaker mentioned distorts messages like hunger and satiety even if they actually get through. And it’s a pretty major surgery and it knocks you about. It takes time before you don’t feel tired, weak, dizzy, doughy headed, etc. It takes a good 6+ weeks to fully heal after surgery, so these mixed signals & feeling unwell will continue for a while. Generally though, if you’re craving a specific food, flavour or texture, it’s head hunger. If you’re feeling sad, anxious, frustrated, angry, bored, etc. it’s likely head hunger. In time you’ll discover real hunger signals are different. For me I feel restless like something is wrong not that I ‘feel’ hungry. Having eaten enough can feel different too. Many sneeze, or get the hiccups. Don’t eat until you feel full or until you’ve eaten all you want. It takes 20 odd minutes for the full message to get through normally & a lot longer this soon after surgery so don’t eat until you feel full - you’ve eaten too much by then. Stop when you’ve had enough, when you don’t need any more. You’ll have lots of meals (appropriate portion sizes) you simply can’t finish because you’ve had enough and don’t need any more. I still do at 6 years out. The lightheadedness could be from being dehydrated too or from your blood pressure dropping (many experience this). Are you meeting or close to meeting your daily fluid goals? Often an electrolyte drink can help. It does get easier and you will feel better. Just give yourself time.

Yep the wine and it being later at night you drank. Plus now you can’t stop thinking about not sleeping which is guaranteed to stop you from sleeping. I had a glass of sparkling the other night when at dinner with my mum and niece. The bottle had been sealed with one of those coravin wine preservation systems. I think that messed with me as a glass of wine or sparkling at night (pre or during dinner) usually doesn’t affect me, Was awake from about 1 until 4am. Plus my head was thick and heavy almost like I had had several glasses. I feel your angst. Hope you have sweet dreams soon.

Gyms are not for me. The whole idea is off putting plus the effort of having to get dressed to go to one for a hour or so, waiting to use equipment, and then going home is guaranteed to turn me totally off and I would give up & stop going very quickly. It’s why I love my resistance bands. I do it in the comfort of my home when I want to do it. Mind you I am very predictable in when I do my routines. Been using them for about 2.5yrs now & usually every day. I also spread out what I do across my day in 4 short bursts focussing more on arms in one and legs in another, with stretches & movements to improve flexibility as well, After the first year I had to buy new trousers as the slim cut legs had got tight. Last month I had to get a fitted dress let out across my upper back. I have a couple of long sleeve tops that are either too tight in the sleeves or firm. I’ve had compliments about my arms. I’m not bulky. My goal was to tone, develop some definition & support the oozy discs in my back. It takes longer to achieve muscle growth but I don’t feel it’s a chore. And it’s cost me about $50 for the bands and a thick foam mat I use way cheaper than going to gym. Lots of good clips on you tube to work out your own routines.

Small changes for the win every time! Small changes are always much easier to adapt to and adopt. It might take longer but it’s more likely to stick in the long term. Track your eating and drinking for a week or so. Over time it’s easy to become complacent and let things slide a little in regards to food choices, portion sizes &/or frequency of eating and activity. Then choose which one or two you’ll focus on changing first. Remember to hit those old goals. Get your protein in first, then vegetables, some fruit and some whole or multi grain carbs last of all. Ensure you’re getting in your water. I’ve put on a small amount this year after a hysterectomy. We’re still trying to sort out my hormones but it’s been an emotional time not helped by experiencing full on menopausal symptoms (after managing them for years) plus cravings, food noise, bloating, headaches, … even acne. My weight had been stable until this & my routines were deeply embedded.i felt in control for the first time ever so the weight gain was difficult to understand & messed with me. But life does throw crap at us at times. I’ve dropped a snack, reduced my portions a little, added a couple more stretches and movements to my non exercise activity routine. Deciding what I might change next. All the best.

A high protein yogurt was my go to in the puree stage & you can make it into a smoothly y simple adding some extra milk. Add powered flavours or protein if you want. That an instant oats (very milky),runny scrambled eggs (again lots of milk to keep therm thin) and soups. Your tummy can be very fussy in there first couple of months and your taste buds and sense of smell can become very sensitive. For me shakes were unpleasantly grainy and many foods were too sweet or too salty. Also I struggled to eat any meats I pureed but if you go down this route ensure to add enough gravy or stock to keep the pureed meat thin ( slurping off a spoon thin). So beware & tread warily when introducing new foods. Yes plans can be different. Mine was probably the most common of two weeks liquids, two weeks, puree, two weeks soft food but there were differences in what foods were allowed or not allowed at the stages from other plans. Another thing to consider is we all heal at different rates and while your plan may say you can move forward to the next stage at a certain time your digestive system may not be ready. Don’t be afraid to stay longer at a stage than your plan says if this happens to you. If you don’t reach your protein goal in the first weeks don’t panic too much. As long as you’re making an effort and getting closer as the weeks pass you’ll be okay. The volume of food you’ll be able to eat those first weeks alone hinders your ability to get all your protein in. It would take me three days to eat 2 scrambled eggs and the same for a single serve of instant oats. But work extra hard to get your fluid in. I could count shakes (but I stopped them after liquid stage) but I also did things like count the extra liquid I added to soups or yoghurt, the extra milk I added to the instant oats and scrambled eggs - not the recommended liquid you might have to add but any extra I added. All the best.

I was an early adopter of sparkling water too but I let a lot of the bubbles go first so it was semi flat. Plus I sipped on that glass (500ml) for a few hours. I turned to it as plain water started to become heavy and difficult to drink so sparkling water gave me an alternative to predominately plain water. I still do this almost every day. I actually gave up a lot of carbonated drinks years before my surgery (except for soda or tonic water as a mixer & champagne). Carbonation is terrible if you have reflux (GERD) of which I had a mild case so it is something to keep in mind especially as you have a sleeve. I’m not a big or regular alcohol drinker any more either & I can’t recall the last time I had soda or tonic water as a mixer. Still have the odd glass of champagne - maybe one or two glasses a month. As for being able to take large gulps, drink large volumes of liquid or take multiple sips at a time is an individual thing. Personally I can’t gulp any more nor can I take more than 2 or 3 sips at a time. (E.g. had trouble swallowing a med last year - 4 attempts then up came all the water & the med I had finally swallowed.) Regularly sipping doesn’t bother me. I never feel thirsty or at least never so thirsty I need to take several gulps or down a whole glass at a time. It comes down to what you and your tummy is happy with you doing in regards to how much liquid you can swallow at a time and to carbonation.

Sorry you are having such a tough time & I do agree with the others your experiences are extreme and unusual. While aversions to certain flavours, smells &/or textures isn’t uncommon in the first couple of months, it usually is to rather specific foods & odours not the broad ranging all encompassing aversions like yours. Same with developing such extensive sensitivities or allergies. Our digestive system is just so sensitive after surgery & while healing. Can I add it might be an idea to get a referral to a therapist. You may find it helpful to talk the through your feelings of failure and even your food aversions. Our mind can really mess with us and convince our bodies of many things. I recall my dad’s oncologist saying that sometimes after experiencing a lot of nausea over a number of weeks, your body can start to think nausea is its natural/normal reaction to food. Not saying this is your situation but it can’t hurt to rule it out as a possibility. Also have you tried sipping water overnight to get in more fluids? Still have a large glass y my bed and sip every time I wake ( usually when I get up to pee ?) or while I’m reading before I sleep. Another thing to consider is that multi vitamins are known to cause nausea and is an issue many of us experienced the first months after surgery. They could be adding to the nausea you are experiencing. As you have an allergy to anti nausea meds, try sipping ginger tea (it counts to your fluid intake & warm drinks are often more soothing) or look into acupressure point bands often sold to help sea or motion sickness. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Anti+nausea+bands&ref=nav_bb_sb I hope you can find some relief and solutions soon. All the best.

It’s turned cold here rather quickly (well cold for us) and I thought oh comforting and warming but nope. Yes the other one went in the bin. Had some of the pea & ham soup I made last month instead. I’ve still got bags of that in my freezer. ?

Totally agree with @WendyJane & @SpartanMaker. Rule out a possible DVT first.Though I would also start taking your magnesium supplements again. Won’t hurt if you take the recommended dose. Are you on calcium tablets too? Remember they used to help with leg cramps when I was younger. Those muscle knots are so painful. Nothing wrong with adding an electrolyte drink as part of your fluid intake. Many of us added one to help with the energy drops in the first months. I used to take one to work and if I was going to have a busy day out & about for a boost. Check with your dietician for a recommendation. I would add a hydralyte sachet or tablet to 500mls of water - doubled the water as it tasted too sweet in 250 ml.