BigSue

Well... I'm the wrong person to ask because I'm super cautious about food safety, and I err on the side of overcooking meat. I don't take it off the heat until it's at a safe temperature (plus at least a few more degrees just to be safe). I also ruin it by stabbing it in multiple places with a thermometer (just to make sure!), which lets a lot of juices out. Dark meat is very forgiving, so it was still very juicy even though it was cooked a little more than necessary.

Well... I'm the wrong person to ask because I'm super cautious about food safety, and I err on the side of overcooking meat. I don't take it off the heat until it's at a safe temperature (plus at least a few more degrees just to be safe). I also ruin it by stabbing it in multiple places with a thermometer (just to make sure!), which lets a lot of juices out. Dark meat is very forgiving, so it was still very juicy even though it was cooked a little more than necessary.

I fired up my smoker today for 10 pounds of leg quarters and 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Finished product (this is the smallest one):

Took 2 ounces from that one to put on a salad for lunch:


And 2 ounces with sugar-free BBQ Sauce and a side of asparagus for dinner:

Smoked chicken freezes well, so the rest of it's going in the freezer. I'll have plenty of chicken for weeks!

I fired up my smoker today for 10 pounds of leg quarters and 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Finished product (this is the smallest one):

Took 2 ounces from that one to put on a salad for lunch:


And 2 ounces with sugar-free BBQ Sauce and a side of asparagus for dinner:

Smoked chicken freezes well, so the rest of it's going in the freezer. I'll have plenty of chicken for weeks!

I fired up my smoker today for 10 pounds of leg quarters and 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Finished product (this is the smallest one):

Took 2 ounces from that one to put on a salad for lunch:


And 2 ounces with sugar-free BBQ Sauce and a side of asparagus for dinner:

Smoked chicken freezes well, so the rest of it's going in the freezer. I'll have plenty of chicken for weeks!

I fired up my smoker today for 10 pounds of leg quarters and 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Finished product (this is the smallest one):

Took 2 ounces from that one to put on a salad for lunch:


And 2 ounces with sugar-free BBQ Sauce and a side of asparagus for dinner:

Smoked chicken freezes well, so the rest of it's going in the freezer. I'll have plenty of chicken for weeks!

This is a very common question, but it's weird how many posts there have been this weekend alone from people concerned about their rate of weight loss...
Everybody loses at a different rate. It annoys me when surgeons tell people how quickly they "should" be losing weight, when they should know full well that there are many factors -- many of which are outside of the patient's control -- that can affect the rate of weight loss after surgery. The bottom line is that if you're following the program and your weight is decreasing (even if it's slow), you're fine.
For your specific case, you had a low starting weight. The less you have to lose, and the closer you get to your goal, the more slowly it will go. I started at 341 pounds (down to 270 on surgery day), so I had WAY more to lose than you. You can't expect to lose as quickly as someone who started 100+ pounds higher, so don't compare your weight loss to someone else's. Just be patient and stick with your program, and the weight will come off.

This is a very common question, but it's weird how many posts there have been this weekend alone from people concerned about their rate of weight loss...
Everybody loses at a different rate. It annoys me when surgeons tell people how quickly they "should" be losing weight, when they should know full well that there are many factors -- many of which are outside of the patient's control -- that can affect the rate of weight loss after surgery. The bottom line is that if you're following the program and your weight is decreasing (even if it's slow), you're fine.
For your specific case, you had a low starting weight. The less you have to lose, and the closer you get to your goal, the more slowly it will go. I started at 341 pounds (down to 270 on surgery day), so I had WAY more to lose than you. You can't expect to lose as quickly as someone who started 100+ pounds higher, so don't compare your weight loss to someone else's. Just be patient and stick with your program, and the weight will come off.

I like Syntrax Nectar, and they have a lot of flavors. I would recommend buying sample packs of the flavors that appeal to you to see what you like. IdealFit also has some good ones (and you can buy samples of those, too). I bought a case of Protein2O and HATED it. It left a weird residue in my mouth (little bits with the texture of cooked egg whites). It's possible I just got a bad batch or something, though.

Those look delicious! I love green Beans. My favorite frozen green beans are Steamfresh (I don't steam them in the bag, though). I also got some good ones from Trader Joe's for a great price.

Tim,
You're going to ignore me, but I'm gonna try anyhow.
This period is called the honeymoon period for a reason. No matter what you do, no matter how well or badly you follow your program, you will lose weight.
The honeymoon can teach you one of two lessons:
1) You can follow your program and you will receive the wonderfully positive feedback of losing weight. It's a great motivator to continue and to get the feedback. Month after month of staying on program and losing weight is a great teacher and motivator. By times the weight loss slows you will be at or near goal and you've built your lifetime habits so you won't regain.
2) You can do whatever you want and you will receive the wonderfully positive feedback of losing weight. It's a great motivator to continue and to get the feedback. When you leave the honeymoon and stop losing weight, or worse, gaining weight, you are now where you were pre-op: Working to learn a diet with little to no positive feedback.
Make a good choice.
From what you've described so far, you are basically in starvation mode. Even if you worked to follow your program you would be near starvation. Starving yourself for 8 hours then worse for 16 hours a day just puts that much more strain on your body. You NEED Protein to heal and right now you have to do the absolute best you can. This was supposed to be an action to get healthy, not, well...
Keeping your scale moving via starvation is not healthy. Watching the scale is screwing with your mind.
Talk about this honestly and frankly with your medical team. Listen to them.

I wore the same size jeans (26) through 110 pounds of weight loss (I have to admit they were a bit too small at my highest weight -- I had to wear them around the house for a few hours to re-stretch them every time I washed them -- but I couldn't stand to go up another size). I had to wear a belt to hold them up toward the end of that, but I had the same frustration that I had lost so much weight but was pretty much the same size. After that, though, I started to blow through sizes really quickly. Now I'm wearing size 14 and I need a belt.

Having duodenal switch surgery with the best decision I've ever made. I am almost 2 years posted and have lost 238 lb so far. I still have about 60 lb to go but so far so good. I highly recommend the surgery to anyone considering it.

You're doing great! 6 kg in 2 weeks is almost 1 pound per day. That's excellent, especially considering that most people temporarily gain weight in the hospital from all the IV fluids. A lot of people have unrealistic expectations for weight loss. You didn't gain the weight overnight and you're not going to lose it overnight. Most people lose 15-25 pounds in the first month, so you're well on your way. It's too soon right now to worry about your rate of weight loss. You need to focus on getting your fluids and Protein. Stick with your plan and the weight will come off.

your doctor is a jerk and should know better than that! If he's been dealing with this for any length of time, he should know that very few people lose 20 lbs - or even 16 lbs - in two weeks (unless he's Dr. Now and works mostly with high-risk bariatric patients that most surgeons won't touch).

I got that crap once from a resident (not my regular surgeon - but some resident that the surgeon had during follow-up appts for awhile). He was sure to let me know that I was a slow loser and behind the rest of my cohorts. Well screw him - I went on to lose 100% of my excess weight - over 200 lbs (and most likely blew the rest of my "cohorts" out of the water). I'd love to see his face NOW....

there are so many factors that influence your rate of weight loss, most of which you have little to no control over (like...your age, for example). The two things you DO have control over is your activity level and how closely you stick to your surgeon's plan. If you're very committed to those and doing what you were instructed to do, then you'll lose weight - whether fast or slow. As long as the overall trend is downward, you're good.

You're doing great! 6 kg in 2 weeks is almost 1 pound per day. That's excellent, especially considering that most people temporarily gain weight in the hospital from all the IV fluids. A lot of people have unrealistic expectations for weight loss. You didn't gain the weight overnight and you're not going to lose it overnight. Most people lose 15-25 pounds in the first month, so you're well on your way. It's too soon right now to worry about your rate of weight loss. You need to focus on getting your fluids and Protein. Stick with your plan and the weight will come off.

You're doing great! 6 kg in 2 weeks is almost 1 pound per day. That's excellent, especially considering that most people temporarily gain weight in the hospital from all the IV fluids. A lot of people have unrealistic expectations for weight loss. You didn't gain the weight overnight and you're not going to lose it overnight. Most people lose 15-25 pounds in the first month, so you're well on your way. It's too soon right now to worry about your rate of weight loss. You need to focus on getting your fluids and Protein. Stick with your plan and the weight will come off.

The only thing I brought for entertainment was my iPad. Between walking and sipping, I didn't have a lot of time to focus on anything, so I mostly just watched TV and played games on my iPad to pass the time.
Make sure you bring some comfortable pants (e.g., pajama pants or sweatpants) to wear under your hospital gown while you walk around.

You're doing great! 6 kg in 2 weeks is almost 1 pound per day. That's excellent, especially considering that most people temporarily gain weight in the hospital from all the IV fluids. A lot of people have unrealistic expectations for weight loss. You didn't gain the weight overnight and you're not going to lose it overnight. Most people lose 15-25 pounds in the first month, so you're well on your way. It's too soon right now to worry about your rate of weight loss. You need to focus on getting your fluids and Protein. Stick with your plan and the weight will come off.

The BariatricPal Multivitamin ONE Vitamins are the best-priced bariatric Multivitamins I've seen. If you buy the ones with Iron, you might not have to take a separate iron supplement. They have a yearly subscription for $99.99, which is $8.33/month. You can buy them in smaller quantities (which I recommend doing to start to make sure you like them), but the more you buy, the lower the cost per Vitamin. They do have a chewable one that you can take right after surgery, but I didn't care for the taste (I took BariMelts for the first two months, but they are pricey).
You can take normal drugstore vitamins, but you have to take a double dose, and if you do that, the BariatricPal subscription is cheaper than most of the drugstore vitamins.
You will have to take a separate calcium citrate supplement (make sure it's Calcium citrate, not calcium carbonate). I LOVE the BariatricPal Belgian chocolate caramel and French vanilla caramel soft chews -- they taste like candy and make me look forward to taking my calcium. They are the lowest-priced calcium citrate chews I've seen (and they go on sale often), but you can get calcium citrate tablets for a lower price (about 1/3 of the price of soft chews per dose). I buy Caltrate petites and take those 1x per day (2 pills per dose) and soft chews 2x per day.
You will also need vitamin B-12, which you can get as a sublingual tablet, injection, or nasal spray. I buy NatureMade brand sublingual tablets from Amazon. They are very inexpensive -- less than $10 for 50.

Carrot Cake Protein oatmeal (ate it all):

Carrot Cake Protein oatmeal (ate it all):

I've seen a lot of articles and YouTube videos about eating at restaurants after weight loss surgery. I would suggest googling something like "restaurants after weight loss surgery" for tips. Something to keep in mind, though, is that most of these articles are about going out to eat on rare occasions, not eating all of your meals from restaurants.
It's hard to lose weight if you're always eating at restaurants because (1) you don't really know what's in the food, so you can't track your intake accurately, and (2) the food is loaded with extra fat and sugar. In terms of tracking your intake, chain restaurants are probably easier because you can find the nutrition information online, and the food is usually pre-packaged and just heated up at the restaurant, so they're probably not adding a bunch of extra butter or anything. You can also find a lot of articles about the healthiest foods at various chain restaurants. Salads with grilled meat are usually a safe bet, but you have to watch the dressing. Always get dressing on the side, and maybe use your own light dressing instead. Trader Joe's has some amazing super-low-calorie dressings (green goddess and spicy cashew). A sandwich without the bun is another option (some places will even make you a lettuce wrap instead of a sandwich). A lot of restaurants have dishes that are basically meat plus sides, and you can order veggies as the sides. Just watch out for the sauces (ask for sauces on the side to be safe).
Regarding portion size, why can't you take a measuring cup with you to a restaurant? It doesn't necessarily have to be a measuring cup, but you can carry a 4-ounce plastic container with a lid in your purse and use it to measure half a cup. Of course, once you get some practice, you will probably be able to eyeball the correct portion size pretty well. A lot of people recommend asking for a box when you get your meal and putting some of the food in the box to bring home so you don't over-eat (I've seen this recommended just for general dieting purposes, not just for WLS patients). You could measure out a potion to leave on your plate and put the rest in the box. Yeah, it might look weird, but I guarantee you won't be the first person who does that.
Finally, when you say you don't cook, are you open to heating up prepared foods? Like frozen meals? Unfortunately, most frozen meals aren't very bariatric-friendly because they usually have rice and Pasta, but there are some decent ones with cauliflower rice or just meat and veggies, or they have the rice in a separate compartment so you can leave it out. How about semi-homemade? It's not difficult to heat up some frozen veggies and pre-packaged meat. One of my go-to meals consists of frozen cauliflower rice + canned black Beans + salsa from a jar + chicken + shredded cheese (I usually make my own taco meat chicken in the Instant Pot, but frozen grilled chicken works, too). It only takes a couple of minutes to throw all that stuff in a bowl and stick it in the microwave. Another easy option is bagged salad mix + meat + light dressing from a bottle.
I'm 7 months post-op and I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten restaurant food since my surgery. I've found that I don't really enjoy it anymore because I can't eat the foods that I used to order at restaurants, I can only eat tiny portions, and it seems like a waste to spend so much money on a restaurant meal when it's pretty much the same as what I would make for myself at home.

I've seen a lot of articles and YouTube videos about eating at restaurants after weight loss surgery. I would suggest googling something like "restaurants after weight loss surgery" for tips. Something to keep in mind, though, is that most of these articles are about going out to eat on rare occasions, not eating all of your meals from restaurants.
It's hard to lose weight if you're always eating at restaurants because (1) you don't really know what's in the food, so you can't track your intake accurately, and (2) the food is loaded with extra fat and sugar. In terms of tracking your intake, chain restaurants are probably easier because you can find the nutrition information online, and the food is usually pre-packaged and just heated up at the restaurant, so they're probably not adding a bunch of extra butter or anything. You can also find a lot of articles about the healthiest foods at various chain restaurants. Salads with grilled meat are usually a safe bet, but you have to watch the dressing. Always get dressing on the side, and maybe use your own light dressing instead. Trader Joe's has some amazing super-low-calorie dressings (green goddess and spicy cashew). A sandwich without the bun is another option (some places will even make you a lettuce wrap instead of a sandwich). A lot of restaurants have dishes that are basically meat plus sides, and you can order veggies as the sides. Just watch out for the sauces (ask for sauces on the side to be safe).
Regarding portion size, why can't you take a measuring cup with you to a restaurant? It doesn't necessarily have to be a measuring cup, but you can carry a 4-ounce plastic container with a lid in your purse and use it to measure half a cup. Of course, once you get some practice, you will probably be able to eyeball the correct portion size pretty well. A lot of people recommend asking for a box when you get your meal and putting some of the food in the box to bring home so you don't over-eat (I've seen this recommended just for general dieting purposes, not just for WLS patients). You could measure out a potion to leave on your plate and put the rest in the box. Yeah, it might look weird, but I guarantee you won't be the first person who does that.
Finally, when you say you don't cook, are you open to heating up prepared foods? Like frozen meals? Unfortunately, most frozen meals aren't very bariatric-friendly because they usually have rice and Pasta, but there are some decent ones with cauliflower rice or just meat and veggies, or they have the rice in a separate compartment so you can leave it out. How about semi-homemade? It's not difficult to heat up some frozen veggies and pre-packaged meat. One of my go-to meals consists of frozen cauliflower rice + canned black Beans + salsa from a jar + chicken + shredded cheese (I usually make my own taco meat chicken in the Instant Pot, but frozen grilled chicken works, too). It only takes a couple of minutes to throw all that stuff in a bowl and stick it in the microwave. Another easy option is bagged salad mix + meat + light dressing from a bottle.
I'm 7 months post-op and I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten restaurant food since my surgery. I've found that I don't really enjoy it anymore because I can't eat the foods that I used to order at restaurants, I can only eat tiny portions, and it seems like a waste to spend so much money on a restaurant meal when it's pretty much the same as what I would make for myself at home.

I've seen a lot of articles and YouTube videos about eating at restaurants after weight loss surgery. I would suggest googling something like "restaurants after weight loss surgery" for tips. Something to keep in mind, though, is that most of these articles are about going out to eat on rare occasions, not eating all of your meals from restaurants.
It's hard to lose weight if you're always eating at restaurants because (1) you don't really know what's in the food, so you can't track your intake accurately, and (2) the food is loaded with extra fat and sugar. In terms of tracking your intake, chain restaurants are probably easier because you can find the nutrition information online, and the food is usually pre-packaged and just heated up at the restaurant, so they're probably not adding a bunch of extra butter or anything. You can also find a lot of articles about the healthiest foods at various chain restaurants. Salads with grilled meat are usually a safe bet, but you have to watch the dressing. Always get dressing on the side, and maybe use your own light dressing instead. Trader Joe's has some amazing super-low-calorie dressings (green goddess and spicy cashew). A sandwich without the bun is another option (some places will even make you a lettuce wrap instead of a sandwich). A lot of restaurants have dishes that are basically meat plus sides, and you can order veggies as the sides. Just watch out for the sauces (ask for sauces on the side to be safe).
Regarding portion size, why can't you take a measuring cup with you to a restaurant? It doesn't necessarily have to be a measuring cup, but you can carry a 4-ounce plastic container with a lid in your purse and use it to measure half a cup. Of course, once you get some practice, you will probably be able to eyeball the correct portion size pretty well. A lot of people recommend asking for a box when you get your meal and putting some of the food in the box to bring home so you don't over-eat (I've seen this recommended just for general dieting purposes, not just for WLS patients). You could measure out a potion to leave on your plate and put the rest in the box. Yeah, it might look weird, but I guarantee you won't be the first person who does that.
Finally, when you say you don't cook, are you open to heating up prepared foods? Like frozen meals? Unfortunately, most frozen meals aren't very bariatric-friendly because they usually have rice and Pasta, but there are some decent ones with cauliflower rice or just meat and veggies, or they have the rice in a separate compartment so you can leave it out. How about semi-homemade? It's not difficult to heat up some frozen veggies and pre-packaged meat. One of my go-to meals consists of frozen cauliflower rice + canned black Beans + salsa from a jar + chicken + shredded cheese (I usually make my own taco meat chicken in the Instant Pot, but frozen grilled chicken works, too). It only takes a couple of minutes to throw all that stuff in a bowl and stick it in the microwave. Another easy option is bagged salad mix + meat + light dressing from a bottle.
I'm 7 months post-op and I can count on one hand the number of times I've eaten restaurant food since my surgery. I've found that I don't really enjoy it anymore because I can't eat the foods that I used to order at restaurants, I can only eat tiny portions, and it seems like a waste to spend so much money on a restaurant meal when it's pretty much the same as what I would make for myself at home.