Lillimint

Down in the south, we call it "sticky" chicken .... I'm attaching a video for you.... it the one that comes closest to how i do it. Depending on the size of your family, you can cut the recipe in half. I don't use skin on or bone in.... i just don't like it.... but you can if you want

Happy Monday everyone! Our American Society of Interior Designers - design awards for excellence were held virtually this past Friday evening (a first!) as covid rages on in Philadelphia. ;[ We decided to dress up even though none would see us. This new dress for the event in May, then, October both cancelled had never been worn since shut down in March after picking up from seamstress. Thought you might enjoy Compact Living for 1,000 square feet and under category - my project that took 1st place that evening. A few before and after photos for bachelorette client condo renovation who is an international pilot based here, but originally from Spain. Her grandfather was a matador. Acquired and placed this colorful painting in his honor - And, as my design inspiration for her residence... Fun!

I get to stop taking medication for diabetes!

I have officially lost 100 pounds!!! I honestly never thought I’d be here!! I’m just so excited!!

Exercise (walking and strength training) is a big help. Also music helps me a lot. I put music on, blast it loud if I want, sing and dance along, whatever I feel like. It helps.
I know you said non-food related, but one thing that helps with cravings is this advice that I received: "Before you eat something bad, eat something good." What that meant was, before giving in to a craving to eat something totally off plan, have an on-plan snack and often the craving will lessen or go away. I've tried it and it's worked for me many times.

Today I’m 2 months post op and I finally hit 199.4! I had my surgery on 08/27/2020. I’ve been a slower looser but wow, seeing that number felt so good.

I’m 5’8 1/2 and 43 years old. I also have Hashimoto’s (thyroid disease) and have struggled with my weight for more than 15 years.

In January of this year I started the long process with my insurance to get approved. My highest weight was #252. My BMI at that time was 38. I have comorbidities - sleep apnea & fatty liver

My insurance BCBS of Michigan required that I do the supervised nutrition for 6 months. My insurance used the weight I started at when I entered the program.

Prior to starting the two week pre-op diet (so mid August) I weighed #236. I lost 10-11 lbs doing the liquid diet pre op.

My surgery weight (8/27/2020) was #226 which I believe put me at a BMI of about 34 ish.

And today I’m officially #199.4! I am no longer morbidly obese, just “over weight”. 😂

I’ve also done something I’ve never done before- I finally enjoy exercise. I bought a Peloton bike to help me on my journey and it arrived 9/14 and I’ve been using it 6 times a week since I got it. I LOVE it, it’s so motivational. This bike/exercise might be transfer addiction but I’m totally ok with that. There is a very large weight loss community on Peloton. Many have done WLS.

So while I might not be loosing weight at a rapid pace, I’ve definitely gained muscle and have toned areas of my body.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to this group. Your posts have guided me through this journey.

And as my favorite instructor says: you are bigger than a smaller pair of pants. Your worth is so much greater!

So excited to report that on my recent flights north for business - NO MORE SELT BELT EXTENDERS! I had not flown since summer of 2018 before WLS. No longer needed that essential fashion accessory like before. Yay! Happy Halloween, too! Just couldn't resist this cartoon in honor of all whom have benefited by plastics. Another, yay! Clothes fit so much better and tailored.

Exactly 5 yrs ago this month I stepped on the scale at my doctors office and it read 110, but it was KG! That means I had a BMI of 48. I remember being so depressed because that was the highest number I had ever seen. I remember thinking "man that's what I should weigh in pounds!" I am excited today because when I got on the scale this morning it read 110.6...POUNDS!! It's been a long road but I can't believe I finally got there!

Yet another bowl of random stuff from the fridge:
Butter sautéed cremini mushrooms seasoned with garlic salt/pepper/smoked paprika, with diced tomatoes, topped with 1 slice of bacon bits, shaved Parmesan and fresh cilantro (preceded with a coffee martini, not shown): 268 calories.
This concoction turned out to be like my favourite thing i’ve eaten in a couple weeks! Sooooo yum...ate it all.

Hi @Jen637! I had a terrible time post-op with my sense of smell. I was so sensitive to any smell and it played a huge part in my nausea and vomiting. It felt like I was being assaulted with information overload to my brain. The good news is that at 3 months after surgery it is completely back to normal. The first week was the worst, but it slowly eased up each week. I might have been back to normal by week 5 or so? But no vomiting by the end of week 1, definitely bearable by week 2-3. It was so horrible and distracting in the beginning! My sense of taste seems to be fine now, too. Good luck, and I hope this passes for you quickly!

@dal101 I bet there are maps or groups someplace! I’ve always heard about the Jurassic Coast in southern England if you’re into fossils. And there’s lots of metamorphic rocks in Scotland. There’s always weird and unusual minerals in metamorphic areas.

I am a geologist, and I’ve been opal mining someplace just south of Death Valley. It was probably 20+ years ago, so I no longer remember the name. I’ve also been to the diamond mine in Arkansas. Beautiful and interesting geology in that area, and there’s also several places close by where you can dig for some beautiful quartz crystals. Lots of other interesting minerals in the area as well. There’s a series of great books called “The Roadside Geology of [Utah]”. They exist for nearly every state. I’m almost positive there’s one for Nevada. They are great for road trips to explain what you’re seeing, and will mention places that are good for rock collecting/mining/fossil hunting. They are not too technical.

Glad you enjoy digging in the dirt! It’s one of the things that attracted me to the profession. Although now I work in an office and make maps. I haven’t gotten to play around with a rock hammer in years. Maybe once I lose a bit more weight I can get out there again...

@dal101 I bet there are maps or groups someplace! I’ve always heard about the Jurassic Coast in southern England if you’re into fossils. And there’s lots of metamorphic rocks in Scotland. There’s always weird and unusual minerals in metamorphic areas.

So, part of the thing I love the best about having lost so much weight and having so much energy is what all I can physically do.
Back in September (since I live in Nevada), I went opal mining, and yesterday, I went to Tonopah to go do turquoise mining. We dug, broke rocks, and did basically hard labor for 5 and a half hours. Over that time, my garmin recorded me having burned over 1000 calories, and despite my soreness today, I had a blast.
Does anyone else do mining stuff? Does anyone know of any good places? I went opal mining in Virgin Valley in Nevada, and turquoise in Tonopah, Nevada.

Thats pretty interesting , I wish there were canyons and mining areas in the UK to do this kind of stuff. I have a metal detector that I use on the beach often but thats about it.

I miss Nevada. I lived in Vegas for six years and while I hated the city I loved all the outdoors stuff outside of it. Hiked almost daily in red rock canyon (and lost a lot of weight). On of my favorite things to do was get old Topo maps to look for and explore the old abandoned mines in the desert. We were cautious (as cautious as one could be when doing that sort of thing), like having enough Water and light for days and telling someone exactly where we were going and to call for help if we didn’t check in by a certain time... but it was crazy how deep some of them went into the mountains and the spider webs of tunnels, likely dug by hand. I really miss the desert and the mountains. Houston is just flat and sticky...

But then I did a smart thing!
So, I went out earlier today to accomplish two things. First, to vote in my state's primary. Second, to get passport photos taken.
Except I did them in the reverse order. I went to the CVS down the street to get the photos done. While waiting for them to print, my eyes unfortunately landed on a temptation too great for me to ignore.
I love Oreos. Like...really love Oreos. And I adore the special edition flavors that they come out with. I have not had Oreos in probably 9 months. That is a slippery slope I did not need.
Except they had Tiramisu flavored Oreos for sale. I also love Tiramisu. So...I walked out of CVS with a package of Tiramisu Oreos.
Then I went to my polling place and voted.
I came home, got in the door, and opened up that package of Oreos.
At which point I took 4 Cookies out...
And vac-sealed them into individual bags that then went right in the freezer. My boyfriend will be the beneficiary of my cookie weakness while I keep my four cookies locked away in the freezer for another 6 or so months. At which time I might indulge.
Or I might throw them out because I'm not sure how freezer burnt cookies would taste.

I just scheduled my dietitian appts for the next 6 months. I need to loose 18 lbs before surgery but I know I can do it. This community, youtube videos etc have helped so much. I just gotta take the steps and get things down one thing at a time. I'm emotional because I never thought I'd be able to do this, to get the surgery and start this process. I guess all I want to say is I'm grateful for all of you. For coming here, sharing your stories and being so open and compassionate. I feel stronger because of it. There's going to be good and bad days, but it all will pass and get easier with time. Big love to all of you. 💛

I'm down 80 pounds from my high weight, and 56 since surgery. I have 13 pounds to go to be below 300.
My necklaces fit now without an extender! I can't wear my wedding rings anymore. They're too big. I had to have them resized to a 10 at my highest weight. I'll wait until goal to size them again.
I also have clothes that were too small that are now too big!
I was able to sit in a booth the other day!
My BP is normal and my liver enzymes are half what they were!

Congratulations to all of you on your success and your NSV's!

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

I'm below BMI 30 as of this morning's weigh-in.

Glad to hear everyone is doing well! I had a big scale victory the other day- I'm now over halfway to my goal! As for NSV, I'm in the same boat as @BigSue, where my formerly 'too small' clothes are now mostly too large. I've had to buy a couple of pieces and punch a couple of holes into my pants.
I can also feel my feet getting looser in my shoes. Not looking forward to replacing my footwear collection.. hopefully I can get away with wearing larger shoes if I have fuzzy socks on.

i finally hit the 50lb lost after surgery goal! i'm down 52 now, and i had my 3 mo follow up w/my doctor. she said that the second half of the year is harder to lose weight than the first.. she only expects me to lose 100(ish) my first year. i plan to blow her away and to do more than that. i travelled out of state and had to quarantine until my negative rona test (just got the results today - negative!) to go back to the gym. I've really missed it and have enjoyed going back. i notice a lot more strength than when i last went.. each time im getting stronger and lifting more weight than before.

I'm finally starting to see visible results, now that I've lost 115 pounds. I lost about 70 pounds before surgery and nobody noticed. I was also wearing the same size pants (26/28) for the first 90 pounds of weight loss until they were so loose that I couldn't wear them anymore. I bought some size 22 pants and shrank out of them in about a month. I just bought some size 18 pants and received them yesterday. When I took them out of the package, I thought, "These are definitely too small, but that's ok -- I'll shrink into them." I tried them on anyway, and to my surprise, they actually fit. Sadly, I've already missed the window on most of the clothes I never wore because they were too small; they're almost all too big now (but I feel like there's more leeway in wearing tops that are too big).
Not a single person at work said anything through the first 110 pounds of weight loss. I guess I started out so big that even after losing over 100 pounds, I was still just about the biggest person around. I haven't told anyone I got WLS and I don't discuss diet and weight at work, so nobody really knew I was trying to lose weight. But this week, I got three compliments in two days. The first was pretty subtle; she whispered to me that I look really good and she needs to know what I'm doing. The second was, uh, not subtle. He asked loudly in front of a bunch of people if I lost weight, and I mumbled, "Yeah, a little," and then he said, "Oh, you definitely lost weight!" The third just told me I look good, but it was pretty obvious what she meant. It's all kind of awkward because implicit in their compliments is the fact that I used to look terrible and they definitely noticed. I think more highly of people who don't say anything either way because I'd prefer not to have my body up for discussion in the workplace, but I have to admit it's good to know that there is a noticeable difference.

Howdy everyone, hope all the July gang are doing well. I too have learned not to eat more than 4oz at a time and absolutely no sugar or dumping will be in your future. I am 13 weeks post op and down 72 lbs since preop. I have not felt this great in a long long time. Y'all keep smiling and keep your eye on the prize.

Well everyone I have to tell someone my Non scale victory’s I have had a few this week which helps because I have been stalling again for the past two weeks. So I came across a bag of black jeans that had been bought for my daughter about four years ago ( my daughter hates jeans crazy I know) well they had the tags on and everything. So they are a size 16 and I have never fit into a size 16 in my adult life. To be honest I believe the last time I saw a 16 it was probably when I was 11 years old. Well they fit and they are even a bit baggy and no way tight. I am ecstatic. I also just got taken off my blood pressure medication. Wow I have been on that for fifteen years. Last I was working a part time job today at a hair salon as an assistant and I literally was on my feet working for five hours before my back and hips started to hurt. I have spinal damage and I need two new hips I get cortisone injections in both but today I was feeling wonderful. I have not been at the salon since COVID-19 started. At that time I would have to pop a percent with in 2/12 hrs. Today no pain pill needed. I did take a few Tylenol. This was very exciting for me. Hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the non scale victory’s .