ShoppGirl

My surgery was Aug 7th. How are you doing?

Okay so look at the macros and see if this fits your plan. It may be a little high in carbs for some if you’re not very active but this recipe is probably my favorite out of my two weeks if soft foods so I thought I would share. It’s called south of the border chicken chili from the McCormick website. I added onions and garlic because I like them in everything but this is super simple and high protein. You may want to leave out the corn and do more beans or tomatoes if your tummy is still fussy but I haven’t had any issues with anything and I’m allowed to start incorporating more foods so I’m having it with the corn and so far so good 🤞 My pot made a little over 7 one cup servings which Baritastic calculated at 25g of protein (12.5 if you can only do a half cup) and 26g carbs (but part of that was the onions). I needed more protein for the day so I opted for the shredded cheese on top. Anyways, it’s chicken, bell pepper, white and black beans, canned tomato and corn with a seasoning pack from McCormick. I can’t finish the whole cup so I’m gonna have it again for a snack but I really love it. I hope it freezes well. https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/main-dishes/south-of-the-border-chicken-chili

Update. Called my NP and she looked at it and it’s fine. She said it may actually push out a little before it gets better so not to freak out over that. I think she is getting to understand my anxiety. 😂

How are you doing now? Have you started back to some form of movement. I know that when I had the sleeve I tried to do the treadmill and that did not stick no matter how many times I tried. To me, that was like torture. This time with my revision I am walking around the neighborhood instead. Talking with a friend on the phone who is also walking or listening to music and seeing the various houses and people is just a great deal more enjoyable for me than the treadmill even with the television on I still felt like a hamster I am still early out and I definitely wouldn’t call it a habit yet but I can tell you for sure that I do not dread it each day like I did the other and I’m really hoping that I can keep it up I know for sure that the endorphins are great for my mood and my energy I go until I fall into the bed and sleep like a baby. In fact that’s why I’m up right now, because I did so much yesterday I feel asleep at 9pm 😂 I agree somewhat about the fact that if you must choose one place to put your effort then the nutrition is definitely the most important in terms of weight loss BUT, having done this before and been less successful, I can tell you that last time I did not exercise and it felt like less of a huge life change for me as it does this time Again, I am only 5 weeks out so it’s possible that this is temporary, though I hope not because I feel fantastic with all of my choices my point is that adding in exercise, for me, makes it feel like more of a lifestyle change and after I come home all sweaty from my walk I don’t want to put any junk into my body. I am even starting to buy things that are grass fed and organic when they are available and trying to cut back on salt as well as rethinking my artificial Sweeteners (although that’s going to be the toughest for me to give up) because my body feels so good and healthy and I want to feel this way for a long long time. As others have said it doesn’t have to be a specific exercise. Just move your body more. Maybe dance lessons, or Pickleball, something like that. My library had a Belly Dance teacher at one point about a year ago and now that I’m losing a bit I am going to look into whether she is still there because that sounds kinda fun. I also did some research on the weighted hula hoop and it is cardio for most people as well as a bit of strength training so I may try that. It brings back memories of competitions with them as a kid so it could be fun. Something that my PA said at one of my pre surgery support group meetings keeps ringing in my mind that helps motivate me too he said that just 90 minutes of exercise a week in zone two heart rate (which I achieve with a brisk walk) decreases your risk of “all cause mortality” by 15%!! You can even break it into 15 minutes a day- 6 days a week (although it’s really 25 with your warm up and cool down added) but weight loss aside, a 15% decrease, thats pretty incredible. I was afraid of some of the complications from surgery that may or may not kill me and that was once like a 2% risk. So my goal is 30 minutes of exercise a day (I rounded up) and anything beyond that is just a bonus. That has seemed to work for me so far 🤞

Not sure if anyone else is trying their hand at freezing prepared foods but I decided to use the notepad in my phone to start a running log of what I freeze so that I don’t have to dig around just to see what’s available. I pulled out my Turkey taco meat last night and made a ricotta bake with it tonight. With the marinara you couldn’t tell that it was taco flavored. It was actually really good and so simple. I just shredded the mozzarella and the Romano and threw it all into a small rectangle Pyrex and popped it in the microwave. My hubby really liked it too which was surprising because he doesn’t like lasagna. I was going to add some leftover veggies to it as well but I didn’t want to need more ricotta which would increase the calories. It had plenty of protein already 37g. I forgot the marinara at first though. If I had put the marinara over the meat and then added the veggies I think it would’ve been fine. I have made it before but I never measured the ingredients like I’m doing now.

Does anyone else feel like a hard bump under some of their incisions?

I had the sleeve and I started gaining just months after I reached goal. I was too embarrassed to reach out for help and ended up gaining it all back and had no choice but a revision. Good on you for reaching out here. My biggest piece of advice is to reach out to your team and get an appointment. Start logging your food again if you haven’t been and give them an honest picture of what you are eating so they can help you make tweaks. Also if you have a fitness watch, pull it out of the drawer and get a real picture of you current activity level. I thought for sure that my team was going to be so harsh on me and make me feel awful but they couldn’t have possibly been more understanding and all they wanted to do was help. For me the only real option was revision but for you some tweaks in your food and exercise may help, could be hormones so they may want to check that, weight loss medications in tablets or the newer option if the GLP-1 injections may even be an option. The other suggestion of support group meetings is a really good one too. I am doing so much better this time around because I am reaching out for support anywhere I can get it. This time I told more people so I have more people cheering me on and I have the in person support as well as on here and I am going to see the NP more of they than they usually require. I know that I need all the help that I can get. lol.

Our Amazon is some next day and mostly two days for me anyways so yeah that is a good idea but also you have 30 days and it’s pretty easy to return for Amazon if you wait until right before your surgery to order whatever you add to your cart if you don’t use it, you’ll still be your return. You’re feeling well enough to send it back. I actually did my shopping for whatever I needed for each phase and then I had my husband to go pick up thankfully so while I was on liquids, I was creating my cart for my purées and that’s when I ordered my food processor and he and I did a Walmart order and he went and picked up all the food which I ordered way too much, just be cautious because you can only eat a tiny amount. I wasted a lot of food. But by that time I was able to pick it up I did it when he was home so he could get the items that rolled to the back of the trunk or that were heavy

When you finally do drop weight, you’ll probably drop a couple or several pounds at once

There is a thing called the three weeks stall, but if you do a search on here, you will see everybody basically has it and it can be like the second we grow the fourth week it’s not exactly 3 weeks like clockwork, but it is just your body kind of recalibrating I’m 99% sure that’s what’s happening

I have been using this Moderna scar gel for the past week and you can use it on old and new stars and I’m actually noticing a bit of a difference already. Just thought I’d share. Obviously run it by your team to make sure you’re ready for it and they agree, but my nurse practitioner is the one who recommended it.

One suggestion in terms of your bra is to buy a bra with the correct cup size, but one that actually fits you on the biggest hook. That way you can use the other two or three hooks depending on how many are on it as you lose weight still because usually when they fit you, they aim for that middle hook so that you can gain or lose 10 pounds and it’ll still fit, but you know you’re not gonna be gaining anytime soon. Another option that I thought about doing myself because I had the sleeve and I know that I don’t lose much in my cup size. It’s just the band size is to buy one that fits in the cup, but it’s actually a size smaller in the band and use a bra extender, so it’ll last longer

Do you know what they charge for the individual sessions? I assume it’s on top of the 49 per month right?

I’m a little nervous to see what mine are gonna look like when I’m done because they’re already flabby and I’m just getting started

Definitely check it out. I just looked and it’s $49 a month for unlimited support. They have 25 plus different support groups every week and they also have individual ones but it’s not clear if they are included (you should be able to get most of your questions answers in a group one if not). I am actually thinking about doing it once I looked at the calendar which is jam packed with differnt groups and topics. They have some one demand stuff too. When you look you don’t have to do that quiz thing. Scroll down and you will see the info about the nutrition program and see where it says click to see the calendar.

Look into Dr Weiners Program. I think it’s pound of cure.com. His book “pound of cure” is pretty good too but he is a bariatric surgeon who has a podcast and his team offers nutritionist appointments online and he is always coming up with more stuff to help the bariatric community. He was the first one I heard mention GLP-1 long before it became widely known. He had lots of videos on YouTube about pre and post surgery as well. It may be cheaper or more in depth. Not certian but I know he is extremely knowledgeable and his nutritionist is on the podcasts with him and she really seems to know her stuff too. correction it’s poundofcureweightloss.com Also, if you don’t already you may want to start using a tracking app. That way you can share the info about your macros for a period of time. I really like Baritastic. You can get reports sent to you email if your macros and your food which you can forward to your nutritionist so they can see exactly what your eating

That soup sounds delicious!! My meatballs don’t have sauce though so I have my fingers crossed that they turn out okay. Someone said veggies don’t freeze so well too but then others said they freeze just fine so I’m just trying it and then I will know for next time

Not sure if everyone else bought food processors for their purée phase but I’m having so much fun with mine. I made fresh guac and pico the other night for my Turkey tacos (sams the shell) and tonight I made skinny pesto sauce, which I’ve never made regular pesto sauce, but I think they pretty much just substituted a little bit of lemon juice for the olive oil oil or a little more lemon juice. It’s pretty delicious though with all the fresh ingredients.

Thanks. I am incredibly happy for you too. It’s almost unbelievable how much had changed I swear. But I’m loving every second of it and I’m glad to hear that you and your family are too. I can’t believe how much time I wasted either. I do not ever want to ever go back to those shackles that I put myself into. That just wasn’t living!!

I was literally going on here with plans to say something similar. I am a little over a month out and I have been walking since the beginning of the month. I feel SO INCREDIBLE!! Physically I have so much more energy and mentally I am just in a better mood. I went to UPS to do a bunch of returns I have collected during my recovery and went to the grocery and left there thinking well I got the packages done, found my reduced fat and special Romano Cheese I wanted and made it back before it rained. That felt like a win and made me feel happy. I am just noticing little tiny things to be positive about and I haven’t done that in years. I would’ve dwelled on the fact that the one thing was going to cost almost $15 to return because they wanted tracking and insurance plus I had to buy a box. I ended up just saying I would rather give it away for that but in the past I would’ve focused on that and been in a bad mood. Not sure if that makes sense but I just feel better and more upbeat. I am not even focused on the scale as much as I was with my sleeve. I already feel better. I’m just eating what I should and exercising and the weight will come off when it comes off. With my sleeve I didn’t exercise and I watched the scale every day. This time it’s different, I FEEL healthier and I am loving it!!

There are a handful of them that people recommended on here. I thought I couldn’t add recipes at first and before I figured it out I made a post asking for suggestions. It’s a post called macro tracking apps. Maybe check it out and see if any of those are available to you.

Ooh I am so sorry that you went through that, sounds awful. My hubby got it and thankfully he had been super careful around me since surgery for fear of just what happened to you. When he even thought he may be getting sick (just didn’t feel quite right) he told me so we could take precautions and he slept on the couch. Sure enough less than two days later he had it. I was fortunate enough that I didn’t have to go out much so him giving me something was my only real risk. I’m glad to hear that you are feeling a little better now, though. I couldn’t imagine a stomach flu with all of this. I was afraid of just coughing and sneezing but vomiting OMG. I do not envy you for that. How are you doing otherwise?

Awesome 👏🏻 It’s a really good feeling and it keeps going. It makes you feel even better about your food choices and your mood improves even further. I swear it’s like a miracle drug that snowballs but in a good way.

For the purée stage a food processor comes in handy and I got some tiny containers at dollar tree that were a little over two ounces that worked well to store leftovers. Tylenol, stool softeners, soluable fiber or milk of magnesia (or whatever combination your team recommends) and a good thermometer are good to have on hand as well as ice packs that you mentioned. I had one that is made for the lower back that comes with a belt like thing velcros around you with a pocket for the ice pack. It comes with two ice or heat packs (my team said no heat though). I got it on Amazon a long time ago for my back but I tried it for my tummy and it works. Great for icing while still being able to do things. The one I got is called magic gel. My waist was about 48” I think when I started and it just fit though so keep that in mind. It may fit up to 50?? Don’t stock up too much on the protein shakes because your tastes may change a bit and tastes for sweet stuff is a common change. Your dr may give you a stomach binder if you don’t get staples but if not ask if they have one or are okay with you ordering one (Amazon) if you feel like the jiggling is causing you pain. The compression really helped me. Also while you are in hospital you can ask for ice packs too. Other things that have really come in handy not for recovery but for a little later In the process were the Baritastic app which is free but familiarize yourself with it no so you can start logging your measurements and weight right before your start your preop diet. It sends reminders for your vitamins and you can log your fluids and moods (there is a little diary) and even your bowel movements. I also got a pair of Bluetooth headphones which make my exercise (walking) a lot more fun and a fitness watch is more important than the headphones. They have some on Amazon for like $20 my friend got one and says it works fine to log her heart rate and distance. The apple Watch has a fitness app that lets you set goals and stuff and it’s pretty user friendly. I have a much older one that I haven’t used in forever but I got it out and updated it and it works just fine. The cheaper ones may have a fitness app too I’m just not sure. That’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure others will think of some things I am forgetting.

For those who don’t have a support group the Baritastic app has a virtual support group. I just got a message that it’s tomorrow. I haven’t tried it but once you have the app you will get the message (probably for next month if I had to guess) you just have to click the link to register. The app is pretty awesome once you figure it out too. I am able to log eberything and see trends and my NP was really glad I had used it and was able to show her all my macros a week at a time at a glance. You can even log your moods and bowel movements. 😂 It takes a little while to figure out how to create recipes and log them but once you do you just select one serving or a half second at this point and it calculates it all for you. This works wonderfully with the stuff I made extra of and have frozen. Plus once I have added the majority of my recipes it already in there and I don’t have to log it again.