ShoppGirl

I’m starting to notice a pattern. The dreaded stalls and the gained pound for me seems to come after the too good to be true weight loss ? basically what I’m saying is when I lose a couple of pounds quicker than my normal rate then I may go a week without dropping anything or I actually gain a pound or two before I lose again. But the overall my rate of loss for the last 30 days remains pretty consistent. It is super helpful to have that weight log in the Baritastic app. It automatically calculates your loss over the past seven days the past 30 days the past 90 days. Plus, it has a really cool little line graph so that you can see the steady loss also, you can track your measurements on there which is a nice way to keep them because I tend to lose things written on paper. ?

Lots of great advice here but I will add my experience with having done this before and just having a revision that exercising and eating clean makes it so much easier. My mood and energy level are so much better this time and head hunger is pretty non existent so far (part of which is a greater metabolic change witb the more aggressive surgery I’m sure but when I don’t exercise as much or I eat processed junk I can feel the difference part of it may also be that I’m just too darn busy to think much about food). For me carbs crave carbs. I learned this after my sleeve but I wasn’t super careful with it. I’m not taking about the better carbs from fruits and veggies, but the processed type. Eating even a smaller portion is a slippery slope for me so I will avoid these as long as I can and if I do have them I know I will have to white knuckle it a few days through the cravings. I make all my food from scratch and freezing food has made it possible to not cook every night. I freeze small portions and I have a note in my phone if what’s on the freezer by date. When I wake up and look at my calendar as I’m drinking my proffee (chilled coffee and protein shake) I decide if I have time to cook and if not I pull a bag out of the freezer and put in the fridge. Then when I get home I put it on the counter or defrost in microwave if necessary time wise and make a veggie to throw it together. A really nutritious and yummy dinner done in 10-15 minutes and bonus, a lot less dishes. I started walking early out and added group classes that are offered at my community center and now i am up every morning walking first thing. I actually put on exercise clothes after my shower and sleep In them and first thing I’m already dressed and ready to go for my walk. ooh and the support groups that my team offers are great in addition to staying very active on here. I actually met a walking buddy there and we walk together down by the river once a week, the day that I don’t have group classes and we cheer each other in in addition to the once a month in person support group meeting. I also chose to tell more people this time. Some were against it but I educated them and now they are starting to come around about it. I think it will be easier fir me to say no thank you to food when everyone around me knows my goals. The first time I did this so many people would say to me you’re doing so good. You can have one slice of pizza or one brownie but the problem was this was my family and I was around them several days a week so just this one became just three or four. I actually told them that when I see pizza or brownies, I already want one bad enough on my own. I don’t need someone else tempting me. I think they got it. We’ll see. I guess if they do it this time.

Well it looks like I got my Walmart cart ready now. I was waiting on my egg whites to get to $35 to avoid the pickup fee. Those are all great ideas but the little apple treat with the cinnamon bowls sound amazing. The ramekins I just added to my cart say oven safe to 350. I wonder if I could do that part in the air fryer as well to avoid heating up the oven for just one. Does anyone know how hot the air fryer gets??

Oh that sounds good. So I googled and found one recipe tbat omits the egg and a couple with more spices added, but they have oil. What are the measurements? And what temp do you bake them? I recently got a rotary cheese grater so I have been all about trying different cheeses. These sound great.

So many great ideas. I knew that I would get answers here. Thanks everyone. ?

Lucky kids to be growing up tasting healthier options. I know firsthand that those habits are difficult to change.

That’s a great idea. I have the unflavored on top of my fridge. I almost forgot about it.

Thanks. will be trying that I have a bunch of blueberries that need to be used.

Oh, perfect timing. I’m picking up my ground turkey today to make turkey meatballs one day this week. I plan to double the recipe this time because my hubby likes them too and I intend to freeze a bunch. I think I’m going to make half with seeds and half without just in case we don’t love the crunch. Sounds good though.

Not sure why that posted three times but it won’t let me delete it. Gotta love technology.

Oh so you use oats??

Oh so you use oats??

Oh so you use oats??

Oh google said that grits are actually a type of porridge so I guess I have had it. Apparently It can be made with any grains and grits are made with cornmeal. Honestly I didn’t know it iwas made with cornmeal either. I just tried it and never asked I guess. I like my grits on the thicker side too. Maybe not quite paste but not runny either.

Oh google said that grits are actually a type of porridge so I guess I have had it. Apparently It can be made with any grains and grits are made with cornmeal. Honestly I didn’t know it iwas made with cornmeal either. I just tried it and never asked I guess. I like my grits on the thicker side too. Maybe not quite paste but not runny either.

That sounds like an excellent plan you know not every dietitians ideas will work for everyone anyways. That’s why they all have a different version of what they think you should do because that’s what works for most of the people that they’ve helped but there is no one size fits all approach. I probably could increase my calories a little bit, but I’m just scared to. I know I need to at some point so I don’t ruin my Matabolism Because I’m burning more with just my active calories than I am consuming right now. I actually think that may be bad. The good news is I see the nurse practitioner tomorrow so I will get to ask. Honestly, though. I feel like I eat all day. Some things are just off plan. But really if I increased my calories too much more I would be over on the carbs or fat maximums that she gave me I think.

Haven’t heard that one. I thought steel cut was good. I mean you have to budget for it macro wise, but I thought it was healthy. I bought those mush overnight oats and some of them have a lot of sugar. It’s all natural sugar like maple syrup or fruit but it is a lot for me at this stage. I may try to make my own. I’m trying to add a variety of things for different vitamins I may be missing with eating so little.

So a green smoothie I assume uses kale or spinach?? You add fruit too roght?? I used to make strawberry bananas for strawberry and blueberries smoothies with a bit of Splenda. I never did try the green ones

I don’t even know what it is exactly. Im about to look it up now, though. ?

I can’t even remember why I ordered these seeds. So sad ? . It’s a super 5 seeds mix (brown flax seeds, hulled sesame seeds, sunflower kernels, pumpkin kernels, and black chia seeds). I wanted them for some recipe I’m sure but it took so long to get them I forget. Does anyone have any tips of where to incorporate them?

Reminds me of that “Nothing tastes as good as Skinny feels”.

Well, I will tell you that after my sleeve, there was nothing that I could not tolerate. I’m pretty early out post revision so I haven’t tried many of those foods with the exception of tacos but I haven’t had any issues with anything so far. I make tacos with ground turkey meat, 2% cheese, and just eat the filling or I have it with low-carb tortillas. Surprisingly the turkey meat and the 2% cheese do not taste much different at all by the time you add the seasoning and them little low-carb tortilla aren’t bad either. Sometimes I just do it as a salad too. You may be surprised to find that you don’t crave those same foods, though. The surgery does some metabolic changes and can change the foods that you enjoy. I mean, don’t get me wrong, pizzas still sounds good to me but all of a sudden grilled fish doesn’t sound bad either so it’s a lot easier to make the healthier choice. It really depends on what your purpose is for the surgery. If you’re only goal was to get rid of your Gerd, then you may not care about getting into a super skinny size in which case eating smaller portions of the foods you enjoyed before shouldn’t be an issue at all. But if your goal is also weight loss and you want to be able to maintain a very low BMI, then you’re going to have to make some sacrifices. In which case, my suggestion would be to search the bariatric websites and even the thread on here for recipes and try some things once you get to soft foods and regular foods. You may be surprised at things that you will enjoy. I make turkey meatballs, and I have those with peppers and onions and sauce which are delicious, turkey tacos are good too, chili with lean meat is pretty reasonable macro wise, white chicken chili is a favorite, I made a Mexican skillet that wasn’t bad macro wise you may enjoy if you like Mexican, I sometimes do the zucchini noodles if I want pasta. They are pretty bland and just pick up the flavor of whatever sauce you use and of course you will want to add some protein. I also found a recipe for spring rolls which some people call summer rolls that are so yummy. They’re not the fried ones but still really good. It’s chicken, avocado and veggies with peanut sauce to dip. These are all in the weight loss phase once I get to maintenance I can add things to jazz them up a bit You can also do chicken or cauliflower crust pizza with chicken and veggies so it has more protein Or cauliflower mac & cheese. Lean beef cheeseburger without the bun, a cheeseburger salad or low carb cheeseburger wrap. There are ways to tweak your favorites. Basically anything I am craving. I just type it in Google with the word healthy in front of it and I try some recipes until I find one I like. Some of it is bland but many things are surprisingly good. One that I still want to try is zucchini lasagna. After doing the ricotta bake on purée stage and loving it, my guess it that it’s good I still make the ricotta bake I just add Turkey sausage and veggies. Ooh and quest protein chips are really good once you can do crunchy. Also, they have an “ice cream” maker that you can control the ingredients I have heard some people talking about on here But the short answer is No, unless you have a specific intolerance, allergy or sensitivity you will not have to give up your favorite foods forever. You will just have to make tradeoffs. How often you can have them will be based on what weight you are looking to maintain. If you are willing to exercise, for instance, you will be able to eat more carbs and maintain at a lower weight.

Thank you, I ended up just adding it to the burrito and it was fine, but I was starting to really question why I was not able to figure this out after going through two boxes!! I used the instapot, three different kitchen pots, made a larger portion, cooked it longer, added more water, and anything’s else I could think of. Finally I was like maybe it’s just supposed to be like this. The one good thing that did come from that experience is that now I know the Insta pot has a rice setting. I may try it with the regular rice which I’m sure is less chemicals.

Well I had a revision (no surgery on my stomach) so I won’t even talk about portion. Also, I’m pretty active (2-3 hours of at least walking) so take this with a grain of salt but my calories are around 900-1000, protein is 90 plus, net carbs are 60-70, sugar is usually under 20 but my max is 30, fiber is still too low but around 10-15 with the fiber powder, fat is 20-30, water is about 80, and calcium is usually around 1800 or above. I was told that calories alone don’t mean much at all and carbs and fat depend significantly on what kinds of carbs and fat. Carbs from fruit and veggies are usually fine in our portions and healthy fats like olive oil, avocado and nuts or low fat dairy are okay too but you do have to measure of course and not have them multiple times. It’s when you get into the processed stuff that you have to watch them numbers so much closer. They sneak things in. I have noticed that the low carb stuff is usually really high in fat. My goal is to keep it to Whole Foods as much as I can. So far I have had the occasional low carb wrap, Turkey jerky, yogurt drinks, and quest potato chips in terms of packaged food. Ooh and that burrito wrap I had to seriously budget for. But I mean like twice or three times a month. Your team will have the best info for what’s right for you though. So many things make these numbers different for everyone. Did you ever find an app that you can access to log your food?. It has really helped me. Usually when I sit down to have lunch, I enter my breakfast, my lunch and play around with ideas for dinner and snack and see how that works out in terms of macros. I always have fish and frozen low carb veggies that I can pull out of the freezer if I am too high for the day. I found these burritos that supposedly freeze well I wanted to make but they used a real tortilla. They do not have the big ones in the low-carb version. I looked everywhere but I needed the bigger one and order get enough protein. I wanted to make those four nights in a row but every time I entered them I was going over on something. I finally was able to have them last night but all I had was my morning proffee and five egg whites with pico de gallo for lunch. Then I added a little bit more cheese because I was 2 g low on protein. Anyways, it makes it so much easier to be able to plug these things in and you can delete and try something else if it doesn’t work or add or subtract snacks. The only thing that I do not enter, but I always allow myself to have. I kind of learned on the preop diet was the sugar-free popsicles they’re actually 15 cal I believe but they were free foods on my preop diet and I keep them that way in my mind. It keeps me thinking that I’m never going to be not allowed to have food. Mentally it somehow makes me think that I don’t have to starve. I can always have something.. I actually really enjoyed them the tropical flavor ones on my preop but I haven’t wanted sweets very often since. I have had them a couple of times when I wake up late wanting something though.

I felt the same way about my weight but you’ve gotta try really hard to get over that. I wasted a lot of years ashamed and in hiding. Don’t wait to start living until you reach that magic number in your head. Your taking the necessary steps to get there and your friend may be your biggest cheerleader when they know that you are doing something to change things. I hadn’t seen one of my friends in years either. We texted or sent cards and exchanged phone calls on birthdays and Christmas but that was about it. I always had excuses to avoid hanging out until she finally stopped asking. It was my new therapist that finally got me to reach out and make plans to meet her. She later said she could see that I had gained some weight but she didn’t pay much attention and all she really seen was her old friend that she missed dearly. She said she loved me the same and I hadn’t changed a bit. She has been one of my biggest supporters throughout all of this. And it’s not about my losing weight to her. It’s about my getting healthy and being able to do more things that I couldn’t before. I am happy that you should be getting a surgery date soon and wish you all of the best.