summerseeker

Cream cheese, whipped feta, quark or a set type of greek yogurt might help with the consistency

How are you doing ? @FifiLux You deserve the very best outcome x

I always shopped on Ebay and pre bought the next size down that I needed. Leggings saved me a fortune. I will fess up to wearing baggy knickers for a lot of months because I needed to buy new knickers, bras and as @ms.sss says shoes because my feet shrunk in width and size. Boots last longer than shoes because you can put thicker socks on. Once you go to regular size shops then the sizes don't have as much give. 7 + pounds off or on and the full price dress is no good. You are doing so great. Once you look back in a years time , you will be so glad you did this. Your overdraft could also remind you to keep on track. It does for me.

I had to wait a while due to the damn pandemic even though I went private so I am unhelpful sorry. I filled the time reading the back pages of the relevent parts of this forum. I found it helped the obsessing over the unknown. Good luck with your journey. You will be so glad you did this thing.

No, you are not a failure or made a mistake. For the first time ever your diet has been totally restricted. You have detoxed from sugars etc and your body is just not used to you saying, NO! You can not eat this or that. This is called head hunger and is something you need to learn from real hunger. It gets easier as you progress through the stages and return to normal eating. You are in your first of many stalls. I promise you will get used to them. Eventually you will go into a weighloss stage again. Enter Stall in the forum search bar, there are thousands of questions answered there.

What a great saying, so apt

@BigSue I am feeling so angry and upset for you, how damn dare she. You are a success, you look amazing. You did this really difficut surgery. You changed your life. You lost the weight. You work your butt off to keep it off. No a measure of carbs has never been in my diet plan. My main instructions were at least 60 -80 grams of protein a day and drink plenty of water. I am with @Arabesque here, the nurse needs to give her head a wobble, if they have changed the diet for you then they should have alerted you beforehand. I am a great believer of a complaining email. They work for you and with you. Maybe this lady forgot

Would you mind giving us a little more information. We will help you all we can but we are blind guessing at the mome

I fail all the time. To be honest I am good at it. Yesterday I had a protein breakfast and healthy salad for lunch and then my day went to SH*T, I ate chocolate coated ice cream bars. I am angry at myself but I am back at it today. I am the same person as I was before surgery, the only difference is, I will not allow myself to gain weight and it stay on my carcass. You are still in the weight loss time zone so need to do the very best you can while it lasts. You have seen your alter ego, you know the signs and as long as you can rectify your mistakes after then you can do this. As Arabesque says some counselling might help if you can get it.

We are all a little scared of this part of the process. Its the totally unknown that freeks us. But in all honesty once you begin its fairly easy to negotiate. Its the protein part that I couldnt get my head around but I had advice when it came to that. I was allowed custard and smooth runny foods. However my stomach said NO WAY. My interal swelling on my new stomach stitches didn't let anything but small sips of water through. My Team put me on clear broth and milk only for a few days. Every step forward was slower for me but I didnt let it bother me, I felt secure in my teams advice. This forum is worth its weight in gold too. Early proteins are milk, protein shakes and protein waters. Protein yogurts and puddings. My next stage was smashed egg and mayo, ricotta bake, pureed tinned soup. I hope this make this part less strange for you, The new you will be worth it x

Keep it simple is usually the best and cheaper route. I like a varition of snacky bits in my box. Chicken tenders, Ham, deli meats, cheese batons, boiled eggs [ these are a bit stinky but I eat them outside ] Tuna, prawns. Milk These are my protein staples. Chopped apple and peanut butter, grapes and cheese , pate and crackers. Peanuts/ cashew nuts/brazil nuts. Yogurt/ protein yogurt Carrot sticks and whipped feta. Tiny salads. My go to at the moment is a bean salad, simple to make, tin of any beans, chopped onion and a stick of celery chopped and chilli in the dressing. I still dont really eat rice, pasta, bread or potatoes so I eat full fat. In the UK our doc's are less bothered by salt than the USA and I don't have a cholesterol issue so that frees me a little.

Can I also add a very easy dip to these. Whipped feta. Equal amounts of feta and cream cheese, salt and pepper, garlic powder and lastly a pinch of chilli flakes for dressing. Just blitz and eat You can use Cottage cheese in place of the Cream cheese. You could use more Feta and mix it with a smaller portion of Greek yogurt to your taste

Do you use sugar substitutes ? I cant take a certain one at all but am ok with the others. If you rule out all the usual culprits and get no where you need to be camping at your surgeons door. You shouldn't have to live in fear of soiling yourself all the time. I hope you find your answer PDQ

Its a thing and its a big deal. I didn't realise it would happen either. After a lifetime of failed diets behind me I didn't trust the process and at my first stall I panicked. My team reassured me, people on here did the same but the voice in my head said ' there you go, failed again. ' A great many stalls later, it finally clicked. Just do the process, don't sabotage yourself and you will be a winner. I never set a target beyond the next 20 pounds so I wouldn't be too disappointed but the dream was to be in the one hundreds. I never truly believed I would get there. Amazingly to me I am still there. Try and stick with it, find your way. If this doubter could, you surely can. This forum really helps.

Congratulations and please let us know how you went on, I had my fingers crossed for you

Oh my you are looking so good in that dress now. Congratulations. Onwards and downwards. BTW I am so very jealous of your ankles

I dont have an issue with drinking, I do or dont as feels right at the time. The only thing I would say is I go for very long drinks now, singles not doubles and use the whole mixer bottle. I still get a buzz off a little so I can be on the same tipsy level as everyone else. My friends are all in the same age bracket as me so we have all begun to slow down somewhat. Instead of nights out we seem to be ladies who lunch now ? I dont know how. It just happened. We rarely drink at these as we are driving. Next month we have an annual week away with our other halves at an all inclusive hotel. I will drink all day and night but I will be secretly getting soft drinks inbetween times if it feels right. They eat a lot more than me and can soak up more alcohol. I have to balance it.

I watched it avidly. Weight loss programs are still my jam. I feel empathy because they are me. I watched/ watch because I want the one type of program that I crave. It would be the one diet that I could do forever. In the show the biggest loser, the format never changed. They told a life story, got well and truly fat shamed, were made to cry, Gillian/Bob would shout and call them babies, they would exercise till they vomitted. Gillian/ Bob would laugh and say I told you that you could do it. Occasionally they went way too far and the poor person would get carted off to hospital and off the show PDQ. I hated the whole Lord of the flies vibe where the team voted off/killed off the weakest member and left them to go it alone. It eventually dawned on me that the participants were loosing ridiculous amounts of weight each week, I remember a person managed 42lbs one week ! I did the math and it just didnt work out. It couldnt be healthy, I figured they had to use all kinds of drugs to do that. I also thought that the producers would be sanctioning its extremes. It all got leaked eventually and Gillian and Bob did a really bad remorse interview that I didnt believe at all. The show quickly died a death after that on UK tv. I believe they did a version in Australia? Was it better controlled?

Congratulations you are doing so well. Do you have a long term goal yet ?

I didn't realise this ! Since having ovaries removed last year my menopause has re started and I am on the patches again. I have the dry mouth occasionally when I wake, its vile, and a little scary for a second. I did have it the early weeks after surgery because of the fluid intake. I will have to look into these, never heard of them before. Thanks for the tips ladies. I love this forum

Yes it happens to me too especially in the mornings. I grab on to anything until the tweety bird flying around my head flies away. I have to especially careful in the shower. Washing my hair can bring it on ? I have to sit on the seat now to do it.

Oh my goodness you look so healthy and alive. You really have done hard work . I love the dress too .

I do too but I put it down to my age and Fibromyalgia. As my checks have all come back as ok. I have to learn to pace myself.

Hello, The nerves are very normal, we would not be human if we didn't. It is a very safe surgery. 1. They will expect you to get up and move around every hour or two after surgery to stop blood clots and help reduce the gas pains. the surgeon will fill your stomach with gas to give him as much room to work as possible. Its not released like wind but absorbed internally. Some people have problems, I didn't 2. I would use a hot water bottle rather than ice packs. 3. Do you mean pre surgery ? - You just have to suck it up. The surgeon needs you to do his pre op diet to shrink a fatty liver. BTW. Nobody has the same pre op diet. He could abandon the surgery if you dont adhere to his instructions. The thought of waking without the surgery having happened really motivated me to tow the line for the 3 weeks slog through mine. The first 4 days are the worst and after that you seem resigned and just try your best. Some people cut out sugary foods before hand but I went cold turkey because I had food funerals. Post sugery ? - Water will fill your stomach and your time. Its a bit tough for most of us for a couple of weeks. The more you can drink then the better you will feel. The tiny amount that you will manage to eat will shock you. 4. You surgeon will tell you this. Like everything else, he/ she has their own rules that nobody else has been given. 5. Advice, Do not buy loads of protein shakes or foods that you think will be suitable post surgery. Your taste buds may change drastically You may get a massive hormone rush because the hormones are in the fat cells. I felt like I was pregnant again { yes, at my age } food smells made me heave and I was so very tearful. A recliner helps Some people swear by 2 ounce cups to keep up their hourly water regime. Remember its a bigger surgery than you see on the outside. Your internal plumbing has been rerouted and will be swollen and like a petulant toddler . Be kind to your self and do not rush the process. Let us know how you are doing, there is always somebody here.

@FifiLux I wish you a speedy recovery and a very normal life after. You have had a hard journey so far and deserve the best.