NickelChip

@BlueParis depending how much milk you're using in tea and coffee, that's a decent source of protein. I don't know if you have ultra-filtered milk available in France (in US, the brand is Fairlife, like the protein shakes, but it's just milk that has been filtered to lower carbs and amp up the protein, not supplemented like the shakes). I started buying Fairlife milk and make a 1L thermal container of hot tea every morning, with between 125 and 250ml of milk in it, so my morning tea alone gives me between 7 and 13g protein. I would try adding a slice of smoked salmon to the bagel, but that's just because I love that combo. The omelet seems very healthy and the pannacotta sounds delicious. You might consider adding more beans/legumes to your rotation. I am getting so tired of meat. I've just ordered a vegan cookbook to help me discover new recipes that are based on plant proteins (not the fake meat, processed plant products but real foods). Maybe bean soups and stews, lentil curries? Your stall will break eventually, but in your case, because you're already at a "normal" BMI, it may be a lot harder and slower from here on out. Don't lose hope! After barely losing weight the entire month of May, I'm losing at the quickest pace since surgery, 9 lbs in 16 days! That's been a real surprise. I am eyeing my next milestone, which is 5.6 lbs away, the point where I will cross from an "obesity" BMI into just the "overweight" category. I have never looked so forward to being called "overweight" in my life! I'm also noticing I'm just not very interested in food. Even though I can technically eat a bit more now than in the beginning, I don't really want to. I'm not hungry and chewing is a chore. I'm sick of meat. I'm tired of thinking about protein. And while I do still enjoy going out for a meal, I am exhausted by looking at the plate and seeing 4 days' worth of food in front of me. I'll be going on a family summer vacation next week and have no idea what I'll manage to eat. We're going to amusement parks and water parks, so the typical fare will be pizza and hot dogs, which sound terrible. I'm stocking up on protein bars, which I find a bit better than shakes, though not something I want in my diet normally. But better than a hot dog! So if anyone has a favorite protein bar, especially one that won't melt in my bag on a hot day at an amusement park, please share!

@Alix2050 You're almost there! Fingers crossed you make it below 200 this week!

With almost everyone I've encountered who lost a lot of weight rapidly and may have looked "too thin" for a while, it's a temporary thing, just until the body has the chance to shift fat around to different places and even everything out, which it doesn't necessarily do during the weight loss phase. Plus, it's an initial shock when you're used to seeing someone (including yourself in the mirror) look one way and now they are very different and it's jarring. I know within a year at the most after my brother had VSG and went from 300+ lbs to around 150 lbs (which was very skinny because he's 6ft tall), his appearance went from shockingly skinny to totally normal and healthy, even though his weight didn't go up during that time. Within another year after that, he'd gained several pounds and was at a weight he maintained for several years after that. It was all just part of the process.

I have a feeling if your body is happy and healthy at 190, you will eventually end up at 190. But you may need to go lower first before you bounce back up. Or you may go lower and change your mind about where you want to end up. Maybe just focus on eating healthy foods, doing your usual exercises, and how you feel physically with health and energy right now instead of worrying about the number on the scale for the next few months? A lot of this last stage is just temporary transition that you have to let yourself get through to reach the final stopping point, wherever that happens to be for you, and I'm not sure it's all that easy to control, like flipping a start or stop switch. You'll end up in a good place eventually!

@BlueParis Oh, what a nuisance! The long stalls are so hard. I'm sure it's just that your body needs some time, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with emotionally. Will you ever have a point where you don't have a lot of travel, or is that pretty much your normal schedule?

Great job by both you and the hubby! It's so important to have that kind of support from the people closest to you. I think the hardest thing is when you have someone in your household who either doesn't get on board or is actively working against you to keep you from success. I look back on a time in my life when that was the case and know I would not have been able to do this like I am now with the support of my family and closest friends. Way to go!

@LisaCaryl Well done on reaching one-derland!!! Ugh, I'm on a short dose of steroids right now, too. A little risky with bypass but I had no choice because I got poison ivy over 90% of my face over the weekend and it turned into a weepy, burning mess. Prednisone was my only hope as I literally couldn't leave the house looking the way I did and I was afraid it would lead to scarring. From what I've read, taking the steroids for a short period of time has minimal lasting impact on weight. Just avoid salt and drink plenty of water. Keep an eye on your tummy for any upset as it can cause irritation.

I have to be honest about my experience so far with dietitians, and with post-bariatric advice and counseling in general. If you ask 100 dietitians what we are supposed to be doing, you will get 101 different responses. And if you ask them a second time, you will probably get even more. Too much protein, not enough protein, carbs are the devil, carbs are fine, low fat, don't worry about fat, count calories, only count macros, work out more, don't exercise too much... You've lost over 100 pounds. You are 12.8 pounds from your goal at only 5 months post-op, work out 6 days a week, and look and feel great. You seem really happy. I fail to see why you should change anything if you are happy with your results, unless you think the advice will benefit you. You know your body and what works for you, and unless your dietitian is a bariatric patient, she's never been through what you are doing first hand. Take what she says with a grain of salt, except salt is bad, unless it isn't because electrolytes are good...who knows?

Yeah, it's only slowly changing here so that we can find larger sizes in regular shops. I have been a bit bigger since my mid-20s, which is when I developed a thyroid issue. So when I was working in a finance office in downtown Boston years ago, I was always one of the biggest women at a size US 16/18. I was going to a wedding and went to all the department stores in downtown on my lunch breaks, but none of them had over a size 14 in the dress departments, and when I went to the (cramped, disorganized, shoved in the very back by the hot, smelly bathrooms) "plus size" department, they had no dresses! It was like oh no, fat girls don't go to parties and only need stretchy-waist track suits and sweatshirts with rhinestone-encrusted cats on them. I was prepared to spend a pretty penny on something new, and I ended up wearing the one dress I already had in my closet. And as I got larger, I stopped caring about what my clothing looked like as long as it wasn't tight. If I found one top I liked, I would just buy it in every color and be done. Funny thing, though. Today, I put on a pair of US 16 trousers (which were tight a few weeks ago but perfect today!) and I realized I am back to the size I was in my mid-20s. But I am no longer the largest woman in the room, or even close. Our whole population is getting so much bigger. Now the department stores carry 16s, and even 18s sometimes, on the main floor, but even that tends to exclude a lot of customers. Portion sizes in restaurants are so large, and food ingredients and additives are not to be trusted even in the grocery stores. I think we have an environment that is destined to make most people overweight and unhealthy. And yet, we still discriminate against obese people.

I am going to give the tofu a try really soon. My kids hate meat and I am always looking for something they will eat!

@BlueParis I'm beginning to see why French women are known for being so thin. Your sizing compared to US sizing is designed to make you feel huge! Here it's like oh, you're a 2. You barely exist you are so tiny. If you get any smaller, we won't have any numbers for you. Well done! But in France, it's a 34! It's like well, 34 is a big number, so there's always room for "improvement". Or is it just so the shoppers from other EU countries try on the clothing in what they assume is their size and it's always tight? Because if that's the reason, I have to applaud that wicked sense of humor. And it seems as arbitrary as ours is, as the number corresponds to absolutely nothing. Men have it easy (at least in the US). They measure their waist and inseam, or neck and arm, and lo and behold, that is their size! We take all of our measurements and then get assigned a random number, and half the time it doesn't fit some part of us, and is totally different if we go to a different shop.

In addition to Miralax, are you taking any fiber? I did the Benefiber Healthy Shape once a day (snuck it into my morning tea) and it seemed to help. Now that I'm 4 months out, I am trying to focus on eating more fruit and veg, which also helps a lot.

For all my currently stalled folks, I want to offer some hope. I hopped on the scale this morning (like I do every morning) and I was down another 2 lbs. Since yesterday! That makes 6.4 lbs in a week, which is more weight than I've lost in one week since my very first week on my pre-op diet. I am in shock because I was so convinced deep down that the stall was going to be the beginning of even slower weight loss for me, especially now that the magical "first three months" was over. So don't lose hope! In other news, I finally bought that air fryer I've been thinking about for a year, so hit me with your simple, go-to air fryer meals!

It won't be case by case. If you are 40 BMI, you will qualify without co-morbidities. Their wording is clear enough you could take it to court if they denied you.

Did another closet purge over the weekend and cleared out 5 huge bags of clothes. It's a nice feeling to let the old stuff go, and happily, thanks to a few shopping trips, a bin of smaller clothing I had saved from a few years ago, and some hand me downs from a friend, I have plenty to get me through the warm weather. Once winter arrives, I will definitely need to buy clothing because I've gotten rid of about 90% of my long sleeve clothes and sweaters! Is anyone noticing what you prefer to wear is changing? I was really favoring loose, flowing items that hid my extra weight before. Especially those wraps or kimonos you can find so many places that you wear over a tunic, partly because they are one-size so I could buy them even when the store didn't carry my size in anything else. But the other day, I actually tucked a t-shirt into the waistband of a denim skirt and wore it out with nothing over it! And I'm loving sundresses with a belted waist. Obviously right now I'm not spending too much and trying to stick with basics just to get me through, but I'm really curious what I'll end up buying when I get to my final weight. If I could reach a US size 12, I can't even imagine how it would feel. Right now, I'm wearing between a 16 to 18, depending where it's from and the cut. That's down from probably a size 22. I say probably because I started going for stretchy stuff and would buy a 2x or 3x so I didn't have a lot of stuff that was an actual numerical size.

My advice is start slow. Choose moist foods. Chew twice as long as you think you need to. Eat half the size bite you think is a small bite. I did so well on soft foods that I was sure I could handle anything really easily. I could not. I have gotten sick so many times from something that was too dry, or eaten too quickly. And it's no fun! But you'll quickly learn what works for you. For example, I no longer microwave leftover meat. I try to use the leftovers cold, like on a salad. I may try steaming to reheat instead of the microwave, but haven't yet so can't vouch for it. Microwaving meat gets me in trouble every time.

One of my favorite resources is Dr. Weiner's videos (as well as his book The Pound of Cure and his weekly podcast). He talks about the type of food we eat being more important than the number of calories we eat. Here is one video that I watch probably once a month just to get it into my head. But he has hundreds of videos, so I encourage you to check out all of the playlists on his channel. Having said that, there's a good chance you're in a stall as opposed to being done. Your BMI is low enough now that you're approaching "normal weight" and weight loss at that point gets really slow and difficult. But it doesn't mean you can't do it!

I guess I've been doing this all along, at least once I was allowed regular foods. I'll have a small serving of ice cream if I go to an ice cream place. I had a couple bites of cheesecake a while back. I'll have a square of dark chocolate a few times a week. I generally order chicken or fish, and not fried, with veggies at a restaurant, but I'll eat the sauces and not worry about it. I'll eat a couple fries off someone else's plate. That'a all I want is one or two. My program is fairly simple, 60-80g protein and 64 oz water are the only rules I was given, (no specific calorie or carb rules) with an added recommendation of aim for 3 meals a day, about 40% protein per meal, and avoid snacking. Obviously, there is the list of good choices and not so good choices that we all know, like avoid oils and fried foods, and eat nutrient dense foods, etc. But I stopped keeping a written food journal every day because it isn't required of me, and for me, I don't want to live like I'm on a perpetual diet. Somewhere I heard the advice to follow a 90/10 rule. If 90% of what you eat is healthy, don't worry so much about the other 10%. That resonates with me. Also, I like the concept of a "planned indulgence" instead of a cheat meal. Cheating implies doing something wrong. Planning to indulge in something is deliberate and you're in control of it. For me, that fits my life.

I recall feeling similarly at 4 weeks. Some of that was due to the nerves being cut and dulled from surgery, I think, because I feel it more now. Also, I assume you are probably still on the softer proteins. I find I don't have the full feeling as quickly with things like yogurt or cottage cheese, or even a flaky white fish, the way I do with chicken or beef. I can eat a serving of yogurt and still have room for fruit, but if I eat 3 oz of chicken or beef, that's all I'm having!

Off to a great start!

The one protein shake flavor I've personally been able to tolerate beyond the first few days post-op is orange. I know a lot of folks like chocolate or vanilla, but I found the orange (specifically I bought Synrtax Nectar Naturals) reminded me enough of orange juice (or, more like TANG, actually) that I was willing to accept it as part of my breakfast routine without getting too cranky. If I liked sweetened coffee, I would try adding chocolate protein shakes to my coffee, but I am not a sugary coffee drink person. For a while I added a scoop of unflavored protein to hot tea with some Fairlife skim milk. My other piece of advice is don't expect to be perfect. Just do your best today and try to do even better tomorrow.

Congratulations! I'm almost 4 months post-op from gastric bypass and my advice is to watch every video from Dr. Matthew Weiner (Pound of Cure Weight Loss) and Dr. John Pilcher on YouTube. These were by far the best resources I found, and I go back and watch many of them (especially Dr. Weiner's, and also his new podcast) all the time even now. Especially the ones on how to build lifelong behaviors to keep the weight off. One thing I did early on, right after my first bariatric appointment where I weighed in at my highest weight ever (yikes!) was order Dr. Weiner's books. There's The Pound of Cure, which gives a detailed, step by step way to make healthy changes to your diet, plus a second book explaining how bariatric surgery really works and then his bariatric cookbook (I also really like Bariatric Meal Prep Made Easy by Kristin Willard). I made several of the changes recommended by the Pound of Cure (I didn't start with the 2-week diet, just started implementing changes I thought I could manage) and over time I lost about 12 pounds, plus just felt healthier and more in control of what I was eating. One other piece of advice: don't over-buy protein supplements. So many people on this board will tell you this, and I did not heed the advice. Now my cupboard is full of protein supplements I stopped liking after surgery and will never use. I've barely needed supplements after the first month or so, honestly. I feel guilty at how much money I spent on them, but I will likely end up throwing them all away (most are opened so can't be donated). If you want to stock up on anything, an unflavored protein powder is much more likely to be useful to you in the long run than the flavored shakes. But if you're buying flavored ones, consider trying a soup flavored one because the sweet ones get old really fast, even pre-surgery. Oh, and take "before" photos! I know taking photos can be so uncomfortable, but you will want them. Choose something very form fitting to start. I went with a pair of exercise leggings and a tank top that was so tight it was like skin. I took photos about a week after my first appointment, so around my highest weight, and then on the day before surgery and at each month-marker thereafter. So far, I've worn the same clothing each time, although I may need to change that as it becomes too baggy to show the progress clearly. Take your measurements the same day you take your photos. You may struggle to see (or refuse to believe) the changes in yourself, but the photos and measurements don't lie. Even if it's painful to see the photos now, you will be so grateful to have them later. I was in shock and wanted to cry when I truly looked at my highest weight photos, but I'm so glad I took them.

@BlueParis you're looking great! I'm impressed you can stand in those shoes. I think I would end up in the hospital if I tried. And congrats on finally getting below that magical 70kg marker. I'm happy to report that after 7 weeks of very pokey weight loss in which I only lost 4 lbs total and stalled out completely for 2 of those weeks, I have now dropped 4 lbs in 4 days. I cannot begin to express how relieved I am. I know it will slow again soon enough as a pound a day isn't sustainable, but I plan to enjoy it as long as it lasts. NSV for me this week! So, I had gotten down to around 205 lbs back in 2017 through my hospital's nutrition program. Naturally, I bought some clothing back then, though unfortunately I regained steadily over the years. Because I had moved house 4 years ago, I purged most everything in my closet. This included almost all the smaller clothing, plus the remnants of my old "professional" wardrobe that was also in smaller sizes from a good 20 years ago. (I should say, I don't regret that too much as the clothing was way out of style and I never have cause to wear suits these days anyway.) But I did happen to hold onto one springy sort of dress that I guess I must have thought was too nice to get rid of, just in case it ever fit again. Well, I pulled it out of the closet the other day to wear to my daughter's special event at school and not only did it fit, it was loose. I honestly struggle to see the difference when I look at myself in the mirror sometimes, but there's no denying how clothing fits, and I know this dress never fit me loose back then like it does now.

I've been enjoying the Yasso frozen yogurt bars now that the weather is warm. 100 calories and 5g protein, with a reasonable amount of sugar for a dessert. The coffee chocolate chip is my favorite. And I am going to try those fancy brownie yogurts! I remember seeing them and thinking they seemed too indulgent for breakfast, but I didn't even think about having one for dessert!

I liked making a ricotta bake with one small container ricotta cheese mixed with 1-2 eggs and spread in a small baking dish, topped with a jar of marinara (make sure it's not chunky, so put in blender if needed) and a handful of mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350F until the cheese browns. Now that I'm beyond puree stage, I add a bag of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained) to the ricotta mix and layer in chicken Italian sausage that I remove from the casing and cook up in a pan first (placed on top of the ricotta and before the sauce). It gives all the satisfaction of a lasagna or pasta dish without the added carbs, and pairs well with zucchini spirals.