NickelChip

I think you need to take a deep breath and try to calm down a little. You've lost 9 lbs in a week. Your liver will be okay. It's good to take the rules seriously, but it's also good to be realistic about how much damage can be done by any particular action and not overcompensate by doing things that seem healthy (water) but might not be (making yourself sick). Two scoops of ice cream is not the same thing as a gallon of ice cream The better question to be asking yourself right now might be why you decided to have the ice cream, and why two scoops instead of one. Understanding behaviors, especially self-sabotaging ones, will be important for long term success. It can also help you find good alternatives. If you absolutely love ice cream on a hot day, consider getting the Yasso frozen yogurt bars with 5g protein for a summer treat when you're able to have them again after surgery. Or if it was because you thought you'd never have ice cream again, I suggest evaluating the rules you plan to follow in the future and make sure they aren't unnecessarily restrictive, as that can cause failure. Or if you just wanted something cold and sweet, stock up on no-sugar added popsicles, which are great for getting in your liquid. Point being, make this a learning experience to do better next time, not a reason to punish yourself or get worked up before your big day.

@BlueParis Thanks! Yes, I see some changes in my face in the photos and when I look in the mirror, and also my arms and even my hand look thinner in the most recent picture compared to last month. I've been microwaving, which may be the problem. Steaming would probably be the way to go. I brought home a delicious chicken shawarma from the weekend, but it dried out after a minute in the microwave and caused me all sorts of trouble. I wonder if putting it in a sous vide would work. I have a fresh turkey breast that I think I will try in the slow cooker that I can then use the meat for my salads at lunch. I do well with raw baby spinach, red peppers, cucumbers, and carrots. I never thought to cook turkey in a slow cooker, but the package suggested it (along with 3 cups broth). Worth a try! I'm so glad you're feeling a bit more at peace with your progress. I envy you being in London, although I swear you can freeze there in the middle of summer. But it's one of my favorite places. I had hoped to go for my 50th birthday this spring, but with surgery, it didn't really work out, so next year! Having spent the weekend away this weekend, I don't envy you all the travel because choosing foods while on the road is very hard. I feel like every time you go into a restaurant, it's some new server staring at your hardly-eaten plate and wondering what's wrong with you.

I had a nice weekend in NYC and the Hudson River Valley, and managed to get 25k steps in one day by walking from my hotel in the Financial District to a venue on W 26th St in Chelsea! It was a great walk and I didn't even feel exhausted by the end of the day. Sore feet, sure, but not terrible. I was excited to buy a bunch of new T-shirts for the summer at Old Navy as my old tops are very large now. I figure they should get me through to the fall, and at 50% off, it was a bargain. My weight hasn't really moved much, but I was pleasantly surprised to compare last month's photo to this month's. 6 lbs wasn't a lot on the scale but seems to be more visible than I expected. I'm still having trouble with vomiting if I eat anything reheated. It's making it hard because I just can't cook every single meal, and if I go to a restaurant, it's enough for 4 days but reheating makes me sick. It's getting warmer now so I'm opting for some cold dishes like smoked salmon and cucumbers or Greek salad with chicken. At least with salad, the chicken is okay a second time because it doesn't get reheated.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it will make no difference how much protein you eat in terms of how much hair you lose. It's like trying to water a rose in a vase and expecting it to start growing into a big rose bush. The hair follicles have already gone dormant. Now all you can do is wait for the hair to fall out so that the follicles can re-enter a growth phase. The hair strands that have stopped won't start again. This usually happens naturally in cycles so gradual and staggered that we never notice it. But surgery makes a bunch of hair stop at once (which it already did, months ago), and it is very noticeable until it all starts back up again. What protein and vitamins will do for you now is make your regrowth strong and healthy. So definitely still take them.

Yes, you are worrying too much, and if you are not hitting your protein and fluid targets because of this fear, you also risk endangering your health and recovery. Your stomach is stiff and swollen right now. It can't stretch out by having an extra sip of water or an extra ounce of food, though you might not feel well. On the other hand, spacing out food into small portions is appropriate. Just make sure you are consuming enough throughout the day and doing what your dietician recommends. I highly recommend you watch this video to put your mind at ease:

@BlueParis I think the hardest part about this process is accepting that the weight loss happens over a full year, or sometimes even more! The stalls make it feel like it will never happen, even though it will. Just not as fast as we want. But you'll get where you want to be eventually if you keep doing the right things. I've been thinking about it and one of the things I think makes it hard for me right now is that part of my brain never really accepted or acknowledged the size I was when I reached my highest weight. I look at myself in the mirror now and even though I haven't been this weight in 25 years and the last time I was close to it was 7 years ago, in my head, this is what I looked like all along, so I don't see the difference. I'll admit, I saw a photo of myself from last summer and was shocked at my size. Did I really look like that? But I look at myself now and all I feel is the frustration I had in my mid-20s of "when will I lose this weight" because it feels like the last 50 lbs never even happened. I'm just back to a place where I recognize what I'm seeing in the mirror instead of pretending it's not there. @RonHall908 I'm also struggling with sleep. I started tracking with my Fitbit and I don't get what I thought I did. I go to bed around 10:30 and I don't have to be up until 7:00, so I always thought I was getting plenty, at least 7 hours and close to 8, but in reality, I wake up at 5:00 this time of year because of the sun coming up. In the past 3 weeks since I started tracking, I've averaged 6h7m and only hit 7h twice. For comparison, my tracker says I've had an average of 1h9m of REM and 1h13m deep sleep, with 45m awake and 3h44m light sleep. For the most part, I'm energetic. I get over an hour of walking in almost every day, with 38m in the moderate zone according to my tracker. I don't drink any caffeine. But I do have about 30 minutes between 2:30 and 3:00pm when I can barely keep my eyes open. After that, I tend to have a second wind and am wide awake by the time 9pm rolls around so going to bed earlier isn't a great option. I try to relax and read, but I still don't fall asleep until close to 11pm, and I can easily stay up until after midnight if I don't stop myself. Maybe this is just what my body wants?

So, let's say you aim for 80g protein, that's 320 calories. 50-60g carb gives you another 200 to 240 calories. If you set a goal of 1000 calories per day, that leaves you with about 53g of fat per day. But if you track carbs and protein, the fat falls into place because those are the only 3 sources of calories. Oh, dry roasted or raw nuts are a nice source of healthy fat. And you can play around with your ratios of macros a little bit to see what works for you to keep you satisfied and give you enough energy.

At 5 months post-op, 500 calories per day might signal your body to be in starvation mode. Most programs seem to recommend between 800-1000 calories as a benchmark until you reach maintenance. For example, my dietician told me 80g protein and that protein should be 40% of my calories, which works out to around 800 calories per day. Do you have any theories on why you can't eat real food after lunch? You should be able to eat most food by now. I'm only at 3 months post-op and the only foods I've been told to be careful with are asparagus (very fibrous) and steak (but ground beef is fine). Have you tried crockpot chili, or pulled chicken? Maybe navy bean soup with ham? Greek yogurt and fruit? I also like tuna salad or smoked salmon.

I would say prepackaged foods are fine for popping in your bag when you go out in case of emergency, but for work, you might want to figure out a better option because that's multiple days every week. Personally, I like baby carrots, red peppers, snow peas, and mini or English cucumbers. Mushrooms are good, but they make me feel ill right now (too dry). If you like ranch dressing, get the container of ranch powder from the dressing aisle and buy some low or non fat cottage cheese. Put the cottage cheese in a food processor or blender and blend it until it's totally smooth. It'll look like pudding, sort of. Add in about a Tbsp of ranch powder per 16oz container of cottage cheese. This makes a fantastic and really healthy dip. I bought a set of parfait cups from Amazon like these: https://www.amazon.com/CRYSTALIA-Breakfast-Container-Colorful-Set/dp/B09N8K6CZ5. I put the veg in the big section and the dip in the small section, and then I store them upside down so the dip doesn't get all over. You can make up 4 days' worth at one time for convenience. Instead of the protein shake, could you make a green smoothie? You could do a frozen fruit blend, a handful of baby spinach, and a serving of Greek yogurt (thin with water to your preference). I like to add a squeeze of minced ginger that comes in a bottle in the produce section. I get a blend of frozen peaches, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries that comes all in one bag and is so tasty.

Given the troubles I've had with dry food, I think it will be a while before I risk eating jerky, which is a shame because I love it. But I do like those roasted, salted edamame beans @gracesmommy2 recommended! My order of them arrived the other day and that little bag is very satisfying!

My suggestion is eat more vegetables and drop the packaged, processed snacks and protein shakes altogether. You are no longer healing from surgery or dropping a ton of weight quickly, so you don't need 120g protein, or even 100g anymore. If you can eat 3oz chicken breast twice a day, plus a serving of Greek yogurt and fruit for breakfast, you've hit your protein needs and then some. Get your protein from lean meat, beans, nuts, and seeds (not as much from dairy). Have a leafy or non-starchy vegetable at every meal. Eat fruit for dessert and raw veggies and nuts for snack.

Weighed in this morning at 199.8 lbs! Finally under 200! I'm going to NYC this weekend, so lots of walking will be a guarantee, but I'll have to be mindful of hydration and not give in to the temptation of grazing all day on little snack foods. I've already chosen my dinner from the menu of the place we're going Saturday, a lentil soup. Afternoon tea on Sunday will be a nice treat.

That's good to know! Thanks for the update.

@BlueParis Still stalled I had my 3-month appointment yesterday. It seems I'm on track based on the numbers my doctor wants to see, which is losing at least 10% of your day-of-surgery weight at the 3-month mark. For me, that would be 22.3 lbs, and I've lost 22.4 lbs. So, I just have to trust the process, I guess. I have to go in Friday morning to have blood drawn for iron and B-12 check, and I need to redo my TSH (thyroid) from my physical earlier this week because Biotin messes up the results! So I have to stop my multivitamin and my biotin supplement for 72 hours before retesting. And @Noelle74it's so true that the weight does not just "fall off." Maybe the first few weeks, but after that? It's a struggle. Lots of ups and downs. Lots of frustration. I think a lot of trial and error, too, until you find what works for you. My plan is to just keep tracking protein and water, as directed by my dietician, for the next month. I have a vacation at the end of June. If I get back from that and don't like my progress, I will try limiting carbs to under 50g per day until my 6-month check-up at the end of August. If I'm worried at that point, I will talk to doctor about adding GLP-1. But hopefully there will be no cause for concern. My next thing is to learn how to use my resistance bands! That's my goal for the coming week.

@Noelle74 What an amazing transformation! You look terrific! @RonHall908 That's good info about the protein after workout. Not that I exercise hard enough to need to worry about it, but if I ever decide to... @BlueParis Amazing cliff hike! I'm jealous of the beach time, although it's finally warming up this week so I guess summer really is around the corner @gracesmommy2 I have a feeling the hair loss will be coming for me, too. Mine is so thin, and I remember it being shocking a few months after having my kids that it would come out in handfuls. I actually bought a bunch of headbands recently to help hide it if it thins. I'm heading to my annual physical today and my 3-month appointment tomorrow. Looking forward to what the doctor has to say about progress and any changes I should make. I weighed in at 200.6 lbs today. Will I ever get below 200?!?!? I swear this is the hardest milestone. I hit 201 lbs 13 days ago and was so certain I would be under 200 by now.

WOW!!!!!!!! I bet you had times where you thought this would never happen, but here you are! Congratulations! I feel like these big milestones can mess with your head sometimes. Like, I hit 201.6 lbs 12 days ago and was just certain I'd be under 200 in no time... and I'm still waiting! I instantly bounced back to 203, made it to 201.0 after almost a week, stalled for a few days... At least I dipped to 200.8 this morning. But to finally see that 199... that has to feel so good. When was the last time you weighed this little? For me, the last time I was below 200 was when I was 28 (22 years ago!).

My brother had VSG 15 years ago. He lost over 100 pounds. The first few years his appetite was very small, like order an appetizer for dinner and only eat half. But as time has gone on, what he can eat now looks like what a "normal" person with a smaller appetite would eat. We sat next to each other at my cousin's wedding and he cleared his dinner plate over the course of 30 minutes, which was more than I could do and I was pre-op at the time. He had maybe a bite or two of the cake. I suggest you try the YouTube videos from Dr. John Pilcher and Dr. Matthew Weiner. They both give it to you straight and clear up myths and misconceptions about bariatric surgery, and neither of them are trying to sell you something or gain a bunch of followers like a lot of vloggers. It's just solid medical knowledge made easy to understand. I watched all the videos from both surgeons as I was preparing for my surgery and it really helped.

What a long journey you've had to finally reach this point! You've worked so hard and deserve your success so much!

I think this is the time when you stop worrying about what you weigh and you start focusing on how you are living and how your body feels. Are you still hungry even though you just ate a meal that would've been fine for you a month ago? Maybe you need to add more veggies to fill yourself up. Do you feel weak? This could be a sign your body needs more fuel. Are you getting the exercise you need? Are you eating the foods you know provide balanced nutrition? Fix these types of things if they need fixing and let your body do what it will. You still have many months to go before your weight loss journey comes to a stop, so to speak. Ride it out and don't try to steer things too much. It may feel weird to be the weight you are now because you've never been this weight before, but let your body figure it out. You'll get used to it. And if you don't like where you land in the future, you can start eating more to gain.

@gracesmommy2 I'm so sorry about the insurance issues. What a nightmare! Praying it is resolved soon. As for the goal weight, I used the weight loss calculator on the Pound of Cure website and took the lowest weight in the range, which also happened to get me to a "normal" BMI. So, it's pretty arbitrary but it sounded good. I based it on the weight I had reached before starting my pre-op diet, which was after dropping about 12 lbs from my highest point. My own doctor didn't discuss goals or percentages with me, although I don't know if that's standard practice for him or not. My experience has been odd. First, I was with a different weight management center for years, first managing through diet and meds and then switching to the surgical route, but it closed very suddenly. I had my December surgery canceled 3 weeks prior to my date and had to rebook for February with a surgeon at a sister hospital. So I came in very last minute and only met the surgeon and nutritionist at the new place twice so they could sign off on me as quickly as possible. And right after I had my surgery, my surgeon had a nasty ski injury and was out for several weeks, so I did one follow up with his colleague and one with him via video. I'm glad I was able to get the surgery in a timely fashion and they did a good job, but I sometimes wonder how my experience differs from if I had started off in their program. A nice NSV today. I had a dress I wore on my birthday back in March that fit me but with no room to spare. This was a victory in March because I had purchased it for a trip out of town the year before for my birthday but the dress didn't come close to fitting me back then. Well, today I needed something nice to wear to my daughter's dance competition only it was cold and rainy so my summery stuff wasn't going to work. I remembered the birthday dress, which is long sleeved and has a sweater. I put it on and it was so roomy! I'm actually glad I got a second wearing out of it because I'm hopeful it will be much too big when the fall rolls around and I need cool weather clothing again. In fact, my summery dresses that were skin tight two summers ago are already very loose, too. It's the little things that keep you going when the scale decides to stall, right?

Yasso bars are really good, with a little protein boost and the benefit of a single-serving portion size for control. I also love making "nice cream" using frozen fruit and a Yonana machine. So amazing! You don't even have to use bananas (I'm not a huge fan). I have done just frozen mango, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, you name it. My kids love it too. I buy the big bags of frozen fruit and it's a huge treat all summer that I feel good about. But I have also had a few bites of real ice cream as it is now ice cream season in New England and our dairies have the most amazing choices and quality ingredients. But it's very rich, so I can only eat a small bit at a time. I don't keep ice cream in the house (store bought doesn't compare, anyway), so I have to go out for it, and I won't order my own but always share with a friend so I can just have a few bites. My feeling is you need to find a balance between health and happiness, so I don't think any food is off limits forever. You just have to be sensible and listen to your body to find the right balance.

Protein water is really nice, or drinkable yogurts, Fairlife milk mixed with some decaf coffee, or something like sugar free pudding mix in a favorite flavor made with Fairlife milk. Blended cottage cheese if it's allowed (when you put it in the blender, you get rid of the chunks and it turns the consistency of a thick sour cream, so it might be okay). Oh, PB2 peanut butter powder mixed into plain yogurt is also good. The only protein shake I can stand these days is Syntrax Nectar Natural in orange flavor. It reminds me of Tang, sort of, and it looks like orange juice, so I can pretend I'm having an orange juice instead of a shake. All the rest of them are going to be going in the trash soon because after surgery I lost my taste for them completely. But basically, focus your energy on hydration. You're only a week out. If you are low on protein and barely eat anything, it'll sort itself out in the coming weeks. Try your best, but don't worry if you come up short. Your body can handle a few weeks of not getting much nutrition. If you have to choose, choose to hit your fluid goal first and don't force yourself to eat foods if you aren't feeling it. And stop with the broth. Sounds like you don't like it, and it's not required for healing. After buying a ton of really expensive bone broth, I disliked it on its own and never had it at all during the liquid phase. Now I use it to make bean soup.

Wow! I really hope that's the last surgery for a while because oh my goodness you need a break! Sending healing thoughts.

Stalls are very normal. I am a week ahead of you surgery-wise and stalled around the same time and around the same weight (bouncing between 201 and 203 for about 3 weeks). My highest weight was also similar to your, although I had lost quite a bit before surgery, so actually my post-op loss has been much smaller. I've read that somewhere in the 3-6 month range it's common to reach a stall. It generally has nothing to do with your eating or your exercise. It's just an internal metabolic thing. Remember, weight loss from surgery is not immediate. After the first several weeks of rapid loss, you will slow to 1-2 lbs per week, and it will take 1-2 years to stabilize. This calculator can help you figure out how many pounds you might lose at each month mark by inputting your starting weight, height, age, and other factors. https://riskcalculator.facs.org/bariatric/ And this one shows you the likely results for years 1-3: https://michiganbsc.org/DecisionTools/

@BlueParis I don't blame you for wanting some sun! We've finally had some nice weather here and it makes such a difference. We're in that little sliver of time where it's nice and not too hot. I know that in another few weeks I'm likely to be desperate for air-conditioning, but today I have the windows open and a light blanket on my lap and it's perfect. I hope you get better weather soon. I had a great opportunity on Wednesday night to join in on a Q&A session with Dr. Matthew Weiner. It was a small group, like four of us, and we just got to ask questions. I filled him in on my weight loss so far, including highest weight, how much I lost with diet changes, how much with the pre-op diet, and then the much slower weight loss since surgery. He told me that even though it seems slower, he thought I was pretty much on track. Apparently when you're calculating weight loss expectations for surgery, it's better to use your highest weight (especially if it's relatively recent, I think) because it's more realistic. So, for example, if I use 251lbs as my start, it suggests a final weight of 166. If I use 238 lbs (the weight I was on day one of the pre-op diet), it suggests 157 lbs, and if I use 223 (the day before surgery weight), it suggests 147 lbs. Dr. Weiner said 147 lbs is most likely not a realistic goal because I wasn't really, metabolically, a 223 lb person when I had surgery. I was a 251 lb person who had lost 28 lbs, and that distinction is important. Honestly, seeing this range of outcomes makes me feel better about where I'm at. I don't have a particular weight I "must" hit as a goal. I'm happy losing weight in a sustainable way and being healthier, whatever that ends up being. I just wanted to have a goal in my mind, and I was starting to worry I was not going to succeed because it's been so slow. But, even though I've barely lost anything since mid-April, I've still lost 50 lbs since last summer, and that should be something to celebrate!