NickelChip

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.

I am 4 months post-op and after spending way too much time researching, I finally got myself an air fryer! It's the combo type that is built into a toaster oven, so I can keep it out year-round without losing more counter space to appliances. I was also gifted an Instant Pot last Christmas and I will be the first to admit I have barely used it despite hearing so many people rave about them. Now that it's summer and too hot for the regular oven and stovetop, could you help me out with your (preferably simple) favorite bariatric-friendly recipes that use the air fryer or Instant Pot? I don't have any food restrictions except the usual "low carb, low fat" post-surgery recommendations, and try to keep things as minimally processed as possible.

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.

This really is the big fear, isn't it? I mean, I know when my bad habits hit. It's when I'm stressed and short on time. Like this week, where one kid had a major school presentation and the other was both sick AND had rehearsals for dance recital every night. And they need to be fed, and have all their stuff, and did they remember their water bottles, and money for a snack, and where are the dance shoes, and what time is pick up and...oh, wait, have I eaten anything today? And now all the food I bought to be so good and healthy is still frozen and I'm trying to figure out if I should choke down a protein shake or if putting peanut butter on a Ritz cracker can count as protein... This is definitely where those new, good habits need to be built. Because of course I can anticipate the craziness of a week like this ahead of time and prepare for it. I just need to work on actually doing so because a trip through McDonald's is no longer in the offing or I'll end up right back where I was. The modern world is built for convenience, but not for good health.

@gracesmommy2 Oh my gosh, I even have all the ingredients for the brownies in my pantry! If I get my house cleaned tomorrow, I may have to make these as my reward. Thanks for the other recipes, too! They both sound excellent and I'll try one out next week for sure. My daughters are 12 and 15, and I swear they barely have a single food they both like that I can also eat. They love pasta and tons of carbs and cheese. They hate meat, except ground meat sometimes. They dislike fish, although the older one is coming around to salmon. One won't eat sauce. The other doesn't like potatoes in any shape or form. Up until surgery started messing with my preferences, I could count on one hand the foods I didn't care for. I don't know where all this pickiness came from. @Noelle74 Being sick from food is the worst. I also find going liquids only the next day can help soothe things. Hang in there! @LisaCaryl So sorry you've joined the stall club! At least you have good company here. @BlueParis What a pain to have the scale stay stuck for this long! I hope you can see some progress soon. Don't lose hope! @RonHall908you stay so active, I imagine your body requires a lot of fuel. And you're right, being able to do something doesn't mean you should!

So relieved to report I finally dropped to a new "lowest weight" after my 2-week stall. Weighed in at 198.6 this morning, a drop of 0.6 since yesterday. I really hope that might continue a few days at least before I hit the next rough patch. The cravings for sweets and carbs are real! I'm fortunate that I do feel a lot of restriction, or at least I do if I am eating the right kinds of foods. I can only manage about 2-3 oz (60-85g) of heavier proteins, which include salmon, poultry, beef, and pork. I also get full at around 4 oz (100g) veggies. Sadly, if I do eat bread or crackers, they seem to go down easy. Same with ice cream or candy. I had really hoped that wouldn't be the case. It makes it that much more important for me not to keep those types of things in the house. I'm struggling with what to eat, especially for breakfast. Nothing sounds good. I'm tired of plain yogurt and cottage cheese. I'm tired of protein shakes and smoothies. I was enjoying smoked salmon with cucumbers on rye crisp bread until last week when it made me violently ill. I've become repulsed by eggs. Plus, I don't usually get hungry until later in the morning. Today, I decided to wait, and I finally started to feel some real hunger at 10:00am. So, I'm having a leftover big Italian meatball from dinner a few nights ago. Lunch and dinner options aren't much easier. Cooking is a hassle when you can eat so little, and my kids don't like the kinds of things I can eat. But I worry it sets me up for grazing when I don't have a plan. I'd really like to do some meal prep and have a list of maybe 10 go-to meals that are bariatric approved and easy to make any time of day. I'd like to spend a few hours roasting a sheet pan of veggies and cooking some chicken to store in the fridge for the week and incorporate into meals. I need to clean out the fridge and pantry. I just don't seem to have the motivation to do any of it. It's like all my energy has run dry, although my bloodwork came back good so it's not an issue of something being off. Just my attitude, I guess! I'm feeling stressed and a little overwhelmed, and it shows in my environment because my house is getting cluttered and I have a pile of laundry that is quickly going to consume me. What I wouldn't give for a housekeeper to keep the place tidy and my own cook to make healthy meals and deliver them to me at appropriate times during the day.

Back down to 199.2lbs this morning, which was my lowest recorded weight from 12 days ago. Will it start dropping again now? It's a mystery! One thing about these stalls that is a little scary, other than just wondering if you will ever lose any more weight again, is how hard it can be not to give into bad habits and cravings when you start feeling like there's no reward for doing the right thing. The last couple days, all I wanted was sugar and simple carbs. I tried not to indulge in the cravings too much, but I did have a little bit of candy (red licorice bites) and a serving of whole wheat Ritz crackers, which I wasn't eating at all before. As the weather warms up, I'm finding it harder to decide what to eat. Is anyone else struggling? Nothing sounds good. I have discovered a nice treat/light meal that reminds me of the pineapple Dole whip you can get at Disneyland. Fill a single serving smoothie blender cup about 2/3 full with frozen pineapple chunks, plus about half a serving vanilla protein powder, half a cup or so of plain Greek yogurt, and a splash of milk to thin it out. Blend until you get a thick, creamy, frozen consistency. It's got about 20-25g protein depending on what products you use and it was so refreshing when literally nothing sounded good for lunch. @gracesmommy2 this is the pilates bar set I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CCRCG5ZP This is the video I'm going to try: There are so many videos if you search YouTube for "pilates bar workout." I thought 20 minutes was a good starting length, but they have longer, too, and ones that target different body areas. I need a yoga mat for the floor part, though.

As far as I can tell from digging around a bit, 2 hours is the standard amount of time for the stomach to empty after a meal. One of the things GLP-1 meds do is slow down gastric emptying, so this may offer some help for you. Another thing to try is increasing your fiber by eating more vegetables at each meal as this takes longer to digest.

Last night I made myself a taco salad consisting of 1 oz baby spinach, 1 oz red peppers, 1 oz match stick carrots, 2 oz ground chicken with taco seasoning, 1/2 oz cheddar cheese, and 1 oz fresh cilantro salsa. Delicious and just the right amount of food for me. I also like English cucumber slices. A mix of vegetables roasted on a sheet pan is a great thing to have on hand to eat hot or have later cold. I like zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, onions, cauliflower, and grape tomatoes tossed with a small amount of vinaigrette before roasting. Beets, Brussels sprouts, and butternut squash also roast wonderfully. Spiral cut zucchini is delicious with marinara and meatballs instead of spaghetti. And sliced raw veggies pair well with a dip made of cottage cheese blended until smooth in a blender and mixed with ranch powder or onion dip mix (instead of sour cream). Thin it with a little milk for your desired consistency.

Dang it! Back up to 200 today. I could see the digital scale contemplating telling me 199.8, but it decided nope. I've had days with tons of exercise. Days with no exercise. Days with over 1000 calories. Days with barely 500 calories because what I ate made me sick. None of it does anything to move the weight. I get on the scale daily because I like to see the graph as a visual. But I'd like it better if the number went down. On the bright side, my blood work all looks pretty good. A bit low in Vitamin A, zinc, and prealbumin, but so far no one has said I should change anything. @LisaCaryl I love the NSV with the jeans! What a nice surprise, even if you did get stuck wearing them to your group. I have one more week of school runs and after school activities before my kids are out for the summer. At that point, I am going to make a weekly meal plan and try out some new recipes from the bariatric cookbooks that are gathering dust because I've been too busy. I've also found a workout video to try with my pilates bar resistance band set, so that's going to happen this week, at least once.

Stretching in the sense that you mean it is exceedingly rare and only happens if someone consistently binge eats over a relatively long period of time. What does happen naturally is increased capacity. This is true for sleeve and bypass both. After 6 months or so, your stomach regains some of its elasticity and can accommodate a bit more at one sitting. This is fine and healthy. Everyone is different, and everyone's capacity at a given point post-op is different. I don't know what you were told for goals, but my program says 60-80g protein per day and 64oz minimum of water. They want my protein to be around 40% of my calories, and I generally aim for 800-1000 calories per day, but that was not strictly set and will change over time. 1200 seems to be a common goal for the later stages of weight loss, with the amount going up once you are in maintenance. 5oz per meal is reasonable, but you need to be eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Plus possibly a snack. My program says aim for 20-25g protein per meal, and supplement with a protein snack or shake as needed until you can get the full amount from food comfortably. By 9 months, you should be fine getting it all from food. Your brittle nails and hair loss suggest you are not getting enough protein and may not be getting enough other nutrients. You should continue to aim for around 4 oz of lean meat or fish, (or a serving of Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, for example) per meal. 4oz cooked skinless chicken breast has 25g protein. Your second priority at every meal should be nonstarchy veg. If you still have room, you can have a little bit of carb (rice, potato, sweet potato, bread, etc.). A serving of fruit makes a nice dessert. An easy way to eyeball it is to take a salad plate (not dinner plate), and put a piece of meat the size and thickness of your palm on one side, and fill about 2/3 of the other side with nonstarchy veg and the remaining 1/3 with carb. Go light on the sauces and butter. If in doubt, check Amazon for bariatric cookbooks. There are several by bariatric experts, including surgeons and registered dietitians. Kristin Willard's Bariatric Meal Prep is a personal favorite, with portion sizes for different stages, and a full color photo for every recipe.

@TwinkleToes87 you know yourself and your weaknesses best, but for most people, never having sugar again after surgery is probably taking it too far. I'll grant that there may be some triggering foods that some people would do best to avoid, just as a person in recovery who is addicted to alcohol will avoid drinking, not even a little bit. But giving up all sugar forever, foe most people, is the type of idea that sounds really great when you're planning how perfect you are going to be after this life changing surgery, and quickly becomes way harder and more punishing than you thought it would be when you are on the other side and realize the surgery was on your stomach but not on your brain/personality. I definitely have a sweet tooth, and unfortunately, gastric bypass did not make me hate sugar the way some people do. It still tastes good. But it also takes a lot less to satisfy me now. I can't physically eat two scoops of ice cream. I can eat about 5 bites. So instead of buying a big container of ice cream for home, which could quickly get me in trouble (because I can eat 5 bites at a time, but I could probably eat it 5 times a day, too), I save that treat for when I go out to my favorite farm stand with amazing homemade ice cream. And I split it with someone else so I'm not tempted to take it home for later. I don't buy a big bag of Hershey's Kisses for the house, but I will buy a single truffle from a chocolate shop and savor it. I won't buy packaged cookies, but I'll buy a single cookie from a good local bakery and eat it over two days. For me, the indulgence is now in the quality of what I am enjoying, not how much of it I can consume. It's not "no sugar ever" but "if I am eating sugar, it better be the best and only a little." And just so you know, the day before I had to start my 2-week liquid diet, I went to a restaurant and ordered a massive meal made up entirely of fried appetizers. I felt so sick and gross after, and it was that similar thinking of what if I never have this again. We all have those moments.

@BlueParis About the same here. I've lost all of 4 lbs in the past 30 days. I hit a low of 199.2 lbs 8 days ago and immediately bounced up above 200 lbs the next day. Now I've been losing maybe 0.2 lbs a day if I'm lucky. Back down below 200 this morning finally, but still above where I was. No rhyme or reason to it. The frustration is real.