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I would avoid the week before and after Christmas because a lot of doctors take vacation and close some days for the holidays. Plus the staff is pretty much checked out anyways. If you do have a complication or concern you don’t want to have to be waiting for an answer or have to go to the ER and get stuck with whoever picked the short stick and is overwhelmed by a huge patient load. (Not saying those things always happen but they are more likely with the holiday).

Wholeheartedly with you on this. I was fit and in shape my whole adolescence, I had both my kids and stayed slim and never tracked anything. I worked out hard, ate well, prioritized protein and had fun on the weekends and that worked for me for over a decade and two pregnancies. My weight ballooned up all of a sudden and kept going up and never stopped, and no matter what I did I was never able to lose weight. I had a very bad ankle injury 2 years ago that caused even more weight gain (33 lbs) on top of what I had already gained and due to the injury my mobility was greatly affected and my weight was spiraling out of control. Even at my highest weight I worked out 5 days a week and ate well and Nothing! So I understand your frustration fully. The only thing that worked was the VSG, the pounds melted off like butter and I regained control. If I were to go back in time, I would track everything I ate to figure out where the issue lay, I would weigh myself multiple times a week and see what the scale is telling me. I would do this before jumping on the surgery wagon. I wish I did that, because no matter how much I worked out and how well I thought I was eating, I was doing something wrong, and the surgery outcome proves it. Now that is my own experience, I am all for living worry-free and being intuitive, however these tools can give us great insight until we are where we need to be. I never weighed myself regularly (went by how my clothes fit), now I do. I never tracked my calories, now I do a few times a week just so I don't go off track again. There are days where I don't track because I know roughly how much I'm eating, and some days I do just for QA. Again, calories from here and there add up, so it's good you're aware of that. Also, there are other tools out there (GLP-1s if you're willing) that can rev up your metabolism and help the weight loss start again. With all that being said, you are doing amazing and it is important you don't lose sight of that ♥️

I get your anxiety as I struggle with it as well and I’m pretty sure that I worried about the same thing but I would be surprised if they would have scheduled your surgery or your preop appointment if the surgery hadn’t been authorized. These surgeons are beyond busy and their office and surgical time is limited and worth a lot of money. Think about it, If they schedule you before they should and end up with a slot they can’t fill the Surgeon loses money and I’m sure they aren’t very happy if that happens too often. With the preop and authorizations required for this surgery it’s probably pretty difficult to fill an opening. They would need someone else that’s just been approved by insurance and still has over two weeks notice to do their preop appointment with the surgeon and start their preop diet and that date works for them and their driver. Most likely those people would’ve already been scheduled with their own date or they won’t be able to do surgery that date for one reason or the other. Long story short, they probably already got your approval and just didn’t tell you. That or they deal with your insurance company alot and they know the exact criteria and turnaround without a doubt. You really should be fine.

My favorite tofu dishes are either agadashi tofu ( firm tofu, drain, pat it dry, roll it in corn starch and bake or fry it) mix 2tbs soy sauce, water, mirin in a bowl with 1 tsp ground fresh ginger, drop tofu in and eat immediately. or tofu tofrites: extra firm tofu (drain, pat dry and allow to dry wrapped in paper towels with a plate on top to squish out water, while you make the batter. I have a bunch of batters. Off the top of my head 1c almond meal/flour, 1/2 c coconut flakes, and like 2 tbs Cajun seasoning. Cut tofu into fat fry sizes and dunk it milk or a scrambled up egg then batter and place on baking sheet with parchment paper (or it sticks and is bad ) 15 min at 400 and or until outside is panko crispy. Salt if needed. Good as is or with dips also great with shrimp. Or tofu chocolate pie/ mouse: everyone likes this with different amounts of sugar (if I eat sugar I suddenly can’t think about anything but binge eating for a week). So I just use the darkest and most cocoa powder chocolate I can get and melt 1.5 cups and toss it in a blender with an already prepped block of silken tofu (prep, wrap it in paper towels 2-3 layers till try, so not squash silken to get out water). I then add a sprinkle of salt and a tap vanilla. Scrape it into cups or a pie tin…. Refrigerate for 2 hours. My sister makes this with a cup of sweetener… I skip. Pardon.. seriously all day I think about food. Get a notebook or notecards. Separate it into categories by how long it is to prepare. Start with your under 5 min, 30, or whatever times you need. Put carb, protein, etc info in the back. Make your recipe set. When you are bored with food… a crazy good recipe like sukiyaki with konjac noodles or muscles in a savory broth, spoil yourself. Or mix up your cards you have saved. Add cards as you like things. But make sure you have a ready supply of “crap I can make with on hand pantry stuff when I didn’t go shopping,” “crap I can make under 5 min, I am starving,” and “crap that freezes great for oamc food prep so you are never having to resort to crap take out.” You will feel like you’ve got the Bariatric eating down after you have your recipe book.

Good morning! Im 143 days into lapband revision to GB and down 41lbs. I had a 3 week plateau. I was not eating enough protein and was starting to snack. (Death in family , depression, weather is terrible) perfect storm for over eating. So anyway . .. if anyone is struggling my recommendation is to tell your team. They hooked me up with a counselor, im taking some depression meds to het me through this tough time, dietitian gave me some tips, and really supported me. I lost 3 lbs this week!! Hang in there and talk it out.

I wish it were that simple, but it's not. We have to keep in mind that our weight is made up of a lot more than just fat. There are multiple body composition models used, but the one I recommend most people use when trying to lose fat is a 3 compartment model that consists of the following: Fat Muscle Bone I recommend this one since it's easy for most people to visualise those 3 components. Keep in mind however that roughly 70-75% of muscle mass is water. Why is that important? Because sometimes we can be fooled by the scale into thinking we're not losing fat, or that we're gaining fat when we're not. Most likely, what you're seeing is simply changes in water weight. A really common scenario is for people on low calorie diets (like most people here), to see a plateau and think that means they need exercise more and/or eat less, but when they do that, they actually gain a bit according to the scale. The reality is they didn't gain fat, they retained more water. I think it's important to keep in mind that we all have something called a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is the minimum number of calories your body needs simply to stay alive. It can be thought of as the number of calories you expend per day even if you were completely sedentary. BMR is a complicated subject, but on average, the bigger you are, the higher your BMR. Yes, it goes down as you lose fat, since fat is not completely metabolically inert, but fat loss does not have nearly the effect on BMR that losing muscle does. This is one of the main reasons bariatric patients are told to focus on protein intake because protein is needed to help prevent excessive muscle loss when dieting. More muscle = higher BMR = faster weight loss, or being able to eat more at goal weight The average BMR for women is ~1400 k/cal per day. Higher if you are taller or more muscular, lower if you are shorter and/or have lower muscle mass. Men, for obvious reasons tend to have a higher BMR that's more in the 1700 range. My point in telling you all of the above is that it's highly unlikely that someone eating 900 calories a day needs to eat even less if weight loss has stalled. Frankly, if that is the OP, then I'd actually recommend exactly the opposite: try upping your caloric intake a couple hundred k/cal per day and see what happens. I know it seems counter intuitive, but your body is not a simple machine where the calories in vs. calories out paradigm actually works. Happy to discuss more and provide additional info, but this post is already overly long. Best of luck.

Ive been testing the waters😂😂😂😂😂. Ive tried shrimp and grits. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, chicken, ( of course in moderation). And they stayed down well! It took me a full day to finish but yea. Im wondering, is this the reason for my stall? I tried certain foods with mayo and i puked immediately. Its hard finding what works. But if not, i wont eat and i cant fully indulge. I need a guide because if my stall is due to my choices then i need to tighten up. My appetite is returning and certain foods like i mentioned agree with me but i feel bad for eating because when i see the scale im like dam if i do dam if i dont

Yes, plans can be quite different but I agree with @ShoppGirl’s suggestion to check with your team. I was told 1/4 - 1/3 cup for a meal from purée increasing slowly to a cup of food by the 6 month mark. 7ozs pureed turkey dinner coupled with the sweet potato & cobbler & you’ve way exceeded my 6 month portion recommendation. And to add to her warning also, a lot of nerves were cut and or damaged during the surgery so messages like being full/had enough or eaten too much at going to get through or will be distorted. It’s why sticking to portion size recommendations are very important: to ensure you don’t damage your digestive system or impact your healing and recovery. It takes 6-8 weeks to fully heal.

I'm about for weeks post op (Monday) and I will be cleared to start soft foods. I recently invested in a 1qt (1.5Litre) slow cooker as I'm just cooking for myself, but I don't really know where to start using it. My mother's old stewed beef recipe is calling to me as it's always been a favourite and soft, melt in your mouth beef sounds perfect for this stage. But she didn't write it down so I have to remember what she taught me. Does anyone know any good stewed beef slow cooker recipes?

How long did it usually take you guys to get your results? It's only been 3 days and I'm already nervous as heck. I was going to wait at least a week before calling the bariatric clinic to see if they have my results yet but... yeah... nervous.

all that for $82 ??? my groceries list this week will fit in my purse and cost almost as much as that. also that is a whole lotta meal prep, am totally impressed! ....remind me again how many people are in your household???

Sorry to butt in as I'm only a little over 10 months post GS but I feel I can share a little of what I'm doing to maintain. I reached my initial goal 3 months post op and continued to lose until about 9 months post op, went much below goal weight and stabilized (I think as I've been the same weight with one +- 1KG fluctuation for 1.5 months). I lost weight very rapidly and the weird thing is, during weight loss I never tracked, I would only check my calorie intake once every 2-3 weeks to see where I'm sitting at but the whole theme was barely eating to survive and insane restriction. Now that I've stabilized I track my intake 3-4 times a week to know where I am at and what daily average intake is. There are non hungry days where I don't bother to track (plus weekends) and days where I'm ravenous and I make sure I track to know. I have also picked up the habit of weighing myself at least a few times a week, sometimes daily or twice a day (during weight loss I weighed once a week only), now at maintenance I weigh more often and only because I never did pre WLS and my weight kept creeping up and I refused to face reality (if I didn't know then it didn't happen). I also believe that what gets measured gets managed. I cook most of my food and eat out about twice a week, I prioritize protein 90% of the time and eat fairly well. I get in at least 140 grams of protein a day but I also don't deprive myself of anything. I eat bread, rice, pasta ,dessert and everything else really, just not in substantial portions and usually after I've gotten my protein in. I workout a lot. Always have and always will and I believe this has been a huge factor in my success so far. I built back all the muscle I lost and I believe my muscles are allowing me to eat much more without worrying about weight gain (I eat between 1500-1900 calories a day, depending on how hungry I am). I walk between 8k-10k steps a day too. Lastly, I have worked out a wriggle room for myself, If I do gain a little of weight then it is no big deal, it does not distress me and I will deal with it when/if it happens. I try my best everyday and I accept that I am not perfect nor do I set unrealistic standards for myself. I also believe maintenance is a mindset shift as much as it's a physical adjustment. Portion control, constant check-ins, daily movement are great habits to build, but also liberating ourselves of food fear and relinquishing the all or nothing sentiment.

Okay pretty much what I do now LOL I run 5x a week, HIIT once a week, close min 10k steps a day, lift heavy 5x a week. Maybe I need to incorporate Pilates then. Do you feel like you need to eat more? I am closing close 1700-1800 calories a day. I tried to cut back and I was sooooo tired. My protein is above 150g a day. you look phenomenal! Your stomach is so flat, and not to be weird but are you blessed up top or did you have a breast aug? My have completely depleted. I went from a 44DD to a 36A (barely) LOL

Hey guys, The last few days have been super hard I just want to eat all the time I feel so empty! I know its mainly head hunger and at nearly 8 weeks out it is my mind fighting against the changes I have made. I miss eating more! I have had slight cravings for junk food lately but I will not eat it because I know it will do me absolutely no good and it will make me worse off. I haven't eaten any of it since before my surgery and have no plans to in the future. As a recovering food addict a little bite would be a massive trigger to eat way too much and I can't deal with that. I know I have been addicted to food pretty much my whole life but I honestly didn't think that my addiction was as bad as it clearly is. I don't regret having the surgery and having lost 2 stone 6lbs is amazing in such a short time, it's just so hard to get used to the huge life change. I am all in and will continue eating healthy unprocessed food because my body loves it and I feel so much better physically. It's taking my mind a long time to catch up though and I'm struggling. I have heard plenty of ideas about finding a hobby and doing things to focus my mind away from food but I need to face up to my food demons and learn to live with them. I don't want to avoid these feelings coming up, they need to be dealt with. So I journal when it gets too much and I post on here too. I'm just looking for some one who understands how I feel and who can tell me it gets better! Thanks again guys x

My pre-surgery Vitamin A was 43. It had dropped to 27 at 4.5 months and was up to 34 at 7 months, but "normal" is 38 or above, so the doctor is having me take 10,000 IU of Vitamin A daily for two weeks (which is the same as 3,000 mcg) just to bolster my levels. I will retest before my 1 year surgery follow up. You can get Vitamin A supplements over the counter, no prescription needed.

I had to teach myself by literally only giving myself exactly what I'm supposed to eat for each bite. I'd set a timer and when it went off, I would get myself another bite worth of food. Or my hubby would do it. It's drastic, but I ate too fast and too much at first and REALLY paid for it. I had to do this for about 2 weeks until I got used to it. Once I did, I was able to put my full meal's worth of food on the plate or in the bowl. I also used toddler utensils so I couldn't over-eat.

OMG! How did I miss you had Vegemite on toast last week @Starwarsandcupcakes. I didn’t think any non Australian could tolerate it. Mind you I can’t stand it - so strong - unless there’s heaps of butter & only a smear of Vegemite. I’m a promite girl (or was before surgery when I had it regularly on freshly baked white bread). That carrot soup looks delicious!

Ah 2 weeks ago I did an inbody test and today I did it again to just see if I am going in the right direction. Well, I've lost "weight" but I think i only lost water and muscles I'm down 1 kg muslce and actually gained 300g fat! Ahhhhhh why does everything have to be complicated? The coach in the gym told ne to up my protien and take PT classes to focus on building strength and muscles but is she right or is she just trying to sell her services? I'll sit n discuss with my team on the 15th and decide what to do. On another note, I tried the power stretch class today and I stretched muscles didn't know existed hahaha it was amazing but tiring like I burnt almost 400 cals. P.s. attaching my 2 weeks and today inbody results

I have an appointment already this week. My body composition is done via bodpod at my bariatric clinic. So the accuracy is pretty spot on. At 12%, it's very concerning.

I work in healthcare as well, and I know that feeling all too well. Epic is gonna Epic. Worst three years with trying to work the kinks out of this thing. So are you back on for the 16th?

Well I did it!! It was an hour and a half long and by the end my legs and arms were shaking and I was all sweaty unlike the rest of the class because it was a workout for me but I had fun. The instructor came up to me afterwards and said that I was actually quite flexible for a first timer. I’m pretty sure she was just being encouraging but it was still nice. Next week there is an cardio/ strength class I want to do and of course yoga again. They both meet twice a week but I will see how I do after the first set. May need a few days to recover. lol

It was so weird though that BRAT diet is Bananas, Rice (white), applesauce and Toast (white) so basically carbs and not protein and not much else. Well between the diarrhea which is why I was on the diet and the food without any nutrients I was getting weaker by the day. I was staying pretty hydrated so I think that majority of it was just the drastic change in nutrition. Just one week with All them carbs and I was up hungry several times a night (craving sugar), lazy and fatigued all day and it was just snowballing by the day. I don’t ever want to go back to feeling that way!! I can’t believe that was our normal for so long and we had no idea how much better we were supposed to be feeling. The nurse is the one who told me to do that diet and I questioned it with my history but she insisted but as soon as I seen the Dr she said she never would’ve put me on that diet and took me off. I hate when the nurses overstep their authority and won’t just ask the darn Dr. Anyways, it’s a warning for me about how that diet makes my body feel and I don’t want to do it again.

Yes, I had sleeve 3.5 years before I started my journey to revision. It’s considered fairly “new” In the medical community but finally got endorsement by the ASMBS so it should become more prominent now but finding info on it as a standalone procedure was tough enough, nevermind as a revision. Like @Arabesque said I had a really difficult time making my decision between the SADI and bypass but i did finally land on the SADI and I am happy with it. This week at six weeks out I was down 40 pounds (including the weight I lost on my two week preop diet which was basically two shakes and a low carb dinner). With the sleeve I felt like I was on a diet. The reduction of the hunger hormone helped me to keep my portions small and get down to 167 (i’m 5’8”) but I was able to eat more than expected from day one. Not a lot more but enough that once the hunger came back and I was eating several times a day I was gaining from even healthy food. The fact that I felt like a failure for not reaching my goal and that I was gaining in spite of my best efforts discouraged me and bad habits started slipping in bit by bit but rather quickly I gained it all back plus some. Things that have been different with the SADI. For one, my level of commitment. I quit going to my follow up appointments at the Dr and stopped posting here when I regained a big chunk of weight post sleeve because I was so embarrassed and I never went to the in person support groups to begin with. After I started my journey to revision I began posting again and committed to doing the in person groups when they meet monthly. I also have made even more than the minimum required appointments with my team to acquire as much information as I can and I asked to do my follow ups more often which helps for now with my anxiety over healing but also will help to keep me accountable In the future. In terms of the surgery itself it seems to have made more metabolic changes for me. For one thing I was actually a salty snacker before my sleeve but post sleeve I craved sweets. I actually woke up from my sleeve surgery craving various desserts but with SADI I was craving Fish Tacos (a meal I never even enjoyed pre surgery) and I have been eating all kinds of stuff I had to force myself to eat pre surgery and I’m actually enjoying them. I mean not like pizza but still pretty good I am back to regular food now and I may have a sugar free popsicle once a week. Other than that I don’t really want sweets and my food cravings are very quiet and good choices are really good. In terms of motivation and energy I have a ton more. Part of that may be due to my exercising this time compared to the sleeve in which I didn’t do any. This time I started out a little shy of a month just walking to the end of my street and back and now I’m up to over 15k steps a day (sometimes 19k) and I’m getting ready to try YOGA at my community center (waiting for my 8 weeks post op just to be safe). I feel fantastic. It’s not just he honeymoon phase either. I actually wake up hours earlier eager to start my day and at night when I hit the bed I feel accomplished and I sleep so much better. Everyone I talked to said fat was okay with the SADI and carbs were the enemy but that has not been my experience. Maybe processed carbs are bad but in things like veggies, fruit and oats or brown rice are okay for me. I actually do lower fat because I had my gallbladder out so think almond milk and 2% cheeses or non fat yogurt (surprisingly not bad tasting though). In terms of carbs if I remember correctly she started me at. 60g and then increased me to 80 because of my activity. They did not resleeve my stomach so my return to food progressed a little slower than yours will if your getting re-sleeved though so that will not be the case this early out. You won’t be able to eat the volume of food that I do at this point. I can actually eat every 3 hours. Most times I’m already up but I have an alarm set for 8 and I wake up and have my proffee which I finish by 9 with my multi vitamin and then every three hours (12,3 and 6) I have a small meal with my three calcium chews. My last meal being a snack at 9pm and I take my magnesium and hair vitamins. I seriously have so much energy. I care so much about what I put into my body. I make everything from scratch and before it was all about convenience (hated to cook) and I won’t lie and say I love exercise but I want to do it. In fact I’m nursing three blisters now and they just weren’t healing with the continued training so I’m having to force myself to slow down today. It’s so weird. I haven’t exercised in over 20 years. I have avoided it at all costs!! I mean I had to make the decision to get started of course but the surgery gave me the energy to do it. Ooh, the recovery was a bit tougher for the SADI, well a lot for me but they took my gallbladder too. I was okay without pain meds once I finally was able to pass gas (like 7 times one morning) but I spent five days in hospital because I couldn’t pass gas and my pain was only managed on meds they wouldn’t send me home with. Once I got home I took half of one pill because my husband forgot to get the Tylenol and I had to wait for him to get it I the store but after that i managed without it. With my sleeve I work up and refused pain meds and was fine the next day. In fact i almost forgot I had surgery when I was out front and asked my husband to pass the basketball to me. So night and day difference in recovery but it wasn’t horrible. Just not expected. Anyways, I’m sure that once I get closer to goal I will be tempted by less desirable food choices and it won’t be as easy as it is now but I honestly do feel like it will be different this time. For one, I have more support but also, I am actually changing my entire lifestyle this time. I am even looking for organic and cleaner ingredients in my food instead of just processed junk that’s diet friendly. I feel great and I want to continue feeling this way for a long long time. That got kinda long, sorry. I really hope some of it helps.

So sorry you're struggling right now. I think if we're all being honest, we're ALL been there. I've said this before, but I strongly believe anyone that is or was obese has an eating disorder or at least suffers from disordered eating. You simply don't get that big unless you have an unhealthy relationship with food. The thing is, none of us magically got better by having bariatric surgery. If you think you need it, please reachout to a mental health professional to help you get back on track. If you don't feel ready for therapy, that's okay too. You have to do what's right for you. Just know that there is help out there if you need it. I want you to know that I personally have faith in you, even if you don't right now. You are an inspiration to many people here, me included. You've already shown how strong you are and how hard you're willing to work for your goals. I know this is just a temporary setback, and I'm guessing a lot of it was brought on by extra stress due to surgery and your routine being thrown off. As they say, this too will pass. I know you can get your mojo back, so please give yourself some grace. We're often our worst critics. I'm honestly just guessing based on your previous posts, but I'd think you're a very goal-oriented person. It might be beneficial to stop thinking "I need to get back on track". That's just too nebulous. Instead set yourself small, time-bound concrete goals. Only you can decide what those should be, but it might be as simple as "get at least 120 grams of lean protein tomorrow". Forget everything else that part of your personal idea about what "back on track" means and just work on that one small goal until it's become habitual. Only then, add in a new goal to work on. Just keep them small, easily attainable based on where you're at today, and make sure they have a time component such as my goal for tomorrow is..., or my goal this week is... you get the idea. If you need any help with diet or exercise as you work through this, please feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help. Wishing you all the success in the world!

I think it's fantastic you're thinking about this now. Unfortunately a lot of people don't really think about that until it's too late. My goal is not only to increase my lifespan, but possibly even more importantly, my healthspan. By that I mean I want to remain healthy and capable as long as I can. Changing topics a bit, as you continue jogging, I wanted you to be aware of something that not a lot of people realize. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but you can break up the parts of your body that are involved in running performance into two big buckets: The first is your cardiovascular system. We're talking about heart, arteries, veins & capillaries, as well as the intracellular components that deliver oxygen and glucose to your muscles. Interestingly, this system tends to improve faster than the next system. The second is your musculoskeletal system. Obviously we're talking about your muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. All of these will improve over time, but tend to be a bit slower to get stronger. I mention this because not understanding how these components react is probably the top reason new runners hurt themselves. As they start running, they find they're able to run farther/faster fairly soon as their cardiovascular system improves. Unfortunately, their musculoskeletal system (especially their bones, tendons and ligaments), aren't quite ready for the extra stress. In short, take your time pushing farther and faster and make sure to take an occasional deload week, just like you would for your strength training.