Any February Sleevers?

[sillykitty 10,705]

2 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

I know this is such a bone of contention here. People who believe that moderation is gonna keep them slim and without regain v. us hard line hard-assers. I just think in reading this that it's playing with fire. Thank GOD for your new sleeve. But know that all magic comes with a price. Time flies by. If you don't take the chance to re-organize the way and WHAT you eat now during the time when your tummy is tiny and the damage is limited to 124 cals...you will become a statistic and will be back here in 2-3 years saying, "Help me Obiwankenobe. Help me! I've regained 60lbs and crave carby stuff and sugar all the time. Please help!!"

That's my fear for you.

A much wiser choice would be to make that same recipe using something like cauli rice, or zucchini noodles, or broccoli. Or even try some of the Birdseye Frozen Pasta that is made with lentils and zucchini. They have a mac and a cheese variety already.

You don't have to white knuckle diet. But making simple no-brainer substitutions can let you have your cake and eat it too without future consequences and while learning new tools for lifelong maintenance.

Sorry for butting in and adding my unpopular 2 cents.

I have to say I pretty vehemently disagree with you on this. I do not have a goal of eating perfectly. I do not need to eat perfectly in order to be successful. Being perfect is unrealistic for me, and I think unrealistic for the vast majority of people.

I am succeeding in my goal of making much healthier choices. I have been craving mac & cheese for weeks. I have been tempted by it on a dozen different restaurant menus (I eat out very frequently for work). I resisted those because I knew that restaurant versions would be particularly unhealthy. The version I made last night only had 3 ingredients, and 2 of those, fat free evaporated milk & Protein Pasta, were better choices then I would have made in the past. The three ingredients also let me know exactly what the calories and macros would be. I also knew that I had the calories to spare. Before the mac & cheese I had only consumed 290 calories that day, so I had 414 yesterday w the mac & cheese. And in the 7 days prior, including work travel and an Easter buffet, I averaged 236 calories/day. Once I was full last night, I then threw out the rest of what I had made, so I couldn't go back to it today.

@FluffyChix I read the meal plans and pics and recipes of what you are eating, and I think, "oh that would be a bad idea for me" For ME, the portion sizes are too large, and the timing of meals is too frequent. But I didn't get on your threads and tell you "you will become a statistic and will be back here in 2-3 years saying, "Help me Obiwankenobe. Help me! I've regained 60lbs and I am eating large portions and am hungry every 2 hours"". Because I know that just because something wouldn't work for me, doesn't mean it wouldn't work for you.

There is no one size fits all answer to losing and maintaining weight. Everyone has to find what works for them, and what they can maintain long term.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

50 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

I have to say I pretty vehemently disagree with you on this. I do not have a goal of eating perfectly. I do not need to eat perfectly in order to be successful. Being perfect is unrealistic for me, and I think unrealistic for the vast majority of people.

I am succeeding in my goal of making much healthier choices. I have been craving mac & cheese for weeks. I have been tempted by it on a dozen different restaurant menus (I eat out very frequently for work). I resisted those because I knew that restaurant versions would be particularly unhealthy. The version I made last night only had 3 ingredients, and 2 of those, fat free evaporated milk & Protein Pasta, were better choices then I would have made in the past. The three ingredients also let me know exactly what the calories and macros would be. I also knew that I had the calories to spare. Before the mac & cheese I had only consumed 290 calories that day, so I had 414 yesterday w the mac & cheese. And in the 7 days prior, including work travel and an Easter buffet, I averaged 236 calories/day. Once I was full last night, I then threw out the rest of what I had made, so I couldn't go back to it today.

@FluffyChix I read the meal plans and pics and recipes of what you are eating, and I think, "oh that would be a bad idea for me" For ME, the portion sizes are too large, and the timing of meals is too frequent. But I didn't get on your threads and tell you "you will become a statistic and will be back here in 2-3 years saying, "Help me Obiwankenobe. Help me! I've regained 60lbs and I am eating large portions and am hungry every 2 hours"". Because I know that just because something wouldn't work for me, doesn't mean it wouldn't work for you.

There is no one size fits all answer to losing and maintaining weight. Everyone has to find what works for them, and what they can maintain long term.

You are right. I made an assumption. I did not read in what you wrote, that you had made a healthier version of the mac n' cheese. Those are the changes I was alluding to and which in my view set us up for long term success.

Of course no one is perfect. We wouldn't have arrived at the SMO ball if we didn't all have food issues or metabolic derangement of some sort. So to think that because of our surgery "everything in moderation and small portions is gonna work for us" is a magical notion. So yeah, I think eating "regular" mac n cheese would be playing with fire. Cuz you know, only eating 1 oz of food as your doing for 124cals seems to me like holy sh*t, that's pretty dense calories right there!

And I absolutely agree we're all different. I already know that my "huge portions" of 1/2c per meal with a massive daily calorie count of average 450-550 while walking 1 hour-10 minutes per day 7 days a week is STILL considered under-eating. I burn on average 265 calories from walking at only a 2.5mph pace and only consume 450-550 calories. So it's almost as bad ad your 236 cals per day.

And I do not consider eating every 3-4hours excessive. I do not consider eating 1.5-2oz of Protein per meal and 1/2-1oz of veg per meal having a total 1/2c volume per meal excessive either. Hell! I'd love to be eating 3/4c volume per meal right now. But just because I "can" doesn't mean that would be "wise!"

I'm following my RDs plan to the letter of the law--down to her portions and daily protein goals.

Also, I WISH my hunger had been extinguished from my RNY. Unfortunately, MY remnant makes 100% of its ghrelin still as a post surgery patient, unlike the VSG peeps. I look at y'all surgery as maybe having a bigger advantage from hunger sessation. (At least that's why my surgeon maintains.) I'm quite certain that's how you are surviving on 236 cals per day. Cuz that is a crazy ass number...just sayin. But then so is 450-550 per day burning 265 cals from exercise. But, ghrelin begins to be made again and stomach volumes stretch in the maintenance years (beyond about 2years). Then what's a person to do if they haven't learned to make healthier food choices during the honeymoon period?

Sorry for mis-understanding that you HAD made a healthier version. I'm all about that. But I didn't intuit that from your original post.

So I'll be sure to stay off your posts in future and avoid a lot of backlash for having a different opinion and approach than you.

Edited April 8, 2018 by FluffyChix

[sillykitty 10,705]

14 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

And I do not consider eating every 3-4hours excessive. I do not consider eating 1.5-2oz of Protein per meal and 1/2-1oz of veg per meal having a total 1/2c volume per meal excessive either. Hell! I'd love to be eating 3/4c volume per meal right now. But just because I "can" doesn't mean that would be "wise!"

I'm following my RDs plan to the letter of the law--down to her portions and daily Protein goals.

That's exactly my point. Your plan is working for you. I can see that you are making healthy and smart choices. Just because the portions are larger and your meals are more frequent than mine, does not mean I think that you are on a slippery slope, or are in anyway endangering your long term success.

I also want to point out, that I didn't say that your portions or meal frequency was excessive. Just that they were too large and frequent for ME. That was the point I was trying to make. That even though I have seen you post what and how you eat, I never jumped in and told you that you'd become a statistic and you'd have a 60 lb regain. Because i believe that even though your meal plan is different than mine, it's not inherently wrong, just as I believe having one portion of mac & cheese is not inherently wrong.

41 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

So I'll be sure to stay off your posts in future and avoid a lot of backlash for having a different opinion and approach than you.

I actually hope you don't stay off my posts. This board needs different perspectives. No one here knows everything or has all the answers. I don't want to live in an echo chamber.

But what I took issue with was the jumping to conclusions and the tone. You went straight to this dire scenario of regain. I'm certainly open to being questioned on my choices. I'll readily admit I could have made a healthier choice last night. But I reject the idea that this is a sign I'm playing with fire. I think everyone likes to be given the benefit of the doubt, and that's what you didn't do.

I hope you don't take this as any kind of attack @FluffyChix. I respect your opinions, even if I don't always agree with them

[amend68 19]

How are all the February sleevers doing? How about updates?
I'll be 6 weeks post-op on Monday. Everything's going pretty well except that my mid-section is still very tender. Not the incisions, they're healed, but about a 3-in spot halfway between by sternum and my belly button. Anyone else have that?

Hello, I experienced the same exact thing. It seemed everybody healed by the first week except me. And I was still very tender and even getting sharp pains on my right side. It was really annoying bc I wanted to start strength training by the 6th week but was still in pain. I could stretch or reach for anything without being in pain. I’m on my 8th week tomorrow. It’s better but still get that side pain if I bend down to get something. Hang in there

[Orchids&Dragons 9,046]

10 minutes ago, amend68 said:

Hello, I experienced the same exact thing. It seemed everybody healed by the first week except me. And I was still very tender and even getting sharp pains on my right side. It was really annoying bc I wanted to start strength training by the 6th week but was still in pain. I could stretch or reach for anything without being in pain. I’m on my 8th week tomorrow. It’s better but still get that side pain if I bend down to get something. Hang in there

Thank you! How are you doing otherwise? Are you on solid foods?

[amend68 19]

Thank you! How are you doing otherwise? Are you on solid foods?

Yup. Everything is going down good. Haven’t had any issues eating. Had shrimp cocktail this weekend and was great. How is your pain? Still there?

[Orchids&Dragons 9,046]

11 hours ago, amend68 said:

Yup. Everything is going down good. Haven’t had any issues eating. Had shrimp cocktail this weekend and was great. How is your pain? Still there?

Yeah, it's still sore but I see the doctor this morning for my 6-week follow-up. I'll see what he says. I'm still on very small portions of anything solid-about a tablespoon or maybe a little more. Hardly seems worth it to dirty the plate!

[JennaJay 3]

How is everyone doing? What are y’all eating?! Can’t believe it’s been over two months now!

[DiscoLadyFever 8]

How is everyone doing? What are y’all eating?! Can’t believe it’s been over two months now!

Hi! How are you??? I can't believe I've made the 60-day mark. Its bananas!!! I'm down 42 lbs which my doc said was good especially since I had my thyroid removed 3 weeks after the VSG. I look forward to everyone's response. [emoji4]

Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

[sillykitty 10,705]

I'm doing well! I'm down 40 lbs a 11 weeks out. I feel really good too!

Weirdest thing though. Not a single person who doesn't know I've had surgery has commented on my weight loss. I'm at a quarterly meeting this week, and I definitely thought some of my colleagues would say something, not a peep!

[Orchids&Dragons 9,046]

I'm down 47# since mid-February, so I'm thrilled. Still can only eat minuscule (.5 oz) portions of solid Proteins (like chicken) but tolerating everything else ok. I've been exhausted for the last month and for the last week had dizzy spells, so the doctor has sent me back to the cardiologist that I saw before surgery. He thinks my blood pressure is maybe too low. I'll see the cardiologist tomorrow and see what he thinks. So far, no-one who didn't know I had surgery has commented on my weight loss, either, but I'll assume that they don't want to go where angels fear to tread!

[Tmocha99 7]

I am down 41lbs since February. I eat a lot of baked chicken in small amounts along with drinking 2 Protein Shakes. I have gotten a lot of compliments about my weightloss but I haven’t told anyone about weightloss sx. I workout 5 days a week and I have recently started weight training.

[RoisinPáircéir 22]

I've lost 32 pounds since my surgery on 2/14. I feel fantastic! I'm three pounds away from my goal weight. Only problem...most of my clothes are way too big. It's a great problem to have, but I can't afford to buy all new clothes. I can sew, so I'm thinking about taking in many of my items. Or selling my stuff on Poshmark and using the profits to buy smaller clothes.

Well, it's not really a problem...it's just a challenge!

[Polymorphing 60]

64 days post op, and 35 pounds down. I feel like my weight loss is slowing down but when I somehow get busy and forget all about it, my weight seems as if it is suddenly dropping. Two weeks ago I started planning a weekend trip and picked out the outfits, and now one of the dresses is TOO big! LOL. I dug in my closet to find another outfit, saw something that wouldn't even button up back when I was pre-op and thought that there's no way it fits. It fit like a glove with some room to breathe! This surgery is truly a miracle. There are many ways you could slip up, sure, but it does 90% of the work for you.

[Orchids&Dragons 9,046]

25 minutes ago, Polymorphing said:

There are many ways you could slip up, sure, but it does 90% of the work for you.

I think 90% is a bit generous. You've still got all the work of planning your healthy meals and keeping the craving monsters in check. For me, it's more like a 50-50 partnership