I am scheduled for February 18th. I will be first in. Wow, this process takes forever.

My sister gave me this recipe and I'm wondering what you think. I made a batch and they are in the refrigerator now. What are you thoughts on the ingredients, particularly the honey. I like that they have oatmeal in it for "roughage" and peanut butter for protein. Wondering, though, if your nutritionists have said to avoid honey. Also, there are small chocolate chips in them. I figure they would be a good nibble snack, but don't want to eat them if anyone in this group thinks they are too high in sugar.

I completely understand the regrets. Knowing all I know right now, I would probably still have the surgery, but my side effects are not as bad as some of you (thank goodness the Miralax--after 6 doses and 3 days--is working on my horrific constipation, but only in small doses over two days now---gotta stay close to a potty).

I had my first mandated-by-my-surgeon of three meetings with the bariatric support group sponsored by my nutritionist. It was a mix of folks who are considering the surgery, those about 9 or less months out, and those who had the surgery in the last couple of months. Much of the talk centered around whether to tell friends and coworkers about the surgery. Tonight we have dinner with a small group of friends where I know the host will have delicious steak and top-notch wine. She always makes the same dinner when we come over because it's my family's favorite (steak, mashed potatoes, buttery brown mushrooms, and asparagus). My brother and his wife will be there, and they know about the surgery, but the host and her husband do not. I will have to just go with it and see what comes out of my mouth when they notice I'm obviously not having cocktails, wine, or steak. I guess I'll find out what I say if asked as I doubt my brother will mention it (although I have not told him NOT to so he might). Someone in the support group said once you tell one person, sooner of later everyone will know so I guess it's just a matter of time. I suppose the most compelling reason for NOT telling folks is because I don't want "having gastric bypass" being associated with my identity....that is, people saying: "Oh, I know her, she's the one who had bariatric surgery." What do y'all think of that? Do you think it becomes true of someone who has had the surgery? Is it a stigma? Thanks.

On 03/23/2019 at 15:03, Gottajustdoit said:

My sister gave me this recipe and I'm wondering what you think. I made a batch and they are in the refrigerator now. What are you thoughts on the ingredients, particularly the honey. I like that they have oatmeal in it for "roughage" and Peanut Butter for Protein. Wondering, though, if your nutritionists have said to avoid honey. Also, there are small chocolate chips in them. I figure they would be a good nibble snack, but don't want to eat them if anyone in this group thinks they are too high in sugar.

It looks amazing.
Honestly I have no idea what the “rules” are for sugar consumption. All of us are walking the same path, but we all took different roads to get here, so what I say is literally just for myself because even though I’ve been living in it for 50 years, I’m truly starting to understand my body in a way I never took the time to previously.

For me, I know I absolutely need to avoid as much sugar and artificial sweeteners as I can.
That means honey is out, chocolate chips are out and anything that resembles a refined carb is out.
That’s because the minute I get exposed to sugars (even in tiny amounts) it sets off a cascade of the hungries and bad choices that I can not control. Carbs are like crack to me and I just cannot go down that road at this point. Maybe not ever at any point— I just don’t know.

Right now at 6.5 weeks post, I’m eating primarily protein only, and my only “cheats” are salads.
God I miss salad! If I could have my old stomach back for 10 minutes, I would totally demolish a wedge salad with gobs of bacon and bleu cheese.

For over 6 weeks, I’ve cut so much sugar from my life that plain fairlife milk tastes almost like melted ice cream. It’s weird. The other day I actually had to re-check the label on the bottle because I was CONVINCED I had inadvertently bought a flavored one. It tasted that sweet to me.

On 03/23/2019 at 15:15, Gottajustdoit said:

I completely understand the regrets. Knowing all I know right now, I would probably still have the surgery, but my side effects are not as bad as some of you (thank goodness the Miralax--after 6 doses and 3 days--is working on my horrific constipation, but only in small doses over two days now---gotta stay close to a potty).

I had my first mandated-by-my-surgeon of three meetings with the bariatric support group sponsored by my nutritionist. It was a mix of folks who are considering the surgery, those about 9 or less months out, and those who had the surgery in the last couple of months. Much of the talk centered around whether to tell friends and coworkers about the surgery. Tonight we have dinner with a small group of friends where I know the host will have delicious steak and top-notch wine. She always makes the same dinner when we come over because it's my family's favorite (steak, mashed potatoes, buttery brown mushrooms, and asparagus). My brother and his wife will be there, and they know about the surgery, but the host and her husband do not. I will have to just go with it and see what comes out of my mouth when they notice I'm obviously not having cocktails, wine, or steak. I guess I'll find out what I say if asked as I doubt my brother will mention it (although I have not told him NOT to so he might). Someone in the support group said once you tell one person, sooner of later everyone will know so I guess it's just a matter of time. I suppose the most compelling reason for NOT telling folks is because I don't want "having gastric bypass" being associated with my identity....that is, people saying: "Oh, I know her, she's the one who had bariatric surgery." What do y'all think of that? Do you think it becomes true of someone who has had the surgery? Is it a stigma? Thanks.

I have to admit that I feel slightly guilty because I have zero regrets and have had basically zero adverse effects.
I mean, I’ve had nausea when I do things like take my vitamins on an empty stomach or tummy cramps when I accidentally eat too fast, but those are very minor and only last an hour or two.
Today I got a little light-headed while out shopping with hubs today and we cut our errands short so I could come home and drink water and rest.
Well I can tell you why. I only got about 5 hrs sleep (thunderstorms all night) had an early Pilates class, then we did yard work and I only ate 1 egg and half a piece of Canadian bacon.
So yeah.... my stupid butt got tired and woozy while doing more running around.

I don’t blame this on the surgery, I blame this on me still needing to take time to relearn how to juggle all the things I need/want to juggle while going through this process.
All of it is an opportunity to learn and try not to repeat “mistakes”

37 minutes ago, Sheribear68 said:

It looks amazing.
Honestly I have no idea what the “rules” are for sugar consumption. All of us are walking the same path, but we all took different roads to get here, so what I say is literally just for myself because even though I’ve been living in it for 50 years, I’m truly starting to understand my body in a way I never took the time to previously.

For me, I know I absolutely need to avoid as much sugar and artificial sweeteners as I can.
That means honey is out, chocolate chips are out and anything that resembles a refined carb is out.
That’s because the minute I get exposed to sugars (even in tiny amounts) it sets off a cascade of the hungries and bad choices that I can not control. Carbs are like crack to me and I just cannot go down that road at this point. Maybe not ever at any point— I just don’t know.

Right now at 6.5 weeks post, I’m eating primarily Protein only, and my only “cheats” are salads.
God I miss salad! If I could have my old stomach back for 10 minutes, I would totally demolish a wedge salad with gobs of bacon and bleu cheese.

For over 6 weeks, I’ve cut so much sugar from my life that plain fairlife milk tastes almost like melted ice cream. It’s weird. The other day I actually had to re-check the label on the bottle because I was CONVINCED I had inadvertently bought a flavored one. It tasted that sweet to me.

Love, love, love the wedge salad. When do you think our bodies will be able to handle small versions of it?

Edited March 23, 20197 yr by Gottajustdoit

On 03/23/2019 at 16:05, Gottajustdoit said:

Love, love, love the wedge salad. When do you think our bodies will be able to handle small versions of it?

Hopefully by the time summer is in full swing

On another note: here is my very late lunch.
Was CRAVING veg, so it has pickles and tomato.
Triple cream Brie is a life-saver because it is so soft and easy on the stomach

11 minutes ago, Sheribear68 said:

On another note: here is my very late lunch.
Was CRAVING veg, so it has pickles and Tomato.
Triple cream Brie is a life-saver because it is so soft and easy on the stomach

Nice! Were you able to eat all that tomato? Do you have any trouble with nuts? I haven't eaten any yet because I'm afraid they will scratch my tiny pouch.

Was able to eat half the tomato, the 2 smallest pickles, 3/4 of the cheese and about 5 almonds.
But it was delicious!
So far I’ve eaten almonds okay. Just make sure I chew chew chew before I swallow

I'm hopeful I have turned a corner... I felt it last night. Suddenly felt my energy come back and something was different. I have kept my food down for 24 hours. The weird thing is, my Seroma healed up, finally, yesterday too. Not sure how that can be linked, but I just feel better today.

I'm feeling better today as well. Not great, but better. I have been obsessed with getting at least 80 oz of water a day, and the dizziness seems to be subsiding a bit. I've also ventured outside to go shopping, but 30 minutes absolutely exhausted me. One step at a time.

Three weeks post op, worked in the yard and garden today. It was so hard because I have no energy! Hard to imagine it getting better while only consuming less than 500 calories a day, but I'm hopefull it will.

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 4:44 PM, TheMarine79 said:

I am scheduled for February 18th. I will be first in. Wow, this process takes forever.

I was also on the 18, how is it going for you?

On 03/23/2019 at 22:02, Rene' S said:

I was also on the 18, how is it going for you?

Things are going well. Losing 3-4 pounds a week

Living in Canada the government pays for a very low number of these surgery’s a year (in my province) and we don’t have any mandated group meetings or support groups post surgery so I’d like to thank you all for being open and honest and always around to bounce questions and ideas off of.

Still regretting this decision, 40 days and 32lbs later. I played ice hockey for the first time yesterday and couldn’t have the beer in the dressing room after, couldn’t go upstairs and enjoy the wings and pizza with the guys. Tried to hang around as long as possible but ended up coming home to some chunky soup. I feel as though I should’ve been better prepared for this major decision and hope I can get out in the future and just make others aware that they may be giving up a lot more than they bargained for