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This summer, my eight year old niece came to visit, and my daughter was home, too. My daughter is in her early 20's, and has been my biggest cheerleader for weight loss surgery. She's a microbiology major (microbiologist study viruses, bacteria and fungus) pursuing entomology in grad school....entomology is the study of insects...but with microbio she can apply this to medical research, insect vector spread illness, microbial food science, pharmaceuticals, etc. We had her for a month before she left for her internship this summer:) So anyway...My little niecey was coming and I was loading the grocery cart with "kid food"....spaghetti O's and Captain Crunch and pringles and ginger snaps and pizza rolls...and a dozen other crimes against nutrition.....and my daughter.....put her foot down. "Mom, why are you buying that crap?" "Because little Chickadee isn't on a diet, I am." "Um...we all share genetics, Mom, this isn't a kindness. And watching her eat junk could be a weird pathological transference of food addiction." "So, I shouldn't buy any kid friendly food?" "You're on a serious diet preparing for surgery. You don't need to buy this crap. No, you don't. Why don't you let me handle getting things for her?" I'm always amused when my daughter puts her foot down with me...so I conceded. But my daughter didn't buy anything....which worried me. A couple days later, little Chickadee came for her week long visit, and we went grocery shopping. She adores her big cousin. Two peas in a pod...both biology nuts. They go canoeing and hiking and look at pond water under the microscope and collect bugs and play weird genetics games online together. So we're at the store and my daughter goes..."Chickadee, pick out three things you'd like to try. Any three fruits or vegetables that you want." Chickadee thought this was fun...so she picked out....an eggplant (because it was purple), a starfruit (because it was cool), and a hunk of ginger root (because she wondered what it was). After we got home, my daughter showed Chickadee a bunch of recipes using the three ingredients, and asked her which ones she'd like to try. They decided on a Thai chicken dish because it used both the ginger and the eggplant, and the starfruit could be part of a sweet salad. Chickadee was thrilled with ginger tea. Slice the root up with a little honey and lemon....she was all about it. Yum! Then, they got in this huge discussion about plants and bugs and coconut milk.....and how kitchens are really laboratories....and that tons of chemistry and physics and biology goes into cooking. And they made an Amazing...Healthy...Dinner. Chickadee was proud of it. She learned all sorts of stuff...had a wonderful time with her big cousin....and no one ate spaghetti O's. For the rest of her visit we planned our meals around the produce that Chickadee picked...(with a few gentle suggestions from her cousin) At the end of the week we all went to a farmer's market and Chickadee fell in love. She brought home all sorts of healthy foods to try, and got some succulents and flowers....and spent way less money than I would have spent on junk food...half of which would have been thrown out. I'm humbled by what a cool kid I raised and what an awesome mom she's gonna be someday. Or professor, or researcher, or maybe all three. And I stayed on my damned diet and really loved watching the girls make better choices for themselves.

Feeling good. Making better decisions finally. HW:274 lbs SW:232 lbs CW:192 lbs GW:150 lbs i still cant believe i only have 42 lbs to go. Sent from my SM-S120VL using BariatricPal mobile app

I reached my A1C goal of being below 7%. The actual number is 6.7%. I wanted to have a safe margin when it comes time for surgery. They will not perform the surgery with blood sugars that are out of control and the threshold is 8%. Cause for celebration. If I can even push it a little bit lower by the time I am ready to go, so much the better. My endocrinologist was quite pleased but really wants me to be at 6.4% just to give my body the best chance to heal without complications. I can drop .3%. I got this!

I make a 4 oz cup of decaf with my keriug and add a whole premier protein chocolate shake every morning. It is amazing and so much easier to drink than a plain shake. HW: 282.2 SW: 255.4 CW: 217.6

Confusion can be caused by a variety of problems. This website lists 80 causes. https://www.healthline.com/symptom/confusion The ones I would focus on are numbers: 1, 7, 27, 28 and 62. #1 Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Many people develop a type of hypoglycemia after bariatric surgery called reactive hypoglycemia. https://www.ridgeviewmedical.org/services/bariatric-weight-loss/enewsletter-articles/reactive-hypoglycemia-postgastric-bypass This can also occur if you were diabetic prior to surgery and did not reduce your prescription medicine after surgery. #7 Low blood pressure. If you had high blood pressure prior to surgery and were taking prescription medicine for that condition. This may be an indicator that you may need to come off some of that medicine. # 27 Hypokalemia (low potassium levels). Make sure you are taking vitamin/mineral supplements for potassium. # 28 Hyponatremia (low blood sodium). Make sure you are getting enough electrolytes. # 62 Beriberi (B1 deficiency). I would also lump B12 deficiency into this one. After Gastric Sleeve surgery, my surgeon recommended 100 mg. Thiamine (vitamin B1) weekly and 500 to 1000 micrograms sublingual B12 weekly. While you were in the hospital, you were probably given a shot of B12 which is good for one month. Since you are 4 weeks post-op that is probably wearing off and you need to begin taking B12 weekly. I am not a doctor, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. But those are the areas I would explore.

Haha. Made me laugh, I say that all the time. I don’t weigh often at home, but like you there was a five lb difference from the last doc visit. I’m guessing I should change the battery for when I do. Thanks for that!

Ha ha! That's awesome Creekimp!

I can relate to everything you just said.. You're pretty ... I don't know what the word is, you've thought this all out. I figured yes I'd buy less food, save on groceries and yet not. I am buy more expensive groceries, ie healthier and more geared to the whole protein. The other day, I went grocery shopping and spent 75 bucks and you wouldnt believe how little I got Lol I am poor so the fact that i will be spending a lot less is great, but great for me, my appetitte is not humongous. Otherwise, I'd die at these prices of "new " food Bahaha. Nice to meet you. Can I ask your real name? Im Joanna, call me Joanna or Jo Good luck on your surgery. So exciting. You're in the crappiest place most of us have already been. That preop diet. Ahhh You will survive. I promise Hugs

Thank you! I was a year post op dec 2017. I have lost 136 so far Sent from my SM-G920P using BariatricPal mobile app

My nutritionist said to make sure to keep calories up to 1200 a day...that it will help with the severity of hair loss.