Leaderboard

January 10th for me, super excited, enjoying the holidays and looking forward to an amazing 2024!!!!

I eat porridge a bit, especially now I'm in maintenance. Potatoes almost never but if I have to, then skin ON. They were an absolute staple before surgery (I'm Irish) but I approach them with real caution now. White carby things (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes) don't contain enough goodness to tempt me any more. If I do eat them it's wholegrain/brown/skin on versions and in small portions after I've had something properly nutritious. *Obviously other than during the holiday season when I loosen up a bit without guilt*

Easy? Ha! Weight loss surgery is not easy. People who say this are speaking from ignorance. The diet, the psychological work, working out a new way of eating that suits you & your needs, introducing more activity into your life, … And there is the life long work to maintain your weight loss - it’s much easier for an obese person to regain weight than it is for someone who was overweight or who lost a few pounds. Obesity is a disease for a reason & those demons that lead us down that path are still there. We just learn how to understand & manage them better & change our relationship with & dependence on food. Many of the benefits of the surgery, which kick start our weight loss, fade over time. We are able to eat more, our restriction weakens, our appetite returns. That’s when the real work begins. To me the most important benefit of the surgery was that during the time of no appetite, strong restriction, etc, I had the time to do the head work about my relationship with food, eating behaviours, & work out a new way of eating, I never worked as hard with losing weight & then maintaining my weight as I have since my surgery. It is so very much worth it though.

Hey everyone!! 👋 Hope you all are doing well. I have my gastric bypass surgery tomorrow. Just felt like sharing. Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated. Much love to you all. 💞

Thank you for the replies. Summerseeker : "Food should not be boring. I just do not live to eat it anymore." I don't Iive to eat, I never have, but good food contributes to a good life. "Variety is the spice of life" variety I can't have. Yes, I knew this goes into this but, it doesn't make it any easier! What I was attempting to say is its boring because; 1. Unlike you I detest cooking so the thought of sitting down to think out my weeks meals sounds tedious and time consuming (even if necessary) I really wish I had the time and inclination to do it and I'm jealous of those who are willing and able.. I just don't want to add yet more measuring, weighing prepping to my day off since I do enough of that weekly in very exacting details (down to microns) 😛 Perhaps its also the lack of options..see #2; 2. With this new way of eating and my intolerance of carbs it makes my options very limited. After all there are five food groups and I've eliminated 3 of the five as it is - grains, most dairy unless you want overly processed artificial dairy and fruits. Add to that my food texture issue (symptom of ADHD) ..this leaves me with low fat beef, fish and chicken for proteins and veggies (non starchy). I do track everything I eat and drink as well although I love your way of if you get your proteins in and still want a "biscuit" and a bite of noodles you have it. Perhaps, I'm being overly controlling of my diet out of fear of regaining the weight and its causing me to feel this way. Arabesque: I understand why drinking water and peeing is important and your body should adjust to more water consumption, but, after 9 months I still go 20+ times a day - very inconvenient when I work managing a pathology lab - I have to remove a lab coat, gloves and mask, then go through decontamination processes each time I exit the lab and then upon entering resuit up and on top of that no drinks allowed in the lab - so in order to get my water in I have lunch time and when I get home OR leave the lab for my sip. So, this means working 10 hours a day it gives me a very short window to get my water in especially since I can't drink large quantities at once. I should have explained better (but my post was already long). My apologies. I guess my lack of "thirst" has developed from years of training from this job and my last. I just worry about not getting the required amount in. Anyway, its just me whinging. I'm just finding it difficult and quite frankly tiring (getting up several times a night to pee doesn't help).

I’ve been fortunate in that my family has been quietly supportive. No one really says anything & in some cases will offer alternatives. Whenever others are hosting, I don’t make a fuss about what I can or can’t eat just make the best choices I can from the options. I’ve become adept of putting a little taste of a variety of food on my plate & saying thank you but I’m fine or this is plenty for now, maybe later. I happily sit there with my half empty plate while others’ are overflowing. I do allow myself a little more flexibility at Christmas: it is only one day a year. What’s funny is that I make most of the Christmas desserts yet I very rarely eat sweets any more. This is really the only day I do & choose a little bite or two of the things I enjoy most. So many equate socialising with eating & drinking but really socialising is about being with people you love (or tolerate in regards to certain family members 😉). Instead of eating, talk with those you’re with.

Well - it's here. This will be my first Christmas since I had my gastric sleeve. That means " food fest 2023" . 😬 Our whole family gathers together and brings tons of food. Our whole family is mostly overweight,too. I know I'm going to get the "you look skinnier since the last time I saw you " and "oh you have to try this- it's a new recipe " and "is that all you're having ?" I don't have a problem controlling what I eat - it's handling people who are trying to control what I eat ! I'd love any advice or tell me how you navigate a food based party. Thank you so much

I do this too! I've found that if I just have some food in front of me, it doesn't matter and no one really notices. Also, I second babysitting a mocktail and chatting most of the time. If I get tired of the adults, I go hang out with the kids or teens for a bit and check in on their lives, too (because they're not as mean or pushy as the grown-ups! lol).

I mean, I guess fear of prison is ultimately what keeps me from actually slapping stupid people... but the way the world is going, something's bound to make me break eventually. Honestly, why is it so hard for people to just be supportive and kind to other people?

I'm just going to go ahead and say this. For some reason there has been a slight influx of people who either are not getting weight loss surgery or who have had it in the U.S. who come on to the Mexican sub-forum and try to either pass shade on the thought of going to Mexico or try to spread fear by implying it's not safe. This really needs to stop. Everybody freaks out over a death. This is understandable. However, what people fail to realize is that people can and do die during the most seemingly simple of surgeries. Death is always a risk in any surgery. It's a low risk but it is a risk. If you feel you can't have the surgery even though the risk is low then there's no need for you to come on this board and speak about your fears or misconstrue the risks based on your fear of having the surgery or fear of where the surgery took place.