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Ms. Arabesque - You inspired me to go RED! You look stunning, Lady in Red... Just a casual outfit (very loose after recent surgery) for the holidays and, appears to match our guest room at Hotel Greenbrier...Haha. Do you all like the new palazzo sweat style pants this year? I thought I'd give them a try - but hard to wear big clothes again after years of obesity. I think I prefer more fitted. Also, treated myself to these red spectators...

OMG this sounds delicious. Think I’d risk the bread sitting like a lump in my tummy for a bite or two (or three or four) of this sandwich.

Happy New Year 2025 everyone!!! 12 weeks out sleeping comfortably on both sides with arms under my pillow. No more aches or soreness waking up. Our December holiday getaway was a wonderful diversion feeling it aided greatly to next stage of healing. The surgeon mentioned colder temperatures might exasperate nerve pain, but I had no issues. We loved the crisper + snowy days. Invigorating! And, samplings of Penn State ice cream was the best medicine indeed.

We (I) demand (beg for) more pics!

As much as it would be great if we could reset our tummy to the loss of hunger phase after surgery we can’t. You can reset your thinking and your head though it’s not easy. Start by going back to tracking everything you eat and drink & maybe keep a second record of what you were feeling at the time you ate or drink to see if there are any specific emotions (boredom, frustration, anger, sadness, happiness, stress, etc.) driving you to eat or any events that occured or situations you were in (Friday morning tea at work, socialising, at the movies, a sporting game, holidays). Identify things you ma have let slide: portion sizes, protein intake, food choices, fluid intake, snaking, etc. check your activity levels. Then make a change. Drop a snack or work on reducing your portion size. After a couple of weeks make another change or two like increase your activity, or increase your fluid intake or swap out some food choices to better ore nutrient dense lower calorie options. And so on. Gradual changes are much easier to adapt to and adopt and always seem more achieveable. Become more mindful about your eating. Are you eating because you need to eat (real hunger) or just want to eat (head hunger - associated with emotions, situations or events). Eat slowly to allow time for your full/had enough message to register (takes at least 20 minutes). Slowly work your way back to how you were eating when you were first maintaining. You’ll get there. All the best.

So if you are dating, will you or did you tell your date about your surgery plans? Why or why not?

The husband and I had a little outdoor picnic because the weather was nice this past weekend. There is a place that does a grilled cheese of the month and I knew I needed it in my life! So we went. I didn’t take an after picture but I drank some of the beer and ate most of half of the sandwich; only like 2 fries.

@Justarwaxx I'm sorry you are struggling right now. I can definitely relate; with Christmas and also recently having my period, I overate, especially sweets. It happens. You have to remember that you are fighting years of bad eating habits and those aren't just going to change overnight because you had surgery. I know for me it helps, that even if I have made bad eating choices, I still log my food and feel better seeing that it's still not over 2000 calories a day, which in theory means I'm still below anything that would make me gain weight. It's not helpful to shame spiral, because there is no lesson learned in shame. You are okay. And tomorrow is another day and another chance to make better choices. I hope you are feeling better now.

@FifiLux I got teary eyed during this read! I love it, it's such a Joy! I hope we both continue to be active in the bariatric community and would love to hear your new adventures in the upcoming new year and years to come. The disease of obesity is lifelong so many ups and downs. We got this!

Basically eggs lots of different ways, and soups and stews. I loved adding lentils to lots of dishes at the soft food stage. And yes - loads of minced pork, beef, turkey, again in as many different ways as my family would tolerate. That list above from @AmberFL looks amazing. It ended up lowish carb eating focusing on protein too. And as much home cooking as possible so you really know what you're getting!