MegInNOLA

This is not so much a recipe as a method. It's perfect for hot summer days. Now that I'm more than a year out, I'm still looking for ways to focus on getting my Protein in. My sleeve is super-picky STILL and doesn't like most meat/chicken/certain types of fish, but he LOVES shellfish and veggies. My husband and I love sushi and used to eat Thai food a lot pre-surgery (we're both sleevers). I decided to try making spring rolls at home, and it's SUPER easy and really tasty, plus I get in some good protein. For us, it's a no-cook meal, since we live in Louisiana and have easy access to excellent pre-cooked shrimp at every grocery in town. I use the regular-size spring roll wrappers; we get them at our local grocery, but you can order them online or through Amazon if your grocery doesn't have them; you can also find them at international or Asian food groceries. Ours are actually made with wheat flour, but they come made from rice, too. They're super thin; I "guesstimate" that one wrapper has probably 40-50 calories. Just roll up whatever you want--I julienne some cucumber, shred some carrot, slice some boiled shrimp, and spoon up some "krab salad" (that surimi stuff that mimics crab). Sometimes I use those cellophane bean noodles--all you do to prepare those is soak them in warm Water and drain thoroughly. We use some shredded lettuce or cabbage--whatever sounds good and that we have in the house--and a bit of cilantro. If you hate cilantro, just leave it out or substitute some basil or mint. Then we just wrap these up in a wrapper, seal with a wet finger, and chow down. We dip in whatever sounds good, soy sauce or my personal favorite, a mix of Thai chili sauce (it's really sweet and hot) and soy sauce. Sometimes I sprinkle the lettuce with rice wine vinegar; sometimes I forget that. :-) Perfect post-sleeve portion--one spring roll works for me, and two for my husband. We keep the fixin's in the fridge for a quick meal/snack, and they're fast to put together. If you live somewhere without fresh shrimp available, you can absolutely get those flash-frozen shrimp and thaw a couple at a time for use in your spring rolls. You can also use grilled chicken, if your sleeve is cool with chicken, and sometimes I sneak in a piece of avocado--ups the yummy factor!! Enjoy!

GT, hope you've seen a doc by now and it's nothing serious--keep us posted, though!

Just posting to bump this up the ranks for other tall folks to see. I know when I was considering the sleeve, there was virtually no information from taller women (with one exception), so I really had no idea what to expect. Let me just say it worked for me (from 337 highest weight, 306 day of surgery, to 170 this morning) and at 6'2" I'm wearing size 10 skinny jeans and they're big in the waist. Who'd have thunk it?! I also have one of the pickiest sleeves on the planet--if you search for posts I've made, you'll see that I went through quite a bit of limitation as far as what foods it would tolerate, and I had trouble with excess acid and throwing up for the first two months. I still consider my sleeve "picky," but as it has matured--I'm 19 months out from surgery now--it has gotten much more tolerant of a variety of foods. If you have a picky sleeve, I can sympathize and offer my suggestions. Hope everyone is moving towards their goals!

Well, how's everyone doing?

Started at 6'2", 306 morning of surgery, 4/18/2011, tight size 26/28, 3X Currently still 6'2", 171, size 10/12/14, M/L/XL (depending on sizing--still have some of "the girls" and am bigger up top than on bottom)

What a relief, Coops! I'm glad you'll see your daughter soon--she will definitely have a story to tell in the future, although I'm sure it is vastly different from the intended one!! So glad she is safe and headed home. My sleeve DEFINITELY hates food when I'm stressed or over-tired or emotionally upset. I have learned to eat Soup and a bit of cheese (NO meat, no crackers) when I MUST eat and I'm super tired or stressed--for instance, if I'm working as a guest clinician and I am working pretty hard for most of the day (and conducting and singing and teaching is a very physical gig, especially when working with honor choirs--you have to be "on" all the time), I get super tired and kind of worn down physically and mentally, and the best food for me is always soup, something easy on the sleeve and something that I can't "feel" in there. Lettuce/tomato salad seems to work, too, but absolutely NO flour products. For me, it's almost like going back to when I was first sleeved, although I can tolerate more volume now--the type of food that a stressed sleeve can handle is pretty much the same as it always has been. Coops, keep us posted!

I totally forgot about peanut butter--I used to eat nuts a lot, but I only have them occasionally now. That will be a pleasure to reinstate!! And I already eat avocado practically daily--it's one of my favorite foods!! We definitely do not eat butter or oil, and I only eat olives occasionally, so I guess I could probably add some olive oil in; I love it, but it's just not a habit any more. I'm traveling a lot in the next couple of weeks and will have less control over my food options. I'll post when I get back, but thanks for the tips!

It's super strange--presurgery I was having all sorts of hot flashes and nasty "menopausal" symptoms, then I had surgery and all that WENT AWAY until just a couple of months ago. I think I read somewhere that fat loss causes estrogen that is stored in that fat to come into your blood, which is why some people get crazy mood swings after surgery--I think what it did for me was delay menopause for a year and a half!! But now we're in full-blown swing of things.... Coops, you are definitely NOT alone in this. I haven't slept straight through the night in a couple of months, either. I got a lot of sleep last night at a hotel where I was attending a convention--it was SUPER COLD in the room, though, as my roommate likes the room cold, and I froze most of the night. But I only woke up once in the middle of the night, when she got home from going out with friends, and slept for 6 hours straight (bliss!!) until 8 a.m. I couldn't believe it when I woke up. And I feel SO MUCH better today! It's getting colder here finally, so hopefully it will be cold in our apartment for a few nights and I can see if that makes a difference to my sleep quality. Meanwhile, I have a sort of strange question--I keep dropping weight without really trying to do it, and it's not like it's just falling off or anything, but it's dropping... Do you think that menopause has anything to do with it? I always thought people GAINED weight at menopause, but my metabolism seems to have picked up (and I'm not doing anything exercise-wise). I'm a lot colder all the time, but that's the only thing that maybe is burning more calories....? I do not want to add any junk to my diet to slow things down, but I'd like to stop losing now. I'm 6'2" and wear size 10 and I feel fine at this size--I feel slender and long, and I'm starting to have issues with bony areas--my butt absolutely aches when I have to sit for longer than 30 minutes or so!!! Please believe me, I'm not whining, as I am sort of mind-blown that I even have this issue after a lifetime of obesity, but it's a serious question--what do you think I should add to sort of stop the weight loss (if anything)? I can't really tolerate fatty/fried/sweet things--I guess I could add cream to my coffee, but I'm just reluctant. I'd like to add food that will add nutrition and other stuff besides calories.... I could always eat Cheetos (and I do sometimes!!) but I don't want to go there--that's how I ended up at 300+ before. Suggestions? Thoughts? And y'all know me here--definitely NOT going "oh, poor me, I'm just toooo thin" etc. etc. Just trying to be healthy and do things the smart way!! This is a situation I never in a million years thought I'd have to think about.

Yep, I'm still losing, probably 2 pounds a month at this point. Not actively trying to drop any more, just living and doing my usual daily stuff. I eat what I want, trying to keep the focus on healthful foods, although I do drink wine occasionally and enjoy my sugar-free low-fat ice cream. We don't eat a lot of "junk" around here (my husband is also a sleever). Neither of us really likes sweet/fatty food, so we don't keep it here. I eat corn chips almost daily, but it's as a mini-meal with some cheese or hummus, and it's a small serving, since my sleeve still very much keeps me from overeating. I'm over 18 months out now and figure I'll stop losing when my body hits ideal equilibrium--no idea, but as I say, I'm not actively trying--just living and eating and enjoying things. :-)

Hey Coops, I'm having hot flashes, too--it's the PITS. I seem to only have them during the night and after I blow-dry my hair in the morning--I guess the heat from the dryer sets one off? The worst are the ones at night--and I have more than 10 a night. I know this because I wake up every hour--as soon as I wake up, I feel a sort of odd fluttering in my stomach, and then I get a wave of heat that washes over me. I take off the covers and it dissipates in probably 15-20 minutes, but seriously--I totally understand the drained, frustrated feeling from lack of sleep. I still don't sweat with them, and I don't know why except that I just don't seem to sweat much at all any more, not even when working seriously hard. I confess that I consider that a solid benefit of weight loss, this being cold all the time during the day, but I wish things would even out!! I freeze all day and burn up all night. Yuck. I've been trying some herbal stuff for a few days, but it isn't really working yet. I think I'm going to ask my PCP for a script for some topical hormonal cream to see if that can help. My brain isn't functioning really well these days--sleep deprivation!

Hey y'all, just checking in to say hi and let you know if you have questions/concerns, you can message me. I had surgery a year and a half ago (April of 2011) and am doing well-still dropping super slowly even after goal, which is pretty cool. Hope all my fellow Louisianians are doing well!!

Hey Coops, yes to all symptoms--total lack of energy (felt like BLAH all the time), nails splitting, hair falling out by the handfuls. Underactive thyroid is one of the easiest medical conditions to treat--one tiny pill once a day. I take Synthroid every morning; generic, levothyroxine, is only $4 here on my plan, but my doc recommended that I stick to the name brand for better consistency in potency and formulation--it's still only $20 a month, which is the only prescription I have now that I've dropped the weight. Thyroid issues are FAST to diagnose, too; the blood work is easy. Just be sure that you request a "complete thyroid panel," not just a plain old TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), because sometimes only one part of the thyroid equation is out of whack, and the TSH doesn't always show that by itself.

Coops, if your thyroid is out of whack, that could totally keep you from losing any weight AND cause thinning hair--plus make your cold or hot all the time (depends, really--mine did/does both) and give you a sense of general BLAH. Definitely get it checked out!! And make sure they run a detailed thyroid panel, not just one general test. Sometimes it's one specific part of the thyroid hormones that is out of whack, and you can't always tell that from just the single general test. Ask for a free T4 in addition to the TSH. Before I was sleeved, my doc told me that there was no way I was going to lose any weight at all until my thyroid was under control--she said I could actually GAIN weight on as few as 250 calories a day (that's 250, not a typo) because my thyroid was so underactive that my metabolism was SUPER slow--she said it wouldn't matter if I consumed NO calories--I would probably not lose any weight at all until I got the thyroid into the normal range. So it's a big deal. I'm sorry--I thought you had had that checked a long time ago--that would have been my very first suggestion to you!! Meanwhile, definitely keep us posted--I'm curious about it now and wonder if that's the reason you're still stalling out, despite what I consider a very limited caloric intake for someone as far out from surgery as you are.

Nothing new to add except that, if you play your cards right and use the opportunity of being sleeved to truly alter your eating habits to healthy ones, you can continue to lose (albeit very slowly!) for a long time. I'm still losing at almost 18 months out--it's super slow now, like one pound a month drop, but it's still going. My husband just dropped into Onderland (199, thank you!) at 2-1/2 years out! He was sleeved a year ahead of me. So yeah, use the sleeve for volume restriction, but also use this time to wean off of those foods that were never your friends--ditch them! Start new, healthy habits that will keep you slender and healthy for the rest of your life. Best wishes to you!!

My husband and I are both sleevers, and we eat a lot of sushi. Since I can't eat regular white or brown rice but CAN tolerate rice paper, we make spring rolls with boiled shrimp, julienne veggies (cucumber, lettuce or cabbage), some cilantro (ESSENTIAL, in my opinion), all wrapped up in the rice paper. It's cool, it's no-cook, it's high protein, and it's fantastic. We dip into peanut sauce, which is basically peanut butter, some chili sauce, and some soy sauce with a squeeze of lime juice, thinned with water. We LOVE these! For you carb trackers, there are 4 carbs in a piece of rice paper--and I can only eat about half a piece of the rice paper-wrapped spring roll at a time. You may be able to handle more. Enjoy!!

I never meet my water goals, either, and it's not until I get cramps in my feet at night that I really buckle down--dehydration is a b*%&$!! And I don't know about you, but I don't have a lot of time during the day to sit around and sip--teaching is a time-consuming profession, and as a choir director, I can't really be drinking in class. So my new resolution is to keep a bottle of water in the fridge at work with enough flavoring stuff in it so that I will WANT to drink it.... and I still definitely need to keep tabs on the caffeine thing--it definitely perks me up, but it also dehydrates me. I used to think of it as a trade-off I'd take, but I really don't like feeling super tired and jangly all at the same time--dehydrated whilst wired on caffeine isn't fun.

Hey Escape Pod, I'm still working on some of those myself! I'll join you--especially the "no more eating crap" and the "eat more slowly and pay attention to my food as I'm eating it" parts. Even though I dropped the last pesky pound, I don't feel as energetic as I did a few weeks ago, and I know it's because I'm eating fewer fruits/veggies and am instead occasionally making some pretty poor nutritional choices. My goal for this week: Take some food to work instead of relying on what I can get there. Even though I definitely CAN get healthy food at work, I get tired of the same thing every day, and I find myself "branching out" into less healthy options. I have food here that's not difficult to pack and carry, so I'm going to do that. Let's make it a point to post every weekend with our goals for that week and a review of how we did with those goals last week. I have a ways to go with the healthy eating thing, that's for sure. We don't keep junk in the house, but that doesn't seem to stop me from buying it when I'm at work.

Holy cow--I hit goal!!!! I am kind of surprised! I've been lurking and bouncing between 176-178 for so flipping long, I figured maybe that's just where my body was going to stay. But a nice bounce down, and it's not dehydration, since I have been super careful about that lately and even drank Gatorade yesterday evening (usually that keeps my weight UP a pound or so). Well, there it is. I really don't know what else at this point. LOL I'm 6'2" (closer to 6'3" now that my spine isn't supporting so much excess body weight--like seriously, like I needed that extra inch??).... I'm wearing size 10/12, which was my original goal, size L T-shirts (still have the girls, although they kind of face the wrong direction now, LOL), and I still have some flab that I'd love to lose but I'm not sure exactly how to approach that with my "I hate to exercise" lifestyle. My DH and I have been talking about going to the university's health center on a regular basis, but we have to figure out when/how to make that happen in our schedules. Meanwhile, I'm just planning to keep doing what I'm doing and see what happens. If I drop a couple more, great; if I don't, also great. Just wanted to share with y'all, because you're so super supportive and I have SO enjoyed being a part of this little "community within a community."

Hey y'all: Glad to hear from a few folks! Sorry some of us are feeling stressed out and frustrated!! Work can definitely do that--here, too. It's so people intensive!! We sometimes joke that we'd get so much done at school if those silly students didn't keep coming around! I love them, though.... Coops, seriously, if you just got back from holiday and you're still approximately where you were beforehand, I'd say that's a reason to Celebrate. You are very definitely disciplined! This week, my positive affirmation is, "I can choose." That's true freedom and power right there. We have choices. Let's use them!! I'm choosing raspberries over ice cream right this second (even though it's sugar free ice cream--fruit still has fewer cals and some Fiber and vit C). Last week's was "I am capable." I thought about that every morning on my way to work--just saying it in my mind helps me be that--try making up your own for whatever mind set you want to have and then just repeat it until it becomes part of your inner mind's voice.... it really does help, as simple and sort of silly as it sounds. Have a great week, all you capable choosers!!

Reviving a thread. I'm Meg, I'm 50 years old (yep... still can't believe it), and I'm 17 months out from surgery at this point. I'm a choir director/teacher. I'm married to my best friend, who is also a sleever--his surgery was a year ahead of mine. We're both still losing (v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y!!), and we joke around about it a lot. We're basically in maintenance, which is just fine--we both surpassed our surgeon's goals and our own personal goals, so that's all good! My entire family is overweight. My sister, her husband, and her eldest daughter all had gastric bypass surgery a few years ago and they have been successful, but now my sister and her husband have regained a bit of the weight from before and are having to struggle with Weight Watchers, etc. I definitely am grateful to have this tool, my sleeve, as it really does prevent me from volume eating and gives me some restrictions about types of foods it will accept, as well--for some really GREAT and strange reason, my sleeve prefers fruits, veggies, and healthy stuff over fried or sugary foods, so I will take that help all day!! The weight loss has made a huge difference in my life. I am more energetic, much less self-conscious (which for my profession is a good thing), less afraid, more comfortable expressing myself, etc. I have to say that shopping is a BLAST now, and I have definitely enjoyed putting together a more stylish and work-appropriate closet over the last few months. More than the outside change, though, the inside change has really been big--I feel better about myself, I don't worry that everyone is "looking at the fat lady," and I'm beginning to recognize myself in the mirror--it took a long time. The first time I went into Penney's to try to find a swimsuit, I had a crying attack because I was sort of overwhelmed with not knowing where/how to find anything outside the Women's department--it was so strange to not have any idea of what size I was, how things would fit, etc. I am coming to terms with this new body and getting to know its quirks--can't sit on hard chairs for long at all, need a sweater EVERY DAY in the air conditioning, must eat every 3-4 hours or crankiness ensues, dehydration is a definite if I'm not careful, etc. So hi to all. If you're new or thinking about surgery, feel free to PM if you have any questions. I don't follow any particular diet, never counted anything and still don't, and probably am not the best person to talk to regarding a disciplined diet/exercise lifestyle, but somehow the sleeve still worked for me, bless it!!

Y'all feel free to check in with me by PM or on the FB tall board if you have questions or concerns--I'll try my best! :-) I feel like an "oldie" around here these days at 17 months out--and I'm ALMOST to my "final" goal weight!!!!! I kind of lurk around the 176-178 range most of the time, but I'm telling you, when I do finally get to that mysterious 175, I'm gonna be shouting!!

Yep, I think most of us have reference points that we use to be clear. For me: From highest weight, down 161 pounds (which I can't believe!!!!!) From morning of surgery, down 130 pounds.

I had one of my choir members who is a massage therapist tell me after rehearsal today that he thought my body was looking very different even from the beginning of the year (as in, August).... he detailed that he thought I was "settling" into my new weight, that my hips looked thinner and athletic, that my face was thinner, and that my tummy was "lifting." We were all sitting at the dinner table after rehearsal (my husband included) and this guy is gay, so he wasn't trying to hit on me or be nice for some ulterior motive. I was flattered that he noticed, although still a bit uncomfortable with my physical shape. It's nice when other people compliment me, but it's still hard for me to agree--I can definitely accept a compliment graciously, but when it comes to believing them, not so much. Got the last couple of pounds off from the cookie/cake fest, thank goodness. Restocked the fridge with healthy stuff--veggies, fruit, smoothie ingredients. Looking forward to another busy week at school. Hope everyone has a terrific week!

Hey y'all: I was super worried about the scale after the cake/cookie fest last weekend, and yep, it was sort of shocking. I had been at 177 at my lowest, and when I stepped on (granted, at the end of a day, but still) and saw 184, I just about cried. But I knew I had been eating sugar, sugar, sugar, and I also knew that I tend to hold water when I do that. Sure enough, every day for a while, I've been dropping a pound as I get back into clean eating habits and out of the sugar fest. Now back to 179 and pretty sure that will go lower, as well, over the next couple of weeks. It wasn't even that hard to ditch the sugar cravings, although I was GRUMPY for a few days. I think I was sort of feeling down about the whole "yikes, getting older" thing. I talked with my husband about it and told him I was feeling kind of old. With his usual good humor, he fired back, "You may be old, but you're a hot old broad!" How can any woman be grumpy around that?!

Hey y'all! It's been a while, hmm?! Welcome home, Coops--sounds like a lovely vaca, and I hope you made some great memories! I just turned the big 5-0 last Tuesday, the same day Hurricane Isaac blew through here. Yep. Yikes. My husband and I took a quick visit up to east Texas to my sister's house, where she had decorated a beautiful birthday table for me with "fun fabulous fifty" all over it in pink leopard print!! Sweetie that she is, she and my mom had made lemon cake AND bought my favorite sugar cookies--and I ATE THEM for 48 hours straight, it seems like. I didn't even blink. I just ate cake and Cookies for two days. So here I am. I haven't gotten on the scale in probably five days, and I know when I get on there tomorrow it is NOT going to be pretty. Ah, well, as my mom (the South African/English-schooled lady) says, "Back to oatmeal and old clothes," which I always took to mean, "Back to the usual way of doing things." Tomorrow I'm heading to the grocery for veggies and fruit, since our fridge is empty post-hurricane--believe me, when we hear one is coming, everyone around here tries to cook and eat all refrigerated food, since the power WILL be going out. Anyway, we have power and air conditioning, no flooding, and blessings seemingly raining on our heads here, so I am NOT going to sweat it if I've added a couple of pounds over the last week. I'm just going to work them off doing what I know to do, which is eat clean and live my usual busy life. Classes will resume on Tuesday (we've been out since last Monday afternoon because of the storm), and I will not be sitting around eating--rather the opposite! So nice to hear from folks and keep up with what's going on. Cheers to everyone!!