windycitymom

Great job Queen, good luck tomorrow!

Happy Monday Ya'll! I hope everyone is doing well. I'm not sure what the check in supposed to look like but below is my update. I have my inlaws in for over a week. They are truly like kids so its always a tough time given that I already have 2 boys that keep me pretty busy Yesterday was one constant eating day. All day long! I was able to stay away from food fairly well considering how much there was. Purely by being the hostess (and not a very good and natural one). I'm usually a wreck. 3 folks didn't show up for dinner so we had lots of extras despite my attempt to keep it to what 10 folks would consume. I immediately froze things in dinner sized servings so that I could grab them when my boys got hungry. So in terms of my goals: 1)cooking the right amount: a) I cooked the recipe size and froze left overs considering 3 "big eaters" didn't show up also when I found out I scaled back on the mini quiches I was going to heat up for appetizers and just left the in the freezer (that is something I never would have done in the past). 2) sticking to 5:2 this week: a) I last fasted on Thursday and did well. Today is my fast day but it is my son's birthday and my husbands birthday so I'm thinking I'll wait until tomorrow. I'm sticking to Tea and liquids this morning until I make up my mind fully 3) I weighed in up 2 since my last weigh in but down 3 overall since I started 5:2 to get back on track How is everyone's Monday so far? Do you have any challenges this week coming up? Hello Thanksgiving? I am more of a "closet/emotional/grazing eater" so generally this isn't my problem area but what do others think? Windycitymom

I'm with you ladies, we got this! I too fell down a slippery slope when I lost my mother to ALS last Mother's day (no less) ...... she was very angry with me and didn't really tell me about it while she was living, just left a horrible messiness when she died. I didn't really feel much like doing anything and I hovered around 139 - 142. I was in year 2 post op and really leaned into my sleeve to keep my weight down without giving any thought to healthy eating or exercise. I just moved across country with my family to get a fresh start and decided that I need to take control again like the 'good ol days' of being in year 1 post op. Thanks to 5:2 (or my first 2 weeks of good luck trying 5:2) I'm back toward my 135 goal and weighing in at 137.5 lbs this morning. I have my father in law coming in town this weekend and dinner guests coming on Sunday (I'm not a Martha Stewart so I'm a wreck about it). It made me notice that I always over compensate for the quantity of food that is needed for the amount of people that i have. I have a real problem with estimating how much food other people eat so this will be an interesting lesson for me. My goals for this week are: 1) to learn how to cook the right amount for the 10 or so folks I am expecting for dinner 2) to find a way to fit my new 5:2 lifestyle into having my in laws stay with us for an 8 day period Does anybody have any specific goals for this week that they want to share?

Wow! I was getting frustrated with old habits returning and the beginning of regain. I went to the maintenance thread looking for inspiration and ideas. I asked about success with the pouch test and then saw FYE mentioned her experience on 5:2 so I started my first week and so far so good. I like that it breaks my cycle. I tend to be an emotional eater with cyclical patterns and the fast days are not very hard but I kinda long for it to do a quick clean out (physically and mentally) of whatever my eating cycle/pattern is at the time. Restriction on the day after is reliable and I am reminded with stronger nudge about why I did what I did by undergoing VSG surgery almost 3 years ago. I really need that reminder every once in a while when I get into a rut. It took me about a week to read this entire 5:2 thread but it is jam packed with good questions and discussions, thanks everyone especially FYE for the intro to 5:2. I have a few questions for you vets out there who are enjoying 5:2 benefits: I find that I wake up really really early now that my tummy isn't weighed down. Even when I don't want to wake up 4 or 5, I do. Does anyone else have this? not sure if this is hormonal or not This of course translates to being exhausted by 8 PM and needing to wind down and go to bed earlier I am premenapausal, have you ladies noticed a difference in your cycle (or whatever is left of it)? Has anyone changed their goal weight downward after learning 5:2? Do I use 25% of my TDEE or 500 cal? My 25% is below 500.... Thanks vets and especially FYE for your inspiration and your sharing!!! WCM

OK, feedyoureye, I'm embarrassed to see that you have an entire thread dedicated to the 5:2. Im going to review that. Thank you so much for posting. I'm a retired vet who is coming back to this forum to get back on track so I apologize for the questions above Thanks for being so information and such a great resource!!

Thanks so much feedyoureye! Can you share more about your experience on 5:2. It sounds like it is a permanent way of eating and not just a diet? I feel like every month I am craving carbs and making poor choices with little to no control or restriction and I've learned how to eat around my sleeve and I'm worried. Additionally, I feel like my body fat composition is changing significantly more than my mere 5-7 lb weight gain, so it is depressing me. I used to be a size 4 and now and a solid barely size 6. Overall, I'm still happy with that but do feel "heavy" like I used to before WLS. I just feel like I can "get away with it" and therefore I CAN make the poor choices that I'm making. Basically, I need a reality check and need to get my eating back in order so I'm thinking I need to do the Pouch/sleeve test and then do the 5:2. Can you share your experience with 5:2? what do you eat on your 5 days and what do you eat on your 2 days? Do you have a good official website? anything sleeve related to know about doing the 5:2? Thank in advance for sharing! Lisa

Good luck on the back surgery Daisy! Hopefully, it will make so that you can exercise more in the future without pain. I had a L4/5 Microdiscectomy (surgery) a year ago and it was not successful despite 95% efficacy rates so hopefully you will have better experience. Im not sure if its the same surgery but they wanted me to start exercising right away in order to heel faster. Take it easy and do what the doctor tells you though. This a great forum. I am almost 3 years out and continue to struggle to maintain and I hover 5-7 pounds above my goal. I also feel that I have not been restricting my diet at all. I do try to have either protein drink or a homemade smoothy with seeds, protein, vegees and fruits. I am considering doing either the 5:2 diet or a the pouch test in order to get back on track. Does anyone have a preference or feedback on these ? I am happy that I can lean into my sleeve tool however I have been letting sliders in recently to solve emotional and stress issues. Old habits die hard. Should I try the 5;2 or the sleeve test to get off the carbs and get back on track?

I am 33 months post op and always have a runny nose. 24/7 and I have a box of kleenex everywhere (car, office, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and all jacket pockets. I feel like a little old lady and I'm half way tempted to put them in my sweater sleeve out of convenience.

All, I was sleeve in Feb 2012 and don't regret it at all! Love to join a support group here in the Windy City!

Good for you! What is your toughest part of your journey and what is the most rewarding?

I'm on my 12th month. Almost my surgiversary. In all honesty, today I had about 65% of a slice of left over stuffed pizza pie. I find that my choices are not always the best now that I am 12 months out and stable for the last 6 months at my goal weight. I am feeling cocky and know that can be a slippery slope. Has anyone been here before? I havne't been motivated to do thing differently as this has been working for 6 months or so (ie honeymoon). I am worried this is the wrong mindset....

Basically all that just to say that the surgery is not a cure but an opportunity.

Amytug, What a fantastic post. I want to thank the you for having the courage to post. I am 11 mo out and dealt with binge eating most of my life. I have been a binge eater all my life. It was my way of coping wtih stress, lonliness, sadness, rejection, happiness and boredom. I am learning new ways to deal with those emotions and sometimes to actually just feel them and validate them. This is a learning process and the sleeve has afforded me a great environment and opportunity to learn more about myself. I can't say that I am cured but I can say that I am feeling more confident and more aware of my feelings which has me feel like a stronger person because of this learning. I have been meeting wth a psych in order to help me accomplish this. If you know you are a binge eater, i would highly recommend this. I don't know that I'll ever be cured of that underlying desire to run to food for my coping mechanism but I sure can tell you that at this stage I can't binge too much. I can however binge a little so I must restrain or I'll put on weight. Grazing is the next "step down" for me. I need to be very concious to not do it and I am successful roughly 95% of the time. The difference is that after I eat for emotional reasons now, I can dust myself off and go to the gym but I dont' reel in guilt for weeks afterwards and continue to overeat in order to numb out the guilty feeling. Good luch on your journey. Please keep us all posted! We all eat to fill a hole of some sort whether we binge or graze and the process of not being able to binge has really forced me to understand that hole a little bit better. I would stress to you that now is an opporunity to learn more about yourself and that either before surgery or just after (I've been in counseling since I was post op). When I went for surgery I was lower BMI but felt equally out of control and my doctor told me that he "could operate on my stomach but not on my brain". That has really stuck with me. Mechanically, the sleeve has forced me to slow down and look at my feelings. It's not always pretty but it must be done. I am only begining on my journey and learning so much. We all have a special lesson to learn (especially if you are a binge eater) because what we put into our bodies is so tied into how we feel about ourselves. Love your body and love your mind. From a practical standpoint, i can tell you that I couldn't previously binge even if I wanted to. It's really only in the last month or so that my sleeve can handle more. My doc only took out 80% of my stomach since I was already lower BMI. I am so happy I had my surgery since it has really afforded me the forced opportunity to learn more about myself and how I cope with feelings and stress.

What a brave poster OP! Thanks for posting. I'll post my input later as I've tried a few time however keep getting cut off

Thanks All!!

Is it safe to get an MRI 9mo post op?

I feel bad habits creeping back into my world! (late night eating, mindless eating, overeating sugar etc) With all this candy around, it's hard to focus and on my goals. My kids would kill me if I got rid of the candy (and I don't want to deprive them so that they go crazy later on in life like I did) so I try to remove myself from it. Somehow, when I get back home at night, it is right there again, talking to me.... I am 8 mo post op and have a hard time getting a nice piece of fish down (I gag and get sick afterward) but carbs and sugar go down nicely. I've hit my goal however would like to lose another 5-10lbs for the "just in case I gain some" factor. Anyone have any great ideas?

I chose to not share this info with anyone at all for this very reason. You can see my stats 5'7 and 195lbs at time of surgery. I chose this for my own reasons and my own life. My husband and my two best friends knew before hand and are still to this day the only people who know. They were all supportive and know me well enough to know that I wouldn't mess around unless I had done my research. mums the word. I've also been following up with my PCP so he knows and he too is secretly excited for me after he had been prescribing me various diet pills over the years I'm sure even posting this email some numbnutt will post that I'm stupid for doing what I've done however this was a gift to myself and to my family so that I can live longer/avoid diabetes and heart problems due to the my heaviness. DO a quick gutt check with yourself and see what you really want and why you are doing this. It is a bold move and alot of work, know what you are looking to get out of it as well. Best of luck!

I like this idea. I've been struggling with the same thing as OP and I am scared to death that I will regain. Do you ever ask your body what it wants? Sometimes I find that my body just wants to sleep, take a bath or needs a walk or even a xoxo from my hubby. Ask your body what it really wants. It's hard to do it when you are 'in the middle of calming it with food' however hopefully it will help you to learn what your body needs in the night time. Let us know how things go!

Our dentist will buy it back for $1/lb up to $10 but they quickly decided that wasn't worth it for them. Thanks for the ideas.

This is awesome input swizzly. How did you determine your resting metabolic rate? is there a "scientific" way to measure that, how accurate do you think it is? or did you use a commercial thing like a fitbit?

That's a good question. I am less than 1/2 lb from goal however have been making choices that are not the healthiest. There's a piece of me that thinks that I should lose 10 more so that in case I gain a few ill be ok. Quite honestly, I don't know what to do if I actually hit my goal. There is a certain loss that goes along with that. I am wearing a size 4 (vanity sizing) however feel really flabby. I have an incredibly busy lifestyle with small kids, business owner and caring for a very ill parent (all by myself) who lives a state away so I do what I can but exercise I mostly walk the dog and 1-2/wk I do elliptical for 40-60 minutes. I'm eating 1000-1600 cal/day

Can you give an example of what you eat different from before or how you work out different than when you weren't yet in maintenance. I am having a hard time defining when to start maintenance and what is required to be in maintenance.....

June13 and Swizzy, Thanks for both of your input! I think that we all have to define success for ourselves and what is healthy is different for each of us. Thank you for both weighting in!