LouiseC

Let me know how it goes, I am totally obsessed with yoga :-D

Two weeks ago I would have answered this differently I think. I have spent the last week at home, sick and recuperating, on antibiotics. Nothing serious, just a nasty cold that turned into a since infection that floored me. Usually I am crazy busy. I have a hectic work schedule. I am away at least one night a week, have at least one return flight a week to another part of the country, and when at the office am pretty much going non stop from when I arrive to when I walk out the door. At work I often have to set my phone alarm to remind me to eat and my personal assistant has been known to stand guard and block people getting to me so that I can have lunch some days. At home, well, I work out, I go to yoga, I pack and unpack, i cook and i organise. I do the things that need to be done like endless laundry. I run a fairly tight ship at home in order to keep things manageable so that I can work my crazy job. I usually collapse on the couch and browse the Internet/watch TV for about an hour before bed each night and that is my only stop time. Weekends are with family, out and about, on the boat, etc. a full life. I don't have time to be bored. Until this past week, at home, sick. Wow. The pantry and fridge have called my name this past week. I have learnt a few big things from being stuck at home. When I have nothing to do, I want to eat. Boredom can masquerade as hunger. Because I know I am not hungry. I have rarely been hungry since the surgery and yet I have found myself this past week looking in the pantry even when I felt physically full. Insane. I ate a full packet of shortbread Cookies over two days. 12 cookies. 1400 calories. I ate two bars of Lindt dark chocolate, one chilli intense and the other coconut intense. That's 1000 calories. I ate toast. Crumpets. This is stuff I never normally eat but sent my husband out to buy on crazy 'cravings'. I used being sick as an excuse and stopped entering things into MFP. I convinced myself that my body wanted this stuff to help it heal. Riiiight. This feels a bit like confession now. I am not beating myself up over it, I am not one to focus on such things or get down on myself. I am more one to look at what I can learn from it and move forward. I went back to yoga yesterday, will work out today, I am up now (it's 6am Monday here) and going to work shortly. I am back on plan and on target. But my eyes are opened a little wider into my own behaviour when bored. What it has taught me, I think, is that I need to learn to happy and at peace in my own company. It has also perhaps taught me that since surgery I use busy-ness as a distraction from food. Boredom is still an obstacle that I have to learn to navigate around.

This. Possibly the best exercise advice there could ever be.

You could try hot yoga. It is pretty intense and counts as cardiovascular exercise in its own right, however hot yoga is fantastic for building flexibility and working through problem areas. It compliments the other training you do which tends to focus on bunching the muscles up, this stretches them right back out again. The heat in hot yoga takes some getting used to. But it is hot for a purpose, your body and muscles relax and stretch more in the heat. The trick for guys who come to hot yoga as I observe is to focus on the stretching rather than the strength. Ego can get in the way and I have seen men try and perfect the pose but they do so at the cost of the benefit of the stretch itself. The idea is to go where you can go, take the muscle to its limit and then breathe through it just a bit more. If you do give it a go, talk to the yoga teacher prior about the area you are wanting to work on and then they may give you more guidance on this. Also, be prepared to sweat like never before :-D It isn't for everyone, but I have found it to be the best thing I have ever done for my body. I now understand stretching more than ever before and the breathing techniques help me in all other exercise too.

I had to get my husband to look with me as I just could not believe that the women in the pictures, my height, weight and body shape, looked anything like me. He confirmed that they did and found a couple of specific ones he thought were my body exactly. Freaked me out to be honest. Those women looked great. It shows me just how far I still have to go in the 'head' journey. Thank you for sharing.

I had some lactose intolerance early on, in the first few weeks after surgery. I also suffer from reflux, though I had this problem pre surgery it has just increased since surgery. I did not have any pain or nausea or anything like that after the surgery. I threw up for the first time at about 5 or 6 weeks out, I can't quite remember now but it was when I moved on to more regular food from the mushy stage. I still throw up but only when I eat something that disagrees with me (deep fried food is a big no no for me) or if I eat too much or eat too quickly. Overall, at one year out, I think I have had a remarkably easy journey. Given the massive changes this surgery requires, it is not surprising to have adjustments to make and hurdles to overcome.

Thank you so much for sharing this. It is a good reminder.

Lol. My husband came to a yoga class with me a few weeks ago. Afterwards he said "I had no idea how flexible you are, you are really quite bendy". I looked at him sideways wondering what he was thinking. Sure enough next time we are at it, he starts calling out fricken yoga poses and laughing! Telling me it will be a better work out! He is a sick man, but I love him

Toast after three weeks? Wow. I was six months before I tried bread and a year out I still can't finish a piece of toast. Amazing how different we all are. I don't know what this means for you. Is toast actually on your eating plan at this stage? If so, then I guess you have no need to worry as it is part of your plan. If not, why are you deviating from your eating plan?

Isn't it wonderful? :-)

It is winter here, hail storms and all :-)

I travel a lot for work around multiple sites across the country. It means I see a lot of people and often there can be over a month between seeing them. This means that they always notice the change and I have just had to get used to it. I know now that my weight loss will be the first topic of discussion every time I return to a site. At my own office it is not so much a topic anymore except maybe when I wear something new and someone notices a change. At my head office, where I go at least fortnightly, it can be even worse as there are several hundred people in the building and sometimes I can get it two or three times in one journey in the lift from the ground to the 14th floor as different people who haven't seen me for a while get on and off! I suck it up. There are certainly times when it feels like nails down a blackboard but I just smile, respond politely, and remind myself that these people mean well. I remind myself that they are complimenting me, encouraging me, supporting me, and celebrating me. It may get tiresome, but I take it. I smile, I say thank you, I tell them how much I have lost, I answer them that I am feeling great and then I guide the conversation back to them or back to the topic at hand. I know it will pass as I get to goal and to maintenance phase. Well, maybe not pass but at least slow down a bit. Our communications people wanted to do a feature on me and the surgery for our company intranet, I said Hell No! Last thing I need is to attract more of it!

Lovely! I am jealous! It is freezing cold here and I have been stuck on the couch for three days with a sinus infection. I am going a bit stir crazy with the need to get outdoors. I forget sometimes that a good hike can be exercise, it isn't all the gym and classes, plus you get to spend time with your family and enjoy some pretty beautiful scenery :-)

Okay. There is a lot in there. The masturbation? I don't see that as being a big deal, after all you were doing it to. If anything, I felt a bit sad for your husband reading that, sad that he was left to listen through the door rather than have a healthy participation in each others enjoyment. I find your hiding to masturbate just as unhealthy as him listening through the door. The emails and Facebook and phone stuff? I don't relate. At all. I say nothing online or on my phone or even in my life that I would not share with my husband. I don't live a life of intrigue. We are partners in this life and he can access my Facebook, emails, phone or anything else he desires at any time. Not that he ever does, but that's not the point. The point is, I do nothing or say nothing I would not be comfortable with him seeing. I read your post and it is clear he is feeling insecure. Does he have cause to feel insecure? Can you reassure him of his security? Because hiding what you do or say does not communicate security, it communicates concern. I am not saying that he should be 'spying' on your online activity, but rather you should ask yourself whether you are concerned about what he might find. Look to your own behaviour first as you have control over that. The bit that screamed out for me has been said by others. You have a child in the house, a very young child, with someone who is acting impulsively and potentially dangerously. The making drugs in your kitchen thing is alarming. While you have come back in later posts and played this down I am more concerned that you still don't have a clear picture of just what he was making. The whole thing paints a picture of a couple who are not communicating, not just not communicating well but not communicating at all. Counselling sounds like a good place for you both to get some assistance in learning how to communicate. But first I would encourage you to take a good long hard look at your own behaviour in this situation. I am not saying his behaviour is without question, far from it, but I am saying your behaviour doesn't look so great here either and perhaps there is some personal responsibility to be taken.

I had my first drink at 6 weeks out. It went to my head pretty damn fast that was for sure!

I did it for both health and looks. My fat disgusted me. It was also beginning to impact on my very positive self esteem, which is a crucial factor in mental health, as I became increasingly disappointed in what I had allowed to happen to myself. I had no health issues from my obesity, but they were looming on the horizon if I didn't make a change. When you see the same people who claim they did it for their health talking about saving for plastics, you know there is some 'doin it for looks' in there too

Context is everything, CoreyCan. The OP here is one who has told people on this site that they look better in their before pictures than their after pictures and that kind of message sticks with people and does not encourage people to fall over themselves to support her as a consequence. Janice is certainly free to post what she likes, as she did with her comment in her earlier thread about the before photos, just as Deez and others are free to post what they like. There is no requirement for support and also sometimes the harsh truth is support, sometimes blunt honesty is just what people need to knock them out of their denial and self destruct mode.

Of course, some of us are just no good at being off on sick leave! I write this while off work with a sinus infection and I am going INSANE stuck here and it has only been three days! So personality type may have something to do with how much the to take off as clearly I am not one for resting.

I took two weeks off but went back on day 10 as there was a meeting I did not want to miss and I felt fine. I was also going a bit stir crazy at home. On day 14, the day I was due back to work, I had to fly out of town for meetings and was absolutely fine. I was open with my boss and my personal assistant who was able to structure commitments to allow for flexibility, including finishing early most days to allow for post general anaesthetic tiredness. But mostly, I was fine. The first few catered meetings were odd, but, as with most social events, I soon learnt how to navigate around these without drawing attention to myself or doing something silly.

Dark chocolate is a mono unsaturated fatty acid. We should eat a small amount every day! Not so sure about the graham cracker though, lol! Glad you enjoyed it.

Oh you are lucky to feel like pooping so soon after surgery, it took me like a week to be able to poop. Seriously though, of course you feel rough. You have been under a general anaesthetic. It is not a simple procedure and your body needs to recover from the trauma of what it has just been through. Rest and give yourself time. This stage will pass.

I love this. Seriously. I was feeling all full of angst and irritation at some of what I read on here and then I open this thread and it fills me with joy. This is what it is all about. Awesome NSV, Gman, awesome.