LouiseC

Wow. I am a bit taken aback to be honest. There is no way I could eat as much as what I see in these photos and I am almost a year out. For lunch today I will be having 85gm of tuna on four healtheries multi grain wafers.

I eat 1200 calories a day and have lost over 100lbs. I don't want to eat less as all the studies and research to date shows eating less screws with the bodies metabolism. That's how I got obese in the first place, and I want to eat as normally and as healthily as possible. I work out a minimum of three times a week and do a minimum of three hot yoga classes a week. Weekends, or nights out, I will have a few wines and I make sure I burn those extra calories off by upping my work out to match. I use a polar watch and heart rate monitor when I work out to accurately measure the calories I burn. All in all, I am living a really good life. I want to establish the patterns in my life now that will carry me through and ensure once I am in my goal weight range that I can maintain and stay in my goal weight range. Previously, for me, I could lose weight, usually by dropping to ridiculously low calorie levels and working out like a woman possessed, but I could never maintain and always put the weight back on plus more. This is why I won't go under 1200 a day now. This is why I won't work out every day. Because I know these things are not maintainable for me in the long term. Perhaps you may find your own loss is compromised by eating so few calories and working out as frequently? Maybe not. But I do know one thing. Don't freak out for eating calories well less than is recommended for an active adult female to eat in a day. Just let it go and move back to what is right for you tomorrow.

I have never really experienced or seen society criticising people who have bariatric surgery. I am thankful that I live in a society where I am supported and encouraged. Perhaps you should move!

Lettuce is still a definite no for me. My sleeve just rejects it.

Just raw or partially cooked veges. If they are well cooked I can eat them.

I think it is different for everyone. I am almost a year out and I rarely experience hunger. What I now call hunger is not what I remember hunger to be. Now it will be when I find myself light headed, or feeling a bit nauseous and I remember "oh yes, I must eat". What I do know though is when I sit down to food, I can not eat much at all. So even with hunger I think the sleeve is such an amazing tool. But it does come back to the choices we make. Our success is in our control, not the sleeves.

I am a yoga fanatic. I started doing yoga pre sleeve and took a long break after surgery. I started practicing again in January this year and now make sure I attend at lest three classes a week. The biggest challenge for me is letting go of ego and has little to do with what my body can or cannot do. What sort of yoga are you doing?

Ingesting article though it references gastric bypass and not the sleeve......

The hardest thing about giving advice in these forums is that we are all so different and our recovery is also very different. I am almost a week out and I am sitting here in my hotel room, not long after a room service meal which I thought was carefully ordered. There was a genourous serving of steamed veges which I welcomed and enjoyed - only to then go and 'lose' not long after. We are all different, and sometimes it is simply a matter of trial and error as to what our sleeves can handle. I am smacking myself now as I know that I can do steamed veges yet, and yet I keep trying! So, for me, I advise try and find your own edge. Find what your sleeve can accommodate and do not for a moment be concerned that I can't handle steamed veges as you may handle them well and do not be concerned that someone else can go salad crazy and yet you can't, because we all have to find the edges of our new reality. One year on and I still find myself with my head down the toilet. But I wouldn't change a thing :-)

I used a straw because it was so hard the first few weeks after surgery. Not a regular straw though but one of those ones in a toddlers cup, like one step up from the sippy cup! My NUT or surgeon did not have any issue with me using a straw but I found the smaller more narrow straw minimised air intake and was easier. I can't see why the sippy cup would be an issue. As my surgeon said, getting the fluids in is the main focus.

I was back at at after one week. I just went on all fours with a pillow under my belly to minimise risk.

Wow. Use this to make you stronger. Use this to reflect on when you think you can't do something. Remember adversity builds character and this person just gave you a dose of strength, though I know that was not their intention, but that is what you can take from it. You either let this sort of thing drag you down or you use it to climb up higher on.

So glad we don't have these coordinators here. Sounds like an awful set up!

There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to most sizing. I like buying American clothes now because they size smaller! Here a 14, which I generally fit now, is an American 10. I would rather pull a 10 off the rack than a 14! But this isn't consistent. I have found it in Not Your Daughters Jeans and in LuluLemon yoga gear but not in everything. Ultimately, I think you just have to try different brands to find the size that fits you, and don't worry too much about what number is on the label.

I tend to view most of what is available at Starbucks as being hot milk shakes :-) If I had to have something there I would go for a long black! Starbucks are to coffee what Macdonalds is to beef.

I am in a whole other hemisphere so my choices are quite different and I suspect I have access to a lot more real food options than others on this board. We have found since my surgery that mezze or tapas bars work really well. We can order three or four dishes, I get a variety of good food because I can usually try one piece of each, and then my husband cleans up the rest which is about equal to a normal meal for him. Tapas are usually very quick, not fast food quick but then for food to be fast food it has to be raw or not really food anymore Most good Japanese restaurants will do the small plate meals, similar to tapas. These are often very, very healthy and very tasty! Sushi places sometimes provide good miso soup with one or two high Protein sushi items with brown rice and I am happy as anything when I really want to grab a meal and go.

Are you still tracking all you eat? When did you last see the NUT? Are you getting your Fluid intake? Are you exercising? Are you getting your Vitamins and nutrients? All these things do have an impact. What is it that you are sitting down to eat that leaves you only having 5 bites?

Looks like a lot of fun. Just do it! Even if you walk the whole way it is still a good exercise. Maybe download one of the couch to 5 K apps for guidance and coaching?

Not so much. I was considering a band and made an appointment with a surgeon. She told me about the sleeve and by the end of the appointment I was pretty keen. I went home, talked with my husband, did some research and spoke to friends in the medical profession. The next day I emailed the surgeon to say I would go ahead. She came back and let me know that she had a gap three weeks later and if I got to the NUT and got on the pre OP diet that space could be mine. So I grabbed it with both hands. That first appointment was 7 May 2012, I started pre OP on 11 May 2012 and had my surgery at the end of May. I didn't have time to obsess! I did obsess after though, I have read all I can get my hands on since the surgery and continue to follow current research into the effects of ghrelin reduction. I am almost a year out and I still weigh myself every day and record every bite I eat and every exercise I undertake into my fitness pal. I can talk about the surgery and my journey with anyone who cares to listen :-)

Never heard this and can say I have eaten wild game without consequence.

Bread is a waste of valuable space that my body needs for protein and nutrients. Bread is pretty much empty calories, and like pasta, can expand in your stomach and cause discomfort. I was eating steak from a couple of months out though even one year out I can not manage more than about 75 grams.

If your an afford it, I would recommend booking a stylist to work with you and assist you with your new wardrobe. What a great problem to have, well done to you!