LouiseC

I love this SO much. Go you!

There is another current thread on feeling like eating out being a waste which gives some suggestions. This is part of the post I made in that thread -

tea made out of walmart? Sounds unusual........

Oops, just realised I HAVE had buffet since my surgery but that is at work events or conferences and I don't count those as I am not paying! Lol. I usually go for the carvery ham and some veges and I am happy then without feeling like it is a waste. :-) Also, in my first six months post OP I frequently got a small cup of Wendy's chilli and LOVED it. But I had it too frequently and can't stand the thought of it now.

My husband and I have always enjoyed dining out and while we don't do it as often as we did post surgery, we do still eat out frequently. As I travel a lot of work I am also often dining out alone. I am more of a fine dining girl than a fast food or buffet girl, even pre OP. Fussy and high maintenance is how my husband would phrase it! Last time I had a buffet was on a trip to the US in 2011 when we were in Vegas and it just seemed the thing to do, a 'when in Rome' moment. It was disgusting and that was about six months pre OP! That said, back then I could go 3 courses with ease plus more wine than i care to remember. Now, it is different. I am still a fine dining fan and recently did a five course degustation meal with matched wines. Even though each course was very small, It was about a bazillion calories and MFP would have exploded even if I had tried to enter it in! My husband and our friends eagerly finished what I couldn't so there was no waste and I did get to try some amazing and award winning food and enjoyed it very much. It was a special occasion though, not something to do often, and I worked my butt off In the following days and still showed a loss, albeit small, on the scale. Mostly, we choose restaurants with shared small or tasting plates - tapas for Spanish, yakatori for Japanese, yum char for Chinese, tasting or degustation type meals in fine dining places and platters or shared plates in bistros or gastro pubs. We can order four tapas plates, for example, and I will enjoy one thing on each plate and my husband gets a regular sized meal from the remainder. We find it good value for good quality food. Most importantly, I don't feel my money is wasted nor does my husband feel he has to polish off what I leave! Our local cafe we brunch in on weekends know about my sleeve and they are super accommodating. Getting to know people at a regular and locally owned place where the menu isn't set by some corporate elsewhere certainly helps. Plus, you are likely to be getting better quality food. When alone I usually go for soup! So predictable. Tonight I am in a hotel and dined out at a yakatori place with two plates, one of chicken tsukune and the other mushroom yakatori. It was divine and very reasonably priced. So there are other options for reasonably priced and quality food served in portions that suit the sleeve. It may just mean stepping outside the norm a little. It may not work for you or be to your taste though but I thought I would share regardless.

I told everyone who asked and even some who didn't! This reflects more of the type of person I am perhaps. I got, and still get, so much positivity, support and encouragement from coworkers, staff and management alike that it outweighs the very little negative feedback I have received. I absolutely understand those who want to keep their surgery quiet and respect that. I will admit to struggling with those who tell only part of the story, to me it feels like the omission results in a partial truth and that the recipient is misled as a consequence, regardless of the intentions. It comes back to my own values and principles and what I consider to be right for me. That doesn't mean it is right for you though and only you know where your own line is for this one. I do not think it is too late to start talking about your surgery when people comment positively on your weight loss. If that feels comfortable, then do it. The majority of people will absolutely understand why you didn't sing it from the roof tops post surgery, after all your apprehension is normal and something I think most of us relate to. I was certainly scared of failure and still occasional battle fear of future failure with my sleeve. People may react negatively to having been told a half truth, however when you are clear about why I think most would understand and accept. Some people did watch what I ate and a few still do. I simply choose to let them and have decided their observations of me are of no consequence. Today in the lift I saw a contractor I hadn't seen for several months. She said "wow, you are looking great, you have lost a heap of weight?" I responded, in a lift full of people, with a laugh and a "thanks, I have lost weight and I do look great". She then asked, "what's your secret?" To which I responded "no secret, I had 85% of my stomach removed! it's awesome!" I was aware of the sudden silence in the lift and the eye contact between people and the best part was it didn't bother me at all. In fact, I was chuckling to myself as I stepped out of the lift. Part of my journey has been conquering shame. An ongoing part of my journey is conquering fear and striving to be authentic and honest, primarily with myself. I wish you well.

I agree with other posters. It is not an easy journey and if you are not mentally ready for it, and in the place to really commit, it is going to be a hard road. Well done on recognising that this may not be the path for you and that you may have some work to do before being ready for WLS. I wish you all the best and hope you can find the inner resources needed to help you achieve health and well being.

I had no nausea medication and I was fine. I took the option of taking the prescriptions and only getting the drugs if it came to needing them. None of us really know until the surgery how our bodies are going to react and what we might need. I preferred taking the approach of being ready and prepared should I need these drugs but reactive in taking them rather than precautionary.

Wow. I had a serious WTF? Moment on opening that link. Frightening.. To the OP, usually I am a huge advocate for telling the truth about the surgery. However, this coworker of yours sounds so rude and revolting that I would recommend following the path PDX man proposes. You are saying nothing about you and turning it all back on her. Then if she still persists, hit her with anorexia diet!

That is HILARIOUS! I have the very same Starbucks ornament that you do and I never even liked Starbucks! It was a gift, but it does seem to be the only food decoration. That said, I haven't bothered putting a tree up this year and have just decorated around the house with my insane Santa collection.

Do you have link?

For posterity as this contradicts the OP. And for lulz. Because yeah. If you have the savings, why moan in your OP about not being able to afford a fill and Xmas? As for the claptrap about NZ living in squalor. So, so wrong. So very wrong. I am not offended though, simply amused. My life is good. Really good. I am truly blessed to live in NZ and really value that this nation, my chosen homeland, gave me citizenship. It is such a wonderful life here for me and my family.

Just needed to quote this. In the IP you tell us you can't afford to go. Yet later you tell is you can afford to go, in fact you tell us you save 10% of whatever it is you earn but you chose not to use it for your health care. Hmm. Interesting. So which is it? Can you, or can you not afford healthcare? Did you lie to us in the OP? or did you lie to us in you later post? Very interesting response. By the way, your weird and wonderful perspective on my country is very entertaining, albeit completely wrong. How many times have you visited? I have visited the US on numerous occasions along with many countries on most continents. Your observations seem to based on hastily researched google study as opposed to anything of merit of value. I say this because they are again wrong. So very, very wrong. There is actually a lot about the US to love. A lot I love on my biannual visits there. But your blinkered vision on healthcare and sociology are not one of those things.

I am not Canadian. I am from New Zealand. You are wrong and misinformed on so many levels on what you say but I don't blame you. I understand that you have had a life time of brainwashing and propaganda shoved down your throat and so your remain confused and ignorant on just what socialised healthcare is. You are also misinformed on free market economics. America isn't a free market as it gives considerable farm subsidies. New Zealand is more of a free market than the US, we got rid of all those subsidies in the 1980s and haven't looked back. Your economy is less capitalist than mine and yet mine can still support socialised health care. Go figure huh? It is a compassionate conservative model that considers interdependence within society as opposed to the immature dependence/independence thinking of extremists. By the way, my house value has steadily increased since the global financial crisis in 2008 as has my income. Same for most people I know. How's your pure capitalist economy working out for you? I suspect if it was working then you could afford insurance, Christmas for your kids, to get your fills and so on. Is it your own laziness that has led you to the situation where you can't afford what you want? Surely by your own rationale you should just work harder? Madness. Pure madness. FYI both Britain and Australia still have socialised healthcare of varying degrees, in Britain it is even more socialised than in NZ and in Australia less so. Again , you are misinformed. And the level of your misinformation is so stunningly high that I really can not believe anything you tell me about 'Obamacare' as you don't seem to good at determining fact from scaremongering.

What uninformed and paranoid nonesense. The socialised health care in my country has worked well for many, many decades. As it has in many other thriving western free market economies.

You didn't ask me but I will answer since I am online! This phrase is used to signal the beginning of the end, it actually comes from the happy days episode where the Fonz waterski jumps over a shark. It is that moment where a turn is taken for the worse and there is really no return to the good old days. See also http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jump%20the%20shark

I am going to play devils advocate and suggest that the barrage of tests you underwent were perhaps because either you or your insurer were prepared to pay for them. I had none of the pre OP tests you mention beyond basic blood work, they were not considered necessary. I was self pay in a country that provides free healthcare and would have paid for any test deemed necessary. Because of the system I live with I was confident that if I needed a test that they would refer me for it, and if I didn't, they wouldn't. I am very sceptical of what I read on these boards about all sorts of tests, psych evaluations, multiple nutrition appointments etc that people have to go through to get the surgery and have long suspected that some surgeons will refer you for whatever they can that results in payment being made by the insurer. Maybe I am wrong and just a grouchy old cynic on this one but my hunch is that you need not worry about your friend.

I am not for a moment disagreeing with your message however I need to call urban myth on the cheeseburger story. It is one of those "links please" moments for me. I did read one news article on a woman post bypass who ate so much that she choked because the food backed up but nothing about his cheeseburger story (it has come up before on these boards). I may be wrong, I am open to that :-) but I do suspect it is more scaremongering than fact. That said, I am also a huge advocate for mindfulness in all that we do, especially eating.

You are not on trial. It is possible you are overreacting a little bit here, perhaps a bit sensitive on the issue? I wonder if you are reading in to the responses a level of emotion or antagonism that I am not seeing? People have been courteous and helpful throughout this thread which is a good thing as these sorts of threads often don't go well as others referenced earlier. People responded to the title of the thread as you had deleted your OP. That, plus your later posts, was all they had to go on. Therefore it is understandable that there has been confusion. If you delete your OP, what else do posters have to go on but the title and later posts?

I frequently have wine with dinner. It is not an issue for me and I count the calories and manage accordingly on those occasions where I have more than one :-D

Cold turkey is the only thing that works for me when I find myself back in the sugar/carb hamster wheel. Just cut it all out, suffer for three days and then I am back on an even keel. I am convinced that sweets make me want more sweets and carbs make me want more carbs. I know there is science behind this but can't kick my brain into gear enough to articulate it. Once I start it is really like a hamster wheel for me, and I am running on it going nowhere fast!

Yes, though i note the OP has now been edited with a new entry added. I responded initially based on the OPs later post where she said I don't know how others plans work but mine didn't list crackers, chicken, or pizza as 'soft' food unless they were blended first. To each their own I guess. The only one I am accountable to in my diet, nutrition, and health is myself and I consider it the same for all adults.

You are not pathetic. Your situation is not pathetic. What is pathetic is that a system can exist in the western world that sees what I consider to be such a basic fundamental human right as access to medical care being denied to those who need it. A society is measured on how it responds to those most in need and I am so saddened to hear stories such as yours. But it is your society, your systems that I see as pathetic. Not you. I am so very, very pleased that you have found an avenue for support and wish you all the best.

What I really like about this is that it represents a decision to behave differently. Because over time that is what counts. The sleeve is a fantastic tool, but it all comes down to the choices we make, day in and day out. This statement in the OP is an affirmation to remember at those times when you do get faced with a choice and the temptation to choose the poor option is strong. Remember this, and it will make the journey a bit easier.

I understand that the Body fortress protein shots referenced above contain considerably more collagenic protein isolates than whey protein isolates. Collagenic protein isolates are sourced from things like ground up cow hooves and, while possibly good for skin and joint health, are not the best source of protein from a nutritional perspective. Basically, collagen, while a protein, does not have the necessary amino acids to enable your body to absorb even that protein. When it comes to protein, we need to look for sources that rate highly in bioavailablity. I am not aware of any shots or bullet type products that provide this, perhaps you could refer us to a protein shot that is more whey than collagenic?