LumpySpacePrincess

Pepperidge Farm cracker chips. They come in a few different flavors (bbq, chilli lime, three cheese, sour cream and cheese). They are baked and an ounce (which is quite a lot because they're light) is 130 calories and only 4g of fat.

You can't spot-reduce fat. Fat comes off from wherever your body feels like it. You can train different muscle groups to tighten and tone, but just because you do more crunches than leg lifts doesn't mean your tummy will get smaller first. That said, weight training should wait until 6 weeks and cardio will need to be cleared by your surgeon. For now just walking at a pace that makes you sweat for half an hour is sufficient.

Your mother's comments sound like my mother's before my surgery. My mother has never had addiction problems, so I can't relate to that. But yeah, my mom told me I just needed to apply myself, work harder, etc. She was actually really pissed about it for awhile; I even sensed that she was disappointed in me. Since my surgery she has been very supportive. I think she knew it was the right thing for me to do, since I've been overweight since I was 8, but she was scared of something happening. She told me stories about people she heard about that had died because they couldn't stop losing weight. It was terribly invalidating, but once I realized that she was scared it made more sense. I also think a lot of mothers take this sort of thing as a failure in their parenting, that they couldn't help their children with something like this. Maybe this will help you and a lot of people understand about these situations. There is a form of therapy called Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), that has what's called the ABC theory. A: an event happens; B: we have a belief about the event; C: we have an emotional reaction to the belief. So in this case A: your mom was told you were having surgery; B: she believes "I don't want my daughter to be harmed; that would be unbearable"; C: she feels anxious about you being harmed. This is a great way to analyze the reactions of others because it allows us to take a step back and realize that its not the event or a person people are reacting to, its the belief about that even or person. Best thing to do is just validate her concerns by saying "I totally understand how you could feel that way. I agree this is potentially dangerous." Keep validating and eventually people stop feeling defensive and will open up more and hopefully become more accepting.

Try netrition.com. They have a ton of options!

I'm 6 months out and I try to really limit these things because they can trigger past behaviors in terms of eating patterns. I didn't have my first frozen yogurt until 5 months out, and it was the fat-free, sugar-free TCBY stuff, and even then I only had an ounce of it, and really only had it because it was my anniversary. Keep it out of your diet for as long as possible.

In my experience, the sweetner is what makes the Protein shakes tolerable in terms of taste. You can buy Isopure plain, but I would buy a small can of it at first to see if the aftertaste is OK for you. The other thing I can recommend is using cold Water soluble Gelatin (I use Great Lakes brand). You can add it to pretty much anything and it gives you 6g of protein per teaspoon. It has no flavor at all, no sweeteners, and no gluten. Also, you might want to try the liquid sucralose (EZ-sweetz). The liquid variety of Splenda doesn't have the ingredients that give you the headaches, which are used when they make it granulated.

Yeah, have your surgeon remove it. It should have been removed the week after your surgery. I had the same thing. Its usually if one incision site won't stop bleeding with just the surgical glue.

My stomach was loud for months, too! Sometimes it still sounds like Chewbacca having a loud political debate with an elephant seal!

It gets better. I'm 6 months out and I think I pay more attention to my Bialetti stovetop espresso pot than I do my boyfriend some days! By the way, if anyone likes Cappuccino but don't want an expensive machine, get an Aerolatte battery operated milk frother. I'll probably be buried with mine at this point. lol

Cereal is a slider for me so I avoid it. I have been guilty of finishing off the last few bites of my son's Frosted Flakes from time to time, but its too carby for me to justify eating a whole bowl.

You're fine. I'm 6 months out and I only get in about 600 on a good day.

I have one. Its good for that stage when the amount we can eat would just look depressing in the bottom of a regular blender. I do feel bad that my boyfriend bought it for me and I haven't used it since I switched to all solids. One hint: if you push down and turn the wrong way it will lock in place for continuous blending and it can be hard to get it out of that mode. Other than that its a fairly good machine.

I can understand how that would be rough. Maybe just tell them your stomach hasn't been feeling great lately so you don't want to eat much? I usually just order off the appetizer menu when I go out.

I was D deficient, but my nutritionist told me unless you live in a very sunny place like Florida and you're outside a lot, you're probably D deficient. She has me taking BioTech 50,000IU capsules once per week. One of the best affects of taking that so far has been that it really pumps up your mood! Noticeable difference between before I started and now. Even my boyfriend, who was on antidepressants for years, was able to stay off them as long as he was taking his Vitamin D every week with me.

Target sells a very small 2 quart crock pot. Buy one and a crock pot cookbook because there is nothing easier than tossing a ton of ingredients in that thing and leaving it all day. Plus that means you can eat off it for quite awhile. You can buy pre-cooked, pre-sliced chicken breast near the salad section at most grocery stores which you can do lots of stuff with. To be honest, I've always loved cooking and at 6 months out, I find myself cooking far less than I used to. I live off greek yogurt, tuna, Protein shakes, and crock pot meals. You'll do just fine!

Hide your scale! The scale is nothing but an instrument of torture, to be honest, especially in the first few months. Only weigh in at your surgeon's office so you're not focused on that number daily. Also, if you weigh in at your surgeon's you'll have others there for emotional support if the number is not what you were expecting or wanted. I gave my therapist my scale before surgery and I only weighed twice per month for the first five months, now we're only weighing once every six weeks. Its more important now to focus on your nutritional choices, movement, and your healing than the number on the scale. I think in a lot of ways when people step on the scale daily they are saying that they don't trust themselves to make the right nutritional choices. You MUST trust yourself in this process, let go of the number, and relax for a little while. Work your sleeve and it will work for you, regardless of what your scale says!

My best advice to everyone is to find a good therapist, not just for eating issues, but someone you can talk to when your emotions go haywire, when relationships change, and your mindset about so many things changes. I can't stress enough how important it is to take care of your emotional self as well as your physical self while losing this weight. None of us got to where we are because we have healthy food behavior, and its important for success to address this as early on as possible. My other advice is to always under-eat your sleeve! You will have better restriction at 6 months, 10 months, a year out if you do this. The reason many people feel they can eat more after 6 months is because they have been eating to capacity, which causes the stomach muscles to relax to allow more food in at a time. The stomach is a muscle and it will do what you tell it to do, so if you're always eating to the point that you're full, it will remember that and adjust itself so you can eat more without pain next time. This will become more important around the second month when solid food suddenly start going down a lot easier. Lastly, do not put moral labels on food. Do not label food as something you can't have. When you do this, you give the food power over you in a very real way. A lot of people talk about "eating clean", so then what happens if you eat something that's not "clean?" Does that make you dirty? You may not think so on a conscious level, but subconsciously these thoughts can run rampant and derail your progress with thoughts of "I'm a failure." I see that so much on here! Make your weight loss about forever food, not diet food!

The issue I have with labeling obesity as a disease is that it undermines goal pursuit for many people. When we believe something is beyond our control, we are less likely to try to change it. Here is a very interesting article from the British Psychological Society that details a study that was recently done concerning the psychological impact of labeling obesity a disease. http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2014/05/if-obesity-is-disease-is-labelling-it.html

Cold Water soluble Gelatin has a ton of Protein, no taste, and you can stir it into pretty much anything. You can order it off Amazon (Great Lakes brand). I used it in a variety of things post-op because the shakes were too thick. Also, the stuff that tastes good to you before surgery may not taste as good after. My mom bought me a ton of this one brand of Protein shake that was really delicious pre-op, then I went to drink one two weeks out and it tasted awful! The only protein shake I've been able to stomach both before and after in terms of taste was the EAS Carb AdvantEDGE carb control shakes. I get them from Target by the supplements. Their vanilla actually tastes like a McDonalds vanilla milkshake! I know a lot of people like Isopure but it always had an aftertaste of vomit to me.

If the blood is red, its probably a scratch or hemorrhoids as others have said. Red blood comes from close to the end of the digestive tract. If, on the other hand, the blood is dark or sticky, then it signals a problem further up in the intestines or stomach. Its always good to check with your doctor, but just thought I'd try to put your mind at ease a bit.

Sew a few things in different sizes so you have something new to wear when you start to shrink. You will definitely need clothes during the "inbetween size" phases!

Refried Beans and cheese with hot sauce was what I ate almost every day during soft phase. I also ate tuna with light mayo smooshed up really well and pureed roast chicken. If you like them, try Underwood Deviled meats that come in the can. They're not too high in calories but have some good Protein and are easy to get in. Plain yogurt (add your own sweetener) is also fairly good, but to me it got old really quick.

Not dumping. Just sounds like your sleeve is still really tender and maybe the egg got stuck a little. If you had dumped you would have had a racing heart, sweating, feeling like you're going to die kind of thing. Just remember to take bites about a quarter of the size of your thumbnail for awhile.

STOP GRAZING! Add a little more fat to your regular meals and you'll probably find the urge subsides. Also, look at the food you are grazing on and think about what you're really hoping to get out of the food. Stress relief? Comfort? Control? Whatever it is, the food won't give it to you. If you are craving comfort, do something else that brings you comfort; call a friend, take a hot bath, etc.

The first two weeks are a period of huge psychological adjustment, so I totally understand! We know full well our tummies don't want the food, its just our minds and mouths that want it. Every time you're hungry for something, or you're craving, stop and think about what you're really hungry for. What will the food give you? You can't be physically hungry right now, so what is it you're looking for? 6 months out and I still do a little exercise when I crave something. I sit back and think about what it is I'm really hungry for, then write down the phrase "I'm hungry for ____, not ___." Today one of my exercises read "I'm hungry for control and comfort, not cookies" since my life has been a bit hectic the last few days. Some days it looks like this "I'm hungry for the feeling of a family bbq, not a sub sandwich." Look at what you're really hungry for and try to fill it. I promise it will help tremendously!