gamergirl

I started at 230 HW and 222 day of surgery. Counting pre-op, I lost 20 lbs the first month and was so excited! well it slowed down and after that, I've lost 6-8 lbs a month so it won't continue at this pace. I only wish it did!

I used to eat things because they tasted good, and every time we went out to eat, I think my poor husband wanted to cry because I could easily spend 30 minutes discussing WHERE we should go to eat. How about Chinese? Okay. No, how about Indian? Okay honey. Wait, wait, how about that Thai place we were planning to try? Okay. Then I'd go, where do YOU want to go? by this time I think he would rather have starved than ever asked me if I wanted to go out to eat Now it's like, I don't even care. Wherever we go, I'm going to eat a few ounces and it will all be over anyway, so who cares? I still enjoy eating tasty food, but the decision is a lot easier knowing how little I can eat. Just the time we've saved from not having to discuss that, I have other good things he and I can get up to

When you say fast do you mean eat nothing, eat less, go longer between meals?

Here are my contributions to the soft foods stage: I am posting links to my blog where I have posted them. Full disclosure, I do not make money off this blog, so this is not for self-promotion. I like creating different recipes and sharing so I hope they help someone. Once you are through your liquids stage, also search for soft foods, or look up the ground chicken and ground beef recipes, and you may find something you like that is sleeve friendly. I've posted links to a few here to get you started. Here’s the list of foods: Soft Foods Stage cheese Souffle pumpkin Cheesecake vanilla pudding Pumpkin Caramel Bake banana Egg Protein pancake Home-made refried Beans 5-minute Hummus Do you have others to add to this list?

Here are my contributions to the full liquid stage: At first I drank my protein shakes like a good girl. Then I struggled through them. Then they made me sick. By the time I was post op, I was so sick of them, I’d rather have starved. Three things saved me. 1. If you find yourself getting nauseated with them, chances are quite good that you are lactose intolerant, especially after the surgery. I take lactaid pills with my first sip and it really helps with nausea, diarrhea, gas, gurgling, cramping hell. 2. I found two shakes I liked. Yours will be different but for me it was Chike Coffee Protein, Syntrax mint chocolate chip, and I can also tolerate Syntrax Double Stuffed cookie. It helps to make only 4 oz, with 1 scoop of powder, half a cup of liquid, and the rest ice to make a 6 oz cup to slurp on, so keep the quantities small. 3. HIgh protein soups. These saved me. You can’t do these unless you are on full liquids, but once you’re on them, and if you are sick of sweet protein shakes, please do try these. I am posting links to my blog where I have posted them. Full disclosure, I do not make money off this blog, so this is not for self-promotion. I like creating different recipes and sharing so I hope they help someone. Once you are through your liquids stage, also search for soft foods, or look up the ground chicken and ground beef recipes, and you may find something you like that is sleeve friendly. I've posted links to a few here to get you started. Here’s the list of foods: Full Liquids Stage 1. Egg drop soup ( I haven’t posted a proper recipe because it’s so simple. Boil chicken broth, stir in two beaten eggs when it boils, stir with a pair of chopsticks. Take it off the flame immediately, cover, and let it sit for 5 minutes to let the egg cook. Add salt, pepper, and my fav, some sesame oil for a fresh flavor). Hot & sour soup Shrimp “bisque” Lobster bisque Tortilla soup Chicken and mushroom soup Protein pudding Chocolate Mousse

I asked this same question and found many vets were still drinking one at a year out. CLK said she did that because it gave her more flexibility in the rest of her food choices. We are almost 5 months out and still do 2 a day, one for breakfast and one last thing at night, which sometimes we substitute a protein pudding for, but same idea. It works for us.

I'm almost 5 months out and have had 5 stalls, each lasting between 12-17 days. This means I've spent at least half the time stalled. Yet I've lost 55lbs and gone from size 18w/20 jeans and 2xl shirt to size 10 jeans and M shirt (a bit tight but hey, I'm still counting it) For some of us, the journey is long stalls with some days of weight loss in between. All I've ever tried to do, whether stalled or not, is to drink my fluids, get at least 60 gms of Protein, keep net carbs under 50 gms, and total calories below 800 and walk or move about when I can. I keep doing that and the inches and weight keep coming off, just as their own pace, not mine. Of course I get frustrated, but I'm learning to live with it. If it were up to me, I'd lose it all in 2 months but the slower weight loss is helping my skin tighten up a bit. I still have the saggies of course, but I can literally see differences from week to week where the skin tightens up some. So I think that's a plus, right?

Great work lilgemini! And good to "see" you and have a person to associate with the name too

Okay I showed my husband this and he said, and I kid you not, "which one is she? The one on the left or the right?" My husband can't tell the difference between you and your daughter anymore Congratulations!!

Oops vets forum

182 lbs! That's amazing! Welcome to Onderland too. As Lynda says, doing it during the holidays is amazing. I guess the five day raw veggie diet worked for you hah!

This is a tough one in relationships, and with your childhood history it becomes a more serious issue I think. We used to have this pre-op where my husband, who has a lot less control over food than I do, would FP me. I was already feeling some guilt over what I was doing and it just infuriated me. I came to realize that the problem was, if I went off the rails, I typically took him with me, and that was the underlying issue. Your husband may not be upset that YOU had chocolates. He may be worried that now that the box is open, HE may not be able to resist them. Policing you may be a way to ensure his own good behavior. There are certain ways in which we do coach and support each other. Like gmanbat, I too always say "eat slowly" when we start primarily because he otherwise forgets and also to remind myself. I recently decided the evening Snacks, although planned and logged, felt too much like grazing so I suggested we not eat after 8 pm. I have had to encourage him to stick to that--but he AGREED to it and so he doesn't mind me saying something about it. (Also he's losing weight since he started doing that so he's motivated now). And I think there's the difference for you husband to see. That if you ASK for help, it's great for him to give it to you. Otherwise, he needs to stay out of it. I will say that this is the typical male brain--which I have--of helping via problem solving rather than helping via support so perhaps you could recognize his good intent and poor execution? I agree with gmanbat sometimes it's men just trying to be helpful. In this instance, give him a project to help you on. Seriously. Give him one or two things to help you with, and ask him to please let you manage the rest on your own. He'll have a way to be supportive that works for him, and who knows, it might help you too. For us, allowing my husband to feed me snacks during the day so I'm not starving by afternoon has served that purpose. On my own, I wouldn't remember to eat at work, he feels like he's helping and supporting, and so we both benefit. For all other comments, I simply direct him to examine my MFP diary. Facts are hard to argue with

They are extremely thorough. Take what they tell you to and that's all you will need. Only thing extra we took was gas-x strips. Good luck! They're a great team you will be quite happy with them I think.

Awwww so cute!! The first pic looks a lot like your husband yes?

I think we are our own worst critics. Perhaps you could send them to someone you trust or post them on here and let us see if we can see a difference? Maybe you're being hard on yourself

49 miles 1 more to go.

So just to play devil's advocate for a minute, let's say we did take the "easy way out". What's wrong with that? I don't think it's easy getting surgery and making a commitment for life, but let's say it is. Isn't the end game losing weight and keeping it off? Is someone giving out awards for doing things the hard way? Because if so, they owe me a few hundred I'd like to claim for always having to learn things the hard way. My ex-husband encouraged me to take pain meds during childbirth. I didn't take them but he was right when he said there are no awards for suffering through childbirth with maximum pain. Either way, you'll still have a baby at the end of it. It's the same here. No awards for losing weight one way or another. My husband told me to stop looking at this as failure and start looking at is as troubleshooting success. Finally, finally after fricking YEARS of trying, we've found something that seems to work for us. How is that not success? And I do think the tool helps me, so I agree with the earlier posts that we're better off than people who are trying this without a sleeve. I could never eat this little food without hunger pangs without my sleeve. So yes, we are better off than those who don't have a sleeve. But that's why we chose it. Because 90% of people who lose weight without a sleeve gain it back. While some people gain back some of the weight after a sleeve, the number is less than 50% of weight regained for less than 50% of those sleeved. I'll take those odds.

Oh I can't believe I missed this post! Beautifully written LL and it was one the most helpful things anyone ever said to me on this site during my first few weeks. I was whining about how I had failed to do this on my own and you said "I'm confused. You're not doing this on your own? Who is doing it for you?" Not only did it make me laugh but it also made me realize how silly I was being. Changed my attitude entirely, thanks to you.

Much of that 18 lbs is probably Water weight. You can't lose 18 lbs of fat in 8 days typically, so I wouldn't worry about the speed of weight loss. What I would worry about is hydration. As others said, this early on, the most important thing is staying hydrated. Your weakness and exhaustion are likely because 1) you just had major surgery and 2) you are dehydrated. That much weight loss with less than 24 oz of water a day are honestly speaking, a recipe for a trip to the ER to get an IV to get re-hydrated. Forget about calories, just find something you enjoy drinking and drink it like it was medicine. Take in an ounce or two, put in down for 5 mins, drink another ounce or two and KEEP doing that until you get at least 48-64 oz in. For me, I know warm drinks were easier on my sleeve than cold ones. For my husband, the opposite was true. Find what works for you. Water is tough for many of us so try G2 or propel or even real gatorade. For warm drinks, try unjury chicken broth or just warm herb tea or whatever floats your boat. If your urine gets very dark, you're peeing less than twice-three times a day, call the doc and go in for an IV. You're doing fine, don't worry. Just focus on drinking.

Nothing like a Skippy-Trippy brain. That's the same brain that says "just this once" but conveniently "forgets" how often you say just this once. It's the training and the brain that says we reward ourselves with food after a tough day. The pouty three year is alive and well and demanding. But that same brain can teach you new habits. The habits I am working on now are to not eat after 8 pm, and when I want something that tastes good, drink something instead. Both better for me, both with low or no calories. I'm sipping on Rooibos Chai right now. We just bought a variety of flavored teas to help me get in my liquids and satisfy some exotic tastes. So yeah, you do spend a lot of the recovery time retraining yourself. Again, it's not the weight loss that's tough, it's the maintaining for the rest of your life without getting bored, distracted, or "just this once" that's difficult I think.

The one I got "wrong" is one I don't agree with--for reasons obvious to anyone who knows where I was raised. It's the Nirvana one

So 4-5 months out I have a weird hair thing happening. It's falling out in gobs still, there's hair everywhere, I'm shedding more than my Lab But my hair is getting thicker. I guess the extra Protein I'm eating these days is making it grow better? I went in to get hair extensions and was told I didn't need them. When she said that, I stopped and looked at the hair on my head instead of the hair loss, and realized, yes I was losing a lot, but if I ignored that and looked at what I have, I am actually better off than before the surgery. Weird, hunh? I'm eating at least 60 gms of protein, 40% of calories from fat! and taking 1000 Mcg evening primrose oil to help with thyroid related hair loss. See?? It's not all gloom and doom

What a transformation! Congrats.

I hope it's no trouble at all! for a change, I'm trying to be a good girl. Because if I am a good girl, maybe victoria's secret will have some pajamas I fit into Off to go walk in the mall for a bit. see what damage I can do to a dressing room, trying to convince my brain that yes, I really did lose a size

he's so adorable! Lucky you