gamergirl

Well, I mean, apart from your surgeon, your nutritionist, and anyone who knows that most sleevers should stay away from that fat and sugar bomb? Well I tell you what. This tastes as close to ice cream as you will get, while still giving you Protein. Yes, you heard that right. High-protein ice-cream. The recipe is simplicity itself. Make the high-protein pudding recipe I've shared before, and put it into your ice-cream maker. We've tried just freezing it, and it doesn't really have the right texture. It's yummy, but it tastes like...well, frozen pudding. Once you let the ice cream maker beat some air into it and get it all light and fluffy, the results are exactly like ice-cream. We used our Kitchen-aid ice cream attachment, you can use whatever you typically use to make ice cream at home. Enjoy and do let me know if you try it. Here's my picture. .

Italian sausage, veggie, egg and cheese frittata. Will post recipe on blog in the next day or two.

I post lots of high protein low carb recipes. I keep carbs under 45 gms per day and that means no fruit really. The recipes are at www.twosleevers.com and many are slow cooker ones that can be assembled he night before.

1. Because when smooshed down, the take up very little space. Think of an entire bag of potato chips. When crushed it's only about 2 cups of crumbs that pack 1700 or more calories in them. They don't take up much room. 2. They are high calorie liquids or full liquids that go right through the stomach in 10 mins eg shakes, yogurt etc. 3. They are not dense Proteins which cause the valve at the bottom of the stomach to shut so your stomach can start pre-digesting food. That causes your sleeve to feel full and restricted. That tends not to happen with refined carbs or fats.

I routinely get hungry 3-4 hours after my last meal and my meals are largely protein. I think that's quite "normal"?

At 9 months out, I know I could "eat around " my restriction if I choose to. I have to rely on healthy habits, and on low carbs to keep my hunger down, and to keep losing. It's very easy to pack on calories on the odd days where I let myself eat more, I can hit 1100 calories without even trying, and still have room for more. Most sleeved women I speak to seem to maintain at 1200-1300. I can eat beyond that and not feel restriction based on the choices I make, and how often I eat. If I choose to graze on little pieces of cake all day, I'm sure I could do some damage. More and more research is showing it's not the restriction, it's the metabolic re-set that causes weight loss. My fear is that if I eat high carb foods like I did before, or graze, I will lose the metabolic re-set the sleeve gave me.

Check this out. I'm ready to look 21 while knowing what I do at 47 now. How about you? Paring pounds through weight-loss surgery doesn’t just make people feel younger — it may actually rewind genetic signs of aging, according to a small study of obese bariatric patients. Stanford University researchers found that the chromosome caps known as telomeres, which typically get shorter as people age, actually grew longer in certain people who had gastric bypass surgery. “If your telomeres get longer, you’re likely to reverse the effects of aging,” said Dr. John Morton, Stanford’s chief of bariatric surgery and president-elect of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, or ASMBS. The improvement wasn’t large, only about 2 percent to 3 percent in telomere length, said Morton, who is presenting the study Friday during ObesityWeek 2013, an event hosted by the ASMBS and the Obesity Society. But the benefit was greatest in those who were sickest — patients who were not only heavy, but also had problems like chronic inflammation and heart disease. And it was a surprising finding that invites more research about the genetic effects of bariatric surgery, Morton said. “This is the first study to look at surgical weight loss and telomeres,” Morton said. “We know that surgery has a big effect when it comes to weight, but this is literally at the genetic level. It was nice to see confirmation at least that it would improve.” The study didn't show that weight-loss surgery smoothes wrinkles or prevents gray hair, of course. But Morton said patients often wind up looking younger. "You do have some actual visual changes beyond weight loss," he said. The patients were mostly women with an average age of 49 and an average body mass index of 44.3, which is considered morbidly obese. Body mass index is a ratio of height and weight, with a BMI of 18 to under 25 considered normal. A person with a BMI of 44.3 might be 5-feet, 9 inches tall and weigh 300 pounds. On average, the patients in the study lost 71 percent of their excess weight through gastric bypass surgery, which makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. Their levels of C-reactive Protein, or CRP, a measure of inflammation, dropped more than 60 percent and their fasting insulin levels, an indicator of dangerous metabolic syndrome, declined four-fold, the study found. But, notably, in patients with high levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol and inflammation before the operation, their telomeres lengthened, compared to patients with lower levels, Morton said. That makes sense, said Jerry Shay, a cell biologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. People who are overweight often have dramatically shortened telomeres, Shay said. Those are lengths of DNA tied to Proteins at the end of chromosomes, often described like the plastic caps on the ends of shoelaces. Every time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter, eventually reducing so much that the cell stops dividing, and dies. That doesn’t mean that the person dies, Shay is quick to add. “The length of your telomeres doesn’t mean you’re going to drop dead, it just means that something’s going on. It’s a biological sensor of the stress and damage that is going on in your body.” That said, Shay says the new study’s findings shouldn’t be interpreted as if weight-loss surgery is the fountain of youth. A 2 percent or 3 percent increase in the length of telomeres is well within the typical margin of error for the tools used to measure them. It will take more robust studies and careful documentation to convince him of the effect, Shay said. “I don’t think the answer is bariatric surgery. People need to take responsibility for their own health." The Stanford researchers say further studies are needed to confirm the effects of weight-loss surgery on telomere lengths — and the direct effects of telomere length on actual health results. http://www.nbcnews.com/health/weight-loss-surgery-may-reverse-signs-aging-docs-say-2D11600482

All of that looks so delicious! Nicely done

I think the issue for me is that at 9 months I'm not allowed in the vets forum but a lot of what happening outside of here doesn't help me anymore. There's no where for me to go to for support in that sense. I was hoping there would be a group for "tweeners" like me. That, more than the 5:2 support is probably what I need. I'm 5 lbs from goal (lost some following your suggestions! Yay! Thank you!) and realize I need mental support from vets but Not sure where to get it.

I'm 9 months out and have 5 lbs to get to my goal of 150 lbs. Can I be added to the 5:2 group please?

Our dinner. Taco meat, black beans, rotel, onions, cilantro, cheese baked together. Served on cucumber slices with Greek yogurt. Yummy! I had that plus another ounce of the taco mix. Tummy is comfortably full and happy.

You look so good!! Our stats are very similar. I'm 5'5 with HW at 230. I'm 155 lbs now and am still trying to get to 150 lbs. But I too am not aiming for a size 0 or 2. A comfy 8 in a variety of brands will do me just fine. I'm somewhere between 8-10 depending on the brand. Like you, I love my curves and am not dying to lose them. I think you look fantastic, and healthy. Congratulations!

I've tried it. I could only do half a slice at a time. I threw out half the loaf though. It's not that' there's anything wrong with it per se. It does sit heavy and thunks hard. But the main thing is I guess 9 months of no bread and I'm out of the habit of eating bread and so it never occurred to me to eat it, and it went stale. Which I would NOT have believed was possible before surgery! I loved loved loved bread. So in a way, I'm glad I just went cold turkey instead if using this or low carb breads. Because now I don't crave any of them.

I'd never seem your before pic. I've only ever "known" you skinny. You're so cute! Love the transformation

Great to see how we are all at about the same point. I had surgery 8/2 and my HW was 230. I am now 155 and I'm 5'5 so I've lost 75 lbs and am slowing down too. I think I want to lose 5 more and then maybe stop I'm not sure. I'm eating 800 calories a day on average and have to keep carbs below 50 gms if I want to lose.

All of us love to post after or during pics, and I'm no exception. Today however, I'm also posting my before pics in all their "Glory" and let me tell you, it's not easy to post these. I used to wonder why vets hated posting their before pics. Surely it was a sign of how far they'd come? Now I understand why we hate posting them. Because we show ourselves and the world how far it had gone, how far out of control it was, and how much work we had ahead of us. Feeling emotional today as I share these with you but forcing myself to be honest with myself. I hope someone who is unsure will look at these and realize it will all be worth it. That stupid liquid diet, the post-op not eating thing, the pain, the worry, the concern you will never lose, the stalls. And FWIW, even with 85% of my stomach gone and a low carb diet, I only AVERAGE about 2 lbs of loss a week, including the early days of 20 lbs in one month. Yeah that doesn't happen anymore. This month I lost 2 lbs in a MONTH. So hang in there, it will happen for you as well I'm 5'5 tall and large build based on wrist measurement. SW: 230, SW: 222, CW: 158.6, GW: 150

I have to disagree with this. The OP had surgery, her husband didn't. It's up t us to control our own behaviors not blame others when we fail.

Stalls Will mess with your head throughout this journey. No matter when they happen, you always think, this is it, my body is done losing and after you kinda start to accept that, then you suddenly seem to lose again. I'm 9 months out, I've had more days where I did NOT lose weight than when I did, but yet I'm 74 lbs down. So just know that it happens. Stalls happen, weight loss happens. When I was fresh from surgery I thought all these people crying about stalls were being silly. I was NOT going to be one of then! I was going to be a lot more logical and see a stall for what it was--just a normal part of weight loss. Wrong! I worried, fretted, got frustrated, wondered what crazy thing I needed to do to lose, tried this and that, complained about being on a diet despite being sleeved. Lost my mind every time And I do this EVERY TIME I stall! You'd think I would have learned by now but nope. I've stalled for 4-5 weeks at least 3 times in the last 9 months and that's not counting the 1-2 week stalls that happen all the dang time. Just got to accept it and keep the crazy to a minimum :-p

You look great! very shapely. Congratulations.

Thank you so much! I will say, I was somewhat surprised to find that it was quite hard work. Even with the sleeve feels like you have to work hard to make it work for you. Not initially of course, when you can barely eat. But after you're healed and your stomach can hold more, the choices you make, the ability to eat more but choosing not to, etc are just hard work somedays. All worth it

Gyro meat made at home! Recipe on www.twosleevers.com. I was surprised at how authentic it tasted to you the truth

Shakes and soups don't fill up your tummy like solid protein does. They do "go right through you" so it's normal not to feel full with those. Don't worry about it, just keep to the diet progression you were prescribed and once your stomach heals, and you move on to solids, you will feel the restriction.

I'm actually relieved to hear this. Some days I wonder if the appetite will keep increasing. This is a relief to hear

Over time that will change. I'm at 9 months out and I can do 1 cup. I typically do 3 oz of meat and the rest as veggies. I know some people also do 1/2 c meat, 1/4 veggies and 1/4 c grains, per their doctor's orders. Once you pass 6 months, 4 oz likely won't be enough to keep you full for the 3-4 hours you want between meals.

I had some at a restaurant I need to try to make at home. Steamed, but then covered in crushed garlic and hot sesame oil. Omg! So yummy!