gamergirl

I didn't understand the inability to walk away from food either, until I met my husband. I am that rare fat person that used to have a box of my fav chocolates open--and eat one piece a day and the box would last a month because some days I would forget I had a box of chocolates. I routinely had to throw out chips and cookies because we forgot about them and the chips were soggy and the cookies had mold growing on them. I couldn't understand the "see food" diet my husband had to follow. We can have anything open in the house and it usually doesn't call to me--unless it's one of my trigger foods. For my husband, it's not like that. They call him in pervasive, seductive, irresistible voices and then he eats a small piece, and another one and another one until it's all gone. This is not a man with no self-control or self-discipline. He decided to quit a 40-year, 2 pack a day habit--and quit cold turkey. Decided to quit drinking--and just quit. He is stubborn as a mule, very decisive, and terribly opinionated (yes, we're both like that and yet we get along!) This is not a "weak" person. He is one of the strongest people I know, emotionally speaking. But he can't resist the junk food. He just cannot. It is bigger than him and I had to accept that. It meant severely restricting what I brought into the house. At first I resented it because some of those were things the kids enjoyed--but now I know that is the support he needs from me. If I want to love and support him, I have to give up eating my one-a-day chocolates, because for him, it's "all in one day" chocolates. He supports me in a thousand different ways. I can do this for him.

Okay deep cleansing breath, I'm including my FACE in the pic this time! Look at my husband's pics! Can you believe it? Dang man is at 70% of his excess weight lost, I'm at about 54% of mine. pics are day of sx, 8/2/2013 and today, 11/11/2013 We are all so hard on ourselves btw. I saw mine and went, "eww! tummy rolls!" My husband saw mine and said "You're looking skinny babe". He saw his and said "My stomach shows." I saw his and said "...."well, I can't tell you what I said on this site but I'm sure you can guess :-p

I have been trying to find healthy alternatives for things I want. I wanted pizza, I made it out of flatout bread which is super low carb and it was amazing. My husband wanted ice cream, I made it out of a Protein shake. We wanted pumpkin, I made a pumpkin caramel bake and a pumpkin cheesecake protein pudding. I"m about to try to make a high protein pumpkin pie without crust this week. One trick I've learned with yogurt for frozen yogurt. Take a non-fat low sugar yogurt, and mix 1 tablespoon of sugar-free cool whip into it. Put it in the freezer as you sit down to your meal. 25-30 minutes later, take it out and mix it up again and while it's not completely like frozen yogurt, it comes close enough to satisfy us. But I hear you, smaller quantities are doing the trick. I don't trust myself with my trigger foods at all, but these little treats are working for the whole family.

Here is what I've learned about lowfat dairy. If there is ONE food that's safe to eat low fat, it's dairy. Why? because it's made by removing something and NOT adding anything to compensate for the fat they took out. Other low-fat products have sugar, sweeteners such as HFCS etc added to it. With dairy, they take out the fat, and leave the rest be. As part of a calorie reduction scheme, I can see eating low fat cheese. I find the full fat ones to kill my daily eating plan quite hard. 100 calories for an ounce of cheese that doesn't go thunk seems a bit wasteful. In contrast, 100 calories for a glass of milk, which I assume goes thunk? ( I can't drink milk) or 100 calories for full fat yogurt that goes thunk seems worth it in my opinion. so it comes back to nutrient density vs. bulk once again for me. I tend to use fats such as butter, ghee, and coconut oil to add flavor and caramelization to my food. But I am moving toward low fat cheese because usually I can't tell the difference in taste.

I there! I just figured out how to create a support group for autoimmune sleevers. If several of us join and start posting there, we might be able to create a place for those of us with RA, psoriatric arthritis, hashimotos, lupus, SA, etc. I set it to public so anyone can join. Pls join if this pertains to you, and invite your forum friends as well. I'm a support group creation virgin so be gentle with me if I screwed it up. Here's the link (I hope!) http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/groups/show/269-autoimmune-sleevers/

Do you use myfitnesspal? If you do and can set your own guidelines, that would work. One way to do that is to set up your protein/fat/carb components to 40/40/20 or 40/30/30 and take it from there. A simple plan is to eat 4 oz of Protein at each meal supplemented with veggies and grain. So at a year out, you should be able to get 1/2 c of meat/eggs, 1/4 c veggies, and 1/4 c whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, oats, or sweet potatoes, squash, etc. or substitute fruit for these grains. But if you want specific meals, an alternative is to look up things like emeals.com or diet.com and select a low-carb/high protein plan, or a Paleo plan and try subscribing to those.

Interestingly, I've found my desire for these to be well within control. Fact is, they are very salty and I almost "use" it on the days I'm not drinking enough because it makes me very thirsty. I haven't found myself reaching for it more than I do the other jerkies. Weird.

Look what I found in an airport! Bacon jerky! Bacon! And jerky! Together! Yes it's a little higher calorie (130 vs 80) for an ounce but people! Bacon jerky! Nom nom nom Sent from my iPhone using VST

This is quite normal. This early out, your stomach is still numb and you won't be able to feel everything. It's why they recommend that you measure your portions out so as to not accidentally overeat. You also won't feel any restriction to speak of until you start eating solid foods. Everyone can eat a lot more of soft things like yogurt and pudding than you can of say, chicken breast. You're doing fine

Interestingly, I almost feel like I'm having more flareups too but I don't know if that's because I want to be more active now, and so perhaps I notice it more when I can't go walk or do something I want to do. I do know that in between flares, I hurt a lot less so I count that as a blessing. You may need your pain/fibro meds adjusted perhaps? Mine have been adjusted downward but perhaps yours need increasing or you may need something different. Maybe time for a phone call to the doc?

Fluff, my husband and I are both sleeved but in the past, one of us has tried to change our eating habits and the other one didn't, so I can relate a bit. I think in all fairness, YOU had surgery, you decided to change, they didn't. Is it fair to expect everyone to follow your habits and your eating plan? Probably not. It's got to be difficult for your husband right now as he sees you succeed and based on your posts, he does have an eating compulsion that must make the poor guy feel completely out of control. We've been there, we know how terrible it feels, right? My humble opinion? Show the guy some love, support, and empathy. Don't expect him and the kids to suddenly change because you did. WIth our son, we made small changes. We have no junk in the house anymore so that naturally cuts down on the junk he eats. Your husband may choose to buy some, you can't help that, but don't you buy any. We make our son eat protein first, because he would LIVE on carbs if you let him. To me, reducing junk, eating more protein are both healthy habits that don't require a complete rehaul. Other than that though, you may need to be more accepting of their eating habits and only slowly, slowly try to change them over. Fact is, feminist or not, women control the family's diet and health much more than do men--and I'm as feminist as they come but those are the facts. You can effect change slowly, just don't shove it down their throat. As to convenience foods, we've all had to use them during busy work days. I've learned to not sweat that even though I felt we were not feeding the family well during those times. I compensated by providing more fruits and raw veggies for snacks. I hope I made sense--trying to rush out the door this morning but honestly, your husband is in a tough spot right now with being denied, and you succeeding. Pushing change hard on him will cause resentment--and you don't need that. ((hugs))

Yeah the cravings were really hard for me the first week post op. I thought of food all the time! It was harder than the pre-op by far. But since then, it's been so much easier thankfully. Glad to hear your husband is being supportive.

Good luck tomorrow!

Right?? Me too! I have such thin hair right now I'm amazed my scalp isn't showing.

Right?? Me too! I have such thin hair right now I'm amazed my scalp isn't showing.

do you think you're lactose intolerant? I know that makes many of us sick with the milk stuff. I use OTC lactaid pills to help with that.

You are so right! I thought about it when I tasted it. Also of course, what I really want is some posole but that's not happening

Pictures and nutritional info at: http://sleevers.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/green-chile-pork-crockpot-stew/ Spicy, hot, comforting, high-protein, and easy. What more can you ask for? Ingredients 1/2 lb pork cut up for stewing (I’m trying to make smaller quantities, you could use a lb and double everything else below) 2 small chopped roma tomatoes 1 chopped jalapeno pepper OR Substitute 1 can of Rotel tomatoes for the fresh tomatoes and jalapeno) 1/2 c frozen pearl onions OR 1/4 c chopped fresh onion 1 small sweet potato cut into four large pieces 1 can green chile, chopped 1/4 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground coriander 1/2 tsp chipotle pepper (ground) 1 tsp salt Method Place all ingredients into a crockpot and cook on high for 5 hours or on low for 8 hours. Alternatively, cook in pressure cooker for 10 minutes and let the steam release on it’s own for 15 minutes.

Oh good! Here's another puree that I just loved. I made up the recipe but it worked out well. http://sleevers.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/pumpkin-caramel-bake-high-protein-low-carb-gluten-free/

Here's an example day I created with a vegetarian, but not vegan diet. And even then it's not easy as you see

There are a few here and most have to rely heavily on Protein powders and milk products such as Greek yogurt, cottage cheese etc to hit their goals. I tried playing with it in MFP and it's really hard to hit 60 gms of protein with just Beans, legumes, and tofu. Red meat may have been a tough one to start with. Perhaps a little chicken or fish? My son goes vegan for one month out of the year and breaks it with a hamburger when the month is over. Invariably, he gets very sick. But he persists! and soon he is back to tolerating it.

I was quite concerned that would happen as well. But when I see pics of people here, they all look younger with the weight loss. I suspect we go through a phase where the facial wrinkles show a bit before tightening up. My husband's face is showing new lines but I think they will tighten up shortly. Overall though, he looks a lot younger and healthier and I guess based in this article, He may well BE "younger".

Mine is loving it too. he had it yesterday and is having it again today. How's your new "baby boy" doing? You guys all settled in together?

Do you know, that part has been relatively easy for me. No one seems to notice what I eat and they're all quite glad to eat my leftovers. I eat with clients a lot. I often just say, I'm not that hungry today (which is true!) or I ate a late breakfast, and after that, it seems to be a non-issue.

Tell you what purée comes close to if. Try googling eggface ricotta bake. So good! And satisfied my "Italian" craving early on.