terry1118

Lol. Just to give credit where credit is due... the recipe isn't mine. Someone else posted it here quite a while back. A hearty thanks to whoever it was because I love my pizza-stuffed zucchini! Miss Mac, your suggestions sound tasty, also! :-)

Google 'weight loss surgery' and 'hair loss' for some excellent explanations of your hair's growth cycles and how stress affects it (ALL stress - emotional AND physical, including rapid weight loss, dietary, and, yes, even surgery). Getting enough Protein, taking Biotin, using nioxin shampoos - all of these will help new hair growth be healthy but none of these are proven to prevent hair loss. If you are going to lose it you WILL lose it. Some lose a little, some lose a lot. It is temporary and will grow back. It's only hair. When I was heavy, if someone told me I could lose 120 pounds by shaving my head bald (and it was true) would I have done it? Damn right I would've!!!! I'd have knocked you down on my way to the razor! Relax, and keep things in perspective. I lost my hair by the handful between 4 and 9 months. I took biotin from 3 months pre-op onward, I met my protein goals post-op and my hair STILL FELL OUT. At about 9 months it stopped and new growth began to show. I keep it short now until the new growth catches up. Now that I'm thin, short hair looks good on me - I may keep it like this! :-)

No. My aches and pains disappeared as I lost. But my butt has lost it's cushioning and hard surfaces hurt when I sit too long. Who knew butts had bones? Lol

Slice lengthways, scrape out the seeds, stuff w/diced tomatoes, a little mozzarella, feta, chopped basil, and top w/turkey pepperoni - then grill till zucchini is tender and cheese is bubbly. Even my hubby loves this! Delish!!!!!

Don't worry, eventually your emotions will even out. In addition to healing, you are adjusting to new eating habits and the physical changes of you surgery. Also during the fastest fat-burning stage (in the first 3-6 months) hormones stored in your fat are being released into your system making things worse - like super PMS! We all suffer through it to varying degrees. No amount of sensitivity can help our loved ones understand what we are going through! Hang in there. Eventually - sooner than you think - you'll be able to eat out together again. Best of luck to you! :-)

Even though I'm eating better quality food (fresh seafood, lean Protein, etc) I'm spending way less on food because I'm eating so little. In a single day I could eat $10-20 of junk food (Fast food, high sugar foods). I went overboard buying a whole new wardrobe for my new size 6, both for casual and professional wear, so that has been expensive but it's also been a pleasure. I've never enjoyed shopping before. And now I need a whole new winter wardrobe because last winter I was in a lg-xl but now I'm a small. I'm anticipating another wonderful orgy of shopping! My kids are grown and gone so this is the first time in my life that I'm not sacrificing for others - it's all about me! :-) The dramatic weight loss has eliminated my cholesterol meds and reduced my doctors visits from bi-yearly to once a year (monitoring of thyroid). Also, I lived on nsaids for chronic back and joint pain which is gone. I'm only on thyroid meds and Vitamins now. :-)

I've had Wendy's chili in a pinch. I tolerate it well. It's soupy but I also find it a little greasy. I'm more likely to stop in a Walmart, Target, or grocery store for an Oscar Myer lunchable. I eat the meat and cheese and 1/2 the crackers. But usually I take my lunch bag whenever I go out - I carry yogurt, nuts, Protein bars (Quest), and sf drink mixes for my Water. I also carry my Calcium chews in it. Calcium is usually the thing I forget most often if I get busy. If I have it on me I can take it whenever I think of it. I have recently tried Calcet Creamy Bites - they are SO good! It's like having a little candy fix! :-)

Google it. My team advocates it as a tool that can do many things. It reassured you that, yes, your pouch is still small, it can help you get back on track, it can motivate you, and it can jump start your weight loss efforts. It basically takes you through the five stages of post op eating, one stage each day. It does no medical harm and can actually do some good. :-)

Caffeinated sodas are the worst possible option, especially diet sodas. I personally think if you must have caffeine have coffee. Not full of sugar and cream, but plain old black coffee. This is only an option if you are past the healing stage and are allowed caffeine. My team allows caffeinated coffee after three months because caffeine has been proven to help with constipation, a common problem for WLS patients. I've found a high protein coffee that has the equivalent of two espresso shots in it. I find it delicious, it has 20gr of protein, gives me my morning 'boost', and I haven't been constipated since I began using it five months ago. It's called Chike High Protein Coffee. I finally have a protein drink that I love. :-)

What is the sugar content?

Relax, recover, keep doing what you're doing and the weight will go. Stay away from the scale. :-)

I can't do roasted chicken/turkey yet, and I'm 15 months post op. I have only recently been able to tolerate tuna. I have had no problems with ground chicken or turkey. I can eat it plain, in meatballs, meat sauce, and meatloaf. I add it to my chili for extra protein. I can eat chicken burgers w/guacamole - the guacamole is moist and helps it go down easy. Tilapia has always been a 'safe' food for me, as is shrimp or scallops. I often eat shrimp cocktail as a meal all by itself. I make a version of Ricotta Bake that includes a layer of meat sauce made w/ground chicken. It's like lasagna w/o the Pasta. My husband loves it so I never have any leftovers. Spaghetti squash with chicken sausage or meat sauce is also good and well-tolerated as long as I chew the sausage well and eat it slowly.

I doesn't bother me. Cooking for my husband is easy. He's a body builder and eats what I eat, only more of it. I go out to eat w/my friends and never have any problems finding something I can eat and enjoy. I still love to bake goodies but now I just give them away instead of eating them. Watching other people eat things I can't have anymore is not a problem either. I don't crave things anymore and could care less about all the foods I used to eat. I don't know how long that will last (I'm 15 months post RNY) but I enjoy the fact that I control what I eat and not the other day around. :-)

Having someone just call or stop in to check on you is a good idea. My mother in law kept checking on on me. It was thoughtful, even though she did it a little too often. Lol. I never needed help but it was reassuring to know she was available if I needed her...

When my daughter had her gallbladder out a couple years ago she had trouble breathing following the surgery, too. She ended up being in recovery for about eight hours. Every time she dozed off she'd stop breathing. They brought me in to sit with her. I had to keep her from dozing off by talking to her until she was breathing on her own. We were there two hours after the outpatient surgicenter closed. They thought they might have to admit her but she finally started breathing normally. Even so, I kept checking on her all night the first night home. It sounds like your doing really well. Keep up the good work! :-)

What does your doctor say? Mine says one year, which I followed.

I had no help at all because I didn't need any. I made my husband go to work. I could walk, cook, use the restroom, and get in and out of the Lazyboy by myself. I didn't have a drain (not all doctors do one). For the first few days, especially while taking your narcotic medication, all you really want to do is sleep. I took naps and walked (necessary to relieve gas pains). I prepared my own meals and cooked for my husband. At four days I stopped taking the medication (it made me unsteady on my feet and my pain was almost nonexistent by then) and I began walking up and down my street. At my one week post op I was cleared to drive (you need to be totally off the strong meds for driving). My daughter had driven me to my appointment in my jeep. I drove home, but stopped first to grocery shop. Due to lifting restrictions my daughter had to help me with groceries. The day after my post op appointment I spent 1 1/2 hours cutting my lawn (self-propelled mower push mower). My second week of sick leave felt more like a vacation than recovery time. I walked, shopped, and read my book in the sun on my deck. I felt guilty being at home, relaxing. :-)

I preferred my own company and needed no help.

Story, got carried away with the 'maybes'. Lol

Sometimes your body just needs time to adjust. I lost 100 pounds in just 7 months without a single stall up to that point. And then it came to a screeching halt. After a couple months with nothing else happening I had decided I must have reached my set-point but I was happy enough to be a size 10. Then the scale began to move again and I went on to lose another 20 pounds (I'm now a size 6). Hang in there! Maybe give up the pasta as everyone has said. Maybe that will help. Maybe your body is just 'adjusting' as mine was. :-)

Having such a special dress made for you by someone you love is wonderful. Congrats, and best of luck with your surgery and your new healthier life. :-)

It's a matter of perspective. Unless someone comes out and says something clearly and specifically insulting than it's all shades of gray. If it's openly offensive, report it. Ultimately we choose what to read and then we decide what to take out of it. So your mindset to "take what you want, leave what you don't" is the best way to handle things. What it boils down to is I don't know any of you and you don't know me. Why should an opinion formed and based on a few comments matter one way or another to any of us? I try to offer my personal experience and knowledge (based on my medical team's education) to try to help or reassure someone. I try to offer it in a non-judgmental way. I have no control over how someone sees my comment. That is entirely their choice. We all have a vastly different experiences that, when shared, often can help someone else cope with their own fears and problems. That's worth hanging around for. :-)

Thrift stores, clearance sales, local clothing swaps (there's supposedly an online one here, though I never used it). I work in a bank so I had a LOT of big good quality clothes. I found a young woman a few months behind me in her weight loss journey to pass my clothes down to. Every 6-8 weeks I'd meet her to hand over bags and bags of clothes. Maybe find someone in your support group who'll share?

By seven months post op I had lost 100 pounds and felt amazing! I went on to lose 20 pounds more and still feel amazing - lots of energy and pain-free. There's no reason for you to feel miserable a year out, or even after 6 months! The person who'll be doing your dress-fitting, on the other hand? THAT person will be miserable, working overtime taking it in, and taking it in, and taking it in yet again - to make sure your dress fits by the time your special day arrives! Lol

It does, but not too much. :-) I started drinking it when the weather got warmer, about 9 months post op (my team allows caffeine at three months). The herbal tea is good also. :-)