jess9395

For those of you worried about the too large portions at a restaurant... can I ask why? I’m not being rude or nasty I truly am trying to understand. Is it the cost? You don’t want to pay for food you aren’t eating? Is it that you don’t like leftovers or it’s not feasible logistically to bring them home? Is it a principle thing about wasting food? My take is I’m saving so much money in the long run eating less that I don’t mind the cost of something I may not eat all of. I also like the small plates/tapas/app menu and I love soup. Sharing is great and so are leftovers. So I’m trying to understand the other side of things. I wouldn’t ever want to use one of those cards.... to me that would call more attention to me than leaving food on my plate.

Just tell them you have an upset stomach... you’re watching your calories/carbs/weight... X On the menu doesn’t agree with you.... It’s a psychological game we have to learn not to associate social activity with food. The whole society does, but we are the ones making the step. Don’t miss out on your life just because there is food involved! A quick excuse for the people who ask... and fewer people notice than you think! Heck if you’re sassy you could come up with a great zinger that calls them out on them putting their nose in your business in a funny or kind way!

This too shall pass! Promise! Here’s a good rule of thumb to help determine if it’s head hunger or true hunger... head hunger is “I am hungry and want to eat X” (x of course is anything from that burger I saw in a commercial to the Cheetos I am feeding my kids... side note kids don’t need Cheetos and will benefit from diet changes too.). If you want X and a protein shake or whatever is in plan won’t satisfy then it’s usually head hunger. True hunger hunger is satisfied by eating, period. Eating ANYTHING. One other thing to note... for many of us the gnawing empty “hunger” feeling is stomach acid. It can mimic hunger pains. I had awful gnawing feelings that food made go away. It was acid from the healing process. My doctor doubled my PPI medication (proton pump inhibitor, in my case it was pantaprozole but there are many of them) and the feeling went away.

The week three stall is infamous! And it also has to do with Water and glycogen and the liver in addition to the things noted above. I can’t remember all the science but there’s a reason do it! I had the same stall but stuck with same calories and started losing again. Didn’t increase my calories till about month four... then again around month six and then 9 and then at goal!

It’s not exactly our bodies adjusting to the calorie/nutrition... it’s literally as we lose weight we need fewer calories. A 250lb body needs more calories just to exist than a 125lb body. A pound of muscle requires more calories than a pound of fat though so that’s a good reason to exercise!

I disagree with @ashash and I am a huge exercise proponent. I run 15-20 miles a week and do 4-5 hours of yoga classes. And I can easily gain weight doing all that. Weight is lost in the kitchen not the gym. Exercise is to build muscle and to improve cardiovascular health. If you build muscle you will burn more calories. Exercise can also help with maintenance and can definitely be an adjunct to assist weight loss, but it can also increase appetite so it’s usually a wash. That said.... even if you want to add exercise to help with weight loss, I would argue that setting your goal by how many calories you burn is rarely helpful. First of all, most calorie burn estimates are inaccurate whether they are from tracking software or cardio machines. Second, if you look at exercise as calories burned then you miss a wonderful opportunity to learn to love (or at least enjoy) exercise as anything other than a means to subtract food. Exercise is a great opportunity to set non scale goals... to look to improve endurance or strength or flexibility or coordination... why look at it as “burning calories?” It’s an area we can succeed in to improve our health without it being about the scale or those numbers.

I use this pasta— But I have heard good things about this one too—

Yes! Ditto! Plus most calorie burn estimates are inaccurate.

Different surgeons have different rules on this. Mine is fine with ibuprofen and other NSAIDS on occasion just not for management of anything chronic. If I have a headache or something once in a while they are fine. He was fine with them for post op pain control too.

IV Tylenol is amazing!!!! It’s what I had in the hospital. And the pain of the sleeve was nothing compared with my c section. The c section was WAY worse. Of course people are different but that was my experience.

The reality is you can always sign out AMA (against medical advice) and Uber home. They can’t stop you. Different hospitals have different procedures but mine didn’t have your ride sign anything. I walked out next to my husband but they didn’t have him sign me out. If they know you are going home to living alone they won’t release you until they believe you are ready for that. See if your surgeon can give you any prescriptions ahead of time (mine did and I filled them weeks before surgery).

I love that you and your daughter walk “together!” Mine is away at college and we talk but I miss her!

My kids were 11 and 15 when I had surgery and I was super matter of fact and honest with both of them, never occurred to me to be anything else. They’ve seen my struggles I can’t pretend they didn’t. And I didn’t tell anyone outside of them and my husband and mother in law (who lives on our property) until way later.

I do the toppings too! I delivered a Little Caesar’s pizza to my son at practice yesterday and he made me wait like half an hour before he came out and grabbed it... for making me wait he later discovered one of the slices was missing pepperoni and cheese!

Yup that’s what I do about 80% of the time! DH usually lets me pick. Or just order an “extra plate” and take a bit of each of my kids/husbands plates. Or I order just an app to be delivered with dinner. A lot of the newer “gastropub” type restaurants have protein first tapas style starters. I also don’t look at not eating everything as a waste of money... I save so much compared to how much I used to spend on food that I am happy to not eat a full portion. I’m weird in that I still love buffets! I look at it as paying for variety! I get a bite or two of a bunch of different things and am paying for that rather than quantity.

Check with your hospital because I wasn’t allowed to take anything that could be considered medical without orders from the doctor and that included gasX, biotene and even throat lozenges. They got me an order for lozenges and they then provided them for me. I loved having my own pillow there (use a different color than white for the case so it doesn’t get mixed up). Also used my phone and iPad and charger. They gave me a kit that included toiletries and chapstick, ear plugs and even a notepad and pen!

Guys do a google image search for Bariatric surgery restaurant card and dozens pop up....

Yes tell us how they are! I haven’t tried these. Might have to go to costco

Wow!

Grazing, “slider foods” (I could eat a whole box of cheezits because they crush to a powder), liquid calories (I gained a few Starbucks pounds, just on flat whites so I can’t imagine if you drank Frappuccino’s)....

I am four and a half years out and my surgery is just as effective as t was six month out. If I chose to eat the wrong things or snack, that’s on me, but I’m still limited to about 4-5oz (2-4oz dense protein, 6oz Greek yogurt) and can’t eat for a couple hours after. While I’m sorry it isn’t the same for you, you can’t use such sweeping generalizations. My body also doesn’t “fight to get back to fat.” I can be quite lenient with what I eat over the holidays, etc, and gain about 5lbs but it would actually be quite hard for me to gain much and it’s fairly easy to lose again.

You are talking about a gastric bypass, they can stretch their anastomoses (sp?) which is the opening to the pouch. Sleeve surgery doesn’t use a pouch and f it’s formed correctly cannot stretch. The fundus is the stretchy part and that is usually removed. Even overeating can’t really stretch it from what I’ve read. So perhaps the people for whom it stretches have not had the fundus properly removed?

Do a search for week three stall. Super common and there are scientific reasons for it.

I only had the one day clear out the system “diet.” I am in California. My doctor only does a pre op with the super morbidly obese, 50 BMI and above I think? I was 40.

3-4 oz is how much we all should be eating, as in we ALL, adults. The fact that it looks like a toddler portion speaks to how much our society overeats. If you put protein first at all your meals and have a few protein rich snacks or shakes you will do just fine! Hang in there!