Forsythia

Have an orange. See if it agrees with you. I usually pack an apple for a snack between my meals. But sometimes I mix it up and have a banana or grapes. Some people have trouble with the skin on fruits like apples, plums and whatnot. So you might want to cut and peel them initially. I'm 6.5 months out, so I don't have any issues with the skin (I actually never did, but some people do).

You know how in the winter the department stores sell cuddle duds and thermaskin underlayers for when it is cold? I'm just gonna get some of those because they are thin and layer them under my normal tops and pants. That's the key to layering. Not bulk, but thin layers.

I think skinny can have negative connotations, just like fat does. I try to use thin or svelte rather than skinny. Skinny to me implies you have no muscle tone and are out there hungry and scrapping for food in poverty. Having said that, I am not skinny, nor do I think once I get down to my goal weight will I be skinny. I come from a line of people with birthing hips and lots of booty.

I'm cold all the damn time. Before I left my job, I had a dedicated sweater. But the sweater was not cutting it so I had a blanket. I KEPT A BLANKET AT MY JOB!! Who keeps a blanket at their job? This broad. I layer my clothes. Normally I detest summer, but this summer was so mild here in Chicago. I would try to go outside from the froze AC of my office but it was only 60 degrees outside when it should have been 85 and humid. I could never get warm. Right now in my own house, I'm wearing a fleece, a cashmere scarf and my winter hat. The heat is on. So yeah, that aspect sucks. But I would not trade it for being 312lbs and diabetes again.

I'm 6 and a half months out. I post most every day. Swearsies! I had a sleeve but I do try to answer as many questions as possible. You can also send a PM. Occasionally someone on here will send me a message (especially people local to me who have questions about my surgeon or hospital) and I will always answer!

BMI is a terrible way to judge if one is healthy or not. I know a woman who is buff. Instructs aerobics and weight classes. She is a tiny tiny woman, but overweight on the BMI charts. Same with those weightlifting dudebros you see in the gym. they are all considered overweight because of all their muscle mass. Add to that that (at least here in the US, I do not know this stat for the UK), BMI used to be 27.8 as the threshold for being healthy vs overweight to match the WHO definitions. So that magically made people who were healthy all of a sudden fat. So that who BMI classification is arbitrary. Also, ironically I have a BMI ticker at the bottom of my posts. lol!

I log into MFP every day to log my food and any activity. Easy peasy. Also on the phone app you can scan barcodes. Which is nice for when you are at work and eat a frozen dinner or a cup of yogurt or something.

My pre-op diet was not a liquid one. It was two weeks of high protein/low carb. I ate so much meat. LOL. I still managed to lose 18 lbs just by limiting my breads/starches/sugar. The pre-op phase is temporary, so getting a ton of Protein can only do so much over two weeks. And then post-op it's really tough right off to even get in those 60 g minimum. But the reality is that you need the protein. We lose weight and the body doesn't say "oh hey, fat, time to get off the train!" Muscle tissue goes away too because the body doesn't discriminate. So you need that to keep your muscle on board. Protein can be hard on the liver, but again, as bigger people we need more than someone who is 110lbs soaking wet. A bigger body can handle processing it.

Funny, I love my measuring tape. Because whenever I stall out I lose inches somewhere. So It keeps me motivated when the scale is stuck. I also like to go shopping and try on clothes to gauge how my weight loss is progressing. I can no longer eyeball clothes and say hey, that looks big enough. My mind still has me in size 24 tops and 26 pants. Trying clothes on tells me I'm in a 14/16 top and 18 pants.

Are we talking immediately post op or several months? We need more information. In the hospital my sugar levels spiked way high, but by the time I had gotten home again and was off the IV my sugar levels were super low, like in the 60s. Now they hover between 80 and 100 at any given time 6.5 months out.

I'm not gonna lie, when I first got home from the hospital, I dropped weight like a rock sinking into Water. In fact I lost 17lbs in the first week. One day I woke up 7 lbs lighter. In one day. My Dad was all like, "is that normal?" So I thought maybe something was wrong and I was losing too fast! Then I stalled out at two weeks post op for 12 long days. Since then my weight loss has slowed down. I will go a week without losing then lose 5 lbs. I know when I lost weight on my own pre-sleeve, I didn't have the saggy skin that I have now. And I lift weights to try to combat it, but rapid loss does have its disadvantages. Honestly, if you think about it, 5 lbs a week is a rapid loss. The average dieter is lucky to lose maybe 2lbs a week. So 5 lbs in a week is a good rate.

One that isn't three sizes too big. Just in time for the polar vortex. FUN TIMES! I was hovering right between the XL and the 1X. I erred on the conservative side and got the 1X. I really think I could have gotten the XL and been okay.

Typically I have coffee (regular, none of this decaf stuff) with a scoop of vanilla body fortress in it. I also add SF creamer and SF torani syrup. Then when I get to work at 9am I have a random Greek yogurt flavor. Today was strawberry parfait. So by 9:30 I have 41 grams of protein in me.

I'm so boring. None of my body parts have names. Lol.

A cheeseburger from McDonald's doesn't have a whole lot of meat. The buns are sliders probably. So yeah a plain cheeseburger, yeah I can see eating one just fine art almost a year out. Don't beat yourself up about it. Just get back on the horse.

Relaxed fit skin. OMG! This is how I feel about my ass now. It's jiggly and saggy now. But it looks okay in tight pants. I look at my new clothes and don't believe that they belong to me. They look small to me. But then I put on something old and it looks like I'm playing dress up, like a little kid in her mother's clothes. My body is still shaped the same. Just smaller. I maybe that is why I don't quite believe I should be looking at clothes in the missy section and not the plus size section.

I was on the bike, treadmill and elliptical 5 days post op. But if the incisions are still bugging you, you might need to just grind it out on the treadmill until everything feels better.

I picked 150 which is at a BMI of 25, which is "normal". I know BMI has its issues, but it is as good an indicator as any for now.

Your period causes a release of hormones, one of which stimulates having to go poop. You might not have correlated it before or noticed, but yeah, your period and the hormones are likely to give you diarrhea. And add that to a liquid diet, consider it double trouble.

Oh gosh, my program made us start walking right off. I was to avoid steps, but I live on the 3rd floor of a walk up so there is no avoiding them if I want to go anywhere. Lol. You might try to ease into zumba. Do the warm up, maybe 10 minutes. If you feel good, continue with the program, if not, stop. But unless you are having a hard recovery, you should be active.

Pre op certain foods gave me heartburn. Post op those same foods give me heartburn. But I would not consider that I have a problem with heartburn. There are like, three foods that bug me, most of them I don't eat. Cherries give me heartburn but I still eat them.

You should be able to do your zumba if that makes you feel better. I was cleared for general cardio after 5 days. It's the weight lifting you have to be careful of. Otherwise, feel free to vent.

I'm a type II diabetic, but I chose the sleeve anyhow. I just was not comfortable with the plumbing reroute. My diabetes is gone. As of September my HgA1C is 5.5%, which is normal. Not just normal for a well controlled diabetic, but normal for anyone. anecdotally, I noticed more sleevers at my post op class. I know RNY is the standard, but I was just not willing to deal with the possible complications down the road. I'm 6 months post op now. I'm down over 100 lbs from my all time high. While I can eat more now than I could at the beginning, it's like 5 to 6 oz of food at any sitting. So the restriction is still there.

Protein powder curdles if it gets too hot. So don't put it in a boiling liquid. If you want to add it to a Soup, let it cool down for a couple minutes before you add it, especially if you let the soup get to the boiling point. You can put it in something like pancake mix and make better pancakes if you are on soft foods. Some people have issues with carbs like pancakes though. I add it to my morning coffee. Takes a bit of stirring but eventually it dissolves in.