IncredibleShrinkingMan

God Bless Bariatric Pal!

@@gettinMeBack Could you provide us some of your dates, especially the date of your surgery and the date you hit your lowest of 130? I think people could give more pointed advice if you shared this. That said, I second @@Babbs and everybody else...you bit the toughest bullet and you have a new dawn ahead of you. Don't get down on yourself from having some relapse. I am speaking to you from a frustrating stall and I openly acknowledge that I am in this spot because I have been less careful than I was in the first few months out of surgery.

+4 is not that bad...I had +9 at one of my visits and then came back down to loss territory by the final meeting. The psych said the nutritionist shared some concern with him, but he didn't think much of it. You'll be fine.

I am going to have to start following your running threads. Way to go, good luck with the half!

Taking a daily weight can also help you keep track of which types of things cause temporary drops and rises. That way, eventually, you can transition to a less frequent interval and only weigh yourself when you know you've had a fairly "normal" day or couple of days on which the reading you get will be more or less your true weight. I have always thought there should be a type of scale that will only give you your weight a maximum of twice a week and will tell you to step off if you try to weigh yourself more frequently. But so far it doesn't look like that exists...

This has happened to me more when looking for myself on surveillance cameras. I also recently went to Disney World and couldn't find myself on the picture screens at Splash Mountain.

Be sure that once you find an exercise routine fairly easy, you change it up so that you keep getting the returns. Once your body gets used to a routine, it will expend fewer and fewer calories doing it each time. Stale routines cause stalls just as easily as consuming too many calories. Before you ever cut a single calorie, make sure you are doing everything right activity wise so that your metabolism stays revved!

Soft foods are different from purees...but sometimes the lines are drawn in different places. Most surgeons who advance you to soft foods more slowly call a wider variety of things purees, like mashed potatoes. Those who let you proceed to soft foods pretty rapidly call more things soft foods that are really just purees. I think that if it moves when you tilt the spoon back and forth, it's a puree, and if not, it's a soft food. Cottage cheese with small curds would probably be a puree under this definition (it is allowed in puree stage by most surgeons), whereas mashed potatoes, unless extremely buttery (obviously don't want that), would be a soft food. eggs are often allowed sooner than they should be...I could have them and many other types of cheeses in puree, but I didn't do that well with them, and I think they are really soft foods. I was also told that as long as I could chew it into a puree, it could count. So anything you are willing to chew 100 times (with the exception of tough meats and stuff), I would say you're good to go. But please double check with your own care team.

Great news. Good luck at home and on your journey back to work. Don't feel the need to rush anything...just enjoy your accomplishment and do everything when your body (not your surgeon) tells you to!

The things you are mentioning are among the last few things that will come back into your life...and you should not do anything to hurry them along because they are generally nothing but trouble. Please don't try beer until six months after your surgery. Some people have a much harder time, while others notice no difference in ability to consume alcohol without ugly consequences, but regardless of where you fall, please wait out the six months. After about three months, go ahead and give thin crust and sandwiches with thinner bread a shot, but I guarantee that you will not want all of even a single slice or the entire sandwich bread. Eventually you will just start picking the cheese off the slice or the meat out of the sandwich. It really is a good feeling, and it is something you should look forward to instead of dreading.

You owe him no response about the therapist. If you have your own money and can manage on your own, just the fact that you are living there doesn't mean he is entitled to information and to manage everything. If he feels otherwise, he could've kicked you out by now. He hasn't, so it is tacit approval with no strings attached. In fact, start desensitizing him to it now...draw lines in the sand and declare that he isn't entitled to every piece of information he wants. And please, once you get it together, even if you accomplish all these things while living there, MOVE OUT. A little added stress and self-reliance is worth not living in a toxic environment for.

@@Chi2Htown Where did you go? Brazilian steakhouse for me. Good luck with pre-op. The liquids really help control cravings so even if you weren't asked to do liquid, give it a shot!

I wouldn't assume there is a leak. In your first week out, gas pains are very typical because of the CO2 with which the surgeon pumps your stomach to check for a leak. It seems like this would be mainly residual air from this step. To put your mind at ease, you would generally be experiencing sweats and elevated heart rate were there an actual problem with your staple line. Best wishes!

I think you should see what emphasizing protein does for your cravings. You may find that you crave sugar so badly merely because you aren't getting enough protein. I think you will also find substantial improvement in this area once you begin the liquid phase, which, to be honest, really helps control general hunger pangs, not just for carbs.

Your sleeve empties out as quickly as it fills up. That's why you continue to experience hunger. I wouldn't start grazing, but it is fine to consider four to five smaller meals instead of three larger ones. I have also found that restriction peaks when you wake up and continues to decline throughout the day until bedtime. Obviously that isn't too helpful when trying to stick with breakfast being the biggest meal and almost no calories before bed, but it's the way it is. Breakfast has just been too tough both sleeve-wise and time-wise, so I have generally been doing two lunches and two dinners (with the food from one standard lunch and one standard dinner), at the following times: L1: 11 am, L2: 2 pm (no Snacks in afternoon) D1: 6 pm, D2: 8 pm (very small snack or whatever is left over from that food no later than 10 pm), bed at midnight.

In a word: yes, but in generally less than one-quarter the prior proportions. I can tolerate anything, and alcohol feels just like it did before. I was frightened by all the stories about one drink feeling like six but that has just not been the case. That said, I am choosing to generally abstain from any beverage but water because I am trying to maximize losing phase.

I think therapy is important but you are always your own best resources. Nobody can ever have as solid and complete an understanding of root causes as yourself. A therapist will never know the unabridged history of your life. Don't hate the past or block it out. You need to love yourself for it. I am six months out and I love my before pictures like I never thought I would. You will reach this point as well, I promise. Good luck!

I thought this was a post-op thread initially...don't worry, you've made a great decision, just stay true and don't fret. 8 days out on the other side, you will literally be getting cold feet from a reduced caloric intake. Good luck with your surgery!

All solids go down well, but any soup that isn't essentially a clear liquid causes violent reactions and long food coma. I would have thought lobster bisque (I know, I know, awful choice) would be a slider food but it just sits there for the entire meal taking up the room I need for better protein. Not going there again!

I agree with the post that said no grazing, but no small meals either. I have been letting the rules subside, admittedly, but thankfully, I have not yet paid any price as I am still losing at about 1 lb/wk at six months out (Saturday surgiversary). Try very hard to change up the types of food you have. For me, anyway, any carbs and sugar leads to more cravings (although thankfully not for more carbs and more sugar, but for protein). You will be surprised how many rules apply whether one has had surgery or not. Tough textured protein is by far the best food to eat to eliminate cravings and achieve satiety.

@@JamieLogical Virginia...it's Cupid's run, held on Valentine's Day in all conditions. So far the winter's been very kind to my outdoor workouts.