Cervidae
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Everything posted by Cervidae
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I forgot to update yesterday, but yesterday was 7 months post-op RNY for me! I'm down 126 since surgery and 181 from my highest.
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Stalls happen, and they are not only completely normal but necessary! I finally just broke out of a 5-week stall myself. It stinks, but sometimes your body needs a break from this intense, rapid weight loss. I stall every month, sometimes twice a month, for weeks at a time. And yet, I'm 7 months out and have lost 125 pounds since surgery. You will get there, and don't torture yourself worrying about it until then. It all balances out in the end. By the way, increasing exercise unfortunately never helped me. Neither did decreasing exercise, increasing calories, decreasing calories, increasing my Water intake (though my skin and hair felt so much healthier after I started that) or any combo thereof. It's not something most people can control. As they often say around here, and very rightly so: "embrace the stall!" And don't sweat it, just focus on your Protein, water, and Vitamins, and your good health and weight loss will follow.
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There's nothing more complicated than human emotion. Love is simple, but we are silly creatures that make things WAY more ridiculous than they need to be. It's likely that he's just feeling a little insecure and even though he jokes or says it on the sly, he may actually be worried you are going to leave him. If I were in this situation, I would sit him down and say openly and honestly "I am not with you because I'm fat. I am not with you because I feel like I have to settle. I am not with you because I didn't think I could do better. I am changing my body for the sake of my health. My mind and heart are still my own." And I would say it very clearly while looking straight in his eyes. Society as a whole pretends that women are the insecure, fragile ones. But any person who actually knows and loves a dude knows that their insecurity can run just as deeply as ours. Make him understand how you really feel and why you're really doing this. Congrats on your upcoming surgery! Getting close now, I see. Exciting!
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Get that Anger OUT!
Cervidae replied to Connie Stapleton PhD's topic in Weight Loss Surgery Magazine
When I was a young teenager, I had serious anger issues. I never hurt anyone else but I often took my anger and frustration out on my own body in absolutely unhealthy ways (self-harm, binging, starving, staying awake for days, etc). The only thing that ever helped even a little to cope with those intense feelings of anger and frustration, mostly frustration at my life, my body, and my limitations, was to wear a rubber band around my wrist and snap it whenever I felt like doing or saying something harmful to myself. I found it also worked when I wanted to give someone else a good slap! It's tough for people who have a hard time coping with intense amounts of these bad feelings. Just talking it out or taking deep breaths sometimes just doesn't cut it. Great list! -
I don't have a lot of advice to give you, other than this: surgery had nothing to do with it. A person who loves you and values your health may struggle with these enormous changes, but would never use it as a way to hurt you. You deserve far, far better than that. You're a strong woman. You've made it this far and come so, so far in the pursuit of health and happiness. I'm so sorry this is happening to you, and I'm so sorry he obviously doesn't value your strength and love and loyalty. You're going to make it through this. This cannot break you. We're all here for you! Hang in there, and take care of yourself. <3
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Band revision, pre-op for RNY TOMORROW! Yikes!
Cervidae replied to SugarCali's topic in Revision Weight Loss Surgery Forums (NEW!)
Good luck! Keep us posted! -
I hope this turns out to be nothing! Keep a SUPER close eye on yourself. Do you have someone with you, helping to take care of you? Or do you at least have someone that can come check on you? As for feeling normal... on Thursday, I will be 7 months post-op, and I'm not quite there yet. I do, however, feel much, much better than I did just a month ago. So it's getting there. I envy those rare people who just bounce back and feel amazing within like two months of surgery.
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It's easy for other people to say we "don't need" this surgery when they have not lived in our bodies and lived our lives and have no idea what we've been through and deal with on a daily basis. As for loose skin, mostly it's not something you can control, unfortunately. It's true that staying super hydrated and lifting weights can help, but really when you're weight training you're just increasing muscle mass and hopefully tightening muscles as well. This does not include the skin in any way. Generally, that's all up to your genetics, age, how much you lose, etc. Congrats on your approval! You'll do great.
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Schools, Children, Obesity, and Eating Disorders
Cervidae replied to Inner Surfer Girl's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
BMI measuring and programs are harmful because you're teaching a kid that (just like their intelligence...) they are lesser than others because of a number on a piece of paper. What they need to do is teach real health programs, centered on actual bodily/mental/emotional health rather than weight. Show kids the way to be healthy instead of that there is something "wrong" with them and watch how quickly things improve. Speaking of bmi programs, I remember in highschool we had a new (young, good-looking male) gym teacher, and one of the first things he did was state to our girls' class that most of us were overweight. He then proceeded to weigh and do a body fat test, calipers and all, on each girl while the rest of the class watched. When he got to me... he loudly said "you're too overweight for the caliper test, so you're excused from it". I had never felt so humiliated in all my life. The way it felt to be reduced as a human and humiliated in front of 20 other girls with whom I then had to spend several years seeing again every day... I will never, ever forget it. The scariest thing about this? This was less than 6 years ago. This is still happening EVERY day. -
Yesterday I ate the amount of calories that my nutritionist keeps telling me I should be eating... and I gained a pound overnight. :/ Is it possible I just have lower calorie needs than what they think I should be eating?
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I often think that type of overnight gain (I have them too) is due to extra water weight if the foods involve more salt and then the extra residue in the digestive system from more food. It disappears in a day or two. Long term yes I believe many of us need less calories than others. My girlfriend and I weight about the same have about the same activity level, do most of our exercise together but she eats about twice what I do. Seems unfair as I see her eat every day but that's life. So has your pound disappeared yet?
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@Mountaingal nope, still working off .8 pounds of whatever it was, perhaps water. It's not really a big deal for me, it just makes me think that I probably just have lower calorie needs than I'm being told to eat. I've followed every rule down to the letter but in this case, i think I'm going to need to tailor my diet to my body, and that includes some fats and generally less calories than is expected.
@OutsideMatchInside my nut is telling me to eat between 1000-1200 cals a day, which sounds perfectly reasonable. For one, it's pretty hard for me to get in that much food unless I eat something like peanut butter to get them up there. And then of course this has happened multiple times, I either stop losing abruptly or gain when I go over 700-800 calories. I get the comment about "neo-anorexia" - I've had an eating disorder all my life and it's now a huge struggle for me to know if it's the disorder lying to me or the scale, or myself. Part of the process, I suppose.
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I don't bother with my nutritionist anymore... she's affiliated with my bariatric program, but her advice always conflicts with the surgeon's advice and I never lose when I follow her plan. So annoying! I have to constantly tweak my macros until I get to a point of losing - which means VERY low carb (like less than 25 per day). I've also noticed that (and I think I've mentioned this before) I only lose like 10 days out of the month. So I stall for about 3 weeks, then I lose a pound a day for the 10 days before my cycle.
All this to say... I'm not an expert, but I've learned my body and its patterns... what works, and what doesn't. I've been quite diligent about tracking everything so that it's easy to recognize where I am at any given time. I wouldn't worry much about a 1 lb "gain", but keep an eye out for more gains (obviously) and then you'll know if it's really too much.
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2nd day post-op and pooping like crazy
Cervidae replied to MozzaWehsha's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Milk of magnesia works, though I personally cannot stomach it. My gag reflex is super sensitive since surgery. I like smooth move tea. Much, much easier on my tummy. -
@@esskay77 I found it in Wegmans, do you guys have a Wegmans? If not, I'm sure it has to exist somewhere. The brand's full name that I've used and loved is "Green Mountain Farms Greek Cream Cheese and Greek Yogurt" and it comes in the same kind of block as regular cream cheese. Hope you can find it.
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Another way of making pancakes that is healthy and delicious is to mash up a banana and an egg, toss in some cinnamon and I like to add some pumpkin pie spice as well, and cook it like a regular pancake. It's really yummy! But I think I was told to wait until at least a couple months to try more solid food like that. If you're bored of the same old same old, you could try some of the things I really loved in the puree stage. My favorite was turkey or chicken chili from trader joe's with a dollop of low fat or fat free sour cream. It has a surprisingly satisfying texture even after being pureed. Another good one is cottage cheese or greek yogurt with pumkpin puree or refried black Beans and perhaps a little bit of taco sauce. I also enjoyed canned white meat chicken pureed with greek yogurt cream cheese and a little splash of cream of chicken Soup and a little splash of milk to make it all blend well - this tasted EXACTLY like hamburger helper, somehow. A bit further on when you get to soft foods, you can try my absolute soft food favorite - a turkey meatball or two mashed up with greek yogurt cream cheese (this exists and it is DELISH and it is much healthier than regular cream cheese) and about an ounce of cheddar. This one tastes exactly like beef stroganoff. I actually had some of this earlier today! As a meal, I make 3 turkey meatballs, 2 tbs of greek yogurt cream cheese, and 1 ounce of extra sharp cheddar. I eat it in two or three sittings, and it comes to 330 calories, 6 grams of carbs, and 29 grams of Protein. Yummy and good for you. It'll take you time to get used to eating a much more limited diet than most of us ate before surgery, but then you'll learn how to make new combos of healthy foods that taste good, leave you feeling full and satisfied for many hours, and give you a ton of protein and are healthy. You'll get there, and sooner than you think. Hang in there.
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I'm 24 and I can assure you, I would in no way be okay with someone acting this way. I luckily have never had to spend much time dating, and I've been with the same awesome guy for 4 years now, but I can tell you with certainty that if a dude (or dudette ) were to do something like this to me, I would have done the same thing you did. It doesn't hurt to write a short sentence saying "I've decided I'm not interested, thanks for your time." So easy to be courteous.
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I would be super, super careful if you were you. All the other things said here are very important - giving in to carb cravings is only going to make it worse, eating all those carbs will make you too full for Protein, and the processed stuff is just absolutely awful for you. Not to mention, I've read a lot of horror stories about people eating bread too soon (like withing the first six months) and the bread getting stuck and tearing or causing serious pain and vomiting and a trip to the er. I have no judgement here. As a person who has had the same surgery and been confronted with the same cravings and who has learned the cautionary tales I have, I feel genuine concern for you. At only two weeks out, your nerves in your stomach have not even really healed enough for you to feel the damage you are doing to them. That's why many people can drink decently fast in the beginning and then in several weeks they start feeling it and have to slow down. Not only that, but you've just undergone a life-altering, life-threatening surgery, to try to be healthy and be better to your body. Why ruin all of that work and great progress... and for spaghettios and a dry pancake? Is it really worth it to you, to damage your chances of health and long-term success for a few cravings? I know you've got the will-power and strength, as you've already made it this far. No one can tell you what to do here, but if you're asking for words of wisdom/warning, here they are - don't sabotage yourself over food. It's just food, it doesn't deserve to control you and your life. You are better than that. The more you give in now, in the beginning, the smaller and smaller your chances get for long term success, and we all want to see you succeed. This surgery helps with the physiological causes of hunger, but the rest is ENTIRELY up to you, and if you don't address your bad food choices (perhaps with therapy? or a support group?), no surgery can help you.
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Unfortunately, there is no "normal" rate at which everyone loses. It's dependent on a whole long list of things, including age, starting weight, activity level, hormones, type of surgery, weight lost before surgery, recvoery from surgery, other, pre-existing health issues, the amount of Water you consume... the list goes on. The amount of variables makes an "average" a rapidly moving target, so don't stress out just yet. All that being said, 36 pounds in three months is not really in any way bad. About 12 pounds a month, plus you have to take into account that you probably had water weight to lose in the beginning. I'm still in the high 200s and I've lost 10-15 pounds each month for the last two months. I've also had multiple 2-5 week stalls in the past several months. Generally, people don't stall or slow down this much this soon after surgery and at this high of a weight. It's incredibly frustrating, but in the end, I'm doing everything right, and there's no denying my health is getting better. Even though I've lost only 11 pounds since this time last month, my body shape is changing drastically. I can do more intense cardio for longer, I need less sleep, I generally just feel much better. So weight isn't really the only way of measuring things. Are you getting at least 64 ounces of water a day? 60+ grams of Protein? What's your caloric intake look like? Have you been eating things with a lot of carbs? Are you getting at least a little exercise every few days? Lastly, are you sleeping enough (this one is SO important!)? If you're doing all of these things the way you've been instructed by doctors/nut etc, then you're headed in the right direction and in 6 months you'll be pretty amazed that you worried about these things in the beginning. You're doing well! Focus on your health and well-being, and the weight loss will follow. Hang in there.
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Hiccups and vomiting 2 days post op
Cervidae replied to Protea's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
@@Protea I'm glad you're feeling better! Take good care of yourself. -
It's not swelling that causes the extra weight after surgery, it's all the Fluid they pumped into you to keep hydrated. Most people see this extra weight disappear within a week or two. I almost always see it go away for people within the first week. Don't sweat it, the weight loss is coming very, very soon. Just stay hydrated, that's critical at this point in your healing, and hang in there!
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Help! I think I eat too much.
Cervidae replied to sarahbrianna723125's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
oh, also sometimes nuts/peanut butter, hummus, and certain fruits like bananas. Generally I try to stay away from fruit until I've gotten enough Protein. Really your goals should be centered on low carb, low sugar, high protein, and once you've met that protein goal, the rest is veggies and some fruit. That's the general diet that is recommended. -
Help! I think I eat too much.
Cervidae replied to sarahbrianna723125's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
@@sarahbrianna723125 I'll be 7 months post op in a week, and I eat the same now as I did when I was at 5 months - I get between 600-900 calories a day, and usually about a third of that is from a protein shake. The rest is lean meat, cheese, occasional veggies when I have room, and sometimes the soups from the bariatric pal store. When I go over that, I stall, unless I do a LOT of physical activity on the days I eat over 900 calories. -
Compared to most people I've talked to, I don't have the greatest pain tolerance, so this is coming from someone who can occasionally be a big baby. My first day really sucked. The pain was really intense at times, but honestly, I was so drugged up that I barely remembered it a few days later, and now it's such a distant memory that I almost want to discount it. I had surgery around 8 am and by the evening I was able to get up and shuffle to the bathroom without too much pain. I did have diarrhea, but it wasn't anything unmanageable. More just that when I sat down to go to the bathroom it happened to be liquid rather than solid. I had a bit of nausea but we discovered that it was a reaction to antibiotics (which I warned them would happen) and it was quickly remedied. All in all, this was not as bad as getting my gallbladder out two years ago. The first couple days are always going to suck but I was amazed at how quickly I improved. By the end of the week the pain was virtually gone, except when I messed with my drain or moved too suddenly, or stood up/walked for too long. Hope this helps.
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Birth control after gastric bypass...
Cervidae replied to Ready2LoseIt213's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
@@Ready2LoseIt213 it's hard to tell, because my blood pressure was always kind of unstable. I also used to be on a medication to stabilize it, and have since gone off that medication because I no longer need it. -
I find that logging things I want to eat and seeing just how bad they are and how many calories/carbs/etc I would be eating also helps me to say "okay, no way am I going to put that into my body today." Then I do that every time I have cravings or start slowly convincing myself that I can eat something without consequences. It gives me some great perspective.
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Remind yourself why you've come this far already! Remind yourself that your cravings SO do not control you, you control them. Remind yourself that the healthier you are before surgery, the safer you will be during and after surgery, and the better you will feel physically and emotionally. Remind yourself that giving in to your cravings right now will feel good while you're eating, but afterwards, only bad feelings and negativity can follow. You can do this! You're so close! No point in giving in now. You're stronger and better than that! Hang in there.
