Emilie.Lancaster

I use fat free cottage cheese as an ingredient in many sauces. Put it in a blender and use in place of mayo in chicken salad, or cream in soups. It's part of my pancakes.

Me, too.

So, what's with the huge difference between docs? My doc says I need to be at 149 at 5'11". Let's call it 150 foe me and 180 for you. 30 ponds is like 20% of ones bodyweight at that size (give or take). That seems like a huge discrepancy, or one of us is getting set up to fail. Puzzled, me.

My first visit was Nov. 23 and surgery was Dec 8. I was not required to have psych, or heart testing, just some blood tests and a credit card. My weight at surgery was 250, and the total cost on surgery day was 14000$ I don't know if the trip to the ER later will be covered, that bill I have seen at about $5500. I didn't qualify for insurance, I had lost a bunch a few years back, and blah blah... It's only money. I called my credit card people and spread it across 3 cards: 0% for 1y, 1.9% for 6 mos. And 6.9% eternally. I figure I will pay this off sometime in 2016, between tax return and Hubby's new job. I am extremely conservative with money, so this was w wild leap for me, but it is going to be so worth it.

True. But I do think it is more than that. If it were just about the "coat" coming off, then it wouldn't have started on weeks one. I checked; I was still totally fat that day. It's fascinating.

I tried quest chips first a few weeks after surgery. Pricey but widely available, and they melt to soft mush by the time you swallow. Medifast and Kays make pretty good cheese ball and pretzel things. Order on line mostly for those. Check Pinterest for high protein pretzel recipes.

Defining success is often difficult, but you must. How will we know if we have success if we don't imagine its form? I'm concerned about the word ashamed. If you know Brenee Brown or her TED Talks, you know that guilt is "I did wrong," and shame is, "I am wrong." Hun. We're teachers. Sometimes, we get enough exercise just pushing our luck. Go watch some Brenee, and realize we need to cut ourselves some slack more than we need to chop firewood for exercise.

I, too, had an early surprise visit of la Rosa just two days post. Then 27 days later, then 35 days after that. It's been mediocre, but the PMS has been worse. Time will tell. I think the surprise period right after surgery has to drop with the heparin.

Between my husband and I (call us bandy and the sleeve), we don't say we had a poo, we say we had a Tuesday, as we joke that we eat so little, we only do the doo-doo on Tuesdays. It gets confusing when he says he had a Tuesday on a Thursday. We have little in the way of entertainment, apparently.

You make a great point. It's not about YOU, it's about him... Whereas the Fat Admirers are looking out from themselves, you husband is having internal conflict. My husband advises a long stretch of public display of affections. Ego strokes. I think this advice may be a little self serving, but he's not wrong.

I tend to take a bite or two, then wait, then bite, then I lose interest and say "I'll come back for this later." Is it grazing if it takes me all afternoon to eat to eat my small portion lunch?

My first big weight loss (I lost 90 pounds a few years ago - gained much of it back - sleeved in early December 2015) had a similar thing. I said to my husband at the time (I guess THAT gives away the ending), "Hey, why don't you say I'm looking good?" He said, "I don't want to be disingenuous..." And there it was. Like many men, Mr. B had a type. When I wasn't that type any more, he was under no obligation to lie and say he fancied that new me. He didn't. There's not fault there, as I'm the one who changed. I've met and married someone else, and I met this fellow at the low point of my weight, and gain 50 pounds while our relationship progressed, then I was sleeved. As I loose now, I have all kinds of support from Mr. L - as the thinner girl is HIS type. No doubt - massive weightloss is something that changes us on many levels. This surgery is also a changer: I am a super sniffer now, and I don't get hangry like I used to. When did I start liking hot sauce? No, thanks, I DON'T want eggs any more - really. I wear different clothes and feel different things about what I see around me as hormones flow in new and interesting ways. People react to me differently. I'm in a Sci-Fi business and people who wouldn't take my calls at near 300 pounds think I'm so very interesting now.... Perception.... Reality... Horse... Cart... ??? Bariatric divorce is a real thing - I know first hand. Brace yourself or get to counseling.

I was also sleeved 12/08/15 and feel like this stall is kicking my butt. I was 243 day of surgery and now fluctuate between 208-210. Well, sleeve date buddy, I think part of this is we weren't level five morbidly obese people to start with. We were obese, of course, or we wouldn't have been approved by any surgeon for this, but it seemed to me the people with the most to lose, lose faster. Nevertheless, I feel 96% normal now. Like I haven't had surgery. I can eat what I want now and its okay. The surgery reminds me it has been after 5 bites, but until then, I'm me. Just me. Curious, did your insurance cover your surgery? Mine did not.

So, I will be at ten weeks on Tuesday, and I feel like I live in stall city.

I'm not the poster child for post surgery success. I could not stay ahead of the pain, and there were some issues that landed me in the ER. But, whether you are good at this or not, the two weeks WILL pass. And then week three sucks for different reasons. Everything changes, weeks by weeks. We southern girls are as fragile as coal trucks. We can survive anything... And thrive.

I am in line with the other "slow pokes" sleeved Dec 8. 5'11" and just a smidgen under 250 on surgery day, and 221.8 on last scale, so 28-ish pounds gone. Work folks are seeing a change. It is more than 10% of my body weight gone. That's not nothing. I saw no change on the scale for the last 10 days, but I did feel it in my pants. The muffin tops are melting. I'm getting enough protein and I'm improving on water intake, but its constantly reminding myself to drink. What I'm eating now is not what I thought I would be. Eggs and beef are not good. Fish is great. And undercooked goes down better than well done. 900 calories a day is what I'm getting. And I'm drunk on half a glass of wine. That's new. And I mean DrUnK.

It's been a week. How you hanging in there?

Me, too, with pot roast. But rare steak is okay. I only had a few bites, but it was more than what I could stomach of pot roast.

Get a massage, moving that lymph will help purge the hangover you are feeling. And that really is what it is. Hangover from sugars and carbs and caffeine. An electrolyte drink might be useful, too.

Slow down... This is going to be okay. Shhhhh... There we go. Okay? Let's start with "week three sucks." That seems to be universal. You are healing. Shit's still wacky. Prioritize. Get water in first. Then think protein. Chicken at this stage should be a slurry. Wet not dry. And week three sucks. When you irritate that stomach, its likely to swell and your volumes will be different. My hub has band, I have sleeve. We are totally different. He is 6 or so years into this, I'm new. Our priority is water, vitamins, protein, and then calories and not vomiting as distant goals. Keep in mind, you need extremely little food to live. You could drink shakes only for the rest of your life and survive well. There is no hurry to "get back to normal". Just chill. And week 3 sucks.

At 9 weeks post, I am now prone to getting chills. It is like I'm okay, then I get a touch cold and then boom - I'm in the deep freeze and I have to bundle up for an hour. In short, I fall into being cold quickly, and then it takes 10 times as long to get back to warm.

Tell me about this. What can one expect?

Beef goes down hard for me. Two bites and there is a rock in my belly. And I'm only slightly happier with chicken and pork. Fish is good, especially undercooked salmon. Eggs are hating me. Tonight, at a fancy restaurant, there was a chicken liver appetizer. I thought, mmmmm, that's like mostly pre chewed food already! They were cooked perfectly, not overdone, and they went down easy. Stayed down. I chewed and swallowed 3 lovely, lightly fried chicken livers. I didn't even feel overfull! At 57 cal each - fried - and 7g protein each, worse choices have been made. Check it out! It was good. (8.5 weeks post op, me, and almost 30 pounds down, feeling really good.)

So, I think there are some great spiritual gifts in WLS. One of the things I see folks saying around here is "whaaaa! I can't have ----- any more." Well, no. But you CAN discover a whole new world. Take in these new gifts. Don't miss it! That being said, I know there are some really great, on plan, comfort foods that really hit the spot. I found a new treat tonight, and I'm gonna share! Stoffers Spinach Souffle. It's warm, easy going down. 5g protein and 140 calories per serving. I added a quarter ounce of nutritional yeast and doubled the protein for 28 more calories. Now you.... What's your comfort?

I work at a school and I have, often, just a half cup of veg for lunch. I keep a shaker of nutritional yeast in my lunch bag, and shake it on. My 40 calories of cauliflower, become a 100 calorie "casserole" with almost 10 grams protein. And the beauty of NY is that it adds almost nothing in the way of volume.