Shaydi.Laine

I am way more fun now! So much more fun that I even have fun with myself! (And no I'm not talking about sex you dirty minded pervos!)

Sounds delish, just note that shrooms (veggies) do have carbs. Better carbs than crust, but still carbs I make such a mess with my pizza toppings that it doesn't matter if the shrooms are on the top or the bottom LOL. It all goes in the same place!

I skip the crust entirely. I had my first pizza at about 9 weeks out, but went with toppings only. The crust is really unimportant and takes up valuable space you need for the nurtrient richer tasty stuff! I ate the toppings off of one and half slices of pepperoni, mushroom, onion, and hamburger with extra cheese. It was awesome awesome and I even dropped a pound the day after Had I eaten the crust, I probably would have stalled or gained. My friend ate the rest of the pizza

You're welcome! I think my bariatric team and center and plan really have been excellent. I have had zero problems *knock on wood* (I don't want to jinx myself. LOL) and great results. You could share that plan with your nutritionist and see if she's good with it. But again all centers have their own idea of what's best.

Right, wrong or indifferent, all surgeons have their own idea of what's best. Yours does go against the norm and excellence or not, I think you are right to question her plan. Having been through a Protein rich recovery and doing really well, I know I would. Unless you are planning to travel back and forth to Mexico, you need a surgeon closer to home to work with you post-op anyway. Personally I would consult with that one. My surgery was done at a Center of Excellence. I was drinking Protein shakes the day after surgery (they wouldnt let me leave the hospital otherwise) and sent home on a full liquid diet which included 3 protein shakes a day, along with yogurt, pudding, Jello, cream Soups, Water, crystal light, sf popsicles. That was the first 2 weeks post op, then on to puree for weeks 3 & 4, then ground meats for weeks 4 through 7, then cleared for all foods. It has all been pretty easy overall and has worked a charm for me. Just bought a pair of size 6 denim shorts today. And they fit Good luck!! Edit: I want to add that how you feel is really the most telling thing. If protein shakes make you feel better, then you should have protein shakes. My .02 but I think it's as important as like.. .05 You don't want to feel weak when your body needs strength to repair itself.

My surgery would have been denied yes, but it was 10% of *excess* body weight. So someone needing to lose 200lbs, would only have to drop 20 on their own. It's not so bad and beats the hell out of the liquid pre op diet!

I'm not sure who invented the no straw rule but I suspect whoever it was, never had bariatric surgery. I have found since day 1 that drinking through a straw makes drinking easier and helps me drink more. I have never burped up mountains of air after drinking through a straw. I have an insulated plastic mason jar cup with a lid and a big straw. I use it every night and can easily get down 32 oz of water in the evening that way. If I just use a regular glass, I don't drink enough. I think the no straws rule is bunk and silly and unnecessary and I plan to tell my surgeon and nut that at my next appointments. Fight the battles that make sense, leave the poor straws alone. And just wait till they hear my thoughts on eating fat. Thank god for real butter and real mayo! (I will be elaborating on this in more detail when I share my successful stall busting stories.)

I have tried and tried again. I have rinsed them, dried them in a pan, tried different brands, with different sauces, watched countless you tube videos on preparing them, I so wanted to like them. But I can't. I just can't do it. To me the texture is just downright disgusting. Chewy and gross, no matter what I tried. Gelatinous worms. I gave up. Personal taste. Everyone should give them a try. If they work for you, I'm jealous. Me, I am OK with the occasional Atkins frozen Pasta meals and if I get the urge to actually cook pasta, a tiny portion of Dreamfields will hit the spot. I have also done just fine with the noodles in Progresso Soups. I don't eat those often, but what I have had has not halted my progress. Good luck

This thread has gotten silly. Way too much drama over nothing. Moving on...

I'm really sorry to hear that you don't feel responsible for your own success. Yes the surgery is an important catalyst, but the surgery isn't choosing what you put in your mouth or when and how often you eat, it's not taking your Vitamins for you nor is it building muscle, burning fat, or raising your metabolism. I do suspect you aren't eating the same crap you used to eat, or you wouldn't be as successful as you've been in your weight loss. So recognize that you yourself are the success in this, don't give all the credit to the surgery. If you aren't exercising, that's your choice of course, and I'm sure many have been successful without exercise, although I personally am enjoying great rewards from my time at the gym and my much more active lifestyle. I maintain that the surgery is secondary to how we as thinking human beings choose to use it. Yes it is greatly helpful for getting us on track and helping us stay on track, but it's not HOW we are losing weight. We are all losing weight by eating less and making better choices. In the end this is all up to us. If the surgery was how I was losing weight, I would be eating gooey pizza, crust and all, right this very second. Maybe followed by some nice sugary ice cream. But since that would cause me to gain weight, despite the surgery, I will instead have some lovely piece of Protein and no dessert. And that's MY decision. Choosing not to tell someone about the surgery is *not* lying. Saying you didn't have surgery when you did, that would be lying. And if anyone asks me that question, I will likely lie because it's none of their business. Meanwhile anyone who feels comfortable telling everyone about their surgery should go for it. Anyone who feels uncomfortable sharing that info, should keep it to themselves. No one should have to feel bad whether they choose to tell or not tell.

I was worried about this also, but so far it's been easy, I was even able to keep it from a best friend of 23+ years. (Just to see if could get away with it. He was the one person I finally told.) Luckily the weight loss bit is one thing you wont be able to keep to yourself. That's going to be blatantly visible. (yay!) So the fact that you are on a "diet" is sort of a "duh" answer. It's also enough of an explanation for how you are eating, not drinking booze, and no one notices that I don't touch my Water at the dinner table. The "diet" I am on, as I would tell anyone, is low carb, really small portions, and no alcohol. (That last bit is gonna change, but will remain minimal. Alcohol has always stalled my diet efforts.) You can also say you are eating 6 small meals a day instead of 3 large ones and it's working. Take those leftovers with you. You will want them later Surgery or no surgery, weight loss results are achieved through our own efforts and actions. The fact is that anyone can eat around their surgery and completely blow it, not to mention the effects of the surgery will wear thin eventually. The bulk of this is on us. We're just learning all the right moves for getting it off and more importantly, keeping it off.

Most are on a low carb, high protein plan after surgery, so I doubt anyone will tell you not to go low carb. My program required a 10% loss of excess body weight, no one told me how I HAD to get there. I just told my nut what i was doing and she wrote it down. Low carb for me ☺ all the way.

You don't have to lie about it. The surgery is not HOW you are losing weight. You are losing through diet and exercise. You are eating smaller portions, making healthy choices, and moving more. That is HOW you are losing weight. And that is an absolutely true, acceptable, and appropriate answer. The surgery is just a tool to help you do that, and it's nobody's business. Honestly I'm doing a lot more of the work than the surgery is. I could totally screw this up all on my own and the surgery couldn't stop me. I told no one except for my mother who had the lap band, my sister who is a nutritionist and tried to talk me out of it (biatch), and eventually my aunt and only because I needed her to pick me up from the hospital and spend a couple days with me. Even the friend who dropped me off at the hospital at 6am thought she was taking me for an upper GI series Then at 5 weeks in, I told one old friend who came to visit for a weekend. I thought he would call me crazy but to my shock he said he was very proud of me. And that's it. Outside of that tiny handful of people, I'm staying in the closet about this and am totally cool with that. I don't feel the need to share this bit of my life with all my friends and acquaintances, and I certainly wouldn't feel bad about not telling coworkers or strangers. Not comfortable talking about your private medical situations with the world? Then don't. It's not their business.

If you haven't been checked for fibroids, check that first. I had a fibroid embolism after years of horrible periods and it returned me to a teenager-like period status. Amazing results. I highly recommend that procedure if it applies. Good luck!!

This topic came up in my support group and just about everyone in the room agreed the world feels much cooler than before surgery. The cause, I dunno, but I think it's a probably a result of the surgery directly and not about fat loss, because i started feeling cold right away, as do many others. Personally I'm mostly happy about this as I used to feel too hot all the time and be sweating when no one else was. I also sleep much better and never wake up sweating. I may feel a lot different about this come winter, but for now, I'll take it.

That graphic should be a permanent side banner on this forum.

Seriously? That's an average of over 14 pounds a month and you are crying for help? I'm almost at the end of my third month and I've lost 6 pounds this month, 35 total since surgery and I'm thrilled. I don't understand why people think the weight loss is going to be like some constant wildfire, IT'S NOT. You are doing fantastic. Chill out This stuff takes time.

One time I drank 8 oz of Fluid just minutes before eating. I had just gotten in from a long day of errands and was both really hungry and really thirsty. Tossed food in the microwave and poured me one dixie cup, then another. I did it without thinking really. And that was the one and only time I vomited my dinner. Lesson learned. It's a tough one to get used to and still seems weird not to have a glass of something next to my dinner plate. But It really is extremely difficult to do both at the same time. It hurts for one thing, and then there's the puking.... I will say that if I am eating something incredibly dry, i might take a *tiny* sip of something just to add moisture. That's very rare occurrence however. I try to avoid dry or tough foods. Also suggest going light on the salt to help keep thirst at bay.

One test I never had to have was a sleep study. I got delayed by a couple months due to an abnormal mammogram (which took a shocking 4 weeks to get an appointment for, then two more weeks for them to read the results) followed by a biopsy (another week to get appointment for that) and then it all turned out to be nothing. My advice, get the required tests done immediately. Pap smear, mammo, blood work, ekg, colonoscopy, endoscopy. Those have to have been done within the past year in order to "qualify." I lost a lot of time making most of these appointments after I had reached my pre-op weight loss. Check with your program to make sure you know all of their required tests early, and get them out of the way!

Well foo, somehow the quote ended up looking like part of my post and I can't fix it. Can't say I'm a fan of the time limit on editing posts.

I attended the mandatory info session in July 2015 and it took till March 2016 to get to surgery. Most programs will have a bunch of mandatory hoops (weight loss, classes, tests) to jump through. My program said the absolute minimum would be 4 months and that was very rare. 6 months was more common. It took almost 9 months for me. So if I had to bet, I would bet against you getting surgery this summer, but you may get lucky. If summer turns out to be a no go, you could aim for a school vacation. One week of vacation plus a week off will probably be enough if you are getting the sleeve. It was plenty for me. I wish you luck!

I'm still pre-op, looks like surgery may happen next month.. Paperwork is still getting in other.. Like any other normal person I'm afraid of pain... I'm thankful for your sharing your positive story... How has your weight loss gone? I'll having to keep using shopping as a motivator in mind My weight loss has gone very well. 17 pounds the first month, 12 pounds the second month. I'm almost 12 weeks out now and total 34 pounds lost since surgery. Nearly 50 pounds gone since my initial weigh in, and only 36 more to go. I've lost 7 inches off my waist, i have almost no hips/butt left whatsoever. (I wish that part would stop shrinking LOL) Squeezed myself into a pair of size 5/6 capris I bought yesterday (tho admittedly they run large) and they look amazeballs on me Have had a couple of nice stalls, which are as annoying to me as they are to anyone else, but i understand the science.. and I AM a professional dieter after all so I do know the drill. This ain't my first rodeo. I just hope it's my last!! Shopping is an awesome motivator. Buy stuff that doesn't fit and keep trying it on until it does! Will help keep you on track and away from the evil carbs. I started out wearing 1x, 2x .. and now I wear medium to large depending on cut and manufacturer. My largest jeans were size 18, now I wear 7/8 & 9/10 (plus my fake 5/6 capris) My goal is a real 5/6 in jeans. PS. start lifting weights as soon as you are allowed (starting now can't hurt either) Muscle increases metabolism and seeing muscle definition in my arms and legs now (instead of flabby flab) is just awesome. I know I'm trading fat for muscle which weighs more, so I'm not dwelling on weight as much as i am inches right now.

@ NH and thanks it really was pretty simple and uneventful. Honestly aside from getting reallllyyyyy tired of liquids and dying to eat something solid (which I did not do till my nut gave the ok), and a bit of discomfort while rolling over in bed (mainly just the first week) I can't recall much "recovery" at all. Like most people, I imagine, I was expecting to be splayed out on the sofa for weeks, moaning and groaning. LOL That was not the case at all. I was back to my life lickity split. And really, a little major surgery isn't going to stop ME from shopping. Oh hell no! I hope that post helps calm some pre-op nerves out there!

Ok, first off the hunger is probably real. Mine was. I was hungry right after surgery and didn't stop being hungry ALL THE TIME until about 2 weeks post op, then things got better. This is different for some people, the lucky ones are never hungry, the unlucky have to deal with hunger. That said, I get so frustrated reading posts from people who cheat early after surgery. This is a hint at epic failure down the road. If you cannot control yourself while healing from having your *stomach cut out*, you are going to be hard pressed to control yourself once the hard healing is over. Seek professional help instead of cheating. There are plenty of ways to alleviate hunger without making stupid (sorry but crackers, chips, crunchy anything, hard to digest meats, things with seeds, popcorn etc are really freekin' stupid) choices. I can't believe some of the things people decide to shovel down their throats while their bellies are healing!! STOP IT ALL OF YOU!!! I thrived on yogurt, pudding, and cream Soups. I made it through, so can anyone. Really, if you feel you must cheat, see your team psychologist. If you don't have one, find one. This is possibly the single most important thing you can do in terms of getting a handle on long term success NOW.

I have adjusted pretty well. I used to stock the cabinets and freezer, but I barely buy anything at the grocery now. I go often and buy just the things I will need for a few days. When I buy meats, I portion everything out and freeze it. And now that a portion is one small chop, one piece of chicken, one this or one that, a package of whatever kind of meat is good for several meals! It's kinda fun getting to use the express checkout lanes and getting out of the grocery store for just $20-30 bux. And it's a lot less stuff to lug home and put away. Of course this doesn't work if you're feeding a family but .. I'm not