Christinamo7

I'll miss seeing your posts.

how is it possible? Water retention, or constipation. If your calories in are less than your calories out, it is not fat. if you are eating way to little your body will hold on to water too. just keep following the plan, and it will sort it's self out.

I have popcorn sometimes. So far, it does not seem to be a slider food for me at all. I can eat about 1.5 cups and I am DONE. but it is a nice occasional snack.

your weight loss seems to be well above average - it's normal for it to slow down. just keep following the plan.

my doctor told me as soon as I wanted to. so, if nausea makes you not want to - then wait a while. or look for a time of day when you are not feeling the nausea. or you may find that you and your partner prefer gentle rather than vigorous for a little while and that's fine, because it's all good, eh?

so the deal is 90% of this is what you eat and when. you follow your eating plan you will loose weight whether or not you exercise. most of us were restricted to just walking for around 4 weeks or so while healing. but when I read the long term success stories, I would say the vast majority of them have found some sort of physical activity they enjoy. the ones who look the best seem to get into some sort of weight lifting.

I think it's fairly normal - I am between 4-5 months and my weight has been staying mostly the same for about 3 weeks. Granted I've had a lot going on (a flare up of auto-immune - steroids - and a death of an immediate family member) but still - stalls are frustrating a bit. When I have been paying attention to other things I noticed my body is really changing - my face and stomach are smaller. Have your measurements changed? now that my immediate trauma's are over it is time for me to get back to my main focus being on my diet (Protein protein protein) and moving my body. gentle yoga and walking for now. I hope to soon hear from you, and experience for myself, that the scale will be moving again too!

I avoid fake sugar (I tend to use Stevia, but no other sugar substitutes), fake butters - and fat free dairy. I try to avoid corn products, or simple carbs for the most part.

well I can promise you this, your taste buds will adapt. it's just like people who drink skim milk, regular milk tastes like it leaves a film on their mouth, and people who drink regular milk feel that skim tastes watered down. when you do eat old favorites they just will probably not taste as good as you remember. which means that in order to have long term success you need to find other ways to allow yourself to feel love. you need to find things other than food that allow you to love yourself. a hobby, a sport, an activity...... those kinds of things. I get manicures, I go for long walks, I soak in a scented epsom salts bath, I crochet and do quilting projects. I have so much more energy for the things I enjoy. and once I got back on real food, I enjoy cooking for my family and eating just the bits that fit within my plan. I would rather have loose skin than skin filled out with fat. I do get hungry but it is nothing like the hungry monster I battled with before surgery. now I just get an empty feeling if I don't eat often enough. but you are worth it! get professional help if needed -

hungry feels more like empty for me now - but I have from the beginning felt real hunger. it is just manageable for me now compared to before surgery when it nagged at me all the time. and I am not talking about the head hunger or acid. I was up and walking right away - and I was cleared for other exercise/lifting things as tolerated at my 4 week check up. and you have to be working with your team if you start working out hard, as too much of a calorie defect can halt your weight loss also.

it protects your job. a woman in my face to face support group did not take FMLA and had some ongoing complications and lost her job. My FMLA was continuous right after the surgery and covers my appointments for the whole first year complete. so they can not tell me know if I need to go for any kind of follow up at all related. which is good because my PCP has been monitoring my blood pressure as we are slowly taking me off BP meds.

a month of clear liquids - YIKES. I try to think of it this way - in terms of food texture - if your arm was seamed up the side, which would feel better against that incision - a Protein drink or cottage cheese, or a slice of crispy bacon- and the answer is obvious, the liquid or cottage cheese would hurt less against that wound. well, the inside of your stomach is a wound like that in the first month. you'll get the hang of it. I understand the sleeve is a whole different feeling than the lap bad was. how much do you need to loose after your conversion?

I am not an every day tea drinker, but I always have a tsp of honey in my tea. It's counted in my daily calories and is fine. I have ever since the Clear liquids phase. in the beginning of being post sleeve I had a weird pain type feeling with every sip I had no matter what temperature the liquid was. this went away fairly quickly for me.

just give it a try. the cautions for straw is because if you suck in too much air your tummy could hurt. so if you use this and your tummy hurts, don't use it for a while. if your tummy doesn't hurt, you're fine. let us know how it goes!

thank you everyone. I am sorry for everyone of you who has also experienced such a traumatic loss - but to know you are all still going on is, well. it's good to know.

keep a diary of these issues in case you pursue skin removal.

one thing I do is on the weekend I typically pre-prepare a bunch of Protein. chicken breasts, ground sirloin and ground turkey blend, etc. sometimes I make ahead touch down taco dip and then divide it in to servings. I measure out some Snacks that are almonds, dried cherries and a couple of chocolate chips. I pre-prepare snacks of cottage cheese or ham with swiss and asparagus roll ups. so they are grab and go in the fridge for during the week. I fix my work lunches with the prepared Proteins. the ones I listed are cooked with garlic salt and pepper and are versatile. I can add salsa, or spag sauce or mexican seasonings. The rest of the protein goes in the fridge for dinners and then it is a simple thing to prepare an easy meal that fits with my calories/protein goals in the evening when I don't even want to do anything at all.

I would say most people experience a more vibrant good health afterwards, and many you see that have had surgery you don't know because you can't tell from looking at them. I know I tried to move a bookcase by myself about 10 days ago. could have done it before, but I have less weight to throw around and I did have to get help. That's ok, but it is an attitude adjustment for me. I am sure other things change as we re-evaluate our relationship with food and with moving our body. As we set and attain new goals. this is a good thing, and makes us better. Sometimes we need a little professional help to make and learn to live with those changes, that is absolutely perfectly ok! sometimes we just have people in our lives that meet that need. this is a good place to get that support as you go through the process.

I was sedated before we went to the OR and put under in there.

thank you friends - and @ Thankfully I am a stress cleaner and a happy eater - so for me the challenge will be making myself eat and drink. probably tomorrow I will do my normal work week prep so I have Snacks and lunches all ready to put in my lunch box and just do my best to make sure I actually eat them every day. I just do not really "want to" anything - and that is probably normal right now.

I do understand your frustration! when I went in for my pre op testing they found a medical issue that was either cancer or an infection or an auto immune disorder. I had to have months of tests and dr visits before they finally decided to let me proceed with WLS. and only then because they think it is probably the auto immune one. still don't know for sure. All you can do is continue to try to resolve the underlying medical issue and then move forward - it is hard to keep up hope, boy do I know it, but I can tell you it is WORTH it to get to the other side.

I was down just over 40 pounds at 4 months.

I had to pay my share up front but yikes. I was told at my first appointment an estimate not at the end! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Thankfully my plan allows fruit and veg along with some other carbs. I make sure I'm getting my Protein in and usually eat it with protein as a habit due to formerly being diabetic. My blood sugar stays normal and that alone makes this a successful change and worth the surgery. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App