mylighthouse

This all looks divine! I wouldn't know which to eat for my first meal!

Congratulations, keep up the hard work!

Congratulations.... keep up the hard work!

Hello, Sorry you are having the pain...I didn't have much of that at all w/ sleeve or bypass revision surgery, but I did with my open abdominal hernia surgery. Brutal, unrelenting pain in the area you described it... back/shoulder pain....ugh..... That is gas pain, as people have already told you. People say walking helps, please try that, it may help you...it didn't help me. My pain lasted for almost 3 weeks, never thought it would go away, but it finally did. You are only a few days out, yours may not last long....but seriously, walk as much as you can, it's worth a shot to try and push the gas out.

Oh yes! I am always saying "My butt hurts!" It really does hurt! Don't even get me started on how painful taking a bath is now....no more nice long baths. My butt even hurts when riding on a fairly soft seat in the car.

@ummyasmin I ddon't know what the exact calorie count was. It was over 200 a slice for a cheese pizza on the fathead crust. I know calories with the cheese/ almond flour crust are fairly high, as it has a lot of mozzarella and a little cream cheese in the recipe. I don't log with myfitnesspal anymore...for now, anyway. Also, the fathead pizza recipe I found didn't tell me how many servings.... it just said "per serving" (?) . But...low carb, high protein, and delicious! Your cauliflower pizza crust pizza looks great....I would eat it and think it wasn't too dark...yum!

What's for dinner? Fathead pizza.... that's right, I said "PIZZAAAA"!!!! Which answers a very frequently asked question here at bariatricpal.... "can I ever have pizza again?". Why YES YOU CAN!!! That is, if you have arrived to the solid food stage after your WLS. I discovered fathead pizza about a year ago. It is absolutely wonderful. It is a VERY low carb/protein crust, and then you top with your choice of toppings. Just google "fathead pizza" if you want the crust recipe. So today, I was really craving pizza. So I went to the grocery store and got what I needed. Turned out I wasn't as hungry as I though I was, but no worries, there will probably be leftovers for the next couple of days, even though I'm sharing the pizza with my son and husband. Toppings are: ground turkey, pepperoni, mozarella cheese, red onion, red pepper, green pepper, and jalepenos. It really was..... OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Hi That's awesome! I love Dr. Parrent and his staff. You just had your surgery... very cool!

All these pics are making me hunggggryyyy!! This looks like a fun challenge, I hope I can keep up with it! I think I'm on board. Way to go, everyone!

"First Breakfast" was at 6:00 this morning. The pics are of "Second Breakfast". I don't think I can fit anymore breakfasts in before lunch. Second breakfast was delicious: single serving of cottage cheese with homemade black bean and corn salad on top. Black beans, corn, tomato, orange pepper, jalepeno, garlic and cilantro in a lime/oil marinade sweetened with liquid Stevia drops. I will also top my mixed green/grilled chicken salad with this black been salad for lunch today. SO GOOD. And of course, I ate it all.

@GreenTealael The pizza looks wonderful. Questions for you.... how was the cauliflower crust? Did it hold up well and did it taste good? Thanks! Looked the crust up and found my usual local Wal-Mart has them in stock.

Yes, you've lost a lot in 3 months, so way to go and keep up the awesome work!! So, I had stalls along the way, of course. When I was around 4 months post-op, I had a month long stall. I went to see my nutritionist and we went over my eating habits. We figured out that I was only getting in about 600 calories a day. I was eating TOO LITTLE for my body to lose weight. She told me to up my calories to 900 a day. So I did, and I really started dropping the weight again. I tell you this because you mentioned that you hardly eat anything. If you are eating just a spoonful here and there, then most likely you are not getting enough calories throughout the day. You might give your nutritionist a visit. Also, after dropping 90 pounds in 3 months, your body will "pause" and recoup, your body has been working hard losing that weight. You will lose more, don't worry about that. Way to go!

In the beginning first few weeks after my revision to bypass, I was able to drink lots of plain water... but it had to be ice cold, as with all of my drinks since the surgery. You might find trying water at different temperatures, if you do run into trouble getting water down. Your taste buds may or may not change after surgery. Everyone is different.

Hello Congratulations on 55 lbs lost so far... that's awesome! Yep, stalls definitely happen along the way...I stalled a few times... but you gotta just keep pluggin' along! Sorry to hear that you need gallbladder surgery. I did too, had it about a year post op the sleeve. You will feel better after you get that sucker out! Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Keep on going with your post op journey.... you're doing great!

Wow, you look a amazing! Congratulations on your success and keep up the awesome work!

Challenge Starting weight: 148 Current weight lost: 186 Losing or maintaining weight: maintaining Fitness/exercise goal: 3 times a week to start: 15 min at a time Total weight loss at the end of challenge: (Post January 1st 2019) no more than 3 pounds Exercise has been my biggest challenge, due to pain issues...I want to start there..... Looking to maintain/not drop below 145 pounds as well. Thanks for the challenge.

Congratulations on your success! Love it.... no excuses! Keep up the amazing work and enjoy maintenance.

Congratulations on your success! You look great!

If you want some delicious, quick and easy protein pancakes that are low carb, try the cottage cheese/rolled oat/egg white recipe. Google search... I used to eat those quite a bit, my husband loved them too. I need to make them again soon....yummy!

I agree with everyone else, the shoulder pain sounds like gas. After my revision of sleeve to bypass, the shoulder pain was unbearable. For me, walking did not help my shoulder pain. For others, it does help, so definitely give walking a try. My shoulder pain lasted for 2 stinkin' weeks....it was bad. Was so glad when it finally went away. So sorry to hear about the staple issue....hope you feel better soon, hang in there.

Hello, I'm sorry that you're dealing with chronic pain. People have responded to your post with some good information... it's always good to hear other people's experiences.... especially when you are in a position like yours. When you are dealing with long-term chronic pain, it can be depressing... you get to where you feel like NO ONE understands what you are going through. A lot of people do not understand, because they haven't had to deal with chronic pain before. Speaking from my own personal experience, it is easy after years of chronic pain to feel hopeless because you have tried so many medications, etc, etc, and nothing helps. Not to mention all of the side effects that may occur from taking these medications, drug interactions, etc etc. My story.... I'll keep it short (haha... I'll try). Had a colon resection in 2015 that kept me in the hospital for 2 months! It was my first "open" abdominal surgery. Over the last 6 years, I have had 7 abdominal surgeries, 3 "open". I have terrible scar tissue/abdominal pain. I know my surgeon cut away some adhesions when he repaired my incisional hernia. Several months after my colon resection, my surgeon told me that I may need to stay on Tramdol the rest of my life. Here I am 4 years later and I'm still taking 300 mg of Tramadol a day. My current med combo for pain only is Tramadol, ES Tylenol and Gabapentin. The Gabapentin worked for awhile, but one time when I was in the hospital a few months ago, they thought I had a bad reaction to it. It turned out that my sodium level had just dropped like crazy and it was causing probs. So I temporarily weaned off Gabapentin before they pinpointed low sodium being the problem. Now I am back up to 1800 mg of Gabapentin a day, and it does not help much. When I saw my surgeon yesterday, he said to talk to my GP about increasing the Gabapentin or trying something else, like Lyrica. Ideally, I would love to be med free as far as pain meds go. I spend most of my time in bed. Exercise makes my pain worse. Fluffy had some really good insight.... I think exercise is great, but I guess in some chronic pain cases, it may actually make pain worse. I definitely think you need to give exercise a shot and see if it helps. I also can attest to the fact that carrying around extra weight can make pain worse. I also use some salves/rubs for my scar tissue/nerve pain in my abdomen. They help ease pain temporarily. The other thing that I've been trying for 3 months now is CBD (no THC). I take a CBD tincture under my tongue twice a day. I also have a CBD vape. You see what I'm saying? When you are dealing with chronic pain, you are willing to try different things... I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I feel desperate. BUT, it can be dangerous too.... there are things out there that may be "natural" products, herbal supplements, etc, that can be harmful. I try to research things before I buy them. I hope that you can find something that will help you get through the pain issue. In the meantime, remember that you're not alone, as you can see from the response of others here. It is nice to know that others can understand or somewhat understand what you're going through, isn't it? Afterall, we are human and knowing that others can identify in some way with us actually helps "lift" our spirits a bit. At least I know it's helped me. Good luck and keep your chin up!

My before and after pics; Starting weight 334 lbs.... Current weight 145 lbs. Down from a size 28 to a size 4/6.

Hello, I might not be the "norm", but wanted to share. Everyone is different. Personally, I had no regret and the surgery and diet, etc, did not mess with me. It was such an amazingly easy transition. I did the liquids for 2 weeks, the pureed for 2 weeks, soft for 2 weeks.... you get the idea. Not everyone's doctor has the exact same plan for the food stages. Over the last couple of years, I have seen that a lot of people have trouble with regretting their decision while going through the different food stages. Not the case for me, it was very easy. I'm not gloating or anything... lol... just sharing my experience because who knows, you could be lucky and have no issues! Wouldn't that be nice? The main thing is to take it one day at a time. Don't think too much about how the surgery might change you mentally or emotionally. Yes, it's good to have a plan and be prepared, but don't dwell or worry about things that may not even bother you as you progress in your journey. Good luck on your surgery.... you're almost there!

Hello, I'm sorry to hear about the complications you've had following your bypass surgery. Now my curiosity is up concerning the hot flashes after surgery. I am getting hot flashes like crazy, but mostly at night when I'm sleeping. They are so annoying and uncomfortable. I am hot, so I kick the covers off, then I get cold... and it can just continue like that for hours, which is really tough because I'm losing sleep. Makes me feel like poop the next day. Anyway, I had my bypass revision around May 1st of this year. I guess the hot flashes started about 2 months ago. I am starting to wonder if I am perimenopausal, although I don't have any of the usual "symptoms" other than the hot flashes. I am 47 and had a hysterectomy 8 years ago, but my surgeon left my ovaries. Not much help to ya, but wanted to jump in on this topic since I'm experiencing something similar. I might dig around and find some of the posts/conversation on this topic. Wish you the best, get well soon and congratulations on your bypass surgery.

I'm so sorry to hear of your blocked bowel, surgery, and all of the problems that it entailed. I have had a bowel resection before (horrible), and many surgeries... similar experience to yours. I know it is not fun.... it is real rough. No cancer for me. You have good reason to be "shaken up", worried, things like that. This is serious. I wish you the very, very best. Keep your chin up.