FluffyChix

Also as @Kay07 vary the viscosity of your protein! Try protein puddings (mix instant ff sugar free pudding with fairlife ff milk + a scoop of protein powder or peanut butter powder and make into pudding. You can even mix it with some ff whipped cream (I use Land o' Lakes) and then plop it by spoons onto plastic wrap and freeze them into little pillows of protein heaven. Make slushies, make protein teas (hot and cold), protein coffees/lattes/iced coffee/frappacinos. Make Wendy's protein Frosties. Add some fruit and blend the hell out of it. If you're worried about too much fiber in there, push it through a strainer. Sometimes just making it thick like a milk shake helps. You can do that by adding a bit of avocado or a small piece or 2 of frozen banana. Eat sf fudgsicles, and make protein popsicles and protein ice cream if you have an ice cream freezer.

I hit first goal in 8.5 months. Now I'm working on 2nd Goal and am about 9lbs from it. My first two months were the fastest weight loss. You can see my weight loss progression in my signature bar.

Congrats!! Honestly, the waiting was the hardest part for me!

I hate to be that girl...but do you mean February 2019 Sleevers? Cuz I was a 2018 Sleever. LOL. And welcome. Just go click "Edit" and change your date.

Hang in there girl! It's not a sign of failure. It's a sign of life. You're totes human! It's a sign of being on a liquid diet for 2-4 weeks or more! Nothing else. By the time it was time for me to move to mushies stage, I swore I could sacrifice small animals and rodents just to have a taste of real live food with texture. I was having obscene sex dreams about poached fish and soft scrambled eggs. LOL. Swearsies. Look at this as an endurance test with wicked feats of strength required and a right of passage. Welcome to the other side. In 6 months, you will be so glad you held firm and followed your doc's plan for you.

I love IF. I'm back down to my published weight after this weekend's hedonistic bacchanalia. (Just sayin', Johan Sebastian...man everyone should party with that dude!)

I would wear it to work, to play, to restaurants and plays! To Walmart. I'd have 7 of them and wear 1 per day. Oh and I would also have a boom box with me playing this repetitively...

Ok, here's some stuff: I have this cream called Pennsaid. https://www.pennsaid.com/ Then also: Emla Cream https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-2358-8170/emla-topical/lidocaine-prilocaine-cream-topical/details Aloe Vera with Lidocain (Walgreens/CVS) Oatmeal Baths (colloidal oatmeal) - Aveeno (Walgreens/CVS) Cold Baths Cold Compresses No tight clothing Then the big guns: Gabapentin (Neurontin) Amytriptiline (nerve pain, tri-cyclic anti-depressant) Norco (hydrocodone + acetominophen) - 10/325 (I take this when I can't stand the pain anymore.) Also the combo of muscle relaxants and Norco works awesome when the neuralgia is at a 8-10. Hope those help you hon!

Personally, I don't think you've been here long enough to qualify for either one...

I'm simply commisserating with @Matt Z for receiving a fairly callous slam from you. And sure, I had to go to the ER after RNY. I did EVERYTHING to try to figure out how to quit projectile vomiting and keep water down. Why? Cus I knew the ER in our town would take a minimum of 8 hours to get seen and helped. And by then I'd either be dead or would have gotten better and I didn't want to inconvenience Mr. F. So yeah, I know a little about trying to rationalize a decision about whether or not it's really an emergency. And for the record, I'm not bullying you or anyone else. That is not the definition of it. It's simply an arbitrary me2 kind of argument that is popular to pull out and use in today's world. Sick of that one too.

You are so dang adorable and I LOVE the outfit!!! I just wanna put ya in my pocket and take ya home! You have this teensy weensy waste and bum and legs and i wanna either be you or @skinnylife when I grow up!

That was a pretty douchy thing to say--and if a guy had said that to a woman, he would have been roasted for being sexist. Matt spends hours helping people here with very factual information and has deep compassion. The OPs situation is very dire. And she's using her children as a rationalization for not going to the ER mainly cuz she knows ultimately the ER is a giant PIA and represents a time-sink. Wah. Baby wah. And so she's just sitting and spinning on her thumb rather than taking action for her own health and being an adult. She'd rather whine and talk about "conspiracy theory" than do something constructive. She could: 1. Go to the ER like any rational adult. 2. She could force ice chips. 3. She could use Biotene spray to help the metallic taste go away (most of us had to deal with that--as rational adults) 4. She could use citrus wedges or infused waters from watermelon, strawberry, cucumber, anything. 5. She could hold her nose and get the forking water down her piehole--again like any rational adult faced with a dehydration crisis. But does she? Nope. And the dehydration feeds the irrationality and the exhaustion, and the panic and the lack of good decision making skills. A temper tantrum has never helped someone get through a crisis. Never.

Holy fu*k man!!!! Where to start on this???!!! My mother hubbard feathers are all fluffed out and I'm flouncing around wanting to comfort you in many areas...and yet I know, you don't want that, because you are a strong and capable person used to dealing! I'm still sorry you are going through this and wish my magic wand did something more than play bippity boppity boo. I totally get your position on that thread. And agree. And no, I do not think things need to be sugar coated. I'm very sick of that anyway. Why does it ALL involve sugar. Right? She's in a world of hurt right now. And her dehydration is making her irrational and also further complicating the metallic taste from ketosis and maybe from anesthesia hangover and from dehydration. And the poster that said you couldn't understand cuz you're not a mom, made me see red! Holy moly! What a tool/douc*e! Now about the shingles. DAYUM!!!!! You never said a word hon! So very sorry you are going through this!!! There is no anti-viral that will help at all? And neurontin doesn't work for the burning fire? (no idea) Can you see if they will allow you to get some lidocaine cream for the pain? There is one that is a special order that does have some NSAID but my surgeon allowed it in limited use on the skin. Also Emla cream is pretty amazing (prescription lidocaine)--used it to numb my port for chemo. I'm sorry you won't make goal by your time frame. It's a gut buster to have to deal with that on top of your shingles. But I think now we know why you didn't make it!!!! It's a perfect storm designed to keep the homey down. ((hugs)) 1. Shingles 2. Lack of sleep 3. Cortisol out the wazoo cuz of all of that! I am really proud you are at the gym despite the pain. You surely have reason not to go!!!! And the mountain climb puts fear in my heart. LOL. Holy fu*k! 5000ft/5 miles/30lbs of gear. Can you get a mule? (or a small mountain pony?)

Dayum, I want to give multi-emojis for this! ((hugs)) Ok flying to see the flack. I SWEAR I almost posted to the SMH thread this morning! Maybe on the same post! LOL. BBIAF to finish posting here! You are a rockstar Matt. I honestly hope you know that! I (and everyone else here) hold you in VERY high regard hon!

How is y'all's IF going? @Matt Z how are you doing? Been wondering if you're hangin in there and if you are still IFing? So all good plans of mice and men...a funny thing happened on the way to make my first meal after the 39hr. LOL. I didn't make it to 40. Wah. Wah. Wahhhhh. Thanks for playin'! LOL. I just became ravenous and did not want to fight it. And I gave in. We went out of town on a family weekend to WurstFest and I brought home tons of contraband we bought to share. Only we had some leftover. Things like sliced hard salami, pimiento cheese, hummus, cheese--gobs and gobs of it, and sliced lunchmeat (turkey) out the wazoo--to kingdom come. And I caved. I am a master rationalizer. I rationalized that we need to start eating this crap to get it out of here before we lose money on it. (We can't really afford to waste money on groceries that we don't eat--which is partly why we brought the crap back INTO the house, once we'd originally moved it OUT of the house.) LOL. So it was a reasonable-ish lunch. Still way bigger and way more than I'd planned for my first meal. And I could predict how it would hit me...pain at my hiatal area and a little bit up from there...feeling like food is stuck in my esophagus, feeling nauseated. Good times! LOL. And I was still gonna have a very low cal day (around 550 cals for a good day of food), but it's now inflated by about 300 more cals to about 800. This is how quickly "crap" - highly nutrient dense food adds up. And how you can find yourself eating over your threshold for losing very easily if you don't mind your p's and q's! That's partly why I weigh and/or measure everything and log like an OCD person (not that there's anything wrong with that)! 373 calories for lunch. Folks, I RARELY have a meal that has over 300 cals in it. You're welcome.

My RD told me I could blend up egg into soup so that it was homogenous. It's easy to do. Put the eggs in a drink blender and pour hot soup into it as it whizzes like you're making hollandaise and adding hot butter. Then it doesn't really curdle.

Mine very minimal as well. I kept asking, "Are you sure you did anything?"

You're welcome! I forgot to mention, if you don't have lactose intolerance probs, the Premier Protein Clear (Peach Mango) is great mixed with iced tea!!! So dang good!

Get it out of the house, or make the kids hide it from you. LOL.

You can use decaf tea too. Just make sure your flavor combo works! I do like blueberry tea with vanilla Isopure and blueberries and spinach, or other Celestial Seasonings flavors. You just have to be sure everything is very well blended so you don't inadvertently get seeds that might still irritate you. I really liked peach tea blended with frozen peaches, yogurt, spinach, avo, etc. lol. or Premier peaches and cream shaken with green decaff or peach tea over ice is phenomenal!

Wow! It feels kinda nutty in here... is it just me? bahahahahaha 🎉

Congrats! You can do this!!

Hahahaha! I do think diluting them makes them go down easy, but I never had issues drinking anything liquid. Also if you hate prepared drinks, maybe consider making your own. You don't even have to use protein powder. You can use things like yogurt, cottage cheese, Fairlife FF milk. It will all add up. Add peanut butter powder, spinach, blueberries, avocado for creaminess--even walnuts and things. Then blend the crap out of it until it's TOTALLY smooth and homogenous. You thin it down with Fairlife FF milk until it's a drinkable comfortable consistency for your new anatomy. Then you control how sweet it is. I use liquid stevia and mine are way less sweet. One of my faves was Bananas and Cream (Isopure powder) mixed with decaff coffee blended with a bit of ice for a Cocomo Joe Frapp. I also loved Premier Protein Bananas and Cream shaken with decaff and served over ice. Really cut the sweetness and was liquid like iced coffee. But some do not tolerate the Whey Concentrate from Premier.

Yum! That burger with the egg and cheese looks phenomenal!!!! Was that breakfast, lunch or dins? @GreenTealael What does "those were the days" mean? Can you eat "way" more now, do you struggle with hunger? Or you don't eat turkey burgers any longer? Inquiring minds and all!

TY! Ok, thanks for the tip! I may defer lunch to dinner. And for lunch I'll get some bone broth out and have it with a few super greens and mushrooms in it first. You know it's really strange, I expected it to be so much harder. And that I would be starving this morning (especially after the food fest this weekend), but I'm curiously not. I feel like I could go another day or more. But since I have a big test tomorrow, I want to eat normally tonight to make sure I don't inadvertently skew the results of the test.