FluffyChix

Congrats!!! I'm so happy for you and really appreciate you sharing the journey with us and all your hard work both physical and head/emotional work!

I would take 1-2 small snacks + lunch. If you are on solids: Snack 1: 1 hb egg + 1/2oz blueberries Lunch: 2-3oz dense protein + 1-2oz cooked veg + 1tbsp WF Asian Vinaigrette (or WF Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette) OR if you can 2-3oz dense protein + 1cup of mixed salad (mixed greens, peeled cucumber, rbp, red onion, radish, avocado, gr. tomatoes) + WF vinaigrette Snack 2: 1 string cheese + 1/2oz almonds +/- 1oz Granny Smith apple with or without the peel OR if you can 1 deli meat/cheese rollup with 1-2oz raw veg (baby carrots, peeled celery, cucumber, radish) + 2tbsp Lite Salad Dressing like Ranch or BC (I heart Boar's Head Reduced Sodium Lacy Swiss slices + BH blackened turkey + baby spinach or shredded cabbage and purple onions rolled up in a wrap. Then as I eat it I drizzle on WF Italian Dressing. I usually have 2-3 grape tomatoes, or 1 GT + 2-3 slices of cucs + 1-2 baby carrots.) Boom. You're done. I eat some variation of these things every day for lunch. I "might" have 1 small snack if needed in the afternoon.

I still go back to this one for drinking. I can't tell you how much it's helped me from a satiety standpoint. Pouch Rules For Dummies--which I can't find an active link to now. It's for mature pouches and sleeves, and shouldn't be used in the first 6 months. But in a nutshell: Drink about 6-8oz of water as quickly as possible. The take small sips to keep full to the point that you don't want to swallow any more. You do this about 15 minutes before a meal. Then drink nothing more until after you eat. Then you wait a minimum of 45 minutes to 2 hours until you drink again. At that point, you sip, sip, sip on water to fully hydrate your tool. It only works if you've been hydrating all along. So I roughly drink 1 bottle of water between 2hours after a meal and up to the 15 minutes before a meal. Then I drink another 1/2 bottle+ a little more to water load. You can also use the water loading technique once you are healed fully (around 6 months) any time you're hungry or munchy. It will fill you up for about 15-30 minutes (or at least it does me). By doing this you are getting all your water in, and you keeping yourself from being snakky. I can't tell you how many times I thought I was hungry, when I was actually thirsty. I am able to drink between 4-6 bottles of water a day (16.9floz).

Wow! Cool!

Did you see if they showed the optimal intake per day based on size? I didn't find it. Nice study!

Congrats Mike!! You rock!

I'm struggling with motivation at 6 months out. So I do get it. But I will remind you--cuz otherwise why post the mea culpa bs? LOL. Fuc* transparency. We are not your confessors. So either: A) You want confirmation that your actions are not seriously screwin you and permission to go forward on this path that can only end in disappointment --in it's present derivation. OR B ) You actually want motivation and a kick in the hiney to get your sh*t back in gear. So which is it? Otherwise, this post is just a ginormous waste of your time. I know why I'm posting here again. I want to be held accountable. I want to borrow motivation from others until I can generate my own motivation. So I read here about all the wonderful losers and how they succeed. And I plot and plan. What I'm doing to get the love back is making small changes: 1. Making sure to get my 100+ oz of fluid in each day (plain water + 3 cups decaff) 2. Kicking crap snacks or just snacks and bites to the curb. I can literally "taste" myself past the point of eating back all my exercise calories. A bite here. A bite there. A lick here...one little chip. It all adds up quickly. And kill any sugar in there... 3. Eating to my protein goal and trying not to eat beyond it of lean very dense protein 4. Eating to my low glycemic veggie and low glycemic berry goal: 1lb per day raw weight 5. Taking my supplements as prescribed/religiously. 6. Meeting my daily exercise goals: 1 hour minimum of walking daily--7 days per week unless sick or dying. 7. Sleeping 6+ hours per night. 8. Destressing. I still don't feel the first fire in my bellah that lets me be happy on 600cals per day. I CAN do it. It's just not easy now. It's hard. And I want to rationalize and talk myself out of it. And I'm stalled between 163 and 165. But I will do this. I WILL meet my minimum: 145lbs or less. You can do this. You just have to remind yourself EVERY DAM* DAY! How much you wanted this and why you did it. You can't forget, if you do, you will squander your golden shot to do this.

Hey gorgeous! How ya doin? Long time no see!!! Good to see you back! What are your new stats!?

To the OP...eat those things. Just take the bread out of it. Use a low carb wrap for the hot dog, make it a turkey burger or lean beef. Make roasted butternut squash or sweet potato wedges and eat them dead last after protein and a low glycemic veg. Or make subs. I have Revolutionary Rolls on my website that sub for hot dog and hamburger buns, as well as low carb tortillas and lots of stuff. But honestly, as much as I wanted those things, I just had no room for them, and trying a hotdog made me so nauseated at your stage. Now, just wrapping them in lettuce does me. I get to pick them up in my hands and don't have to use a fork and knife. Also, we go to a lot of minor league baseball games. So I use the bun as a "delivery system" and push the hotdog or chili dog out the end of it. I take a bite, the push more out. Like a push pop. I end up with an empty shell of a bun. LOL. I still can't handle the big meaty dogs, but the crap-filled, "wonder dogs" where you wonder what's in em, go down ok now. I still have issues with real burgers, but can handle turkey or chicken burgers and homemade veggie burgers.

Hey @Matt Z just wondering, how much by volume and weight or just volume do you eat now at a meal? I could also eat 1 cup by about 2-3weeks out. I'm about a month before you. TIA!

Survey says, "Loose skin!!!!!" I'd rather be a melted candle all the live-long-day than be the size I was bwl (before weight loss). I was so sick, and in so much pain it wasn't even funny. It stopped me from living!!! I'm only just now getting to the point of being able to do more things--loose skin and all!

Ok, so how much protein are you eating. How much are you drinking? You may be nose blind to acetoacetoacetate (a by-product) of ketosis. And you may also be smelling ammonia or ketones in your urine, sweat, and bm's. Also, when you go into ketosis, you can temporarily go more acidic which can make you smell cat pee smells--especially in things like black coffee.

^^^This. It's an important point. What's the alternative? You keep doing the same thing over and over and over again that has always failed in the past, and expect "this time to be different." It's a sobering thought and process to get to the answer of weight loss surgery. I had to release a lot of pride in order to admit to myself that I needed help. And as Kitty and others have said, the surgery is just one of the tools that we receive from the process of WLS and life-after-WLS. If I had it to do all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat (cept I would ask for a tum as tiny as Kitty's)--only I wouldn't have dic*ed around for 2 years wasting precious time. I woulda just leapt into it and got-her-done!

Yes, but I couldn't quite figure out what you were talking about. Where do you get albuterol vials?

Me3 (Wait! I can't cure mine with a Tums though. )

I have eaten that much protein since almost Day1. Mine is still falling out by the brush full.

Indeed! I missed brekky this morning and am waiting for my "boy" to get home with a grilled chickie boob salad. (I really wanted a bacon cheeseburger and fried okras--but either one would have made me hurl...am having big time bill bad ass issues with fatty foods atm. )

Yeah. I'm dealing with that now. I feel the "absence of hunger" and know logically that I've had enough food, but at 6 months, I still find myself wanting that full feeling. Ugh, never chase the full feeling!

Oh yeah. That sucks. I have guaranteed "show stoppers" I use for this...like peanuts from the shell are sure to stop me in my tracks. About 4 nuts makes my pouch squeeze up tight!!! So no food would feel good going down. Almonds sorta do the same thing. Dense dry chicken breast, and hb egg--no seasoning-- does that for me too as does just plain boiled shrimp, no sauce or spices of any kind. (I try to keep the reward/salivatory/pleasure thing really low.) That's got to be hard, having restriction to the point that you have to eat frequently just to get your nutrients in and to assuage genuine hunger!

I have restriction-envy. Just sayin'...

hahaha. I'd cut a bit*h for a 27lb loss in one month. Remember, the grass is ALWAYS greener. Heck, right now, I'd prolly cut a bit*h just for an 8lb/month loss.

Someone here coined the phrase that this isn't "weight loss surgery." This is "weight maintenance" surgery. Cuz although it's hard, this surgery still makes it easier for us to maintain our new weights, because of how it affects our metabolisms, and also how it alters other biochemical and mechanical systems. But I don't feel it's a slam dunk. Even now, I can gain weight without having to do a whole lot of food gyrations. I'm only 6 months out.

hahahaaha at CB. The b*****s! LOL. Yes, I would love to be wrong on my theory. I might be. Who knows, we're all so blessedly unique! You know? I just know from the past 18 months that I've spent reading and researching, the vet-peeps who maintain or efficiently and precisely deal with any regain issues they have do so because they are ever-present of their reality and how easy it will always be to pack on the pounds and so they are continually working on staying healthy and trained. And they do that by weighing, tracking food, planning food, and evaluating if their eating and exercise and lifestyle are all in check and working for them. Or so it seems. By the way, I didn't make this stuff up. It comes from MDs and PhDs, and published studies that say once you've gotten into metabolic derangement and have the extra fat cells on your body--especially to the level of MO, you will never again be able to behave as if you are a normal weight person without suffering regain. And keeping the weight off is almost super-herculean in nature due to the hormonal stress and influence those extra fat cells exert on our bodies. So honestly, because we ever were MO, our bodies do not operate under the same laws that govern a naturally thin person.

Gosh it will probably always be a mind game for us. It's pretty much about "being in recovery." You can't wave a magic wand or scalpel and have all of the old programs, tapes, behaviors, emotions, thinking, history that contributed to our attendance at the obesity ball just disappear into a stardust poof of unicorn glitter. LOL. I honestly believe that once we're fat, we're always gonna be fat. So we have to use super smart hacks and strategies to outwit our fatheads. You know? I just accept that today and for today only, I'm choosing to live in recovery. Tomorrow I will wake up and have to make the same commitment to a new day and a new day of healthy eating choices. And that does take constant attendance to be present and aware of food that I choose to put down my gullet. The good news though, is that the more your do it, the more "secondary" it becomes, so the new tapes and programs can run one step down in your subconscious. So it isn't as much of a daily grind. There are people here who will argue with me about this "fact" -- that the rules don't apply to them. That they are somehow different and just cuz they got their gut operated on, they can now live "in moderation" lol. *snort* Sorry. But only time will tell all. And in 3 or 5 years, it will be interesting to see how the "living in moderation" folks are fairing with weight maintenance.

It's her ham! She re-folded her ham!