FluffyChix

Welcome and how exciting for you! I'm 55 and had RNY in February this year. It's the best decision I ever made! You'll love it here. Dive right in and post a lot. We're all here for you!

LOL, I'm a one trick breakfast pony. I either have protein drinks of some sort or eggs. My current squeeze is making an Egg McMuffinless "sandwich" I also love egg white scrambles with Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage pre-cooked crumbles, spinach, mushrooms and cheese. I also like eggbites of all kinds. Eggface has a great website for those with variations. And I make a peanut butter banana green smoothie with fiber and blueberries that I love and stays with me. Other than that, I just grab 2oz of leftover meat from a meal or from lunch meat and some grape tomatoes and call it done.

So here's what works for me almost 9 weeks. Protein drinks help as long as there is enough volume. So I can down PP in about 3 minutes flat. But if I extend it by using it in coffee (either hot or cold), it's much more filling and satisfying. And that's what I do now. I rarely drink just the protein on its own. I mix it. OR also, adding about 4-6g of peanut butter powder to it also makes it more substantial feeling. Also, there is one green smoothie that I make and can keep in the fridge too. It doesn't cause rebound hunger like other green smoothies I've experimented with -- so far. By adding fiber to your protein sources, it feels more substantial and hangs around longer--or at least that's my experience. I make a peanut butter banana green smoothie that keeps me going and is huge (about 32oz). So far I use a stick blender. But honestly, I do better with 1 protein drink a day and food the rest of the time. Peanut Butter Banana Protein and Fiber Green Smoothie with Blueberries Makes 32oz 25g Isopure Banana Cream Protein Powder (or your fave) 6g Peanut Butter Slim powder pb (Vitacost) 6g whole psyllium husks (NOW! brand) 1.5oz chopped frozen spinach 1.25oz frozen blueberries 4oz unsweetened vanilla coconut milk (SO Delicious or your favorite or skim milk) 2-4oz water 4-8 ice cubes Nutrition: 184cals; 24g protein; 3g fat; 14g carbs; 7g fiber; 7g net carbs; 4g nat. sugar Blend everything until very very smooth and creamy. Enjoy as 1 or 2 smoothies.

Wow! Sorry to hear you're going through this! @time_2_shine - please be sure to look at the amino acid profile of your protein source. Gelatin protein is not an adequate complete source of brotein. It's why the protein in bone broth isn't a good source either. They are both made from the same source and are mainly collagen and gelatins.

Wishing you the best. Sounds like you're doing an amazing job working with your doc to grow a healthy beautiful baby!!! How much have you gained so far?

Thanks everyone! Ha @proudgrammy! I think I misunderstood Jenn1's post! Derp. My reading comprehension kicking up. But yeah, I've very guilty of the "I've only lost x pounds." On a bright note, I realized something was jiggy with my math and I'd picked up the wrong column from my spread sheet. Yay! So actually month 2 was a very respectable 14.something pounds. I'll take that any day of the week. The first month of 10.8 lbs felt very hard to swallow though. Hope I'm not exhausting you guys. I love looking at the spreadsheets and identifying patterns. It's why I track the macros so crazy. But the good news is MFP makes it super easy to use. Since I eat so much of the same meals, it's simple to save my meals then select them on future days. Wahhhhoooo! That's one big advantage to eating clean and KISS. Not a lot of searching databases for the right food to input!

@newself Can't wait for your piccys! TY! ((hugs)) @Apple203 Yeah. Sigh. I don't know why I'm so afraid of upping the cals. Thanks for sharing the glimpse into your macros! Have my first support meeting tomorrow with the nutritionist and her group. Will report back if anything interesting. @jenn1Thank you so much! Love your observations. Doubtful that nekkidy pics will ever willingly appear. Ha! But will work on lighting. Black is my uniform. LOL. But I might stretch it to a white tee at some point.

It is a bell curve at this point. Women who eat the least and women who eat the most have the greatest protection. But the women who eat the most are impacted by the Asian population (the ones who eat the most non-GMO, mostly fermented) who have a generational history of consuming higher amounts of soy. And also, in the US, until only recently, about 80-90% of soy was genetically modified and is unfermented. There is some evidence that potentially shows fermentation alters soy effects. All the women and men who "dally" with upping soy consumption and fall into the lethal bell of the curve are currently showing increased risk of hormonal driven cancers. Add to that we as morbidly obese people already drive the bus to hell on increasing our risk of hormonally mediated cancers.

Congrats on the loss!!! @logicwand Praying that works the same way for me too!

My doctor is internationally famous for treating breast cancer and researching the disease for over 40 years. IN his words, the studies are STILL being done and there is no definitive conclusion yet on breast cancer (hormone positive) and soy consumption. He told me that I did NOT want to be the guinea pig that proves the theory. You don't have to believe him. But I chose to. Sitting in an office where they've just treated you for a Stage IIIC, Grade 3 (highly aggressive) form of hormone positive breast cancer with 14 lymph nodes positive for active living cancer at surgery, you tend to believe the man whose whole life has been spent researching hormone positive breast cancers and treatments. I choose not to consume soy. I don't let any of the members of my family knowingly do it.

Official 2 Month Update (SD 2.20.18 | Today 4.20.18) I feel so different from the first 2 month (8 week) update. LOL. Ha! Actually just checking in. The scale has me as its little bi*ch this week. Too early to say if I see a pattern or not, but I am suspicious. I've decided my main barrier to weight loss is when the scale goes into a lull and doesn't give me the feedback I desire. It makes me say WTF and then go off plan--even in little ways. Yesterday despite being at 500 cals or below, I was up 1.4lbs for no good fu*king reason. LOL. Can you say "BAD MOOD?" Course you can. (NOTE: Yes, I fully recognize that I'm "saying" that the scale is making me a victim. I have power over my choices. I'm just saying this is the pattern I recognize from days gone by and it's one I seriously need to change. I need to reclaim the power. I'm nobody's victim. I have POWER to choose and to make healthy decisions.) So what did I do? I'm nothing if not predictable...I had a head hunger day where I was a hungry hungry hippo looking for salty crunchy snacks. I managed to stay on plan until Mr. F. came home from work and announced he wanted a snack despite it being 6:15pm. He didn't want dinner until later. I'm like, "Well, I'm starved and am ready for dinner." And he was like...okaaaaayyyyy. So I made him a snack, then I caved to my poor choices. 1/4oz gruyere, 6 parmesan whisps and 1 tbsp of Creamy Jiff doesn't sound bad on paper. It's a small snack of 163 calories; 9g protein; 4g carbs; 1g fiber; 3g net carb. But when you factor in that my daily calorie goal is 550 cals, it kinda sucks. (I'm trying to slowly raise calories, 50calories at a time to get to where I need to be eating. So this month's goal is 550cals/day and 70g protein. Next month, I will go for 600cals/75g p. Then last night at bedtime despite having a full dinner of 2oz chicken, 1oz broccoli, steamed, 1oz avo/tomato salad, I had another 1/2oz of ground turkey sausage mixture and 6 more parmesan cheese whisps. Ended the day with a whopping total of 770cals; 81g protein; 39g fat; 25g carbs; 6g fiber; 19g net carbs. Now, you might say, but that's still perfectly fine for WLS! Remember, I'm only 2 months out. The biggest losses happen in the first 2 months and because they suppose that's when your intake is the lowest (source: research scientist at Baylor). So Month 1 loss was only 11.8lbs and month 2 loss was also 14.6lbs. I'm suspecting that perhaps I'm in the genetic group with only 1 of the WLS success genes -- because of my slower monthly losses. That means, because I'm not genetically gifted, I will have to work my ass off even WITH WLS to defy the statistics of WLS success. I will have to apply the rules of epigenetics through lifestyle control like nobody's beeswax. And you don't do that by caving to pressure and eating "safe" snacks worth almost 1/3 of your daily calories. LOL. OK, beating over. Morale VASTLY improved. Moving on. Today I'm starting PT again and next week I go for some kind of steroid injections into my right hip. They place the shot via xray. Don't know what the SI joint stuff will entail, the left hip bursa was easy and so effective. I'm dreading that they will want me on my tummy. It's hard to manage with my back and foobs that sit like rocks on my chest and with the chest neuropathy. So I've decided to post my stats and my progress pics to date because I know I get significant movement on the measuring tape during PT. Hopefully that will be enough of a "carrot" to justify the "stick" so that I continue working out and building strength and muscle moving forward. SW - 222.4lbs (2.20.18) CW - 196.0lbs (4.20.18) (-26.4lb loss since SD) Neck - 15 Chest - 44 Waist - 38 (SD 41.5 in; -3.5 inches lost) Hips - 47 Right Arm - 13 Left Arm - 14.5 (lymphedema) Right Thigh - 25.5 Left Thigh - 26 (If I squint real hard, I can see the difference between the surgery day photo on the left and the Month2 photo on the right, but it's not as if I'm tearing up land speed records for losses since I'm only down 26.4lbs since surgery. But I have to deal with my individual reality and I know that the anti-cancer drugs I'm on will make weight loss more difficult than for most. It is my reality and nothing I can do to alter that fact. Hopefully PT and doing strength building will help boost my metabolism.)

What a transformation! You look beautiful!!! Congrats. 75lbs in 5 months is super!!

Why? As obese females we run a much greater risk of hormonal breast cancer. My oncologist wrote the book on breast cancer--literally. And after dx he said there is one food I want you to stay far away from and that is soy because of the phytoestrogen in it. One food. Soy. The End. (I also avoid flax.)

Other than your mind? It's time for another round to see where we're all at with our weight loss! I've lost a newborn calf who swallowed a guinea pig! (91lbs)

Congrats! You should update your stats! I'm sure you don't still weigh 285?

Here's a thread we put together on the Food-Post Op board.

Calcium chews stall me every time I try to take them. They end up giving me something like 10-15 extra carbs for the day when I try to stay at or under 20g total. LOL. Just FYI. IMHO, you're better off taking a calcium cit capsule. Big, but easy to swallow and I've been swallowing capsules that size since the day of surgery. There is also unflavored calcium citrate powder you can buy, then simply mix with water and water drops if you prefer.

Call your surgical team and get your vitamin levels checked out. Low B vitamins can do this. It's pretty critical, especially if it's a low B1 (very common in WLS pts) to get it dx'd and remedied. Can be permanent damage.

Yep. Exactly! It's not the standard of care (the accepted norm of the land). Even medic alert necklaces aren't SOC.

Congrats on being under 230!! Woot! (Wow, you have a Boar's Head Sandwich Shop where you live? Looking at the wax paper...)

Why not just get a "chip?"

Welcome! So glad you're hear and hope you post a LOT!! Very inspirational story. Congrats on the healthy fam, the weight loss, AND the maintenance with a new healthy lifestyle. You are beautiful and fit looking! One thing I would mention--please go get your vitamin levels drawn and see if they will check you for osteoporosis. Bone aching or feeling like your bones or cold or that you might have the flu is a serious sign that something isn't right. And you are so young, it's better to catch it now. Things like Vitamin D, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and a Dexa bone density scan should be done for sure! Especially the Dexa if you don't get one each year.

So most of you know that I'm obsessed and maybe even have the heart of an engineer. Gotta love my number crunching and data! I've been on the quest for the perfect low carb, healthy egg mcmuffin for many years and have come up with several on my blog fluffychixcook(dot)com. But they aren't really bariatric friendly. The bread is way too filling for a bariatric patient and tends to swell in the tummy. Great for a normie trying to fill their tummy up--bad if you have suture lines and seams! So I've been trying to create a satisfying "sammy" cuz I miss my egg mcmuffins. It needed to be heavy on protein and light on bread, cals, and carbs. I've made it with crispy lc tortilla rounds and with cheese crackers but it didn't really appease the egg mcmuffin gods. You know? But this morning I think I've come almost there. I'm about 90% of the way to the ball. Egg McMuffinless Brekky Sandwich (8weeks) Serves 1 (about 1/2c volume) 75g egg whites (HEB Real Egg Whites) 1/8 tsp granulated garlic 1/2 tsp Taco Bell Mild Sauce (or your favorite) s/p 1 slice Hillshire Farms Naturals Black Forest Ham 1/2 slice 2% DeliDeluxe Cheese (Kraft) Pour egg into a 4oz ramekin. Add next 3 ingredients. Stir. Cover with plastic wrap and poke 3 holes in wrap. Nuke in intervals until done and egg is puffy and almost dry. (I do 30-10-10-10). Remove from ramekin. Split like a biscuit. Blot with a paper towel and fill with your favorite breakfast sandwich filling. I used 1/2slice of American cheese (2%) and a slice of HSF ham. I stuck some spinach leaves in it cuz green makes me happy. It's VERY filling! Nutrition: 90 cals; 2g fat; 13g protein; 2g carbs; 0g fiber; 2g net carbs; 0g sugar

Dang! Sorry to hear that!! Hang in there, it gets better and don't forget to embrace the suck. Your weightloss will never be more than at this time.

I'm sorry to hear this. Hope you're feeling better soon! Maybe you need to go to clear protein drinks and water for a couple of days? One thing that happens if I snack rather eating a mini meal, I end up too full for hours and miss the next meal which puts me into a protein deficit for the day. Ughhh.