FluffyChix

Wow! So sorry you're going through this and also sad you feel invisible here on the boards. I want to encourage you to fill out your profile. Add a piccy or avatar to your profile! Start participating in threads started by other people. Especially hang out in the General Weight Loss Surgery Forum, because it's most active. Maybe you are posting in a "dead" area? I inserted the link to it for your convenience. My experience has been very positive at Bariatric Pal: nice people, responsive admins...and trust me, that's not been the case at other WLS forums! But, I realize my experience isn't your experience. Hope you will stick around and start diving in! ((hugs))

@cjsunshine Hate to drone on about it, but I would bet it's the whey protein drinks. Milk/whey is a known allergin well-associated with eczema. Hope you find a solution to it soon. My mom and sister had/have it and it made them miserable.

Gosh, I'm so sorry you guys struggle(d) with your RDs/Nuts. I really love mine and respect her knowledge and hard work--which is kinda why it's hard to call her a Nut. She works mainly with WLS patients + some with CKD and CLD. And she's been very flexible in helping me find work arounds and practical diet solutions because I eat a low carb diet. She's been very supportive and I can tell, knows her nutrition.

@crocodoxie Ouch! So painful. Sorry to hear you've had this going on and hope it heals quickly! I have this from a nerve that gets trapped around the T-9. I have a bone spur that does it and it's absolutely breath-stealing miserable when it happens! Don't tork or twist!! ((hugs))

I have the same thing as James. Mine's with the hospital and is an RD.

@bostonmama--so the weight loss %'s are an average of people losing weight where the altered digestion/set point shift is the only real thing working? That's the % average for people without trying any extra?

@fruitandveggies IKR? I don't understand it at all?

I arbitrarily picked the weight I was in high school...150. But I told my surgeon my super-duper-top-secret fantasy weight (125lbs). She smiled and said as gently as possible, "I'm afraid you will have to become an elite athlete or else suffer a limb amputation for that to be a realistic goal." *sob* *killjoy* (I've half a mind to prove her wrong...)

@hmills653 Yeah, I agree, it sounds pretty obnoxious! I would rather just grill the burger meat and simmer it in the broth. Then strain it and drink the thin broth. It will still taste like burger, but will be broth. Best of both worlds. Right?

The body is a glorious mechanism composed of vast numbers of feedback loops. We actually NEED cholesterol for health and repair. If we do not take in enough cholesterol through diet, our body manufactures it. The catch is, that if the body has to manufacture it, it's almost always comprised of small, dense particles carrying (Apo B=LDL particles). The bad rap cholesterol has received comes mainly from the small ApoB lipo protein particles. These are the particles that make up the plaques in our arteries. Surprisingly, when we consume cholesterol, especially saturated fatty acids, these particles consist of large fluffy particles and they actually go through and clean out the small LDL particles in our arteries. I'm sure I'm goobering this science up. Uffe Ravskov wrote a pretty definitive book on the subject. Also, some few people have familial dyslipidemia that caused cholesterol and triglycerides to go high regardless of diet. And, thyroid dsyfunction can also cause cholesterol and triglycerides to remain high despite diet.

Oh wow! Congrats on your success and surgery!!! (Pssst, so cheeseburger with fries on a liquid diet...are you allowed cream soups? I'd make a cheeseburger (grilled) and a couple of oven roasted potato squares (from a small potato). Simmer it all of it in beef broth until it's really flavorful. Then strain the broth and drink it, or else, puree it and thin it down with beef broth until it is basically "cream". ) You'll be on solids before you know it!

I also think maybe the whey protein is doing a "number" on you? Oh, you also had a DS. Do a search on here for DS and malodorous gas. ((hugs))

Yeah, 230lbs is the magic threshold that takes me out of the 40bmi zone--which I don't want to risk doing. But dayum. How on earth do I "maintain" between 230 and 240 when I'm already there. If I could maintain, I wouldn't need the surgery. Right? So frustrating. On top of that, my insurance is diff now and they may require 6 months instead of 3. So I'm maybe looking at March before I qualify. How do I maintain within such a tight (for me) window for the next 4 months? Just whining. Sorry y'all. I've just been working and starving myself to death since May to lose about 50 pounds only to learn that I could get penalized for starving myself into doing too well. You know?

@Introversion Thank you for sharing this! Cuz one thing that I want to really illustrate is that I CAN lose weight--if I go below 900cals/day. But how can anyone (especially with a non-altered tummy) eat this way for the long term without losing focus and will power? Cuz I will admit this is white knuckle dieting in the extreme! I deal with head and real hunger all. the. time. (Ironically, it's gotten worse with more calories!) And I've got half a mind to do my 1500cals and report in with the gain and illustrate that I've been telling the truth the whole time. However, I would hate to be kicked out of the program just for illustrating a point to my surgeon! Someone (won't say who) cautioned me that being too successful losing in the pre-surgery stage makes the insurance people say that if you are this successful, then why do you need weight loss surgery? And it's a valid point. I've always been able to lose if I cut cals/fat low enough. But I've never been able to sustain that caloric/carb restricted level, nor achieve maintenance levels. And when I finally become exhausted with it all and move up--even a few hundred cals (like 300-400 cals/day), I gain it all back like an avalanche.

@priscillak Breathe. This (for most of us) isn't a short process...it's a marathon--a 3-6-12 month marathon. What you're feeling is so very normal. We've all been through something almost exactly like you describe. Doesn't make it any less excruciating for you, though. ((hugs)) Remember to glom on to perspective. You say you're eating 1-300 cals over and above your 1200 cal diet. What were you eating prior to this diet--maybe 3-4000 cals/day? How much do you weigh? So what if it takes you 16 weeks, rather than the estimated 15? Also, weight loss is rarely linear. You will have stairsteps up and down with an ongoing downward trend line (hopefully). You also will have stalls that last days or weeks--sometimes more than a month! You just have to remember to breathe and ride the wave where it breaks and takes you. Otherwise, you will exhaust yourself. I love the ideas of working out the numbers once and eating repetitively. I made that deal with myself and accepted it--that during weight loss the object is NOT to eat yummy, tasty, emotionally satisfying foods. I reconciled that for the period of intense weight loss both before and after surgery, my food was to be deeply nourishing, super low calorie, simple, and repetitive. That way I'm able to interact with food as LITTLE as humanly possible while still feeding myself super healthy foods that get me to goal the ABSOLUTE quickest. I eat the same 3 things for breakfast every day. I eat the same 3-4 things for lunch every day. I eat "about" the same 3-5 dinners every day. On days when I'm jonesing for comfort, I remind myself of my agreement with myself for success. If that STILL doesn't do it for me, I then use one of my "gooey" choices for dinner that is still very nourishing and low cal, but includes a bit of luxury like an ounce of cheese and low carb sauce like a lite alfredo, or lite marinara, or lite enchilada sauce, etc. Also, I plan my most important meal of the day first--for me that's dinner. Then let all the other meals fall according to the numbers...since breakfast and lunch are just meals that are mostly quick, convenient, thoughtless and designed to fill me up and keep me full until dinner. You can do this!!! Congrats on qualifying for surgery!!! Now just breathe and take it one day, or even one meal at a time. Make that agreement with yourself to get to the other side. OK?

Holy moly woman!!! Amazing and inspirational! You've lost 1 entire MO woman!

Great report! So happy for you.

These look delicious!

I use my stick blender. Easy clean up.

Dayum mamacita! I want those results! But alas, I suspect I will end up finding all the loose skin. ALL. The. Loose. Skin.

You know you're drivin' the bus to hell, right? *snort*

Ha! Hilarious!

Yeah, ugh, hate it.

No place like home! Congrats!

Yay! Congrats!!! Put on your walkin' shoes!! CJ + Dilaudid =