FluffyChix

*Insert newbie disclaimer and childless-in-houston disclaimer* So I can only play the "if this were me game." I hope you will humor me in this? You are the mama. As such, if your house is like mine, I am the officially declared "Boss of Cheese and Ketchup," and what I say goes...in the kitchen. LOL. Everywhere else, well, um, not so much. So if it were me and I was having to purge myself of all things illegal and not WLS friendly (i.e. cutting the crap), then every other member of the family would be sharing in the wealth. We would all go on a healthy eating plan. If I had kids it would extend to them as well. Children don't need crap in the kitchen either. Why shouldn't they be trained to think of a few apple slices with almond or peanut butter on them as a treat? Why shouldn't they dig having a few frozen cherries as a treat rather than that ho Little Debbie's snack cakes? Why shouldn't they enjoy nuked cheese crisps rather than that tricky Chester Cheetos crunchy snacks? I think that by not buying the stuff in the first place, it will make life easier in the long run--and more successful fro your whole fam. You may be surprised at how eager the kiddos are to getting on board with how Mama eats now! And it's really encouraging that your DH is already supportive of a healthy eating change! Good luck girlie!!

Great point! It's definitely not apples and apples in this scenario.

Yeah, I hear ya on the subbing for lower carb veggies. I heart using cauliflower, radishes, turnips, zucchini and yellow squash, mushrooms, and a sometimes a tiny bit of rutabaga in place of traditional things like potatoes, barley. Also I add a buttload of chopped greens in my soups to add to the chew factor. Thanks so much for helping with the practical, information gathering!! ((hugs))

Thank you. I thought this would be the case, which means I have to have a permanent breakup with brothy soups post WLS *sob*. *hic*. It's so surprising some of the little things that become huge in our minds. Right? And yet, I still, like an addict, want to see if I can MacGiver the crap outta soup. You know? Like, what if I strain it and drink the broth 30 minutes before a meal, then eat the strained solids as the meal. Such goofy head games. You know? So if it's a stewpy kind of soup like chili--something with very dense and minor liquid portion, is it ok, or do you still need to strain out some of the solids and eat only them? Not trying to work around, just adding to my encyclopedia of WLS for do's and definite don'ts. TIA hon!

Thanks for this! I'm gonna order some today to see how it sits with me so I know before my "innerds" are rearranged!

Wonton soup...MMMMMmmmmMMMMMMmmmmMMMM!

Wooohoooo! Look at you staring down a craving!!! Congrats! That's really a BIG deal, you know?! Um...I do sf choco puddin'! You should get some popsicle molds! You can even use ice cube trays and cover them with aluminum foil. Then when they are partially frozen, you can shove popsicle sticks into them. Then just pour 2-3 oz of premiere protein into each mold and freeze it. I know they (PP) have recipes for pops, just can't remember if there are any other ingredients other than the protein drink? I know you can add things like yogurt, etc. That way, you make only the size you need and they have some redeeming quality to them! LOL. Right? So you are SOOO right to not do the chocolate if it's a gateway drug. Dr. Stephen Phinney, one of the authors of The Art and Science of Low Carb Living said in an interview that each cheat sets up back, metabolically, something like 5 weeks. That puts a whole nother spin on cheating doesn't it? Five. Weeks. *gulp* *sob* If that doesn't scare someone straight, I don't know what will? ha!

Great post and you made points I hadn't even thought about! TY JohnnyCakes!

Crystal, for me, the ONLY way--and I do mean only--to tame my inner carb monkey is to eat low carb. Otherwise the cravings and insulin fluctuations are ugly. The more you resist "caving" or going on/off, the more steady-state your bgs/insulin and hormones will become. I'm post-hyst, so no longer have the pms cravings to deal with. Yay God! But we do sometimes (Mr. Fluffy more than me...) have 1 square of Lindt 85% chocolate and that seems to help cut off cravings. He will have about 4 pecan halves and a square. As far as me "losing a bunch." I am almost at 40lbs loss since May 3. I just found I'm hypothyroid and also have a super low B1 (probably have been low B1 for a long time--since chemo/radiation, but they just found it with WLS screening). To me it feels like I'm losing so slowly for the amount of angst, effort, and low calorie starvation. LOL. But now that I'm at 800 cals/day, it almost feels like too much food. I'm not hungry very often. But I'm continuing to lose about 10-11 lbs/month. I think low carb REALLY helps dial back hunger.

Yes, that's essentially what I'm doing, but informally it's just low carb while keeping fats low and dairy minimized. I went on a whackadoodle test to see if I could mimic/tolerate the afterlife of WLS and did it from the "very beginning" to now--post wls. I was eating 400-600 cals, mostly from protein drinks and little soup. Soup-IKR? Well my surgeon FREAKED. LOL. As did my PCP. The surgeon told me to up my cals to 900-1000/day or else WLS might not help. So now, I've slowly raised my cals and am up 800cals/day and am still losing. One more week and will raise it to 900cals. That's the long way to tell you, that eating so few cals, I really had to knock the hell out fat in order to eat 65g protein; 30 or fewer g fat; 20 g net carbs per day and get them to meet 600, 700 or 800 cals. So yeah...SB1 is fairly close to this, except I don't think Dr. A. spoke about any macro quantities. (I am still pre-surg...so maybe I should just shut up...maybe I talk too much? LOL)

Honestly, call your surgeon and/or psych. Get them together to work out a plan for you. Stopping an antidepressant cold turkey is never a good thing and it can throw you into deep depression, inability to move, terrible muscle cramps, etc. I'm sure there must be some kind of AD that would work! (hugs) and hope you get it figured out!

A couple of low carb docs recommend taking a daily teaspoon of MOM just to keep things functioning and help with getting in enough magnesium. I know WLS is different, but I end up having to do this. Hope you feel the earth move soon!

Mmmmm. Can't say about the tummy, but re: "self-molestation..." I'd say you're only a few hours away from going blind...Just sayin'...

I'm 6 years out from treatment after a high grade, Stage IIIC, hormone positive BC. I had 3 recon surgeries after the treatments and the first surgery, a double mast/1st recon. I have excruciating neuropathy about 9inches wide almost 360 degrees around my chest and neuropathy in both feet from hand-foot syndrome during chemo. The neuro drugs don't touch the pain. I also have some bone changes in my spine and hip that add to that pain load--so sleeping for longer than 2 hours in any other position is impossible--and I have to sleep in a reclining chair. I do have a script for Norco and muscle relaxants and I guard them like a demon. I ration when I take one of them because I know it costs my PCP plenty to prescribe them--so I try to keep it to 1 script per year. I have to be at an 11 (cuz you know...my amps go up to 11--thanks Spinal Tap) before I take one because: 1.) I know they are rarer than hen's teeth and there might come a day when I will need them worse than today. 2.) They make me gain 5 pounds of fluid overnight. I resist going the pain manager route because I don't want to be on drugs like Celebrex or Lyrica that also have weight gain as a side effect. Mostly I don't want to be on daily pain pills, nor do I want to surrender autonomy (the right to take a pain pill ONLY when I need one) for a pain script. I also don't want the stigma attached to being a patient seen by a PMC. I see both sides of the argument and am sympathetic to both the prescriber and the patient. I also understand how easy it could be to become an addict (and that by nature of the addiction, addicts will lie and might sell their grandmother for a fix). It sucks that a few bad apples spoil the pie and make everyone's position so difficult. Sorry you're experiencing such difficulties. Pain and quality of life--man--it's a fargin' marathon. I look ahead at a life expectancy for me and sometimes get super sad, because no way do I want to live endure 25-30 more years in this pain-filled world. I'm shooting the dice and optimistic that losing weight down to a normal BMI might help my pain/recurrence experience.

Wow congrats! Even the shape of your eye orbital is quite different now! Amazing, really. Woot!

Feel better soon! How scary. I would also like to know how your B1 and B Vit levels looks. I also have low B1 (pre-surg), and have only been told to take 100mg/daily by mouth... Huge hugs!

At 54, I can relate to all you wrote! Often times, it's a bear to wrestle with that sinister, inner critical voice that is used to convincing us that we are "less than," or are somehow unworthy of living life because of our "failure" to obtain/maintain a so called "normal" weight. I totally get that feeling of needing to apologize to someone. Ugh, as I meet with my doctors and tell them of my WLS goal, I do feel a sense of shame--projecting what I think I see in their faces (indictment of supposed weakness). I know you will figure out how to move past this--cuz it is important to acknowledge your own feelings/emotions, then alternately empowering to replace those old negative, critical tapes with positive, affirming tapes. We can never change the past, but we can rewrite the present. Cuz life is a present, a gift, you know? And don't we deserve to have an inner voice that affirms ourselves and speaks the truth, instead of lies?

Congrats! How exciting!

I hear ya on Tech. You should move to Lamesa!

The Haribo sugar free Gummy Bears cracked me up!!! I'm still cleaning up my keyboard from spewing water! Long ago, I spent an afternoon in "laughter therapy" reading the reviews of these sugar free li'l devils! Here's one of them, but not even the funniest one I remembered.

Holy guacamole, girrrrrllll! You're rockin' it! Congrats!

Big state, small world! Pleasedtameetcha! My sissy and BIL were driving through on the way to Colorado a coupleaweeks ago and they went to TEXAS, in the Canyon. Good times! Can't count on one hand how many times I took people to see that play!

Hi Mel, welcome! Newbie and pre-surg here as well. I hope you will come to feel this is a safe place for your to share and receive support as well as give support! I am only telling my family about the WLS decision. Quite frankly they would be happy for any type of intervention that would potentially help improve my health and give me a better quality of life--cuz right now my QOL after cancer is fairly at the suckage level. I agree that this is a medical condition (and in your case, it's probably exacerbated by medications that make it very difficult to lose and easy to gain)--so why not have a medical intervention? Hugs and glad you're here with us! (I lived in Amarillo for a couple of years during college! Panhandle people are true blue friends!)

My surgeon said that my qualifying weight submitted to the insurance will the one taken on the first day I saw her on 7.20.17. Hope that helps--but your insurance may be diff!!

Lurve it! I split it lengthwise, scoop out seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and season with whatever you like (we do s/p/gran gar). Roast at 450 degrees til done--about 35-40 minutes. Then use a fork to separate all the strands and serve with your favorite meat. Yummay!