FluffyChix

I love all of this advice! I'm about 20months out and I can assure you that even without crappy life situations, I can gain weight with a blink of an eye. Maintenance for me is more of a dance around losing the same 5 lbs over and over and over again each week. LOL. The scale determines how abstemious I am for the day. If I'm at the low end of my weight zone, then I will have protein first, then al dente veggies + a tiny bit of healthy fat + some fruit or an after dinner snack of <100cals and very low carb super healthy or healthy-ish. If I'm at the high end of my 5lb zone, then it's back to my forever bariatric diet: protein first, al dente veg + a tiny bit of healthy fat. I keep things KISS for about 90% of my meals. That means, no fancy indulgent cooking. It's lean dense protein. It's steamed or roasted veg. It's a tiny bit of avocado and tomato with the meal. I aim for 1 cup of food by volume. I weigh my food into the cup. So for me that is 3oz of lean dense protein by weight + 1-2oz of steamed veg + 1tsp of healthy fat or 1oz of avocado (slider) + 1oz of grape tomatoes (slider). I will eat up to 1 1/2 cups of raw salad at a sitting. Made up on leafy greens + cucs + red bell pepper + purple onion + radish + a zero calorie dressing + 2 oz meat + 1 oz cheese or hb egg + 6g seeds or nuts (and that's 1 1/2cups total volume for the meal including salad). It shouldn't be more than 200cals in that salad. So don't slam with croutons and crap that tastes great but makes it as caloric as a full casserole meal. Only eat at organized times: 3 meals or 3meals + 1-2 small healthy snacks of 1oz protein. You can lose the regain. You need to work on your head. I'd seek a counselor who can help you with the self-hatred and depression you are fighting. Clean your kitchen out and rid it of ALL junk. Plan your meals. Log everything! Weigh and measure everything!!!! Don't exceed 1 cup of food at any meal. Drink your water! 100oz per day. For me to lose weight, I have to be at the 650-750 calorie level and <30g net carbs per day. The end. Otherwise it's just magical thinking for me. I have to FOCUS to lose. If I can do it. You can do it. I'm in maintenance at 900-1000 cals/day.

Eat real food hon. Let your tool do its job. Ditch the crap=Keto Ice Cream and Barney's Almond Butter with Lily's chips, enlightened bar...WAY too much processed junk. This is the time to break up with treats and nut up/knuckle down. Make your meals as lean and protein forward as you can. Don't start using "crutches" at this point. It is WAY early and chances are you will stall out long before reaching goal. This is the time to MAXIMIZE your weight loss. It's the time you will lose the most. Don't squander it. Follow your doc's plan. At this point I was at 1/4c per meal and 400-600 cals. ALL of it was protein + a bite or two of steamed veg + a tiny tiny amount of healthy fat (ie 1/2oz of avocado = 1/8 of an avocado).

Yep, there's a learning curve hon!! Now you know where the envelope lives.

That's the point I'm trying to make. You don't just "change" that overnight. How do you think things are gonna be different for you once your pouch matures? How will you cope when you hit the dreaded 3rd year where you are still eating the way you were pre-surg...but are now gaining at an alarming rate cuz you can eat as much as you could pre-surgery? (and appropos of nothing, LOL, I feel much more balanced today than I have in my life. Just cuz it doesn't work for you, doesn't mean that what I'm doing doesn't satisfy a need in my make-up. )

See, for me, this is key. Dr. Matthew Weiner talks about it so succinctly in this video. It's about what naturally happens to our tools as time goes by. And it scares the hell outta me. Cuz you know, it's gonna happen to the biggest majority of us. Our tools will mature and we will be able to eat more. So I kinda look on this time, the WLM, honeymoon period time where we DO have a good amount of restriction (or most of us do) as a time when we MUST try to change the way we relate to food and the kinds of food we choose. Cuz if you choose the right foods often enough, our body does come to preferentially want the better for us foods. So we have to use our time to the utmost so we don't end up screwed. Face down in birthday cake 24/7/365. Cuz those types of shenanigans got me all the way to the Obesity Ball. And I don't wanna attend another one...right?

Woooohooo! Congrats!!! I skipped cake too. I went for decaff sf cappuccino! It was craptastically delish with real heavy cream, frothed!

Wow! So sorry, I just read this. I'm so sad you've had this experience. I can totally understand your perspective given your set of circumstances!!! Bless you. I just pray that your current docs are helping you and that you get to heal!!! ((hugs))

@sillykitty Thanks so much for sharing your DXA results!!! I'm really thrilled at your results!! It shows you're very balanced for the most part and to the extent you do have more in one area, it's in the so-called "preferential" area from a metabolic/all-cause-mortality health consequences perspective! Ziggy zoggy ziggy zoggy Oi Oi Oi! Wooohoooo. (I can say, it kinda made me squint and cross my eyes with all the # and %s and advanced math. But it's also good to know if ever caught in a trap, which extremity would be the best one to cut off in order to escape or to make a weight goal...just sayin. hehe @Sheribear68 I think what you are going through is very normal and it's a process. But I think you also realize that you have to have a plan for how you approach it. I know scientifically without doubt, that you will analyze the situation, sit down and figure it out. Cuz that's how you roll mamacita! Congrats on being 5lbs from goal. I'm beyond excited. It's been such a privilege to watch you shrinky dinking. Your focus and drive are humbling and inspiring!

A meeeeeellllliiiiooooonnnnn percent it was worth it. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Yay!!! Beyond excited for you!!!!!

So the thing is, life happens while we are either making plans or trying to implement those plans. But, we're all human. We all make less than the best decisions at times. That's why I'm so broken record about "trying" to be 100%. Cuz the reality is, no one can be 100%. Evs. And life happens where you WILL pick less than optimal choices/meals/days/weekends--no need to plan them. Cuz they WILL happen. Guaranteed. As @VIKING 0424 the important thing is going right back to TCB. I've found that to be true for me. After this weekend, I went in at the bottom of my weight window for maintenance and Monday morning I was at the top! So immediately on Monday, it was nope, nope, nope. I don't get to eat x,y, z today cuz I choose for today to be a no-shenanigans day. And I'm going to eat strictly to plan. I've done that now for Mon-Wednesday and this morning I'm back to the middle of my range. And by Friday I expect to be back at the bottom of my window. It is a 5lb range. I gained 5lbs over weekend shenanigans. If you are in ketosis (most of us are), then 1 slice of cake will cause you to go out of ketosis temporarily and it signals your liver to fill the glycogen stores back up (reserve fuel for fight or flight--like extra rocket boosters). Each molecule of glycogen can hold 2 molecules of water. That literally translates to anywhere from 2-4 lbs of fluid just from the liver. Then factor in the water retention in other parts of the body and I've seen swings in people from 2-12lbs overnight. But once you stay the course, and don't spaz over it...and go back to good choices, that weight will vacate the premises once the brain/body knows it's not gonna be needed again and you use up those glycogen stores. It's not fat. It's fluid.

I didn't have to do purees - went straight to softs. But in my full liquids phase here is what I thrived on. It helps with hunger to keeps carbs to 20g or less per day. Swearsies. 1. Cottage Cheese or ricotta (ricotta bake from WorldAccordingToEggface blog) 2. Foil wrapped tilapia and basa filets with lemon 3. Chicken or tuna or salmon salad blitzed to a puree (pate) consistency with lots of Greek yogurt and dijon mustard to make it super creamy and smooth. You can even lighten it up with ff Fairlife Milk. 4. Cream soups with extra protein powder added to them. (Did this A LOT!! Made every flavor you can think of: pizza, alfredo, mexican, asian, etc.) 5. Blended soups/stews to a puree. 6. SF jello with yogurt (still love it) 7. SF popsicles 8. Protein pudding (SF jello pudding made with Premier Protein and FF Fairlife Milk) 9. Green smoothies made with protein powder, frozen spinach, frozen blueberries, peanut butter powder, liquid stevia. 10. Roasted Smashed Cauliflower puree with greek yogurt, nutritional yeast, and herbs. Same thing with canned pumpkin.

Laughing at this idea! Love it! But so sorry to hear of your feet. Aching feet are no joke!!! I can relate hon. And fwiw, I like em. But they look super uncomfy (heel height)

In no one's reality is throwing up daily or twice daily normal--not even in recovery. You're surgeon was cray and wrong. I'm glad it's less, but daily is NOT normal and it IS damaging.

Congrats!

I'm sorry to hear of your dad's looming surgery. Glad you are calling a doc today. In my personal experience, it takes weeks or months to see a specialist. You can't find anything, cuz your situation is pretty abnormal. Most people who throw up that often and regularly know to get it checked out. You most likely have stricture, but only medical tests and imaging is gonna show what condition you're dealing with. If you have to go back to protein drinks and thinned down yogurt, you will quickly lose any regain, but it isn't a fun type of eating for sure. I'd also try pureeing soups and stews and keep it very liquidy to see if you can handle any meat proteins. Try blending egg drop soup and see how it goes down. That's the texture you should aim for. But you have to be sure you are getting all of your protein in, so make sure to have protein drinks. What you are describing is a serious situation. I am not being tough-love. I'm being pragmatic. Letting a problem of this magnitude continue for 1.5 years+ is not normal. There must be a payout for that behavior. In 1.5 years of daily throwing up sometimes multiple times a day, you could have done crap tons of damage to your anatomy (Barret's Esophagus, Esophagitis, pre-cancerous cells, esophageal erosion, ulcers, hernias, strictures, webbing, esophageal spasms, and more fun.) At that point I would say your behavior is bulimic in nature. There is always a payout with aberrant behaviors.

Don't wait until your dad's surgery. That means either the problem doesn't bother you enough, or it satisfies something inside of you (ie allows you to rationalize eating crackers and slider crap, allows your excuse for regain, allows you some semblance of satisfaction that at least you are throwing up some of your daily calories to control your wait, allows you to "fill-in-the-blank". It's pretty textbook rationalization behavior. There has to be some payout as to why you continue to deal with this irregularity and dangerous condition.). We all know it will take you at least a month or so to find a replacement surgeon and from there it could take as long as 3 months to get a new patient consultation. So start the process now. What you are describing is not normal. You NEED to look at your diet. Go back to purees and see if you can handle them. Protein forward. Ditch the crap and sliders. Go back to protein drinks. Add omeprazole and see if that helps at all? Change it up. Sometimes, if you don't make your new anatomy adjust to solid foods, recovery stops and you get locked into eating at the current stage. Try eating foiled baked fish, foil shrimp, poached chicken, ground turkey simmered in broths. Or puree stuff as I said previously. Sorry you are struggling.

Ugh, it was a short lived celebration. LOL. After this non-birthday weekend, I'm now up to 135.4lbs this morning. Gah! Didn't take long to get to the top of my weight window. Back to IF and abstemious TCB today. LOL.

Yes, I had that. The answer was in 40mg omeprazole. You can also try taking the 20mg omeprazole with the capsule opened up onto a spoon of applesauce. Sorry you are having this problem!!

I lost 14.8 lbs the first month. You can see in my signature.

Gosh I'm so sorry!!! ((hugs)) Rant away!!! I think the ge junction is the gastoesophageal junction where the esophagus meets the stomach. And if so, that is where the tear is and it would be very painful. It's a valve, not a stoma there. The stoma is at the gj junction where the gastro jejunal junction where the tummy pouch meets the jejunum. (I think?) No excuse for their behavior. But in future, you simply have to make sure they plan you as the first case of the day and if they won't or can't, you schedule for the first day where you can be the first case. Accidents happen at the end of the day.

Congrats!! Super excited for you!!!!

ty!!! I'm gonna try this version tomorrow. https://ketorewind.com/the-best-chaffle-recipe/

Welcome back! Looks like you know what is behind the regain and now you just have to WANT to lose it badly enough, that you don't let these outside influences determine how you medicate with food. You have to make your health a priority. That's not easy. What kind of help do you need?

Hahaha! I was gonna make this point. It's actually due to the composition of one ingredient in the pill and not for the active ingredient. So likely, they are reformulating it now. I'd just switch to pepcid AC or tagamet. And I'd call your doc and ask for a PPI prescription for omeprazole 20 or 40mg.