FluffyChix

I honestly don't think that sounds normal? But we all experience pain in different ways? Glad you're seeing your doc on Wed. I still to this day have difficulty handling peanuts and peanut butter. Dunno why. I do get terrible esophageal spasm and nausea with that food.

No, you can have a Fobi-pouch. It's a ring that sits at the bottom of the new pouch and it's supposed to prevent it from stretching out and further limits food quantity.

Awwww! It sucks that you lost her, but it double sucks that the kid and you and Ginger had to suffer for 10 days! Sorry for your loss and sadness.

Yay! so glad you liked it and it sat well with you! It's pretty ugly (mine aren't pretty like yours), but tastes great!

Hi and welcome! Congrats on listening to your body and noting the cues it's giving you!!! Waaaahhhhoooooooo! That is totally part of how we come to have "light bulb moments" with the signals our bodies send us! Most likely what's happening for many reasons is: The food is very processed so it hits your blood stream as glucose faster which causes a higher insulin spike. When your blood glucose falls, then you get hungry again. And it can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3-6 hours depending on the food source. Right? The less processed a food is and the more dense, dry and solid it is, the longer is stays in our new tools, the more work and energy the body expends to send it out of our tums and into our gut, and the slower we digest the food in our gut, the slower the broken down macro nutrient takes to get the glucose that can be wrung out of it, into our blood stream. Slow is good! Liquids = super fast Mechanically ground = super fast Solids, low carb, low calorie dense, high fiber = very slow or at least slower Solids, dense, lean, no "lube", low fat = slowest and ideal Sorry to geek out on you! (I ate eggs and sausage with avocado and pico at 10:45 this morning and I've yet to eat again cuz have been full all day. ) Tonight I'm eating a king's meal: steak, asparagus, avo & tom salad.

who makes unflavored liquid protein?

Congrats! You look amazing!!!

I am morbidly obese. I weigh 130lbs. I will always be morbidly obese. That is my fact that I live with every day. It's the reality I choose to keep because it reminds me that there is no magic metabolic cure or make-over that is permanent and lasting. I will never be a "naturally thin", never obese person. And I don't have the metabolism or the body that would show that. I have millions of empty, greedy, hormonally active little fat cells just lurking and waiting for life to happen. And for me to slip back in the habits of a lifetime that helped contribute to my dances at the Obesity Ball. I'm only in remission from this terrible disease. And hopefully, recognizing the play book will keep me sharp and focused and protect me from delusion and complacency. Because I don't want to resume old habits and reawaken the inner MO person again. If I take care of the 2lb gain, I might be spared the 20 or 200lb regain. And it happens so quickly. I see myself as thin and normal weight in a mirror or in a reflection. I see imperfections. But mentally, internally, I know I'm simply TOFI.

I hear what you're saying and understand being bummed. I felt that same way after my first meeting with my surgeon. As everyone said, they base it on national averages and statistics set by the ASMBS and the AMA. But it's also based a little bit on what is going on with our lives. The docs MUST follow standard of care when treating and part of that means they give those same percentages. This surgery is largely what you decide to make of it. It's not an easy journey. But it was by far the best journey I ever chose to take. Cuz even if I lost that 60% given to me in the very beginning? I would be so much better off than where I was. And as @GreenTealael said, a 70-80lb loss is FABULOUS!!

Thank you. But the important take away I really want to leave you with is that you CAN do this and figure it out as you go along. If something isn't working, you just have to be able to nut-up and address the change that needs to be made for your own life. Right? But it's a journey and constant evolution. And we don't just "arrive" at our destination without having taking the trip. Right? I just chose this time that I wanted the most direct route I could humanly find. I didn't want the scenic tour. And it did require a lot of training and a lot of denying short term rewards in favor of long term rewards. Right? But I was far from perfect. I make poor choices as do we all. I just chose to take the very next bite for the bites after the slip. I grew up in a food centric house and culture as well. My dad's fam were restauranteurs and Dad (and Mom) were amazing cooks who believed in huge portions. My entire family are amazing cooks. But I made my needs known to them and they were all eager to support my journey so that I could realize healthy and success. Cuz they love me. So I had to break those bonds of being bound to the past and "how we did things." And we've created new rules and steps for celebrations that will help our entire family. And I wish people could understand that the way I choose to eat 90% of the time or more is the WAY I LIKE eating. I have zero feelings of deprivation. I don't think in terms of me being "holy" or pure. LOL. God no. LOL. ROFL! It's just the way I enjoy eating. And I look forward to meals. Even when they are boring. LOL. Cuz I feel so dang good following these types of meals. And I seek them out preferentially. (It's date night tonight. We're going to our usual neighborhood Italian place. I'm at the low end of my weight window. I could eat pizza or pasta if I want...I could eat their amazing bread. But what I am looking forward to besides being together with Mr. F. and our friends is their side salad add-on grilled shrimp for $4.50 and a side of the sauted broccoli in browned garlic with super light olive oil, al dente for $2.99. LOL. I either eat that or grilled chicken every time we go. Why? Cuz I love both, they make me feel good after eating, and I don't wake up 4lbs heavier the next day. It's a simple choice that leaves me happy.) You can do this. You WILL figure things out!!! And there are many paths to the same truth. Hang in there and most of all, don't beat yourself up. Beatings will never improve morale.

Agreed! OMG. I love everyone on this thread. You guys are all so beautiful and handsome and I love seeing all the men jumpin in!!! I wish I could comment on every single photo!!! But I'm grounded right now and not allowed to...haha (well it feels like it), so I'm adulting in flannel pjs and a sweatshirt. No pics. Sorry. No new clothes. I will take a date night pic to post from tonight for my 2 year surgiversary. Will hope to come play here soon and comment on how great you each look. Just stunning and inspirational!

I had to think about this and your cake post for a while before answering. I can't possibly top @GreenTealael's sage advice. It was awesome! We all have to find our way through this with rules that make sense to us and that we're able to live with and sustain, rather than to rebel against. And what works for me, might not work for any other person. Same for you. These couple of things really helped me get real with myself and my behaviors/choices/relationship with food. 1. Know my WHY. I had to literally write it out and I taped it to the top of my puter, and to my pantry, fridge, and bathroom mirror. I reminded myself every day about WHY, just WHY I chose to change my life in such a dramatic way: RNY surgery. 2. Commit every day for one day and one day only. Cuz I can endure ANYTHING for one day. I will let the string of one days behind me, add up as they do when you only commit to today. Don't worry about what you will do tomorrow. 3. I knew at my weight (287lbs starting) that if I did not break the bond that food had on me and break my focus on it, I would not get to goal. I would end up rationalizing my behavior and eating crappy off-plan super indulgent food. So during WLM I broke up with: food magazines, food tv, youtube food vids other than the what i eat in a day ones, commercials. I closed my eyes and muted the tv everytime a food commercial came on. 4. I did not go where I was tempted. I only went to Cheesecake Factory one time-for a mandatory friends birthday. I had coffee and one bite of sugar free plain cheese cake. Cuz it was about the celebration and friendship. I'd decided beforehand that I would not cheat, and that it wasn't worth wasting the opportunity to lose and get to goal. I broke up with the kinds of heavy, beautiful, calorie dense, delicious foods I see you posting a lot of and turned instead to very clean, very light, super nutrient dense foods with fresh flavors and crisp fresh taste. 5. Embrace boring. The less you interact with food, the better. I'd eat the same little breakfast over and over, the same kind of lunch over and over and plain grilled or pan sauteed chicken, turkey, fish, or shrimp with steamed veg, no butter or oil, and avo/tom salad. And it worked. For the first time ever, I made goal. Not only that, but I made all 3 goals. This morning I'm at 130.2lbs and yesterday was my 2 year surgiversary. I'm in maintenance now and have more endulgences, but I STILL don't eat nor interact with food the way I did when I was a regular at the Obesity Ball. We are known by our actions and the company we keep. So I still choose to avoid certain trigger restaurants with calorie laden foods: Cracker Barrel, Cheesecake Factory, Chuy's Tex Mex, any Asian Place on the face of the earth. Avoidance and abstinence are FOR ME, the only ways I control my food addiction/enmeshment. What's the payout? I get to live in a 130lb body, feel great in my clothes and with confidence in my relationships with family, friends, and strangers. I get to run. I get to do physical things outside in appropriate clothes. It's worth any bite of cake in the world. No cake tastes better than this feeling of freedom of bondage to the foods that made me morbidly obese, that I tried to kill myself with--death by slow bleed.

I adore this entire post!!! Absolutely golden advice!!!! It should be a sticky. @GreenTealael can I copy this part into the Doing The Headwork Thread?

@Sheribear68 Are you working tonight?

Went well. The doctor is very pleased with my results and we talked about my volume that I can eat. She said to be careful that I could stretch out my tool. But she said she wasn't worried about me eating 3c of salad cuz it is very water filled. 129.4lbs is my most recent low. I briefly saw 128.4 (for a hot minute), but then as usual, sprang back into the 130s. It usually does that at least a few times before moving down to defend a lower weight. So no idea what to expect. LOL. I'm just relieved to be off the 134-135 boundary. LOL.

Don't get caught up chasing the full feeling. Eat the prescribed quantity per meal that's appropriate for your stage of healing. You've not posted any info about yourself, so it's hard to tell how far out you are. I'm 2 years out today and I still measure my food and weigh it! I could eat more than I should. And my surgeon said today that you CAN stretch your stomach out by eating too much food at meals...

Checking in. @chayarg I'm hoping you are getting some sleep right now and that they've been in to see you!! ((hugs)) So sorry you are alone! Wish we were there! @ms.sss what a great friend to hang with her last night!!! @AngieBear Glad you got that gb out! And this time you are not gonna gain the weight back!!! Hugs and prayers all around! Off to the doc for my two year appt. 129.4lbs this morning. Gosh, I love poopin'.

Nope. Love my version. 100% diet satisfaction. Wish it could be higher, like a meeeeeelllllioooooonnnnnn %, but I'm told that's impossible.

@nymatnldy I'm not sure if you are talking to me or to @ms.sss. I know she will come in and tell you her fabulous results! I maintain on 1100cals/average. That means some days are low low between 750-900 and other days are 1400-1500. So that over the week the average is 1100cals/day. It works great for me this way because I'm able to indulge some days and then go right back to my weight range. Today is Wednesday and I'm right where my norm is: I'm 132.2lbs this morning. Monday I was up at 134lbs. So it's a pretty tight 5lb window. I expect by Friday evening date night that I will be back towards my 130 "ideal" for me weight.

Replace it with healthy fats! Stuff your salad in 1/2 an avocado. Drizzle with EVOO...or make a high fat vinaigrette in place of your super lo lo one. Add those nuts and nutbutters. Make savory fat bombs. Eat full fat dairy (full fat Greek yogurt + heavy cream = delish and super high cal) and fattier cuts of meat. Add seafood in butter. Add avocado to all your smoothies. You should be able to add 500-1000 cals pretty easily like this without adding a substantial increase in volume. You can also add things like hot chili oil and sesame oil to your broths. Make your protein drinks with whole fairlife milk rather than cashew milk. Add a splash of cream to your coffees: 1tbsp=50cals. Oh, buy can's of sardines in olive oil!!! So good and fatty! I could go on for days on this subject. ROFL! Go to the store!

How are you on fluid status? There are some people who don’t spike fevers. Have someone hit the side of a chair or bed. If you come unglued with pain response you need ER! And it’s either appendicitis or acute ovarian cyst. Or by bowel twist...((hugs))

Honestly, crazy pain is an ER trip hon!! ((Hugs))

The "swelling" is from lymphedema. The PS interrupted your lymphatic drainage system And it takes a while for the body to "reconnect." And what you're experiencing with the compression gear is absolutely true! If you don't have the proper garment in place, it will cause worse swelling below the area due to the inability for that lymph fluid to drain. I wear my sleeve every day. If I don't, then my arm gets huge and if I don't wear my glove with it, then my hand turns into a balloon. I do feel better with it than without it. It gives a comfort/secure/structure feeling. LOL. So glad you are feeling better girlie!!! Oh also, you know me...biased low carber, but $10 bet says that if you ditched the high carb crap and went back to low carb, you would notice the end of your belly bloat starting in as little as 3-4 days and maybe a complete resolution of it in 2-3weeks. hehe. Sorry couldn't resist. You know me...always biased. TY for sharing your journey girlie!! You are so brave and have been a true warrior during this time!!

1. Did you have a JP drain with your procedure? nope 2. Did they Cath you? nope 3. How did you take large meds post-op? Or meds by mouth at all? Were you able to swallow ok? with a pill cup, my mouth, and a sip of water. Good luck tomorrow! You'll do well!