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Everything posted by Biddy zz π³οΈπ
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Low-fat, low-sugar desserts? I'M CRAVING SO BADLY!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to luckyducky's topic in Pre-op Diets and Questions
Can I ask, are you doing sweetener stuff - Coke Zero, stevia in cooking etc? We have gone sugar cold turkey, but also βsweetnessβ cold turkey - so quit the artificial sweeteners too. And it took a month, 6 weeks but the cravings have stopped. Seems to be some thinking that if you keep using sweeteners, you keep your βsweet toothβ alive, so sweet cravings persist... Didnβt answer your question, but you might be interested to ponder it... -
Out With the Old--In With the New!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to FluffyChix's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
One more thing @FluffyChix Your low carb diet. Tell me more? Are you aiming for under 50g carbs (total) or under 50g sugars (short chain)? Myfitnesspal food tracker gives you both figures. I try and stay under 50g carbs, and 7nder 20g sugar, but I get no ketone breath so think I am not in ketosis... Also, was just reading a great article on the BBC news app about the neurological link between low sugar/hunger and rage/irritability - being hangry. Basically being low sugar and being hangry are linked through brain neuropeptide receptor mechanisms - which is interesting because since the RNY, I think I am more irritatable. I really notice it at work with one of my (badly behaved, nasty, bullying) board of governors. I have always been able to bite my tongue but at the moment, I am finding it harder - even snapped at him a couple of times. Do you (my resident low carb expert) get this?? -
Donβt know if it helps but I have found holding a plate with a bit of food on it helps - I sort of move it about (initially I picked something I didnβt like, to reduce temptation) and no-one notices you arenβt eating - mostly people are engaged with their own food, and with chatter. They really do notice if you have no plate at all, so I fake it!
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You might like to msg @numinousvessel - also open and closed with no surgery (in their case, due to intestinal adhesions). Messes with your head - might be nice to chat to someone else in your boat....
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Out With the Old--In With the New!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to FluffyChix's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
Not bloody likely!! How could I maintain my anonymity when I acquiesce as you start demanding piccys body-part by body-part! Are people commenting on your weight loss? I had four people tell me I looked βhealthyβ yesterday. I wondered if this is a thing - you say healthy instead of thinner, so as to not offend. One guy added I looked really hot, and giggled, which was sweet (in a room full of people - nothing inappropriate.....) ππ -
Dumping syndrome
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to dreamingofasleeve's topic in Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums
My understanding is, dumping happens to about 25% of bypass folk. It happens because on our surgery, the new small stomach outlet is reconnected into the intestine maybe 70-80cm down the small intestine - in a sleeve it remains connected at the top (start) of the small intestine. That difference is why a bypass is βmalabsorbtiveβ - you restrict both the stomach volume capacity AND the intestine absorbing capability. So in a bypass sugar goes through the small tummy and βdumpsβ into a spot well down the intestine - in a sleeve, this doesnβt happen. I have had it twice and it is awful - sweating, bad nausea, then diarrhoea - 45 minutes to pass. If I have a smaller volume of sugar, I can have βdumping liteβ - I feel very sleepy and yawn a lot and maybe fall asleep for 20 mins. But - I am never tempted to try a chocolate bar!! -
Out With the Old--In With the New!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to FluffyChix's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
Haiku to weight loss Hail! When I look down My baggy thighs delight me My muscle shows through! -
2nd visit with my surgeon and need some advice.
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to J San's topic in Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums
Your actions sound damned near ideal! One idea - track your food on an app like myfitnesspal - be scrupulously honest, weigh your food and track your calories. After surgery you might be 550-70 calories a day until things settle, and the weight drops off - see if you can do that by yourself, for a fixed period - for same result... hard without the surgery though! I wish you all the best... -
I had a bypass and open surgery and was in hospital for 4 days - and was on solids before I left. It was shredded chicken, and then shredded fish. That said, while my surgeon let me βresume normal foodβ immediately, unlike so many others, I could eat maybe 1/4 cup max and I was 3 meals a day (the only rule, really). He wasnβt too worried about protein levels etc, but I have been happier following some of the recommendations I have found on peopleβs posts here. I start each day with a coffee/vanilla protein/ice slushy ice shake. Pretty much from the start, I decided to I start each meal with protein, then eat the veggies etc. Now, 4 months in, I am up to 3/4-1 cup per meals - still start each with protein. I never ear rice, pasta, potatoes - many of us find limiting carbs is a good long-term strategy. Seems surgeons all have different beliefs around food. If your instructions are as vague as they sound, like mine were - then gently and cautiously explore what works for you. And - if you try a new food, do it at home, until the random βreact with diarrhoeaβ reactions are over - that took a couple of months for me! All the best, it is a great journey.
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Out With the Old--In With the New!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to FluffyChix's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
I wouldnβt presume to presume!! But you seem to me to have your head screwed on!! I may get to Houston (there is a direct Air New Zealand flight to Houston now!) - I am just about to be made Vice President of an international oversight organisation in my field, so will be in the USA 4 times a year for 3 years - if I come your way, I will give you a shout. We could get together for peanut-butter-cheese heaven. My surgeon is very lose on food. He sets no calorie limits, and post surgery I was on solids before I left hospital. He tracks his patientsβ food - 1700 of them. A year after surgery, they typically were around 800-900 calories a day. And they donβt get sick. So for me - secretly delighted when I have a 500 cal day but knowing that DOESNβT mean big weight loss tomorrow, committing to over 700 is sensible, 800-900 is normal. I do need to slow the weight loss a bit - my chest is downright bony! -
Out With the Old--In With the New!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to FluffyChix's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
I so envy you all the food choices that we donβt have here. BUT - I am coming to the USA in September, Baltimore. So, once I know the hotel I will be sleeping in, I think I can place some orders and have them delivered to me there to bring home! I have been thinking about your calories post, a lot. I am still losing a kilo a week, I am below my best gastric band weight - which was my goal but I have revised the goal downward to the top of the BMI βnot overweightβ range. I know I should, by surgeonβs predictions, be losing at half this rate by now. But I find myself loathe to let my calories go over 700. I have been considering that it might well be very easy for me to simply replace one eating disorder (overeating to deal with any emotion whatsoever) with another (caloric limitation and obsession)... So - thanks for raising this thinking for me, too. Will my relationship with food ever be normal? -
Tonightβs dinner pic!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to Seahawks Fan's topic in Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums
If I didnβt live quite so far away, iβd Come on over!! -
Out With the Old--In With the New!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to FluffyChix's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
Hey Fluff i am just back from China - yay to have easy internet again! I checked out your photos above - the thing I notice most is the way your arms lie closer to your body. I see it in my pics too. I donβt know if it is shrinkage of side-boob, or upper arms (is it only New Zealanders and Aussies who refer to a ladiesβ loose upper arm as her flubbadah or her flubberdubber? Anyway, smaller that! Your rate of weight loss - maybe slowed by how much you lost BEFORE surgery, @FluffyChix? -
Post surgery weight gain options
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to Lynndi's topic in POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
βShrinking your stomachβ - my lap band surgeon offered weekend retreats he called pouch training - basically, you shrink it by eating less, and it shrinks. The weekends were mostly psychological - the why and what of your recent eating patterns. Remember, your good tool is still there - could you do your own βpouch trainingβ by going back to the start, and doing liquid/mush/soft/solid progression? Fixating? Maybe reframe it as being mindful of your eating again... you did it once, you can do it again, hey? -
Yep, mine said 20% too. He checked mine during surgery, nothing gritty in there - if there was he mightβve removed it, but mine was a keeper.
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Tattoo before surgery?
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to Sprinkles1's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
I canβt imagine why not... Just a thought about tattoo - if you loose lots of weight, and your skin stretches a bit... Well, a picture of your mum on your boob may make her look very long-faced in 6 months, if you get my drift!!! -
Hernia? My first hiccup on this journey - how will they repair it?
Biddy zz π³οΈπ posted a topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
Hi team I have been quiet this week - I am in China and the Internet is ... patchy. Great visit - managed my official banquet lunches and dinners with dignity, a bite of every dish (there are usually 12-20 different items, all circulation on a lazy Susan - you never know how many will come and are constantly exhorted to eat more, try another signature dish. Lucky the food is healthy, proteinous. And I have dropped a couple more pounds this week π) Just before I left I went scuba diving and as I was training, lifting tanks on and off my dive buddy, I felt like I pulled a wee muscle, off to the left side of my breastbone to navel RNY scar - right where my gastric band port used to be, in fact. So it just seemed to get worse, until it stabbed when I sneezed, or coughed. And THEN I noticed (when stretching and admiring my new curvy waist in the mirror!) a lump, right there in the sore spot... βThink it is a hernia out through the port scar, you have split those muscles. Fly business class to Chinaβ said the Dr (fat chance!!) Off for an ultrasound when I get home Tuesday. If it is, does anyone know if it can be repaired WITHOUT that gastric mesh? My port was on mesh and it made mayhem. I donβt want new mesh!! [By the way, my weight loss surgery buddies, I would repeat this even if I knew I would get an annual hernia. This whole experience has been so so easy, smooth, empowering...] -
Four months out- whatβs your volume?
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to BostonWLKC's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
Hi there i am 4 months out but unlike @Creekimp13, my surgeon is a βstrictly three meals a dayβ guy. I can eat about 3/4 cup per serving. I start with protein, get 50-60g a day (not quite enough, but we do make some of our own) and usually 700-800 calories. I am never hungry. I have been in China all week, with many official banquet lunches and dinners. They are much more modest than they used to be 10 years ago, but still the food is placed, dish by dish on a lazy Susan, and it comes and comes for an hour or so. I definitely felt a bit obliged to eat more than I would have, a bite or two of many dishes. I think I ate a little more volume this way, spread out (usually I eat pretty quick). Good healthy food though - so still dropped a couple of pound! -
Looking at my wardrobe, as I pull out the bags with stored clothes in 10lb weight ranges (I store when I grow, knowing I will get thin again. I throw out or give away when I shrink, knowing I will never get fat again. Expensive!) I notice that my clothes are pretty much all black or grey. Fat girls donβt show off, right? So, yesterday I bought this, and today I am wearing it... SO many comments.
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Out With the Old--In With the New!
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to FluffyChix's topic in Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story
I call it my daily consti-poo-tional. -
Post op day 1 - I have had the easiest recovery and here is why....
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to karmanodrama's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
I had open surgery - 7 inch scar from great bone to navel. But the pain relief was magic! As they sewed me up, they sewed a thin perforated tube along the incision. This was connected to a wee pump and reservoir, on a waist belt. This pumped tiny bits of xylocaine into the wound for three days - so the incision was totally pain free! I has tramadol available on self med - only did one dose but realised I didnβt need it. I didnβt even know they made such a thing. After the 3 days the reservoir was empty, and the tube just slid out painlessly. Arenβt our med professionals wonderful?! -
Lapband removal and RNY in May
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to Missfree49's topic in Gastric Bypass Surgery Forums
Hi there I had my 10 year old band taken out and replaced with RNY 17 weeks ago today. I am now at my best ever band weight, and still easily losing a pound a week. The RNY is an utter breeze compared to a band, seriously! Wish iβdβve Had the courage to switch years ago! Fingers crossed for your journey... -
Please don't be disappointed
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to TakingABreak's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Oh man, you are a star - I see your numbers - if she cried on the phone, sheβll be inconsolable in person!! Those who love us are proud - many have been wishing thinner, healthier on us for years! Please let us know how it goes? -
NSV- wearing color
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to Biddy zz π³οΈπ's topic in General Weight Loss Surgery Discussions
Thanks! While I am pretty happy with the weight loss, my tummy above the belly button is still bigger than I like, and sort of βcatchesβ clothes. So yes, it is a comfy fit in other places. But I know how to find the shop - this tummy too shall pass, and then there will be no stopping the shopping! -
eek-just ate bag of ruffles potato chips/helluva good dip
Biddy zz π³οΈπ replied to ProudGrammy's topic in Gastric Sleeve Surgery Forums
Sorry - I am a bypass...