Creekimp13

Hubby has to wear a tux, too. Will be a fun time! Maybe you could find some kinda charity event? Take up ball room dancing? LOL:)

I split the difference and get half my protein from very lean meats and half from healthy low glycemic index carbs. Love me some beans and mushrooms and soy and nuts and whole grains. I keep the calories under 1200 and get the best from both worlds. And fruit. Glorious, delicious fruit...is my friend. Watermelon, I want you, I need you and I love you. Keto is fast, but for me, results don't last. Keto drives me right over the edge to a carb melt down that ends in a stupid binge. I need balance, and I'm glad I have a nutritionist who supports this. To those who do well on Keto...best wishes!

I've had issues with regular milk. I tolerate yogurt, cheese and whey ok....but regular milk will give me a case of the loose goose for sure.

Light headedness is a sign of dehydration. Sip, sip, sip. Make sure you're getting all your fluids in. Also...call your group. Better to be safe than sorry. I never experienced light headedness or weakness. I would call your surgeon's office right away. Severe dehydration is nothing to mess around with. You could also have anemia or hypoglycemia...or a number other things going on. Best to get it checked out.

I don't. I say gesundheit....which means "good health" or...I wish you good health. Sometimes I say "allergies or bug?" If they say bug, I ask if they need to go home and rest, or if they need any comfort items. I'm well known for having antihistamines and lotion tissues..lol. I think beating dead horses is the nature of the rants and raves boards...which is why this particular board carries this particular warning: "Want debate? Get it here. Gripe, complain, moan, fight, rant and rave. Enter at your own risk!" But I'd tend to agree....meh....this one's run it's course. Unless someone else jumps in...in which case, I can't make any promises. I do try to sit on my fingers sometimes, but my arse is smaller now and they tend to wiggle loose

^This This is perfect. And true. Trust your saner self who made this decision months ago and has been working so hard. You got this.

Would be awesome if the sleeve did all the work...but it doesn't. I know for a fact that I could easily eat my way to gaining weight again if I started eating refined carbs. Sugar and refined carbs go down so easy it's scary...and they're tasty...and they're the reason most of us have ended up in this mess. The sleeve cannot save us from cookies and chips and ice cream and white bread. We have to save ourselves. Start putting together a forever diet you can live with. If you eat carbs, make sure they're low glycemic carbs like beans and whole grains...stuff that doesn't cause rebound hunger. Avoid sugar like the plague. Never eat over 75 calories worth of junky stuff in one day. Eat lean meats, veggies and fruit. Eat quality carbs with fiber and protein and a slow metabolic burn. Change that diet. It's hard...but it's the only way it works. Also, stay active. I think of exercise as an insurance policy against my screw ups. LOL. I know myself...and I know I have little screw ups. If i'm destroying 400 extra calories a day being active...I have more wiggle room. You an do this. Get back on the horse. Also...get back on the scale. Not obsessively....but once every week or two you should know where you're at so you can make necessary adjustments. Knowledge is power.

I get it...some folks like to pray. It helps you. You find value in it. That's awesome. If it brings you comfort...by all means....pray. But when you choose to ANNOUNCE your prayers as a favor to someone else, to COMFORT them....you are taking it a step further and expecting your prayers to be regarded as something loving you're doing for someone else. Not everyone experiences prayers this way. If you're unsure whether prayers will be appreciated, of if you're unsure if another person finds them comforting....maybe you could ask? If someone asked me....I'd like to pray for you, is that ok? I'd probably say...prayer is not my thing, but I appreciate you caring. Thank you. Maybe you'd respond....by saying you do care, and if you want to, maybe you'd pray privately instead of announcing it if you felt absolutely compelled to do this.......all of these things would be ok. The whole point is that when you're trying to comfort someone...you need to do it on their terms with their needs in mind, not just your own.

Because it's unwanted. And when someone tells you they're doing something unwanted and you say please don't...and they REFUSE TO HEAR YOU as you are doing now...it's offensive and feels very rapey.

I'm not a fan of keto...but I would cut carbs for two weeks before surgery to shrink the liver.

I was allowed decaf coffee, herbal tea, sugar free drinks. I was also allowed sugar free jello, clear broth, and sugar free Popsicles. I got 5 premier protien shakes per day, plus ONE serving of the following: a 100 calorie greek yogurt OR one cup of cream of wheat OR one cup of cream soup. I didn't get to eat meat and veggies like some folks do...I would have preferred that. The last five days, were JUST the shakes and clear fluids. I had a 14 day presurgical diet. Lost 12 pounds. Doctor said my liver looked terrific. (my cheat with the turkey breast was on day 3...I fessed up to it...and it was ok) Also...weirdly...my surgeon wanted us to carb load right before surgery....so we were instructed to drink a bunch of white grape juice the night before. I remember it making me feel super zippy and wide awake. I've never heard anyone else talk about this, so I think my surgeon might be an outlier. We do a lot of things kinda differently...part of a research project.

I think the pre-surgical diet was the hardest part of the whole ordeal. It was tough. Man, I don't envy anyone going through it. Take it a day at a time. If you get crazy and cheat....eat some protein. Don't do carbs or you will defeat the purpose of the liver shrink. And by the way...don't cheat! LOL. (I cheated and had 3 ounces of turkey breast instead of one of my shakes...cause my presurgical diet fell on thanksgiving day and I had cooked the whole meal...ugh!) Take it an hour a time. Shrink that liver. You can do this!

I don't miss my hunk of stomach. It was conspiring with my bad eating habits...to kill me. Good riddance. I don't miss my diseased gallbladder. it hit the garbage bin in 2003. I don't miss the bad tooth I had crowned a few years ago, either. I don't miss my high blood pressure or borderline high blood sugar. I don't miss my edema. and shockingly...even though it was a HUGE part of my body.... i don't miss the 94 pounds of fat that disappeared with my hunk of stomach:) And the stomach I have left? It's an awesome little noodle. It tolerates pretty much everything, never hurts or makes me feel nauseated....and simply says "Whoa there! Slow the hell down, you don't need to eat so much." It's a good little friend...and I love it:)

Why would you think starvation level calories are "head hunger"? Just because you're fat doesn't mean that anytime you experience hunger it's "just in your head." Fat people get hungry, too. Legitimately hungry. Because...shockingly...our bodies also require calories to live. Most folks on the pre-op diet are eating 800 or less calories per day. Your basal body requirements are much more than that. It's ok to be hungry. And admit you're hungry. And it's ok to be intentionally hungry to shrink your liver. And it's hard, too. When we try to take real hunger and pretend it's "just in our heads"....we cross into trading one eating disorder for another. Extremist thinking got us into this mess. Don't trade one extreme for another. Head hunger = you've had a decent dinner of chicken breast and veggies, but you think you're hungry because you're craving a Big Mac and fries. Real hunger = you would LOVE to eat some lean chicken breast and veggies because your tank is empty and it would satisfy you.

The intention does not dictate the receipt. I think it's extremely important to consider the receipt...if your intention is truly comforting someone else. Often times I experience people's prayers as them comforting themselves. That seems a crappy thing to do at the expense of my personal trauma. I would much prefer "You're in my thoughts", "I care", "i'm here for you"...because these things mean something to me and I experience them as support.

This is a Christian who "gets it". Kudos, foxcblue. Thank you.

Most folks who tell you they want to pray for you aren't even thinking about what they're saying. What they mean is to offer sympathy and hopes you'll be ok. I acknowledge that. And that's a lovely sentiment....and it's appreciated. BUT...what they are verbally saying is....here is my religious dogma whether you want it or not. I will inflict it upon you in your time of need even though it's unwanted. And that's wrong. It's ok to speak up so they think about it.

I think religious people who want to force **** on me that I don't want....are ugly inside. So ugly, in fact that they don't hear the word "NO"...sort of like rapists.

Sometimes placebo is good medicine. If a magic feather helps you get through the day, or an adult security blanket makes you feel safe....have at it. Then again...sometimes this same placebo is used for group think to excuse hideous violent actions. Religion can be used to benefit people. it can also be used as a scapegoat for the sickest most vile human impulses. Mostly it's a steaming pile of placebo for crap you'd do anyway and want to justify as being important somehow. Most people are basically good and want to live a cooperative life of mutual respect for others because it benefits them to do so. There's no reason to frame this impulse in a set of conditions and rhetoric...unless you want to use it for tribalism. (a human weakness) Life is tough and beautiful. It's an intense ride full of wonder and questions. No matter how difficult the truth is....I have faith....in science and reason.

What gave you that impression? Yepper....they are wildly different:)

My stomach gurgles and squeaks like a pod of dolphins. I'm pushing seven months out. I think this is just the new normal. Noisey assed stomach!

Made me laugh out loud. I think this is like...every bariatric patient ever. LOL:)

Excellent! Congrats!

It's not a dumb question at all! it's a great question. How does feeling full help someone who is used to eating past feeling full? First off...it's a serious full feeling. Like...full like after Thanksgiving dinner....after just a few ounces. You feel stuffed. Which is awesome. But the bad news...is that it will not stop compulsive eating and you CAN overeat until you regain after surgery if you don't work on behavior modification. Surgery will help a lot to remind you to work on these issues.....but for it to work long term...you need to do the work to change the behavior. Great question!

I don't go by ounces, I go by calories. I eat 1200 per day. Either 6 little 200 calories "meals"...or three 400 calorie meals. Usually some combination. I'll typically do a 200 calorie breakfast, then another 100 calorie snack mid morning, then a couple 200 calories meals for the early afternoon and late afternoon and have 300 for dinner. Then another 200 calorie snack after dinner sometime. I spread it out and eat often. If I know I'm going to a restaurant and want to eat a little richer...I'll bank more calories for that meal and go lighter on the rest. I just balance it however it works for the day....but try very hard to hit 1200.