nibble

Got any good quotes on post-its or in your head to motivate, encourage, or inspire you on this road?

Gees, you just don't stop! So tell me about your recipe for this protein coffee. I'm always on the lookout for new tips and ideas. Am enjoying the treadmill, increasing the time on it each day. I am feeling better, more energetic each day.

Another high achiever! Kudos to you, too. In the same timeframe I'm down 75 lbs to your 126, so I hope you are celebrating your achievement with impunity! The holidays WERE wicked, and the winter weather does not cooperate with our intentions. I just got a treadmill, and am revising my daily routine to incorporate its use to my advantage. I've been trying to adapt some recipes to make protein cookies and protein granola for treats. It's all trial and error and ADVENTURE. Not a moment's regret for getting this surgery.

@Cynisca - I appreciate your reply. Again, it sounds like you worked hard to "peel the onion" to get to the core issue(s) for you, and well worth the effort. The program I'm working with has a Social Worker as part of the team and we can book appts as we feel the need. I had never heard of a food psychologist, and am wondering what the differences might be pertaining to bariatric clients. I associate psychologists with testing. I associate psychiatrists with their M.D. ability to prescribe meds. I associate social workers with holistic/whole person in their environment. Did you go through a battery of testing? The social worker I have access to feels ho-hum in my experience of three sessions. Our support groups are facilitated on a rotational basis by the SW, an RN, and NUT, so I see the SW in action with others as well. I'll delve into some research on this!

LOVE that sentence - thanks for sharing it. And WOO HOO to you - you have done an amazing job -- so committed and driven. Your efforts have paid off and you inspire the rest of us. I'm curious, though - are you located near a metropolitan area? Where did you find a food psychologist?

Wow, you are DRIVEN. Great to see you being so fierce. I'd like a cup of that elixir, please!

Thanks for those tips, @photogirl70 - I, too am at the computer too many hours each day. I will look into the resources you shared. Even if I lived next door to a gym I would probably still do my workouts at home!

I'm in the same boat. I have to review some of my habits after getting this in my inbox -- https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/8-bad-habits-that-kill-your-metabolism/?utm_source=mfp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MFP_Extra_Popular_20190130&os_ehash=55@sfmc:132886233. Also read that habits can take a long time to cement, depending on the person, the habit, and the motivation. We should allow at least 66 days. Or more. Every day I have to ask myself Can you live with this _____ (insert action, meal, routine, etc) and be happy/content with it for the rest of your life? The hair loss seems to have slowed a bit. I take biotin and L-lysine to combat that. And I am having a treadmill delivered next week. Exercise is a challenge here in the land of snow and ice, and fitness centers are an hour's drive away. I'm looking forward to incorporating walking into my daily routine and hope that will also make a difference on the scale.

I cannot imagine your heartache and sorrow in losing a child, Frustr8. I am so sorry for your loss. I love your memorial balloon tradition, though - very special. You have an inspiring attitude about your life trials - with plenty of humor. You don't seem to take much lying down...unless you're on a gurney for a test or in OR! Carry on!

@Frustr8 I suspect you have the Guinness Record for number of doctors involved, number of hospital trips, and most dramatic moments in your journey. With the Golden Globe Awards coming up, there should be a category for you. You're a "Contenda!" You're gonna kick and scream your way to Victory. What a woman!!

Me, too, but other than that the hair loss continues and weight does not change. My PA okayed bumping up the Biotin and L-lysine dosages. The other problem is that I live in the land of snow and ice and walking for exercise just is not happening here in the boondocks. I am solving that with my order today for a treadmill -- you know, those metal implements that get converted into a clothes rack after a short time? I surveyed treadmill owners I know who own them...Why did you stop using yours? A. boredom. B. it's in the basement/garage/spare room & I never go in the basement/garage/spare room. So this one goes in the living room, in front of the TV, within good earshot of the music collection. As I've heard before, this weight loss journey is 80% nutrition, 20% exercise, and 100% mental!

Can you comment on pros and cons of wearing abdominal binders or support braces for a while after surgery? Do doctors recommend or frown on their use?

I'm reading James Clear - Atomic Habits, to assist in carving out my new life habits since surgery. Excellent reading! In today's email, he summarizes 55 non-fiction books he's read this year, and one of them seems so appropriate for us. Here's a link to his site and article, and then the summary that struck me relative to our stalls.... https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries Mastery by George Leonard Print The Book in Three Sentences: The most successful path to mastering anything is to practice for the sake of the practice itself, not for the result. All significant learning is composed of brief spurts of progress followed by long periods of work where if feels as if you are stuck on a plateau. There are no experts–only learners.

I'm with you! I had a 4 week stall and was SO DEPRESSED. I have learned to regard them as the body's Time Out while it adjusts to everything - an Adjustment Phase. Hang on, and see if you can boost your exercise routine, change it up, add more water - do some thing differently for a day or two, even just rest or nap. It is demoralizing, though, any way you cut it. Try to take the long view --- "this, too, shall pass."

I am going through the same thoughts - having to learn to eat a meal even when not hungry. With most cravings gone now, I am indifferent, as you noted. My PA says that is a good thing, for we are no longer looking at food as a comfort or a pleasure. The thing is, we have to find satisfaction in other things. I have gone through - and sometimes still do -- periods where I am looking for some food item that provides satisfaction as in days of old. Looking and not finding, so must move on. It's all a process and journey of learning and relearning. Food is becoming "maintenance meds."

@J San -- "wanting to add amino acid powder to my daily shakes a" I got weary of the whey protein powder and started adding collagen hydolysate to soups and drinks. It is fairly tasteless and can be used in hot foods, a distinct advantage over the whey. I got Great Lakes collagen hydrolysate (green canister) but it's not a complete protein as it lacks Tryptophan. I get around that but adding an opened capsule of tryptophan. It's an easy way to add 12g protein to a food, and give the system another type of protein which is easily digested, at least for me. Glad you're beyond the pleurisy and wow, you've made so much headway on your goal - maybe your system needs some time to process and adjust to all these changes. But talk with your medical team about your protein levels and types, as well as appropriate dosage for lysine - see what's best for you. Carry on!

I ordered Lysine through Amazon, after clearing its addition to my meds with my PA. I also did some research on the most reputable pharmaceutical brands (ethical, purity, accuracy, fair priced, ingredients not made in China) that are also available through Amazon: Thorne Research, Pure Encapsulations, Douglas Laboratories, ProThera -- I'm sure there are others... ultimately I bought Thorne L-lysine capsules. Here is a link to just one of several articles on all this https://www.stopandregrow.com/my-top-5-vitamins-for-healthy-hair-growth and another article I just read https://www.drdkim.net/ask-the-dietitian/understanding-hair-loss-after-bariatric-surgery/ indicating hair loss may last for 6 months - O NO! - didn't hear that before. We all need to be careful not to overdose on these things in thinking "more is better" - there are toxicity levels to be mindful of.

Congratulations to you on reaching Onederland. I was just happy to reach Twonderland. Never expected to be able to say I'm down 75# since consult, or 57# since surgery July 17. After a depressing 2 month adjustment phase (aka "stall") I've lost one pound per day this week. Don't understand this but guess I don't have to understand it, just go with it! And yes, continuing hair loss. Added Lysine to my meds, along with the Biotin I've taken for 12 months. How about the rest of our July Sleevers?

Thanks J - I found both. Hope someday to learn the artist of these. Pretty cool!

Me, too. I've plateaued at 52# for 4 weeks and am so demoralized. Earlier I plateaued for two weeks and thought THAT was the pits. Geesh. I'm ready to go back to Square One with broth and protein drinks. My next appt. is Nov. 30 so I will ask for a pep talk, if nothing else. The hair loss is also depressing. I didn't think I was low on protein, and I've been on Biotin for 12 months, so that's baffling, too. Well, I'm glad I have at least one other person to commiserate with in this part of the journey! I think we will get beyond this, but we have to tough it out.

I'm sorry you are having such difficulties, Frustr8! Sometimes we just have to take things one moment at a time, rather than one day at a time. Here's hoping things will improve for you soon! I started adding collagen hydrolysate to most of my foods - it is heat tolerant, unlike most whey proteins, so can be added to soups, cottage cheese, yogurt, coffee, tomato juice, mashed potatoes... I have to add a capsule of tryptophan to each scoop to make it a complete protein, but that's easy peasy. I just cannot tolerate too much of the Unjury whey protein isolate, so the collagen has been a real boon to me, making it easy to get my daily protein total where it needs to be.

@RHCD. I love to cook and bake, too. Are you experimenting in your kitchen laoratory to redo recipes to make them "approved" for your new lifestyle? I have been adding collagen hydrolysate protein to most things, subbing applesauce for all or part of the oil required in recipes, and using less sugar and my own version of Zing - 1 cup sugar + 2T Sweetleaf stevia gives the equivalent of 2 c sweetness. 1/2 t = 8 calories. Also working with cottage cheese in recipes, too, blended smooth. Really adds a lot of protein, about the same as using greek yogurt. It's an adventure!

@CashmereAndBones. I'm 70, and 14-15 weeks post-op. I wasn't ready for this surgery five years ago - felt I would be losing control, would be forced into a cage where I could no longer have what I wanted when I wanted. The thoughts left me angry and rebellious. I wanted to have my coffee, and I love to cook and bake, and I wanted to make the rules for my life. I was in denial Big Time, and unable to see food was in control of me; I was not in control at all !!! At a seminar I learned that obesity is a disease, and that changed my thinking entirely. Being fat was no longer all my fault. If I had some other disease, wouldn't I seek treatment? Well, yes! So why wouldn't I seek help for this disease, too? And all the things I'd have to give up -- well, I learned that would be temporary. Temporary I can live with, I said. So, 100 days post-op I can have coffee, and enjoy it, but don't need to drink it all day long. The first month I had cravings, like pizza. Recently I had pizza and it was a disappointment! My tastes have changed, and that's OK, and I don't miss the things I thought I would. I have fun redoing recipes so they are low cals/carbs and higher protein. I add protein to everything I eat or drink. This new system is working. Amazing! I also know that if you aren't happy with what you're doing you won't continue doing it. That applies to whatever your decision is - to stay with your current situation, or the decision to have surgery and carve out a healthier lifestyle. I have maybe 10-15 years left, but they will be the best years ever. Keep thinking and talking and reading. You will know when you're ready.

Thanks J - I found both. Hope someday to learn the artist of these. Pretty cool!

J San, forget what I said about protein and gout. I must have made that up! If you are prone to gout, excess protein can create gout flareups due to a buildup of uric acid (from the protein), but protein in and of itself apparently does not cause gout. I've got to learn to get my fact straight before publishing! Sorry I'm impressed that you can consume so much water in a day. I get thirsty and want to chug a big glass of ice water but it is painful to do that. Your weight loss is impressive. I had surgery just a week after yours and you've lost twice what I have. You rock!