ms.sss

Day 4 (forgot to post yesterday...): (easy) Sleek Arms Challenge: Done. (harder) 5 mins to Toned Arms Challenge: Done. Aside: I feel like there should be rest days for this one! My triceps are sore and need a day to heal, man. Am going to implement a personal rest day for this harder challenge every 5 days. I'll do the easy one every day though.... Fireworks: Here is a video of Canada Day fireworks from last year (I didn't document any from this year...oopsies) fireworks.mp4

omg. i totally misread your surgery date. I just saw 06/29 and assumed it was this year...sorry about that! I find that everyone's "rules" differ from surgeon to surgeon, but are more or less in the same vein. Here is a resource you can peruse: https://www.obesitycoverage.com/the-big-gastric-bypass-diet-guide/

@notmyname, glad to hear thing are getting better (if even just a little bit )...is your team still recommending a revision for you?

Check out this long running thread on IF, lots of good resources and discussions:

@Freiabr like the rest, I'm sorry about your mom. She is lucky to have you around ♥️. 16 lbs in roughly 2 months! At this rate, getting to your goal by October is totally doable...keep doing what you are doing. Sounds like you have found a groove, stay in it! As for me, I reached my modified goal at the end of May. I originally had a goal of 120, but changed it to 127 cuz I wanted to stop losing weight. But....I kept losing anyway. Though just recently, the weight loss seems to have stopped-ish as I have been hovering around 118-120 for the past week and a bit. We'll see... Hope things continue to get better with your Mom!

😍 This looks delish. Tabbouleh: Another one to add to my to-make list! Will likely sub in cabbage or cauliflower rice in place of the farro/couscous/bulgur...

Day 3: Sleek Arms Challenge: Done. 5 mins to Toned Arms Challenge: Done. Disclaimer: I did the bicep curls, but with no weights (too lazy to go into basement to set up the home gym for biceps). Tricep dips are becoming my new nemesis...my arms are still sore from yesterdays chair dips, man! So the second set of dips were done with bent knees. Family Pic: Went to my mom's place today to dig through the boxes in her basement to try and find a picture of Accra Beach, and found this gem. Its dated 1955 and features my mom (on the left wearing a headband), my aunts, my grandparents, and my great-grandmother. I also found VHS tapes labeled "8mm transfers". So it looks like I've found my next project: find out whats on these tapes and get them digitized!

Practice I guess, lol. But yeah, 99% of the time, the food I eat is either cold or room temperature. I'm used to it. I don't even bother heating up leftovers from the fridge (unless its something that gets gelatinous when refrigerated like bone broth or something....)

Looks like you are 5 days post op...at that stage, I was still on liquids/full fluids. But when I did end up eating actual food at the minced stage 3 weeks post op (i skipped the pureed stage on my own volition cuz it grossed me out), I waited 10 to 15 minutes between 1-2 bites. Sometimes I forgot, but then the pain in my chest would remind me. I'm just over 8 months post op, and I still take a long time to eat, but I do about 10 minutes between 3-5 bites now. You'll learn what your pace should be like...your body will tell you.

First meal of the day: Shirataki noodle stir fry with grilled chicken and leftover mushroom mapo tofu. (Thanks @FluffyChix for the dry-fry-noodle tip!...so much better when the noodles aren't sopping wet) Looks like I was a little optimistic about the portion size, I ate maybe 1/4 of it. Will take another stab at this in a couple hours. If I finish it, it will be 246 cals, 22g protein, 12.4g net carbs, 12g fat. EDIT: after writing this post, I realize I need to get more fat in, so I ate a tablespoon of peanut butter and will add some avocado chunks to the stir-fry when I attempt to eat it again later.

My dad used to live in Ajax Ajax has a really nice (and natural!) waterfront, great for hiking/exploring. You'll have to wave eastward that week, planning a mini road trip into Quebec in the beginning of August ♥️

Ummmmmmmmm, I dunno. I think my arms are pretty un-normal to me, but thanks for saying that they are, lol.

Are you literally FROLICKING in an Icelandic meadow?? LOVE. IT.

Forgot to answer my own question. Beaches are my happy place so I probably love 'em all. But my absolute most favourite one I've been to is Accra Beach in Barbados. When we were there, the water was the most beautiful, bluest dark sapphire-y blue I have ever seen. And the water temperature was perfect, and not so still nor too wavy. And the sand white and unbelievably soft underfoot, almost like memory foam! And clean! And empty (at the time)! Of course, I don't have a picture of it I can post, as I was there long before digital cameras and camera phones where commonplace. I know I have actual prints from a film camera somewhere in the basement of my mom's place. I should go look for them.... I'd love to go to like ANY beach in Seychelles someday...

Ontario. Sugar Beach is just one the several fake beaches set up along downtown Toronto's waterfront. They may not be natural occurrences, but they do pretty up the boardwalk. The view in the background is of the Toronto Islands in Lake Ontario.

@GreenTealael, the variety of your pantry contents is impressive. Of your complex carb list, I've tired hummus, quinoa and some beans (edamame, black, red), but all in tiny amounts so far, so no undesirable reactions to those yet. Haven't had anything resembling actual wheat-based bread though, unless you count a couple regular crackers I had with pate a couple months back...not sure I'm willing to go down that route. Though you reminded me that I have been meaning for some time to make some alt-flour based breads. Will attempt to make one tomorrow!

Guest B-side question: What/where is the best beach you've ever been to/want to go to?

Day 2: 1st (easier) arm challenge: Done. 2nd arm challenge: Not going to do this one this month, will do the 3rd one instead... 3rd (harder) arm challenge: Done-ish. I didn't do the bicep curls. The big arm circles were surprisingly tiring! The last set of tricep dips killed me a little. Beach Pic: I convinced Mr. and the Kid to go for lunch downtown today so we could swing by one of our city's fake beaches and take a picture for today's challenge, lol. The pic below is Sugar Beach, which so happens to be right next to the restaurant we ended up eating at. Too bad it was overcast today though...

So funny. Seems like more play of us than not! You should commercialize it into an actual board game....or even better, an app with in-app purchases for body part-specific photographic comparisons...("are my boobs bigger?", "is my tummy flatter?", etc.)

BS? as in B*llSh*t? ...so you are getting your revision. This will address your GERD, so that's a good thing ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Other than the green-tea-ban-heartbreak, you ok?

Ok, I can verify this with personal experience now: Once you let the carbs back in*, you start to crave/want/long for them. I actually contemplated fixing myself a bowl of cereal (the sugary, NOT whole-wheaty kind) this morning. And I don't even have breakfasts! And I wasn't even hungry! WtF. I had to consciously make a genuine effort NOT to do it, which is like the first time I have ever had to do that in over 8 months. I left the kitchen and downed some water instead. *I had waaaaaaaaaay too many carbs on Sunday (both the good and not-so-good kind), and my lower abdomen still feels bloated/hard 2 days later. And despite this ick feeling, I still felt like I wanted/needed/had-to-have that cereal. Am going to lay off the carbs for a few days and see if (1) my stomach deflates and (2) the annoying cravings go away. Then maybe later try to figure out which ones specifically cause me the most discomfort (though I already know dessert-sugar, fruit-sugar and mixed-drinks sugar are the big ones). EDIT: I'm not trying to demonize carbs, btw...I know that many have no issue with them and can include in their diets no prob. I just find that for me, there has been a proven link with them and a general sense of ick or barfiness.

Yay, you!! 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

@sillykitty: did you portion out these meals yourself? or are Icelandic portions just naturally perfectly sized for bariatric folks?? (well, less all that bread from the first pic...)

Knew I shouldn't have said it!!!

Prior to surgery, I don’t think I had any unrealistic perceptions of my body. I was fat, and I knew it. I may not have liked it, but I knew it. Now, however, I suspect I don’t know exactly what I look like, as in, if I’m normal looking or too thin. I also suspect this is because I’m not used to the smaller me yet and just need more time getting re-acquainted with myself. Time will tell.