ms.sss

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.

Day 1 Arms done. (K, I’m gonna say it, the arm exercises are a tad on the easy side. Now, of course since I said it, I will likely soon find it gets exponentially harder) Did some butt exercises...I wasn’t sure how many reps to do for full effectiveness, so Mr. suggested I do a single exercise until I start to feel the burn, then do 10 more. I did 3 different exercises, and needless to say, my glutes are on fire. Here’s my sunny (Happy Canada Day 🇨🇦) pic. Actually had our holiday weekend BBQ yesterday, and ate waaay too much (comparatively) and am paying for it a little today. I probably had more carbs in one day yesterday than I did the entire past week, and today I’m feeling unnaturally bloated...my lower stomach feels rock hard. It’s like I have abs or something, lol. Maybe thats my secret to a firm tummy...Carbs! Sure would save $$$ in plastics.

I get this from time to time. At first (about the first 1-3 months post op) I was all, "Cool! One less thing to worry about". Then around 4-5 months, I started to worry that I was going to do harm to my body and health and make myself sickly, so I would force myself to eat (which actually would make me sick). The more recent months though, I am more used to it and know that the feeling will pass and I will I'll feel like eating eventually, so I just wait it out. I do try to drink protein shakes at least when it happens though...and I always keep up with my vitamins (BUT: taking my multivitamin does make me a tad nauseous on an empty stomach so sometimes I'll skip it during these times, and just take the others.) On the bright side, this food aversion thing seem to happen less and less frequently and gets shorter in duration as time goes on

nu-uh. you look great!

I've noticed this too...i've noticed (and so has the fam) that I am so very chill post op. weird.

omg i get this all the time or some variation of it..."I'm going to buy you a loaf of bread", "your stomach probably hates you right now, feed it", "here, take my dessert, you need it more than I do". people suck. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Right?!? On paper the numbers tell me I'm just fine. Geez.

Ugh. Adults. Busybody Aunt types and those distant cousins you only see once year. 🙄 ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Last night's dinner: Shrimp Ceviche #yum 140 cals, 29g protein, 8 net carbs. ATE IT ALL. Would have gone for seconds, but didn't want to risk it.

Ok, I didn't do the June challenge (out of sheer laziness, i admit), but will try to keep up on this one (I like the Instagram/photos aspect, and the focus on arm toning is intriguing. I'm a little skeptical that these exercises will have any positive effect on my surplus bat-wingy arm skin, but I'm down to get what muscle I do have toned up ) ========================= VSG: October 24, 2018, currently 8 months post up, in maintenance. Weight: 118.5 lbs July Goals: Keep weight stable-ish and maintain a BMI of no less than 22 Complete every single one of the arm challenges. Firm up my butt, lol. Not sure how to measure success on this one, but will do a bunch of squats, leg lifts and bridges anyway. Every. Day. Take pretty pictures. Here are some pics of my arm. They aren't so bad, if you ignore all that skin hanging underneath! Keeping my arm down helps tremendously . Lucky no one walked in to the washroom when I had my shirt off for the first shot.

*slow clap* well said.

O.M.G. Now there's a place to go!