ms.sss

omg i was a notoriously slow eater during weight loss phase. it used to take me an hour to an hour and a half the first few months (despite the fact that i ate fractions of fractions of those around me). i learned to eat slowly by necessity. if i didn't, i would be in pain (or barf). turned myself into a grazer, and still basically am 4 yrs post. nowadays it takes me about 30 mins to eat about a cup of food in volume...but usually what i don't finish i'll get to later after some digestion.

yeah, they do that here too!

i brought some beef jerky with me during weight loss phase. nowadays i just eat the popcorn from somebody else's bag, lol...its not worth getting a bag for myself. im 4 years out.

slept in this morning (very uncharacteristic of me...im am early bird thu and thru!) ...so first meal of day is coming in pretty late: homemade chicken soup with pasta shells, topped with crispy fried onions: 292 calories, ate it all. This is an instance of me just guessing the calories since i was too lazy to input the recipe into MFP, and i didn't trust the cal counts of the ones already listed in their database. close enough!!

5 wisdom teeth!! you are super rare! I had 4 removed in my 20's (under general as well). now that i think of it, recovery from that was pretty rough too. (i must have blocked that memory!! lol) my jaw was HUGE with swelling. i had trouble swallowing (so my throat was sooooo painfully dry) and of course i couldn't eat. if i remember correctly i didn't eat for over a week and lost 10+ lbs...and i was like 115-120 lbs to begin with so i looked pretty wrecked.

snack (or second dinner? lol) im on an oatmeal love-fest these days after having it for the first time in YEARS last week! another first: eating raw bananas. i've had banana bread, cooked banana desserts, but i haven't had an actual as-is banana since before surgery four years ago. verdict: its kinda filling and im afraid the amount i ate, combined with the brown sugar i added to the oatmeal, may be enough to send me on a minor dumping episode shortly. oh well. 331 calories for the bowl, i ate pretty much all the oatmeal, and about 1/2 the banana. given the way im feeling now, bananas are off the menu again.

dinner: salad 🥗 215 calories for the bowl, ate about 2/3 of it.

no c-section, but i did have a tummy tuck. wls was waaaaaaaaaaay more tolerable than the TT.

lunch: bagel with butter, eggs & cheese. 546 calories (which seems like alot of cals, no??) Ate all the cheese and half of the rest.

weight loss didn't change my relationship per se, but it did change me, which did affect my relationship (among other things) for the better: i'm more confident, less tired, less annoyed, more patient. sex? also for the better (see reasons above, ha!) but i'll also add: im more limber/bendy lol.

looking fab! (my crop tops are in use all year long !)

omg yes. sleeping (or ever just sitting and getting up from a seated/laying position) after tummy tuck was the WORST! congrats on the TT btw, it will get better soon enough and it will be AMAZING!

yeah, in MY experience, going keto/low-carb is very effective for losing weight rapidly in a relatively short amount of time. BUT...maintaining this lifestyle long term is challenging for most (not all, but MOST) The problem with us as a community has always been KEEPING the weight OFF (i mean how many times in the past have we lost a bunch of weight only to gain it back, and sometimes plus more) So when most (not all!) get to the keto/low-carb burnout phase, or just slowly let things slide, there needs to be another plan in place to maintain one's current weight and usually thats just finding your own balance of calories and activity level...and make that your lifestyle. P.S. not to say that Keto/low-carb is not an unattainable lifestyle choice. i have several friends who have done this for many years (and one who's been at it for over 20 years!) ...interestingly enough none of whom have ever been obese...not sure if there is a correlation there...

i stopped drinking in the first day of my 2 week pre-op diet. And no, i didn't have to take a blood-alcohol test at any time. Had my first drink (2-3 sips of red wine) at around 3 weeks post op. Had my 2nd (partial) drink around 2-3 months post which gave me one of the worst dumping experiences i have had to date (it was a sugary soju-sake cocktail). I had maybe 4-5 (partial) drinks during weight loss phase: vodka sodas or very dry red wine. Now im just a normal regular drinker for the most part (but i still try to stay away from overly sugary drinks). Im 4 years post op.

i took one of my couch's back cushions and brought to my bed to prop myself up on to sleep. Did this for a few months. It took a couple weeks to get used to cuz i was a stomach sleeper prior to surgery. At first it was for ease of getting out of bed as well as to alleviate abdominal pain from surgery. Later, after i healed, i used it to alleviate any middle of the night regurgitation... i was very susceptible to this in the early months. Im 4 years out now and i sleep with regular pillows...in every position imaginable lol. Edited to add, i do sleep with a small pillow underneath my stomach/hips (if im stomach sleeping) now to avoid back pain in the morning though...now that my stomach bulk is gone, i seem to hyper-extend my lower back when on my stomach so the pillow helps.

these were my reasons for choosing sleeve as well. BuT...i dump anyway. Excess sugar (especially on an empty stomach) is my downfall. Am 4 years out and am still susceptible to too much sugar. As for NSAIDs, i seem to be ok taking them occasionally, but the daily one i used to take pre-surgery became unnecessary after surgery for some reason so I cant really comment on regular long term use.

I dunno if i would classify as awful! salt is lovely, lol. My doc actually told me to consume MORE salt around 1 month post cuz my blood pressure was so low.

+1 i had like 4-5 partial drinks during entire weight loss phase. Now, i am what one would call a regular drinker (some may even, dare i say, call me an alcoholic). I was a drinker before surgery as well. (Though before surgery I would drink lots in a short amount of time, every few weeks, now i drink less at a time, but more often). My increased drinking frequency had a lot to do with Covid lockdowns starting in 2020 though. From a weight-loss perspective, what little i did drink during weight loss phase did not seem to affect ME in getting to goal. Nor does the amounts i drink now seem to affect my ability to maintain my current weight (note though that i simultaneously keep an eye on my total calories - alcohol or otherwise- , so there’s also that) I get tipsy quite fast post-wls (and on small amounts), but I also sober up in record speed. As others said above, if you really want to, try it out and observe how you react, and then decide if want to again. Or, don’t. Up to you…you know yourself best. Sincerely, An alcohol-drinking-DRINKER (from Canada). (i also smoke, drive above the speed limit, and am late paying my taxes this year…)

That would be hard! I did 25g NET carbs, so I didn’t count fibre nor sugar alcohols…

Dinner! (Salad with chicken): 214 calories. Ate all the important stuff (i.e., the chicken and cheese), lol…leftovers is basically lettuce.

No with spices for me either, heat or otherwise. BUT…i did notice after surgery that my spicy heat tolerance has lowered considerably. I was a suicide-wings level kinda gal before surgery, now not so much. Doesn’t stop me from trying though!

Its a pita chip kind of day 1st and 2nd meals of the day: 2 poached eggs with 1/2 oz of pita chips: 190 calories; and homemade guac and pita chips and an espresso martini (not shown): 321 calories. Ate everything shown.

(Warning: this is long) tldr; for ME, in MAINTENANCE, carbs consumption makes little difference to my weight. K. My NUT didn’t give me a carb goal/limit per se, but did instruct me to aim for my meals to consist of 25% carbs/starches (with another 25% being protein and the remaining 50% to be low-glycemic veggies). With that said, i did my own thing (and told her so): i ended up doing ultra-low carb, i.e., less than 25g NET carbs per day. Got to goal in 7 months, remained carbophobic, lost a few more pounds and basically still went out of my way to avoid them. I wasn’t ultra-low carb as during weight loss phase, but i was still pretty low. Eventually, i started eating more and nowadays (4 years post), i probably eat as much carbs as a “regular” person. I have remained under goal weight this entire time. These are my takeaways of going low-carb (and this is from MY experience, YMMV) 1) weight loss is rapid. but you need to remain low carb for an extended period. If i carb up on a day, the weight loss slows down or pauses. There is a science to this phenomenon regarding ketosis, the explanation of which is beyond the scope of my post (just google it if ur interested). Also want to say that i was also ultra-low calorie so obvs that contributed! 2) there is a period of a few days that, once passed, my cravings for carbohydrates went away. (Which is why once u start, stick to it because u may have to go thu the “white-knuckle” phase again to alleviate urself of the cravings (see note 1 above) 3) now here is the kicker: during MAINTENANCE (i cant say if this applies to weight loss phase because i didn’t try it)…i discovered that, for ME, it does not matter if my 1800 cals average i eat a day consists of 20g of carbs or 200g. My weight stays the same regardless. What does make a difference is CALORIES. So long as my calories stay at around 1800 (however it is comprised) then im good. 4) carb consumption affects my looks. When i low carb, my body is more defined (which i like) and my face more gaunt (which I don’t like). These days my face is lovely (lol), but my body could be better. Mind u i have also been slacking on the exercise front so that is also a factor, but i digress. In any case, the point is i am still basically the same weight as my low-carb maintenance days. And that concludes my dissertation for this evening lol. P.S. I want to point out also that i am NOT insulin-resitant, nor suffer any other medical conditions that affect my weight, nor take any medications that would either. So this may not be everyone’s experience. P.P.S. Sorry this was so long!

I didn’t have my period for about 2 years prior to surgery…i assumed i was in menopause. 2-3 weeks post surgery, i was surprised when it showed up. It was pretty heavy…for me. It lasted about a week and a bit, compared to the 3-4 days when i used to get it (previously i would have 1, maybe 2 days of tampon-worthy flow followed by 2-3 days of “spotting”). This period was tampon-worthy for a good week. After that first post-op one, i got my period like clockwork every 4 weeks, lasting 3-4 days again like i used to. I’m 4 years post op. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was today years old when i googled Horchata and learned what it was.