Sheribear68

This!!! Omg, this! One good/bad thing the “house” psychologist did was to instill in each of us the paranoia that this honeymoon period is a one-time only reboot to the metabolism so don’t mess it up. Overall it’s good, because I don’t want to fall into the trap that I can still “cheat” and lose and I also don’t want to fall into the “other skinny people can eat like this” trap either. Kind of like recovering alcoholics, ex-smokers, or drug abusers, I am a fat person no matter what my current weight/size is. My brain and body will NEVER be able to handle food like many other people can. Having this surgery and the resultant weight-loss doesn’t change any of those facts just like a recovering alcoholic staying sober for years upon end doesn’t change the fact that one drink could put them back on the road to hell. Even though previous failures weren’t necessarily my “fault”, they are the reality of my past. It’s what my body does with food and i realize now that I’ve got to be as diligent as possible and still find a balance that I can live with for the rest of my life. It’s never going to be easy. I can never forget—even after I hit goal weight— that this will be a lifetime of daily choices to either keep me on track or derail me.

Okay so the snacks are pretty carb-laden, and I bet there’s tons of sodium also. Maybe try a snack of 1 ounce cheese, 8 ounces fairlife plain milk or 6 olives or 2 tablespoons hummus with some carrot sticks? I’m seeing a lot of processed foods in there and quite frankly I just don’t trust anything processed anymore. Eating primarily processed foods is what got me in the place I was. Also, maybe try upping water 20% from whatever it currently is. I know it’s gotta be difficult with all of the nausea and other complications, but we will figure out a solution

Lol, actually I ate about a third of what was served to me and that was with the miso soup taking room up in my sleeve. Also, I had a couple sips of my husbands merlot. Wow, I can’t wait to be able to have wine again I’ll be able to finish the rest of the tuna for lunch today. Granted, that’s ALL that I will eat, but loads of healthy protein so I’ll be fine with that

Okay so I was wildly craving sashimi and miso soup. Like in a bad way, lol Here are my before and after shots. Part of me is really really sad that restriction hit as soon as it did, but that’s the point isn’t it? Oh well, I’ll have leftover tuna for lunch tomorrow

Okay so I had a craving for miso soup and sashimi tonite. Lucky for me, the tuna will make good leftovers for tomorrow

Thanks SO MUCH for posting your thoughts like this. There is so much here to unpack and I can totally relate. Well... not to the maintenance part as I’m only 11 weeks post surgery and still need 50-ish pounds til my first goal weight... but I can relate to all the head stuff. For me, this has been “one of those” weeks and I told hubs this morning that I wanted and NEEDED to go out tonight. Yeah, I still relate busting stress and “celebrating” with food, but it’s changed. I’m already planning a wild meal of miso soup and 4-5 pieces sashimi. Oh yeah, and a sip from hubs glass of whatever sake he decides to order. Lol, it’s probably not even going to be 400 calories, but to me this seems over-the-top indulgent and I already know not to weigh myself for at least 2 days after all that sodium. I’m choosing to do this rather than stay at home yet one more night repurposing leftovers. I’ll do that all week (and honestly most weekends) but being able to go out like a normal person every so often is so very therapeutic. I Just have to keep in mind that I need to keep an eye on my own MH and make sure she takes back seat to the RMH. Love that term. It’s soooooo fitting

Hard to remember, but not more than a day. It made me nauseated for a few hours after I took it (which sucks when you’re supposed to take something twice daily) but I would get over it in a few hours. On a side note... I’m probably not the best person to ask because I really don’t get nauseated very easily and when I do I get over it quickly. If I throw up, it’s a major-serious deal and I’m probably a step away from needing to go to the ER if that happens Hope all goes well with the infusion!

Getting a later start than normal on my eating for the day, but making up for it with 25gm protein for breakfast/lunch. Here’s to a protein-filled happy Friday to everyone

Wow! Okay so I’m still not ready to start this as my sleeve is too new to have feast days, but I can’t wait to start. What app is that if you don’t mind me asking?

Count me in as also not a guy, but also thinking I’m going to experience these same issues. If I stand with arms by my side and legs right next to each other, I can see where some skin is starting to “collect” Also I think my face looks more saggy- in the way a deflated balloon does. Lol, the only positive from being a breast cancer survivor is I had the girls reduced 9 years ago, so I’m not worried about any sag there at least. I’ll take it though as long as the weight continues to come off

The Ursodiol is pretty commonly prescribed and it commonly causes nausea. I too started taking it only to D/C it after a couple weeks. I’ve still got most of my 90 day supply and am thinking about trying again when I hit 3 months post. I guess if I have to have my gall bladder removed, then I’ll have to have it removed. 🤷‍♀️

Isn’t it funny how those things work? Today required a bit of schedule struggle. I worked 6:30-5pm, then had a Pilates class at 6:30. My opportunity to eat dinner was between 5:30-6, but I had had a late lunch at 2pm. I ate anyway because I didn’t want dinner after 8pm, and for the first 15 minutes (it was a cardio jump class) I was battling extreme nausea. I finally was able to push my body through it, but only because of a lifetime of willing myself to not puke. Throwing up is a severe phobia of mine and I’m pretty dang good at being able to circumvent it. Just another reminder that our bodies aren’t the same and we have to periodically relearn how to juggle our schedules with a new digestive system.

Froufrou. I think you’ve definitely identified a couple of trouble spots and I find that identifying the problem goes a long way toward fixing it. Lol, after the first 2 weeks, I “ only” lose 10 pounds month every month. 🤣🤣 My average has consistently been 2.5 pounds weekly and even though I’m kinda disappointed in those numbers, they are the numbers I’m getting so I’m learning to live with slow and steady. I have bouts of hunger and mostly it’s when I’m stressed out. Since about 98% of my stress is work related, I do struggle with it at work, but so far I’ve managed multiple temptations and when I get hangry at work I down some fairlife milk. I have a 4 week rotating schedule and 3 weeks ago was my late week. That means I work 1-11pm 4 days that week and getting home from work at 11:20pm after 10 hours of hell looks different for me today than it did a few months ago. Previously I would arrive home starving, eat some dinner, and have at least 1-2 glasses of wine. Every. Night. Now I still arrive home from those shifts stressed, because surgery can’t fix my work environment, but I handle it differently. If I’m super- hungry I pour the milk into my favorite coffee mug and take it upstairs with me to my bedroom where I have a aromatherapy diffuser and I can pull up a meditation video on YouTube. That’s my “me” time and my husband will even do the mediation exercises with me. Then I give myself a half hour screen time before I make myself turn in for the night. Knowing I give myself permission for that glass of milk really gets me through a rough situation where bad habits could come back to roost if I let them. I’m going to do everything in my power to kick those habits to the curb

Beautifully put!!

Marine! Wow that’s amazing weight loss and thanks so much for posting your progress so far. I think I’m going to continue to post progress pics every month as a way to track. It’s easy to get caught up in day to day and forget to take a step back and see the bigger picture

Yes! This is exactly the reason. Even though a small amount for someone else, suddenly increasing carbs will cause us to get “fluffy”. I’ve almost exclusively blocked carbs from my diet, but I’ve noticed lots of joint pain and inflammation and just a general feeling of “ickyness” if I have more than usual. Also, the honeymoon period varies but I’ve been told anywhere between 8-14 months.

Okay so as of today I’m exactly 8 weeks post sleeve. I’m trying to find a nickname for my new stomach because referring to it as “my sleeve” is just plain boring. Anybody got any clever names for their sleeves? Looking for ideas

I think for some people it can work, but this early it’s not a good idea. Much better to use an osmotic stool softener than to put a bunch of fiber in the already overstressed gut. Besides, Nobody should be feeling hunger within a couple months of surgery

If someone is determined to have this attitude without bothering to learn the science behind it before they make up their mind, there’s really not a lot that can help them. Now I realize you can’t write these people out of your life, but I’d try to have as little interaction with them as possible. For sure don’t get defensive or feel like you have to justify your decision to them. Hopefully someday they will appreciate the logical and fearless person that you are.

*pharmacist * I would STRONGLY URGE you to NOT use fiber. Much better to use milk of magnesia for acute constipation and to use Miralax a few times weekly as a preventative.

2.5 months out, VGS. Surgery day weight was 243. Current weight is 204. I have 54 pounds til goal because I’m 5’7” It feels like more than 39 pounds to be honest. If feels like so much more and I’m so psyched for the next 54 pounds.

Yes! I’d love to know how far along you are and what your plan looks like.

Make that N=2. This what what I was meaning earlier about any kind of artificial sweetener making me feel like crap and hungry all the time.

I got lucky (well none of it was luck, but you know....) Mine was caught before it had a chance to go anywhere outside of the ducts. TNBC has the worst prognosis in the first 5 years (50% survivor rate) but after 5 years the risk of recurrence almost bottoms out. I’ll never forget going in for that 5 year check up and crying tears of joy when my oncologist pronounced me “free and clear” of the dread 5 year window in July 2014. Then in February 2018 I had some really weird lymph nodes found on a breast MRI and everyone was convinced I had lymphoma. Thankfully I did NOT, but it was the longest 4 weeks I’d had in quite awhile and after it was all over is when I started looking into bariatric surgery as a solution. I was sick and tired of always looking over my shoulder and the fat I was carrying around was like a ticking time bomb. Lol, my “girls” are much worse for the wear also. After the chemo and radiation, I qualified for a reduction and I took it. Went from a DDD to a small C cup and I haven’t regretted it for one second. There’s so much scar tissue and the left one is rock hard compared to the right due to the radiation, but I’ll take being alive over odd-looking tatas hands down. Lol, I do wonder what will happen to the cup size as I get closer to goal. Maybe I won’t have anything left. 👀👀👀👀

That’s awesome! I have no idea what I do mid-week because I’m too much of a chicken to weigh myself very often. Honestly climbing onto that thing even once a week pushes me to my limit, because of a lifetime of PTSD concerning the dreaded scale (does there exist a device I loathe more than a scale? Probably not) I always have to do about 30 seconds deep breathing before getting on—especially now post surgery— and even though I tell myself repeatedly that “it’s just a number,” I still get emotional when the number isn’t what in my mind I think I “deserved” for the week. That being said, I need the weekly slap in the face of weighing myself so I can keep my butt moving, keep eating right, sleeping enough, managing stress, etc... So when that happens, I remind myself of what our bariatric psychologist said at my very first session: the biggest trap of bariatric surgery -for some people- is they will lose weight NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO. Therefore, they don’t develop lifetime habits during the honeymoon period and are screwed when that ends. (Lol, he literally used the word “screwed”. ) Those that still have to struggle a bit have better long-term success because the weight honestly doesn’t just fall off no matter what.” I was kinda worried when he said that, but now I get it. As much as I’d LOVE to hit goal in 6 months, be able to drink wine and eat carbs and still be able to drop 2-3 pounds/week with zero hunger, that just isn’t how it’s working for me. Hey. I did have another NSV today. Got up at 7am on a rare Saturday off work and got my butt to Pilates. Was able to do side planks with zero mods and I’m pretty psyched about that.