AZhiker

It's so good to see how well everyone is doing 6 months out. So interesting hearing about how everyone is eating now, the challenges, and how friends/family are reacting. I am trying to get the last few pound off to reach goal and then would like to go down 5-7 more, just to add some wiggle room. Once I reach goal, I never want to see the 150's again. My mom and daughter weigh between 140-150 and they are actually feeling a little threatened! They have never really known me as anything but heavy, and although they are happy for me, it seems that they (my daughter, especially) are feeling a bit odd about me possibly weighing less than them. I discovered a little life saver tip. I have several 70-100 calorie snacks I make and freeze, and then when I might be tempted to grab something not so good, I can grab and nuke one of these. They are also a good supplement to any meal or to stave off the hungries on their own. 1) Mini quiches (made in cupcake tins. No crust, Made with eggs, milk, onion, mushrooms, cheese, broccoli and a few cubes of gluten free stuffing mix.) 80 cal, 3 gm protein. (Good cold or hot.) 2) Turkey meatballs. (made with ground turkey, shredded zucchinni, eggs, onion, finely ground GF dressing cubes instead of cracker or bread crumbs). 100 cal, 6 gm protein. (Good cold or hot.) 3) Pumpkin custard squares (made with pumpkin, eggs, milk, spices and a little monkfruit sweetener.) 100 cal, 3 gm protein. (Just kept in fridge and eaten cold.) 4) I also keep a pot of turkey/veg soup in the fridge. I cup only has 50 calories, 6 gm protein. A good way to get in a lot of veggies. It is very filling if I am feeling a bit hungry. 5) My final little treat is a sweet one that I use sometimes in the evening. It is the only sweet splurge I allow myself, and I have no sweet cravings. 1 TBS 72% cacao chips with 1 TBS (10 )raw almonds. Yum!!! 150 calories, 4 gm protein. Best wishes to all the Feb 2019 buddies, as we approach the final stretch! Hugs to all.

Yes, bypass. It is much better now, but then, I am also relearning how to eat - to slow down and take smaller bites and much smaller portions. It has taken a while for my eyes to catch up with the new tummy. Before surgery, I had no sense of fullness. I could eat and eat and eat and never stop. The surgery has definitely given me the fullness very quickly, but I had to learn what that felt like and how to stop BEFORE feeling full, because if I ate until I was just feeling full, 10 minutes later I would be in agony. I am learning how to eat like a normal person who naturally stops when they've had enough.

Oh Karen and Chiptress, What a whole new life awaits you! Being able to slide past people in narrow places, able to lean and reach over the bed or furniture, sitting in a chair and you can see the chair on both sides of your legs, being able to cross your legs, not having your thighs rub together, not having the red rashes and fungal rashes under skin folds during the summer, feeling COLD!, being the smallest person in the room instead of the biggest, buying cute clothes in the regular department instead of the Plus size, being able to fit comfortably with room to spare in any restaurant booth, happily standing in the FRONT row for pictures, actually going wearing a swim suit and going into the pool like everyone else, and yes hiking, walking, riding a horse, kayaking, and being able to do anything you darn well please! Commit wholly to the new lifestyle! Gradually add new exercise routines and stick with the food plan. Tell yourself, "I AM NEVER GOING BACK!" You gals are going to do great and a year from now you will be amazed at the "new you!"

I had that awful tightness, restriction, and sudden fullness pretty regularly for at least 4 months. I had to learn how to eat slowly and stop BEFORE I felt full. I still get it if I eat too much too fast. I used to eat 2 eggs, scrambled with sauteed veggies several times a week. Now the only egg I can tolerate is when it is stirred into hot soup - like making egg flower soup. I have also been able to mash up a hard boiled egg to make egg salad or tuna salad. That has worked. So strange, because egg is soft, but many people cannot handle them for quite a while.

Weight Watchers said my goal should be 133. I just wanted to get to a "normal, ideal" BMI and to see the scale below 150. In the old days, the balance scales had weights that moved up on the arm every 50 pounds. I did not want to move the weight to the 150 pound mark, so I set my goal at 149. My doc was fine with that. I want to actually go the 145 so I have some wiggle room. That is still perfectly within normal BMI for my height. I watched a video by a bariatric surgeon describing the total expected weight loss after WLS. Most people do not get to their "ideal" weight, but any significant weight loss still improves the over all health exponentially. He said that on one side of the bell curve are those who stick to the plan faithfully, record their meals, and exercise faithfully. Those are the ones who have the most sustained weight loss over time. On the other side are those who do not exercise and who cheat. They do not lose well and may regain all their their weight. In the middle are those who stay with the plan, but don't exercise, and those who may exercise, but are not real sticklers to the plan. Bottom line - "you get what you pay for", and "There aint so such thing as a free lunch." Some people will simply lose faster/slower and will lose more/less than others, not matter what they do. But the greatest overall, sustained success will go to those who are totally committed to the lifestyle change, embracing the new way of eating and learning to enjoy the exercise. It's all about reframing the thought process, developing a new relationship with food and how we move our bodies.

I feel your pain! 2 weeks after my surgery I had to make a full on Mexican meal for a party at our house. Enchalades, refried beans, Spanish rice, tacos, and all the trimmings with chips/salsa. guacamole. Chocolate brownies and ice cream. I obediently ate my little bowl of bone broth! This, too, shall pass! It really will. Just say to yourself, "I can't have it now, but I will be able to have it later." Your sacrifice now is sooooo worth it for your lifetime of health.

Try Intermittant Fasting with alternate day restriction. I have found that continual caloric restriction really slows down the weight loss. Restricting to 500-600 cal every other day, alternating with normal intake (maybe 1000-1200) can trick your metabolism into thinking it is not really starving and can keep humming along.

I am 6 months out and just now able to eat a salad without discomfort. It is the rough texture that is the issue. And it sure takes a LOT of chewing! I was craving salads and veggies early on, as well. I got bunches of greens and blended them up with water. I then strained out the dark green water and used that in my smoothies, soups, drink water and anything else I was eating. I think it gave me a lot of good vitamins and phytonutrients and made me feel like I was getting my salad and greens, but without the roughage that was so irritating.

Ok, so I am trying to break this 6 month stall - sooooo close to goal, but just keep gaining and losing the same 3 pounds. I have been doing 16/8 IF for over a month and doing fine on that. But I am going to tweak it this week and add alternate day IF, as well. Today I had 500 calories. Tomorrow I will have about 1100. Wed will be back to 500, Thurs will be over 1000, etc, until the end of the week. I know when I consistently cut the calories - like to 500-600/day, my weight loss grinds to a halt. I then get hungry (or stressed) and tend to overeat or eat compulsively the next day or so. Interestingly, when I have done that, I actually lose pounds. Soooo...…. I just need to control the ebb and flow of the intake - making it healthy and disciplined - writing everything down, and alternating the restriction with more than I usually eat. I am also upping my exercise just a bit - adding 30 more min. of either walking or elliptical, along with my usual 20 flights of stairs, 10,000 + steps ,and leg and arm routines daily instead of every other day. I watched the You Tube of Dr. V that someone posted, about mindful eating. Very good. I am going to practice that , as well. It took me half an hour to eat just my salad at lunch today! So I am asking for some accountability partnering here. I will follow this plan and then report back next Sunday with the results. I feel much better with a definite plan of attack that is objective and measurable. I've been struggling with head hunger a lot recently, and I think this new plan has already helped with that. Thanks to you all, for the support and encouragement you have given me and everyone else. This is such a good forum.

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

Be sure to take your D3 and calcium together but apart from the multi. The calcium and iron don't go well together for absorption.

You might need a doppler to see if you might have developed a blood clot. I would let your surgeon know immediately. It could also be electrolyte imbalance, but they will always want to play it safe rather than sorry. I developed phlebitis in one of my leg veins after RNY. Doc sent me for a doppler and turned out I had 3 blood clots with none of the usual symptoms!!!!

2 weeks, but no lifting.

When you look at something you crave, say to yourself, "I can't have that yet, but I will have it again.....later."

I weaned off with decaf, which I thought I would continue after surgery. But, low and behold, I couldn't tolerate it at all. All of a sudden, coffee tasted terrible. I tried a sip the other day and it was just awful - not at all like I remember. Funny thing is that green tea started to taste sweet instead of astringent. I drink decaffeinated green tea or herbal teas now. I am very wary of the acid in coffee, as I have Barretts esophagitis and even developed a Barretts polyp. So I don't want to do anything that would increase the risk of cancer or ulcers. I don't miss the coffee at all. Diet Coke is another story! I stopped Diet Coke about 3 years ago and it was agony. It took the better part of 2 years before my car stopped wanting to pull into the McDonald's drive through! That stuff is soooooo addicting! But I haven't had a sip since and I know if I did it would probably taste terrible. Again - a good addiction to break. The acid is bad for stomach and teeth. Did you know that soda (regular or diet) is listed as a factor contributing the fatty liver disease? There is nothing good about it. A couple weeks before surgery, I went off all sugar. What a blessing! I don't want dumping, so that was a no brainer. Without sugar and caffeine, my energy levels are so consistent, with no afternoon slump. One of the best things I've ever done as far as diet goes.

I had the on-Q when I had thoracic surgery to remove a tumor from my esophagus. It is a little tube that is inserted at the surgical site. It connects to a softball sized sphere that is full of the pain medicine - not narcotic, but an anesthetic kind of like novocaine or lidocaine. The sphere slowly compresses on itself until it is empty. This can take several days, so the anesthetic is continual. You wear a little pocket with a strap to hold the sphere. The tubing is often sutured into the skin to prevent it from sliding out accidentally. It is used for surgical sites that are extensive and painful - maybe like a big hernia repair, an open gall bladder removal, or like my chest surgery where I also had a chest tube and intercostal nerves were involved. It is not used that much for basic laproscopic surgeries which have minimal pain compared to open surgeries. The sutures on mine were very bothersome. Every time I accidentally caught the tubing on something it felt like my skin was being ripped off. I've never heard of someone having it for laproscopic weight loss surgery. The pain associated with WLS is from gas (Gas is put into your abdominal cavity to expand the field of view. It is sucked out, but any residual gas has to dissipate into the tissues on its own and that can be uncomfortable. I had NO gas pain after gastric bypass.) The other pain associate with WLS is surgical pain of the procedure itself. There is a lot that goes on underneath those little laproscopic incisions. But it is not unbearable. For comparison, I would say my broken pelvis and ribs from a horseback accident were MUCH more painful. That was a 9/10. My thoracic surgery was a 6-7/10. My total knee replacement was a 5/10. My gastric bypass was 4/10. I needed morphine maybe twice in the hospital, percocet for a day at home, and then tylenol for about a week.

I would suggest NOT doing IF until you are much farther out post op and able to eat more with each meal. It's so important right now to get all your protein in, and as much nutrition as you can. That could be very hard to do in a small window of eating time. I was doing IF long before surgery, but I still waited until closer to 5-6 months post op when I started again. You are already in a pretty extreme caloric deficit, simply due to the surgery. IMHO, it is best to work on trying to get all your protein and food groups in for now. IF will always be there as an additional tool.

I think my neck has actually shrunk up a bit in the past few months. The turkey wattle doesn't seem as pronounced as it was at first. I think the same is true for my arm flaps. So there is hope for even old dogs like me.

I am going to get Jason Fung's book, "Intermittant Fasting," which I expect will be just as good as his book, "The Obesity Code" which gives so much good information about what actually makes people fat. Another really good one is "Younger Next Year for Women" which is a take off on the original "Younger Next Year." This is an excellent break down on the physiology of exercise and how much amazing stuff it does for us. Just got my labs back and my HDL cholesterol is over 70! That's just from exercise over the past 6 months.

My face is so wrinkly now , as is my neck. I think I look like an old goon, but...…. several people have told me I look so much younger! Go figure.

No wheat, sugar, refined carbs, processed foods soda, coffee, or alcohol for me. Don't miss any of them.

15 pounds in 4 weeks is awesome! That's almost 4 pounds per week. Why are you worried?

Give up addictions now. Don't go through recovery and withdrawal at the same time! Sugar, soda, caffeine, bread/starches, artificial anything. You will then be set to launch immediately into your new healthy lifestyle.

Did your doc give you a script for Zofran?

You remember the camp song, "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie them in a knot, can you tie them in a bow? Can you throw them over your shoulder like a Continental soldier? Do your ears hang low? Well, you can figure out what body part to substitute for 'ears"!!! I hear you! I have to pick mine up and shove them into my new little bra to make them stay anywhere above my waist. I now know what "rocks in socks" means. Ha!