Arabesque

My favourite clothing store was having an up to 70% off warehouse sale. I was invited to a preview yesterday & picked up these two pieces: 71% off the cardigan & 65% off the leather skirt. Now don’t be shocked… they’re both colour. Even going to wear them as a complete outfit as one of the embroidered flowers on the cardigan is the same claret colour of the skirt. Can’t wait for the weather to cool so I can wear them.

As well as the above suggestions what about tofu. Legumes are very versatile. There are great recipes about that use chick peas instead of meat - Jamie Oliver has a heap just google. You will be able to eat cooked vegetables. I was putting onion, celery, tomato, mushrooms, carrots, capsicum, zucchini, etc. in lots of dishes from soft foods like omelettes, stews, mince dishes, soups, etc. Once in solid foods I could eat steamed green beans, cabbage & cauliflower & then other vegetables in time (my tummy was fussy at first).

It will depend upon what you can tolerate. I only eat whole & multi grains. The less processing the better. I only have two serves of grains a day - rolled oats & multi grain crackers as a snack. Every time I try a highly processed grains like in bread, pasta & rice they sit like a dead weight in my tummy. Interestingly I’ve discovered that multigrain brown rice crackers are a slider for me but the white rice ones aren’t which I don’t understand why.

Hey @Sheribear68. Lovely to see a post from you again & that you’ve been continuing o do so well. Yay! I haven’t gone down the plastics route but a girlfriend & fellow sleever (& both almost 57) often talk about the only way we will be able to get rid of our facial droop is with a face lift to cut off the skin excess skin but we’re too scared. We’ve only just gone down the Botox route (we blame peer pressure 😆) not that it will help the droop it but does reduce some of the associated wrinkling (my marionette lines beside my chin aren’t as deep or long whoo hoo ). I can’t do fillers because of an allergy but I’m not really upset about that as I’m not a lover of that puffy face look. I had a round face for too many years. All the best for your TT, lipo & thigh lift surgery & your foot surgery too.

There’s so much conflicting information about it is confusing. I was advised 1/4 - 1/3 cup but this did depend on what the food was (still does almost three years out). I could always eat more soup but less if it was a less liquidy, more solid food like mince or a sausage. Some people can eat larger portions. Others can’t. Generally, tread slowly especially while you’re still healing & listen to your body. It is more challenging at first because the cut & damaged nerves from the surgery mean your old messages of being full etc. don’t work as well & you often find they’re not the same as they were either. Try not to eat until you feel full but until you’ve had enough. That full feeling is actually telling you you’ve eaten too much.

Small selection of carefully picked items of clothing that can be mixed & matched to create many more outfits. Often includes those classic separates like well cut trousers, a white shirt, a straight or slightly flared skirt, a blazer, a whit t- shirt, etc. They sometimes say you can include one or two pieces of trend or fad clothing but they still has to work with many of the other items. I’m not a great capsular wardrobe person because I prefer to buy a complete outfit. I find when I do a capsular wardrobe I often can’t wear the piece I want to wear. Like the shirt I want is in the wash as I wore it the day before. Also I get bored easily wearing the same shirts or pants, etc. every week. I could never wear a uniform.

You’re ok. Stalls are very common & part of the process of weight loss. We all talk about the a stall at around the 3 week mark but they can occur any number of times while you are losing. They tend to last 1-3 weeks. Think of them as your body needing to take a breath & getting used to the changes. If it persists for more than a month, chat with your dietician. You may need a small tweak to your diet or activity.

Are you taking a PPI? It will help with the acid in your tummy which often makes you think your hungry. Ask your surgeon for a script if not on one. You’ll only usually need it for a couple of months. And yes, your grumbling tummy is your digestive system working. I swear my tummy is way noisier since my surgery. My young nieces & nephews think it’s hilarious when my tummy growls. Sometimes the hunger is just our head coming to terms with so little food being enough & a desire for texture in our food too. As for the low energy, remember you just had pretty major surgery. You’re recovering from surgery & your body is healing. You can only see those 5 little incisions on your tummy but 80 odd % of your tummy has been cut away & there are a heap of sutures & staples holding what’s left together. If you feel tired or have less energy, it’s your body telling you to stop & rest or slow down. You won’t be able to do, in terms of activity, what you did before for a little while. Doing too much too soon can compromise yiur recovery.

Sounds more like dumping than foamies but??? You don’t tend to sweat (cold sweats) with the foamies. It passes quickly & you only vomit a couple of times & it’s more regurgitation than vomiting - much gentler almost bubbling up of the last thing or two you ate that caused the problem. Did your heart rate increase? Did you feel drained or tired? That’s dumping. Did you have discomfort like something was stuck & lots of saliva you had to spit up? That’s the foamies. The rice could have caused your blood sugar to rise. There could have been sugar in the sauce in the stir fry. Sugar & blood sugar spikes contribute to dumping. Being so soon out after surgery, your digestive system is still pretty sensitive & it doesn’t take much to react negatively. Plus bypass makes you more likely to experience dumping. Whichever you had, both are not pleasant. Tread lightly & slowly to begin. Don’t think you need to go back to purées. More just be extra careful with your food choices. And, as Tek advised, test new foods at home first.

First, congratulations on your weight loss & that you are feeling stronger & are able to be more active. How great is that! As @MiniGastricBypassDude said you don’t get to choose your body weight set point. Yes, you might be in or close to maintenance or in a prolonged stall. Yes, building muscles could contribute to the weight loss pause but also the more muscle you have the more calories you burn so you may need a calorie increase to compensate. Certain medications can also hamper weight loss. But logging your food & speaking with your dietician is always a good place to start. It can be easy to get a little complacent with portion sizes, etc., not meet protein goals or there maybe something missing in your diet. Sometimes a small tweak is all that is needed. The low blood pressure many experience after surgery is usually caused by an initial lack of nutrients from the restricted diet & dehydration. It’s why it’s usually a temporary experience. The same for the hypoglycaemic episodes you may have experienced. (Unfortunately I experienced them both before surgery & still do now almost three years post surgery. The low blood pressure is worse & occurs every day. Carrying my old weight actually used to help because it raised my BP to a normal 120/80 with just occasional drops. Didn’t expect that!) They get better as nutrition & portion sizes increase & fluid levels are maintained. You mentioned you have your annual check soon. How often do you see your surgeon or their team? How frequently do you have blood tests? I still see my surgeon’s colleague every three months & have a 3 monthly blood test so it always surprises me when people have follow ups much less frequently. All the best.

It won’t stretch your tummy but it’s causes discomfort & fills up your tummy with gas so you then struggle to eat the food you need. The fermenting foods that produce the gas can limit your ability to absorb essential nutrients too. So probably something to avoid where possible post surgery. Remember to eat small bites slowly & avoid if possible the foods that cause you the most bloating.

It’s not GERD so you can breath. This is pretty common. Sometimes it’s your fussy sensitive tummy & you‘ll be able to eat that same food in a day or so without issue. Sometimes it’s eating too much or too fast. Sometimes what you ate isn’t quite soft or runny or moist/wet enough & it gets ‘stuck’. Sometimes it’s that you’re just not ready for that particular food yet. It’s part of the fun & a fair bit of trial & error. I often had the foamies - spitting up excess saliva & sometimes regurgitate the last bite or so of what I ate in the first weeks especially in the morning. I can’t burp so I would cough or want to thump my chest first. And yes it happens pretty quickly but also passes quickly.

Is your therapist experienced with eating disorders & bariatric patients? It’s a more specialised field & just something to consider. Understanding our relationship with food is a huge part of this process & our success. Wanting to start incorporating improved eating habits now is great. But you don’t have to do everything all at once. Small wins are always best. Make one or two small changes & get them established over a couple of weeks before changing or incorporating something else. Focus on protein. Increase your fluid intake. Then try smaller portion sizes. Up your vegetable intake. Reduce your snacks. Try some new cooking methods & new recipes. You don’t have to do everything at once. It’s not a race. I know from your earlier post you have an issue with blame & being critical of yourself for perceived failures. I wonder if you asking whether it’s ok or wrong to have a peanut paste sandwich is you subconsciously looking for a way to beat yourself up if you do have the sandwich & people say don’t? It’s also interesting that you question a peanut paste sandwich but not the pizza. Whether you have the sandwich or pizza is your choice. Many do eat these foods in maintenance but do so occasionally not regularly & you can too if you want. But this is a perfect opportunity to try other recipes or alternatives too. Try a cauliflower based pizza or a high protein, low carb bread for your sandwich, or a no added salt & sugar peanut butter. There’s often an alternative. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, for support or suggestions. There are always people here who have the same or similar experiences. PS - I used to love a peanut paste sandwich. Fresh white bread with a crunchy crust & smooth peanut paste. Yum! Now I just sometimes have a teaspoon of the paste to satisfy that old memory.

They’re very common & you’ll likely have a couple of them while you’re losing. Think of them as your body needing a break because of all the changes - diet, weight loss, etc. just stick to your plan & you should be fine. If it persist fir longer than a month, give your dietician a call. You may a tweak to your plan or activity. The anaemia is the likely cause of the tiredness but periods of low energy aren’t uncommon either. I remember one day I thought I was going to fall off my treadmill I was so tired. I added an electrolyte drink to my fluid rotation. (I drank diluted hydralyte.) The little boost of energy was a blessing. But if your body says I’m tired, have a break. Even stopping for a cup of tea while out doing chores would be enough for me to then finish doing everything I needed to get done.

It’s not pleasant but at least it passes quite quickly unlike dumping. Dry meat is always the cause for me. Though I did have a episode a couple of weeks ago caused by very coarse green beans - they were unusually hard to slice so I should have tread more carefully. Don’t give up a food if it makes you unwell though just give it a break for a few days or a week & try again. Next time, try smaller bites, add extra sauce or gravy, cook it in a different way like to medium rare not medium or well done, or try a different cut like chicken thighs not breast, etc.

Yes, much if what you are experiencing, the tiredness, doughy head, is from the surgery & the reduced diet. Your body has been through a lot & it’s probably telling you you need to rest & take it easy. Just healing is mentally, emotionally & physically exhausting. It will get better. Try sipping an electrolyte drink for a boost of energy. Not getting all your vitamins in the first week or so is okay but you need to make a concerted effort to take them every day. Our reduced food choices & small portions make it difficult to get in the vitamins & minerals our bodies need to function. The tiredness could be from low iron which is not usual after surgery. Have you had a blood test lately to check your levels? You may find once you’re in maintenance you won’t need to take them anymore. I stopped at about month 8, 2 months into maintenance with my surgeon’s approval because my blood work showed my levels were all great. I hate having to take meds so I was super happy. Some vitamins can make you nauseous. Try a different brand. Split the dosage across the day. Make sure you take them with food.

I bought the spiral ring size adjusters from Amazon. Loop around band until the ring fits & snip off the extra. The spirals come in different widths to fit around narrow or wider bands. I have a couple of antique rings that can’t be resized down enough to fit my fingers because of the shank & design of the settings so the size adjusters have been a lifesaver.

Yes, chicken can be too dry & it seems like it gets stuck. You need sauce or gravy to keep it moist or try thigh meat. Much more tender & flavoursome. You should be able to eat a variety if not all solid foods with very few issues. Are you eating slowly? Do you wait between eating & drinking? Are you taking small bites? May be worth a chat with your surgeon & dietician. Try ordering a wrap without the actual wrap. You get all the filling (protein & salad, dressing or sauce) but not the carbs from the wrap. I’ve done it a couple of times because of limited food choices. Or just eat the inside of the wrap.

Though you feel embarrassed, try to be honest in your journal. The journaling can be very helpful when you reflect on the why you eat, when you eat & what you eat head work that will support you changing your relationship with food. Not sleeping at night is awful. For decades I’d lie awake for hours. Watching the clock & anxiously calculating how many hours I could get in if I went to sleep now before I’d have to get up. Stress at work then menopause meant I developed bad sleeping habits. But losing weight helped a lot. Have gone from getting maybe 5 hours a night (& sometimes a lot less) to averaging 7. Some nights I can even get 8 or 9. Sheer bliss. Have to admit I didn’t eat, but I’d often get up to work (how sad is that), watch tv, read, etc. My mother gets up & eats when she can’t sleep though & I’ve seen her frustration with that habit. She was on that terrible sleeping med for a little while too where you would wake & eat & have no memory of doing so. She’d find empty ice cream containers, or other food wrappers in the kitchen in the morning. Scary! Hope they can sort yours out soon. All the best.

As Catwoman7 said it depends upon how much weight you have to lose. Other factors can influence the loss as well. Some are your own choices & actions & others are physiological factors & how your body reacts to the surgery & the changes to diet & activity. I reached my goal at 6 months but continued to lose for another 11 months (at a much slower rate of course) because I was finding it challenging to eat enough to stop the loss. My metabolism was still running pretty fast then too (wish it still ran that fast) & your metabolic set point will influence when your weight loss stops. Because as time passes we are able to eat larger portions (equal to recommended serving sizes) so too your calories increase & the weight loss stops. Also just general lifestyle choices. Some people are happy for their loss to stop at a higher weight than they first thought they’d reach simply because they didn’t want to continue to make food choices that restricted or limited their lifestyle.

You can eat toast & crackers? I would have been jumping for joy. You can have textured food!! On weeks 3 & 4 I was on purées: baby food slop. A lot of what you’re feeling is psychological. As we say, you have to do the head work as you progress. Your head & emotions can really mess with you. We’ve all been there. As @Kris77 said, some of this could be head hunger. Your brain is looking for those other foods because they comfort you & you’re pretty stressed & sad at the moment. It’s an awful cycle. I’m sad I want a piece of cake. I can’t have cake which makes me sad. You’ve had pretty major surgery & your emotions & hormones are all upside down now too which also contributes. As Kris suggested, find something to distract yourself. Often a craving will pass in 30mins or so if you stop focussing on it. Often you think how can this little amount of food fill me up. It can’t satisfy my hunger. But this is your new tummy. It’s 80%+/- smaller now so it doesn’t take much to fill it. You’ll also find as you’re eating more solid food, you’ll start to feel more ‘full’ or you’ve had enough. Liquids go through your tummy quickly & you don’t get that full feeling so you think you haven’t eaten enough & must still be hungry or need more food. You will likely also discover your full & real hunger signals are different than before. Something you probably don’t want to hear is that you may need to reevaluate what you see as ‘good’ food. Is it nutrient dense food that nourishes your body or does it just feed your emotional needs? The nutrient dense ‘healthy’ food on your recommended eating plan is plenty tasty & satisfying. There are many ways to cook it & add herbs & spices for flavour. You’ll even work out out healthier ways to prep some of your favourites. I had spaghetti bolognese, a favourite, in my soft food stage. Cooked the meat sauce for ages & served it with zucchini noodles & Parmesan. Could only eat 1/3 cup but it was damn delicious. Remember to sip & eat slowly. If you feel some discomfort wait until it passes. The discomfort could be from eating too much or too quickly. Put your fork down between bites & your glass down between sips. And wait between eating & drinking. If you do experience, sharp cutting pains across your tummy it can be from too much acid in your tummy. And too much acid or a noisy tummy can make you think you’re hungry when you’re really not. Many surgeons prescribe a PPI after surgery to help combat the extra acid. If you weren’t, ask your doctor for a script. Hope I haven’t scared you. You will get through this. And if you need support or advice, plenty here willing to do so. All the best & sorry for the long post.

Is it something you’ve always had so your natural physiology, or something that developed with your weight gain? If it developed with your weight gain it’s likely it will improve. My ankles ached when I had my final big weight gain which was sudden & the balls of my feet burnt. Both these things improved heaps or disappeared completely. I’ve always had a degree of pronation (my ballet teacher lamented all the time) & it hasn’t changed because it’s how my body is built. Unfortunately the knee pain I get from sitting too long hasn’t improved but that’s from being short & sitting in chairs that are too high 😆. You may notice additional pain & discomfort as you lose weight as your muscles & tendons get used to not having to carry & balance your excess weight & get used to your improved posture. I had upper back pain in around month 3 or 4 because my bust had got a lot smaller & I was carrying myself differently. (Buying underwear that fit stopped the pain.)

When you post again the information will be visible on the side. That information is very helpful to others when you post so thank you for wanting to do it.

It’s ok to have doubts & fears. We’ve all had them in some way during this process. And don’t be afraid to ask questions here. We’ve either experienced the same thing or can offer support or encouragement. My question is would you really want to go back to eating the same way? It lead you, like it did all of us, to being overweight. Will you never eat some of your old food favourites again? Not necessarily. They may become occasional treats just not every day or every week choices. Or you discover alternatives like vegetable pastas, bun free burgers or grilled, steamed, air fried or poached foods versus deep fried. Your portion sizes will be smaller & not those portions that are 2,3 & 4 times a recommended serving size. Of course, there will be restrictions on your food choices to begin. Initially to support your healing, then to support your weight loss & also to support your reeducation about food, nutrients, portion size, your relationship with food, etc. There may be certain foods you struggle with in the long term. Some develop intolerances like to lactose. It’s not that common & there are so many not dairy options about these days you don’t really miss out on anything. There may be foods that don’t sit as well in your tummy but it’s very individual. I still find bread, pasta & rice too heavy & filling & char grilled meats are too dry & coarse. There may be foods you choose to avoid or reduce to maintain your weight in the future. I still enjoy food, the flavour, the texture, etc. I go out to restaurants. I socialise with friends & family. I just make better food choices. I don’t see food & eating as a source of comfort or an emotional support to make me feel better or less bored. Food is the nutrition my body needs to function & to give me the energy to do the things I enjoy doing. All the best.

Oh, yeah @Tony B - NJ, eating out or eating with others can be challenging. I too find myself eating at their pace sometimes & then suffered the side effects of doing so. It really has to be a conscious thing to pause between bites & take small bites. I’ve learnt to do things like put the cutlery down & sit back in my chair. Wait for whoever is speaking to finish & then take my next bite. I do tend to stop eating or only take another bite or two when the others finish. Can’t overeat that way. I quite happily take 30-60mins to eat a meal when at home. My meals are larger now of course but I employ the same tactics. I don’t chew to excess. I just take smaller bites. I cut my meat before staring to eat into bite size pieces (small cubes). I’ll also wait for an ad break or a scene change, read a couple of pages, play a game on a device between bites. I should explain I live alone so I’m not being rude. I also keep an eye on the time & slow down if I’m going to fast. Oh, & as I’ve said many times before on other posts, I ask myself if I need the next bite or just want it. I don’t mind too much if my food gets cold except it can make the meat dry. If it bothers me, I’ll just zap it in the microwave for a few seconds. Easy. It does get easier & more just how you eat in time