Arabesque

Once you’re settling into maintenance you can give those things a try. Some have success occasionally eating high protein vegetable based pastas and high protein breads. I’ve tried them a couple of times since I began maintenance but they still tend to sit heavily in my tummy so I’ve continued to avoid them. I used to eat them all the time but I don’t really miss them at all now. It’s funny how that happens. I’m really enjoying sashimi too at the moment. I’ve been picking up some fresh salmon from the grocery store then simply slice it & dip into some soy sauce. Easiest lunch or dinner.

Does your program require you to visit a therapist? Many have found success managing their craving as a result of seeing a therapist. They will support you as you work through what drives you to eat & help you develop strategies to manage the cravings. Ask for a recommendation from your medical team/surgeon to one who has experiences with bariatric patients.

Nope to potatoes cooked in any way. Too heavy & too starchy also. Converts to fat more quickly. Don’t miss it as I rarely cooked them for myself anyway. Sure my dad is rolling in his grave as he was a potato grower. 😁 Had a small amount of stuffing (teaspoon I guess) from a bbq chicken once. Didn’t really enjoy it. No homemade stuffing because of the bread & the butter we used to make it. But it’s a personal choice.

Wow. I always thought water was neutral neither acidic nor alkaline. Think we were told that at school. But maybe it depends upon what has been added to it to purify it etc. & its source. I grew up drinking rain water & I find ‘town’ water tastes terrible so I buy my drinking water now.

Some plans provide caloric goal, others portion size & some a combination of both. Mine was just portion size (1/4 cup to begin increasing to less than a cup at 6 months & goal) & low carb, low fat, low sugar & high protein. There were days all I ate was protein & nothing else to begin. I slowly added vegetables to one meal a day (about a tablespoon) & gradually increased the amount & added some fresh fruit as the weeks & months passed. In maintenance, I’m still careful about portion size, keep an eye on my calories, avoid processed foods & keep to lowish fats, lowish carbs (only complex whole & multi grain carbs) & low sugar. As most have said above, it is always best to follow your plan unless you can’t & then work out an alternative plan with your dietician. Also ask them for more direction & recommendations around calories, nutritional advice, etc. It’s important you feel comfortable & confident about your eating plan.

Do they still exist? Good gracious. They were huge decades ago but then got a lot of negative press. Corn syrup is the worst & should be avoided at all costs. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/why-high-fructose-corn-syrup-is-bad There are lots of protein powders available. You may have to do a comparison of their nutritional panels & ingredients to find the best & healthiest option. Always best to speak with your dietician/nutritionalist for their recommendations. Congrats on your joint surgeries.

Exactly. In maintenance you discover what works for you & allows you to continue to maintain your weight & if that includes the occasional snack that’s fine. I keep macadamia nuts, roasted fava beans & nut squares in my cupboard - lowish fat, lowish carbs, about 100 calories & 3-7g protein. Mainly to have on hand if friends drop by for a drink or cup of tea but I do sometimes have a nibble. Fava beans last week, nuts a couple of weeks ago, nut squares … can’t remember.

Used to say it wasn’t a real night out unless there was a haze of hairspray in the bathroom & all you could smell was Taft. Remember the big black cans of super hold Silhouette hair spray in the 80s (or maybe you’re too young). Superglue in a can. The only thing guaranteed to hold those gravity defying hairstyles we had back then. Lol!

Hope they don’t have the same narcotic effects as in Greek mythology (Odysseus & the lotus eaters). 😂😂😂

We’re only advised to drink what is the recommended intake for everybody - 2litres or 64 ounces a day. More if you reside in a hot climate &/or perspire a lot. Water flushes toxins out your body, aids brain function, improves your skin, takes pressure off your hearts as your blood is easier to pump around your bodies, regulates your body temperature, etc. Our body is 60% water & some organs are more than that. If you feel thirsty, your body is already in a water deficit. The good news is you don’t just have to drink water. Any liquids count. Just don’t make caffeinated drinks the main source. Your post surgery protein shakes, broths, soups, etc. will all count too. I get my intake from a combination of still water, flat sparkling water (I like the minerally taste as a break from only plain water which sometimes can feel heavy to drink), green tea & extra milk in my rolled oats. Add a squeeze of lemon, lime or other citrus to your water. In the weeks post surgery I doubled the water needed to make my shakes & hydralite (the boost of energy & electrolytes were helpful). I keep water beside my bed so I drink during the night & in my car (drink when I get in, when I get out & at every red light). I also find it easier to drink from a glass.

I didn’t perm my hair but I did regularly colour it without issue. You’re not losing hair because it is unhealthy. You are losing hair because your natural hair loss cycle has been accelerated. Perming shouldn’t be any harder on your existing hair then it was before. (I remember perming was always very harsh on my hair - drying - but that was a long time ago now. ) Maybe consider giving your hair a break for the couple of months while you’re shedding more. It will only benefit the hair you have left. But if you’re concerned ask your hairdresser about the general health of your hair.

Aah the dangerous slide of becoming complacent &/or over confident. We’ve all been there at some time in our pre & post surgery lives. Don’t get too down on yourself especially as you’ve realised what happened & are ready to get back on track. Sometimes a good way to start is to just drop or change one thing. Then next week you change or drop another. Small wins. What I’ve learnt from those on this forum who are a long way post surgery is that they continue to track & monitor & make adjustments according to what’s happening in their life. I try to do this too. Sure, I don’t track & measure my food every day but I do random reviews of what I’m eating & carefully monitor new additions to my food choices. I’m very conscious about everything I put in my mouth - nutrients, protein content, calories. I do track my protein & water intake every day. If I eat more one day I try to eat less the next. If I was under on my protein yesterday, today I’ll aim to be over. Unfortunately, I think we will always face challenges with food. We just have to keep focussed on making sure it doesn’t win. That’s my goal now anyway.

Get a blender. Chewing multiple times just leaves you with a tasteless mush in your mouth. Blah! You still really shouldn’t have to chew at puree stage. Add stock, broth or gravy, etc. to help blend meats down to a nice sloppiness. I also tried using cottage cheese & ricotta but it was still too thick & didn’t taste pleasant. Mayo was way to sweet. I was allowed scrambled eggs - made them with milk & made them pretty runny. I did buy a couple of jars of baby food as a back up. You can chew more on soft foods. I ate a lot of mince based meals (rissoles/meat balls, savoury mince) with lots of gravy & slow cooked meats in casseroles & stews. The near should just break down ver easily with a little mash with a fork.

I stopped drinking my protein (except for a high protein yoghurt drink I sipped on most afternoons) from day 1 of the purée stage. It was always my intention to get all the protein I needed (60g a day) from real food & not from shakes or supplements. (They were disgusting & I hated them.) Did I make my goal every day? No & it took a little while to be able to consume enough those first 2 months but eventually on average across a week I did or was pretty close. I just made sure everything I ate contained protein (except fruit). I also looked for ways to boost the protein like made scrambled eggs & rolled oats on milk & added more to make them sloppier. Add skim milk powder to your milk to boost the protein (can be sweet though). Didn’t care if I grazed on a meal for ages either. Lunch usually was just protein - a chicken tender, fish or any leftover meat from the night before.

The calories you need to maintain will depend on many factors like age, gender, metabolic rate, how active you are, height, build, etc. Yes, you will be eating much fewer calories than you did before surgery (but let’s be honest that was why you were overweight - it’s why we all were) but the calories will increase as you progress & are physically able to eat more. To begin, I was eating <300 calories, <900 by goal & now eat about 1300 to maintain at my weight. But I’m also female, older than you, have a small frame & am not very active. It all comes down to that basic equation: to maintain a weight the calories you burn must equal the calories your body burns to function. Eat more than you need you gain. Eat less you lose. If you want to maintain at a lower weight eat fewer calories. If you want to maintain at a higher weight eat more calories. I eat way more food now in a day in terms of volume than I did when I was overweight. I eat way more frequently now too. The difference is the number of calories I eat & the quality of the food I choose to eat.

Becoming lactose intolerant after surgery is not that uncommon. There are lots of lactose free & plant based dairy products available these days - cheeses, yoghurts, milk, ice cream, etc. You may have to try a few to find the ones you enjoy most though. I use lactose free milk but mainly because it has a much longer shelf life than ordinary fresh milk but also because if I have a lot of ordinary milk I can have issues. I have no trouble with cheeses or yoghurt. I don’t understand the chewing 30 times thing at all & am very glad I wasn’t told to do that. If your food is soft & moist enough you shouldn’t have to chew it down to a flavourless mush before swallowing. That’s why we use blenders in the purée stage or use a fork to mash what you eat a little first. I was able to eat milky rolled oats (instant 2 min ones) from purée stage. Easy to fix at work too. I used to microwave reheat scrambled eggs often (2 eggs lasted me three breakfasts). Can get a bit rubbery though.

There are many factors that affect your rate of loss: age, gender, starting weight, genetics, etc. Some are slow losers others are fast losers to begin. The rate you lose doesn’t affect the amount of weight you will lose. There are slow losers who reach their goal & fast losers who don’t. Don’t worry too much about your weight loss immediately post surgery. You have swelling, possibly still retaining fluids, your body is under stress, etc. Some surgeons even advise not to weigh yourself for a couple of weeks after surgery because of this. There are a couple of things you can rely upon. We all lose at our own rate & your rate of loss will slow as you get closer to goal. Every pound you lose is a win. Congrats on your surgery.

Great jacket @kristieshannon. What shade of green was the other one? Could be an interesting add to the wardrobe too. No one says you can only have one. 😉 A forget arms @Butterflyeffect. I think yours look pretty good to me. And your red dress is lovely. You look like you own that red carpet. Looking gorgeous as usual @Sophie7713 Love the pink quilted jacket & the head to toe winter white ensemble … heavenly. Bobby is looking as adorable as ever. Bit warm for boots here (31 degrees C today - summer is a comin’). But because we get northern hemisphere winter fashions here in summer, I did buy these black suede ankle boots. They’re very neat around the ankle & have elastic sides. The designer adds the little stud to rather heel of all her shoes as she has a beauty mark. I love that. I really want some knee length boots but they’re all too loose around the calves & slouchy. Where were they when my legs were bigger.

First, you are still healing & the messages are likely not getting through. Take it slowly. Remember all those sutures & staples holding your tummy together. You are not alone in getting overexcited about being able to eat ‘real’ food again & consuming more than is recommended. Though all because you can doesn’t mean you should. Spread the cup of food out across the day. Sip on the protein shakes interspersed with your water because they count as protein & fluid. My plan was 1/4 cup of food per meal from purée stage but that was my plan. It is always best to follow your plan as closely as possible. It’s there for a reason - to aid your healing & recovery & to start you really reflecting on what & why you eat. And yes, some people do feel hungry from after surgery but whether is it head hunger or real hunger is harder to discern. Certainly, the emotional aspects of the surgery can really exacerbate cravings - seeking food to soothe & comfort. Only you can really tell which hunger you’re feeling. For me if I’m ‘hungry’ for something like a specific food or a more general l want salty or sweet or carbs then that’s a craving or head hunger. Real hunger feels different for me. I get restless & I don’t know what I want to eat (except I now want it to be healthy). Head hunger also passes quickly - distract myself for 30 minutes & it’s abated. Working all this out takes time. And we’re all allowed to make mistakes & slip. And when you do, you have to pick yourself & get back on your plan. You’ll get there & work out what it all means for you.

Exactly as @The Greater Fool said. Give yourself time to heal. Once you are eating more solid food you’ll have a better sense of how things feel for you. Then you will work out how full feels for you & eventually what real hunger feels like for you too. Make sure you eat slowly as the message you are full takes time to get through & by then you likely have eaten too much. But the goal really isn’t to eat until you are full or your restriction kicks in but to eat until you’ve had enough or all you need. I still ask myself if I need the next bite or do I just want it. There is a big difference & it is likely very different to how you used to eat. Don’t be afraid to put your cutlery down & push your plate away. My plan was portion size, not calorie, focussed once in purées. Quarter of a cup to begin increasing to a third, then half, etc. This took months. About a cup at 6 months. I’m still very conscious of portion size too. PS - I didn’t have gas pain either & apparently my surgeon is know for his bariatric patients having little or no gas pain. But when he does gall removal, oh boy lots of discomfort then.

They’re a pancreatic enzyme supplement & assist in the digestion of food & consequently improve the absorption of nutrients. I take them now as since my gall removal I don’t absorb protein as well. I’ve been on them for almost three months. Blood test tomorrow so fingers crossed they’re helping.

I’m sorry you’ve developed Barrett’s because of your reflux. I used to manage a lot of my pre surgery bypass through diet modification. No spicy food, reduced caffeine, reduced carbonated drinks, reduced fats, avoided rich or creamy food. They were things that would aggravate my reflux. It helped a lot & I only took Nexium when I had an attack & I’d go months between attacks. I still ate meat & dairy (not a lot of dairy because I had some lactose issues) as no one ever suggested reducing or avoiding them. But your doctor may have reasons for advising you not to. For years I also slept with the head of my bed on bricks (can’t do it with an ensemble) so my whole body would be on a slope. Just sleeping on extra pillows will bend your neck more & the rising stomach acid then pools in your oesophagus. Because I have reflux everyday now my surgeon also suggested not eating dense protein or dense foods a couple of hours before bed as your stomach will produce more acid to breakdown that dense food. (I take Nexium everyday now & am still careful with my dietary choices.) I found this basic info on Barrett’s & diet options as a starting point but I would ask your doctor for more dietary advice &/or a recommendation to a good dietician. https://www.healthline.com/health/barretts-esophagus-diet#foods-to-eat

No stupid questions here. It’s the same way for all of us - just slowly up your calories until your weight loss stops with some fluctuation. It can take time to stop losing. I added snacks (combinations of yoghurt, protein bar, cheese sticks, hummus, chia pudding, multi or whole grain crackers, nuts, fruit,) still tried to keep low fat (except for salad dressing - damn you Mr Newman), low sugar, only a few good complex carbs & everything, bar fruit, with protein. I don’t eat as many snacks now as I can physically eat more in a meal. And yes, I did feel like I was eating all day. I was also s still seeing my dietician for the first 5 months of maintenance (stopped with COVID) so she was checking what I was adding & made a couple of suggestions. The calories I need to maintain will be different to what you need. I consume about 1200 - 1300 calories (I’m shorter than you, have a small frame, am in my mid 50s, not very active & maintain at a lower weight). Others can consume a lot more. My surgeon & GP initially told me to put on a couple of kgs but I weigh less now & they’re both happy with my weight.

You’re likely having a bad bout because of the uric acid stored in your fat being released as you lose weight. Worse is that you can’t take nsaids post surgery to reduce the inflammation. Do you take the gout medication, which reduces the amount of uric acid your body produces, everyday (can’t remember its name) ? it takes a couple of months to really work but by then you may have lost enough weight that you may not experience gout again. There’s still plenty of protein sources you can eat. You likely will be starting or about to start soft foods so look to beans, eggs, slow cook lean meats, continue with your protein shakes, yoghurt, make rolled oats on milk, etc. but check your plan to be sure. You will already doing a lot to help reduce uric acid production because of your low fat, low sugar, no alcohol diet. Contact your medical team for help to manage the pain. Hope you feel better soon.

Like @catwoman7, I wasn’t hungry or interested in eating either. (Hunger didn’t really come back until into my 2nd year.) I realised I had to eat to meet my protein goals so I started to eat to routine. Over time it changed my relationship with food. I began looking at food as something my body needed to function not that I just wanted to eat for an emotional effect. I still have days or times I don’t feel hungry but I still eat 3 ‘meals’ a day (drop snacks) & focus on the protein component. Instead of a full meal I might graze on a high protein yoghurt or I’ll just have meat but no vegetables or salad. Would you say you are still averaging 60g of protein a day across a week? If I have a lower protein day I try to exceed my goal the next day. Do you still drink protein shakes? Maybe on non hungry days, sip on a protein shake instead of a meal. Not as filling, you can sip on it for ages & good protein. Or make your own smoothie with high protein yoghurt & protein powder. It may take a little trial & error to find what you can eat that’s not as repulsive on those days.