Arabesque

Have you tried any of the migraine medications? My mother swears by them. Takes one at the onset & it’s gone. She used to take concoctions of codeine & ibuprofens, lie in a darkened room & be out of action for days. There’s different types of medications depending upon how your migraine manifests & affects you. May be worth a conversation with your doctor & surgeon. For many, headaches are a side effect of the change of diet & ketosis. This could be why your are experiencing more migraines. Also as you lose weight, the oestrogen stored in your fat is released into your blood stream. So if your migraines are hormonal induced this could explain the increase in frequency.

For me, my restriction feels like a tightness which runs down the centre of my rib cage. So I guess running the length of my oesophagus. I find myself rubbing that centre rib cage ridge as if to ease the tightness by massaging the bones. Lol. I sometimes thump it too. Crazy the things we do subconsciously. I get it if I eat or drink too quickly (usually when dining out), or if my tummy isn’t enjoying something I’ve eaten.

There’s not as a great an issue with malabsorption with sleeve patients compared with those with a bypass. I get my calcium from at least three serves of dairy a day: yoghurt, milk, cheese. I get a 4th serve a few times a week from chia pudding which I make on dairy milk & powdered milk. Ask your medical team if you can have more frequent blood tests to see if upping your calcium through your diet has any impact. I have one about every three months requested by either my surgical team or my GP.

First, congrats on your surgery & your weight loss so far. Whoo hoo! There’s a saying: the more you have to lose the faster you’ll lose at the beginning. But in saying that, we’re all different & some people lose very quickly & others lose very slowly. As your starting point is lower than many of us you’ll likely lose more slowly, however, if you’re losing 2- 4lbs a week on average to begin you’re doing well. Your loss will slow as you get closer to your goal. It’s always good to consider you didn’t put your weight on in a couple of months so you can’t expect to lose it all in the same time. Stick to the program, do the work and you’ll be successful. The surgery isn’t an easy fix. You’re changing your life & you want it to stick. It will happen. Good luck.

Oh my gracious, you certainly have been though the wringer WishmeSmaller. I thought bad things came in threes. You’ve way exceeded your share. I hope that everything turns around for you soon. Hugs.

First, congratulations on your weight loss. Oh yeah, supplements can be crazy expensive. I don't take vitamins or any supplements at all now. I have the support of my medical team & successive blood tests have shown my levels are all very good. I get all my vitamins through what I eat. Are you eating a balanced diet? How much dairy are you consuming? If you struggle with lactose, canned sardines & salmon (you have to eat the bones too), almonds, kale, spinach, beans, lentils, tofu are good sources of calcium too. If you can up your natural intake of calcium each day you may not need to take as many supplements & reduce the costs that way. Have they checked to make sure there is not an underlying cause, beside diet, for your low calcium levels?

I started a new contract about 2 weeks after surgery. I was still pretty run down & my blood pressure was crazy low. They knew I’d just had surgery before commencing work & were very understanding if I had to leave earlier. I was never asked what the surgery was for because the boss presumed it was female issues. Sometimes it helps to be in your 50s. Lol! Good luck with your surgery.

You may need to add more water, milk, stock or whatever to what you’re pureeing. It should be pretty loose & sloppy. You can purée lots of things. It’s just trial & error as to what you’ll enjoy in regards to taste & texture. My friend told me she purée poached chicken thighs (breast is too coarse) with lots of gravy & stock. Unfortunately she told me on the last day of my purée stage. Sigh. I tried pureeing tinned fish but it was disgusting. I had good success with rolled oats & scrambled eggs.

Take it after you eat. This is key otherwise you may become nauseated. The sip of water you’ll need to swallow the capsule is negligible. But see how you go you may need to wait 5-10mins. We’re all different. I used to take one after breakfast & one after to dinner to make it easier but I still got nauseated & vomited a couple of times. I hope you don’t have any problems.

I agree with the advice you can generally eat what you’d like once you’ve well established your maintenance. However, there are a few things you have to remember: portion control, frequency, what your system will tolerate & your danger foods. At 18months, I don’t have rice, pasta & bread. I avoid sweets (desserts, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, cream, etc.) 99.9% of the time. I don’t add sugar or artificial sweeteners to anything. I’ve reduced alcohol to probably once a month. No fast food but have had Asian takeaway three times when with friends. I call it my reduce, restrict, avoid plan. It allows me to have a little of certain foods (the odd treat) limit other foods & avoid the foods which would equate to weight gain for me or fill up my tummy too quickly. I switch up foods to healthier choices & use healthier cooking methods. As some random examples: I make chia pudding (milk, milk powder, vanilla extract & chia seeds) if I want a dessert. I use an air fryer for a crispy finish instead of frying, use non stick pans & spray olive oil. When I had the takeaway I chose either chicken & cashews (braised) or steamed pork & prawn gyoza (ate the filling only). I just don’t buy certain foods - if they’re not in my house I can’t eat them. I also deleted the home delivery apps off my phone - lol. I take my lunch to work so I’m not hitting up the food courts. It’s not easy and I work at it every day. I just hope one day I will have ‘rewired my brain’ as @AZhiker mentioned & it will be a little easier. I just don’t want to be overweight again. But in reality, it all comes down to finding what works for you. Good luck.

Gorgeous interior @Sophie7713. Love both dining chair styles. I remember when you got that dress. So glad you had the opportunity/excuse to wear it. So lovely on you. And on a similar theme... Everyone deserves a throne of sorts. Saw these golden numbers at a store on Tamborine Mountain on Sunday. There were four of them but I have no where to put even a single one as a feature piece.

It’s not unusual to feel weak & tired in the first couple of months. You’ve had surgery, altered your body & are on a restrictive, reduced calorie diet. While your dietician is right in advising you not to overeat, your surgeon would be concerned about the possible health impacts of rapid weight loss. How many calories are you consuming? It can be hard to get in a realistic amount that allows you to lose weight without stressing your body or leaving you open to health complications especially at the beginning when your appetite is very low & your restriction is in full force. Instead of pushing you to eat more, what about enriching what you are eating - quality vs quantity. Your dietician should recommend some options to enrich your diet or other food choices you could try. I struggle to maintain & I did not enjoy protein powders. So my dietician had me add milk powder to my rolled oats, which I already made on milk, every morning so I’d up my calories & protein. I found it too sweet so I add it to my chia pudding which I eat 4 times a week. If you can tolerate it, add extra protein powder to your smoothies or yoghurt. You can sip on the smoothie all day as it counts towards your fluid intake.

The lethargy is pretty common. I made up bottles of diluted hydralite (it was too sweet at full strength) to boost my energy levels. The electrolytes, including glucose, which give you a boost. You may find it a little easier to drink too than just plain water to help with your fluid intake. Good luck.

Every surgeon has different requirements so check with them first. I was told no caffeine by my surgeon but I could have herbal or green teas. Can’t recall a time limit on this. I haven’t drunk coffee or soft drinks (soda) for 16+ years instead drinking green tea so an easy request. One cup a day supplies minimal caffeine. Caffeine is probably pretty harsh on your healing tummy. Plus it’s always good to break addictions. 😁 My father had kidney problems. He was always being told to increase his fluid intake & that two cups of tea or coffee a day was ok & could be included in his daily fluid requirement. It was two cups too - 500mls total maximum - not two ginormous mega mugs. Just something to consider.

I see someone from my surgeon’s team about every 3 months & have a blood test before the appointment. It as more frequently to begin. For the first year I was seeing my GP in between those visits & she’d get me to have a test too. My liver function went crazy while I was losing & they were watching that closely. I also had a liver scan during that time. (Everything’s fine now. It was just all the stored cholesterol & hormones being released as I lost weight. Whew!) It was reassuring that my medical team were so actively monitoring me. I’m not sure what will happen when I hit the two year mark with my surgeon. But I’m pretty certain my GP will keep ordering blood work for me.

Firstly, congrats on your surgery. Whoo hoo! A lot of nerve endings were cut during surgery & for some people this temporarily results in not feeling full. This is why it’s so important to stick to your plan’s quantities. Don’t push more as you may affect your healing. Also fluids go through the system more quickly so you may not get the full message before it’s passed through your tummy. Cravings are in our heads which is why we need to do the ‘head work’ & identify why we eat, what we eat, when & how we eat. Are you eating out of habit, because of emotions or because you really are hungry. It takes time. I’m still learning. Good luck.

When we make a mistake we really pay for it. I guess it’s a way to make sure we don’t forget & don’t, or at least try not to, do it again. One thing I’ve learnt along this journey is that I’m always learning about my eating habits. I guess what happened to you was an old habit of how you ate when socialising kicked in. Something similar happened to me when I accepted some birthday cake when it was passed to me last week. I had a forkful at my mouth before I remembered. I ended up having two bites of the sponge - it was crazy sweet to me. I was very glad I had no side effects. I just have to make sure that was an exception & I’m not letting an old habit return. I hope you feel better soon.

An amazing achievement Jami.1992. And you look fabulous.

I’d go with the too soon too. For many of us, we were advised liquids for two weeks, purées for two weeks, soft food for two weeks. So sausages would not be on the diet until at least week 7. But surgeons do have different plans. In the first few months, you may struggle to find foods you can tolerate. Your tummy can be very sensitive, your taste buds can change, things suddenly smell terrible & certain textures can be unpalatable. Over time this passes but you just have to be willing to take things slowly. It’s a lot of trial & error to work out what you can eat easily at the beginning & then that will change as you progress. Good luck.

First, congrats on getting your surgery date. Those ‘sweet’ chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc. flavoured shakes become old very quickly & you’ll crave something more savoury. That’s why the soups & broths are key. Once you’ve had your surgery, make sure you strain & purée the soups & broths extremely well so they’re only liquid. You may find spicier soups hard to tolerate at first post surgery so take it slowly to begin while you’re healing. BTW - I used to make my chocolate shakes on hot water & pretend it was a hot chocolate. It took a lot of imagination - lol! Good luck. It’s sooo worth it.

Your so lucky, AZhiker. I’m 17months & still cold (which is great as we’re heading into a Queensland summer). I froze doing my grocery shopping yesterday. It’s the lack of my old fat insulation I know. Feeling cold post surgery is caused by the shock to the body & the anesthetic. It usually passes but then as you lose your fat insulation, you too will will be more sensitive to the cold. Congrats on your surgery.

Ok, so this is probably not what you want to hear but ... When you had your surgery, most of the area within your stomach that produces the ‘I’m hungry’ hormone, ghrelin, is removed. Small amounts can be produced in the brain, pancreas & small intestines. So while some of the hunger you are experiencing may be real, most of it is likely head hunger. You’ve been on a liquid diet for weeks & consciously or subconsciously you’re probably bored & wanting some solid food & the foods you always used to eat. You’re also coming to terms with smaller portions, eating slowly & less frequently. Your head is saying to you: this isn’t enough food for me I need more. Plus this has all been very stressful. Prepping for the surgery, the surgery itself, the change to your diet, etc. & many of us turn to food when we’re stressed or emotional. This is all head hunger not real hunger. This is some of the hard work you have to do. Understanding your hunger - why you eat, when you eat, what you eat - is important to your success. But you can do it. It will get better & easier. Just give yourself time to come to terms with it all & what it means for you. It’s going to be soooo worth it. Good luck. BTW - Protein reduces the production of ghrelin - another reason why you need to work at reaching your protein goals each day.

It’s all the fluids you’re consuming & it’s a side effect of ketosis. Perfectly normal. Worst thing you could do is to reduce your fluid intake.

Don’t worry about still eating smaller portions. To people who don’t know I had surgery, I just say I’m continuing to eat small portions to maintain my weight & if I ate larger portions, I’d put the weight on again. It seems to satisfy everyone. I have to snack to get in the calories to maintain my weight. I eat three meals & 4 - 5 snacks. I feel like I eat all day.

Oh, yeah lots of fun around here & everyone is happy to share all their gory, embarrassing, surprising stories & experiences. 😁