Arabesque

Zucchini noodles. Make them yourself with a spiraliser if you can’t buy fresh from your grocery store or greengrocer. Or try a bean pasta (mung bean, chick peas, etc.) but check the carbs. Have to admit I’ve been surprised by how many threads today include people talking about eating bread & pasta when only a short time post surgery & early on their weight loss journey. I haven’t eaten bread, pasta or rice for a year & I haven’t missed it at all. Eating carb rich foods is a big no during weight loss as it is so filling. Your stomach is so small, your focus should be on getting in your protein & then other nutrient rich foods not filling it with unnecessary carb heavy starchy foods. During weight loss the only cabs I had were oatmeal (one serve was 3 or 4 breakfasts), and naturally occurring carbs in protein rich foods (like vegetables, fruit, meats & dairy). I examined everything I bought to ensure they contained low carbs. I make fresh food every day & have only had one take away (Chinese braised chicken & vegetables) & once 3 gyoza at lunch with a friend in a year. Now in maintenance, I eat some multi grain crackers with hummus to help with my calorie intake & add in some good fibre. I still check carb levels on everything. That’s my rant for today.

It does get better @Lily66 but I still have bad days with my low blood pressure. I always had a tendency to low BP but post surgery it became multiple times a day of dizziness & vision diminishing. I also suffer from randomly blocked ears (like you may get going up or down a mountain range or flying). Nothing fixes it, you just have to wait for it to pass. I also suffer from reoccurring vertigo virus - room spinning & nausea. I had a bad attack two days ago & a light one last night. I’ve now been diagnosed with Gilbert’s Syndrome & I think this explains a lot about my inability to undertake strenuous activities (dramatic drop in BP & blood sugars, sudden muscle weakness, ...) My energy levels are generally back to normal. @biginjapan Sounds like your BP is dropping. Does it happen after you get up after sitting or reclining for a while? I’d try to find some non constipating iron tablets (we don’t need more of that) & vitamin B tablets to give you a boost. And then as soon as it’s safe again see you doctor & get some bloods done. Maybe reduce your daily walk for a little while too until your energy levels are higher & you’re At the eating solid foods stage. My surgeon said no physical activity to at least week 5 except for a gentle stroll around your house/garden or down the block & back. Remember you are still healing. Go slowly & find the pace that works for you.

I was the total opposite of @biginjapan. It took me a good 4/5 months to get my energy back. I had terrible trouble with low blood pressure (still do but not quite as bad) & sudden drops in my sugar levels. I walked around with bottles of diluted hydralite because sometimes just doing the grocery shopping would have me in cold sweats, shaking & having dizzy turns. I almost keeled over several times & almost fell off my treadmill. Not fun.

It can be hard to get in the protein without consuming protein shakes or adding protein powder to drinks & food neither of which I do but it can be done. My minimum daily goal is 50g. I consider this a bad day but it still exceeds the 0.8g per 1kg of weight min daily requirement. I try to aim for 60g+and on a really good day, I can hit 70 or 75g. My dietician is happy with this & my bloods are good. Eggs, high protein yogurt, seafood, beef, etc. help. I also try to ensure at least one of my two daily snacks has about 10g of protein too: tuna or salmon frittata muffins, cheese, protein bar, etc. I should add I’m not overly active - no marathon running or weight training for me - for many reasons but mainly because I struggle to get the calories in to maintain my weight & that’s my focus at the moment.

Everyone seems to be given different plans & everyone seems to tolerate different foods at different times. My plan was two weeks liquids, two wks puréed, two wks soft then slowly introduce solids. I could only barely get in protein for the next month or so then I slowly introduced very small amounts of shredded cooked cabbage & steamed cauliflower. My taste buds changed & all my previously favourite vegetables tasted awful. I ate small pieces of cucumber wrapped in smoked salmon & cream cheese at about 4 months. Most importantly, go slowly & listen to your body. It will soon tell you what you can’t & can tolerate.

I have a real issue about artificial sweeteners. Biggest being they don’t stop your craving for sugar. Work at reducing your use of sugar/sweetners until you don’t add any to your drinks. Years ago, I reduced the sugar I added to my tea & coffee till I didn’t need it (2tspn to nothing in 2 mths) & stopped all soft drinks (only tonic water in my very occasional gin). You’ll also find as you do you won’t tolerate overly sweet foods either. I’ve cut a lot of sugar out of my diet now - only naturally occurring sugars (like fruit) & I check nutritional panels/ingredients to ensure low sugar content in foods I don’t prepare myself. Haven’t really missed it & I used to always enjoy a sweet treat after dinner. About a month ago I unknowingly bought rolled oats with honey (why can’t people add their own honey to their oats???). Made up a bowl this week thinking it was my plain unflavoured oats & it was awful. Had to throw it out. So horribly sweet. Of course now there’s not a box of oats to be had anywhere.

I know it’s really scary to have handful of hair falling out everyday but It will grow back. My hair started to fall out at about the 3 month point and it’s taken until 9.5mths for the hair loss to slow down & to notice regrowth. This coincided with being in maintenance & being far more vigilant about meeting a daily minimum protein intake of 1g per kg body weight. I try to get in 1.3+g per kg body weight at least twice a week but it’s still a struggle for me to consume this much protein in a day. (The more active you are for more protein you need to consume.) I cut my long hair to just above my shoulders at about month 5.5. I also take silica & collagen to strengthen the new hair growth. Plus I think you need to give your body a chance to settle into your new eating patterns.

Lots of empty shelves in Aust too. They established limits on how many packs of toilet paper, rice, pasta, meat, etc. last week because of people’s greed. Does cause probs though for those with legitimate need for additional packs. My brother has 5 children. His wife tried to buy 2kg of mince to make spag bolognaise. Could only get 1x1kg pack & 2x500g. She was stopped at the checkout & they were going to take the 1kg pack away. She had to fight to keep 1.5kg explaining she was feeding 7 people. Worse was she ran into a friend who bragged she’d bought 2x1kg packs & it’s just 2 of them. I feel for the staff at the grocery stores. They’re being abused & are so rushed off their feet they can’t even get the shelves restocked.

No, not intending to lose more weight @Sophie7713 just trying to stabilise & work out that fine line between weight gain & weight loss. For me it’s very narrow. Going back to work as been a bit of a challenge. In retail, you can’t say to a customer sorry have to have my snack & walk away. Bones everywhere. The house we rented had rustic timber bench seats at the dining table. I had to sit on a cushion & have one at my back to protect my bony butt & spine. One of my 6yr old nieces asked why I was so skinny. I said so she could give me really good hugs ... so she did. I’d be ok if I put on a kg or 2 to get me back to a BMI of 20. Love the glorious pxts of flowering plants. Spring is such a wonderful time. BTW you’re looking fabulous, Sophie. Your achievement is so inspiring. Chores done, now relaxing. Think I’ll watch the last episode of Hunters.

A friend said ‘The hysteria about corona virus is spreading faster than the virus.’ The food hoarding, the greed & selfish, inconsiderate behaviours is shocking but all arising from the hysteria. Sadly this creates & adds to people’s anxiety. I have meat & frozen vegetables in my freezer, yoghurt, eggs, milk & cheese in my fridge, always have tinned salmon, tuna, chick peas & tomatoes in my pantry & protein bars. Everything I usually have in stock so no change to my diet. My weight loss journey has been at home as I wasn’t working. I set routines about when I ate & exercised & stuck to them. I established new behaviours - I’m the one in control! I made sure I had a specific task to do every day. I heartily agree with suggestions like going for a walk, pottering in the garden & cleaning out your closets. (I’ve gone through my clothing a few times throughout this journey so this is the perfect time to sort your clothes.) Sew on those missing buttons, restitch that hem, darn that hole. Cook - test new recipes or modify old favourites. Clean out your pantry - get rid of any trigger foods & the expired items we all have at the back of the shelves. Go through your paperwork, sort all your receipts. Phone your friends & family. Read a book. (I read a book every 1or 2 days.) Give yourself a manicure, a pedicure, a hair treatment - men & women. Sort through all the photos you have on your phone. Keep up with this blog. Stay strong & healthy.

Some random pxts of my weekend away at the Bunya Mtns. Survived 7 children aged 2-10. Beautiful and green. Wallabies by the squillions - roo poo everywhere. Birds sit on verandas to be hand fed. Short bush walk, but several walks up & down the hill to the cafe - still 1km there & another back uphill. Surprised to notice I wasn’t huffing & puffing - huge win. No OOTD shots though - two mirrors in the whole house placed above the vanities & I’m too short. If only I had long legs like my shadow. New work dress - protruding hip bones - who’d ever have thunk it. Stay healthy everyone. PS @BayougirlMrsS - French tucking is my go to at the moment. Shirt out but tuck one side only hip to fly.

I dropped from an Aust size 18 to size 6. The smallest size I’d ever been in the past was a size 10 so I’ve well passed the point I can wear the smaller clothes I’d kept from that time too. I have noticed my body shape is different from when I’d lost weight previously. Always was very hour glass shaped but am now more up & down now. Could be because of my age & the impact of menopause but also because the last kgs I’ve lost have totally come off my hips, butt & breasts. I donated bags & bags of clothing to St Vincent de Paul (keep finding more pieces to donate as I work through closets & cupboards) but did keep my high end clothes. Sold a few high end pieces to off set the cost of my new wardrobe. Also donated some of the high end to a fundraiser for fire relief here in Aust. Fortunately I only went down a half size in shoes. I offered the few that are too big for me to some girl friends but they wear larger sizes so they’ll be going to some cousins.

Nexium. At least 1 x 20mg but don’t be afraid to take 2 tablets. I always suffered terribly from hiccups. Would have sore stomach & chest muscles for days after an attack. Even would vomit sometimes. Tried everything, all the old wive’s tales & Nexium was the only thing that would help. Takes a little while to work but the relief was bliss. As a preventative, eat slowly. I find that helps too.

Started work again a couple of weeks ago helping out a former employer who had lost some staff recently so I’m way behind in checking out how fabulous everyone is looking. I swear it’s taken more than an hour to try to catch up. Just a couple of pxts of work clothes - when I wasn’t rushing out. The short silk caftan top is from my archives - about 14yrs old. The dress was one I bought in Melbourne -1992 Comme de Garçon. It’s a little big on me cause I’ve lost those few extra kgs. The jeans I got today. Great dark navy & you know I love a wide leg pant. Plus the shoes I couldn’t leave behind - the heel changes colour (pink to gold) depending how light hits it. Designed to look like the aurora borealis. They won’t be very sensible when I go to the Bunya Mtns next weekend though. 😜

After about 12 weekly treatments & another couple of monthly Radio Frequency treatments, I think I can confidently say yes, I can see an improvement. 🎉🎉🎉 The marionette lines on my left side have reduced quite a bit. They’re a shadow of what they were. The right side has lessened but are still very visible. Though this side was far worse than the left. The finer lines under my chin have reduced dramatically too. The unexpected improvement has been the horizontal creases which ran around my neck. I can hardly see them now. (Though they are still noticeable on the side of my neck.) Mind you I also take silica & collagen several times a week as well. So I could be finally seeing the effects of the collagen in my skin being stimulated from a combination of RF & the silica & collagen.

It does end. I’m 9.5 months post surgery & I feel pretty confident is saying my hair loss has normalised (knock on wood). I lost more than 50% which was pretty scary too me. As were the handfuls that came out every day & don’t start me on the huge amounts that fell when I washed my hair. I took silica & collagen but nothing helped. Now my weight has stabilised, I’m better at ensuring I eat my protein every day & I’m eating a more balanced diet, the hair loss decreased. Give it time. Don’t stress. As my surgeon said: your body has better things to do with the nutrients your consuming than grow hair at the moment. Plus your body is going through lots of changes & learning to function with a reduced diet while your losing weight.

Was waiting for my micro blading follow-up appointment at the swanky local day spa this morning when in walked two young, thin ‘beautiful people’ (all spray tans, botox & body con clothes) and I suddenly felt uncomfortable & embarrassed. I thought oh I’m so fat & they’ll look at me & judge me. WTF!! Where did that thought come from?? I’ve always been pretty self confident & never really felt that way when I carried weight (probably because I saw myself as ‘only being overweight’ not the reality of being obese - body dysmorphia). And now this random thought of being less than & being judged by how I look comes into my head. Worse was the realisation that I still saw myself as being fat. It threw me. I had to give myself a mental slap & looked again at the women with clear eyes. The reality was I was actually smaller than they were. Looks like I still have head work to do. Maybe I’ll be working on it for a long time as there’s obviously some buried stuff that needs to be dug out.

Congrats on losing 50lb - amazing. I think some people have a mental image of us & it takes a long time for it to change to the new reality. A friend said she was surprised when I told her how much I weighed because she didn’t think I was anywhere near that big - I was. A niece asked me last month when I’d cut my hair. It had been >4months since I’d had 12inches cut off & I’d seen her several times (ahh self involved youth). Also we all carry & lose weight weight differently. Unfortunately it seems the higher our starting weight the longer it takes for any loss to become noticeable. You may find people will comment on a loss of a couple of pounds when you’re near or at your goal. I think we like to hear positive comments about our weight loss progress because it’s motivating. They reaffirm our achievements & hard work. We are human & we all like to be acknowledged & receive praise. 😁

I set myself a goal of 60kg as it was a weight I had been happy with in the past & my surgeon confirmed it was a sensible goal. Achieving mini goals (1/3 of the weight gone, 2/3 gone) was a great motivator too. Watching those numbers drop on the scales was amazing as was watching my BMI decrease.

One of my 6yr old nieces likes to play with mine. She says she likes them because they’re soft & squishy. Embarrassing ... but funny.

I gurgle a lot too. Most often if I eat a bit too much or a bit too quickly and sometimes for no reason at all.

Thank you soooo much everyone for sharing your eating struggles and how you approach your daily life post surgery & weight loss. So enlightening & reaffirming. I too eat the same basic menu every day so I don’t have to think about what I’m going to prep & eat - makes grocery shopping a breeze too cause I buy the same foods every week. If I’m going out to eat, I check the menu & choose what I’ll order before I go so being tempted by what’s on the menu (or agonising over what I can eat) is greatly reduced. Genetics and hormones make losing weight a fight you have with one hand tied behind your back. I grew up hearing about my overweight relatives & how I would have to always watch my diet or I’d end up like them. I first put on weight when I went through puberty & then the last large weight gain was during menopause. I grew up on a vegetable farm so eating ‘healthy’ was my norm - lots of meat & vegetables & being very active. I believe my weight problems were exacerbated because I didn’t eat until dinner throughout my high school years. And then regularly skipped lunch when I was working - too busy to stop & eat. So I killed my own metabolism. At the moment it seems to have been resurrected & hopefully it will have a long, long life. Thank you for sharing.

I don’t worry about my arms too much either (we call them tuckshop lady arms here in Aust - the mums & grandmothers who volunteer to man the school canteens). I wear sleeveless & tank tops all the time. I just avoid shoe string straps & action back as the crepey wrinkle skin is more noticeable in these for me.

I love that you’re shopping for all of us @Sophie7713. Really like that dress on you. I’d go sheer black hose with the black shoes. (Love the touch of mesh.) if it was a day event the nude would work but the black for an elegant evening. Keeping the colour going all the way thru will make you look taller too - a bonus for all of us under 5’4. And aren’t the men bringing it. Hot! I just donated all my old XL hoodies, track pants, tops & running pants which led to an expedition to my local Bonds store for more appropriately sized options (XS). Strongly motivated by a trip to Bunya Mountains next month with my baby brother & his family. Lovely bush walks & native animals to enjoy (& a few drinks on the verandah). My new babies - and only 2inch heels. Not suitable for bush walking though. Lol.