Arabesque

I was advised to eat only a 1/4 - 1/3 cup depending on the food from purée increasing as I was able. It was months & months before I was eating a cup. Make sure you’re eating slowly & what you’re eating isn’t too dry (keep it sloppy or very moist) or coarse. Also take small bites almost nibbles & see how you go. It does get better.

Many us held our bodies is unnatural ways to compensate for the weight we carried & now all the muscles & tendons have to relearn correct posture the weight disappears. You’ll likely even notice weird aches & pains as your body readjusts your centre of gravity. I had upper back pain & jokingly commented to my acupuncturist that maybe it was because my boobs had gotten smaller & all my bras were too big. I was right. Bought some new underwear that actually fit & the back pain went. A friend & I used to joke about how we often found ourselves slouching because we didn’t have a tummy to hold our upper body up any more. We both had to start being more conscious about ensuring we were standing up straight to reteach our bodies how to stand.

It can be challenging at first. The first couple of days I barely ‘ate’ a thing. My surgeon was ok if I didn’t reach my goals as long as I was making an effort & getting closer but that was my surgeon. I found the shakes disgusting & found them a struggle to drink. I had one a day & diluted it in an attempt to make them more palatable. I also had cream soups, consommés & bone broths (though I found them very salty). I discovered a high protein drinking yoghurt, after my liquid stage unfortunately, but you can make your own simply by adding milk to a suitable yoghurt (use the yoghurt you are allowed in the purée stage) & blend. Milk is also an easy protein source. Try some of the unflavoured protein powders & add them to soup or milk. There’s also protein waters you can try.

Yeah, your tummy can be pretty fussy & sensitive for a while. Plus the temporary changes to your sense of smell & taste can make finding foods you can tolerate a bit of a challenge. There even may be odd times when your tummy just says no to something you’ve eaten without issue then it’s fine again a day or so later. I used to say my tummy was like a tantrum throwing, pernickety 2 year old. Eggs, chicken breast, beef can be difficult for many. Don’t give up any food doesn’t like. Just leave it for a week or two or so & then try again. Or try a less coarse, more moist cut like minced beef or chicken thigh. It does get easier.

While losing post surgery, you can do things like eat the filling out of steamed wontons & the chicken & a couple of the vegetables from braised chicken & cashews or the prawns from braised prawns & vegetables. There’s always the soups too. Just avoid as much of the sauces as you can, no deep fried dishes & no rice or noodles. With Italian it may be more difficult to find suitable appetiser options. You may have to share a non pasta, pizza or rice main course or take home leftovers. If there are limited choices, you can always order a pasta dish with say meatballs or a ragu where you can pick out the meat. There may be a soup option for you to try. There’s always going to be that situation you can’t avoid where you have limited food choices while you are losing. You just have to do the best you can & make the best choice from what is available. As long as it’s a rare occurrence, you’ll be okay. Once into maintenance you’ll have more options but how careful you are will be more of a personal choice.

Exactly as @SpartanMaker & @i bypassedmyphatass said. Diets are for the short term not the long term. The bariatric diet is devised for a specific short term purpose. While it is restrictive in the first weeks to support your healing, it does encourage you to slowly add more nutritional sources as you progress. One of the things you’ll do as you near maintenance is work out how you want to eat for the long term. Not a ‘diet’ but a sustainable way of eating that works for you & meets the needs of your body. I find it amusing when people consider our bariatric post surgery diet is high protein. It really is just focussed on protein first. Most of us are advised to consume 60g of protein while losing. In actuality, this is less than the daily recommended amount - 1g of protein per 0.8kg for our weight at that time. (Though I was told by my dietician as a woman in her 50s I should be having 1g per 1kg of weight.) So at my surgery, when I was about 85kg I should have been eating 68g - 85g of protein. Don’t know about you but before I started this process I never ate any where near the recommended amount of protein I needed. Remember if there was a single diet that worked for everyone, no one would be obese & we’d all eat exactly the same way. Diets are too restrictive to be be sustainable. That’s why we could lose weight on a diet but could never keep it off. I don’t follow a ‘diet’ at all now. I worked out what foods provide the nutrition I need, enable me to maintain without restricting my life & keep my body happy. Like, I aim to eat 70g of protein because of my absorption issue & I avoid bread, pasta, rice & potato because they sit heavily in my tummy. You’ll work out a way of eating that works for you too. Do your own research about nutrition. Start now so as you add new foods back into your diet you are making healthier choices & to see how your body responds to them. Remember any pro diet sites (keto, Atkins, etc.) will only give you biased information about how great & wonderful that diet is. Just ensure you’re eating a range of foods to satisfy your nutritional needs. In the meantime, follow your plan & the advice of your dietician & surgeon & listen to your body.

ok, breath. My surgeon was ok if I didn’t meet my goals as long as I was making an effort & slowly but surely getting closer. I just couldn’t eat or drink more than I was through the stages: you can only do what you can do while you are healing & recovering & your tummy is being sensitive & fussy. The hormonal flush can be a b*tch. You’re losing weight (yay!) but your stored oestrogen is being released into your blood stream causing things like you’re experiencing almost like a punishment (boo!). I didn’t exercise either apart from the initial short anti blood clotting walking/strolling). Remember trying to walk on my treadmill in the second month because I felt I should do something but the extreme lethargy hit so I stopped (I almost fell of my treadmill I was so tired one day). Even now I just do some stretches, more for my oozing discs, some wall pushups & a few sit ups. Probably wouldn’t burn 10 calories LOL! But you need to do what exercises & level of activity that works for you when you are ready & able.

How much is from pre existing conditions? Or hadn’t been picked up previously like the dentist who said his x rays are more detailed now. If we’re honest for many of us our diet before surgery wasn’t the best & potential for dental issues as a result is great. (The stats on children who drink lots of soda & tooth decay is frightening.) And many don’t regularly see their dentist for many reasons. Genetics is a big factor. My brother has never had a filling in his life. He’s 52 & also obese (always battled with his weight just like I did). His dentist tells him he’d go broke if every patient was like my brother. Acid from reflux or gerd will cause damage to the tooth enamel not fillings. I was diagnosed with reflux more than 20yrs ago admittedly not a severe case & I managed a lot of it with dietary changes. Mind you I know I experienced reflux symptoms from a teenager so 40 odd years ago. I often get my dentist to check extra carefully for any acid damage & none has been found yet though he did say I had a little wear recently but said it was more like what occurs with age. (Yeah that made me feel great.) If you do have issues with reflux & gerd you need to speak with your doctor or surgeon. I think you need to find a new dentist @Erin18. One who is reliable. I immediately thought of the Dr Who episode too (Partners in Crime) with the space babies formed from human fat @Nepenthe44. Remember thinking when I first saw it if only those Adipose pills were real. 😆😆

It happens to all of us & often several times. Stick to top your plan. Don’t stress. Let your body takes the time it needs to adjust to the changes. You’ll start to lose again. If we all got stuck & never lost again, none of us would have lost our weight.

Always. For a day or two before my period I’d intensely crave carbs. Would be a bottomless pit for them. Interestingly, even in menopause I still have those odd symptoms that used to signal my period was coming (fluid retention, constipation then diarrhoea & carb craving). So you’re not alone in that @Tomo as weird as it is. Fortunately the carb craving is pretty non existent now but the first head hunger I experienced after surgery, after my first year, I realised was my old period carb craving. Recognising it for what it is is always the first step in managing it.

I find non NSAID over the counter meds useless too. I was very happy when my surgeon said I could have the rare NSAID. Mind you I was 2 yrs out when he told me that. Yep, tramadol is an opioid so you want to avoid that & all other opioids like oxy. I used to suffer a lot with cramping, aching legs, etc. with my periods too. Fortunately not anymore. I found boosting my calcium intake the couple of days before helped but it was the pill that helped best - sorted out those hormones. You may find as you lose more weight some of your symptoms may reduce simply because you won’t have as much oestrogen stored in your body. Fingers crossed that happens for you. In the meantime, a conversation with your GP & maybe a request to see a pain management specialist.

Oestrogen is stored in your fat so as you lose weight it’s released into your blood stream. This hormonal flush can cause a number of issues including longer or shorter periods or cycles, heavier or lighter periods, more or fewer PMS symptoms, etc. For me it actually stopped my menopausal symptoms. They came back though once I’d lost a lot of my weight. And yes it can make you more fertile, so I agree with the suggestion to do a pregnancy test. I have heard some doctors recommend doubling down on contraceptives too until your hormones resettle.

It’s likely postural hypotension. That is your blood pressure drops on standing from lying down or sitting & takes time to be pumped up to your head. Hence the loss of vision, fainting, dizziness & wooziness. It’s very common after surgery while you’re losing weight then for most it passes. It didn’t for me & I experience it several times a day every day but low blood pressure was a pre existing & family tendency before surgery. Yes, add some electrolyte drinks & also add a little extra salt to your diet. Get up slowly & don’t move for 10 or so seconds (you’ll work out how long you need). Some say marching your feet before standing helps - it doesn’t help me. I find it very handy to keep close to a wall or furniture so when your blood pressure drops you can touch the wall or furniture to ground yourself. I’ve even been known to grab hold of a friend. 😁 I also bend over so the blood gets back up to my head more quickly.

It’s not an uncommon side effect of the weight loss. It usually is temporary & settles in time. But not for all of us. I’ve low blood pressure & slow heart rate like @Tomo. Should add I also always had a tendency towards drops in my pressure. It’s a family thing & it would occur more when I was at a lower weight. Now I weigh even less than in the past it’s like every day. I took my blood pressure a couple of times a day for about a month to track it’s fluctuations & noted what I’d been doing at the time but then promptly forgot to take it to my doctor. Spoke to her about it but she wasn’t too worried because of the pre disposition. Should add she initially put me on medication (fludrocortisone) when I first discussed it with her in my first year post op but it did nothing so we dropped it. Yes, I have low energy too or exhaust quickly. The low pressure means the blood is oxygenating the body as well as you need. I also have random hypoglycaemic episodes.so a fun experience when they all combine. I try to take an electrolyte drink with me if I know I’m doing anything strenuous. Otherwise I just pace myself & will rest if I think it’s getting too much. Amusingly when I had my gall out, they were concerned in post op about how low my BP was. Gave me a cup of tea to boost it - went up about 10 points & dropped again. Then gave me a shot of ephedrine. It went up 20 points & then they watched it drop right back again within a few minutes. Kept saying. It’s just me & how it usually is.

I took collagen powder & silica for about 5 or so months for the supposed benefits but didn’t see any difference. My hair didn’t grow faster than it’s usual cycle & wasn’t any thicker, my skin was much the same & my nails were the same too. 🤷🏻‍♀️ It does take time though to see any effects as it’ll only boost new growth but I should have seen some effects even for a time after I stopped. Then I started slathering on a collagen serum my beauty therapist recommended. Cost a fortune & 10 months later still no noticeable change. Gave it up & began using a vitamin C serum & within two weeks I was getting compliments about my clear & glowing skin & was being asked what I was doing from like everyone: friends, family, my former dysport lady & even my doctor. Actually had to order the vitamin C serum for my 82 year old mother she was so impressed - 😁. Maybe it works. Maybe genetics plays a role. Maybe your diet & how your body absorbs & uses nutrients contributes. Maybe hormones affects how successful it will be. Always worth giving it a go. PS - When I recently starting going to a cosmetic physician for my dysport I heard this crunchy sound as she injected my forehead (never heard it before). I asked what it was because it was weird. She said it was collagen & she loved hearing the sound. Still freaked me out.

First I love to cook. I cook almost everything I eat & I’m single. I have total control over the ingredients, how it’s cooked, the nutritional content & I freeze the leftovers for the days I don’t feel like cooking, am home late, etc. Often call the freezer my local takeaway - can have a nutritious meal ready to eat in 5 minutes. Secondly, yes you can dine out but it isn’t all that easy at first after surgery when you are restricted on what you’re allowed to eat, what you are able to tolerate, portion size restrictions, nutritional needs, etc. I do dine out regularly. Not much in my first year though. I don’t go to chain type ‘restaurants’ (they’re not as prevalent in Australia thank goodness), never fast food & rarely takeaway (maybe once or twice a year). I go to real restaurants where all the food is cooked fresh from scratch - not mass produced food, full of preservatives & other additives, that’s shipped in bulk & just cooked at many chain ‘restaurant’. But this has been my choice. A few have posted about using home delivery meals. May be that is a better option???

Best to have a chat with your dietician to work out portion sizes, caloric goals, nutritional needs that are right for you. We all have different needs. 6ozs is actually more than a recommended portion size for any adult. 4ozs is the recommended portion - I can barely eat that three years out. Certainly no where near that 2 months. As to whether you can eat steak or not is more of an issue of is it allowed on your plan or if you are able to. Many find steak hard to tolerate at first. I was eating steak pretty early on but then I only eat good quality tender cuts, cooked to medium rare & cut into very small bites. Remember, all because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Collagen & peptide supplements don’t count towards our protein goal as they’re not a complete protein - lack most of the essential amino acids we need. It may help with your skin, connective tissues so yiu could take it fir those benefits but that’s it.

40mins in a virtual queue but yes got pretty good seats. $250 though 😱.

I’m having it on my face next week again by the cosmetic physician (supposed to be yesterday but doctor had to take unexpected leave). She’s using dermapen which is supposedly more advanced & a deeper treatment than the roller used in micro needling. Having it for my open pores & the acne scaring (had cystic acne). Friend had a series of micro needling treatments for loose skin on her face after her weight loss but she said it did nothing 🤷🏻‍♀️. https://facemedstore.com/blogs/blog/dermapen-vs-derma-roller

Well said @SpartanMaker. 100% agree. Though my plan counted all liquids as part of my fluid goal including shakes. I’d dilute the shake (double the water) to make them less thick & grainy & a little more tolerable & sipped them for hours. My surgeon was also okay with not meeting fluid & protein goals in the beginning as long as I was making an effort & getting closer every day or so. I batched cooked & froze individual serves from soft foods (soups from purée). Well I just cooked my normal amount which was enough for multiple meals of course - lol. I started using Tupperware type containers then & still do, use zip lock bags. They take up less room in the freezer. Found it very handy to throw in a frozen meal for lunch at work & now for those nights you don’t feel like cooking.

I finally did get fillers about 4 weeks ago. Found a cosmetic physician with almost 20yrs experience & had a long conversation about the concern with my allergy. I felt very confident with her so we went slowly - 1ml one week & a 2nd ml the next. She filled the two depressions in front of my ears which were almost void of fat. Happy with what she did. Very subtle. In fact no one has noticed except if I point it out which is what I wanted.

I was allowed green tea as the caffeine is about a quarter that of black tea & even less of coffee (depending on how you take your coffee). Made me very happy as I only drank green tea anyway. I could have a cup a day (I had about double that 😉.) Best to check with your surgeon & ask your dietician for non citric acid drink recommendations.

Humourous side note to my sausage roll post. When my friend’s husband, who’d asked me to make the sausage rolls, went to get one they were all gone. He started complaining & asking his guests who ate all HIS sausage rolls. Well, my inability to eat more than a bite at a time & slow eating came in handy. He very happily devoured my leftover after which he gave me a huge bear hug in thanks. 😁

Pre sale ticket are available tomorrow for Hamilton in Brisbane. Guess what I’ll be doing. 😁 Going to a contemporary dance performance this week & saw the Chiharu Shiota exhibition at GOMA last week. I love being cultural.