BigSue

It makes me so happy to see other people jumping on the sugar-free meringue bandwagon! I think they make an awesome, healthy treat. I make them at least one a week (I've started buying egg whites in a carton to make them even easier). I had some issues with my first couple of batches, but I've made little tweaks with each batch and now they're coming out consistently well. I'm enjoying trying out different flavors. I made a batch with cheesecake flavoring today -- yum!

Congrats on your progress! There's a very popular program called Couch to 5k, which has a 12-week plan to work your way up to running a 5k. I haven't done this myself, but I know people who have. My mother did this program a couple of years ago and ran a 5k in her 60s. https://www.thedistance.atlantatrackclub.org/beginner-5k-program?gclid=CjwKCAjwx6WDBhBQEiwA_dP8rVB44BO4JraQf1-rFFvLfTIdZa2tuv2Kx5X2paKgbWMcf9boGykPshoCYI0QAvD_BwE However, I second @Creekimp13's advice to be careful and not hurt yourself. At my heaviest, I had a hard time walking even a short distance, but now I've been working out daily for months and my mobility is much better because I'm not carrying around an extra 180 pounds. I am even able to jog for short distances. Unfortunately, I think I have already done a lot of damage to my knees, and I'm not sure it would be good for me to put that kind of stress on them by running. I know young, healthy people with BMIs in the normal range who have hurt themselves by running. Getting injured can be a major setback for weight loss, so maybe talk to your doctor before you start this kind of program.

I hate it when people comment on my weight, even though they're all positive comments now, but it's probably true that people feel like they should say something. I can often tell when it's coming, by the way someone looks at me (you know that pause, double-take, up-and-down scan). I am honestly kind of impressed when people resist the urge to mention my weight, and I think more highly of these people who have watched me lose more than half of my body weight and not made a single comment on my body. My boss, for one, has never mentioned my weight, and I never got the sense that he treated me any differently even when I was at my highest weight. I am so grateful for this because if I get a promotion, I won't have to wonder if it's only because I'm now a more socially acceptable size.

Welcome! Glad you found this forum -- it has been incredibly helpful for me as I've gone through this process. There's a lot of great info and advice here! I lost about 70 pounds in the 5 months before surgery, and hands down, the best thing I did to prepare was logging everything I ate in MyFitnessPal. I think that was the key to my pre-surgery weight loss and is something I've continued since my surgery. There are other similar apps (there's one called Baritastic that's specifically made for bariatric surgery patients), but I started with MyFitnessPal and liked it, so I'm sticking with it. I think it's also a good idea to get into the habit of drinking more water and tracking your water intake (you can do that in MyFitnessPal, too). I didn't really work out before surgery, and maybe it would have helped if I had started earlier, but I started a few months after surgery and now I work out and take walks every day.

I was unable to produce a urine sample because, well, they told me not to drink anything after midnight. The nurse pleaded with me to squeeze out three drops, and I tried, but got nothing. The nurse seemed annoyed that they would have to do a blood test for pregnancy and told me that it could delay the start of my surgery, but that turned out not to be true (when I looked at my test results, the time of the pregnancy test result was around the same time as all the other blood tests).

That's so weird! I've seen a lot of different recipes for sugar-free meringues using all different kinds of sweeteners. I've seen a lot that call for powdered Swerve, but I specifically looked for a recipe with granulated sucralose because that's what I had (way cheaper, especially if you buy the store brand). There's a lot of variation in the ratios of sweetener to egg whites between the various recipes I've seen, so I've experimented with different batches to try to find the best combination. I've never had them come out chewy before. How much of the powdered Swerve did you use? I used 7/8 cup of granulated sucralose and 2 tbsp of powdered Swerve. If I'm using all granulated sucralose, I use 3/4 to 1 1/4 cup of that for the same quantity of egg whites. If I'm making "regular" baked goods, I always measure by weight, but that doesn't work so well with some artificial sweeteners because they have extremely different densities. The granulated sucralose is very light, but it's designed to substitute with sugar on a volume basis (1 cup granulated sucralose = 1 cup sugar, even though it weighs much less). I think the substitution is off, though, and the sucralose is not nearly as sweet as the same volume of sugar.

Now I'm curious: how was the texture of your cookies? I usually use just the Great Value granulated sucralose, but in the batch I made yesterday, I actually substituted 2 tablespoons of what you used (the Swerve icing sugar). My cookies usually come out dry and crunchy, but the ones I made yesterday came out soft and chewy, and I attributed that to the Swerve. The Swerve icing sugar has way more sweetness than the granulated sweetener per cup (which is why I tried it -- I was hoping to make my cookies a little sweeter, and they were, but also not quite right in texture).

Nice! Some recipes actually say that you should leave them in the oven overnight, but I usually just leave them for a few hours and I don't think it makes a difference. What sweetener did you use? I have found that the Great Value brand sucralose that I use is not very sweet, but I like things pretty sweet, so maybe I'm biased. I made a batch with cake batter flavoring yesterday and I love it! I make them at least once a week and some batches come out better than others.

I initially didn’t think my tastes had changed at all, and I was disappointed. Food still tastes the same as it did before surgery. The only exception is that I used to be a wimp when it came to spicy food, and now I crave spicy food — I use a ton of hot sauce and crushed red pepper. I don’t think I taste spiciness as strongly anymore. I also like a lot of onions and garlic in my food now (I’ve always liked garlic, but didn’t used to be a huge fan of onions). But I’ve started noticing that the foods I want to eat are different than they used to be. I’m not sure if it’s a change in taste, or if I’m just getting used to eating healthier foods, or if it’s just because I’ve discovered a lot of good, healthy recipes since my surgery, or what, but I definitely have more of a desire to eat vegetables now. I love roasting vegetables in my air fryer, just sprayed with some olive oil or avocado oil and sprinkled with seasonings. I used to hate cauliflower, but now I eat it all the time. I wonder what the Walmart grocery pickup people thought about the lady who bought 3 bags of frozen cauliflower, 1 bag of fresh cauliflower florets, and 3 bags of frozen cauliflower rice in one order. Cauliflower rice is one of my favorite “food hacks.” I don’t miss regular rice at all because cauliflower rice is a perfect substitution. I found a recipe for cauliflower cream sauce and it was delicious; I used it in a chicken divan recipe, and it was so good that I’m looking for other recipes where I can substitute the cauliflower sauce for white sauce. I also like Buffalo cauliflower now. I’ve always hated fish, but I decided to give it another try. I made some mahi-mahi and actually liked it! I couldn’t believe it. Again, I’m not sure if it’s because my tastes changed or because I have more of an open mind about eating fish. (I will say that I also tried one of those flavored tuna pouches and still did not care for it.) I spend a lot of time on Pinterest looking at healthy recipes. I have a whole board full of healthy recipes that I can’t wait to try. Since I have all these healthy foods that I actually want to eat, I have less of a desire to eat junk food. I do eat some healthy-ish treats, like a daily protein bar (I’m obsessed with Built Bars), sugar-free meringue cookies, sugar-free Jello, and protein mug cakes, but I don’t really have a desire to go and eat fast food or a bag of chips or anything... except when I see other people eating that stuff, and then it’s tough because it makes me remember how much I used to love it.

It's the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative Outcomes Calculator. Not sure why the link wouldn't work for you. Maybe try a different browser? The web page says to use Chrome or Firefox for best performance.

Not gonna lie, I consider my two daily calcium citrate soft chews to be a treat -- my reward for taking the rest of my vitamins on schedule (I also get some enjoyment out of my cherry sublingual B-12 and strawberry biotin). Love, love, love the BariatricPal French vanilla caramel and Belgian chocolate caramel!

Welcome! This forum is a great resource and has been tons of help to me as I've gone through the process. Feel free to ask questions that come up along the way. When I started the process, it seemed like surgery was an eternity away, but by the time I got to surgery day, it felt like the time had flown by and I wasn't ready!

I can't answer from my own personal experience because I started with a BMI over 60 and had gastric bypass. But I can offer you a link to a calculator that will tell you the average weight loss at 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years: https://mbsc.arbormetrix.com/Registry/public/calculator/uiCalculator/7?menuId=1013 Enter your data and click the disk icon on the top right of the page to see your expected weight loss. Note that the numbers they give are averages, so your personal results could be significantly higher or lower, but I still think it's useful information to get a ballpark estimate.

I have recently developed a love of pickles. I find them very filling for something so low in calories. You have to check the ingredients, though -- some pickles are loaded with sugar. I go for kosher dills because they don't have sugar, but I found out that sugar-free (artificially sweetened) bread and butter pickles exist and I can't wait to try them. For some reason, I've been craving spicy food since my surgery (which is weird because I didn't really like spicy food before surgery), and I like to put sriracha or hot sauce on my pickles.

If you are a female of childbearing age (and haven't had a hysterectomy), you will almost certainly have a urine test for pregnancy. Other than that, testing can vary depending on what your doctor orders.

That is definitely at the low end! Most of us start with a BMI over 40 (which is the cutoff for most insurance companies if you do not have comorbidities). I started with a BMI over 60. Since you started so low, you should not expect to lose as much or as quickly as someone with a significantly higher BMI. 55 pounds in 3.5 months is fantastic!

No, it's the opposite -- you should take iron and vitamin C together because vitamin C make the iron easier to absorb. You shouldn't take iron and calcium together because they interfere with each other. My doctor says to take them at least 2 hours apart but that advice can vary.

@Creekimp13 would you mind sharing more details of your exercise regimen?

What was your starting weight/BMI? If you started with a BMI on the low end (~40), you're not going to lose as quickly as someone with a much higher BMI. But in any event, 55 pounds in 4.5 months is great. There are a lot of factors that can affect weight loss rate, so you shouldn't worry about how quickly you lose it, as long as you are still losing. Are you on thyroid medication and have you had your bloodwork checked recently? I have hypothyroidism (I take medication for it) and I had gastric bypass, not sleeve, but my weight loss has been good.

This creamy tortellini, spinach, and chicken soup is a very popular recipe for both the Instant Pot and Crock-Pot. Since I'm not eating pasta, I made it without the tortellini and added extra chicken and spinach to make up for the lack of tortellini. It's good, but not mind-blowing (to be fair, maybe it would be with the tortellini). My 5-ounce serving: This was also a perfect time to try out my new Souper Cubes. I've seen several people in the bariatric community recommend these. They are pricey (a set of two 4-ounce trays is $36.99), but I splurged because people say this brand is much better in quality than the cheaper ones. They do feel very sturdy and heavy-duty, and it's easy to pop the frozen cubes out of the trays. I can fit 5 of these cubes in a quart-sized Ziploc bag. I usually use these glass containers (which I love and highly recommend), but the cubes in a bag are a lot more compact, and I'm not limited by the number of containers I have. I will definitely get a lot of use out of these and probably buy some of the other sizes, too!

Have you tried protein hot cocoa? I found that much easier to drink than cold protein shakes. A lot of people like to use protein shakes as coffee creamer (caramel shakes work well for this). Have you tried clear protein, like Syntrax Nectar? That's more like juice than a shake, so you might find it more tolerable. You can also try protein soups, or mixing unflavored protein powder into regular soup. Are you allowed to have purees yet? If so, you can mix unflavored protein powder into almost anything pureed. (I prefer to use flavored protein powders with sweet purees like yogurt, pudding, applesauce, oatmeal, etc. and unflavored in savory foods like refried beans, mashed cauliflower, soup, etc.).

I took Barimelts calcium citrate for the first 6 weeks after surgery. Then I switched to BariatricPal calcium citrate soft chews and I LOVE the Belgian chocolate caramel and French vanilla caramel. I consider them a daily treat. The strawberry watermelon soft chews are ok but not as delicious as the caramel ones. I currently take Citrical petites 1x/day (2 pills) and the soft chews 2x/day (just because the Citrical is a lot cheaper and has no calories... but I love the soft chews so much that I don't want to give them up). For the multivitamin, I took Barimelts for the first 6 weeks after surgery and then switched to BariatricPal MultivitaminOne chewable. I did not care for the taste of that. I currently take BariatricPal MultivitaminOne capsules with 45 mg iron. They are an excellent price for a bariatric multivitamin. Some people take regular drugstore vitamins, but keep in mind that you have to take two of those, so they come out to about the same price as BariatricPal MultivitaminOne. I also take an additional iron supplement (Nutricost iron chelate, purchased on Amazon) because I was iron-deficient. I also take NatureMade sublingual B-12 (it's cherry flavored) and Natrol biotin (strawberry flavored, tastes like candy!). And a prescription vitamin D3.

From what I've read on this forum, many (most) of us have a lot of trouble meeting our fluids goals first the first couple of weeks after surgery. It's harder than it looks, and no matter how much you read about it, you can't fully understand until you actually go through it (which is why most surgeons don't understand how hard it is, and give us overly ambitious goals). It got a lot easier for me after the first few weeks. I'm 8 months out now and have no trouble at all drinking fluids. I can drink water just as quickly as I did before surgery. I suggest trying warm beverages like tea, coffee, or protein hot cocoa. My favorite beverage is Crio Bru, which is cacao beans that you brew like coffee. It's delicious with a little almond milk and sugar-free flavored syrup. In my early post-op days, I found that warm beverages went down more easily than cold.

I used this recipe (but I only baked them for 1 hour and 15 minutes): https://thesugarfreediva.com/how-to-make-sugar-free-meringue-cookies/ And this sweetener (I've seen a lot of recipes that call for powdered Swerve, but that's pretty expensive): https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Granulated-No-Calorie-Sweetener-Value-Pack-19-4-oz/37415080 I made this batch with egg whites from a carton, and I only used the equivalent of 3 egg whites because I have found that the carton's idea of one egg white is more than an egg white from a whole egg. Also, I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer and it is too powerful to use on high for this recipe. I only turn it up to 6 -- any higher than that and the egg whites will be over-beaten and collapse in the oven.

Sugar-free meringue cookies -- egg whites, cream of tartar, zero-calorie sweetener, and flavoring (this batch is vanilla marshmallow). Ready to bake: Out of the oven: The number of cookies depends on how big you make them; I got 64 out of this batch and split it into 4 servings of 16 cookies. 19 calories for this whole plate: