Pandemonium

Wasn’t planning on breakfast other than a protein shake but got strong armed into it. Went with a Portuguese style tofu scramble: 2 planks of tofu, spinach, tomato, jalapeño, and chorizo. Focused on the tofu, spinach and tomatoes with the occasional bite of chorizo.

I know that body dysphoria is not something that everyone experiences after losing a substantial amount of weight, but it is something that I experience what I would consider minor bouts of on a somewhat frequent basis. I know that it's exacerbated by the fact that my weight loss was pretty rapid so that I had less time to grown accustomed to the changes as they happened. I also know that there is a very good chance that once I reach whatever my maintenance weight ends up being, that these bouts of dysphoria will diminish as time goes by. If you suffer (or suffered) from bouts of body dysphoria, how did you handle it? What were your triggers that brought on those episodes? For me, it's my face. I can look at my arms, my legs, and my stomach and see the changes from my weight loss and it doesn't impact me. Yet almost every time I look in the mirror, that's when it hits. I carried a lot of fat in my face and neck and so looking into the mirror often messes me up because it sometimes doesn't feel like it's actually me looking back. I've gotten to the point that I've given into the COVID Beard trend because at least the facial hair "bulks" up my face to an extent so that the differences aren't so severe. Except I really have no interest in having an unruly full beard all the time because I don't find it comfortable (plus it messes with my mask seal for my CPAP). For the past week I have told myself every day to just shave it down to my usual goatee...and every day I have avoided doing so. It's that lingering anxiety of seeing the stranger looking back at me in the mirror.

OMG! Smoked bay scallops! These are going back to the room with me and into the fridge for snacking tomorrow!

So far so good! Definitely got right up to my limit but stopped myself from going over it. Really really wanted more of the soup, but getting myself sick would have been a lousy start to my vacation

So my first post-op restaurant trip happened. Sooner than I expected for my vacation as I was ready to do dinner. Sadly, some light rain has kiboshed my plan to rent a scooter for the moment. So we ended up bunkering down at a restaurant. So, I went with lunch instead and will eat a protein bar for dinner. Ordered loaded deviled eggs and a bowl of roasted tomato and red pepper soup. The eggs were rather bland for being “loaded”, but the soup was amazing.

I LOVE Think! bars. They're 20g of protein in a very wide variety of flavors. The Brownie Crunch, Lemon Delight, and both Peanut Butter ones (Creamy and Chunky) are my usuals for protein bars. I just tried the Chocolate & Cream Cupcake one (18g of protein) this week and fell in love with it. I also use Built Bars, which I really enjoy and find so much different than regular protein bars. It's almost like eating a candy bar.

You know your body best, but if it were me, I’d opt for a hotel near the hospital and then drive home the next day. Without knowing what you’ll be prescribed/dosed with for pain meds, it could be a recipe for disaster with that long of a drive. Better to spend a little money to stay somewhere overnight and then head home the next day.

Woohoo! Congrats on your surgery date! Some of the best advice I can give is to start sampling protein shakes and powders now and find a few that you like. It absolutely SUCKS to try doing this post-op when it becomes imperative to start getting protein into your system. Finding a few options to work with also helps in the event that you find your taste buds have changed post-op. That way if one of your liked shakes/powders suddenly grosses you out, you have others to fall back on!

Responsible socially distanced bread party at GreenTea's House!

AWESOME NEWS! So glad to hear that they worked everything out! You're almost there!

I don't know that it'll have quite the same heat kick as Flamin Hot Cheetos, but there are some Jalapeno Cheddar Protein Puffs out there: https://www.amazon.com/Allergy-Friendly-Protein-Jalapeno-Cheddar/dp/B078YF26BT/ Plus there was a recipe posted for homemade "Fritos" chips using chickpea pasta got posted. Could do it up with your own spice blend for seasoning to get the heat going!

It definitely does get easier as your progress through the diet phases and have more options available for protein. That said, it ultimately depends on your doctor's diet program and what those protein goals are. For my program, it simply is not possible for me to achieve my protein goals without protein shakes. Technically I could hit it with protein bars, but that would be heavier on carbs and calories. Have you looked into Fairlife High Quality Protein? It IS a shake, but almost across the board people say it tastes nothing like the protein shakes everyone is used to. It really tastes more like chocolate milk (unsure of the vanilla version). Beyond that, Fairlife also makes an Ultra Filtered Milk that has a higher protein content than normal milks do. It might not get you quite to your goal, but it could help. You'd want to stick to the 2% or lower in terms of fat in order to keep the fat and caloric intake reasonable, but it's an option and I have never been able to tell the difference between Fairlife and regular milk. At 2.5 weeks, you're no doubt on the cusp of moving into purees, which will most definitely give you access to other ways to get more protein in. You're doing great already and you will continue to do so!

I've tried doing audiobooks in the past when exercising. It never worked for me as I found I would end up not fully engaged with the books and thus would end up having to re-listen to chunks of the book because I realized I missed key details. Music works great for me as it helps keep my body moving if I focus on the rhythm and try to keep my pace to match it.

I still eat the pureed chicken salad that I made when I got the "all clear" for pureed foods. I use canned chicken breast that I run through my food processor until it is almost the consistency of sand and then mix it with greek yogurt, hummus, salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder. Okay, I also throw in a tablespoon of gochujang because I like and can tolerate spice, but that is purely my preference. It comes out with a creamy consistency and went down fine for pureed phase.

Ha! Well, with that particular recipe, the fact that they're using sage in it means that they are trying to replicate the tastes of our Thanksgiving dinners: Turkey, stuffing/dressing which usually contains sage, and then cranberry for the cranberry sauce. I can't explain the gruyere cheese other than cheese just makes things better.

Hey there! Coming back with a new Thankful Thread for this week after taking last week off. What are the things you are thankful for this week? I am thankful for so many kind, compassionate, and uplifting voices on this site and the knowledge that they possess and share. I'm thankful for finding some amazing 1-Carb low-cal tortillas and being able to share them with others here. I think I am going to pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store tonight and a jar of enchilada sauce just so I can keep using them. I'm thankful that I'll be taking a small vacation next week and visiting one of my favorite places again. There's some stress about COVID, but I've got a game plan to keep the risk to myself minimal. I'm thankful that I have lost enough weight that I can go hike in the woods for 2 hours and not feel completely sore and exhausted afterwards. How about you?

Oh, I am sorry that you had to deal with that today, but am glad that the outcome was positive. I had to say goodbye to my 18 year old cat earlier this year and I'm still heartbroken from it.

I am dying to make these! I just have to make a dent in all of the prepared meals I made and froze before I add to that stockpile. https://bariatricbits.com/cranberry-sage-gruyere-turkey-meatballs/

Not gonna lie, I am chomping at the bit for you to get your order (they seem to only ship the 1-carb orders every 2 weeks) to hear what you (and anyone else who ordered them) thinks of them.

I'm pretty sure that GreenTea was simply offering you that glass of champagne you had mentioned by way of Leo Dicaprio as Jay Gatsby.

I know that the Premiere Protein Clear is 100% whey isolate. So far that is the only protein water I've tried.

I made sure that all of my friends knew my birthday was really going to be in October or November this year because of the timing of my surgery. When they called me in June to schedule and said that July 7th was the earliest date, I ALMOST asked to schedule later in the month. Except with COVID, it really wasn't like I had any way to do anything for my birthday, so I grabbed the open date and charged forward with it.

Bowel prep is one of the many things that varies from doctor to doctor and program to program. May the Bariatric Surgery Gods bless you with not having to go through THAT particular experience. The worst part for me? The first of two days of bowel prep was on my birthday. Crappy Birthday to me! Literally.

Definitely make sure that you talk with your surgeon about it prior to surgery. Now knowing that you are still pre-op, I suspect the issue is that the Protein Water is only 20g of protein in 16.9 ounces of fluids, where as protein shakes are generally 30g of protein in 8 ounces of fluid. It's much more densely packed and is much more key for the immediate weeks post-op when you'll be limited in how quickly you can drink liquids. In the first week or so post-op, it would take me 3-4 hours to drink 16 ounces of water. That's a long time to get 20g of protein when I was able to get 30g in around 2 hours. Protein water is still a great resource though, once you move into other diet phases and liquid consumption is easier.