ShoppGirl

Pre surgery I drank a 12 pack of Coke Zero a day. Now, 16 months out I have not had a single one. My team said I am medically cleared to have it but it is associated with weight gain. They still don’t know exactly why the zero calorie beverage causes it but study after study shows the association and that’s enough to have kept me off of it. I like the crystal light. I use two packets to mix it by the gallon at home and have a ziplock bag full of them at all times in my purse. I like that I can switch up the flavors. A newer option is cirkul. Its a drink bottle that they sell flavored cartridges for. My aunt swears the flavors are even better than crystal light. They have their own website or you can get the starter pack at bed bath and beyond. She likes that you can adjust the intensity of the flavor because she likes them with more water. I suppose you can play around with the amount of water you add to crystal light and achieve the same thing though. I also like to mix two flavors together when I mix a gallon to create new flavors.

I wouldn’t stress over it. I have seen enough people who have messed up with worse stuff than berries. Of course don’t have anymore but what’s done is done. Just stick to the plan from here on.

i just realized this is an older post but for anyone else considering surgery I will reply. I was able to lost a significant amount of weight at your age so in part they are correct. Only problem is I put it back on like ten pounds a year on average until I needed this surgery. I did other yo-yo diets in between so it wasn’t a straight line but it averaged about ten a year. My body just wasn’t happy at a lower weight pre surgery and even trying really hard to keep it off I gained. The surgery adjusts your “set point” which makes a new happy weight for your body. A diet doesn’t do that so you are constantly fighting your body.

Even at 800-1000 calories your body will still be in a pretty significant calorie deficit and you will lose. The higher the calories the slower of course. Some programs have calories Even higher than that a little further out. My team didn’t really give a calorie goal. Best to just go by your teams plan for you though. It’s hard but trust the process. It works.

Ooh. Well at least consider trying the clear protein drinks. Hopefully they won’t fill you up as much.

I had sleeve but you do know that the shakes count as liquid too, right? Maybe you should try the clear protein drinks. I don’t think they are as filling as the protein shakes. At least they weren’t for me. I liked premiere protein clear fruit punch but there are so many brands out there.

Glad it was just a dream. Guess you went to sleep a little anxious about your post surgery restrictions. I was a little worried too because I do eat sometimes without thinking at night so I put a towel through the handles on the fridge to remind me. I do this on days I have blood work or surgery and need to fast as well. Just something out of place to get your attention so hopefully you take a second to remember why it’s there.

Yea I know I use a lot more dressing than a serving or two if I don’t measure it. I mostly use the spray pam for cooking but dressing is high calorie too so it adds up quick. If you haven’t tried pam you should try it. You don’t get the oil flavor of course but I have totally gotten used to it now and use it for everything.

I think the fact that like 50% of marriages end in divorce anyways sorta skews our perceptions of surgery as the root of it. Yes you did have surgery but you had like a fifty fifty shot of feeling this way without the surgery. If I remember correctly the rate of divorce increases from 50 to 70% post surgery. I bet a lot of that 20% is probably what we’re already less than ideal marriages but people didn’t have the confidence to leave pre surgery. I believe a good marriage will only get better as one person becomes a healthier and happier version of themselves. Regardless, the thought of ending it with someone you once cared so deeply about is never easy and not a decision to be taken lightly. Obviously only you know if it could help at this point but counseling saved my marriage years ago and now it’s better than I could have imagined. We just needed to learn how to communicate with one another. It sounds so simple but it made such a difference. That being said I went to counseling with my first husband too and the counselor basically told us to just get divorced. Lol.

I have bipolar disorder and WLS hasn’t really decreased the frequency or changed my severe depressive episodes but losing weight has certainly made me happier on regular days. I get out more and am able to enjoy things more outside of those episodes because I feel better about Myself (more comfortable in my own skin). As a result I feel even better at the end of the day having accomplished things. I agree that exercise helps with depression and if you are really depressed even getting outside and just sitting there helps some. They actually make lamps to simulate the sun for treatment of depression and SAD. Yoga Is a great idea.

I agree that it’s not really self sabotage unless you actually intended to harm or sabotage yourself. Don’t beat yourself up, Just try to learn from your mistake and do better today. Have you tried searching for a sugar free or no sugar added alternative? I have found Many sugar free or no sugar added options out there that honestly don’t taste bad. I had sleeve so I don’t have issues with sugar, but I found Yasso Greek yogurt bars that are only 100 calories and satisfy my sweet cravings. They do have some sugar 13g total and 9g added sugars? I am pretty sure that’s quite a bit LESS than regular ice cream though. I don’t have any ice cream to compare it to. Okay I just searched Walmart real quick and it is less than regular ice cream but Klondike makes no sugar added desert bars that have even less. 6g of sugar per bar (11g of sugar alcohol. I’m not sure how that plays into it). Also, Bryers makes no sugar added with 5g sugar and 10g sugar alcohol (salted caramel flavor). I personally like the idea of the bars cause it’s already portioned out for us. Most but Not all products have the nutrition info online so a little research and hopefully you can find an option that will work for you. If you live near a Publix I have found that they tend to carry a wider variety and have more of the healthier options (compared to walmart). Trader Joe’s and Aldi are supposed to be good for healthy options too but I don’t have either of those I am, of course, not advocating that you eat ice cream this early out but i will admit that I tried a few treats just to see if I could eat them once I got to regular food such as chocolate, pizza and pasta. For me it was a mindset thing. Once I knew I could tolerate them in small amounts and eventually have them later it was that much easier to do without them until maintenance. Everyone is different though. All we can do is what we think is best for us. I hope this helps

Arabesque said all I can think of. I will just reiterate that you shouldn’t stock up too much on anything that someone else in your house won’t use, especially shakes because tastes change (especially for sweet things).

Pre surgery I never measured it but when Calorie counting I measure everything. And salad dressing I have been measuring in those little one ounce cups because one ounce is two tablespoons which is one serving but I thought maybe the bottle would be easier. If I don’t get an answer here I’m thinking for 9 bucks it’s worth a try.

I haven’t experienced this but I have heard of it. It’s basically swapping out one disordered eating behavior for another. Hopefully you will find some advice on here but it also couldn’t hurt to see a specialist. Many people on here have such great things to say about bariatric therapy and it seems to have helped them a great deal. I say you have come this far, what’s one more appointment to see if it feels like a good fit and if you think they can help you.

Yea but they ask you if you have been exposed or if you had a test that was positive when you do a test (or at least they have always asked me). Plus I would want to warn the nurse doing the test that I had tested positive before removing my mask so they could try to be extra careful and hopefully not catch it themselves. Also, I would be worried that I may not be physically fit to do surgery. if you have any symptoms at all that cough seems to linger long past the negative follow up test on this variant (my husband just had it). That would make me worry about the safety of doing the procedure. I personally would want the doctor to be aware of everything like that. If totally asymptomatic you may be fine although I think I would still ask the dr just to be safe. I know waiting a number of days sucks when your ready to do this but not if it helps prevent a serious complication. It’s always best to be totally honest with your team.

I was advised to slowly decrease the Shakes as I was able to eat larger portions. If you can only eat an ounce of chicken you aren’t going to be able to get enough protein from food. Well technically if you also eat a bunch of yogurt you can but you get my point. I am over a year out and still have a shake for breakfast everyday but that’s more for convenience and cause I like the taste of it (the caffe latte by premiere protein) many people get off them alltogether. But my advice would be to calculate your protein (not counting the shakes and yogurt) for a week or so and see if you consistently get to 30 or 60 or something like that and drop a shake as you can or just calculate for each day if you eat a lot of variety and have a shake or yogurt as a late snack if you need it.

Ooh yea some people love to tell those types of stories. It’s almost as if those people NEED to have a heavy friend or two in their life to make them feel better about themselves and one that “failed” again post WLS is even better. They need to think of obesity as a moral failure of sorts and that’s how they are superior because they aren’t as heavy. Stuff like that gets to me for a moment from time to time but when I really think about it, i just honestly feel sad for them. Think about what must be missing in their life for them to have things so twisted.

I’m sorry if that seemed offensive or something. I just honestly had no clue the calories were so high and thought I would share it with you in case you didn’t either.

Ooh yea I know and that’s why I said just be careful when you can actually eat more because a half rack is a normal serving which eventually you will get closer to most likely. A half rack is only 4 ounces of meat according to what I read online.

Can you get some protein shakes shipped to your hotel via Amazon or something?

Just be careful with the pork ribs as you are able to eat larger servings. I recently learned just a half rack of ribs was like 688 calories and 45 grams of fat BEFORE the sauce. And that’s baby back which are the leanest cut. The same amount of chicken breast is 190 calories. Ignore if you already knew this but I had no clue and was totally floored by the calorie and fat content.

I was able to eat more than expected through every phase of recovery. I just had to measure and only eat what I was supposed to be eating but they said it would be fine and it was. The main goal is for you to eventually get to a relatively normal serving size and to stay there. At almost 16 months out I am still eating about a serving of most things.

Aha. Good call. That would be quite embarrassing cause it’s at a public pool. I don’t have a pool but we do have chlorine so I could add a bit to a bucket of water to sorta simulate.

I had a malignant melanoma about five years ago so I am not supposed to go into the sun anymore which when I was heavier I always wore long pants so it didn’t much matter that I was ghostly. As I am losing weight I am starting to wear shorts and my pasty white legs are hard to miss in south FLORIDA where everyone else is golden bronze. I am starting to look into spray tanning but I am just wondering if there are any things to consider or tips and tricks to doing this with a plus sized body? The salon near me has mystic tan booth if that makes a difference. I am pretty sure my larger bust is going to be my biggest challenge but are there others??

Ooh and I used the build a tan version on my face but apply it like twice a day to make it darker. It’s still lighter than my body but not gleaning white so I am happy.