Spinoza

I have never experienced this with spinach and it's one of my go-to veggies! I hope you don't mind but I did have a good laugh at your description. V funny 🤣 I hope you weren't actually worried!

OMG those photos are amazing. Professionally taken? You look fantastic. Enjoy your big birthday OP. 🙌🍾

So pleased that you're getting on top of this. You have had *such* the journey. It's HARD. Best of luck.

I had no idea gastric balloons were even done any more. Unless this is a different procedure from the days of yore? I think most surgeons abandoned balloons for the safe and considerably more effective sleeve and bypass options. I know those mightn't be an option for everyone of course. Best of luck and I hope it works for you OP. Sounds like you're in a good mind space and that's worth a lot.

So glad to hear you're out the other end of the surgery OP. My advice is prioritise your fluid goals for the first week or two. Honestly vitamins and protein goal and almost everything else can be caught up on later if you can't make them right now.

I know programmes differ hugely but my surgeon placed absolutely no restrictions on caffeine and I was hugely grateful. I have no idea whether there is good evidence that caffeine consumption affects weight loss after bariatric surgery but I suspect very much not. @GreenTealael do you have any evidence to share? I am a coffee, not a matcha drinker, but I know how much I valued those coffees in the weeks and months after my surgery. Might be worth drilling down into the actual evidence based practice with your team if matcha means as much to you!

Keep posting. We are all here for you x Also - stalls are the absolute PITS and gains (although always temporary) DOUBLE PITS!

Excellent thread - thank you @JamieLogical! I got sleeved almost 3 years ago. I hit my goal weight well within my first year. I lost another 10lbs very slowly in my second year to reach a BMI of 20. I was absolutely thrilled - I had lost just over half my body weight and was well beyond wildest dreams territory after a lifetime of obesity. But I started to regain this year. Initially I thought it was just the classic '3rd year regain' of the 10 - 20 lbs that so many people seem to experience. I asked lots of questions here and was reassured by the answers. I hadn't really drifted *that* much off the path (I thought). However, I continued to regain with no let up and was getting really worried. I eventually reached 16lbs over my lowest weight a month or so ago. Finally, I decided to go back to absolute basics and see whether that might reverse the regain. Carbs had crept in a bit (NOT A LOT, honestly) so I started every meal with protein, ate veg next, and stopped all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes etc. Just as I would have 2-3 years ago. Guess what? I have lost 9lbs of that regain in just over a month. My current diet is pretty much strict keto and not hard at all. I totally agree that the tool is there, we just have to use it and not eat around it. I'm so happy that I caught myself before I regained much more, but I can also totally see how I might have undone much more hard work. I wish you all the very very best with your new loss. I suspect you'll greet every milestone with just as much joy as you did originally.

It never ceases to amaze me how some people seem to feel completely at ease commenting freely on other people's weight (or, honestly, entitled to comment) in a way they would not about other things - e.g. to comment on other aspects of a person's physical appearance or behaviour. I suspect they give little to no thought to the effect that might have on the person they're commenting on - positive or negative. It's just something they feel entitled to say. And, yes, when it's commenting on a significant weight loss, the expectation is that we will welcome those comments because we were fat and now we're not. People seem to feel sometimes that we are churlish not to welcome these unsolicited remarks with open arms. I do think people are mostly trying to be nice and supportive and complimentary. They don't think too much further than that. I'm with you as someone who struggled with those remarks sometimes. The only consolation I can give is that it all settles down. Nobody has called me a skinny minny for years, LOL. I'm sorry you're having a rubbish time and I really hope that's behind you soon OP.

That is an absolutely amazing haul. Your shopping skills are off the Richter scale.

Do you live alone Fars? That seems so much harder than if cooking is being done for more people but it's doable with a bit of meal planning and a well-organised freezer I suspect. At 4 months I was eating pretty much everything apart from white carbs and sugar (including hidden sugars). I still eat those in very limited quantities 3 years post op because those are what made me obese. I also cook everything from scratch but I love cooking so that's not a chore. Soup I had by the gallon - all types - lasts several days and it's very freezable in one portion pots. @summerseekeris a huge soup fan and might be able to suggest some more adventurous ones but I did a lot of chunky chicken soup, hot and sour lentil, fish chowders. I liked plain greek yoghurt with a few berries for breakfast. I always had oatmeal for supper. Eggs eggs eggs are your best friends - scrambled, fried, boiled, poached. I never tire of them and they're so quick if you get hangry. My dinner was a small portion of your average family dinner without the carbs. Pasta dishes, stews, curries, burgers, tacos, sausages, fajitas, roast dinners with veg. I still eat all of these things, just more now! I hope you can find some variety, you must be fed up of the same few dishes.

Soft juicy bacon FTW!!!🤩

Looks absolutely amazing 😍

This is something I'm still pretty strict about, almost 3 years after my sleeve. I can drink pretty quickly now. I can (and do) drink right up until I eat with no problems. But after I eat I don't drink anything for at least an hour - normally much longer. When I drink my stomach seems to empty out my last meal too and that leads to getting hungry sooner and eating more than I would otherwise. I know some folks find it really hard to get enough fluids. I still find warm drinks much easier to drink in quantity than cold. I have an insulated mug of tea beside me all day at work. Flavoured water goes down quicker than plain. Similarly sparking drinks better than still (I don't have bubble issues). Otherwise revert to actually setting a timer every 15 minutes to remind you (if you can stand it)?

"Has anyone done the LRD over Christmas, just out of interest?" Again, I'm really sorry but I don't understand what this means. My first xmas post sleeve was 7 weeks in. I have plenty of experience to share of that's what you're going to need ❤️

OP so sorry but I have completely lost track of where you are! Have you had your WLS? What procedure did you have? Or are you still preparing for your surgery? Would it be possible to update your profile to reflect all of this? Glad you're put the other end of covid anyway!!!!

Sounds like a fabulous trip. Hopefully the first of many where you can get that kind of walking in! Sorry you ended up with Covid. Horrible virus. I hope you don't suffer any long term effects. Guess that's what we're all hoping for these days. Feels more and more like Russian Roulette though. 😟 I have had the opposite experience with alcohol - hits me much quicker. I have to be really careful.

Comfy clothing and a mat will get you through most yoga classes. And yes good idea to dress appropriately for the temperature. I hope you really enjoy.

Woohoo! Bet it felt amazing. It IS amazing. 🙌

Fantastic! Love the photos. I was amazed by how quickly I motored through sizes on my way down. I had set aside lots of things to wear again when I hit the right size but I missed some completely. By the time I took the out to wear they were already too small. Huge congratulations, you look fab.

Oh no Arabesque! I didn't know you were having surgery. I'm so sorry, clearly there's a lead up to this that I have completely missed. I hope you are OK, taking things really easy and coming out the other side well now. FWIW I *would* take another tonight. I think it might be better to keep ahead for a while. Feel free to berate me tomorrow when the inevitable happens...

Excellent. Thank you.

I hear you. Fellow caffeine addict here. My team allowed coffee immediately post op. It was probably the last thing I drank pre-op and the first thing post-op. I feel your pain. If your team's caffeine restriction is arbitrary/a blanket ban because it's necessary for *some* then it might be worth asking them if you can restart now. If there are specific reasons YOU can't have it then probably best to avoid. Try other hot drinks that you are permitted instead? I did have a nice thing going with peppermint and camomile tea at one point when I was struggling to reach my fluid goals with cold liquids. Also - I echo the other poster who says be careful what you put into it. A big part of the post op restrictions are intended to guide you to a better way of eating for life. If you replace sugary hot drinks with pseudo-sugary hot drinks immediately you might just retain that taste and find it easier to slip into bad habits down the line? No evidence for this, just spit-balling at this point. Anyway - I hope you can get your caffeine fix authorised soon, or that you can find other things that replace it and contribute to your weight loss.

Oh this is VERY interesting thank you for sharing @GreenTealael! I have loads of friends on these drugs who tell me that along with losing interest in food they lose interest in alcohol. And this is in Ireland, where alcohol is THE social lubricant. Does not compute. Many people even on strict diets will include a 'beer allowance', LOL. Seems there might be a place for these drugs in managing alcohol dependence post physical WLS. Watch this space?

Aw summerseeker I'm sorry you're going through this. I hope you're over the worst now. Being thinner will of course mean that the surgery would have been more straightforward. Rotten luck that they had to convert to open surgery. Look after yourself surgery twin.