Erin18

Hey all, does anyone have any tips on the regrowth? I had my surgery 16 months again and it feels like it's taking forever to be healthy again and to grow. It looks brittle and thin with some breakage. I know I need to up my protein and water, has anyone taken anything to help it? I'm taking Collagen, but I don't think it's helping anymore. I have different lengths closest to my hairline. Part of it I believe is from the surgery and the other part I know it's from Lightening my fringe in August. Now the hormonal acne. Wow, that started in January. I've never had this bad of acne before and it's pretty painful. It'll come, stay like a week one or two will go away and come back and repeat the process. Annoying. I know the hormones change after surgery, but I wasn't expecting hormonal acne 😄

I haven't lightened my hair since August due to the fact that I ended up damaging it and I don't want to use lightened anymore until my hair is healthy again. I only use a semi permanent color which won't damage because there's no developer in it. I dont go to the salon. I have my license so I do my own hair. I know our hair is made up of protein (keratin). I know my problem is not getting that protein in. Why do I struggle with it so much? The Collagen I take has biotin in it. I just wanted to know if there was something along with protein that would help. I take my vitamins.every day. Nothing came up in blood work saying I was lacking anything. I had blood work done in february and last month. Both came back good. I did cut off a good amount of my hair back in April I think it was. It was about 2 and a half to 3 inches. I also keep my hair up in a bun cause I don't like the way it looks down lol. I like it out of my face too tho

Can someone give some helpful tips or info about ths topic?

I think mine is from being bored. It's hard when you don't have a car currently or else I'd go to the gym or somewhere to walk (my road is a busy one and have no sidewalks). I give into the noise most of the time and I feel really bad about it. I know im not really hungry, I know I don't need it, I just want it to want it. I need to stop or ill be back where I started and I fear that extremely! I'm going to try to listen more closely and ask myself those questions..."am I actually hungry?" "Am I bored?" "Why do you need it?" Give myself the 30 minutes to go do something. Allow myself to only have 3 meals a day and at least 2 snacks

Hey everyone, How are you doing one year post op?! What are your current stats. Do you have before and now photos? How much did you lose? How is your eating, fluid intake and protein intake going? I'm doing great. I lost 109 pounds. I'll attach my photo of when I decided to start this journey. My eating isn't the best. Neither is my fluid and protein intake. It's still a learning process and hopefully I'll eventually get there. I still want to lose another 30 to 50 pounds and then maintain.

Thank you 🙂

Hey, so I'm on a hunt for a good collagen supplement that won't break the bank? Right now I'm using Spring Valley Collagen and Biotin. I'd say I've been using it for two weeks so far. I feel like it's probably helping my skin, but I'm not noticing anything really with my hair which is what I want it for and because my team recommended it. Anybody using collagen?

Yeah I do, I think because it's always ready and there. I feel lazy a lot of the times. I hate cooking, but the only time I do kind of like to cook is dinner. But I did make a really yummy protein smoothie. Fairlife milk 13g protein, 17g of protein in the yogurt which of course makes it a 30 gram smoothie. But I also tried a another yogurt before I buy a big container of it and it has 25 grams of protein in it. It just sucks that I couldn't drink it all. Anyways, I also think we have this stuff (the processed foods) because it's cheaper than the healthy foods. It sucks and gotta do what we gotta do to get by. But yes I get that the money we spend on the processed foods, we could put towards healthy foods. Healthy foods don't last long which also sucks. 🤔 always can meal prep and freeze it. There's 6 people here and one who never eats what I make. So ill have to make sure that there are 5 of everything for the 5 people. Sorry just rambling

Hey all. So, probably for the past week now I've been feeling down on myself. I saw my weight go up a little and then came back down a little. I know that's normal It's making me think I gained 50 pounds when it's only like 2 to 3 pounds. I'm scared of gaining weight back, but im still making bad choices and it's making me hate myself for it. I'm not hitting my water and protein goals and I haven't since surgery.. it's hard for me for some reason.. I don't like water enhancers. They're either too sweet or just gross. My bad choices are (please don't be rude or negative, we are supposed to help each other, not make each other worse) I snack on chips, crackers, chex mix type of stuff, popcorn, some chocolate (not always, not every day and yeah most of the time it doesn't make me sick). I can drink soda with no problems and I HATE MYSELF FOR EVEN ALLOWING MYSELF TO DRINK IT. I can, most of the time, drink regular iced tea. Almost everyday I don't eat breakfast. And even if I do I find myself snacking later. Why? Is it because of the lack of protein and water? When I eat my meals, I can eat more than 4 ounces. Usually I don't eat everything on my platw/bowl, rare times I'm able to. I think some of the times I feel like im forcing myself to eat it. I drink with my dinner meal and my night time snack. Sometimes my lunch/breakfast. I know what I got to do before it gets out of hand more than it already is. I'm failing myself and before I know it, I'll be a bypass failure if I keep it up like this. I need to weigh my food out. I need to stop drinking soda. I need to stop drinking at my meals. I need to chew better. Stay away from the foods that got me this way in the first place. I need to focus of the protein and water goals. I feel like the foods I need, I don't reach for and I just grab whatever is easy. Any body meal prep? Why is it so hard to figure out what you want to prep? I feel like it would help. God I feel bad about myself.

I'm definitely planning tracking. I have a cute notebook and also a planner that I plan on using the weekly planning part to plan out the weeks dinners. I usually do eat protein first and back and forth with the veggies and whatever else I have. I feel like im not chewing well enough or slow enough anymore. I want to get back to doing that too. I would love to get all of the carbs and sugar out of the house, but im not the only one who lives here and I'm told "just because it's there, doesn't mean I need to eat it". The foods that I usually go for are now off the counter tho. So it's "out of sight, out of mind" hopefully. I posted my new stats in a post or two before this, but I had to have my lapband removed in 2013 and I got rny in february 2023. At my lowest weight ever right now. I've lost 111.5 pounds

You won't ruin everything in one night. Just stick it out eventho it's so hard to do so. But you have to, your stomach is still healing. You got this!

I dont eat the same foods everyday. Everyday is different. I get sick of foods faster. I've been trying to get foods with higher protein in them, like 15 plus grams of protein like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. Haven't been drinking much water lately which is really bad. But yeah. I do like to write down what I eat in a day, I don't like logging with an app tho. I have a note book ready that I am gonna start doing tonight or tomorrow. I dont remember if I updated my stats on here or not, but I'm going to be 11 months post rny on the 21st. And I'm down 111.5 pounds. I had lapband in 2009, gallbladder removed in 2010, lapband revision in 2013 and 2 days later, it was removed due to an abscess...they poked a hole in my stomach during the revision. Before ryn I had gained 81.4 pounds in the 9 to 10 years after lapband removal. 2015 I did weight watchers and I tracked everything. It helped a lot

Usually eating when it's not a snack? Today for example, I wasn't feeling well so I slept for awhile. I didn't eat breakfast and I didn't eat lunch. I made Tyson chicken nuggets and I fried them to make them extra crispy (bad I know, should have baked them). I had a serving plus one extra nugget with chic fil a garden herb ranch. I had some rice with butter and creo. A few sweet potato fries and a couple pieces of sliced beets. When I write it down, it sounds like a ton. I didn't finish all the rice or the beets. 2 to 3 hours later (I try to aim for 3 or 4). I had ramen soup. No problems eating that and I was able to eat it all. Gosh, I can't believe I'm able to. I had a candy cane about an hour later. Around 10:30pm tonight, I had a serving of mini marshmallows, sugar free dark chocolate pudding cup with sugar free whipped cream. One and a half Keebler Stripped cookie with a few sips of milk and a little after, a few sips of iced tea. Why am I like this? Why am I able to eat this much at once? Is my stomach stretched out? Should I ask to check my stomach? My 1 year appointment is February 21st. I really want to get back to tracking, it's definitely something that helped me stay on track. My weight was 3 ish pounds less than it is today. A few days ago it said I gained 5 pounds. So yeah, it's up and down and I know it's because of the poor eating. Does anyone use timer reminders to make sure you drink your water or to make sure you eat slowly?

I cant afford a therapist, but I have a mental health therapist if that makes sense at all. My insurance doesn't cover the therapist that helps with food behaviors, which is so strange. I feel like this is happening because I'm feeling a bit stressed out with Christmas approaching. Since it was starting to get out of hand last week. Plus my birthday is tomorrow as well, but I don't feel like im as stressed out about that as much as I am for christmas. I have things I need to do before Christmas like go to the orchard to get apples, go to the store to get a few things for christmas dinner, go to the bank, pay bills, I have a tattoo appointment, I need to meet up with someone to give them their gift, I have my birthday dinner on Friday then my friends and I are going to the movies. I then also feel like maybe I was lacking sleep because my son would sleep when he got home from school until midnight and refused to go back to bed and every few seconds would ask me a question or turn the light on. Thankfully he's on a schedule now. So, basically I'm just stress eating? I would love to not bring junk home or if it needs to be here, then I would at least love for that stuff to be out of sight because yes "out of sight out of mind". But I get "just because it's there, doesn't me you need to eat it". If it's there I'm super tempted to eat it because for one it's there and two, it's easy to eat. *sigh* yeah I come here because like a lot of people, I do struggle still. Why does food have to be the enemy when it's our friend? Maybe I should just put whatever is in my sight up in the cupboard. If I don't do it, I don't think it will. Then I'll be forced to grab and apple or a banana. I dont ever skip my vitamins. That's one thing I make sure to do. Why won't my brain do that with the protein and water? Priorities man, those are priorities! My family is my support system and my team. I also come here every now and then for support or I message people on youtube and tik tok for some support. It does help. But I feel like I need to give my family a little reminder that I need more support especially when it comes to the bad stuff to keep it out of sight. I want to find snacks that have high protein in it like beef jerky snack packs. I can't stand protein bars. I've also been really liking cracking nuts, almonds, pecans, Walnuts and Brazil nuts, like I've only really liked almonds, but found I like all of those nuts now and I stopped eating them for a week now. Want to snack on those again. I want to like coffee, but I can't stand it made at home now after surgery 🤣 I wanted to give proffee a try. I also have fairlife ready to drink protein shakes left, but they may be expired, if not, I was thinking about trying to make a smoothie with it.

Real protein like chicken, steak, turkey, pork, eggs, cheese, pepperoni, sausage, yogurt etc. I can't stomach yogurt still and I'm starting to get sick of eggs. I dont get enough protein. I probably don't even get half of what I'm supposed to be getting. Today I only got around 42 grams of protein. It's hard to eat healthy too. It sucks when all the healthy food is so expensive, so we get the junk stuff because it is cheaper and lasts a little long. I want to focus on getting protein and greens and fruits starting this month.

Write what YOU eat in a day. I'm nosy and would like to know. Also, maybe it'll give me some food ideas. I'm almost 8 months out. Getting bored of some foods. If you've had stalls, what do YOU do to break those stalls?

I had gastric bypass lol Man, fish is one thing I never liked. I didn't like tuna fish for awhile after surgery(always liked it before). A couple months ago, I started liking it again. Some things I don't like anymore are tacos/nachos (those were one of my favorites!), hot dogs, last night we made homemade subs that I usually like but I just didn't care for it this time, bread type of foods are starting to bother me now. I too can only eat about 2 slices of pizza depending on how thick the crust is. If I eat more that two, I'm asking for it lol. Sometime I can eat 2.5, that's rare. I don't like a majority of the sugar free drinks(the packets). I used to like the lipton sugar free lemon iced tea, not anymore. I can't stand making my own coffee anymore and the only coffee like drink that I really like is a small iced caramel latte from Mickey D's. Better than Starbucks strangely. I ask for 2 equal, 2 cream, whipped cream and caramel drizzle. No, it doesn't make me sick or dump. If it was a medium, I would get an upset stomach tho. Its hard making meals when you don't always have real protein. My fav protein is chicken. I've been using recipes lately and they've been good. But yeah, the salad sounds good, maybe I can make a chicken salad tomorrow for lunch. I have a frozen chicken that I got from Walmart that a bariatric patien suggested and the nutrition facts are pretty good on it and it actually tastes like chic fil a but better in my opinion lol. I saw a recipe for mcgriddle muffins. Except I'm going to use my protein pancake/waffle mix for extra protein. They sound so good. Has anyone gotten sick of yogurt or protein drinks that are already made? Lol I have and that was since a few weeks after surgery. I just bought a protein powder this month and I want to start making 2 protein smoothies a day. Why does some stuff that has sugar in it not bother me but others do? I should eliminate sugar stuff and switch to sugar free instead, but hey sometimes it's better and just need it. Is there something wrong if it doesn't make me sick? Or am I just lucky? Lol I don't like that I don't get sick if I eat something with sugar 😪 Sorry this was long

I know how that is! But you will get there!!

I actually found a protein pancake mix by aunt Jemima (can't remember what it's called now) but it tastes the closet to regular pancakes. I bought a new container of protein powder by premiere protein which has 30g of protein in it. I was thinking about putting some of that in oatmeal or cream of wheat instead of unflavored. It vanilla. Who knows, might actually taste good. How muchbof it do I put in it tho? I've been forcing myself to eat peanut butter sometimes, and yogurt still turns my stomach. I feel like im wasting food. I'll buy something, have it once and then not touch it again. Ugh

Hey all, Yes I have a thyroid problem and the doctors already know. I've been on thyroid medication since 2016. The team did blood work and said it was a little high but not enough to change my dosage. She saw my hair and she recommended taking a collagen supplement. I like the taste of the Spring Valley collagen + Biotin sugar free liquid supplement (sorry I didn't mention it was a liquid or that it was together). I'm also 7 months post op. The hair shedding has slowed down a lot at this point. I really do feel a difference in my hair. It feels softer. I've always had fine hair. It's just since I had surgery, it looks super thin on the top of my head on the left side of my part and only really can be seen if I put my hair up in a bun or pony. Makes me feel a little self conscious. But I do know it'll go back to normal eventually or at least I hope lol. I want to start using the vital proteins collagen powder. And get a new protein powder. Have one of each per day. I definitely lack protein and I know that's a huge factor. For the past few months it's been difficult deciding on what to eat with protein that isn't eggs. I have found a pancake mix with 15g of protein in it and it's actually the best protein pancake mix I've found, but I don't want pancakes every day. I get sick of things quick now since I've had the surgery.

Hey! I just scheduled my surgery date and I got to schedule it the day I was hoping! February 21st. Anyone else have a February surgery date?? Maybe we can help each other!

Hey people! 4 months and 3 days post RNY. What meal and snack ideas can you give me that are high in protein? I'm still not hitting my goals and currently thinking about drinking protein, turns my stomach. This happened in the beginning aftrr surgery as well. Any good recipes? I know there are recipes on here somewhere, but what are your top high protein foods? I need to start planning my foods ahead again. How long did everyone's hair loss last? When I had lapband in 2009, my hair loss wasn't as bad as it is this time. My hair gets SO tangled! Probably because this time my hair is lightened and colored with fashion colors. But, when did the hair loss start to ease up for you? I feel like im overeating. I feel like I could have lost a lot more weight by now. If it's not overeating then it's high calorie foods. For example, I can eat almost a who bagel with a serving of cream cheese and a 1/2 to a cup of cherries for breakfast. A lot of the times I skip lunch because I eat whatever I have at breakfast at that time. Then if I have a snack yes I'll eat a junk food item like a serving of chips or a cheesestick and then at dinner I'd have the 3 ounce of chicken, with 1/2 cup veggies and spoonful (the ones you cook with) of rice. Of course I'd have regular BBQ sauce or chic fil a sauce (a serving) and a serving of butter on my rice. Then awhile later before I get in the shower I'll have one or two of the following; a popsicle, another serving of chips, popcorn, yogurt, ice cream sandwich (yep I shouldn't be eating this. No, it hasn't made me sick and no I don't have it often), a cheesestick, etc. Or sometimes I'd eat some cereal if I know it doesn't make me feel sick. When I write it out, it doesn't look like I'm overeating, but when I track it, it comes out to be around 1200 calories. I shouldn't stress, but I need to make better choices and maybe make schedule for water intake and food intake. PLEASE, no rude/mean replies. Please be helpful. I want to succeed, and right now I feel like I'm not gonna succeed eventhough I'm not gaining, I'm still slowly losing. Thanks for your time!

I feel like im going to destroy my journey because I keep reaching for the sugary drinks too especially soda and I know im not even supposed to be drinking them. Once I saw that I can tolerate them, I allow myself to drink them. I really don't want to drink them because this is why I wanted the surgery so I can't drink them and if I did I'd get sick. But I don't get sick and my mind thinks it's okay to drink it. Ahh! I can only drink about 6 to 8 ounces of it depending on what kind it is. If it gets flat, I don't want it. I honestly believe it's the carbonation that I crave, but im not sure. I just really want to avoid it, it's soo hard. I drink water as much as I can, no where near the recommended amount tho. The drink packets are too sweet for me and I just want something tasted to drink. Maybe I'll start combining fruits in my water for something refreshing with lots of ice. I did save a few videos on tik tok that are meant for bariatric patients that I want to try. I'll have to order some of those sugar free syrups to make tastes drinks without all the sugar and maybe I'll find something 100x better than soda that I'll crave. Or at least that's what I'm hoping. I could totally marinate chicken and turkey or even steak and portion them out and freeze them. It just sucks when you live with family and if you're having something weird they all complain lol.

Just the lunch meats lol. It's just the ones already packaged, maybe that's why. I really want to get some right from. The deli to see if it's any better. But I definitely like the non leach meat meats haha. The liquid phase was hard for me, but you'll get there before you know it! 😊

I'll be 5 months on the 21st! It's flown by.i should probably avoid bread, but no one said I had to. I sometimes can eat a sandwich (just regular sandwich bread) and sometimes I find myself just picking of some of the bread. What would a week of eating look like for you? I need some ideas. I feel like I don't always have restriction anymore. I feel like I can fit in more food now before I start feeling that tight feeling or the hiccups. My weight is still moving down as well and its crazy that I'm so close to my first major weightloss goal!. I'm down about 65 pounds since surgery day. My favorite thing is that I can cross my legs and keep it there for awhile. My back, legs and ankles don't swell up much after standing for a long period of time anymore. I havent started working out yet. I had a gym membership since 2015, but no longer have a car. I feel like it's too much of a hassle to have someone bring me, so until I get another car, I'll need to find something fun to do at home. I'm losing a lot of hair too, I hope it starts to slow down soon. Some people who barely have that are so lucky! 💜💜