I did all the bad things!

[LittleBill 2,231]

What is the 30 minute rule you broke? This is new to me

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The people in my program have been real big on no liquids 30 minutes before or after eating. The rationale is that the liquid will wash the food down into your intestine before it is digested properly, and cause dumping. This seems to be a holdover from RNY practice, and a number of people here contend this is not an issue for sleeves. I am still working on that, but I did push the limit with no negative consequences.

[LipstickLady 25,682]

@@LittleBill

I think you did great, personally. My party navigation is usually pretty similar. The only thing I would tweak was the punch. I go for red wine or a vodka/diet ginger ale. Less risky than punch for me.

[LittleBill 2,231]

@@LipstickLady I did consider a glass of wine, but Mrs LittleBill was acting as taster for me on the punch. I do agree, something bottled and not homemade is more of a known quantity. They were waving beer bottles around as well, but I figured I was pushing enough in the way of limits for one day. I did not want to barf right in the middle of everything!

[Treadmillwalker 486]

What is the 30 minute rule you broke? This is new to me

Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App

The people in my program have been real big on no liquids 30 minutes before or after eating. The rationale is that the liquid will wash the food down into your intestine before it is digested properly, and cause dumping. This seems to be a holdover from RNY practice, and a number of people here contend this is not an issue for sleeves. I am still working on that, but I did push the limit with no negative consequences.

I was taught this too and I'm banded. We are told it will help us to feel full, slow digestion and not stretch out the pouch that lapband and bypass patients have. Sleeve patients don't have a pouch.

Had lapband surgery 10/12/16

Edited December 12, 2016 by Treadmillwalker

[highfunctioningfatman 2,675]

Sounds like a nice get together. It's inspiring to hear others go out and can "indulge" without actually going off the cart completely. You were very in-line and did great!

Thank you. I had a pretty in depth discussion with the psychologist at our program about how to handle stuff like this. He is firmly of the opinion (and I agree) that making something forbidden is the best way to make it more desirable, and cutting it out completely is not always a good thing. Now, if it were an addiction problem, then yeah, a little is as bad as a lot, and can cause someone to fall off the wagon.

Going in with a plan really helped too. There were lots of old familiar smells and sights. I skipped the cookie and candy dishes completely. I didn't even go close to them. I figured I could probably get away with eating a little, but they would just get in the way of my Protein, and I am working real hard at keeping that up.

So even though I put a little humor into this, I hope the real message that comes through is that planning ahead can be very effective in not going overboard and causing physical as well as emotional problems.

@@Babbs, thank you, and that was my point. I like to use humor to get serious points across as well. As long as it isn't an addiction problem, I think it is a good idea to get used to the fact that, just as you describe, we can indulge in small ways from time to time. It is indulging all the time in every way which is bad.

What are you still doing here?? Oh well, I agree with your statements above. I guess you can stay...

[4MRB4PHOTO 3,900]

A little birthday cake, shrimp, a little alcohol, drinking less than 20-30 minutes after eating, on a rare occurence?

Shame on you Mister! You need to turn in your BariatricPal card.

In all seriousness, you did a great job. You are enjoying life post surgery, very mindfully and intelligently. Kudos to you.

From the title of the post, I would have thought this involved hookers, cocaine and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

[LittleBill 2,231]

A little birthday cake, shrimp, a little alcohol, drinking less than 20-30 minutes after eating, on a rare occurence?

Shame on you Mister! You need to turn in your BariatricPal card.

In all seriousness, you did a great job. You are enjoying life post surgery, very mindfully and intelligently. Kudos to you.

From the title of the post, I would have thought this involved hookers, cocaine and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

I don't like Jack Daniels. Haha, they say coke is bad for us post- op right? And if a hooker were to work her wiles on me, I would end up losing weight by losing a very important part of my anatomy. If it didn't shrivel up and drop off, Mrs LittleBill would probably remove it.

Now, if someone broke out the Wild Turkey... Turkey is high in Protein, dontcha know.

[KristenVSG2014 1,872]

It sounds like you handled the party great! You were mindful and conscious. When I eat something "bad", I try not to do it mindlessly or attach any emotions to it. I don't think, "I deserve this" or "I need this because _______." Instead I simply make the conscious decision to eat it and ENJOY each tiny bite.

I'm also a huge believer in the "one bite rule". If you decide to eat (or drink) something off-plan, take one bite and if it isn't worth the calories don't finish it. There have been MANY times something looked amazing and I took one bite and didn't take another because it just didn't blow my mind.

HW 290+/SW 261/GW 160/CW 159

[gustavio 439]

Well, maybe not all of them. And it was more like I bent the rules instead of trashing them and behaving like an unrestrained hedonist.

Mrs. LittleBill and I were invited to the 60th birthday party of one of our neighbors. Today was the big event. This neighbor lives in the swanky development that was built on the rest of the farmland from which our little slice of heaven was parceled off. Any of the parties back there are guaranteed to be overflowing with all sorts of food and booze. This one promised to be no different. I knew I had a challenge in front of me, so I planned out my actions ahead of time, keeping in mind the 80/20 rule advocated by the people in my program.

We started off with some good stuff. We can see their house from our back porch. It is about 250 yards away. Going straight there is out of the question though, as it involves negotiating some steep hills, and a fencerow with brambles, sticky burr bushes, an old wire fence designed to catch the unaware, and various wild animals that often don't take kindly to being disturbed. So we opted to walk the road, making the trip about 500 yards or so. It is not all that long, but any walking is good walking. I joked with Mrs. LittleBill that we could drink as much as we wanted since we weren't driving. The walk back might be longer, but the cops would not get us.

Of course, we do not drink like that. It is too far for one of us to drag the other, and besides, it is not good for our livers. But going in, I knew I needed a plan ahead of time to be successful. As soon as we entered, we were offered drinks. We both opted for the punch bowl, which was some sort of sangria concoction. This had the advantage of being weak, and in this case it was not too sugary, so that was good. I filled my glass about halfway up and proceeded to nurse it very slowly. So Bad Thing No. 1 was drinking alcohol, but I had already tried it with the blessing of my CRNP, and I knew what I could do. I merely write "bad" because it is one of the favorite things for people to wag their fingers about.

I reconnoitered the food tables to see what was there that would be relatively safe to eat. They had a big ole pot of meatballs in a very light juice that looked promising. There was also some sort of wraps that looked like mostly carbs, so they were off the list immediately. The ham and cheese sandwiches with the big fluffy rolls were out. Next to those, though, were some very tasty looking crab cakes. The breading looked to be very thin, so they went on the maybe list. In the other room there was a huge bowl of peeled shrimp and a bowl of cocktail sauce next to it. That went on the definite list.

After taking some very small sips of my drink, I combined a couple of things into Bad Thing No. 2. I violated the do not eat within 30 minutes rule to sample some of the delicacies mentioned above. I probably went with 10 minutes. The shrimp went down very well with just the smallest taste of cocktail sauce. The meatballs were mostly meat, and the juice was indeed light, with just a hint of sweetness. I let most of that drip off. The crab was excellent, and as I surmised, the breading was very light indeed. I am sure there was some filler, but it was also minimal.

Bad Thing No. 3 was a very small - and I mean minuscule - piece of birthday cake. This was the kind of party where there were about 60 people present, and one sheet cake. I simply asked for a teeny tiny piece that was not a corner. Sweet things have been something of a challenge for me since surgery. It is not that I crave them. In fact, I have not craved them at all, and I was a 2-3 pack junkie of Tastykakes every day before I started my program. Since I started this journey back in June, cake has been on the "Do not eat" list. The challenge for me since surgery is the sugar tends to upset my stomach. So I nibbled at my tiny piece very slowly, while talking with a group of neighbors. It is easy to eat slowly when you are telling stories.

We spent about four hours there, and I was able to eat stuff that wasn't quite ideal, but not off the reservation. I sipped a bit of booze, and had a tiny bit of sugar. I am sitting here at home now, with no ill effects, and pounding down some Water to get myself back to my regular Spartan practice. It was an enjoyable time, and most satisfying was being able to camouflage myself in a way that no one suspected I had an odd eating pattern or requirement.

One neighbor did notice I lost weight, and it was another guy. But he is happily married, so I don't have to worry about him hitting on me or anything. I was actually surprised he noticed. We wave at each other when he drives by, but we only come face to face about once a year. We had not seen each other up close and personal since October of '15. At the end, we made our way home in the near apocalypse snow flurries without incident. We'll see if we actually get the 1-3" they are forecasting.

I lose focus on long posts. I may have undiagnosed A.D.D but that's ok. I've managed so far in life and been above average in the "successful" department. Anyway, I must say, your posts always entertain while also getting a point across. I've never stopped reading half through like usual. You really should be writing for a living. Lol. Oh, and I think you did great at the party! You didn't go for the super big no no's even though they were right in you face. That's an accomplishment in itself

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[LipstickLady 25,682]

I'm also a huge believer in the "one bite rule". If you decide to eat (or drink) something off-plan, take one bite and if it isn't worth the calories don't finish it. There have been MANY times something looked amazing and I took one bite and didn't take another because it just didn't blow my mind.

HW 290+/SW 261/GW 160/CW 159

Yes! As a fatty, I'd finish it because it was there. Now, if I don't love it, I don't eat it unless I need it nutritionally. Cough cough broccoli.

[LittleBill 2,231]

I lose focus on long posts. I may have undiagnosed A.D.D but that's ok. I've managed so far in life and been above average in the "successful" department. Anyway, I must say, your posts always entertain while also getting a point across. I've never stopped reading half through like usual. You really should be writing for a living. Lol. Oh, and I think you did great at the party! You didn't go for the super big no no's even though they were right in you face. That's an accomplishment in itself

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Thank you, on a couple of levels. My two oldest daughters continually tease me on Facebook about my TL;DR (too long, didn't read) posts. As far as I know, they really don't read them, although they are often familiar with the content. I have some fairly serious ones I put up as well as my usual stories. I just posted a monster of a story - almost 2000 words - on the story of Mary and Joseph there.

[LittleBill 2,231]

Yes! As a fatty, I'd finish it because it was there. Now, if I don't love it, I don't eat it unless I need it nutritionally. Cough cough broccoli.

I'm pretty sure there is nothing in broccoli that I can't get in a pill of some sort. I like it raw, but cooked? Blecch!

[LipstickLady 25,682]

Yes! As a fatty, I'd finish it because it was there. Now, if I don't love it, I don't eat it unless I need it nutritionally. Cough cough broccoli.

I'm pretty sure there is nothing in broccoli that I can't get in a pill of some sort. I like it raw, but cooked? Blecch!

I like to get my nutrition from food rather than supplements, personally. Takes up space, gives me Fiber and is an awesome excuse to add cheese or butter!

[LittleBill 2,231]

I like to get my nutrition from food rather than supplements, personally. Takes up space, gives me Fiber and is an awesome excuse to add cheese or butter!

To be honest, I hate taking Vitamins. It has been a new experience for me since I started this program. But, vegetables are almost as bad, and in some cases worse. I'll look at some raw broccoli and thing of how much I like it versus how much I would prefer some Protein instead. Cooked broccoli is right up there with Brussel sprouts and asparagus. They are in the same classification as cake and Cookies now. I was pretty much a meat eater before this, so continuing on in that vein (so to speak) was not hard for me.

[LipstickLady 25,682]

I love meat and cheese. So much so that I have to get some fiber in or I'll REALLY be FOS.