Monday Morning Weigh Ins

4 out of 7 days- that's awesome!!! Good for you Marilyn...

Hello ladies- I made REALLY bad choices this week- I mean eating stuff I ate prior to surgery bad- really scared my self... looked up the 5 day pouch test- tried it yesterday and only made it a few hours- am trying again today... we'll see... Weighed in at 129 today- which is a miracle- but I didn't exercise more than twice this week- so I'm sure I'm losing muscle cuz this has been my 3rd week of almost zilcho exercise. I'm finally finished with all the meds- no more steroids- YEAH!!! Now if my appetite would just go back to normal. I am sooo afraid of gaining my weight back. I'm only up a few pounds- but my eating scares the heck out of me. I have always been a pear shape- but when I gain weight back now (more so over Christmas) it goes straight to my stomach. Anyone else notice this? Have agood week!!! Holly

Holly, I started day one on Sunday and lasted until about 3 pm when the family decided they wanted Taco Bell. Since Taco Bell has no choices that are liquid only I ate the insides of a Burrito Supreme. I decided that I really just need to get back to the basics of not drinking with my meals and eating that small 1/4 to 1/2 cup portion and continue the exercise and drink the water!

is that all you eat 1/4 to 1/2 cup??? I couldn't survive. lol!

No that's the problem - I can eat more than I feel like I should be able too. I'm thinking of doing the cottage cheese test to see the size of my pouch. Has anyone done that?? INFO BELOW: Just about every patient asks this question on occasion. It is expected and appropriate that the stomach pouch will enlarge somewhat as the months pass after gastric bypass. Some of this enlargement is an actual increase in size, and some represents a softening (regaining of elasticity) of the pouch and its outlet. The real answer is that the FUNCTIONAL size varies with many factors such as time of day, the amount of time taken to eat, mood of the patient, other medical issues, and (most importantly) the type of food eaten. It is expected and appropriate that the pouch will handle a much smaller amount of solid food (chicken) than mushy stuff like mashed potatoes or soup. The cottage cheese test is a technique that was presented at the June 2000 meeting of the ASBS (and many times before that) by Latham Flanagan, MD (website is at The Oregon Center for Bariatric Surgery). It is meant to be a standardized, reproducible measurement of the physical size of the stomach pouch in a person who has undergone a gastric bypass procedure. Purchase a container of small curd low-fat cottage cheese. Begin the test with a full container, and perform the test in the morning before eating anything else (this will be your breakfast on that day). Eat fairly quickly until you feel full (less than five minutes). Note that the small soft curds do not require much chewing. The idea with the rapid eating is to fill the pouch before there is much time for food to flow out of it. After eating your "fill" of cottage cheese, you will be left with a partially eaten container that has empty space where cottage cheese used to be. Start with a measured amount of water (16 ounces, for example), and pour water into the container of cottage cheese until the water is level with the original top level of the cottage cheese. Voila - the amount of water poured into the container is the functional size of the pouch. If this is your first time doing the test - DON'T PANIC. You are likely to find that the "cottage cheese" size of your pouch is way bigger than your surgeon told you he/she made it at the time of surgery. Dr. Flanagan's data indicates that the average size of the mature pouch by cottage cheese test is 5.5 ounces. He has also found that sizes ranging from 3 to 9 ounces have NO IMPACT on the person's success in weight loss.

I hear ya on eating more, but my NUT said to eat no more than a cup. Does that seem like too much to you? What were you told?

Well- I've been trying for 2 days and you made it longer than I did on both days- 2pm is the longest I've gone so far- but i did feel better- if that makes any sense... I need to work on the drinking part- I know that's so bad for me too... Holly

Holly - at least you are recognizing this so early in the game ya know? I want to eat more now too, it's like it's coming back with a bang after our surgiversary. So, I totally know where you are coming from. I am going to allow myself a 5lb window though and will keep a close eye on it. Our bodies can fluctuate a few lbs depending on water retention and what time of the month it is. Oh, and you have a valid excuse, steroids are NASTY and make you gain AND make you hungry all of the time!!! Once you start exercising again and getting your water in and protein I think you will be fine!! Just keep looking at your before and after pics!!!

Thanks Janie- I have that 5 pound window too- I'm at the top of the pane!!! I lasted a little longer today on the pouch test- I made it all the way until about 2 in the afternoon... but I did feel better getting more liquids and protein in- I wonder how amazing I would feel if I actually made it for a few days!!! Yes the steroids were awful- and they made me mean. I'm looking forward to a better weigh in next week!!! Holly

Good Tuesday Morning, January Lovelies! That's right ladies...I completely forgot that yesterday was Monday so I missed weigh-ins. Ooopsies! And, I only have a few minutes today to post because I have serious studying to do for my A&P test tomorrow....yuck! Here's those numbers: Surgery/high: 251.5 Last Monday: 144.0 Today: 145.0 Gain/Loss: +1.0 Yay!!! I made it back to 145...now if I can just keep it there (more or less) without going crazy or gaining too much. I am going to try to only weigh once this week...normally it is every morning. Maybe if I just go by how my clothes fit and how I feel, that emotional screaming in my head to quit gaining will go away? Have a great week ladies...I'll try to read everyone's latest posts when I have a break later today. ~Suz