Hello Everyone!!

Hi Treena! You have no idea how happy I am to see you posting here! I know you will just find the right kind of support here that you are looking for! This group is AWESOME! We *LOVE* our board here and the people on here are amazing! We are truly *blessed* to have each other here! Congrats on the weight loss my friend, you have already achieved so much and you will continue, I have no doubts after reading your post on the main board. It does take determination and like Megan said, NOBODY is perfect. You will realize this as you come to this board. The people on here are HONEST! There is no sugar coating. We write what we eat each day on here.. we are not perfect. Some of us have had some very challenging days with food.. but ya know what? It won't destroy us to have those days "once in a while" -- lets face it, we are human. We make mistakes. Where it matters is that we don't start self sabotaging ourselves and allow the pattern to keep going and going.. we get back on track.. start over.. tomorrow is always a new day! Each day we have the opportunity to make it a better day.. God blessed us with that. You hit the nail on the head when you said "I don't have a choice to go backwards, I can only go forwards." I love that.. yes you have been given an *awesome* tool and it is always there for you! No more of this yucky dieting on your own.. you have a tool that is always waiting there like a true friend to be used and worked. I have found with this tool, you are good to it, it is good to you. So lucky we are to have such a wonderful tool 100% of the time waiting to help us whenever we need it to! I am curious why you think you need a revision though? Do you feel you can eat too much? There have been many posts on here about how much we can eat.. scroll back and look for them. We are a year out now.. our stomachs aren't as small as they once were and we can handle foods that may have aggravated our tummies early on that now sit just fine. We are evolving and will keep evolving.. its is going to be more about the choices we make now.. I hate the word "diet" but we honestly do need to monitor the TYPE of food we choose to consume now that we can eat more.. or honestly what ends up happening the calories coming in vs. out will either match or we can overeat whats coming in and that will lead to a gain if we are not careful. Remember .. truly it comes to calories in vs. calories out. You are right it isn't "easy". I wish the world around us sometimes realized that more.. its about making right choices even as a postop and we are under the microscope of the world even that much more now. Anyways.. enough rambling (I tend to make long posts sorry).. A girl emailed me today and had been stalling for 2 months. I don't mind sharing what I shared with her.. remember keep it real my friend.. don't be in denial and keep being passionate about your tool.. here is what I wrote to her today. 1) How much are you eating? You could be under eating or over eating your calories? Did your doctor give you a limit to stay under? Are you logging your calories on a program like fitday.com? Also, don't be in denial, log every morsel that goes in your mouth. If you are grazing at all, stop. 2) If you are grazing (those calories add up quick!) and only eating three meals a day.. break up your calories into more "mini meals".. I eat 5 times a day.. almost every 4 hours. This way I am never hungry. 3) Keep you foods clean. Only eat lean meats, low fat dairy, nonstarchy veggies, legumes and minimal fruit (stick with fruits that don't spike your blood sugar too much - low glycemic index - like berries. Stay away from bananas, watermelon. Make fruit last priority honestly.. the only thing it gives you is vitamins.. no other real benefit other than maybe berries (I eat berries a few times a week, nothing else really). Keep red meats to a couple times a week and use the lowest fat possible. If you are doing chili or tacos, rinse the fat off after browning it. Saves so many calories! Make whole grain breads also last choices.. get rid of ALL white carbs.. no white flours, pastas, bread, rice, crackers, tortillas, potatoes, etc. If you are going to consume any of these choices make it "Brown" - remember "white aint right". I don't allow it in my diet at all! Choose whole grains! Whole grain tortillas, brown potatoes, brown rice, WASA crackers or whole grain (If you must).. fiber keeps you fuller, these things have lots of fiber. Also helps keep you regular and you do not absorb the carbohydrate calories from fiber. So subtract your fiber grams from your carbohydrate count to get your "net" carb.. this is how many carb calories you REALLY are absorbing. Plus whole grains do not spike your blood sugar near as much as white carbs so you won't be wanting more to eat in 1 hour b/c of this. 4) If you find yourself hungry between meals try the following: - Make sure you are eating dense proteins. Always eat protein first. Dense protein sits in our pouches longest and fills us nicely. Also protein does not spike our blood sugars, it leaves us satisfied and even keel for blood sugar purposes (I really believe in keeping my foods low glycemic index.. can you tell?) Get the carb monster off your back if its on you.. it only leads to you wanting to snack more. Eat lots of good for your veggies to fill up on also with good amounts of fiber.. romaine lettuce, brussel sprouts, bell peppers, etc. 5) Water loading.. it works for me. Refer to the pouch rules for dummies. Google search for it, its all over the net. I drink water up till 15 minutes before I eat then I stop. Eat then DO NOT eat for 2 hours. Then I start drinking again for the next 1.5-2 hours then stop 15 mins before I eat then repeat, repeat all day. It keeps you satisfied. I also drink hot teas for flavor or CL in between meals as well. 6) Many times we mistake thirst for hunger so make sure you aren't "thirsty" first and get all your fluids in. I probably drink over 100oz every day. 7) Chew gum if you need to something between meals, I know most surgeons don't advise this so follow what yours tells you, don't want you to get in trouble. But I chew a lot of sugarless gum in a da, maybe 3-5 pieces. Gives my mouth something to do.. or go brush your teeth, that gets the cravings to go away quickly many times. Realize if you are truly hungry or is it "head hunger". Are you hungry above or below the waist? Ask yourself this.. act appropriately. 8) Don't eat junk. There are too many good sugar substitutes out there.. like SF fudgesickles, puddings etc to carb that sweet craving. Just no reason to eat real sugar or deep fat fried foods etc.. if you are.. just saying as I see many people doing this. 9) Get moving. Don't be afraid to just move around. Exercise and just keep busy, get off your duff if you are sitting around. If you are exercising, switch it up, our bodies get used to our diets and exercise.. give it some variety! Trick it. Try also calorie cycling. If you eat 1000 a day, dip to 800 for a day or two then back up to a 1000. Keep the body guessing. Do something totally different for exercise. Do a video, or dance.. Always take stairs, park the car far away.. those things help tremendously. Make your lifestyle as active as possible. 10) Find hobbies to keep yourself busy. Makes the time move and keep your mind off the food. 11) Again you could be UNDER eating and be in starvation mode also.. if so then you need to get your calories to an appropriate level. Make an appointment to see your nutritionist or surgeon and get that figured out. You can also get your BMR tested (Basal Metabolic Rate) to see how many calories you should be consuming to lose, maintain or gain. I am getting mine tested on the 12th of december. I am still losing on my maintenance calories, I assume b/c of my active lifestyle so I need to get it figured out. Takes about 15 mins of blowing into a machine and about 65 bucks. Ask your doctor. 12) Make sure you are taking your vitamins, you body needs these in order to function properly and also 8 hours of sleep. 13) all else fails, ask your surgeon or nut to help you. Two months in my opinion, is just too long to stall. I hope this helps.. I am pretty anal and I do follow all these things. Most do not and I understand that but I didn't have surgery to do all the work for me (Not saying you are) but I really work this tool, and it does pay off. No I have never stalled for 2 months but I have stalled (In the beginning) for a month. No, I am not perfect, Treena. We all make mistakes.. its getting back on the wagon asap after it happens that makes the difference for me. Also find "treats" that you look forward to eating everyday. For me its an EAS Shake (caramel cafe) I drink no matter what. I love it! For you it may be an ounce of dark chocolate. It helps keep you on the straight and narrow also. Good luck and let me know if I can help in anyway.. *hugs*

Btw.. this girl was on a stall for 2 months.. thus me talking about "stalling" remember it is a copy and paste from an email I sent her.. Ok I am really done rambling now! ;o) Have a great day!

Thank you sooooo much Melissa. You are the best already. I can tell that I am going to like it here. God Bless You!

Oh, and just to answer your question about the food. I have since day of surgery never dumped and have been able to eat a lot of food. Never felt the full felling!!

I know for me, I try to compare to what "full" felt like preop to now and it isn't the same.. its a slight "pressure" for me but I stop with my amounts so that I don't get overly full. I have never vomited or gotten anything stuck so I am not the normal postop for sure in that way. I know if I eat too much I do feel a bit of pressure but I can also hear my pouch emptying faster.. I think rather than vomiting I can feel the food getting "pushed or squeezed" through faster.. so I really gotta watch it so I don't stretch my stoma out. This is what I do find though.. PMS week.. I have a pouch the size of china.. it feels NO restriction whatsoever.. and that does make it hard, I will not lie. So I can imagine how hard that is for you. But I do realize that if I eat my portion of food and stop.. 20 minutes later the brain gets the signal that I have eaten and I am satisfied. Do you find this? It should be this way for you also. Are you also eating a lot of "slider" foods? Like cottage cheese, pudding, yogurt, cereal? If so really stick to dense meats and try not dipping it in any sauces, eating it dry.. leave the veggies alone too (they are watery and can push your meat through quicker - although I am guilty myself of liking veggies with my meat- but eat them raw or just very slightly cooked so they don't push stuff through as much). 1 egg and 2 oz of ham steak for breakfast fills me for hours if I eat it slow enough. Make sure you are eating within 15-20 minutes. I find if I eat faster (oh and I can!) that I am still hungry or if I take too long to eat.. like 30 mins I am still hungry b/c my pouch will have started to empty already allowing me to eat more than I should. Not sure if any of this helps, this all came to mind when I read your reply to my post. Hope it helps. I would like to think there is nothing wrong with your pouch yet.. if you haven't had a ton of painful overeating episodes I doubt you have stretched it. If you never felt the full feeling and you are eating denser proteins and not too many slider foods then you could have a mechanical failure (meaning the surgery wasn't done right to begin with.. I really don't think thats it but who knows?) you have lost a good deal of weight so something there has to be intact. If in doubt, call your surgeon and a simple EGD (scope) would give you your answer. Some people swear by the cottage cheese test where you eat as much as you can (a measured amount) in less than 5 minutes. I am not so sure I agree with it as cottage cheese a slider food and would start emptying out of my pouch pretty quickly. Whatever amount u can consume is the volume your pouch can hold. But study after study that I read say it isn't about the volume of the pouch as it is more about the size of the stoma that matters b/c if its too big it will allow the food to leave the pouch quickly and leave u feeling unsatisfied. Good luck, I hope some of this at least gets you thinking of what your options are to go to the next step. *hugs*

Whhhoooo..Between your picture flicking and all of the words in the post and my ADD, it was hard for me to keep up. But I think I got it.

HI and Welcome!!!! I am so happy that you decided to come by. We were all kind of waiting and hoping. We are always excited to find a new Dec family member. This is the most wonderful and supportive group you will find on OH. We help each other through everything. Personal problems, emotional, mental, weight, and of course eating. I know when I am having a tough time I can always come here and find the support I need. We want to welcome you and offer you the same support that we have so freely given each other. I have had some pretty serious eating problems in the past where I was starving myself to death. This eating disorder was leading to me being quite ill and I was slowly killing myself out of fear of gaining weight or not losing. This forum was my support system. While I am not eating as much as most everyone else on here, I am doing a lot better. I am getting at least 6-800 cal a day, which is a huge improvement. We all have our demons and our difficult moments. Regardless of the type of difficult moments you are having please feel free to come here and talk about it with us. We do not judge or flame. You are right nothing in life is easy, but if it were easy would we truly know how blessed we are? Take care of yourself, Terisa

Hi Treena! Welcome to the Dec board, it is wonderful to have another surgery sibling here! This definitely isn't an easy path we have chosen but we are on it and together we will get through it. Hugs!!! Molly

Welcome aboard. I'll write more later when I can see. One of my cats just headbutted me in the eye, when she jumped up here on my lap. Go**** smarts. Guess I better go check the damage in the mirror. I'm the "bad" one of the group, I think. I've been misbehaving a lot since my recent personal crisis with the DH (that's DANG, not DEAR =P). But, I'm sure I'll kick myself back in to good habits here soon. *crosses fingers* That or Melissa or Molly will do it for me. You're doing great, and that was quite the little pep talk you gave yourself on your blog. Okay, eye tearing up.. logging off for the night.

Welcome aboard! I sure hope we are able to help you but please have an honest visit with your NUT, she is the one who can best help you. Yes, you can take of our advices but sitting down with a NUT will help you even better. Keep your chin up, there is light at the end of the tunnel......