Weight loss stand-still, Swimwear shopping and the 5 Day Pouch Test

I'm still sitting at the same weight, but I think I know why.

Well, one big fat reason would be that I've pretty much ceased exercise for now. I'm almost at the end of my course and so I've been doing lots of assignments and guide books, which is occupied a lot of my free time. I'm also preparing for practical assessment which begins this week. I'm confident I'll easily pass Spa Treatments (body wraps, etc), Diathermy (using electrically-charged needles to cauterize spider veins), Body Treatments (mostly electronic body treatments... like EMS/body faradic to tone muscles, body galvanic to fight cellulite, etc) and Microdermabrasion, but am a bit worried about Hot Stone Therapy Massage and Indian Head Massage because I've got to remember the routine off by heart, and my brain isn't one that likes to remember things. So been trying to get it to remember that.

Apart from pretty much abandoning exercise for now, I've realised I can drink soft drink and am being terrible and drinking it. I really need to stop, but find it very hard to, especially as it's getting hotter and everyone keeps offering it to me. So, that's another plan - to kick that by Christmas time. I don't care if I have the occasional soft drink, but I am drinking it too often. Still only maybe twice weekly, but that's more than I need it.

Obviously, the fact that I am so close to a healthy weight doesn't help either. My body is struggling, and wanting to cling to those last remaining kilos for dear life, so I know I'm going to absolutely work my butt off to get rid of them... and I guess that right now, I'm just not up to doing that. So long as I maintain though, and not regain, I should be okay.

Anyway, despite having lost 36kg on this journey, sometimes shopping is still... well... horrible. It's not the being fat that bothers me, it's the loose skin. The sagging, loose skin. It's particularly terrible on my inner thighs. Yes, my stomach is hideous and my arms aren't nice, but I'm okay with that. My arms don't bother me too much, and my stomach is something that was destroyed the moment I became a mother thanks to a big baby and lots of stretchmarks, so I gave up the hope for a decent stomach long ago. It's hot legs that I wanted, but unfortunately, the insides of them are just so incredibly saggy that they ruin my mood. Thus, shopping for swimwear was... well... somewhat torturous.

Add to that my boobs. They have shrunk in size (they're not and kind of "empty" now too), yet because they didn't lose as much as my back did, I'm a bigger cup size. Back before I lost weight, my bra size would have been a 20E. If you chopped off my breasts as they are right now, and put them back on my old body, I'd be a 20D... so I'd still have lost 2 cup sizes... but with a much smaller back size, they're now a 12FF. Which just... well, it's just not compatible with most swimwear.

We headed to the beach a few weeks ago though, and I knew I had to find something the day before. I was so fortunate to find that Bras n Things had a sale on. I wasn't hoping to find anything in a 12FF, but I wanted something that was decent enough to squish myself into. I can't do department store swimwear... and I was thinking I'd have to end up buying internationally online from Bravissimo.

Instead, I scored some swimwear which I could sort of squish my boobs into - a 12E bikini top and a little skirted bottom to cover my saggy thighs! YAY!

Last year I actually got some swimwear that I'm sure I posted about too. This is pretty much the same deal, in reverse, and instead of a tankini it's simply a bikini that I'll wear with a tight black singlet to cover my stomach. I thought it might be fun to compare last year to this year...

Last year's swimwear....

This year's swimwear.

See? Pretty much the same (spots in reverse). I wanted a red and white style instead, but they didn't have a top I could squish into in stock, and I needed it immediately, so just went with black and white instead. I don't think I actually look that much smaller than last year, but I suppose that's maybe 10-15kg lighter between the two.

And just because I found it while adding those photos... I found another picture of swimwear I was going to originally get... and I think this one shows a greater difference between my previous size and my current one...

I also have another pic I want to share, because... well, because I love my new purchase. lol. I purchased a wig, mostly to see how I looked with lighter hair. I want to go light brown, but was unsure how it would look, and I know it's going to cost me a lot of money to get my hair from where it is now to a light brown... and I figured I'd just see how I actually looked with that colour first. Ordered a wig online, made from kanekalon which is apparently a good synthetic fibre because it doesn't give off that Barbie shine that other synthetic wigs do. It was super cheap, but I am just in love with it. I haven't worn it anywhere, and I look like an utter bimbo in it, but oneday I'll work up the nerve to go out in it.

So... I think once my hair gets longer again, I'm going light brown.

In other news, since hitting the 12 month post-op mark, I've been able to eat much more. Not in a sitting so much as... snacking. I can snack all day long... just snack in tiny little bits... I try to avoid it, but sometimes, I just do it. Old habits die hard, I suppose. The restriction is just less these days. It's still there - I still couldn't eat what a normal person could, not a chance... but I can eat way more than I could in the first few months.

A fellow sleever shared this with me - a 5 day pouch test. Apparently it can show you that you still have restriction. You basically do a 5-day restrictive eating thing, and by the end of it, your restriction somewhat reappears. A sleever friend has done it, and says it works... and it's only 5 days. After re-feeding myself for 6 weeks post-op, I think 5 days will be a simple slog, so I'm going to give it a go. The aim is to start next Monday... so Monday and Tuesday I can be on liquids, at home, to make life easier.

The 5 Day Pouch Test can be found here, for anyone interested: http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html

I'll update during/after I've done it, to let you all know my experiences with it. If it does nothing, well, it's no real loss, and as most of it is pretty much protein, it may help kickstart a little more weightloss. Who knows?

Foods I can no longer eat

I run a small sleever group on FB, and one of the questions that potential sleevers ask is what foods they'll be permanently giving up. I decided that I'd update, with a list of things I can't eat, how they make me feel, etc.

 Before I begin, PLEASE NOTE that it does vary from individual to individual. I'm simply sharing my own experiences with foods over a year after the operation. Things may change again for me, and they may be different for you... this is simply my experience.

KFC chicken - this makes me so ill. It's probably all the oil and fats involved, but every single time I attempt it (not often, but I have tried it a few times post-op, when others are eating it), I either spew, or really really want to spew. It's a no-go takeaway for me as a result.

Burgers - I can eat these, sort of, but I have to make sure they're quite a dry patty, not one full of grease and fats. Eating the meat portion on its own, or with a salad, would be great... but the actual bun-over-meat thing is something I can't manage. I don't find that bread and meat go together well for me, they make my stomach churn, but I've found that rolls in general are the issue.

Bread Rolls - Much too big for me, but even when I've attempted only a small portion, I find I feel a bit sickly. I have successfully eaten bread rolls (or portions of) before, but there's been more bad experiences with rolls than good.

Cream Sauces - I can have cream sauces, but I really have to limit the amount. Very creamy foods make me stomach churn and make me feel quite ill. I have still had, for example, caesar dressing or a little bit of cream sauce on something, but I really have to only have a very small amount or feel ill.

Hot Chips - Look, I can eat these just fine, but you fill up on about 3 of them. They're junky and not offering you any nutrition, so they're best avoided. Occasionally I'll steal a chip from someone else, but they're something I will never have much of again.

Pastry - I can maybe have a tiny nibble of pastry, but I can't handle much. If I'm faced with a pastry food, I try to eat the middle out of it (for example, the inside of a pie, or the inside of a quiche). Mostly, I just never order these foods (but sometimes, other people serve you up something with pastry... and I'd feel rude just saying "no," to it outright, so I work around the pastry).

McDonalds - I could have nuggets easily enough, but I'm not really a nuggets fan. Previously if the family had decided upon McDonalds for lunch, I would get a Grand Angus burger, take off the top of the bun, have no sauces on it, and eat about 1/2 of it that way. Now they've changed the patty and it's quite soft and oily, and there's no way I can manage it. I try to avoid McDonalds anyway, but at times when you're out and your choices are limited, I was glad I had a burger (the Angus patties used to be quite dry, rather than oily, and were a good hit of protein).

Soft Drink - I CAN have soft drink, but it's only a very recent development. I spent the first year after my surgery not having soft drink as the bloating it causes felt really uncomfortable. Now I can have it if I'm out, but I do drink it quite slowly, and it usually goes quite flat before I'm done with my glass.

Kangaroo Steaks - I can do kangaroo MINCE just fine, but the steaks sit very heavily in my belly and make me feel uncomfortable. They're so good for you, so lean and high in protein, so I'm quite disappointed in this one, but I can manage beef steaks so I just use those instead. 

Now, as you can see, it's mostly unhealthy foods that I can't eat. Being told that I could never ever eat these foods again would have made me freak out pre-op. The thing is though, it's very easy to avoid unhealthy foods if they also make you sick each time you eat them.

I try to eat healthily anyway, so the loss of the above is not a big deal, though there are times when I'd like a nice salad roll or even just a hot pie while I'm spending the day at the markets or something... and it can be quite annoying when someone makes you a meal and you find that if you eat it, you're likely to throw up or feel quite sick in the tummy... but again, it's a sacrifice you have to make if you want to lose. I expect that if I had lost my weight without the sleeve, it'd be really important to avoid all of these foods anyway to maintain my loss... and the sleeve actually does make avoiding them a lot easier.

So what can I eat? Most things. The above is really only a very small list of foods I have to avoid. I do avoid other foods too, because they offer me little in the way of protein, but I can still eat them if I want without any discomfort.

I spend a few days a week out of the house for breakfast and lunch... so this is what I'll usually eat on those days (obviously can differ from day-to-day).

I eat my breakfast on the way, so I take a squeezy yoghurt pouch. I prefer the berry one, but this is about 10g of protein.

Now, I waste stomach space on no protein for morning tea... but it's mango, how can I not? Those things win you over with their smell alone. I try to get smaller mangoes so I can eat the entire thing and not waste any, but otherwise it's really easy to find people to help you finish it. lol.

For lunch, I love these Sirena tuna and rice combos. You can find them in Woolies near the tuna in boxes. I can usually manage the entire serve or close to it, so long as I take a full half hour to get through it. That's about 18g protein.

Afternoon tea means it's time for my beloved roasted broadbeans! About 6.5g protein in a 25g packet.

Dinner will often be a piece of steak, or piece of fish, and a maybe a tablespoon of veges or salad for me. Often, that'll give me about 30g protein in the 100g meat I eat. This takes me quite a while to finish... it's usually cool by the time I'm done.

If I'm still feeling hungry later, I will try and make sure it's protein-based. Nuts are good, but I'm not a massive fan. Lately I've been having 1 piece of Helgas quino and flaxseed bread toasted, with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on it. That's a decent amount of peanut butter, but 1 tbsp of the Sanitarium one we're currently using is over 6g of protein. Add to about the 3g protein in the slice of bread, it's a decent protein hit for a snack.

I also take a range of vitamins... hair skin nails, multivitamin, Iron, Vit C and Magnesium. I mostly just take the multi, but the others are there if I feel I need them. The vitamin C is only taken to help absorb the iron. Generally I'll only add the extra in if I've been unwell, or I take the magnesium if my sleep is getting lousy (I occasionally suffer from restless legs which prevents sleep. Magnesium helps with this).

I have some benefibre on hand, but I've found that I've not really required it as I haven't suffered from constipation, but a lot of people do (especially in the early days). I've just been lucky.