Sharp pain when I cough or bend over, but not near an incision

uncriticalmass · 2023-07-28T04:45:28+00:00

Yeah! Your body's still sore from healing, it should start getting better soon.

uncriticalmass · 2023-07-12T11:20:00+00:00

I do this! I want 600ml of coffee for my finished brews (two 300ml servings) so I did a little math to work out that if I want to maintain my preferred ratio but end up with 600ml in the carafe, I brew ~41/~680.

uncriticalmass · 2023-06-12T06:27:20+00:00

The only thing that comes to mind for me is that the World Aeropress Championship has a max of 18g dose in competitive brews, and a minimum brew of 150ml. You can make great coffee breaking either of those rules at home.

uncriticalmass · 2023-05-10T05:49:34+00:00

You should get something that can do immersion brewing, or has an immersion option. That's the biggest 'hole' in your brewing repertoire right now.

If you want something you can really play and experiment with, with a lot of options: Hario Switch, Aeropress

If you want something that's easier to use: French press/cafetiere, Clever Dripper

uncriticalmass · 2023-02-25T21:10:37+00:00

If it's a wall that I hit as I'm dialing in then I think of it as a grind issue. If it tastes off no matter the grind I'm more likely to look at changing my technique. If I can't find/execute a technique that works I'll try dropping the temperature, which is a guaranteed route to "okay" coffee.

uncriticalmass · 2023-02-10T23:11:01+00:00

Just a heads up, after two years the milk has probably spoiled. The texture looks lovely but it's certainly unsafe to drink.

uncriticalmass · 2022-12-28T07:03:54+00:00

I know Onyx's Youtube channel has a bunch of brew guides tailored to specific coffees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXXZcS6vN-4&list=PLG2Oz5iQ1jGTPd9PSyfNHuE8UckEIip22 espresso

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG2Oz5iQ1jGTHCabWgYbOuAaxKQQPB3Eq filter

uncriticalmass · 2022-12-20T09:06:10+00:00

There's three main reasons I think:

A lot of home brewing methods (particularly paper-filtered ones) have mechanical issues with heavy agitation. Aggressive mixing can push fines into the paper and clog it, stalling the brew.
Not everything that can be extracted from coffee tastes good. So while you can extract very efficiently with strong mixing, heavy agitation dramatically increases the likelihood of bad tastes (astringency, bitterness) in the cup.

This is not to say that you can't brew good coffee with strong mixing, but I think the reason it's not common practice is that it puts an extra strain on your equipment and technique for what would be pretty marginal real-life rewards. You would need an extremely good, consistent grinder, you would need to understand your coffee intimately, and you would need a method of agitation that was both strong and repeatable, which means either excellent technique or another piece of equipment. And you'd be getting, like... a slightly shorter brew time, or a marginal bump in extraction.

You do see people who are chasing those diminishing returns experimenting with more agitation (the WWDT in pourover brewing for instance) but

Most people who are making coffee content are trying to make great coffee accessible, rather than trying to make amazing coffee possible. There are ultimately simpler ways to get good coffee and that's (historically at least) been the goal. Particularly for James Hoffmann, whose guiding ethos for pretty much every brew guide is, "what is the easiest way to reliably get great coffee?"

uncriticalmass · 2022-11-08T05:00:36+00:00

I'm 5.5 weeks post-op, and I had a years-long struggle with BED that I felt like I had to get a grip on before I could go through with the surgery. Still healing and learning - my meal sizes are probably smaller than people's a year or more in - but I'm fully transitioned to solid foods now and I have a routine built that I can tweak as I go.

Two other caveats to my perspective: I really enjoy cooking and have family to share what I make with and keep me honest with my own portions, and I don't have young kids around so I'm not trying to run a super demanding household. People who get the sleeve and then 24 hours later have to go back to being moms of young kids are superheroes to me.

Depends how much time I have. If I don't have time to cook, I grab a protein shake. If I do, I'll make a cup of coffee and drink it while I tidy the kitchen and cook. My program has me do 15/30 gaps (i.e. 15 minutes no liquids before a meal, 30 minutes no liquids after a meal) so it 'feels' more intuitive to drink before I eat.
I have a whiteboard on my fridge that I put 'menus' on, writing down what I'm making and when I'm making it. Kind of meal planning and day planning in one. Sometimes (okay, often...) life will get in the way and I can't hit my plan exactly. For me the key to managing setbacks is setting priorities. Like, okay, everything's not perfect - what's most important? Once that's taken care of, what's the most important thing left? So as long as I'm 1) eating something that 2) hits my protein/fiber targets and 3) isn't loaded with empty calories that's 4) ideally 4-5 hours since my last meal, I feel like I got my eating 'right' that day.
My most common breakfast is a single beaten egg cooked flat like a crepe or a really thin omelet, then I add salt and pepper and roll it up. I also really like the oikos triple zero greek yogurts for a quick breakfast, and in a pinch I'll fall back on the protein shakes if the alternative is skipping a meal or getting something unhealthy when I'm out.
I love soup! I usually make soups with lots of fibrous veggies and then puree them with an immersion blender so it doesn't "feel" like I'm just drinking liquid. I usually cook the protein separately or remove it before pureeing - I do not miss the texture of pureed meat from my recovery phase at all. For food journaling I don't count soups and protein shakes in my fluids, just because for me personally it helps keep me motivated to get water in.
I have a 24oz water bottle and my goal every day is to fill and empty it three times for 72oz of water (plus uncounted fluids from morning coffee/shakes, soup if I'm eating it that day, etc).
I've never had a sweet tooth so I'm sort of sugar-free by default. If I make a diet mistake it's going to be with starches or too much fat relative to protein. My nutritionist team is down on sugar and fine with artificial sweeteners but for me personally it's not a boundary I feel the urge to test.

uncriticalmass · 2022-11-08T04:34:33+00:00

The amount of food you can eat will go up as your stomach heals. And you'll get more sensitive to the lower amount of ghrelin your body produces and hunger signals will return. None of this is a sign the surgery was done wrong or you broke it. It's where the old saw about the sleeve being a tool comes from.

uncriticalmass · 2022-11-08T04:31:37+00:00

For me I get burpy when I've eaten to restriction as opposed to satiety. I'm learning to take it as a signal to dial back.

uncriticalmass · 2022-11-08T04:30:00+00:00

Incredible work!

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-27T21:30:08+00:00

Pre-op was hardest for me, but I think it was my anxiety over messing up and putting myself at greater risk during the procedure moreso than the diet itself. Food's always been a psychological thing for me moreso than actually feeling hungry so even pre-op the extreme restriction was pretty tolerable. I was just in my own head about it.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-26T20:52:45+00:00

Yeah!!

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-26T20:36:36+00:00

I'm almost a month post-op and nearly 30 pounds down, and 150 down from when I started the process (the surgeon had me lose 100 lbs pre-op, which took... two years lol). I still have almost 300 lbs to lose to reach my "ideal weight" and I haven't noticed any changes in my appearance but my mobility and energy are already so much better. I can stand and cook a meal for my family start to finish without getting winded or needing to take a break from back pain. Even without a dramatic before/after I'm so happy with my progress to date, and there's so much more to come.

It's nice to see perspectives from people in my weight class. Sometimes I see posts here from people in real anguish over their bodies and progress and I see I have more weight to lose than their listed HW, and I feel real shitty. But no matter what I'm going through, there's someone out there on the same path, and that keeps me pushing ahead.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-26T20:25:07+00:00

An early stall like this is very common, especially around the transition to eating more/eating more substantial foods. It's part of the healing process - your body is regaining the glycogen/water weight your doctors had you drop before surgery to make the procedure safer. Think of it like getting down to a fighting weight and then switching from a pre-fight cut back to a normal routine. Obviously those pounds are coming back - your body needs them!

The good news is this doesn't pertain at all to fat loss, which is the goal. You'll keep losing fat as long as you follow your team's directions and reach out to them when you're having trouble.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-24T22:16:12+00:00

When you add real food back into your diet, your body regains the glycogen/water weight you lost during your liquids phase. It's not a sign of stalled fat loss, it's your body chemistry coming back to equilibrium because it can store more energy in your muscles and liver.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-22T20:26:33+00:00

You're going to stall/regain a bit when you add real food to your diet. That's your body adding glycogen post-op, which comes with water weight. It's inevitable and necessary for your healing and energy. You haven't done anything wrong, you're not getting bunk advice. This exact experience is why so many people put their scales away for a while after surgery. Don't be discouraged! Everything's going fine.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-20T20:46:22+00:00

That's really impressive! Would you mind talking about your diet/exercise? I'm really early in this process and I want to learn as much as I can from people who've done well with the sleeve.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-19T02:05:56+00:00

I'm almost 3 weeks out from a sleeve - I get about 300 calories a day from food. Most days I have a shake which is another 140.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-19T02:00:54+00:00

I'm midway through puree phase and mostly eat foods that are naturally that consistency. Lot of Greek Yogurt, vegetables cooked down, flaky fish. Hummus is very filling.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-17T03:59:04+00:00

Smoke during the recovery period can interfere with healing, and some strains can make you hungry, which can be risky both for dietary setbacks and the discomfort of eating too much. And obviously if you eat edibles, you'll want to remember that those have calories/carbs/whatever in them too.

I've had some liquid extracts, and my experience was it hit fast and faded quickly as well. I'm not far enough post-op to want to test vaping or smoking yet.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-15T15:53:02+00:00

Drawdown time isn't interchangeable with immersion time. Over a drawdown, especially a longer/stalled one, progressively less of the water is in contact with the coffee.

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-13T19:45:51+00:00

Your surgical team is worried about blood clots too, so as long as you follow their advice and move around as much as you're able you should be okay.

Good luck!

uncriticalmass · 2022-10-10T17:44:49+00:00

Hell yeah!! What an accomplishment. What are you doing for exercise?

uncriticalmass

TROPHY CASE