mi75

looks really yum-o! i LOVE Med food and especially chix shawarma!

i DID tell some of my co-workers, a thing that could not be avoided due to job coverage. some were super supportive. then there were the others...(insert their snark here)... i had the sleeve which generally shows fairly fast results. now that i'm post op, i will not lie about it, but i'm not shouting from the rooftops. i too did this for ME and it is my journey. in hindsight, i wish i had not told the ones that i had. do what is right for you. good luck!

i agree with both the above. you don't want to end up in the ER for hydration or worse, tube feeding! call your surgeon first thing. it could be some silent reflux you are having. you don't necessarily feel it, but it can make you feel like you can't eat. i had it even pre-op for years. a PPI drug did the trick! also, you may want to just check with your nut. they have heard SO many stories and issues related to surgery and may have some guidance for you. best of luck!

awesome on the pop rescue. that is HUGE! i was a regular mtn dew addict and drank almost a GALLON a day until i just dropped it a couple weeks before my pre-op. it was really much less ceremonious than i thought. now it's been about 2 months for me since i had a pop and truly, no big issues at all! in response to your main question- i bought ALL the different shakes, mixes etc. i did nectar, Isopure, unjury, etc. the only one that I found i could handle in the end is Muscle Milk Lite. And not the powder, but the pre-mixed. i add some skim milk and TONS of ice. it's almost like an awesome chocolate milk! the Protein you take in NOW is vital to your healing post op. keep in mind that taste buds DO change post op too so what you like now you may not after, and vice versa. i also found that i couldn't stomach the Unjury unflavored. whey is whey, and it still had that 'taste' of whey in the food i added it to. best of luck to you through this process!

i have followed mine almost to the t. not perfectly, and I did advance flaked fish a few days before i was scheduled to, BUT i called my nut first and talked about it with her. you will find that post op the physical hunger just isn't there any more. i'm 3 wks out yesterday, and i am starting to enjoy the idea of eating again, but likely because i've been able to cook things the past few days that i can actually have. however, the physical hunger is pretty much still gone. when i was pre-op i couldn't stop thinking about when i'd be far enough post op to add my favorites back in. now that has pretty much passed. i'm still looking foward to some nacho 'innards' though! the point of the post op phases is to let your severely swollen, inflamed stomach tissue get reintroduced to food in it's various forms and not let whole foods pass through until it is completely healed. advancing your diet too quickly can put you at risk for leaks and blowing your staple line.

i agree with the others- my biggest concern for you would be causing a leak or popping your suture line. this is very possible from large amounts initially, and i agree that the 'fullness' thing didn't happen immediately. i didn't note 'full' until i went to flaked fish and for some reason, 1 tsp and BOOM it was there. almost to the point of discomfort. now, 3 wks out I am on puree/softs hybrid sort of thing and i pretty much know about 1TBSP plus 1 tsp and i'm totally FULL. but liquids, they still go down easy, quickly, and in large amounts without issue.

it's likely a stall, i agree. no big issue. our bodies have gone from total joy of gut fulfillment to these little amounts, our metabolism is learning to work with what it has available. it's just a 'pause for a station break' sort of thing while your body catches up. i'm going through it right now a bit too. hang in there and just keep doing your program!

I was similar to Miss Mac. I did Clear Liquids at the hosp, full liquids for about 14 days, then went to pureed/softs hybrid which i'm on now. moving to full diet mid week next week. i'm excited! i found that during my full liquids phase although i wasn't hungry, i was sad every time my family ate stuff that i wanted and couldn't have! i started cooking a lot more and that actually helped a lot! now that i'm eating 'real' foods- egg salad, meatballs, squash, canned fruit, I am feeling just fine about it and looking forward to moving on to other things. I think that puree would be ok post op. the real concern comes with the AMOUNT and also no pieces, which can get caught in your staple line internally.

Our grocery bill is actually about HALF of what it was! i'm embarrassed to write that! i ate out fast food or some sort of take away food EVERY day for lunch plus we ate out at least 4 nights a week for dinner. i also stopped for a belly buster pop every day and often got some sort of hot dog, egg roll, etc with that too. in addition, sadly, i could eat as much as my 6'2" hubs and sometimes MORE than him (nachos, hamburger helper, etc). Now 3 wks post op, I can make egg salad out of 4 hard boiled eggs and it lasts 3 days for me, or like last night i made some meatballs and had one for dinner, hubs had 3 plus some Pasta. Our kids are both incredibly selective eaters, one due to a medication side effect the other due to being very young, so I always keep their food stocked in the house but it is a very tiny portion of our grocery bill. i know in time my eating will become a bit more normal and include more than just one ingredient, but i anticipate that in the long term our grocery bill will remain fairly low until my kids get a little older!

My surgeon and nut both recommended a childrens chewable with Iron. I started out pre-op doing 2 Flintstones childrens a day and now i'm doing Centrum childrens chewable, 2 a day. I am going to order some Bariatric Advantage Vitamins at the end of the month. i've done a lot of asking around and they seem to get the most votes on this site. My nut also said i could just do a regular adult multi vit at around month 3.

as a rule, teaching hospitals do almost ALL types of medical care because they are, after all, teaching... i would do some serious research and find FIRST an awesome plastics guy who has practice privilages at a teaching facility, call his surgery coordinator and find out if some sort of deal can be had to go there. generally, docs who teach are still in the operating suite and involved with the case. certainly NOT a bad option to consider. it's good to see that people will consider this option.

I agree with Benefiber and TONS of Water. I drink a 20 oz bottle of water 3-4 times every day with Crystal Light and Benefiber stirred in. No issues. also move as much as you can.

i think its just a weird metabolism thing! congrats

I am a person if extremely strong faith and it would be an awesome comfort to me if other people could see/feel that through my interaction with them!

nobody said egg salad yet! i'm only 3 wks out but loving my egg salad. also i can start having VERY toasty low carb breads or crackers. i do this crab dip that is awesome and high Protein so having that for a snack occasionally. also cottage cheese, string cheese. everyone sounds like they are doing great!

i'm in the same boat. i was sleeved on 6/23. i have been eating some little spoonfuls of winter squash which is awesome, but pretty starchy. i saw my nut last week i am on a puree/softs hybrid sort of phase. i can't do puree, and many of the soft foods are doing great for me (cottage cheese, ground meat). she basically said that during this phase just concentrate on getting 'something' that will stay down. honestly i haven't had ANY probs with nausea or vomiting and feel really good since my surgery. i have chewed a couple of crackers as well, pulverizing them to mush. i am trying very hard to concentrate on Proteins but i'm sick of most of them also, especially eggs and refried Beans. i will go to ALL softs on wednesday of this week so i'm looking forward!

Centrum has a good liquid adult version that you can get right at Wal-Mart or Target. it's likely that your aversion will eventually go away and you will be able to tolerate the chewables again, but until then a liquid would do...also, at around month 2-3 post op is when you are able to swallow whole Vitamins again.

if you aren't on a gut pill- protonix, pepcid, prevacid, etc., then you may want to check with your surgeon. also, i would agree it could just be you are eating too much. i had the same thing happen when i added flaked white fish in earlier this week. i think i was just SO eager to get onto some 'food' after liquids that i overate. so far only flaked fish causing that, all other foods A-ok! going to wait another week or so and try the fish again. Sleeved 6/23

you don't HAVE to tell him WHAT you are doing, but you do have to disclose on FMLA forms that you are taking time off for 'care of my own serious medical condition'. so if you don't want to share details, you can just tell him you are needing time off for surgery, and the other poster is correct, by law they aren't supposed to be able to ask WHAT type of surgery. it's surprising though, that many people don't know that!

i was told for the first 2 wks to eat or drink just about every hour that i was awake. it was necessary too, the first few days especially when drinking was hard. now i'm on to puree and trying to have Breakfast, snack, lunch, dinner and a Protein drink before bed. waters in between. doing good.

i used progresso mushroom also, and cambells potato. also the regular bean with bacon, i added a little to my potato for that 'smokey' flavor. i used just a little of each Soup, and added skim milk to the pot. pretty good, but after eating the same thing for lunch and dinner for 8 days, i was burned out. i also did an awesome lobster bisque from a local soup place which i had many times until i hit the puree stage. funny thing, now that i'm on puree, i actually WANTED some of the bisque today!

i can have peach or blueberry at 3 wks post. however, like all things bariatric, every program is different and will depend on your surgeon.

i like "my bariatric pantry". you can get either the samples or the containers. they cost a couple dollars more on this site, but they are ALWAYS in stock and are shipped usually next day. really fast. some other sites you risk having things out of stock

i have a biopsy at EVERY EGD i've ever had- 2 a year for 10 years plus a few extras for random stuff. It has always been my impression that biopsy is looking for Barretts. if you have GERD or reflux, the lesions in your esophagus can turn to Barretts so they just want to stay on top of it. i have had multiple positive biopsies over the years for Barretts but was never lead to believe that it was ever worsening from the initial positive one. now post op, i'm hopeful my GERD will go away completely once my weight is gone and this will all be a memory!

intake of Protein is VITAL because we are intaking so little calories that our bodies will begin to breakdown our protein stores-ie MUSCLE- to provide itself with daily protein requirements. protein is vital for organ function, healing, brain function, blood production, etc...if we don't get it through what we eat/drink, we will lose muscle. remaining muscle can be built up, but burned muscle cannot be replaced. my nut has generally said that i will stay one one shake a day for at least 5-6 months until i am eating 60-80 Proteins per day. not likely, so i plan to stay on some sort of Protein Drink for a few months past that...