Indymom

I had (still have) a water bottle that measures 24 oz - I made sure to drink at least 2 a day to get at least my recommended 64 oz of fluids (including what I got from my protein drinks too). I didn't have to "time" myself or anything like that, I just made sure to keep it close and just constantly sipped. Luckily I never had much discomfort from drinking, so I was able to get it all down no problem.

It may also be excess stomach acid. Did your surgeon prescribe a PPI (Nexium, omeprazole, Prilosec, etc.)? My surgeon requires me to take a PPI for a year. Excess acid/reflux can mimic the feelings of hunger. The pressure when drinking is normal - just make sure to sip slowly. Enjoy passing that gas! You'll feel much better once it's all out of you. I can't comment on not having a BM yet because I had issues in that area (unrelated to my surgery) - but I think a lot of people have posted that they were constipated for at least a few days following surgery. Also, you may find that your BMs are quite loose in the early weeks - liquid in, liquid out.

At almost 5 months out, I'm shedding a bit more than usual but not losing it by handfuls like other people have said. I'm lucky to have a lot of hair so either way I haven't been very concerned about it - I have plenty to spare. Sorry for those of you who are having a rough time with hair loss, I'm sure it's frustrating.

I don't buy any special bariatric products. When I was still using protein powder, I used Nectar unflavored for a while and then switched to GNC brand. However, I now get all my protein from food and I buy regular vitamins/supplements.

Being able to buy pants that don't have elastic in the waistbands! WOOT!

I just looked back at my food log from when I was about that far out, and I was getting about 600 calories/day. Now, at almost 5 months out, my nutritionist recommends between 700-900 (I'm usually at the higher end of that range).

I went to a bachelorette party last night and the hostess had tons of appetizers out . . . tons of tempting, carby appetizers. I tried to make good choices so I had a lot of the buffalo chicken dip she had made - I was eating it with celery but commented at one point about how fattening it probably was, with the cream cheese, the ranch dressing, etc. She told me it was the Hungry Girl recipe with fat-free ingredients . . . I honestly would have never believed it if she hadn't told me that. It was SO delicious! I pulled the recipe up online and wanted to share it here. I don't usually do the fat-free anything (I prefer the low-fat) but I would use the fat free ingredients for this recipe because you really can't tell. I could have eaten the whole crock pot full if my sleevie would have let me! There are 2 different sets of nutritional info - one says that for 2.5 oz it's 104 cal/12 gram protein/5 grams fat/2 carbs, but the other set says for a 1/4 cup it's 68 cals/1.5 grams fat/2 carbs/10 Protein. Either way I think it's a pretty good choice! http://www.food.com/recipe/hungry-girl-buffalo-chicken-dip-413265 Ingredients 2 (10 ounce) cans chicken breasts 1 (8 ounce) packages fat free cream cheese, softened- 1/2 cup frank's redhot original cayenne pepper sauce 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese 1/4 cup fat free ranch dressing 1/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cream cheese in a medium bowl and stir until smooth. Mix in Frank's RedHot, mozzarella cheese, ranch dressing, and yogurt. Stir in chicken until thoroughly combined. Spoon mixture evenly into a deep 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until mixture is heated through. Stir well and enjoy! P.S. We love dipping carrot sticks and red bell pepper chunks into this dip, but we've also dunked baked tortilla chips into it and used it as a sandwich spread! HG Alternative! To make this dish FAST, skip the oven altogether. Prepare dip according to the directions, but in a microwave-safe dish. Then microwave uncovered on high for 5 minutes (stopping and stirring halfway through cooking), or until hot.

I'm going to jump on a soapbox for a minute. I wish that bariatric surgery programs required all patients to do a pre-op nutrition class (like the one I did) before surgery. I received a binder full of everything I needed - meal plans/phases from day one all the way up to maintenance phase; lists of preferred/approved Vitamins, supplements and Protein options; etc. It's probably worth noting that my surgery center was a bariatric center of excellence. Anyway, I agree that your liquids should be broth, SF popsicles, SF Jello, crystal light, etc. Usually Protein shakes are acceptable as liquids as well. Good luck to you! I hope you get some better guidance from your surgeon/nutritionist soon.

It doesn't sound like too much . . . 1/4 cup is 2 oz and that's what I was allowed to eat at that point post-op. Remember to not stretch out your eating too long, though - you should try to finish eating within 30 minutes. Remember too that mushies/soft foods aren't going to necessarily make you feel full, so it's important to measure what you're eating and stick to that. Your staple line is still healing and sometimes there's numbness that persists that keeps you from feeling the sensation of fullness. I never started feeling "full" until I started actual dense Proteins like chicken, tuna, etc.

I work a desk job and have lots of flexibility to work from home if needed. I had surgery on a Wednesday and went back to work the following Tuesday . . . I was fine but those first few days back were pretty exhausting, and I worked shorter days and did some work at home in the afternoons for the first full week back. I think 2 weeks is a pretty good standard to go by - especially depending on your job.

I just rocked out at Goodwill today! Because I'm trying to not spend much money I'm only buying simple, functional things I can wear to work . . . but I was so excited because all the pants I bought for work are either size 16 or 14!!! And I'm in an XL top . . . I even bought a couple L tops that are a little snug but should fit in a few weeks to a month. You know what's great about not having to buy women's sizes? NO ELASTIC WAISTBANDS!!!!!!!!

That sounds good, like a lasagna without noodles! I also found these turkey sausage bites (can't remember who makes them, maybe Old Wisconsin)? They are little sausage nuggets and were pretty good on protein. I try to keep a bag at the office for when I'm tempted to roam the office in the afternoon at about 2:30 looking for the candy dishes.

Yuck! I've never liked any of the frozen meals - even when I did Weight Watchers or other diet programs I rarely purchased their products. They always tasted a little "off" to me (lots of chemicals/preservatives in many of them). Like some others said I find it's easier to fix a large meal for my family and then spend the time to prepackage my lunch-sized portions into tupperware so I can just grab & go. The prepackaging is also great because it's so easy to track on my food log - if I know I've already measured out 3 oz of chicken or beef, I can just plug it into the program.

From a purely chemical/biological perspective, eating extremely low-carb sends your body into ketosis which is generally a pretty efficient way of burning fat quickly (thus the Atkins/South Beach philosophy). I HATE the way ketosis makes my body feel and it's never been a good dieting option for me (I've tried Atkins multiple times). I tend to stay fairly lower-carb and it's really only because once I get my Protein in and some veggies, there's just not room left for any carbs. Also, it's better to stick to complex carbs if you are going to have 'normal' carb intake - obviously you don't want to get the bulk of your carbs from white, enriched breads or foods high in sugar.

That's why I'm so happy with my choice of the sleeve. My mom was banded over a year ago and she still struggles when she eats, she sometimes gets sick, and it just doesn't seem like she's eating normally. I enjoy cooking for my family too and it's nice to have a small serving of what they are having (whether it's a potato, a small salad, or cooked veggies with my protein) - it really makes it feel like you're living a normal, "thin person's" life. That's the ultimate goal, right? To get to the point where you can eat normally and in the quantities that "normal" people should be eating. Good for you that your sleeve is tolerating all the things you like!!

I'm currently embracing my arm and thigh jiggle because like someone else said, most people aren't going to see that, but they definitely notice how good I look in my size 14 jeans (instead of the size 22 I was wearing 4 months ago!!). I don't know if I'll ever do plastics, my biggest concern is the batwings under my arms and I've heard that surgery is brutal . . . we'll have to see what I end up with when I hit goal.

1. Get back on track with the Couch to 5K program - lost a lot of progress when I was very sick, but I'm ready to get back into it. We have tons of 5K events around here so I'm going to look for a couple to register for so I have a target date/goal to work towards. 2. Get back to my militant tracking. I have sucked at tracking intake for the past 6 weeks and it's reflecting on the scale - no movement up, but no significant downward movement either. The damn chocolate covered pretzel I just had two bites of didn't help either. I'm getting this damn Christmas food out of my HOUSE!

My doc recommended 3-6 months for alcohol but prefers me to wait until goal (empty calories, loss of inhibitions which can lead to snacking and poor food choices, etc.). I am a social drinker and it's not something I will give up, so I have been drinking since about 3 months out (in moderation) and so far it hasn't impacted my weight loss. I think you're making a good decision to wait just a bit on the alcohol since you're only a few weeks out. It's definitely too early to put that kind of stress on your healing tummy. It might make this New Year's Eve tough but think about all the celebrations you'll get to enjoy in the future!

I agree that there's a good chance that it's Water weight from the sodium in the gatorade. It could be so many other factors too - close to your time of the month, general weight fluctuation, etc. I do also weigh myself every day but only "officially" count my Monday morning weight (and that's what I log on my tracker). I don't worry about slight fluctuations through the week. Any non-caffeinated, sugar-free beverage will count towards your liquids, so experiment a little with other options. If you like iced tea, buy decaf tea bags and make your own - that's one of my favorite things to drink with a little splenda and a squeeze of lemon.

Good luck to you, I'm sure it's been so difficult with these issues - I hope the testing figures out what is going on!

I've seen a lot of people post that they have difficulty with chicken because it's too dry. I found this early on, but started buying rotisserie chickens from costco (most grocery stores sell them as well) - be sure to take the fattening skin off, but the chicken is very moist and I find it really easy to eat, and chicken is an AWESOME Protein source. The best thing about it is that it will last for many meals, even if you're feeding a family. We usually have ours the first night as a "chicken dinner" with salad and some sort of side dish (like some sort of potato - if you're not a militant low-carber) - or cooked veggies. Then I pull all the good meat off the bones and use it later in the week for lunches, I make chicken salad, use it on salads, etc. The Costco chickens are only $4.99 and I find I can get at least 4-5 meals from it before I get tired of it. Another option is to slow-cook a whole small chicken in the crock pot (add lots of veggies like carrots, celery, onions for flavor) - it will be really moist because it will cook all day in its own juices, and you can use it many of the same ways as above. Feel free to add any other chicken suggestions you have!

I wasn't allowed to have raw veggies until month 3 (with the exception of peeled cucumber at month 2). I missed them so much I wanted to cry!! Now I'm 4 1/2 months out and can eat salad, though because I love it so much it's sometimes hard to not fill up on it and forgo my protein. What I usually do is use a very small amount of lettuce, my veggies and then have my protein with it (I love a salad with grilled chicken, or thinly-sliced tender steak). YUM!

I think the biggest reason our nutritionists recommend chewing thoroughly and slowly is to make sure we are eating slowly enough to get the "full" trigger before we cause discomfort. I have always been a fast eater, and truth be told probably still do eat a little too fast. I sometimes 'hit the wall' and have a little bout of discomfort after eating . . . not ever to the point where I've slimed or vomited, but certainly enough to remind me that I need to start slowing down. I'm not sure how far out you are from surgery, but if you are fully healed I don't know that you'd necessarily cause yourself any issues if you didn't chew thoroughly enough but it certainly could be uncomfortable.

That is so awesome! I did probably do a little too much "testing" of our baked goodies this year but once they were finished up, I packaged them up and gave them all away so the temptation wasn't around for long. I do find, though, that while I still enjoy some of the 'bad' foods, as long as I have good, high-Protein Snacks ready at hand, I am OK grabbing those in lieu of the carby, crunch snacks that I used to fall back on.

Great NSVs! Also sounds like you have some great, supportive friends - that's so important.