Mr-Smith

Once i was cleared for full liquids, I would take Amy's organic Soups, blend them in the ninja, thin with milk or Water, strain, heat and add unflavored protien to the mix. Don't overheat, the protien doesn't like that. I then dropped the thinning, then eventually the straining, then moved on to softer foods and puree. This created wonderful variety and flavor to what could be a very bland diet at the start.

I was given the card, never used it. Our resturant habits changed a lot once I was sleeved. We tend to eat "family style" now and only order what we think we will eat as a family, not on an individual basis. I have two young kids and my wife and all of us can easily eat from two dinner plates. Depending on the resturant, we can get a way with one appitizer plate and a dinner. We never go to buffet's anymore, overpriced, crappy canned/mass produced food warmed up in a microwave.

I would love a few MFP buddies: Life got extrodinarly busy and my program got put on pause for about a year. I Need to drop about 30 to 35 pounds to hit goal, will assess actual landing point as I get closer. I'm logging daily again and welcome any feedback/motivation I can get. MFP ID is Mr__Smith That's with TWO underscores, not justone.

I order a tall veranda blend with room for cream, put skim in it and two splenda and I'm good to go. Something about asking for a tall blonde with room for cream is very satisfying... Just saying. Mark

There is a stigma some associate with WLS and you never really know how others will respond.

8 days in and my antibiotics have not kicked my infection yet. It's not surgery related infection. I'm 6 months post op and not in my tummy/incision. Curious if anyone has read or heard any stories where antibiotics aren't as effective post op? I'm suspicious the dose/type of antibiotic is not correct but thought I would ask. Thanks for reading/responding.

I swim, it's easier on the joints, builds strength in arms, legs and core and is awsome cardio. I'm 6 months post op and swimming about 2.5 miles a week total. If you go this route, I would recommend swim leasons. I have been swimming for years but the 30 bucks I spent on a swim for fitness classs was the best money I have spent in years. the coach helped me tune up my stroke and gave me a bunch of different ways to mix up the workouts so I'm not just swimming laps back and forth.

My doc/nut told me the purpose of the pre-op was to shrink the liver to get it out of the way during surgery. To do that, the pre-op diet is suppose to put your system in to ketosis. this means no carbs. For me, the first two days were the worst but I exercised (swimming laps) to put my system in to ketosis faster, once in ketosis, the hunger, fatigue and head ache went away. head hunger stuck around. Oh, drink lots of Water too. the pre-op is one of the worst part's of the entire experince but hang in there.

Wow, excellent thread. I'm a bit behind you guys on progress but swimming, I'm up to 2.5 to 3 miles a week and just started the C25K program on the opposite days. It's good to know about the "bonking" risk and ways to mitigate. Thanks so much!

pizza is not the issue, advancing your diet too fast is. Just sayin

Ask, but I bet your surgon tested for leaks during surgery. The rate of leaks found by drinking the contrast a day or two after surgery seems small and I have never heard of anyone on the boards having a leak discoverd that way. I think the practice originated because of Medical Tourism. You need to find the leak before you leave so the Mexican docs do the test before they discharge you. If you are under the care of a local surgon and three days after surgery have symptoms of a leak, you can go straight back to the table, get opened up and fixed. If that leak had been found by drinking the contrast, it's the same result you would go back to the table. Just ask your doctor, follow his diet recommendations and you will be fine. Remember, the test does not prevent the leak, it only finds the leak.

First, you should be on an acid blocker the first month out. That will quiet the stomach and help it heal faster and take away the reflux issues and phantom hunger signals. Everyone advances at different rates, i was able to get all my liquid and protien in within three days of surgery. Play around with tempature, some folks like colder some like room temp others found warmer made a difference. I did real well with the clear liquid protiens like unjury and proti-diet in the first week. After that I did a lot of organic soups pureed, strained, thined with milk or tomoatoe Soup and added whey protien to get the nutritian up.

A good basic weight training program is outlined on the "body for life" site. I'm not a proponant of the products but the program is a good approach that alternates days and major muscle groups accross a two week schedule. With a modest investment in dumbells and a simple bench, you can accomplish a lot.

The downtime is what it is, everyone responds differnetly to the surgery. You can't really rush it after the fact. The best you can do is go in to the surgery as healthy as you can. Well hyrdrated, lots of exercise and a succsful pre-op diet, compliance with CPAP if you are on it. Post-op, you need to stay hydrated and get your protiens in (clear liquid protiens like unjury and proti-diet worked well for me). If you don't do those two things, your recovery will suffer. If you have a job that requires lifting, you will need longer time to recover due to the incisions. For me, I had to take six days off work (had planned for five) and if I could have taken 2 weeks I would have. At four weeks after surgery, I still needed/wanted a nap at 4PM everyday. Luckly, I work out of the house and could get away with napping . The surgery and diet restrictions are a huge impact on your system and many are able to recover enough to go back in a week but you should plan for 2 weeks if you can get it. You won't regret the time off to recover, it is a huge adjustment.

Hang in there, I'm a slow loser. Everytime I platue, I have to make adjustments to either diet and/or exercise to "shock" the body to new "gains". Kinda P-90/x ish with muscle confussion. It seems for me, that after 2 or 3 weeks of a set diet/exercise routine, things stop and I need to change it up, not really fixing anything just changing it around in type of exercise and what I'm eating (it's a variety thing). It's a little trial and error but the most recent change for me was to bump up my endurance sets in the pool so I'm swimming about 3 miles a week and incorporating more veggies in my diet. I have accepted the fact I will need to do this to keep a consistent weight lose month over month. Also, about once a month I get my body/fat analyzed to see if the scale isn't moving because I'm redistributing the weight to muscle. Most gymns or trainers should be able to do this for you. You are not doing anything wrong, try and find other ways to measure progress and look for variety in your fitness program. Talk to your NUt about your diet and look for ways to stay on plan and mix that up some.

the pre-op diet is to shrink you liver and get it out of the way of the surgery. To do that, the diet is suppose to put you in Ketosis. Once in Ketosis the hunger and headaches and energy issues go away or get managable. My suggestion, is to avoid carbs and exercise to get to ketosis as soon as possible.

I'm sorry you are going thru this. I think the others are spot on, you arn't getting enough protien and fluids. Some suggestions on the protien. Stick with clear protien drinks like proti or unjury. Also, try organic Soups with whey power added to get a way from the protien/shake taste. Pay attention to Fluid tempature, some tummies react to cold, others to warm. Time of day, first thing in the morning was when I had the worst tummy issues. I was tired the first 8 weeks post-op. I'm now a little over four months and have more energy then in years. Last weekend I swam 3/4 a mile AND took the kids sleeding and ran up and down the hill for an hour or so in the cold. It did take me a while to where I could state I love my sleeve but I'm there.

You should take your doctors advice, it is why you hired him isn't it? Eating out is not sustainable, you really need to come to terms with preparing and eating your own food. In a pinch, you can get by with making good selections at a resturant but as a staple, your diet will be limited, high in sodium and processed foods and overall not very good for you. With the limited range of choices, you will eventually get bored and stray off plan and all your hardwork wasted. Some quick and easy meals to consider, protien bars (One a day), one pot meals you can freeze and eat off of for a week or two, starkist sandwich-ready packets. I'm not a fasting carbs so I have some other options available like a small bowl of high protien Cereal with skim milk. With a little creativity it's pretty easy to cover the bulk of the meals in a day wihtout a lot of fuss. Oh, my wife does not make any of my meals, I have to plan, shop and make all my meals myself. If I can do it, so can you.

Post op it's easier then you think. The hunger is gone, you need a reminder to eat meals and the restriction is real and it is tight. The other biofeedback is your food budget is so small that if you don't eat as prescribed, you will feel terrible. Tonight for dinner I had 3 oz's tuna and a third of a banana. It was all I could eat and I have NO desire to eat any more. As far as the food funerals go. I think we all do that to some degree or another. For me, I wanted to be sure I went one last time to my favorite restaurants and have that special meal. I generally wasn't binging and split my meals with my daughter. Just enjoyed the tasty food one last time. The good news is I have not had any food issues after surgery and once I am past the phased diet's I should be able to enjoy the same restaurants and meals but at reduced portion size.

After reading up on the sleeve for several months I have been listing the potential side effects. Is this list complete or do I need to be concerned about anything else? Weight Loss Too much weight Loss Feeling cold all the time Chronic GERD Strictures Leaks Calcium deficiencies Iron deficiencies Can't take slow release drugs (Opinions Vary) No Aspirin (Opinions vary but anecdotal, it's not an issue) Issues from Surgery Twisting up the sleeve (There is a technical term for this but I don't recall it) Possible dumping Food tolerance issues Nutritional deficiencies Hair loss that grows back gall bladder issues Chronic fatigue until fully recovered During weight loss, elevated Estrogen levels. For women a higher risk of pregnancy, for men, well we get grumpy Lactose Intolerance B12 deficiency (must supplement) A new wardrobe (no small expense) Yes, I know being obese comes with risks as well. Most of this is manageable but the GERD and feeling cold concern me.

My mom cared so much she over did it with trying to "encourage" me, her encouragement crossed the line to criticism more then once. There was no bad intent in her heart, just poorly executed comments. It wasn't until I was a grown up that I fully realized how much she cared and how difficult it was for her to see me suffer and how hard it was for her to provide constructive support. She died a few years back due to her own co morbitities. One of the reasons I moved forward with the surgery.

I'm two weeks post op and I am having a very similar experience as you did. Limited pain and no isues getting my fluid and proteins in. I've been back to work almost a week already and walk 1 to 2 miles a day depending on schedule and weather. My incisions are nearly healed up and I am so ready for Phase III diet. Weights coming off as well.

I had to quite the habit and been cafine free for 9 months now. I don't miss it. According to my surgeon, cafine is a gastric irritant and at least during the phase where you are healing up he would prefer you not have it to minimize risk.