Lissa

I'd fill out a survey. I did one for another poster a couple of months ago and it was quite interesting!

Well, That's an amazing thing! At least you didn't spend a sleepless night before surgery... Good luck! Can't wait until you're on the loser's bench with us!

I can't wait for the pics!

I can't wait either, Patrick!! You should check out Paola, one of the posters here. She lost 80 pounds pre-op doing a similar liquid diet. I haven't seen her around lately, but she made some really good posts about how she lost that pre-op weight. It's great that your labs are so good!

I think you have a dairy allergy myself. Your symptoms sound like my last experience with a protein shake made with cow's milk. Call your doc in the morning, but avoid straight milk for a couple of days and see if it doesn't get better.

Before you buy anything pre-made, check out the blog at The World According to EggFace. She's got some great recipes that are WLS friendly and she gives a ton of Protein drink recipes that taste yummy without having to buy a premade something. I like the SF DaVinci syrups, and the Torani syrups are good as well.

I hope you don't have a leak either. The most common symptoms I've heard are pain, fever and throwing up bile. Webchickadee is right about the pain. Everyone that I've heard of having a leak all had a lot of pain from the get-go. If you're truly concerned, I wouldn't wait until tomorrow. I'd go tonight. Leaks can cause other infections and those infections can be deadly.

Great job!! I purposely don't log my food or worry about meeting anything but my Water goal on holidays. I've got to live with this sleeve, not diet for a time. Even if eating whatever I like on a holiday sets me back a pound or two, that's okay. I WILL get to goal. You did great today! I hope you enjoyed the time with family and friends!

I have no experience with the product you mentioned, but why not use regular foods instead? You should still be working on 70grams of Protein and 64 oz of Water daily. I'm at almost 9 months out and I still can't get in vegetables or carbs well unless I have a Protein Bar early in the day. If you've got enough room to want to fill up your tummy, try raw veggies instead, or use nuts or another dense protein. My concern would be a bezoar (google it), which is somewhat like a hairball in our stomach. If your sleeve doesn't handle that fiber product well, it may not digest properly, which could leave you in pain, or it could leave undigested fibers in your sleeve and cause other problems. If you're wanting to use this fiber to encourage bathroom movement, I'd suggest benefiber or something similar instead. I think I'd call the nutritionist and ask before using this one. BTW, It's good to "see" you!

I think it's great, too! Good job on planning ahead, but make sure you're getting in enough nutrition to keep you healthy FOR surgery. If you have underlying health problems, like diabetes, this pre-op diet may be too restrictive. I am still thrilled for you that you've decided to take this positive step for your health! Good luck!!

That's an awesome price! I assumed they'd be much more expensive as well!

I had to do something to remind myself to drink! I'd have played quarters with my water bottle if I'd thought about it! LOL

So far today, I've eaten two Pure Protein Bars and drank about 6 glasses of water, plus two cups of decaf coffee. I'm cooking chicken wings right now and will probably have some broccoli and cheese later. It's been a weird food day for me, possibly because I've been working on projects around the house.

I didn't have a salad until 3 months out. Mine now are usually heavy on the protein items (eggs, cheese, chicken) then some veggies (tomato, cucumber) and last I worry about the lettuce part. I use cottage cheese sparingly as the dressing sometimes, although I do have several different kinds of salad dressing on hand. I just don't really like to have my salad doused in dressing like I did pre-op.

This is the hardest part, but also the most important part. This preps you for surgery and recovery. The better you do on this diet, the easier it will be for you to recover afterwards and to avoid trigger foods. BTW, one of my favorite quotes is: "Do or do not, there is no try". You CAN and you WILL do this. Good luck!!

I self-paid in the US. $12,500 here in Florida with a local doctor who, IMO, is amazing! Mexico wouldn't have been an option for me at all because of pre-surgical complications, but many people have had great experiences there. My insurance doesn't touch WLS at all, so it was self-pay or nothing for me.

Sorry, Teach. I just saw this one. Mass Index and PDX Man are both long-distance runners. There's another guy who walks long distances with his dog, but I can't recall his name. He posts sporadically, but it's always something like "X months out, walked XXX miles". All of them are great resources for marathon type endeavors.

I was terrified of surgery as well, but I was more scared of the possible complications down the road IF I survived to have those complications. I watched my aunt have 20+ surgeries for complications of obesity and I decided that have ONE surgery to help cure my obesity was worth it to avoid all those bits and pieces she's had done. She's had 11 surgeries on her eyes alone to try and save her sight, plus surgeries to help her be able to use her arms (not good), and had toe amputations, almost lost her foot (spent 4 months in the hospital for that one alone). I'll take the sleeve, thanks!

You go to sleep, then you wake up. I've never dreamed while under anesthesia.

I lightly smacked my incisions when they itched. It's what I did after I had my tattoo done as well. Something about mild pain causes the itching to go away, especially in areas where you definitely don't want to scratch!

aleach, I'm glad you found a therapist that you like who is also a good bariatric support person! I don't like the one who leads our support group, but I can tolerate her for the length of the monthly meeting. I found someone else who is a better fit for me, which is what we all should do, IMO. Find the person who makes you comfortable.

Almostthere, are you already using the elliptical at home? It's definitely a learned motion, not natural, IMO. If you start using it now, you'll be ahead of the game on recovery after surgery. Make sure you're breathing deeply and not panting and it will be much easier.

Pookey, You're so right on the breathing. That's one thing the trainer at the gym told me, that I have great breathing. I exhale while I'm exerting myself (with weights) and inhale as I slowly relax the movement. I also breathe deeply, which is something I learned in high school choir. Since he said that, I've been paying more attention to how I breathe when I'm doing cardio and it seems to help me get through when things get tough during intervals on the bike. The more attention I pay to breathing deeply and not panting, the easier it seems to be to do those high resistance portions. I'm using it on the helliptical, too, and that's getting easier. I may actually try the treadmill again soon! LOL

I'm religious about waiting 30 minutes after eating before drinking. My first incident with getting sick happened because I ate pasta and bread, then took a drink right after eating. It was a shame to donate that good food back to Carrabas' parking lot!

I use my Fit Bit in combo with my fitness pal, but whatever works for you is good! I just accepted your friend request on MFP as well.