MidwestGirl

Hey Thin! Thanks for the advice. I just called my dietitian because after googling the Bariatric Advantage Iron supplements, I saw that they come in three different flavors, each is a different amount/dosage, so I wasn't sure which one they suggest. But they said they sell the lemon lime flavor which is apparently 60mg in each chewable. I am going to get some on Monday & am so excited! She said that people who do the chewables usually have less Constipation too, sorry TMI. :blushing: Wow, I'm really excited about the whole not-having-nausea thing. And I like that the supplements include Vitamin C so I don't have to worry so much about eating them with the Vitamin C foods. Thank you again! :crying:

Ok, so I started my Vitamins this week, now that I'm 4 weeks out. I had been taking 4 of those chewable Bariatric Advantage vitamins a day - yuck! Here is what my pharmacist at the bariatric office gave me:

B12 500 MCG - 1x daily

Calcitrate (Calcium citrate + Vitamin D) - 2x daily, 2 pills each time

Ferrex 150 (iron) - 1x daily

And I bought the Flintstones Complete for my multivit, which I take 2x daily.

I have been taking all of these since Monday, following the rules about (preferably) taking them with meals, not taking Iron & Calcium together, not taking iron w/ dairy. I haven't yet started taking the iron with Vitamin C (which the dietitian said makes it absorb better), but I can't yet have most of the vit C rich foods. Anyway, so I'm taking it 1/2 hr after Breakfast with Water. And it's making me nauseous. :crying: I've read the threads for what some of you are taking for iron. I don't think there are any chewable iron supplements on the recommended list from my pharmacist, but I go back for my 4 week appointments next Monday & plan to ask then whether I can switch to a chewable. I was just wondering if anyone else got the nausea feeling? I can't take it any closer to my meals because of the 30 minutes rule, but I don't know what else to do! My horsepill calcium & the B-12 tablets are fine. It's just the iron that's messing me up. Any insight/advice is greatly appreciated! :blushing:

Ok all, here is my story, let me know if i'm stupid or what. . .I was sleeved on 12/29 and am totally SCARED to advance my food selections. . I've been living on cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, tuna, salmon, yogurt, eggs, (everything fat free/sugar free of course) Jello, popsicles, and only 1/2 c at any given time or 1/4 c depending on what it is and never over 550 calories. . if i do go over 550 calories i totally panick and go back to clear liquids for 48 hours. . . absolutely no inbetween snacking either . . . ????? I remember the days of old and with my new "tool" and having read the links to how some folks have gained their weight back, I will not jeopardize my weight loss success. . I'm really scared to put anything "different" into my mouth. . . bread rice noodles potatoes etc are totally taboo for me now and I'll probably never eat them again. . .that is what made me so incredibly fat in the first place. . .dumb huh? I try to tell myself that i could probably eat normally and not gain anything cause my tummy is to tiny, but my brain is totally outranking my thoughts with NO YOU DON'T DO THAT, YOU'LL GET FAT AGAIN! . . . thanks for listening!

Hi Thin! I understand you not wanting to jeopardize your weightloss, but from what I've read around here, sometimes not eating *enough* calories can also stall loss. My dietitian recommends 600-800 a day.

I think it's pretty crucial that you've figured out your trigger food, those evil carbs! I read Eggface's blog & she hasn't had bread, Pasta, etc. since her RNY surgery in 2006. I myself *WAS* an emotional eater so I've struggled to correct that issue. I don't think what you're doing is necessarily wrong, but I personally would feel deprived if I limited myself so much. I chose the sleeve because at some point, I will be able to eat normally again, just in tinier portions. I did not have surgery to limit myself to another diet. I think that if what you're doing is working for you than that is awesome & keep it up!!! And I also know we're all trying to figure out this new way of life together so keep asking questions. :blushing: Have you talked to your surgeon/dietitian/nutritionist about this? If not, they may have some advice too.

LOVING soft solids! :lol0:

Today

Breakfast: 1 fatfree saltine cracker, about 1/8 c. oatmeal (w/ water)

Lunch: 2 slices of thinly sliced chicken lunchmeat (about 1 oz.) and 1/8 c. no sugar added mandarin oranges

Afternoon: 8 oz. shake

Dinner: 1 oz. of grilled ground chicken patty in tiny pieces, and a 3/4oz. piece of Laughing Cow garlic & herb cheese

Nighttime: I'll have another 8 oz. shake.< /span>

I think this will be one of the first times I'm going to go OVER the 64 oz. minimum, so I'm pretty psyched about that!

Thanks Haley! And to be totally honest, I feel so satisfied with my mini-sized portions. It's still a strange concept to me, but I like it! :blushing:

First day on soft solids! Woot! I know no one's posted here lately but I think I'm more likely to post on here than write it down (I always tell myself I'll remember...and then I don't) and I can come back and transfer it to my food journal later!

Breakfast: 1/4 c. oatmeal w/ water

Lunch: 2 slices of thinly sliced chicken breast lunchmeat (about 1 oz)

Afternoon snack: 8 oz. Optimum whey shake w/ milk

Dinner: About 1 1/4 oz. of ground chicken made into a burger, and about 1/2 oz. of Laughing Cow cheese

Night snack: a 1/4 oz. of Laughing Cow (started Vitamins today & forgot to take them with dinner :scared0:) & later...another 8 oz. shake

Thanks for the advice, all! I did call my dietitian & she said not to worry about counting carbs at all. :blushing: She said so long as I do Protein first, the carbs shouldn't be that high. I'm thinking I'll keep track but not worry myself over it unless I hit a big stall, then I might start trying to do less carbs. Thanks again! :confused1:

That sounds really good! Have you ever frozen any leftovers of it before? I'm just wondering because while I'm at college I'm just cooking for myself so if I made it I would definitely need to freeze some. Thanks for sharing! I'm bookmarking this. :frown1:

I was up 10 pounds & I know it feels like you've somehow failed when you see those numbers (I felt the same way!) :frown1: But like Bella said, it doesn't last long!

Mmm, finding so many things on there that I want to try! The eggplant lasagna sounds yummy. & I like how the recipes already have the nutritional data. I start soft solids on Monday, so excited! :thumbup: Thinking about having http://www.lap-band-surgery-site.com/healthy-meatloaf.html next weekend. Definitely ready to move on to some more foods.

Hey Tiffy! Sorry to hear you're having to go through the GB surgery. My thoughts are with you for a quick and easy recovery! Keep us posted!

I would think the cheddar broccoli would be okay if you thin it out a little more than usual. :thumbup1:

Sugar-free pudding (made from the box), sugar-free Jello, skim milk, thinned cream-based Soups with the chunks/bits of food strained out, thinned cream of wheat. Those were all on my allowed-foods list for full liquids. I pretty much survived on the soup! I did cream of mushroom, cream of broccoli, Tomato Soup, broccoli cheese, clam chowder (just the liquid), and cream of celery. :smile:

So...I was reading the World According to Eggface, starting from the beginning because I love the blog but had never really read her story. I came across a little survey thing she did and it asked "what color are your pants?" and she said pink shorts. And then......I just realized that someday in the relatively near future I will be able to wear SHORTS. I seriously almost started crying....I'm 21 years old and haven't worn shorts (except gym shorts or pajama shorts) since I was in grade school. Literally. I know it's not that big in the larger scheme, but I've always just said to myself "I'm fat. I can't wear shorts." And someday that won't be true anymore and I'll be able to wear shorts if I damn well please. :smile: Sorry, it was just a lightbulb moment & wanted to share it with others who would understand the feeling! :smile:

I did two weeks of low-carb, high Protein pre-op. I had 3 meals a day and two Protein Shakes. I agree with deedee, I would call the office just to check. :smile:

Hi Sarah. Sorry to see that you're feeling this way. Just know we've all been there! I'm glad you posted this. I would say sure, your feelings are completely normal. However, I think it would be wrong to assume that the insecurity issues might go away with the surgery. For me personally, I'm only 3 1/2 weeks out and I feel much more attractive and more secure with myself. But I don't necessarily think everyone feels that way. It's definitely separate from the eating if that makes sense. The psychological change is much more difficult, but you will make it through it! :smile: I think that insecurities are something we all have to work through on our own because it's a head thing, not a physical thing. So the insecurity doesn't necessarily relate completely to the weightloss. I know I'm probably still gonna have bad days, but hopefully the good days will start outweighing the bad. And so far, things are much better. Good luck, lady!!!

Hi Lauren! Welcome & congrats on starting your journey! You CAN do it. You just have to stay focused & remind yourself the not-so-fun parts are brief and soooo worth it. I'm 3 1/2 weeks out and am already so glad I did this for myself. You'll find lots of information & friendly people here.

Okay, so I found Healthy recipes and Recipe Calculator From SparkRecipes.com. They have loads of recipes as well as a recipe calculator. :thumbup1: The recipe I posted above looks pretty healthy....and yummy.

I'm embarrassed because this is such a pathetic NSV, but I figured if anyone would understand, it would be someone on this forum.

I went to my family doctor yesterday for weigh-in and blood pressure check, and the doctor put the cuff on me. I immediately told him he put the regular cuff on by mistake, not the "fat" cuff he always has to use. But he said - I think this one fits now - and it did!

Still a long long way to go, but this felt kind of good.

That is awesome! No need to be embarrassed AT ALL! Congrats on the NSV! Nice to have reassurance from others that you are indeed doing spectacular. :thumbup1:

My first two NSVs this week! :w00t:

1) weighed in today at 247.2, which at 5'6, gives me a BMI of 39.9! I know that's still obese but it made me feel SOOO good. That means I've lost 5 BMI points since July! Thought it was pretty stinkin' cool!

2) I've been wearing the same one pair of size 24 stretch jeans since June....this week I tried on a pair of my old size 22s (which DON'T stretch), not expecting them to fit, but guess what? THEY FIT!!! :lol0:

I am so excited. I'm only 3 1/2 weeks out and already I can see and feel my sleeve working for me. I've been working out (and actually liking it, SHH don't tell anyone! :crying:) and while I don't have the pickup in energy yet, I know that I'm on the right track to achieving my goals. Thank you all so much for your constant encouragement & advice. :eek:

Hi, hope I'm not reposting this. I searched the forum but didn't find anything. So, here is my dilemma: I LOVE LOVE LOVE the World According to Eggface. (I know others here have mentioned her as well, but if you haven't checked her out, you definitely should! recipes that are WLS friendly and I can't wait to try some! I haven't made any yet as I want to make sure I'm far enough along before I try anything with a lot of ingredients. :crying: However, she does not include nutrition data for her recipes since, depending on how you make the recipe (substitutions, etc.), the data would obviously differ. So, does anyone know of a website where you can input an entire RECIPE (rather than looking up all the individual ingredients) to get the nutritional data? Again, sorry if I reposted this, but this would be immensely helpful!

Also, on a sidenote. Thinking of making this: theworldaccordingtoeggface: Got Crabs? for Superbowl Sunday. I will be 5 weeks along by then, so on more normal foods, but wanted to see what others thought! Thanks in advance, fellow sleevies! :eek:

Thanks ladies! Both recipes look GREAT! I think the fiance and I are going to do some testruns this weekend to see which recipe I should enter in the cookoff...and then he'll have to eat all the chili :eek:. I will let you know how it goes. SO excited. Lol. :crying: Thanks again!

The big thing I noticed with me after surgery (and I've heard others say this too) is that everything tastes sweeter. I notice the sweetness in food & shakes much more than before. I almost got sick on a shake the day after (one of my samples) because it was too darn sweet. People have also said if you didn't like it before you probably won't like it after. But I just stick to my one Protein Shake flavor. Glad you found something you like! :crying:

Do you like a soupy chili (more runny), or do you like a thicker consistency chili? I like somewhere in between, if that's not too vague! :wink0:

Do you want to use beef, chicken, beef and pork together or venison? Anything but pork, really. I'll have to check and see whether or not I can get some venison from my brother - I should have some coming, but I wouldn't be opposed to a nice chicken chili.

Do you like tomatoes (chunks or diced) and possibly other aromatics like onions/celery/chiles? I like all of the above! I don't know that I've ever had celery in chili, but I love onions and I tend to prefer spicy over mild.

How much are you going to have to make? I'm thinking maybe 25-30 small portions, but if there is extra I could definitely freeze some! :wink0:

Do you want to include a bean (kidney, black, pinto or a ranch style barbque bean)? I would like some kind of bean, probably kidney, black, or pinto.

Do you want to go in with spicy, medium or mild? Spicy or medium I think.

Do you like or want to have a "sweet" chili (I've had chili from up North, and found it was sweet (usually from brown sugar), I'm from Texas so we like it hearty, thick and medium spiciness? I'm not sure I've had sweet chili...sounds good but maybe not for this one!

Will you be preparing it on the stovetop (big stock pot), or using a slow cooker/crockpot? I'd probably do stovetop because I haven't quite gotten the hang of my crockpot. I've used it once in a year and a half...made overnight jambalaya and woke up to a charred mess! :confused1:

Thanks so much for your help, Tiffy! :blushing:

Hello all! So I'm only 3 1/2 weeks out right now, but one of the organizations I'm involved with here at college is planning to sponsor a chili cookoff in the next couple weeks! I should be 5- 5 1/2 weeks out by that point, which I think means that I could have small portions of some chili so long as I chew really well. Anyway, I would like to enter my own recipe...but I don't have a recipe!!! If anyone would be willing to let me enter your recipe in the cookoff, please leave it here! :blushing: I was wading through recipes on AllRecipes, but was wondering what you have all come up with that is early post-op friendly! Hope to hear from ya'll soon! :confused1:

My mouth is watering. Can't wait to try this! (I have a couple weeks to go). :confused1: