MyGastricSleeveLife

My guidelines had eggs later on, like week 6. I started with cottage cheese, applesauce, ricotta cheese, & refried beams when I first started puréeds. After about a week of that, I tried tuna with mayo & chewed really well. Eggs are really acidic, so you might want to stay away from them a while longer. Just take it slow & try to liquefy things as much as you can before swallowing & take your time between bites.

I haven't used them since surgery, but I love Leslie Sansone's Walk Away The Pounds DVDs.

Thanks for the input. I haven't been brave enough to try to sleep without my mask yet to see if I sleep well without it or not. I know my pulmonologist said mine was probably weight related, but I'm not supposed to actually see her again until December or January. I guess I'll just see how things go as I lose more & move forward.

http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/time-to-rejoice-and-time-to-vent.html

I love MyFitnessPal

That's so cool!! How did you know when you could get off your CPAP? Did you have to do another sleep study?

My GYN said there shouldn't be any absorption issues with the pill, but I decided to go with the Nuvaring again (have used it in the past) just because I'm more confident that I know (or hope) it's working. I was told just to use condoms the first month on the Nuvaring. My surgeon has a "contract" that says women should do everything possible to prevent pregnancy for 18 months, but it doesn't say anything about using a second form of birth control. Accidents happen no matter what you use & I don't believe they can take any action against you is you become pregnant. I think it's just to reiterate how important it is to avoid pregnancy. It was more a contract so that I said I was aware of the risks involved.

If you look in the "Fitness" section, there is an "official" MFP thread with tons of names. I'll add you. I'm mygastricsleevelife there too.

http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/week-6-weight-pictures-and-measurements.html

It doesn't really just slide through. In the sleeve, we still have our pylorus which is a little valve at the bottom of the stomach that leads into the small intestine. Some absorption still gets done in the stomach & then more in the intestines. It's just that we can hold more Fluid than denser foods and they do go through the stomach faster, but not just completely "right through" it. It's not like they're skipping the stomach completely. As far as the bougie size, there are a number of pictures floating around this forum and elsewhere on the internet that show the difference in sizes and it really does not make a lot of a difference even from the smallest to largest. Therefore, personally, I don't even consider that as far as capacity goes. I know some people have said that taller people sometimes can consume a little more because they have a longer stomach than shorter people, but I'm not sure how true that is. My surgeon told me to limit myself to no more than 4 ounces (1/2 cup) during a meal once I started on the pureed stuff. It sounds like a little bit, especially compared to the fluids, but it's completely different having 4 ounces of Beans or tuna than 4 ounces of Protein Drink or pudding or even creamy soups. Sometimes I can only have 2 ounces of the denser stuff & I'll be full for at least a few hours afterward. It really just depends on the person and the food & sometimes even changes from day to day. Everyone has different "full" signs. I learned that I start getting hot & just feeling generally "icky" as I start to fill up. Luckily, I haven't take "one bite too many" yet. Most people say they throw up if they get to that point. It's challenging, but not impossible to learn your own full signs and stop before it's too much. Just hang in there & take your time as you progress your foods.

My paperwork says no straws for 3-4 months. A lot of people take in more air with straws and also take in too much liquid at once. I had Water bottles with straws before & just bought some without a straw before surgery. One day about 3 weeks out I decided to try a straw again & it just wasn't comfortable, so I've stayed with the no-straw water bottles for now. They're kinda a pain when driving, but I've done fine with them. Some surgeons say it doesn't matter & some say never. It just depends on the person.

Give it time. I didn't feel restriction/full until I started on puréed foods. Refried beans, mashed potatoes, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, tuna. I feel very full with all of those. It's completely different than liquids. I can still have a full can of soup just fine but only 2-4 ounces of the puréed thicker stuff. You'll get full. Just don't worry about it too much right now.

I haven't found it hard at home, because I just don't have my water bottle or anything to drink near me at mealtime. However, last night we went out to eat for the first time since surgery and it seemed very odd not to have water at the table at the restaurant. It definitely takes some time to get used to.

Most of us use MyFitnessPal. Some use Lose It.

http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/first-time-at-restaurant-since-surgery.html

My dietitian said to look for either whey or soy isolate because they are the best. I think the whey is slightly better than the soy from what I've read, but both are good and what we need. It is better to have isolate than concentrate. You want to stay away from collagen protein sources.

Greek yogurt is great because of the higher Protein that's in it compared to regular yogurt. You just have to be careful with the carbs especially with kinds that have fruit in them. Grilled chicken is great too.

http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/now-i-remember-i-love-exercise.html

Honestly, if you eat things slow enough and chew well or liquify them in your mouth more before swallowing there isn't much difference in the two stages other than "full liquids" are technically still liquids. I added more water to mashed potatoes to make them more watery and used them during my full liquid stage. I'm on pureeds now and I usually have tuna with mayo, ricotta with marinara, refried black beans, and greek yogurt for my main foods. I thought that cottage cheese was considered a puree, but a friend said our surgeon told her it was a full liquid. It's so weird how different people classify things into the different stages. I definitely notice restriction and fullness with the pureeds more than I ever did with the full liquids. Just go slow and try adding one new thing a day and see how you do with it.

I take my own 2 kids and some neighbor kids to school & home. I wasn't supposed to drive as long as I was on the narcotic pain medicine & I know some doctors say to not drive for at least a week after surgery. It just depends on the doctor. I took the pain meds for 2 days after surgery during the day, but then I only did at night. I had surgery on a Monday. My husband worked from home during that week so he could take the kids to and from school, so I didn't do much that week. The Monday after surgery, when my husband went back to work & I did the driving around again was really tiring because of surgery & because I hadn't done it in a week. I would honestly see if there is any way your husband could get time off or your extended family could help or friends could help out for the first week or two. Everyone's recovery is different, but the first week is definitely the hardest & especially since you have one that isn't in school yet you might need extra help. It would be hard to be with the little one all day by yourself right after surgery!

I think it really depends on the condition of the machine. A lot of brand new treadmills & ellipticals are over $1000 depending on brand and features. Used ones can be a lot cheaper and can be just as good if they're in good condition. I'm not sure what you've looked into, but you might want to consider something like this - http://www.academy.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_10051_33820_-1?Ntt=elliptical&Ntk=All - especially if you're fairly new to an elliptical. I bought one of these a few years ago and liked it because I could also use it as a bike and sit when I got tired of standing. I was about 300 lbs at the time. I could only do a few minutes at a time with the elliptical part of it. I ended up giving it to a friend because I didn't use it enough. Now that I've had surgery & have lost some weight, I'd kind of like either a treadmill or one of these again, but haven't spent the money yet.

I've seen some of the USB ones too. I kind of worry with that or even with the Road ID subscription if EMS would really take the time to call a number or plug it into the computer before starting to help someone. I think those things are good for information after the fact, like on the way to the hospital or something, but I'm not sure it would help right away. Of course, I'm sure EMS personnel are trained to look for that and call or plug it in, but I wonder how much that would matter in an extreme critical situation. Personally I like that they can have the info they need right on hand as soon as they look at my bracelet. However, I think whatever someone uses is great as long as it's something instead of nothing. :-)

I was self-pay. I'm in Austin, TX. My surgeon quoted $14,500 for self-pay, which is for surgery, one night in the hospital, and a year of followup visits. Some of my pre-op testing went through insurance. I financed my surgery, so there was an extra fee for using financing & they paid for my blood work, so it ended up at $15,100 total. Most US doctors who do the sleeve are anywhere from $10k - $20k from what I've seen so far - with the average being around $15k.

What stage are you in now? My surgeon says we should be between 800-1000 calories a day during our "losing phase" & then 1200-1500 in maintenance depending on our activity level. I'm 5-1/2 weeks out now & I set my goal for 850 on MFP. I normally get between 650-950 depending on the day and my exercise (usually have a little more if I exercise more). I know every doctor is different though. I've seen some who say it shouldn't be more than 800 & others that say it should be 1200. The more important thing is getting in all your protein & fluids and not stressing too much over the actual calories as long as you feel okay.

I just started sessions with my personal trainer this week (I'm 5 weeks out too). He said that I shouldn't really be concerned with how many calories I'm burning, but should pay attention to the activities I'm doing and slowly & carefully work on strengthening my core again. He said I should make sure I do 45 minutes of continuous movement per day either at the gym or home (since I like swimming at home too). He is being really careful not to overwork my core since my abdominal muscles are still healing, so when I've worked out with him, he has had me do arm and leg work for the most part on the machines instead of free weights since free weights make us use more of the core muscles. Today he had me do a few things on the machines that were really working my arms, but because of the way he had me sitting it passively worked my core too, but it wasn't a major core workout. I know everyone is different, but there's no way I could do 45 minutes on the elliptical (if I was trying to get in the 45 minutes of movement that he talked about), so I think I would do a combination of treadmill, elliptical, bike & other things. I also make sure I take a Water bottle filled with a Protein drink with me to the gym and sip from it so I don't get too weak while working out. Just make sure whatever you do, you listen to your body and don't overdo it and push too much. I really wouldn't worry about how many calories you're burning right away though.