BrickHouse

Iwas told at my first app't at Dr Trivedi's office that I needed a nutrition consult to lose 10lb and then they would schedule my surgery date. I was given a list of 2 names, the first had a 3 month waiting list, the other was a physician, Dr. Lemanski. I saw to Dr Lemanski twice. I lost the required 10lb but he refused to give me clearance. He never once discussed nutrition, instead ordered a ton of blood work to check on my liver function. I explained to his office AND to Dr Trivedi's office staff that I had a primary care doctor and a gastroenterologist who were both monitoring my LFT's and both agreed that WLS would get help my liver return to normal. I finally "fired" Dr Lemanski and have an appointment with a CDN for a real nutrition consult.
My advice - I really like Dr Trivedi but stay away from Dr Lemanski if you want a real nutrition consult. You are free to go to ANY Registered Dietician, not just the two on the list they give you (something I only learned just last week despite making numerous phone calls complaining about my experience with Dr Lemanski.) Also, keep on the staff at Dr Trivedi's office. Penny, who posts here and has had surgery is your best bet for a contact there. She is great!

Kate M here! Still waiting for a surgery date with Dr Trivedi at St Peters. I am Seeing a new NUT tomorrow ( my first was a disaster). My first telephone contact with her was very encouraging. She will even go grocery shopping with you. She's in the SEFCU building on Patroon Creek Blvd across from the SUNY entrance.

East greenbush in the house. Sleeved 8/5 at Ellis.

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Hi. Sleeved 7/29 at St. Peter's. Still on my liquid two week diet. Still sore, but walking and drinking Water a lot.

A lot of us have slightly different habits during the summer compared to the rest of the year. We often have a little bit more time in the summer, and the extra time, sunny days, and long evenings give us the chance to do things we can't always do year-round. Some of your healthy summer habits might be swimming, walking around town with your friends, or playing with your children at the park.
Unfortunately, not all summer traditions are healthy. Before weight loss surgery, you may have depended on frozen treats to help beat the heat and have fun. Ice cream cones, bars, and sandwiches, popsicles, smoothies, and slushies are cold choices, but they do not belong on your weight loss surgery diet.
They can be high in calories, so your weight loss can stall.
They can be high in sugar, so you can get dumping syndrome, especially if you are a gastric bypass patient.
They can be low in nutrients, so you are less likely to meet your daily needs.
They can be high in saturated fat, which is bad for your heart.
They’re low in Protein.< br>
So what can you do when you want something cold and refreshing but don’t want to throw your weight loss off track? There are plenty of options for cold summer treats to buy or make while sticking to your diet.


Avoid the Bad Choices
There’s no doubt that ice cream tastes good, so you may need a little extra help gathering the willpower to resist it. The following scary statistics should be enough to make you think twice before indulging.
An ice cream sandwich can have 360 calories and 10 grams of saturated fat (more than half the maximum you should have in a day).
A cup of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream (half of a pint) has 600 calories and 20 grams of saturated fat. That’s like having two meals and only getting 8 grams of protein!
A brownie sundae from Baskin Robbins has 920 calories and 97 grams of sugars. Eat one of those, and you’ll be near your calorie limit for the day.
A fruit smoothie can seem innocent, but an original Mega Mango smoothie from Jamba juice has 340 calories and 78 grams of sugars. You’re likely to feel pretty sick from all that sugar and hardly any protein.

The best way to arm yourself against these diet disasters is to have your own alternatives at the ready.
Try These Healthy Options
Fruit is high in Fiber and low in calories, and is a great choice for frozen Snacks. Add protein to your treat by using Greek yogurt or a small portion of nuts or peanuts. Try these ideas, or create your own variations.
Roll a banana in chopped peanuts and freeze it. Mix the peanuts with cinnamon before rolling, if you want.
Freeze melon or watermelon balls or grapes.
Make raspberry lemonade pops by blending raspberries – or your choice of berries – and light lemonade. Pour into paper cups, stick popsicle sticks in the centers, and freeze them.
Blend mango, peach, or another soft fruit with Greek yogurt, keeping it chunky. Freeze.
Dip strawberries, peach slices, or cherries into light Greek vanilla yogurt. Put the fruit on wax paper on a cookie sheet, and freeze your treats.

Check the Ice Cream Aisle
The ice cream aisle has some options that are good for occasional treats.
Sugar-free popsicles have 15 calories each.
No sugar added fudge pops have 40 calories each.
A small no sugar added ice cream sandwich has 100 calories.
A half-cup of no sugar added vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream has 90 calories.

Don't Get Tricked!
Never assume anything is healthy or low-calorie. Always read the nutrition facts panel and list of ingredients. Then make your own decision about whether the food belongs on your weight loss surgery diet.
Low-fat and fat-free products can be high in sugar and calories.
“Light” can mean light in color, light in calories, or light in something else.
Low-carb and low-sugar products can be high-calorie and high-fat.
Fat-free toppings, such as caramel or chocolate topping, can be high in sugar and contain 50 calories per tablespoon (that’s not a big serving size!).

Frozen Treats and Your Weight Loss Surgery Diet Rules: Solids and Liquids
After weight loss surgery, you are supposed to drink liquids separately from when you eat solid foods. This is true whether you have the gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, lap-band, sleeve plication, or another kind of surgery. The reason is that solid foods stay in your stomach, pouch, or sleeve for a while, while liquids flow through more quickly and leave your stomach empty.
When you eat ice cream or ice pops, they melt in your stomach, sleeve, or pouch. This means that you do not stay full for as long as you would if you ate the same number of calories in solid foods. This does not mean that you can never have frozen treats, but it does mean that you should be aware of the extra calories you are taking in when you eat them. If possible, eat them with solid foods, such as fruit or nuts, to stay full.
Frozen Treats and Your Weight Loss Surgery Diet Rules: Portion Control
Another weight loss surgery diet rule is to use Portion Control. An innocent 90-calorie half-cup serving of non-fat frozen yogurt becomes a 360-calorie mistake if you sit down with the pint or fill up a regular-sized bowl with frozen yogurt. Always measure your portions.
Treats for the liquid and pureed Foods Stages
Ice cream and fresh fruit are off limits during the liquid post-op stage, and you can only eat selected fresh fruit on the pureed foods diet. You can still enjoy healthy, refreshing treats this summer. For example, you can enjoy frozen juice pops or make a fruit slushie without the added sugars.
Freeze one or more kinds of juice in ice cube trays.
Mix and match flavor combinations, such as apple and grape, a citrus blend with grapefruit, tangerine, and orange juices, or a tropical mixture using pineapple and raspberry lemonade juices. Be sure to choose 100 percent juice instead sugar-sweetened juice drinks.< br> When you are ready for your treat, grind the cubes in the blender until they are more like chips.< br> If your surgeon has suggested that you avoid orange juice because of its acidity, look for a low-acid brand in your supermarket.

Our second Rensselaer/Albany local chapter meeting is fast approaching on August 9! We will be discussing The High Price of Gas... no not THAT gas! It should be a rip-roaring good time!

Our second Rensselaer/Albany local chapter meeting is fast approaching on August 9! We will be discussing The High Price of Gas... no not THAT gas! It should be a rip-roaring good time!

My surgery is tomorrow...
Feeling very nervous and anxious!

Our kick off meeting was a HUGE success! A little small, we had 8 people, but it was a beautiful summer weekend and people had plans. Regardless, there was a nice mix of pre-ops and post-ops which made for a ton of great communication and conversation. Can't wait til our next meeting on August 9!

I'm so happy you made it to the meeting! And I hope more of us can make it to the next one! August 9, 1030 am, East Greenbush Library!

Things are moving forward YAY! Dr said today my pre-op blood work looked good so no more delays and we're on for July 23rd. Feeling excited & nervous.

I hope your first day at Dr. T's went well I was planning on attending the July 12th meeting in East Greenbush, just wanted to be sure it was open to newbies? I'm also requesting to join the Facebook group.

Starting in Dr. T's office Tuesday! So if anyone stops in, be sure to say hello!

Just a reminder that our local chapter will be meeting on July 12 at the East Greenbush Library! Please help spread the word! We will start at 10:15 am with a meet and greet and talk about where we are in our weight loss adventure. Our meetings will include clothing swaps, guest speakers, grocery store outings and MUCH MORE!!! Join us at tiny.cc/bariatricpalgroup on FB! Our group is a closed group, meaning it's private and can be seen only by group members, since many people have not shared their WLS status publicly.

I come from a mixed heritage background, with the Italian side of my family being the most recent to come to America just a few generations ago. Anyway, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Spumoni, it is one of my all time favorite Italian dessert flavors, and next to IMPOSSIBLE to find in the rural southern US where I now reside. Basically Spumoni is similar to Neopolitan ice cream except the flavors are chocolate, Pistachio and Cherry instead of vanilla, Chocolate & strawberry. Anyway, I concocted a Protein Shakes with the flavors and I think it's AWESOME, so I'm sharing it with you:
8 oz. unsweetened Almond Milk
4 oz. Water
1 scoop Chocolate whey Protein Powder
1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp Jello sugar free pistachio pudding powder
1 Tbsp Torani Sugar Free Black Cherry Syrup
shake & Go!!! Sooooooo yummy! It's a flavor memory for me.

Ive used SodaStream diet grapefruit flavor mixed with Water and ice. Not quite Fresca, but good!

When I had my surgery back in December, I'd just applied for an admin job in my bariatric surgeon's office. The timing wasn't good and they had already made an offer to someone else. I had my six month checkup this week and that "someone else" has moved on... guess who got an on-the-spot interview? I received a phone call a couple hours later and should be getting my formal offer on Monday! I'm so excited to be working so closely with bariatric professionals! It can only help my Quest to pay it forward and help others as I've been helped!

When I had my surgery back in December, I'd just applied for an admin job in my bariatric surgeon's office at St. Peter's. The timing wasn't good and they had already made an offer to someone else. I had my six month checkup this week and that "someone else" has moved on... guess who got an on-the-spot interview? I received a phone call a couple hours later and should be getting my formal offer on Monday! I'm so excited to be working so closely with bariatric professionals! It can only help my Quest to pay it forward and help others as I've been helped!

When I had my surgery back in December, I'd just applied for an admin job in my bariatric surgeon's office at St. Peter's. The timing wasn't good and they had already made an offer to someone else. I had my six month checkup this week and that "someone else" has moved on... guess who got an on-the-spot interview? I received a phone call a couple hours later and should be getting my formal offer on Monday! I'm so excited to be working so closely with bariatric professionals! It can only help my Quest to pay it forward and help others as I've been helped!

Just a reminder that our local chapter will be meeting on July 12 at the East Greenbush Library! Please help spread the word! We will start at 10:15 am with a meet and greet and talk about where we are in our weight loss adventure. Our meetings will include clothing swaps, guest speakers, grocery store outings and MUCH MORE!!! Join us at tiny.cc/bariatricpalgroup on FB! Our group is a closed group, meaning it's private and can be seen only by group members, since many people have not shared their WLS status publicly.

Finally got a surgery date! Yay!!! I'm July 23rd!

I'm interested in leading a Local Chapter in the Albany/Rensselaer area in upstate NY. I had RNY in December and prepared for nearly two years, learning as much as I could in that time. I have lost over 60 pounds so far. I have beaten type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and high cholesterol. I have gained the support of nearly everyone in my family and friends circle, explaining my procedure and fighting the "easy way out" mentality.
I have extensive experience in planning and hosting meetings and presentations. I have over 25 years of administrative experience. I have been a Health Coach for Take Shape for Life (Medifast) since 2010 and have hosted many presentations and workshops in relation to the program. I've led local discussions and helped hundreds of people lose weight with this program, some pre-op in their bariatric program. I also run my own Avon business, which has me networking and talking to people all the time. I have an active Avon Facebook page as well as a blog to keep my customers informed and inspired.
I am a recent breast cancer survivor, having had extensive reconstruction after bilateral mastectomies and have much knowledge on plastic surgery with many local connections. I have learned a vast amount about nutrition in my weight loss adventure, and I'm thankful to have that knowledge to apply to my post-op life. I am an avid cook and I know my way around the kitchen quite well. All the activities listed appeal to my areas of interest and I would love to pull together activities in these areas to support my local weight loss surgery brothers and sisters.
I am passionate about weight loss surgery and how it provides hope for people, like me, who have tried everything else and have looming health issues. I actively seek out new information about new procedures, techniques, complications, etc. and love talking about it. I have the compassion to make others feel welcome and not pressured. I'm a great talked and an even better listener. I feel it's my calling to pass on what I have learned and to provide help and hope to others in a positive, fun environment.
My availability is generally weekday late afternoons and evenings (I am home by 3) with occasional availability for a weekend activity.

Sounds like you are off to great start. I meet with Dr. Trevedi on July 3rd for pre-op and I only hope I can be as successful as you are. Please keep your post coming as they are so informational to all us beginners! It shows me there really is light at the end of my tunnel!

Following.
I have been on a no-grain no-carb no-sugar no raw-veg/fruit diet for ten years due to other issues (but gained an enourmous amount of weight). I have learned about recipes and ideas for packing in the Protein and have lots to contribute. I'd be happy to meet you all in person in the capital region.