imgonnaloseit!

Yowza, girl... you look great!

and OMG.... 130 lbs!!!! An amazing amount of weight lost in only 6 months! That is super, you should be proud! Is it difficult for you to wrap your head around the change?

How about sharing a typical days menu, as well as, what you did for exercise?

I have a sister, a niece and a friend that had gastric bypass. Two are lactose intolerant, one is not. I have a niece that had a Duodenal Switch and she is lactose intolerant. I had the sleeve a month ago and milk is no problem for me.

As with most things with any WLS, we are all different.

I had kind of an Iron gut previous to WLS. Eating leftovers that were a week old had never been a problem for me.

I do freeze some of the leftovers but not the ones I plan to eat the same or next day.

As far as making smaller portions, that is near impossible... I mean how do you make 3 to 4 oz or 1/2 cup portions of most meals? It goes against my grain to throw money away -- I find it hard to toss food unless it smells rancid.

Yup. My doc didn't put me on a pre-op diet. The program I went through pre-op with the hospital suggested a pre-op diet but the surgeon didn't care one way or the other.

I have heard from some that you cannot eat foods that have been leftover for more than 2-3 days. Certainly if it's older than 3 days, toss it. Something about WLS giving us a lower tolerance to bacteria.

Then I hear that others eat something 5 days later and they have no problems. I ate some turkey chili Tues. that I made the previous Sat. and before I could swallow the last bite I was in the bathroom barfing. I don't know if I ate too fast (I was pretty hungry that night), if I ate too much (I measure everything now), if it was too many days in the fridge, or something else. I just know I want to avoid that again, if possible!

So what do ya'll do? How long do you keep leftovers?

My NUT has me building on each day:

1st day after surgery: 100 cals/10 grams Protein

2nd day: 200 cals/20 grams

3rd day: 300/30

4th day: 400/40

& so on, until reaching 800 calories & 75-90 grams of Protein. That will remain until maintenance when I'll move to about 1100-1200 calories & 75-90 grams of protein.

Did your NUT tell you how long it would take to hit that goal of 800 cal/75-90 g protein? I am almost a month out and can't make it to those numbers. Even with a Protein shake made with skim milk and PB2 (which ends up being a total of 36 g) I only hit approx. 67-69 g of protein.

But I'm finding that if I want to get min. of 55 oz of Water than I can't get the protein number anywhere near that. I wasn't too worried because I figure my insides are still swollen since I still have scabs and bruises. See my doc next Tuesday if Frankenstorm allows it.

I am 3 weeks out and burping is a welcome relief for me. After eating I make a point of walking until I get that gas to come out in a burp.

I never really burped before so this is all new to me. It's quite annoying.

As far as the quoted statement... I can't fathom never having burped...

How does fish do for you? Have you tried flounder, haddock or talapia?

Or seafood? How about shrimp, crab or lobster (stay away from oysters and clams -- too tough to chew into small bits at this point, I think).

Piece of ham slice, ground chicken burger or turkey burger. Soups? I am 3 weeks out and trying just about anything that offers a lot of Protein in a small serving.

When do you next see your doctor? I would be letting him know that nausea is a problem. Are you taking anything for stomach acid or maybe you need something for it... hope it gets better for you.

Congratulations! You look like you had the time of your life!

(not sure why you are all muddy, us old farts used to do 5k's on our feet but you youngin's do a lot of things differently these days)

Seriously, you should be super proud!

I was told Benefiber.

On my way to hospital. Good luck to every one today, yesterday & tomorrow!!!!

FINALLY, Jayne!! Good luck!

Post when you feel up to it!

I'm getting ready then of the hospital, good luck to you. I'm so nervous

Good luck to you, too, Belle. You will be home before you know it.

That is fantastic! Great job! I hope I can come close to what you have accomplished. You look great.

Can you give us some insight as to what a typical day was like? What did you eat? Did you count calories or carbs? What type of exercising did you do?

With your wisdom maybe more of us can accomplish our own goals. Thanks.

How did you like the LVHC program? I looked into it and them went to St Luke's .

Well, I liked the fact that all the insurance companies requirements are easily met. LVH WLS program sets up all the appointments; NUT, psychologist, support meetings, etc. with one phone call. Also, all appointments are in one place. It is less stressful than if I had done it myself and I didn't worry if I had missed something -- I knew I was going to meet all the requirements by my insurance.

I did not like the cost of the program $525 as of Jan 1, 2012, which was not reimbursed by my insurance company. In addition to the $525, I also had to pay for the 3 appointments with the PA. (I don't have a co-pay for doctors and I had not yet met my deductible.) Total cost for this program for me ended up to be around $950.

I did not like that during the group meetings, that the information was so generalized. They were talking to people with varied choices -- some getting lapband, some RNY, some sleeve. It would have been better to separate us so the information could have been more specific to our intended surgery.

I was feeling kinda ripped-off. On the other hand I have no idea what doing it on my own would have cost, the nutritionist (2 group appt + a one-on-one), the exercise therapist (1 group appt.), the 3 physician appts., 2 smoking tests and the psychologist one-on-one. Of course, the support meetings were free.

Now that I have had surgery, I find that I am glad I went through the program as my surgeon does not provide a wealth of information. I believe that they have added a 3 month and a 6 month group meetings specific for LVH WLS program people as part of the $525 program fee. But since I am only 3 weeks out I cannot verify that.

Would I recommend it to people? Most likely -- it surely does make the pre-surgery process a whole lot easier.

Yikes,... 2 days 'til the big day! It is exciting and nerve wracking.

You will do great! Good luck!

I guess if your surgeon isn't concerned you probably should be. I suggest that you make sure you get up and moving the day of surgery so you lower your risk for pneumonia.

Good luck and keep us posted.

You have done great and you look even better. Hope I can be as successful.

Good luck with continuing to make to right choices.

Special K makes some great Protein bars. They have chocolate, chocolate caramel (my fav) and Peanut Butter chocolate. They have 10 grams of Protein and are at a nice price point. I can buy them at BJ's 24 bars for $17.99!

My nut had warned that Protein Bars with a lot protein grams usually don't taste good.

But most stores sell Protein Bars in singles, so try all different kinds. Speaking from experience though keep a list of how good they are. I bought a bunch of bars, liked some hated others and thought some were ok. Unfortunately, I didn't write down what I thought, I figured surely I would remember,... yeah, I promptly forgot when I went to buy more!

I was told to try Fiber products such as Benefiber as this may be an ongoing issue since we don't really eat a lot. But see what your doc allows first.

Yup, it's all working now. Thanks, Alex. Good luck with whatever it is you're trying to do.

Presurgery I was eating a lot, I mean A LOT of homemade beef Jerky. Very high in Protein and low in fat. My BM's became denser and did have what I would call an unusual smell to them. They didn't exactly smell bad (although not something I would want to package and sell), just unusual.

I am only 2 1/2 wks post op so I am not getting in as much Protein and they don't seem to smell unusual anymore.

Are you having any trouble breathing or are you breathing normally?

Oh, crap,... the follow this topic button isn't working either!

1) When I make a post I just get a plain box now. No choice for font, text color, emoticons, etc.

2) On my notification list I used to be able to check the box at the top right and it would check all the boxes next to my notifications. It doesn't do that now.

3)In a topic I can't see who is following the topic. I used to be able to see that.

These are a few of the problems there are a couple more. They all started yesterday or day before. I even rebooted the computer to see if that helped. It didn't.

Aynone else having these same issues? Open to any and all suggestions to get things working right.

Thanks.

Hi all!

Upper Saucon/Bethlehem here. Had my surgery Oct 1, 2012 by Dr. Rovito.

Have some trouble getting all the fluids in. Was having wicked headaches. So started to concentrate on that more rather than the Protein.

It's a whole new world and I'm sure it gets better/easier.

As soon as I got off the pain meds -- 3 days.