TheGamer

I liked the BA Vanilla far more than the chocolate or any other flavor. Honestly, they're not bad if you add fruit and sweeten them up a bit. They're tolerable, which is really all they need to be pre-surgery.

Pureed meat is just *not* the same. I would rather chew until my jaw hurts than to puree meat.

When you cut sugar/fat/carbs out of your diet in a big way (as most of us do) any time you reintroduce them in to your diet in any significant quantity (like a sugary drink) you'll usually have an adverse reaction. It's not dumping in the RNY sense, but the body lets you know that it's not really cool with what you just did and reacts accordingly. When I was doing hardcore atkins/SB years ago, the first piece of apple I ate after months of no sugars made me dizzy and nauseated. My body just wasn't used to it any more.

Definitely nice to have someone around, just for support and little things. You can never be sure just how you'll feel post-op and it's never bad to have company. My mom came down when I had surgery and stuck around for a week or so just to help out (I also live alone).

Yeah, it's not so bad if you get it through Amazon. I think the 1 lb. bag runs me like $8 or so and it lasts for weeks (depending on how much peanut buttery goodness I crave).

Try teas, too. Either decaf green/black/white or herbal teas are great. I drank nothing *but* water before surgery and now I can't stand it any more, but I love tea.

The pouched salmon is pretty interchangeable with tuna, just with a milder taste. It can be a little dry, so a bit of mayo helps. Steamed salmon is amazing, though, and much tastier than the pouched stuff.

Oh man do those sound delicious... I wonder if they'd bake in a toaster oven?

Dill spears are what I nom on for when I just want something to eat with no repercussions to my diet.

Add another vote for Fage being the best. Chobani isn"t bad either, but Fage is best.

The sleeve procedure was started as the first step to a gastric revision, from what I understand. It was developed for patients who were too big to undergo a RNY or other procedure safely. The sleeve allowed them to lose weight and then to undergo a second procedure to finalize the weight loss surgery at a later date. They found that people were losing decent weight on it and so eventually it became its own form of surgery. If I remember correctly, the first sleeves were larger than the ones we're given because it was a staged procedure. I think I recall my doctor saying that the sleeve as a stand alone procedure is relatively recent, so there isn't as much data on the long term effects of sleeving versus other types of weight loss surgery, though the data indicates that the results of a sleeve are on par with the results you'd get from the much more risky RNY procedure. To my knowledge there's not 20 years worth of data on the effects of sleeving. We're really all guinea pigs of a sort

Sounds like you might have overeaten on the chili *because* it was going down easily. It takes a while for the body to register that we're full, which is why they tell us to take small bites and eat slow. For me, the less "solid" something is, the more of it I can eat before my body goes "oh yeah, I was done about 5 bites ago..." Solid food always fills me up much better. Make sure you're measuring out what you eat initially. We're so used to eating whatever we want, whenever we want that the idea of just how small our stomach really is now can take some getting used to.

Caffeine in large quantities can dehydrate you. Since we're working to stay hydrated, too much caffeine is counterproductive. When I drank caffeinated drinks I would drink them all day long, tossing in the occasional high caffeine energy drink, cups of coffee, or whatnot, so it's easy to estimate that I crossed that line. A little caffeine here or there isn't going to work as a diuretic or to dehydrate you, but it's very easy to get acclimated to the effects of caffeine and to have to drink more and more to get the same effects, eventually leading to adverse effects.

I routinely get in 70+ grams a day and have found no correlation between how many grams I get and how much weight I lose. What I eat doesn't vary much - shake for Breakfast, dairy snack, meat for lunch, veggie snack, meat for dinner is my standard day. I consume, on average, between 600-700 calories most days, with rare "high" calorie (800-900) days. Regardless of the variation in my diet I lose about 4-5 pounds a week, which is in line with the caloric deficit I maintain. I feel like I spend a lot of time eating, and so rarely feel the need to take in more after I get my "required eating" in, which usually takes up most of my day.

My Doctor's office was pretty up front about post surgery pregnancy and said give it at least two years so that you can reach goal/stable weight, make sure you're healthy, and all that good stuff before becoming pregnant. There are people who have (inadvertently) not waited quite so long, but it's much more difficult if you don't wait post op.

Yup, teas are just fine. I was told to avoid caffeine, so you might want to make sure that it's decaf. I would suggest herbal teas, especially fruit teas, which are delicious.

Unless it's got unusual drainage, strong odor, pain, or you're running a fever higher than 101, it's likely nothing to worry about.

Surgery messed with mine. I had one *immediately* following surgery (2 weeks after my last). Then nothing for over a month, then a normal, then a super light... you get the picture. Between the surgery and the weight loss, nothing in that department is normal any more. =\

I used nicotine Patches when I quit. I couldn't have done it otherwise. No idea if you've had experience with them before, but be aware that patches can give you the STRANGEST dreams. If it interferes with your sleep, take 'em off before bedtime. Personally, I found the dreams the coolest part of quitting, but I'm strange that way.

I live by teas and tisanes (herbal teas). My sleeve hates plain water and hates anything cold.

I was never given a caloric guide by my surgeon or nutritionist. What I was given were basic guidelines on what I should have (70g protein, 64 oz water, vitamins/minerals) with directions on how to eat healthier. On average I eat about 600-700 calories a day and I don't adjust my caloric intake based on any exercise that I do.

Yes, it's normal. Just do a search for "week 3 stall" and you'll see that it happens to a lot of us. It's also possible that the pain is related to the internal stitches and muscles pulling. I did that myself and it wasn't pleasant =\

I love the classic syrups - hazelnut, vanilla, ones like that. They're very versatile. Another good thing is to get flavoring/extracts like those used to flavor candy that come in flavors like banana nut and coconut. They're generally alcohol based and require very little (a few drops) for a lot of flavor.

I had a similar thing. Doctor said that with the stitching I just pulled a muscle. I took some of my leftover pain meds and took a good nap. It helped.

Silly as it sounds, I stared at my shoulders for a good ten minutes the other day. They're better defined now and it when I wear a shirt it doesn't look like I shoved pillows up my sleeves.