TheGamer

We'd call what you make a type of BBQ sauce. Pepper sauce is a little different, where it's pretty much just peppers soaked in vinegar. It's clear or lightly colored and the consistency of Water. Here's what pepper sauce looks like: http://www.amazon.com/Texas-Pete-Green-Pepper-Sauce/dp/B000M0QWM8/ref=sr_1_3?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1356658819&sr=1-3&keywords=pepper+sauce You can make the same thing by putting vinegar and peppers in a jar and letting it sit. There are recipes available online for making your own.

Fruit is fine in moderation on my plan as a mix in for shakes. As much as I was sick of drinking them after my two week pre-op diet and two week liquid phase, I needed all the variety I could get I was given guidelines on the acceptable amounts to use such as no more than 3/4 c of blueberries, 6 small strawberries, 1/2 a small banana, etc.

Gas-X strips = lifesaver. I used the heck out of those my first couple weeks.

I was told no more than 19g of carbs at a single sitting, so that would still fit with what I was told, especially since I couldn't eat a whole serving unless I took an hour to do it

Greens is kind of a generic term for things like collard greens, mustard greens, spinach, etc. You can buy them pre cooked (they're really mushy) in cans. Pepper sauce is basically any sort of hot pepper, though commercially it's usually jalapeno in vinegar that's been bottled and left to sit so you've got this very mildly hot vinegar to put on it. It's primarily a southern US thing.

As a sugar substitute I'd recommend you switch to liquid sucralose. Sucralose is what's in splenda, but in a liquid form it has no carbs. You say you love sweet tea (it is delicious, and now I'm craving some!) but as an example, a large McDonald's sweet tea has about 230 calories. That's about 1/3 of my total daily calories with no nutritional benefit at all. Made with sucralose it's every bit as sweet but has zero calories, which is much better for me. Like everything in life, this is a choice. I don't "have" to eat any certain way. I can, at this point, eat pretty much whatever I want to, but I have a limited amount of food I can take in on any day and that means I have choices to make. You may be different than I am, but I know that for me, I didn't do this to go back to my old habits. My old habits were what made me an insane 383 pounds with joints that ached, high blood pressure, and an ass too fat to fit in 95% of the chairs I tried to sit in. Like the poster said above, it's possible to have some REALLY good food and it will still be healthy food. One of the most important things I learned was now that I was eating less, I could afford to eat well, something that I had never really tried to do. Rather than having a pound of hamburger handy, I get a smaller cut of steak. Don't judge the rest of this based on the first few weeks, which are terribly miserable. Focus instead on all the awesome things you'll get to do once the healing process is done

Probably. I use the Degree antiperspirant 48 hour formula and that stuff rocks socks. It lasts all day with zero issues.

If I get "hungry" (and that's a big if) it's usually something that I register mentally but can completely ignore. I do make an effort to eat every 2-3 hours, something with good protein like meat or yogurt or cottage cheese. Sometimes what I really am is thirsty and some times I just want to eat for the sake of eating, which is when I either get something very low calorie (I'm a sucker for canned greens with pepper sauce) or find something to distract myself.

A "milkshake" type drink is not a clear liquid, even if you make it with Water. That would be for full liquid phase. While chocolate nectar would not be okay, something like Crystal Sky Nectar would be.

I was allowed protein powder drinks on clear liquid such as isopure, protein shots like nuwhey, and powders like nectar.

I didn't have one. My surgeon wanted me up and moving around as much as possible, including bathroom trips.

As silly as this sounds, I can't live without my microwave steamers. They're pretty cheap at $10 each and I have one that's for veggies and one that's like a flat tray. For a simple, portion controlled, healthy dinner all I have to do is put a piece of salmon and some broccoli florets in the tray, season them with a little salt and pepper and in 5 minutes I have delicious food. It's great if you have no kitchen (like me) or are in a hurry or just plain lazy when it comes to cooking

I'm not quite sure I comprehend where the "dis" in my reply is as my reply had nothing to do with you specifically. What I was advising against was doing anything (such as further calorie restriction) simply because other people are eating less, which is a valid response. Cutting down to an arbitrary number of calories just because someone else is at a lower number post-op is not a healthy weight loss mentality, as our health should be the first and only priority rather than playing a game of "who can eat the least after getting a sleeve", which is rather akin to the unhealthy pre-op starvation diets that I'm sure any number of us tried and failed at. I'm sure you can agree that the amount of weight you lost in weeks 2-3 post surgery were not entirely indicative of the amount of weight you'd lose later on and I'm sure you realize that any number of factors like starting weight, height, metabolism, and exercise will impact overall weight loss from person to person.

It's entirely possible that you yanked your internal stitches somehow. Just take it easy and if it doesn't go away in a day or so then call your doctor's office. Also, if it hurts when you touch it, don't touch it

This isn't a race against what other people are doing. Just because one person is eating 1000 calories and another is eating 600 and another is eating 800, that doesn't matter. If you're losing weight then you're doing it right and sometimes if you're not losing you're *still* doing it right. It's possible that you're hitting the week 3 stall (do a search for it and you'll see the number of topics that's spawned) where you will lose little or nothing or maybe even gain a couple pounds for a week or two (or three). As long as you're getting in enough protein, water, and nutrients then it's okay. The diet you're eating now is very different from the diet that someone 15 weeks out is eating. They've probably returned to solid food, vegetables, and a number of things that you're not eating 3 weeks out, so please just concentrate on healing well

As long as the incision isn't open and/or bleeding you should be fine.

Look for posts regarding the week 3 stall and you'll find that this happens to everyone as the body readjusts. You may even gain some weight, but you'll be losing inches.

I would see if you can tolerate liquid meal replacement at all. I have really good luck with GNC's Total Lean pre-mixed shakes as they're not heavy or chalky like a lot of shakes can get. What's most important is to get in your nutrition, or at least as much of it as you can. I look at my nutritional needs as far outweighing my caloric intake.

I go over 19g of carbs most days, so for me it doesn't seem to impact my weight loss. You're actually coming up on the post surgery time that a lot of people stall for 2-3 weeks. Do a search for week 3 stall and you'll see what I'm talking about. While you're stalling, don't feel that you're not losing. I can attest that even when my weight doesn't move I am still losing inches.

The only person who can answer that question is you. Nobody can answer it for you. By the time I was in high school, I was anywhere from 180-220 in terms of weight so I can identify with where you are. When you're overweight, it can make things difficult on a number of levels - physically, socially, and emotionally. If this had been an option when I was your age, I probably would have considered it. Objectively, though, you're still growing. I don't say that to mean like I'm talking down to you, I'm not. But realistically your body isn't done developing and VSG is still a relatively new procedure, medically speaking so there's not as much data about this as there are other procedures. I'm sure you understand that this decision isn't something that can be undone and that it presents its own set of challenges and issues. It won't magically fix the weight problem, but it can help, but only if you realize that this will change things for the rest of your life. My food issues haven't gone away just because I had this surgery. I still have to struggle with the desire for things I know will only be bad for me and I know that even having surgery doesn't mean I'll succeed. Give it a lot of thought and take your time.

I'm losing between 4 and 5 pounds a week on average right now, but I had a very high start weight. I'll lose a pound or so then lose nothing for a couple days, then lose some more.

Have you tried tracking what you're eating? I know it's really easy for me to eat the wrong things if I don't write down every thing I eat all day long It's just too easy for me to eat things that taste good but that aren't that good for me nutritionally.

If you look around the forums you'll see lots of posts referencing the "week 3 stall" where it's not uncommon for the body to just go WTF and stop losing weight for a couple weeks while it sorts everything that's happened out. During my stall I put on a couple pounds even though I was eating about 600 calories a day (and I weigh over 300). Sounds to me like what you're experiencing is normal, so don't worry, it'll pass.

My first week I spent all my time losing the Water weight I had put on in the two days in the hospital, so really my first week? I didn't lose any weight at all that I hadn't put on a couple days prior. The first couple weeks are the worst. Craving things you can't have is normal. I know I wanted "real" food more than anything and I just hated drinking everything. It gets better, though. I developed a dislike for plain water (which water and tea were the ONLY things I drank at all prior to surgery) immediately after surgery and wouldn't drink it if it wasn't flavored. Have you tried subbing out crystal light or tea? Get a sugar substitute like splenda or liquid sucralose (which I prefer - less carbs) to sweeten it up and make it more tolerable. Some times it's just a flavor thing. When we aren't getting flavor anywhere else, just water seems icky. I'm a few weeks out now and I'm losing about 2kg on average per week, some times a little more. My body likes to not lose anything for a couple days then lose a bunch all at once so some weeks I lose a lot, some weeks not so much.

Yeah, it didn't take long for me to figure out that for the rest of my life I'm going to have to be strict with what I eat all the time. It's not because I won't be "allowed" to eat it, but because I know my relationship with food. My relationship with food with never be healthy, not for the rest of my life. It's always going to be that thing I can't control if I let it slip. Sure, a cookie will be okay for some people, but I don't ever think it will be for me. This wasn't easy, isn't easy, and won't be easy, not ever.