Vidalia

I am 2 weeks post-op today. Yesterday for lunch I ate turkey, dressing, squash casserole, green beans, sweet potatoes, jellied cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes with gravy. I had mostly about 1 oz of turkey and about 1 or 2 tiny bites of the others out of my toddler fork. Then I ate 1 bite of pumpkin pie filling for dessert. It was all delicious and I was full but not sick. I repeated this meal for supper. I have not tried any pasta or beef yet.

I was told to remove the gauze and tape as soon as i got home from the hospital. He did not want them to get moist in the shower. I just had leave on the steri-strips until they fell off.

I am thankful I can breathe so much easier after only 13 days post-op. Taking a full, deep breath is so nice!

I know...some people have asked me why in the world I did this right before the holidays. But, I just think of all that weight I would be GAINING over the holidays like I usually do and it makes me feel a little better. At least we won't have that to worry about later.

I am 15 days post-op. I just had Thanksgiving dinner at my in-laws. I ate: turkey, dressing, jellied cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, squash casserole, sweet potatoes, homemade applesauce, and green beans. Now granted, I only had about 1 teaspoon of each (more turkey), but it was delicious, I did not feel deprived and I was full. I ate very slowly and chewed and chewed and chewed. No problems! I also ate one tiny bite of pumpkin pie (just the filling part).

I am 11 days post-op and decided to take my blood pressure last night out of curiosity. Pre-surgery it always ran around 140 over 85 to 90. It has been like that for at least a year. Last night my blood pressure was 120 over 78! In 11 days! I couldn't believe it! I feel so much better already. I can already breathe better. Just wanted to share.

I am 11 days post-op and decided to take my blood pressure last night out of curiosity. Pre-surgery it always ran around 140 over 85 to 90. It has been like that for at least a year. Last night my blood pressure was 120 over 78! In 11 days! I couldn't believe it! I feel so much better already. I can already breathe better. Just wanted to share.

I am 11 days post-op and I peeled all of mine off today because they were barely on, except for my biggest incision. I am not touching that one because it is still tender.

I think I knew I wanted to have it when I decided that living was more important than eating.

If you buy the sample kit from Unjury, they include a wonderful little mixer bottle made by Rubbermaid. It is perfect for mixing the shakes. When I go back to work I am going to mix my shake in it and take it to work with me. I like it better than the big mixer bottles.

I was required to buy a week's supply of Bariatric Advantage shakes for post-op from my doctor's office. They are horrible! I made myself drink them the first 4 days. Now it makes me want to gag when I look at the packs. I ordered Unjury Chocolate Splendor and Vanilla and they are very tolerable. Another one I have that I like even better is GNC's Whey Protein Chocolate Caramel. It sort of has little bursts of caramel flavor in it. It was on sale last week. GNC's regular chocolate is good too.

11 days post-op...went to Taco Bell today so I could eat with my husband. I ordered a chicken soft taco and a pintos and cheese. I ate the chicken out of the taco with a little sauce on it and about ten small bites of the beans. So far so good. This is my first adventure eating outside the house. Makes me feel a little bit normal again.

I know the feeling of wanting to get it done. I was almost paranoid some strange fluke would end up stopping it. I even worried that the doctor would get sick and have to reschedule. Let all that go. Prayers for you. You will do great. I am 11 days out and already feeling so much better than I did before surgery. First few days are a little rough, but nothing you can't stand. Enjoy your pain meds and take them every 4 hours whether you feel like you need them or not for the first few days. You got this!

I don't think so. I was just told to stop all medications a week before. They never mentioned vitamins. And I was able to one egg the day before surgery.

Yeah, I have the berry flavored. Good to know the orange is just as bad. I have a bottle of the BA sublingual B12's in peppermint flavor. Hope they taste good. Thanks for your response. At least I know I am not the only one who hates them. I just read over my papers and at 6 weeks I get to move to a swallow vitamin if I can tolerate it. So, maybe I can make it through this bottle with that in mind.

Copied from http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2012/01/frozen-protein-drops.html Tons of interesting recipes I want to try on this blog. Frozen Protein Drops A quick and easy, weight loss surgery friendly frozen protein snack... Shelly's Frozen Protein Yogurt (or Pudding) Drops 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (or sugar free Pudding) 3-4 Tablespoons (to taste) of any Protein Powder Mix together till well combined. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and drop tablespoons of the mixture (yields about 25 drops) or fill an ice cube tray. Freeze till solid about 2 hours. Store in the freezer (up to a week or so) and pop a few in your mouth whenever you want a frozen protein treat or add to smoothies for an extra protein boost instead of ice. In this batch I used Celebrate ENS in strawberry & chocolate Milk. I had weight loss surgery in one of the hottest summers on record. I would have LOVED these that summer. I kept hearing the music of the ice cream truck driving by the house and it about drove me nuts.

Here is my Vitamin regiment per day as prescribed by my doctor: 1 Bariatric Advantage chewable in morning (huge, nasty taste...ruins the taste of my highly cherished food bites) 2 Calcium chewies (these are fine...I can handle these the rest of my life) 1 Iron tablet at lunch (very small, so I can handle it) 2 calcium chewies 1 Bariatric Advatange chewable in evening (did I mention how nasty these are?) After 1 month I will have to start doing the B12 tablets or get an injection. I am just having a very hard time with the big Vitamins. I think that is the hardest thing for me right now. They seem to be getting harder for me to take than easier. Last night it almost made me gag as soon as I put it in my mouth. I have heard people taking Flinstones, but I don't guess they have the Biotin for hair loss. Anybody have other good options? Will I be able to move to a swallow vitamin later? I honestly don't see myself taking this particular vitamin the rest of my life. I even ordered the vitamins from powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury and they were even bigger and worse!

I have O- blood and have never heard of this. The only problem with negative blood that I know if is if you have children with a positive blood father. The problem usually happens on the third child They now have a shot they give the mother that takes care of this problem. I am familiar with the problem because my grandmother had negative blood and her third child was born with this blood defect and died at 9 months old. At that time, they did not have a shot to fix the problem.

If you are on a CPAP machine be sure and take it or they will send you back for it. Take some big, stretchy pants to wear home. Good luck!

I bought a used Total Gym (Chuck Norris infomercial) from a friend. I am only 9 days post-op so can't use it yet. Just wondering if anyone else has one of these. Looking for reviews for this machine from fellow sleevers.

I am 9 days out. Today for lunch I ate about 2 oz. of Dietz and Watson mesquite turkey breast that I got at the deli (had them shave it). If you get high quality shaved from the deli it is very moist and tastes great...nothing like the turkey from the meat section where the bologna is. And I ate one of those 4 oz. Breakstone 2% cottage cheese with about a tablespoon of mushed up canned pears. It filled me up and I had no problems. I left a couple bites of the cottage cheese when I started feeling full to play it safe.

Is a protein shake considered a solid or a liquid? Am I supposed to wait an hour after drinking a shake before I start sipping liquids again like I do when I eat real food?

I could not take a deep breath because of the terrible gas pains in my chest. It only lasted a few days. Try Gax-X.

I woke up this morning to my TOM. For some reason I was hoping maybe it would never come back after my surgery. LOL. One good thing....I usually ALWAYS have a pre-menstrual migraine or at least a headache right before my TOM, I even take prescription meds for them, but this time I had no sign of a headache! Could it be possible that the surgery has already improved this? I know it has something to do with estrogen and estrogen has something to do with weight. Has anyone else been cured of menstrual migraines after their sleeve surgery? I hope so!!

Thought this was a good article. Is Ketosis a Good or Bad Thing? August 6, 2012 By Dian and Tom Griesel When it comes to health, wellness, diet and weight-loss, ketosis is probably one of the most misunderstood conditions. Today we will attempt to put ketosis in its proper perspective, as simply as possible, as it applies to losing your excess body fat and improving your body composition. According to Wikipedia, “Ketosis is a state of elevated levels of ketone bodies in the body.” Do you have any idea what a ketone is? Are they dangerous? Ketones are simply the end-product of fat metabolism in the body. Chemically a ketone body is an acid and there are three types, which are actually irrelevant to our discussion in understanding their role in your body. Just like a car engine, your body needs fuel to run. It can use fat, carbohydrate (glucose) and in some cases, Protein. When fat is used, the end product is ketones and when glucose is used the end product is lactic acid. Our bodies have the ability to store ample amounts of fat in reserve which will provide 9 calories per gram. This storage ability is a survival mechanism for times of scarce food availability. We have a limited ability to store carbohydrate which provides 4 calories per gram. There is more than twice the energy stored in a gram of fat and therefore it should be considered a premium or high-performance fuel. Almost every cell in our body has the ability to use fat for energy in one form or another and our bodies also have the ability to produce any glucose needed for those cells that require it. Think about this for a minute: If carbohydrates were actually our preferred fuel wouldn’t our bodies have evolved a way to store more of it for lean times? Fat is actually our body’s preferred fuel but it does work best when some dietary carbohydrates are also present. Ketones that form as a normal byproduct of fat burning (and weight-loss) are nothing for the majority of people to be concerned about (type 1 diabetics are another story) because they are efficiently used for energy and any excess is passed out in the urine. The more rapidly the body uses or loses body fat, the more ketones that are naturally produced. There are many times when the brain can and will use ketones for energy and your liver will even produce extra ketones when glucose reserves are low (such as during long-distance exercise, fasting and dieting). Low carbohydrate diets are often called ketogenic diets because the body produces more ketones which can readily be detected in the urine. However, it is important to understand that anyone who is losing body fat, on any kind of diet, will have trace ketones in their urine because anyone who is losing weight is most certainly burning some fat for energy. Remember, ketones are a normal byproduct of fat metabolism. Some people mistakenly believe (Atkins followers) that the presence of detectable ketones in the urine is evidence of weight-loss or loss of body fat. However, if you are eating enough calories on a low-carb, high-protein/high-fat diet, processing dietary fat will also result in ketone production without any loss of body fat. Again, ketones are a natural byproduct of fat metabolism whether it is from dietary fat or your own body fat. In order to use your body fat for fuel (and lose weight), you need a caloric deficit which will force your body to utilize it. The presence of ketones in the absence of a caloric deficit will not result in weight or fat loss. If you ate only 300 calories of table sugar per day (not recommended) you would most certainly produce a caloric deficit, burn excess body fat for energy, lose scale weight and produce detectable ketones in your urine. It is not a specific diet that produces ketones. If you are losing excess body fat and scale weight, you are producing ketones. Ketones are just a natural byproduct of fat metabolism. Some people question the safety of low-carbohydrate diets (any diet that results in a detectable amount of ketones in the urine) but there is no evidence to indicate that it is a harmful condition in normal people. In fact, it is most likely that during our evolution, it was the “normal” state due to a lack of available natural concentrated carbohydrates. A diet consistently rich in concentrated carbohydrates is relatively new and has only become common since the widespread development of farming and agriculture (the appearance of diabetes and many other modern chronic diseases also coincides with this dietary change). Ketogenic diets are often used and are effective in helping epileptic children to reduce/avoid seizures and are also being tested for treatment of Parkinson disease. Both fat and glucose are burned during exercise. The more efficient your body becomes at using fat for fuel (usually as a result of decreasing the intake of concentrated carbohydrates) the more it will favor fat metabolism. TurboChargers develop a very efficient fat-burning metabolism by avoiding all processed, concentrated carbs while focusing on more natural, moisture rich carbohydrate sources like fruits, vegetables, legumes and tubers. Once this metabolic shift is accomplished (3-5 days), a reduction in caloric intake, which results in an overall caloric deficit, will produce a rapid loss of excess body fat (and subsequent increased ketone production). So, in conclusion, ketones are not a magic bullet and they are not harmful or something to be afraid of. They are just a normal byproduct of a properly functioning human body.