kchristian

The brand is Orrington Farms. I think we got it at Walmart. It was delicious. I love both the chicken & beef broths. They come in a jar with a black lid. It's like a powder, not liquid.

Awesome job!! Just take one day at a time and surgery will be here before you know! Drink chicken broth! it hit the spot for me ( i found a good one, not yucky canned broth )

I don't advocate lying at all, but if they keep bugging you and just WILL not let it go (like I know my co-workers would have, although I told them all the truth) - you could tell them you had your gallbladder out...same exact area, pretty similar recovery time, etc, etc... The weight loss may give it away though, unless you just say you felt you needed a healthy change after you had surgery and it prompted you to get better about your diet & exercise! But I agree with everybody else as well, just tell them it's personal and you aren't talking about it they should shut up after that lol

HILARIOUS. and I totally agree

Are you talking about acid reflux or heartburn? If so, I've noticed that I get it in the afternoons/evenings. (i'm 4 weeks out). I didn't get it the first week, and I'm thinking it actually might be caused by my multivitamins. I'm skipping them for one day today to see if that's the cause because I'll definitely need to change. I take pepcid 2x a day and drink maalox when I get the heartburn. My dr's nurse also said to make sure you eat something every few hours because the acid can build up and it needs something to do! If it's neither of those causes then I am gonna ask my doc to change the pepcid to something else because it's NOT working like it should!

I'm a fan of refried beans w/a small bit of shredded cheese, mashed potatoes, chicken salad (pureed), cream of chicken soup, etc. I'm about to give eggs a try!

I had a 2 week liquid diet w/2 days clear liquids right before surgery. I lived on protein shakes, G2 gatorade, water, broth and jello. yum yum. lol. I had my doctor take a picture of my liver during surgery and give it to me afterwards because i wanted proof of how pretty it was after I survived that diet!

are you drinking chicken/beef broth? those were the only things that saved me on my pre-op diet. I didn't even pay attention to how much sodium was in it - didn't care!!!! i was drinking enough fluids to flush it out

oh trust me you'd still need a sleeve i had the same thought because i did a 2 week liquid pre-op diet and lost 20 lbs and i thought, hey i could just keep this up! yeah, no i couldn't have LOL. No human being could. Hunger would eventualy do you in! You are NOT a loser (hopefully in the weight loss sense you will be) and hungry is so totally normal. It will all pass!

oh i'd say it's because you still have a large stomach that is producing a ton of ghrelin!! do what ever you have to do in order to stick to your pre-op diet and i PROMISE you in a few weeks it will be a distant memory!! keep it up!

I honestly don't have any advice, but I will pray for you and hope that you can find a doctor that will be helpful and supportive and not negative or give you crap or any lectures. It sounds like you were taking necessary precautions, but unless you don't have sex, you can still get pregnant (as you well know!). I don't think it's realistic for anyone to think an adult woman is going to go 18 months without sex because they had WLS. I hope everything goes well for you and the baby!! Please let us know how you are doing! and congrats Oh, and alot of children don't "want" the baby until after it comes and then they love their new brother or sister. I think it's pretty normal. Maybe find a counselor for you guys to go to together?

mine was taken out on the left side. not sure if it's just surgeon preference or what!

definitely stay away from the cheerios!! i know it's hard on liquids. are you getting any Protein in? the protein will help keep hunger away. try a Protein shake if you haven't already. i honestly don't know if you are experiencing TRUE hunger or not, sometimes when you feel hungry, you are actually thirsty. also, there is a TON of "head" hunger going on at this stage. I still experience that too. Cheerios at this stage could probably really hurt you don't want you having to deal with that!! it'd be much worse than hunger!

When my mind starts winning, I take a Xanax But seriously, I think everyone of us goes through this! Think about it like this, you are actually mourning the death of your old self! She literally can't exist anymore because you can't turn to food for entertainment/comfort/boredom/etc, like you probably used to. I know I did. I should throw my "fat self" a funeral! Also - remember that as a woman, as you lose weight rapidly, your fat cells are going to release tons of extra estrogen because that's where it's stored. I feel like a psycho pms killer some days. The slightest thing will make me cry or yell. I just tell myself it's normal. If I have an actual medical reason for something, I don't stress about it as much. You are going to feel MUCH better 3 weeks from now - I promise!

That's awesome you tried it pre-op! It's crazy having to figure things out as you go post-op. I was the biggest water chugger of them all. I used to drink like 140oz of water a day and it's killing me only being able to reach my 64oz goal a day. I feel dehydrated with my 64! When I figured out my "air" trick, I was able to get in alot more Fluid more quickly, so I'm really hoping to be able to get in an extra bottle of water a day, bringing me up to 81 oz. That would be awesome. The problem is now I'm back at work so I get busy and forget to drink! UGH! I'm really glad if I could help you even a small amount. Good luck with your surgery! I hope you will love your sleeve as much as I'm learning too!

I had a 2 week pre-op diet, stuck to it and didn't cheat and I'm SUPER glad I did. I've heard from alot of people about the awful withdrawals from carbs and sugar that they go through post-op because they had no pre-op diet. I'm just super glad that I went through the withdrawals before surgery when I didn't have to worry about everything else. I couldn't imagine nor would I want to do both at the same time. I would suggest it.

Have you tried Bariatric fusion shakes? You can order them online. I mix one with 6 oz of Lactaid (8 extra grams of protein) and the powder has 27g, so if you can drink two 6oz shakes a day you are at 66 grams of protein and past your mark! I drink one first thing in the morning and then usually later at night. The 2nd one is harder to drink than the first one, but I feel like CRAP if I dont' get in my protein, so it's worth it. I also read someone on here post that they look at their Protein Shakes like medicine. You HAVE to take it right now to keep yourself healthy - that actually helped my outlook on it. I gotta do it, so I make myself!!

I sort of had this same issue. I started paying attention to how I swallow liquids and I had to change it up a bit. I take a sip of Water. Then before I swallow it, I actually get rid of any extra air in my mouth first, before I swallow. It is a night and day difference. Try it - get the liquid in your mouth, then blow extra air out of your nose first, then swallow. My burping has been reduced like 90% and hardly any gurgling. Took me over 2 weeks to figure it out! Give it a try - hope it works for you. it's weird at first, but it's become 2nd nature to me now, so I don't even think about it

I am like the queen of bruises. I had brusing underneath my large incision as well. I'm just over 3 weeks out and it's now starting to fade. My worst bruises were from the blood thinner shots in the bottom part of my stomach. I have one about 4 inches in diamater from a shot they have me in the hospital still and it's purple & blue right now! Bruising is totally normal!

Day 2 just plain sucked for me. Leak test - yuck, gas pain in my chest - OUCH, walking - exhausting, trying Isopure - puking. I am only 3 weeks out and still healing, but it does get much better. Just hang in there, I'm working on becoming best friends with my sleeve

Great job! I'm so happy for you that you are doing fantastic Just remember that the closer you are to your goal, weight loss tends to slow down since you don't have so much extra "fluff" lol, so dont' get frustrated!!

heatwhip - my entire second week I would gain a pound or so, then lose a pound, then gain 2 lbs - it was crazy. My surgeon said that he doesn't even LOOK at weight loss or worry about it until you hit 1 month. Your body is recovering from a trauma. It's totally confused as to what is going on right now so don't worry if you aren't losing right now. I PROMISE you it will start falling off if you get your fluids in and start getting your Protein in. If you are dehydrated, your body is going to hold on to every bit of Fluid it can. Just sip, sip, sip. I know you are only supposed to weigh weekly, but i'm OCD so that is not gonna work for me LOL - I do weigh daily, if it doesn't go down, I just say "ok, let's drink as much as we can today" and move on. If it DOES go down, I say "thank you God", do a little dance and drink, drink, drink you WILL lose weight girl!

From what I've read and statics, etc...leaks are not that common... maybe like 1% or so. Make the surgeon you choose not only staples, but reinforces the staple line with sutures. They will also do a leak test the day after surgery, so that should give you some peace of mind. And just remember, if you happen to be that 1%, there are a ton of things they can do to fix it/help it heal. Just pay attention to your body after surgery, do NOT push it when you eat and you should be OK. Ask your doctor what the signs of a leak are and then watch for those. Don't be afraid to call your surgeon after surgery either. I feel like I annoy mine like 2-3 times a week, but you know what? that's what they get paid for! it's their JOB! You can search for "leaks" on this site and read about several people who have had to deal with them, but the majority of what I've read of what they've posted, they'd do the surgery again even KNOWING they would have a leak and had to go through the healing all over again. Good luck with your surgery!

The thought of food after surgery was dreadful. I was thirsty, but they brought me a big thing of water and let me rinse my mouth out with it as long as i spit it out until after my leak test the following day. That was a lifesaver!! I don't know what I would have done without that. My guess is, if you are even tempted to eat or feel hungry, then the surgeon didn't actuall do your sleeve! LOL

I had 5 atkins advantage shakes a day. They were delicious. Can't tolerate them after surgery, but looked forward to them each day pre-op!