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Apparently my family are "freaks".....My sister was thrilled I lost weight and am finally the same size as she's always been. She said "it's like hugging myself". Now she and I and even my brother's wife all wear the same size. When my "fat friend" got The lap band and lost a lot of weight, I was thrilled for her and turned to her for advice when I decided to have WLS. I have cousins and friends that are now bigger than me and they never have a bad word to say. No jealousy, no rivalry. Everyone is just thrilled that I am happy and healthy. I truly wish there were more freaks like us in this world!

I freeze premier protein chocolate in silicone popscicle molds for my own high protein/low carb fudgscicles

Good plan! There's nothing wrong with making this "all about you"...at least for a little while. And your family will get to do their thing, regardless. I'm very excited for you ????

Ditto to beni . I make my shakes in the morning in a Blender Bottle. I always top it off with ice and that alone tends to get rid of a lot of the bubbles and foam. But it then sits in the fridge at work until I end up drinking it mid day. By then, even if I do reshake it (my Fiber supplement always settles out) it never bubbles up as much as when I first make it. As for early on when I was basically living on Protein shakes 2-3 times/day, it took me so long to drink them, the foam had plenty of time to dissipate, and whatever bubbles were left never bothered me.

You'd have to talk to your insurance company. Mine is worded such that WLS is never considered medically necessary no matter what illnesses or weight-related issues you have.

Believe me, you will have no interest in eating Thanksgiving dinner. You should be fine to chill on the couch and sip your water/protein shake/chicken broth...whatever. I had my surgery December 20 and was perfectly happy relaxing on the couch at Grandma's house on Christmas Day. Even if you don't feel up to whatever family gathering there is, there will be many other Thanksgivings to enjoy. I was actually scheduled for surgery in January, but when I had a window of opportunity to take off work around the holidays I jumped at the chance and moved my surgery up 20 days, even though it meant missing a good friend's funeral and not being able to help with Christmas stuff. Just go for it.

Oh yeah, and stay off the scale. Take note of your progress by how your clothes fit and other NSV's. I actually dropped a whole pant size during the month I was "stalled". I don't even own a scale, so The only reason I even knew I was stalled was because I went to the doctor 6 times between weeks 6 and 14 and they weighed me each time.

I actually found eggs to be a little dry and hard to eat in the beginning. I ended up mixing them with a little Water and scrambling which made them super soft and moist. These were more palatable to me and went down easier. They do taste different than regular scrambled eggs this way...not sure why, it's just water. But Now I can eat them any way. Oh yeah, and bring on the yolks!

Not sure what Protein powders your nut is looking at, but I have 9 different varieties in my house and 8 of them have less than 80mg sodium per serving. The worst one is premier chocolate which has 210mg per 11 oz. Milk has 130mg per 8oz. But the premier has 30g protein, and the milk only has 8g. You would end up with almost 500mg sodium to get that much protein from milk. So on a protein/sodium ratio, milk is much worse than protein powders. whey protein isolate is actually the best absorbed protein source there is....better than dairy, eggs, beef, chicken, soy, etc. I understand some surgeons not wanting you to drink your calories once you are on regular food but at this stage that's your best option for protein. I've always gotten in 60g or more of protein thanks to the protein powders and have had no hairloss or lost muscle tone. Even at 10 months out I have a protein smoothie everyday. This frees me up to include a healthy balance of fruits, veggies and whole grains instead of having to eat only protein for every meal and snack. Sorry for my soapbox rant, just wanted to dispute the myth about the evil protein powders. Good luck with everything. I'm sure you'll figure out what works best for you. And, BTW, I was on liquids for 18 days postop, then pureed until day 27 and soft food until day 40. Lots of different postop plans out there.

That's not very many calories....you are pretty much in starvation mode. Eat more and drink more. I stalled for a month between weeks 6 and 10. In fact, I gained 3 pounds and THEN stalled for a month. I was on a medication that made me very nauseous during that time and could barely eat or drink. I even had to get IV fluids 3 times for dehydration. As soon as I stopped the meds I pretty much doubled my food and liquid intake and lost 8 pounds in 1 week!

I like every comment I get. It sure beats the non-comments no one ever sad out loud when I was fat. Everything from "wow" to "I can't believe how great you look" and even "you can stop losing now" and "eat a donut you skinny bitch". However, the "you have no boobs or butt so now you look like a prepubescent boy" wasn't particularly flattering ????

There's a local business in town buying all the Halloween candy kids want to sell. They are also asking for the kids to write letters and draw pictures and then sending everything to the troops. That way the kids make a little money, they don't fill up on candy and junk and the soldiers get a nice treat from home.

I ate full fat everything in the first month or so. Your calorie intake is so low at this point it won't matter. My nut actually laughed when I expressed concern that her recommended yogurt was not low fat. In fact, my postop diet plan never called for low fat anything. Besides, you need fat in your diet for proper cell function and in order to absorb fat-soluble Vitamins. And a lot of "fat-free" foods are higher in carbs (check out the labels) and I'll take fat over carbs anyday. For example, fat free 1/2 and 1/2 actually has corn syrup solids added to it. Once I started regular food, I did watch my fat a little bit by using skim milk, low fat Greek yogurt, PB2, etc. but once I got close to goal I went back to 2% milk, real cream in my coffee, cooking with butter, regular Peanut Butter, lots of nuts and avocados, etc.

I ate full fat everything at that stage. Your calorie intake is so low at this point it won't matter. My nut actually laughed when I Expressed concern that her recommended yogurt was not low fat. Besides, you need fat in your diet for proper cell function and in order to absorb fat-soluble vitamins. And a lot of "fat-free" foods are higher in carbs (check out the labels) and I'll take fat over carbs anyday.

Everyone is different, but I only took a week. Had surgery on a Friday, flew back from Mexico on Monday, drove 5 hours the rest of the way home on Tuesday, plowed the driveway when I got home, laid on the couch all day Wednesday, got a haircut, got my nails done and did some office work from home on Thursday and back to work (as a veterinary technician) on Friday. But then I had the weekend off, before going back full time. I have a very active job lifting, bending, squatting, walking, standing and driving all day and I was definitely tired but able to do my job OK. It's hard to tell how you will feel, though, because I've read some people need 4-6 weeks.

Congrats and thanks...you are in inspiration. And I discovered that my greatest motivator is my before picture...yuck!

I tried to stop losing once I got close to goal, too. I added more healthy fats (2% milk instead of skim, more nuts, full fat yogurt and cottage cheese) and more carbs....whole grain/fiber bars instead of Protein bars, more fruit, starchy veggies, etc. My weight loss definitely slowed, but I still still lost another 12 pounds over the last 4 months. I think I'm pretty stable now and will probably stay were I'm at with the way I'm eating. I don't track calories either, but there were a couple days I decided to keep count since that's how so many people monitor on here. I was around 1400-1600 calories on average....definitely more on lazy weekend days where I find myself munching all day and less on workdays when I'm too busy to eat. I think your body will just find its new normal based on your new diet and metabolism. Goal sizes and weights are really just arbitrary numbers. My surgeon's goal was 160, mine was 150 and here I am at 138. And yes, I feel too thin right now....being able to see my ribs and collar bones and hip bones is a little disconcerting. But I also feel comforted that I've got a 10 pound bounce window to work with. I think you will start to feel comfortable again once your head has a chance to catch up with your body. And everyone else will eventually get used to seeing the new you, too.

Check out the plastics subforum on here. Cowgirljane used a surgeon she highly recommends.

That sounds great! I'm always trying to find creative ways to incorporate protein powder. I use vanilla powder in my pancake batter, and add unflavored powder in many casseroles. I'm over 10 months out and I still indulge in things from my liquid and Pureed stages.... Premier Chocolate and banana smoothie, muscle milk red velvet cake with caramel Torani syrup, vanilla PB 2 shake, split pea soup, and my favorite pudding of all....cottage cheese blended with milk and Muscle Milk Cake Batter protein powder. Tastes just like cheesecake and loaded with protein.

Just wondering why, at this crucial stage of healing, are you bothering with so many things with no nutritional value? Hopefully all the Jello, popscicles, ice cream and fudgsicles are just treats for after you've already gotten in all of your Water, Protein and Vitamins. If your tummy can tolerate it, V8 is another thing I drank to help with nutrients at that stage. And there are a lot of good healthy liquid ideas in the food and nutrition subforum on here.

Hey barb, great to hear from you! You look fabulous and glad you are doing well. I went nuts shopping when I went home for a visit a month ago...even had to borrow an extra suitcase for the trip back. But I've been trying to restrain myself since then

My insurance specifically excluded WLS and any complications due to WLS unless they were "life threatening". There were no insurance plans available in my state to cover anything WLS related. I researched extensively for insurance for postop complications and didn't have much luck. Some surgeons offer BLIS insurance to cover complications, but the surgeon I chose didn't. That may be something you want to consider when deciding on a surgeon. Medical Tourism Insurance.com. Is one of the companies I found that does offer some postop complication coverage, but read the fine print and limits very carefully. It really didn't matter if I had surgery in Mexico or in the US, complications would not be covered either way. So I just went with the surgeon and facility I felt the safest with and resigned myself to bankruptcy if anything bad happened. Just one of the things in the "cons" column when I decided to have surgery. Luckily all went well. Insurance covered my postop bloodwork because my PCP submitted it as a wellness checkup.

Ditto to the above. My surgeon said if it passes through a straw it's OK for liquids stage. I couldn't stand anything sweet postop so I never had any Jello or Popsicles, etc. I went for savory and made sure everything I drank had Protein in it. I did drink Protein shakes but diluted with milk to cut the sweetness. My nut really encouraged drinkable yogurt starting day 4 for the protein and to help replace normal flora disrupted by surgery. I added unflavored Protein powder to every Soup and broth I could find. Anything with chunks I blended and strained. Artificial sweeteners also upset my sleeve, so I never bothered with the sugar-free thing. I drank decaf herbal teas, regular Vitamin Water, life water, pedalyte, and 100% fruit juices (all diluted 1/2 and 1/2 with water because they all tasted too sweet) Good luck..hang in there you will be eating normal again soon.

Celestial seasonings Sleepy time tea has beome my best friend. I had a cup every night starting day 4 (as soon as I got home from Mexico). The warmth and camomile was very soothing on my poor little healing tummy and I slept great (which I've had trouble with in the past). It became such a habit that I still have a cup at bedtime instead of a bedtime snack. And I've recently discovered Rooibos Madagascar vanilla tea....very delicious with a splash of milk or cream. I was never a tea drinker before surgery, but coffee (even decaf) really irritated my sleeve postop. I have since discovered the joys of tea! I can drink coffee again now and I do have a big travel mug of decaf every morning, but I prefer tea in the afternoon and evenings. There are so many options out there and in the summer a big glass of flavored, unsweetened tea really hit the spot with zero calories.

Fortunately I was a bitch before surgery. ???? no one gave me shit before because they would hear about it. So not much is different now. And it's not that I'm mean, it's just that I am brutally honest and I stand up for myself. Some people may not like me for it, but for the most part people respect me. And my best friends are the ones I don't have to hold anything back from. I've never had to fake anything or keep my mouth shut in front of family or close friends. And vice versa...I only trust the people that bring on the good bad and the ugly and allow me to like them (or not) for who they truly are. So go ahead and stand up for yourself! Getting your emotions out is much healthier in the long run. But yes, some ways are more constructive than others.