Jdub

I was taking fish oil pills pre-op, and then I switched to a brand called NutraSea in liquid form as per my NUTs recommendation post-op. The bottle I have is lemon flavored. Has a bit of a weird texture (I would think it'd be the same as taking a swig of vegetable oil). This brand seems to have much more omega-3's then my pills had and 1 tsp/day is the serving size that contains 1500mg of total omega-3 fatty acids (750mg EPA, 500mg DHA).

243.6 for today's weigh in!

I got some of those Quest Cookies and cream bars on order. I think I'm addicted to ordering Protein bars online! Seems to be all I spend my money on lately is Protein Bars and powders

I'm in Canada, so I'm sure my Costco carries different stuff

Has anyone tried the Pure Protein crunch bars? I happened to pick up a box of them at costco yesterday after reading the label for a few minutes thinking about it. The package my local Costco had contained 6 of each kind: Double chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch and Double Chocolate vanilla Crunch. I wish they had a little bit more protein per bar (only 17g), and a little less carbs (14g per bar with 5g sugar, and 4g sugar alcohol), but they only come in at 190 calories per bar. I've had one of each kind and they taste like you should be eating a delish candy bar. Just wondering thoughts from anyone else on here that has tried them. I have a few boxes of Quest bars, but it's always good to have a variety. Makes for a great snack or Meal Replacement. I find they seem to fill me up more then the Quest bars do! Attached a couple of pics of the Peanut Butter:

246.1 for todays weigh in!

How intense is the exercising? Maybe you need to up your calories a little in case your in too much of a deficit (ie - starvation mode). I found that If I went to the gym 5+ days a week that my weight loss slowed compared to going every other day while on 800-1000 calories a day. I've found that this is what works for me.

No drain tube either, and I had a 4 day stay in the hospital.

250.3 for today's weigh in

Found an interesting albeit long (31 minute) video on an interesting topic. Thought I would share and maybe open up some discussion on this topic. I haven't been back to weight training long enough yet to really comment on my own body, but I am around 60-80g carbs/day so I'm curious as to what I'm going to see happen with myself as I start to increase weight training. Video includes: Nutritionist Alan Aragon, MS Muscle Scientist Dr. Brad Schoenfeld New York Times Best Selling Author Adam Bornstein http://crackingthemusclecode.com/low-carb-diets-and-building-muscle/?ref=251

I'm married 6 years to my wife (been together 18 years). When we met we both weighed less then what we do now. We were at our highest weight when we got married, and shortly after that we decided to change our lifestyle and she managed to lose 100lbs working out at the gym over the course of a year so we could start a family. She is very strong willed when she puts her mind to it! She has been very supportive in me having WLS as I gained back some of the weight I had loss a few years ago. She understands the benefits of eating healthy and exercising and is totally on board with me through this journey. She comments on how inspiring and motivating I am to her and it's actually sparked her to take a stand for herself and get help with her anxiety issues and I really see improvements in our relationship in the last few months. I think she enjoys the fact that my sex drive has gone up and I'm back chasing her around like in our early days We are in it to win it!

Is it your legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes) that are sore? It could just be that your legs are starting to perhaps build some muscle (Fiber teardown/rebuild). I know that I just started interval jogging about 1.5 weeks ago and had my sleeve on Dec 9/13, and my legs were pretty sore for a few days. i will eventually jog a full 30min duration on the treadmill some day, but I'm not there yet, so it's 2min jogging, 1 min walking for now!

Week 6 here and I agree with slvrsax...I can handle about 2 oz of some soft chicken or fish, and a tablespoon or two of mashed veggies. Takes me 20+ minutes to do it, but I'm further ahead then I was a week ago when trying to eat 1 oz was difficult to get that down. It can only get better. I am finding some foods give me great discomfort when even trying to eat them slow. It's like they get stuck going down!

I know how you all feel...I'm wearing stuff that goes from L to XXL depending on the make. I'm with RJ - I hate trying stuff on in the stores That's typical of us men though

I had to eat out at a restaurant last Friday (meeting with some clients). I felt bad for the waitress as she came back to the table about 10 minutes after serving the food and kept asking me if there was something wrong with my meal . I just told her I recently had surgery and couldn't eat very much, and I ended up taking 80% of it home with me.

I always watch my sodium intake (having high BP), and my NUT was reluctant and said not to worry, but I forced her to give me a number, and she said to try and stay under 2000mg/day. I'm usually around 1600, but I need to chose low sodium options most of the time!

Maybe it's time to follow up with your doc again. Gliclazide can drop your sugars too low, but metformin doesn't have that effect. When are you taking your sugars? Are they still high 2 hours after eating? Do you track your food intake with a site like MyFitnessPal? It might help you pinpoint some high carb meals that you should be avoiding. I wasn't on insulin, but even when I started my pre-op diet with the clean eating and low carbs, I was hitting as low as 3.4mmol/l and I ended up with some of the side effects of hypoglycemia (the chest pounding was the big one) and I had to have my Gliclazide dosage reduced even before the surgery. Now post-op I'm off both the Gliclazide and the Metformin, but I still eat a fairly low carb diet, and try to make sure that any carbs going into my system are complex carbs and not simple carbs.

253.1 as of this morning

Thanks for all the comments people! I will most likely follow-up with my surgeons office again and continue following his guidelines first and foremost.

I just had an appointment with my NUT today after being cleared on Monday for phase 4 (Soft foods, mushy foods). According to my surgery binder, I should be in the 800-1000 calories/day goal, but here are the goals my NUT wants me at which seem a bit high: 1200 calories, 130g carbs, 90g Protein, 40g fat. The funny part is she wants me to cut back on Protein shakes, etc... and try to have protein with carbs together (ie - skim milk with half a banana). I honestly think I'll be eating all day long without trying to get some liquid form of protein in at this stage!!!! She was recommended by my Surgeon, so one would expect she's dealt with VSG patients before, but I'm beginning to doubt her abilities at this part in the game. Don't get me wrong...she's fantastic for giving nutrition information to someone who has a normal sized stomach, as she is very pro healthy eating, and less foods with chemicals etc..., but I'm kind of at a loss right now...Especially since in 3 weeks I'll be going to stage 5 (which is cleared for any food type), and she was spouting my calorie intake would go up to 1600 calories/day. I'm introducing soft foods each day with 1oz servings (fish, chicken, vegetables, etc..) and still hitting around my 800 calorie mark. I think I'm going to just continue following my surgeons advice at this point, as even my NUT had some disagreements with what he had in his binder (like her saying protein first (next to water) wasn't the almighty). I honestly can see myself at 1200 calories in stage 5, but not right now. She is supposed to be emailing me a sample menu in a few days so I'll see what she comes up with.

I was told it irritates the stomach lining. Some folks here do still drink it but I think this is after the healing phase is over. I'm happy with a decaf now and again. Just one less addiction for me

You know something...This was my biggest concern I had pre-op as well, but I followed my instructions, and made sure I got up and walked around 3-4 times a day at the hospital, and worked up to my 30mins a day when i got back home. I told myself that I needed to keep moving to prevent the clots! It's the fear of the unknown that always gets to us, but I'm sure you would regret it if you passed it all up over that one risk which is general to every surgery. Good luck in whatever you decide!

I'm only a few days on the soft foods (4.5weeks post op), and I've only tried a few things right now, but really feel the same way. I was told to start out with 1oz of soft food, but I've had 1 large egg (made into egg salad) with 2 laughing cow cheese wedges for lunch, and didn't have an "OMG, I'm so stuffed I'm in agony moment"...I've had 1oz of tuna salad, some ground chicken, and tonight I had some mashed up haddock fillet, with 2.5tbsp of mashed carrot along with a cheese wedge. I have been following the guidelines of trying to eat 1oz per 10 minutes and it seems to be helping. I will say that I tried some blenderized ground beef with a bit of salsa mixed in the other night and I could only eat half of the 1oz portion as I felt some pain running up the stomach line and I think beef is still too hard at this point. I've been able to tolerate everything else very well though, but if I don't take my time eating and do small bites I will feel tightness in my esophagus and get sharp pains across my chest! I feel comfortable when I'm done the small portion, but I know my NUT is going to push me to eat more as I need to get in an additional 200 calories/day, and it's hard as I feel like I'm constantly eating all day long now!

I was told no caffeine due to irritation to the stomach. I used to be one of those people that would have 3-4 cups a day, and I could drink a pot at night and still go to bed with no ill effects. Now that I've detoxed myself off of it, I have a decaf coffee once in a while, and I really don't even enjoy the taste of it anymore. I was never a big tea drinker before either, but I do like a peppermint tea now and then (caffeine free of course)

I was down about 22lbs in my first month post-op, but if it takes me a year to get rid of the other 80, I'm happy with that