roundisashape

For what?

I took a week off, then worked from home for a week. No lie, the week I went back SUCKED. I was still guarding a lot when I drove, and by about 3:00 I felt like I got run over by a nap truck - I'd go home after work and pretty much immediately fall asleep. Greek yogurt, well mixed tuna / chicken salads, Protein shakes, little containers of refried Beans and soups or whatever that I mashed up at home were all handy. If you have a refrigerator accessible at work, one of the things I liked to do during purees was freeze my mush into ice cube trays. Each cube is about an ounce, so I'd pack up a whole bunch of 2 ounce food cubes into individual sandwich bags, then pack them all in a bigger zipper bag and stick them in the freezer at work. Then I could just pick out what I wanted and didn't have to worry too much if I had an extra late night or whatever.

During purees, I was a fan of chicken and tuna salad mixed REALLY well (just meat, mayo, spices - no veggies). About 1/2 can of Underwood chicken spread hit the spot during that stage too. Don't judge, lol - as I saw someone else mention on here, you'll eat things during this stage you'll probably never touch again. About a quarter cup or so of fork mashed canned corned beef hash went down well too, and felt more like food than the other stuff on the list. Refried Beans with a little pureed salsa also felt like real food, and they're high in Protein. The other thing I liked was pureed Hormel white chicken chili. Since it purees up a little thicker than plain soup, it feels a little more substantial in your mouth. If your soft stage is distinct from your puree stage, that's a little easier. I'm on soft stuff now and it opens up new choices. Moist meats, cooked veggies and fruits, beans, etc. The last couple of days I've been eating ground beef cooked with canned green beans.

Hi! Congratulations on the success you've had - it looks like you've done a great job! So I'm a natural born slob. Easily distracted, hate to clean, tend to let things pile up if I'm not diligent about it. I'm on an online motivation forum for THAT too, and one of their favorite sayings is, "motivation follows action". Maybe if you sign up for one or two sessions with a trainer where you've paid for it and committed to being there, you'll go...then feel more motivated to go again on your own once you get over the hump and get moving again. You can do it!

I don't know that anyone out there would have the willpower or ability - even sleeved - to sustain such a low calorie diet for that long. If I were, I would still be afraid of what comes after. One of the best things we can do for ourselves during the losing process is to learn and establish new habits that will keep us from ever regaining the weight, and it doesn't seem like there would be much room in such a restrictive plan to do that. Good luck with your decision!

@@Jacqbult, not just you - I hit the dreaded 3 week stall, then dropped another 7 pounds really fast, and I've been sitting at the same weight for a little over a week now. Fits and spurts, but when it moves at least it's going in the right direction! I don't weigh every day, but despite knowing better I still weigh more often than I should. Trying to look at it this way - there's no way on earth that I WON'T eventually lose weight when I only take in 600-800 calories / day.

I just think it's a shame that they knew she wasn't ready before surgery, and gave it to her anyway. Dangerous and irresponsible, honestly - you can do a lot of damage to yourself not following at least some of the basic rules. That, and I have no idea how she was ABLE to sabotage herself that early out. I still love food as much as I always did, but one bite too many and it comes back out whether I want it to or not.

Try a Tums or Rolaids - I'm on a PPI but occasionally have some breakthrough acid. Didn't know what it was at first, and thought I was hungry. Now if I'm hungry and don't think I should be (it hasn't been long enough or whatever), I take one of those first and see if it makes the hungry feelings go away before I eat again.

That's fantastic!!! Be careful, I tripped over the hem of my pants and almost face planted the other day

I haven't been to Mexico, but I've done a fair amount of work travel. Hopefully now that I'm losing weight it won't be something I'll need to do anymore, but I found it helpful to ask to board early. I've never had an issue at the gate just asking if I can board early due to a medical condition (obesity is a medical condition). Then when they call people with little kids and disabilities, you can get on the plane and it'll give you a minute to get situated and ask for a seatbelt extender if you need it before the plane gets packed. Good luck to you!

I average anywhere from 600 - 800 calories per day, depending on whether I have any oatmeal or fruit - sometimes I track that many but leave remnants on the plate so it's probably not that much. Also average about 40 carbs total, but not sure how many are offset. I'll be 6 weeks on Tuesday, and last time I checked, I was down 34 pounds .

Welcome, Isaac! What a cutie! I'm sorry to hear about your other dog. When I lost my Jenny, I swore I wouldn't get another dog anytime soon. Two months later, and I have a new best bud. It's just not the same without a dog in the house!

I have a really small circle of friends, and they're all people I've been close with FOREVER. I don't expect too many changes, but I'm making an effort not to drive them crazy and to pay attention to what's happening in their lives too. This is such a big deal for us it can be easy to get lost in it.

Oh my gosh, I'm STILL like a kid running home every night to see if my Sea Monkeys look like monkeys yet! Wake up, check the mirror, then slap down that little part of me that goes, "why am I not skinny yet?", lol!!!! Seems like a pretty normal reaction to me. Or we're both nuts, but I can live with it!

Had glue everywhere but the drain hole, and steri-strips on that one - no bandages anywhere but the drain hole. The nurse said I only needed the bandages until it stopped leaking so my clothes wouldn't get messed up

I knew you folks would understand! It's not a bad problem to have, and thankfully I can dress casually for work so it's not a big deal. I just wanted to be cute last night, lol. A few more pounds and I should be down a size, then I'll quit complaining until I end up between that size and the next one down :D

Please don't get me wrong, I'm THRILLED to finally be dropping weight - but I'm so frustrated tonight! I want to go out and NOTHING looks right. I could fit a sack of potatoes in the ass of all my pants, but my belly is still too big to go down a size. Went shopping this afternoon and almost cried, because we all know the bigger you are, the bigger the gap between sizes, and I couldn't find a single thing that fit like it should. Sigh. Oh well - by this time next year, I should be able to find something and feel cute in it!

Not all pain meds work the same for everyone, so complain now while you're still in the hospital - I got released Thanksgiving day and think that contributed to getting ignored. If the pain isn't under control, it makes everything else sooo much harder! Hope you're feeling better soon!

My nutritionist said it's okay to count it as a liquid. As for eating and drinking them, I'm too early out for that and couldn't hold both! .

Not an ounce of advice, just spotted this thread and wanted to wish you good luck!

I think one of the lowest calorie ones out there are Syntrax nectar, and the nutrition profile looks good - but honestly, I hate them. They're a fan favorite, though! Premier RTD shakes are the ones I used the most. 30 grams of Protein for a container, and they kind of taste like Yoo-Hoo to me. Plus they're easy to stash all over the place so there's always one handy. Syntrax Matrix is pretty good, but check to make sure it's on the approved list for your program. It was on ours, but I've seen a few people say it isn't on theirs. Good protein, decent taste, and the price is pretty good too. In terms of taste, BSN Syntha-6 is probably my favorite. It IS a little higher on the calorie side, but I don't use a full serving at one time. I worried a lot about the calories in that one (200/serving) at first, but it turns out I can't finish a serving, so it's a moot point. Check out places like Nashua Nutrition (there are others, too, I just can't think of them) and you can order samples of a whole bunch of brands and flavors for less than $2 each. Good luck finding the right one!

There are so many differences in plans! The one I got laid out 3 meals and 3 Snacks - I couldn't meet Protein without them, and with such tiny portions I personally will get a little lightheaded if I don't ingest something every few hours. When I asked the nutritionist, she looked at me like I was an idiot and told me that's why they suggested eating 5-6 times/day, lol. This week, I've been snacking on about 1/3 - 1/2 of a single serve mandarin cup in the morning (I've been craving citrus like crazy) and a turkey lunchmeat, cheese, and mustard roll in the afternoon. If I weren't hitting at least the minimum protein goal, I'd swap the fruit out for a protein snack. We're also allowed the melty kind of crunchy stuff on our soft diet plan. I got a free sample of dill pickle flavored "krinkles" - they're basically soy chips - that are 12 grams of protein per bag. The bag lasted me 3 days, but satisfied the need to crunch something without going off plan. You can order those online, they come in a few flavors.

Depends a lot on your insurance requirements - have you been to an info session with your desired hospital / surgeon yet? I knew my PCP was on board with WLS and was able to meet with a surgeon really early in the process. Otherwise, one step at a time and you'll be done with everything before you know it!

Another thing is that, when you do eat, really focus on it. Don't do it in front of the TV or while you're running around, but take your time and enjoy it. Easier said than done, I struggle with it myself, but when I'm trying to focus on too much at once it's easy to miss those signals that say, "you're done" until you're way past them. Especially early on when we're still figuring out how our new plumbing works!

I didn't throw up the first couple of weeks, but I DO throw up a few times a week now. It's my fault, I'm a slow learner - since I started going through purees and softs, I sometimes eat too fast or don't chew enough. Last night my chicken was too dry and it got stuck, even though I chewed the heck out of it. It's a learning process. BTW, the vomiting - at least for me - is NOTHING like it was pre-op. It's not the violent "I'm so sick and I think I'm going to burst a blood vessel and die" kind of vomiting. It's more like the food just sort of...exits.