JamieLogical

I weigh all my food on a food scale. I weigh out the portion size I think I can eat, usually 2 oz. of anything semi-solid (cheese, refried Beans, etc.) and 4 oz. of anything that's mostly liquid. If I don't finish, then I just try to estimate what fraction of it I did eat (1/2, 3/4, etc.). I usually do eat all of it though, I just take as much time as I need to finish it. I took over 45 minutes to eat my first scrambled egg. I reheated it partway through.

If you try to drink anything other than Water, drink it out of a cup with a lid (like a travel mug) so you won't smell it. That might help you at least get some calories and nutrients.

I've been taking the Vitaleph Multivitamin and I plan to stay on it. I bought the four bottle package, which is a 4 month supply for a little over $100. I had purchased one bottle of their probiotic as well, but I decided to switch to a brand I can buy locally that only requires one pill per day instead of two. I did not purchase their shakes or any of their other supplements.
 
As for flying after surgery, I ended up staying an extra night in San Diego, so I could take a morning flight the next day. So I was in the TJ Mariott the night before surgery and two nights after, then I stayed a night at the Holiday Inn Express right next to the airport and took their airport shuttle for my flight the following morning. I had two flights with a layover in Chicago. It turned out to be a bit of a nightmare, because my flight from Chicago to my home city was cancelled! But I was able to get on a different flight and just made it home a couple hours later than planned. I got an aisle seat on both my return flights so I could get up and walk a little if I needed and I did lots of walking in the airports.

The View is a show where women sit around and just chat. Of course those chats are going to be full of personal opinions and viewers of the show know that. I don't think many viewers will take Rosie's opinion as gospel and go forth in the world spreading that gospel to others. Anyone who is truly interested in weight loss surgery will do research themselves and ultimately speak to their doctors and surgeons and make their decision based on THAT information, not a 60-second conversation on a talk show. So I see no reason to get all up in arms about what Rosie said. It's a chat show, not a news program.

I haven't been having any trouble getting about 85 grams of Protein in a day since I moved to pureed foods. My typical day looks like this:
Breakfast:
EAS AdvantEDGE Protein shake
110 calories, 17 grams of protein
Lunch:
scrambled egg w/ 1/2 oz. of reduced fat cheese
154 calories, 11 grams of protein
Early Afternoon Snack:
lowfat string cheese
70 calories, 8 grams of protein
Late Afternoon Snack:
3 oz. 1% cottage cheese
68 calories, 12 grams of protein
Dinner:
Shelley's Ricotta Bake - 1/6th of total recipe (recipe on this page)
141 calories, 11 grams of protein
Evening Snack:
EAS AdvantEDGE Protein Shake + 14 grams of Now Sports unflavored whey protein
165 calories, 30 grams of protein
Obviously there's some variation in there, though I always get the two Protein shakes in (one with extra protein powder). I hope that helps!

Someone asked for the links, so Jessi provided them and now you are tearing her apart for just doing what she was asked?

Swelling in the abdomen is normal. I'm a little over 3 weeks post-op and still have some swelling in my abs. I had a Tummy Tuck three years ago and even though I regained 80 pounds afterward (thus my decision to have VSG), my stomach staid very flat and firm. Since my VSG three weeks ago, it's definitely way "squishier" than it was pre-op. So definitely still some tissue swelling there.
As for the dark urine, it's likely due to dehydration. In the early days post-op, it is very hard to get in enough Water and since your body is healing, it requires even more Water than usual, so dehydration is common. I'm 24 days post-op now and I still have dark urine when I first go to the bathroom in the morning, after not having drunk anything all night. I'm getting right at the 64 oz. mark for fluids each day now.
As for the soreness in your limbs while sleeping, I did not experience that and I am not sure what could be causing it. You may want to contact your surgeon or PCP about that one!

I had trouble in the first week or two with the immediately gurgling/gas sensation and some esophageal constriction after every single sip I took. I can still get that now if I drink too much too fast, but I get it much more with food now than I do with liquid.< /p>

Someone asked for the links, so Jessi provided them and now you are tearing her apart for just doing what she was asked?

The View is a show where women sit around and just chat. Of course those chats are going to be full of personal opinions and viewers of the show know that. I don't think many viewers will take Rosie's opinion as gospel and go forth in the world spreading that gospel to others. Anyone who is truly interested in weight loss surgery will do research themselves and ultimately speak to their doctors and surgeons and make their decision based on THAT information, not a 60-second conversation on a talk show. So I see no reason to get all up in arms about what Rosie said. It's a chat show, not a news program.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Rosie gets paid a whole lot of money to give hers on national television every day. So that's what she does.
Besides, the show is called "The View" after all....

The View is a show where women sit around and just chat. Of course those chats are going to be full of personal opinions and viewers of the show know that. I don't think many viewers will take Rosie's opinion as gospel and go forth in the world spreading that gospel to others. Anyone who is truly interested in weight loss surgery will do research themselves and ultimately speak to their doctors and surgeons and make their decision based on THAT information, not a 60-second conversation on a talk show. So I see no reason to get all up in arms about what Rosie said. It's a chat show, not a news program.

It sounds, based on your last post, that you just made a post to have people pat you on the back and tell you it would be ok. The surgery may (or may not, it's different for everyone) control your physical hunger, but it does absolutely nothing for your head hunger. You are still going to face the challenge of saying no to yourself when presented with something you shouldn't eat. I agree that the pre-op diet is tough, but you have it so much easier than many do. I couldn't have any food. I think you should at least let your surgeon know, it would be better than him/her not knowing before doing surgery on you.

I'm in the pureed (some soft foods) phase now and I am still having to do two shakes a day to supplement my Protein. I JUST posted an average day of food on another thread to show how I can usually get 80-85 grams of Protein per day:
Here's a link to my post in that thread: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/320244-protein-protein-protein/#entry3611585

Ummmmm....can we just talk about the fact that everything she said is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!?!? As someone who HAS done my research and has lived in the WLS world for quite some time now, she's correct. Half of lapbands ARE in fact removed, and the long term success rates of lapband are much less than that of gastric sleeve or RNY. Everyone is so freaking quick to get insulted these days and I wish you would just stop it already. She spoke her opinion, which by the way was riddled with fact after fact, and you guys all get your panties in a wad? Grow UP already.

I haven't been having any trouble getting about 85 grams of Protein in a day since I moved to pureed foods. My typical day looks like this:
Breakfast:
EAS AdvantEDGE Protein shake
110 calories, 17 grams of protein
Lunch:
scrambled egg w/ 1/2 oz. of reduced fat cheese
154 calories, 11 grams of protein
Early Afternoon Snack:
lowfat string cheese
70 calories, 8 grams of protein
Late Afternoon Snack:
3 oz. 1% cottage cheese
68 calories, 12 grams of protein
Dinner:
Shelley's Ricotta Bake - 1/6th of total recipe (recipe on this page)
141 calories, 11 grams of protein
Evening Snack:
EAS AdvantEDGE Protein Shake + 14 grams of Now Sports unflavored whey protein
165 calories, 30 grams of protein
Obviously there's some variation in there, though I always get the two Protein shakes in (one with extra protein powder). I hope that helps!

I weigh all my food on a food scale. I weigh out the portion size I think I can eat, usually 2 oz. of anything semi-solid (cheese, refried Beans, etc.) and 4 oz. of anything that's mostly liquid. If I don't finish, then I just try to estimate what fraction of it I did eat (1/2, 3/4, etc.). I usually do eat all of it though, I just take as much time as I need to finish it. I took over 45 minutes to eat my first scrambled egg. I reheated it partway through.

I started on pureed foods last Thursday. So far I've done pretty well. A whole scrambled egg is a little too much still, but I do okay with as much of it as I can eat. I've also had cottage cheese and other soft cheeses, refried Beans, shredded chicken in sauce, and I've tried tuna salad twice now. The tuna salad has been the hardest because it's really dry and hard to eat without being able to wash it down with some Water. Next Monday I get to start on other soft foods like ground meats and Beans. I am so hitting up Wendy's for some chili that day!

I am exactly three weeks post-op as of today and I am supposed to start doing 60-90 minutes of brisk walking in addition to my normal daily steps. I am a little worried about starting more intense exercise while my calorie intake is still so low. I've been working hard the past few days to get more calories in and over the weekend I was able to get up over 700 calories, but it's a lot easier to do that when I am home all day and can snack more. On weekdays, I'm at work and it's much harder to get in any food between "meals".
I'm still on pureed foods and some soft foods. Next week I can start ground meats and Beans. Anyone have any suggestions for getting my calories up into the 800 range so I can sustain daily exercise?
Right now my week days look something like this:
Breakfast: Protein shake
Lunch: Soup or tuna salad (the tuna salad is still a bit hard for me to eat)
Afterwork Snack: 2 oz. of low fat cottage cheese or a scrambled egg
Dinner: Shelley's Ricotta Bake (Google the recipe! It's so good!)
Late Snack: Protein Shake
I feel like I could probably get up to 800 calories if I could squeeze in some Snacks while I'm at work.

Yes, this has REALLY been bothering me lately. I can't think of anything else. I even dream about it at night. I want to live my REAL LIFE! I hate that I can't think about or talk about anything else. My work is suffering, my relationship is suffering, it is NOT healthy! I've even thought to myself several times that maybe I should just cancel it altogether, so I can get back to being functional. But, I'm hoping that a few weeks after the surgery is done (on Sept. 1), I can start thinking about other things again. Maybe?

I am sorry for all the difficulty you both experienced, but I guess the positive outcome is that he is cleared for surgery and will still get to have it very soon. Hopefully you won't have to wait long for a second surgery date. And hopefully everything goes smoothly for your husband next week!

Are you tracking your calorie intake? If so can you tell us how many calories you are eating as well as what your activity level is like?

Tomorrow will be three weeks out for me and I've only lost 10 pounds. I did lose 24 pounds pre-op, though.

I'm 5'6" and I would love to just be in size 12 jeans. I am VERY bottom-heavy (see my gallery pics) and a size 12 is the smallest I've ever been in my adult life. The last time I was in a 12 I was probably 15 or 16 years old. So first goal is definitely to get down to a 12 in jeans and we'll see what happens from there.

My pre-op diet was different from yours, but I found it to be incredibly miserable. I was allowed three Protein shakes per day and one green salad with calorie-free dressing. Plus unlimited sugar-free Jello and popsicles. It totaled out to about 450 calories a day which was terrible! I was expected to keep up with my cardio, keep going to work full time, and I still had 100% of my stomach at that point! Ugh!
I had terrible headaches the first few days as my body went into ketosis. My breath was terrible. And I had NO energy. I ended up having to scale way back on my cardio intensity to still get any exercise in.