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My surgeon asked me about my goal weight at our initial consult. I told him I didn't really have one and wasn't sure what I should expect to achieve. He showed me the weight range that would be normal for my BMI and asked what I thought. I said I thought those numbers sounded insane and can't even remember the last time I weighed anything in that range. First year of high school, maybe. That was the last we discussed it. I know he wrote down something for a goal weight in their records to include in their success/failure stats, but I really don't care what it is and it doesn't affect my own goals. I really don't even have a goal weight. I caved in and named "150" for a goal so I could have a little ticker on my posts here, but I really don't care what number I hit. Maybe I'll reassess once I'm nearing 150. But right now I just want to be healthy and I want my body to DO the things I can't now (run, skip, jump, dance, ride), and beyond that I'm happy.

PB2 Chocolate is God's gift to bypass patients who loved Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and/or Nutella, along with it's buddy PB2 for regular old peanut butter cravings. PB2 is powdered peanuts plus small amounts of salt & sugar; the chocolate version also has cocoa powder. You mix it with Water for delicious peanutty goodness. It's not as smooth as mass-produced peanut butters like Jif or Skippy or Peter Pan, but it really hits the spot. I know others have found it in stores, but I get mine from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Plantation-PB2-Powdered-Premium-Chocolate/dp/B0098WV8F2 Cheers!

I also constantly forget to put mine to sleep / wake up. This is a big reason why I am upgrading to the Charge HR, which tracks sleep automatically. And I also have many different colors of bands for my Flex, but agree they are all ugly and basically never wear them. Basic black goes with everything, they say. I hadn't heard of the necklace/pouch option and would totally have researched and bought one if I wasn't about to replace mine. Cheers!

I had my 2-week post-op appointment on Monday, and based on this thread asked for clarity on whether I had said good-bye to coffee for "forever" or just "for now". I was told that I could have one cup of coffee per day after I have increased my Water consumption to 100oz per day. Since she knows I had been struggling to hit 64oz (most days I get very close or just barely over), and she had just upped my goal to 80oz, it's clear that it'll be a while before coffee and I are reunited. Something to shoot for, even if it feels like I'm about to sprout gills and swim away!

Oh Sassy, I'm so sorry to hear it. It sucks to be sick, but it's good to learn the lesson quickly and move on. ::hugs::

@@Mommabird, my surgeon doesn't support shakes at all, so I've been on purees since my first morning in the hospital. I have been able to get in 60g of Protein from food with no problem. At my appointment on Monday, they increased my goal to 75g of protein. That may be because I'm working out so much and burning so many calories, but either way I've been able to meet the increased goals as well. My most common meal is homemade chicken taco meat (my husband's is to die for) that I throw in the blender along with some salsa. I also eat a lot of scrambled eggs and egg salad. I make homemade chicken salad (sans celery for now) and throw that in the blender too. I eat a lot of Greek yogurt (Dannon Light & Fit Greek is my favorite) and a fair amount of cottage cheese (try adding 1/4tsp of vanilla and 2-3 packets of Splenda to 1/4c. of cottage cheese - it's to die for!). If I'm running short on protein, I drink a cup of fortified chocolate milk (1c skim, 3T powdered nonfat milk, 3T Hershey's sugar-free syrup) for an extra 12.5g protein. If you're on myfitnesspal, feel free to send me a friend request to get access to my food diary for ideas. I eat a LOT of variety. One thing that I don't add, though, is how much seasoning I use. I season the heck out of everything as I like strong flavors and spicy dishes. Hope this helps!

I started with a jawbone up24. The app is gorgeous and completely functional and the sleep tracking is near perfect, but it was physically too bulky at the inside of my wrist, so it went back. Next was a misfit shine, which is a beautiful piece of tech, tells time while you're at it, and claims to be able to track in the Water too. But the interface is absolutely terrible and the app is completely unusable, so that went back too. My third choice was a Fitbit flex and I love it. The band is unobtrusive and it's easy to forget I'm wearing it. The app is great. The lack of automated sleep tracking is annoying and one of the reasons I'm upgrading to a Fitbit charge hr later this month. But overall I love my Fitbit and would never want to go without it again. Hope this helps!

I did something similar in the 10 days before surgery. My surgery was done at a teaching hospital, so I was invited to participate in a research study along with the surgery. The study used three different methods of calculating body fat, one of which was a full-body low-level x-ray (DXA, for the curious). They gave me a copy of the results, so I have a full-color outline of exactly how much and what kind of fat I'm carrying where on my body. And unlike airline x-rays, they don't use a generic human form - they used my actual body shape. I didn't fully fit on the scanner so we have my head and torso, one arm and leg, and about 3/4 of the other arm and leg. No "before" photograph in the world could show in such detail how bad things had gotten with my body. On the way home from the appointment, I stopped at McDonald's drive-thru for a quarter pounder with cheese, fries, and diet coke. I didn't make the connection until later about feeling ashamed by the body scan, and eating crap food. It's ironic that my reaction to seeing (really seeing) my body was to fill it with garbage. But who ever said we were rational? Don't let yourself get hung up on the slip. Be grateful for it, because it showed you where you are vulnerable, and what triggers you to eat what you know intellectually you should not. This is incredibly useful information and you'll need it if you are to be successful after surgery. This is a hard road we've all chosen. One of the benefits of the long ramp-up to surgery is to learn lessons like what you learned today. Be grateful for it, get back on the horse, and move on. Cheers!

My surgeon doesn't have his patients use shakes or liquid Proteins of any kind, so I've been on purees since Day One. I am 2 weeks out from surgery and getting about 60-70g protein per day across 3 meals and no Snacks. If you're on myfitnesspal, you can friend me to see what I'm eating for ideas.

Me too. I literally had a dream this morning that I was at pizza Hut with my family... eating pizza. That was the whole dream.

As your surgeon or their team.

I do too. The anesthesiologist was finally able to get one IV in before surgery, and she got the other in (on the other hand) after I was already under. I came out with some bruising and what looked like some puncture spots, so I'm guessing it wasn't easy for them. Glad I was not there for the party. I have small veins, and they are very deep, and the fact that they have you will have gone without any Water on board for 12+ hours before surgery doesn't help things. But one way or another, they WILL figure it out. I heard of someone recently where they went in through her foot. Where there's a will...

I downloaded eatslower (I think I actually bought eatslowerpro), and it crashes / maxes out after 7-8 bites and won't continue. That's why I switched to just using the clock app. I wish it worked, but at this point I'm happy with the other too. Just hate being out the $1 or whatever I paid.

One of the authors of that book is Chef Dave Fouts. He lost 210 pounds following gastric bypass in 2001, and seems to have found a mission in life to develop flavorful healthy recipes for gastric bypass patients. He's written a number of good cookbooks. If you're curious, just google "chef dave fouts" and you can find him on facebook, twitter, etc. Very inspirational guy, and his recipes look great.

Actually, that's exactly what I do. I use the generic clock app that comes on iphone, and run it in "stopwatch" mode, which just counts up from 0. Every 2 minutes, I take a bite. When I'm done, I reset the clock and let it go until 30 mins so I can drink again. It sounds silly, but I'm just 12 days post-op and that's what is working for me.

Wow, just I read this I remember a conversation with my doctor about 15 years ago where she suggested RNY and wanted to know why I wouldn't consider it. I was offended at the time and completely put it out of my head until this moment. Oh, how much I wish I had taken her suggestion to heart. I'm 43 now and would love to have those years back.

@@Susan33, I had bypass on 1/6. Before bypass, I was on medication for type II though not insulin. I left the hospital completely off all meds to control diabetes. I have been monitoring my glucose level 4x/day to see what happens, and so far the highest I've registered is 124. All others have been in the 90-110 range. So... right away, basically.

If you can make it, you can puree it. Personally, I've been surviving mostly on greek yogurt, flavored-up cottage cheese, scrambled eggs with cheese, pureed super-spicy chicken taco meat, and refried Beans.

Call your surgeon's office to ask what you should do.

@@MamaTo3inNH, that's fantastic news! It must be a huge relief. Now to just rest and get better before the big day on Monday!

Are you getting any exercise? A little bit of exercise that's different from normal might shake things loose.

My major gas pain (the kind in my guts, not the "blow me up for surgery" muscle pain) started in earnest on Day 3.

Holy cow, that's fast! Is your head spinning?

@@MamaTo3inNH, I totally know what you mean. In the grand scheme of things a week or two here or there doesn't matter, but once we get a date we WANT IT DONE ALREADY and any possible delay is grounds for a nuclear response. It's a tough conversation to have with your surgeon to be sure. You don't want to oversell how sick you are and have them cancel, but you also don't want to undersell your symptoms and risk having a bad recovery. I think the only answer is to be as clear and precise as you can and see what happens. If it helps, know that they don't want to cancel your surgery either. There is an entire team of professionals and the highly-valuable operating room already booked, and there's no way to fill your slot on short notice if you can't be there. That's why I'm sure they'll have guidelines about what to do - to keep them honest too. Please let us know how the call goes!

I'm so sorry! There's someone posting in the January surgery forum that's going through the same thing, though i think her surgery is a week from Monday instead of Monday. Time's getting pretty tight for a recovery. Have you talked to your surgeon's office? Have you seen a regular doctor? I think the likelihood of cancellation depends somewhat on the nature of the illness and how well it responds to treatment. If you go in to the doc, you may be able to get a massive dose of antibiotics or other treatment to speed things along.