heidikat72

Aaaand this is why I hate it when people want to compare weight loss.

@@SarahSleeve
Keep in mind men lose MUCH faster than women.
Try not to get so hung up on the numbers. How much each individual loses is variable for many reasons. You'll just end up disappointed if you set unrealistic expectations for weight loss. Instead try to learn as much as you can about post op life and prepare for the complete lifestyle changes this surgery requires. The rest will follow.

After surgery, when on the full liquid stage... Protein Shakes and broth will count towards your 64 ounces of liquids too.

I wasn't cleared for anything other than walking for 6 weeks.

Think of it this way: Who gets more sympathy and attention from strangers? The person who has intolerable pain and suffering or the one who had pain which could be managed by meds and walking as prescribed? Who is more likely to post online?
Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I was going to suggest the blog mentioned in the post above - Eggface has an entire post devoted to puree stage ideas. I had a lot of greek yogurt, cottage cheese, the infamous ricotta bake, refried Beans with melted cheese, pureed tuna salad/chicken salad/salmon salad/egg salad (using plain nonfat greek yogurt instead of mayo). Those flavored tuna pouches got me through the puree and soft foods stage and still are a convenient on the run item to keep in my bag and for when I travel.
I used a black and decker mini chopper to make my purees - basically a miniature food processor. Only costs about $10 and was the perfect size for a pouch of tuna or small can of chicken and a tablespoon or two of yogurt. (During puree phase that would be 2 or 3 meals for me)

Exploring foods off your plan is very dangerous. Advancing your diet before your plan allows it can cause serious complications and even death. My mother in law explored foods early in her plan when she was not supposed to. She initially felt fine. For days even she was fine. Then she developed a serious leak. She had to have surgery to fix it. After surgery she developed a serious infection and a fistula that lead outside her stomach, she could not eat or drink anything without it coming out the front of her stomach. They could not contain the infection, they fought it for three months. Eventually she became septic, her organs shut down and she passed away. All because she could not adhere to her prescribed diet plan. The diet plan is given to you for your safety, it's not a suggestion, it's a prescription.
I thought long and hard about having the same surgery as she had but you better believe that I have followed my plan with the exception of drinking some coffee early which my surgeon said was fine. Please think twice before advancing your diet on your own. And for the poster that said I see no problem exploring foods early as long as you tolerate them. Educate yourself on post op complications surrounding not following your prescribed diet and then show a little responsibility about what you post. New people may read what you say and think it's ok, when it totally is not. I've seen with my own eyes what can happen. Just because you got lucky and were ok does not make it responsible to advocate that others play so dangerously with their lives.

Maybe I am viewing it wrong, but surgery doesn't really make the weight come off. As @@KittyV mentions, you need to take in less calories than you need to burn. Doing that under normal circumstances makes us snarly, hungry, and generally unpleasant.
Surgery removes the volume of our stomach, plus a big part of it (in some circumstances) which produces the hunger hormone ghrelin. That gives us a chance to eat lots less while still retaining our humanity. It does do some other things to our metabolism, but most of our weight loss is through changing habits and a proper attitude. That is, if you want it to be permanent.

Starting about a week post op my brain was seriously messing with me!! Crazy dreams about food - foods that I hadn't eaten in years or even since childhood - so obviously not something I even liked all that much but suddenly my brain was telling me I wanted that. Recognize it for what it is - head hunger only - and fight the temptation. When I would wake up from a dream where I was eating something I'd just have a serious talk with myself, reassure myself and go back to sleep. If a craving hit me while I was awake - I found an activity to do to reset my brain. I had a solid week of intense head hunger and then it eased off. I'll still get weird cravings once in a while but I recognize it as just that, remind myself that my health is way more important and do the brain reset.
You are doing well with Vitamins and Protein - work on getting those Fluid levels up! Stay strong, you got this

Seriously, you guys need to try it - it was one of those meals where I was sitting at the table alone talking to myself with every bite saying "holy crap, this is amazing!!"

I'm 14 months past surgery and still can't stand that full feeling.

I have 3 garbage disposals!

cheese......love it.
I made a batch of kickin' pimento cheese a few days ago and have been enjoying it immensely.

@@ML573663

Found this at Walmart of all places. Wensleydale with Cranberries
The only true Wensleydale cheese in the world comes from the milk drawn from cows that graze the sweet limestone pastures on farms in Upper Wensleydale, England. The cheese was first made there during the Norman invasion, when French monks from the Roquefort region were brought over to practice their cheese-making skills. The Wensleydale pastures give the cheese the unique, refreshing flavor for which it is renowned. The cheese is a fresh, young cheese taken at only three weeks old. It has a clean, mild, slightly sweet flavor with a honeyed aftertaste. The superb texture of fresh Wensleydale is perfectly complemented by the addition of all natural cranberries of the finest quality. Wensleydale with Cranberries is an innovative blend of flavors and a superb visual experience. Made from pasteurized cow's milk.Suitable for vegetarians.Photo depicts whole 2.8 lb. form of cheese.We cut and wrap this item by hand.
Just reading the description makes me drool

There e no BAD foods, but some foods are better type Han others. My NUT APPROVES of any nutritious food in moderation. And lets face it, with a stomach that hold just a little over 3 oz I can only eat in moderation.
Cheese!
I make "crackers" out of cheese for spreading tuna and chicken salad on:
The only special thing you need is parchment paper, though I have made it on pieces of brown pepper bag.
Preheat t he over to 375
Cover a shallow baking pain with paper
Shred 2 oz of cheese and add salt and pepper to taste. make six equal mounds on the paper. Leave room they will spread.
Bake for ~10 minutes. (8 in a convection oven) check every minute after the first 7. It's ready when thin and fairly brown on the edges.
Remove from oven and slide the paper onto a cold surface. It's crisper if it cools faster. In a few minutes take it off the paper with a thin spatula and if the cheese is oily blot the crisps with a paper towel.
Once cooled store loosely wrapped in paper at room temperature, keeps for one or two days.
They stay crisp in the frig and even freezer as old as they are in an air tight container.
Six "crackers" with a Protein spread = 2-3 servings
It might take a few trays to get the texture just right but after that it's really easy to make these.
pizza Crackers:toss together ~ 2oz pre shredded "mexican cheese blend" with 1 table spoon of shredded parmesan, a dash of ground pepper and a few shakes of each, dried basil garlic powder, and dried Tomato powder. You can add also two slices of pepperoni

Had the best cheese meal tonight and so easy
Turkey deli meat
Avocado
Either sliced or cheese stick
Roll up and heat in a pan with little olive oil
Cheese melts and it's like eating grilled cheese with the meat as the bread!
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I f*cking love cheese!!!!
I incorporate it into my "diet" when I'm tracking and when I'm not...
Yeah, that's right...
I f*cking love it!!!!

press a pillow firmly against your abdomen while coughing. the pressure helps hold things in place and hopefully it won't hurt as bad.

If I see another post in a group where someone is lamenting their 10-25lb am month weightloss as "disappointing" or "slow" I am going to lose my mind! Seriously, saw a post on another site where someone has lost more than 20lbs a month and feels like it should be more. Why? Where do people get this information? I truly do not understand.

Just checking in here for accountability -- I made it through these three days of nothing but unprocessed meats, green veggies, eggs, and healthy fats. It was not as hard as I anticipated, but it *was* hard! It got a little less hard every day.
For the next two days, I'll keep eating the same way but add in modest amounts of dairy and go back to tracking everything on MFP. After two days, I'll reassess and see what I think my best plan is going forward.

@@Bufflehead Thank you for continuing to inspire me and show me how this thing is done long-term. I really appreciate your honesty and ability to look at yourself critically. You rock

I started by not following my own advice. I always tell people who ask that they should consider "the holidays" to be one meal, or at most one day, not a stretch of days or a season, when deciding whether to eat off plan for "the holidays." I did a terrible job of following my advice over the past couple weeks and as a result when I checked in with the scale, found myself up 9 pounds. So for those of you wondering whether it is possible for people to gain weight back with the sleeve and how long it takes, let me tell you, yes they can and it can be done very quickly!
So, I am following my own advice I have given here before for people who have found themselves off track, gaining weight back, and eating crazy things. I have done this before a couple of times and it is HARD but it works.
1. Throw away all off-plan food in the house. I don't give myself permission to finish up the Cookies or whatever. They all went in the trash.
2. Start right away. I did not wait until the end of the weekend, the New Year, or any other artificial starting point. My starting point is now.
3. Three days of nothing but unprocessed meats, eggs, and green veggies. No weighing portions or counting calories. Eat as much as I want whenever I feel hungry.
4. After these three days I'll go back to weighing my portions and counting calories. Probably another day or two of just lean meats and green veggies before adding back in things like dairy, nuts, and fruit.< /p>
Today is my first day of the carb detox. I find myself doing some serious internal whining about how hard it is and how unfair it is and I don't want to and one more day of Starbucks indulgences won't really set me back that much . . . but I will push through it and keep reminding myself that I get to eat as much as I want, whenever I want, it's just that I can only eat a few types of food. It will get easier.

I typically use the following blogs:
the world according to eggface
the bariatric foodie
also a lot of blogs about paleo eating have bariatric friendly (or easily adaptable to bariatric friendly) recipe ideas

I typically use the following blogs:
the world according to eggface
the bariatric foodie
also a lot of blogs about paleo eating have bariatric friendly (or easily adaptable to bariatric friendly) recipe ideas

haven't really had that issue with food but at work, the office is so cold that my hot tea was getting cold before i finished it. Mr coffee makes an eletric mug warmer. I think it was less than $10.