iamjohnbamber

12 hours ago, lalame said:

Thank you for the information! I watched your video and I appreciated your perspective on things. Everyone has their favorite way of traveling don't worry on the critical comments. I was sleeved 9/6/16. I haven't been on a cruise post surgery yet but feel better about it now.

I'm glad my video was helpful - and thanks so much!

9 hours ago, CocoNina said:

I went on an all-inclusive vacation 5 months post op because of my anniversary with my hubby. It's not a cruise but similar (unlimited food, drinks, and can go on excursions). At first I used the regular players but could not finish, it looked like I never touched the food. A light bulb came to my head & I used the small desert plates for my meals. Thankfully, my hubby ate anything I couldn't finish. I didn't get any comments from the weight staff.


Height: 5'0"
Weight for WLS consultation: 216 lbs.
Surgery date: 2/13/17
Goal: -71 lbs for healthy BMI (about 145 lbs).
Current weight: 145 lbs, now ready to lose 15 more past goal.
My profile picture is not me. It's my "FITspiration" body.

That's a really good idea too - using small plates. Definitely has helped me in the past too!

42 minutes ago, Sosewsue61 said:

I am going on a cruise 4 months after surgery. It is a 9 day cruise for square dancing. We dance every evening and any afternoon we are en route to a port in the southern Caribbean. I plan on booking port excursions, swimming, seeing a broadway show, and shopping. I also plan to eat lol.

We even dance at a hotel in Miami the night before the cruise. I am really excited as it is the first cruise I have ever been on. I hope to have to alter all my square dance outfits or sew a few new ones before that. Yeeha!!!

Right on! Have a great cruise, sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun!

For the record, my weight loss has improved my confidence to try things I never would have had the courage to try. I went rock climbing on a past cruise, I've even done scuba diving and all of the stuff fit me. Cruises are my favorite form of vacation because of all of the things to do onboard, and it doesn't make me sit on a plane for a long time.

Wow... I posted that as a general question in a supportive community, not an invitation to get chewed out.

Cruises are not all about the food, and there is far more to do on a cruise vacation than just eat. I understand where you are coming from, but that generalization doesn't apply to everyone.

You might be more open-minded if you've been on a cruise, and thus may realize it's not as bad as you're making it out to be.

Hey everyone,

Been a while since I've posted, but I wanted to get some thoughts from all of you that have gone on a cruise after having had your surgery. Have you had any difficult conversations or awkward moments because of food left on your plate, etc? I also had a few crew members make some unnecessary comments to me about how "they have a big kitchen" and would love to bring me tons of food. I hate that stuff...

I made a video over on my YouTube channel about it, I'd be interested to see what you all think as well. Thanks in advance.

Hey all.... Sleeved 6/27, weight is coming off slowly but surely and I'm at the tail end of my restricted diet. My nutritionist told me only eat 3 meals a day and no snacking in between...

I've been doing it, and drinking Water between meals, but it is difficult. I haven't had any Snacks but am thinking about it since if I have something that's innocuous or has some nutritional value it should be ok, right??

I mean, is the whole "only eat 3 meals a day" even realistic?

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Yeah the Protein is sometimes a challenge to get in... but Premiere Protein Shakes are great, really helps that they're 30 grams per shake. I'm struggling to get all my protein in but I'm making efforts!!

@@johnbamber,

LOL! Living proof that there can still be joy in life and food after WLS!

Thank you! There is always joy in life, because to be alive is a beautiful thing.

I doubt those are in your plan!

Hence why I didn't eat them but I was curious if others did.

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The little bready croutons they give with the soup... If I'm on puréed stage I'm assuming I shouldn't eat those right?

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Sleeved 6/27, and have been taking Omeprazole (Prilosec) once daily since surgery, doctor told me to take it for 30 days after surgery. My 30th day is coming up and I'm just wondering if anyone else has had any noticeable change in stomach behavior after not taking the antacid medication any longer.

My doctor approved me for 2.5 weeks... that's how long I was out, and I was ready to go back to work at the tail end of it. I was getting kind of tired of being home all the time.

So sorry to hear... don't give up, though. Most insurance companies have an appeal process, or your doctor may have some other suggestions as to some alternatives. Your doctor or the hospital may even offer a payment plan. Alternatively, have you tried going back on the liquid diet to sort of "reset" your stomach back to your post-lap band days? Sometimes that helps and you can kind of reboot with the lap band.

I miss Chinese food, but I'm also learning a lot about restraint and I think in time I'll be able to indulge every once in a while in a little General Tso's chicken as long as I have it slowly and in moderation. I'm also planning to "budget" for it, so maybe do a shake or two for meals outside of my food that I want, keep my calorie intake down so on the day I want my "Treat" food I can afford it.

Congratulations!! Hang in there it gets easier and better from here. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks about whether or not you got it, you got the surgery to save your life, and to improve your life. YOU did it for YOU, and it's going to help you lead a happier life. That's the most important thing, and nobody can take that away from you.

_{I DID THAT TURNING OVER IN BED BECAUSE I DIDNT PUT ON MY binder. THE DOCTOR SAID ITS BECAUSE THEY SEW THAT MUSCLE UP REALLY TIGHT SO IT HURT LIKE HELL BUT DIDNT CAUSE ANY HARM. AND IF YOU DONT HAVE AN ABDOMINAL BINDER GO GET ONE IT WILL SAVE YOU}

What's an abdominal binder? Never heard of that... I pulled a muscle on my right side but the pain's since gone away (thank goodness) and I think it was from rolling around in bed. I used to be a stomach sleeper but since the surgery have been sleeping on my back and sides. I hope to get back to stomach sleeping at some point but I'm dealing with not sleeping on my stomach for now.

I start my puréed stage tomorrow, and made the ricotta bake tonight. I tasted it... It's goooooooood. Really good.

Like... I'm not a great cook but the recipe was really easy to follow...and it came out really good.

Few things I noticed (and if anyone has ideas on how to improve this I'm all ears)...

I think I burned the cheese, but it still came out tasting good. The recipe is amazing and really easy to do. Here's a link to the recipe I followed (scroll down on the page):

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

The mozzarella cheese topping wasn't sticking to the base, but I wonder if I might have used too large a pan thus the under-spread was too thin? I'm going to see if it's better after being refrigerated and then re-heated.

I used low-fat mozzarella cheese and low fat ricotta, but I'd be interested to figure out the nutritional info (do I just combine the totals on the ingredients?)

The ricotta base breaks apart really easily, which is probably why this is allowed during the purée stage...

For those trying this the first time, if you are nervous at all, just eat really small bites and chew the pants off it and you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

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Jealous! Are you on full liquids? I'm only post op day 4 and already sick of everything.

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Yeah, full liquids until tomorrow then pureed... Hang in there it gets better, I promise!

I am so glad you told us you were eating soup!

as opposed to? :-D

Interestingly enough, they included these little crouton-like things in the bag when I got it to go.. it was tempting to throw them in the Soup, but I resisted... liquids mean liquids, no solids yet...

It's heavenly good... So good I had to take a selfie... Genuine reaction after the first bite.

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You can add me, my username on there is the same as on here - I keep my food diary private, but we can still connect if you like.

Well, drumming is essentially a cardio workout, so breathing is just as important. :-)

But I get what you mean.

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I'm a drummer and keyboard player, sleeved 6/27. Haven't tried playing drums yet, but as long as you do your breathing exercises you'll get all of the anesthesia gas out of your system, and you should be back to normal regarding your breathing after a few days. You'll need to build your energy back up, but you should be fine after a week or two I'd think. I would run this by your surgeon for sure, but the pain will be less and less each day after. I'm 2 weeks out, and can breathe in and out with no problems. Best of luck!

The hernia repair definitely has something to do with liquids going down... I used to have a lap band, and with the hernia repair site it almost functioned like the band did because of a small pouch liquid sat in before going down. I'm 2 weeks out and that's definitely gotten better, so I think there was some internal swelling that caused that restriction. Things are going down much better now thankfully. Hang in there it just takes time for your body to heal.

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