Tufflaw

Wow great job and thanks for the pictures, you're an inspiration!

So I was bored of my usual stuff today and decided to try something new. Got a can of corned beef hash at Target, heated up 4 oz, put 1 oz of shredded cheese on top, mixed it up and OH WOW it was so good, easily the most delicious meal I've had since I started my liquid diet. I didn't blend it first since it was pretty chopped up and I chewed a lot on each bite, basically I pureed it in my mouth. Really good and it did feel a bit heavy in my stomach but otherwise no problems. For dinner I couldn't help myself and had it again, although this time I did 2 oz, with 2 oz of fat-free refried Beans, also with some shredded cheese on top. DELICIOUS. I think I over did it though, felt really stuffed at the end and almost nauseous but not quite. It's settling now and I think I'll try to do 30 minutes walking on the treadmill if I can do it. I'm tired of walking in circles around my living room. Realized afterwards that I'm not supposed to have potatoes yet, I have my first followup tomorrow with my surgeon so I'll ask if it's OK. I could eat this stuff every day if I'm allowed!

You won't gain weight from lifting weights if you do it right. People who gain weight from lifting are generally lifting heavy weight with low repetition which builds their muscle mass. They generally also take supplements to aid in the weight gain. That type of weight lifting (you know when they're grunting and screaming while they're struggling for one more rep) is anaerobic, they're not absorbing oxygen. If you lift low weights with high repetition you will not only burn more weight than straight cardio, you will also get defined and lean "ripped" muscles. The reason weightlifting this way burns more fat than straight cardio is that using your muscles requires your body to burn more fat than just exerting yourself. I recommend finding a circuit of exercises that work your major muscle groups, and pick a weight that you can do 12-15 reps of with some discomfort, 3 sets each. Good luck!

When you eat the egg salad and such do you eat that alone meaning not with bread or anything...I'm also 6 days post op and so afraid to eat anything...today I branched out and ate cottage cheese and pears all pureed...I know the fruit was probably pure sugar but I ate only 2oz...I'm thinking of making broccoli and cheese but not sure how that will fly once pureed, maybe to gross looking to eat...thanks for your post The nutritionist told me I couldn't have fruits for a few months, this month is just meat, fish, chicken, cheese. Veggies next month and then I think fruits month three. I do eat it with nothing else, no bread. The chopped liver tasting chicken salad I made would have been AMAZING on ritz crackers, but it's not meant to be. I just plop out 3 or so ounces on a plate and dig in. I eat very slowly, takes about 20-30 minutes to finish. I wouldn't waste your meals on fruit and veggies just yet, you need to get in your Protein and the meats and such will have the most. But of course I'm not a doctor, if your doctor allows it then have at it and enjoy! Also, I was reading another thread here and someone recommended looking up The World According to Eggface for recipe ideas and I've been going through her page. Already found a great article she did on pureed foods post-surgery here: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html I'm going to try some of these out tonight or tomorrow. Good luck!!

Well one week ago today I was leaving my office and mentally preparing for surgery the next day. Now I'm 6 days post-surgery and feeling pretty good! Losing about a pound a day, and it's easier to eat and drink every day. I still get some weird feelings while eating every so often, but nothing too bad, and drinking feels totally normal. Walking and moving around is easy and pain-free. Two days in a row I had some blood spots from the large incision on my shirt but I'm pretty sure that's because my daughter went to hug me too fast and headbutted me right in the abdomen - that sucked. I've been able to eat the following, all homemade and pureed: Egg salad, tuna salad, turkey salad, chicken salad, yoplait light yogurt (boston cream pie flavor, yum), also scrambled eggs with some ricotta mixed in. I went to my sister's for christmas and brought some turkey salad in a container but she had tuna there so I ate that instead, it wasn't pureed but it was mashed enough and I just chewed a lot, and it was fine. I have about 3 - 3.5 oz per serving. The chicken salad was a bit of a disappointment. I bought some chicken breasts and put them in a crockpot overnight with some low-sodium chicken broth, mixed in some garlic powder, onion powder, and some barbecue sauce just for taste. Cooked for 8 hours, it smelled delicious! Shredded it, cooked another 30 minutes, then in the blender to puree. Tasted a lot like chopped liver - which I like - but not very good chopped liver. Mixed in some low-fat mayo and it's not terrible, just not as delicious as I was hoping Still better than the liquid diet though, I guess. Doing OK with liquid intake, that isn't really a problem, and my Protein intake has been right on point. Still taking in less than a thousand calories a day but I'm not hungry. That should increase once my portion sizes increase. I'm waiting for the day the MyFitnessPal app doesn't give me a warning at the end of each day that I'm not eating enough! I'm proud of myself that I haven't cheated ONCE since the whole thing started, going to try to keep that up. My wife made a pumpkin cheesecake for the holidays and it looked unbelievable. Right consistency for me too, but I decided to stick with the post-surgery diet. There will be time for cheesecakes (small portions) in the future when I'm at my goal. Edit: Don't know if these have been posted elsewhere, but I read two very interesting articles today in the NYT about bariatric surgery, in case anyone is interested: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/health/what-is-bariatric-surgery.html and http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/health/bariatric-surgery.html

Yeah I get that weird feeling when I'm eating but it's pretty much gone away when I drink. I think it's just the food going down. Before the surgery I asked my doctor how I would know if something was wrong, he told me that it should be better day after day and week after week, so if there's a problem I'd know right away. And he was right, I feel better every day. Good luck!

Yeah real simple. Morning Premier Protein shake (11 oz - chocolate). lunch Premier Protein Shake (11 oz - vanilla). dinner Bariatric Advantage protein shake (powder I got from my doctor's office, blended with cold Water and crushed ice), either vanilla or chocolate. Snacks: 1 protein pudding (sugar-free Jello pudding mixed with one serving of Protein Powder and 8 oz of milk, would make 4 servings). also 3 or 4 sugar-free ice pops. Sometimes I'd have a fourth protein shake if I felt like it. Lots of water. I was allowed to have low-sodium broth, I tried it once and it was disgusting, too bland, inedible. I was also allowed some greek yogurt I think and milk but I never bothered. Strangely I never felt hungry at all, although most nights I got cravings for real food, mostly chicken parm. In 2 weeks I dropped exactly 25 lbs.

Just had an interesting dinner, 3 oz of TURKEY salad. My wife took one of those turkey chunks they sell at Aldi's, it's pre-seasoned, she blended it up good and added some low-fat mayo, delicious with the seasoning it already had!

Yeah I was surprised. I always thought it was liquid diet the first week, but a friend of mine who had the same surgery with the same practice (different doctor) told me they gave him scrambled eggs the next day, and same thing for me, I guess every doctor is different. They gave me a diet plan for next few months. The first month is just pureed meats. Second month I can add veggies. Third month I think is fruits.

I'm 12 days into my pre-surgical liver shrinking diet and down 24 lbs as of this morning. It hasn't been easy, but I promised myself I wouldn't cheat at all. I'm eating between 550 and 750 calories a day, and it's brutal. It's weird, I don't feel hungry at all, I just get these cravings for my favorite foods. Trying to drink a lot of Water to ignore it. Getting irritable more than I'd like, but my surgery is this Wednesday so at least after that I can eat again (eventually). It doesn't help that I'm coming down with a cold and I'm totally paranoid that they'll cancel my surgery if I don't get better - I don't know if I can do this again.

Thanks! My surgery is Wed 12/21. I would kill for some real food like fish or chicken - although maybe that would make the cravings kick in even more. Right now I have no appetite at all, I have to force myself to eat (well, drink). If I ate real food I think the hunger would really kick in. Good luck!

Ugh, that SUCKS. The only reason I'd be happy if they postponed my surgery is that I can actually eat real food again for a little while, but going through this diet again would kill me.

Pretty much - I can have up to 4 Protein shakes a day, some days I only have the appetite for 3. Also I can have low-sodium broth which I can't eat because it's absolutely disgusting. I have a few sugar-free ice pops a day, and one "protein pudding" which is a sugar-free Jello pudding mixed with Protein powder which is the highlight of my day The pudding is the most solid food I can eat. I'm allowed to have some type of yogurt but I haven't bothered with it. Intellectually I know I can get through it but the cravings are getting to me. All I can think of is chicken parm with angel hair pasta!