Pepsipants

Try getting creative with Protein products you dont like. Drinking them is boring. sugar free pudding, protein fluff, mugcakes smoothies, , Cookies are all things ive done with protein powder. Some are easier/healthier than others, but theres so many creative ways to use the stuff that it can go from disgusting crap to edible and enjoyable
Personally I think you take any protein powder mix it with coconut flour baking powder splenda and skim milk toss in the microwave and itll taste pretty decent (if thanks to only the coconut flour)

This is honestly the first post that really sang to me. So thank you for being so authentic. Through therapy and self- reflection, I have discovered how extremist my personality is too. Touches of OCD tendencies creep in with dumping out my pantry and replacing it with Paleo "clean" food, avoiding social gatherings for fear I go over a certain calorie count, weighing myself 10 times a day, or preaching to others how they should be lowering carbs and upping protein....mustn't hold too much weight coming from the mouth of a 260 lb hypocrite!!! But somewhere along the journey we must find that sweet spot, BALANCE. For me it looks like spending more $ on Protein Shakes I actually like the taste of, doing aqua aerobics, and lots of prayer. Had a friend tell me recently instead of being resentful (in my case of my 25+ year battle with diets and self image), release your angst, and tell your body THANK YOU FOR THE STRUGGLE. It's why we are where we are. Right. Now.

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I totally agree! I refused to drink the recommended Premier Protein drinks. I am alternating Primal Protein mix and Jay Robb grass fed mixes. They have stevia but I feel that is the least of the enemies. Glad to see someone else shares my concerns!

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https://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/protein-chart.html
But definitely don’t forget plant based Proteins. Just put these up as an example. Low fat/cal high Protein meats are how you fit the proper amount in your diet. Eventually I’m going to try to steer towards more of a plant-based protein diet with less meat right now at this phase I’m still discovering. It’s a work in progress to say the least.

Try the website eatthismuch and adjust your macros for Protein, fat, carbs, calories. It will give you a menu to follow and recipes to cook with xx

I shoot for 80 - 100G and routinely do it in under 500 calories. The key is Protein dense foods. Here’s a typical menu for me (I’m pretty boring so I eat almost the same thing every day and like it):
.5c egg whites with .5 oz mozzerella cheese (17g protein, 106 calories)
3.5 oz chicken (28g protein, 105 calories)
3.5 oz of chicken for dinner
I will usually have 1 - 2 Snacks of string cheese (7g protein, 50 calories) or cottage cheese (10g protein, 90 calories) or sigg yogurt (15g protein, 110 calories). Sometimes I just repeat a meal for a snack (chicken).
Recently my favorite meal has been a little higher calorie, but tastes great:
3.5 oz 99% lean ground turkey w taco seasoning (25g p, 140c)
.5 oz mexican cheese (4g, 50c))
.5 oz sour cream (.5g p, 30c)
The key is all calories are protein calories. My plan doesn’t allow carbs until 6 or 12 months. This does seem to be helping me maintain muscle mass, which is the goal of this particular plan.

Thanks, that’s sweet of you. I still take up a surprising amount of horizontal space.

This is honestly the first post that really sang to me. So thank you for being so authentic. Through therapy and self- reflection, I have discovered how extremist my personality is too. Touches of OCD tendencies creep in with dumping out my pantry and replacing it with Paleo "clean" food, avoiding social gatherings for fear I go over a certain calorie count, weighing myself 10 times a day, or preaching to others how they should be lowering carbs and upping protein....mustn't hold too much weight coming from the mouth of a 260 lb hypocrite!!! But somewhere along the journey we must find that sweet spot, BALANCE. For me it looks like spending more $ on Protein Shakes I actually like the taste of, doing aqua aerobics, and lots of prayer. Had a friend tell me recently instead of being resentful (in my case of my 25+ year battle with diets and self image), release your angst, and tell your body THANK YOU FOR THE STRUGGLE. It's why we are where we are. Right. Now.

Sent from my SM-G900T using BariatricPal mobile app

This is honestly the first post that really sang to me. So thank you for being so authentic. Through therapy and self- reflection, I have discovered how extremist my personality is too. Touches of OCD tendencies creep in with dumping out my pantry and replacing it with Paleo "clean" food, avoiding social gatherings for fear I go over a certain calorie count, weighing myself 10 times a day, or preaching to others how they should be lowering carbs and upping protein....mustn't hold too much weight coming from the mouth of a 260 lb hypocrite!!! But somewhere along the journey we must find that sweet spot, BALANCE. For me it looks like spending more $ on Protein Shakes I actually like the taste of, doing aqua aerobics, and lots of prayer. Had a friend tell me recently instead of being resentful (in my case of my 25+ year battle with diets and self image), release your angst, and tell your body THANK YOU FOR THE STRUGGLE. It's why we are where we are. Right. Now.

Sent from my SM-G900T using BariatricPal mobile app

This is honestly the first post that really sang to me. So thank you for being so authentic. Through therapy and self- reflection, I have discovered how extremist my personality is too. Touches of OCD tendencies creep in with dumping out my pantry and replacing it with Paleo "clean" food, avoiding social gatherings for fear I go over a certain calorie count, weighing myself 10 times a day, or preaching to others how they should be lowering carbs and upping protein....mustn't hold too much weight coming from the mouth of a 260 lb hypocrite!!! But somewhere along the journey we must find that sweet spot, BALANCE. For me it looks like spending more $ on Protein Shakes I actually like the taste of, doing aqua aerobics, and lots of prayer. Had a friend tell me recently instead of being resentful (in my case of my 25+ year battle with diets and self image), release your angst, and tell your body THANK YOU FOR THE STRUGGLE. It's why we are where we are. Right. Now.

Sent from my SM-G900T using BariatricPal mobile app

This is honestly the first post that really sang to me. So thank you for being so authentic. Through therapy and self- reflection, I have discovered how extremist my personality is too. Touches of OCD tendencies creep in with dumping out my pantry and replacing it with Paleo "clean" food, avoiding social gatherings for fear I go over a certain calorie count, weighing myself 10 times a day, or preaching to others how they should be lowering carbs and upping protein....mustn't hold too much weight coming from the mouth of a 260 lb hypocrite!!! But somewhere along the journey we must find that sweet spot, BALANCE. For me it looks like spending more $ on Protein Shakes I actually like the taste of, doing aqua aerobics, and lots of prayer. Had a friend tell me recently instead of being resentful (in my case of my 25+ year battle with diets and self image), release your angst, and tell your body THANK YOU FOR THE STRUGGLE. It's why we are where we are. Right. Now.

Sent from my SM-G900T using BariatricPal mobile app

I can so relate to everything you have said, except I HATE exercising. This is going to be a struggle for me and has been. I agree unless we make peace with the demon in our head that is in control of our choices and yes they are choices we make, we cant be at peace with ourselves. I hate the constant thinking about my weight and worrying about food, it is on my mind 24/7. I to want to let go and find nutural ground and live my life. I always get, "you have such a pretty face", well what the hell's wrong with the rest of me, is it not pretty? People are so cruel and stupid, I have lost weight (so many times) and had them say, " you are so beautiful", well am I not the same person and then what does that make me now? I say F***k them and let's get on with our lives and who we want to be. I havent even had my surgury yet, but I am determined to make this work and love me.

I was self-pay as well and I am extremely risk-averse. By the time surgery day rolled around I still wasn't completely assured but here are some steps/considerations I took:
There is a program called BLIS specifically targeted to self-pay WLS patients to insure against complications, you can google search the company easily. The wrinkle is that you have to purchase through the surgeon directly (and obviously they only offer the insurance to surgeons with low complication rates). If you are still flexible on who to do the surgery with, then you might want to look for a BLIS-enrolled one. In my case, my surgeon tried really hard to come to an agreement with BLIS but he couldn't cut through the red tape.
My surgeon told me that the only kind of complication that could bankrupt me were blood clots, which could lead to strokes, etc if they went untreated. Anti-clot medications (and compression sleeves) are a standard part of your post-op dosages but I nagged the doctors to give me the maximum dosage possible. After discharge, I fought through the pain and nausea to move around as much as possible to clear any clots. Again, this is a standard recommendation but the possibility of having to pay for complications out of pocket gave me an extra source of motivation.
After my amateur legal sleuthing through my insurance policy documents and other legal documents, I came to the conclusion that your regular insurance has to pay for emergency care even if it's a WLS complication. For example, if you had a leak or blood clot, the cost of stabilizing you in the ER should be picked up by your regular insurance. If the surgeon needed to go back and stitch up a leak or if you had severe GERD that required conversion to bypass, then the costs would be self-pay. However, I figured that, unless the problem was extreme, there should be an usually a less expensive way to address the complication which required more self discipline. The caveat here is that I'm not a lawyer, so please don't interpret this as formal legal advice.
In my case, I did have a very minor post-op complication with swelling and Water retention. I decided to go to the urgent care clinic instead of the surgeon. I made a judgement call between the surgeon's expertise and the potential costs I would incur for something I didn't think was life-threatening. I predicted that the over worked urgent care clinic is not going to spend the time to formally make a determination on whether my complication was a result of WLS and they have very little incentive to specifically contact the insurance company to connect the dots between the two. Again, I have no inside information on how insurance companies flag charges for complications from non-covered procedures (I wish I did), this was purely conjecture. In the end, my urgent care visit and treatment was paid by insurance just like any other urgent care visit/treatment.
Hope this helps and good luck with your surgery.