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Good for you. That said the whole raw veggies sounds like bunk to me. I can't think of a single reason that cooked veggies shouldn't be allowed other than lazy doctors/nutritionists find it easier than having to explain that they don't want you eating starchy vegetables (nobody is going to eat raw potato).

The best answer to this question involves a number of factors (assuming PCA = Patient Care Assistant) including what are the terms of employment (are you your own business 1099 or do you get paid on a W2 basis), What state you are in (assuming you are even in the US), any employment agreement you may have. Assuming the couple in question is just themselves Federal FMLA doesn't apply, so the question is are you asking them for a leave of absence, or do you have accrued vacation time? Normally I wouldn't advise sharing too much, but since depending on some of the outstanding factors you mentioned above your employer may be free to get rid of you, you may find it worthwhile to explain things. I also don't know what surgery you are considering, but it might also be worth considering whether the chosen surgery really requires you to take a whole month off or whether you could come back earlier with perhaps some limitations on lifting, etc. For better results I would pose the question somewhere that might get a better legal answer (avvo perhaps).

My bad you are right, it all depends on a number of factors and I was assuming a bunch of them for this answer and not taking into account the fact that the OP could be older. They should use a TDEE Calculator (just google that term) to do a better calculation on their total calorie requirements and then target their consumption to be 20-30% less than that number.

Every doctor seems to make up their own rules so I wouldn't be 100% surprised if they say something completely different from what other folks have been given. At some point this is all just a question of using your best judgement and stopping if you don't react well to something specific.

You can't really lose 2lbs a day (aka burn 7000 calories more than you take in), so just think of this as reversion to the mean, which will pass and the weight loss will continue. This is why weighing yourself daily can be a point of frustration, be prepared the same thing will happen when you transition to the puree stage.

Feeling more confident that I will live to a ripe old age (or at least that my early demise will be the result of some sort of stupidity on my own part). Otherwise I don't really see anything changing all that much.

27 pounds is huge, that's almost half a pound a day. Sure some people may lose more, but many also will lose less. You also aren't really gaining 1lb back unless you have a day where you are eating 5000 calories (which I suspect you aren't). A pound is 3500 calories if you are eating 600 calories and burning 2000 a day then you are right where you should be losing half a pound a day. Any other differences are a function of hydration and timing around what's in the digestive pipeline and your BMs.

I think the idea was to blend the soups to be a more puree'ed consistency. Usually the puree stage would also include things like tuna salad and some other proteins. Otherwise you are still eating your 3 protein shakes to get your protein.

Sorry I can't help, though frequent my farts smell like roses.

Your nutritionist will probably lay out a detailed plan that not only gives you some practical meal planning advice, but some tricks that may or not work in helping you feel fuller (like chewing 20 times before swallowing). At the end of the day losing weight on a diet mean burning more calories in a day than you consume. In general this means targeting a caloric intake that is 9-10 times your body weight. As other folks have said get as much lean proteins as you can because they will fill you up. Now is also a good time to start on a multi-vitamin if you aren't on one already. I would also recommend giving up calculus, because integrating by parts is overrated.

Like everything else on this journey every surgeon has their own rules that seem to run the gamut. My doctor has me on 150mg Iron a day (I have no history of anemia or anything that would indicate I need more iron). My understanding is that the range of too much Iron is closer to 5mg per pound (well over 800mg for me), but I think it depends on a number of factors.

When in doubt have a protein shake.

Think of it this way you are training your new stomach with every stage. As you advance to the next stage you will always be able to eat more volume of things from the last stage than you can from the current one. For me (about 1.5 weeks ahead of you) this means, 8-12oz of liquids, 4-6oz of puree (in which I include the aforementioned cottage cheese), and 2-4 oz of solid foods. I would add that for me in addition to the density things that are drier I also have a more limited capacity for.

It depends on the food. The denser it is the harder it is, plus everyone is different. For example for me tuna was a pain, but cheese wasn't.

Ha, save the liver save the patient. I also meant that the NSAID (or COX-2) that they would normally give you in the ER would be considerably more potent than ibuprofen.

That would be the most likely explanation for the black stool.

Probably blood clots (which aren't dangerous in a minor vein like your arm). As long as your arm isn't getting red or swollen along the vein you probably don't have superficial thrombophlebitis and don't have anything to worry about. I would put a warm compress on it to see if that helps. If you do go to the ER, just be aware that the most likely treatment is going to be an anti-inflammatory, which you need to call your Surgeon about BEFORE letting them give it to you (there is a reason you aren't allowed to take NSAIDs right now). If its any consolation I have the same issue, though only in my wrist.

I don't know what's in your multi-vitamin for sure, but if you look at the label and it has more than 40mg of Iron I would suspect that is the cause (and there is nothing wrong with that in fact if you are taking iron it should turn your stool black). At over a week out I wouldn't expect you to still have blood from your surgery in your digestive system.

I'll defend these folks to some extent. They may be well meaning, but they really just don't understand. My wife was fully supportive, but she didn't understand really. Imagine if you ate 500 calories worth of food and were completely full, you can't understand how someone could eat a meal and then be hungry again in a couple hours. They can't understand what it's like to feel hungry when based on their benchmarks you shouldn't. That isn't to say there aren't people who are more malicious and try to sabotage your success because either they are afraid to get the surgery themselves or they confuse you wanting to be healthier with you having a poor body image.

Have you started on an Iron Supplement? If it is being absorbed correctly it should turn your stool black. Trust me I with the color and the constipation the Iron causes me I keep wanting to check for diamonds.

I was sleeved a day later and I'm down 20. It's not really plausible to lose more than a pound a day (aka have a 3500 calorie deficit). That's some pretty tremendous weight loss so far and certainly at the top end of the bell curve in terms of progress.

That is very ambitious. Some folks will still be in the Hospital on Wed, and going back to work while taking pain meds may cause other complications.

As long as you aren't running a fever it's pretty normal to feel colder than normal because you are now operating on a pretty big caloric deficit, this is also exacerbated often times by an Iron deficiency post surgery (which is why most of us get prescribed iron supplements).

Like other folks have said everyone is different. I was back at my desk working the Monday after my surgery (4 days), but a lot of this will have to do with how well you are tolerating the pain. If you are experiencing pain its going to sap your energy and make it very hard for you to go back to work.

Everybody is different, but I think I was down 8 pounds at seven days after surgery.