karen_marie

Hello I have a couple questions for you, if you don't mind answering them..

On you two week liquid diet did you work out? I'm coming up to my date 11/20/2017 and will be starting my liquid diet in two weeks. I work out 4x a week and wondering if i will have enough energy?

During the liquid diet what did you use to help you through it?

I'm also 34 and a little worried about lose skin.

I'm finding that the last two weeks b4 the liquid diet is getting hard to stay on track with eating healthy, did you encounter any of these issues?

Hi @vrm2bfit! To answer your questions....

• I haven't been working out during my pre-op liquid diet. I've done some longer walks (1 mi ish or more), but haven't done anything super strenuous. My energy levels have actually been pretty good since I'm making sure I get enough sleep (7+hrs a night) and eating enough protein. I've also had to start using a CPAP machine as of 10/10 per pulmonologist's orders, and I (begrudgingly) will admit that it seems to have helped my quality of sleep. I'd say if you do try and keep up your workout schedule, maybe dial the intensity down the first time or two until you know how your body will react. For my 2wks pre-op liquid, I have to stay between 700-900 calories a day, so I'd be hesitant to go 'balls to the wall' so to speak lol Definitely ask your surgeon though before you start the liquid diet and get his/her input.
• Can't believe it's day 13 already! So, I've made a conscience effort to really shake up (pun unintended but welcome haha) my recipes for my protein smoothies. I generally blend mine up with my blender, so it's more smoothie than watery shake. Blender makes it a bit frothy too, so you feel like you're drinking more than you've actually made (for example, the one I blend in the morning to bring with for my lunch will decrease in size about 20-25% by the time I drink it - that's how much extra body you get by letting it blend for a minute). I'd definitely suggest getting a few things to help add different flavors so you won't get tired of the same thing every day. My surgeon's office has you purchase two big bags of the Bariatric Advantage protein powder from them, so I chose vanilla and creme (which is sorta unflavored). Here are things I've blended with them:
  • Skim milk / water
  • Fresh or frozen strawberries, bananas, blueberries
  • Sugar free flavor syrups (chocolate, vanilla) [like Torani syrups]
  • Decaf instant coffee (I'm not allowed caffeine pre- or post-op for gastric bypass)
  • Flavor extracts (coconut, mint, coffee, vanilla) [coconut one with some pineapple makes a good pina colada protein shake!]
  • Powdered peanut butter [like PBfit]
  • Canned pumpkin puree (add pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and vanilla extract for pumpkin pie protein shake)
  • Oikos triple zero greek yogurt
• I already know I'm going to have some loose skin (bat wings, anyone?), but the health benefits are worth the trade off. I've shown my very supportive hubby some YouTube videos of folks showing all their excess skin after hitting goal, just so he knew what could be coming down the road. But he's on board for the health benefits too, so it's just something I'll deal with as it happens. If the extra skin ends up causing rashes etc, I'm making a point to go see my primary doc so I can document every time that may happen to build a case for insurance to possibly cover removing some of it.
• I will say it's gotten a little harder sticking with the liquid now that I'm soooo close to surgery and being done with this part of the process lol. Weirdly enough, being able to cook for my hubby actually has helped me not be tempted by food. I guess because I'm handling it, it's enough to get enjoyment out of making good food so that's a win for me. I am watching a lot more of my cooking competition shows I like, though hahaha

Sorry, that's A LOT of info I just share! Feel free to ask anything else You're getting the sleeve so we're doing different procedures, but we'll still have some similarities along the way. Feel free to add me to MyFitnessPal if you'd like! My food diary is open to friends, so you can see exactly what I've been eating every day the past 13 days: karenmarie211

You're ALMOST THERE! Keep fighting!