karen_marie

Jerky is one of my favorites, but salty. I also eat Almonds. I try to stay away from Protein Bars, but keep one around for an emergency. Have fun!

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I'm a HUGE Disney World fanatic/traveler, and I've been thinking about this, even though I won't be going again until next year haha. Few ideas off the top of my head:
Natural peanut butter (can grab a banana as a snack at the parks to have with it). See about finding a good healthy option in those individual serving containers, or pre-pack servings into small tupperwares. You can also get powdered peanut butter - get a skim milk and add some to it, shake it up, and voila - a semi-protein shake Tuna packets (just grab a fork/spoon from quick serve restaurants) Unsweetened oatmeal packets (be creative with how you want to add flavor - I'm a fan of sugar free maple syrup). You can get a cup of hot Water around the park to 'cook' it a bit. Not ideal, but it's an option. Bring stevia packets or the like for an easy way to sweeten it up. Or add banana or other fruit from a snack credit. Protein powder packets. Not ideal but may be your best option to have a handful on you just in case. Bring a shaker bottle with you to the parks if you bring these, just to make sure they mix up well.

Ok, Before pics and measurements taken. I start my 2 week liquid pre op tomorrow !! I'm pumped ! Let's do this !!!

Day 10 for me of my 2wks liquid diet, not including the day before surgery of just Clear Liquids. I really haven't had much hunger, but I've put a lot of effort into making my shakes interesting. I'll add fruit, no sugar flavor syrups, flavor extracts, etc and try different recipes. For Breakfast today, I'm having a pumpkin pie flavored Protein Shake (pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, vanilla extract, little bit of skim milk and Water, and Protein powder). Throw it all in the blender for a min with about a cup of ice and voila - a nice frothy (and big) protein shake that takes me awhile to drink. Your body will get used to it!

GB surgery was 10/27, and today was my first day back at work. I was one of the lucky ones with no complications or bad pain after surgery, so that amount of time off was just right. I do work sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day though, so 9 work days/13 total days was enough for me. Glad to be back amongst the living haha I was running out of Netflix to watch.

10/27 for me! Still amazes me how fast this has all gone. I only went to the free info seminar my surgeon's practice holds on 7/29 - that's just shy of 3mos from when I started to when I'll have surgery!

Yesterday I went out in public in skinny jeans. Size 14 skinny jeans which were honestly a bit loose*.

For context here, I am the person who, even in my 20's wore mom-jeans. Big and loose, size 18/20s with a waistband over my bellybutton. Truly sexy, I know. I have a stitchfix subscription and one of my notes on things I want/don't want is "NEVER SEND ME SKINNY JEANS - It is never going to happen."
I feel like I'm having an identity crisis! I went from hiding everything to going out in jeans which are clinging tightly to me and making my butt look fantastic. I sent my husband a text when I went out yesterday that said: "I AM WEARING SKINNY JEANS IN PUBLIC WILLINGLY. I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE."
His reply was "A skinny mini with self confidence. "
Anyway, this is a big deal for me. My scale has been saying 200.00 for the past week, but my NSV seemed almost as wonderful as entering Onederland!



*I bought them last week. I went in thinking "maybe a 16 will work" and 14 did. 14 might be loose but I didn't want to press my luck and ruin my happy mood!

I would also HIGHLY recommend watching the documentary From Fat to Finish Line if you haven't yet. It's on most of the streaming sites now, including iTunes to rent or buy. I watched that last year and it got me motivated to start interval running, and I have done a number of 5ks since then. After surgery, one of my big goals to work towards is to complete a 10k and then a half marathon

I love to cook and am a pretty darn good cook. I kept that sort of stuff "out of my space" so to speak during the pre-op diet and the post op liquid/pureed stage. But shortly after that went back to hosting dinner & cocktail parties.
I have found it oddly satisfying to cook and not eat. Somehow cooking satisfies a big part of what is no longer satisfied by eating. Part of it is creative, doing something that people love, creating a great environment and experience for people.
A few weeks ago I hosted a birthday party for a friend and cooked for 20 people in my NYC apartment. I made sautéed jumbo shrimp with blacked corn and jalapenos, carnitas, lime crema, home made pico, a grits casserole, roasted cumin heirloom carrots, a variety of aps - the whole thing was about 10 hours of cooking and prepping with two friends.
When it was meal time, I made a teeny tiny plate of Protein, ate half of it and had no regrets.

I would also HIGHLY recommend watching the documentary From Fat to Finish Line if you haven't yet. It's on most of the streaming sites now, including iTunes to rent or buy. I watched that last year and it got me motivated to start interval running, and I have done a number of 5ks since then. After surgery, one of my big goals to work towards is to complete a 10k and then a half marathon

I would also HIGHLY recommend watching the documentary From Fat to Finish Line if you haven't yet. It's on most of the streaming sites now, including iTunes to rent or buy. I watched that last year and it got me motivated to start interval running, and I have done a number of 5ks since then. After surgery, one of my big goals to work towards is to complete a 10k and then a half marathon

This reminds me of a weird problem I had in my last apartment. My scale never seemed to be accurate, and I would have to weight myself like five separate times in a row and take an average. I realized that the floor wasn't level! That wreaked havoc on the scale trying to accurately weigh me.
It's probably not what the issue is for you (@chasingpolaris321 is totally right in the daily fluctuations). I ended up having to find the one place in my apartment that was hard flooring and level to weigh myself - and it happened to be the front door entry. Since I tend to weigh in my birthday suit, I had to make sure that door was triple locked haha.

This reminds me of a weird problem I had in my last apartment. My scale never seemed to be accurate, and I would have to weight myself like five separate times in a row and take an average. I realized that the floor wasn't level! That wreaked havoc on the scale trying to accurately weigh me.
It's probably not what the issue is for you (@chasingpolaris321 is totally right in the daily fluctuations). I ended up having to find the one place in my apartment that was hard flooring and level to weigh myself - and it happened to be the front door entry. Since I tend to weigh in my birthday suit, I had to make sure that door was triple locked haha.

My sister has already offered my hubby sanctuary whenever he needs it lol

LOL I'm on day 14 of my pre-op liquid diet, so every day there is ranting (my poor saint of a husband) Tomorrow is Clear Liquids only (day before surgery), so I may tell him to meet up with a friend after work to protect himself hahaha

Yeah my program and hospital are a pretty well oiled machine haha. I've got a copy of this chart on my fridge

Echoing what @Berry78 said, I learned A LOT by reading tons of the forum discussions here. Also gave me ideas on additional questions to ask my surgeon. For an example of something, here's my 'prescribed' plan back to solid foods after surgery tomorrow. Every doctor will be different, so take this as just an example! Some docs allow more soft/solid foods sooner than mine does. Definitely get all of your specific pre-op info from your doctor and nutritionist (NUT) and follow those. Good luck on your journey!
Diet Progression Chart.docx

Sure thing! That's the stage I'm most worried about too, so I'll definitely be taking my own advice lol I'm thinking I'll also try some recipes I've found on various bariatric sites for the pureed/blended stage. I"ll attach a file with the ones I've found so far (also include some Protein pudding recipes that I want to try)
Blended_Pureed Recipes.pdf

My sister has already offered my hubby sanctuary whenever he needs it lol

I think your cat forgot how to cat lol I remember once in high school, I saw just a mouse butt sticking out from behind my hamper. I slowly crept up and moved the hamper, only to find that the butt half of the mouse was all that was there. My cat seemed very satisfied with himself for thinking to 'box up half' for later lol

I think your cat forgot how to cat lol I remember once in high school, I saw just a mouse butt sticking out from behind my hamper. I slowly crept up and moved the hamper, only to find that the butt half of the mouse was all that was there. My cat seemed very satisfied with himself for thinking to 'box up half' for later lol

LOL I'm on day 14 of my pre-op liquid diet, so every day there is ranting (my poor saint of a husband) Tomorrow is Clear Liquids only (day before surgery), so I may tell him to meet up with a friend after work to protect himself hahaha

Echoing what @Berry78 said, I learned A LOT by reading tons of the forum discussions here. Also gave me ideas on additional questions to ask my surgeon. For an example of something, here's my 'prescribed' plan back to solid foods after surgery tomorrow. Every doctor will be different, so take this as just an example! Some docs allow more soft/solid foods sooner than mine does. Definitely get all of your specific pre-op info from your doctor and nutritionist (NUT) and follow those. Good luck on your journey!
Diet Progression Chart.docx

My NUT did say that the blended/pureed stage was usually the one that gave patients a harder time. Just stick with things that are kinda mushy or soft liquid to begin with, then blending them to a smoother consistency won't be really off-putting. For instance, make a basic chili with some sort of meat (or none) and Beans. Blending that from somewhat chunky to smooth shouldn't be gross haha Or even a simplified sloppy joe (sans bread) - ground turkey/lean beef and some low sugar or sugar fee sauce, blended smoother shouldn't be too weird. And both would give you good Protein (you can even add some non flavored Protein Powder to both). I know that @James Marusek has said he basically did chilis and Soups during his weight loss phase.

Echoing what @Berry78 said, I learned A LOT by reading tons of the forum discussions here. Also gave me ideas on additional questions to ask my surgeon. For an example of something, here's my 'prescribed' plan back to solid foods after surgery tomorrow. Every doctor will be different, so take this as just an example! Some docs allow more soft/solid foods sooner than mine does. Definitely get all of your specific pre-op info from your doctor and nutritionist (NUT) and follow those. Good luck on your journey!
Diet Progression Chart.docx