sillykitty

This phase includes a huge amount of food, so there could be a million recipes. As long as it doesn't contain any raw or overly fibrous vegetables or tough meat, like steak, it's fair game.

I didn't even think of that! Thanks Ash!

There are a few on here who have had very different plans, that have allowed regular food much sooner than most. My surgeon's plan is pretty traditional. But I progressed much faster than it allowed for, because of work travel. I realized that the "wining and dining" I have to do for my job was not compatible with a puree diet, and keeping my surgery private. So I moved into real food in week three, and had no issues then or since. I don't recommend people go outside of their Dr's plan, but it worked for me.

I like the Opdipity Chipotle Ranch, and Trader Joe's Green Goddess (in the refrigerated section)

I started by researching VSG on RealSelf. The Dr. I used caught my eye because he was a frequent contributor and answered a lot of questions, and was super local. I figured only passionate surgeons would spend their time answering questions for free. And to me, I figured that was a good sign. He also had good reviews on RealSelf. I next looked up the status of his license, and it came up all clean, no issues at all. I looked at his CV. He went to excellent schools, for his BS and his MD. He then did a Fellowship in Bariatric surgery. That was really important to me, as he took the time to educate himself in this specialty. He is a member of ASMBS. Finally, he is on staff with some of the best local hospitals. Prestigious hospitals do not allow bad Dr.'s on their staff. He also is the Medical Director of Bariatric surgery for the hospital I had my surgery, which is a Center of Excellence. So I took all those pieces together, and I concluded that a surgeon with a poor record would have a red flag, somewhere. Since I found no red flags, he was local, he was in network, that this was the best surgeon for me. I would agree with this, if I were having a more complex surgery. Or if my treatment was for something chronic or severe. But honestly, VSG is in the scope of things, a simple and routine surgery. There really isn't a lot of variable my surgeon would have to know me personally to decide. I get what you are saying though. I'm going to have plastics later this year (hopefully!). For that surgeon, it will important that they understands exactly what I want. It will be important that we are able to communicate clearly to one another, and that I am definitely not a statistic. But plastics has so many variables, where bariatric surgery has few in comparison. I'm fine with my surgeons standard VSG operation, but I don't want a standard boob job!

You have to look at the long game. Instead of thinking, I haven't lost any weight in a week, think, I lost 13 lbs in 2 weeks. Get used to stalls. They are frustrating but they are inevitable. Weight loss is non linear.

I was able to sleep on my side, by wedging a pillow halfway under my side, and hugging another to my body. I was able to sleep more soundly that way than on my back.

For me home and "work" have different pitfalls. Work, I'm traveling, so I don't eat as often, but restaurant food is so much less healthy, and hard to know exactly what you're consuming. Home lately has become a smorgasbord as well. Even if it is jerky, cheese, yogurt, etc., I hate that I'm eating or thinking about food constantly. I know it is mostly head hunger, so it makes me hate that I give into it!

I looked at it differently. I didn't need to feel any connection to my surgeon. I wanted him to have done lots and lots of surgeries with low complication rates. I'm fine with being a statistic to him. But I needed to make sure his staff was kind and accessible. His staff are the ones whom I need to rely on, outside of the hour or so I was in surgery. They answer my questions, get my medications refilled, etc.. So being in NYC, maybe you should schedule some appointments with the most prolific surgeons, and see if you feel comfortable with the staff?

Thanks for the article! I've had a tough few days with head hunger. My work usually keeps me pretty mentally occupied. But the back half of last week, and over the weekend, and all of this week, I have a lot of tedious tasks. I have just wanted to eat and eat and eat, ugh! I work from home, so it is super easy to grab something. I've been making mostly good choices, but my calories are still higher than they normally are for me. But I generally keep myself lower than most at this stage. But I wonder if that is contributing to my current stall.

I work from home, so I technically took no time off at all. But if I had to go into an office for a desk job, a week would have been plenty of time, for me.

Agree. I use my food scale throughout the day. I measure ingredients out for recipes, for my shake ingredients. I measure out my snacks, jerky, cheese, veggie dip etc. Constanly measuring makes it easier to eyeball and track when you eat out.

You're only 12 days out, so you are still on liquids or purees, right? If so, that's normal. Most people don't feel any restriction until they begin eating sold food.

9/10 ... very little pain. I work from home, and I didn't take any time off. About 2 weeks post op I got shaky and weak, but a B12 shot seemed to fix the problem. I was back to business travel 3 weeks post op. I should have had this surgery years ago!

I don't see when I will ever be shake free. I just don't eat enough to get my protein from food

I guess I'm the opposite. I jumped into real food again on a work trip, and ate tons of different things that week (like 12 course meals each night!). Nothing bothered my stomach. So from then on I don't really even think about if something will upset my stomach, because nothing really has.

For those who like Cookies and Cream, I really like the GNC Pro Performance 100% Whey https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NADOEW3/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1 I only had it though, blended with Fairlife milk and ice, so it made like a milkshake.

It depends on your plan. But I have bread it some form as a regular part of my diet, and I still stay relatively low carb.

No to both. My insurance approval and surgery came very quickly. So I used the time to have food funerals, and I'm grateful I got that chance.

Because the US government doesn't regulate supplements. There is no one to disallow them from making false claims. The lawsuit was a civil suit, again, the US government is not involved in enforcing civil judgement.

Here are the details of the lawsuit, it was just finalized December of last year https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20171213e89 Some key points of the lawsuit: SI03, Inc the makers of Syntrax sued MuscleGen the makers of GENEPRO over the claims that "MuscleGen markets its GenePro product by falsely claiming it contains 30 grams of protein in a roughly 11.15 gram (1 tablespoon) serving when GenePro has 10 or fewer grams of protein per 11.15 gram (1 tablespoon) serving" "GenePro's marketing and packaging statement that it contains "medical grade" protein is incorrect, false, and misleading, as no industry or FDA standard for "medical grade" protein exists." Genepro did not even bother to respond to this lawsuit or show up in court, a default judgement was entered in favor the makers of Syntrax, against Genepro

Genepro does not have 30g of protein per scoop. They were actually sued (and lost) for making this (and other) false claims. I would never be comfortable supporting, or ingesting products from a company that is as blatantly deceitful to claim to have 30g of protein in 15g volume.

Yes, totally normal

I had a colleague come out to SoCal and was surprised that we have Taco Bells, with all of the authentic Mexican places around. I had to explain it wasn't Mexican, it was Taco Bell, something different, but still delicious. It scratches a different itch than real Mexican food. And there is no better hangover cure than Taco Bell, especially a bean burrito with fire sauce!

Chipotle isn't using beef heads. Beef head meat is called cabeza at taquerias in SoCal, and it is delicious! I've never seen it referred to as barbacoa at local taquerias. (And I've had braised beef cheeks at some very high end restaurants, also delicious!)