sillykitty

I bought way too much prepping for my surgery, wasted tons of money. The most critical things I needed were premade protein shakes. Premier Protein was my favorite, and seems to be the most popular on here. Protein20, protein water was good as well, it tastes good and helps you get both your protein and liquids in. Finally, Benefiber is great, it mixes into protein shakes or yogurt, soup, and you will be grateful for it!

I get them at Walmart. They are in the produce/service deli section, above the "specialty" cheese. They are also on WalMart.com, and I'm sure they're many other places as well!

When you're feeling up to it, I have a crispy snack I love. It's not high protein, but it is low cal, and feels decadent (to me!) 4 - 34 Degree Crackers 1 - Wedge Laughing Cow Cheese Total - 57 calories (3g protein)

We have similar tastes, lol! I own about 10-12 City Chic dresses currently. I plan to get the 10 item at a time package. I'm not happy about the cost, but with items coming that don't fit, or I don't like, or have some issue, it seems the only way to ensure I have something professional to wear. Hopefully at some point I'll actually need a smaller size, ugh!

You'll need to eat slowly. So your few bites will take as long, if not longer, than their full meals!

I dine out multiples time per week for business. My stomach as been tolerant of everything, so it hasn't been too big of a challenge. Assuming you are dining out near your home, I would focus on healthy items what will do well as left overs. I've found that just about every restaurants has items that at least semi appropriate.

I usually take mine in the morning without food. I'm not sure how much it matters!

I agree not head hunger. I'd definitely get on a PPI and see if that helps. I take generic Zantac, which is called Rantadine. I buy the Wal-Mart Equate brand, it's dirt cheap. For me excess acid doesn't feel like heart burn or acid reflux, it is exactly like you are describing, a growl-y, ache-y tummy.

OMG, yes, exactly!

Same here! I've just gotten up to 2.5 oz. I was only able to handle 1oz until recently.

59 lbs is so awesome! I'm happy for you but sooo envious at the same time!

Everything here! I fly nearly weekly for work, and yes, every seat belt is a different size! I've never needed an extender, but sometimes I've had to suck in really hard to get the belt fastened! I also agree with feeling guilty about taking up too much space. I think the manspead and armrest hogging is just selfishness and/or obliviousness. I don't foresee that changing when I fit into a seat better!

A 32 bougie, is the smallest considered safe. The waking up in the middle of the night hunger sounds like acid to me. Are you on a PPI? Have you been able to distinguish physical hunger from head hunger? That was tough for me at first because they feel identical. But I realized if I didn't have a trigger, TV commercial, smell of food, seeing food, etc.. then I wasn't hungry. Since I live alone it is relatively easy for me to remove these triggers. I'd imagine if I had a family it'd be a whole lot harder to distinguish what was head hunger, cause there would be a lot more triggers outside of my control.

I have to admit the weight loss feels super slow when you think about how little food and calories you're consuming. I know it's just unrealistic expectation and impatience. I mean we are given a range of weight loss, I just assumed I'd be at the top of that range! But the positive is this has been the easiest weight I've ever lost. I have no physical hunger, so It's just head hunger I have had to learn to turn off, mostly! The clothes are actually the strangest thing. My pants are mostly all stretchy, with "skinny" jeans or leggings for casual wear, or even my work slacks have a lot of stretch in them, and work dresses and top all still fit. My stretchy work slacks are looking a little baggy, and I bought the next size down. They are a little uncomfortably form fitting at this point though, lol. I think it depends on where you are losing your weight from. Mine has come mostly from my thighs, which I wasn't expecting. Thanks for the Scotland tips, that's exactly what I was looking for! Definitely going to take that train ride, sounds amazing! You may have convinced me to try haggis. I'm willing to try just about anything, but offal is not at all appealing! Italy is amazing, but I'm sure you'll get there next year. I so wish that we had more generous vacation time in the US, like they do in Europe!

Just chiming in ... I fly nearly weekly for work, and started at 3 weeks post op

I think that is cutting it a little close, but I would have been able to do it, if I absolutely had to. I started traveling domestically for work in week 3 post op. I would suggest packing your protein shakes, either powder or premade and taking it with you. When you're traveling for work it's not always easy to get to a store, much less finding the right items in a foreign country.

Can you do snacks that would have no negative impact on your calories? Like sf jello, popsicles, pickles, cucumbers?

I liked the Protein20 drinks, they taste "normal" and not like a protein drink. It's only 15g per bottle though, so it would be hard and expensive for that t be your only source of protein. Muscle Milk premade shakes are dairy free, so you could try those. They are 32g of protein for 160 calories. So two of those a day will get you to your protein goals.

It's true the FDA does not regulate supplements. But plenty of independent labs can and do test supplements for label accuracy. The bottom line is Wal-Mart is not going to risk a lawsuit and their reputation by putting out supplements that don't contain what they claim they do. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/health/05patient.html "In a recent test of multivitamins, ConsumerLab.com found that Equate-Mature Multivitamin 50+ sold by Wal-Mart was just as good as the name brand Centrum Silver, but at less than a nickel a day is half the price." As for gummies, my program doesn't recommend gummies because they are just not complete enough. If you look at the vitamins and minerals in widely approved multivitamins, like the Celebrate or Trader Joes, and compare them to gummies,. You'll see the list of vitamins and minerals is much shorter on gummies than non-gummies

Oh, I forgot about protein drinks. I have to add Whey Protein Isolate to the list of things that bother my stomach. I was fine the first few weeks, but then anything with whey protein in it made me miserably nauseous. I had to look at a lot of labels, but I've now found protein shakes and bars, and protein soups that agree with me. I'm a social drinker only. So in someways that has made not drinking better, and some ways it has made it worse. It's better because I'm not tempted by drinking daily, and when I'm out not having a taste for it makes it easy for me to have water and be the DD (for once!). But it means I have to make up a lot of excuses for not drinking. I haven't shared my WLS surgery at work, so me not drinking leads to a lot of questions. So with you only drinking when you travel should be easy. You can choose to indulge moderately when you travel if you want, but it won't be a daily or weekly thing you are trying to avoid. Thanks, I wish my weight loss was faster, but it's coming off (but not this week, grr!). Yeah, I'm excited for you to get sleeved, and see how you do because of our similar stats. Glad to hear you enjoyed Scotland. I'm going to be there for 1.5 weeks, so plan to do Edinburgh, Glasgow & then get up into the NW area. I'm glad to hear the people were nice. I've heard some mixed reviews on that. I know in Ireland the people were one of the best parts of the trip. Actually the weather is what made us choose Scotland. I had a window for work to take vacation in July, and we wanted to avoid the heat, so Scotland it is! Paris, oh, that was my first trip to Europe and it was a whirlwind. We did all the touristy stuff, Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. What I wished we had had more time for was just to wander around and soak it in. The city itself is a tourist attraction. I'd also suggest choosing your neighborhood in an area where there are some Parisians so you'll have local cafes, bakeries, etc. We stayed in the Latin Quarter. It was in the heart of the tourist district but had plenty of local flavor. I love Italy. This will be my second trip to Rome, and 4th trip to Italy total. I'm looking forward to going back as a more experienced tourist. I don't usually repeat destinations (too many places, too little vacation time!), but Rome is my friends number dream vacation, so I'm going back. Any tips for Scotland? Did you drive at all?

Unless you have complications, you should be perfectly fine at 8 weeks. I started traveling for work after 3 weeks, and all has gone well. As far as food goes. I personally don't find food on cruise ships to be all that great. There is a lot of it, but it's all pretty mediocre IMO. So one of the benefits of the sleeve for me (and others!) is I have no physical hunger. So that makes it easier to make good choices. So I have found it easier to skip over the bread and the carbs, and have lean proteins instead. I know I wouldn't find the cruise ship food appealing enough to tempt me wildly off plan. Another good thing, is 8 weeks out your stomach capacity will be pretty small. So if you do give into temptation (no one is perfect), your sleeve will limit the damage you can do. We have to retrain ourselves how to eat, but the sleeve is a good safety net!

I'm honestly really bad with water. It's the only thing that hurts my sleeve. Even without the pain from water, I just find drinking large quantities a chore. So to be completely honest I'm sure I won't get my water in while traveling. I don't get my water in when I'm at home, and I don't get it in when I travel domestically for work. I have never had any issues from dehydration. So even though I make an effort to drink more water, I'm rarely near 64 oz. Not advocating this, just reality for me. I'm 9 weeks out from being sleeved. My sleeve has been relatively trouble free. As I mentioned I have some stomach pain and nausea with an empty stomach and when I put water on an empty stomach. No food has upset my stomach at all. Water and vitamins are the only things, ironically! I have had beer a few times at 4 weeks out. The carbonation didn't bother my stomach. I didn't have any taste for it though. Most of it I just let get warm and flat, and then it really wasn't appealing. I haven't had any since, because the week I had beer, I had a few cocktails as well. After I got home from that trip (business) I had gained 2 lbs despite averaging only 700 calories/day, including the alcohol. So considering I didn't enjoy drinking, I've sworn it off for the time being, as I don't want to sabotage my weight loss. I will try it again in Scotland, even though I won't be at goal yet. I'm not sure if I will enjoy it again, but I'll definitely give it a shot. Yep, it will be my first time to Scotland, I'm looking forward to it! Have you been to any of your locations before? I loved Paris, but didn't spend long enough there and want to go back. I've never been to Amsterdam or Brussels before, I'm envious!

I totally get what you are saying. I love to travel and experiencing the food is a big part of my enjoyment. I'm actually going to Scotland, Rome & Egypt this year. Two are big food destinations for me, and the other is a beer destination For me, there is no way I am going to go to these places and eat protein bars & salads. I plan to enjoy and experience all the different food. Thanks to my sleeve though it will just be in much smaller quantities. I figured those indulgences will be balanced with a lot of walking and general higher activity level. If I have gained weight, when I return I know I can reset and buckled down and get it back off. I get 3 weeks of vacation a year, I'm comfortable with splurging for 3 and being on plan for the other 49.

This developed at week 4 for me as well. It's mostly that I'm nauseous when I have an empty stomach, and drinking water just exacerbates it. Changing temps or adding flavorings didn't help in my case. I asked my surgeon's PA about it, and she told me it is common. I personally haven't found a way around it. It has lessened as the weeks have gone on. I also never get sick, just feel nauseous, so I just go about my life. It definitely makes getting all my water in hard, especially considering I'm not much of a water drinker to begin with.

I put frozen strawberries in the blender with my protein shakes from week one. My program had no restrictions on strawberries and they never caused a problem.