sillykitty

Mostly liquid diet ... very little fiber ... not much food volume .... opioids after surgery

It's great though you were comfortable enough to get distracted! I am hyper self conscious dining out w colleagues or clients. I'm anxious about dining in Italy w my new stomach. There are a lot of food related rules in Italy vs. here. It's kinda not appropriate to just order one course. The friend I'm going with has a lap band (years before we met), so she isn't a big eater either. Most places we could just split a course, but that certainly won't fly. First world problem, I know, lol! I'd ask for advice on here. But I'm afraid I'll get people chiming in and said they only ate protein shakes and jerky on vacation. I'll have to ask on a travel forum, but I need an alias. My travel forum postings are followed by some of my friends and family who don't know about my surgery.

I generally have a protein shake in the morning, and two small meals during the day. On days I'm traveling for work I'll often have only 1 meal. I don't usually snack. But this week I have been struggling with head hunger, so I've had more snacks than usual.

Small world, so am I!

Benefiber & stool softener, total lifesavers! I also think the first one is particularly traumatic because of the opioids we take after surgery.

It will pass! I had the same problem the first week. My body was just generally uncomfortable I think, and I couldn't sleep on my side. But once everything settled down, I was sleeping well again.

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