Orchids&Dragons

If you're missing "meals", try something savory. You can eat pretty much any soup out there if you strain out the chunks. (I'm assuming you're on full liquids because of the milk.) After the soup is heated, you can stir in some unflavored protein powder to increase the protein. Soup counts toward your fluid goal. There are a lot of good choices now in the grocery store. It doesn't need to be "chicken & stars"! But don't add the protein powder before you heat the soup! It can get all clumpy. UGH! I couldn't handle the "sweet" overload. Good luck!

It's not as fun as getting out to the gym, but you might try doing exercises at home with resistance bands or something like that. The exercise would help lower your stress level, too. I can't imagine how challenging it is for you right now. I hope you find a way for things to get better.

Oh, my! You great planners out there. I just winged it. And, like you, Ash, my husband doesn't know any passwords, doesn't even know the pin for the ATM. He walks into the lobby to get $. He doesn't know where on the computer I keep the financial files, hasn't looked at our taxes since we started filing electronically. Even before that he signed them blindly. Never asked about the numbers at all. I have always known I was going to die in a car accident (I really am a dreadful driver), I've even been in at least 3 accidents when my car wasn't even moving! So, dying from any other reason just doesn't process in my brain. Might be stupid and short-sighted, but there you go!

I just love how long it takes my brain to make connections. Now I understand why there were so many foods that other people bragged on that I couldn't eat at all. @sillykitty loves the 34 degree crackers so I bought them. Could only eat 1 or 2 and had to stop. I couldn't figure out how/why she enjoyed them. Makes sense now. They've moved to my "verboten" list

That's hilarious! I had an Irish Setter that was much more direct. If her food bowl was empty, she picked it up and threw it at you. No communication problem at all

@Matt Z Beautiful pups! So sorry about Dutchess. It is very painful to lose a member of the family.

Congrats! Best wishes for a speedy recovery! Sounds like you're doing great!

Well, I think when I get to maintenance, I will probably have to go back to drinking when I eat meats. But then I will have to be really careful to not overeat. I just can't believe I never noticed this before!

Thanks, Pearldrop! I'll start preparing my bariatric-friendly appetizers!

You definitely make sense. But, I can say that the therapist I'm seeing (who specializes in eating disorders) used to do a lot of evaluations for bariatric surgery. The surgeons dropped her from their list because she didn't approve people fast enough. They wanted a one-off, good-to-go assessment just to get the patient into surgery. (My surgeon requires a minimum of 3 therapy meetings, and more if the therapist doesn't sign off.) But everyone has to understand, the doctor can make all the requirements he/she wants before surgery; after surgery, they're just suggestions. What's the doc gonna do? Give you back your stomach? The doctor has absolutely no leverage after the surgery.

A lot of the commercially available Tilapia is now farm-raised in the US.

White bean chili made with ground chicken - YUM! Oatmeal with cinnamon & a bit of applesauce & Splenda. Stir in some Fairlife milk and unflavored protein powder.

Many people on this site never told anyone except their spouse. It's entirely up to you. Since you've got several weeks before your surgery, if you don't want to tell anyone, start laying the groundwork for your story now. Let them see you planning your meals and doing smaller portions, talk about increasing your exercise, etc. You can even say you're doing this to be supportive of your husband if they know about his surgery. Anyway, if you've already got the story started, they won't be surprised when the weight starts to really fall off. They'll just think your diet/exercise plan is going really well. They won't remember details about when you started to lose. Telling, or not, is your call. Personally, I only told people that I knew would be supportive. I wasn't interested in any Negative Nellies! Good luck to you and your husband on your journeys! Oh, and if you don't tell people and someone asks, you can say you're watching your portions and exercising more. Which is technically correct.

They can also be used as creamers in coffee or chai tea! (Let the hot drinks cool a little so that the shake doesn't curdle!

Creekimp recommends sugar-free CoolWhip

It really does explain why I drank so much with every meal. And never, never, never ate lying down.

Thanks, Bryn. I've been on mushy for about 10 weeks, it has definitely gotten old.

Do you realize that you're already nearly 21% of your goal?

Double check with your surgeon. Unless the pills are huge, you might be able to swallow them by now. I was able to swallow fairly large pills 2 days after surgery.

Take heart! It's still early in the process. You may still have a lot of swelling. That's different for everyone and some people just heal faster. It can take weeks for all the swelling to go down. Also, you're starting at a much lower weight than most of us, so you're not going to lose as quickly. Believe me, you did not want to start at 272 just so you could lose faster. Now that I'm closer to 200, my losses have slowed down a lot. It will work for you, but you're in the hardest phase right now. It gets easier when you move on to soft foods, I promise.

I found the protein waters to be too sweet, but not as bad as the shakes. I dilute with about equal parts ice water and I'm ok.

Sounds totally doable then! Good luck!

I'll call the office after I get all my questions organized. Probably have to relay them through his nurse.

You were such a cute little pup when you got married! Congrats on your upcoming 20th!

He gave me odd instructions. Come back in 2 1/2 months. That made me think there's some kind of insurance requirement that he needs to meet. I wish I were a quick thinker. I came up with all sorts of questions this morning, but was a total blank in his office. UGH! It didn't sound like there was anyway to give my esophogus dance lessons. But, my gosh, it has been darned efficient up to now! Who'd have thought you could get to 272 lbs without a superb intake system!