anonbaribabe

I had surgery a week before you and can definitely relate, but it's gotten better. I went to the store today and it was surprisingly easy to ignore the food I couldn't have. I looked at it all as I was searching for what I needed, but didn't give it a second thought and kept on moving.

I went to the store today and remembered to pick up the Core Power shakes. I got chocolate and it's okay. It kind of reminds me of a Yoohoo, but less sweet. I don't love it, but I don't hate it as much as other protein shakes.

My protein powder recommends mixing with 8 ounces of water/milk, but since I use Fairlife I use 6 ounces. This gives me about 30g protein and a smaller protein shake, which I like because I hate protein shakes.

I'm sick of protein shakes, too. I have to force myself to drink them. Have you tried protein water? I drink Isopure, but I've also heard good things about Protein 2o.

I agree. This could be nothing, or it could be something—the best way to find out is to contact someone on your team. Do you have someone from your office you can contact after hours? It'll put your mind at ease to talk with someone.

I haven't tried their Eggnog flavor, but I've tried several: Vanilla, Cafe Bella, Orange Cream, Ice Cream Sandwich, and Unflavored. I hate the Vanilla and the Orange Cream—both of them were awful. The Orange one actually tasted fine to me, but had a terrible smell, so it was hard for me to get past that. The Ice Cream Sandwich one was okay, but lacked in flavor. The Cafe Bella is supposed to be a vanilla latte, with a hint of cinnamon, but for me, the cinnamon was overbearing, so I didn't like it. The Unflavored is fine, but it's the only unflavored powder I've tried, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I like that I can customize it to make my own flavors. I was really excited to try Inspire, but I doubt that I'll try their protein powder again.

From what I've read, stalls can happen at any point. I'm not even a full 2 weeks out and have been stalled for a week. I plan to take a break from the scale and just wait it out.

I'm curious about these, too! I use Fairlife milk in my shakes, but these would be good for variety and on the go.

Congrats! I was a little nervous about the psych eval, but it was no big deal. It actually ended up being one of the easiest parts of the entire process for me. Good luck!

Straws can let more air into your stomach. My program allows straws to be used at 6 weeks post-op.

Congrats! I'm on puree/soft foods right now and refried beans are my go to. I add a little bit of cheese and sour cream and it's basically a feast. I also am obsessed with broccoli cheddar soup right now. It doesn't have a ton of protein, but kept me from going crazy after liquids for so long. I also made buffalo chicken dip (shredded chicken, cream cheese, hot sauce—I left out the cheddar cheese) and it was really good—made me feel like I was eating real food, even if I couldn't eat it as a dip with chips. I'm also planning on making crab cakes, which is hilarious because I don't like crab cakes, but I'm craving them now. I got the recipe from one of Sarah Kent's bariatric cookbooks. If you want more ideas, her cookbooks have a lot of recipes for all stages.

I'm 9 days post-op and my stomach has felt sore since surgery, but each day it gets a little bit better. Mine is mostly sore on the incision nearest my stomach.

Liquid: Protein powder, SF pudding packets (to flavor protein shakes), Crystal Light, PowerAde Zero, jello, popsicles Soft: refried beans, canned chicken (used as chicken salad or with hot sauce or SF barbecue sauce), soups, string cheese, apple sauce, thinly sliced deli meat, sliced cheese, flaky fish, eggs Most plans include a pureed stage—mine doesn't. I went from liquids to soft foods.

I just started on soft food and it's sooo hard to eat slowly. One thing that's helped me is making sure that I'm hydrated, so that my hunger doesn't escalate. The hungrier I am, the faster I want to eat. Making sure that I'm drinking water frequently has helped.

Congrats to those of you who are recently post-op! Hope that all is well.

Congrats on being one step closer to surgery!

This is basically what I was told—to just leave them alone. Mine are glued, followed by steri strips, and then waterproof bandages. One of the waterproof bandages fell off, shortly followed by the steri strips, so I can see one of them, but no blood or anything. As GradyCat recommended, I'd check with your surgeon to see if there's anything you should do for them. Better to have peace of mind than not knowing.

Just be honest. They're not trying to trick you, they just want to make sure that you'll be able to handle a life-altering surgery. During my psych consult I had to do 2 or 3 (can't remember) questionnaires. No difficult questions, but a lot of strange questions—I think some were to just determine if you were reading all of the questions. During my conversation with the psychologist, he asked about my life: family history, relationships with family and significant other, why I wanted the surgery, if I had a history of ED. He also asked me questions about VSG. I had to describe what the surgery was for and physically what would happen because of the surgery (removal of 80% of stomach). I specifically remember that he asked me if it was reversible. Our conversation was only 20 minutes or so and he told me after that he didn't see any issues with me getting the surgery.

Also, the website automatically linked the recipes page in my previous post: https://store.bariatricpal.com/blogs/recipes I haven't looked at this before, but it probably has some good recipes, too!

I just bought two cookbooks—Fresh Start Bariatric Cookbook and The Gastric Sleeve Bariatric Cookbook, both by Sarah Kent. I haven't made anything from them yet, but have looked through them and am excited about making several of the recipes.

You look great! I'm only a week out and seeing how well you're doing at seven weeks out is super inspiring!

I was a little nervous because I've never had surgery, but the nurses and surgical team took such great care of me. Actually, from the moment I checked in every single person I interacted with was so warm and caring that it helped put me at ease. If you're still feeling nervous on surgery day, let them know and I'm sure they'll accommodate with some kind of medication to calm your nerves.

I'm a week post-op and eating purees. These foods aren't as filling as solid foods, but they're still filling enough that if I eat too fast or too much that I feel the restriction. If I eat too fast it's uncomfortable, so I use a timer. I eat a bite, set the timer for a minute, and then eat another bite. Sometimes I reset the timer because I need a little more time, so I'll wait two minutes in between bites. I also put my fork/spoon down while I'm waiting.

I'll be able to say yes to this after this weekend! I just bought both of her sleeve cookbooks and am going to make the broccoli cheese soup this weekend. @Sophie7713 recommended them to me and she had a lot of good things to say about them!

My policy also has something similar to this, but this is separate from the supervised diet I had to do. For this I had to list other ways I had tried to lose weight in the past: Weight Watchers, behavior modification, diet/exercise, Beach Body programs, etc. My PCP and I discussed these and then she signed off on it. This was to show failed attempts, but for the supervised diet I was required to lose a certain amount of weight. Your surgeon's office should be able to interpret it for you—I found my patient coordinator through my surgeon was more knowledgeable about these requirements than the insurance customer service reps.