Swanton_Bomb

So many people say to increase calories to break a stall, but it just seems so counter-intuitive. Others say to track and measure more carefully than ever. What say you?

For me artificially sweetened things are intolerable, fruit tastes great and some things with real sugar taste good but not "I need to shovel this in my face at great speed good" or are just "meh". One exception is sugar free pudding, which I still like. It has aspartame (Nutrasweet) though, not sucralose (barf) or stevia (retch).

Don't stock up on too much, your tastes may change drastically!

Do you take chewy calcium or pills? Do you take 1,000 or 1,500 mg. daily? Do you take your calcium with food or without? I am getting so confused by conflicting information. Some say to use chewable calcium because it is better absorbed, but the chewies give me an extra 30 calories per day. Some say pills are fine. I have seen sources state to take with food, and others say to take on an empty stomach. Stomach acid boosts the absorption of calcium citrate, so does that mean you should not take it too close to taking your acid reducer? Vitamins confuse me too. Some say 2 multivitamins, others say 1 pill. I am trying to do everything right but there is so much conflicting information out there, even materials given to me by my NUT conflict with each other sometimes.

Thanks all so much for the advice. I bought a bottle of Citrical Petites, which are on my surgeon's approved list. Petite my arse! They are huge, but I was able to tolerate them. I was cleared for pills at one month and I tried to go back to my old GNC vitamins, which are even bigger than the Citirical, but had a frightening and painful episode when one of my vitamins got stuck, so I am going to wait a while until I try those again. I guess I am concerned because the Centrum chewables my NUT has me taking pale in comparison to my pre-surgery GNC vitamins, and since I am not getting much nutrition from food I am skeptical about taking such a minimal amount of vitamins.

Exactly, I hate wasting those carbs and calories on vitamins that taste nasty anyway (well, the Calcium chews aren't bad, but the vitamins are gross!). I could have half an apple or a couple of berries for those calories. Thanks for posting your routine, that helps!

Thank you all for the advice. I think I will do both, as some of you suggest, measuring first in a cup to ensure I don't exceed volume and then on a scale to accurately measure and track protein.

Do you measure foods like chicken and fish by weight with a scale or volume with a measuring cup? I have always used a scale but sometimes the portion seems big and I don’t want to stretch my sleeve. Normally I use a scale for meat, fish, chicken, nuts and cups/spoons for veggies and jut butter. Am I doing it right?

Thank you, this was so helpful to read!

I have no experience so I have no advice, I just want to say you will get no judgment from me. I nearly ate myself into an early grave, so who am I to judge? I hope you are able to kick this and get healthy.

I couldn't agree more with this! You can lose weight far easier than he can change his crummy personality. Feel sorry for someone who can't figure out how to interact with other humans in a kind way.

I originally liked my NUT, but I took a morning off work for my pre-surgery class only to arrive and find that she called in sick and the office didn't inform me. I lost a 1/2 day of work and traveled for no reason. They said she would email me the info for the class instead...if that was an option then why did you insist that I make an appointment for a class that is only offered on Thursday mornings? Then my one-month post op: I get there and see the PA for the surgeon and tell the nurse that I also have a NUT appointment and she tells me, "Oh, she left already." Are you friggin' kidding me? I made a fuss until they had another surgeon's NUT see me, and she turned out to be much better, not rushing me out like the other one. Sometimes change is good. I'm glad you found someone that meets your needs. Frankly I find the NUT appointments irritating, I can look up the same information on the internet, I don't really need to make an appointment and pay a copay for the same info. In fact, a lot of the info I've gotten from the NUT has been incomplete or conflicting. I just go because I want to be a compliant patient so that I have the support of my surgeon if I have an issue.

Looking good, man! You must be proud of your hard work!

I wonder about the frequent small meals v. the larger 3 meals a day thing. I originally worried that the 5-6 mini meal thing would set me on a pattern of grazing, but your surgeon's explanation makes sense, because it will help you maintain your tool longer.

Change pharmacies, if for nothing other than principle, because the pharmacist should not be giving you the third degree. Unless you are doctor shopping and getting prescriptions from a bunch of different doctors or there is something else that seems shady, they shouldn't be harassing you about your medication. I use CVS and I was given my post op meds (about 3 days worth of Percoset) without issue. In my state prescriptions are filed electronically so that there is no question about whether or not the doctor ordered it, and there is a database for controlled substances. Does your state follow the same protocol?

I was lucky enough to have single port surgery through my bellybutton, but I have used Vitamin E (straight from the capsule, use a needle to puncture it) and Mederma with success for other scars. Microdermabrasion, peels and Retin-A can help as well, ask your dermatologist.

Wow, you hit the loose skin jackpot, no one would ever know that you aren't just a naturally thin person, you have not one bit of loose skin!

I found Starbucks decaf to be too acidic to tolerate post-surgery. I may try it again in a month or two, but one cup set off three days of reflux, no bueno. Decaf Bustelo is ok, but only brewed, the instant has barely any oomph. So far I enjoy the McDonald's McCafe decaf best. whatever you do, don't waste your money on the low-acid "Healthwise", it tastes like straight garbage.

You can tell the truth without discussing your surgery: portion control, low carb, seeing a nutritionist, etc.

American bias comes out when mentioning medical tourism, but from what I can see the facilities are far more state of the art than the ones in the U.S.

Wow, in one year? You look like you aged backwards 10 years!

Holy cow, you don't even look like the same person. You were always pretty, but now, wow!

I don't bother with bringing things to heat up, I just bring my own tiny version of a Starbuck protein box, bringing things like cold cuts, cheese sticks, cottage cheese, tuna or chicken salad, cold leftover shrimp or chicken. You can do hard boiled eggs if you dig those, nuts, cut up veggies and hummus and fruit since you are a few years out and probably eating fruits and veggies. I also keep emergency food at work, as FluffyChix recommends: tuna packets, peanut butter, low carb crackers, protein bars. I work in a busy urban area so I can always run out and grab something, but I try not to do that often because that just makes me face tempting sights and smells like pizza, fast food and bakery goodies at a time of day when I am usually under stress and my resistance is low. Pinterest has a lot of suggestions.

Thanks for the advice! Thankfully, I definitely feel restriction, and I can only consume a max of 2 oz. of most foods. I just am surprised that I have no problem with chicken, turkey, shrimp, etc. Some foods do sit in my belly like a rock (protein bars and once I made a little protein pancake, oy, that was heavy) but I can handle most protein just fine. In fact, in my very early stage I found thicker protein like ricotta went down smoother than a shake. Weird.

I was told 60-80. Some days I struggle to get in 60, I am 7 weeks out, but it is getting easier.