Hello everyone!

I was approved a few days ago (after only waiting a week) and received my surgery date for December 12, 2018! I chose this date out of the few offered to me because I am currently in college and I will be able to finish up my classes prior to the surgery (which was a huge worry of mine.) It's about two weeks before my birthday too!

Anyone else scheduled out in December?

Hello my fellow December 2018 sleevers! I am down 27 lb today. I am struggling with recipes and different foods that I can have that will help me not getting nauseated. I am still trying to get down the 64 oz of fluid I generally get down my protein for the day. I am hungry at the time that I should be hungry usually in the morning I am very hungry and throughout the day I try to find out different things that I could eat. I started back school and work and my internship this week so I have not went to the physical gym but I have been getting my steps in for the day. I want to use this week to incorporate my aerobics to see if I can jog and or walk for 2 miles with the schedule change. I am finding myself sleepy a lot more than the first two weeks. I went to the pharmacy and purchased all of my important vitamins so maybe starting my B12 will help me with the energy. Has anyone else been feeling hungry more or has obtain their appetite? I purchase a no sugar no calorie lemonade today to help me get down more water or fluid intake so hopefully that helps. How is everyone else Oz intake going thus far? I need help on different recipes that you guys are trying I'm tired of trying to eat the same things am I generally do not get it all down because I'm kind of tired of it.

I am a month-post op, well 5 weeks probably and noticed that when I transitioned from fluids to soft foods that I was hungry every two hours. I can't each much at a time but I can eat often. I'm getting about 900 calories/day. No trouble getting in a variety of liquids including Gatorade Zero, decaf diet peach tea, sugar-free flavored water, etc. I have been to the gym every day so far this year in 2019 doing 30 minutes of cardio and strength-training.

Sounds like u are doing ok . If u get 60g of protein in and 600 calories and close to 64 oz of liquids and are losing steadily u r good !

My surgery was 12/11 and I’ve only lost 19.6 and was discouraged but I put on a favorite hoodie and it was baggy. At the beginning I was 267 now I’m 222. And it’s little losses but I am loosing :)

Force in the protein , at least 60g to keep ur hair !!

Ughhhh. I'm gonna try harder starting asap..I really dont have the face for a short cut

I am a month-post op, well 5 weeks probably and noticed that when I transitioned from fluids to soft foods that I was hungry every two hours. I can't each much at a time but I can eat often. I'm getting about 900 calories/day. No trouble getting in a variety of liquids including Gatorade Zero, decaf diet peach tea, sugar-free flavored water, etc. I have been to the gym every day so far this year in 2019 doing 30 minutes of cardio and strength-training.

Where do you find decaf peach tea?? I'm craving iced tea so bad lol. I'm on the pureed stage but I've been just eating the food and chewing really good and not using a blender. Is this bad??

Jeannine [emoji8]

I found decaf peach tea in the herbal section of tea area . Also I went online and order pouches of chicken soup and strawberry sorbet protein drink from ujury, using for travel and each has 20g of protein . Just keep trying different things till u find something u like . I cannot eat enough to get my protein in so I am committed to using drinks and soups until that improves

11 hours ago, Jean9 said:

Where do you find decaf peach tea?? I'm craving iced tea so bad lol. I'm on the pureed stage but I've been just eating the food and chewing really good and not using a blender. Is this bad??

Jeannine

It's Snapple brand and I find it at the grocery store, Kroger in my area.

1 hour ago, Lolo 2020 said:

I found decaf peach tea in the herbal section of tea area . Also I went online and order pouches of chicken Soup and strawberry sorbet Protein Drink from ujury, using for travel and each has 20g of Protein . Just keep trying different things till u find something u like . I cannot eat enough to get my protein in so I am committed to using drinks and Soups until that improves

Thanks. I will try that.

Why are you guys avoiding caffeine??? My post-plan discusses staying away from coffee, but nothing about other caffeinated beverages and there's even a suggestion for some water that has caffeine added. The issue isn't caffeine--it's coffee, which can be irritating for your stomach (at least that's how it was explained to me). Do what your doctor says, but I have been having caffeine (in moderate quantity) and I am not seeing any downside to it so far.

10 minutes ago, SteveT74 said:

Why are you guys avoiding caffeine??? My post-plan discusses staying away from coffee, but nothing about other caffeinated beverages and there's even a suggestion for some Water that has caffeine added. The issue isn't caffeine--it's coffee, which can be irritating for your stomach (at least that's how it was explained to me). Do what your doctor says, but I have been having caffeine (in moderate quantity) and I am not seeing any downside to it so far.

Steve, I had my sleeve on December 20, 2018 and the way my doctor explained it to me is that coffee or products with caffeine are diuretics, which means it will make you pee and during this early stage when you may be struggling to get your fluids in, he doesn't want me to drink it and lose precious fluids that my body needs right now. He did however say that as soon as I am drinking at least 64 oz a day I can resume drinking caffeinated coffee or any other caffeinated drinks.

42 minutes ago, Louise is gonna Lose said:

Steve, I had my sleeve on December 20, 2018 and the way my doctor explained it to me is that coffee or products with caffeine are diuretics, which means it will make you pee and during this early stage when you may be struggling to get your fluids in, he doesn't want me to drink it and lose precious fluids that my body needs right now. He did however say that as soon as I am drinking at least 64 oz a day I can resume drinking caffeinated coffee or any other caffeinated drinks.

My doctor says no caffeine because (1) it dehyrates you; and (2) it stimulates hunger.

56 minutes ago, GradyCat said:

My doctor says no caffeine because (1) it dehyrates you; and (2) it stimulates hunger.

As for the hydration issue, that's true. Caffeine is a diuretic But if you're getting plenty of water (more than 64oz a day), hydration is not going to be an issue for you. You just don't count coffee towards your hydration amount and you might want to add extra water 8-16oz of water per day for 8oz cup of coffee you consume. Personally, I have been having issues with constipation, so I added one 8oz cup of coffee to my diet per day (with some premier shake in it instead of milk). It has definitely helped get things moving to the point where I am not taking stool softeners!

As for your doctor's advice regarding caffeine stimulating hunger, that's absolute NOT true. In fact, it may be just the opposite. At best, caffeine is hunger neutral. In particular, at least one study was conducted to determine whether hot caffeinated coffee reduces hunger. In that study, the study, the subjects were given hot beverages and asked to rate their hunger. Each group was given coffee, tea, decaf coffee, decaf tea or just plain hot water. The study found that any hot beverage reduces feelings of hunger--regardless of caffeine content. In short, caffeine does not increase hunger and the debate is open as to whether it helps reduce hunger. It's ok, my surgeon did a great job for me, but I know some of the info his office gives his patients is pure BS. For example, the crap about never drinking from a straw and never drinking carbonated beverages against because they stretch your sleeve is total BS. You don't drink with a straw or drink a carbonated beverage because you will probably major gas pains if you do. Not a good thing!! However, later on neither a carbonated beverage or a straw is going to hurt you. Nevertheless, for many people carbonated beverages are trigger for drinking sugary drinks or diet chemical drinks loaded with artificial sweeteners that are bad for you. If you're going to have sparkling water one year post-op, you'll be just fine.

I had sparkling water with cranberry juice at a work function the other night and all was fine . I only drank a little bit of it , was more for optics ..

1 hour ago, SteveT74 said:

As for the hydration issue, that's true. Caffeine is a diuretic But if you're getting plenty of Water (more than 64oz a day), hydration is not going to be an issue for you. You just don't count coffee towards your hydration amount and you might want to add extra water 8-16oz of water per day for 8oz cup of coffee you consume. Personally, I have been having issues with constipation, so I added one 8oz cup of coffee to my diet per day (with some premier shake in it instead of milk). It has definitely helped get things moving to the point where I am not taking stool softeners!

As for your doctor's advice regarding caffeine stimulating hunger, that's absolute NOT true. In fact, it may be just the opposite. At best, caffeine is hunger neutral. In particular, at least one study was conducted to determine whether hot caffeinated coffee reduces hunger. In that study, the study, the subjects were given hot beverages and asked to rate their hunger. Each group was given coffee, tea, decaf coffee, decaf tea or just plain hot water. The study found that any hot beverage reduces feelings of hunger--regardless of caffeine content. In short, caffeine does not increase hunger and the debate is open as to whether it helps reduce hunger. It's ok, my surgeon did a great job for me, but I know some of the info his office gives his patients is pure BS. For example, the crap about never drinking from a straw and never drinking carbonated beverages against because they stretch your sleeve is total BS. You don't drink with a straw or drink a carbonated beverage because you will probably major gas pains if you do. Not a good thing!! However, later on neither a carbonated beverage or a straw is going to hurt you. Nevertheless, for many people carbonated beverages are trigger for drinking sugary drinks or diet chemical drinks loaded with artificial sweeteners that are bad for you. If you're going to have sparkling water one year post-op, you'll be just fine.

I was cleared to have coffee as long as it didn't contain awful sweeteners (so just regular coffee was a-okay.) While it is a mild (emphasis on mild) diuretic and will cause you to urinate more often, the idea that it dehydrates you is a bit of a myth. Your body is still able to intake enough fluids to hydrate you. If you're interested in reading up on it, you can take a look at this article: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/01/13/262175623/coffee-myth-busting-cup-of-joe-may-help-hydration-and-memory

The headaches you often feel associated with caffeine intake is generally due to a sensitivity to caffeine, or your system lacking caffeine. There are other issues with coffee, but they are generally surrounded by issues directly affected by caffeine, or the sugar that people throw into their coffee.

A daily cup of coffee is really no issue unless you have a high sensitivity to caffeine. I actually have found (like Steve said) that a cup of coffee has helped me offset constipation. I pretty much have a regular bowel movement at this point. It isn't exactly the same as pre-op, but I'm happy that we're on a pretty regular basis now.

Just a heads up, I am NOT a doctor or nurse, but I do like to research and find out new information on the medical field.