wannalise

Oh and here is another tricky thing! Sometimes you will try to be careful and buy things that are light or low fat, well manufacturers have to make up for the lack of fat and they do it with carbs, so be sure to read your labels!

Babybel cheese! Super yummy and because its a good quality cheese there is something very satisfying. They come in a few flavor varieties and they are easy as a take along snack.

Missy! I am a month behind you but just saw how much you are down. I can not wait to hit the 50 lb mark!!!! You go!!!!!!!!!

Well, I used to spend about $8 lunch and 8-10 dinner. I would then buy about six sodas at $1.25 daily (and would drive all the way across town for a specific gas station because I liked their diet coke better? and because they had a drive thru window and everyone there knew me!) I also was kind of a misery loves company or let me love you with food kind of a girl and would buy things for friends and co-workers on atleast a daily basis. Then you know I would also do grocery shopping for about $200/month. Wow! My world is totally different. I don't know if I can give you a specific savings, because now, I am focused on buying whole foods. Real produce, good cuts of meat, higher quality cheeses. All things that make it so this journey is more enjoyable to me. So...I don't buy much anymore but what I buy is pricier.

Greek yogurt is an excellent protein source, but if you are getting one of the flavored varieties, you will also be getting an excellent carb source! Good luck

Yeah! Yesterday I let myself have my first really yummy food post op (and I thought I was going hog wild!) I went to my local fast food place and ordered their budget cheeseburger 59 cents, and ate about 3/4 of it and was super done, and honestly satisfied. It tasted yummy to eat something different. Then the bonus was when I entered it into my day it didn't ruin the world. Nothing too major!!! I am gonna learn how to live successfully by dang!

Awesome job with the drinking girl!!!! Your next couple weeks will be so much better if you can keep that habit of just always having a drink in hand. It always sounded silly to me and sometimes I get annoyed just how much I have to think about it , but I promise your body will thank you! So glad to hear you are doing so well.

Hey all, I am wrapping up my first few days of eating real foods. I have had several good learning experiences, but as I had read from many of you, my go to diet food grilled chicken breast is really not working out. I need to eat it with things that are creamy or super moist, or I have gone so far as to chop it til its almost pureed. I need some ideas on things you add to food that give it that creamy moist taste but that don't add loads of fat to it. I am trying to be mindful of my fat intake because I know me and I have the ability to bend rules just enough to make something that is good for me, crazy bad!!!! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Diet Soda can actually be a diurteic and dehydrate you. I used to drink 144 oz daily and be super dehydrated.

I hadn't thought of adding all the savory stuff to it! Thank you. I have used it as a sweet thing adding the spreadable fruit or putting it in a protein shake, but I will try your suggestions. Thanks Tiff.

I am a super bad diet coke addict myself. I understand that desire. My worry about soda is that even with a typical stomach the carbon dioxide in it when it hits the temperature change of your stomach is able to inflate your tummy. I know the sleeve isn't supposed to be able to stretch much, but I know that until I reach goal I am really not willing to try. The sick thing with soda and I before is that I had learned that I could eat more food if I drank a soda at the same time as I ate food so not only is it a physical addiction from me, the emotional connection I have with soda is also super unhealthy and MY best bet is to stay away.

You will for a while. I don't know what more reassuring thing to say. You could not be doing it through a better office though. Their stats are amazing and their post op program will really be the thing that makes it or breaks it. I am in Logan and they will be starting support groups here next week and I am so excited. I love that the sleeve is a tool, but I will need lots more tools in my kit to make this a life long change!

Well....let me preface with I am a born and bred Idaho girl. I got out of school two weeks of every year for the spud harvest. I adore potatoes. They are not a part of my post op plan, and my sweet roommate in an effort to be supportive brought the thickest buttery mess of potatoes to me at work. I ate them at the pace I used to eat at, not the take a small bite, set fork down 2 minutes, next bite. They literally were lodged in my esophogus. It hurt and made me angry and I cried and cried and called my family and kept saying, "I've ruined my body! I want my stomach back." That all being said, if you had mashed potatoes on your mushies, as long as they are pretty thin (the consistency of a thick yogurt) you will be just fine. You won't eat very many and the state of Idaho will thank you! Oh and by the way according to the size of my butt, the potatoes have been winning for years!

I also noticed on the low carb deal that I felt funky as far as headaches and fatigue for about 3-4 days. I got fat on a really high carb diet this can be a huge shock to the system, but even if you are prediabetic/hypoglycemic, a high protein diet should actually serve to level blood sugars.

How many days in are you? It did feel kind of funky intially. Stay really careful with your hydration, once that is off it can mess with EVERYTHING! In fact (and this is a tale I've not shared in this forum before as it makes me sound crazy!) Post op I was uber dehydrated and walking pitifully through the airport waiting in a line for the TSA no shoe festival. When up ahead I saw someone dressed as Santa Claus (mid March) I really didn't even think to be surprised by it, until when I reached that person I realized it was a nine year old boy with a red baseball cap on. So....yeah, dehydration can really mess you up!

Thanks so much! I don't know how much of a trooper I am, I got in a fight with some mashed potatoes on Sunday and started to bawl! It took me a few minutes to realize just how ridiculous my reaction was. But the support on these boards has been such an important lifeline to me.

You really are in the rough spot. I remember not being able to swallow Water but thinking about tacos. I think there is the obvious addiction part, and then that whole human nature thing of knowing we can't have something makes it seem even more desirable. It will take a few weeks of really being careful with your new tummy, but soon you can add things in and thats when the learning has really started with me. This little stretch you're on though is just a brief endurance race. You can do it. And if you get mad or frustrated feel free to vent or PM me. I understand all too well what grieving an unhealthy relationship with food is like. Somedays I'm still doing it.

You rock! You look so great!!!! I am speechless, congratulations on your success!

Sassie who is your surgeon in UT? I am doing my post op w/Dr. Cottam's office.

I had a slow start and took one solid week off, and wished that when I did go back I would have done it on a part time basis, or atleast given myself that opportunity as a just in case.

Mini, My game plan is to put a plan out there and then at the end of the week report on how I've done. Thanks lady!!!!

Okay Mini! Thank you. Here we go. Here is my plan for the rest of April: M-F: Walk 30 minutes 11am daily on Riverwalk trail w/ clients. Three days weekly-play! I wanna do things like toss the frisbee around, play golf, toss softball, go to batting cages, and find other things that are physically active, but that I like doing!

Yes! Maybe some accountability would be great.

Can I get in on the butt kicking? Meaning will someone kick mine? I didn't feel good the first three weeks and felt justified (kind of) in not starting a program, but I feel really good now and every day think its gonna happen. Yikes!!! I need to get this area down too or the long term won't happen, scary!