Bryn Dawson

Go Nancy! That is an awesome achievement already, and an awesome goal!

Congrats Wishes! I know how long the 6MSWL can be.

Thanks for all the great suggestions and info, folks. This is why I love this forum - so many people willing to help and share! I picked up some Citracal + D and some Centrum Multivitamins and will try the pills for now... neither are too big for my sleeve, I have been taking pills larger than both of them on surgeon's ok before now. Once these are gone I may switch to Celebrate Vitamins & calcium citrate, but for now I'm set. You all are awesome! Happy Friday to everyone!

I have a similar situation with my Cymbalta - I get really bad brain zaps if I don't take it in the morning. I was allowed to take it in the morning before my surgery, and they had me open the capsule and take the contents with a tiny bit of Water the day after surgery. I did not get my evening doses of medications on the day of surgery because I had not yet passed a leak test. I agree that you should probably check with your surgeon about this. Getting the meds in somehow is very important and it is unfortunately our job as patients to impress the necessity upon our doctors.

I don't think the nausea has anything to do with the fact that I've been sleeved - it's because the chewables are disgusting and I just can't get them down. I am really thinking about going to pills. I know some people are allowed pills earlier than I am. I'm already taking some pills every day and can take them all at once with a sip or two of Water and they go down just fine.

Just this past Monday night I made one of the bites recipes (modded a little - no hamburger in the house so doubled the bacon on the Bacon Cheeseburger Bites) and they came out fantastically. My coworkers were intrigued and kept coming into the break room to see what I had!

Ha! I wish I had thought of THIS as the way to describe that noise to my mom. My best attempt was the sound of someone 'farting in a tunnel'. LMAO! I do BOTH burp AND gurgle... sometimes I wonder what the heck is going on in there!

I just broke a 2 week plateau by losing 2 pounds in one day. During those 2 weeks, I went down a size even though the scale didn't budge. It's about distribution just as much as loss, I think. Good suggestion on remembering the tape measure is just as important as the scale!

I totally have to second you on that. Our Keurig is the most used appliance in our kitchen - including the stove! TM - I brew a large cup (10oz) at 192 degrees, add 6 oz cold skim milk to thin it out and cool it down below 130 degrees (because Protein powders DEFINITELY clump at higher temps,) throw in some Benefiber to keep things happy downstairs and add 1 scoop of unjury Protein powder (either chocolate Splendor or vanilla.) It tastes like a strong latte, and doesn't have that 'protein shake' taste to it.

I'm the baby of the group - 7/12/11 - Almost 1 month out - already 17 lbs down since surgery! Yay!

I was never a fan of frozen yogurt before my sleeve, but since I had it I've been twice - once to TCBY and once to Tutti Frutti. (Tutti Frutti is better!) So I say go for it... just be careful and go SLOW when eating it, it is a slider food and can fill you up faster than you think!

If you're on purees, then you will want to puree the Bean with Bacon Soup. I'm on soft foods, so I'm eating it 'whole'.

I never thought I would be salivating over the idea of Beans but there it is - they're sooooooo freaking good at the end of the purees stage when you'd kill for just about anything you can chew. I have been thinking about making refried beans for dinner tonight, actually. With some salsa and some shredded Mexican cheese blend - yum! I also like Campbell's bean with bacon as another poster mentioned. It's very good.

Eggiweggs! I love them now. Soft scrambled is my favorite, but yesterday I had an omelette made with 2 eggs and 1 slice low-fat cheese and it was delicious. Its odd how preparation can make the same size eggs not go down. Scrambled I can just barely fit in 2 large eggs. (NOT extra large like most folks get.) Omelette'd, I had 2 AND cheese with a little room left over (we went out for frozen yogurt an hour after dinner, yum!)

I know what you mean - I feel this way too. MTC2001, you were sleeved on the same day I was. I lost 17 lbs in the first 2 weeks but then gained 5 back and have been stuck there ever since. I also don't feel a whole lot of restriction and I am on soft foods now so it makes me wonder if I went through all of this for nothing. I keep on with my mantra - This Too Shall Pass... but sometimes it is hard to believe what 33 years have taught me not to. The little 'you'll always be fat' voice is hard not to listen to.

I find that Benefiber is really helpful. I put 2 doses' worth in my morning Protein shake every day and I have no problems with constipation or otherwise. It's a tasteless powder that comes in a green container. I have also heard that Miralax can be very helpful but have not used it myself.

Okay, so yesterday for dinner I had some ff refried Beans with taco meat mixed in. Problem is, by the time I got home from work to eat, I was starving, so I ate too fast and almost lost it all 15 mins in. In fact, I keep eating too fast and getting twinges from the tummy telling me to slow down. I KNOW that is what I need to do, but I can't seem to actually DO it. Any suggestions would be mucho appreciated. I am already eating out of tiny containers and with tiny silverware.

I took a bunch of stuff but all I needed was my CPAP, some clean underwear, and a book to read. Everything else was provided or unneeded. I like to travel light anyway, so I was kinda bummed that I had so much stuff that I didn't use.

Unfortunately there's really not a lot of ways to make the full liquids part of the diet better. It's just difficult, especially if you can't eat soups. Some people can do cottage cheese on full liquids, maybe that is an option for you?

The size of a thumbnail? That's... a lot smaller than my bites have been, even with the toddler fork. More like the tip of my thumb. Erk. Maybe I have to do smaller bites now. I ate last night with the timer suggestion (there is a big clock right across from me where I eat) and did a lot better, so that suggestion was very helpful. Thanks to all who have responded! I didn't realize there were so many of us with this question.

Congrats!

My first major NSV - Today I did the grocery shopping. I even pushed the cart. We went to a huge grocery store and did a huge shopping and I walked THE WHOLE WAY and my back didn't hurt AT ALL. Crying with happiness here. The main reason for my having the surgery was because I couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes, much less walk, without being in agony from my back.

Ok, here's my list of things I am tired of... I needed to vent... 1. Fatigue is getting to me, holy crow. I need my metabolism or whatever it is to pick up like yesterday. Most of all, I am tired of being tired all the time. 2. Protein shakes. They don't disgust me, I just don't want them. I need to find portable-to-work foods on the soft foods diet that starts on Sunday, cause this 2-shakes-a-day crap has got to end soon. 3. Water. Oy, water. I don't want it, I don't like it anymore, it is the bane of my existence and I am not getting enough. I just can't force it down, Crystal Light or not. 4. Head hunger. My brain is still convinced that I can eat the way I was eating before the surgery. HA. Talk about eyes being bigger than stomach! 5. My clothes are ALREADY too big. I stood up and my pants fell down. Most of you are thinking, NSV! Except I hate clothes shopping. (Maybe I will hate it less as I can fit into smaller and smaller sizes...) 6. The smell of foods I can't have. Somebody brought Taco Bell in to work. OMG. I am sitting at my desk salivating. I suppose I could have pintos & cheese, but I wouldn't be able to blenderize it first and I'm still technically on purees... Ok, enough whining out of me. I needed to vent. Thanks for letting me. Now the positives... 1. I'm still here to BE tired. 2. No pain. 3. No nausea. 4. ABLE to drink enough water and eat purees without super-tight restriction. 5. Hitting my protein goals. 6. I have a lot to look forward to. I am trying to see it this way! So there's the flip side of the coin. I just have to remember it's there.

Thanks for the support and suggestions, everybody. I appreciate it greatly. I'm starting to feel a little less tired... every day is a little better, I think. Still working on recovery more than I thought. Tomorrow starts another week!

I didn't know my protein shakes counted as fluids... I thought they counted as meals. If that's the case then I'm doing just fine on Fluid intake... that's an additional 32 oz I'm taking in every day! You're awesome!