swizzly

Best. NSV. EVER. Congratulations!!! Best wishes for a great pregnancy, and here's to the healthy little sprout!!

B: Cottage cheese with mandarin oranges S: Thin, dried, smoked beef L: Cream spinach mixed with cooked carrots, mozarella stick, one wholemeal spelt cracker S: Probably more of the beef D: Homemade chili S: Maybe some almonds or yogurt Vitamins: Multi, D3 Water: Nearly 2 L already, so I'm good Exercise: So far, just a walk with the dogs, maybe another one later

My doctor won't set goal weights and doesn't really track weight loss (at least not officially), as the focus is entirely on health and well-being. Yes, you will lose weight by having a bariatric surgery, of course, but they just refuse to let that be the main focus. This has been for me personally a very good thing -- as I have a history of being obsessive and compulsive about weight, calorie tracking, etc. It also helps me stay off the scales at home a bit more.

I walk a lot anyhow in my daily life pre- and post-op, AND I had a fairly good/quick recovery, AND my programs moves you to full foods straight away like day four post-op, so I've had less troubles to get energy/calories in. Given all of that, I could've done a walking-intensive holiday probably -- but I would have had to go to bed at about 8 pm for sure and take good rests during the day. And you'll have to be sure you can get a lot of protein/shakes down. And yes, you will have to be super careful about keeping hydrated, so hopefully you won't have a problem getting water down.

If you have a DVR, now would be an excellent time to use it -- to blip past all those food adverts! No sense torturing yourself. When you get onto more "real" foods, you will already feel much better. Good luck!

Something that has made me laugh is how people are suddenly telling me they love my hair. Uh, would that be the hair I haven't had cut in six months, and also haven't coloured in ages and has grey roots?? I would guess my face is a bit thinner and they assume it's the hair making me look different.

You should consider this whole forum as being full of buddies and mentors! There are a ton of great people here who will always provide support and advice.

What is a filter in the neck?? Here's to a good surgery!! All will go well...

There's a view new content link here, just to the left of the RSS icon. Sometimes on my screen, it's in white text on a white background, with only some orange shadowing, so it's hard to see. ETA: On the home page, it's in white text on the last horizontal lilac-coloured bar, just left of the RSS icon. On other pages, for some reason it's on a white background.

I don't know what phase 3 is, but I was scared to try beef, but felt I needed some. So I did the following: I took the already-ground beef and ran it raw through the food processor a LOT until it was nearly like a paste, then instead of browning it like normal, I cooked it in a bit of liquid (Water with a very small bit of bouillion in it) to ensure it all stayed tender (even slow browning toughens it up a bit) and not clump up into bigger pieces again. Then I used it in chili -- worked like a dream. It stayed in very, very small pieces throughout the chili and I was easily able to chew and swallow it. The Beans I don't have a problem with anyhow. I also eat a lot of refried beans with cottage cheese melted in them, to increase the Protein, also it tastes very nice. And tuna fish (I eat the olive-oil packed kind, so I just drain it well and don't add mayo). And of course, loads of yogurt.

Me too, had it in hospital and continued when I went home.

Anyone who would make fat slurs right out loud to someone, in front of colleagues, just to feel superior at someone else's expense, clearly has some major insecurities and self-image issues of her own. Now that you're getting thinner, that's very threatening to her as well. I would just put her on permanent ignore, casually smiling and saying hi, but keeping it very surface-level, especially as it's a workplace relationship. It's good to also always remember that there are fat-phobic people, who are truly irrational about their own fat hatred.

B: Hard-cooked egg + probiotic jogurt S: BabyBell L: Chili (homemade by me) S: Wholemeal spelt crackers + cheese D: Cream spinach (current addiction) + tuna fish S: ?? Water: Check Vitamins: Done Exercise: Two long walks around town

You might just need a Java and/or Flash update -- I get those same images, but they automatically resize once the page loads.

I'm just 2.5 week post-op and I already use hot sauce as I did before (the fact that I'm on food right away post-op is already different to most programs, though, so my situation is not meant to be normative ). Not nuclear sauce like yours, but hot nonetheless. I made chili yesterday and made it just as spicy as I always do, with extra cayenne. I love spicy and my sleeve seems fine with it. I'm on Protonix still as well.

I've been hungry a lot as well, though that is improving a bit now. I am not around all those good smells all the time like you are, though -- that must be so hard! Hang in there, it will get better, really.

In terms of energy, I was thinking of the Iron content in red meat -- I've also been eating (craving) loads of spinach, so I think I may be a little low on iron. Thus the need to find a red meat solution. Yeah, I'm on my third week off work already and still have a couple more to go. Sometimes I'm very energetic and some days I just walk the dogs and then lounge around the rest of the day (and feel guilty for doing so...).

I don't know if this will help anyone else, but I've been needing some red meat to try and boost my energy levels. I was scared to eat beef or even ground beef, it didn't look like it would sit well at all. So I ran it through the food processor a LOT until it was nearly like a paste, then instead of browning it like normal, I cooked it in a bit of liquid to ensure it all stayed tender (even slow browning toughens it up a bit) and not clump up into bigger pieces again. Then I used it in chili -- worked like a dream.

May sound gross, but I put chopped-up hard-cooked egg into lots of things, for the extra protein and calories. (Chopped up very small or even grated.)

You look great, what a fab job you've done.

They say not to have any alcohol in the first few months, but it's not permanently banned or anything.

HUGE difference!! You look so great!!

Except for the first 72 hours post-op, my recovery has been a dream. No pain, no problems to drink or eat. Easy peasy and awesome! Good luck to all of you going in this week!!

If your tummy isn't liking pasta/bread/rice, then don't eat them. Then you can keep the meat and other protein down. Yes?

I'm surprised how vehemently opposed he is. Has he had bad experiences with patients who've had complications or regain? What a negative start to your process. :-( (My PCP and GYN were both embarassingly eager for me to have the surgery. D'oh.)