Foxbins

Fortunately, I am the opposite. If greens and grains vanished from the earth, I would be fine. Give me meat! Seafood! Fish! More Meat! Even bugs! This may be why my friends refuse to accompany me on my adventure trips--they know that I would eat them if I had to .

My scale is not as fancy as yours as it only shows me fat percentage. I have lost 36 lbs but the scale shows only a 2% fat decrease. I assure you that I have not lost nearly 29 lbs of muscle or bone mass since my belly fat is almost gone. The scale has to be in error.

Could be your insides becoming a little more active. If there is no pain in your chest/ribcage area and the feelings are in your abdomen, they are probably related to intestinal activity rather than your sleeve. I don't think it's constipation---more likely to be liquid than solid to give you that 'swishy' feeling.

Yeah, I think you and hubs need to talk...he probably doesn't know what else to do to celebrate other than a nice dinner. Maybe suggest other things to him that you both would enjoy that don't revolve around food. As for your co-workers, do they know you had surgery? If so, then maybe they won't mind skipping the bar celebration this year. If not, enjoy your non-alcoholic and non-carbonated drink of choice, because they're paying, aren't they? Get something with an umbrella!

Congratulations! So good to hear that you are recovering easily.

I guess I would only be concerned if I thought my surgeon might drop dead in the middle of my procedure or become otherwise incapacitated...who would take over and how long would it take to get somebody else to scrub in? Probably a good question to ask him.

8 days out? I think a little pain is normal, your stomach is still swollen and raw on the edge if the staple line. Are you drinking and eating very sloooowly? Is your temperature normal?

Yes, use your heating pad and take your pain meds on a schedule. It's much easier to prevent pain than squash it once it takes hold. Keep sipping, walking, and burping and I hope you feel better soon!

I can only speak from my own experience, but the "diet" I had to adhere to was the immediate post-op diet. I paid a lot of money for this surgery and didn't want to do anything to mess it up post-op, so I stayed on liquids as long as I was supposed to (even though it was hard toward the end and lots of people here eat food pretty early after surgery). I moved to pureed foods and ate what I was supposed to and in the amounts I was supposed to and to solids and so on. I am so grateful that the surgery took my hunger away so that I no longer plan my life around eating, I am just not hungry anymore. I have not had any sugar since Clear Liquids when I did drink some diluted apple juice and I do not crave sweet things anymore the way I used to. Sometimes I want "dessert" after I eat but I have a tablespoon of Greek yogurt with some sugar-free Torani syrup in it and I am happy with that. I am on a low-carb "diet" now because I want the weight off me as fast as possible and because I am older (56) and hypothyroid I figured I would give the surgery a boost, but lots of people here eat whatever they like and still lose weight because you just cannot get in a huge number of calories if you are eating Protein first, there is no room in your stomach. Plus, like I said, i'm not hungry so I am eating because I have to, not because I need to. I started at 232 lbs and want to get to 150, and then I'll see how I feel. I'm 5'8 and 150 was a good weight for me in my 30's. With regard to surgeons, I have no regrets whatsoever in having mine done by Dr. Aceves. No post-op pain or nausea, sailed through recovery, nice hospital. I recommend him highly.

I don't think it's just fast food. Sure, it's a contributor, but look at how much we move today. I am old enough to remember TVs that you had to get up, walk to the TV, and turn the knob to change the channel or the volume. I remember my mother standing for a couple hours a day ironing and preparing food, rather than sticking something in the microwave or heating up something from a box. She did the dishes by hand standing at the sink. She hung the washing on the line. I rode my bike for hours as a kid and walked to school. Now kids are playing video games and everybody gets driven to school or takes the bus. All the time spent standing and the small, repetitive movements that got us out of our chairs mounted up, I think. I was at my thinnest when I lived in NYC and had to walk to the subway, stand on the subway, walk to work, walk to stores, etc. because it just wasn't practical to have a car...I am sure you all can think of other ways our lives are less active than they used to be.

I couldn't get 60 gms of protein in either when I was at your stage; I drank a protein shake with 30 gms and could manage to get the other 30 in from food. Ask your NUT whether you should be short of protein goals or whether you should supplement--some programs want you on all food ASAP and it's okay with them if early out you don't meet the protein goal.

Can you switch to another physician who might be more receptive? Is self-pay an option? I would not worry about the BMI issue, all of us here could always put on a few pounds pre-surgery...or wear thick socks next time your height is measured...

Church lady! Church lady! No, you are right to be concerned about the post-op phase until the danger of complications is past. The 2 pieces of gauze are there because there will still be some drainage from the incision site for a few more days and the extra gauze soaks it up. It will stay red for a while and if you are like me it will be the last incision to heal fully. It's itching and stinging because it's healing. Bleeding from the site means real blood, like from a cut, not the brownish discharge or a tiny bit of red. No worries-

Thank you for compiling these. I am a little troubled, though. I see recipes for "Shelly's" this and that and there is no credit anywhere to Michelle Vicari who, I believe, originally developed the "Shelly's" recipes. It makes me wonder if other recipe developers also were not credited. Did you develop them? If so, I would make that clear so that people can credit you. Anyway, thanks for posting a valuable resource!

I don't know how big the regular ones are, but the petites are still a pretty big pill, so I'm guessing the regular ones are huge. I stopped using the liquid after I moved on to solid food and had finished off the bottle. I travel for work fairly regularly and the bottle has to be refrigerated so it was a nuisance. I liked the Celebrate but they are expensive and have a lot of carbs in them.

I also found myself rooting around the refrigerator for something to eat when I was not really hungry and it happened at night. So I adjusted my schedule. I have never been a big fan of breakfast, so now when I get up I have coffee. At lunchtime I have lunch, dinnertime is dinner, and around 8:00-8:30 I have my third meal. It seems to be working for me, in between dinner and "TV meal" if I feel like a snack I just tell myself that I have to wait until 8:30 because that is mealtime. So I get my three meals in, no snacks, like the Dr. ordered, they are just spaced a little differently than most people, I guess.

I've never heard of UpCalD. I use Citrical Petites; before that I used Celebrate lemon square chewables, and before that I used some blueberry-flavored liquid I found at Costco. What's UpCalD and where do you get it?

I went alone and had no problems. There are other surgical patients there to talk to if you want but I mostly slept, watched a little TV on the 3rd day. The nursing staff took good care of me and if I needed anything I just rang the call button. Travel was no problem either.

I was traveling for work and due to circumstances beyond my control ended up at Wendy's. I got a small chili and ate it for three meals. Decent protein and not too bad on carbs and calories.

I have a paperback book called "The Complete Book of food Counts" and I also use Sparkpeople.com to log my food. They have a pretty good nutrition reference too.

Cottage cheese and Fage Greek Yogurt flavored with SF Torani syrups helped me. Also mushed beans and blenderized chicken soup with added chicken.

GNC carries Isopure in bottles that qualify as "clear." The powder, sadly, does not--but you can use it for thin liquids next week.

Please do not worry about getting in your Protein this early. Day 3 is horrible for pretty much everyone. Keep sipping and walking as much as you can, you do not want to get dehydrated and your stomach is so swollen and sore that you can only get a little bit of Fluid in there right now. Have you tried a straw or a sippy cup to help you drink? You need to take tiny sips very frequently. It gets lots better in a few days! Can't help you with the Smoothie King info, sorry...

In the early weeks after surgery, warm/hot drinks were better. I still drink hot coffee first thing in the morning as it seems like it helps my stomach relax (probably all in my mind...). But after that first cup of coffee, I am fine. I prefer ice in my water and my drinks and I don't have any problem with it at all.

B: coffee and Calcium L: 3/4 of a scrambled egg D: Lean Cuisine Turkey Meatloaf S: Protein shake (need more protein today) Water: 32 oz so far, 64 by bedtime Vitamins: not yet Exercise: not yet; does mowing the lawn count?