Indymom

I just looked back at my food log from when I was about that far out, and I was getting about 600 calories/day. Now, at almost 5 months out, my nutritionist recommends between 700-900 (I'm usually at the higher end of that range).

I really thought I made some BAD decisions during the holidays (and I did) - but I got myself back on track today after the Christmas bacchanalia. Here was my intake today for an example - I didn't quite hit my Protein target but I may go in and have a bit of cottage cheese before I go to bed for a little xtra protein boost: Breakfast - 1 scrambled egg with 1 oz diced canadian bacon and 2% shredded cheese (about 1-2 tbsps). lunch - leftover shredded chicken (about 2-2.5 oz) from mexican last night, with about 1/2 oz pinto Beans and the leftover sour cream sauce and pico de gallo dinner - about 2/3 of a chicken burger (from Costco), small salad with feta cheese, tomato, cucumber, and a new yummy greek dressing I just made from scratch snack - I just ate a pickle I had to make some guesses on lunch, but I calculated/tracked about 650 calories, 56 grams of protein, 21 carbs and 35 grams of fat. I'm still full from my dinner that I ate at 8 pm (and it's now 11) - so I know my sleeve wasn't 'stretched' or damaged by some of the bad food choices I made during the holidays. Have I mentioned that I love my sleeve?

I'm going to jump on a soapbox for a minute. I wish that bariatric surgery programs required all patients to do a pre-op nutrition class (like the one I did) before surgery. I received a binder full of everything I needed - meal plans/phases from day one all the way up to maintenance phase; lists of preferred/approved Vitamins, supplements and Protein options; etc. It's probably worth noting that my surgery center was a bariatric center of excellence. Anyway, I agree that your liquids should be broth, SF popsicles, SF Jello, crystal light, etc. Usually Protein shakes are acceptable as liquids as well. Good luck to you! I hope you get some better guidance from your surgeon/nutritionist soon.

For those of you craving pickles, depending on your food stage, check with your nutritionist - when I was on mushies/purees I was allowed to make tuna salad with dill relish and a little mayo. I used a LOT of dill relish because I love it. I eat pickles a lot now - the sodium is high, but it's a good low-cal snack and gives me a good crunch. Now my mouth is watering and I might have to go get one out of the fridge.

It doesn't sound like too much . . . 1/4 cup is 2 oz and that's what I was allowed to eat at that point post-op. Remember to not stretch out your eating too long, though - you should try to finish eating within 30 minutes. Remember too that mushies/soft foods aren't going to necessarily make you feel full, so it's important to measure what you're eating and stick to that. Your staple line is still healing and sometimes there's numbness that persists that keeps you from feeling the sensation of fullness. I never started feeling "full" until I started actual dense Proteins like chicken, tuna, etc.

I work a desk job and have lots of flexibility to work from home if needed. I had surgery on a Wednesday and went back to work the following Tuesday . . . I was fine but those first few days back were pretty exhausting, and I worked shorter days and did some work at home in the afternoons for the first full week back. I think 2 weeks is a pretty good standard to go by - especially depending on your job.

I just rocked out at Goodwill today! Because I'm trying to not spend much money I'm only buying simple, functional things I can wear to work . . . but I was so excited because all the pants I bought for work are either size 16 or 14!!! And I'm in an XL top . . . I even bought a couple L tops that are a little snug but should fit in a few weeks to a month. You know what's great about not having to buy women's sizes? NO ELASTIC WAISTBANDS!!!!!!!!

That sounds good, like a lasagna without noodles! I also found these turkey sausage bites (can't remember who makes them, maybe Old Wisconsin)? They are little sausage nuggets and were pretty good on protein. I try to keep a bag at the office for when I'm tempted to roam the office in the afternoon at about 2:30 looking for the candy dishes.

Yuck! I've never liked any of the frozen meals - even when I did Weight Watchers or other diet programs I rarely purchased their products. They always tasted a little "off" to me (lots of chemicals/preservatives in many of them). Like some others said I find it's easier to fix a large meal for my family and then spend the time to prepackage my lunch-sized portions into tupperware so I can just grab & go. The prepackaging is also great because it's so easy to track on my food log - if I know I've already measured out 3 oz of chicken or beef, I can just plug it into the program.

I've seen a lot of people post that they have difficulty with chicken because it's too dry. I found this early on, but started buying rotisserie chickens from costco (most grocery stores sell them as well) - be sure to take the fattening skin off, but the chicken is very moist and I find it really easy to eat, and chicken is an AWESOME Protein source. The best thing about it is that it will last for many meals, even if you're feeding a family. We usually have ours the first night as a "chicken dinner" with salad and some sort of side dish (like some sort of potato - if you're not a militant low-carber) - or cooked veggies. Then I pull all the good meat off the bones and use it later in the week for lunches, I make chicken salad, use it on salads, etc. The Costco chickens are only $4.99 and I find I can get at least 4-5 meals from it before I get tired of it. Another option is to slow-cook a whole small chicken in the crock pot (add lots of veggies like carrots, celery, onions for flavor) - it will be really moist because it will cook all day in its own juices, and you can use it many of the same ways as above. Feel free to add any other chicken suggestions you have!

From a purely chemical/biological perspective, eating extremely low-carb sends your body into ketosis which is generally a pretty efficient way of burning fat quickly (thus the Atkins/South Beach philosophy). I HATE the way ketosis makes my body feel and it's never been a good dieting option for me (I've tried Atkins multiple times). I tend to stay fairly lower-carb and it's really only because once I get my Protein in and some veggies, there's just not room left for any carbs. Also, it's better to stick to complex carbs if you are going to have 'normal' carb intake - obviously you don't want to get the bulk of your carbs from white, enriched breads or foods high in sugar.

That's why I'm so happy with my choice of the sleeve. My mom was banded over a year ago and she still struggles when she eats, she sometimes gets sick, and it just doesn't seem like she's eating normally. I enjoy cooking for my family too and it's nice to have a small serving of what they are having (whether it's a potato, a small salad, or cooked veggies with my protein) - it really makes it feel like you're living a normal, "thin person's" life. That's the ultimate goal, right? To get to the point where you can eat normally and in the quantities that "normal" people should be eating. Good for you that your sleeve is tolerating all the things you like!!

I'm currently embracing my arm and thigh jiggle because like someone else said, most people aren't going to see that, but they definitely notice how good I look in my size 14 jeans (instead of the size 22 I was wearing 4 months ago!!). I don't know if I'll ever do plastics, my biggest concern is the batwings under my arms and I've heard that surgery is brutal . . . we'll have to see what I end up with when I hit goal.

1. Get back on track with the Couch to 5K program - lost a lot of progress when I was very sick, but I'm ready to get back into it. We have tons of 5K events around here so I'm going to look for a couple to register for so I have a target date/goal to work towards. 2. Get back to my militant tracking. I have sucked at tracking intake for the past 6 weeks and it's reflecting on the scale - no movement up, but no significant downward movement either. The damn chocolate covered pretzel I just had two bites of didn't help either. I'm getting this damn Christmas food out of my HOUSE!

My doc recommended 3-6 months for alcohol but prefers me to wait until goal (empty calories, loss of inhibitions which can lead to snacking and poor food choices, etc.). I am a social drinker and it's not something I will give up, so I have been drinking since about 3 months out (in moderation) and so far it hasn't impacted my weight loss. I think you're making a good decision to wait just a bit on the alcohol since you're only a few weeks out. It's definitely too early to put that kind of stress on your healing tummy. It might make this New Year's Eve tough but think about all the celebrations you'll get to enjoy in the future!

I agree that there's a good chance that it's Water weight from the sodium in the gatorade. It could be so many other factors too - close to your time of the month, general weight fluctuation, etc. I do also weigh myself every day but only "officially" count my Monday morning weight (and that's what I log on my tracker). I don't worry about slight fluctuations through the week. Any non-caffeinated, sugar-free beverage will count towards your liquids, so experiment a little with other options. If you like iced tea, buy decaf tea bags and make your own - that's one of my favorite things to drink with a little splenda and a squeeze of lemon.

This has been posted a lot before but I understand it's really difficult to stretch your sleeve unless you had an issue at the beginning with the way your surgery was performed. The fundus (stretchy part) of your stomach is what was removed, and the remaining part is typically pretty muscular and really shouldn't stretch much. I felt like I was eating far too much during the past few holiday weeks (and was . . . I was grazing and eating a lot of the wrong things) - but I got back on track today and got very full at Breakfast from my one egg, 1/2 oz of shredded cheese and 1 oz of canadian bacon - so I know that my sleeve is still doing what it's supposed to. Just concentrate on getting back to the basics - no drinking while eating, Protein first, etc. We all know what we're supposed to be doing, it's just easy sometimes to backslide and fall into old habits!!

So far I haven't had any difficulties with specific foods, but like others plain breads definitely don't do me much good. Try adding in one new food at a time (either at a meal or in a day) - that way, if you do have difficulties, you'll be able to pinpoint what particular food bothered you.

Good luck to you, I'm sure it's been so difficult with these issues - I hope the testing figures out what is going on!

I have had buffalo wings, they are one of my favorites too. They are a bit of a splurge - even though they are high in Protein, they are also high in fat so I try to avoid them in general. They also make me want to drink beer. I am 4 1/2 months out and have had some popcorn, it's not a trigger food for me so when I get it for my daughter at the movies I'm content having a few bites. I'm not doing super low-carb so I have had some breads, I find that regular bread fills me up too much but I sometimes will have a slice of toast with my egg for Breakfast - I think the bread being toasted helps it not be too "filling" if that makes sense. I really don't feel like I'm limited at all with my food options, as long as I get my protein in first and don't exceed my calorie targets for the day nothing is necessarily off-limits in moderation. I think people just need to know their trigger foods and avoid the slider carbs that can get them off-track (such as the tortilla chips and salsa I ate at dinner tonight with my family - those are a bad slider for me so I really, really try to avoid them).

I wasn't allowed to have raw veggies until month 3 (with the exception of peeled cucumber at month 2). I missed them so much I wanted to cry!! Now I'm 4 1/2 months out and can eat salad, though because I love it so much it's sometimes hard to not fill up on it and forgo my protein. What I usually do is use a very small amount of lettuce, my veggies and then have my protein with it (I love a salad with grilled chicken, or thinly-sliced tender steak). YUM!

I think the biggest reason our nutritionists recommend chewing thoroughly and slowly is to make sure we are eating slowly enough to get the "full" trigger before we cause discomfort. I have always been a fast eater, and truth be told probably still do eat a little too fast. I sometimes 'hit the wall' and have a little bout of discomfort after eating . . . not ever to the point where I've slimed or vomited, but certainly enough to remind me that I need to start slowing down. I'm not sure how far out you are from surgery, but if you are fully healed I don't know that you'd necessarily cause yourself any issues if you didn't chew thoroughly enough but it certainly could be uncomfortable.

That is so awesome! I did probably do a little too much "testing" of our baked goodies this year but once they were finished up, I packaged them up and gave them all away so the temptation wasn't around for long. I do find, though, that while I still enjoy some of the 'bad' foods, as long as I have good, high-Protein Snacks ready at hand, I am OK grabbing those in lieu of the carby, crunch snacks that I used to fall back on.

Great NSVs! Also sounds like you have some great, supportive friends - that's so important.

Woot! Congrats, that had to be a GREAT feeling!!