Catracks

I eat the toppings off and then chew on a tiny strip of the hard crust - it's much like having a cracker. I don't think I will ever have a regular whole slice of pizza again unless it's on very thin crust. Yeah - way too soon for pizza. I was still on Clear liquids at that point. In a few days you should be on full liquids. Really, you could do yourself harm. Loaded potato skins? Not for me maybe ever. I simply will not go back to my old way of eating. Dense Protein first, a little vegetable or fruit, if ANY room left maybe a bit of complex carbs. It's not suffering. Hell, I had a piece of ribeye steak last night. Today I'm having grilled shrimp for lunch with a snack of a little slice of Havarti dill and a large strawberry.

I haven't gone lowfat at all. I do 2% dairy and try to eat lean meats, but not always. My daughter and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings and I ate 2 Asian Zing Wings and one of their hottest - my lips went numb. Anyway, I can eat 3 wings and they are not lowfat, but at that quantity, who cares? I also had 3 oz. of ribeye last night. I get between 600-700 calories with about 30-35 grams of fat. What I do is try to keep the carbs down which isn't hard since I don't do bread, pasta or rice. I still do potatoes though not every day.

Pricey, but COOL! http://www.laurenshope.com/

I get between 600-700 calories a day and I'm on solids. I was told not to count calories though - just to get the requisite protein in and keep the meals between 2-3 oz. for now. I think it will eventually increase to 4 oz. per meal.

You need a card that states that medical personal need to be extremely cautious when inserting a naso-gastric tube. Not that it comes up a lot, but still. I got mine at my two week checkup. As I understand it, NSAIDS and steroids can be taken with a gastric sleeve. That warning is for bypass patients. This is one of the reasons I choose the sleeve over bypass.

I was sleeved on January 11th and I have had an easy recovery. Never took the pain meds. I stopped after one dose of morphine in the reovery room. The only thing that happened to me was some subcutaneous trapped blood came out of the large incision. I just wore gauze pads for a week. At two weeks my surgeon gave me a full release and said, "Sure, go horseback riding." There are a few horror stories out there, but I think they are the exception rather than the rule. Stop waiting for the other shoe to drop Suprising about a leak 6 months out. I thought that's when the stomach had fully healed.

What I don't understand is this magical span of time that you can lose weight. Frankly i don't buy it. It's the same sleeve basically 9 months out that it would be 2 years out. My doctor also said that according to statistic I will only be able to lose to 180. Yeah right. by 3 months i'm going to blow that one out of the Water.

A piece of chocolate? On top of the carb overload? ACK! Don't go very long without eating. I eat so slowly that meals tend to blend together with short burst of crystal light in between. This morning I drank a Protein shake, then some egg drop soup on the way to work. An hour at work and I had my cottage cheese. A hour after that a couple strawberries and then it was time for a lunch of sliced turkey with avocado and greek yogurt. I drove home and then had 3 oz of leftover lean part of a ribeye. On just over 600 calories and I got the requisite 70 grams of protein in. Seriously. Your sleeve is prime territory with no room for things with little or no nutritional value. Granted the ribeye is not the best choice because it is rather high fat even if you do cut all the visible fat out, but boy was it ever good. Lean protein first like chicken breast, cottage cheese, fish without breading, shrimp no breading, scallops, tuna (not packed in oil, fresh ahi is best), salmon, Greek yogurt, etc.. About 2-3 oz. Cheese and Peanut Butter in small amounts. Drink lots and lots of Water. You surgeon should have a nutritionist on staff. Give them a call.

macaroni, potatoes and chips? I'm sorry, but I gotta say it: Would you like some more starch with your starch? Eat Protein first, then veggies and then if any room at all you can have a bite or two of healthy carbs. That's the basic plan anyway. I use fitday.com

Failure? No, I think anything over 50% of excess weight shed is considered successful or at least average. Another thing: No, you're not "done." You can lose weight as much as anybody can. Why don't you do that bootcamp thing. Go back on liquids to give the ol' body a shock. Eek girl. you're depressing me. You can do this.

The scab fell off a couple weeks ago, but I have a string hanging out too. Just weird.

I had the opposite thing going on. I had to convince my husband more than once that's it okay to bring pizza home and okay to eat in front of me. Now we pretty much eat the same and he will give me a bit of food from his plate if we go out. My daughter will do that too. Others are right. Have that talk. Tell him what you need and watch what happens. It's not always about you, but he needs to be cognizant about the difficulties are are experiencing.

Jeese, have a little cheese. Wonder what your doctor would say to that slice of bacon I ate the other day?

I just ate Beans with a slice of bacon sliced up in it. Decadent, but not so bad considering I can do 2-3 oz. Boy, I should feel guilty, but I don't! I'm back to losing almost a pound a day. I wouldn't feel guilty unless that was 2 ounces of chocolate candy. We aren't meant to subsist on liquids. Just pack the sleeve with Protein and a little vegetable. Gotta have the Fiber. believe me.

I don't even have a sweet tooth anymore. I didn't much have one before surgery either. I might consider some SF Jello pudding or Yoplait yogurt with some fat free whipped topping ,,, or not. I have the remains of a ribeye in the fridge and it will take me a week to eat it. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Agreed. Excessive and not real world applicable. You'd have digested the first bit by the time you got to the last bit. I only have 30 minutes for lunch anyway.

I used ice and frozen fruit so I am a huge believe in the old fashioned Waring Blenders. You can mix, whip or puree anything in these. I have this one. They come in colors and are glass. I loathe plastic :-) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004S8F3/ref=asc_df_B00004S8F31899064?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B00004S8F3

I pay dearly too. I think I might need to stick a snack in between times. I don't notice hunger like I used to so sometimes I go too long and then rush my food down. I can eat just about anything if I take time to chew and don't eat through my full signs (soundless burp, hiccup, sigh, picking at food, etc.)

Oh, for non-edibles I definitely recommend mini-storage containers. I have about 24 of the in the freezer holding soups, baked Beans, chili, crock pot leftovers. In the fridge there are 10 more holding my Greek yogurt dips and other leftovers. Great to take to work too. I also recommend Gas-x strips, a good heating pad and a small soft stomach pillow. It made me feel secure for the first week or so.

My surgeon has Monday night support group meetings and sadly I think I'm the only sleeve he's done for weightloss. He does them for stomach cancer. Anyway, I like some of the people I met. One was a tiny woman who was 1 year out and a very large and tall woman 2 weeks out. WHAT a cross section. A good majority found eating uncomfortable and a chore. One woman who lost 75 pounds in 4 months was sitting all grey and hunched over. She cannot eat barely anything. Some people are totally clueless or misinformed about their own surgery. A few people are afraid to move to solids. Others don't know that for bypass, sugar free is more important than fat free and mix Protein powders with WATER! No wonder they hate them. Nobody had the idea to mix any flavorings into them. One lady got to goal, starting drinking and gained all her weight back. Another lady lost a lot of weight, but is surrounded by an incredible amount of excess skin. The balance are people just on the journey without any issues. It was interesting, but the disgussion was mostly geared to dumping syndrome and other things that do not affect me. I love this board, but I wish there were a bunch of sleeve people I could meet with over ... coffee, tea, Protein shakes ...?

Absolutely!! :-)

I started this in the Post-op forum, but realize it migh be better over here. I don't know how I did this. For the first two weeks I was on Clear liquids and stuck to it except for a couple times when I had some mashed potatoes or a blended Soup. I'm supposed to be on full liquids until the 8th and then mushies. I just felt so good I started eating solids, albeit very healthy ones. I have lost 30 pounds all together (18 post-op) and hit a stall at 3 weeks that seems to have broken today after I went down a pound. THE QUESTION: Should I go a step back and go back totally on full liquids? It doesn't seem like cream Soups are all that healthy, but I still do cottage cheese and yogurt every day. Cucumber gave me pause, but broccoli, carrots, squash and Beans are fine. In fact, there is nothing I can't seem to eat so far. eggs, cheese, chicken, pork, beef, fish - all fine. I didn't do this flippantly, It just seemed to feel normal. I go between 550-650 calories a day. Here is a day's menu: Total 591 Cals. 22.7 Fat (g) 28.9 Carbs (g) 69.3 Protein (g) Milk, 2% fat 6 oz MaxProteinVanilla 1 serving Tuna, fresh raw 3 oz Somersaults Pacific Sea Salt 1/2 serving (Low carb, high protein cracker things) Cheese, cottage, lowfat, 2% 1/4 cup Cucumber 5 slices Cheese,Blue 1/8 cup Cheese,Ricotta 1/8 cup Salami,dry 1 slice P.S. The Salami and riccota cheese is an Eggface recipe in which you take a slice of salami, put it into a mini muffin pan and fill it with ricotta cheese seasoned with spices and topped with a tiny bit of mozzerella cheese. They are savory little protein cupcakes that are to die for. I made mine smaller and cut the egg yolk. The greek yogurt and gorganzolla or blue cheese is another Eggface recipe. It makes a great dip. Everything she makes is geared with protein in mind. If you dip your meats or veggies, you may as well do it high protein instead of using commercial dressings or sauces.

I was told to peal the strings off the back of the celery with a paring knife. Broccoli I do not find overly fibrous or stringy. Broccoli is my go-to veggie and I would miss it horribly. Asparagus would be fine as long as the tips and a little stem were eaten.

Congrats!!! GREAT WORK!!! I hope to be right behind you!!

Am am 30 something days out and can chug. It gets easier. My doctor said something like no more that 4 oz an hour at first. RIIIIIGHT. I'd dehydrate.