Catracks

My sense of taste is very heightened now. I don't find this to be a problem though because everything tastes so much better. I too am using regular food and 2% dairy. When I drink juice it's off my own trees and watered down 50% or more. Regular juices ARE WAY TOO SWEET! I don't want any high fructose corn syrup or Aspartame for that matter. Processed foods are way too salty. My sleeve likes fresh food.

If you are losing weight and are healthy, I don't see anything amiss. Just for me I don't think I will be doing and tacos or pizza they way they would do in a restaurant. Regular breads, Pasta and tortillas (except handmade corn and only half) are out for life. I looked at some pizza my husband brough home, scraped off the topping for one slice and put it on a small low-carb wheat tortilla and had my pizza. fully 7/8 of that pizza was doughy crust and sleeve space waster. When you only get 2-3 oz of room, you really look at foods differently I think.

I went to a diner and order a side of bacon. The watress said: "That's all?" then I proceded to give my daughter 4 of the 5 slices and take from her a tablespoon or two of eggs. Mine was a 32 bougie. I love my sleeve, I love my sleeve.

I got to 130 on Phetermine as well. but gained it all back plus. As you see I started out at 246. I'm close to the onesies. Heck yes you can do this because 130 is my goal too. I was a size 6 at 130. Surgeon says 110, but I looked anorexic at 110 and have to wear a size 2. My husband would be SO sad.

I had a mini-funeral for Diet Coke. I still crave it. Maybe when the sleeve heals I will have some real fruit juice infused carbonated Water. It takes about 6 months right? Camping this weekend I was handed a Jalepeno kettle cooked potato chip. I nibbled on it for a few minutes. It was good and I didn't want more. The day before my daughter handed me a rye chip from her Gardettos. I nibbled on it and was happy. I CAN DO THIS!

It is your day and your year and the rest of your life. This is the best attitude. It will get you through the discomforts and the boring post-op liquid phases. I know you will love your sleeve!

As long as we're sharing, there were a LOT of embarrassing wake up calls. The times where I had to request a table because I couldn't slide into a booth. Having to struggle to get up off the ground when sitting there (I looked funny getting up). Tripping and not being able to catch myself correctly (I fell real good in front of too many witnesses). While exploring old mines (Yes, I'm weird), having to have people push my ass up a six foot verticle piece of shoring while another person pulled from the top. Even now I can just jump and pull myself. Tested that one out just yesterday. One thing I cannot abide is being pathetic and helpless. That I suppose is one of my issues, but I understand the pain and indignity all too well. Trust us, It's going to be great! Any post-op annoyances are going to be NOTHING. Six weeks maybe of a restricted diet, some gas, some time to get used to to new sleeve and how to eat properly and then the pounds start melting off.

It does seem like pathetic amount of food. We went camping this weekend and stopped at a diner. My husband and daughter order big Breakfast meal. She gets to me and I say, "a side of bacon please." She say's: "Is that ALL?" We get the food. I pass the plate to my daughter and she gives me a tablespoon of eggs, a tablespoon of hashbrowns, a tiny bit of gravy and takes 4 of my 5 strips of bacon. I also have two sips of broth from my husband's vegetable beef Soup. I just sit there happily munching along slowly and finish when they do. Beans and cottage cheese are perfect. I eat and drink 2% dairyand that will boost calories. Add a little cheese to the beans and plain greek yogurt to boost the calories and Protein. Ricotta cheese baked in a caserole with good Pasta sauce and a sprinkle of mozzella is heaven too. Here is my take on things. Tell me if I'm wrong. I eat less that a normal thin person and feel that there is no real reason to eat lowfat or nonfat EVERYTHING. I just make sure everything is protein first and then I eat something for Fiber like broccoli.

After the 2 week pre-op appt. my surgeon gave me a complete release as to exercise and swimming. I would ask. 3 of my incisons are completely closed and 2 still have scabs.

God bless you and indeed take this as a wake up call. Sooner than you think, this will all be behind you.

It's hard to believe when it's happening to you, but stalls do break. This first one lasted for 10 days. I dropped 2 pounds overnight. Let's see how long the loosing lasts.

They really do portion out things very nicely and they're so darn cute! There are cheaper versions, but since this is an everyday thing, I wanted to get what I liked best.

I have a bento box. In one container goes the main Protein for lunch (ham, turkey, tuna, cheese whatever). In another container goes my cottage cheese I eat mid-morning. Into another container goes my low carb high protein crackers (about and ounce) and into the another one goes a little salad or broccoli or some veggie or fruit. It even has a little container for dip/dressing. I make it hight protein with Peanut Butter or Greek yogurt. The bento boxes come with a cold pack which is stored in a nylon case like a laptop case. This is what I got. They are fun: http://www.laptoplunches.com/

I love my sleeve too! Apparently I can eat just about anything (cucumbers will sadly be saved for a future date). No issues, no pain - just uncomfortable until I walked off the gas. I'm so happy that I can eat so little and be so happy about it. food tastes so much better now that I can slow down a savour it. I've lost 31 pounds and I think I'm just coming off my first stall. My BP, cholesterol and blood sugar are normal. The sleep apnea is gone. I could just DANCE!!! I know we are the blessed ones. Maybe we just don't have many pain nerves. I don't know. 2 weeks out and my surgeon said yes to horseback riding. Was that ever fun! Wow Vance! They do say men lose easier, but that's incredible!

That's just the thing. I pulled forward and am eating regular, but very healthy foods. I managed steak chewed to death as I do everything just fine. It was the eating too fast and not chewing as I should that got me. I eat very slow and chew beyond thoroughly. Once on solids, my surgeon does not have any restrictions except for soda, coffee, popcorn and coconut. He says to fill the sleeve with Protein first then little bits of veggies if room. All that said, even though I seem to be fine with it, I'm going to take one step back and do mushies and according to the plan canned chicken, canned tuna and pureed chunky soups are allowed. I made some broccoli cheese that is very good so I may as well eat that. I also made a lowfat crab bisque. That doesn't sound too much like suffering. A few weeks of this won't kill me and may be better in the long run. Plus I can still have my beloved cottage cheese and yes, the Protein shakes. I just have to wait until after this weekend as I will be spelunking about in some old California mines. It's hard to pocket pureed food and milk in the desert is just weird. I thank God every day that I'm not lactose intolerant. I love cheese - cottage, soft, semi hard, hard aged and smelly ... LOL! Thanks for the replies. P.S. Mashed potatoes is on the mushies list, but I won't eat anything so carb laden as a whole 2 oz meal.

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 be feel normal. I go between 550-650 calories a day. Here is a days 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.

Yes, just about everything I eat is in 2 oz increments. Right now my stomach is complaining about the Calcium chew I just ate. Not pain, but noise-making. I can feel what full is like. I only had one instance of trouble when I ate ground beef WAY too fast (pain, nausea and revedrse direction). I won't eat to fast again. That and cucumbers are no-gos for now.

I have chickens (3 hens and a rooster) and cats, so if they beg pathetically enough, I will share leftovers. My girls lay the best eggs ever so whatever lefovers go in, I get what comes out in egg goodness! The cats however are mostly useless in that respect

I went back to work on Monday, Surgery was Jan 11. I asked them to adjust my schedule so I work from 7:30-3:30 with a half hour lunch instead of 8:30 to 4:30. What this does for me is take an hour and a half off my commute time. LA traffic bites. I find that I still get fatigued in the afternoons.

Full liquid according to my surgeon is cottage cheese, milk, yogurt and cream soups as in cream of broccoli, cream of chicken, etc with any chunks taken out. What you described is mushy/puree stage which is supposed to be the next one for me which lasts another 2 weeks. I'm not in a race or comparing myself. I just don't want to sabatogue any weight loss or injure myself without realizing it.

I used Citrucel. It worked overnight. Also adding high Fiber foods when your diet allows will take care of this. Broccoli and Beans are my go to. I HATE prunes. Yuck!

I save everything in little tupperwares. I am not able to throw good food away. I plan my menuus out so that meat cooked for dinner goes into lunch the next day. I don't cook something new until I've finished the leftovers. Cottage cheese and yogurt are easy. Just take 1/4 cup out. The chunky part of the Soup could be frozen and pureed or used when the time comes. I've got chicken breast and gravy, 4 types of pureed soup and crock pot beef stew frozen in mini tupperwares for use as needed. What I learned from Eggface is that leftovers can be revamped into something else for the next day. She does these little quiche things that use leftover meats and cheese. They can also be casseroled or used as toppings for pizza (crust is low carb wheat tortillas). The cool part of all this small portions is that I can afford beef fillet mignon, sashimi grade ahi and lobster for the amount I eat. YAY!!!!

Using 2% dairy products instead on nonfat, a bit of peanut butter (you can make a Thai peanut sauce to dip your meat into), make dips with greek yogurt (I just made some gorganzola and greek yogurt dip the other day. If you can up the protein along with the calories while not adding too much mass, I would think that would be a good thing.

As I posted in another thread, I have fruit trees and an old fashoined hand reamer. I just picked about 170 oranges and froze the juice into ice cubes. I didn't bother to strain the juice and it's full of pulp. Orange juice is very high in sugar so that juice will be considerable watered down after I melt those cubes. I also have a pomegranate tree and plenty of pomegrate cubes. I tend to get turned off by vegetables being blended into the juice. I like eat the veggies.

I was a diet Coke addict myself. Try to ditch that stuff. It's so bad for you. If eventually I can have carbinated drinks dow the road I will be adding soda Water to dilute fruit juice as a treat - not as a daily beverage like I used to do. I won't even be using store bought juice with all the crud in it. I have two dwarf citus trees and a pomegrante tree. I juices the fruit and froze it in ice cube trays for when I need it. When it comes right down to it, NO processed food is going into my body anymore except for the Protein powder. I've been eating better, tastier food since giving up boxed crud. Have you heard what they put in McDonald's hamburgers and chicken McNuggets? Have you read the labels on canned and packaged food? I will be living on good cheeses, lean steak, crab, lobster, ahi tuna, fresh lean pork, fresh vegetables, yogurt, fish, chicken ... I've never had it so good. Really, give up on the diet soda. The fresh stuff tastes so much better.