Butterthebean

Just curious if your doctor gave you a list of approved foods. It will be very useful at this stage.

Fiddleman....there it is. Quit trying to be one of the cool kids. Cool shoes won't fix bad technique. You know this.

Protein shakes are "like" a liquid and they don't kill you. Now is the time to dig down deep and find some inner strength. You didn't have the surgery for nothing did you?

Oh I feel great. I'm 1 month post op today. I'm down 5 pounds from surgery day and the doc said he removed 6 pounds. So sounds like I'm maintaining perfectly with no excess swelling weight. Kinda odd since I haven't been able to exercise and I've eaten everything in sight. I don't have much swelling at all. I've been vigilant about keeping my binder on and not doing anything but walking. I'm up to 3-4 miles a day now of easy, non strenuous walking. It may or may not be helping but it's keeping me somewhat sane. The swelling may come and go for a couple of months if not longer. Just depends on your body. The compression garments help with that. Just be patient and keep resting.

That's not bad at all. Definitely do a consult but I doubt you need a full TT. The mini TT has less recovery and probably cost a little less. All on all though it's not bad. Do you wanna have surgery?

Yeah but I guarantee I'm the hairiest person on this thread.

So glad I had the dissolvable stitches...not so glad about that tape I had though. Removing that was torture....especially since hair had grown underneath it by the time it was ready to come off. So about 34" of tape pulling hair on an extremely sensitive area......I cried a few tears.

It's different for everyone. I eat about 100 carbs a day but it's only 20% of my calories (2000).

Say fiddle how's about those ab pictures you promised. I bet it's not as bad as you make it out to be.

First time I've ever seen your picture. What a transformation. Great job.

If you start now, you'll be in better shape come surgery day and your recovery will go so much better. Good luck with your surgery.

You could try my method....have your cat bite that bad boy.

Great job. You have got to be happy with that result. And it will only get better. Don't you just love drains?

Same here.....the choices! ARGH!

Great exercise. And yeah, the overhead press is definitely my weak link.

Damn I've been busy at my week long godless heathen retreat. I missed this too. Glad to be back home....land of the spiritually self righteous. Question to you other heathens. Have y'all noticed a correlation between nonbelieving and political liberalism? I've not met many agnostic conservatives. Not to say they don't exist.

I've had my sleeve for 18 months, and I'm 1 month post op on my TT. I can finally buy clothes from anywhere and I look so much better in dress clothes than I ever did. And I'm telling you.... the choices are overwhelming. And it's getting expensive.

The elliptical doesn't come any where close to getting my heart rate up as running does...unless I jack the incline and resistance up all the way. The elliptical is a great workout. And easy on the joints, great calorie burn....if I could only have one cardio machine that would be it. In fact that is it cause that's all I have. But it's still a machine. Running is living to me. The elliptical is a chore. Something I HAVE to do. Running is something I crave. But I understand what you mean about your knees being toasted. Mine too. If you ever get an urge to run, check out www.chirunning.com Danny Dreyer's method and running technique are designed to be highly efficient but also to reduce impact, eliminate injuries and allow you to run without pain....even with bad knees. I know because my ACL is gone even now, and the MCL and meniscus are torn on my other knee. His method is all about running pain free, not about running fast. I feel like if I can run using his method with my jacked up knees, MOST people probably can.

Frozen yogurt kinda defeats the purpose of the whole diet...which is to shrink your liver. Sugar will prevent that from happening. And an oversized liver during surgery can lead to .....at least your surgery getting cancelled and at most....death. So....not being a medical professional but knowing what I know about this surgery....I'd say please get a second opinion before embarking on your frozen yogurt diet.

My home gym consists of a power rack with lat pull down attachment. And about 600 lbs of Olympic weights. No I don't need quite that much weight....ok not even close to that much, but I bought it all used on Craigslist for 50 so I got it. My power rack is outside as I live in Texas, and I just prefer to be outside working out. Since you ride horses, you're no doubt familiar with those heavy ass rubber like mats they use on stall floors. I bought four of those and laid them down to cover my workout area. Makes a great surface to drop weights on without hurting anything. I also have dumbells up to 40lbs in 10lb increments. And we have a precor elliptical like Fiddleman. Those used commercial models can be found from time to time, and they are a great deal. They last forever. But of course, the bulk of my exercise time is spent running....when I'm not recovering from surgery that is. But with that power rack I can do pretty much anything I want, from dips, pull-ups....and it serves as a safety spotter for bench press and squats if need be.

LOL.....Laura beat me to it. I was going to say, you just started purées. Soon enough you'll be on real food. The first real food I ate was a scrambled egg. And that was the best damn egg ever to be squeezed out of a chicken's egg chute. I'm telling you. It's all I needed. And I was stuffed. Now I can eat a normal meal. But I still eat eggs almost everyday. I love making omelets. Once you go on real foods, you can eat whatever you want, but you'll find there is a wealth of healthier choices that taste just as good. To me, making the better choices makes me feel better about myself...I feel better emotionally for making good choices, and I feel better physically for not eating unhealthy food as often as I did before surgery. I still occasionally do, but each time I do it feels like a backwards step.