Matt Z

First and foremost, stop listening to everyone else. Only you can decide what's right for you, no one else. Their inputs don't matter in the greater picture. You are going to want to start cutting down on anything carbonated, all added sugars, as much fat as you can, as much carbs as you can, and start working on your water and protein intake as well as exercising. Use the surgery as time to change everything you to need to. The liquid diet sucks, but it's a good set up for post op. Just be sure to follow your PCP and surgical teams instructions, never hesitate to call them with questions, ESP if you are having pain! Walk Walk Walk, Drink tons of water and you'll be good to go. Congrats on your decision, good luck with your pre-op and surgery and here's to a smooth and easy recovery! Won't those naysayer friends and family be shocked when you start looking fantastic again!

I'm with you on this one... but recently my normal "times" have shifted and longer hours at work means... no chance in just waiting it out! I felt so bad last week, I mean, it was choking me out! And when someone walked in and did an about face before the door could even close.... I didn't want to leave the bathroom for fear that they would still be out there waiting to find out how the odorous offender was!

Being nervous / afraid of massive changes is totally normal! As long as you are personally sure this is what you want, you've got nothing to really worry about! Yes, it will more than likely be a tough road, but, it's one that's well worth the struggles! Good luck!

Congrats on taking charge of your life! It'll feel great when you can show them your improvements!

Ok, I'm going to try to tackle this politely. Please don't read more into the following than is listed. "Nobody is "supposed" to monitor these forums. We don't work for you" I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you kinda do, your ad revenue is generated by viewers and members to your pages, no visitors or viewers, no ad revenue. I also purchase items at the store, so that's my actual money going to your sites... So, ignoring the seemingly rude/unprofessional overtones here, you do kinda "work" for your members. They generate funds, this site exists for them, so your clients are your viewers and you work for your clients. "If you used the search feature" Maybe you missed where I explicitly typed out "I searched but nothing came up". Now, granted I did not search for "Member Ranks", I searched for "Rank" "Rank Structure" and nothing came up. Looking at the headers for 2 of the 3 results you stated came up, neither of them appear from the headline/topic to be information about the ranking. That out of the way, Thank you for posting the information I requested. I was surprised that this information wasn't available in the typical locations like an About or FAQ.

Good luck! It's a crazy path to walk with all the information differences from 1 surgeon to another! Focus on the high levels of protein and water, and those exercises and everything should work out for you!

My first question is, did your surgical team approve you for stage 2 foods? Or was this a timeline situation "X amount of days post-op you move to stage 2"? I would avoid the creamed soups for a while, and they do say "Strained" meaning, you don't get to eat all the chunks. Did you strain the soups when you went out? I'd go back to following this to the letter... for the most part, I'd avoid the cream based soups and stick with straining other types of soup, this is pretty much going back to just drinking broth, because straining takes out all the food product so you'd be left only with fluid. Overall you **REALLY** want to stick to the guidelines and not jump the gun on anything. When in doubt, call your Surgical team, that's what they are their for!

You really shouldn't be doing creamed soups typically at all. They are generally very high in calories, carbs, fats, and sugars. You should stick to the list of foods they say you can have, and not venture out into other areas until you are cleared for them. Talk to your nutritionist about your diet and have them tell you want you need to be doing. Firstly, weight gain within the first 2 weeks isn't unheard of.... but lots of sleeve folks are on liquids only for the first month, I get that every doctor is going to be different, but you are also supposed to be on a restricted calorie intake, you should be tracking your proteins, water, etc. Give them a call and ask them how they feel about cream based soups. Are you tracking your protein intake? How much protein are you getting? Are you tracking your water intake? How much water are you getting a day? Are you exercising? How much exercise are you getting each day?

Congrats! Good Luck! and here's to a smooth surgery and effortless recovery!

No worries at all! Just wanted you to be aware.

Which Surgery? Those soups all sound crazy full of things you might not want to be eating... lots of hidden sugars, carbs, etc in those soups. That said, you are only 2 weeks post op, you aren't even fully healed yet. You can introduce seafood when you are cleared for solid foods, you really need to stay away from the cream based soups, they are crazy high in calories typically. Go back to your PCP/Surgical Team/Nutritionist and make sure you are on the same page, that you are following the instructions you should have been given, etc. You really want to follow those instructions to the letter for awhile.

You **REALLY** should be asking this question to your PCP or Surgical team!

You might want to increase your calories a bit with protein if you are doing some serious workouts, you are going to burn through upwards of half your daily intake in 1 good session! Cutting the alcohol and coffee is a good idea, lots of extra calories and carbs in the alcohol. What's your water intake? If it's not upwards of 128oz, work on getting it up there. Something else to watch for in case you didn't think of this, working out is going to increase muscle mass, so you might appear to stall weight wise. If your gym has a body fat % measuring device or scale, start checking it out to track your body fat % losses.

@darlingla Try a higher quality protein, making sure it's listed as a whey isolate, to avoid the lactose. You could also try the plant based proteins to see if that helps you out any. Isopure Zero CARB RTD, drinks are "ready to drink", clear, high quality proteins. The taste can throw some folks off, but the high protein count, low calorie count and 20oz of liquids, it does appeal to a lot of folks.

@Alex Brecher Who's supposed to be monitoring this part of the forum and handling these requests?

Literally anything that will blend LOL, seriously, anything that will blend (that's "approved" to eat). I blended all sorts of stuff to try. I even blended a steak and cheese (without the bread) once. Really, take a food you enjoy that's ok for you to be eating... and blend it up. Some items need to be thickened afterwards, a little bit of potato flakes helps for this part. But, honestly, just experiment!

This early you should be tracking ***EVERYTHING*** Including what the calorie count is on those 2 soups... get in the habit of tracking everything now... it'll help you down the road. You more than likely aren't going to feel full on liquids. Just doesn't typically happen. And stop comparing yourself to others, your metrics are your own, trying to compare to others isn't going to help you because not everyone is the same, even a pair of twins, having surgery on the same day, by the same doctor aren't going to have the same outcomes. If it doesn't hurt to drink, then don't worry about it. If it doesn't hurt to lay on your stomach, then don't worry about it. Worry about your protein and water intake. Worry about your calorie intake. Worry about your exercising. You don't have any issues it seems other than building those habits that are going to support your new lifestyle. So, stop worrying about things that aren't gong wrong. Start focusing on changing your habits.

I think you might have quoted the wrong person in your reply.

Gold Standard, Muscle Milk, Isopure, Synthia-6... there are quite a few, google "Best protein of 2018" and you'll get list upon list of things to review.

Never heard of this personally. No issues here.

No worries! Good luck!

Odds are... it will happen.

I'm shocked that they don't have her on vitamins... that's sorta crucial. The Pepcid isn't a shock, it's an acid reducer, so that's pretty normal and they are quite small.

I've got a few types, Under Armour is good, but can be expensive. I found a company called Red Plume on Amazon that sells gear for a damn good price, but they can come from overseas so the shipping times can be longer. My avatar with me wearing my Superman Compression shirt is from Red Plume, and cost a while $19. All of the major sports gear manufacturers make different types of compression gear. The trick is to buy 1 size smaller than you normally wear. I personally won't buy expensive stuff right yet, because I'm losing weight and all, so my Under Armour shirt isn't all that compressive anymore (I bought it a long time ago though), Hell even my Superman shirt isn't as tight as it once was just a couple of weeks ago. You can find stuff at pretty much any sporting goods store, you're just more likely to find better deals online.

Not really. Stay VERY hydrated helps. But at this point, putting lotion on your skin isn't going to help much, it's been stretched from being overweight for a while now (I assume you didn't JUST become overweight before surgery), so the oils and stuff that folks tell pregnant women to use, only work because the stretch is a short term stretch. Once you start working out, compression clothing will help keep everything "tucked in" and that *might* help prevent extra sagging... but sadly, it's just part of the process now. Age, weight, how long you've been overweight, etc are all going to be factors that play part in what's going to happen... and none of those are anything you can really control.