Chimera

No judgement - NO! (I smoked 1-2 packs a day for 28 years and quit prior to surgery. Just remember NOPE - not one puff ever, to save your quit.)

Atkins induction - Atkins 72 induction is even better (essentially trying for zero carbs) Up your water/crystal lite/calorie free beverages, ditch processed carbs, no flour, no rice, no sugar. Works like a charm, once you detox from carbs/sugar - you wont crave it any longer and the weight pretty much melts off, especially if you consumed this stuff before.

My Dr. tells us - stop drinking 15 mins. prior to eating (not hard) and to wait 45-50 minutes after (which is terrible!) Everytime it is time to eat I make the choice between a drink and will often put off food because I know it will be a looong time before I can have one. I have taken a sip a couple of times to help get food down - but I have to put the drink in another room. This one is probably my most challenging post-op rule bar none. That was a good video as well.

Thanks for all of the encouraging words - this board has been gold to me during this whole process, I learn from everyone here - thank you!

Wonderful! You are doing great, thanks so much for sharing your journey

It gets better - for me it was at about the 8 week mark. I was desperately thirsty all the time and was so sad I could not take a good swallow - all day long the last day before surgery was chug down drinks because I knew that would be coming to an end. Now I can do what I call a mini-chug lol - nothing like before, but now I feel satisfied. I think it must be related to swelling/healing. My sleeve was done with a 40 fb - my doc like to use the larger ones because there are far less complications - it will get better!

I have tried the bariatric Nacho cheese Pasta they have at my Dr's office, most bariatric places online sell them - not bad, I don't seem to have the same yearning for pasta post sugery. I tried it because it has Protein added. Bariatric Advantage has a lot - but I have not tried them all. http://www.bariatricchoice.com/bariatric-diet-protein-meals-entrees-18.html

Like Dooter I am obsessed with tracking - I track everything - I use MFP on a spotty basis, but I do not take a walk without Runkeeper. I track food, drink, meds, supplements in the little paper journals from my Docs office. I even grabbed enough to make sure I had 24 total for after surgery(representing the 2 years of losing window it can take for someone with as much weight to lose as I do) which is just a goofy thing I know. I dont have before and after picks yet because I am a work in progress - I will post those when I meet my goal. I especially enjoy when folks post their monthly losses in their signature - this really is inspiring when you see a person make goal weight and often times their losses for a month were small. The next 30 - 35 lbs of weight to go to 200 and just below are filled with milestones for me - weights were I was for years and thought it could not get worse in terms of being heavy (then gained another 100 and really had my health fall apart) as I approach 100 lbs down, and my halfway point, tracking and sharing it here is very inspiring and fun for me - it helps keep me present and focused on my goals. The last week my body has changed and all of my clothes look like clown clothes they are so big - same for my husband. I feel that everyone here who shares their journey is an inspiration for us all.

My BMI when I started was 56.3 - with pre-op losses my surgery day BMI was 48.5. I have heard that BMI's of 55 and below will have a better chance of reaching goal weight. I am losing at a healthy 2-3 lbs a week now and hope to be under 200 by the new year - and close to goal sometime next year - well see how it goes, but so far so good. It seemed like it was forever with the pre-op dieting, but now I am super thankful that I did it.

My surgeon has his patients do Atkins induction for 2-3 weeks prior to surgery - we didn't have to have shakes unless we wanted to. I lived on grilled chicken, turkey, tuna fish, small caesar salads, steak, and cheese here and there - dropped 14 lbs in a week and a half and I guess my liver was lean and mean when they got in there. Every doc is different - but if you can start to drop those carbs to 20 or less - it is pretty much what you will be doing once you start eating again. I am also one that does not care much for sweet tasting things. Ketones from the burning of fat is actually one of the body's preferred and most efficient fuels - it is remarkable how much better you feel, and look. Just make sure to get your fluids and Vitamins in. I still have a few Premier Protein shakes a week - I look at it as a supplement/medicine with a 30 gram wallop of protein

Down 2.5 this week I'll take it!

The first week I drank Crystal Lite mixed very weak, I bought protein chicken soup broths from my Dr's office, I would strain out the noodles and little veggies and just have the broth. Two weeks after surgery I was still having this - but added protein shakes - I tried a few different ones, but found I was a bit lactose intolerant the month post vsg (this has now passed and I can drink regular milk with no distress) we get the Premier protein shakes from Costco, I tried to get as much in as possible but it took a while until I could finish one. At 3 weeks my diet was advanced to soft foods - first thing I tried was a one egg omelette - I managed about 1/3 before I was done, now at about 2.5 months out I can eat a whole egg if I take my time - my surgeon used the larger bougies, he used a 40 on my husband and myself, we still have terrific restriction. I would focus on hydration right now and try your best with protein, you will get more in as you heal

The nausea medication they prescribe before surgery is something I would definetely get - I did and had minimal nausea, really the only time was that first time sitting up in the hospital - but it passed quickly. I think the worst right after surgery was feeling deperately thirsty with a very dry mouth. I lived for those little swabby sponges dipped in Water they give you. For the first few weeks after surgery I was pretty upset, feeling that I would never be able to get a good couple of swallows of liquid down, you can sip only tiny bits at a time at first - now after a couple of months I can take very satisfying drinks - nothing like the chugging/guzzling I could do before, but much better.

I did not think the pain was bad at all - the gas pain the first day is pretty uncomfortable but that went away pretty quickly with strolls around the hospital, which were enjoyable. I had more pain with about a baskillion needle sticks and 2 IV moves, turns out I had internal bleeding and needed a couple of blood transfusions which necesitate multiple CBC's (like a draw every 4 hours all through the day and night - and I am a terribly hard blood draw as it is. I still have bruises and my surgery was 5/21 lol. But the surgery pain was remarkably little - now tiredness is another story, I was utterly exhausted for weeks, but that could very well be due to my low red blood count after surgery. I was not taking my pain meds after 2 days, and truthfully my period cramps are worse so i saved them for those times of the month.

What a wonderful slideshow of your journey - makes me think maybe I should take some photos during this process rather than hide from the camera like usual Your journey is very inspirational - hope I can be close to those 130's this time next year. Thanks for sharing, and your hubby is a sweetie for putting that together.

Sleeved May 21 and am down 41 lbs since surgery with a pre-op loss (over a year) of 44 lbs. My biggest challenges are still wanting to drink and eat at the same time - and trying to get my left knee with the program so I can get more movement in, which will hopefully improve as I lose more weight. Great job everyone!

Surgery 5/21/12 - down 41 since surgery - lost 44 pre-op. I am settling in to my losing pattern, which is a loss of about 2 to 2.5 lbs a week right now.

I can imagine the huge gamut of vitamins and minerals is much broader than what we even get with all of our vitamins - I bet you feel great. I think it would be fine unless you were consuming lots and lots of fresh juices - just due to the natural sugars - i.e. carb content. I wish my husband would make freshly juiced veggies and fruits for me - but we dont have a juicer.

Turkey meatball! This is my favorite thing ever - http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2009/02/warm-gooey.html

haha!

They showed us a fine technique during the pre-surgical meeting. Roll onto your side (the direction off the bed) and start to slide the legs off the bed first, the gently push yourself up with your arms and voila` you are up and out of the bed. I was up and out of that hospital bed constantly as well. The pain was minimal for me (other than the gas pain which will go away with walking after your surgery) so it was not hard to get out of bed.

Dr. Gottlieb came to a support group meeting a few month ago and told us all about the different procedures available, how plastics work, etc. He is in Seattle and here is a link to his website. When the time comes I think I may be giving him a ring as well lol. http://www.plasticsurgeryseattle.net/

For me, this process is as much about beating addictions as it is about losing weight - obviously these go hand in hand for many of us. If flat DC floats your boat and makes you happy then right on. We all have our preferences and methods that work for us. Sounds like your doc is farily lenient about pre and post op recommendations, as you commented on a different thread in response to my own regarding liver shrinking protocol. Many however are not - I think my own surgeon falls squarely in the middle and the stance is no carbonation, period. Diet coke is one of those substances I consider a gateway drug for myself and my husband. Next thing I want hamburger buns and french fries and tartar sauce and then onto the fried foods lol - bad spiral. LT1002 - text carries no inflection by the way - and if one is reactionary it tends to say more about the 'reactor' than the originator. If someone doesnt agree with you, oh well, get over it.

Ooh Kiki I am not sure what shipping was but I dont think it was that much, I know the Lindora site has this stuff as well, but it is also a little pricier - I can see if I saved a receipt from my last order. I still counted it as 12 g even straining the stuff out - just did the best I could early out - was more concerned tht it was liquid. As far as the ticker goes there is a code that is posted once you make one at tickerfactory for example that you can paste into your signature line when you are editing your profile. There are nice tickers that you can use that the board has as well. Just select tickers when editing and you should get to them. thank you for the kind words

Behold the Protein Soups these saved me. I strained the noodles and veggies out of the chicken soups early out and now eat them as is. I found them to be pretty tasty, and not too salty. Watch the temperature on the creamier types of soup (like the tomato) they clump pretty bad as most protein things to when the heat is too high. they dont stink like unjury does. http://www.familybar.../18/Diet-SOUPS/