Bufflehead

Steel can be stretched, wood can be stretched, bones can be stretched. Given that, I find it very hard to believe that the soft tissue comprising your stomach can't be stretched . . . is my stomach somehow less "stretchy" than steel, bone, or wood? I doubt it! I think it would be extremely difficult to stretch it to its former size though. On the other hand, can water stretch it? Nope, liquids go right through the pyloric valve and cannot stretch your stomach, so no worries there.

Second the recommendation for a PPI if you are not experiencing head hunger. If you are on a PPI, check about increasing your dose or trying a stronger PPI. Seriously, the "hunger" that some sleevers experience immediately post-op usually clears up several days after getting the correct PPI prescription.

US pharmacists only fill prescriptions by doctors/nurse practitioners with US licenses. Not sure about Retin-A in Mexico.

When I had lost about 50% of my excess weight I started getting comments. For me that translated to about 100 lbs from my highest weight.

@@LittleBill they've heard it all from bariatric patients. It's in their FAQ. They know that some people, including WLS patients, are under doctor's supervision and are cleared to eat VLCD, but they will not change their program. It's not worth anyone's time to bug them about it.

If you want to click the complete button and not get that nasty message, there are a couple of tricks you can use to avoid it. First, you have to set your daily calorie goal higher than you normally would (or you'll get the message in red that you went over your daily calories, which is also annoying). So, set your daily calories to something like 1100 or 1200. Record your food each day as normal. Say you end the day at 850 calories. Before you click complete, you can either: 1) Add food --> search in food database for 100 calorie block --> add in two of the "generic 100 calorie blocks" --> this will bring your daily calorie total up to 1050 --> click complete and you'll avoid the annoying message about starvation and not eating enough. 2) In your food diary, click Quick Tools --> Quick Add Calories --> Add 200 calories to your journal --> close your journal for the day. After you use the generic 100 calorie blocks for the first time it will show up in your recent foods and you won't have to search for it anymore. That's my method for bringing calories over 1000 for the day but Quick Add works too.

Not kidding. https://www.amazon.com/Squatty-Potty-Original-Bathroom-Toilet/dp/B00ESKVN7W/

Eat small, frequent meals with unprocessed meat and green veggies. Cut out all junk. Cut out grains, sweets, starchy veggies. If you are drinking your calories, stop. Count your calories. Get junk foods out of the house. Good luck!

Coffee, whether decaf or full test, will *not* dehydrate you, that is a myth. It will hydrate you just as well as water does. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/milk-and-other-surprising-ways-to-stay-hydrated/?_r=0 http://www.livescience.com/55479-does-caffeine-cause-dehydration.html I would say that 80-90% of my liquid intake is full test black coffee and has been for years. I am still here, alive, kicking, and perfectly healthy, rather than the shriveled, dead husk of a person that the anti-caffeine, anti-science nuts would have you believe.

I don't avoid fat other than trans fats, and I make sure I eat at least one meal a day with a minimum of 10 grams of fat -- I take my vitamins with that meal, as many vitamins are not properly absorbed without fat. I do eat some pretty high fat foods such as avocados, eggs, nuts (small amounts) and fatty fish, but as long as I stay within my calories for the day I don't care. My cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are always fantastic so I think I must be doing something right. As far as carbs go, when I was in weight loss mode, I kept carbs under 60 grams per day. I don't count carbs anymore now that I am in maintenance (well, MFP counts them for me but I don't even look at the number). However, my carbs tend to stay in the low range naturally as I eat a lower-carb diet in maintenance: no more than one serving of whole grains per day (no refined grains), no bread, no sweets, no starchy veggies, no tropical fruit, no alcohol, and modest amounts of dairy, beans, and legumes. This eating plan works well for me.

I'll chime in with Babbs about the "fun" of maintaining. Essentially, for most people, you have to work just as hard at maintaining your weight as you did at losing the last several pounds. But it isn't nearly as much fun to balance out the work! When you are losing weight, you get the pleasure of seeing the scale numbers go down, the cute new clothes, people telling you how great you look . . . that all goes away with maintenance. Now it's just the work and no external motivators to go with it. I try to give myself rewards: buying a new book I really want to read if I don't go out of my comfort zone for a month, getting my nails done if I exercise every day for ten days in a row, etc. I am going to adopt a dog this spring if I stay in my weight comfort zone for three months!

You need to hit your protein and liquid goals and everything else will fall into place. Right now those should be your priorities, not anything else.

Congrats! I have no personal testimony to offer but I will share what the bariatric nurse practitioner told us all at pre-op bootcamp: while they don't advise pregnancy before reaching your goal weight, they have had several patients who got pregnant well before that, some as early as 2 months post-op, and they have never had a mom or baby end up with complications or problems.She said that a growing fetus requires only 300 calories per day on top of mom's intake to sustain herself, and it is perfectly healthy to continue weight loss during pregnancy as long as you consult with the surgeons and your ob-gyn to determine the precise number of calories you need and you are willing to commit to being careful to get those calories in but not more. She said some women use pregnancy as an excuse to start eating whatever they want and that derails their weight and they never get to goal, but they have healthy babies regardless. All that said . . . it is third hand info from my nurse practitioner, definitely check in with your own care team. Good luck!

I added in more fat to my diet, not more carbs or sugary foods. So, have a couple of slices of avocado with dinner, have almond butter instead of PB2 with my yogurt, eat full fat yogurt instead of nonfat, add some shredded cheese to my usual lunch salad of chopped chicken breast and green veggies -- things that I could do without eating significantly bigger meals or eating more carbs or sugar. To the extent that I do eat some higher carb foods, I focus on whole grains and things that I am not going to start to "graze" on. So, no to crackers or cookies or anything like that. Instead, I occasionally have hot oat bran cereal (100% oat bran, no sugar or sweeteners of any kind) for breakfast. I like it, and it is good for me, but it isn't like I'm going to make a giant pot of oat bran mush and eat it all day long.

A handheld (stick) blender works better than a regular blender for shakes. The regular blenders put a bunch of air and foam in the shake, the immersion blender does not. I used a mini food processor for purees. Don't stress too much about having everything you could possibly need set up in advance. If you find there's something you truly need that you don't have, that's what Target is for (or Amazon if you don't feel up to driving to Target or have someone to take you).

@@WitchySar what I say may fly in the face of common advice here, but I think you are doing well with your eating, given that you can't tolerate protein powder. I think you should keep doing what you are doing. Eat small meals that focus strongly on the high protein foods you can tolerate and don't worry so much about getting "enough" calories or protein. Keep on top of your follow up blood work so you can make sure you don't have any nutritional deficiencies. As long as your blood work is good and you are making good eating choices* I think you should stress less. *I have seen some people claim they have food sensitivities that leave them unable to eat anything but, say, peanut butter crackers, or French toast, or mashed potatoes -- that does not seem to be you! You are making good choices among the food available to you. In the absence of evidence of an actual nutritional problem, don't assume you have one with your current diet.

Practices vary on this. My bariatric team has a "no soup/stew/cereal for life" rule (yes for sleeve patients too, not just RNY) because of the no eating and drinking at the same time. On another note, and I know this is completely unsolicited advice, so feel free to step right over it and keep going: "I want to eat [insert food here] because I have a craving for it and I always eat what I have cravings for" is what got a lot of us to obesity in the first place. Even if the craving is for something relatively healthy, I would think twice about deciding you are going to eat something because you are "craving" it. I actually try to work against cravings rather than indulging them. For me, indulging cravings is a slippery slope. I might consider indulging a craving for dry chicken breast or steamed broccoli but I've never had those . . . funny how that works! Good luck!

It's too revolting to be true. Trust me. Well, if you like drinking vile-tasting gritty sludge I suppose it is great.

You don't want to be looking for "full." That uncomfortable stuck feeling you are getting isn't full, it's "you ate too much." Instead, measure out a very small meal and eat slowly. When you feel satisfied (NOT physically full) stop eating. If you accidentally get that uncomfortable signal that you ate too much, figure out how much you ate that caused the problem and make sure you measure out a smaller meal than that next time. For example, if you measure out 4 ounces of yogurt but before you finish it you get the "you ate too much" signal, look at how much you have left. Maybe a quarter of what you started with? so 3 ounces was too much. Next time, measure out 2 ounces instead of 4 and eat that instead. Good luck!

My plan on soft foods was 3 meals per day of a maximum 3 ounces of food -- but in reality the max I could eat for most of it was 2 ounces. I was to supplement with protein shakes and that was the only way I got in enough protein. I basically focused on high protein foods for my meals: 2 meals of primarily meat (tuna salad, turkey burger, mashed sardines, braised beef, etc) and 1 meal of high protein vegetarian food such as cottage cheese, eggs, Greek yogurt or refried beans. Minimum of 2 protein shakes per day.

I love myfitnesspal

@@OKCPirate now you've got me wondering how I even know what industrial run off might taste like. It isn't like I'm siphoning my drinking water out of some factory waste drain, I promise. Sometimes I just like to run my mouth I guess

@@evansella7 it depends on what your program allows. Mine mostly did not allow it due to the extra calories, sugar, and carbs from fruit. The only exception was to add a very small amount of berries.

@@Toni Ha I deal with sagging skin via compression wear and dressing modestly, since I can't afford surgery. Regardless of sagging skin, I feel fantastic and know I look 100% better (with or without clothes) than I did as a lumbering 350+ lb blob of fat. much chubbier person.

Sure, go for it, as long as you are willing to commit to eating on-plan while on vacation. Many people look at vacation as a time of indulgence and a time to explore new and interesting foods, eating whatever they want -- but it doesn't sound like that is what you are planning for your vacation. I'll bet you'll have lots of energy and enjoy yourself!