Bufflehead

Updating, I've now lost a newborn baby giraffe and a guinea pig!

If you are planning on ending up very muscular, I would scrap weight or BMI as a (primary) goal and shoot for a certain body fat percentage instead.

My surgeon also didn't do a bowel prep, just stop eating the evening before. He says bowel prep makes sense when you are going to be surgically working with someone's intestines (bypass, duodenal switch) but not so much when you won't be touching their intestines (sleeve, lap band).

I have 8.1 pounds to go before I get under 200 - which is exciting in and of itself and it will be the least I have weighed in about 25 years. I got close to the 200 mark about 8 years ago and then my body quit losing, I got frustrated, and started eating my way back to 300+ pounds. So this particular milestone is one I am both looking forward to and scared of. What if the same thing happens as last time and I just can't do it? Etc.

My mom does elk in the crock pot with red wine and beef bouillon, I think pretty similar to this recipe. It is so good! http://www.rmef.org/TheHunt/After/CarnivoresKitchen/Recipes/Slow-CookedGarlicandHerb-StuddedElkRoast.aspx

I've had several people ask me about how I'm losing weight. I talked about eating low calorie, high protein, and low carb and about journaling everything on MFP with all of them. Also for those people who I thought might possibly benefit from surgery, I talked about my surgery too. Everyone has rejected eating low carb and journaling out of hand. I think they thought I had some sort of magic wand I was going to wave over them. My conclusion is that these people are lazy and creatures of habit (no judgment, that was me for decades) and don't actually want to do anything in order to lose weight.

Fascinating, thank you for posting!

I was up and walking maybe 45 minutes after I got back to my room, but that was my choice. The nurses told me that they start encouraging the sleeve patients to walk a couple of hours after surgery if they haven't already (but I don't get the impression that they would drag anyone out of bed and force them to walk). The first couple of times I got up and walked the hall they had a nurse right with me, holding on to me, to make sure I didn't fall, get tied up in the IV lines, etc. It was fine.

When they take you back to your room after surgery, don't get into the bed unless you physically can't sit up. Have them prop you up in a chair or loveseat, whatever is handy in your room. Being upright and moving as much as possible will help you recover faster and get rid of the gas pains sooner. When I was in the hospital I stayed out of the hospital bed completely except for sleeping at night. I even napped sitting up on the couch. If you have a rocker or glider in your room, sit in that and rock. That will also help get rid of the gas pains. Good luck!

I have a cuisinart immersion blender (Smart Stick) and I love it. It cost about $30 on Amazon and works perfectly, puts very little air into the shake unlike lots of other blenders & blender bottles. Super easy to use and to clean. Now if I wanted to put big ice cubes in there it would probably leave little ice shards, but I don't use ice cubes in my shake so nbd for me. I do use lots of frozen berries etc. and that works just fine. I am about five months out and still have a couple of Protein shakes each day. My surgeon doesn't allow Snacks on his plan (other than protein shakes) and only 3 oz. per meal, 3 meals a day. And frankly I can't even usually eat 3 ounces in one sitting anyway. So I definitely need those shakes to get my protein in. Once I am six months out I plan to replace one protein shake with a solid-food type snack if my surgeon permits it. Eventually (once I get to goal) I plan to eliminate Protein Shakes entirely but I don't see doing it before then. eta: this is the blender I have: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-75BC-2-Speed-Immersion-Blender/dp/B00ARQVM5O/

My insurance partnership health counselor suggested I would be a good candidate for bariatric surgery. I had considered the lap band several years ago but decided against it. This time I started researching various surgeries online and after looking seriously at the lap band, gastric bypass, duodenal switch, and sleeve, I decided on the sleeve within 48 hours. It took me a couple of weeks after that to settle on a local surgeon and make an appointment to get started. I had moments of hesitation and cold feet going forward, but nothing major.

I was on liquids for four weeks and purees for another four weeks after that. I'm not allowed any form of grains for six months, so granola would not be and is still not an option. For my four weeks of full liquids post op, I had on hand: --skim milk --kefir --lassi --light cranberry juice --low sodium V8 --unsweetened vanilla almond milk --chai tea bags (decaf) -- I would mix these with a half scoop of vanilla protein powder and a splash of vanilla almond milk to make a vanilla chai protein latte. Make sure anything you mix protein powder with is under 140 degrees or it will clump. --sample packs of protein powders from Chike, Syntrax Matrix, Syntrax Nectar, and Protizyme, all sorts of different flavors --G2 and G2 Natural --Unjury Chicken Broth and Chocolate Splendor protein powders --Premier Protein chocolate protein shakes --Isopure protein drinks (I ended up hating these and had to mix them 50/50 with G2 to get them down, but they have great numbers in terms of protein and carbs) Good luck to you!

According to this sleeve manual it is safe: http://www.peachtreebariatrics.com/docs/Gastric-Sleeve-Patient-Manual.pdf However, I think it's really better to get medical advice from your own doctor/health care provider than from strangers on the internet. I know your doctor probably isn't available right now. If you have insurance, there may be a 24 hour nurse hotline you can call. They may also be able to advise you as to whether this is really hives or something else entirely. Good luck!

I love the Unjury protein powders. Used the chicken soup a ton in the first four weeks after surgery. Right now their Chocolate Splendor and Very Vanilla are my go-to basics. I am thinking of transitioning to something else just because they are comparatively expensive. Probably Syntrax Matrix Milk Chocolate for my chocolate, it is less expensive and tastes very similar IMO. I picked up a small tub of Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Vanilla Ice Cream to try out as well. But I have been VERY happy with Unjury other than the price!

That's pretty normal. I did it right after surgery and I had one just the other night (just about 5 months out). Sadly, I don't think there's a reliable way to control your dreams. Just be happy that your food urges are getting expressed and nourished in dreams and not in the physical world, I guess.

Friendly heads up, this is the gastric sleeve portion of the forums, you may want to re-post in the lap band area.

Syntrax and unjury both sell unflavored powders -- but "unflavored" means that no additional flavor has been added, not that it is tasteless. Protein powder is always going to have some kind of taste, so the unflavored powder works best if you mix it with something that has a relatively strong taste already. http://www.unjury.com/store/protein/reg/unflavored_protein.shtml http://www.amazon.com/Syntrax-Nectar-Medical-Unflavored-1-Pound/dp/B001I1NSUY

Syntrax Nectar powders are very good -- you mix them with water. They have flavors like lemon iced tea, twisted cherry, fuzzy navel, and roadside lemonade. You can get sample packs to see which ones you like -- just google Syntrax Nectar samples and you'll get multiple options.

No problems here with spicy food or hot sauce. My only issue is that my signal for being full is that my nose starts to run, and the same thing can happen if I use a lot of spice or hot sauce! So I have to pay very close attention to how full I am feeling, and eat only a small, pre-measured amount of very spicy food.

My surgeon's team doesn't allow soup post-op because of what you describe (it's eating and drinking at the same time). But you should check with your team to see what they say. We are allowed thick chili, since you don't drink it and it stays in your sleeve like more dense foods do.

How much are you eating? Calories/carbs/protein per day? How much water do you get each day? Are you tracking all of your food intake?

I had liquid lortab in the hospital (nastiest stuff I have ever had to drink) and then was sent home with a generic version of liquid lortab, which tasted a little better. I didn't use much either in the hospital or at home -- mostly at night because it was difficult to sleep.

I notice that many members display their surgeon's name on their posts, on the left hand side, with the heading "My Surgeon." How do I get that to display instead of just "see patient profile"? Thanks!

The compliment so far that has made me feel the worst: wow! You have a waistline now! You look so cute with an actual figure, you're not just a big blob anymore! I still have a long way to go and don't really see my waistline or figure anyway, but being called a (former) "big blob" made me feel horrible, even though I know it's true.

According to my surgeon's plan, only if you puree it first. You may want to consult with your own surgeon's team though.