Bufflehead

I worked with my PCP on my six month diet. I was on 1500 calories per day, also eating low fat and high fiber. I also worked slowly up to getting 30 minutes of cardio five days per week. I stayed on the diet with the exception of falling completely off the wagon approximately one day per month and for one entire month. Whoops! I lost 28 lbs on the diet. If I hadn't had that horrible month, it would have been a lot more, as I gained 12 lbs during that one month. :o

This is a direct copy and paste from Laura-Ven. Laura-Ven, my apologies for copying your work here without getting permission first, I hope this is okay: Not good, not good at all.... Please people don't do it, and please stop suggesting for other people to do it. First, this behavior is the first steps of bulemia and getting into the habit of chewing food and spitting it out can lead to a very serious eating disorder. After WLS we are already dealing with changing the way we relate to food, so we want to instill good habits all along the way and avoid the bad ones as much as possible. Second, there's a biological reason not to do this too. When you smell food and when it enters your mouth and you begin to chew, the body goes into Prep Mode to receive food. Your salivary glands produce saliva, your pancreas produces insulin, your liver produces gastric acid and your brain begins to calculate how much nutrition you're about to receive from the food you eat so it can keep track of it's daily needs/calories --- the body is a well tuned machine and it knows how to deal with food when it knows it's coming. But then you spit out the food. Your body still has excess saliva, insulin, gastric acid and it can't figure out why it didn't get the nutrition it thought it was going to get so the brain accountants go nuts. Excess insulin in your body causes your appetite to increase so you'll eat more food to soak up all that extra hormone. Excess gastric acid in the stomach -- now released at the Y of your common channel -- can cause indigestion or heartburn or ulcers. and those brain accountants are now doing some creative math to recalculate the nutritional value of food because it thought it was going to get a certain number of calories, but none came, so next time you try to eat that same food the brain thinks you need twice as much to get the same nutrition as it thought it should have gotten last time. So not only is the whole "chew and spit" habit a training ground for bulemia, it's also a way to tease your body into thinking it's getting food when it really isn't. Bulemia is a very serious illness and not something you want to play around with.

I'm getting some loose skin that I didn't have before weight loss. Also I don't really consider it a problem but my stomach does tend to rumble and grumble a lot when I am eating and for about an hour after. It's getting quieter and quieter as time passes sinces surgery though. And it's just making some noise, not causing me any pain or even discomfort. These are the only things that come close to problems. Physically I feel terrific and everything is in good working order

It really depends on your surgeon's plan. I wasn't allowed any fruits or veggies in shakes, smoothies, or any other form (other than diluted fruit juice or v-8 to drink in small amounts) until my soft foods phase, which started two months after surgery. I think my surgeon is more rigid than most on avoiding them until well after surgery.

yep, having your weight go down in a stair step pattern is perfectly normal per my surgeon's office and what I see other people post here. I'm not able to track mine that carefully since I don't weigh very often, but just judging by how my clothes fit, how big I feel, etc., I think mine is doing that stair step pattern too.

For most shakes I use Hood Calorie Countdown nonfat milk. 35 calories, 6 g protein, 4 carbs per cup. And 30% of your RDA for calcium too.

I don't have any personal knowledge about this but my friend who is getting ready for her surgery said that with the doctors she consulted, they advise only doing half your body at a time. Lower half vs. upper half. So she is having a tummy tuck, thigh lift, and mons lift in her first go-round, that will take care of the lower half of her body. Then nine months later she will have a breast lift and reduction and get her upper arms done. Best wishes to you

Could be worse, you could have my surgeon - 4 weeks liquids, 4 weeks purees, and 4 MONTHS of soft food! Seriously though, hang in there, you will get through it and it will be fine. And you will be chewing -- even those soft foods you need to chew a lot!

I weighed in at just a little less than you when I went for my first appointment with my surgeon. And I am just average height so my BMI was really high. My surgeon went over all the options with me, including bypass and duodenal switch, but we settled on the sleeve for a variety of reasons. I am 12 weeks out now and down over 90 lbs (that's including my weight loss before surgery) and show no signs of slowing down. The last time I saw my surgeon he told me he thinks I'm going to do really well and reach my goal weight. And I know people who weighed a lot more than either of us did who have been very successful with this surgery. That said, if you are leaning more towards having another surgery such as DS or bypass, those also give a lot of people really good results. I'm not here to sell the sleeve as the perfect surgery for everyone, just saying that people as heavy and heavier than you can and do great with it.

Do you use coffee grounds or do you make the coffee up first? I just use the grounds straight from the jar. Add with the milk and protein powder and whip it all up using my immersion blender. It's not thick like a frappuccino but it is really tasty.

I make a coffee protein shake every morning. I make it with Hood Calorie Countdown nonfat milk, 1 scoop Chike Iced Coffee protein powder, 1 tsp instant coffee. Does it taste just like Starbucks . . . no, but I find it delicious. Stats: 100 calories, 16 g protein, 9 carbs. If you can do 2 oz. jumbo shrimp (I can barely eat 2 ounces of meat and I'm almost 3 months out), that's going to be 60 calories and 12 g. protein. I add a little hot sauce and some crumbled blue cheese to melt on top and that brings it to 14 g. protein for about 75 calories.

TXCalico, you might get in touch with a bariatric surgeon's office in Houston. Don't give them all the details, just tell them you are considering weight loss surgery but your PCP doesn't approve and won't provide you with a surgeon's referral. Ask if they have a doctor or a list of doctors they can recommend who would be more supportive. I'm not suggesting lying to them, but don't feel compelled to mention that you are planning to do this in Mexico and not with the surgeon whose office you are talking to.

Buffalo Dip -- okay as long as you puree it if there are chunks of chicken in it Chili -- okay if pureed Taco soup -- I'm not allowed soup, it's the same thing as drinking with your meals per my surgeon Tuna salad -- okay if pureed Chicken salad -- okay if pureed Ham salad -- okay if pureed BBQ meat -- okay if pureed and fits in your daily carb allowance (my allowance is lower than some, BBQ sauce tends to be high carb). Other things I ate on puree stage: cottage cheese (by itself or mixed with a little sauce, dressing, or peanut butter or cashew butter), Greek yogurt (prepared same as with cottage cheese), refried beans, Eggface's baked ricotta, poached eggs, pureed curry lentils, canned chicken pureed with low carb BBQ sauce or marinara sauce, shrimp pureed with sriracha sauce or other spicy sauce.

Ugh, I hate the mml too, at least the chocolate kind. I do like Premier Protein. Their website has a feature where it will tell you where to buy it near you. They carry the chocolate at my local grocery store, but it is cheaper at Sam's Club or Costco. http://www.premierpr...m/where-to-buy/ That's pretty much the only ready-to-drink shake that I will use now. All the others either taste nasty to me or the numbers are not what I need. Mostly I make my own shakes -- I'm doing my part to keep the good folks at Unjury, Chike, and Syntrax in business.

thank you for recommending the show and recommending Twonky! I will definitely check it out. I would love to be able to stream YouTube to my tv via my Roku box.

I got all my post-op prescriptions filled prior to surgery so they were at home waiting for me. Mine were: liquid lortab -- hardly used any of that omeprazole -- PPI Nystatin - to prevent thrush (I had to use that for a week prior to surgery as well) Zofran - for nausea. Didn't need it as I was never nauseated.

My dr. agrees with Chinamama's - caffeine is not dehydrating: http://www.nytimes.c...ion/04real.html https://www.caring4c...dehydration.htm http://www.divinecar...drated-say-what but the acid in coffee can be problematic in such a small stomach. My dr. advises patients to avoid coffee for six months after surgery because of that, not because of caffeine.

I was allowed pills starting 3 days after surgery and haven't had any problem with them. I've heard of people having a temporary restriction on pills, or a temporary size restriction on pills, but I've never heard of anyone not allowed pills ever after vsg.

With the syntrax, I just mix one packet with 8 oz. water or milk (depending on the flavor). That's 24 g of protein in 100 calories of powder, which is a really good ratio. There really aren't many out there better.

It's medical waste and it's supposed to be incinerated or otherwise disposed of after being tested and analyzed by pathology . . . I don't know but I suspect a medical facility might be leery of letting people carry medical waste home with them instead of it being properly destroyed.

I am 12 weeks out and eat between 600 - 800 calories a day. I don't adjust for exercise calories, as my RD and exercise physiologist advised me not to. They said that most people (and apps such as MFP) overestimate the calories burned, plus exercise may even suppress your metabolic rate. http://www.policymic...you-lose-weight http://well.blogs.ny...ight-loss/?_r=0

I was meeting my goal four days after surgery, but my goal was pretty low initially (60 gm/day). I know what you mean about sweet protein shakes getting tiresome. I used the Unjury chicken soup protein each day. I also made protein infused beef broth by using beef bouillon, steak seasoning, and unflavored protein. I know it sounds gross but at that point, it was so much better than sweet protein shakes that I didn't care. I also used some of the Syntrax Nectar flavors that are more on the tart side -- grapefruit, lemonade, lemon tea, stuff like that. Mixed with ice water, they were a lot easier to drink than chocolate or vanilla mixed with milk. Another thing I did was make decaf chai tea (hot, no milk or anything added) and add vanilla protein powder and a little dash of vanilla almond milk for a chai tea latte. This is sweet but not too sweet, and thinner and has a more interesting taste than your standard vanilla or chocolate protein shake.

The first steps I took were giving up carbonated drinks and journaling everything in myfitnesspal. Then I went on a 1600 calorie per day diet -- I lost weight on that and it's not as extreme as giving up carbs, going really low on calories, etc. At that point I wasn't watching my carbs at all. And my exercise started as just walking and I slowly built up to doing some low impact aerobics DVD's. I lost 40 lbs (over 8 months, so slowly) before starting the pre-op diet with these changes. The most important thing was that I got into the habit of entering every single thing I ate into myfitnesspal and being accountable for it. I even did it on days where I kind of fell off the wagon -- and I had plenty of those -- not just when I was being "good."

It hasn't happened to me (post surgery) but I know that lots of people find protein bars to be sliders and hunger triggers. They are the sort of thing that is comparatively high carb, soft, easily digestible so they can definitely be sliders. I found that they triggered cravings for me before surgery so I won't even have them in the house now. I learned my lesson after eating four strawberry cheesecake protein bars in about three hours.

My surgeon's office recommends Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, lentils, tofu, and veggie burgers (Boca burgers etc.) for vegetarians. I am not a vegetarian but I have eaten all those things since being sleeved about 12 weeks ago and haven't had any problems with any of them. Good luck to you.