Bufflehead

I haven't thrown up once since surgery. I was always extremely cautious in following my surgeon's (very conservative) plan exactly. But I made my fluid and protein intake goals starting the day after surgery and never had any issues, I just was mindful and worked at it. I think that you hear a lot more about people's problems here than people's lack of problems, and that is understandable - people having problems want to reach out for information and support. But I think my experience is probably a lot more typical, at least going by my support group. I didn't feel scared before surgery but when I was going through the admitting process they took my blood pressure and it was skyrocketing, so perhaps I was scared and stressed out but completely in denial!

Most of the syntrax nectar flavors are good with water. What have you tried so far?

I absolutely loathe it - one of the few protein drinks I tried a few swallows of and then just poured down the garbage disposal. However, I know lots of people who love it. I think you can buy samples at Nashua Nutrition, or there is a coffee lovers sampler pack that includes it from My Bariatric Pantry. I do love Syntrax Nectar cappuccino and the Chike Iced Coffee. With the Chike, I use half the recommended serving to save on money and calories! I do add a teaspoon or two of instant coffee or espresso powder to both of them to bump up the coffee flavor.

What does your surgeon recommend? Mine recommends senokot and milk of magnesia. I've not heard of sleevers being forbidden to use laxatives, I guess your surgeon has a different protocol?

I find that people tend to take me more seriously now that I have lost almost 200 lbs. I think some of them were probably thinking "weak, no will power" etc. a lot more when I was super morbidly obese than they are now when I am much more active and healthy. I have gotten tons of compliments and well-wishes. Most people don't know I have had surgery but some do and they have all been very positive about it. I haven't had anyone be negative about it.

I would puree meat with some flavorful sauce in my mini food processor, then usually heat it up in the microwave in a little ramekin with some cheese to melt on top. It came out tasting like a casserole and I really enjoyed it. Some of my favorite combos: --ground beef with bbq sauce and cheddar cheese --shrimp with buffalo sauce and blue cheese --chicken with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese --turkey with peanut satay sauce and jack cheese --salmon with lemon dill sauce and peccorino cheese --pot roast with curry sauce and Swiss cheese --chicken with hoisin sauce --tuna with olive oil mayo and cheddar cheese --ranch flavor tuna with light ranch dressing and swiss cheese But what I liked, you may hate - take a stroll through your supermarket, check the condiment and international aisles for sauces that look good to you! Blend with meats and top with cheeses that you like. I also did a lot of refried beans with hot salsa and pepper jack or cheddar, Shelly's ricotta bake: http://recipes.spark...?recipe=1793517 and Greek yogurt with peanut butter stirred in. Oh and poached and scrambled eggs. Good luck!

Body Fortress is sold at WalMart - I haven't tried it myself but I know a lot of people who use it and like it a lot. The numbers are pretty good too -- both nutrition and price

I take Trader Joe's high potency chewable multi-vitamin. For the first six months or so I took two a day (one in the morning, one at night) but since then just one a day. I've had no problems with it, it's inexpensive, low calorie and low carb. I have my labs drawn regularly and they have always been great.

I like J. Jill, Travelsmith, White House Black Market, Banana Republic, Macy's, Kohls, and LL Bean. I also get some designer-type pieces from thredup.com and EBay. Good luck!

The only thing that worked for me with gas was movement. I walked as much as possible, and when I was sitting I would do a rocking/gliding motion and bend forward with my arms crossed over my belly. That helped a lot. A heating pad on my shoulder helped with the pain too.Gas relievers don't work on the gas they pump into your body for surgery, they are for intestinal gas, which is a different thing entirely. At least that is what my surgeon told me! As far as stomach rumbling -- I still get that and I'm over 18 months post-surgery! It has calmed down somewhat but it is still there.

I think it probably varies a little bit from surgeon to surgeon, but I know with mine they were looking for major nutritional deficiencies, anemia, liver function, lurking problems with infections and clotting, pre-diabetes, and they also checked for signs of things like blood cancers/disorders (leukemia etc.) -- things that might signal underlying health problems that either would make surgery contraindicated or tell them they need to take steps to protect my health during surgery. They may have tested for HIV as well but I honestly don't remember! That seems like something that a hospital would want to know before they start operating on you though.

If you want something non-sweet, try Unjury's chicken soup protein (just Google it - the auto-linking feature with Unjury here makes it impossible for me to link you directly). If it sounds good, order a couple single serve packets before you commit to a bigger canister.

@@JALUVIC it sounds like a topper might be what you need. It's kind of like a toupee for women. You can either get one that clips in to your hair or one that is adhered to your scalp using adhesive ("bonded topper"). Some people need to go to a specialty salon, especially for bonding, but many people just order the clip in kind and take care of the styling themselves. I go to a salon for mine. If you go to a specialty salon, they typically create a topper to match your hair pretty much perfectly, and install and style it. Then you go back every 4-6 weeks to get it re-bonded and styled. It is expensive but looks great. The cheaper route is to order something "off the shelf" and then dye your hair to match. Here's a link to a video showing how it is applied and styled if you go the bonding route: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgVFNv6U5f8

I love the Syntrax Nectar cappuccino but my favorite hands down is Chike Iced Coffee. I only use one scoop (too many calories otherwise) and add in a couple tsp instant coffee granules. The other thing I like is the HealthSmart cappuccino, because you can mix it with super hot water or milk. It also needs a boost from the instant coffee though - at least IMO it does, I like my coffee strong.

@@FairySleeve I wear a topper too - I had severe hair loss before surgery, and surgery gave me the kick in the butt I needed to do something more serious than Toppik and DermMatch. I love my topper - never going back!

My surgeon's plan requires low carb from day one, so that's what I did. No grains, no potatoes, no peas, no refined sugar, etc.

Honestly I didn't have a lot of problems. I think most people don't have a lot of problems, but you tend to (understandably) hear more from those that do. So, of your list of potential problems, I suffered from exactly zero of them. So my first bit of advice would be to not borrow trouble -- and if you don't have any problems, don't come back here and post about how you are worried because you aren't suffering enough! You are fine! I did try the Bariatric Advantage shakes and thought they were horrendous, but I know lots of people like them. I would suggest buying samples of many different brands - here is one place you can buy samples: http://www.nashuanutrition.com/store/protein-powders/protein-powder-samples-1-serving.html If you are going to sample them before surgery, make sure you buy at least 2 samples so that you can sample again after surgery. Your tastes and tolerances may very well change with surgery. Maybe have thought through some alternatives for warm/hot protein drinks such as Unjury chicken soup, the hot soups and hot drinks (HealthSmart brand) you can buy at Nashua Nutrition, or adding plain, vanilla, or chocolate protein powder to tea or coffee, or plain powder to broth or soup. Remember that for hot drinks (except the HealthSmart brand) you'll need to use a food thermometer to keep the liquid under 140 degrees. Do you know what you plan to mix your protein drinks with? You may want to test out and consider your options - skim milk, water, soy milk, almond milk, etc. If you have a Kroger near you, check out their CarbMaster milk, which is ideally formulated for wls patients. Other than that, walk and sip as much as you can, take care of yourself rather than letting other people wait on you, stay sitting up in a chair rather than lying down in bed when you are in the hospital (unless you need to sleep), and give yourself permission to rest and feel tired when you get home. Take your painkillers - don't be a hero. Suffering isn't going to help you recover That's my word vomit on the first two weeks . . . good luck!

I used Eat Slower when I was learning to eat slowly. I use Map My Run to track my running and walking, and am about halfway through 5K Runner, which is an app like Couch to 5K. I do have myfitnesspal on my phone but mostly use the web version of that. I also have a heart rate monitor app that I like to use just to check in on my heart rate generally. My resting heart rate is now usually in the low 50's, a major drop since I had surgery, started exercising, and lost tons of weight!

I have a cuisinart mini food processor that I used for pureed foods, and a cuisinart hand/immersion blender that I use for protein shakes. I love the immersion blender because it doesn't add any air to the shake -- a lot of regular blenders will leave you with a shake so foamy it needs to sit in the fridge for hours while the bubbles die down. This is the blender I use: http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-75BC-2-Speed-Immersion-Blender/dp/B00ARQVM5O/ It is super easy to use and clean, comes in tons of different colors, and with a mixing beaker you can use to make your shakes. I've used mine every day for the past 18 months and it still works perfectly.

I wasn't allowed steak for six months after surgery - my surgeon's guidelines say until six months out, food has to be soft enough that you can easily cut it with a fork. I was happy to add it back into my diet when I was allowed!

I love Trader Joe's Ginger Miso Broth.

Check with your surgeon. My surgeon did not allow it but I know some do.

I hit my protein goals every day starting the day after surgery and I still lost hair. I also took my biotin, iron, zinc, B12, all that good stuff, starting well before surgery even. I really think it's more a matter of luck than anything else. Hair loss is no fun but neither is being morbidly obese . . . I would have had this surgery if it made me permanently bald!

I had four weeks of full liquids, four weeks of purees, and then four months of soft foods. "Soft foods" = you can cut it easily with a fork. Purees - everything had to be run through a food processor unless it already had a pureed texture, such as poached eggs, refried Beans, yogurt, and cottage cheese. We also had lots of rules about the types of foods to eat (no grains or other high carb/low Protein foods etc.), how much to eat, how often to eat, and so on.

You trust your surgeon to cut you open, remove most of a major organ, sew you back up and get you safely back on your feet, right? Put some of that trust in her to know what her patients need in terms of pre-op prep!