kimbernada

One other thought, I like to "eat by the clock" if I can. I get up 5 am during the week. I have breakfast at 6 am (shake, egg, etc.). Then at work, I have my snack at 9 am (shake, 15 pistachios, or 1/2 a Luna protein bar). Lunch with my team is typically 11-ish. I have my next snack at about 2:30 (shake, 15 pistachios, or 1/2 a Luna protein bar) Supper is about 5:30 (varies) My last snack (sugar free popsicle or sugar free fudgesicle) And... bed at 9 pm

Vitacost.com has the Syntrax Nectar about $3 cheaper than BariatricChoice.com. And you can get $10 off your first order with free shipping for orders over $20 if you sign up here. I've had good service with them.

Oh... and I'm one of those folks who don't care the Syntrax fruity drinks. (Lemonade, ice tea, cherry, etc.) I like the creamy ones. I wish I could drink the others as that would open up a whole other line of drinks. I need to order the vanilla bean torte.

I love the Syntrax nectar shakes. I have chocolate truffle, cappuccino, double stuff oreo, and strawberry mouse. I mix it with light soy milk. On my pre-op diet, I loved the Bariatric Advantage shakes but, dang, they are way too thick now. My husband likes them though.

Ha... Yeah, I should have been dead... a few weeks ago!

The diet plan I am on is... the morning after the surgery - clear liquids. The afternoon of the same day - full liquids. The next day, day three, at home, pureed foods for two week. Then soft foods for a couple of months. Month two or three, pretty much anything goes.

What works for me at a restaurant is that I portion out what I know I can eat, maybe even a little less. Then the rest is boxed up. It's too easy sometimes to miss those cues about getting full when I'm with my friends or family.

I am three weeks out, surgery was 7/24, and I can eat steak. Today was the first time I tried and I had no problems. I went to Applebee's with my team for lunch. I only ate about an ounce, cut it up really small, and chewed it completely - and about a tablespoon of mashed potatoes. I brought the leftovers home and I had another ounce of steak and a tablespoon of mashed potatoes. The hubs ate the rest. (He told me I should go to Applebee's more often!) Not bad for a $10 meal that fed me twice, and the hubs once.

That's interesting. I've noticed that my shoulders and neck have been kind of achy, like tendinitis, etc. I'm three weeks out...

Also, symptoms of a blood clot also feel like you are going to get a charlie horse. If drinking Powerade Zero or Gatorade G2 doesn't help, you might want to get in to a walk-in clinic or ER to have an ultrasound done on your leg. I don't mean to scare you, but you sure don't want to mess around with a potential clot. I had a blood clot in my leg about six years ago and I walked around with it for about a week before going in - I just thought I was going to get a big charlie horse.

To me, the only "easy" part of this is that there is no "way out" of eating less. How many times have we (me) started a diet and then a week or two, maybe even a month, later... we go back to our normal way of eating. After the surgery, it is physically impossible to eat as much as you used to. And that's a good thing.

I don't really have much of a stash. Maybe only a size down or so. Although pre-surgery, I did buy a few shirts in smaller sizes because they were on clearance and I had a few good coupons. I like shopping online at Woman Within. You can google coupon codes (or they email some to you). One good deal I got was a zippered microfleece jacket that I will take to work with me... only $3.24 - on clearance, a good coupon, plus an earnings certificate. (You earn a small percentage based on what you buy and can spend that back at the store.)

Wow! I'm actually surprised that you were able to find a healthy meal at a fair! We have our annual "Potato Days Festival" coming up in a couple of weeks. Pretty much anything you could possibly make with potatoes will be served. (And don't forget the mashed potato wrestling, mashed potato sculpture contest, etc.) http://www.potatodays.com/

Ha... I was in the kitchen yesterday and lost my shorts AND underwear! Thank goodness I was ALONE. I ordered new underwear.

I am able to take my Wellbutrin XL pill plus I take one Prilosec twice a day.

Ha.... I used the Days Left widget too. It was pretty cool to get down to 0 days left.

I've been following my doctor's plan which suggests 60 - 90 grams of protein a day. I've lost 11.something pounds since my surgery a week ago yesterday. 17 pounds is nothing to sneeze at - that's only what, two weeks ago? Just make sure you are getting in the calories, protein, and fluids. Exercise is essential as well. I think the weight loss comes off faster for people who weighed more when they got sleeved.

My guidelines say I can start them the second month. It could just be that at this time, they didn't agree with your sleeve.

My aunt, who had the RNY several years ago, has had to have part of her intestines removed because of the bowel obstructions AND I just found out yesterday that she is going to be having a colostomy. I can't say that this is 100% because of complications years later from the bypass, but... (I mean, would she have still had bowel obstructions regardless?) I'm not a doctor. Granted she's kind of the poster child for what CAN go wrong. My best friend, who had her RNY two years ago, has done wonderfully. I'm sticking with the sleeve.

Jennifer Hudson did Weight Watchers.

"Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall." - Oliver Goldsmith I don't have anything to add that hasn't already been mentioned, but I like the quote above. You are "getting up" and learning from this. Stay strong!!

I didn't want to tell anyone. However I did tell my parents and got the reaction I was expecting from my mom. (Not positive.) My husband told his parents and they were thrilled and said they supported me 100%. I emailed both sets of parents a two-page PDF document that talks about the surgery and has a diagram. My mother-in-law even went online to find out more information. My best friend was the first person I told. I also told one of my teammates and another co-worker. It's funny, the "other" coworker just said "Oh that's great!" and never brought it up again - which was really nice. I mean, I don't see her that often at work, but she's my Close To My Heart consultant so I go to her house once a month for stamp club. (To me, she just filed it away like someone would do if you said that you were getting a hysterectomy.... you know, it's a surgery and then you go on. So this is a good reaction.) My teammate knows that I have told the rest of our team yet, so she instant messages her support to me (how many days, how's the pre-op diet going, etc.) I have wanted to tell the rest of my teammates but we haven't all been together for awhile. I think we are all in the office tomorrow and we have a team meeting at 8:30, so I'm thinking I might tell them all then. (My team is like family, so I should probably tell them that I'll be gone the next two weeks.)

The chili would have been a good choice (if you eat meat). High in Protein... although I guess it depends on where you are in the food stage.

The only times that I have experienced dry mouth with my CPAP is when my mouth was open during the night. When I had a full face mask (over the nose AND mouth), I couldn't keep keep my mouth shut. Once I switched to nasal pillows, like the Swift FX, I was able to keep my mouth shut. (For the most part, sometimes I wake myself up with a wind tunnel sound and finally realize it's ME making that noise.)

Congratulations!! (This reminds me that I forgot to get the Gas-Ex strips...) LOL