Fiddleman

What, me a party pooper? I am having fun at a party this very moment, just not eating any party food. Brought my blender and shake mix with me.

One time will probably not do damage, but be careful about forming a pattern or snowballing into worse issues with food. We all must be disciplined to really work the sleeve. It is hard work, but it will pay off. Merry Christmas.

I agree with everyone here. It takes some time to get that IV fluid out of your system. I was up 20 lbs after 1 week in the hospital. I only know this because the discharge nurse weighed me on the way out. Decided not to weigh myself until week 3 and glad I did this because +20 is a bit depressing. Fast forward about 5 months and I am down 130 lb. As everyone says, do not weigh every day. You will be much more relaxed about the process if you hide the scale during the week. Breath, relax, breath, relax...

Try mixing chia seeds with miralax. Not together of course, but the same day. Bringing them together might have a greater impact. I do this on occasion.

I just started using the ocean spray cran peach tea yesterday and love it mixed with water. Before that I was mostly a propel type of guy. I got tired of crystal light and mio a while ago because of weird artificial aftertaste. Now I am going to branch out and try some other ocean spray flavors.

It is a powdered high Protein Peanut Butter with 1/3 the fat and calories. I got mine from the hospital where I was sleeved, but I think you could find it online at Amazon, bariatric pantry or other online store fronts that focus on selling to WLS customers. I still have my original container from 6 months ago. It does last a while. I don't use it very often, but when I do it turns a truffle shake into 8 ounces of pure awesomeness. Give it a try!

I personally do not remember the clear liquids phase because I was in the hospital during it due to having difficulty eating or drinking anything. On the other hand they were trying to give me the hospital protein shake on day 2 and I think it took 8 hours to get through 2 ounces. They wanted me to do 24 ounces of protein shake a day in the hospital. it took me a month before i achieved that goal. Today I am easily drinking 150+ ounces of water a day and 16 ounces of shake, 4 ounces of coffee and sometimes 16 ounces of hot apple cider. All this and still being able to eat 3-4 ounces of protein every 3 hours (veggies when i can) without violating the 30 min before and after no drinking rule. What a difference a few months makes. Hang in there because drinking and eating definitely improves as the months go by. It also becomes more satisfactory when you eat just until comfortable and focus on the blessing of savory food. Now I love that I can drink water all day and stay hydrated. Pre sleeve I could never build up to this amount of daily water.

Oh yeah, even more awesome when mixed with PB2. It is like Reece's cup!

Have you tried syntrax nectar sweets yet or syntrax matrix ? Love them with water and soy milk!

Hi Sannah - Here are my before and after pictures to inspire you. I hope that you are healed quickly and can enjoy the holidays with your family. Merry Christmas! Taken shortly before 7-2-2012 surgery in Rome. Weight at 335lb. Taken a couple days ago. Weight at 205lb. Shirt poofing out in front is causing this me to have a bigger stomach then I currently have. LOL. You are in my prayers.

Why do you feel your marriage will change for the worse? I have seen nothing but gains in my marriage as i have let go of so much bitterness and anti social tendencies. I hope everything works out for you.

Hi all - I have been taking some hydrocodone (5/325) over the last month for some chronic back pain that developed a long time ago and has increased recently post surgery. There may also be something else going on with my back (ala the movie 50/50) that I am scheduled to get looked at next month by a specialist. I try not to take it unless the pain is bad, but have been increasing the dose to several times a day when I am unable to tolerate the pain. Please do not judge me for increasing the dose on my own. I know it is not the right thing to do. After fearing I was getting addicted to it only after a month of use, I got rid of the remainder of my prescription 2 days ago because the last thing I need is a dependence on it. Today I woke up with the wore case of total body soreness, like having a flu without all the flu symptoms. Is this normal from stopping pain meds cold turkey? How long does it take for your body to be clean of the hydrocodone after taking 10-20 mg a day for back issues? By the way, Tylenol does not work and I am now about to take an anti inflammatory next month( already have the prescription ready to use). Next month, my surgeon said I could start on a slow release anti inflammatory as it is my 6 month post op. the name of the prescription is Etodolac and it will be my first time on it. I used diclofenac pre surgery for several years, but it is too rough on the sleeve (according to the surgeon) to use any longer. Thanks for your advice.

This is really interesting in the number of benefits that come from turmeric. It sounds almost or better than chia seeds as another natural remedy. Thanks again for the links.

Thanks for the alternative pain med. I will research it and discuss with pcp and surgeon doctor. Took etodolac today for first time. The only side effects are metallic taste in mouth and a little dizzy. Back is feeling a lot better already after taking the NSAID with a PPI. Metallic taste is a little weird and my first thought was it might be blood, but then after some research it looks like there is actually black Iron in it. Not exactly sure and will need to keep an eye on it.

I finally retired my New Balance running shoes of the last 5 years. They have done 1000s of miles of walking, running and every day use. Additionally, they are the last of my remaining clothing articles to be moved out of my house after losing weight. Yay! I found a local running store called "Run26" that specializes in analyzing a person's running and walking patterns to find them the perfect shoe. If I was going to spend 100+ on a running shoe, I wanted to make a very informed decision about it. The sales person analyzed my walking and running gait on an n store track, paying attention to my running form from both the front and back while jogging. He gave me an option of 3 running shoes to try and I ended up purchasing a Nike running shoe for 100. It is light as a feather and fits my foot really well. I also found out that I am no longer a wide shoe fit and can buy any normal size 10.5 shoe. This is a relief to have more options available. We also talked a lot about running technique and goals. Finally, we talked about gels to eat while running long distances. he told me that gels are really only useful for marathons or other long distances. he said increasing distance is really just about endurance and as legs get stronger, the milage will increase. I felt like he really was giving me an expert opinion. The store also sponsors 3 runs a weeks for people of all abilities. This is exciting to get out there and run with a group and also from new friendships. I am also going t look into meetup groups for running (already part of a northwest running group). Today is my first day to try running with the new shoes on my treadmill. Hoping that these shoes will make a big difference for running 45+ minutes. On a second note, I also ordered a new Bluetooth headset and transmitter for running with my ipod (a generation 2 classic that s old, but still works well). They are desperately needed because the wires kept getting in the way of my swinging arms and distracting my focus. Excited about them arriving in a couple days!

I spent the first couple months trying to graduate past the stuck feeling because I ate to achieve a certain number of ounces of Protein, even though my sleeve thought otherwise of it.. Lots of slimes and the like. It was the pits and turned me off from eating a bit. After 4 months, I definitely got to know the satisfied feeling. Being satisfied is definitely different from the full feeling. I have learned to eat until satisfied and sometimes this is a little sigh. My body tells me, "ok you could eat more, but you really do not need to". Eating to fullness causes me to do little burps. Eating until satisfied causes me to sigh ever so subtlety. Enough that I can now pick up on it. Eating to satisfaction makes eating enjoyable again and gives me a real opportunity to focus on the savory flavors from a good dish of food. As an example, I put 6 ounces of chicken pot pie filling in my bowl tonight. After 4 ounces, my satisfaction sigh came and I knew it was time to stop. Guess who got the extra 2 ounces. Yup, my trusty dog sitting next to me waiting for scraps. Now I probably should not have served up 6 ounces, but I justified it because 3 ounces were protein and 3 were a medley of vegetables. I am probably a slow learner when trying to change eating habits, but knowing to stop when satisfied instead of full is the best one I have learned despite my still-present inability to eat slow enough to last 20 minutes. That will be my next habit I am going to try and master, but fast eating and me go way back...

Good luck and hope it is nothing serious so you can have a good Christmas with family.

It sounds like you have a good eating plan going there with it being high protein and low carb. If you can eat almost anything solid, then you might mix up as many different Proteins as possible to keep it interesting. You might also consider having .5 to 1 oz of some kind of low carb vegetable like green Beans or broccoli. At 6 weeks these were hard for me to eat after 2-3 ounces of protein, but it got easier over time, especially after 5 months. Shakes are a really good idea, even if it is after your liquids phase. They help you meet protein requirements, are easy to prepare in the morning and taste yummy. What brand and flavor did you get? I happen to like the Syntrax nectar sweets and matrix products. Every morning I look forward to mixing up my shake with gelled chia seeds for a healthy blend of goodness. As for carbs, good job at not eating them yet. You will be more successful without them. The longer you refrain from eating them, the less you want them. Sure, a temptation may come up here and there, especially after 5 or 6 months when your hunger returns, but staying away from carbs for that amount of time will help your natural will power substantially. It will be second nature to just say " no thank you" when the occasion arises. And by that time you will have all your friends and family trained so they offer you sleeve friendly Foods instead of " their foods." There are certainly plenty of healthy alternatives to keep around the house and also to find when you are out and about. Keep up the good work and we will be there to help you and cheer you on all the way to the finish line.

Thank you for the kind comments everyone. You guys have been great in providing support.