joatsaint

I have used Isopure unflavored protein. I mix it into my refried beans.

I've never tried her recipes, but I've seen lots of posts about eggface. She has lots of recipes. The link below is to her puree section. http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

Thanks for sharing your story. Welcome to the Loser's Bench! Keep Pimpin' That Sleeve!

I guess you could call me "lucky". Whenever Frankensleeve disagreed with a food, he'd ball up in knots - from the very 1st bite. There was no way to even force myself to continue eating... it just hurt too much.

I used to do a lot of online gaming - Bloons Tower Defense. I'd use that game to slow my eating speed. I'd take a bit, play one round, take anther bite, play a round, rinse, repeat. I'd get so into trying to beat the game that my eating slowed to a crawl.

Almost fell out of my chair laughing when I got a Spam email with the title, "I Sprayed This In My Mouth and Lost 10lbs". Feel free to read any double entendre into that title you like! I though it might make you smile too. Keep Pimpin' That Sleeve

My 1st 10 days post-op, I wasn't eating or drinking anything to speak of. I just couldn't tolerate food or drink. I focused on staying hydrated and sip, sip, sipped as much as I could. I took the doc's recommended daily intake of food and Water as a goal to strive for, but didn't expect to reach it in the first week. As long as I felt okay and kept drinking, I wasn't worried. Crystal Light lemonade and sugar free popsicles were the only thing I ate/drank that 1st week. 2nd week, I found Cream of Mushroom soup was tolerable, but only 1/2 tablespoon full every 1/2 hour or so. It was weeks before I was getting in all the advised levels of protein/water. Do the best you can, and call your doc if you don't feel right.

If you can, do what I did. Stay away from processed foods as much as you can. I ate a low-carb diet and tried to cook everything I could myself. Anything that is processed probably has high sodium levels and I know from experience that it keeps the Water weight on me. I tried to eat only chicken and pork tenderloin and low-carb Protein shakes during my pre-op diet. When I would feel head hunger and carb cravings, I'd try to fill up on protein. After a few days, the carb cravings went away and the rest of the diet was smooth sailing. Hope this helps a little.

I stopped using my CPAP machine about 11 months post-surgery. I never went in for apnea testing after surgery, so I can't say that it went away. At some point, the CPAP machine was pumping so much air into my stomach that I'd wake up at night burping and farting. So I tried sleeping without the machine. I experimented on myself on and off and one day I noticed that my quality of sleep without the machine was as good with it. So I stopped using the CPAP machine.

You said you are losing more than 1lb a day after surgery. To help us answer your questions, please remind us of how much you were losing per day before surgery?

I've really like Premier Protein chocolate shakes since I first found them at Sam's club. I like mine a little thicker, so I throw in 1 scoop of a chocolate powdered protein mix as well. Poured over ice, it tastes just like chocolate milk to me.

The only thing I can add to all the other things people have listed above is, bring your favorite pillow (with a non-white case, to make it easy to spot when you leave) to the hospital. It will make it easier to sleep and you might need it on the drive home.

chicken was and still is one of the hardest things for Frankensleeve to digest. At 5 weeks, I was still eating Cream of Mushroom Soup for most of my meals. I ate Peanut Butter as well, but because of the calories in it, I limited myself to 2 tablespoons of peanut butter a day. But for the most part, I didn't eat anything else. It was months before I could really tolerate real food. After I graduated from soup, the next thing I found tolerable was refried Beans and turkey hamburger - and I ate it as my primary food for weeks and weeks. Here's my recipe: http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31168-my-favorite-mexican-food/ I've never lifted weights, but I did set a walking goal of 10,000 steps a day - starting the month after surgery. It took me a few months to reach that goal. Now I try speed walking - 3 miles a day @ 3.8 (or better) mph. http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31216-nsv-2-you-best-step-off-b-hatch/

If you listen to the media, you will never call yourself "thin". It's in the best interest of weight loss gurus, fitness trainers, clothing designers, and news providers to keep us on a constant Quest to be what they consider thin. And if you reach their standard of thin, they switch it up on us and now say things like, "size 0 is the new size 2" and pull out some photo shopped pics of an impossibly thin/perfect model. I just try to be happy being my version of "normal". And on the occasion I do let myself get caught up in the marketing hype of being what they consider "thin", I have to pull out my inner pimp and pimp slam myself back into reality! I remind myself that NORMAL people don't look like the models in the ads. And the models/actors have to resort to extreme measures (starving themselves, extreme workouts, drugs, and a team of nutritionists and trainers) to stay perfect and even then, they have to touch up their photos. Keep Pimpin' That Sleeve!

Even though it hurt like Hell! I'd do it all over again in a second. No doubt about it.

Thanks for the info.

I didn't try a drink till about 6 months post-op (mainly because I didn't want the empty calories), and it was tequila mixed with Crystal Light Lemonade. That's my preferred drink now. But I've drank beer and Mike's Hard lemonade several times. I'm real careful of the carbonation in both and usually pour them over ice to release some of the bubbles. And I drink them slowly. I do get drunk quicker than I did pre-surgery, but the buzz goes away quicker. I'm a pretty cheap drunk to begin with, 2 beers and I'm done for the night.

This post is just goes to show that even Sleeve veterans aren't perfect. The key is to look at a setback as a delay, not a permanent failure, and get back on track. I was trying to stay low-carb till I lost about 20lbs, but I fell off the wagon this morning. Over the Thanksgiving week, I gained about 5 lbs and was up to 220 lbs in 5 days - probably from all the salt. So I went back to what's worked in the past, low-carb eating - lean protein (pork loin) and a few vegetables (squash, cauliflower). Low-carbing worked well, I lost the excess water plus a few pounds. In 6 days I've lost 9.6 lbs. But the stress from work has been pretty overwhelming these past few days. And when I came into work this morning, there was a fresh hot box of donuts waiting in the kitchen. I started to limit myself to 1, but then though about how good I was going to feel when I ate them. So I got 2... Go BIG or Go HOME! and enjoyed every bite!!!!! Will those 2 donuts affect my weight? Probably not, as long as I don't continue eating junk every day. Will it cause my weight loss to stall? I'll know soon enough, the scale will tell me tomorrow morning. P.S. I'll be back on pork loin and cauliflower for lunch today. Keep Pimpin' That Sleeve!!!! Randy UPDATE: 12/08/2014 Well, eating the donuts plus my "cheat" meal on Saturday night, I woke up on Sunday morning weighing 1.4lbs heavier. But I got back on my diet on Sunday and Monday (today). I lost the weight and weigh the same as I did last Friday (the day before I ate the donuts). I'm back down to 210.4 Now let's see if I can finally break 200lbs. 2nd UPDATE: 12/10/2014 Hit an all time new low today, 208.2 lbs. Still sticking to my diet. 3rd UPDATE: 12/13/2014 Still low-carbing (sorta) Hit another all time low this morning - 206 lbs. Haven't been that low since high school (38 years ago). My diet revolves around eating pork loin and Raisin Bran (I eat Raisin Bran cause they give it to us free at work) and coffee (loaded with creamer and Splenda). And I'm taking Puritans Pride "Green Source" whole food vitamins made from whole food concentrates. I swear these vitamins make me feel so much better than any other vitamin I've taken. I take the vitamins first thing in the morning. If I take them in the evening, I have so much energy I have a hard time sleeping. During the day, I usually eat about 2 cups of shredded pork loin and 2 snacks - Raisin Bran (dry - I eat it straight up like trail mix in a cup - I have a 12oz cup and fill it halfway). And 2 cups of shredded pork loin in the evening after work. (Although I did have some spaghetti I was rationing out over the week - I'd have 1 cup of pork loin and 2 cups of spaghetti). It's Saturday, the cheat meal day. Let's see if I gain weight overnight from eating pizza. 4th UPDATE: 12/14/2014 Sunday morning update. After pigging out on Mexican food and drinking 2 16oz Mike's Harder Lemonades Sat night, I'm up 1.4 lbs. I weighted in at 207.8 this morning vs. 206.4 yesterday. OMG!!!! I'm getting so FAT!!! (can you hear the panic in my typing or is that sarcasm? ) My old pre-surgery self only dreamed of being 207.8 lbs. BEFORE: AFTER: 5th Update: 12/17/2014 Wednesday and I'm at a new all time low - 205.6 lbs. I'd like to get to 199, just to see how it feels, but I may let myself cheat a little extra over Xmas and "balloon" back up to 210. Then go for 199 again, starting on the 26th. But who knows. I never expected to get below 200. And 2 years ago, my doc said I should realistically expect to hang around 225 - 235 in the long term. So hitting 205 and staying there would be fine with me. One side effect of eating low-carb, once I got the sugar out of my system, I no longer have the head hunger that literally drove me to overeating. And you would think that something as innocent as apples and bananas wouldn't trigger carb cravings, but they do trigger carb cravings in me. 6th Update: 12/19/2014 Friday and still holding at 204.4lbs, not going up, not going down. But the weather and sinuses haven't let me get out and walk off some extra calories. Still low-carbing, no carb cravings and eating well. Been at 204 - 205 lbs for at least 2 days in a row, so I can mark it as official, I weigh 205. - (I only count a new low in my weight if I have sustained it for at least 2 days!) :-) 7th Update: 12/28/2014 Well, after the Xmas splurge, I woke up weighing 211.4 lbs on Dec 27th. Nothing really unexpected after I ate all that salty ham and had plenty of pecan pie. So I'll see what happens when I go back to low-carbing on Monday and get all that salt out of my system. 8th Update: 12/30/2014 2nd day back on the low-carb diet. I'm was at 209.2 this morning and weighed in at 210.0 after work. So it just bolsters my feeling that all the salt from eating smoked ham was causing me to hold water weight and is now exiting my system. If you're interested, I'm back to eating pork loin w/my low-carb bbq sauce, and (2) 1/2 cup servings of dry Raisin Bran cereal during the day. I did eat a bag of Snapea Crisps (about 400 calories/100 grams of carbs) on Sunday, but it doesn't seem to have affected my weight loss. 9th Update: 02/01/2015 Still eating my regular old routine of pork and bbq sauce, Raisin Bran and cauliflower and brussell sprouts. My weigh is staying steady at 204 - 205 since the 2nd week of Jan 2015. Just have to watch how much of the Raisin Bran I let myself eat. My new job keeps me moving all day and I tend to want to eat more because of it.

BladeFox, Thanks for taking the time to comment. I don't know how successful I would have been at losing the weight if I didn't live alone. I can completely control what foods are in the house and don't have any temptations laying around. And I'm too lazy to drive to the store for a snack once I'm home from work. So I'm forced to eat what's in the house. :-) The hardest part is leaving my mom's house. She ALWAYS wants to send pie and cake and rice and mashed potatoes home with me. I don't want to make her feel like I don't like and appreciate her cooking. So I bring it home and try to ration it out over a week, instead of eating all of it in a day. (Even though I really want to)

When I would get frustrated or worried about "how little" I was losing, I'd remind myself of the pre-surgery days. Pre-surgery I would have been ecstatic if I could lose weight at any speed. Back then, it would have been a wish come true if I was only losing 1/2 lb a month - just as long as the scale was going down on a consistent basis.

My pain was gone around the 7th or 8th day. I was merely uncomfortable. Hang in there, it will get better and you'll be happy with the results.

Did you try the spaghetti, fettuccine or angle hair style? I tried the fettuccine style noodles and the texture just gave me such a huzz I couldn't swallow them. They were too slick and chewy!!!!!

Different things cause different amounts of restriction. Regular water fills me quickly, Crystal Light doesn't seem filling. I can eat almost a pound of yellow squash, but I can eat 4 oz of hamburger and I feel stuffed. Everyone's different.

Thanks for the link, I'll check out your channel.

I remember how hard the pre-op diet was and I only had to do it for 1 week! It was so much harder dealing with the mental hunger - harder than anything I dealt with post-op. What gave me the ability to lose 10 lbs in 7 days was eating almost no carbs. I drank low-carb Protein shakes and when I just had to have some real food, I only ate pork loin or chicken breast. It's tough to get past those carb cravings, but after 2 or 3 days they go away. If you have to have something sweet, try sugar free Jell-O or sugar free Popsicles. Wishing you the good luck.