joatsaint

I tried the sugar free Hershey's dark chocolate at Wal-Mart. I thought it tasted really good.

I am not completely off mine, after 9 months post-op. But, I am able to sleep some nights without it and I've had to adjust the air-pressure down. If I lose another 20 - 30 lbs. I think I may be able to get off of it permanently.

I was really happily surprised to find out that my gastric sleeve surgery is expected to last less than an hour. Apparently my doc has done A LOT of theses and can pretty much knock them out like an assembly line. I'm to check in at 7am, surgery is at 9:30am, expected to be back in my room by 10:30am. Spend the day recovering and walking. Next day drink the barium for the leak test and be released late in the afternoon. He said not to expect any internal pain, the only pain should be at the incision points and very little gas discomfort. So we'll see. Some of the unexpected things that I didn't find out until the last minute: Had to go to the hospital for several tests - blood, ultra sound, chest xrays and EDG (camera down the throat to check out the stomach). Have to go to the hospital with 72 hours of the surgery to get blood typed (in case of the need for a transfusion) and urine test. So the only things I have left is the per surgery blood/urine test and then the surgery. Very excited. My copay for the doctor has been about $2000 so far (office visits/surgery cost) My hospital costs so far, $1000 (blood, ultra sound, chest xrays and EDG) Costs still to be determined: pre-op blood/urine test and hospital costs for the 2 days pre and post surgery.

yes, it is normal, your body is still bloated with all the IV fluids they pumped into you post and pre-op. I gained about 6lbs the day after surgery, but it was gone in a few days.

One of the scariest or infuriating things I encounter is when I've made a new low on the scale and then gain back 3 or 5 pounds in the next few days. And then it takes a week to get back where I was. I know it's just my body getting adjusted to my new lifestyle, but it is infuriating to see it happen. After reading so many success stories about losing 20 plus pounds per month in the 1st 6 months, I WANT IT TOO! Not 10, not 15, I want my 20+ pound loss, just like clockwork - gimme, gimme, gimme! But that isn't the way my body wants to do it. So I'll just have to get used to the way it works. In fact, the gains are my fault. I allow myself a "cheat" meal on Saturday nights and one more on Sundays when I visit my parents (twice a month). It's not that I eat more food, it's just less healthy. For example: Friday morning weight in: 296.8 Saturday night was Golden Corral buffet night. Over the hour I was there, I had about 4oz of meatloaf, 1 fried chicken strip, 1 big cauliflower floret w/cheese, about 2 tablespoons of Shepard's pie and about 1/2 of some kind of pecan gooey thing. I didn't stuff myself, just ate until I was full, waited while my friend hit the buffet again, and I ate a little here and there as my stomach emptied. The following Sunday happened to be one of the 2 days a month I visit my parents. At lunch we had Churches fried chicken. I had 1 fried breast, 1 single serving of mashed potatoes, and 1 biscuit. This is not the normal fare, usually mom cooks meat and vegetables. I wasn't able to eat the whole thing in one sitting. I broke it into 2 meals, one at 11am, the 2nd at 2pm. The rest of my meals for the weekend were my normal fare: turkey hamburger w/cheese and spaghetti sauce or turkey hamburger w/gravy and chopped cauliflower. In a 4oz bowl. Monday morning weigh in: 302.4 - almost a 6 pound gain! I can only assume that all the salt and sodium caused quite a bit of water retention. I don't believe I really over did it too much on the calories. Now it's Thursday - 4 days later - and I'm back down to 298.4 - 4 pounds. Not surprising really, it's happened more than once. That doesn't mean I have to like it! I think it might be a good thing to switch up foods this way, my body won't get accustomed to a certain calorie count/protein/carb/fat intake. I just won't go overboard on the bad stuff and eat it more than 6 meals a month. Now if only I can get over my fear of seeing the scale move up instead of down! And I'll watch and see how my body reacts long term. If turns out that it's causing stalls or long term weight gain, I'll have to go back to the basic diet and cut out the bad stuff. NSV! Now, where's my light saber? I have to punch a new hole in my belt.

Here's mine, but you have to have a warped sense of humor to tolerate it. :-P http://www.verticals...pected-journey/

Rule #1 - Cardio Walking is not wonderful. The only part I do like is getting outside and attempting to beat my previous time. Yesterday, I walked an 18 min. mile. That may not sound like much, but when I first started my mile was around 30 mins. - if I could do a mile. So, I am trying to follow the program and get better, and faster but I can’t say that I love every minute of it. Walking is boring. If I could get away with it, I wouldn’t walk. Maybe if I could figure out some way to bring my computer with me on a walk I’d have a different attitude. And while some people are very adroit at using smart phones for everything, I tend to crash into cars, trees, and big rocks if I don’t concentrate on where I’m going. I always try to walk with a buddy. That way there’s someone to talk to and hold me accountable for showing up. And, it’s a safety thing as well. If we happen upon a bear or wolf on the trail, I don’t have to worry about out running the bear. I only have to out run my buddy! I’ve thought about getting one of the new exercise office desks. So I can stay in the house and walk. Basically it’s a treadmill with a desktop mounted where the controls are normally placed. I could walk and surf at the same time. But if history is any predictor of the future, it will just become another thousand dollar clothes hanger. Running - I think it is one of my bucket list items. It would be nice to be able to run again. I don’t think I’ve ran more than a few steps since high school. Even then, I really couldn’t run more than a quarter mile, but even that distance seems like a pipe dream at this point. So, I will only be running if someone or something that wants to eat me (and not in a nice way!) is chasing. And, let’s be honest, the evil thing will more than likely get me. Just like in Zombie Land – “The 1st to go were the fatties.” That reminds me … I need to check my bathroom and make sure there are no zombie clowns waiting in ambush. Keep Pimpin That Sleeve!

That looks really cool, but my first thought was, "Really? A pencil sharpener for carrots?" :-P

I don't spit, I swallow!

Premier Protein chocolate shakes #1 in my book. EAS carb control chocolate shakes are a distant 2nd, will do in a pinch. Those are the only 2 could stand. I've tried Muscle Milk, it was okay, about the same as EAS, it was just too expensive.

You didn't mention if you were going against your doctor's orders, but I would not be pushing the limits of my stomach this soon. Do you really want to take a chance and wind up in the emergency room because you stretched the staple line or a small piece of food gets lodged in the scar tissue?

I don't recall any bad dreams pre-surgery. But I sure had them post-op, for about a week. I was dreaming I was in a post-apocalyptic world and was being quizzed to see if I had enough skills to be a valuable member of the team.

The title is from an old nursery rhyme by Andrew Dice Clay. Little Miss Muffet Sat on her tuffet Eating her curds and whey Along came a spider Sat down beside her And said, "Hey, what's in the bowl b-i-t-c-h?" I see quite a few questions regarding whey protein and I'd like to share a few things I learned pre-surgery in preparation for my pre-op and post-op diet. Whey is one of the fastest digesting proteins and the quickest way :-) to get protein shuttled to your muscles. Whey comes from milk protein and contains the full spectrum of amino acids needed to build muscle. Whey comes in several forms - hydrolyzed, isolate, and concentrate, isolate being digested faster and more completely than protein concentrate. The Differences Protein Concentrate: 70-80% pure protein and up to 5% lactose Protein Isolate: Almost pure protein (90-94%) and near zero lactose and carbs, many people that are lactose intolerant have no problems digesting protein isolate. Hydrolyzed Protein: Protein isolate that is broken down even more and is more easily absorbed by the muscles. All three are good sources of protein and taking one over the other will not make a difference in how much muscle mass your body builds. It is only a matter of purity and the speed your body digests and transports the protein to the muscles. Whey concentrate has less pure protein than hydrolyzed or isolate, meaning you'll have to take more whey concentrate to get the same protein in grams vs. isolate. And speed of digestion and transport. Again, whey concentrate is the slowest, it is not broken down in the manufacturing process as much as hydrolyzed and isolate. Hydrolyzed=fastest, isolate=fast, concentrate=slowest. Is speed any great issue? I wouldn't think so. It's like the kids playing basketball, buying a pair of Jordans to improve their game. The difference a pair of Jordans makes for a nonprofessional athlete is so insignificant it's almost zero.

Update 4/5/2013 I tried making lasagna out of the noodles tonight. It tasted very good. I layered a small glass dish with the noodles, covered it with spaghetti sauce, put on a layer of sliced black olives, and a layer of mozzarella cheese. Baked for 30 minutes at 350 and let it sit in the oven for an additional 15 minutes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tried making my spaghetti noodles from the recipe below. It turned out really well. I couldn't leave the basic recipe alone and had to add some garlic and onion to the pureed chicken. Also my store does not carry powdered eggs, so I bought a box of liquid egg whites and used that instead. I picked up a squeeze bottle in the housewares section of Walmart for 97 cents. And a jar of Alfredo sauce. It tasted pretty good with Alfredo, but I prefer spaghetti sauce on the noodles. The toughest part was getting the right combination of water to chicken ratio. I wanted it thick enough hold together as it came out of the squeeze bottle, yet thin enough to pour into the squeeze bottle. Never did get it right. It was thicker than I wanted and I wound up using the handle of spoon to poke it down the throat of a funnel and into the bottle. So I got the water to a rolling boil and had my squeeze bottle loaded for bear. Gave it a big squeeze and started goin round and round like I was making a funnel cake. About the 5th round, the bottle gave out a big "SPLAT" - did you know that even the smallest droplets of boiling water hurt when they hit your forearms? So take a tip - turn the bottle upside down and tap it on the counter to pack down the liquid chicken as much as possible before squeezing over the boiling water! It was a big chicken breast, probably 10oz.. It was enough to load the bottle 2 1/2 times. Tips: Freeze the raw chicken until it's stiff and sounds kinda crunchy when you bend it. This will make it easier to cut into cubes and puree. I found out the hard way that floppy chicken tends to wrap itself around the blender blades. The warmer the chicken, the stretchier it gets. Cut the chicken into 1 inch or smaller pieces - this will also help prevent the chicken from wrapping around the blades and extend the life of your blender motor. Liquid egg whites work well in this recipe if you can't find the powdered egg whites. I used about 1/4 - 1/2 cup per chicken breast. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The recipe was off Rachael Ray's site. Watch the video, use this link: http://www.rachaelra...ta-al-pomodoro/ Rocco DiSpirito's Pasta al Pomodoro Aired on: April 1, 2013 6 grams of fat 133 calories Ingredients 3/4 cup cold water 2 tablespoons egg white powder 6 ounces cold chicken breast, cut into 1 inch chunks 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 7 cloves garlic, sliced thin 1 pinch red chili flakes (pepperoncino) 2 cups whole fresh ready to burst ripe tomatoes, cut into large dice Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste 1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated 16 leaves of fresh basil, torn by hand into small pieces Yields: 4 Preparation Boil 4 quarts of water in a large pot. Once the water is boiling add 2 tablespoons of salt. Preheat broiler. Place the water and the egg white powder in the beaker of a blender, and blend on low speed until all the powder has dissolved, then add the chicken breast and blend on high speed until smooth and glossy. Place the contents of the blender into a squeeze bottle and set in the refrigerator. Pour the olive oil into a large nonstick sauté pan and then lay out the garlic slices in one even layer over the top of the pan. Place the pan over medium to high heat and cook the garlic until it begins to brown, then move the pan to the middle rack of the oven under the broiler to continue to brown the top of the garlic, about 1 minute. Place the pan back on the stove and add red chili flakes and half the basil leaves, cook for 15 seconds and then add the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes over medium heat until the sauce comes to a simmer and let cook until the sauce has slightly thickened but still loose, about 2 minutes. Add half of the cheese and stir it completely into the sauce and turn off the stove and season lightly with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Turn the boiling water down to low heat and squeeze the chicken mixture out of the squeeze bottle in a steady stream into the boiling water into strands the same length as spaghetti, about 10 inches until there is no more room on the surface of the water. Let the noodles cook for 30 seconds then remove them with a strainer or spider, set them aside in a bowl and repeat until all of the chicken mixture is used. Add the noodles to the pan and turn the heat to medium high heat. Toss the pasta to coat evenly with a heat resistant rubber spatula and cook until the sauce begins to cling to the noodles. Add the remaining basil and check seasoning. Plate the pasta on four separate plates and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Tip: Use a store-bought, fat free, no added sugar marinara sauce and you can make this meal in less then 10 minutes. Per Serving: 133 calories, 6.17g fat (2g sat, 3g mono, 1g poly), 6.25mg cholesterol, 114.75mg sodium, 4.575g carbohydrates, 1.1g fiber, 13.05g protein

Well, it's official. My surgery is on the 27th. The good news is that my pre-op diet is only for 5 days and it won't be too much of an alteration of my current eating habits. From my research, I already had a good idea of what the pre-op diet was going to be like, just didn't know how long I would be expected to be on it. I had prepared myself mentally for a 2 week liquid diet. So it was really a surprise to hear that it is only 5 days and I can drink as much of the high protein/low carb shakes as I want and eat soups (like chicken noodle) as long as they don't contain high carb vegies like potatoes. I've already figured out a combination of dutch chocolate EAS carb control shakes with 1 scoop of Total Soy (chocolate) that tastes great and has a combined 30 grams of protein and 11 grams of carbs per 20 oz shake. I highly recommend getting a shaker bottle with the little ball spring inside. It really breaks up the Total Soy powder making a smooth creamy shake. I bought a 2 pack at Sam's club for $12, and I saw them at Wal-Mart for $7 each. But with the 2 pack I can keep one at work and one at home. I figure I'm having the same thoughts and feelings as others in the pre-op stage. So I wanted to share a moment I had last week that makes me laugh at myself now. I had a small panic attack until I realized how stupid it was. I actually got worried that post op, I wouldn't be able to eat as much I as I could in the past. Stupid, right? But I guess it plays on my basic fear of change. How am I going to handle being thinner and how people will react and treat me at work and socially. As it is, I have 40 years of knowing how people treat the fat me. Now, I have to worry about how people will treat me as a thin person.

The pre-op and post-op diet were 2 different worlds for me. Pre-op, my mind was constantly focusing on what I could eat next. Post-op, those thoughts were completely gone. I believe it was the reduction of the hunger hormone Ghrelin that kept me hungry all the time. Or maybe I just had to hit rock bottom before I could lose the weight. :-P If my brain worked pre-op the way it does now, I'd never had needed the surgery and could have lost the weight on my own.

My doc said just to take Multivitamin, 1000mg sublingual B-12, and 1000mg of calcium citrate a day. I don't believe we lose the ability to absorb Vitamins and minerals from food the way Gastric Bypass patients do. I didn't start the vitamins until I was back on solid food, so I've never tried anything like the gummy vitamins. I've always taken tablets or pill form.