bethL

I was sleeved on Friday. I've been working from home. I have a stressful job. I decided that I felt good enough to go in, today. I haven't taken any of the good medicine since yesterday. The liquid Lortab makes me have dreams that I am in a Harry Potter movie, but I digress... Anyway, I had to laugh today because on my way home from work I wanted something new to drink. I have been trying to add milk and Protein shakes, but I'm having some "issues" with milk. So, I decided to be one of "those people." You know, those pain in the rear Starbuckians who request everything from the amount of foam, to the room in the cup, to the pumps of syrup in their latte. I went to Starbucks and actually ordered a tall, sugar free decaf soy vanilla latte. It's heaven (and completely on my diet plan, so don't make any smart comments about "listening to my doctor.") I may do this more often. I just felt like I had to apologize. I may not feel so weird making special orders when I am thin, but I feel as though a fat person being a pain in the rear regarding food is not good. I'm always trying to blend in or be extra nice so that people will like me even though I look like this. Has anyone else had a similar experience in their first days post sleeve? We don't want to draw attention to ourselves and what we eat because we're still fat, but we want to be able to socialize and be with friends in a restaurant enviornment....

Hold up. It frustrates me to no end when some one posts something and every one acts as though he or she is doing something wrong. My doctor allowed me unlimited Popsicles (bites included) and other clear sugar free liquids including low sodium broth as soon as I was discharged from the hospital on day 2. I was only on clear liquids while in the hospital and was instructed to begin adding milk to get to full liquids as tolerated. Please remember that every doctor is different. To answer your question, Tiff187, I am 1 week out and also get the pain. At first it was with everything (even water). Now, it's only with heavier items such as my vitamins and milk. When we put things in our stomachs (anything - water, etc), it naturally causes contractions of the muscles to push the food and liquid through the stomach into the intestine. Normally we cant feel this, but we can feel it post-up. Every one is different. Some people have more pain with hot things, others have more pain with cold things. Just do what you can tolerate so long as it is on the plan that you have. You'll be great!

So, I am officially 12 days out. Tomorrow, on the 13th day, I have to go back to the office. Now, I don't necessarily mind what I do, but the idea of going back is scary. Will I be able to maintain my diet? Will I have any bathroom issues? I also usually work about 5 minutes from my home. However, I have to go to another office for a client meeting tomorrow morning. My office is great. The people are wonderful. This other office is horrid. It's everything that I hate about my job in 4 walls. It's also about an hour from my house. So, in addition to getting up and getting fully dressed for the first time in 13 days, I also have to drive quite the distance. I'm so upset about it. The client wouldn't budge on the meeting date. I don't understand why everyone thinks that their tax situation is so complex as to warrant a face to face meeting. Giving me your tax documents to my face does not make things any easier for both of us. In fact, it costs the client more money because they have to pay for my time in the meeting. I do this for a living, trust me, your W-2 is not complicated. In addition to this, I have to have a meeting with the managing partner about my list of clients that I need to call and "remind" to pay our bill. Now, that will be as much fun as a barrel of monkeys. This is a task usually set for people who are one step higher than I am and who make much more money than I do. Maybe I should be happy that I have the responsibility. However, this is a business, and they see dollar signs. They have found some one who can do the same tasks for less money. So, how wonderful is it that they have chosen little 'ol me to have the responsibility and work without the title and pay...OK, I need to get off of my soapbox. So, on my list for tomorrow are loose clothes, a huge water bottle, a protein shake (I'm unlikely to be able to drink more than one), and my laptop. God help me, it's going to be a long week. To make matters worse, I seem to be stalling a bit with the weight loss. I was losing 2lbs per day during the first week like clockwork. Now, the scale hasn't budged in three days. It's so depressing. It's also a lot like every other "diet" I've tried. I'm still not consuming much more than 200 calories per day. I've tried increasing protein and increasing food, but it doesn't seem to be working. Maybe I should try increasing my water intake. I feel bipolar, now. My emotions are all over the place. Just a few days ago, I thought I could have it all. Now, I don't know if I want it all. I just want to lay in my bed and watch movies for another week!

My Bariatric surgery nutrition bible from my doctor specifically says that I can have light or airpopped popcorn 3 months after surgery. I know this post was a long time ago, but this is just in case any one else is looking at it and wanting some more feedback.

I can have two smoothies at Smoothie King. The rest of them are so unhealthy. I can have the low carb one (any flavor) and the Gladiator with no fruit. As Mokee said, it is terrible with no fruit. When I was on the liquid pre-op diet and now that I am post sleeve, I don't put any fruit in it and it doesn't bother me TOO much. You have to use a flavored gladiator powder for it to be bearable. I like the strawberry one the best. Before I went on the really strict diet, I would do a strawberry gladiator with strawberry powder and only one serving of fruit (instead of two). It cuts the calories back, subtantially. You still get a good strawberry flavor because of the powder, and it's not too sweet at all. The owner at our local branch introduced me to this option. Whatever you do, do not get the "Lean One." It has more sugar than the law allows. The low carb is the easiest to order. You don't have to do anything special. So, I have stuck to that one.

Hi Shan! To answer your question about the pre-op liquid diet. It does shrink your liver. I was on it for 14 days but cheated at day 3. Bad Bad, I know. However, the doctor said my surgery was easy breezy. The liver was fatty as determined in an ultrasound, and the preop diet shrunk it well enough. Just stay steady, and don't make the same mistakes I did. I am sure it will shrink enough.

Hi! I am doing GREAT! I'm also in Mandeville. After I am better, we will have to meet up for some decaf coffee or maybe dinner out with our husbands. My husband and I were a little bit worried about food, but now, I don't see it as being too much of an issue. As for crawfish, they told me that I can have boiled seafood. It's low in fat and high in Protein. There's sodium, but that's not really an issue with me. I can't have corn and potatoes and beer, of course, but I can have crawfish, and shrimp and oysters. I imagine that there will come a time after I have met my goal weight or am well on my way that I will go back to Ruth's Chris. I will have 1/2 of a petite filet with no butter, no bread, and some asparagus and maybe a bite of my husband's potatoes and a small glass of wine. I can promise you that after it's all over, you won't feel as though you are missing out. The meal I mentioned above will satisfy you. I am also a firm believer, that you can find anything on any menu to eat. There's always fabulous fish in NOLA. We are also in a very health conscious place in history. Waiters are used to people asking for no butter, sauce on the side, etc. I also saw on facebook that Molly Kimball from Elmwood Fitness center went to Murials and other NOLA restaurants to create delicious and beautiful health conscious meals. They posted pictures. It looks fabulous. A book that really helped me get over the food issue was this one: http://www.amazon.com/Before-After-Living-Eating-Surgery/dp/0060567228. It's a short read, and she is a serious New Orleans style foodie. I have read it twice so far. It's really interesting how she stays on her diet and eats some heavenly things. Private message me if you want to talk and be friends!

Well, this is my first entry. My plan is to treat this sort of like a diary. Perhaps at the end, I will have a book that will be published and enable me to quit my day job, but I digress. Now about my day job.... My life revolves around work and being successful. I am a tax attorney. No child grows up and says they want to be a tax lawyer. It's terrible. I chose it because I was good at it and no one else was. Tax law found me. Don't get me wrong, my work is constantly changing based on the political climate. It's challenging work, and I have grown to love it. I was always a compliant child. A perfectionist. I was the child who never left her mother's side. I was the child who would sit still and on an adult's lap as a 2 year old in a restaurant. I later learned that this compliance was actual social anxiety. I was born with a hearing imparement that was not discovered until I was 7 years old. I knew that I had to pay close attention to everything being said to me in order to properly follow instructions. I wanted to be perfect. In fact, I would quit something if I wasn't the best at it straight away. This is why I, regretfully, never played sports, and I was too short and chubby to be a ballerina. So, I found myself at the piano and in the library. I do not regret or dismiss my musical training or academic successes. Nevertheless, I believe they may have furthered my social anxiety and sedentary life style. This goal of perfection followed me to high school. I was popular and smart. I was the president of my class, but I felt as though every one hated me. The thing is, as I look back on it now, I was popular for the right reasons. I was nice to every one, and I was always willing to work hard for the success of the class or the group. I wanted to be popular for the "wrong" reasons. So, I didn't see my own wonderful friendships or the fact that people liked me. I wanted to be pretty and sexy and alluring. At a size 16, I certainly wasn't. Always a flair for the dramatic, and wanting to further my musical education, I left and went to a Math, Science, and Arts school at 16 years old. It was the first time I was away from my sheltered life, and I was determined to start a new one. I decided that the first step in creating a new life for myself involved losing weight. I went from a size 16 to a size 6 in one semester. No one figured out how I did it. They thought it was just "small changes." I was dieting and exercising. In reality, I stopped eating, completely. I refused to set foot in the cafeteria. I would have juice or grapes every now and again, but I wouldn't eat. The hunger pains were a small price to pay for beauty. When I went home on the weekends, I ate normally, so my family wouldn't notice. With my new body came confidence and sex appeal. I felt as though I could take on the world! Eventually, I began eating again. Some of the weight came back, but I was able to stay between a size 6 and a size 14 throughout college and then law school. I could never eat what my friends ate. They always thought I was starving myself. They didn't know what starving was. I dated emotional abusers, and sex is the great equalizer. I used sex appeal for power and to get ahead. Toward the end of law school, I wasn't as pretty anymore. I was a 12-14, and my current boyfriend looked at me and told me that he wasn't happy with the way my body had changed. I later found out that he was cheating on me and using me to finance his fun. I felt powerless, and I decided to focus on myself. I got a trainer and a dietician. I dropped weight again, and vowed not to date for a while. It was time to focus on me and my life. When I began working, I met and fell in love with my now-husband. We were comfortable. Life was easy, but we worked so hard. Our lives revolved around our careers. We came home and couldn't bear to cook. So, we ate out. I began to eat more and more on my plate until I finished it each time. The more I ate, the more I gained until 2009 when I realized that I was over 200 lbs. I was engaged and could NOT be a 200 lb bride. I started working out and eating right, again. However, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and I felt like my world had shattered beneath me. I ate to console myself. My mother subsequently recovered, but my waistline did not. Fast forward 3 years, 3 jobs, a beautiful wedding, and a beautiful home later, I was 270 lbs, and could not walk without becoming out of breath. My husband was over 300 lbs. We wanted a baby, but I was not about to have my child live in this body. Something had to be done, first. My whole body hurt - all of the time. We went to a bariatric seminar just to see what it was about. I originally wanted the lap band, but after working with a dietician for a year and researching, I decided on the sleeve. I was only able to lost 20lbs during the pre-op diet and doctor monitored plan. My actions as a 16 year old girl had come back to haunt me. I could no longer lose weight, easily. My metabolism was broken. I needed more help than a trainer or dietician could provide. On August 10, 2012, I had a Gastric Sleeve surgery. I lost 12 lbs in the first week. I feel empowered again. Everything else is in place. My career is great, my marriage is great, and I have wonderful friends and family. However, I still fear what will happen after the weight is gone? Will it be the final piece of the puzzle that will make my life complete, or will I just find something else to make me unhappy? Is it possible for me to really have everything and truly be happy? Is that even fair? This is a journey to find what I need and want in life. This is a journey to find true happiness. This is a journey to find myself.

I just had my surgery with Dr. Richardson at Ochsner 1 week ago today! I have to say that we have something in common. We live in a food and drink city. Fun is food and food is fun. I am concerned about how hard it will be to eat out with friends. I believe there is a Northshore group and a Louisiana group. There's probably a NOLA group on here, somewhere! Good luck! The pre-op diet was worse for me than the recovery. Also, I gained weight before the pre-op diet eating at all my favorite places: Ruth's Chris, Murials, Mr. B's, Superior Grill...the list goes on and on

I am not sure if this applies to any of you, but the first night that I tried to sleep without any pain medication after surgery was a little bit rough. I wasn't in any real pain, but I wasn't knocked out and I could feel the places where the trocars were. It itched and was just a little bit uncomfortable - not enough for narcotics, though. My mind was also racing. I'm not sure if it will go away. I've only had two days so far where I didn't take anything for pain before bed. I was sleeved 1 week ago, today.

I'm so excited that you asked. I'm happy to share my new friend. This is an "Intak" Water bottle here's the link http://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Nissan-Intak-Hydration-Bottle/dp/B001EGGQB6. I like it for a few reasons: 1. It's 24 oz 2. It allows you to sip and not suck and get air in your tummy 3. It actually has a counter on the side so that you can track how many bottles you drank in the day 4. It comes in pink :-) I hope this helps anyone who is looking for a bottle!

I agree, completely. Also, Starbucks has an app where you can build your own drink and it will give you all of the nutrition info. I knew I could have the sugar free coffee syrups, soy milk, and decaf coffee. So, I put it together.

OMG Tracy, I feel the SAME way! I'm scared to go back to our favorite places and feel like I have to explain everything. Especially since my DH and I used to spend way too much money for two people at a Mexican restaurant on a Friday night. Yup - huge entrees and a pitcher of super top shelf margaritas with Don Julio Tequila. We haven't been in over a month. Our poor waiter probably can't pay his light bill without our tip on Friday nights. LOL.

I am not on the puree stage yet, but I've been thinking of recipies that I can make. I'm a mixer, so I'm excited about purees. One thing I want to make is a sweet potato mash with sweet potatos, greek yogurt, cheese, and some pureed chicken all mixed together (I like my sweet potatoes savory - don't diss it 'til you tried it ). I also want to make a hummus mixture using pureed chicken as well as a fat free refried bean mixture with the beans, avocado, greek yogurt, salsa, and cheese. I figure mixing the pureed chicken and maybe even some unflavored protein powder with things like beans will be tasty and will take my mind off the fact that I am eating mushy meat ( because it's mixed with something that is SUPPOSED to be mushy). I hope this helps and that no one thinks it sounds gross. Every doc is different, though and allows different food items like carbs and veggies at different stages.

This is fabulous. I shouldn't share too much but neither my husband nor I have wanted to do anything like that recently. We love each other very much. We cuddle and kiss and show so much affection, but THAT takes a lot out of two big people who work all the time. I was sleeved on 8/10, and he is eating what I eat. He's not doing the shakes and liquids, but he consumes the same calories and the same grams of protein. He's lost 10lbs since I started the pre-op diet two weeks ago. Reading this made me feel good not because of the sex but because it solidified what I already knew - sex is hard work, and can be embarassing for a bigger guy. It's not just me. It's both of us. Now he says he wants to be as sexy for me as I will be for him. We've become closer. So, the sleeve can do as much good for healthy relationships as it can tear apart the unhealthy ones.

I would normally do this on facebook, but since I am not sharing my procedure with my facebook world, I thought this might be the best venue. So many people post about not having a support system. I feel that it's time to give thanks for those people in our lives who are supporting us beyond our wildest expectations. I am on the miserable pre-op liquid diet. My husband (who also needs to lose weight, but whose BMI is too low to qualify for surgery), will only eat canned chicken in front of me (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). This canned chicken smells so bad that the cat thinks it's cat food. He has cut out all alcohol, soft drinks, and coffee as well. We are both hungry, but his theory is that if I have to be miserable, then he will be miserable with me. His plan is to eat what I eat and do what I have to do. It will be in bigger portions, of course, and it will not be pureed. However, I don't know how I would do this if I had to cook a separate meal for him or if I had to watch while he ate any of my favorite foods in front of me right now. On top of all of this, I have been PMSing for the past week that I've been on this diet. So, you can imagine how unbelievably horrible I have been to every one around me. No food and PMS = a mean mean girl! To all of you who are not blessed to have such wonderful support, I feel for you. Find true friends and I hope you find comfort on this site. To all of us who have support, let's not let them ever forget how much we appreciate them.

I take the iced tea nasty Isopure and squeeze lemon in it with 2 Splenda. I fill my 16 oz cup with 8 oz of water and 8 oz of Isopure and keep making this fake iced tea concoction until I finish the bottle. It's not my favorite, but it's bearable.

I wish there was actual food in my pre-op diet! Then it would be easy to get in the right mindset. 600 calories per day and 80-120 grams of protein- All liquid Is kicking my behind. I'm starving. Vent all you want! I feel the pain. I can't wait to be sleeved and not be famished. If I could do this diet for any length of time, I wouldn't be such a chub chub.

I was worried about the same thing. I almost didn't Want to have the surgery becuse of the lifestyle change. I live in New Orleans. Food and alcohol are everything! We talked it out and by the time it came to schedule surgery, he was ready for the lifestyle change. I hope we both become active together. I also hope that eventually, we will be able to eat chargrilled oysters and bread pudding- even if it's just a small taste!

That's strange. I have Cigna and I'm scheduled for 8/10. I jumped through all the hoops first, then submitted everything. They came back and wanted another doctor's letter. So, I submitted it. Then they lost my application (which is a whole other story) . However, the request was subsequently approved in 30 days. My doctor's office coordinator was able to get more info than I was. I think it might be better to go through them than calling yourself.

I am with you guys. Im on day 4 and it's getting to the point where i would rather stay hungry than Drink another sicky sweet protein shake. Ugh! I've been doing the broth thing and mixing the Isopure iced tea with water and lemon to make it bearable. I drink my weight in decaf herbal Hot tea and water. I also stuck a protein shake in my ice cream maker once which was interesting and not half bad.

You DO look fabulous! I'm not as excited to be thin as I am to just not be morbidly obese anymore. I am ready to be able to climb stairs, etc. I will be sleeves August 10th and before and after or "almost halfway" pics keep me motivated on this liquid diet. So, keep them coming!

Does anyone know why, exactly, they do not allow drinking from straws after surgery? Is it just a comfort thing? Or, is there a risk of the pouch stretching? I am dealing with the pre-surgery diet right now and I can't stand the smell of the protein shakes anymore. I don't really like sweet things. So, it's torture because there are no savery protein shakes! The straw is the only way to get it down! Thanks in advance!

My scale is actually going up! It's so frustrating, and I think Im weighing myself too much. Also, I'm drinking a LOT of water (like 120 oz). So, I think there's a fluid issue. Hopefully I will lose over these two weeks like you guys did. I guess we'll see just how screwed up my metabolism is!

Here I was feeling sorry for myself that my doc prescribed a 14 day liquid diet - 600 calories 80-120 grams of protein. No sugar, no carbs. I can drink sugar free clear liquids, skim milk, and broth. I am on day 3 and days 1 and 2 have been terrible. I can't imagine doing this for an entire month. You guys are so strong. As for cheating. I think that it's important to keep our eye on the prize. I also don't see how anyone can expect a morbidly obese person to stick to such a strict diet without any other tools for managing the hunger. When I'm at work, it's ok. However, the weekend has been so hard. I am doing my best. I did cheat last night and I ate a pickle spear. It was heavenly. It's sad that I think a small pickle spear is cheating, now! Perhaps all of this is good for me after all. My frame of reference is changing.