TheGamer

Try hot chocolate, if you're a chocolate person. This is what I would do. I would get two packets of sugar free cocoa and two scoops unflavored powder (Nectar). I would put a little water in a blender (enough to cover the tines, maybe 1/4c?) and dump the powders in and make kind of a syrup base that I would then add hot water to, about 10 oz or so (I like strong chocolate ). For my first month or so, it was my major protein source and my go-to Breakfast drink.

I actually stood up to my PCP at one point. Every time I'd go in, he'd remark about the weight, suggest diet, exercise, Weight Watchers, you name it. I told him that I'd tried it all and if that had worked, I wouldn't be fat. I told him that until *I* brought it up, my weight wasn't there for discussion. I started my WLS work without ever involving him, only getting him involved when the paperwork required it. I made an appointment, took it in, and made it perfectly clear that this was my chosen route and I expected him to sign off on it. Now, several months later, he's actually learning about the procedure and I sense that, at least in my case, he's understanding that his advice isn't right for everyone. Last time I went in I was only down 40 (it's almost 80 now!) and he actually hugged me and said he was proud. If you don't have a PCP that's understanding or at least willing to get in line with what you want, find a new one.

Just remember if you're going to add protein (unflavored or not) to anything hot, that the temperature isn't above 120-140 because otherwise the protein gets *NASTY*.

As soon as I was off pain meds, I was cleared to drive. A suggestion, get a small pillow to put between the seatbelt and your stomach. It really irritated me the first few driving days.

To help with the kitchen issue at work, keep a supply of sleeve-friendly treats around. I keep cocoa roasted almonds in 100 calorie packs in my desk and when I just want something to munch on, I eat 5-10 of them. It gets me away from the temptation and gives me something to eat that's relatively healthy.

I took two weeks, mostly to allow myself time to heal and to adjust to the new way of doing things. Week two was where I really started to feel more like myself and was able to plan out how I wanted to tackle going back to work, which I don't think I could have done my first week.

I still enjoy the food porn, personally. While I'm not eating it, I can still enjoy it mentally. I have a lifetime of knowing what all those things taste like, and surgery didn't make me hate food. I find that I now get a lot of enjoyment out of how something smells, even if I have no plan to eat it (*cough* CHOCOLATE). If it's a trigger, then yeah, it's good to steer away. But post op, I find that because my diet is so relatively bland (turkey, chicken, fish, veggie, dairy) I enjoy the idea of these things that I won't eat. I still enjoy a well constructed and presented meal.

I don't think 4-5 sips of a drink are enough to cause that, but that's just my guess. It hasn't had the time to move through your digestive system, if that makes any sense. Perhaps your body is taking it as a signal that you're finally eating more so that it better make some room? I'm not really a digestive system expert, though.

One day of high(er) carbs is not going to cause you to gain that kind of weight, especially if you're still eating under your body's required caloric need. Body weight is a Fluid thing, and I know from personal experience it's nothing to see it jump two or three pounds in one day. If you're weighing yourself daily (I do, it's a bad habit, but it's MY bad habit) then look for patterns. I know that my weight loss pattern tends to be lose-lose-gain, where I'll lose a couple days in a row and then either gain a pound or two or lose nothing, then back to losing a day or so later. I no longer freak out when the scale goes up two or three pounds because I'm used to seeing it. I know a lot of people are on super restrictive "20g carbs daily" stuff, but my surgeon's guidelines are no more than 100g carbs a day, 20g per "meal". In fact, I've had better weight loss this week when eating a bit more, including some carb containing vegetables (I've been on a Brussels sprouts kick, among other things ) and dairy heavy (NSA tapioca pudding and 2% cottage cheese every day) diet.

I'm mostly just replacing my pants a pair at a time. I'm allowing myself to get one pair of work pants or one pair of jeans for every size I go down. The shirts I have are big, but big shirts aren't as much of a problem as big pants are. I find that with a decent belt, I can get extended wear, even if they do look a bit off.

Get a nice body length or king size pillow when you do go back to side sleeping. Put it under the stomach so you get some support. Helps a LOT.

Depends on how your skin behaves. For a lot of us, it's not really going to be a picture perfect flat stomach, not that it ever was . Too much abuse for that. They usually say wait two years after your weight has stabilized before considering any plastics so that your skin will go back as much as it's going to.

There were a few people I told as soon as I started trying to get approval. Those were select and far between. Once I got the approval, I told more people. Then, when getting ready to go on leave for surgery, I told more people. Just tell who you want, if you want.

Yeah, make sure that you're really working with your doctor to make sure that your nutritional needs are being met. It's not about an infant having a "smaller stomach"... it's about making sure that the mother has enough nutrition to make sure that the fetus develops properly. Deficiencies are a real concern, so please make sure that you're getting adequate nutrition by working with both your obstetrician, PCP, and surgeon's office.

Yup, I went from drinking nothing but water and tea to drinking nothing but flavored waters and tea.

Depends on the person. Mine was about 2 weeks. I gained 2 pounds, but went down a size anyway

If you're experiencing discomfort, food coming back up, sliming (an excess of saliva, you'll know it when it happens), or vomiting, you're overdoing it. Keep to small portions (usually 2oz) when you eat and you should be fine. Just (and this is the hard part, at least for me!) listen to what your body says and not how good the food tastes

food is addicting. I mean that in the most literal sense. We are, for lack of better explanation, hard wired to want things that are bad for us. Especially people in our situation. Nobody gets to close to 400 pounds (I weighted 383 at my worst) eating healthy, reasonable portions. We evolved when sugar and fat were scarce things, not something that you can find in spades in every aisle in every market and corner store. While your average person can have one thing and step away, we can't. It's a terrible addiction to have, because food is unavoidable if we want to live. I can't have "just one". I can't have any food around me like that because if it's there, I will eat it. I'm not that strong to sit there and look at it and not have it be the only thing on my mind until I fail. I realize it may be difficult to do since you live with another person, but if it's possible, get everything out of the house that's high sugar, high fat, and high carb. If there is something and getting rid of it isn't possible, lock it up and give the key to someone else. Nobody would expect an alcoholic to sit around in a bar all day, but there's such a stigma around being fat and around being addicted to food that it's hard to get anyone to take it seriously.

Yeah, more than anything the tricky part about traveling is about being able to stick to the diet while away from useful things like your own food Physically though, a couple months out is good. I know all my issues were settled by then.

A couple things stood out to me in your post. First was that I don't think I could ever eat as much as what was on that dinner plan. Nine ounces of food at a time that soon post surgery is a LOT of food. Especially so many vegetables. It just seems like a lot to me. Second, and this is the hard part to discuss, is that I see a lot of self sabotage in your diet. Yes, the sleeve is there to help us lose weight, but we are still responsible for making a choice. A large mocha frappe is nearly 700 calories. For a lot of us, especially recently sleeved, that's a full day's worth of calories right there. It's a slider food, one that's not going to stress your sleeve, but isn't going to do you any good. You know you're not making the right choices, but as many of us can sympathize with, if it were that easy to do, we would have done it without resorting to something like getting sleeved. If you have access to a psychologist that is familiar with eating disorders, I would encourage you to see them because while a board like this is good, it's no substitute for real help. I know I had to undergo a psych eval before getting sleeved, and if you had to as well, perhaps that individual is available for post surgery appointments, too. You need to get at, and deal with, the reasons you're still working against your own best interests. You'll find a lot of great support here, but I'm not telling you anything you don't know by saying we can't do it for you. We will, though, be here to be a place to get support as you make the journey.

When I had that my doctor told me it was basically deep muscle strain combined with the internal stitching. Basically as long as you don't meet the other criteria for something more serious (like infection) it *should* go away on its own in a day or so. I took some of my remaining pain meds and took a nap to get rid of mine.

My secret weapon was 2 scoops of unflavored protein powder (Nectar) mixed with 2 packets of sugar free hot cocoa. For about 100 calories I got in 20g of protein and 12 oz of liquid. Just make sure that the water isn't boiling hot or it'll make it tres nasty.

I can usually find it at Meijers. I pretty much lived on that stuff pretty early on. It was one of the only forms of protein that didn't make me sick. Now that they fixed my esophagus I'm eating more "real" protein, but I loved eating the turkey jerky.

I think everyone's second guessed going through with surgery. It's pretty normal when you consider that we're voluntarily removing 85% of our stomach. I'd say that anyone who doesn't give it a second, or third, or more thought probably hasn't thought about it enough.

Before I went back to work, I got a ton of the extra small ziploc containers and pre-portioned out *everything*. The night before I go to work I figure out what I want to eat and portion it out so that all I had to do in the morning was grab the containers and go. Even now I still have a pre-mixed shake (GNC's Total Lean) for breakfast (I'm not a breakfast person) and just take lunch/snacks out of the fridge. I love the Breakstone pre-portioned cottage cheese as a snack.