VSG AJH

As a word of caution: I tried habanero hot sauce on my soft foods last week, so a little over three weeks out. It felt okay hitting my baby sleeve, but it immediately went through me, and wasn't at all pleasant making it's exit. Im waiting a few more weeks to try again (5 weeks out tomorrow.). That said: Be careful with the hot sauce!

I make Buffalo Chicken Dip for parties. Here's a link to a recipe. (http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/68461/buffalo-chicken-dip) I would suggest using lower fat or fat-free cheeses (not sure if fat-free cream cheese melts), and I would choose a lower calorie ranch or make the ranch dressing myself with fat-free sour cream and dry Ranch powder. This is a very cheesy dip, so perhaps you could modify and use these ingredients/flavors just to season your chicken instead of truly making it like a dip.

I was on full liquids the day after surgery, and I particularly enjoyed mixing my unflavored protein into creamy boxes soups like Pacific Organic Cashew Carrot Ginger or Curried Lentil. Very smooth consistency, and the savory taste was so wonderful in contrast with all the sweet. I also mixed my unflavored protein into water with a zero-calorie drink mix like Crystal Lite.

Had surgery at lunchtime one day, ready to go be discharged before lunchtime the next day.

Great, great list! Thank you!!

Holy cow, man -- you look GREaT!! Thanks so much for popping in with an update!

There's no way I could give myself a shot! I also pay $15 for my monthly B12, and the pharmacist at Kroger gives it to me lickety split!

To simplify things, I've been using a couple of Paleo cookbooks (Paleo Comfort Foods and Paleo Slow Cooking), as well as making recipes from Paleo blogs and Pinterest pins, to feed myself and my family. I'm still on soft foods, so we're eating lots of crockpot dishes and soups, which hasn't been bad during this surprisingly chilly Texas winter. I'm not all crazy Paleo, but these recipes eliminate the flour/rice/noodles/ etc. I can't have, but work out the flavor profiles for me so I'm not winging it at the end of a busy day.

That would be a trick, now wouldn't it? Next time...

My splurge: Jello sugar free Dulce de Leche pudding cup. After my liquid diet, I swore I'd never have another pudding cup again, but then I found these. They taste like flan, and they're so yummy, I bought four more packages today (not all for me, mind you, but when I have one, my kids want me to share, and I have six kids). Anyway, so, so good!!

Holy crap, LL!! You look amazing!

There's a food a recipe section here on Bariatric Pal. You can start looking and dreaming now.

Love the video! Your smile seems to get bigger and bigger with the passing months. Great work!!

My doctor said the same thing. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for me. I've been aiming to stay at the 800-900 daily calorie range, limiting myself to four opportunities a day to take in food (one instruction my NUT did provide) and no more than 1/2c. per opportunity (often times less). I'm one month out, and I feel hunger at regular intervals. I also have no pain or adverse effects when eating (I.e. throwing up, dumping, etc.) I'm afraid if I let my baby sleeve totally run the show, I'll end up grazing, developing bad habits, and not losing. Following these guidelines, I'm in control, I'm hitting all of my water and nutrition goals, and I'm losing (haven't hit the three-week-stall quite yet!). More importantly, I feel physically satisfied and truly am getting enough food (but not too much) to keep my sleeve happy and healthy.

Great advice! Thanks for sharing!! The courtesy eating and the timing of eating are still big ones for me. At one month out, I'm still only on soft foods, but already, I can see these are things I haven't overcome in my weeks of pre-op dieting and liquids. I still have a long, long way to go re: my learned behaviors. Congrats to you on getting to goal so quickly! Enjoy your success!!!

I'm a 37-year-old mom of six kids. I had my surgery on a Tuesday, and was back home Wednesday running the show. I had a little soreness for the first three or four days, but no severe pain, no gas pain, and no loss of functionality. To comply with my doctor's lifting restrictions, I didn't lift my 6-month old (25 pounder) for almost the first two weeks post-op, but at that two-week mark, I had to be back to 100%. Because it works with my lifestyle, I walk for exercise, do push-ups, and exercise with resistance bands at home. Other than my not sharing meals with my family during the pre-op and post-op liquid phases, this whole process and procedure has been minimally disruptive to our big family life.

I absolutely felt like this. This specific pain seemed to get worse with the passage of time. I asked my surgeon about it, and he pointed out two things: (1) in my case, the largest incision is where my stomach was removed, so there was lots of pulling/tugging there, leading to muscle soreness, and (2) that largest incision was the only place they put a through-and-through intramuscular stitch. He said when the stitch dissolved, the pain would go away, and sure enough, he was right! Right around the third week, no more incision pain or tenderness.

Thanks for the stats. I couldn't remember the exact numbers, only that she looks awesome!

Alright, logging into my first challenge. I weighed 225.5 this morning (one month post-op today, and based on the advice of other experienced members, I'd like to shoot for a 2-3 pound weight loss per week. I hope that's not too ambitious considering I haven't yet had my first stall, but six weeks is a long time, so hopefully it will all pan out. That said, my end goal for Valentines day is 15.5 pounds down, so 210 pounds. Ack!! So nervous!

I don't know what your weights are, but our pre- and post-op losses are similar. I'm down a few sizes in clothes, but I'm still not getting any weight-specific compliments. I've gotten compliments on my hair, compliments on my jacket, compliments on my (not new) glasses, etc. It's like people can't figure out what's different about me! That's actually totally fine with me. I wasn't forthcoming with my surgery plans, and want to keep it under wraps for as long as possible.

I'm not a vegan, but I've been using some vegan protein powder because it was non-GMO and tasted yummy. It's called Sunwarrior (in vanilla), and I picked it up at Sprouts.

Wow. So good.

Have you watched LessofSarah on YouTube? Similar starting stats -- in fact, I think she was higher to begin with -- and she's lost a whole bunch with the sleeve. She looks amazing!

Urine only 2x per day? You may want to check in with your doc to make sure you're not dehydrated.

I love all the pictures! You look so sassy in your boots!! Way to go!