SerendipityHappens

It all depends. I make my own salad dressings and use REAL olive oil or REAL homemade MAYO.. but then I cut it with avocado or salsa or something else so overall there's a lot of dressing.. but less fat than dressings made the traditional way. I use full fat cheese. I EAT THE chicken SKIN.. (but only my OWN chicken skin off of my ONE chicken leg) I use half and half in my coffee.. 2T every morning. For cottage cheese I use 1% because that's the kind I like the best. I make my own yogurt and I like it with whole milk the best. I like a lot of fat in my diet and I account for it in my calories. It's REALLY easy to go crazy with too many calories if you're doing full-fat everything so just be careful how many calories you're getting

For me I could introduce citrus and pineapple week 7... Citrus and seeds were the LAST things I was allowed.. I was allowed a big hunk of beef before I was allowed citrus!

FANTASTIC work!

I have a larger than typical sleeve. Not because of any decision made by my doctor but because I have a rather long stomach for someone of my height. The doctors can control how tight they make your sleeve but ain't nuttin' they can do about the length! The doctor used a 32 Fr bougie and it is "tight" but because it's longer than average, I can hold a greater volume of food. Also if someone has very bad Gerd, the doc may choose to do a larger sleeve in order to help control acid reflux. Other doctors like to make the sleeves slightly larger because it reduces the chance of strictures.

Sometimes but nitrates kind of freak me out.. I want to get a dehydrator so I can make my own nitrate-free jerky..

I was hypothyroid and have been taken off my synthroid now. Weird because I was told I would be on it for the rest of my life... Just to be clear though, my hypo was NEVER due to any disease or malfunction of the actual thyroid gland, it had to do with how my body USED the hormone. It was like no matter how much my thyroid made, my body would scream for MORE because it couldn't use it properly. Now that I'm off WHEAT, my body is no longer suffering inflammation and is better able to use the hormone that my body makes. Being able to get off of thyroid medication is really rare, I don't want to give people the impression that getting sleeved or giving up wheat will heal their thyroid.

I can do aspartame in small amounts but anything more than the equivalent to 3 glasses of crystal light in a day and it gives me the worst headache ever. I still use aspartame in small quantities, but I'm careful. Sucralose or saccharine don't cause headaches for me just the aspartame.

I wasn't much of a spicy food person preop, but a week after surgery I was putting Frank's in my chicken broth! I eat spicy all the time and it feels great on my sleeve.

Of course certain threads would be in appropriate in certain sections.. for example, A post about choosing a doctor for a Tummy Tuck, would not make sense to be posted in the Exercise section... But a Ramadan thread in the food and nutrition makes perfect sense, as do all the "how will I make it through Christmas" threads that will appear in this section five months from now. Now for in depth religious discussion I agree they should be in a religious section, but simply a mention of a holiday does not mean that the thread needs to be relegated to the religious section.

7 weeks.. it was delicious and well tolerated.

I woke up on my stomach while I was in the hotel in Mexico following my surgery. Stomach was more comfortable than sleeping on one of my sides... can't remember which, but I could sleep on one side comfortably but the other side was NOT NICE AT ALL... Stomach didn't seem to be much of an issue though.. I mean I didn't PLAN to sleep on my stomach it just sort of happened.

So am I the only crazy one who dove into a bag of beef jerky a soon as I was given the "all clear" at six weeks and had steak in week 7? Sleeve of steel I tell you.. Sleeve of STEEL!

During my month long stall which started at 3 weeks I gained a couple pounds.. It's physically impossible to gain five pounds of FAT on 600 calories a day.. it was strictly water weight but still frustrating!

I take a multi without iron and I take it at the same time as my calcium citrate/d3 I divide into three doses starting in the morning and ending at dinner time. I take iron before bed.

flounder is a great low carb source of potassium for three ounces it has 100 calories and 300 mg of potassium.. Also adding a 3 ounce shot of kale juice to your beverage adds 60 calories and 400 mg of potassium. One scoop of my protein powder has 390 mg of potassium and only one carb. Half of an avocado has 125 calories and 375 mg of potassium. 1/4 cup of cooked spinach is just 10 calories and 200 mg of potassium. It all adds up.

I'm with you.. I thoroughly enjoyed the three and a half months I spent doing my 800 calorie VLCD prior to surgery. We all have different vices and things we need to give up or severely restrict. For me, I drink diet soda on occasion since it is neither a problem for me nor is it forbidden on my plan, but I avoid cereal grains since they turn me into a crazy eating machine! I would love to get to the point where I can enjoy say, half of a corn tortilla with my meal but I'll work on that later.. for now it's off the menu and I'm FINE with that. I do want to learn moderation in all things, but for right now, I'm better off just eliminating certain things. It's not a punishment, it's an opportunity!

Now that my pannus is getting smaller and I can actually see what's going on down there, I'm hoping to lose a bit.. If it stays this size, I'll have them do a little lipo on it when I get my tummy tuck/pannus removal once I've lost enough weight.

Ramadan Kareem. This year may be a bit soon to fast. You could attempt it. I would wake up and drink a LOT of water while preparing the sahour meal... or drink a protein shake for your meal. Then at Iftar, maybe you could break the fast with water.. then wait 20 minutes before eating. Then continue your hydrating during the evening. and eat again just before you go to bed. If you find you can reach your protein goals and hydration goals doing it this way then you should be good to fast.. if you CAN'T reach your protein and hydration goals then you would be exempt from fasting this year since fasting would be detrimental to your health. .

Healthiernewme, I track my potassium.. I'm at around 3000 a day...Early out I was getting leg cramps so I started being more diligent. My bloodwork at 3 months came back fine and haven't had any more problems. I make a conscious effort to include potassium rich foods but it's still a challenge. If I'm really lacking I'll drink a Vitamin Water Zero Revive to get that 880 mg of potassium, for a while I was drinking one every day and it helped but now that I'm eating a bit more and not doing low carb I'm able to get more potassium from food.

I stalled for a month starting in week 3.

Excellent!!!!!! YAY for ONDERLAND!

I just ate a cold delicious juicy pear for my afternoon snack.. 96 calories and the exact right amount to satisfy. The old me would have needed to eat two pears and a couple ounces of brie, and half a dozen rice cakes to even feel like I've had a snack. I've always wanted to be able to have a single 100 calorie snack and feel 100% satisfied! It's like a dream come true! I just have to say how much I LOVE my sleeve! It just makes me feel so NORMAL!

For a Multivitamin I take Bariatric Advantage capsules. The dosage on the bottle says to take six of these small capsules a day, but they are made for RNY patients so I only take four since I'm a sleeve patient and we don't have malabsorption. I buy the 540 count bottle from Amazon.com for 43.00 and it lasts four months with the four capsule a day dosage For Calcium I take calcium+d3 "miniatures" from Puritain's pride item #33195 the bottle has 200 tablets and each tablet has 200 mg of calcium.. I take six per day divided into three doses. (these can be taken with the Bariatric Advantage Multi since it does not have Iron... if your multivitamin has iron then you should not take it with calcium) When puritain's pride has the buy one get two free sale, the calcium works out to costing around $5.00 a month for a six tablet a day dose.. This is the same stuff as citrical which costs three times as much. WARNING.. these are the Miniature version of the pill but they're not really that small.... they're just small compared to the REGULAR size which are absolute horse pills.. If you are not confident in your pill swallowing abilities.. then I'd look for a chewable wafer instead.. Bariatric advantage make chewable wafers which are much cheaper than their calcium candy chews. I took a b-12 sublingual 3x a week but my PCP told me I can stop that I take chelated iron: Ferrochel. It is very easy for the body to absorb. I do not take it every day. Only on days when I haven't had a lot of iron from my foods. What I'm doing must be working.. All of my Vitamin levels came back absolutely perfect at my 3 month visit except my B-12 which was too high.

At a weight that was still in the 270s....which is 120 pounds away from goal... and just three weeks after surgery, I stalled for a full month. Stalled for a MONTH... just THREE WEEKS out.... and with 120 pounds left to lose.

Thank you for posting! I enjoyed the entire six minutes and seventeen seconds. You sound amazing and you're looking fantastic as well