softwsolu1

I think this is very different per person and habits - for instance I'm 4 weeks post and get between 900-1200 calories a day. I just saw my surgeon today and he was fine with this (although what my NUT will say tomorrow is another issue)... For me, it was because I did better eating a smaller meal every 2-3 hours than the normal 3 meals + 1 snack that my NUT suggested - however on very long days this meant lots of calories. So the point is, don't feel like if you are eating 600 or 700 you are overeating. Talk to your doctor and nutritionist, if they're happy you are fine.

I think the reason for a low-carb diet focus is to ensure that you get the appropriate amount of Protein in. The idea is to fill up on protein, then add the other stuff later. My own doctors did not steer me toward a low-carb diet, but rather toward a balanced diet that stressed protein intake and eating healthy whole grains for carbohydrates. In my experience even with low-carb dieting, the trick is to be low carb and not no carb. I've had a lot of luck making substitutions where they don't hurt, but in fact help flavor for me - for instance, I'll almost always opt for brown rice over white, long grain over short, whole wheat toast over white. These are flavor preferences for me that happen to also be healthy choices. As long as you eat healthy and keep your calories down, you should lose weight via portion control on the sleeve. In the end, with any diet - surgery assisted or not - is down to calorie consumption.

Myfitnesspal is awesome, seems to have most foods I can think of (even really rare stuff, like Costco-only brands) and as @SeriouslyChange said, will scan barcodes. It also integrates with the Bodymedia Fit, which I use to monitor my activity level.

It's in the bottle, ready to drink, like Iced tea. This has a pretty good picture: http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Best-Isopure-Ready-Drink/dp/B002TG3QLS They have 5-6 different flavors and they can be very strong - I watered mine down a little bit. But they contain a TON of Protein.

Ginger ale, unless it's flat, is a no-no - the carbonation will fill you up with gas, which for most people is a real problem. Have you discussed with your doctor? There are anti-nausea meds they can give you to help.

Clear Isopure - not the powder, but the pre-mixed drinks. I know you can get them at GNC, probably at lots of other retailers as well. Their flavor is very strong/artificial but you can drink them on clear liquid phase and they contain a *lot* of protein.

Don't overestimate its awesomeness - I work from home, and while it's great from the "yay, I don't have to wake up until 15 minutes before work" perspective, it's very bad for those of us who are mostly sedentary to begin with. When I'm in the office colleagues walk to lunch with me, I have to take a lot of steps just to get to the bathroom, I'm always rushing to meetings. At home I sit at my workstation or on my couch and get up to drink and prepare meals. It's a constant effort to remind myself to get up and exercise. Not saying there aren't awesome things about it, but they do come at a price.

twoolley, It didn't. It's been said already...the thread is days old. Let it die.

What a great post - thank you!

I find some stuff irritates my sleeve, but it's not dangerous - it just doesn't make me feel good. (I'm at 4 weeks post). I would watch out for sodium intake though - especially during the first few weeks of the diet when we *can* eat we fall back on what comfort foods and prepared stuff we can. The result for me is that my sodium intake has been way above normal. I'm compensating for this and it's largely a function of laziness on my part ("wow! I can have that canned soup!" instead of cooking some myself) as well as some rejoicing at getting old favorites back.

It's awesome and having it at the same time as the pizza is a great idea. My wife got pizza the night before and I was waving the smell over to me just to enjoy the garlic The ricotta fixed that. Forgot to mention, aside from chili - Panera's tomato soup! Some people blend in the croutons, I didn't - that was quite a treat. Some folks love hummus - I found the gas it generated intolerable.

I had a tough time with the fluids at first, really until I was on the full liquid diet. But I did get everything in - I had a timer go off every 15 minutes (boy was THAT fun) to remind me to sip, because I just couldn't remember. That helped a lot - an sip or two every 15 minutes got me up to my required count.

Shelly's Baked Ricotta got me through purees: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html I really had to go easy on the mozzarella cheese, but it was SO delicious and "normal" tasting. Mushies are, as you say, much easier.

Myfitnesspal, as suggested, is excellent. I also used 8 oz bottles of water to start. I'm not a huge fan of bottled water, but it helped me keep track when I was delirious for the first week or so, as I could just count the number of empty bottles when I was feeling lucid.

I measure volume. Your stomach's ability to handle volume was restricted, not the heaviness of the food. That said Fluid and dry oz measure up pretty closely for most foods in small quantities, so it's not that big of a deal. That said, I just use a measuring cup to portion out my food. You can also look up the equivalents (tbsp to fluid oz, for instance).

Can we let susan and want2live's words be the last on this thread? I think we're now repeating the same arguments. It's a valid discussion (is the sleeve enough?) but it's not the original point of the thread and it's becoming personal and nasty.

Congrats! Looking forward to trying some myself.

Lilac, Imagine your gastrointestinal system as a tube. food enters through the esophagus, travels down into the stomach (which in addition to the tube section, has a pouch off to the side for holding surplus food), and enters into the intestines at after that. The VSG removes the pouch section but leaves the tube section alone. Food now travels directly down the tube and does not have a pouch off to the side to slide into any more. Hence "vertical" sleeve - the cut is made lengthwise. I think it's probably also to help distinguish from the fact that the GI tract has not been disconnected and reconnected - the tract itself remains intact, it's just the excess stretchy stomach tissue that has been cut away.

First off you are correct, water > protein. But protein is still very important in the medium term, because your body will attempt to consume protein before fat, and if you don't have an external protein source, the next best available one is your muscle tissue - including your heart. For the first few weeks worry more about water, but eventually protein does count. If you are still on Clear liquids, take a look at Isopure. It seems to drive some people up the wall because it's got a strong artificial sweetener flavor to it, but if you don't mind that taste (diet drinks, etc), the clear Isopure is an absolute salvation. I generally kept an 8 oz glass of water and an 8 oz glass of Isopure by my bed for the first 2 weeks and alternately sipped out of both.

I have had unusually bad problems with GERD post-surgery. Please note that I'm still happy that I did the sleeve, however. I was always a GERD patient, but 2x Prilosec a day would take care of it for me. However post-sleeve the acid become intolerable, and I was vomiting stomach acid repeatedly 3-4 days after coming home. I can't say this has totally resolved for me, but it's calmed down to a level that for now is manageable, particularly when I got past the liquid phase of the diet and could get some food in my stomach to absorb the acid. Since getting sleeved my GP has informed me that stomach acid is the single most common reason for people getting the sleeve revised. Things that helped: * When I got to full liquids, I added low-sodium V8 to my liquids list. For some reason this helped to quiet down my stomach a bit, which led to my belief that I might have been suffering from low acid instead of high. I'm still puzzled about this; if you do some Google searching you will find that they have quite similar symptoms. Part of me thinks the increased acidity of the V8 just helped activate the Prilosec. * An old household remedy - a shot of apple cider vinegar right before bed, followed by a teaspoon of honey to soothe the flavor a bit. Please note there is, so far as I know, absolutely no scientific evidence that this does anything at all. But I started doing it the day I started feeling better, and superstition or not, I feel not desire to wake up choking again, so I keep doing it. * Once I got to mushies, eat every 2 hours. This means my calorie intake is higher than most peoples' around here (I get about 1500 calories a day), but given my weight this actually still allows for great weight loss - in 4 weeks I have lost 41 lbs. Eating small amounts regularly - which is not what's recommended by many nutritionists - has helped keep my stomach calm. My doctor promises that, as the inflammation goes down and time passes, my stomach will reduce its production of acid and this will get better. I remain hopeful. But as I said at the outset, even with the acid, I'm glad I did this. Don't disregard it as a factor though - it's a real issue that impacts many sleevers and could cause you to need a revision, so it's something you should discuss with your doctors.

I've gone with Celebrate brand. My GP also gave me Isotonix liquid - both seem to be great. Since the Isotonix is slightly fizzy, I stuck with the Celebrate - they're chewables but quite tasty. One thing to beware with the gummies: they very frequently don't have Vitamin B1.

Please don't retreat over one person's response - the forum is way too friendly and useful for that. Hang in there...

Honestly, I would call the doc. I felt really badly about doing this at first - my surgery was right before Thanksgiving and I woke up with real acid/pain problems on Thanksgiving morning at 5 am. My wife insisted that we call the doc, she did, and not only was he gracious and helpful, he called back repeatedly throughout the day to monitor my progress. Maybe I'm a baby about it but I'd just rather be safe than sorry.

When you say sharp pains - are they out of nowhere? Do they come when you move around or just happen on their own? If they're happening on their own you should probably call your doc.

It turns out I can GULP now, which I was terrified I'd never be able to do again. Not everyone can and beware swallowing air! But some people can tolerate larger quantities of water. My sense is you'd know if it was hurting you - the pain in your chest when you overdo it on this diet is pretty noticeable.