katierebecca83

Great ideas!! Thanks for the suggestions! I'll be sure to bring a cooler :-)

Ok so tomorrow I'm going to be in the car for about 8 hours. I was wondering what I could take with me to eat. I'm still on soft foods and I'm having a hard time thinking of things I could bring that don't have to be kept refrigerated or cooked that have some protein. I have not tried any protein bars yet because I haven't found any that are soft enough. I don't want to have to depend on eating out while on the road since the food can be so unhealthy. Any ideas are appreciated!

Thank you! Our stats are very similar so you give me a lot of hope!! :-) I'm 29, was 311 in January & in a tight 26 as well. I'm only a little over a week and a half out from surgery, I hope I'm doing as well as you at 5 months out!

Girl if I looked that good I'd be showing off pictures all the time!! You should really be proud! :-)

You look great!!!

Katierebecca83 I'm consistent lol

Beautiful! You're doing great!

Ok so this is a recipe I found online, including the notes. I have not tried it yet, so I have no idea if it's good. But I love mashed potatoes and thought they looked like they'd be worth a try! If anyone tries it, let me know how they turn out! :-) Ingredients 2 large potatoes, peeled and quartered 1/4 cup olive oil 5 cloves garlic, peeled 14 ounces tofu, extra-firm, drained and pressed 1-1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives (optional) Instructions Boil potatoes until fork tender. Heat oil and garlic in a small saute pan over low heat, stirring frequently until soft and lightly golden. Drain tofu and place between two plates to press and drain. Place drained tofu in food processor and puree with garlic and oil mixture. Drain potatoes. Mash potatoes with fork or ricer to desired consistency. Add garlic puree mixture. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with fresh herbs, if desired. Makes four servings. Adapted from 101 Things To Do With Tofu by Donna Kelly & Anne Tegtmeier. Although, this recipe was amazing, it needs a little tweaking for my taste. The first set of tweaks I made did not work out so the recipe above is the actual recipe without my changes. For my version, I used 11 oz of white potatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 large garlic cloves, 14 ounces of firm tofu, 1-1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp of dried italian seasoning and 1 tsp of dried parsley. Unfortunately, my dish turned out extremely garlicky. I love, love, love garlic but this was just too much. My garlic cloves were pretty big so I used three instead of the five called for. My cloves must have been really large because the dish was too intense for dear hubby, as well. In fact, he moaned all evening about how he couldn’t get the garlic smell out of the house. The dish also seemed a little oily so I will probably back up on the olive oil, next time. I then thought that maybe these would work out as twice baked potatoes and I was right. Added some cheese and threw these in the oven All in all, a pretty good first try for this recipe. It was really good except for the overwhelming garlic so I will definitely be trying this one again.

So, today makes six days since my VSG surgery. Let me tell you, it was NOT easy! Though I am thankful that there have been no complications, there was, however, plenty of pain. But let me start at the beginning. When I got to the hospital, the people at registration said I was supposed to be there at 8 AM (even though I had my paperwork IN MY HAND that clearly started to be there at 1 PM and it was about 12:15. Anyway, so they tell me they marked me as a no show, but they'll try to see if they can figure something out. Once they decided to "fit me in" , I sat down to wait in the waiting room with my mom. It didn't take very long, about 30 minutes, then they came and got me. When I got back to surgery prep, that's when the nerves and the enormity of what I was about to do set in. I was a mess. But they hooked me up to an IV, which is a process in itself because I'm a difficult stick. It took only 3 attempts though, which is way better than some other people have accomplished. Anyway, then they gave me some fluids and some medicine to make me feel "more comfortable" lol Idk what it was, but I liked it! Anyway, they put me in this robe with a thermostat controlled vent in the middle of it, covered me up, and turned out the light. I was out pretty fast until it got to be my turn. I remember signing some papers and talking to several different people, then being wheeled to the OR, and that's it! Next thing I know I'm waking up in the recovery room and I was in SO MUCH PAIN! I told them to go get my mom, but they said I had to wait til I was in a room and it would be very soon. Then, I guess I was back out again. The next time I woke up, I was with my mom, dad, and bff in a private room. The pain was still awful. Something had happened and for some reason they had not put a pain pump in my room like they were supposed to. So, they called to get me the pain pump, but in the mean time I was miserable. After about an hour or so of me crying, they finally gave me a dose of Dilaudid (sp?) Then a couple hours later, I got my pain pump. They told me to use it every 5 minutes, but of course I was in between this groggy state and completely out, so I couldn't really keep track of that. lol anyway my mom ended up helping me so I could finally get some real rest. The next morning, they came and got me for my leak test, which was perfect, then I slept a little while more before they made me get up to attempt my clear liquids. I managed a few sips of water and broth and a bite of jello. That was good enough to get me released! I forgot to mention I did have ice chips and got up and walked several times too. I remember on the way home being in a lot of pain every time we hit a bump. When I got home, I went straight back to bed and stayed there until the next afternoon. I'll be honest, it was really rough. I have a husband and a two year son and a three year old daughter who were all really worried, plus my mom and dad came several times. They were sure I was going to have to go back to the hospital, but I made it. The next day, I got up and went to my uncle's house with all my family, then to the drugstore with my dad and bff. I swear just getting up and out made a world of difference. The only thing was I was still having the same pain from the hospital, it was a pain in my upper abdomen and chest. I started my PPI that day and by the next day the pain was way better. I have a feeling I'm going to need it for a while! Anyway, so yesterday I went ahead and went in for my one week post op, even though I was only 5 days, but my surgeon was going out of town and wanted to see me before he left. He said everything looked great, and cleared me for soft foods/purees! Yay! The clear liquid diet was awful, but it didn't really matter too much because during that time I was in too much pain to eat or drink anyway. He only requires clear liquids for 3 days. By the time I started full liquids, I was starting to feel a tiny bit of hunger. I had about half a protein shake and some cheddar and tomato soup all day. It tasted like Heaven to me lol but I only did that for 2 days and was cleared for soft foods! I feel really lucky for that because I know some people have to do liquids for weeks. My surgeon does everything on a one to one basis, so another patient of his might have to do a couple weeks on liquids, that's just how he works. I'm very grateful though! Today's day six and today I had a protein shake, half a jar of baby food, and 1 tablespoon of cream cheese. Yesterday I had a scrambled egg with cheese and a protein shake. Everything has gone down with no issues so far! I hope I continue to do as well as I'm doing now. I am really starting to feel so much better! I'm not hungry and not nearly as cranky! lol Plus I'm already down 12 pounds since surgery and 41 pounds from my high weight in January. So, all in all as of right now, I'm pretty happy!

So, I have been on a medically supervised diet since January, had tons of tests including 2 EKG's, had blood work 3 times, an upper GI, an ultrasound, and a whole bunch of other stuff. After I finished everything, my paperwork was sent to insurance for approval. I waited several weeks, but my surgeon's office finally called them and just got my approval that way, and I got my surgery date, July 25th, 2013! For the last week, I have been on the preop diet. It was originally supposed to be the liquid diet, but the protein powder I got from them made me really sick. The dietician thought I may have an allergy to whey, so she decided to take me off of that and do lean meats and non starchy veggies instead. It's been difficult, but I at least haven't been sick! Although I have had the typical dizziness, weakness, headache, and general fatigue that comes alone with low carb! Tomorrow I start my clear liquid diet, which I'm sure will suck lol but it's totally worth it. Then on Thursday, I go for surgery! I'm excited, nervous, and continue to second guess myself. I was approved for the DS about five years ago and chickened out, but I'm really glad I did. After that I found a surgeon that I felt much more comfortable with and a surgery that did not make me near as nervous, and now I think I'm really ready. I'll post again after surgery!

The pre op diet is really rough! I'm 6 days post op and a lot happier now than I was then. Good luck to both of you!!

So, I just got home from my one week post op visit, even though I'm only 5 days, but my Dr is going out of town so we did it today. He said everything was perfect! I'm so excited, I've been so nervous that something was wrong because I've been having some pain in my upper abdomen and chest, but he said it's normal. It's just like pressure like I need to burp but can't. I've heard of people getting that feeling before, but it's so easy to automatically assume the worst. I am already close to 40 pounds down since January, which is unbelievable to me. I've never really been successful on any diet, so actually losing more than a few pounds is very exciting. Also, I was cleared for soft foods today, so I had a scrambled egg for dinner. I didn't even finish the whole thing. It's crazy, but I love it! Anyway I just wanted to share my thoughts with some people who kind of know the feeling!

Yum! Thanks for sharing!

Obviously I don't know how bad your swelling is, but I would think some swelling is normal. Mine is still a little swollen, but way better than it was! If you're worried though, or if it's still pretty bad I would call your surgeon just to be on the safe side.

Oh that's rough...I don't know why surgeons very so much. Seems like there would be at least a "norm", but from what I've seen they're all different. I'm sorry you have to wait so long. Even though all I had today that was real food was an egg, it made me feel a little bit more normal, and a lot happier. But hang in there, your surgeon knows your needs so stick with it. Good luck!!

Oh I'm not anywhere close! My surgeon wants me to work up to it over the course of a month or even two. For example, today I've had about 35 oz of Fluid and 25 grams of protein, but that's more than yesterday! One day at a time

Congratulations!!