Phoenix79

We're talking walking, cycling, elliptical etc here- not heavy weight bearing exercises! I just got back from my surgery consent signing and nutrition classes (surgery July 2nd), and my surgeon explained it like this- after surgery, you're going to be at a severe calorie deficit. Your body is going to take the energy it needs from your muscles or your fat stores- it will take from your muscles first unless YOU tell it to do otherwise. How do you do that? By becoming active with walking and other low impact exercise as soon after surgery as possible. Exercise will help you retain muscle and as you lose weight, that muscle will start to be visible and will prevent you from getting that gaunt look you see in some weight loss surgery patients. Also, your retained muscle will help increase your energy level over time- if you don't exercise, you will become less energetic as your body eats your muscle, you get weaker as your body percentage becomes more fat than muscle. Quite an argument for tying on the tennis shoes and walking the dog around the neighbourhood after I get back from the hospital! The key is do what you can, and keep increasing distance, hills, light hand weights, etc until you're cleared for heavier activities. You can't entirely prevent muscle loss, but it's easy to keep more of what we have- and surprise, we have a lot more than you think...we've had to carry our heavy bodies around everywhere! Just something to think about. .

Apparently they are locked when you are trying to access the special interest forums when you are using a mobile device. Normally you don't need a password if you're on a regular computer. There is no password that I know of- just a bug in the system which I hope can be fixed since more and more folks are going mobile only.

On the way to the hospital! Hopefully traffic is not too bad.

Hi Kimberly! I just had to do one day of clear liquids- July 1st. Did great- not even a tummy rumble- I think my stomach is used to me ignoring it now! I had a low carb, high Protein diet for about 2 1/2 weeks beforehand- got better as time went on. Dang, your surgery is early- but better early than late when you can't eat or drink I guess! I can't wait to hear how your surgery went! See you on the sleeved side!....I've gotta figure out a nickname for my sleeve...better not do that while I'm on drugs after surgery- LOL!

Surgery later today-still awake at 1am, have to get up at 5am to leave by 6am for 8am check in at Swedish (darn traffic!). Surgery is at 10:40am and my husband will be staying overnight in the hospital with me. I have been nervous at times, but my way of coping with things I don't like (dentist etc) is to put them off until I absolutely have to- which will mean when I have to put on that hospital gown. I take a page out of Scarlett O'Hara's playbook and say "I'll think about that tomorrow". Working so far! Skin feels dry from that darned hospital soap- sensitive skin. More later! Good luck all you July 2nd folks!

Prayers for you today! We are sleeve sisters- mine is today as well at around 10:40 am pst. As you can see, I'm still up at 1am...hard to sleep!

One more day July 2nd sleevers! I'm prepping my hospital bag, finishing up the house chores and gardening- just trying to stay busy! With all this nervous energy I should have the house **** and span in no time. It's soooo hot for the Seattle area this week- today it's supposed to be 90 degrees and we have an excessive heat warning issued. I had a hard time sleeping last night since we have no AC and I fear tonight will be even worse with the heat & surgery combined. I ate my last food at midnight last night- on clear liquids for today. Hopefully I don't end up too hungry by tomorrow AM! I can't wait to hear all about people's experiences with prep, surgery and recovery....we got this! Don't forget to take measurements, weight, and lots of good before pics from all angles- you'll want them for comparison later on!

I'm planning on drinking coffee after I have my sleeve (on Tuesday...eeep!). My surgeon said decaf is ok right away, and try to wait 3 months on the caffeinated stuff, along with alcohol and carbonated beverages. I can't wait to have my beloved nonfat cappuccino with breakfast again...got hooked on them in Rome two years back. Being in the Seattle area, I think there would be an uproar if a surgeon suggested we ban coffee from our diet entirely...he'd/she'd probably go out of business! That being said, if it were essential to maintain your sleeve health, I don't think they would hesitate to make coffee restriction mandatory. I think the key is everything moderation, take it easy and listen to your sleeve!

So cool! I wish I could grow melons! I think watermelon is one of my favorite fruits. I also want to grow oranges, lemons, limes and passion fruit...oh well! Gardeners always want to grow what they can't grow in their zone- zone envy. I'm sure other gardeners would love to grow apples and cherries, etc. LoL! I'm working furiously on my garden because in late August I'm having members of my garden club coming to look at it. I'm getting sleeved on July 2nd and I'm on 15 lbs or less lifting restriction for 6 weeks...so not much heavy duty stuff I can do in the garden. Eeeep! I guess it will just be what it is when folks come over, but I don't know what possessed me to think I'd be feeling 100%. We'll just see how I do....fingers crossed!

I believe you eat your protein before an AM workout... You're doing to need the energy, especially when you are first starting out. Further on, when you're working in good carbs, you'd actually want to eat something like greek yogurt with fruit, almond butter on part of a banana or apple before hand, and then your protein or protein shake within 45 min of working out. Maybe more experienced folks could chime in on this...what did you do in the beginning?

Cool garden! Let's see...okra- by you growing okra and the size of your grass blades, I'm deducing you're a southern gardener? I'm in the Pacific Northwest, where ferns grow a mile a minute and most tomatoes don't have the time or the heat to do squat.

Yay, gardeners! I was beginning to think I was alone in my gardening insanity on VST. Gardening is relaxing and also can be such a good workout! Where does everyone garden?

Good luck!

I'm July 2nd as well! Got my date last week but been too busy furiously getting my garden and house ready for post surgery (mostly garden) to post much until now. Just came back from my surgery consent signing combined with a post surgery nutrition class, visiting the PA and I'm psyched to get this done already! I'm having surgery in Seattle.

I'm definitely bringing lip balm, hand lotion, my purple robe to hang off my shoulders as I walk the halls, as well as my hobbit feet slippers (complete with hairy tops). Gotta get folks to smile...might as well have some fun! Surgery July 2nd in Seattle.

Hello July 2nd sleevers! Just recently got my date of July 2nd and I've been too busy to post for a bit. My doctor put me on a low carb high Protein diet pretty similar to the Atkins induction diet- 20 carbs/day max. I've been on it for two weeks now, and the first few days were TOUGH. I love fresh fruits and veggies and my morning fat free milk Cappuccino and I was cut off! I thought if I saw another egg, I would hurl. Constantly it was just meat, eggs, cheese....yuck- I like these in moderation, but I needed something green and fresh. I found out that if I was careful budgeting my carbs, I could have 5 grape tomatoes a day, or 2 small strawberries with breakfast, or a cup of streamed broccoli with dinner. Pure heaven and I enjoyed every single bite I had- that has kept me sane since then. Now, it's not bad and I know I'm luckier than most of pre-sleevers that have to do liquids only. Less than a week to go!

Supportive spouses are a wonderful gift for sure! Tell him we said kudos and to keep it up, and he will reap the benefits in many ways!

Aww sweetheart! You're making me tear up! I love you and thanks for all your support!

I've been using Mio, Dasani squirt bottles etc to flavor water, but they were so expensive! I got the idea to use the diet sodastream concentrates to flavor my water. Same concept, but a lot more for your money, plus different flavours typically found at a soda fountain. So now I am drinking diet orange, diet grapefruit (great for breakfast time- before or after the meal), diet ginger ale (could be good to treat nausea), diet wild strawberry energy, and diet cola. Yummy!!!

I used about 1/2 a tablespoon but like the Mios, Dasani squirt flavours, you can always flavor how you like it- lighter or stronger. You want it to taste like you just opened a can of your favourite soda.

Very yummy! No carbonation if you just add the flavourings to water- no need to buy the machine or the cartridges. Just buy the bottles- Target had a great selection of diet flavours, also try Amazon.com or Bed Bath and Beyond.

Yes, they do, but the carbonation comes from the cartridges they sell combined with the machine. The flavourings themselves are NOT carbonated, making them a perfect replacement for folks craving soda flavour, folks just wanting different flavours from Mio, dasani etc, or folks looking for a cheaper alternative or all of the above!

All the ones I have are calorie free and carb free! That was important to me as on my low carb pre surgery diet I can have max 20 carbs per day. Most importantly, they are delicious! They really taste like the sodas but without the carbonation. You could add carbonation if you want by using club soda or buying the sofastream system, but for the recently sleeved or folks avoiding carbonation, all you have to do is buy the bottles of flavouring and add as much as you want to water! Couldn't be easier!

I'm on a low carb, high Protein diet until my surgery (haven't been assigned a date yet). I'm only allowed 20 carbs per day. I miss fruit and vegetables- ate them all the time before. My typical breakfast was 2/3 cup low fat cottage cheese with 1c strawberries and 1/4c blueberries. I can't stand eggs more than 2 days in a row for breakfast or I was going to hurl. I need variety- but has to be breakfasty! So I found this recipe for low carb Protein Powder pancakes- 9 G protein and 3G carbs per pancake and made them for breakfast this morning. Man, they look great, but they are so freaking dry I couldn't get them down! That's a bust. Anyone have some good low carb pancake recipes out there? Any other breakfast ideas? I'm not a seafood fan so smoked salmon is out. . I know I'm way more fortunate than most pre-op dieters out there who are on liquid only and my hat is off to each and every one of you!