Miss Mac

unjury Cocolate Splendor - I mix it with Almond Milk. Unjury strawberry Sorbet. - Mixes well with Crystal Lite Lemonade to make a high Protein strawberry lemonade flavor. I have re-purchased them twice since my surgery. Syntrax all flavors mix well into the liquid, better than Unjury (my favorite is Grapefruit because mixed with Crystal Lite Lemonade it tastes like Fresca.

It is so much easiier to roll over in bed.

Here is how I rate some of the Exercise DVDs that I have: Chair Boxing with David Stamps.....my favorite Chair Salsa with David Stamps Chair Tai Chi with David Stamps Exercises for the Bedridden with David Stamps... I have to say that all of David Stamps videos are worth the money. You do not need a Lunk Alarm. They are do-able and can be easily modified to your needs. Any of David's workouts can be done sitting in a chair or laying on your bed. Chair Aerobics Circuit Training Beach Party (1960's style surf music) with Ronit Amaya ....Fun enough and you can use light handweights. Fun Resistance Bands with Sunshine Good for balance strength and flexibility. Easy Sitting Pilates and Calesthenics with Sunshine Sunshine also has another one that uses handweights, and most of the time she is sitting down. Stonger Seniors Chair Exercise Program - Core Fitness with Anne Pringle Burnell Stronger Seniors Stretch and Strength - Anne Pringle Burnell Anne is easy to follow. I use her DVDs a lot and can follow along without messing up too much. Walk at Home / Walk Your Belly Flat with Leslie Sansone. This can be throught the house or standing in place in front of the TV. It uses every muscle in the body to help torch calories. She breaks up the walk into three mile increments. I use this one on any morning that I wake up with energy. Easy Yoga for Arthritis with Peggy Cappy A little hard for me to keep up because I am not very flexible. I have one other that may be of interest to you after you can enough strength to stand up some...although I have done this one sitting down if I fizzled out but wanted to keep going. It is Joel Harper's Firming After 50. I use this one frequently when I want to do body weight resistance. He has an intermediate level that a 30ish woman does, and a beginner's level done by his mother. So, I try to keep up with her. Mr. Gyms Couch Potato Workout....Boring Alert! I, too, have multilpe orthopedic issues, spine surgery, and post-stroke imbalance. I do these workouts in the privacy and safety of home where my boundaries are familiar. I hope this information helps anyone who is in a similar predicament of immobility and chronic pain. I wish you good luck and good health.

Throw out anything made in a factory and head for the perimeters of the grocery store, where you will find veggies, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, real butte,r and cheeses (not processed cheese foods). Your new tummy will appreciate actual nourishment from what you eat. Now, I must conceed that if you live in a food desert or must store stuff back for heavy winter weather, then frozen and canned is better than negelecting to eat. You just need to be creative and developed a routine that will work for you. For the first few days post-op I had baby food as an emergency standby. My boyfriend does all the cooking around here. He loves to cook Mediterranean style, since he is from Malta. so I stepped down from that responsibility and help with clean-up. Anyway on his days off, he batch cooks for me and puts portions in the freezer for me. So...fresh is better than frozen...frozen is better than canned goods, and canned goods are better than junk.

Omeprazole has been a big help for me. Also, that much antibiotics can throw off the balance of the friendly bacteria in your digestive system. There are remedies for that including yogurt and/or femented foods.

Don't beat yourself up. Just knock off the the nonsense and start again with your next meal. Bariatric Choice at www.bariatricchoice.com has a large variety of protein-rich chips,, Cookies, crackers, puddings, etc. I order a lot of things from there. You can check it out to see if any of their stuff might be just what you want, but less damaging. I wish you good luck and good health.

My five months is May 23rd. I had a seven week stall from mid-February to the end of April. I was advised to increase intake of fluids with a goal of 100 ounces per day, and up my Protein with a goal of 100 grams per day. I will see my nut this Friday and ask her if she can recommend a limit on carbs. It seems like if I go past 800 calories and 30 carbs, everything comes to screeching halt. My exercise regimen includes two days of hand weights and body resistance. I walk six days a week, in the house if the weather is bad. On top of that I try to include some fun aerobics using my exercise DVDs for dances like Hula, Salsa, Hip Hop Abs, Belly Dancing, and Bollywood, etc. I have over 35 of them to give me variety. They had been collecting during all of my other weight loss attempt. So...there is enough to keep me out of trouble. I have lost half of my extra weight, so now the loss has slowed down. I believe we were all told that was going to be work. You appear to be following your plan, so I would suggest that you shake things up a bit. Eat dinner for Breakfast, If you do not have exercise DVDs, then turn some music on and dance like nobody is watching. Get creative and keep up the good work.

Post-op, I weighed four pounds more than when I started. It took all of that first week to drop those 4, then during the second week my weight started to go down. Stalls happen, and they are as predictable as sunrise and sunset.

Nope. Had to Google it. Interesting concept. 5 years from now it may be a popular choice.

The Bristol Royal Infirmary in Bristol, England developed a pictoral explanation of what poo means. The chart can be found at http://www.gutsense.org/constipation/normal_stools.html. Here is their definition for small lumpy stools: Type 1: Separate hard lumps, like nuts Typical for acute disbacteriosis. These stools lack a normal amorphous quality, because bacteria are missing and there is nothing to retain Water. The lumps are hard and abrasive, the typical diameter ranges from 1 to 2 cm (0.4–0.8”), and they‘re painful to pass, because the lumps are hard and scratchy. There is a high likelihood of anorectal bleeding from mechanical laceration of the anal canal. Typical for post-antibiotic treatments and for people attempting fiber-free (low-carb) diets. flatulence isn‘t likely, because fermentation of Fiber isn‘t taking place. I hope this helps.

Whether you get your surgery in the United States, Mexico, Belgium, or London, you are still put together with the surgical e quivalent of office supples: glue, tape, staples, and floss. You will be able to to think, speak, and walk post-op. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck and good health.

Welcome Liza. I might try the shapewear when I reach goal and if floppity skin bugs me. It is not required in my bariatric program. Since you are new, you can explore the search bar by using keywords to take you to posts concerning that topic. It will keep you out of trouble for hours on end.

Down 57 pounds, 43 to goal. Even though I do not feel smaller, the bed feels bigger! As big as I am, I am not as big as I think I am. I am learning to walk taller, as my 53" belly really pulled me forward. My doctor prescribed a back brace to wear for a few hours a day help me out with that. I have a full length mirror behind the door, that I have ignored for years. Just in the last couple of weeks, I have been brave even to take a peek. I am on the verge of my third closet flush and still have a hard time committing to what size I am with each new exchange.

The fat on your body is going to go out kicking and screaming. If you continue your bariatric plan and are honest with yourself about compliance, you can't help but lose weight. Your nutritionist is helping you to establish good eating habits for life. Hang in there and let the process work for you. Your new best friend should be My Fitness Pal at www.myfitnesspal.com or some other point of accountability. For me, it was a requirement of my program and I had to give the nutritionist access to it so she could follow along for support. You can do this. I wish you good luck and good health.

In my previous life (4 1/2) months ago, I was eating anything I wanted, when I wanted. I can guarantee you that drive through sandwiches, french fries, donuts, heaps of buttery mashed potatoes, pies, cakes, etc....were not giving me the nutrition I needed either. However, since being in a proper bariatric program and getting a sleeve (12/23/2013) I have become what is called a "nutritarian". That just means that everything I eat must have nutritional value or it is not worth the extra chewing. So, even though I eat much less, everything I eat provides nutritional goodness. Sure, it all takes planning, measuring, and careful timing, but at this point I can feel and see my body and health changing in many positive ways. When I was eating more crap than whole foods from farms instead of factories, I had to take Vitamins and a few supplements anyway. When you are making an effort to comply with a bariatric program, your body can't help but respond significantly to overall better nutrition. You have to make decisions, like when you are at a Thanksgiving table. Will I eat 2 ounces of turkey and some green Beans, or will I eat a heap of mashed potatoes and a large slice of apple pie? Any improvements that you get post-op will be based on deliberate decisions that you make every day. Our Protein requirements are high and or need for unlimited carbs is low. This program will no doubt turn your food pyramid and your life up-side down. There is a ton of supportive information you can get from your bariatric team and even more from those of us who hang out here on the forum. We have "been there, done that, got the shirt", but there is nothing like jumping in and going for it.

I am going to try those coconut ones. I also found a comment online that said you could use whey protein powder in any baking item that has other dry ingredients. Here is one I found that I would also like to try: Blueberry Protein Power Muffins •INGREDIENTS: 3 large eggs, 3 tbsp. oil, ¼ cup heavy cream, 5 scoops vanilla protein powder, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/3 cup brown sugar (or low carb sweetener of your choice), 1 cup blueberries, ½ cup fat-free cream cheese, ¼ tsp. cinnamon. DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 9 muffin tins with cups and non-stick cooking spray. Mix cream cheese and cinnamon into a small bowl. Mix eggs, oil and cream in a separate bowl. Add protein powder, baking powder and sugar (or sweetener) into the cream mixture, stirring thoroughly. Combine both mixtures along with the berries as you pour into the muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins begin to brown at the top.

Yes. Pretend like carbs cost $10 apiece - cash!

If you have never been to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, let me use this analogy to explain how these intermittant stalls work. In the arch there is an elevator that can take you from the ground waaaaaaaay up to the top. It is the tallest monument in the United States, at 63 stories tall. Now, if the elevator followed the shape of the arch, you would end up on your back by the time you got up to the top! What the elevator does is make little adjustments as it goes. It goes up a bit, then levels and moves over a little bit, then goes up some and levels again and goes up and levels and up and level until it gets to the top and you can get out and walk into the observatory at the top while on your feet. Now, when you need to come down the elevator does the reverse process. It goes down a little, levels and adjusts, go down then level and down then level until you get to the bottom. Post-op, or bodies do the same. Our weight goes down some, then levels off for a minute while our hormones and organs and body systems catch up. Then it goes down, levels off, down then level, until we reach our goal. I hope this helps in some way. And if you ever get a chance to go to Saint Louis, the Arch is an experience you should not pass up. The view of the Mississippi River, Busch Stadium, Cahokia Indian Mounds and the city from 630 feet up is a sight to see.

Yeah, Sweetie, it is pretty normal. It's like a detox without the cucumber-lemon-red pepper cleanse. There is also a reaction called the carb flu, where your body wants all the carbs it is not getting so you get the heebie-jeebies instead. The pre-op fluids are not pleasant, but you are preparing your body for a life-changing experience. If you are still concerned after reading some responses, do not hesitate to call your bariatic team.

Thanksgiving suggestion: by the time you eat a couple ounces of turkey and a few green Beans (without the goopy casserole stuff), you will be too full to go after the carbs. Take some dark chocolate or a small fruit cup, and you are good to go. Hungry later??? have some cheese or a deviled egg made with avocado instead of mayonaisse. There are creative ways to get around the excesses of the holidays. You have time now to work out a plan. And like CowgirlJane said, throw in some exercise too, especially if you caved in to an indulgence. I wish you good luck and good health.

Stool softeners, Miralax, prune juice. If you are desperate and have 12 hours to occupy a bathroom uninterrupted, you can eat a handful of sugar free Gummy Bears. You can read the reviews on Amazon.com....they are hilarious, but an honest expectation of the results you will get. Do not try this before going to work. You have been warned.

I am 4 1/2 months out and eat tomatoes almost every day and even salsa or chili once in a while. Milk chocolate was traded in for dark choclate which I had to get accustomed to.......it helps me to eat it in small amounts with slivered almonds or a flavored / mint Tic Tac. Mentioned in another post that I have been known to throw dark chocolate chips into smoothies. I do not miss bread and the yeasty smell turns my stomach now. Potatoes, rice, Pasta are slider foods that derail my progress and are not worth fixing. Most other veggies I can tolerate except that I had four hours of total misery after trying cauliflower. You will learn the give and take of altering favorite recipes to accommodate the new you. For instance, there is homemade lasagna in the fridge, but it is layered with roasted zucinni slices instead of pasta. The ground beef, ricotta, and parmesanno reggiano give a Protein punch. This is the kind of recipe you could hide unflavored Protein powder in. So, get creative in the kitchen. You will be surprised what you can do to enjoy eating without causing damage.

I have re-ordered the chocolate Splendor twice. Sometimes I will warm it up with some Almond Milk (35 calories per cup) and add that to a sugar free cocoa mix and a dollop of lite whip cream. This actually solves the midnight sweet tooth and adds Protein and fluids to my daily total. The other day I made a smoothie with Chocolate Splendor, ricotta, almond milk and dark chocolate chips. I fix the strawberry with Crystal Lite lemonade and some frozen mixed berry slush from the blender. I make any number of Soups using the chicken flavored in the soup base.

Fluids, stool softeners and a 50 gallon drum of Miralax.

Even though I did not have any complications from surgery and was on a rapid progression to whole foods (six weeks) it still took almost two months to feel human again. I was so glad for being retired, and I really feel for those of you who have to care for small children or go back to the everyday grind at work. The impact of the surgery just knocked me down flat and it just took a while to get my mojo back. Now that I am over four months out, I have more good days that bad. Watching and feeling the weight come off makes it all worth the inconvenience.