Miss Mac

While you are waiting, you can get a head start with these modifications: Drink Water until your eyeballs float. Eat Protein and lots of it. At any meal eat your protein first (skip the gravy). Fills you up Eat green veggies and avoid starchy veggies as much as possible. Try to keep fruit at 1 serving per day. If you are going to eat anything high in carbs (like bread or a banana), eat it early in the day - no carbs after lunch. That way, your metabolism will be more efficient in burning fat, since there are fewer carbs / starch to burn up first. Go easy on the salt, to reduce water retention. Start logging calories, protein, and carbs - either with a notebook, or with My Fitness Pal (or Sparkpeople, etc.) to make yourself accountable. Watch portions, and weigh and measure everything you consume so that you get a clear idea of how much actually goes in your mouth. Move your body every day. Sir Isaac Newton (the falling apple gravity guy) was the one who said, "Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest." So, these suggestions are nearly universal with all of our bariatric programs. I wish you good luck and good health.

Good for you! At least you can expect that you will have successful results, because you have already demonstrated that you are commited to better health.

Keep some shakes or mix on hand for bad days. The rest you can figure out mathmatically. Breakfast: 15 grams: 2 scrambled eggs with 1 tbs shredded cheddar. Snack: 8 grams: chocolate milk (1 cup milk w/ sugar-free chocloate syrup Lunch: 15 grams: 2 ounces grilled chicken on small green salad Snack: 10 grams: 1ounce of deli turkey rolled in endive leaf with 1/2 ounce swiss Dinner: 15 grams: 2 ounces baked fish with steamed veggies Snack: 8 grams: 1 cup of milk So, that is just an example to divide out your day with three meals and three Snacks. This example is 71 grams of Protein and around 800 - 900 calories.

My chronic reflux was resolved with surgery and an Omeprozole capsul before Breakfast.

Congratulations, indeed! In the back of my closet is a pair of white size 12 jeans, waiting on me to get there. I am size 14 jeans right now. Closet flushes are such fun. You are doing a great job!

At ten months out, I still resist drinking at mealtime. The summer was manageable, but I was sipping an ounce or so every few minutes. What I do when I have something spicey is sip just enough Water to rinse around my mouth. The reason that I sip is because my surgeon told me that eating or drinking quickly could trap air in my stomach and be quite uncomfortable. Also, I am afraid that drinking with a meal will cause my stomach to be distended. So, I max out at about 1 cup of food at a meal now, and 60-80 ounces of Fluid daily (which is mostly water).

At week three I was still on soft foods, so if you do not want to mash up stuff in front of people, I agree with the suggestion about soup. Almost any restaurant has some kind of soup. Assuming that the people you are dining with are aware that you have recently had surgery, they shouldn't be alarmed. If you do not want Jello and whip cream for dessert, then let your guests have whatever, and you take a rain check for about six months out from now. I wish you the best. Happy Birthday.

Been swallowing pills from day one. Just pace yourself. I pulverize my Bariatric Advantage AE horse pill stink a** Vitamin and put it in a glass of prune juice (2 oz) and sugar free cran-grape juice (6 oz). Down the hatch 2 oz at a time.

Not true for everyone, but for me carbs are the devil. I am allowed one slice of bread or 1/4 cup starch per day. In addition, I can have one serving of fruit a day, and I can drink a cup of dairy milk. My past experience with yo-yo dieting is that carbs make me hungry for more carbs and got me into this mess. So, if I have steel cut oats (8 gr protein) with 1/2 apple and cinnamon and 2 tbs. milk, the I will not have any carbs other than green veggies the rest of the day. If I have and egg with a slice of bacon and 1/4 oz cheddar cheese for Breakfast, the I might have 1/4 cup tuna + egg salad on 1 slice of whole grain bread, then no carbs except green veggies with dinner. Both of my Snacks are Protein only. If I go all day without carbs, I definitley will not eat any after lunch. NO CARBS for dinner. But that's just me. I agree that as you pare back carbs, sugar, soda pop, artificial sweeteners, etc..it does get easier because you are controlling the appetite monster.

It's like CurveyJones says. whey Protein was the big culprit for me, too. As soon as I was able to start eating regular food, my bariatric doctor and NUT suggested that I replace supplements with real food as soon as possible. Even now (ten months), the whey Protein shakes make me feel gassy and bloated. You are far enough out that if you go for 15 grams protein with each meal, and 8 grams protein with a morning and bedtime snack, you will at least have the 60 gram minimum that our doctors suggest.

I feel your pain. I have been treating radiculopathies for over six years, but it is because of 14 ruptured discs in my back (my spine coud not carry my weight anymore). The discs pinch the nerves. Monday I finally had nerve ablations done on three of them, with notable relief. Could your pain be coincidence and not surgically related at all? Another relief measure is lidocaine Patches. So here are my relief processes: 1. Hydrocodone 2. Lyrica 3. Lidocaine patches 4. Nerve ablation (radiofrequency) surgery (A disconnect is created between the problem nerve and the pain receptors in the brain. There is a lot of info about that onine. I wish you well......nerve pain sucks.

Pre-op

I was sleeved 12/23/2013, with BCBS Federal. What I did for my two year documentation was that I had my primary care physician's (PCP) office print out a copy of my last two years of medical records. I took that and highlighted every mention of my weight and every mention of the doctor adjusting my daily calories, every mention of my struggles with weight loss, and every mention of any condition that would be considered a co-morbidity. I also highlighted any comment that reflected my weight increasing in spite of my best effort, and my blood pressure and blood sugar readings for each visit. When the surgeon's packet was prepared for submission, I had them a include a letter that I wroteabout how my excess weight was affecting my health and my quality of life This included the fact that my high blood pressure was the primary contributor to the stroke I had in 2010, and that the excess weight had caused my spine to start collapsing because the vertibrae could not support my weight and 53"waist. One other thing I wrote was how my neurosurgeon had already repaired 4 discs in my neck and also needs to do a full lumbar fusion - but can't unless I lose weight. Once the info was faxed to BCBS, I was approved in two days. At my first visit to the bariatric center, my BMI was 40.1. I was told that even if I start to lose pounds during my three-month medically supervised, they would submit with my starting statistics. You should have no problem so long as your team will document as many co-morbidities as possible (at least two when your BMI is between 35 and 40. BCBS Federal is the best insurance I have ever had - ever, and I think all I had to pay was a $150 co-pay to the surgeon. I hope this helps. I wish you good luck and good health.

My guess is that it will help keep his body more sterile during the process. Two months before my sleeve, I spent 8 days in the hospital with ischemic cholitis. Actually, I was in the hospital for a lumbar fusion, and in the process of taking scans and MRI's and other imaging, the bowel problem was discovered. The spine surgery was post-poned indefinitley because the neuro-surgeon did not want to risk perforating my bowel and leaking the contents into my abdominal cavity. Sounds like your husband's doctor plans to put things back the way they were, but needs to keep the surgical environment clinically sterile.

My oldest sister is always burning the candle at both ends. She usually ends up using her time off to recover from bad (like hospitalized) bouts of bronchitis. Insist on relief soon, and some extra compensation while you are at it. Go to HR, not your manager.

Does your manager control what actually goes in the machines or can you contact the vending company? My experience with vendor management is that they fill the machines with their best selling items, otherwise they would never make any money. You might suggest that they at least run a test - say one week - to see if it makes any difference. Vending machines have to have a tag on them somewhere to identify who operates them. Good luck.....this just may work. Otherwise, since Water and bagged nuts will keep for a while, stash some in your car.

I had mild gastritis and esophogitis that was helped by quitting ANSAIDS and ibuprophen, and starting to take Omeprozole. I have a small hiatal hernia that was to little to mess with. Because of all that, I had to quit caffein and acidic and spicey foods. My other digestive problem was chronic diverticulitis, and one month before my sleeve, I spent eight miserable days in the hospital with ischemic colitis. However, since my sleeve surgery 12/23/2013 all of that has gone away. I will give credit for that to eating healthfully in the way that I should have been eating all along. I had to wait a bit post-op before eating salads and spicey foods, but I can do that now. Today for lunch I had a green salad (with spinach and kale included) with diced chicken breast and a dressing combining corn and bean salsa with a little ranch dressing. One of my favorite foods now is chili with Beans, diced onion, and shredded cheddar. A couple of weeks ago I had corned beef and cabbage. If you follow the proper progression through the post-op diet, you will be eating regular foods in no time. For me it was one month and then I very cautiously starting to re-introduce foods on an experimental basis. I tried eating some steamed cauliflower in week five, and Miss Tummy brutally punished me for four hours. Other things she doesn't like, she gives back.

Due to some back surgery, I already have a lifting recliner in my bedroom. It really came in handy after my sleeve surgery, and helped me get up and down comfortably.

Same for me.....inserted after I was out, and then removed when they were sure I could get up and walk about.

We'll leave the light on for you.

I am on the south side in Alsip, kind of stuck in the house due to mobility issues. I am going through ablation procedures (had one this morning) to calm down pinched nerves.......doctors are trying to delay an inevitable full lumbar fusion. I am a slow loser, but glad to be down 60+ pounds....40 to go. It is encouraging to know that there are bariatric brothers and sisters in surrounding communities. Welcome to the forum.

It depends on the brand. My unjury shakes suggest 1 scoop for 6-8 ounces of Fluid. That goes the same for Isopure and Syntrax nectars. If I want something that actually feels and tastes like a shake, I will use 2% dairy milk or almond milk. If I want something thinner then I will use 12-16 ounces of Water or Crystal Lite. My favorite is Unjury vanilla with 8 ounces of milk and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, and one sweetener. It tastes kind of like egg nog.

Three months is about when I started to have some appetite come back, but I still max out at about a cup of food or 1/2 cup of Fluid. I, too have to struggle to not regain at ten months out because of nerve issues in my leg making exercise excruciatingly painful. I have been stuck between 172 and 175 for over three months in spite of staying around 800 calories. One thing that might help your brother are videos by David Stamps. You can check him out on Youtube. He has several different videos for people who have physical challenges to exercise. My favorite of his is Chair Boxing.

Green beans

Couldn't give you a number, but I had no noticable hair loss at all......just a few strays around the house.