McButterpants

I love tortilla pizzas...I use Carb Balance shells, to help with the carbs. My most recent favorite is BBQ chicken - I spread some Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce. Add some rotisserie chicken (you can even use deli turkey or ham). Top with mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until it's crispy. If you have a convection oven, it crisps the shell nicely!

You look great! Congrats on your success! Taking pictures is a great way to monitor your progress - If I had to do it all over again, I would have gotten rid of the scale or at least not weighed as often. Pictures and measurements are a great way to track. I love seeing before and after pictures!

My surgeon allowed foods like scrambled egg immediately after surgery (1 tablespoons of scrambled egg, yogurt, etc) - my local doc was the polar opposite. So for two weeks after surgery, I was able to get some foods in, then when I went to my local doc, had to go back to liquids. (I was self-pay, so had a surgeon and follow ups with a local bariatric surgeon) As far as "thinking" you're getting 2 ounces - I think investing in a food scale would be good. You can get them just about anywhere and they are fairly inexpensive. This will be good for measuring the weight of your Protein. Also remember on the portions - sometimes I couldn't finish the 2 ounces of puree. Don't go over the the NUT/Doc's plan, you don't have to eat it all. Full may feel differently than it did prior to surgery. Also, I try not to eat until full, I try to eat until I've satisfied the hunger. There's a difference. When I eat until I'm full, I feel a pinch in my stomach or my nose runs or I do a hiccup/burp thing - that means STOP! I try not to get to that point.

I find myself doing something similar in the grocery store - I look into other people's carts and think, "Wow, look at all that crap!" I want to say, "Don't do it. Put it away. The produce department is right over there." Of course, I don't say anything and I walk away... I chuckled at myself the other day when they were giving away samples of cherries...I ate on and thought, "OK, I've had breakfast!"

I had to be caffeine free prior to surgery - OMG, I tried to quit cold turkey and couldn't do it! After surgery, I drank decaf for the first 8 weeks at my doctor's orders. Drinking coffee after surgery was a pain because it would take so long to drink an 8 ounce cup...like an hour. I didn't enjoy it, it was like a chore to drink it and it was decaf, making it even worse! At 3 months I introduced caffeine back in with no issues...I started slowly. I'm back to 2 cups of regular a day. I did a pinky shake with the doc promising I wouldn't go back to my old habit of 6-8 cups of regular per day. Be mindful of what you're putting in your coffee - you can add lots of stuff that has a lot of calories and no nutritional value!

Great job! Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. You didn't gain all your weight in 5 weeks, you won't lose it in 5 weeks. All of us got to our high weight differently - we're all going to lose it differently. I'm in a 8 week stall...I've only lost 7 pounds in 4 months. Talk about a slow loser! LOL. But I try to look at where I came from - I'm down 72 pounds. That's amazing.

I am 8.5 months out - I tried to get rid of them, but re-introduced them at about 7 months, I realized I need them to keep my Protein numbers up and I find that my cravings are reduced with them. My surgeon wants his patients to use real food, so he doesn't endorse using shakes forever. My local doc (also a bariatric surgeon) suggests using shakes to supplement. It works for me to supplement now - I don't know if I will always use shakes, but I suspect I will. I work on creating different recipes and trying different things. Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate by themselves gets old!

I'm 8 months post op...I can eat 2-3 ounces of dense Protein and a couple of bites of other stuff. I can eat more if I don't eat the protein. I feel bad if I overeat, so I try to eat until I feel that first little "pinch" or until the hunger goes away. Eating to the point of "stuffed" like I used to before surgery...Ugh - that's agony.

You're fine. Just don't let that one sandwich turn into multiple sandwiches because you're beating yourself up. Go out and take a walk. Get your mind off of what you did. Think about your future. Think about how important this is to you. This part of your process will be over soon. Hang in there.

Put it down and walk away. Don't look back. Ice cream is not your friend. Not only is it way too early to introduce ice cream, it's what helped you get to the point that you needed WLS. I had to address my unhealthy relationship with food as I suspect most of us do/did during the first couple of months after surgery. Ice cream would certainly fall in that category. And remember...Just because you don't get sick from eating something doesn't mean you should eat it.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have chucked the scale on Day 1. Weighing every day is bad for your soul. I did better when my husband hid the scale and brought it out once per week. Stay the course - find other ways to monitor your progress...take pictures and take your measurements.

There have been times during this process where I feel like I cheated for some reason - like life is supposed to be hard or a struggle. I can tell you, this "easy way out" is freakin' hard... I had to ween myself off caffeine in order to have surgery. I had to live on 2 Protein Shakes and 1 meal for 2 weeks prior to surgery. I had 80% of my stomach removed. Had to recover from major surgery. I had to address my emotional attachment to food while recovery from the above major surgery. I consumed hundreds of Protein shakes instead of real food for months. I had to make meals for my family and watch them eat while I drank yet another shake. I've logged about 600 miles on the treadmill, walking trails and elliptical machine since surgery 8 months ago. I've given up a lot of foods I used to love - not just the "bad" foods...Salads upset my stomach, some raw fruits are hard to eat. I could go on and on, but you get my point. Yeah, this is the easy way out...

I just started running again...I ran a mile without stopping the other day. It was amazing! When I first started jogging I started out running for 30 seconds, then walking for a minute. Then my next run, I increased to running a minute, walking a minute. Then the next time, I would run for 3 minutes walk for 2. I'm amazed at how fast I was able to build the amount of time I could run. (I can do 50-60 minutes on the elliptical no problem, so the cardio portion wasn't an issue, it was muscular - using different muscles than on the elliptical or walking.) I love the way my body feels after I run - it's so different that doing a long hike or walk, which feels good, but after a run, my body feels more "alive", if that makes sense. That feelings lasts longer than a walk. My 14 year old son and I have a set a goal for next summer to run a couple of 5K events. He's my running buddy...Probably the best part of running right now is him cheering me on, telling me I can keep going. He even said he was proud of me - that was priceless!

I had the same problem with the Nectar using the blender bottle...I moved to the Magic Bullet and didn't have the problem any more.

unjury makes a chicken Soup which is a nice savory flavor as opposed to the shakes. They come in individual packages. I also purchased some hot chocolates from www.mybariatricpantry.com - it was nice to drink something hot as opposed to cold shakes. I also suggest trying some sugar free Torani syrups to change up the flavors... Add some sugar free peppermint syrup to a chocolate shake. Add some sugar free vanilla or hazelnut to a chocolate shake. Add some sugar free raspberry to a vanilla shake. Use some ice cubes to bulk the shake up and make them thicker. On my pre-op diet I started drinking decaf green tea - it really helped with the hunger. Best of luck to you! This part of your journey will be over before you know it!

First you need to makes sure you're following your doctor's/NUT's plan - eat and drink only what's on your plan. Second, follow their plan for portions - this is important. Your stomach is still healing - you may not feel full, you need to stop at the portion size specified in your plan. I could eat more than the specified portion when I was 2 weeks out - that doesn't mean I should. When I was two weeks out, I ate every 3 hours and drank in between. It's a chore - it feels overwhelming with the watching the clock, weighing or measuring everything. It occupies a lot of time, but that will change in a couple of months and you'll get back to normal.

I agree. I carefully choose my foods - I savor my food. I enjoy my food. I purchase high quality goods. I don't bother with zero fat foods - I don't eat enough cheese for it to make a difference. I didn't have this surgery to be on yet another diet - this is my new lifestyle! Enjoy!

I agree - follow what the NUT suggests. You should lose. This is similar to my 2 week pre-op diet - it won't be easy, but stick to it. Follow the plan - that's the best you can do. I found drinking decaf green tea helped me with hunger. Best of luck to you!

I was cleared for coffee at my 8 week appointment, but had to pinky shake that I wouldn't go back to my old habits of 5-6 cups of regular coffee per day. I am 8 months out now - I allow myself 2 cups of regular now and 1-2 cups of decaf. I find too much caffeine will trigger hunger, so be mindful of how you feel afterwards. Find your happy medium!

I think I changed my mind a hundred times between August, 2013 when I decided to have surgery and November, 2013 when I had my surgery. I had similar thoughts..."Have I tried hard enough to lose weight?" "Is this cheating - taking the easy way out?" "What am I doing to myself?" I think it's perfectly normal. I almost backed out the night before surgery and the morning of surgery. I was terrified. I remember sitting in admitting thinking, "I could walk out of here right now and I'll only be out $500." I looked at my husband and he was as scared as I was, but he had this look on his face that let me know everything is going to be OK. At that moment, I knew - I knew that I was doing the right thing. I'm 8.5 months post-op - I feel like I'm finally starting to live the life I am supposed to live. I'm becoming the person I'm supposed to be. I'm a better wife and mom now. I feel better about myself. I'm learning to become content. It hasn't been an easy road. I have bad days still. It's not all sunshine and lollipops, HOWEVER, my life today is so much better than it was one year ago when I was at my high weight. You'll know when you're ready - be prepared for an emotional roller coaster between now and surgery day. Be kind to yourself. Best of luck to you!

I agree with Lipstick...it also depends on what I eat. I'm 9 months out - if I eat an egg and a turkey sausage patty for breakfast, I can't drink anything for about 45 minutes or an hour. If I eat something like deli meat I force myself to wait the 30 minutes.

I telecommute full time - I had surgery on Thursday and worked 1/2 days the following week. If I had to get up, get dressed and go to a job, I would have taken 2 weeks off. Even though I had no complications and my recovery was seemless, I got tired very quickly - I needed to rest and nap. If you don't have a desk job, I would suggest taking 2 full weeks off if you can...You need to make sure you take care of yourself!

I was self pay all the way...I know how you feel. I figured so far with my trip to Las Vegas, subsequent follow up visits with local doc and testing, I'm into this $13,000. I'm fortunate that we had the resources to do this without affecting our lifestyle, but at times I do feel guilty that something I needed costs so much money. There are other days that I feel you can't put a price tag on the benefits - I'm more active, I'm more engaged in my family life, I'm happier, I'm healthier, etc. What I would tell you is, if your family is on board, try your best to not feel guilty. They are going to get a better version of you on the other side. Best of luck to you!