MelBooks

Two clothes related ones: I took 6 HUGE garbage bags of clothes to the local donation center, all far, far too big! I went to Old Navy because they were having their jeans sale. I had my two kids with me so I didn't feel like trying stuff on, I just grabbed what I thought was my size. Got them home and they were WAY too big! I had to go exchange them for the next size down, and even they seem a little on the big side. I know Old Navy runs large anyway, but I have never in my life had that happen before

Can I ask about your pre/during/post race nutrition. I did a 1/2 5 years ago, and am currently training for another one next February. I'm only up to 5 mile long runs now (right on schedule) but I know based on my last 1/2, I will need some sort of calories around mile 8. What are you using?

I meal plan for the week every Sunday night, and shop Monday. I make sure everything we eat is easy to modify for my diet. For example, we may have burritos, but I'll have a small burrito bowl instead. Or tonight, we're having stir-fry, and I'll just skip the rice (and obviously eat just a small amount.) With Pasta dishes, I reserve some of the the Protein and veggies before mixing it all together. I actually really enjoy the planning aspect and it makes my week go much smoother.

I had a 1:30 check in, and I think didn't go back until close to 3:30. It was fine and I was still released at 8am the next morning.

I find Think Thin bars a bit dry for me. I used to eat them occasionally pre-surgery but I always needed water with them. I'm afraid to try them again now for that reason. I really do like the Quest Bars (Cinnamon Roll, Cookies and Cream, and Apple Pie are my faves)

I make "breakfast cookies" that are a mix of oatmeal, almond butter, egg, banana and dried fruit that work well for me before a run. I'm training for a 1/2 marathon and I notice a huge difference if I don't eat a balance of carbs/fats/protein before I run. This is the basic recipe I follow, although I change it a lot: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/06/18/breakfast-cookies/ I sub 1/2 the almond butter for 1 egg. I use a homemade date/dried fig puree (soak them over night then puree) for the apple butter and most of the maple syrup (I still use 2 tbls of real maple sryup). We like them with dried wild blueberries, flax and hemp hearts. I also make them WAY smaller then the recipe calls for. I think it says it makes 10, and I usually get about 20.

@@slvrsax Nashua Nutrition will sell samples of ANY of the powders they carry, including the Syntrax PB Cookie. I tried a bunch of kinds from them and found some I really liked (Syntax Mint Cookie and Click Mocha Decaf--both I mix 1/2 and 1/2 with my fave chocolate powder)

I lost 20 lbs before starting the pre-op diet (over a few months), 13 on the pre-op diet (10 days) and at 8 weeks yesterday, lost 26. The post-op is slow and steady and all together 56 pounds that is gone. So, I'm happy.

Every doctor is different, but our handbook specifically says that a level of 1000-1200 calories at the bare minimum to ensure healthy weight loss. Any less and your body is not effective at losing the weight.

I try to prepare things that are easily deconstructed for myself. I have two young kids, so everything is pretty kid friendly as well. This week's menu (I'm almost 8 weeks out): Mon: French dip sandwiches, cut up veggies and new potatoes. I had two slices of deli roast beef rolled up with two thin slices of provolone and dipped them in a little of the au jus Tue: Pasta with marinara and meatballs. I'll have a few of the meatballs in the sauce Wed: Shoyu (basically a sweet soy marinade) chicken with stir fry veggies and rice. I'll have a couple ounces of chicken and a few bites of the veggies Last week I made an enchilada bake with no tortillas (chicken, Beans, sauce, green onions, spinach, cheese). The kids had blue corn chips and ate their like nachos, where I just topped mine with a little greek yogurt. I hope that is helpful!

You will be able to walk immediately. Walking helps your abdomen knit itself back together, but I would highly suggest keeping it to walking for the first couple of weeks. Too much up and down jarring is uncomfortable. Swimming you will need to hold off on until your incisions are completely healed. I think our practice said 4 weeks, so you'll want to check with your doctor. I started running at 4 weeks post op, and that seemed to be just right for my body. You should check out the Fitness&Exercise board, you have to scroll down a ways to get there! Lot's of sporty types there.

Ok, I think we've got it all worked out but man, oh, man did I have a panic attack in the process. I called my surgeon's insurance coordinator and she said it was really weird for the claim to be denied and that she'd look into it. Then I get a call back that the entire surgery was DENIED! Holy crap. I had pre-approval and did everything right, and the only thing the coordinator could think of was that I got my approval on 12/20/13 but didn't have surgery until 4/9/14. Perhaps that coverage was dropped on Jan 1st or something. She called the insurance company and thank goodness they said something had gone wrong on their part. The claim was resubmitted and it went through just fine. But for like 45 minutes I thought we were suddenly going to have to come up with 25 grand!! I'm still waiting to hear back from the anesthesia group to make sure their resubmit went through but seriously, now I need BP meds!

We just got a bill from the anesthesiologists that my claim was denied. We have Aetna and used one of their "Center's of Excellence" and my surgery was approved with no problem. The exact same anesthesiologist did my endoscopy and it was covered. What should I do now? It's a rather big bill that we were NOT expecting.

I totally feel you on this! I've been playing with some Paleo "treat" recipes that fit in with most post-op diets. My biggest craving is muffins of all stupid things, and I've found some really good recipes that are egg and coconut flour based. I bake them as mini muffins, keep them in the freezer and use them as a very occasional treat. The other great thing is my kids love them too, so I've put them in their lunches! Also, a small piece of very high quality dark chocolate (70% or higher) is a very nice treat. It is usually fairly low in sugar and if you let it melt slowly in your mouth, it can last a long time. My NUT says, and I completely agree, planned treats are an important part of a healthy diet. The key is to pre-plan them and portion them out. And by making smart choices about those treats (my coconut flour banana muffins are virtually identical to ones with white flour but much higher in Protein and Fiber and pretty low in carbs), you can have those planned treats more often.

I have the exact same problem (7 weeks out now). I use lemon, or NUUN tablets. The tablets are awesome, I use the "All Day Hydration" ones and they have a ton a vitamin in them. I usually add a small squirt of Mio or Crystal light as well. I try to get about 72 oz from my water bottle (three fills) a day, and use a NUUN tablet in one, and plain lemon in the other 2.

I like a lot of the tenets of paleo (well, primal because I'm not giving up dairy) and use many of the various paleo blogs for recipes, but I wouldn't say I'm ever going to go totally paleo. I do think that a lot of the recipes fit very well with a post-surgery eating plan.

Snohomish River Run (in WA State) 10K at the end of October Princess 1/2 marathon at Disney World Feb '15

Consider adding some high intensity interval training into one of your weekly runs. It's basically running a series of intervals but you really focus on short bursts of speed. 5 minutes warm up 2 min regular pace 30 sec-1 min very fast (just short of a sprint) 2 min recovery (walk or super slow jog) And repeat for how ever long you want to run.

Here is a ton of Protein ice cream recipes http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2008/08/protein-ice-cream.html

My NUT suggest a small amount of a high fiber cereal mixed with yogurt as a boost to the digestive system. I mix 2-3 tablespoons of Kashi Go Lean cereal in with 2 oz. of greek yogurt as breakfast a few days a week. It has lots of protein and fiber, so I do not mind it taking up some space in my tummy!

This is so reassuring. I'm in the same boat, super active and "healthy" when I was hugely overweight. 1/2 marathons and triathlons, no problem. I'm only 6 weeks out of surgery and am down over 50 pounds from when I first walked into my doctors office. I'm not losing very fast post-op, but I honestly don't even care. Running is SO much easier now. Eating so much Protein is making me feel stronger. I am so glad I made this choice now, at a youngish age, so I can enjoy a much more active lifestyle as my kids get older. And I totally feel you on not wanting to be the fat mom!

My NUT and doctor say that it's important to maintain about 1000-1200 calories a day to ensure healthy weight loss. Now, I'm only 6 weeks out and it's hard for me to get more than 900 (that's only on days when I have 2 Protein shakes, other days I'm around 750), but that's the goal at my doctor's office.

Ricotta mixed with low sugar or sugar free jam (I like marmalade) is really tasty (and a touch of almond butter if allowed). I LOVED ground turkey or lamb (my doc allows ground meats during the soft foods phase) mixed with greek yogurt and feta. The Laughing Cow cheeses are pretty good and very soft. I had never used canned chicken before but I was surprised at how nicely it turned into chicken salad (with greek yogurt, a tiny bit of mayo and seasonings) that I tolerated really well.

I have been using the Trader Joe's High Potency Chewable, and it is not bad at all. The Celebrate vitamins made me crazy nauseous!

@@PdxMan I'd love your thoughts on long distance running/endurance sports post VSG. I have done triathlons and races up to a 1/2 marathon pre-surgery and am working my way back to them with a goal of a 10K in October and a 1/2 in February. My NUT and doctor haven't been super helpful in figuring out nutrition and hydration for long races. Do you have any good tips?