Josh2xh

What is everyone taking to meet their Calcium goals? I bought a 30 day supply of calcium chewable wafers at 250 Mg Per tablet. The NUT recommended 1500 Mg per day. Each tablet makes me gag and I am supposed to choke down 6 of these a day? The tablets are also the size of 3 quarters stacked on top of each other. Please tell me someone has found a liquid form? Thank you

Thank you both for the replies. Lil Red, thank you for the suggestion. I will keep my eye out for those flavors. I currently have the wild berry flavor but it tastes like chalk. Mi75, Do you know the name of the brand you use? I have a bottle of D3 as cholecalciferol, but that only helps with absorption of Vitamin D and calcium, but does not provide the calcium requirements we need. Originally I was taking the D3 assuming it was the way to go. But my NUT explained that while D3 was great to take and would help my body absorb calcium, I still needed the calcium citrate to prevent bone lose. It took some doing but I was able to verify what she told me online. It was shocking because the D3 is marketed as a calcium vitamin. Which I suppose is true if you are a normal person eating Big Macs, but we aren't exposing our bodies to enough calcium to absorb for the S3 to help alone. Not to mention all the chewables I have seen contain D3 already so the US no need to take the stupid liquid D3 I bought. If you have a calcium citrate in liquid I would be eternally grateful.

I am 8 days out and every commercial is a killer for me. All I want is (insert any fast food item). I have to mentally push the head hunger away and it's a struggle. I had a frigging dream the other night that I was BBQing for my family but not being able to eat any. It was horrible. I agree with you about the world revolving around food. I watched a TED talk where a scientist said the most dangerous and addictive drug on earth is sugar. I was simply blown away by this as it had never occurred to me. Everything has sugar in it, I mean everything. The head hunger Haaaaassssss to subside at some point...

Yuck. pureed shrimp sounds awful. I assume it might be nice if we could have cocktail sauce but I highly doubt the horseradish in the sauce is permitted. The only thing I am looking forward to in stage 2 is Peanut Butter.

Smoothie's sound great. But I assume they introduce quite a bit of air into the sleeve? Perhaps sipping for a few hours on one does the trick? Maybe a juice place like Jamba juice with have something for us. I would love to try out a recipe.

The Atkins shakes are very tasty. The big problem is you get a better bang for your Protein with something else. 15 g of Protein is not much compared to premiere protein with 30g or pure protein with 35g. I believe all three drinks are 11ml. So if you are having trouble choking down the same sluge, the Atkins shakes are a good alternative but you have to choke down more.

My surgeon prescribed promethazine syrup for nausea (it tastes pretty good). I really wanted to avoid taking additional meds but on day 4 the nausea was really hurting. I took the prilosec and the anti nausea and felt completely better by day 7 (which is today). I also felt more like my old self and was able to choke down more liquids today to meet my Protein goal. See if you can get your surgeon too write you an anti nausea script.

Brand new day for me.... Today I found some additional foods I can eat and I was finally able to meet my Protein goal pretty easily. I took the advice of quite a few people and tried Premier Protein. Ironically it was a switch from vanilla to chocolate that did the trick for me. I feel much better and stronger today.

Sparkle, I had a similar situation but with my incisions. I was really confused on day 4 and pulled off my steristrips prematurely. I thought I was supposed to expose the sutures before taking a shower. Anyhow, I freaked out big time. I have high anxiety already so this put me through the roof. I called the surgeons office and the PA (who I love)said to tape gauze over the sites. This did not relieve my anxiety. The next day I woke up at 4am and sat around until my surgeons office opened at 8:30. I asked if I could see the surgeon to reapply the strips. They gave me an appointment right after the surgeon got out of surgery at 10:30. The surgeon came in and said everything healed nicely and I didn't need to worry. As soon as he said this I immediately felt better. The morale of the story is... Go demand to see your surgeon. You will feel immensely better once you are cleared.

If it helps... I am on day 7 post op and I had the same horrible rumblings until day 6. On day 6 I started to get sick of feeling like hell so I started talking my prilosec and anti nausea medication. I also picked up my walking to get rid of the gas. Someone on the forums here suggested walking and eating at the same time. That was a really helpful tool.

I am struggling to meet my Protein goals. The NUT told me to shoot for 110 grams per day, but this seems ridiculous as I am full all day with a gurgling stomach. How much protein do or did you consume during the first 2 weeks post op?

Butterfly, I am on day 5 post op. I am drinking Protein all day long and constantly feel full and bloated. What changed for you during the second week?

Congratulations Jen. That is just wonderful. Keep up that positive attitude.

Tangy, How are you taking the prilosec? I haven't seen a chewable form yet. And the box I got says not to chew or crush.

Jedi. The only way I have met my Protein goal is with ISO pure 40g and pure protein 35g (looks the same as premier protein). But it's getting harder and harder to get these things down. It's looks like 60 - 80 grams seems to be the norm though. The NUT didn't do any calculations based on my weight either or height. She just said 110g. Maybe I need to investigate this gurgling feeling in my gut. I might be hungrier if that went away.

75 grams of Protein a day without give me plenty of choices for alternate food choices. If it helps I am 5'11" weight 265 lbs.

I am not sure what others do. I have not had a lot of success with consistency in tracking food offer the years. But I am making an effort to record my activities and intake. I bought an app called "Food Diary". It's on the Android market place but I am sure it's available for apple as well. It was only $0.99 . Its very flexible and doesn't try to be overly sophisticated. You can modify or enter whatever you want. This doesn't send reminders from what I can tell Butt if you know your goal per day it helps you keep track of where you are too target.

I am not sure if the rumbling is normal but I am 4 days Post op and the bubbles are unending and uncomfortable. Perhaps this is still gas pain from the surgery, or our stomachs not fully agreeing with our food choices. I do have one question though. What did you mean by full liquids? What are your cravings?

I have always been a gulper too. I find it tedious to sip. I think I just need a balance. Thank you to all who have replied.

How long should it take to consume an 11 Oz Protein shake Within the first 2 weeks of post op? I have found that 1 oz per 15 minutes is 16 hours of continuous drinking if you never miss an interval based on a regime of 64oz per day. Is this the expected protocol? Or should I be consuming more often or in larger quantities?

That's excellent. I missed the instructions stating to consume until you feel satiated. Looks like you can consume a sip every few minutes.

Oh no... I am only 3 days post op and I had a brief craving for popcorn. I am pretty sure it was a craving induced by movie night though. I just assumed popcorn would be out of my diet for life after the sleeve. I have never been much of a popcorn person. But the butter and salt I enjoy it with are not very good for me. I am glad I saw this post though as I was unaware of slider foods. I will have to be aware of these later though.

I am 3 days post op and the gas pain has been the biggest challenge so far. Burping is fairly painful and I agree it feels like its just internal, not actually relieving any pressure. But farting has been very relieving. I hope I don't get to the point that I am guessing if the releases are more than just gas, but I can deal with that when/if it becomes a problem. I also dismissed quite a few items I thought I would not need. I thought broth and shakes world be a mainstay for me. But after reading Mickeys post perhaps I will mix in some sugar free treats like Jello and Popsicles. I am finding that my pouch can hold or process alot more than I thought. I was keeping to 1oz intervals every 15 to 30 minutes but found I could either increase the frequency or portions. Not sure if this is common but I have be trying to avoid testing the boundaries of my new pouch.

I have 2 weeks to decide what to tell people when I return from work. My boss knows, but no one else does. My first instinct is to lie and justify that lie by telling myself this is a personal journey and none of anyone's business. But I keep coming back to honesty. I feel that my over eating had/has a lot to do with lying to myself. And I don't know if covering up my success here is a continuation of dishonesty. for what it's worth I don't know what I will do in the end. I may give a false truth because I do believe my successes are no one else's business. Or I may tell the truth. The only thing I am certain of, is my psychiatrist is going to get $275 to help me make that decision. ☺

I had VSG on Friday April 25th. I came home late last night (Saturday). The gas-air was my biggest challenge like a lot of the other people here. I had some trouble peeing post surgery which kept me at the hospital a bit longer than I had hoped for. The doctors said it was a result of the anesthesia. Unfortunately the inability to pee led to a temporary catheter which was a real nightmare. The gas has subsided drastically and I feel much better now. If you can avoid burping it helps quite a bit. I am consuming Isopure zero carb which seems to agree very well with my new stomach. I lost 20 lbs prior to surgery using a variety of Protein drinks, hoping to test a number of these to see which my body would react best to. A few questions if anyone feels interested: 1. What type, if any, food journal are you keeping? I really prefer to use my phone if possible. I found an app called Food diary which works pretty well, but is limited. I have access to quite a few fitness bands but they all seem very focused on weight management rather weight loss and meal tracking. 2. I haven't had a need for any heartburn or nausea medication yet but I worry avoidance may lead to a not so fun incident. I was prescribed an elixir for nausea and prilosec OTC for heartburn. What is working for everyone else? 3: I am about to try an Atkins shake. The were my favorite prior to surgery. They have 15 grams of protein and are much smaller than other shakes I have seen, with a wide array of nutrients. Although I haven't see anyone like our dislike these I was curious if anyone has success with the drink? Thank you.