JamieLogical

Sounds liek you had a much rougher road than most of us, but still ended up at your destination! Great job hanging in there and toughing out the hard times. And thank you for posting this to remind people who are currently experiencing a rough patch that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Every surgeon has their own guidelines. I was allowed tiny pills (like my birth control pill and the anti-nausea medication they had me on) immediately post op. I was allowed my larger pills, like my multivitamin, calcium, etc. at 7 days post-op. I was told to try to avoid time release medications forever.

My first post-op egg experience did not go great. It took me a good 45 minutes to eat about 2/3 of it and then I though I would die. I had to lie flat on my back on the floor for a while. It was quite painful. Hopefully it will go better for you! The important thing is to not give up on a food if it doesn't work out the first time your try it. I figured out how to pace myself and how much to try to eat and scrambled eggs became a big staple for me in the first couple of months. If the egg is too much, maybe try some soft cheeses. And definitely try Shelly's baked ricotta: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

It will be critical to take your vitamins post-op. There will be a lot of nutrients you can develop deficiencies in, just due to the fact that you will be eating such limited amounts and types of foods. There are lots of apps available that will set reminders for you. Hopefully you can just get into a routine with it and not even have to think about it anymore like I have.

I reached goal just before my one year mark. It's a marathon, not a sprint. As long as you follow your plan and do everything you need to do, you'll get to goal eventually. The real trick for me now is finding the balance now that I'm at goal. Initially I kept losing and didn't want to, so I made some changes to try to stop the weight loss and now I've gained a couple of pounds back (still at goal, but back from my below goal weight). I know I'll get it figured out eventually!

If you are looking for what we are eating NOW, versus what we were eating when we were just a couple weeks post op, then here's what I typically eat these days at almost 16 month out and maintaining my weight: Breakfast: coffee with Truvia and 1 oz. half & half followed by a Combat Crunch Protein bar (can't handle the new Quest Bars) Lunch: 2 oz. of cheese with an ounce of peanuts OR leftover meat from a previous dinner Afternoon Snack: Coffee with Truvia and 1 oz. half & half followed by a Combat Crunch Protein Bar Dinner: The protein from whatever dinner my husband cooks. He makes single serving sides for himself, but I just eat the meat. We have a lot of shrimp, sausage, meat loaf, and chicken dishes. Evening Snack: Coffee with Truvia and 2 oz. Silk followed by a Combat Crunch protein bar I have become overly dependent on protein bars for sure! They are just so convenient and yummy and high in protein! I almost always have some sort of snack between my afternoon snack and dinner or dinner and my evening snack (depending on what time I eat dinner), but for that snack I don't emphasize protein, because I get all my protein from my meals and protein bars. I'll have chips, ice cream, a muffin, etc. Almost always something carb-y since I don't have many other carbs in my day. When I eat out, which I often do for lunch or dinner, I always pick high protein options. If they come with carbs, I will either tell the server to just leave them off or I just don't touch them. I don't do buns/rolls on "sandwiches", rice, or Pasta, at all. I will occasionally do tortillas or tortilla chips, if I get something Mexican, but only a bit or two. If I order a "sandwhich" I order it without the bread or veggies. I get chili a lot of the time if it's offered wherever I am. If I get a sub, I usually get something with grilled chicken and just pick the chicken out and leave the bread and other toppings. I usually only do fast food if I'm traveling, here are some things I'll get at fast food places: McDonald's: Grilled chicken sandwhich and just eat the chicken or sometimes just a 6 piece chicken nugget (only eatl 4-5 nuggets) Subway: Cold Cut Combo or Subway Club and just eat the meat and cheese. Or Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki, again, just eat the chicken and cheese, no bread. Taco Bell: Steak Quesadilla or Cheesy Gordita Crunch. I eat the meat/cheese first, but will also eat some soft tortilla. Wendy's: Chili w/ cheese At sit down restaurants, I almost always go with chicken of some sort, but I check appetizer menus for high protein options. I've been known to get chicken tenders and just peel the breading off. Chili pretty much anywhere that's an option. A lot of places will do grilled chicken with bacon, cheese, and BBQ sauce as an entree or a sandwich and that's always a good option. Basically, now that I'm maintaining, I don't worry about carbs as much, but I still always put protein first. So at a meal, that usually means not many carbs, if any. But for Snacks in between my scheduled snacks/meals, I'll often do something carb-y and not worry about it.

@@Mooseknuckle Glad to here you are doing so well! It really is crazy how significantly WLS impacts all facets of our lives. It's so much more than just numbers on a scale!

Your plan will probably be different, but mine was: 3 Protein shakes a day (I was provided specific nutritional guidelines for the shakes) 1 green salad with calorie free dressing (I was provided a list of veggies I could include in the salad) Unlimited sugar free Jello and Popsicles Occasionally allowed chicken broth or minestrone Soup, but not every day

Ice if your teeth aren't sensitive to the cold. Otherwise, when are you allowed cottage cheese?

where can you order it I got my sample directly through the GENEPRO website, but that was back when I first had my surgery over a year ago. I believe it was also available on Amazon at that time.

Does not sound normal to me, but may be related to your spleen issue. You should call your surgeon's office to be safe.

Oh no! I'm on antibiotics right now (UTI) and you can bet that I am SUPER DUPER strict about the back-up birth control! 6 months is a good way out. I've seen some stories on here about people getting pregnant weeks after surgery. Obviously, the best thing to do is talk to your surgeon, OB-GYN, and nutritionist to make sure you are doing everything you need to care for yourself and the baby. I have read in previous posts here that the general rule of thumb is to prioritize the pregnancy over the surgery. So take prenatal Vitamins instead of your bariatric vitamins, etc. But the important thing right this second is not to panic and to make sure you are getting proper medical advice from the fully informed professionals. You can safely continue to lose weight while pregnant, you just need to make sure all your nutritional needs are being met. This is not an impossible situation!

I'm not certain that would be the case with sleeve patients though. Our main problem is too much acid production, since we are producing the same amount of acid we used to with only 15-20% of our stomach left to contain it, thus the need for PPIs.

I certainly hope no one is eating Chickfila, Subway, or salad at 15 days post-op! At 15 days post-op I was only allowed Protein shakes, strained cream Soups, and yogurt. When I was allowed legumes and ground meats, I had some Wendy's chili. I managed about 1/4 of a "small" chili back then. I wasn't allowed salad for a looooong time. Raw veggies were a no-no until I want to say around the three month mark? Unfortunately, once I was allowed them, I discovered they caused TERRIBLE burping. Haven't been able to ear raw veggies at all post-op. I'm now going on 16 months post-op and they still cause me to burp uncontrollably. Cooked veggies are fine, but I still don't eat much of them, because I have to put my protein first, of course. If you are looking for some good ideas for things to eat during your puree stage, check out the recipes here: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html I practically lived off the baked ricotta recipe for my entire pureed stage.

Yeah, it's going to be completely dependent upon your surgical team's requirements. Some people don't have a pre-op diet at all. Some people have a liquid only diet (protein shakes). Some people are allowed real, high protein foods. Some people are protein shakes most of the time, but one Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine meal a day. The plans are really all over the place, so no one will be able to answer this question for you.

For me it was a fine line between being resentful of the things my husband ate immediately after my surgery and wanting his life to not be too highly impacted by my decision. It was my choice to have surgery and he was already "suffering" the burden of my being weak, feeble, and whiny post-op. I didn't want him to have to give up foods he loved on top of that, but he did try to be pretty decent about at least not eating my FAVORITE foods in front of me. Like, if he had ordered pizza, I probably would have murdered him.

I did try a free sample of it that I received and it mixed well with my greek yogurt, so if you are just looking for a taste-free option that mixes well, it seems like a good source of at least 15 grams of protein. In their videos they say it doesn't mix great with straight water (didn't try it myself), but does mix well with any flavored beverage like Gatorade and with hot beverages like coffee or tea.

I didn't know what this was, so I looked it up. From the 5 seconds of research I did, it seems like this is an acid PRODUCER not an acid REDUCER, so I don't get how it could potentially help with heartburn and reflux?

With all due respect, no. Just...no. Gaining weight this early out is COMPLETELY normal. It's not possible to gain 6 pounds of fat by overeating as early out as she is. You could be eating McDonald's shakes at this stage with chocolate chip Cookies and still lose weight. You are dead wrong. It's part of the 3 week stall. She is just one of the lucky ones that gains while the body adjusts. She will start losing weight again once it passes. You just stay the course and let your body do its thing. Don't get discouraged! You're doing great! i completely disagree with your statements. You are entitled to your opinion but the surgery itself does not cause fat to melt. It's the severe restriction of calories. The truth is the scale doesn't lie but we can lie to ourselves. It takes like 3,000 extra calories to gain a pound (not including Water weight). So if someone is gaining weight they must be sneaking in extra calories and most likely through carbs. The poster in question has admitted she is a vegan and on top of that is not even able to eat vegan Protein. So I'm guessing her diet is mostly carbs at this stage. These are my opinions, of course, take them or leave them as anyone seems fit. The flaw in your logic is that you aren't accounting for water weight. We are advised to drink a minimum of 64 oz. of water a day. That's four POUNDS of water a day. Retaining any amount of that can cause large fluctuations on the scale that have nothing to do with calories or gaining fat. To gain 6 pounds of actual fat, the original poster would have had to ingest 21000 EXCESS calories in 4 days (PS: it takes 3500 excess calories to gain a pound, not 3000 as you said in your post). That's an average of over 5200 EXTRA calories a day at only a week post op. I don't know about you, but I was struggling to get in over 400 calories a day at 7 days post-op. There is no way the original poster is physically capable of consuming something like 7000 calories a day this early out. Unless she's hooked up to a milk shake IV or something. This is clearly her body responding to the trauma of surgery and retaining water.

Your primary struggle in the first couple of weeks post-op will be fatigue. You will be very very tired. I went back to work 15 days post-op and I was still very tired and usually went to bed as soon as I got home from work that first week or two back. If you need to go back at one week post-op and work from home, I would suggest maybe doing partial days or breaking your day up in such a way that you can get a nap in?

I was going to say the exact same thing! Why the heck are you surrounding yourself with such a**holes?

Sounds like your surgeon moved you through the food stages too quickly. I wasn't even allowed solids until 40 days post-op and then it was only specific types of solids. Your body is telling you you aren't ready. Listen to it!

The only "studies" are ones they have done themselves. I have found no third party confirmation of their claims. If you want to use GENEPRO, I would advise counting it as 15 grams of Protein toward your daily total instead of the claimed 30 grams. Logically, it's not physically possible to fit 30 grams into 15 grams. Grams are a measure of mass. The claim is that their specific formula of protein is absorbed and utilized by the body at a much higher rate than "normal" protein supplements, thus you allegedly get the BENEFIT of twice as much protein in half the mass. But again, there are no independent studies to prove their claims at this point. So you would be totally taking it on faith and running the risk of only getting half as much protein as you think you are. That's why I recommend counting it as just the actual and real 15 grams of protein. If you are getting the "benefit" of more protein because of their special process, then great, but at least you can be sure you are still getting your minimums in by counting it as only 15 grams.

Are you getting all of your water and protein in? Can you tell us a little about what you are eating now and what your activity level is like?

It is completely dependent upon your provider and your specific policy. You will need to contact your insurance company to find out for sure. Every provider and policy is different.