AgentShepard

A word on the straw thing - in my pre-surgery class I asked about this specifically, because I have sensitive teeth and need to use a straw to avoid pain from cold drinks. I was told that if I needed to use the straw, it was okay, just make sure that the straw is completely submerged in the liquid. The noise when you try to drink through a straw in a mostly-empty cup is you sucking in air, so that's a no-no. I've been using straws in accordance with these instructions since like two weeks after surgery and been fine. Hope this is helpful.

VSGLady, I feel your pain! My program says to use Colace, and it is gentle enough to use daily. Hopefully some combination of these things will help you!

They moved me from IV drugs to oral oxycodone the day after surgery, and it wasn't enough. The nurses called my surgeon and he ordered me a change to Percocet. That did the trick and enabled me to keep up my walking! I moved to the oral oxycodone when I went home the next day and was fine. The moral to this story is, if it isn't working, ask for a change - it can make a world of difference.

A heads up... So if you are anything like me, the move to more and more solid food may also be accompanied by a move to more and more solid... other things. *cough* During this period where we aren't supposed to have much Fiber yet it can be especially difficult to mitigate the effects through dietary intake alone! My doctor says that if you have trouble in this area, the preferred treatment is Colace, not a more harsh stimulant laxative which is still too harsh for our healing plumbing. It's gentle enough to take every day. I had an unfortunate GI weekend, so I am passing along (no pun intended) my lesson learned! It was a surprise to me because I've spent the last decade on metformin, which tends to give me GI trouble in the opposite direction, so I wasn't prepared!

Lacey, if you do go to the egg face blog, I tried her ricotta bake recipe and it was DELISH. I divided the recipe into four little ramekins and each ramekin ended up being about 250 calories and 18 grams of Protein (yours will vary depending on your ingredients of course.) I am on purees currently but I will say that I have a very tolerant sleeve. More picky sleeves might have some trouble with the melty cheese in this recipe. A half-cup ramekin made a full and satisfying meal for me, and I thought it was so yummy I would totally have even eaten it before surgery! I've also been eating a lot of cheesy scrambled eggs (apparently a puree on my plan, go figure) and I can eat almost one egg (like 3/4 of the egg.) It helps if they are made nice and soft. There is a way to make scrambled eggs that comes out really soft and creamy and easy on the sleeve: http://beekman1802.com/recipes/joshs-lazy-scrambled-eggs/ If any thick stuff at all hurts your tummy, you can try the Isopure clear Protein drinks. They are not great tasting but they are thin. Also you could dilute with Water, Crystal Lite, etc., to try to cut the icky aftertaste.

Oh and I almost forgot... my name on MFP is obliquered if you want to add me! For those who need instructions, on the MFP web site, click on "community" then "find members" then put the user name in the form and hit search. When it brings up the person's profile you can hit a button to add them as a friend. Hope this helps!

Hi October sleeve buddies! Checking back in. This week I started back in to work at my office... or actually, that was the PLAN but it didn't quite work out that way. I normally telework on Monday and Friday and am in the office on Tuesday-Thursday. So I teleworked Monday and it was fine, and then I went in to the office on Tuesday. I packed myself supplies to get through the day and did very well, got in two Protein shakes, some scrambled egg and some applesauce, then drove myself home through the Atlanta traffic. Well as soon as I got through the door I was just hit with a WALL of fatigue - I almost burst into tears, I was just SO TIRED. By the time I went to bed I was having some dizziness. When I got up yesterday I was still dizzy, so I called in sick to work and slept about half the day. When I got up I wasn't dizzy anymore, but was still tired. So today I was going to go in for a half day and see how that worked... as I was walking down the hall, I ran into my boss coming the other way. "What are you doing here?" she said. "Um... working?" I said. "You still look so tired! Why didn't you work from home?" "My computer is here," I said. "I'll go get your computer," she said. "You just sit down and then go home, okay?" "Okay," I said meekly. Then she carried my stuff back out to my car and told me that "This isn't a sprint! I know you want to do everything yesterday but give yourself the time you need, we will figure it out." I really appreciate having so much support from work. I'm frustrated that even at five weeks I still don't have the energy for a normal day, especially when so many people have gone back to work at two weeks and been fine! On the plus side, though, my weight loss has been good (I'm down about 63lbs from my highest, nearly 40 since surgery) and I have been tolerating all my food and Vitamins really well, and my incisions are healing well, and even my bad knee has been improving, so I try to hold on to that. It's also been fun shopping for new clothes in the "outgrown" parts of my closet! If only we could force our bodies to bend to our wills...

I started back teleworking last week and I'm back in the office this week. I'm glad I waited because I was also suffering from a bad knee and it took me a while to get my strength back. I will still sometimes hit a wall and just be really tired all of a sudden but I have so much more energy now than even a week ago. I used up all the leave I had but I think it was worth it to have enough time to really concentrate on recovery. The biggest challenge I think is going to be not getting caught up in my work and forgetting to eat and drink when I'm supposed to. I may need to set up some alerts on my work calendar to remind me...

obliquered if anyone wants to add me.

I had 4 - 3 about half an inch long and 1 about an inch. I'm actually super impressed that my surgeon was able to get my stomach out through such a tiny hole!

Not for comparison, but if you look in the "200+ pounds to lose" forum there's a nice long thread with 400b+ success stories! I started at 447, so I read that one a lot.

El, one thing that really helped me was tweaking the Protein to alleviate what was making it gross to me. Too thick? Add more Water. Smells funky? Add a fragrant ingredient like PB2 or fruit. Tastes bad? Try some sugar-free syrup. Tired of sweets? Stir some unflavored into a Soup. So for instance, I would have a bowl of oatmeal that normally contained 7g protein and add a scoop of unflavored protein to bring it up to 17. Then I'd add a tablespoon of sugar free syrup to help mask the protein flavor in a complementary flavor to the oatmeal - caramel in banana oatmeal or maple oatmeal, vanilla in strawberry, etc. I did the same thing with greek yogurt - taking a 12g cup of yogurt (already great) to 22g! Now that I'm on purees it's easier because I can have pureed meat, Beans, etc. The variety really helps me feel more normal, especially when my husband and I can now eat the same stuff, albeit in different form. Hope this helps! Hang in there!

Thanks Kathy! The one compensation of starting out really big is that at least you lose fast in the beginning, LOL. I actually did some pureed turkey breast last night - it looked gross but tasted good! I did 3oz of turkey and pureed it with gravy... I could only finish half, plus about 2 oz of mushed sweet potato and a bite of mashed potato, but it was nice to feel like I was eating a proper dinner. I have had so much yogurt and Protein shakes in the last month I feel like I'm going to turn into a cow! I also did some pureed tuna salad for lunch. Again, looks nasty (my mom called it "tuna slop") but it's so nice to have some different, savory tastes at last! I want to try that ricotta bake. Those who have made it - I have a set of little 1-cup ramekins that I'm thinking of using to bake single servings. How many cups does that recipe make?

Thanks Peekboo! Thanksgiving is actually going to be my first day on soft foods... fortunately we always go for Thanksgiving to the house of one of my best friends who had gastric bypass 10 years ago, so she totally understands my needs. Hopefully I'll be able to have a bite or two of Thanksgiving casseroles in addition to my finely-minced turkey.

Hi October sleevers, another newbie joining in. I was sleeved on 10/17 and am anxiously counting the hours until I get to graduate from full liquids to purees on Thursday. Mostly because I've been living primarily off of yogurt and Protein shakes (most Soups aren't high enough in Protein and I end up only eating them on days when I'm over my protein goal) and I'm really looking forward to more savory stuff - dinner that tastes like dinner! Also, alas, I thought protein shakes were fine pre-surgery but I'm really sensitive to the smell now and have to get creative to mask it. I start back to work tomorrow, teleworking for a few days and then back to the office next week. I'm a little nervous about it because my stamina still isn't the best, but hopefully they will understand if I start drooping midway through the day. The hardest part will be providing myself with enough of the right kind of foods to keep me going - I'm thinking of looking for some shelf-stable milk boxes I can keep at my desk for emergencies along with pre-measured Protein shake powders, plus some of those squeezable fruit puree pouches in case I let my blood sugar get too low and need a little quick energy. Some really useful things I've discovered so far: Dannon Light and Fit Greek yogurt - 80 calories, sugar free, 12 grams of protein in a 5.5 oz serving. Plus I think they are quite tasty. Sugar Free coffee syrups (by Torani, DaVinci, Monin, etc.) - a tablespoon of one of these can add a great flavor boost. Sometimes I add unflavored protein to a yogurt, pudding, oatmeal, etc., and then add a complementary syrup to help mask the protein flavor. They can also help make a protein shake better. Don't add too much, though; in large quantities they can have a chemically flavor. Note that these aren't like the extracts you use in baking - they also contain sweetener, so if you are using them take that into account. PB2 peanut flour (powdered peanut) - another flavor addition for protein stuff that also adds some extra protein, though it works best if you blend the shake. (Using a Blender Bottle or similar, some grit will settle to the bottom of the cup.) When I got to full liquids I bought a ton of soups and sugar free puddings. but I haven't eaten many at all - I can only eat so much in a day and usually I end up going with a higher protein shake or yogurt. Maybe now that I'm going back to work I'll have more time to get my protein in and therefore a bit more flexibility... Weight loss has been going well so far. I lost more in the nearly four weeks since surgery than I did in the four months prior, which is encouraging! I'm at the halfway point in what I call the "healing" diet - my surgeon doesn't put you on regular food until 8 weeks - and I'm really anxious to stop having to blend everything! At least starting this week I'll be able to share some meals with the family again - I'm going through our standard meals and trying to figure out which ones are puree-able. I'm thinking that things with sauces are going to be my best bet... maybe a pot roast in the crock pot, that sort of thing, and then I could just puree up a few portions for myself. We'll see how it goes!

Mine is - -2 weeks: clear liquids and skim/1% milk -2 weeks: full liquids -2 weeks: purees -2 weeks: soft foods then you gradually phase in regular food as tolerated. I'm a few days out from purees and I cannot WAIT to get to soft foods - I miss chewing!

PB2 is powdered peanuts, sometimes called peanut flour. I believe it is a byproduct of making peanut oil - they press the oil out and what is left is peanut flour. It's a great way to add some protein and peanut butter flavor to food without the fat of peanut butter. You can order it online, and my local Smoothie King also stocks it.

I frequently use it in my shakes, though I find it works best if they are blended - just with a shaker bottle it can get gritty.

I know this thread was from last year but a few other 10/14 sleevers have chimed in, so I will to! I was sleeved on 10-17-14. My highest in July 14 was 447 and the day of surgery I was 415. I gained 15 pounds in the hospital but it came off quickly over the next week or so, and I'm currently about 53lbs down from my HW and about 22 down from day-of-surgery. It's nice to be under 400lbs again - it's been years! I'm pleased with how things have gone so far. My recovery has been smooth. I've not had any problems with nausea since the day after surgery and very little pain since the week after. I am still on full liquids and have been meeting my Protein, Water, and walking goals almost every day (every once in a while I don't manage to get one of them; I'm still working out the best ways to handle everything.) I get to start purees a week from tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to soft foods just because it will be logistically easier and I'm tired of washing the blender! I start back to work next week, which will be my next big challenge. I hope I'll have the stamina to actually get through the day and be useful! Currently my walks, going to the store, etc., leave me exhausted.