Djmohr

@@Elyse519 I am so sorry you are having a rough time. How are you going on liquids? The reason I ask is that if you are even slightly dehydrated you will feel like crap. Weak, tired, dizzy and nauseous are all symptoms of dehydration. chicken can be rough for some to eat until they are a bit further out. In fact I got the same feeling you describe when trying to eat pureed meat of any kind. I tried ground chicken, ground turkey, tuna, ground beef. I literally would gag and gag. So, I went back to Greek yogurt, Protein shakes, cottage cheese, sf pudding, creamed Soups and the full liquid diet until the pureed stage was done. For me, that was 4 weeks post op. I felt better almost immediately which told me I just needed to go slower. At 4 weeks I was cleared to do soft moist foods like chicken, fish, ground meats, veggies cooked well. I had to go slow and try one thing at a time. I will never forget the day I made my first very juicy chicken breast and a teaspoon of sweet potato. I swore I never tasted anything so good before. LOL. Then for about another 6 weeks there were days when chicken worked and days when it didn't. When it did it had to be good and moist. Don't over cook it. Try drinking more fluids and don't worry so much about the pureed meats for now. I bet you will start feeling better. Of course contact your nut to validate but that is what mine told me to do and it worked.

Yes absolutely. If you have any type of kidney disease it is important to stay on the minimum side of 1 gram for every 1 inch you are tall. It makes your kidneys work harder. I have stage 3 kidney disease so I have to be very careful. My kidney disease is in remission but the last few month my BUN levels have been off so I have to watch both Proteins and medications that are filtered through the kidneys.

Did your doctor provide guidelines in terms of amount of food? For bypass at first it was no more than 1/4 cup of food at meal times. I could barely get that down. The Water thing is a bigger deal. You will become dehydrated if you don't drink enough and that can cause you to feel like your stomach is hungry when in fact you are dehydrated. I know this sounds strange but in the beginning weeks and months following surgery I literally had to hold the cup or bottle in my hand at all times and just sipped every minute or so until I was able to get to 64oz MINIUMUM per day. I know it sounds insurmountable but it will get better for you.

I think the first 4 to 6 weeks are the hardest because you just don't feel like eating or drinking. The issue with that is if you are not drinking. Every hour you go dehydrated makes you feel crappier. If nothing else you have to focus your efforts on Clear liquids. The Protein will happen further down the road. For me it was 7 weeks post op before I could drink a whole Protein shake in a day. You have stores of protein in your body from before surgery that will hold you for weeks. Water on the other hand is not usually one of them after a few days you become dehydrated. It can make you feel tired, dizzy, nauseous, weak and defeated. Your focus must be on staying hydrated 1st followed by protein and Vitamins. I promise it gets better every day, every week and every month.

Ok so I learned what not to do today in my instant pot. Hubby works for 4:30pm to midnight has really been screwing with both of our diets because I am feeding him at 12:30 in the am. It doesn't work. 1. I end up hungry and eating a snack with him when I really should be in bed sleeping 2. He is gaining weight because he is eating so stupidly So we decided to buy the instant pot so I could make "lunch" our bigger meal of the day and then I can have something small for dinner which I prefer to do anyway. I have not been shopping so I decided to make chicken with marinara sauce and throw some Pasta in it. I had a doctors appointment so I wanted to throw it in the pot and then we would eat around 2:30 today when we got back and before he had to go to work. I cut up mu breast into 3 pieces each and browned them in the pot in olive oil. Sautéed onion, garlic a small amount of tomato paste. Added a cup of red wine and deglazed the bottom of the pot. Then I added a can of tomato sauce, petite diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, dried Italian seasoning, 2.5 cups of chicken stock and 1/2 lb of pasta. I used Campanella because it was all I had in the house. Hubby eats it, I usually don't. Set the pot for 5 minutes on manual as per instructions on Pinterest and let her rip. My house smelled like an Italian restaurant in less than 2 minutes. Them we left after the pot shut off and went to warm. That is where I made my mistake LOL. When we got back 2 hours later I opened the pot to serve lunch and my pasta was way overlooked and my chicken dry. So I learned that you need to keep the pieces of chicken larger and once your pot turns off, instant release it and do not leave it on warm it will continue to cook your pasta because of all the heat in the pot. DUH! If I would have thought about it for 5 minutes, I would have figured that out without basically ruining my dinner. Too dry for me to eat at all. It had fabulous flavor but eech. So, back to the pot tomorrow night to try something else. I am anxious to try a pot roast in there with fresh carrots and baby potatoes.

Are you worried about being heavier or lighter? And why are you worried? Did they tell you that you had to be at a certain weight for surgery?

You look fantastic. Congratulations!

One of my favorite dishes after bypass was chicken cacciatore. The low fat marinara sauce makes the chicken nice and moist. I chose to add green peppers, mushrooms, onions and even some carrots to the sauce. No Pasta though I would make taco meet with 90% ground beef, ground chicken or ground turkey and eat that with low fat cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and black olives. I would sauté chicken breast with healthy request cream of mushroom Soup. Add a side of steamed veggies. Any kind of seafood: shrimp sautéed in olive oil with lemon And my favorite - stir fry made with a small amount of olive oil, chicken, beef or shrimp, cauliflower, carrots, sugar snap peas, onion, mushroom. Whatever veggies you like and homemade stir fry sauce there are many recipes on Pinterest. I don't use any bottled or packaged stuff with the exception of marinara sauce or cream of mushroom soup. There are tons of Bariatric recipes on Pinterest. Ever since my RNY, I go to Pinterest and rework recipes to fit my needs. It's a lot of fun and the food is awesome too.

YAY! Congratulations and keep us posted on your progress.

@@Mysticpink74 I do have some posted on my profile. I will be posting new ones in the next couple of weeks as I just had an arm lift. Monday I get the dressings off and I can hardly wait. I have been itching like a crazy fool for the last 3 weeks.

Glad to hear things are better for you and you are doing well!

@@pammieanne That is great! I have to say, when I was at my heaviest I did not buy clothes or shoes my vice was great handbags. I started with coach and had nearly 40 bags, then moved to Louis Vuitton and had 6 and then finally got my first Channel bag. I used a bonus one year to install a California closet. I had them add a huge cabinet behind glass so my bags would not get dusty and I could see them all. LOL It cost nearly 11K for the cabinet. I ended up selling all of my coach bags shortly after getting my first 4 Louis bags. Then I sold a couple of Louis bags knowing we were down sizing our home. Now, I have literally no where to go with anything so I sold 2 more of my Louis vuittons recently. Now I am down to handful of my favorite handbags with my gorgeous little black Channel as my favorite. So apparently I had a handbag addiction. Now, I am buying shoes and clothes. It's crazy how much you have to replace after loosing so much weight but it's fun all at the same time.

@@pammieanne Honestly Victoria's Secret for me was a big non scale victory. I shop there now because I can. Same thing with Lucky Brand Jeans. After my first 60lbs lost, my husband dragged me in there kicking and screaming. I still had 90lbs to lose and thought there is no way in hell anything in here will fit me. I just had this idea in my head that I wasn't really getting smaller. My head was not connected to the rest of me. LOL. Well, I tried on that first pair of lucky brand jeans in a size 16 and they were too big for me. I was shocked given I was in a 24 at lane Bryant. I lose weight off my butt, legs and feet first. Anyway, just realizing how much weight you have truly lost by trying on clothes made it so motivating for me to get to goal. It was never about clothes for me, it was about health so I was shocked at how much I love trying on clothes in all differently styles now. I did it all along my weight loss journey and everytime I did it motivated me to keep going. - who knew I would love clothes shopping. Now i have to be careful because I go into a mall and I want to look at everything. I used to hate clothes shopping and the mall especially.

You can do this. You just need to refocus on yourself, don't worry about all the naysayers. I would be happy to help. You can private message me if you like. It would be good to know where you are at with your diet and exercise. Are you still working with your Bariatric team? A nutritionist and Physcologist could definately help you get back on track and will provide ideas for local support groups as well. You need someone in your camp to help encourage you and support you.

That is exactly the way to think about it. Where will you be in the next year! For me although I was nervous the night before, my surgery day was like Christmas morning and I was getting the gift of a lifetime! Now 2 years later I am at goal maintaining. Had my first plastics almost 3 weeks ago. I wear a size 8 clothes which has never ever happened in my life. Best of all I have more energy and feel so much younger because of it. Congratulations you are well on your way and I am sure surgery will be right around the corner for you! Keep us posted.

I know you absoulety don't want to hear this but the doctor is right, as long as you can get Water down you will be ok. It will give your tummy more time to heal. I remember that first week being exactly as you described. I was on clear fluids and not even coming close to water goals. They did not even start me on Protein that first week. Once I was able to process liquids better then they started me on full liquids for a week. It will get better. The best thing you can do for yourself is realize the next few weeks are going to be rough but sipping as much clear liquid as you can will help make you feel better. That dizzy nausea weak feeling is because you are dehydrated. Hopefully your doc gave you something to deal with the nausea. Also gas x tablets or strips helped me with the gassy feeling as well as a heating pad. This will get better, you are just going to need to take things slowly and sip like crazy.

Very nicely done! Congratulations!

One of my best days ever was shredding my lane Bryant card and getting my new Victoria's Secret Black card. LOL All of those things can happen and more! I went car shopping for the first time since losing all my weight. I was shocked at how for the first time in my adult life I fit in every car and had a ton of leftover room. What a great feeling when my husband laughed and called me tiny. I like that name tiny!

You look fantastic! Congratulations. It takes a while for your head to catch up. I am 22 months post op and still am not there.

@TAJ718@Amylou, I hate to say this but I had surgery at Abbott northwestern myself (not for RNY) but back surgery there. I loved my surgeon. I literally hated Abbott northwestern. I am a very very easy patient, I was treated like absolute crap by my nurse. I literally cried all night long in pain and he refused to call my surgeon and get a different solution for me. I have never ever had a nurse treat me so poorly in my life. Nurses just generally are not like that. He also treated the person in my same room like crap. I ended up reporting it the next day and received an apology and a whole bunch of excuses about how short staffed they were. I will never ever go to that hospital again. Now, if you were asking me about the university of Minnesota hospital. I had a 3 level cervical fusion there last June. They are the best hospital I have ever stayed in. I was there 2 nights and had the best care. Nurses and nursing assistants alike. I had several muscle spasms in the shoulders following that surgery and the muscle relaxer they had prescribed wasn't touching it at all. I had a fabulous male nurse who without my asking paged my surgeon and got approval to use a different drug. He made sure when they sent me home (which I had to fly home), that I had my prescriptions and a good plan for home care. Never have I had nursing care like there. It is a great first step, just wondering if you should check out Methodist an the park Nicollet Bariatric center which is phenomenal. That is where I had mine and they again had a whole wing for Bariatric patients. I had a private room that was set up like a suite. Wonderful care there as well. Although if you can get in at any of the ones listed, it would be good. My advice is to stay away from Abbott.

This is 100% normal. I have had upwards of 10 surgeries in my life and regardless of how excited I am that day and night before is always the worst. I have learned to really treat myself to a relaxing bubble bath, a book and some relaxing music to help me just chill. I use deep breathing which really does work by the way. I have never been more excited than having RNY because I was so ready. Same thing with my recent Brachioplasty. That being said, I barely slept at all the night before. It is normal to feel nervous and even a little anxious. Be good to you and best of luck with your surgery!

I just could not live without my scale. It is just one barometer in how you are doing but I learned so much about my eating habits because of it. You see, I was one of the crazy people that weighed every day, once per day at the same time every morning. As time progressed I learned how to have a good relationship with my scale. I would talk to it and explain if I already knew it was not going to be good and other times it surprised me. What I really learned was that if I chose to go off plan and ate something really salty that I was literally going to retail Water that would show up as a gain of 1 or 2 lbs. I knew it wasn't real because I certainly didn't eat enough to gain 2 lbs but I learned that if I choose to go off plan, the scale will be my truth. Because of it, I rarely went off plan enough to make that scale go the wrong way. It only has happened a few times. In addition to leveraging the scale I used clothing to tell me how I was doing. Even if I was in a stall and the numbers didn't move, my clothes were getting smaller in places. The scale kept me honest. That is just the way I approached . Now that I am at maintenance I weight myself maybe 3 times a week and even sometimes once per week. Again, my clothing tells me if I am losing or gaining or maintaining.