gal friday

I was on clears for 5-6 days because I was still stuck in the hospital (the surgery revealed that I had a kidney problem and that had to be dealt with), but then I got to add in the other stuff I mentioned. I cannot say enough awesome things about Isopure ready to drink Protein Water. It is clear protein in a variety of fruit flavors, with a texture the same as juice or water. After my experience in the hospital I developed an aversion to traditional Protein shakes, so I survive on the Isopure protein waters, and my surgeon told me last week that she's never seen anyone with a better protein level at 12 weeks out! The Isopure drinks do NOT come cheap, and some of the flavors are revolting (I gagged on the 'Icy Orange' flavor but love 'Alpine Punch', but my husband loves the Icy Orange and hates the Alpine Punch.). The Vitamin Shoppe has them the cheapest, and they have a cold case with individual, cold Isopures so you can try a few different flavors before committing to a case (which are cheaper on their website). They have a black tea that I want to try next.

Loose yoga pants, t-shirts, and a cardigan. When you wear pants instead of the gown (which most hospitals let you do), when the nurses and doctors examine your belly, manage your dressings and drain, you don't have to show off your undies, you can slide your shirt up a bit and your pants down a bit, which is some privacy.

The only time I get hungry is right after I've started eating. And it's not normal hunger - I am absolutely ravenous, like I haven't eaten in days. I am miserable until it passes, and it puts me at risk for not chewing thoroughly or overeating. It does not matter when I eat or when I eat it. I do not get hungry any other time. My surgeon has no explanation for this. Is it like this for anyone else? I'm experiencing it right now, it's horrible. I don't drink carbonated beverages and I'm doing nothing to stretch my stomach out. I am losing weight on track, and all of my Vitamin levels are great - my Protein level is the best my surgeon has ever seen! I always eat my protein first. The only thing I am bad about is eating Breakfast, because I have to take about a dozen pills due to chronic illness and that fills my stomach up, it's only empty and ready for food when I am getting my preschooler out the door for school, and eating in the car leads to trouble for me. I've done everything I can think of. Someone please help!

Yup. I take 40mg of Protonix in the morning, but because I have little pain and no lump in my throat (or any other common symptoms) I am not taking my protonix at dinner time nor am I taking my Xantac (I take so many pills for other illnesses that in the early days I had to cut out pills wherever I could). Do you think going back on the additional meds would help? The morning protonix does not seem to prevent morning hunger episodes (I had a super late breakfast/brunch starting at 10am this morning and got slammed immediately with the hunger). I'm desperate though, I'll go back on the meds if it will help. I do take sips of Water during meals sometimes (I have to, I have kidney damage and a resulting electrolyte imbalance disorder, if my brain sends a thirsty signal I have to respond) but the ravenous thing happens before I drink water and even during meals where I have no water. Edit: My surgeon knows I have sips of water during meals and is comfortable with it because it does not change the amount I eat and does not trigger hunger between meals. I am only hungry DURING meals in fact. Her response to this problem is that sleeves are highly individual, and everyone's body reacts differently, the medical equivalent of shrugging her shoulders and saying "I dunno". I don't blame her.

Yup! I can have large amounts of sugar alcohols with no effect on my GI system. My dad, however, who has the band, has never tolerated sugar alcohols of any kind. It really varies from person to person. I would get a product and test it out, see how your body reacts, and then buy more xylitol based products.

I was on it for about 14 days, although milk, yogurt, jello, pudding, and cottage cheese were allowed. I was struggling with an unrelated health problem, newly diagnosed, so I honestly slept through most of those 14 days (9 were in the hospital). Honestly, I barely remember it!

My dietician has me have a small snack an hour before bedtime, a combination of protein and 'good' carbs. I(I go with almond butter on a banana, an apple, or whole wheat toast). I've been doing this for years actually, it's standard for people who have Type 2 diabetes, which I have (although with my weight loss I no longer need medication or even a diabetic diet). If you keep it limited, keep it nutritionally balanced, and keep it healthy, it might help your hunger without derailing your progress.

I think some people are not reading the entire thread.

Actually, none of these foods are diet no-nos. In fact, the diet no-nos I have are high fat and high sugar foods. All of the foods you listed are acceptable on my diet in limited quantities. For instance, bagels are high carb, but I can have them - only post-op, I have just 1 per week. I have noodles too, but I have low-carb noodles (Dreamfields brand), once a week, 2-3 tablespoons worth. My dietician gave me a food period (not the ridiculous USDA food pyramid, what a crock!), and these foods are on it. She said that being deprived is not what this surgery and this diet is about - I could have done that without the surgery (and boy did I try). She said that it is learning to have balance in my diet, and that's what my sleeve is for. I actually had my first doughnut yesterday - but notice I said doughnut, singular. I can no longer eat 3 at a time, and thanks to the sleeve - I don't want to! In fact, I was actually satisfied - I won't need to eat another doughnut for months Radically overhauling my diet has been hard, which is to be expected. Being able to have some of the foods I used to enjoy, in very limited quantities, has allowed me to accept the diet as a permanent lifestyle, with a much reduced risk of falling off the wagon.

Not intentionally. But it is easy to wound someone we love unintentionally. My husband has never said anything to intentionally hurt me, but I have been hurt by things he has said without realizing the consequences. I have done the same. That's why I try to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't know the OP, we don't know her husband, and we don't know her marriage. We weren't there for the original conversation - as a therapist, I can tell you that things like tone of voice, inflection, and the couple's previous pattern of communication play a very large role in the underlying meaning of a particular conversation and/or statement. We have no context, and you are making WILD accusations based on uninformed assumptions. As a wife and mother, I can tell you this - men say the stupidest things. My husband is an EXCELLENT communicator, and yet I watch him put his foot in his mouth all the time. I have relatives who are lawyers who have SUCCESSFULLY argued before the Supreme Court of the United States and one who was the Chief Justice of a state supreme court (appointed by President Truman himself!), and I have watched every single one of them put their foot in their mouth while trying (but failing) to communicate with their wives, and then enduring the silent treatment until they figured out that maybe they should have worded what they said better and then fixed it. (And nobody can do the silent treatment better than my great aunt Harriet!) Men are great, but their brains are fundamentally different from those of women, which has many advantages, but some distinct disadvantages, including diminished interpersonal communication skills. If I had to guess, I would say that the OP's husband is not an abusive monster, but instead (as I previously suggested) your typical husband, overwhelmed by emotions of concern for his wife, and unable to put the right words to how he was feeling. Consequently, it all came out wrong. Most husbands are NOT abusive, but in my professional (and personal) opinion, they are all pretty good at jamming their foot pretty far into their mouths sometimes. Sorry men, I love you all, it's just a Y chromosome thing. OP, I'm glad to hear that your husband was able to better clarify his feelings and they were not meant to be hurtful. My husband felt the same way in the beginning. It's a good thing that I didn't want sex in the early weeks post-op, because he would have been far too concerned for my welfare to even consider trying. All he wanted to do was make sure I was getting my fluids and protein!

I'm a clinical therapist, and so I recognize the severity of food addiction and how hard it is to break. My father was a food addict until his lap band, and then went through addiction transfer and dealt with substance abuse before getting his s*** together. It's hard. When you are fighting heroin addiction, no one is telling you "Hold up, you still have to have heroin 3 times a day." We're surrounded by food. I do not suffer from food addiction but my heart goes out to those to do. Penny is an exception. She is self-centered, narcissistic, and completely unwilling to even accept the IDEA that she might have to change. She wants the band to do the work for her. She lies to everyone around her. Her personality would be considered toxic even if she was thin and healthy. I can't believe she passed any of the psych evals for the procedure. Any psychologist with 10 minutes of graduate education should be able to flag her. She's grooming her son to be an enabler just like his dad. She is going to ruin his life.

Isopure makes a protein water that is 40g, that's what I use.

I had GERD so bad that at one point I had vocal cord damage. No one said anything about being ineligible for surgery, since my EGD and upper gi series were normal. I was sleeved 11/25/14, and my GERD has gotten better, I've been able to cut down on how much medicine I take (just 40mg Protonix once a day and the occasional Zantac).

Our bodies get used to the changes we make, and our metabolism adapts. It's a normal, if infuriating process.

This is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and IT IS SO WORTH IT. I wish I'd done this years ago!

How can Penny do that to her son?!!! I did this surgery in large part so that I could model good eating behavior for my son, who turns 5 this May. I was a thin woman for most of my life, but he's never known me as one, he's only seen that in pictures. I want him to grow up knowing that overweight/obese is NOT normal, is NOT healthy and is NOT the right option. I want him to see me trying hard to get healthy. I want him to learn to have a normal healthy relationship with food, because that is 100% a LEARNED behavior (trust me, I'm a therapist). I get being selfish, I do, but how can you have a child and model that kind of toxic behavior?!!!

I have switched from 'regular' sushi with rice to sashimi with no rice - I couldn't live without sushi! I've had rice a few times, and if I don't eat too much (maybe a spoonful). I've never considered rice a vegetable though.

I had a lap band before my sleeve. You can totally do this. I know people who did this. NOTHING will change while he enables her. I thank god for a husband who can do better than that.

A friend of mine was on that show! Melissa! She is such an inspiration!

I doubt my husband found me sexually attractive at 2 weeks - hell I was back in the hospital with a kidney infection at that point! Hooked to up to a PICC line, a drain, I hadn't washed my hair in days - there is no way I was sexually attractive. But . . . that's not why he married me. He married me because he loves me, not because I'm sexy 24/7. Honestly, I'm not sure where I'm going with this, other than to say that sometimes our husbands say stupid, stupid things. You don't necessarily have to dump him. You should, however, make sure he LOVES you. If he loves you, the shock from your appearance will wear off, and you'll start to look a little more normal again, and his attraction will return because after all, he loves you. He's just a little shocked (and hopefully, concerned for your welfare - my husband was too busy worrying over my Fluid and Protein intake to think about sex). If he doesn't love you, or love you enough, then it really doesn't matter what you look like, even at your best.

If I steam it, I can eat it. I can eat some veggies raw, like carrots and broccoli (torn into teeny pieces) and I can even eat a little salad, though I backed away from raw kale the other day.

"Taking the easy way out" AHAHAHAHAHA oh my god, this sure as hell isn't easy! It's one of the hardest things I've ever done! I don't say that to discourage you, it's absolutely worth it, I'm so glad I did it. But it is anything but easy. Once you've had your surgery, your husband will see how much effort it is, and I'm guessing he'll change his tune.

I'm in my first stall at 13 weeks. I keep bouncing between 214-215lbs. I recently saw my doctor - my fluids, Protein, Vitamin levels, everything came back normal or better than normal! My doctor said the stall was normal at this stage. Do they resolve on their own ever?

I should warn you that just one bite over can throw you over the edge, regardless of how well you've chewed. You're going to be miserable at least a few times in the beginning, there is a learning curve to it.