OutsideMatchInside

chicken Caesar salad is on almost every menu. It is easy to just pick the chicken out and move the salad around. You are 2 months so you can probably barely eat the amount of chicken, but you can make a big show of it and it will look like you are eating more. First thing when you arrive on your trip, find some Protein shakes/bars to keep in your room/purse.

The most important thing to plan for is what to do when you feel hungry. Plan on how to distract yourself and work out a plan for head hunger. The food you stock up on doesn't matter that much, the games your mind plays on you are the real challenge.

2 weeks seems good. You might be really tired at the end of the day, so if you have a long commute home, that might be rough.

@@WitchySar Ask your Dr. DS has more malabsorption than the Bypass, so there will be no way to know how much of oral medicine you are really absorbing. The benefit of the sleeve, is there is no malabsorption so you can take medicines and not worry about the doses.

I think a personal loan, if you have good credit would have better interest rate than Care credit. Especially if you get the loan from a credit union. A zero interest credit card with 12-24 months no interest would be a good option also if you really have good credit and can pay it off in that time frame. Care credit doesn't have the best rep.

@@Bufflehead The way you feel about grains is how I feel about yogurt

I never had a problem before. I wasn't ashamed of my body and for a huge person I was always really flexible. I have always been able to do the splits even at my highest weight. I'm more self concious about my thighs and wrinkly belly than I was about my huge thighs and fat belly. Still, if I am on my back, it all looks good. I have a ton more energy and a lot of stamina. I'm single, so this creates a problem because I haven't been able to find a man in my age range with the stamina I need. Working out and being active translates to improvements in all aspects of your life.

@@Bufflehead I don't think tortillas are crap food, especially when they are important parts of meals culturally for some people. Tortillas aren't really the problem it is what people put on them. @@cseidman There are lots of low carb tortilla options out there, some are better than others. I wouldn't suggest adding any until past 6 months when you have more capacity. While it is best to get your Fiber from things like green veggies, a low carb tortilla isn't going to hurt you as long as you don't make it a daily thing. La Tortilla Factory has the best macros I have seen, better than a lot of stuff that WLS patients eat like yogurt. http://www.latortillafactory.com/view/products/low-carb-high-fiber-tortillas/ The low carb and high Protein options from Flatout aren't bad either but you will probably have to split them up. I'm have never been a Pasta person so I can't help you there.

https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/bbq-3000/c-24/p-327/pd-s @ @@Dub That is my BBQ rub, no sugar. I grill and smoke all the time and I find there is very little difference without sugar. The one thing I do now more than before is getting meat with more fat, and cook it slower, rendering the fat off. This adds a lot more flavor than sugar ever could, plus cooking things long and slow enough you still get the nice crust and the brown it just doesn't come from sugar. If you are making your own rubs and not using a high quality smoked paprika, add that and it has a sweetness and a smokiness that will replace sugar easily. Like other people, I still eat bacon and cream cheese, I just makes sure they fit my macros for the day. So if I am going to have grilled meats or whatever in the afternoon and evening, I try to keep my food in the morning very lean and low in calories. It is all about balance. I have some rib tips smoking right now for the evening.

I have to be really careful because it takes a lot for me to get hot now, but not much for my furry little companion. So I have to pay close attention to him to make sure the temp is comfortable in here.

@@RoscoColetrain It is easy to get let how far you have to go still cloud the success of how far you have came. All I keep thinking about are these last 50-60 pounds I want to lose so I can have plastics and I don't think that I have lost a whole entire adult person in less than a year without feeling miserable. Just take their compliments in stride and don't internalize them. Most fat people are never successful at losing weight, so when people do lose weight it is amazing to people around them.

Right, portions are totally out of control. People post-op think they are eating tiny portions but for the most part once you heal, you are eating the correct portion of meat and most other things. I had depression era Grandparents so they believe in proper meat portions because even though meat had became relatively cheap in the 1980s, they still viewed it as expensive and something that should properly portioned. Also with our native american background, we have certain spiritual views about eating meat and how it should be consumed. Not only is 3-4 ounces of meat the recommended amount, but your body can't really process more than that. 30 grams of Protein is the max your body can process at one time, so if you are over eating on protein, it is turning to excess in the body. This is how people can low carb and still gain weight. Portions still count.

I grew up eating mostly food cooked from scratch, we never had junk food. The home cooked food wasn't the most healthy, and we always had home made sweets in the house, but it was cooked at home, from scatch.We grew veggies or got them from local farmers, we used a local butcher. I never had much junk food growing up and I didn't want it. I had soda once a year on 4th of July. The few times a year I got fast food with a relative or something I had milk. I never binged a lot of fake food as an adult. I cooked a lot and I went to high quality restaurants, and lots of expensive liquor (an expense account is a dangerous thing). I still think that denying people trash food being viewed as "punishment" or denial is a big social problem. The marketer in me thinks that food industrial complex has really won and has ran the best marketing plan ever over the past 50 years. All these foods people are saying they won't deny their families, didn't even exist a few decades ago. You know before we had a diabetes and obesity epidemic. And it is totally the foods and the food chain, because as every country moves from malnutrition and the Western foods are introduced into their society, the move to obesity and diabetes, in areas where is was previously unseen. I eat organic (mostly), and so does my dog. If it isn't good enough for me, it isn't good enough for my dog or the people I love. I don't try to force my friends to eat how I eat, but if you are in my house, there is no sugar, and a lot of other BS that people want. I still make good delicious food with love. The people I love, I love, and I am not going to feed them toxic poison because it is socially acceptable. Clean eating used to be the norm not a special diet.

I think some doctors like the band because it is a long term revenue stream for them. If you have the sleeve, they aren't likely to see you much at all after the first year. My Dr said I was young, active and the sleeve would work for me. Good luck with your choice.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-AWS-600-BLK-Nutrition/dp/B000O37TDO/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1465964384&sr=8-6&keywords=pocket+scale You have to weight stuff, you can't eye ball it and be accurate. I have that one and it works for me when I am away from home.

@@sleeverv Your doctor sounds like a quack. I was given a Protein drink in the hospital and had to drink at least 1/2 of it, to be eligible for release. They don't want to send you home to starve. There are plenty of Protein drinks that are the consistence of Water, like Syntrax nectar. See another doctor. ASAP

@@WitchySar If you have a plan for head hunger you are ahead of the curve. I went for walks when head hunger got bad.

Water in, water out. Once you start eating more solid food, it will stop. Just drink all you can so you are replenishing.

That's how I see this too. Yes the surgery is going to be on my stomach but it's a drastic step and I have no desire to sabotage myself. Right now, today, what do I have stopping me from eating crap? Not a whole lot. It's been my entire life basically. But after surgery what will I have to stop me? I'll have the knowledge that I was committed and serious enough to alter my body to make it work. That's a pretty strong tool, IMO. I need a boost to my willpower and I see the surgery as being that tool. Surgery will not boost your will power, especially in the beginning, it will weaken it. The head hunger on the pre-op diet and the first 4 weeks is amazingly hard. Weeks without chewing anything is like being on a deserted island, it will make you crazy. Read this forum extensively. People really struggle with head hunger. You go through a lot of emotional/hormonal changes after surgery. It is a crazy roller coaster. If you like to comfort eat, chips and other junk food are going to look amazing to you. Work out the will power before surgery, surgery won't give you will power.

The only time I've ever successfully lost weight was when I followed strict Atkins. I ate over 2500 calories a day on that diet and lost almost 150 lbs in a year. But I lacked the will power to STAY on it. I'm seeing surgery as being the tool I need to not start eating crap again. I'm certainly not going to sabotage myself after going to such extremes. But yes, I lack the will power myself to never eat crap again unless I have another tool in place. For me, I have been easily able to stick to a low carb lifestyle post op, because I am not hungry and I can eat small portions. My issues with Atkins/Paleo/Keto etc has always been I was still hungry and over eating, even eating the right things. The sleeve makes it easy to stick to the lifestyle. I already had the will power but I was still over eating, and then I would stall and just quit. I can't quit with the sleeve. There is no WLS that will give you will power. You can eat around the sleeve, the RNY, lapband, all of them. DS is probably the only one you can't eat around because it is so extreme. Mentally you have to be in a place for WLS to work for you, or it won't. I think it is good you are asking a lot of the questions you are asking but you don't really seem ready for WLS. It seems like something you are agreeing to because your healthy is failing, but you don't really seem to be at the end of your rope with your weight yet. JMO

Thanks, for summing it up so well.

@@WitchySar You are still trying to convince us that you were actually eating 7 chips and not over eating. Not many people are going to believe that. You are tracking your food now and saying you aren't losing weight and barely getting enough calories in. So that has been the case you whole life? You ate 1000 calories a day for the past 42 years and got to 368? You know a bunch of fat people aren't going to believe that...

We are reading your words but it doesn't seem like you are reading ours. What people are trying to tell you is that the things you like, you can still like post op. Not only can you still like them, you can still eat them. Not only can you still eat them, but they are the easiest to eat. So yes, everyone is reading what you are saying. We are trying to warn you that WLS won't fix that issue, and you have to change your relationship with food, because all the stuff you want to eat, you can still eat post-op and nothing will stop you but you.

@@WitchySar Also in the other thread you told us you had a husband and 5 kids. I am guessing they won't help you and adopt a healthy lifestyle along with you. Do you think you will be able to resist all the bad foods that will still be in your house? And remember from what people post on here, I wouldn't know because I have never been a chip fan, chips and all that stuff goes down the easiest post-op. They basically break down to nothing in your mouth and they slide right through your system. If that stuff is around do you have a plan to resist?

If you like chips, Pasta, pizza. Those are all things you can eat after surgery and you can eat them easily, easier than dense Protein. So if you aren't really invested, and you don't have the will power, liking those things will make it easy for you to fail. Also, even if you aren't eating an entire large pizza yourself, or polishing off a whole bag of chips, it is unlikely you are measuring and weighing all your portions now and eating proper serving sizes. Basically everyone is over eating. Almost no one eats the actual serving size portion. Like a proper serving of meat is 3-4 ounces but people are regularly downing 8-16 ounce steaks. For me personally, I have low carbed off and on for about 15 years. I like the low carb lifestyle. However, I had issues with portion control. I would eat a 12 ounce steak, and stuff like that. I wasn't getting the results I should have from a low carb lifestyle because my portions were still out of whack. So now I can easily eat the proper portions of the things I like and I am satisfied with those amounts. I can continue to eat healthy through a stall because I don't feel deprived. Before surgery when I hit a stall, I would give up, because I felt deprived and it seemed pointless to suffer for nothing. Now I can keep eating healthy through a stall and keep losing (inches) until the pounds drop because I don't feel deprived at all. I feel like a normal person living a healthy lifestyle.