FocusOnMeNow

Definitely follow your surgeons advice but if it's lactose that is the issue then perhaps a lactose free shake mix is the answer. You may want to check with him on that, but of course always follow Drs orders. Good luck!

I was definitely not on mushy foods like cream of wheat for 3 weeks vs three days. I just alternated shots of vitamin water and premier protein every 8 minutes till I hit the mark. I was able to get in 64-75 oz a day that way. And yes fluids are most important. Good luck!

Congrats on your new life enjoy!

My three month surgiversary was Nov 17. I have lost 57 lbs. I lost about 12 lbs in the two weeks pre-op. Now I am only losing about 12 lbs per month. I just told my doctor on Friday that I really need to step up my game and he said " no don't" and proceeded to tell me that I'm right where I am supposed to be. If I keep losing 3 lbs per week (and I fully intend on doing so) for the next 12 weeks then I will still be down 92 lbs at the six month mark. Celebrate your success. Focus on your success and it will breed more success. Keep up the good work!

To achieve your 64 oz you have to take 1 shot (oz) 8x per hour for 8 hours like it's your J-O-B. This is your job right now. So please take a shot of fluid every 7-8 minutes. I alternated shots of vitamin water zero with premier protein shakes for days on end, adding liquid vitamins to the vitamin water just one teaspoon at a time at first. You can do it!

Definitely eliminate flour and sugar if those are not already gone. I believe that quest protein bars also have like 19 grams of carbs so you don't have to go carb free just cut back. Before surgery I was on this "belly fat" diet by Jorge Cruise and he said never go over 30 g of sugar or 100 g of carbs a day. Many folks on bariatric pal only do 30-40 g of total carbs a day. So even if you want to do "some carbs" just keep it under control so you don't get those insulin spikes and cravings. I myself had some nut bark today which is mostly nuts with some 70% cocoa chocolate and yes some sugar. But the nuts even things out a bit. Just set a limit for yourself and don't go over it. And whether it's 30 g or 80 g or whatever if you lose control then it's not low enough. Go back to three days of protein shakes and bars to normalize if you need to.

Also unless there is some reason why you absolutely have to get the house together ASAP then try to cut that back to only two hours of extra work per day and eventually it will all get done. I highly recommend blending a frozen banana or some other fruit into a protein shake at least once a day. It will give you some extra carbs and some extra nutrition. Remember that fruit has nutritional value. And please down that shake right before and or right after your unpacking/workout. And just slow it down. The work will always be there????

Maybe start with purring a bean soup first, even dilute it further with some chicken broth if necessary and see how that goes down. I recommend also starting with something like Amy's organic soups and beans because there's not a lot of extra preservatives in there which do not agree with my sleeve. I hope this helps.

And let's not bash the mashed potatoes please. I know they are a carb but if you use new (little red) potatoes and smash them with the skin on there is a ton of potassium in them and they do have nutritional value. And if you use grass fed butter (such as Kerrygold that you can get at Walmart) and Fairlife high protein milk that you can get at target, then yum yum and good for you. This is especially good because it is naturally a soft/puréed food.

Ok so it is the lactose intolerance which is in milk that can cause it. Regular cheese has no lactose because it is all protein and fat. I don't know about cottage cheese. And some people also become very sensitive to gluten. So definitely go to your doctor, and be careful about anything processed (even so called diet foods).

@ please be careful with the Diet Coke. Carbonation is no good for the sleeve. I used to be a big time soda and seltzer water drinker. But every time I am tempted I just think how hard it would be to do a revision and I am perfectly happy with my new vitamin water zero addiction thank you very much.

If you've lost 13-15 lbs in two weeks that is definitely what I would call success. Just stay on track and make the most of it. I am in the 12 lbs per month phase now and feel like I'm not as successful as I was then (where you are now). But I just saw my doctor on Friday and he said that I'm right where I'm supposed to be????

Maybe consider 2 protein shakes a day and/or ensure that you are getting a minimum of 60 grams a day from protein supplements. That's not total protein, that's protein supplements. And it's not about the calories. It's about the liquids, protein, and vitamins at this point. Especially if you want to hold onto your hair. Some say to aim for 75-80 grams of protein a day but that is difficult to achieve 2 weeks out unless you are supplementing with shakes. Good luck!

I had never had surgery before and thought that if I could go back to work in two weeks that meant I would be fine then. I was great but very fatigued. Gained more strength and energy every day but around 8 - 9 weeks is when I really started feeling "normal" again.

Mashed potatoes were first eat out meal for me 3 weeks post op. Take it easy. Also I find even now 13 weeks out my sleeve does not really care for any processed food and even a bit of a very soft Lean Cuisine feels not so good as my made from scratch organic stuff so maybe lay off Chinese takeout and make your own Chinese or try the whole foods hot bar next time. Just food for thought.

Of course if your urine is consistently dark you should call your doctor. Was today the first day you hit the mark with the water? Also maybe try some light colored lemonade and see if that doesn't lighten it some too.

Could the color be impacted at all by the crystal light? Were you taking the same vitamins when your urine was not such a dark color? Mine sometimes is darker right after vitamins.

Do you have a freezer? I have purchased a ridiculous amount of glass (healthier for heated food) and plastic containers from 4oz-8oz pretty cheap on Amazon. Everything I make will make like 12 or more servings in those little cups, then I freeze the other 11. Needless to say I don't have to cook that much. So definitely see a therapist, but also get some tiny cups and be obsessed with them instead. Also, if you have ever read "Real Simple" they often have recipes where you can recycle the ingredients for several more meals. That might help as well. Good luck!

On Monday, I will be 8 weeks out and I officially graduate from mushies to solids. Unfortunately, I do not meet with my NUT until Friday, so my questions to all you sleevers is what were your favorite first solid foods? What was harder to eat and so I should wait till later? I assume that I will be putting off steak, nuts, seeds, corn, asparagus, celery a bit longer. But wondering if I can actually try a salad? I haven't had salad since before my pre-op diet. I'm already taking pills instead of crushing everything and those are going down fine. I have already been eating slow roasted fork shredded chicken, various cheeses, mashed potatoes, ground beef (in spaghetti sauce). I guess I'm wondering things like - even though I still think its too early to bite down on a celery stick, because it might be too fibrous, I'm wondering if I can start putting chopped celery in my tuna salad. Things like that. So please let me know what worked well and what didn't.

Hmm, I always heard to take antibiotics with yogurt, so that the yogurt can combat the bacterial imbalance in your gut, and reduce the side effects from abx. Never realized that it could compromise the efficacy of the antibiotics. I will have to study that further.

I can relate to all of the above. Drinking a bit too often, occasionally drinking too much and eating way to much and too often. The more I would eat, the hungrier I would get. Obviously and especially carbs which I was totally addicted to. Am and always will be a carb addict, but luckily at this point I cannot consume them in an adequate quantity to fuel that addiction. I also recently saw "End of the Tour", a movie about the great author David Foster Wallace. It was fabulous. It briefly touched on his alcoholism and potential drug addiction (tho in the movie his character claims that he was not on drugs). It also very briefly touched on what he called a tv addiction. He did not have a tv in his house, he said that he had to give that up. Then when they were on a road trip for a book signing, he overslept one morning because he had stayed up late watching tv the night before. When they went over to a friend's house, all the friends were falling asleep on the sofa but he was wide awake and his eyes glued to or fixated on the tv. I find myself also procrastinating on things I need to be doing so that I can watch tv or just finish this one episode that turns into another and another. Then its like 4 or 5pm on a Sunday afternoon and I still have to do my grocery shopping, house cleaning, laundry etc which I should have been working on all weekend. This bad habit got really bad when I was broke and unemployed on and off during 2008-2009. I could stay up till 2am (or 3, 4 or 5) watching endless movies, and since I didn't have to go to work the next day. But now I do. But I still like to lose myself and veg out in front of the tube. Don't know if I'd ever have the balls to give it up like David Foster Wallace. But sometimes I wonder if I did, how many other books I would read or walks would I take? As far as socializing, eating out, vacations etc...I can now enjoy all these things and the company without being a member of the clean plate club. And after eating less than half my meal everywhere now what do I notice? That the thin people I'm eating with don't even notice because they only ate about half of their food too. And they did not plow through a whole basket of bread like I used to. No wonder they are skinny. I used to eat like it was a contest that I had to win. But now, for the time being, and hopefully forever, I have broken free from the grip my addiction once held. While I know that I am still an addict, I'm not in an "active" addiction right now. And I am so grateful to my sleeve for giving me that freedom and giving me my life back:-)

My favorite snack is Dubliner cheese with Mary's Gone Crackers. That and Dannon Light & Fit strawberry Cheesecake Greek Yogurt. I never even imagined a flavor like that existed. Thanks to a vet who turned me onto that. I also like nearly anything with onions, celery, carrots, garlic and mushrooms in a little olive oil. That has been the start to many different dishes including slow roasted free range chicken (3 hours at 275 degrees).

I'm a sleever and could do ground beef (grass fed organic 90% lean ground beef that is) about 9 weeks out without any problems. I am about 12 weeks out now and have no desire to do sausage or nitrates, etc.

Socialize as you wish. Order your soup. Don't make a big deal re broth. I frequently get questions from the wait staff who are concerned that I didn't like it or that something was wrong with the food since quite a bit is left over. I just say "it was great, I just had a big lunch" or a big Breakfast, etc. Most of my skinny friends leave half the food on their plates anyway so its not really that noticable most of the time anyway.

Not sure what your job on the road is. I used to literally eat every meal out due to hectic work schedule. And yes I am occasionally at the office till 2am. I took a long weekend this weekend and I am shopping, chopping, and cooking cooking cooking. I just ordered 6oz and 8 oz ramekins. I am slow roasting a whole chicken, making ratatouille (red peppers, onions, eggplant, zuchini), homemade pesto for the chicken, and high Protein explore asian Pasta. Chicken pesto pasta with yummy veggies. This will make me like 8-12 dinners and/or lunches. I cook all weekend and have food in the freezer for a month. My own homemade lean cuisines without all the preservatives, nitrates, and processed meat. And yes, I have nitrate free lunch meat, sliced cheese, 2 oz mini hummus, etc in the fridge for quick fixes. And yes, I even have a couple of actual lean cuisine's stuffed in there too. But those barely taste like food to me now.