catwoman7

if your surgeon doesn't allow caffeine for awhile (mine didn't the first few months), then go for an herbal. Otherwise, anything goes! Both green and black are healthy. It's a personal choice. I drink both!

I never got one of those cards. At most restaurants, children's menus consist of things like hotdogs and chicken nuggets, so a card wouldn't be of much use there, even if the restaurant accepted it (and some don't...). Sounds like the children's options might have been decent at this place, though (??)

I was already post-menopausal when I had weight loss surgery, but two thoughts: 1) I became REALLY irregular the last couple of years before menopause. I remember there were at least a couple of times when I thought it was over, but no - a few months later, I'd start up again 2) Weight loss surgery can screw with your hormones. Estrogen is stored in fat cells, and it's released during rapid weight loss (or so I've read...). So that might be what's going on, too...

chicken is tough to digest for a lot of people the first few months post-surgery. You'll most likely eventually be able to tolerate it, though. Some people say it's easier to digest thigh meat with some kind of sauce on it (it's the dryness that seems bother people's stomachs)

"buyer's remorse" is pretty common the first few weeks after surgery. But that goes away pretty quickly once the weight loss starts and people start feeling more like themselves again. Most of us get to the point where we don't regret it for a minute and would do it again in a heartbeat!

it's not uncommon to not be able to tolerate eggs in the first few weeks or months after surgery - but most people eventually can handle them again. Also, becoming lactose intolerant after surgery is also not uncommon. You'll need to find a protein shake that isn't dairy-based and come up with some milk alternatives. Fortunately, there are a lot of non-dairy options on the market these days...

you made the right decision! Although buyer's remorse is pretty common the first few weeks, once you get a month or two out (and maybe sooner), you'll realize that you made a GREAT decision! I don't regret doing it for ONE SECOND!

I like those, too. The Grapefruit mixed with Crystal Light lemonade tastes like Fresca!

did your surgeon say to crush everything? Mine were crushed when I was in the hospital, but they said once I got home, I could take things whole that were the size of a pencil eraser or smaller. So the only two tablets/capsules I couldn't swallow whole for the first two or three weeks were Ursodiol and those big calcium tablets (but I got some chewable calcium, so I was good with that). So it was really just the Ursodiol for me... edited to add that I might have cut some meds in half with a pill splitter to get them to pencil eraser (or smaller) size - but I don't remember. It's been a few years! I know you can't split all meds, though - some have to be taken whole.

you may have to experiment with a few before finding ones you can live with. Everyone's tastes are so different. My favorites were Unjury and Syntrax products, but I know a lot of people like Premier (I didn't care for those).

I've been taking a capful of Miralax every day for the last 4.5 years. That usually does the trick, but I still get backed up once or twice a month. When I do, I take Milk of Magnesia for a night or two. many of us are on something or other for constipation for life - stool softeners, Miralax, whatever works...

I wasn't sure (I just knew that a lot of us were told not to take them), so I just googled it. The bariatric program at Johns Hopkins was one of the first to pop up. It said to avoid them because they don't contain all the vitamins & minerals that we need.

rate of weight loss is a very individual thing depending on so many factors - age, gender, starting BMI, metabolic rate, activity level, whether or not you lost a lot of weight pre-op, etc. Some lose it super fast and others lose it slowly. But if you stick to your program, the weight WILL come off, whether fast or slow. I was a slow loser the whole time. I thought I would never lose all my excess weight at the rate I was going, but I did...

I'm not sure the state makes a difference - but the insurance company definitely does - and the surgeon as well. Some surgeons require more clearances than others.

you didn't like the advice people gave here, though, so...

then I would call a doctor or dietitian.

this topic comes up from time to time. Most people don't get them - but a few do.

I agree with all of this. So many people seem to drop 10-20 lbs below where they think they're going to end up - or at least temporarily, anyway, and then there are lots of people who have a 10-20 lb rebound once they think they've hit their goal weight....and often that doesn't occur until c. 3 years out. Plus things do sometimes shift around for many of us, even if we manage to stay the same weight. I think you're better off waiting - although I know how you feel - I was impatient, too (however, I didn't have plastic surgery until I was 3 and 3.5 years out (I had it in two phases)). At that point, I figured I was safe.

don't get mad, but a lot of us were told to avoid gummies and Flintstones. Something like a Centrum chewable (or the generic equivalent) usually has everything we need.

I agree with the above - that is a question for your insurance company. Some go by your original weight (what you weighed before you started the supervised diet), and some go by whatever your weight is right before surgery.

you'll have to ask your insurance company where you can have it. Some companies restrict you to surgeons in their network. I only had one choice, but luckily my clinic had four surgeons, so I could pick between the four. I was allowed to do my six-month supervised diet anywhere, not just at my bariatric clinic. In fact, I could do it anywhere as long as it was within the last two years and was supervised by a doctor or a registered dietitian. It just had to be well-documented (I think my dietitian had to submit the notes from our meetings). But all insurance companies are different, so check with yours. I did my six-month supervised diet before I was admitted to the bariatric program (I had to change insurances to one that covered bariatric surgery, and they said doing my supervised diet under my former company while I was waiting to change was fine as long as all my dietitian meetings were documented). So I spent six months doing that, and then once I got admitted to the bariatric program, I had to go through all the classes and clearances, which took about three months. So I could have had the surgery three months after being admitted since I already had the supervised diet out of the way (I waited longer, though, since I worked in education. I waited until the school year was over). But if Medi=Cal or your bariatric clinic wants you to do the diet through the bariatric clinic, it could take longer than three months 'til surgery time.

I agree with Fluffy. There aren't too many times in your life when you're food averse. Take full advantage of it! It'll never be easier to lose weight than when you're apathetic toward food. Of course, you need to eat for fuel - you don't want to get sick - but eat healthy things that are on your plan. You want to lose weight, right? Then don't fall for crappy food. Especially now in the honeymoon period when weight loss should be relatively easy. Trust me, it gets way harder once you're a few months out. Milk this time for all its worth!!

it gets easier after about the third day.

if they have you on an ultra-low carb plan, then saltines & noodles (in the soup) wouldn't be good choices. I can't remember when we were allowed to eat nuts, but it wouldn't have been that early out. At that point, I was mostly eating things like yogurt and hummus.

I had cough drops when I was early out. I got the sugar free kind, though