heidikat72

It's going to be expensive when you buy a variety pack of individual serving pouches. The Amazon price is probably the cheapest you will find.

there's a variety pack in the shop on here

drinking more water will help flush out excess sodium. also, try to get lower sodium broth

those women with control pants are awesome!!! I actually also like the Dream Jeannes by Quacker Factory on QVC (I go for the less blingy ones) just order a size smaller than you think you need with those, they have so much stretch. And I just got a pair of the Isaac Mizrahi 24/7 pants at the QVC outlet near me - and the fit is awesome so those are worth a try too and he's doing a denim version of them now.

talk to your surgeon - you may need to adjust the dosage on your GERD meds. Also for the first couple weeks post op - I didn't lay completely flat when I slept. I propped myself up with pillows and actually have a mattress frame that elevates. In addition to helping keep the acid from backing up in your throat - it made it so much easier to get in and out of bed. But check on your med dosage - not uncommon for people to need to increase the PPI dosage

there are several great cookbooks and blogs. On the blog end, I really like bariatric foodie and the world according to eggface. Eggface periodically does posts titles "a day in my pouch" - she had RNY over 10 years ago. In those posts she lays out everything she ate that day and includes recipes. I also plan my week's meals ahead of time - usually saturday evening, then shop sunday morning and meal prep sunday afternoon. I log everything into my fitness pal ahead of time - that way if i need to make adjustments to get my carb level down or Protein level up on a given day I can adjust before the actual day. Then I stick to that plan. It helps deter me from making mindless choices during a day. I already know what I can have that day and if on the day, I want something additional - I already know where I am macro-wise and whether I can fit it in my plan. I would also suggest some counseling - quite a few of us need it - to get at the root of why you struggle with the freedom and to help you figure out good coping mechanisms for you on getting past the carb addiction. It really helps.

I think I got called back to prep for surgery at 9:30am and I know I was awake in the recovery area before 1:00pm. Now it took until after 10:00pm for me to get an actual room - long story but the person whose room I was supposed to take ended up not getting discharged that day.

my pre-op abdominal ultrasound showed I have gallstones. But the surgeon said since they haven't given me any problems - i've never had a gallbladder attack/pain from it, he'd prefer not to take it out during the surgery. If I was having gallbladder attacks, he said he would take it out during surgery and told me what symptoms to look out for but I didn't have any of those between then and my surgery. So, I still have it.

that is great! I'm hoping for a similar reaction when i meet up with two guys I used to work with on wednesday. I haven't seen them since february and march respectively - so a couple months before my surgery and at least 120lbs ago! One knows I had the surgery (but still hasn't seen me) and I think he told the other one. Will be interesting to see what their reaction is.

how's your Fluid intake in general? if it's on the low side for several days, it could be dehydration - and i know when i get like that (having trouble getting anything down) it is very hard to get past it but just gotta get the liquids in even if i don't want to and once i rehydrate, it is so much better. but yeah, like others have said - definitely contact your doctor.

i second the tuna and salmon pouches. easy to carry, dont need refrigeration, lots of flavors, lots of protein/low carb/low calorie. I lived on them during the soft foods stage!

Even when trying the "natural" low cal sweeteners like stevia and monkfruit- don't assume you won't have a negative reaction. Definitely give them a try but don't buy a whole lot up front in case you do have a negative reaction. Monkfruit gave me horrible cramps and dumping (and I'm a sleeve patient).

looks like heparin bruising except that it is just on one side. Did they give you blood thinner injections post op? Did they just do them on the one side? they are supposed to alternate sides. If it is from the blood thinner injections, it will take a long time to completely disappear - several weeks.

haha yep get used to being cold - you don't have as much insulation and with the limited fuel (calories), your body focuses on your core temp and you'll notice your hands and feet stay cold. I had surgery in June and in late july went on a garden tour with a friend with actual temps over 100 - she was sweating and miserable and I was fine, felt warm but not unbearably hot and barely broke a sweat (which actually made me a bit nervous that I wasn't sweating!). I'll take have to put a few extra layers on clothes on the in the winter if it means I'm not sweaty and gross just stepping outside in summer!

I had surgery at HUP June 17th with Kristoffel Dumon (Penn Medicine)

Extended release drugs should not be crushed - it damages the mechanism controlling the release profile and rather than getting prolonged release, you will get the full dose at once. Did your doctor tell you to crush XR drugs?

you are only two weeks out - you body is focused on healing after a major surgery, as it should be. Most people leave the hospital weighing more than they went in because of all the iv fluids. Let your body heal!!! yes some people lose a lot the first two weeks and then hit their first stall at week 3 (very common and there are a ton of posts about this), then others are more like me and don't lose anything for the first couple weeks - seriously, at my two week post op appointment I hadn't even lost a tenth of a pound. 6 months out and about 88lbs down. So the weightloss will happen but it will not be linear and everyone has a different rate and pattern of weightloss. Use my fitness pal to track your Fluid, Protein, carb, fat intake but not follow it's guidelines for how many calories you need/how many lbs you should be losing - it is not set up for people who have had WLS. as for restriction. One, on liquids you won't really feel restriction - that'll kick in one you are eating dense protein. Also, at two weeks out, you are still healing - a lot of nerves were cut and will regenerate so do not try to rely on "full" sensations - with the nerves being cut, you might not be getting the signals. Stick to the portion sizes recommended by your practice - measure everything and once you've had the recommended amount, stop. At 2 weeks out I was transitioning to purees and I was only to have 2oz at a time max, about 1/4 cup. For noncaloric fluids (Water etc) drink as much as you possibly can. Talk to your medical team's nutritionist. Did they give a calorie guideline? if you are within that great but if not check in with the nutritionist, 900 calories seems a little high at two weeks out (I'm 6 months out and don't even hit 900 cals a day) but I also wasn't having soup and cream of wheat - I stuck to high protein foods. Technically those were allowed on my plan but the NUT said to ONLY have those after meeting protein goals for the day and by the time I did that, I didn't really feel like anything else.

My practice didn't require the pre-op diet be liquids only. They just wanted two weeks of no more than 800 calories a day while getting at least 80 grams Protein. They said for some people the easiest way to get that much protein while keeping calories that low is to just do liquid Protein shakes and that that is why a lot of other practices have people do a liquid diet. mine was basically lean protein and lots of non-starchy veggies.

wait, you are 8 months out and just now having pain on your left side? definitely see the surgeon. the dizziness is probably orthostatic hypotension - a form of low blood pressure that is quite common with rapid weight loss. monitor it (it will often stabilize once your weight stabilizes but in some cases may need treatment) and stand up slowly. another help when getting up in the morning is to pump you legs while still in bed for a bit to get the blood flowing before trying to get up out of bed.

definitely not just you! i think that everytime i see it.

It's completely normal to feel nervous right before surgery. you are making a big life change and hey, you're having surgery - any surgery will make someone a little nervous. but the surgery is over relatively quickly and you'll be in the healing phase. Best of luck tomorrow and check back in and let us know how you are doing!

definitely check with your medical team. but i was allowed to take stool softeners (they recommended Colace) immediately - in fact for the first couple weeks they told us to take two a day. Then the general rule was if we went more than 3 days without a BM, take a dose of milk of magnesia (they preferred that over miralax early out)

you've gotten some great suggestions for how to handle eating out at restaurants so I don't have anything to add there. So I'll just throw this out there - your family wants to take you out to eat for your birthday, what do YOU want to do to Celebrate your birthday? If you want to go out to eat, great - you have awesome suggestions here. But if you'd rather do something else, suggest another option to your family. I was about 3 months out when my birthday hit and a couple of my friends came to me and said "normally we'd take you out to dinner but is there something else you'd like to do instead?" I was very thankful for that - and decided to go with an activity rather than dinner out. I like going to museums and botanic gardens - mainly because a year ago, I couldn't handle all the standing and walking. So we went to a special event at a local botanical garden. It was good to break the habit of celebrations always revolving around food. In the end, it's your birthday - celebrate how you want and enjoy the day!

oh and good article. was much needed right now