heidikat72

I was just thinking earlier today that I hadn't seen you on in a while! Glad you are out enjoying life!

it's my understanding from seeing some advertisements and looking into them that the basic operating principle is very much like a convection oven. and it isn't just for cooking breaded food. In fact I saw a demo where a turkey breast was roasted in one and also a steak was cooked. I know QVC also sells them and has a cookbook of recipes using an air fryer.

yep it is quite common with rapid weight loss especially with women. the liver enzymes initially go up before coming back down. For some reason, men tend to skip the increase and just have their liver panel come down. let your surgeon and primary doc know so they can monitor it - you should be getting blood work drawn every couple of months the first year post op anyway and then annually thereafter. So they'll be able to keep an eye on it. Mine on paper looks like it is way above range, but both my primary and surgeon say it would have to be a lot higher than it is for them to even start to be concerned. But it is something that will be checked with each blood panel.

the unjury vanilla and chocolate i mixed with skim milk and it was like drinking chocolate milk. their chicken Soup flavor mixed with Water was just like drinking broth and made for a nice warm savory change. the nectar ones are a little thicker - the fruity ones i mixed with crystal lite and actually used a little more than 8oz liquid to thin them down a bit. Protein shakes are a very personal thing though - what some people hate, others love.

I tried one of the Bariatric Advantage ones - and promptly threw the rest of the bag of powder in the trash. Undoubtedly the worst Protein powder out there in my opinion! I mainly stuck to unjury and Syntrax nectar since my practice prefers we stick with whey isolate powders. A lot of people like the premier ready to drink shakes - they are whey concentrate so my practice prefers we use them only as a last resort. I do have some occasionally as the "creamer" in my coffee.

definitely plan to stop at least once during that 4 hr car ride home to stretch your legs a bit (I hope you have someone to drive you, most hospitals won't release you to drive yourself home). I had a little over an hour car ride home and braced a pillow against my abdomen. The slight pressure helped with any bumpy rough Patches of road

I love republic of tea! They have lots of rooibos based teas that are naturally caffeine free! As well as some other herbal teas - I'm enjoying a cup of cranberry spice hibiscus right now. Harney and Sons is also a great source for really good teas.

I was told this once I got to purees and solids. But not with the shakes since that's really just drinking and that first week or two it is a full time job getting fluids in - i basically never stopped sipping during those two weeks.

that is an awesome NSV!!!!!

I'm only 6 months out from sleeve surgery so not a complete success yet! But I'm very pleased with my choice to do sleeve. When I first met with my surgeon exactly one year ago, my BMI was 76! I didn't have to lose weight before surgery but since my insurance required a 6 month medically supervised period, i used that time to gradually make some changes and start very slowly increasing activity. So on surgery day my BMI was ~66. Now 6 months later it is 48 and dropping. When I started, i couldn't even walk a city block without being completely out of breath, heart racing and in excruciating lower back and knee pain. So yes, my exercise routine started VERY slowly - but you know what? any little bit helps and just very slowly gradually increase activity so you don't injure yourself. even the slightest bit of improvement in that area will make recovery from surgery so much easier. and now? well, in October I hiked over 5 miles in the Great Smoky National Park - broken into 2 smaller hikes on the same day - without ANY problems! Something I couldn't have even dreamed of doing a year ago. So is sleeve an option for someone with a BMI of 70 or higher - yep absolutely! Ultimately which surgery to have is a decision between you and your doctor. Weigh all the benefits and negatives of each procedure in regard to your particular case and make an informed decision. Regardless of which route you go - good luck on your journey!

can you provide more info? how far out from surgery are you? what are you eating? how much? what your bariatric center's guidelines for amounts at this phase? sorry - just saw you are 4 weeks out. can you provide the info on the other questions?

i didn't have any issues with milk and actually liked the unjury vanilla and classic chocolate. the chicken Soup flavor one mixed with just plain Water was a savory godsend! I think with most of the unflavored ones - you might still have a bit of a protein-y taste. another option is the fruity Syntrax nectar ones - i mixed those with crystal lite lemonade and drank out of a lidded Blender Bottle - that way any smell doesn't really bother you and using an opaque bottle, the cloudy consistency isn't off-putting either. I really liked the ice tea flavor and the cherry flavor mixed with lemonade.

it depends - some of the testing they want done within a certain time frame of your surgery - so you might have to get some tests repeated. and i know for my insurance, i couldn't stop and restart the 6 month medically supervised nutritional part. if i did then i reset the clock back to the beginning. So it is best to talk with your bariatric center they will know your insurance requirements along with their own requirements.

stay off the scale right now. your body is trying to heal - let it heal. I didn't lose anything the first two weeks. you were pumped full of iv fluids in the hospital and you just had major surgery - let your body focus on what it needs to. the weight loss will come. also, on full liquids - you are not going to trigger restriction. you'll feel the restriction once you move onto dense Proteins. Some people have issues getting their liquids in initially but that is due to swelling not the true restriction of the sleeve. It is important early out to measure the amount of liquids/food recommended by your practice and stick to that. (non caloric liquids being the exception - consume as much of that as you possibly can). 900 calories seems like an awful lot that early out. I wasn't really tracking calories while on full liquids but I was definitely below 600 calories a day. Even now at 6 months out i'm at 700-800 calories a day.

talk to your surgeon. are you taking more than prescribed (in other words more than the 1tsp/ 4 times a day)? if you need more medication than that, your surgeon needs to know. People have different pain tolerances and/or there could be something else that needs to be attended to if you are having intense pain. Either way, your surgeon needs to know so it can be managed.

I went through a phase about a month post op where i did literally crave salt - to the point i would catch myself with just a salt shaker in my hand and then think - what the hell are you about to do with that? fortunately it passed. but i have noticed in general i like stronger flavors now and tend to prefer salty/spicy a lot and not sweet. whereas pre-op i was all about the sweet fix

could be stopping the omeprazole - did you cut it cold turkey? I kinda weaned myself off it - went to every other day for a while and then twice a week for a week and then stopped. I didn't really notice anything when i restarted birth control pills. if it's bad you could call your surgeon and see if they make any recommendations or can give you something to control it.

eh, as far as being in season - we won't tell and squirrel is protein.

I just have one to add. After reading this forum for months pre-surgery I was totally prepared for a stall around week 3. I wasn't prepared for what actually happened to me - instead of losing for two weeks and hitting a stall, I didn't lose anything the first two weeks. Fortunately I wasn't weighing at home but boy that was a let down at my two week postop checkup appointment when I weighed exactly the same down to the tenth of a pound as I did the day before surgery. So the main point is - that first month, don't even THINK about the scale! Just focus on healing, fluid and protein goals.

That's really going to be a question for your bariatric team. The pre-op diets vary greatly! Some surgeons don't even have you do one. Some have you on liquids only for up to two weeks prior to surgery. My practice didn't require liquids only but for the two weeks leading up to surgery wanted us getting at least 80grams of Protein while staying at or below 800 calories a day - so lots of lean protein and very low carb to achieve that. This two week prior to surgery phase is often referred to as the liver shrink diet. If your bariatric center or your insurance requires you to lose weight or at least not gain weight between 1st appointment and surgery, your center may have you making other dietary changes now to achieve that. So add the pre-op diet to your list of questions to ask at your appointment next tuesday! Good luck on your journey!

i'm pretty boring with my breakfasts. I generally rotate through greek yogurt, cottage cheese and egg bites. For the egg bites - think crustless quiche baked in mini muffin pans. 2 sometimes 3 of those make a breakfast for me. I change up the veggies and meat added to them for variety.

We're all "mean" for pointing out errors in her father's logic but her dad is just "nervous" for her? Someone who is just concerned for her wouldn't cherry pick pieces of an article out of context of the rest of the article, then inappropriately add them up in order to scare her into thinking that 86% of the people who have WLS have a serious complication. Someone who is just concerned for her, would do some research with an open mind and not call everything that goes against their negative opinion a "joke". Someone who is just concerned would attempt to meet with the medical team and ask questions about their concerns. Plus if you read her other posts/threads - there is a history there of negative and manipulative behavior on his part. For the OP - I know based on your other threads that you were hoping/expecting your dad to pay for part of the surgery based on him initially offering too. My thought is he didn't actually think you were going to go through with it and probably never had any intention of paying for any of it and is using these scare tactics in order to not have to come right out and tell you that he is rescinding his offer. I think it would be in your best interest to try to find some other way to come up with the needed money and even check with your bariatric team to see if you can set up an installment payment plan with them.

With all due respect, your father doesn't understand how to interpret statistics associated with potential complications - you don't just simply add them up to arrive at a "total". If he truly read the article you reference with an OPEN mind, he would have seen that for nausea and dehydration - the article itself even says this is when patients aren't getting in enough fluids. This is why the bariatric programs and the vets on this forum always always always stress how important it is to meet your Fluid intake goals. Seriously, getting in your fluids those first few weeks is YOUR JOB - even if it takes you 18hrs a day of constant sipping, DO IT. Drinking will get easier as the swelling goes down and you can drink more normally (rather than teeny tiny sips). But it is always important to track your fluid intake and make sure you are getting enough. As for GERD - it does happen but often is temporary - and most bariatric programs will have you on a PPI for a couple months. You may need to have your dosage adjusted, you may need to stay on it longer - but as long as you work with your bariatric team on this and don't ignore the symptoms, it is manageable. Gallstones - yep this is a common one. And yes, a gallstone attack can be excruciatingly painful. But you know what? I'd still rather have a couple gallstone attacks and get my gallbladder removed if needed than deal with all the other LIFELONG and LIFE THREATENING side effects of obesity. Oh and guess what, there's a good chance you could end up with gallstones at some point even if you don't have WLS. Strictures - there are people on this forum who have had a stricture. Perhaps one of them can weigh in here. I believe at least some of them have been able to have it corrected/managed and still don't regret the surgery one bit. Deep vein thrombosis - a risk with any surgery honestly especially when your mobility may not be great immediately following. This is especially true with obese patients who already have mobility issues and/or aren't active. Many programs assess your risk for this based on your current condition and family history of blood clots. Based on this, it may be recommended to have an IVC filter put in your leg temporarily - the filter will catch any clots that form and migrate before they reach your lungs and lead to a pulmonary embolism. The more common approach is to administer blood thinner injections for a couple weeks after surgery. And to walk walk walk walk walk as much as you can post op - the more active you are, the less the change of a blot developing in the first place! Nutritional deficiency - this is why you take Vitamins, calcium/vitamin D supplements and B12 supplements. Why you focus on Protein first, followed by veggies then fruit and lastly starches. And why you get your blood work checked regularly post op so that any deficiencies can be treated before they become a problem. For instance on my program, that means blood work at 3, 6, 9, 12 18 and 24 months post op and annually thereafter. Also, with the sleeve you don't have the malabsorption associated with the bypass. Your Vitamin supplementation is due to the reduced volume intake. And I know personally many sleeve patients who once they are a couple years out have been able to cut back to supplementing with just one Multivitamin a day. I am guessing he thinks the forums are a joke because they don't support his pre-conceived negativity regarding this surgery? What exactly does he think your other options are and what are the "stats" associated with those options? His scare tactics are disgusting. Would he rather your life be shortened and your quality of life be miserable with the obesity? Have you really told him truthfully and completely the impact the obesity has on your life? At the end of the day - you are a 46 year old woman. You don't need daddy to sign off on your surgery. I understand wanting family emotional support - but if you don't get it, you can still go ahead with surgery. This is a decision to be made between you and your medical team. Is dad willing to go to an appointment with your medical team and hear directly from them? Ask about the complications, how they can be mitigated and what their practice's actual complication rate is? Or is he so stuck in his negativity that he wouldn't listen to the medical professionals either?

there a lots of blogs out there done by post ops. Two of my favorites are Bariatric Foodie and The World According to Eggface. Lots of food ideas/recipes. I also agree with talking to your dietician - they should have provided some guidance regarding post op eating even for once on you are on to normal solid foods. I think there is even a recipe section on here somewhere.

Prayers for your family. and yes, a lot of people don't realize that something as simple as tylenol/acetaminophen can do serious damage if taking too much over prolonged periods of time. There is a reason why the combination prescription drugs - narcotic with high doses of acetaminophen in one tablet (600mg of acetaminophen or more) were taken off the market several years ago because of the risk of severe liver damage when taken for prolonged time periods for chronic pain. I was appalled however at discovering that doctors were getting around it and ignoring the safety risk by telling patients to just double up on the lower dosage - my brother's doctor did that and I insisted my brother change doctors. The liver damage from acetaminophen is serious and it is imperative people do not exceed the dosing instructions on the bottle.