Wheetsin

I posted some of my favorites earlier today. You can read them here. Others I enjoy but didn't specifically post - Cauliflower "mashed potatoes" Refried Beans Any soup that doesn't have solid meat or vegetable matter (you can toss them in the blender) Wet scrambled eggs, or poached, or very soft boiled Tofu, tofu noodles, etc. This topic comes up a few times a day. Search for "mushy" or "mushies" and you should be able to find quite a few recipes.

This is pinned in the pre-op forum: What you will need for your gastric sleeve surgery There're pages and pages of opinions there. Much easier than everyone retyping to this post.

I'm 2.5 weeks post-op. My first week out I could only eat maybe a half an ounce of anything at a time, Jello or otherwise. I could eat ice chips in a larger quantity, but could only swallow tiny sips of Water. I can eat a bit more now, but still nowhere near a cup. Over about 45 minutes I ate 2.5 oz of Greek yogurt for Breakfast. lunch was a slice of reduced fat deli cheese with a little dab of light sour cream and about 2 oz of some black bean goop I make. I gave my dog about 1/4 of the cheese. I finished everything else and it took me about an hour. For dinner I had a light babybel cheese, I'd been craving one, and at 6g Protein per cheese, it's good enough. I believe they're 3/4 oz. I'm completely full, but not hurting. In about an hour I'll have an 11 oz Protein Drink which will probably take me about an hour to finish. Anything I make I portion into 4 oz plastic cups and fill them halfway, so I know for sure how much I'm eating (and how much protein is in it). I have jello divided the same way. I can eat 2 oz of jello in about 20 - 30 mins now.

Wow, scary stuff. Be glad it was chips and not something like carrots or dense bread, I guess. BTW, hubby? Sorry, you look about 8 in your avatar pic.

What has your doc done to check position? E.g. xray, EGD... I'm sure there are exceptions, but when yakking up band stuff begins to include actual vomit, and there's GERD, I haven't yet seen an instance where there wasn't some degree of slip. Has your doc done a fluroscopy test to check the motility of your esophagus and the rate of pouch emptying? ^ bad grammar, hope you catch my drift My slip was considered "profound" and I was not a candidate for repositioning or rebanding, but I also lived with the symptoms for like 3 years, being told it was too much fill, or just to eat earlier in the evening, before it was finally xrayed and scoped. If it's caught early on, there isn't much dysphagia, and the pouch & stomach are still in good condition and can usually be fixed. Though also to be fair, of a lot of people I know who have had slips fix, most end up losing their band. But that's true for people whose slips aren't fixed, either. It's kind of true for everyone, given enough time.

If you're at a stage where you can eat them, there are some really decent Protein bars out there. They're probably your best for for fast and grab-n-go. When I had my band I always tried to keep pepperoni chips on hand, but they aren't really grab-n-go unless you've previously spent time cooking them. I rally hope my sleeve can tolerate them when the time comes because they're still one of my favorite Snacks. Just line a stack of paper towels with several slices of turkey pepperoni (I like Hormel). They can be touching, but not overlapping ir you'll have soft bits. Microwave about 2.5 - 3 mins or until they start to crisp up and darken. Take them out and vigorously blot the grease off the top. When they cool they will be completely crunchy, almost like extra flavorful chips. They are really good eaten with cottage cheese or the garden vegetable cream cheese spread. I also kept tuna or crab pouches handy. You can tape a condiment mayo or relish to it. Then just grab it and a plastic fork and you have tuna salad/crab salad to go. You can pre-make rollups. Deli meat of choice, slice if cheese of choice on top, then just roll up. You can spread a little mayo (or even better, mayo and mustard mixed together) between them if you like. You can also add some cucumber, pickle, etc. in the center, as tolerated. Eat them when you make them, or you could put them in a ziploc but I wouldn't keep them around too long, the cheese can get soggy. You can bake eggs and just about any additive in a mini muffin pan. Almost like little quiches. Very convenient grab and go food, just put 1 or 2 into a snack bag. (Tons of internet recipes for versions of this). You can also bake with Protein powder. The www has tons of protein powder muffin, donut, crepe, etc. recipes. You could bake up a batch, then just grab one as needed. Here is a protein muffin recipe I've tried and like, but I use pre-ground flax meal. I'm a semi foodie but not yet to the point if grinding my own meals. Protein on the go is really as easy as sitting down protein, you just have to be a little creative and give it some forethought.

I had to go through purees both with my band and again with the sleeve. I'm technically allowed more than purees now, but haven't yet gone there because I'm still not meeting minimum Protein requirements. But anyway, here are some of my favorites. Take a can of black Beans, leave the juice in. Use an immersion blender to fully puree them, skin and all. Then add FF milk or soymilk to thin. Stir in sour cream (light, FF, whatever your preference - I'm not too worried about dairy fats right now) and/or hot sauce to your taste (wing sauce works too). This makes a bean puree that's the consistency of a medium thickness Soup. I eat it as-is with a spoon, usually. Yesterday I used like a spread on 2/4 piece of deli sliced cojack cheese and made a "roll-up". There's a fake lasagna that I first saw pop up about 7 years ago when the Atkins diet was so popular. It's just egg, ricotta, Italian seasoning, parmesan and sauce. Sometimes with, sometimes without cream cheese. A lot of people make this as an Italian substite during mushies. The base recipe is 8 - 10 oz ricotta (about half a 15 oz container), 1 egg, 1/4 C pizza style grated parmesan, dash Italian seasoning. Blend all together. Portion out into ramekins, if you have them, or a small baking dish if you do not. Top with tomato sauce of choice (I use a low carb spaghetti sauce). Top with a sprinkle of your favorite soft white cheese (I use provolone, it melts so smooth). Bake at 350 for about 30 mins. Technically this is a soft food, but if you took a portion and whizzed it with a bit more tomato sauce and some milk, it would be a puree. Hummus (I like it traditional - made with garbanzo beans/chick peas - and to switch up a bit I also make it with edamame/shelled soybeans): place 1 cans of garbanzo beans in a food processor with 1/4 C tahini (sesame seed paste, you should be able to get it at any mediterranean store or a regular grocery store with a decent foreign foods section), 1/8 C lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 clove garlic. Process until smooth and whippy. Cover and refrigerate until you eat it. When you serve it, drizzle a little EVOO over it (optional). You can eat any soup as long as you blenderize it so that there are no chunks, or only very soft chunks (e.g. silken tofu). If you aren't familiar with tofu, they're not created equal. Silken tofu is very soft. It breaks apart. It's good for creaming or blenderizing, but not so good for cooking. If you are going to cook with tofu, you want to buy firm or extra firm. While still soft, it has some substance and won't just fall apart. Take it out of the container and strain it by placing sevearl paper towels or a kitchen towel on either side, then top with a baking sheet and put some cans on the sheet to give it some pressure. Leave it like that for about 30 mins. That will make it even firmer. But you can still eat it without really having to chew. My favorite way to make tofu is Thai style. I don't often use recipes, but I'll do my best to recipe-ize this. About a C of low sugar OJ. 1 tbl brown sugar or brown sugar Splenda. About a tbl of sesame oil. About a tsp of soy sauce. About 4 tbls of peanut sauce (if it's too spicy for you, you can substitute Peanut Butter microwaved so that it's runny). 2 green onions and 1 clove of garlic, minced, in a tea strainer (lets the flavors out but keeps the pieces in). About 1 tbl of honey, microwaved until runny. Stir all of this until it's well conbined and marinate your tofu in it at least 24 hours. Cook in a skillet with sesame oil. Once the tofu is browned, pour some of the marinade into the skillet and cook until it carmelizes (since there's not a ton of sugar in this, it takes a while). eggs, loose quiches. Again from the Atkins days, one of my favorites was a pizza quiche. It was so good. Most people who tried it liked it more than standard pizza, because the "crust" is so much tastier. Here's the recipe I used back then. Just adjust the toppings to something that works for you now (maybe just lots more cheese!) Ingredients 1.5 pounds ground beef 1/2 small onion 1 red bell pepper 4 oz pepperoni, diced 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 6 eggs 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 tsp black pepper 8 oz Swiss cheese, shredded Instructions Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a large frying pan, brown ground beef with onions, peppers, pepperoni, salt, and pepper. Drain excess fat. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Add cream and pepper, and beat together. Add shredded cheese to egg-cream mixture. Grease a large casserole dish well. Layer the ground beef mixture, and then pour the egg cream over top. Bake for 30 minutes covered, and the final 15 minutes uncovered. I made it a bit differently. I baked the "crust" for 15 minutes first, then topped with cheese, pepperoni and sausage, then baked another 15 mins.

A lot of people have true hate for those who are overweight. For a lot of normal weight people, obese people represent their biggest fear and a complete failure of self control "values". I do feel sorry for those workers. To have worked that hard to save the man, only to be met by a hazardous environment. At 600 lbs I'm assuming his household was toxic (even if due to pure inability to get up and throw something away, an imposed hoard of sorts, and I doubt he was able to maintain hygiene). Sadly after reading a few more articles, I'm right (almost wish I weren't): He was obviously a man who needed a lot of mental and physical help, and wasn't getting it. It's too bad he will now be flayed in the court of public opinion by people who have no idea what the man's mental or physical reality was. Related, here is an interesting read on the public disdain for obesity: America's Fat Hatred

Have you ever been checked for a slip? Enamel erosion is caused my the acid content of the stomach, and normal band "vomiting" does not include acid, just the stoma upward. Usually if someone is actually vomiting (bringing up stomach contents) it's one of the golden signs of a slipped band. So is your inability to find good restriction, actually. With my slip my restriction was really random. I could eat whatever I wanted one day, and gurgle over a drink of water the next. Are you having any reflux? That's another golden sign.

Do you have any PTO at all? Some places give it to you up front, some places you don't accrue until after your first year, etc. Find out if you even have the time to take off. If not, it may come down to a choice between postponing surgery or being terminated. I hate to be so blunt about it, but that's how it works. Your company should have a policy for taking time off, and some type of process you follow. If you don't know what it is, call HR and ask. With some companies it's just letting your boss know, and with others there's an actual form or packet you need to complete. It all varies so much, there's no way for us to be able to tell you what your employer's requirements are. Disability does nothing to give you time off. IF you have disability benefits, it's basically a pay benefit. Like I said, if you have the coverage and if your claim is approved, it keeps your paycheck coming in (sometimes at a reduced rate, you have to see what your benefit covers). It does NOTHING to protect your job or give you time off of work. It ONLY provides income. STD (short term disability) also only covers a specific amount of time, and there's usually a waiting period before your benefits kick in (for example, in my case, my benefits kicked in 5 calendar days from my first day missed. My surgery wsa a Tuesday, so I had to use 4 sick days to cover Tue - Fri, Sat was a freebie b/c my salary is not penalized for weekends, and benefits technically kicked in Sunday). If you are lot go it will probably be for a cause similar to excessive absence or failure to meet requirements (I haven't been on the terminating side of HR things for a long time so don't quote me on this) which means your disability benefits would not be continued and you would not be eliglble for unemployment. Hope this helps.

I've had my sleeve about 2.5 weeks now and other than my 1 week post-op visit, I have no idea what my progress is. I purposefully do not own a scale. scales are like an abusive stepmother for our brains and esteem, and most people maintain a bipolar relationship at best. Unless I need to go to the Dr, I will see how I've done in another 6 weeks when I have my 2 month post-op visit for labs. Hang in there guys, and just understand that our bodies don't have brains. Our bodies know how to survive. That's it. And right now, they're freaking out because they think they're starving, so they're trying to hold on to everything they can. Obviously this isn't something that actually works or no one would starve to death, so you really do just have to wait it out. Eventually things will reach an equilibrium.

A pound of fat is about 3200 calories. So to gain a pound of fat, you would need to eat about 3200 calories MORE than your basal metabolic rate. I have no idea what your BMR was or when you were sleeved, but unless you're drinking melted butter all day can you logically see any way that you've gained a pound of fat? You've gained a pound of something else, so don't worry about it. That's how the body works. It is constantly rearranging fluids, solids, and everything else. Making a tiny poop can trigger a 10 lbs loss. Retaining fluids for TOM can trigger a 12 lb gain. Weight scmeight. It just doesn't matter. Fat mass is what matters.

Honestly, I would just search the various WLS boards. Most have a recipes section, or you can search using 'recipe' as a key word. I know this isn't exactly what you're looking for but it's what I advise because I've seen a LOT of bariatric post-op ebooks and cookbooks and not a single one of them (that I've seen so far) has unique recipes. They seem to be basically board members pulling the recipes they come across on boards, then consolidating them into a cookbook to sell.

I had a lapband for about 6 years, and had my revision surgery 2.5 weeks ago, and am just one of many here who have also had revision surgery. There is a forum here dedicated to band -> sleeve revisions: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/forum/13-band-to-gastric-sleeve-revisions/

I think you're the only other person I've run into who purposefully does not own a scale. Super congratulations on that (it's so liberating, mentally) and on your loss.

I'm still newly post-op but per my surgeon's plan I can eat soft foods. I'm still struggling with basic Protein portions so I haven't incorporated many soft foods yet. Here's what I had today: Breakfast: nectar Protein Drink (32gm protein). Lunch: 3/4 deli slice cheese spread with a toddler spoonful of lowfat sour cream and a black bean soupy mixture I make, rolled up and cut into pieces. Snack: 2 oz Greek yogurt with SF salted caramel syrup and a few dashes of cinnamon. Dinner: was still full from snack. I made a batch of quiche lasagna to keep for when I feel like I can manage a soft food. I ate about a spoonful of the egg/ricotta/cheese "batter" and it really stuck with me for a while (easily the densest thing I've eaten in more than 2 weeks). After dinner: I've made what I call a PBJ protein drink - vanilla Protein powder, PB2, SF Peanut Butter syrup, SH strawberry syrup and soy milk. I still feel stuffed so I may or may not be able to finish it tonight.

Chinese - hot & sour soup, moo goo gai pan, beijing chicken. Mexican - Beans, especially thinned with salsa juice or sour cream. Chipotle bol with no rice (lasts for several meals). McDonald's - the only thing I ever eat from that place is the fruit & yogurt parfait. If I have need to go there post-op I'll pass the fruits to DH and just eat the lowfat vanilla yogurt. Schlotzsky's - they have awesome Soups, and good pizzas. I used to get their thai chicken pizza, eat the toppings off and then pick at the very top (saucy) part of the crust. Chipotle and Schlotzsky's are really the only fast food places I'll eat at, I enjoy cooking too much (and knowing what's in my food).

I make ice cubes out of FF milk and soy milk. I find ice just waters things down as it melts, and changes the flavor. I don't use pudding mixes, but I do use SF syrups, PB2, fruits, vegetables. I recently ordered 17 bottles of SF syrup and they arrived today. I feel all giddy, like a kid at a toy store. So many recipes waiting to be created.

My surgeon uses a 34 boughie. He feels this is great restriction without going down to a 32, which he considers too risky for stricture.

I think for most people weightloss slows down after 6 months. It may very well take you longer than a year to lose all your weight, but that's ok, right? I've seen several people with under 100 lbs to lose taking 2+ years to reach goal, but they're committed and they get there. To answer your core question, there is no expiration date with the sleeve. You will lose as long as you continue putting in the work. You will probably have stalls, but keep at it.

Ask them their turnaround time for predetermination. The longest I've heard of is 30 business days. If they're past their turnaround time, you can put some pressure on them.

Sorry, I know you're anxious, but we have no way of knowing if they will approve or not. Why not call your insurance company and ask the status of your appeal? You can talk with them directly, you don't have to wait to hear from your surgeon's office.

I had several meds to take post-op because of an allergic reaction I had to something they gave me at the hospital. I had the standard Omeprazole, but also Prednisone, Sucralfate (big ol' pill) and Pepcid. I was pretty hesitant to take a full pill, I couldn't even do that with my lapband. I took everything just fine, except the Sucralfate which I bit off into thirds.

It depends completely on what your 2 week post-op diet requires. If you're on what's generally called "full liquids" I posted a response to this question yesterday. You can see it here. Tons of ideas out there, you just have to look a bit to find them.

I have ventured into many foods yet but so far everything is tolerated. I used some powdered lemonade drink mix in my Protein powder yesterday and it gave me a bit of heartburn, but was fine once I watered it down a bit. I know someone who dumps on OJ. She can eat oranges, just not straight OJ. I know another who can't keep scrambled eggs down. Any other form of egg is OK.