theantichick

I make 3oz pudding shots. Any flavor sugar free pudding, 2 cups skim milk, 5 scoops unflavored Isopure. pour into 6 tiny Rubbermaid and chill. 20oz Protein. Easier. For me than a Protein shake.

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I need to do something like this. But nutrasweet gives me Migraines. I've debated doing it with full sugar pudding and trying to make pudding from scratch with splenda or Monk Fruit.

Nurse here - usually if they're doing it for a surgery, they place it in the OR after you're asleep.

If I had one, they took it out before I woke up. Each doc is different, lots of them aren't placing catheters for surgery anymore due to higher infection risks. Check with your doc, at the very least they should be able to place it after you're out.

OMG. I just posted about how I took a suitcase full of stuff. I had Protein drinks in there, because I'm a picky eater and worried that I wouldn't like what they had at the hospital. I took my laptop and my phone and my eReader. I took my CPAP (that we actually didn't end up using at all because I elevated the head of my bed). I took a sweater and slippers and my home meds and Water flavoring and gas-x strips and I don't even remember what all. I know it was a carryon bag stuffed to the gills.

Do you know what I actually used from all of that?

My smart phone.

My toothbrush and toothpaste (I hate the ones they have at the hospital).

A change of underwear.

That's it.

I do wish I'd packed a heating pad and maybe a nice pillow.

If I'd not packed all the other crap, I'd have had room. LOL.

I used a second hospital gown as a robe when I was walking, and they preferred I use the grippy socks they have. I wore the same clothes home that I wore to the hospital (since I was in them a grand total of 2 hours they weren't dirty. Ended up, post-op I didn't like any of the Protein stuff I bought beforehand, and the Premier Protein they had at the hospital was what I could actually tolerate. I didn't end up flavoring the Water, because I was only able to sip about an ounce at a time. I couldn't focus on anything to read, so I just zombie-watched whatever was on TV (a lot of Criminal Minds as I recall) and screwed around facebooking and such on my phone when I wasn't sleeping.

Don't forget chargers for whatever electronics you take.

Other than that, just think minimally. You likely won't need 1/2 of what you think you will.

I was lucky in that my surgeon doesn't do a strict pre-op diet. She recommends replacing 2 meals with Protein shakes, and having one "healthy" meal a day, plus "healthy snacks" as needed. I probably wasn't eating as healthy as she had in mind, but I did the best I could. She said she has found that unless someone clearly has fatty liver disease, the pre-op diets don't make that much difference as far as liver size or safety in surgery. The only thing she's definite on is not eating or drinking 12 hours before surgery which is standard so the stomach is empty since that's what's being operated on, plus anything on the stomach can cause problems with anesthesia.

The pre-op diet was the hardest part for me, because before surgery there's nothing to curb the cravings and hunger drives. Even just trying to keep things "healthy" and only have my shakes for Breakfast and lunch was hard. I certainly wasn't perfect in those two weeks, but I did the best I could. Doc said my liver was fine, there were no complications.

I agree with @@LipstickLady that we need to get away from the idea of "cheating". We're all adults here, it's not like we are getting away with anything like in school. Our choices have consequences, and my choices will be different from yours. I do not severely restrict carbs. I eat bread and rice and fruit. That's because I get violently ill in ketogenesis, and my doctor and I agree on my eating plan. Other people function best when they don't eat carbs, and/or are working with a surgical team that has a different approach (e.g. ketogenic).

I made the choice to eat chocolate cake this weekend for my birthday. In fact, I didn't track a single thing I ate this weekend, and didn't worry about Protein goals or calorie counts or anything else. What's different about now vs. before surgery is that I only ate what I wanted, and I listened to my body about when I was done. I even learned that for anything that sugary, more than about 2 bites makes me miserable. Won't do that again. I don't think I "cheated" or that I need to confess it. I made a choice. I don't regret it, and certainly don't need anyone's approval. Some people here might think I'm crazy for doing that during my weight loss period, but it's the choice *I* made, and I get to deal with the consequences. I figured I'd gain a pound or two, or at least stay where I was, but I actually lost a pound over the weekend. I attribute that to eating mostly on plan even though I didn't track, and not going overboard with the indulgence. It may catch up to me in the end, it may not. Either way, I made a choice.

Where I really think the concept of "cheating" is dangerous is when it comes to post-op diet advancement. "Cheating" there is about compromising safety and recovery, and is so much more than just "being naughty". Eating something you haven't been cleared for can have deadly consequences. I think that's why so many of the vets here are seen as being harsh and judgmental about "cheating".

As a nurse, I shudder every time I see someone talking about eating steak or tacos or whatever 3 days out or 1 week out or whatever amount of time out but they haven't been cleared for it by their docs. And I want to scream at people who then come behind that person and say "it's OK, you're just human", or worse "I did that, and I'm fine." It sends the absolute wrong message to other people who are struggling post-op and want to "cheat" on their diet advancement plan. I have treated patients who were in their late 90's and in excellent health who drank whiskey and ate bacon every day of their life. That doesn't mean drinking whiskey and eating bacon every day is a good health choice just because this one person did it and had no issues. One person can eat something with seeds 3 days out and have no apparent ill effects. Another can eat the same thing the same 3 days out and have a life-threatening abscess. And no, I'm not being dramatic. People have literally died or come close to it because they violated the diet advancement their doctor gave them.

The person who chose to eat something before their doc said OK doesn't need to be shamed, but they do need to be told that it could be dangerous and that they need to check with their doc's office at the very least to find out what signs or symptoms they should be looking for to indicate a serious problem. And the other newbies reading the thread need to get the message clear and loud that it's not "cheating" post-op, it's playing with your life. As much as I was desperate for something pureed or something to chew when I was on my liquid restrictions post-op, I dug down and figured out how to push through because it wasn't about "cheating" it was about my safety.

I know this thread isn't about post-op, but every time I see a vet getting bashed for giving what some see as "judgemental" advice it frankly hacks me off. There are vets who I'm sure cringe every time I post about eating carbs. Even if they posted judgemental things about my statements, I wouldn't bash them because they're operating from what they were taught by their teams, and what they learned through their experience. They may be right. They certainly have the experience of successful weight loss and maintenance, and I don't. Until I'm sitting at my goal weight 3 years post-op, I'm swinging in the dark at this. I try to make that clear when I post advice... that I'm just a beginner at this process. I have access to medical materials that inform me, but that doesn't replace direct experience. The people who have been successful at this have the most direct experience, and they need to feel free to share it without being bashed.

(stepping off the soap box)

I would consider it a good thing. It's really hard to over-do the fluids. The danger with too much Water is mainly just with athletes who aren't replacing the sodium they're sweating out as they're drinking copious amounts of Water and the electrolytes get dangerously out of balance.

The best formula for Fluid intake (which includes anything liquid, not just water) is 1/2 - 1 oz per lb of body weight. So someone weighing 150# should drink 75-150 oz of Fluid a day. More active people should be at the higher end, with some of that fluid (1/3 - 1/2 of intake) including electrolytes like a good sports drink.

Fluids help the body deconstruct the fat tissue and keep metabolism going strong. Before surgery, I was drinking 100+ oz of water a day. I'm not up to that amount yet post-op, but I keep working to get back up there. Shortly after surgery, I could only drink an ounce at a time. I can take regular sized swallows now, but I can't drink too much at one time or I get queasy.

I thought I was super-prepared.

LOL

I had taste-tested tons of different Protein shakes, picked out the ones I liked and laid in supplies. I packed a suitcase for the hospital. I knew I was going to sail through this because I was prepared.

LOL

Post-op, I couldn't stand the Protein Shakes I'd laid in supplies of. Thank goodness they'd given me Premier Protein in the hospital, or I'd have been in a panic. As it was, I sent hubby out to get more of it when I found out I could barely stand the stuff I'd bought.

I couldn't get enough fluids in and it felt like I was trying all day long. I finally took the Syntrax nectar (roadside lemonade) and froze it in ziploc tubes I bought off Amazon (next day shipping FTW) to have Protein and fluids in a way I could get down. I also figured out the trick to getting unflavored Protein powder to mix into hot liquids (mix it with a small amount of lukewarm Water then add THAT to the hot liquids) when I realized that chicken bouillon was what my tummy wanted.

I had planned to get up and walk walk walk all the time like the vets here said I needed to. Thank goodness I didn't have any surgical gas pain, because with my auto-immune arthritis flared from the surgery, I was doing good to walk to the couch from my bed and to and from the bathroom and kitchen. My heating pad and heated blanket throws saved my butt.

All of that, and I really didn't have any complications. I only had a couple bouts of nausea, but didn't actually throw up. I had no surgical gas pain. No problems with my incision. No strictures. My surgery site pain was better than my arthritis pain by day 3 post op. The things I struggled with was the arthritis pain, fatigue (from both the auto-immune and surgery), Constipation (but I have IBS-C to start with, so it wasn't unexpected) and having to take those tiny, tiny sips because larger sips hurt going down.

What is the saying? No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

I also think the BMI is a load of horse manure. It's a handy number to use as a rough guide, but the ranges were set in an arbitrary fashion IMHO, and don't reflect health AT ALL.

I picked 185# because that's the last time as an adult I remember really liking the way I looked and being able to do all the active things I wanted, without having to exercise like a crazy person every single day and watch every single bite I put in my mouth. In college I was able to maintain 165# (I'm 5'9") but it was almost a full-time job. I had to run 1-2 miles a day as well as stay on a VERY strict diet, WITH a college kid's metabolism. I'm not willing to go to that extreme for a number on the scale. I figure when I hit 185# we'll see if I can go another 10#. 175-185# range would be amazing for me, and give me a little room for fluctuations. I don't want to rule out anything lower, but I know where I'd be satisfied.

I will very likely never be at a "normal" BMI again. I'd have to get under 170# to have a "normal" BMI. Under 200# gets me out of the obese category. My entire medical team will be ecstatic the day I get under 200#. Anything after that is gravy as far as they're concerned. My surgeon will consider anything under 230# a success.

Oh, and SUPER congrats on your weight loss!

Just my opinion:

The constant weighing isn't the problem. How you feel about the numbers on the scales is what's important, I think.

I'm a data person. I love collecting data and looking for patterns. The first month I was on the scale at least once a day. I found interesting patterns in how the weight would stay the same for several days and then drop 2#. (Constipation is my current enemy... LOL).

Doing this didn't frustrate me or impact my feelings about the weight loss or the process. I don't have an emotional connection with the scale, at all. (I know, that makes me weird, LOL).

If the movement (or lack thereof) on the scale stresses you out and impacts your emotions, then I would advise you to stop it. Don't weigh at all except at your checkups. Or set a day and time each week to weigh and don't even LOOK at the scale between those times. Hide it, or have someone else hide it. Or get rid of your scale and only use the one at the gym. Even if you're going once a day, that will be the extent of how often you can weigh.

If it doesn't stress you out, don't worry about it.

@@theantichick sorry I wasn't clear in my latest post in this thread! No Snacks *other than Protein shakes.* I had 1-2 Protein Shakes daily throughout my weight loss period. I didn't mind them at all, as long as I had the right brand & flavor of powder. I did a lot of experimenting and some were much more successful than others!

Ok, that makes a LOT more sense. To me, the Protein shake is a mini-meal. So if I ate 3 "food" meals and 2 shakes, I would count that as 5 small meals. That's why I posted about what everyone is calling "snacking" because I didn't think we were all using the same terms. LOL.

I am frankly over the shakes. I'm down to one flavor with one brand I can stand, even though I keep trying all of the others as well as concoctions to try and flavor them differently.

@@LisaMergs after (I think) 9 months they let me go up to 4 oz per meal, no Snacks. Yes, it is intense, but their program is highly successful and it certainly worked for me! I never had any trouble losing weight and my lab work was always great so I don't think it hurt me in any way. It helped me get out of the habit of thinking I needed to eat all day or that it was unacceptable to be hungry. I'm really grateful for the very strict program they put me on.

I just want to know how in the heck you met Protein goals with less than 12 oz of food per day. I'm eating 5-6 small meals a day and have trouble meeting my goals. I'm getting sick of the Protein shakes, but most of the meats are not sitting well with me and I'm not a huge egg or tuna person, so if I don't drink at least 1 shake a day, I have no hope of getting to my Protein goal. I'd be sunk if they asked me to restrict to only 3 meals per day. (And I'm glad they aren't.)

I hadn't been at my job long enough to file FMLA. Luckily it fell at a good time of the year and my boss was super supportive. I just put in for the days off with my PTO.

If you've been at the job long enough for FMLA, that may be the way to go. They cannot require you to reschedule if you're qualified for and taking FMLA. Your boss isn't entitled to know any of the details with an FMLA request beyond the dates. It is an HR process and your boss doesn't have to approve it. FLMA information, unless you agree, can only be seen by HR personnel and it's unethical (and likely unlawful) for them to discuss it out of turn. With FMLA I believe you have to have a work release from your doc before they can legally let you start back to work. FMLA can also ensure you can get off work as needed for follow-up appointments.

Of course, taking time out for a health issue, there will be people who ask out of curiosity or concern for you. You'll have to decide what to tell them. A generic "abdominal surgery" or "hernia repair" can be answer enough to shut some people up.

Oh, and the things WILL cause some hellish bruising, just tell her to be prepared for it. They'll go away after the shots stop, and it's worth it to not have a clot that travels, possibly to the heart, brain, or lung.

46 at the time of my surgery, and had 14 days post-op with the shots. I'm a nurse, and this is becoming very standard, and not just for us over-40 set. We're learning so much about clot risk and how many people have been dying from clots and we didn't know, so it's becoming SOP to take more precautions. Some of these changes in protocols are fairly recent, as well.

I try not to correct people too much in open forums, but my nurse educator hat won't let me leave this alone.

The inflammation I spoke of is not inflammation of the stomach, and the inflammation doesn't drive hunger. Some of the cells in the fundus of the stomach (the stretchy part that is mostly cut away during sleeve surgery) secrete factors that drive systemic inflammation. It isn't much of an issue if you don't have an auto-immune disease.

Also, we're finding out that hormones driving hunger pains and cravings are mostly from the brain. It's not as much from a larger empty stomach as people think. It's a complicated feedback loop that is attempting to keep the body at a higher "set point" weight because the feedback system evolved when food was scarce and so it's function is to keep our weight at the higher point that it's gotten used to.

The evidence is indicating pretty strongly that the restrictive part of the surgery is not what drives the majority of our weight loss. According to my surgeon and the journals I've read, the size of the stomach is actually not a huge factor in the weight loss after the first 6 months or so. The metabolic changes that essentially give us a "do-over" with our set point is what allows us to keep the weight off, if we don't mess it up again.

Turning off the porch lights.

Hubby and daughter are trying to eat healthier with me, none of us need the bags of candy sitting around after. I'm finding that even if I think I want candy, it doesn't taste as good as I thought it would, so one or two bites, and I'm done.

I don't have your issues, so I can't speak to your situation specifically. If your endo and PCP think it might help, I would say it's worth it to try.

I do have issues with choosing the right foods, and eating too much of the wrong things. So I know exactly why my weight came on.

That being said, I was on the fence about the surgery for a very long time. I know that I could have lost the weight with diet and lifestyle changes, the issue would be whether or not I could keep it off long-term. As a nurse, I had serious concerns about permanently altering a healthy organ to lose weight. New research is teaching us a lot about how the body works like gangbusters to keep weight at our set points, and how hard it is to change those set points. While we don't know how it works yet, the surgery seems to give us a do-over regarding our set point. So that was compelling.

But I didn't make the decision until my rheumatologist gave me information about how the surgery would likely affect my overall inflammation that drives my auto-immune arthritis. I knew being 100# overweight was putting extra stress on my joints, but I didn't realize that the stomach tissue itself secretes hormones that are part of the inflammatory process, and that the fat cells we lose also are secreting inflammatory factors. While it wasn't guaranteed, the experts told me the surgery had a good chance of lessening my auto-immune situation. It wouldn't cure me, but it could help the meds work better and lessen my pain.

So far, it's working. I had a huge flare that was expected post-op, especially since I had to stop my auto-immune meds. By day 3 post, my joints hurt much worse than the surgery sites. But by week 2, the inflammation seemed to settle down, and a couple of months post I started my meds back up, and things seem to be better. We're waiting on labwork now to confirm.

Bottom line, talk it over with your docs and the surgeon, and together decide if it's right for you. We do know that there are effects beyond the restriction that improve other medical situations, but there's not enough data yet to know exactly why.

I actually haven't broken out since the surgery. I thought I would, given the trauma the body sustains with the surgery itself, and I couldn't take my huge lysine tablets for several weeks after. I thought I had a spot starting up, but it was just a chapped area, and being more diligent with my chapstick fixed it right up.

I get the worst fever blisters my doc has ever seen and an allergic to valtrex. I take lysine every day and ramp up the amount if I feel the tingle. I also have a lysine ointment I use alternating with one that has benzalkonium (Releeve) to shorten outbreaks.

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I agree with you I read one post I was like omg back off the person. Because that had chicken at 5 days. Each their own. Granted chicken sounds amazing I'm full off of a string cheese but I agree go with your team but you know your body as well too. I drank 40 oz of Protein walked 5 miles day after surgery other barely walking

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Yes!!! I seen that particular post I actually felt sorry for the person I was like dang we come here for motivation and advice not to be scolded like little children.

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Eating solid food at 5 days out is dangerous. There are far too many people here saying "don't worry about it, I did it and I'm fine" when it's flat out DANGEROUS.

I can find tops anywhere - Target, Walmart, Kohls, consignment shops. Where I'm heck to fit are pants. I have some pants in sizes smaller, and will use them as I'm able. For the rest of it, I am making a couple of drawstring maxi skirts in navy and black to get me through the gaps. I will be doing a very minimalist wardrobe until I get to goal.

I literally fell out of my chair laughing at the commercial.

But the product is very good, I have to say.

Yogurt (regular and greek smooth, no chunks) was included in my list of approved foods for the full liquid phase. You should have been given a list of acceptable foods for each stage. There are medical reasons for the process to advance your diet, so it's more than just "cheating" at this stage. Each doctor has a different diet advancement plan, you need to stick to what your doc has advised. My doc had me advancing much more quickly than most of the other plans people have discussed here, so what was on my plan might not be OK with your doc.

Start seeing a therapist about the BED before getting surgery. I have issues with emotional eating and used to eat too much in one sitting, though I don't think I eat so much as to qualify for a "binge". Working with a therapist has really changed my approach to food, and I knew I needed to get that right surgery or no surgery.

Between working with a therapist and the physical changes in cravings post-op, I've not had any issues. Though keep in mind I'm only a little over 2 months out. I suspect there's still a lot of challenges ahead of me.

As I'm working through Constipation issues, I end up on the toilet for way too long at a time. the Squatty Potty is a lifesaver. Changing the position helps with the constipation and keeps my legs from falling asleep.