MacMadame

I think the thing with raw eggs is that they *can* have bacteria in them. So eating raw eggs is riskier than eating cooked eggs. But that doesn't mean every raw egg has bacteria and is dangerous. It's really all about how much risk you want to expose yourself to. I used to order "sunny-side up" eggs when I went out. I decided that it was worth it to start ordering "over easy" instead because the taste wasn't much different and that cut down on the risk. But, I do eat sashimi and seared ahi, because in that case, I'd rather take on the extra risk than eat tuna that's been fully cooked. It's just not the same to me.

Hi Irene! Nice to see you here.

I think you should stop weighing yourself so much. It sounds like you are person who gains and loses Water easily and that's going to make your scale fluctuate and drive you insane. OTOH, maybe you just need to change the batteries in your scale?? (Assuming it has them.)

Actually, the most radical is the DS. And people with RnY do revise to it. Also, sometimes they put a lapband around the stoma to tighten it. But I'm confused too. :lol0:

I found I had to mix things up constantly. Sometime warm liquids like tea would go down easier than cold, other times cold would work better. For a while it had to be plain Water. Then it had to have flavor. Just keep trying different things until you find something that works. Then, when it stops working, go back to square one. :lol0:

I like FAGE. 20 g of protein for 6 oz. and minimal carbs. I add my own sweetener to it (otherwise, it's a bit too sour for me).

That's wonderful!

I dieted for 7 months prior to surgery and lost 32 pounds.

What insurance will cover a sleeve seems to change a lot. Your best bet is to just ask them. Bariatric surgery seems more expensive in SoCal than NorCal too. I find that interesting as isn't the CoL higher here (in NorCal) than there (in SoCal)?

Me too. What I say is, if you don't work on your food issues, surgery isn't going to help you. The more you work on them before surgery, the better of you'll be, but it's not like you can't keep working on them forever. Plus, some of the physiological issues of being obese may be contributing to your eating issues. I think it's a complicated system with lots of feedback loops. Fixing one side of the equation can often help the other side. Sometimes it feels like they are trying to make you "earn" your surgery. Sure, losing 10 lb. can make your liver easier to handle and some people have health conditions that losing 25 lb. might make much better. But there is no data to support making everyone, not matter what, lose 10% of their body weight like a lot of surgeons do. Let's put it this way. Say person A started at 350. They are told to lose 35 lb. and that it's for their own safety to make the operation less risky. Person B starts at 250. They are told to lose 25 lb. Why is it safe for person A to have surgery at 315 but not safe for person B to have surgery at 250 pounds? (Assuming both people have similar health histories and conditions.) I just realized I never actually answered the OP's question though. So here's my answer: My eating has changed because I'm no longer full of ghrelin so I'm no longer hungry all the time. This has changed my relationship with food. I am more in control now. My tastes have also changed. I like things less sweet now and I'm more sensitive to additives so I eat more whole and natural foods now. Because I can't eat a lot at one time, my ideas of what is a normal portion have changed considerable. So I don't even try to eat a lot of food most of the time. When I do try, I get negative reinforcement.

It's basically just a tube. They stick it down your throat and use it to size the stomach.

My surgeon doesn't bill his time we have complications. It's included in our two years of after-care. But the hospital certainly charges us! He said he can't help that. OTOH, my insurance said they'd cover most stuff, which would not be an option if I'd gone to Mexico. I was self-pay here, but my insurance covered everything but the surgery.

Did a bike ride yesterday. Bike computer fell off twice and then I got a flat tire. Apparently the valve was broken and all the air leaked out. After I fixed the tire, the bike computer magnet was facing the wrong way so I don't know how many miles I did or how long I was out there. Bummer.

I'll let you know when I stop losing. :frown1: My only weight goal was to get to a normal BMI. But once I got there, I knew I had more work to do. I got down under 120 and at this point I'm mostly satisfied. I am hoping to go down to 115 and then bounce around that point, but I wouldn't cry if I never got below what I am at now. So I consider myself on maintenance and I'm not actively trying to lose. But I am still losing... a pound here and there.

I eat a lot of: meat (leftovers, deli meat, etc.) eggs (hard-boiled, egg salad, egg bites) string cheese (the 2% milkfat kind, not the full fat kind) cottage cheese (non-fat as I honestly can't taste any difference between full and no-fat cc) yogurt (FAGE has 20 g of Protein per 6 oz. serving) beef Jerky protein hot chocolate (I like the Nashua Nutrition/Healthwise brand the best) Protein shakes (I like Chike the best.) nuts (have to watch the quanities due to the fat, but they make a nice change) I did the bullets for a while, but after a while they made me gag. Milk is okay *in* things, but I can't drink more than 4-8 oz (used to be less) without getting gastric distress. I also sometimes use Protein Bars -- but only ones that have no more carbs than protein) and trail mix that I mix up myself. I also make a protein muffin that has a 3:1 carb to protein that is supposed to be good for recovery from exercise. I make them in a mini-muffin pan and have two after I work out. I think the key is to make every meal and snack protein-based. If you can only eat one egg, have a hard-boiled egg and something else (i.e., instead of crackers which are all carbs). Crackers are easy, but so is beef jerky. If you want crackers, have much less than you normally do, but put some Peanut Butter on them. Yeah, PB can be high in fat, but PB crackers will stay with you longer and have more protein than crackers alone. The other thing I do is cook a lot on the weekends so I have plenty of leftovers. I notice that, when I don't do this, I tend to eat worse because I grab the first handy thing that comes along. That always leads to bad choices IME.

I'm glad you found someone who didn't make you wait. It's always nice to lose a bit of weight pre-op, but not at the expense of getting your surgery in a timely manner!

I have an ice cream maker. I bought it to make protein ice cream. But I find I don't use it much. Not sure why, but one reason is because my ice cream often comes out kind of sorbet-ish. Plus my recipe makes *way* too much and it doesn't taste the same when I freeze it and eat it later.

They all do it slightly differently. My surgeon doesn't do clear liquids. He does "thin" liquids. That isn't an official medical term though. His list looks like a clear liquids list mostly. But we can also have milk, protein shakes, protein drinks, etc. In the hopsital they called it "bariatric clears". The difference between "thin" liquids and "full liquids" is that we can't have yogurt, cottage cheese, pudding, etc. These are things that a lay perons wouldn't consider liquids, but are part of the official full liquid diet.

For me, cravings are tied to my carb intake. Which can be difficult because I need carbs to do my endurance sports. But I have to be careful with them and I'm constantly cutting back as I feel the cravings coming on. I didn't think about the ice Water thing... I often can't eat much in restaurants and that's also pretty much the only time I drink ice water.

Protein is so individual. Lots of stuff that the majority love, I can't stand. :thumbup: Some stuff that lots of people like: Syntrax nectar (I liked it at first and am going to try it again) Oh Yeah! RTD EAS RTD Atkins RTD Lean Dessert (I thought it tasted like garbage) I can't do *any* of the RTD ones. I think it's a texture thing. I did Champion Nutrition for a while, but I never really loved them and now I can't do theirs. I tried soy protein powders and an egg Protein powder too. Couldn't stand them. But some people can't deal with 100% whey and find those to be excellent. My favorite is Chike. It has mostly natural sweeteners (but some sucralose) and claims to be gluten free. I think it has some soy in it but it's mostly whey. Sometimes I think it has a weird after-taste, but most of the time I don't taste that. (And it might be from the Davinci/Torani syrups I sometimes add.) With the others, the after-taste would start out acceptable, but there, and then, over time, I'd notice it more and more! I think I'm just very tuned into artificial flavors and a lot of these shakes are full of additives.

I think you are making sense... leaks are scary and sometimes all you can do is give them time. My aunt had a partial gastrectomy for stomach cancer and, when it came back, they operated again and she got a leak and, in the end, all that worked was to take it easy. Sorry you had to go through that...

UHC used to be great. I have some friend who all work at the same place and they all got a sleeve with no hassles and no 6 month supervised diet. Then, UHC had some personnel changes and now no one is getting a sleeve at that company! One of the newer folks who was denied got Obesity Law on her side and they found out that UHC had done all sorts of things wrong in her case, too. So I think she'll get her sleeve in the end. But she's been fighting for MONTHS now. It's kind of sad. Especially since my company changed their insurance companies all around and now I have UHC too. :thumbup: But we have a weight loss exclusion and our insurance is self-funded, so it doesn't matter what insurance company we have in a way. They are all just administrators of our contract.

Yeah, that cracks me up too. I never lost more than 5 lb. in any one week and mostly did 4-5 the first couple of weeks and then settled into a steady 2-3 lb. loss. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating to see people dropping major poundage, but I figured that the main thing was to get there in the end. And I got to goal in 6.5 months so all my angst over people who seemed to be losing faster was for naught!

Exactly! Normally I'm against telling other people's secrets, but not telling them she had the lap band and letting them use her success with WLS as a weapon against you is really, really, really wrong and I think it's time the truth came out.