Tufflaw

@@kmorri Any good recipes you can share? I found what I'm making tonight: Honey Teriyaki chicken (Pressure Cooker or Crock Pot) A sweet and savory flavor combo perfect for salads or served with rice. Author: Danielle Green Recipe type: Entree Serves: 6-8 servings Ingredients ⅔ c. La Choy Teriyaki sauce 1 Tbsp. honey ¼ c. chicken broth 2 lb chicken breasts Green onions, chopped Instructions Electric Pressure Cooker - Add the Teriyaki sauce and honey to the Instant Pot and whisk until well combined. Add the chicken broth and chicken. Cook thawed chicken on high pressure for 12 minutes. (Cook frozen chicken on high pressure for 20 minutes.) Turn the pressure valve to “Vent” to release all of the pressure. Remove the chicken breasts from the pot and place on a plate or cutting board. Shred the chicken using two forks. Remove ½ cup of liquid from the pot. (Reserve the liquid for cooking rice.) Return the shredded chicken to pot and stir until well combined. Top chicken with green onions. Crock Pot - Add the chicken breasts to a sprayed or lined Crock Pot. Top with the Teriyaki sauce, honey and chicken broth. Add an additional ½ c. chicken broth. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. With 30 minutes of cooking time left, shred the chicken using two forks. (If using frozen chicken in the Crock Pot, cook on low for 5-6 hours.) Got it from this page: http://www.thecreativebite.com/10-healthy-chicken-recipes-in-a-pressure-cooker-or-crock-pot/

I have five. The longest one is about an inch or so over my belly button, horizontal to my waistline, and about an inch or so long, it's where the removed the stomach. There are two small incisions on each side, to the left and right, and a little higher up, where the two sets of surgical instruments were utilized.

From what I've read, including some of the scientific studies, single incision takes a little longer for the total surgery, however the recovery time is quicker and the pain level is lower. I don't know if BMI is a disqualifier, but when I asked my doctor if I was eligible he said I was too tall (5'10"), he doesn't like to do it on anyone over 5'2" or so, since it's more distance to the stomach.

Tried some new food recently. Yesterday I went to Whole Foods and got a container of fresh made salmon salad. $6.48, was able to get two meals out of it. I divided it in half and it was 4.72 oz each which was perfect. I felt full afterwards but not stuffed. And the nutritional info is ridiculous: 107 calories (!), 6 carbs, 5 fat, 11 Protein. That was dinner last night and tonight. For lunch today I was at the mall with my wife and we decided to get something to eat out for the first time since surgery. There used to be a turkish place there that I was gong to get some lamb and chicken at, BUT they were closed! So my wife wanted to get something from the Chinese place there. She ordered a single entree, and for an extra dollar you could get a double, so I asked for the roast pork, it was like barbecue pork strips. There were actually really good, didn't bother my stomach at all, and when I looked up the nutritional info, actually not bad at all! Just didn't have any rice or noodles or anything else. I think it was about 4-5 oz total. And finally I'd been reading about this Halo ice cream that everyone loves, it's sugar-free, low calorie, high protein. So I went to Whole Foods to get some for me and my wife. While I was there, I saw a brand of ice cream called Wink ice cream, which was less than half the calories carbs and fat of the Halo, so I decided to get that for myself. My wife loved the Halo ice cream, and the Wink SUCKED. I had a 2 oz. serving and could barely finish it. I tried a little taste of the Halo and it was delicious, so I'm tossing the Wink and getting some Halo next time I hit Whole Foods. Let me know how the chicken and guac are, I might have to try some of that myself!

Ha, Protein doritos would be nice. I've heard of an ice cream on a facebook bariatric group I'm on, it's called Halo ice cream, and it's high protein, low carb and low cal. I might have to give it a shot!

With something like salad you won't know how much is too much until you eat it. Measure it out and just eat slowly until you're full Sent from my LG-H811 using the BariatricPal App

I was sleeved the same day as you and eat around 1000 calories a day, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. Don't worry about a few cals here or there - Even at 1200 calories a day which is double what you're doing you're still going to lose weight, probably even faster since your body won't be in starvation mode. It's still substantially less than what your body will naturally burn during the day just to maintain itself.

Jamie explained it very well. Think of it like this - let's say a recipe calls for 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 cup of Water, and 1 cup of whipped cream. Volume wise they're all the same (size). But actual weight will be very different. Water is 8.3 oz per cup, whipped cream will be 2 ounces per cup, and the heavy cream will be 8.5 oz per cup. You can check these all at wolframalpha.com, here are the search queries I used: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+many+ounces+is+1+cup+of+heavy+cream http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+many+ounces+is+1+cup+of+whipped+cream http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+many+ounces+is+1+cup+of+water

Easy answer is: When your doctor tells you it's OK. Everyone's doctor and recovery is different though. I was cleared for all physical activity 4 weeks after my surgery and I do some weight-lifting three days a week (Planet Fitness circuit training) and cardio a few other days (an hour on the bike). Before being cleared, I was told to walk as much as I could.

Drink as much Water as you can stand. I started coming down with a cold a week or so ago and drank water nonstop all day, over 100 ounces, and the next day it was gone!

Yup, it's amazing. That's why this is a TOOL, not a magic bullet. You could easily eat a few ounces of a cupcake or ice cream or something else, but you chose to eat chicken, which is great. The surgery helps with the cravings and binging, since it's pretty much impossible without puking. But you have to choose to eat the right things to really make it all work.

Glad everything is going well, 22 lbs is great congrats!! None of these recipes are mine by the way, I've never been a very good cook, I just find stuff online and try it out and I've been lucky so far. Lucky you get to eat mashed potatoes, I was told no way by the PA. I ate some corned beef hash a few times and they told me to stop because of the potatoes. I suppose I can eat it if I really want to, but they said the starch would affect weight loss. I'm so low on my calories per day I don't think it would be a really big deal though. I found a new recipe on a facebook group I'm on, it's REALLY good. It's basically supposed to be a White Castle Hamburger pie, although I made some substitutions. I used ground turkey instead of beef, and onion powder and minced onion instead of onion Soup mix. Still delicious, and for a 5 oz serving (with my substitutions) it's only 294 calories, 2.1 carbs, 20.8 fat, and 22.4 Protein. Here's the original recipe pre-substitution, it's from a page called Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes: WHITE CASTLE HAMBURGER PIE 1 pound ground beef 1 packet onion soup mix or seasoning mixture (see recipe below) 2 eggs 1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup heavy cream 8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded Salt and pepper, to taste Brown the hamburger with about half of the onion soup mix or seasoning mixture below *; drain the fat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the remaining soup mix or seasoning mixture and put the meat in a greased 9-10 inch pie plate. Stir in half of the cheese, then top with the remaining cheese. Whisk the eggs, mayonnaise, cream and a dash of pepper well; pour evenly over the meat. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Makes 6-8 servings Can be frozen * If you're wondering why I only mix half of the soup mix with the meat while cooking, then stir the rest in later, that's so it will flavor it a bit, but you won't lose most of the flavoring with the grease that's drained off. Serving Suggestion: For a true White Castle experience, top each serving with dill pickles and mustard. Or, make a sauce of dill pickle relish and mustard. Per 1/6 Pie: 490 Calories; 41g Fat; 25g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 4g Net Carbs Per 1/8 Pie: 368 Calories; 31g Fat; 19g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs SEASONING MIXTURE: If you'd like to save a few carbs, you can use onion powder and dry minced onions in place of the onion soup mix, which has 16 carbs per packet. I used a mixture of 2 teaspoons toasted onion powder (available from Penzeys, or use regular onion powder) and 1 tablespoon dry minced onion. I also sprinkled a little onion powder in with the egg/mayonnaise mixture. The carb count for the recipe made this way is: Per 1/6 Pie: 476 Calories; 41g Fat; 24g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 2.5g Net Carbs Per 1/8 Pie: 357 Calories; 31g Fat; 18g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 1.5g Net Carbs UPDATE: Someone named Julie sent me an email to let me know that she successfully made this recipe in her crockpot. She lined the crock with foil, to save on cleanup, and cooked it on HIGH for 2 hours and then on LOW for another hour. She suggests spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Her one complaint was that the topping was a little skimpy because of the size of her oval-shaped crockpot. She suggests either to use a round crockpot or increase the amount of topping that's called for. Thanks for sharing your idea, Julie!

I feel great! Definitely noticed some physical changes, I feel lighter on my feet (which is literally true!), less joint pain than I used to have, easier to sleep and just move around in general. I seem to wake up easier too. My clothes are getting too big also. I wear suits M-F, and I had several that had become too small, I couldn't even button the pants, now they all fit and are started to get a little too big. The suits I wore immediately before the surgery that fit me are almost unwearable, they hang off of me. Also some other clothing I've had that I used to wear but stopped fitting is all wearable again now. I'm not going to buy any more clothes until I hit my final weight, to save money. When I reach my goal I'm going out to buy a whole new wardrobe with all the money I've been saving on food! Edit: Almost forgot, my dress shirts were always too tight at the neck and I had to use this stupid collar extender button thing, now I don't use it anymore and they're starting to get pretty loose at the neck, much more comfortable to wear.

Woo hoo, hit another milestone today, exactly 50 lbs. down since I started my pre-op diet on 12/7/16. This is great.

It shouldn't last forever, I have a friend who had the bypass done a while back (12 years ago or so? Before it was done laparoscopically) and he eats pretty much whatever he wants, no dumping syndrome at all. Why not try a little for the taste and see if you're OK - as long as it's not overwhelming it shouldn't be a problem, hopefully.

i use sweet relish in everything. Do you have the sleeve or the bypass? Dumping syndrome is a characteristic of the bypass, not the sleeve. I've had zero problems with the sweet relish. Just had some tonight actually, I cooked up some chicken thighs and made a yummy chicken salad with lite mayo, mustard and sweet relish. Make about 9 oz, had half tonight and saved the rest for lunch tomorrow. I tried sausages yesterday, REALLY good, could only eat two links and felt totally stuffed. Tried again for lunch and could only eat about 1 and a half, couldn't finish the rest. I've noticed something interesting - I'm not able to leave food on my plate which is a new thing. Before the surgery I would always eat everything on my plate. Now I'm starting to recognize when I'm full and just stop, which is nice progress.

My stomach never really felt "weird". The incisions were uncomfortable for a little while, but never really painful. My stomach (internally) felt normal almost immediately. The first few days (maybe a week and a half?) I had a weird sensation when I swallowed food, like I could feel it going down, but it didn't hurt, just a new sensation and then it went away. You've never heard of egg salad? It's delicious. Take some hard boiled eggs, chop them up with a fork, mix in some mayo, and that's the basic egg salad. I also mix in mustard and sweet relish. It's great by itself, or (pre-op) on a bagel or a roll or crackers.

Awesome, that's great to hear! I had my one month followup today and everything is going great. I was cleared to eat non-soft foods, and also cleared for all exercise, so I'm going to the gym later. The nutritionist had said I could add veggies in month two but the PA recommended not having too much because some have a lot of sugar. My wife makes a great chicken stir-fry so I'll have 4 or 5 oz of that once or twice a week and start adding more real food in. Tonight I made chicken thigh again, but I poured on 1/4 cup of sauce and .5 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese and had a little chicken parm (DELICIOUS).

Glad I could help, feel free to drop me a line with any questions, and good luck!

Big day today! I have my one month followup tomorrow so they told me to eat REAL food tonight, they recommended chicken thighs because chicken breast is too dry considering we can't drink for 30 minutes after eating. So I got some chicken thighs, put a piece (a little over 4.5 ounces) in a baking pan, put on a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and that's it! Baked in the oven for 20 minutes at 425, then covered it and let it sit for 10 minutes, and it was delicious! No problems at all getting it down, feeling great, this is awesome. I only wish I could make a whole batch for the week and just nuke it every day but the PA said not to do that, that microwaving changes it somehow I'll definitely be having this again, looking forward to some real food going forward. Think I'll try sausages tomorrow (or maybe just one link).

That's awesome, good luck with the scrambled eggs! I make them similar to the way Gordon Ramsey makes scrambled eggs (but without the creme freche, if that's how you spell it). I put a little splash of skim milk and an ounce of shredded cheese, put the pan between low and medium, wait about a minute, pour in the eggs, shortly after start scrambling, then take them OFF the heat and scramble for a minute, then back on the heat for a bit, then off, and that's it. As soon as they're solid I'm done. Eggs are creamy, fluffy, delicious. I used to like that a little al dente and with the crispy edges but this is SO much better and easier to eat too. Here's the video that inspired me - Also, lucky you with the mashed potatoes! I was told I wasn't allowed to eat them because of the starch

Yeah I don't think it's for health reasons, just easier to get down without Water. Although I do like dark meat better anyway.

You can actually get the best of both worlds - my wife likes to use myfitnesspal and then she got a fitbit and wasn't thrilled with the app. You can link the two, so your fitbit stats automatically merge into myfitnesspal.

I think part of the problem is that it's impossible to tell tone from a text post, especially from someone you've never met in person, and someone might say something intending it to be taken a certain way and the reader takes it completely differently and then a war breaks out. Some people speak very plainly and very bluntly, with no malice, that's just the way they are, and others may not be used to that. There's also a lot of the "facebook syndrome" where we might talk to someone online in a manner we'd never use in person.

My pleasure! It was helpful to me reading other people's stories, and also just for myself this is a nice way to keep a record of what's going on. My one month doctor's appt is this Thursday, and the PA told me to eat chicken thigh the night before without grinding it up first to see how I tolerate it, and if all goes well I'll be cleared for REAL food and also to start exercising, so that's great. I asked why not chicken breast and she said it's too dry, without being able to drink Water it might be tough to get down. Now I have to go buy a chicken thigh.