#BirdDog

Morning not so good. The conference I'm at provided breakfast burritos this morning. I thought no problem, I'll just eat some of the insides and I'll be good. It had egg, melted cheese, some potatoes which I was avoiding, and as I shortly found out some sausage. (Should have explored it better before taking a bite). About two small bites into it I knew something wasn't going quite right. Felt like I was going to vomit. I stopped eating it and managed to keep it down. Once my stomach settled and some time had gone by I ran to my hotel and grabbed a Protein shake from my cooler. I think I'm going to stick to liquids until dinner time today. Bringing that little cooler with my allowed foods has been a life saver on this business trip. It's been a few days of not weighing and getting in some new foods and a lot of walking. I'm really curious how my weight is going to be when I get back.

Today went well. Scrambled eggs for breakfast with a little salsa. Couldn't eat anything they were serving for lunch so I walked across the street to the hotel where I had brought a cooler full of things I could have. Had a couple bites of cottage cheese grabbed a Protein shake and headed back. For dinner we went as a group out to another seafood restaurant. This time I had a cup of clam chowder but didn't eat much of it, I also ordered an appetizer of shrimp cocktail to share with a coworker. They were bay shrimp so they are tiny. Didn't have but the equivalent to maybe four forks full of the shrimp and 1/3rd cup of the clam chowder. I feel absolutely stuffed. If I had it to do over I would probably forgo one or the other. Tracking all of my food and exercise in myfitnesspal. Did a two mile walk just before dinner so I'm feeling pretty confident in my food choices. Tomorrow is when I'm supposed to officially switch to "mechanically soft" foods. So some more options will open up for me. Wish I was at home, I feel like I have better control when I'm home. Soon enough, just a day and a half left.

I use it, I like that I can pair it with myfitnesspal. Myfitnesspal does a better job of tracking the specific nutrients I need to monitor.

Good luck!!!

You guys are all so supportive! So I had my own version of a "food funeral" a couple days ago. I had purchased a new rifle and was headed out to the mountains to sight it in. On the way out there I stopped to get fuel and decided to get a bottle of Water. While in the gas station I noticed the Coke-a-cola cooler and thought about how much of that I used to drink. Sometimes I'd have up to three cans of it at a meal. So I thought why not have a little symbolism of not letting those things have any grip on me anymore. So I bought a 20oz coke. Then I pulled into McDonalds and bought a bigmac. Once I made it up to the mountains I sighted in the new rifle and set out the soda and the bigmac. I also set up my GoPro. Stood back and took a shot at the soda, it literally exploded. Same thing when I shot the Big Mac. It actually looked like it was raining Big Mac for a few seconds. Felt pretty good to get some kind of closure, to actually say, "no, I am not going to give into this drug called "junk food" anymore!" It is so much like a drug, I think these foods are engineered to make you want them more and more. Then I went up to my GoPro and hadn't pressed record. Bummer, I was looking forward to sharing my "food funeral" video with you all. This morning I weighed in at 50lbs down. That's a nice mile stone to hit! Many more to go! This was also my first day back at work. Not like a real work day as I headed out of town for a business trip. Now I'm several hours from home staying in a hotel. Brought a cooler full of foods that are okay for my stage of the post op diet. Still one of my coworkers wanted to go out to dinner, heck employer is footing the bill so why not. Went to a nice seafood restaurant, I got a cup of clam chowder and only had about a 1/4 cup of the broth before I felt full. Not the best food selection as chowder is a bit high in fat content, but it was a decision I can live with. No ill effects. I'm on the purée stage so it was something that was on my list from the nutritionist that I could have as long as I steered clear of the chunks which I did. Tomorrow I'm going to try and hunt down some scrambled eggs for Breakfast and will probably work on a Protein shake for lunch. Then I'll have to decide if I stay in for dinner or go out again.

It's a lot to handle. You have been preparing for this for quite some time and mow its down to the wire. Perfectly natural to be apprehensive. I was a little the night before. But once I got to the hospital and things started happening it quickly went away. I am extremely happy with my decision and have been since day 1 post op.

Yes you did! Great job!

Awesome! Congrats!

I brought a change of underwear and my cell phone charger. Left everything else at home. No jewelry. They provided me a gown and nonslip socks. Never used my phone charger. My wife brought my iPad but I never used it. Was too tired for much of anything. Wore the same clothes home that I went in wearing. Having the person picking you up bring a pillow for between the seatbelt isn't a bad idea.

Awesome! Such an amazing life changing event. It has really been a blessing for me and I'm only a couple weeks post op. The surgery will be over before you even knew it began.

I second this one, these drinks have been one of my recent go to.

My surgery was 9/2, still happens to me. Even more so since I went to puréed foods.

Happy to hear you had a good discussion with him. He has a valid question and one that I'm sure you already had enough information to answer for him. It is going to take some educating to get him up to speed on how it effects you and in turn your relationship. Talking through things like this will make your marriage stronger, communication is key. I am very lucky to have a supportive wife. She went to most of my appointments with me and I made sure all of her concerns were dealt with and questions answered. In fact during my consult with the surgeon just prior to surgery it was her questions that took the majority of the appointment.

Mine required a physical, blood work, ekg, and chest x-ray. I already use a bi-pap so no sleep study for me. Although sleep studies are nothing to worry about. Like staying in a hotel and sleeping with your hat on.

Yup, I have the same thing where my large incision is. Surgeon said it had a couple stitches inside.

I mostly had the Premier Protein in chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and banana and cream. A little bit of the Isopure drinks, but only the berry favors. Didn't start messing with unflavored powder until postop, when I was mixing it into the limited foods in the purée stage.

Many people have done the same thing. The guilt feeling is good, that means you understand the gravity of the food decisions you are making. Granted this could have had more instantaneous repercussions like your surgery getting cancelled. But I doubt that will happen if you stick to it from now until your surgery and get your liver to shrink enough. Keep these feelings that you are having about this slip up in mind as you move forward in this journey. There are going to be bumps in the road we just have to do everything we can to clean up our eating. Take some time to contemplate why you went ahead and had a taco even though you knew what you needed to do. A little soul searching goes a long ways. Chin up, make a plan, and hammer through it, you'll do great!

Not at all! So here are the two statements that I found through my research, these are from obesitycoverage.com. Gastric bypass patients lose between 60 to 80 percent of excess body weight in the first year. Gastric sleeve patients lose between 50 to 70 percent of excess body weight in two years. First of all, I don't care if I lose the weight in one or two years, this is a lifetime change. Now, taking those numbers and assuming I attain the high end of their average I can plug in my actual weight and compare them. In the beginning of the process I weighted 370 lbs, to not be considered overweight by BMI calculations I would have to be no more than 169lbs. (Which I believe is too light for my body). So my excess weight is 201 lbs. The bypass at 80% would be 160lbs of weight loss, and the sleeve would be 140. A difference between the two surgeries is 20 pounds. Coming down from 370 lbs I am not real concerned if I am 210 or 230, as long as I'm not 370. So the difference of pounds lost wasn't a big deal to me. Now those numbers are averages, there are a lot of people that lose 100% of their excess weight with both surgeries. In fact I think those numbers are highly skewed by the people that are not ready for this extreme lifestyle change. No matter how you look at the surgeries, if you are not ready mentally, physically, and emotionally to never eat the same crap in the same manner as you did before then you will not be successful. You have to make a change. These are just tools to get there. I had success with every diet I ever tried. I've lost 100 lbs several times. However my body would sabotage my plans. Hunger would push me to eating things I shouldn't. My lifestyle would have me pushing timelines until I was so hungry I would make poor choices. I would start craving things, and one slice of pizza turned into three, which turned into half a pizza, which turned into a whole pizza. The sleeve removes a large portion of the stomach giving me restriction so I can't be pushing that amount, as well as it cut back on the amount of the "hunger hormone" Ghrelin. The bypass is a much more invasive surgery, moving of the intestines and changing the route of food. With that you have more life long side effects than you do with the sleeve. In fact my digestive tract is intact and unchanged, only difference is my stomach is much smaller now. So I have less of a concern with not getting in my necessary Vitamins. As time has gone on where they have been tracking long term success between the two surgeries the amount of excess weight lost and kept off is getting closer and closer. I am in this for the long run. I have to make lifestyle changes, I have to make dietary changes, I have to make exercise changes. I still need to do my part, but this tool is giving me a "cheat code" if you will. A leg up on the diet world. I have enjoyed some benefits already, I am no longer on Metformin as my blood sugar has been fine after surgery, I am also off of three medications for high blood pressure. That is four chemicals that I no longer have to put into my body to stay alive. If that is the only benefit I get from this surgery it was well worth it. I'm sure the bypass has been the right decision for many people, and if you look hard enough you will be able to find different numbers or experiences than the ones I used to make my decision. Each person needs to work with their bariatric team, research, and soul search to determine which surgery, if any, is the right one for them.

First few days were rough! My surgeon said to focus on water for the first week, then to start working in more protein.

Congrats!!!

I had a sinus infection the week before my surgery. Got into my PCP as soon as I could. Called my surgeons office as well. They said as long as I wasn't sick the day before surgery then things would go as planned. And they did.

Welcome. You have come to a place where there are many many people who understand exactly what it is like to have that struggle. Congrats on taking that step.

I went to GNC and got their brand of unflavored whey protein, it has been good for me. I did have to try a few different protein shakes before I found some that I liked. I ended up with the Premier Protein ones. The banana and cream one reminds me of my moms banana nut bread so it goes down pretty easy.

I too had jello, they gave it to me in the hospital but I never ate it there. Once I got home it was one of the first things I had. Used baby spoon and took it real slow. Jello turns into a liquid pretty quick in the mouth.

My doctor signed off for me to return to work (no heavy lifting or strenuous activity) this coming Monday. That will be day 17 after my surgery, but in all honesty I felt well bough to return about 5 days ago.