orionburn

Cantaloupe and honeydew melons are supposed to be lower in carbs as well, but I hate both...lol.

Can you drink a protein shake on your drive in? I have an hour drive as well but don't have any issues with eating/driving. Even if your vitamin panel is coming back okay how are you getting enough protein in? I would think you'd be struggling not to lose muscle mass if you're only eating once or twice a day. My doc's biggest concern about people getting back to work was falling into old habits and either not eating or eating junk foods because of being in a hurry. Is it really that hard to give yourself 5 extra minutes in the morning to sit down and have a little bit of cottage cheese or something to start the day?

Fruits can be tricky with low carb. Strawberries and peaches are on the lower end, but it's easy to get carried away. Even at 1/2 a cup peaches can have 17-22g of a carbs per serving depending on the brand. Kind of depends on what your carb goals are for the day. If there's something I really want that I know is a bit higher then I just try to adjust accordingly to get things down. I typically mix a few slices of pears or peaches in with my cottage cheese. I did mix some fruit into my vanilla protein shakes during my full liquid phase to add a bit of flavor to them.

The final two weeks prior to surgery and then right after was a major wake-up call to my relationship with food. I probably say this too often, but I honestly look at my relationship with food as an alcoholic would to drink. The surgery was a tool, just like AA can help somebody battle alcohol addiction. Every day I'm going to have to face the world and make the right decisions. In time that will get easier but (for me personally) it will be a continuous battle for the foreseeable future. I have a very addictive personality and I thought my world was going to end when I gave up smoking years ago. There are times when a friend will be smoking and it sounds soooooo good, but I know it's a fleeting feeling and it'll pass. That's where I hope to get with food. Right before surgery I went through the food mourning phase thinking that I'll never be able to eat and eat and eat on holidays like Thanksgiving. After a while of introspection I realized it's that excuse of "I'll only indulge myself on A & B days" that led to adding C & D & E & F days as well. Guess my wake up call was that I couldn't go into surgery with the thought process of how do I get around my sleeve after surgery to cheat every now and then. Again I go back to the alcoholic reference because I can't make an excuse to go to the bar on only special occasions. Deep down I know that's going to open the door to further trips down to the bar. Years ago I was working on a serious drinking problem due to a horrible job. Got out of there and got my crap together but it's a demon I know exists in me. I can control that one well enough and only have a few drinks here and there throughout the year. Just have to get that control on food now too.

Unless you really have some bizarre plan it should be billed afterwards as normal. My surgery was 1/25 and I'm just now starting to get the rest of the bills in.

Call your doctor this morning to be on the safe side. Warmness is typically a sign of a potential infection so not something to mess with. A phone call is never going to hurt to the doc to get their opinion.

Waiting (somewhat) patiently for my current stall to pass. I've been stuck at 282/283 for the past two weeks. I have been going back to the gym but not enough to constitute a bunch of muscle gain yet. I'm still happy with the results thus far and I know the scale will eventually start going down again. I've kept my diet pretty consistent ( >50g carbs, 70-80g protein, 600-800 calories daily) and water intake is a non-issue. Tried a few times last week to get my calories up a bit higher but 800-900 was about the max I could do. Going to give it through this week and if things don't change may have to look at changing the diet up a bit to see if I can get things moving again.

That's how I can tell it's head hunger. I get home from work and I automatically think "I need to eat." This is something I've always struggled with. I have a long drive home, but regardless I can eat something right before leaving work (and not be hungry at the time) but I get home and think I'm hungry. I've been more stressed this week and I can tell I'm wanting to go back to old habits. I do believe in time it will get easier as I become more adjusted to the new lifestyle. I quit smoking like 5-6 years ago and I used to think there's no way life could go on without them. It'll be the same with some foods. The temptations will be there, but over time it'll get easier to realize I don't need it and am better off without them.

Best wishes to a speedy recovery!

I didn't think so either because it doesn't say it, so I don't know for sure. Just what I was told. There was a post that did get removed because it was just garbage and got reported by some people. Complications suck, and WLS is not an easy decision to make, but some people take a really shyte approach to "helping" others.

I was recommended the same, and I agree...I didn't want to run it through a blender...lol The big thing when introducing any new foods at this stage is to take your time eating. If you try it and it doesn't sit well it doesn't mean you can't try again, but maybe wait a bit. We all seem to react differently to certain foods. One day eggs would be great, the next terrible.

Somebody said she's since been banned. She was doing nothing but going around posting horror/scare stories and trying to talk people out of WLS. Better to let these threads die and get buried in the forum. Would rather see them all deleted.

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html Just scroll down until you get to it. It's about halfway through the post.

I think it's always going to be a battle to an extent, but with time it will get better. I seriously consider this to be similar to recovering from alcoholism. I can beat my food issues, but chances are it's going to be a battle for the rest of my life. Although a lot of food thoughts went away once I was back to eating regular foods I'm finding myself having to push off some old habits wanting to return. For instance as soon as I get home from work I think I need to eat something although I really don't need to. I've also been annoyed this week at doing so much meal prep work. That's all tied in with my scale barely moving in the past two weeks. My head says the hell with it and have a few cheat foods, but I can't do it. Been through too much in this short period of time to give up to old habits. Can I ask if your plan is special/unique to your situation? The reason I ask is because most people, myself included, start the pureed stage after 2 weeks. Eight weeks seems a hell of a long time to just now be getting there.

Ah, my bad. Misread it the first time. I've been opposite since surgery. I used to pee all the damned time but I was drinking a ton of water, coffee and diet soda on a daily basis. I'm probably getting in 80+ oz of water on a daily basis now but my bathroom trips have been reduced significantly. My overall intake in water may be down but I think a big part of it was caffeine playing a part in the frequency of trips.

It's hard to say for sure since everyone reacts differently. At 4 weeks you should be ready to return to most foods (depending on your doctor/plan of course). At 4 weeks out I felt probably 90% back to my old self. Was still fairly fatigued from time to time but all in all was doing good at that point. I would be more concerned with potentially overdoing it in the weeks leading up to the event if you're hosting it, that is unless it's not a major formality of getting ready for it. If you're simply attending the party for a few hours then IMO you'd be fine. One thing to consider is whether you have to do a 2 week liquid phase. If you postpone your surgery you may want to push it out a littler further so that you aren't in that phase during the party. Is it any issue that people in your family know you're having surgery? It might generate some questions/looks if you aren't eating anything during the party.

It's fairly common. I had them but I think mine were more related to caffeine withdrawal. You can also get them from the sudden cutting out of sugars/carbs in your diet. I took some Tylenol on the bad days. For me the headaches passed fairly fast. It was the first few days that were most challenging.

You're drinking Coke already after surgery?

Anthem here as well. I had the sleeve but regardless they require the 6 month program for WLS. They didn't require a certain amount of weight loss, however without any comorbidities you had to be above a certain BMI. Meaning if you dropped below a certain weight during those 6 months they would deny your surgery. Seems kind of stupid, but that's the way it is. I had some health issues related to my weight but nothing that would have been considered an actual comorbidity, so I was going by a high BMI alone.

Don't know why the edit button appears & disappears on certain threads, but wanted to add that I thinned down my diet cranberry juices. I would make a glass and do 1/4 of it with the cranberry and the rest with something like an apple Crystal Light. My NUT recommended that for the regular cranberry juices, but I still did it with the diet.

Oh, believe me I get how it sucks. My surgery was end of January so I've burned up all of my vacation time for this year. I had tried like hell to get it in December but things didn't work out. Just had to accept that this year is going to blow in regards to time off. It's frustrating. I tried the same tactics (just don't pay me), could I work from home, etc. Nothing worked.

It is correct. If it's optional you may choose to use personal time, but an employer can dictate that you use all your personal time first. Substitution of Paid Leave Employees may choose to use, or employers may require the employee to use, accrued paid leave to cover some or all of the FMLA leave taken. Employees may choose, or employers may require, the substitution of accrued paid vacation or personal leave for any of the situations covered by FMLA. The substitution of accrued sick or family leave is limited by the employer's policies governing the use of such leave. https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/1421.htm From an employer's standpoint it would be difficult to have somebody be off on FML for up to 12 weeks and still have another 2 weeks of vacation. Deal with one crap person that abuses the hell out of FML and you'll understand why employers put that rule in place.

Yep....easy to fall back into old habits. Did it the other night with some white chicken chili. Just wasn't paying attention while talking at dinner and took a few bites too fast. Hit like a sack of bricks and I was done eating. Didn't overeat or anything - just too fast. I'm also having to put my drinks away when I eat. Still feels unnatural to not drink while eating. Did it this morning without even thinking about it. Makes me mad at myself but it's still a new/learning process on habit changes. For the most part doing really well but it's amazing how quickly old habits can creep back in.

Propel waters Powerade Zero Crystal Light (I use the Walmart brand - you can mix & match flavors to help with variety) Diet Cranberry or Cran-grape juice (the 5 calorie kind from Ocean Spray) Sugar Free popsicles were a huge help as well

Try to keep yourself busy or get out of the house when you can. Hell, some nights I just went to bed an hour early because I didn't want to be up thinking about the surgery or food. The last few days can wear you down. We've all been there but you can get through it. Just have to look forward to the future and a new healthier you. Does your plan not allow you to have protein shakes? Most everybody's seems to or is that the packets you are referring to?