violetisle

I'm five weeks out and just made turkey chili this morning for the first time (since surgery)! It was wonderful and satisfying.

Here you go. Scroll down. http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html?m=1

Yes, for me the scale didn't move the entire second week after surgery. Now it's moving again. Just stick to your eating plan, try to move if you can, and the weight will resume coming off.

I'm gonna preface this by noting that a lot of people will probably disagree with me about this, but Isopure Zero Carb really works for me. A 20 oz bottle has 40 g of protein. They are not overly sweet. I pour it in a big tumbler with LOTS of ice and I find sipping it far preferable to sticky sweet protein drinks. They sell it at GNC. I like the coconut and lemon tea flavors. Fair warning, a lot of people find it absolutely disgusting but it works for me.

These threads always make me laugh. In this case I love OP's assumption that she can dictate everyone's behavior on a public forum. I suppose that puts me more on the a*****e end of the spectrum but oh well.

Are you the mother being celebrated with this putt putt ice cream excursion? Maybe everyone else can skip the ice cream in your honor since it's your day, instead of you having to feel tempted by stuff that's not on your plan!

My nutritionist just said use a salad plate instead of the big one.

I love steak too, in fact a bone-in ribeye at Morton's next week is going to be my final real meal before I go under the knife on the 22nd, but I have no intention of messing with my program once I have the surgery. There'll be time for steak later on.

My program doesn't even let us have beef at all the first six months, too rough on the stomach they claim.

I'd love to be added. I'm violetisle on Kik and my surgery is May 22 eek!

It's getting close! My preop is the week after next. In addition to the protein shakes I'm going crazy ordering stuff including things I probably don't need (abdominal binder, slippers, unflavored protein powder, smooth move tea, dry mouth spray, light up water bottle, Fitbit) as my main coping mechanism. Cross addiction watch out!

I'd probably be feeling pretty worked up too if this were me. That's why I could never diet for very long, the first hint of a stall or plateau and BANG I'm pissed off and impatient for the scale to move. So my next logical step would be to eat a big plate of BBQ or something. That really helped things. Just hang in there and keep at it, your body will get with the program eventually! Good luck!

I just told people I'm having surgery/abdominal surgery but have been vague about what specific type. I'm pretty reserved generally so people haven't asked for more detail. As far as after, I was planning on going with a similar story to @FLHappyGirl's and just say that I lost weight after the surgery and decided to keep at it. I don't know how obvious it might seem if I come back to work smaller (I'll be out for 4-6 weeks) and then keep losing weight (fingers crossed). But I suppose I really don't care if people whisper and gossip as long as they do it behind my back in a civilized manner.

Speaking of side effects, I drank a whole bottle of alkaline water today and to my utter dismay I kept having to pee! Anyone know what that was about?

HE seems like the alien to me. That whiny, nasally voice. The thought of him fumbling around with my innards gives me the creeps.

I don't know if this helps but in my classes the way this was presented to us was that that statistic includes people with all kinds of very serious comorbidities. For a relatively healthy person it's more like 1/1000, or about as risky as gallbladder removal or numerous other surgeries. (There is still that "1" though...)

I asked the nutritionist in my bariatric program about taking biotin to prevent hair loss and she was of the opinion that if you take massive amounts you'll just wind up peeing it out again.

My post op diet at Kaiser SoCal consists of Isopure (a clear protein juice type of thing) for the first five days and then you can have regular protein drinks.

They sound awful. One E away from "Slime Time." But I hope your diet is going well. It won't be forever so hang in there!

Off topic but question: are swear words against the rules on this site? Or are people just being considerate by putting asterisks where profanity would normally be indicated?

I'm May 22! Very very excited! In fact I keep spacing out at work because the surgery is all I can think about.

I'm also a newbie pre op person so I can't really speak to what life looks like after, but I share your fear of permanently screwing with my digestive system. I can say that the thing that really made up my mind to move forward with the surgery is when I learned the statistic that freaking 95 percent of people who lose weight are going to gain it back. I lived that statistic with like three major weight loss episodes in my life, and after every one I gained the weight back (and more). I was feeling so discouraged about even being able to lose all this weight the "old-fashioned" way yet again, and to learn that even if I did manage to lose it (again!) I would in all probability just gain it back, again, really strengthened my resolve. I will say that it seems really important to trust the team you're working with. You depend on them for so much support and assistance during the process!

Me! In January my surgeon told me I had to lose 10 pounds before I could have the surgery. But he agreed to schedule me for it with the understanding I would work on it. Well, I was waiting for my surgery date and I really struggled. I lost the same five pounds like three times and still didn't have a date. When I finally got my date (which is May 22) in late March I realized I had to get serious because I knew that if I showed up at my pre op not having lost the ten pounds after having FIVE MONTHS to do it there was no way he'd move forward. So I have been trying my absolute best the last few weeks and I've managed to drop eight of the ten pounds. So I have about three more weeks to lose the last two. Doable! I've been drinking mostly shakes or protein soups with a dinner of lean protein and veggies about like every other night--LOTS of water--and it's basically been working. My thing in the past has been to give up when I hit the tiniest stall or plateau but not this time, I managed to mostly stick to it despite being frustrated and the scale was not moving and lo and behold yesterday I just dropped two more pounds after being stuck for like a week. I would say just don't quit and lose as much as you can in the time you have. Hopefully if you can show progress your doc will look favorably on you. You can do it!!!!

I haven't had it yet but I'm scheduled for RNY on May 22. Kaiser in my region requires a documented history of weight loss attempts, BMI over 40 (or I think 35 with comorbidities), 12 weeks of Options classes, a bunch of labs, EKG and chest x-ray. They also want you to lose 10% of your body weight before surgery but I believe there might be some flexibility on that. How long it takes to complete the process seems to vary widely depending on where you're getting it done. Some people got their surgery dates right away after completing Options, whereas I wound up waiting about three months just to get my date. I think you can count on a minimum of four months assuming you have the same requirements as I do.

I sometimes eat this stuff called Arctic Zero. It's like an extremely, extremely airy sorbet consistency. It's lactose free, fat free, gluten free, and I don't believe they use any artificial sweeteners either. It's 35 calories a serving, 150 calories a pint. I'm not a huge ice cream person so a third of a cup or so I find really satisfying and I don't want more. Not all the flavors are great but I love the toasted coconut and cake batter flavors.