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It's not a clear liquid per se, but it is usually what you will be eating in the first phase of your post-op diet (and probably in your puree and soft food stages as well). You should reach out to your surgeon or nutritionist for details on what they expect you to be eating/drinking in both the pre-op phase as well as post-op. Nothing that's I've mentioned really should reflect on the source of your coverage.

Generally clear liquids are going to be broth, sugar free drinks (poweraide zero, water, crystal light, etc), plus supplemental protein shakes. The name of the game post op is going to be getting as many calories you can from protein and longer term getting as few calories as you can from liquids. All that said some surgeons have different rules and recommendations, so take what anybody here says with a grain of salt.

You probably won't be allowed (or at least it won't be on your plan) to be drinking apple juice either pre or post sugery (or any other sugared beverage for that matter).

I just meant that you have to thread the needle a little bit when it comes to the nutritionists, whereby they think you are eating healthier but that you aren't actually losing weight. I ran into that issue and basically took a week on plan week off plan approach to maintaining at the 35.5-36 BMI level (and maybe a couple rolls of pennys in my pocket for my last weigh in).

I don't know if either of them would be allowed, largely because I believe pumpkin and blueberries are going to be reasonably carb heavy, and most preop diets frown on that. The preop diet is generally all about low carbs and low total calories to get you into Ketosis and shrink your liver down to make surgery safer/easier. That said I think these are perhaps recipes you could try out post-op while trying to get your protein in (when you will really sick of straight protein shakes).

I don't anticipate having any visible scars, but if I was going to cover them up I would definitely wait until I got down to my goal weight.

Everyone recovers differently and has different tolerances for things, but part of the recovery is also about advancing. Sometimes that advancement isn't comfortable. That said as you advance, the stuff from previous phases also becomes more tolerable. Nauseousness and gastric distress sound like signs that you are drinking those shakes too fast. I'm not sure what protein you are having an intolerance with, but if it is whey you could try switching to a whey protein isolate (which has most of the lactose removed). You could also try egg, soy, or pea proteins but be aware they don't have the same bioavailability as whey.

I found a variety of powdered bone broths at my local TJmaxx/Home goods that gave me a bunch of variety. That said don't kid yourself you are still going to be getting most of your protein by choking down those damned shakes. Try cutting the shakes with unflavored protein or peanut powder if the shake flavor is complementary (I'm fond of banana protein shakes with the PB powder).

If you don't like the blending process don't make things that need to be blended. Try softer, wet-er foods that don't need to be blended (I ate a lot of egg whites and premade tuna salad) during the puree phase. Just take it slow whatever food you go with. Also awesome progress so far!!!

Sounds like it's your doctor's fault and your doctor's responsibility to fix. Part of being a doctor is jumping through (or having your staff jump through) the hoops that their client's insurance puts in front of them. Don't feel helpless a lot of times these things all get worked out pretty quickly.

Eating slowly has been one of the hardest things for me. That said in the first month or so you are eating super slow to make sure things don't back up. I would think by 6 months you would be eating slowly but not nearly as slow as you were in the beginning (I'd like to think of this as the speed we probably should have been eating at our whole lives).

If it's just diarrhea its nothing to be worried about especially if you are still on a liquid diet (and no longer taking constipating pain meds). If you aren't eating solids there are no real solids to hold things together so of course you are going to get diarrhea. When you get to the food stage you are going look back at this as your "happy" BM time.

Well that's a different story. What a difference 9 pounds and 1 1/2" makes. Just make sure to let the nutritionists know about the fact that you aren't supposed to lose much weight. Depending on the program they can hold you back if you aren't doing what they tell you to (make sure whatever you put down on their sheets makes it sound like you are living healthy).

Have you tried over the counter gas relief (gas-x)? Also other than the burping is it accompanied by any other symptom like heartburn?

From what my surgeon has told me you really don't have to worry about "damaging the sleeve," and those other things you describe are "natures way of telling you to back off." No harm no foul, its a learning experience.

I'm at 600-800, at this point 4 weeks out of surgery. My doctor has basically said that by month 3 I will probably be at 1000+ and 1200+ at six months. I don't know where you are in the process, but if you are recently out of surgery 600 calories sounds fine. More important is going to be how many calories are coming from protein.

I'm sorry to tell you this, but excess gas is a by product of a gastric bypass surgery. Due to malabsorption more food reaches your colon before it is digested which results in higher levels of gas (not to mention a more malodorous variety). I believe there are some treatments to help counter this (supplements and, don't laugh but they make charcoal filters for your pants). As for the weight loss that's a different thing and it's hard to make a recommendation without knowing where you are in the journey. Are you closing in on your goal weight or are you looking at what looks like a stall without explanation far from your goal?

If it was me I say protect your livelihood and family and don't tell your employer or people you work with anything (before or after).

It depends, but for most people you will have the surgery within a month of checking off everything else. The biggest variable tends to be how many months of nutrition classes your insurance requires. For me my insurance company required a whopping 7 classes (they didn't even have 7 classes to offer so my last one was just a check in with the nutritionist). Most people have to do 3-6 classes and some insurance companies count the meeting with the surgeon as class 1. Based on that 4-7 months end to end from the first meeting with surgeon to the operating table. Of course there can be variation on scheduling as well, so take that with a grain of salt.

I don't know if there is really such a distinction. Eventually your weight decreases to the point where you are no longer burning more calories than you take in, while at the same time you are healing and getting back to what your new capacity will be. I don't think it really works like "ok I'm at my desired weight time to start eating more (or eating worse)." Of course what you are eating will help determine that new equilibrium point. Of course that's all in an ideal world. Some people will get down to their goal weight, change their habits, put some weight back on and then at some point go back on a diet. Hopefully the difference is that those swings are within 10 pounds of their goal weight.

The general rule is that if your job requires lifting you need to take a month, otherwise you risk is a hernia.

I'm not sure what the "weight loss stage" is?

The sleeve is just another tool to help you lose weight and your success will largely be determined by what you put into it. That said it all comes down to what and why you eat now. If you are like me the sleeve has been incredibly good for me so far, because it has helped with what has always been my undoing... hunger.

I'll let other folks weigh in on the waiting aspect, but taking a long period of time off and then getting back on an elliptical (especially an eliptical) is going to crush anyone, but probably more because of muscle memory than any kind of muscle loss. Heck you could workout on the elliptical every day and if your gym came in one day and changed the lifefitness model out for a startrac with a slightly different path of movement it would probably feel incredibly awkward (and limit your capacity) for a while before getting back to where you were. I tried to get back to the gym as soon as possible because I thought it best to tackle the weight loss by maximizing the caloric deficit from both sides (plus I figured if I could burn off more surface fat while losing the weight I might be able to minimize the loose skin (or rather loose fat) that accompanies the weight loss (still TBD).

These are the ones I take as well.