JavaKnut

Make sure you get cleared before you try it. My nutritionist advised that for every cup of coffee you drink - you should have 2 cups of water to compensate for it. Unless you drink decaf, then it counts as water intake. Personally I love coffee. Over the past few years, I have gotten into roasting it myself from the green beans, and then exploring all of the different ways of brewing it and enjoying it. I love the ceremony of it, as well as the flavors. Coffee is as diverse as wine, if not more so. People who do not drink fresh roasted coffee have no point of reference to this - the same as I did. The first time I had fresh roasted coffee that was properly prepared, it changed my life. I used to be 2-3 flavored creamers and some sugar in my coffee, to just going with the creamers when I tried to "cut back" on the sugar. Once I switched to fresh roasted - I wouldn't dare pollute my coffee with anything! Just a thought, if you really do like coffee - and not the mocha frappa crappa stuff they add to coffee - then do yourself a favor and find a local coffee roaster and check them out. If you like the mocha frappa crappa - then why not just throw it in a protein shake instead? Coffee just sounds like the excuse to get all the sugar crap down your throat. Sorry to be harsh.

My nutritionist told us that we need to eat something within 1 hour of waking up. That is a new one for me, as I would usually wait a bit before having breakfast. Something to do with metabolism. So if you wait, then your body thinks you are in a starve situation and the next food you eat will go into storage instead of into use. Negating your going through surgery. If you can't stand to eat - then grab a protein drink. Just get something in your pouch.

Being that I am in my 3rd week post op from a sleeve with a DS, and into the mushy foods stage - I wanted to post a couple of things that I found to be very useful with pre-surgery and post. If you go on the liver reduction diet like I did pre-op, then do yourself a favor and go to the vitamin store that sells your stuff well before your start date, and get the single serving samples of ALL of the BA shakes, and also buy one of each of the snacks. My wife had me do this and it was a life saver! I found some of the "recommended" flavors were really not tolerable for me. I bought one big bag, and one medium tub of the BA shakes to get me through - and then added a couple single servings of the sweeter ones just to have a change of pace once I was on shakes only in my second week of the liver reduction. Another big help for me was that with the BA shakes, you need to drink them right after you shake them. If you let them sit, they swell a little and foam up, then get a really nasty texture. I found that if I shook them up, used super cold water from our water cooler, then chugged them within a few minutes - they tasted fine. No problem at all. I ended up wishing that I bought the big bag of chocolate instead of vanilla. Post op, only being able to have 2oz at a time - using the BA shakes are near impossible because of how nasty they get after they sit a while. I use Premier Protein shakes - already mixed in the drinkable box. They taste great, have a nice variety, and you can get them at the big box retailers. Another piece of advice - when you are post op, as uncomfortable as it may be - get up and walk, and do it as much as you can. I can't believe how many people said they had no pain after surgery. They had me on morphine and I swear it did nothing for my pain. I did better with the oral pain med once I could take it. The first 3-4 days were pretty painful. I stopped my pain meds as soon as I could because I was getting stopped up from them. I would try to walk 2-3 times a day, and I should have done more. It really helps with the gas and recovery for sure! Post-surgery - change your meal times. My wife made me stay away from the table and meal times, and we also kept food talk, food shows, etc all to a minimum. I did notice that just sitting and talking about foods or watching them I was fine, or at least I thought so...but then I would still get a craving just to have something to chew on. Staying away from those situations and "triggers" is a real benefit. Now that I am on mushy foods, I have been able to sit with my family at meal time and at least have something for oral fixation and it makes all the difference. Don't get me wrong, I am not worried about slipping, but your gut can get excited and saliva build up - even though you may not have a craving. Just being away from those situations made it so much easier to get through liquid only times pre and post surgery. Anyone else have any tips or advice they can think of for those getting ready to go through this? I had a couple of friends that were able to advise me before I went through it. Not everyone is that fortunate so I wanted to share.

I just remembered another tip from one of the nurses I had post-op - if you need to cough, grab the nearest pillow, person, jacket, box - something to wrap your arms around like a gentle bear hug, then cough - no pain! Amazing!!

Make sure you are getting all your water. Sounds like you are dehydrated. Also, did you kick your caffeine habit before you had surgery? (if you had one)

My Fitness Pal - allows you to easily track food/drink/excercise - put out there by UnderAmour. It is free, or you can pay $9/month for premium (or $99/year).

Thanks. I am finding the need to track my protein intake now that I am transitioning to soft foods and not so easy to just add up the Premiere Proteins for the day through my drinking app.

My day 4 was the worst. I was so backed up and uncomfortable. Wasn't passing gas or having bowel movements. I hit my limit on intake as there was no outbound. I ended up vomiting a dark brown/yellow sludge. I had that happen twice that same day. Then finally passed some gas. The next day had my first bowel movement and was relieved from then on.

Have more of the fiber items like beans that will help some. Remember, your intake is much lower than before. If you were a daily pooper, you now may be every other day just due to not having a large volume of significant intake. My doc recommended milk of magnesia as the last resort for being clogged up. The biggest caution was to not let yourself get dehydrated if you use that stuff. Have you tried stool softners? That was their recommendation to our class if you weren't really making progress on your own.

Yesterday at my soft foods class, the calories topic came up. The nutritionist said - don't even both trying to count calories. If you follow the volume guideline, as well as protein/fat/sugar guidelines - calories will not be an issue. The critical numbers we were given were: as a general guideline you want at least 15g protein, less than 20g of total carbs, less than 10g of fat, less than 10g of sugar. She said you want to try to hit 3 of these numbers on whatever you eat. If you are going to eat something with sugar, at least make sure to have some kind of protein with it. Anyone else heard anything like this?

Is this an app you are using or a website for tracking?

I just went to my soft foods class yesterday and I was surprised they had peanut butter on the "no" list - even for soft foods. They said it is too sticky and get stuck. In the past couple weeks, I have used the powdered peanut butter and mixed it with fairlife milk to give me the peanut butter fix. It is not as sticky as real peanut butter, and did not give me any issues thankfully. You can also mix the powder in about anything to get the fix. The nutritionist recommended the powder as well. My wife made sugar free vanilla pudding and put some of the peanut butter powder in it - it came out like peanut butter pudding - very yummy!

Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines with the spicy - believe me. I have done all of it in moderation and 2oz or less each time. I do not do more than one of those foods a day, just to make sure I am tolerating them. I have been sticking to no more than 3-4 mushy foods a day (one at a time). I have been avoiding fruits due to the natural sugars in them. I had no idea about the acid in watermelon, good to know!

There are many people out there that say "oh so you are just taking the easy way out" - which pardon my french - f-u! Back in college I was a powerlifter, bodybuilder and rugby player. At my prime I was 305, just 9lbs less than my pre-surgery weight, but had less than 5% bodyfat. I know what it takes to maintain that kind of lifestyle and body. It is just not possible for me anymore. In the 20 years since, getting an office job, and being more lazy and less active - it turned to fat. I picked up some diabetes, some high blood pressure, and a little bit of cholesterol. I was on 9 medicines a day pre-surgery. I was off every single one of them the day of surgery and have not looked back. Find me a diet that can do that for me and I will eat my words, albeit just 2oz at time .

Yes, we buy them at Costco - about $28 for an 18 pack. They typically only have 2-3 flavors there. We found Wal-mart has decent prices too, tons of flavors, but they only sell them in 4 packs. BJ's has them in a case as well for around $20, but i is only a 12-pack. Premier Protein is the brand. My surgeon and nutritionist recommended them. Truly they are the easiest protein drinks to consume I have ever had. No gritty texture, no bad aftertaste. I have been drinking them for 3-4 months. I started drinking them to "get used" to them when I knew I was going to have surgery coming up. My barber did the exact same surgery I did, with the same surgeon, and he is the one that gave me one of the shakes to try early on. BTW - he's just about 14 months and well over 100lbs down. He was giddy to drink beer again at his 1 year mark and couldn't believe he would get buzzed off of one beer that would take him 30 mins or more to drink. Good for him lol. Not my priority.

Yes, my surgeon has a 24/7 line we can call to talk to the on-call. No matter how far post op we are. I was already yelled at for sending a message through their website on the weekend, instead of calling the on-call a couple weeks ago. I didn't think it was anything bad, but they said I should call for pretty much anything just to be safe. Wow, that sucks about the reflux and I have no way to relate. I never had reflux before now, and only had it a few times, so I cannot complain. Some drinks I have found helpful: Other friends suggested Vitamin Water Zero, and the only one I like was the Pomegranate one. The others were not sitting well with me. I recently picked up the Costco knockoff version of them - Kirkland branded VitaRain Zero - and they are all awesome. All the flavors sit well for me so far. I have at least one a day, and try to keep the rest just water or jello. I also drink 2-4 Premiere Proteins a day (depending on how many other things I have now that I am on mushy foods). I am not sure what the overall difference is on my getting the sleeve with the switch, vs you just getting the sleeve. I see plenty of other sleevers posting how relaxed their pre and post diets are and how easy they are progressing. Week 1 was rough for me, as I had an added infection. Week 2 got better, then had some pain late in the week that went away a few days later. Week 3 was just kind of a stall in terms of pain going away and having energy - didn't really feel like I progressed, but then the end of week 3 was like BLAM, big improvements. Just taking it day by day and trying not to be discouraged. I make sure to keep my water/protein regiment, and get my walks in when I can (need to do better). I see friends that have been through this and results they post on FB, and it keeps me going. One friend had the PNY 2 years ago and just posted his before and after photos - 210lbs!! WOW. Truly amazing and can't wait to post like that! Chin up! You have a ton of people here on these forums who are in the same spot you are - before and after. Keep posting and I hope you get better soon!!

You may not be diabetic, but you might do well to test your blood sugar to see if you dropped too low. If you aren't getting all your proteins in, and only doing water - that could be why.

I was told the first week I could have anything that passed through a strainer. So I went nuts at the soup aisle and got all the lower fat soups I could find (low fat, low carb, and low sugar). I even got chili and some spicy chicken soups. I even got the spicy turkey chili at panera, and the chick-fil-a spicy chicken tortilla soup. What was better is that when I moved to mushy foods I was told that all foods were open, but the texture had to be that of applesauce or smoother. Basically anything that you can eat without having to chew. My surgeon told me, if I am having any cravings - if I am willing to throw it in a blender - go for it. I told him I have a Vitamix, so in theory, I could liquify my iPhone and eat it - he chuckled and agreed. Those same soups and more are now open to me, as well as yogurt. If they have chunks, they go in the Vitamix and all is good. I still can only handle 2-3oz at a time, but at least I have some variety. I feel your pain, but that timeline is short in the grand scheme of things. Power thru it. The more you stick to the liquids and amounts - the faster you will heal. Make sure you get those proteins and waters at the minimal amounts at least. If you slack on those, you might get stuck in liquid only diet purgatory another week!

I had that stabbing pain too - would hit me if I turned or bent wrong. There was always a dull lingering pain around that incision. I was assured there was not a hernia. I had it spike again yesterday putting up xmas decorations (3 weeks post op). Today - woke up and is the first time I don't have that pain at all. I am in shock. Reflux - do you sleep at an incline? Have you tried? That helped me the first couple weeks. Now I am able to sleep laying down. As long as I don't have food (just keep to protein shakes) before bed, I don't wake up with reflux. Also - I am sure you have tried - but have you been doing tiny sips? Like taking 15 mins to drink 1-2oz over that 15 mins? Took me awhile to get my sipping down to not being gulps. That helped a ton. I am now about to take 1oz sips and it is not a problem unless I do 2-3 in a row. Your surgeon sounds like a prick, good or not, he should at least show some empathy for your concerns and discomfort. I definitely would see your normal doc about the rash.

I haven't found it to be a gimmick if you get a good one and follow the instructions. We have had one for 2-3 years now and love it. We do more with it than just make french fries (rarely use it for that). We have the Philips brand, and they are one of the first ones to come out with it. There are tons of knock-offs out there now that aren't worth a crap. Do your research and get a good brand.

My far right side swelled like crazy right after surgery. That is where they said they took out my gall bladder which probably caused a bit of infection. Swollen like crazy - even giving me stretch marks in 3D that I didn't know I had on that side. The swelling reduced and moved lower and towards my back as the days on antibiotics went on. After about 4-5 days most swelling and redness was gone.

I had that same feeling and worry. For me - it passed. I found that if I am around friends and family and they are talking about food - Thanksgiving comes to mind - then I can start to feel cravings or hunger...or so I thought. As time has gone by (now just over 3 weeks post-op) - those hunger feelings I was feeling, I think was actually just gas moving through my system. My gut has a whole new set of signals and sounds and feelings. Many are what I have heard and felt before, but I am learning now that they mean new things. Much of what I have found so far is the mindset. If I am not thinking about food - I have no cravings or feelings of hunger...unless I go multiple hours without some protein. Then I start to notice fatigue and more gurgling when I just drink water. I know I need to get protein and then I am back to normal.

Yes. I found that on week 2 post op - I could handle about 30 mins of walking, and then fatigue would set in. My legs would start to feel like jello and I would need to sit and recover a while before I felt like I got my energy back. Over the last week since then my energy has gotten better and I can do more, but not trying to push myself. As I look down - the incision to the right of my belly button is the one that has kept some pain. When I bend over, or try to sleep on that side - it has bothered me. Even reaching sometimes I would get a pain. There was also a hardness under the incision. Just yesterday it was still there, and while putting up xmas decorations, I leaned over to pick up something and felt a sharp pain there again, and again when I stood up. Late last night it was just the normal dull pain if I touched it. Today I got up and not a bit of pain there and the hardness is almost completely gone, just around the scar/scab (whatever you want to call the healing incision). I hope this is the start of the final mend. My surgeon checked me last week and said it wasn't a hernia or anything else bad, it was just the healing of those muscles in my abdomen. 3 days ago marks 3 week post op for me. I had pain almost daily in that spot - not enough to put me back on pain meds as I didn't want anything to do with more constipation.

I started to feel that way with liquids a couple days after surgery. When I moved to thick liquids that changed a bit with the protein drinks, and even more so once I got to mushy foods. I swear I can sip a whole Premiere Protein down in 15-20 mins if I wanted, but I cannot eat more than 2-3oz of yogurt or eggs, etc. Gives even more credence to not drinking 30 mins before and after food in my eyes.

Following this as well. I can't wait to get to mushy foods and approved to have sashimi. I won't go near the rice for a while, but just really good soft raw fish can't be bad right? I have my nutritionist appt next Tuesday and this is one of my top questions.