Creekimp13

Also...both of these meals are heavy on the meat for me...and are more rare. The diet I follow is more like the Mayo Clinic Diet. Lots of whole grains, beans, legumes. Tons of veggies and fruits. Much less meat. I don't like Keto. I know most bariatric patients follow keto for rapid weight loss and I did a lot of research to find a group that had different ideas. We still have a protein goal of 60-80g per day....but my group works with those of us who like to include more plant based proteins, fresh produce and whole grains. We eat a lot of carbs. I say that and people freak out. LOL. But it's true. What we don't eat...are refined carbs. Anything high glycemic is a no-go with the exception of natural fructose in whole fruits. Exercise is a key part of my plan.

Sorry you're not feeling well, abefroman. Feel better soon!

About 2-3 oz in a sitting of most meat. If I do beef, I do it rare and mix it up with other protiens, like this:

I don't understand. He's upset that you want to dress nice? I'm lost...

I eat about half at dinner, and about half a couple hours after dinner. Works great:)

Nope it's not a LOT of food for a December sleever:) I did eat it for both my dinner and my after dinner snack. We eat 6 little 200 calorie meals per day. It's the perfect amount of food according to my dietitian. Our protocol is to eat a full balanced diet as soon as possible. We are told to work toward 1000 calories a day 2 weeks after surgery. I achieve that goal at 3 weeks:) Today, I eat 1000-1200 calories a day...and that's where I'll stay for 18 months to reset my metabolism to a hot burning furnace. I'm losing weight steadily and feeling terrific:) One perk about feeling terrific is that I can walk 8 miles a day...which also helps reset my metabolism to a healthy level:) No starvation for us....we eat:) Note that these are my instructions for the Pureed stage...about two weeks after surgery: Different groups do things differently. My group is part of a group of clinics using a protocol developed by a major research hospital (University of Michigan) that is being picked up by Cedars Sinia and Bethesda this year. The new idea....to get people eating more calories sooner...results in slower weight loss, but an overall equal weight loss in 18 months. It's also correlated to better outcomes and less regain 5 years down the road. I don't mind losing weight slower, cause I'm in this for the duration. At 18 months, I'll have lost just as much weight, my skin will have more chance to recover...and if research is correct, I'll have better odds of keeping more of my weight off longer. (obviously individuals vary) But yeah...there are some different ideas out there!

Sometimes I'll swap out 1/4 cup of cottage cheese for mashed potatoes. Weird trade, but it seems to work.

My husband always says....ANY kind of sex is good cardio:) We've lost a few creative positions over the years that I'm hoping to retry....but I think my arthritis might object to a couple of them:) Sex is weird. When you think about it...even when beautiful perfect bodied people do it they pull weird faces and there are odd sounds/substances/etc. involved. Even prissy sex is odd as hell when you observe it. All those naughty bits have very odd dual roles in life, too....it's sort of a comical cosmic joke. I say embrace your inner freak and don't stress about it. Have good sex and don't worry about physical imperfections. We all get old and saggy in the end. Ain't none of us escapes this rodeo with perky boobs or testes. Gravity happens. So does a little extra skin. So what? Whether you're deeply kinky or just like affectionate plain sex....you should just enjoy making each other feel good and not worry so damned much what the world thinks. And my hubby's right....who couldn't use a little more cardio? Go crazy...and own it. You're allowed.

2feelingreat.....have you tried the protein pasta? They're made with chickpeas and lentils (and a little wheat, but mostly chickpeas and lentils). Lots of protein, fewer carbs, might be a good compromise once in a while?

I'm seeing some folks recently who are consuming huge volumes of fluids in one setting, and trying solids...just days after surgery. And my instinct it to feel terrified for them....because this was warned against by members of my surgical team over and over and over....and diet instructions and checklist were reviewed with me by multiple people before I left the hospital. But it occurred to me that maybe my team just did an incredible job and that other groups don't do a very good job of educating folks after surgery? So here are my question for you all.......ok, it's a series of questions, actually.... Would really appreciate your input! 1. Did your team discuss your post surgical diet with you in detail before your surgery? 2. Did your nurses go over your immediate diet with you in your hospital room? 3. Were all stages of your diet given to you in written form? Did you understand when to start each stage? 4. Did anyone ever tell you not to eat or drink more than a certain number of ounces per hour? 5. Did anyone ever tell you what could happen to you if you ate foods that you weren't approved for yet? 6. Were you allowed to order a meal in the hospital, and if so, what did it consist of? 7. Did you have a clear understanding that the surgery was permanent? I know doctors are all different and we all go to different groups that handle information differently....I just wondered how well these basics were covered for you. Did you feel well prepared to monitor your own fluid and nutrition after surgery? Is a lack of basic instructions a common thing?

Tylenol.

An entire gallon of water weighs a little over 8 pounds. See if your scale needs a battery?

Best wishes for a safe effective procedure:) Walk as soon as you can. Sip, sip, sip! Congrats!

Not gonna sugar coat it...liquid diet was one of the toughest parts of the whole process for me. Was incredibly hard. But you can and will make it. Day three is awful. After that...you kinda give up and it gets easier.

One physical sign your surgical team sometimes looks at to determine how you're doing...is capillary refill in your extremities. If you press a nail bed, it will go white and you can tell the circulation is good if it flushes right back to pink. If it stays white, there could be a problem with circulation in that limb. Best to leave the polish off your toes, too. Sorry.

I had to have strictly prescription shakes the last five days....they were vanilla anchovy flavor. Seriously! God, they were bad! The other nine days I had regular shakes and clear liquids that included broth. Best wishes on your surgery for a safe effective outcome:)

For a couple of weeks there was a little urgency here and there....but nothing in my pants. Bahahaha! There were a few mad dashes and clenched buns, though:) I'm a couple of months out now and poop daily. Something between soft serve and regular. Just took a few weeks to adjust and the poop machine is functioning near normal. yep...graphic, but you asked:)

My A1C dropped into the normal zone recently. My blood sugar is great. I wasn't a full blown diabetic yet...but I was throwing high pre-diabetic numbers and they were inching up every year. It was inevitable and was one of the main reasons I pushed ahead with WLS. Am really glad to have put that trend into remission. I have several family members with diabetes and I just didn't want to go there.

I eat six times a day and am rarely hungry on 1000-1200 calories per day, now. In the beginning, I was incredibly hungry, though. Apparently starving makes you hungry. Who knew? LOL:)

Peanut Butter was approved by my nutritionist about a month out. I try to get at least half of my protein from plant sources, so nuts and nut butters are a regular part of my diet. (Many folks here avoid them completely...and that's cool...to each their own. I'm more of a Mediterranian diet follower, and some here are more into Keto and other plans...lots of ways up the mountain!) If you want peanut butter.... 1. Wait for it to be approved by your nutritionist. 2. Low or zero sugar natural peanut butter is best. 3. Watch your portions. One Tablespoon has 100 calories (roughly) and about 7 grams of protein. it's also high in fat...but good fat. All things to pay attention to, though, when creating your balanced menu:) Best wishes! Here's an example of how peanut butter could fit into a healthy day's eating:

The only reason to avoid "delayed release" meds is if you can't swallow the pills whole and need to split them. The medicine inside is layered, and releases as it erodes. There are little barriers built into the pill that regulate how the medication is released by controlling how fast it erodes. If you split it up the side, the barriers are broken, and all the medicine can come out at once...and that's not a good thing...you can actually have too much medicine hitting your system at once and have problems. Omeprazole works the same way...it releases as it erodes. But instead of one big pill...it's usually a capsule with lots of little time released granules inside that are about the size of candy decoration sprinkles. As long as you don't chew or crush the granules...you're fine. They'll time release appropriately and they won't get stuck because they're so tiny. Opening the capsule is fine....but crushing the medication inside is not. In the early days, I'd open my capsules over a spoon full of sugar free Cool Whip...and down the hatch:) (per my surgeon's instructions)

Linda....very glad to hear you're gonna stick to your clear liquids and work your program. You're stronger than you think you are. I think everyone's had your cheeseburger moment...where they get so discouraged they just want to run back to what they know is comforting. It's understandable....but just so dang dangerous this close to surgery. I'm guessing by the end of the week, you're going to lose some of that water weight and feel a whole lot better about this situation. The first couple of weeks can be so tough. Hang in there...it gets better.

Well...given that the average divorce rate is 50%....add this game changer and 75-85% doesn't seem that far off the mark. But yeah....Scary! Definitely!

Hubby just called me on lunch (he usually does) and I asked him what he thought of this statistic and how alarming I thought it was. He's unconcerned, but we had a interesting talk about how it could have affected our marriage ten or fifteen years ago when things were a little more precarious and stressed. We've been together 25 years now and we're pretty solid...I don't think we're going to have too many issues. We made a shockingly good transition to having an empty nest four years ago...and that's usually a really good sign that your relationship is on good footings. But yeah....I could see how this surgery could turn things upside down for folks...and back in the earlier days of our marriage I can see how it would have been a lot more challenging. The article brought up what I'm sure is a really common scenario....where two overeaters are together for years and one decides to get fit and change the eating culture of the household, and the other resists or feels forced. I can see how that could be tough! I'm lucky in that my hubby has always been a normal weight athletic guy with good eating habits. In many ways....my finally coming around to good habits is putting us more on the same page. it's been a lot of fun getting outside and being active with him:) He is loving our dietary changes. Would be really really hard if he was unsupportive or bringing in trigger foods. Also, I think 25 years out...you've sorted out the major battles in a way that you haven't yet... when you're young and have little kids, and inlaw ya-ya, and financial stress, and all the pressures that come with that. To all of us married folks....it's a good reminder to pay attention to our relationships and do the work to maintain them:)

Have to abridge what I said... refined sugar can be an issue for me. I can tolerate a couple of bites of a dessert or something naughty sweet (and really enjoy those couple of bites)....but if I try to eat a whole serving I'll feel like absolute poo. I don't think it's true dumping syndrome cause I don't sweat or puke or need to lie down....I just feel kinda miserable for about 20 minutes...so I avoid it like hell. Maybe mild dumping? But yeah...I do have to watch refined carbs and sugar. (which is probably for the best...as these things used to get me into trouble)