anonbaribabe

My surgeon also has me use suppositories for this, as well as milk of magnesia.

I should note that my program progresses a little faster than others that I have seen. I recommend following your surgeon's advice over my program 🙂 I understand, however, that @lorraine#11 is in a peculiar situation.

Sure. Here's my diet progression: Stage 1: Bariatric Full Liquid Diet (Weeks 1-2) #1 Sugar-Free Fluids This is the number one priority after surgery—drink a minimum of 64 ounces/day. Examples: Water, herbal tea (no caffeine), Crystal Light, PowerAde Zero, etc. Liquids should be non-carbonated, non-caffeinated, and under 15 calories/8 ounces #2 Protein Shakes Goal of 60g-80g protein/day. Mix with water or unsweetened nut milk. Stage 2: Soft Protein Foods (Weeks 3-4) #1 Sugar-Free Fluids Still the number one priority after surgery #2 Food 3 meals/day of soft protein foods (aim for 60g of protein as able—compensate with protein shakes if unable to hit 60g through food). There is no set portion size—you must listen to your body. Examples of soft foods: eggs, whole beans, canned meat, shaved/thinly sliced deli meats, fish, tofu, Greek yogurt, cheese, refried beans, etc. #3 Protein Shakes You may need to drink 1 protein shake/day to meet the 60g of protein if you can't meet this goal from foods. Stage 3: Bariatric Regular Foods (Week 5+) #1 Sugar-Free Fluids Still the number one priority after surgery #2 Food 3 meals/day focusing on protein. Small bites and stop at the first indication of fullness. There is no set portion size. Try new foods one at a time and in small amounts. Focus on solid protein for best portion and hunger control. Put fork down and pause between bites.

I move to soft foods after 2 weeks. I can move earlier if I meet my water and protein goals for 5 consecutive days, so I'll start soft foods by this weekend.

I've been watching Chopped and Cutthroat Kitchen for the past week, so I don't think I'm there yet lol. When do you get to move to the next stage?

My goal weight is flexible—it'll probably change the closer I get to it as I figure out what I'm comfortable with. For now, it's 170 which is 10 pounds lower than my lowest adult weight.

As Elcee said, the saliva is to facilitate your body with the vomiting process. This is something that can happen to those who haven't had WLS, too.

The vanilla has a weird taste/smell to me—I was sure I would love it since it's one of their most popular flavors. I've heard good things about the peanut butter cookie. I want to try the Cafe Amore once I'm cleared for caffeine. I have the Cafe Bella and don't like it very much—it says that the cinnamon is "light sprinkle", but for me it's really strong.

I'm about one week post-op and am not having too many issues with hitting 64 ounces, as long as I remember to drink 8 ounces/hour. I think that the water just gets flushed through the stomach, so it's more quickly than something like food, which has to go through digestion. I don't think it's anything to worry about 🙂 I don't think we'll start feeling restriction until we start with actual food. I'm allowed jello right now and could only get in a few bites before I had to stop, it was much different from water.

I use Bariatric Eating's Inspire protein. I don't love the vanilla, though. It has a weird vanilla flavor to me. The cookies and cream one is okay. For peanut butter, I use their unflavored protein and 1-2 tbs of powdered peanut butter (I like Peanut Butter & Co more than PB2—less grainy). I've also been using Crystal Light with the unflavored (orange, cherry, raspberry lemonade). SF pudding mix is also good for flavoring.

Yeah, I love it as an option when I don't want something as "heavy" as a protein shake.

I also got that flavor in the 20g. I've been thinking about putting them in popsicle molds—being ice cold I'm thinking they might not seem so sweet.

Coconut flavors usually are more refreshing than sweet, so I bet that would be good!

I've tried the Apple Melon and I like it. Post-surgery, though, it's a little too sweet and I have to water it down. Some of the other flavors, though, may not be as sweet—even before surgery, I thought it was pretty tangy sweet.

I had surgery last week and had a lot of the same fears. If you followed the pre-op diet, your liver will have shrunk (honestly, even if you cheated a time or two, your liver will be okay if you mainly stuck to the diet). I was also worried about anesthesia and not waking up, too. But don't worry! Your anesthesiologist gets paid the big bucks because she's a smarty pants badass who knows how much to give you and will be monitoring you all the way throughout your surgery. Same with your surgeon—they're experts and they literally do this all the time. Before surgery I was offered what was described to me as "something to calm me down." I, being a ball of nerves, happily accepted. No idea what it was, I didn't care, but it mellowed me out. I remember being wheeled into the OR (which I remembered thinking looked nothing like the ORs in Grey's Anatomy—pretty sure this thought is evidence that whatever they gave me was working) and then a couple of people from the surgical team were talking to me and I just listened and that's it: That's all I remember. The next thing I knew I was in recovery. As far as blood clots, I was given two shots of heparin while at the hospital—one before surgery and one the next day. Some patients are sent home with shots to prevent blood clots, so if you're concerned about this, you may want to ask your surgeon if this would be a good fit for you. Good luck with your surgery! You'll do great!

My thoughts exactly! Congrats on your progress!

I can't imagine this would be detrimental and I don't think they can penalize you for checking out all your options, provided that you meet all their requirements. To me, this sounds more like something the doctors' offices are saying to try to "incentivize" picking them—like, "Hey, pick us and we'll handle dealing with your insurance for you."

If you're used to running outside, it will probably be easier for you to run on a treadmill (no air resistance, flat "terrain."). You can use the incline to more closely match the challenge of running outdoors. You'll still get a great cardio workout by running indoors.

I'm so sorry to hear this, but glad that they were able to catch that. I hope that you get to go home today and have a smooth recovery from here on out.

Right now I switch between water, protein water, protein shakes (vanilla, peanut butter, cookies and cream, orange), and SF jello and popsicles. Someone recommended that I try coconut water so I'm going to get that the next time I'm out. What about you?

I start vitamins one week post-op. I'm trying to drink 8 ounces of water every hour. I think that I'm going to get one of those water bottles that marks times on it to help with this.

I can get around 50-55 ounces of liquid, but I'm so bored of everything that I'm drinking that it slows me down 😬

If you're walking enough during the day, you shouldn't need to get up in the middle of the night. The first few nights after surgery, I woke up a couple times in the middle of the night and did some leg raises in bed since I was awake. My tummy is also still making noises—I figure that should dissipate with time.

I weight everyday because I have no self-control...I'm trying to get better Ideally, I would weigh once a week on the same day/time upon waking up.

I was sleeved on Tuesday and am definitely still sore and figure I will be for several more days. Today was the first day that I could get up with minimal pain and the first day that I haven't taken pain meds.