Dave In Houston

My wife and I like the Ken's Steak House Lite dressings. Her favorite is the Northern Italian, while mine is the Sweet Vidalia Onion. Mine has twice the calories (including 10g added sugar), but hers has twice the sodium. Maybe I should try to conjure up an artificially sweetened version of the Vidalia one.

The reason I go by weight is that it's easier to measure than volume. (Like you can't squish a pizza slice into a measuring cup.) The density of all foods is pretty close to the density of water. Within 10%, I would guess. And if I chew thoroughly like I'm supposed to, that four ounces of pizza will be about half a cup.

We like Chicago Med, but have you noticed how very graphic they make their shots of peoples' insides?

I weigh everything I eat. Five months after surgery, I can eat 8 ounces or so at a sitting.

I had some problems with pain in my upper chest on the right side. It was the weekend, so I went to an urgent care place, and they did a EKG and said it looked OK. I went to my heart doc, and he said it was on the wrong side to be my heart. Then I called the surgeon's office. They suggested it was retained gas, and prescribed simethicone. It helps, so now I take it routinely. You can buy it over the counter. The name brand is Gas-X. The prescription ones are a bit stronger.

I switched surgeons a month before I had surgery. When I mentioned to my cardiologist that the surgeon's staff was unresponsive, he suggested I call a colleague with whom he had a good working relationship. In fact, the heart doc pulled out his cell phone and called the surgeon to tell him about my situation and let him know that I'd be calling. I was able to get an appointment with the new surgeon a few days later, and had surgery in a month. My insurance is plain jane Medicare, so the approval process was easy. I was able to get all the counseling and pretesting done, including an endoscopy done by my own GI doc. My consult with the nutritionist was the day before my surgery. I had a good outcome, and subsequent to the surgery, I've found my surgeon's staff to be very responsive, so I'm glad I made the change.

My surgery was May 28, and I'm doing well. I've lost over 60 pounds, and none of my clothes fit any more. (That's a good thing!) My new stomach tells me when to stop eating, and I'm learning the lessons. That's probably something everyone goes through, but there have been a few times when I ate too much and it was uncomfortable. Over the years, I've lost and regained 50 or more pounds three or four times. Finally, I think I have a way to lose weight and keep it off. I think you'll be happy too, three or four months from surgery when your weight is coming down. Good luck, and keep us posted.

I changed surgeons shortly before having surgery because the staff in the first surgeon's office became unresponsive. I was able to have surgery about a month after contacting the new surgeon, who came with strong recommendations from my heart doc and my voice doc. Try not to get discouraged. You'll be having your surgery before you know it.

They can't really be considered food, but sugar-free popsicles are an enjoyable treat for me.

Likewise, why would you ever ruin a perfectly good oatmeal raisin cookie with chocolate chips? Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite, but I also like chocolate chip cookies. However, I prefer each in its native form. Edit: For the record, I'm still in the weight loss phase. The closest I get to cookies is the occasional Bel Vita wafer.

It's been only 15 weeks since my surgery. I have not dumped yet. I'm trying to avoid anything near dumping. I can eat cottage cheese with about 5 ounces of pineapple without dumping. I eat this as a daily treat. The threat of dumping is a real incentive to avoid the sweet or greasy foods. I used to be able to eat half a pecan pie over the course of a day. I don't think I've had any since surgery. A box of donuts was also a threat to my weight and health. If everyone in the family had two, That would leave 8 for me. Now I don't bring them home. I hope I won't have any incidents to report a year from now.

It will be over before you know it. My surgery was 3.5 months ago. Pain was amazingly minimal, considering how much they rearranged my insides. I've lost 60 pounds, and I'm wearing smaller clothes. I'm never hungry. Don't worry. You got this!

I just happened to see this article you might be interested in. It's not that inexpensive, but they seem to like it quite a bit. https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/get-instants-outstanding-cooking-blender-for-60-right-now-50-off/?ftag=CAD7dba523&bhid=23455840792738119499289172342941&mid=13510025&cid=534192437

I'm not familiar with that PPO, but you may qualify at a lower BMI if you have other conditions such as blood pressure, sleep apnea, pre-diabetes, etc. Good luck.

I'm eating 5 times a day. My breakfast and evening snack are a Premier Protein drink. Two of these provide 60 g of protein. Lunch is almost always one fried egg, one strip of bacon, and half an English muffin. My afternoon snack is a half cup of pineapple and a half cup of low-fat cottage cheese. This has turned out to be my very favorite thing to eat. Dinner is about 8 ounces of food, divided between protein, vegetables, and carbs. If I feel full, I will quit eating before I finish 8 ounces. MY surgery was 3.5 months ago. I've lost 58 pounds, so it seems to be working for me. I'm pleased with the progress.

I have Medicare with a type G supplement. My surgery was paid for entirely, except that I got a bill for $350 from some assistant that Medicare apparently thinks isn't necessary.

My doc prescribed simethicone for gas pain. It's the active ingredient in Gas-X. You can also buy it over the counter. This one from Amazon is about a third of the price of Gas-X. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099NRYXNH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

During the puree phase, I ate chicken by grinding it in the blender. I would grind up chicken curry and add some broth, or grind up soup and add some chicken. During the soft food stage, my doc suggested starting with chicken thighs. Even though they have more fat, they are softer and easier on your healing stomach. Soft white fishes are also good. My doc said I could have them even during the puree stage. Edit: Chew everything to applesauce consistency.

You're in a miserable situation for sure. I hope you and your family and friends came through the storm OK. I was on liquids for a week, then moved to puree stage. Some docs like their patients to stay longer on liquids. During the liquid phase, you can have protein drinks, thin cream of wheat, Greek yogurt, strained/blended soups, things like that. I would eat/drink slowly and stick to half a cup or so. It will take a while to learn what "full" feels like, but pay attention to the slightest feeling of fullness, and don't eat even a couple bites more, or you will regret it. During the puree phase, you can eat things that are blended to the consistency of applesauce. At that stage, I was grinding up dishes like chicken marsala or chicken curry and thinning them with a little chicken broth to get the right consistency. I would also grind soup and add chicken to get the right consistency and also add some protein. My doc said I could have soft fish and scrambled eggs during the puree phase if I chewed them well. One of my first mistakes, though, was trying to eat one egg and one egg white scrambled. It was too much and I didn't know to stop. If you have protein drinks, you can probably exist on those for a while. It will also help if you have power to run a blender. We could probably offer suggestions if you tell us what you have on hand and whether you have power or not. In Houston, Ike was a bad storm for us. I can't imagine how it would have been if I'd been recovering from bariatric surgery at the same time.

My nutritionist told me that according to recent findings, some tiny percentage of the B12 is absorbed, and that is indeed why they put an absurd percentage of the RDA in the bariatric vitamin tabs. I'll find out whether it's enough for me when the blood work is done. I think the injections are just once a month, so I would probably do that over the sublingual option. The injections are much less expensive. I did enoxaparin injections three times a day for two weeks after surgery, and they weren't too bad.

My surgeon's office told me to start the vitamins about a week after surgery. The first month a used a chewable one that was unpalatable. Since then, I've been using these from Amazon. They have 45 mg of iron, so I don't need additional iron supplements. Vitamin B12 is often a problem for bariatric patients. These also have 41,000 times the FDA's required daily allowance of B12, which I hope will be enough that B12 shots aren't required. (They will do my blood work on the 5-month post-surgery visit.) I also take a 500 mg calcium citrate tablet three times a day. The link to the vitamins: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HZ3YQ5X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Edit: The price is $30 for three months, which isn't too bad.

My surgery was a bit more than months ago. I am pretty much back to normal eating now, though not with sugar and fat. When I was 4 weeks past surgery, I could only tolerate about 4 ounces of food. Now I'm up to almost 8 ounces, even a bit more if the foods are mostly liquids like cottage cheese and pineapple. I was never quite as bad as you are, though. Can you tolerate protein drinks? In my early days they were a mainstay of my diet. Staying hydrated is also important.

Please give us a report of how things went. Also, get up and walk around the halls a bit. It will do you good.

Congrats. Enjoy the ride.

I also have Medicare (meaning plain old Medicare with a type F Medicare supplement, as opposed to a Medicare Advantage plan). For me the approval was almost automatic, and I didn't have to wait 6 months and lose weight. I was approved in a couple days. I had to do a 2-week pre-surgery diet, but that was after the surgery was approved. The surgeon indicated that I needed the surgery even though I wasn't as heavy as many patients because I had some comorbidities. If you also have plain old Medicare and you're similarly situated, I suspect your approval would be the same.