The Greater Fool

Welcome to the forums. The scale will lie to you. While it can be fun to see the daily weight loss. When the scale gets stuck some folks start second guessing their every action. Don't let the scale make you happy or sad. They key thing is you are working your plan. Keep doing that. Stay off the scale, if you can manage it. Are you getting healthier? Happier? More active? These are my measurements. Good luck, Tek

Pandemonium & MsMocie, as usual, make good points. Add what I say to what they said. I'm assuming that you are not doing the driving. Even if you feel great, you don't know what movement it might take to cause tremendous pain at the wrong moment. So, don't drive yourself. Now that that is settled. Staying over: Another reason for staying over is, heaven forsake, some complication rears it's ugly head. You are there and your Doc is there and driving back that time/distance is removed from the equation. It's also likely that whoever is driving you home drove you there then waited uncomfortably for hours. It's already been a long day and they may not be at their best driving home. Going home: You will get to sleep in your own bed and have everything you prepared available to you. As mentioned, you'll be under the effect of pain meds but also the lingering effects of being put to sleep. You can likely sleep much of the drive home. You may not have this perk tomorrow. A middle ground is to reserve the room. When you leave the facility take an inventory of how you feel and act accordingly. Good Luck Tek

Ever heard the old joke that begins "Hey Doc, it hurts when I do this..." The pinch is probably an internal stitch that is being pulled. There is a good chance it is a temporary stitch intended to give something a good change of healing correctly. When it dissolves enough you will no longer feel it. Or it is something else easily explained and equally transient. If you are still concerned, after all I'm just a voice on the interwebs, give your Doc a call. It's either nothing and they'll say so, or it's something and they'll have you come in, or more likely, discuss it at your next follow up. My surgery was open, so I had such pains for quite a while. They'd appear out of nowhere, I'd compensate, then they'd disappear. Good luck Tek Answer to joke: "Don't do that."

I don't know. My program I didn't count calories. Or anything else but meals (3) and meal composition (3oz protein, 1oz veggies). Even I could manage counting to 3 more often than not. Good luck. Tek

Wow, you sound like you are having rough time. Are you drinking enough? I might up my drinking in your situation. Does eating actually take care of the hunger for at least a short time? If so, I might make meal sizes smaller but more frequent. It might help with actual hunger and appetite. I might also up the flavor profile of what I eat. I'd go spicier, hotter. Another action is distraction. Find something you can immerse yourself into. A book or series of books, games, a hobby, movies or TV Series, cleaning (ick), exercise. Whatever floats your boat. Exercise can also affect hunger positively. I hope these ideas help you work it out. Good luck, Tek

Well, you'll have ample opportunity to work on that in the coming months Tek

Welcome to the forums. Billho is spot on. The team at your WLS Surgeons' office will walk you through identifying Anthem's requirement and what you need to to do fulfill them. Your team want's you to get surgery as much as you do. They are on your side. Good luck. Tek

You can only be judged about WLS (or anything else) if you tell the group about it. No law says you have to share anything you don't want to. Tek

I was in the hospital for 3 days for my RNY. I started pureed food on day 2. Day one, just fluids. As others have said, our programs don't really matter. Your Doc has a program that you need to follow. Tek

I had a hiatal hernia fixed during my RNY. Did it make my recovery harder? I don't really know as I have nothing to which to compare it. I wonder what your Doc would say? After all, your Doc has patients both with and without Hiatal hernias so would have a basis of comparison. Recovery is a personal adventure that we all experience differently. Welcome to your adventure. Tek

Get ground meat. Shape into balls. Cook. Actually, Pandemonium's recipe looks darn good, I'd go with that. It looks a little more complicated than my recipe but it looks worth the effort. Tek

Welcome to the forums. Tek

I can see that. I can't see audio books working well for gym type exercise where tempo is an important feature for which music helps. If I'm exercising, it's running. Different beast. At least for me. But, as usual, like to throw out options. Remember, I'm weird. Tek

I don't have much to offer but encouragement and support. I wish I could sport your mustache and beard. All I have is a scraggly nordic thing. Tek

When I was binge running it was audio books. While I enjoy music it doesn't occupy my mind like it does for many/most people. Audio books take me away. Same for anything that takes time, audio books are my go to for keeping me going. Stephen King Dark Tower series was memorable, the reader was great. I stuck with mostly sci-fi or fantasy. Tek

Welcome to the forums. I have no recommendations on plastic surgeons. Tek

Welcome to the forums. All I did in my puree phase (first 6 weeks post-op) was take what I wanted to eat and throw it in the blender then eat. I had curry chicken from our favorite Thai place. Fettuccini Alfredo (Chicken that had the barest amount of sauce and broccoli instead of the Fettuccini). I have no doubt I had BBQ, steak, whatever. These are the couple that stand out now 17 years later. I went for flavor, big flavor. If it made sense to puree the whole thing together, it became a big blob. If it didn't make sense, a couple smaller blobs. My Doc made a point of saying we didn't have to have "breakfast" food at breakfast. We are adults, more or less, and we can eat what we want when we want, within plan of course.

Apparently there are differences in how humans relate to humor. And, it's sexist of YOU to assume I was talking DOWN to women. Wow.

I imagine what they're thinking when a person as far overweight as me would eat 3oz of protein, if I ate at all, leaving the plate barely touched. They were horrified. It's about the time I started terribly over-tipping. I wanted them to really believe that we enjoyed ourselves, even if I only ate a couple bites of that perfectly cooked prime rib. Another reason eating out was a tense time that I generally gave up on.

Stick to plan like I didn't. I'm glad I didn't have to explain the pound I gained. Tek

I don't eat out with friends or work colleagues. Work colleagues I didn't eat out with before. For 40 years, it was my job to come into a company, tell them what they were doing wrong, tell them how to do it right, create the processes to do it right, then move on. I was not there to eat meals. Now, I may have developed these rules because I was so large, but the rules still stand now that I'm not. I've stopped consulting, but I still don't do the company functions. When I was first exploring eating out a few months post-op, I would get anxious which made eating not work out so well. As time moved on, it was still a problem for me. So, while I have gotten better at it, I am still so worried that it's hard to enjoy the experience. So, I avoid it if I can. Family doesn't care, they understand. Outside of family doesn't really matter. At this point, every one is used to me the way I am now. I think this is all rationalization for not wanting to share wife time with anyone else. She feels the same about husband time. Tek

If I were going to do it, this is the way I would do it. Doc knows you and your surgery. If anyone can make it work, it's the Doc. Way to go! Tek

Darn. I was eloquent in Veterans. Something different... think of something different Tek. Well, OK, I got one: Hiding. Hiding from our Doc, support group, friends, relatives, the scale. That's a sure sign you know you're doing it wrong. We stop measuring our touchstones because we know it will be yet another accusation of our failure. We are so much tougher on ourselves than anyone is in real life. I've hidden. Tek

Welcome to the forums. I don't really know if it's actually possible to 'reset' a pouch. I'm sure people will swear that it helped them and I doubt we'll hear from those that it didn't because their no longer about. But, BariatricPal has a program, so it must work, right? Good luck, mostly just wanted to welcome you and remind everyone of the old axiom "Buyer beware" Tek

It may be the nutritionist was pushing you to... I don't know how far post-op you are? Were you post-op during the call? It may not be that you don't absorb protein at all. Perhaps they are pushing you to eating your protein. If you can't count liquid protein then you're sorta forced to eat the protein that you count. My Docs program was our food plan pureed for 6 weeks, then our food plan as food. Another doc had protein drink once a day and pureed food plan for the first 6 week, then food plan and no drink after that. They all seem anxious to get you eating food. When next you talk to your nutritionist you can ask about it. Good luck. Tek