Splenda

I am two months post-RNY. To echo what other people have said, the surgery did not change my love of cooking. It probably increased my love of cooking for others. I am married with four kids and my in-laws often join us for dinner. I focus on cooking foods for them that I can handle eating in small portions. I am looking forward to cooking Thanksgiving next month, even though I will only be eating a small plate of it. And I still experiment with recipes and foods that I have not cooked before (been learning how to cook seafood better since my stomach handles it well and it is high protein, low calorie). You will still get a lot of joy from a perfectly executed recipe, you just won't eat as much of it.

Yeah, my go-to on weekdays is a 30-gram ready make shake (either Ensure or Premier Protein). The increased protein (Carnation is 13g) would help keep you full. I drink mine around 7:30 and don't start to feel any hunger until 11. If you need something else, like a small snack to get you through to lunch, I would get Breakstones cottage cheese (comes in an individual package like yogurt does) or individual servings of plain Greek yogurt (you could add some of the Carnation powder to it to increase protein and make it tastier).

I think it is doable alone, but I would consider investing in a heavy duty cane (you can usually find them at Walgreens/CVS/local medical supply store) If I lived alone, my biggest concern would be falling down. You have no idea how much you use your abdominals for moving until you let a doctor cut into them. I had my surgery on a Monday morning and it was not until Tuesday night that I was able to get out of a chair without a nurse's assistance. Even for the next week or so, I was so very tender/ginger going from sitting to standing. I used the cane to have something sturdy that I could use to push myself up, especially in situations like getting off the toilet. It also helped for the first few times I went out of the house (store/church/etc) to walk with it so I didn't have to worry about losing my balance if someone ran into me.

I think it is doable alone, but I would consider investing in a heavy duty cane (you can usually find them at Walgreens/CVS/local medical supply store) If I lived alone, my biggest concern would be falling down. You have no idea how much you use your abdominals for moving until you let a doctor cut into them. I had my surgery on a Monday morning and it was not until Tuesday night that I was able to get out of a chair without a nurse's assistance. Even for the next week or so, I was so very tender/ginger going from sitting to standing. I used the cane to have something sturdy that I could use to push myself up, especially in situations like getting off the toilet. It also helped for the first few times I went out of the house (store/church/etc) to walk with it so I didn't have to worry about losing my balance if someone ran into me.

I had my surgery on August 16. Lost 24 pounds in the first 2 weeks. Lost 6 pounds over the next 18 days. Lost 12 pounds in the last 12 days. Stay the course. The PA at my surgeon's office said that my body was fighting against the reduced caloric input, but that it would eventually give in. He did advise me to cut back a bit on sodium (I was living on Gatorade Zero), because it meant I was carrying more water weight.