honk

I have never been a morning person and it takes me a couple hours before I can eat breakfast. Now I have a cup of hot coffee to flex the ban and then a Greek yogurt with some add ins. Might be an hour or two from when I get up before the yogurt. Breakfast consists of Chobani Greek yogurt with fruit; add in half scoop vanilla whey isolate, benefiber, Splendra to taste mix everything together; then 5-6 cut up walnuts (roasted is best), High protein kashi go lean cereal (1-2 protein scoops). Recent studies show people that eat a high protein dairy based breakfast loose more weight then those who eat other types of breakfasts (and people that eat breafast loose more than those who don't).

My final preop weigh in was 282. When I went in for my first fill (about 4-6 weeks out) I was like 272. I was exercising preop (1 hr of cardio 7 days a week) so I did return to the gym day 4.

What exactly are you guilty about? Are you paying out of pocket, thus taking money away from something your family needs right this minute. Because even if you are self pay you probably will pay just as much if not more over the course of your lifetime paying for weight related illnesses. If you need a hip replacement or pacemaker would they tell you to live without. Would you tell someone who needed drug or alcohol rehab to think themselves well? Of course not.

No crackers they are not a mushie. I mixed canned chicken with laughing cow low fat cheese. A lot less fat/cals than mayo and you can heat it in the microwave.

Pizza is not a mushie! I do eat pizza as a treat on rare occation. Eat a low fat salad first and have one piece of pizza.

I've tried pork jerky at Costco and had no problems. Just chewed carefully. Tasted like chinese spareribs!

I did not get restriction until 10.6 cc's in 11 cc band. I kind of wish my doctor was that aggresive. Took me 6 months to get there.

Yes, American food portions tend to be very large. I do find however the healthier I eat the smaller the portions. If I order a meal and ask for a steamed veggie instead of fries; I get a miniscule portion of veggies (1/3 cup, you know those super small veggie "bowls"). The fries portions however are huge.

If I do two work outs do I need to add two dollars?

I was told to stop vitamins 2 weeks pre op (they can interfer with meds during surgery) and to resume them 2 weeks post op.

Don't have a great answer for you but you could ask yourself "If my doctor were here would I eat that?"

I understand four weeks post op that finding food you could eat at a party would be difficult. Excluding your upcoming trip in the future at dinner parties plan that they will be special events. If you have the option of bringing a dish make it a low fat low cal Protein item that you can eat. Choose your favorites of the other items on offer and eat them. Thin people go to dinner parties and they enjoy the food. As to your chef friend. I don't tell her that you're working so hard on living a healthy lifestyle; that when you overeat the meal doesn't become a happy memory. By choosing to only eat certain items or smaller portions allows you to enjoy your meal right now and not feel guilty about it later.

My doctor wants me to weigh protein and does not give me instructions based on volume. I would agree to that subs are probably not the best choice. I did not get restriction until 10.6 CC. Please note however that even at restriction I can eat bread. I choose not to.

It can take up to 2 weeks for a fill to take affect. FYI took me until 10.6 CC's to get restriction so don't be frustrated if this does not do it for you.

Yes, people on vacation do "diet". Or you can tell them, IF they ask that you aren't dieting but living a new healthy lifestyle. Fast food. There usually are healthier options. Most have salad's, or grilled chicken sandwhiches (just don't eat the bun); KFC has great grilled chicken (remove the skin). Wendy's has great chili. If you are having pizza order a side salad. Eat that first to fill the void and have 1 slice of pizza. Most restaurants will sub veggies for fries.

The process you described is how fills are done. They check to see how much fill is still in there to see if there has been a leak since you last fill. While my PA did'nt stick me twice, on occation she twirled the needle around looking for the opening. My doctor does'nt do fills at all. Always done by PA.

I had 3 protein shakes a day and three cups of stock (8 oz) for first 7 days. Second week I could have soups like tomato, Sweet red pepper. Most doctors do not want soups that have solids in them at this point. I made sure to use a coffee CUP and not a mug. Mugs are usually 12-16 oz.

This is a willpower diet for now. Yes I know if I had that kind of willpower I wouldn’t be overweight! Are you weighing your Protein? My doctor says 3 oz solid protein. Low cal/fat protein. I eat mostly chicken breast no skin or high fat/cal sauces. If you don't weigh the food you will eat too much. Period. I am not at restriction but even before I would eat protein first and then low fat/cal/ carb veggies until full. Beyond portions is food choices. I try to eat a 95/5% life style. Eat very conservatively 95% of the time and have a little fun the other 5%. I don't keep crackers/chips/crunchies (even low fat), rice, Pasta, potatoes, bread (oh how I miss you), candy, ice cream, jam in my house. If it's not there I can't eat it. At my Mom's birthday lunch last weekend however ALL BETS WERE OFF! I also plan "fun" food. If I know I have a treat scheduled for Sat. I have an easier time eating healthy Mon-Fri. Example: After my workout Sat morning I go to brunch at Denny's. I have egg whites, turkey bacon (ask for it Dry so they use limited cooking fat); and wait for it...... one whole wheat pancake! And the E word. Are you exercising? My doctor wants 30 minutes a day. I do 1.5-2.5 hours of moderate cardio 7 days a week; and am still a slow loser. Water based exercise is great for those of us who are over weight. I started out doing lap swimming (water proof MP3 player is a MUST). Water aerobics is also good. You can ask the instructor for ways to make the workout harder if the class is designed to for older patrons (I am the youngest in my class at 42).

Personally I would request their fatality and complications statistics. I don't think a hospital would stop all surgeries if there had not been problems. If your surgeon has been having a lot of problems find a new surgeon!

Surgery on a Thursday. So Friday, Sat/Sun, M-F, Sat/Sun. Desk job.

Can you spread out your "food"? Drink your soup and then wait as long as possible to have the protein shake. May help with some of the head hunger. Yes I understand you are also physically hungry.

For Protein Shakes I used a mini blender buy hamilton beach. Only 15 dollars at walmart has a travel cup which is used to make the ingredients. Works really well on crushing ice in Protein shakes. I use a stick blender to make fruit in Greek yogurt during mushy. Other than that I didn't use a blender or food processor for mushies.

It can take up to 2 weeks for a fill to take affect. My doctor wanted me to wait 3 weeks before getting an additional fill. It took me 6 months before I reached restriction.

Chicken and green beans are not a mushy. Canned chicken or canned tuna would be a mushy. Being on mushys sucks but if that's what your doctor wants then you should stick to it.