warrior68

I was sleeved on 3/1, I'm on mushies now, and Yesterday I went out to lunch with a couple of my old eating buddies. Most of the time when I get together with these friends no matter what we do, we always eat once, if not twice during the course of the day. I live in upstate NY and its pretty much the food capital of the world if you ask me, lots of good tasting, unhealthy food, one of our local dishes is called a garbage plate if that explains the kind of food around here. We ended up and a diner that is well known for their fish fry, oh how I love their fish fry! My one buddy got a beer battered fish fry with extra tarted sauce, french fries, coleslaw, and mac salad, my other buddy got a BLT club with extra bacon and extra mayo, I sat there quietly and ate a half a cup of split pee soup which was the only thing on the menu I could have beside mashes potatoes. While I will say I am a huge fan of both the lunches my buddies ordered, and both looked so damn tasty, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to sit there and watch them eat. I am wondering how hard it would be to be good if I wasn't on mushies, would I have ordered the BLT or of the Fish Fry?

What really kills me is the number of people that know everything about weight loss surgery, even though they have never had it, dont know anyone but me who has had it, and have never read a single article or viewed a forum, yet they know it all. These know it all people can tell you straight to your face that, you had surgery, life will now be easy for you, you will automatically lose the weight without trying, and that doing it the old fashioned way of working out and eating right is much better for you. When you point out to them you have been dieting, working out, counting calories, haven't had real food in over a month, and have made many sacrifies, they just dismiss it as you trying to justify your surgery. I have noticed that the few people I have told, although they think they are being supportive, each and everyone of them tells me, oh I'm watching what I eat now, and I'm gonna hit the gym and start working out again, as though its some type of contest. I was sleeved on 3/11 since then I have been walking 3 to 6 miles daily, and as soon as I am cleared I will be going to the gym and lifting like I used to 15 years ago. I have already lost close to 50 lbs, and plan to be at my goal of 200 lbs by my birthday in October, I also plan on getting back my biceps, chest muscles, flexibility, and endurance. I am very lucky to have a body that responds very quickly, any time I have dieted, or went on a work out program I get incredible results in short periods of time, of course then I stop and go back to over eating and being lazy, and gain it all back in a short time too. I feel like the sleeve is just the tool I need to keep me on course. Once October gets here at that point we'll see which one of the know it all's can tell me I haven't been working at it, and that the all the weight loss, and muscle gain is from my surgery. If I were to do this all over again I would not have told anyone, not even my mother, its been less than a month and already I am sick of the know it all friends.

Sunshine, I had a brain fart, I'm only on Mushies for another 3 weeks, which will be a total of 5 weeks on mushies. I have no idea why my Doctor wants me on mushies for 5 weeks, but he has been spot on thus far. I had very little pain after surgery, and no complications of kind, so If the doc says five weeks of mushies, then five weeks of mushies it is. I will say at this point I feel as though I could eat regular food, and the rebellious part of me that usually wins the war really wants some reg food, but I am going to be good. I have not had regular food since starting the pre op liquid diet on the 23rd of February, so going another few weeks will suck, but I'll make it through.

Thanks for the tips, I just checked out egg face, saved it to my favorites.

I am 42, sleeved on 3/1/11, and have felt great since day two, I asked to have the morphine drip taken away on day 2 in the hospital. I will say day one SUCKED big time! I have been able to drink Water normally, I am taking all my Vitamins, and I seem to stomach everything well so far, although Im still on mushies. I do worry because it seems as thought I can eat a lot compared to others at the mushy stage. last night I had to two eggs scrambled, with FF cheese, and Salsa, I was full but it went down pretty easy. I posted at just a few days out and stated how great I felt, I forgot who posted back and said they believe feeling better has a lot to do with a positive mental attitude, and I agree.

It is my understanding that the whey Isolate is also much easier to digest, it digest quicker, and has a much higher protein content than reg whey protein power. If I has heard this from just one source I may not believe it, but I have talked to multiple vitamin store employees, and also did some reading online to confirm it was worth the extra money. I personally like the Sci fit Whey Isolate protein powders, it comes in lots of flavors, the chocolate peanut butter flavor is awesome! The Ice cream banana rocks, specially when mixed with the Choc peanut butter, and cookies and cream is pretty good too.

Maybe others have not had this experience with telling people, but from what I have noticed, each person you tell will say to at least one more person "dont say anything but so and so and WLS thats the only reason they are losing weight". This does not just stand true for surgery it is true throughout life, very few people can keep a secret, either out of need to gossip, or out of jealousy. Just my opinion.

I have excellus BCBS Blue Point 2 insurance here in NY, I have been denied again, stating that the sleeve is exploratory / investigational. I am going to appeal the denial, and was wondering if anyone that has any type of BCBS Insurance that was approved for the sleeve to please post here with which company you have, what state you live in, and when you were approved. My thinking is that if I can provide a list of BCBS entities that have covered the sleeve, Excellus BCBS Blue point 2 could hardly then state that it is experimental or Investigational. I posted this in a couple different threads hoping to have as many people as possible see it, sorry for the over posts.

Can anyone explain what the difference is between whey Protein powder, and Isolate Protein Powder? I can see by the label that the Isolate has a lot more protein, less carbs, and more calories than the regular protein powder, but is it worth the difference in price. The links below are for a protein company that I have use in the past... about 10 years ago when I was really into working out the people who really knew their stuff recommended and used the econowhey by sci-fit, I used it, it taste great, and was fairly cheap back then. Fast forward ten years I google sci-fit and see the company has gotten much bigger and now has a lot more choices. I am tempted to order the Whey isolate even though it has twice the calories, I will use it as a Meal Replacement (breakfast) and to make sure I get all my protein in for the day. know this company does not make false accusations about the stuff in their products because years ago they used to have a deal that if bought the product and took it to be analyzed, and it came back with less protein or more carbs they would write you a check for 1500.00. Long story short I know they make good tasting stuff, and they are a stand up company, bummer is it has to ordered over the internet because I cant get it locally. Sorry to ramble on so much, back to the original questions. Other than the obvious stuff we can see on the label is there a difference I should know about when buying the Isolate rather than the faithful old EconoWhey? Is Isolate good for bariactric use? Has anyone used Isolate? Here are the links Econo Whey PDF of Econo whey label Isolate Whey PDF of Isolate Whey Any info would be great.

I bought some Chobani because I see so many people on here mentioning how great it is.... Ughhh that stuff is god awful!! It taste like sour wallpaper paste! Please tell me the flavored Greek yogurts taste better?

Its kinda funny that I found this thread when I logged on this morning, as I was just about to start a thread that had going back to smoking as one of the main subjects. I took my nicotine patch off on the 22nd of last month, started the 5 day pre op liquid diet on the 23rd of last month, surgery on 3/1, and no caffeine since 3/1. Basically I quit everything fun within a few days of each other, and none of it bothered me, until the past couple days. I am recently moved on to mushies, so that helps a little, but I keep having thoughts like, I bet I could puree a bag of oreo's and some milk! Oh wait what am I thinking? no way I'm going there! Well maybe if I have a cigarette it will help. Two days ago I was going through some older clothes seeing what fit, and I found a pack of Marlboro's in a old jacket pocket, it had two cigarettes in it, they have to be at least 4 years old. I looked at the pack for a couple minutes, then put it on the desk, and thought to myself, I wont smoke them, but I cant throw them away, I'll keep them for a true emergency. Well we all know that within 3 to 5 minutes there was a true emergency in my house, the emergency was that there were two cigarettes in the house, and nobody had smoked them yet. I smoked those two cigarettes in stages over the next two days, oh how I missed my old friend Mr Marlboro! So now I find myself with the dilemma of, do I go buy a pack, or do I stick it out? Will not buying a pack lead to pureeing a dozen doughnuts with a cup coffee? I was so happy to be done with smoking especially since cigarettes are over 10.00 per pack in NY. OMFG I'm losing my mind over this!

I am on day 17 post op, I have lost 40 lbs since starting my liquid diet on 2/23, so I am very happy with that! I have an old doctors office scale with the weights that you slide at the top, everyday I have been sliding those weights down a little bit, and I leave them in that position for the nest day. I started mushies yesterday, and when I weighed myself this morning I actually gained a 1/2 lb!! I am very unhappy about this! I didn't eat much yesterday, two yogurts, aprox 4 forks fulls of tuna fish, and 2 fork fulls of egg salad. Is it normall to gain or maintain for a while when moved to mushies?

Went for my two weeks post op appointment today, and the doctor moved me on to mushies, oh how I have been waiting for the mushy stage after not eating anything since the 23rd of last month. I was so excited to get home and puree some tuna, and that is what I did, problem is that after three fork fulls, I felt very full, is this normal? After a few hours I ate some yogurt, and it seemed I could get more of that down than the tuna. Will I be able to tolerate more as time goes on? Two weeks post op, down 40 lbs since starting the liquid diet 5 days prior to surgery, and my Blood Pressure is already down by a lot, dr is taking me of the BP med already! I could not be happier!

I bought a biggest loser kitchen scale at BJ's whole sale that not only weighs food, it tell the calories, protein, carbs, and so on, it cost me 20.00 or 29.00 dollars I think. Weighing it in the kitchen is so much easier than checking online for me.

I am 8 days post op and feeling great, heck I felt pretty damn good right when I woke up from the surgery, and have improved every day since then. I have no complaints at all, I have lost over 30 lbs since starting the pre op liquid diet, things are going about as perfect as the could be. I am a stickler for following the Doctors rules when it comes to the sleeve, which is odd because in others areas of my life I never listen to anyone, and just do as I see fit. The problem I am having is that post op I knew two days before the clear liquid diet was done that I would be fine for full liquids, I bit my tongue and waited, then progressed to full liquids on schedule. Now I am only 3 days in on the full liquids, I can down 3oz of Protein shake every hour, I feel remarkably awesome, and I know that some pureed food would do wonders for me right now. My doctors rules are no mushies until the post op appointment which is not until next Wednesday. At this point I have not chewed on food since February 23rd, and I could really use something to chew on, or make me feel like I have eaten. Its not that I feel hungry, because I dont, the 3 ounces of Protein shakes actually fill me for while, but its just I wish I could have something more substantial. I have been very active since the surgery, walking over 15,000 steps a day according to my body bug device. I am wondering if there is to much of a calorie deficit right now? I'm wondering if some egg drop Soup, or tomato soup, you know something slightly thinker than broth would hurt me right now? Has anyone progressed quicker than their Doctor told them to? Oh how I keep dreaming of some tuna fish, egg beaters, or pureed chicken chili. Is this just a mental thing, or is this my body wanting more than the 300 calories a day than it has been getting?

I just checked my doctors "stage three Liquid diet" Instructions again, it says it is the same as the clear liquid diet, with the addition of protein shakes or carnation instant breakfast. Im gonna try to tough it out until next Wednesday when I have my two week post op check up, but I do seem to be getting weaker, and sleeping more as the days go on.

My pre op diet was very strict and my Dr told me to follow it with no deviations at all, period! 3 Atkins shakes a day. As much water, Sugar free jello, broth, and coffee / tea as you want.

I may have to re read my Instructions, it seems most people were allowed creamed soups, egg drop soup, and so on during the two week full liquid stage. would kill for something that had an actual flavor other than Protein drinks, Jello, and broth. Thanks for all the great replays.

I guess Im just a lucky guy, sleeved on 3/1 day one was a bit hard, lots of pain, day two I told the hospital to remove the morphine button, I have hardly had any gas pains at all. In the hospital I was up and walking like it was nothing, from the time I came home I have not even touched so much as a Tylenol because other than slight incision pain, I have no pain. I have been walking over 15,000 steps a day according to my Body bug device thingy, I sit and get up with no pain, I lay on my side with no pain, heck I even laid on my stomach at one point. The only problem I am having is I feel so good that I want to skip the next 7 days of the "full liquids diet" and move on to the mushies. I honestly can say I feel so lucky to be handling all this so well, and I wish that everyone could have the same experience I have.

For me day one was hard, but day two was a real son of bitch! once I got past day two I was kinda in a grove, or zone, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't near as hard as day two. Just hang in there, and get through it, in the end its so worth it!!

I was sleeved on 3/1 and I feel great, very little to no pain at all, getting all my liquids in with no trouble at all, moved on to the full liquids diet today, and will be on mushies in a couple weeks. MY question is, has anyone here joined weight watchers after being sleeved, just to themselves in check? I know it probably not needed, but I'm thinking about it because in the long run (after I get to my goal) that is kind of what I'm looking for, to be able to eat anything, but do it sensibly. Any thoughts on this?

I have always wanted a Vita Mix even long before being sleeved, but I just cant get myself to part with the 500+ dollars to buy one. Are they really that good?

I find it hard to believe that on day 5 of Post op I feel Incredible. If you have read my previous postings, I quit smoking after 32 years a few weeks, maybe a month prior to surgery, took the nicotine patch off the day before starting the liquid diet, and went through the 5 day liquid diet with no, nicotine, or food, and did not cheat, it sucked hard core! However, on the liquid diet I was allowed to have my oh so precious coffee, once I had surgery they did not give me any coffee at the hospital, only deface tea, eww nasty stuff, wouldn't drink it if you paid me. So now I am 5 days post op, no smoking, no Patches, no caffeine, and no food for 10 days and I have never felt better in my life! I am home since yesterday evening, oh how great it felt to take a full shower rather than washing myself down with wet wash clothes at the hospital, oh how great it felt to sleep in my own bed ( those hospital beds were killing my back), Oh how great it is to pee in the toilette rather than the pee jar, followed by applause, "oh you Pee'd, Great for you!, How much did you pee?" I will address this in another post that is more fitting, but I need to make a very strong shout out to my surgeon Dr DiBenedetto of Western Bariactrics of NY, this guy has been spot on 100% perfect with everything.

I just want to give a HUGE thank you to my surgeon Dr DiBenedetto of Western Bariactrics of NY, this guy has been spot on 100% perfect with everything. Honestly the only painful day I had was day one right after my 7am surgery, and a small portion of day two was a bit uncomfortable, I stopped even using the night night button (morphine drip) after day one, and have taken no pain killers since then. Dr "D" and his staff know there stuff, and do a amazing job. Dr Dibenedetto and his partner do the sleeve with a slightly dif process than most, and had a surgeon that is known in the sleeve surgery as a pioneer of the process flown in to observe during my surgery, long story short this other "pioneer of the process, or guru" is now going to be doing his sleeve surgeries the way Dr "D" and his Partner do it now. I feel very lucky that I had three well trained surgeons in the room during my surgery, and I am sure the three of them all shared knowledge on each portion of the surgery, which may be why I have had very little pain since the surgery, and I am pretty much pain free at this point unless I move the wrong way. I have not had the bad gas pains people talk about, I did have some small gas pains that went away with a couple burps, and farts, then I was fine. I can already sleep on my side with no pain whatsoever, and I move around extremely well. I am still on the clear liquids diet, but will be moving to full liquids in two more days, then about 10 days until I get some mushies. I feel like I could do mushies right now, but Dr "D" says its best run the full course on liquid diets portion before moving to mushies, he is very matter of fact in everything he says, so I feel he must have his reasons.