started liquid diet

[bananashake 14]

I'm down five pounds since starting the liquid diet. I started Tuesday. When I wake up in the morning, I have to remind myself that I can't go have three cups of coffee and eat something tasty -- but I'm learning to look forward to seeing the number on the scale go down every morning. That feels better than anything. And omg guys, it's just going to keep going down! (Stalls aside, naturally.)

PhillyAj, I wish I had some recipes that taste just like what we'd all rather be eating, but the best we can hope for is just to keep it interesting. I have some butter flavoring (not actual butter, not made with butter, just an artificial extract) and some maple flavoring (again, just a bottle of flavor extract from the baking aisle) and I put in a vanilla shake. I enjoyed it, I'll do it again. I've never been a big pancake eater, but it was nice to have a maple and butter flavored shake for a change.

Also, orange extract in a vanilla shake for a creamsicle flavor... Peppermint extract in a chocolate shake blended with ice for a change in texture (or not). I've read you can make a coffee flavored one with a single serve packet of Decaf instant coffee granules dissolved in a tablespoon of hot Water and added to a vanilla or chocolate shake. I've read that a sugar free lemonade packet in a strawberry or vanilla shake is good.

I use the McCormick Italian herb grinder to give my broth a nice flavor.

Nothing too exciting given the strict parameters of the diet, but it helps.

(BTW PhillyAj, try the Premier Protein shakes if you haven't already-- they're actually good and I think they meet your doctors criteria based on the other brands he suggested).

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[bananashake 14]

Also, I run Water through my coffee pot so I have just a pot of hot Water ready to go when I want to make hot tea (or broth from boullion). I'm using of Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice brewed with 2/3 cup of hot water and topped off with some vanilla shake. I can get 4-5 cups of chai with one vanilla shake. It's pretty freaking good.

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[msro48 46]

I started my Protein shake and raw vegetables diet 2 months ago

The first month wasn't bad but after awhile I was getting nauseous so I added fish, chicken, broth and Jello. I also have a fit but I dance around the house and walk. Have lost 16 lbs so far. I go see my surgeon on the 14th my surgery date is jan 24

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[bananashake 14]

Msro, congrats and hats off to you for keeping with it so long. I haven't heard of that kind of diet before, but I'm glad you get to eat raw vegetables. I have half a bag of crinkle cut carrots in the refrigerator that Id love to finish.

I'm going back to the store today, it's the first day since day one of the liquid diet. I need to restock on teas I liked and Crystal Light flavors. I've been dreading going back to the store.

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[cokegal 19]

Mine is the 19th also!!! One more week, we got this

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[msro48 46]

@@bananashake I didn't either until my doctor explained what it was I was skeptical at first but when I went to the store and looked at the veggies I wanted I went nuts lol

I bought cherry tomatoes red and yellow sweet bell peppers avocado mushrooms squash that I grated and put into a salad made my own vinaigrette which consist of sesame oil apple cider vinegar lemon juice and honey. Yesterday I switched up the apple cider

Vinegar with rice vinegar really good.

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[PhillyAj 90]

bananashake-you are the BEST & very helpful. i tried the orange creamsicle, that wasnt bad. but the peppermint one tasted like a halls cough drop. maybe i just put too much peppermint in it, lol. im not a milk person, so ive been drinking Isopure, but they are expensive. kind of like watered down gatorade. i do have the cans of pure Protein shakes-strawberry cream is too strawberrish but the banana cream is actually good. did you mention when ur surgery is? i got 9 more days & counting. congrats on down the 5 lbs!

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[bananashake 14]

PhillyAj, my surgery is the 21st in Mexico. I had a bad cold the week before the liquid diet so I figured I'd start a day or two early.

I'm very much looking forward to hearing about your experience. I'll be heading to Mexico the day you have surgery, but you'll be on my mind!

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[bananashake 14]

To clarify, my cold was so bad I couldn't taste anything the whole week before my liquid diet started. Just my luck! That's why I decided I might as well start the liquid diet early. It just seemed sad to eat my favorites for one last time when I couldn't even taste them

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[msro48 46]

@@bananashake my doctor had told me most of his patients tried the Protein shake and raw vegetables diet and lost weight. I added seafood and chicken to mine which I put in salad and broth.

I pray that after my surgery I will be able to still enjoy fish and chicken. If not I don't mind being vegetarian I have been one before and lost 54 lbs

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[PhillyAj 90]

bananashake-whats making u go to Mexico? where u live? yeah, i got a cold too. that is weird. the dr says i'll be home on 21st--please keep in touch. i been sleeping most of the day away. this liquid stuff is annoying. i miss chewing food & eating with a fork. lol

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[KipNB 3]

We are only allowed 2 cups of certain vegetables and 4 diabetic boost daily. It's tough. Tonight I made a cabbage steak, mushrooms and onions. I did put 1 tsp of evoo. Hope that didn't screw things up. My surgery is on the 19th of December.

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[bananashake 14]

Msro,

I think you will definitely be able to enjoy seafood again. I think my real life diet is similar to yours -- vegetarian on & off, mostly fish when an animal Protein, chicken occasionally, although I wouldn't mind getting away from chicken altogether-- it's just so convenient and readily available.

Anyway, back to fish, during my psych evaluation, the psychiatrist was very happy to know I loved fish, because it's very easy to digest and it's a good way for sleevers to get Protein and all the other good stuff that comes from fish. Not everyone likes fish, and other animal protein can be hard to digest. So we have that in our favor.

Your preop diet sounds great!

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[bananashake 14]

PhillyAj,

I'm in Dallas. Mexico is a long story:

Although my health insurance doesn't cover anything bariatric, I'd planned to have my surgery here in the US and we were going to pay out of pocket. I met my surgeon and did all that, had a couple meetings with the nutritionist here, and I had my psych eval here. I was told the surgery was going to be 'around' 10k, plus a couple other things. Also, because my preop EGD was related to this bariatric surgery, we'd have to pay for that out of pocket, too (an additional few thousand dollars). We may or may not have had to pay out of pocket for the preop ekg.

I don't know how much that would cost.

Long story short, while the surgeon and her support team were great, the hospital she was to perform the surgery at was being a pain with a reasonable request of mine to have a 'plan of care' since I was paying out of pocket. That's a list of the procedures and professionals (anaesthesiolot, radiologist, surgeon, surgeon assistant, hospital OR fee, cost of 2-3 nights in hospital, etc) who would be involved in my surgery and about how much their fees would be. It's standard to ask for one of these when you have anything major done out of pocket, that way you can plan accordingly how many bills you'll be getting, roughly how much, and from whom. The surgery is well over ten thousand dollars when all's said and done and we didn't want any surprises. Anyway, this hospital was being very unaccomodating about that. I was told by the surgeon's billing lady that this hospital's billing department "just won't do that".

The surgeon's billing lady told me she'd "try" to get the hospital's billing lady to write up a plan of care so we would know what we were getting into financially. Meanwhile, my surgeon's team was wanting me to get in and get that EGD & everything else done (as you all know, those preliminary tests are time bound- they have to be done no later than xyz before the surgery). So I was supposed to get scoped for a few thousand dollars, plus everything else like the ekg, before I even knew if/when the hospital was going to write up a plan of care.

Fast forward, 20 days went by without my hearing from the hospital billing lady, or my surgeon's billing lady. The day before Thanksgiving, I'd had enough. I called them up and left a voice mail, asked to be taken off the schedule. The following Monday morning, I was getting calls from both the surgeon's billing lady, who said my surgeon was furious that this had transpired with the hospital, and the hospital of course, trying to get me back on the books for that date. The hospital had never called me at all until I called to cancel my surgery, then they called the next business day and said that this was the first they'd heard of it.

I was so over it. As of this surgery isn't nerve wracking and stressful enough, AND paying out of pocket, without getting dicked around by the hospital. Or whoever. One billing lady or the other, I'll never know.

To keep my enthusiasm up for surgery, after I had gotten discouraged by the hospital but before I decided to cancel altogether, I used to watch YouTube videos of people who had the sleeve or were getting the sleeve, for thinspiration. I'd lay in bed and watch them on my phone after my husband fell asleep. I kept noticing Americans without insurance or without bariatric coverage were going to Tijuana. And they'd video their experience AT the hospital and everything, and then they'd follow up week after week, getting thinner--well, you know how it goes.

I casually mentioned to my husband I could get it done in Mexico, and he and I talked about it. We decided I should just go for it. We know exactly how much the procedure will cost without complications, plus how much it will cost if there needs to be a hernia repair or anything like that. That's all we wanted from the hospital here!

Anyway, I'm a little nervous, but I don't have a bad vibe about it at all. I've had laproscopic gallbladder removal and it went quite well, (although I was very physically fit at the time). I don't know what it's going to be like to have my stomach cut, but I know what to expect with laproscopic surgery. It's a lot easier than a c-section. It's the 21st! Think of me! I'll be thinking of all of you on your dates

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[Butterflight 49]

PhillyAj,

I'm in Dallas. Mexico is a long story:

Although my health insurance doesn't cover anything bariatric, I'd planned to have my surgery here in the US and we were going to pay out of pocket. I met my surgeon and did all that, had a couple meetings with the nutritionist here, and I had my psych eval here. I was told the surgery was going to be 'around' 10k, plus a couple other things. Also, because my preop EGD was related to this bariatric surgery, we'd have to pay for that out of pocket, too (an additional few thousand dollars). We may or may not have had to pay out of pocket for the preop ekg.

I don't know how much that would cost.

Long story short, while the surgeon and her support team were great, the hospital she was to perform the surgery at was being a pain with a reasonable request of mine to have a 'plan of care' since I was paying out of pocket. That's a list of the procedures and professionals (anaesthesiolot, radiologist, surgeon, surgeon assistant, hospital OR fee, cost of 2-3 nights in hospital, etc) who would be involved in my surgery and about how much their fees would be. It's standard to ask for one of these when you have anything major done out of pocket, that way you can plan accordingly how many bills you'll be getting, roughly how much, and from whom. The surgery is well over ten thousand dollars when all's said and done and we didn't want any surprises. Anyway, this hospital was being very unaccomodating about that. I was told by the surgeon's billing lady that this hospital's billing department "just won't do that".

The surgeon's billing lady told me she'd "try" to get the hospital's billing lady to write up a plan of care so we would know what we were getting into financially. Meanwhile, my surgeon's team was wanting me to get in and get that EGD & everything else done (as you all know, those preliminary tests are time bound- they have to be done no later than xyz before the surgery). So I was supposed to get scoped for a few thousand dollars, plus everything else like the ekg, before I even knew if/when the hospital was going to write up a plan of care.

Fast forward, 20 days went by without my hearing from the hospital billing lady, or my surgeon's billing lady. The day before Thanksgiving, I'd had enough. I called them up and left a voice mail, asked to be taken off the schedule. The following Monday morning, I was getting calls from both the surgeon's billing lady, who said my surgeon was furious that this had transpired with the hospital, and the hospital of course, trying to get me back on the books for that date. The hospital had never called me at all until I called to cancel my surgery, then they called the next business day and said that this was the first they'd heard of it.

I was so over it. As of this surgery isn't nerve wracking and stressful enough, AND paying out of pocket, without getting dicked around by the hospital. Or whoever. One billing lady or the other, I'll never know.

To keep my enthusiasm up for surgery, after I had gotten discouraged by the hospital but before I decided to cancel altogether, I used to watch YouTube videos of people who had the sleeve or were getting the sleeve, for thinspiration. I'd lay in bed and watch them on my phone after my husband fell asleep. I kept noticing Americans without insurance or without bariatric coverage were going to Tijuana. And they'd video their experience AT the hospital and everything, and then they'd follow up week after week, getting thinner--well, you know how it goes.

I casually mentioned to my husband I could get it done in Mexico, and he and I talked about it. We decided I should just go for it. We know exactly how much the procedure will cost without complications, plus how much it will cost if there needs to be a hernia repair or anything like that. That's all we wanted from the hospital here!

Anyway, I'm a little nervous, but I don't have a bad vibe about it at all. I've had laproscopic gallbladder removal and it went quite well, (although I was very physically fit at the time). I don't know what it's going to be like to have my stomach cut, but I know what to expect with laproscopic surgery. It's a lot easier than a c-section. It's the 21st! Think of me! I'll be thinking of all of you on your dates

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Thank you for sharing your story. I too have been wondering about the motivation of some for going to Mexico. I am also in Dallas and was basically ignored by the hospital in which I had originally planned my surgery. My surgery date is Dec 22nd and I'm so glad I changed surgeons and hospitals. I'm much more comfortable with my current team. Good luck with your surgery! I can't wait to read about everyone's experiences and see progress pictures!

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