TAILGATING!!!!

Hey Another question..... I LOVE GAME**** FOOTBALL!!! And we go to every home game and some away games during the football season. Has anyone ever tailgated after having surgery. How did you do it? It is kinda like a grazing fest before the surgery. I don't drink Alcohol but I do like to eat!! oh yeah....that is why I need the surgery!! Please advise!! Rachel

Hey Rachel, I haven't tailgated for years....but when you have your surgery, you have a "tool" to help you from overeating. In a nutshell, you have taken drastic measures to control your eating by having surgery. You won't want to take that lightly and try to "test" what you can get away with. I work at Krispy Kreme, so I see temptations EVERY DAY!!! But I know that 2 things will happen if I try to eat a doughnut. I will get sick with dumping syndrome (which I haven't dumped yet!!)....or I won't get sick and will realize that I can tolerate sugar. It's a lose/lose situation that I don't want any part of. So this "tool" that I have called a pouch is keeping me from falling off the wagon on my "diet" (which I would have done by with any diet's in the past). And once you start seeing the pounds melting away, you won't want to screw it up!! The surgery can be awesome, but you have to be mentally ready for it, knowing that it's going to change your entire rest of your life (for the good!!!!). I don't know if that answered your question....hopefully it helped. Also, our Upstate group is meeting on Thursday at 7 pm at Jason's Deli in Greenville. We are at various stages of our journey (some pre-op, some 1-5 months post-op, and some over a year post-op). We would love for you to try to make it...we talk a lot about what we are going through. I think you would get a lot of information from all of us who have gone through it!!! Please try to make it!! Hugs, Dianne

I love Game**** Football too! I don't think I would have answered this post if you had been a Tiger fan! You just have to pack some good choices. Be confident. You know what is good for you and what will fill you up! I always bring cheese in the cooler. My favorite quick protein. If you grill, I have a hot dog without the bun. I don't deny myself everything. If I want some potato salad and coleslaw, I eat some. Just not a huge amount! If you can eat oranges, that is perfect for me because it is sweet and I can eat it slowly - therefore it lasts longer. My suggestion is not to concentrate on what you can't eat. Concentrate on what you CAN eat! By the way, this is our season! Go ****s! Terri 358/162

Hi Rachel We are Clemson fans in this house ... and love our tailgating. I am newly post-op, so I really can't answer your questions with experience, but by football time I will be 4 to 6 months post-op and I hope I will have a pretty good idea of what I can and cannot tolerate. Then I plan to eat what I can, and enjoy the living daylights out of the experience! I plan on being more comfortable (not worrying about bending the chair I'm sitting in!), and being able to walk effortlessly all the way to Death Valley from our usual tailgating spot down near the band field (LONG walk for a fat lady!). So even though I won't be eating and drinking as in years past, I think I'll be having so much more fun that I'll hardly notice it all! Dawn

i went tail-gaiting at the jimmy buffett concert in charlotte and just socialized. it was 3 weeks post-op so i didn't feel deprived. i just had a great time!!!