Just an Update and Few Questions

Just an update I went in at a topping weight of 667 6 weeks before surgery and a week after surgery I was 597 and as of one full month out I am 570 which makes a total of 97 lbs and roughly 19% of my excess body weight gone!!! YAY Thanks everyone for all of your support, I am wearing clothes I havent worn in a year. I did have a few q's for everyone... I am having a problem trying to eat 3 times a day.. It seems so much easier for me to eat one meal at night and drink my protein during the day. Trying to eat slow and small bites while on the go has seemed to be my falling point, I know I haven't been hitting my protein in a week. Any ideas? And where can i get a ticker??

Good Morning Justin!  Your weight is doing wonderfully!  You really do need to get in those meals though.  Now that you can eat, you need to get as much protein from meals as possible and not depend on protein shakes for it.  When I was working, I would prepare my lunch the night before, and take it in a little cooler or take a Lean Cuisine to work.  I don't really know what stage you are on right now.  But whatever stage it is, prior planning is the key.  I get up very early in the morning, so I drink protein coffee when I get up, then don't eat breakfast for several hours.  I REALLY suggest you start using a food journal like www.fitday.com to journal your food so you can keep up with your protein, calories and carbs.  I also made up sugar free egg custard from a recipe on the www.bariatriceating.com site and ate those for breakfast a LOT a first.  I alternated eating those some days with eating low fat yogurt.  I think the recipe makes 6 custard cups and I would put them in the fridge and just take one out as I needed it.  I often ate it as I drove to my first patient's house! 

You've come a long way, young man, so stay with the program!  If you will look back at the last week's posts you will see how difficult the second year can be, so get as much lost this year as possible!

Oh, and if you right click on my ticker, and tell it to open in another tab, you can then go to that site and set one up for yourself, I believe.  I am not the ticker guru, Scott is, but I think that will get it done.

   

That's AMAZING!Keep up the good work!  I struggle with getting in protein vs. water.  I can achieve one or the other, but getting both to  the 70/64 mark is a challenge.  But I keep trying, I get better every week.  You are doing wonderful!

Justin Great Job!!! Now to get the full benefit out of WLS you need to work on changing bad habits, that means take a little time out for meals. Start to re-educate yourself and retrain your body. If your still having problems getting in liquids and protein try whey protein bullets, they look like a test tube 3.5oz and can be found at GNC, WalMart (pharmacy), or any other health food store. The bullets can also be used to make SF Jello, also the low fat yogurt (read the label not all are low in sugar) take the yogurt add a little equal & frozen blue berries. The yogurt will also help curb gas if that's become a problem. As Marilyn said keep a food journal in the journal keep up with your liquids, protein and anything out of the ordinary like getting sick, fatigue, etc. so if the problem persist your WLS team can see how long the problem has existed. Good Luck C'ya Bob

Hi Jay! Great to see you posting! Why don't you give Pam Helmlinger a call today (342-1231) for some suggestions. We do not recommend the protein bullets to our patients, so please check in with the dietitian for some additional suggestions. Also, this section of our website (message board/forum) http://cmcwls.com/messageboard/index.php has both a nutrition section and a recipe section - check it out. You will have to create an ID and password (very similar to this site).
CONGRATULATIONS - See you soon!

Thanks so much everyone, without the support of all the staff at Centennial and the family we have here on OH I don't think I would have made it this far. Thanks for all the good ideas, bad habits definitely got me to my weight including not planning meals efficiently. Getting water is not a problem at all but thank you all so much again,

Pam,
Just out of curiosity, why does Centennial not recommend the protein bullets?  I use them some of the time (I'm not a Centennial patient) when I've not gotten in enough protein for the day or I've not felt well as I don't particularly care for protein shakes and I only drink 1/2 of the bullet in a serving.  So, I'm just curious.

Thanks,

Wendy, our dietitians do not recommend protein bullets because they are made of collagen which is not a good protein source for digestibility. Especially not
soon after surgery and while you are not eating much else. You require a complete protein of good quality such as Unjury or an equivalent protein powder (whey protein isolate), for continued healing.

We recommend using whichever protein supplement you tolerate the most
(EAS Myoplex Carb Sense/Control has 150 calories and 25 gm protein for
11 ounces) and replace 1 meal/day (whichever meal in which you are the
most nauseous feeling). For a lot of patients, this is breakfast.
Then, eat your protein at the other 2 meals.

After our patients reach the soft diet stage, we don't recommend any protein supplements because you should be able to achieve 60-80 grams of protein intake through regular protein sources - chicken, fish, turkey, yogurt, cottage cheese.

Thank you,

Congratulations on a great amount of weight loss since your surgery.   I don't have any pointers for getting your meals in, since I have a sleeved stomach which is a lot more capacious than the pouch.   I just took is pretty easy at first, slowly building up.   I just wanted to say how impressed I am with your early results, and wish you the best on your journey!

Dennie