041 Gastric Sleeve Stage 2 Diet

Morning. Morning. I hope you have been staying up on everything that has been happening around here lately. If not then feel free to read back a little to get caught up or to find out what the heck I am going on and on about :) Anyway, if you have been following Jimmy's journey then you have probably been wondering what exactly this Stage 2 diet I keep talking about really is. Well, today I am going to tell you!

Before I get into that, I wanted to stop and say a HUGE THANK YOU to my Mom (Janice) who came up and stayed with us for the whole first week after Jimmy's surgery. Mom being here took a ton of stress off me and allowed me to be able to go to work (since I have limited vacation time) and know that there would be someone at home to help Jimmy (and keep him in line :) . Things really would have been a whole lot harder without her around. Thanks, Mom! You are greatly appreciated and we couldn't have done it without you!

Mom and me enjoying our time together!

Jimmy's Post-Op Stage 2 Gastric Sleeve Surgery Diet
This includes everything that Jimmy was allowed during his Post-Op Stage 1 diet (Refresh Your Memory Here) plus the following foods/drinks:

• Eggs (poached, steamed or scrambled & may add melted cheese for protein)
• Cottage Cheese (nonfat or 1%)
• Yogurt that does not have fruit chunks in it (must be no sugar added and have less than 20g Carbohydrates per serving)
• Fat Free of Low Fat cream soup (strained--no chunks) or Fat Free Tomato soup
• Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat (no sugar added and thinned with skim or 1% milk)
• Sugar Free Pudding
• Applesauce (no sugar added)
• Mashed Potatoes, sweet or white (thinned with milk but may add melted cheese for extra protein)
• Sugar free ice cream or frozen yogurt. Avoid sherbet.
• Sugar free jello
• Sugar free popsicles
• Herbs, Spices, Salt, & Pepper
• Creamy peanut butter (less than 5g of Sugar per serving & may be used in small amounts to add protein to foods such as oatmeal, yogurt, and/or protein drinks)
• Protein drinks (a minimum of 15g Protein per serving and less than 20g Carbs per serving)
• Powdered protein drinks may now be used.
• Skim or 1% Milk
• Soy Milk (less than 20g Carbohydrates per serving)
• Tomato juice, V-8 juice, Diet V-8 Splash. Avoid V Fusion products
• A Maximum of 4oz. Fruit Juice per day (100% juice with no sugar added)

Serving Size: 2 - 4 Tablespoons (1 - 2oz) of food, 3 - 4 times a day. NO MORE THAN 1/4c AT A TIME!

Duration: Follow this diet for Weeks 2, 3, & 4 following the surgery or until your doctor advises differently

Krystal and Dr. H said that Jimmy will move on to the Stage 3 Diet on December 16th barring any unforeseen issues. His One Month Post-Op appointment is scheduled for Thursday, December 27th.

*Please keep in mind that every surgical program is different. You need to follow the instructions given to you by your doctor. Please consult your doctor before starting any new diet or weight loss program*

032 Post-Op Diet Week 1 (Stage 1)

Hello. Hello!

If you have been reading along with our blog then you know that Jimmy's surgery is Friday! If you haven't then let me tell you that JIMMY'S SURGERY IS FRIDAY! It's hard to believe that the time is already upon us when it feels like we have been waiting forever for it to get here. Fear not! You will have a post tomorrow. I have set it up so that you will have Jimmy's Week 2 Pre-Op Vlog to watch while we are at the hospital tomorrow having the surgery done. I will be posting how the surgery went on Facebook tomorrow so that people won't freak out from worrying but there most likely won't be any surgery updates here until Monday. Sorry.

All that being said, I know that you won't want to hear about what Jimmy's diet is like at that point because you will want to know that Jimmy is alive and kicking so I am going to tell you what Jimmy's first week post-op diet is going to be like now so that we can talk surgery on Monday.

Heartland Bariatric Center has designed specialized diets for men and women for each type of surgery they offer. The first week post-op is very similar to his two week pre-op liquid diet with two exceptions. #1 He can't have any full liquids (so no Carnation Instant Breakfast or powdered protein shakes) and he has to have 60-90g protein daily through liquid protein shots.

DAILY

• 60-90g Liquid Protein Shots
• One Cup (8oz.) of 100% fruit juice (Grape must be diluted with water)
• At least 48-64oz. of other liquids (from the allowed liquids list) daily

ALLOWED LIQUIDS

• Water
• Diet V-8 Splash, V-8 juice or Tomato Juice (Not a chance Jimmy will try these)
• Sugar-Free Jell-O
• Sugar-Free Popsicles (Less than 15 calories per serving)
• Fruit 2-O
• Crystal Light (Jimmy was really excited about this one!)
• Diet Snapple (Not a Chance)
• Up to 2 Cups of broth (unlikely)
• Decaf coffee, tea (Not a Chance--I know he's weird, right?)
• Powerade Zero/Gatorade Zero

This is 1-42g Protein Shot. Jimmy has to have two of these daily.
And from what I hear, they don't taste the best,

Did I mention that he can only take 1 ounce of these liquids in every 15 minutes? It's true! One of the earliest post-op struggles is trying to consume all of your daily liquids so that you don't get dehydrated. During the first week post-op it will be hard to consume a total of 6 cups of liquid a day. To make it easier to measure and keep track, I bought enough 1 ounce disposable medicine cups that he can measure out a whole days worth of liquid and throw them away as he drinks them.

A 1 ounce medicine cup for Jimmy to use
to measure his liquids

1 ounce compared to the 32 ounces he could
easily be taking in per meal before surgery

Please continue to keep Jimmy in your prayers. The nice thing about the post-op diet is that Jimmy shouldn't be hungry all the time. However, he will still crave the foods that he used to eat which will make things difficult because he is not supposed to have them--especially while he is healing.

Thank you for all your prayers,

022 Judy Shares About Why It's Important to Talk to Your Doctor

Salam and good evening to you worthy friend! Thanks for dropping by Jimmy Goes Gastric. Today I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. Her name is Judy. Judy and I have known each other since we were kids. We went to school together and played together. I remember the struggles that Judy's family went through when tragedy struck unexpectedly. Judy has been following our story here on Jimmy Goes Gastric and as a result she contacted me the other day to share some of her family's experience with WLS. After talking to her I asked if she would kindly share some of her story with everyone here, and she graciously agreed.

Please keep reading as Judy shares from her own personal experience why it is important to keep an open line of communication between you and your doctor when you are undergoing WLS.

Why It's Important to Talk to Your Doctor

Hi. My name is Judy. My family (two brothers, Mom, & Dad) lived in Fulton, Missouri, for most of my childhood.

My father died when I was just twelve years old. He died because of his obesity. My mother, who was also obese, was worried that she would die soon, as well if she didn't lose weight.

Mom dieted and exercised and still struggled with her weight. It was then that she decided to have gastric bypass. She was thrilled that she was accepted to have the surgery done. I remember her being worried for the actual surgery. She worried she wouldn't survive the procedure, but never worried about what would follow the surgery.

The surgery was a success, and the pounds began to melt away. She lost 150 pounds in no time. But her road was not easy. Everything she ate made her sick. Because I was so young I don't know if her doctors had prepared her for that, or if they had told her what to eat to keep her healthy and she just struggled with it.

I remember her eating cheese sticks all the time because that is all that she was able to keep down. Because she wasn't getting the nutrition she needed her blood sugar would drop and she would go into diabetic comas. Many times my brother called for an ambulance because she was incoherent and didn't know who we were.

The last time she went into a diabetic comma, she didn't wake up. After my mother died I was angry that she had had the surgery, but since I have come to understand that her obesity could have killed just like it had my father. I was blessed to have those six extra years with her.

I know this surgery can be life changing. I have seen many people who have had it done successfully. I would just like to encourage all those who are considering having this done to be well educated about this decision. Keep a close dialogue with your doctor before and after the surgery. Fill your life with people who can support you and help you through this journey. Nothing is more important than that!

Thanks for letting me share my story with you.

Judy

009 So You Think You Can Dance?

So you think you can dance? No. I am not talking about the TV show. Got you there for a minute though didn’t I. Well I definitely didn’t think that I could dance--that is until the doctor wanted us to add some exercise into our budding healthy lifestyle.

I don’t know if you know this but people who are morbidly obese or just overweight (like me) get more than a little self-conscious when it comes to exercising in public. Go figure! It doesn’t matter if you are walking down the streets in your neighborhood or trying to lift weights at the Y there is inevitably that one person (usually an adult) that says or does something really obnoxious and inappropriate like “Look how big that guy is!” that makes them feel uncomfortable. *Side note: Adults should DEFINITELY KNOW BETTER!!! It still hurts when it’s a child but you have to give them a little grace because they are young. No such excuse for adults!* Whew! Now that I got that out I can move on.

Anyway, as you can imagine when you combine the physical stress of exercising with the emotional stress of what people may say or do towards you, it’s no wonder that overweight people don’t want to exercise! However...it can be done and in the privacy of your own home. One day Jimmy and I were talking about video games and we hit upon a great solution that works for us.

It’s Kinect! If you don’t know, Kinect is a body motion sensor for the Xbox 360 that you can use to play games such as Kinect Adventures and Just Dance 3. You may not think it’s true but let me tell you playing Just Dance 3 IS a workout. By the end of most of those songs your pulse it elevated and you breathing is increased by just putting in a little aerobic exercise. Plus you can judge how much effort you are putting into it by the score you are receiving in the game. Just Dance 3 doesn’t judge on pure perfection--especially set on the lower difficulties but it judges on the amount of movement and the relative timing to the song you are dancing to. So anybody--even a white-y like me--can do it.

Yes, there are other ways to exercise at home but it you are looking for a fun and interactive way to exercise I highly recommend that you try using the Kinect for Xbox360!