BariatricPal Newsletter#subject#>
Hey BariatricPal Members!
Time sure flies, and it’s hard to believe it’s “Back to School” season already! I hope you have been meeting your summer goals – but not to worry if you haven’t. We have plenty of ideas for closing out the summer on a strong note. Here’s the run-down of this newsletter.
Back to School Time: Packing a WLS Lunch
Member Spotlight in the Newsletter: Meet catwoman7!
Back to the Grind after Summer Vacation
Enjoy the newsletter, then do something good for yourself – whether it’s stocking up on local produce, scheduling that first surgeon consult, or taking an after dinner walk. Then login to the BariatricPal forums and join the conversations! Can’t wait to see you there.
Sincerely,
Alex Brecher
Founder, BariatricPal
Back to School Time: Packing a WLS Lunch
Sending your kids back to school probably means getting back in the habit of packing a lunch. Their lunches are probably pretty regular: maybe you send them off with a sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a few snacks to get them through the day.
Whether you have children or not, there’s a parallel to a children’s sack lunch after getting weight loss surgery. You probably take a more active role in your own meals, and that can include packing your lunch way more often than depending on a restaurant or vending machine to supply it for you.
If you don’t know the first thing about putting together a healthy lunch or you’re having trouble coming up with easy, portable lunch ideas, here’s a little bit of help.
Protein Is the Centerpiece
Gourmet meal or sack lunch, protein is the essential component of any meal after weight loss surgery. Pair it with veggies, fruit, or a little starch for a nutrient-packed meal. You have all kinds of options for a brown bag lunch. Here are few ideas.
Fat-free tuna salad on whole-grain crackers or cucumber slices.
All-natural turkey breast and low-fat cheese slices rolled in lettuce leaves.
Greek yogurt or cottage cheese with berries or sliced melon or peaches.
Greek salad with low-fat feta, grilled chicken breast, romaine lettuce, olives, and tomatoes.
Don’t Forget the Snacks
You may not be eating much food right at lunchtime, but you may need some additional snacks to keep you going through the morning and afternoon. Think protein, fiber, and portion-controlled as you pack your lunch. What about…?
String cheese/cheese sticks.
Almonds or other nuts.
Cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks.
Grapes and tangerines (clementines).
All-natural jerky: beef, turkey, fish, or soy.
Protein bars or shakes (and if you’re looking for some great-tasting ones, check out the selection at The BariatricPal Store. Use coupon code BPNLAUG2016 to get 10% off of your first purchase!).
Invest in Some Containers
A brown bag works okay, but you might want to bump it up a notch. A reusable lunch bag isn’t just better for the environment. It can also keep your food insulated. Add a few small containers with tight-fitting lids to your collection, and you’ll be ready to take leftovers, salads with a separate container of salad dressing, and dips such as peanut butter or hummus.
Insure Nutrition
We are always thrilled to welcome a new newsletter sponsor into the BariatricPal family, and this month, Insure Nutrition is giving us the pleasure of doing just that. Our latest sponsor, Insure Nutrition, is an online company that specializes in getting health insurance coverage for nutritional supplements. Its Post-Bariatric Surgery Nutrition products includes Premier Protein shakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors and OptiSource High Protein drinks in caramel and strawberry flavors. Checking if you are eligible is easy. Insure Nutrition encourages you to use its online form to find out if you qualify.
Our sponsors help make BariatricPal newsletters and other services possible. We encourage you show your thanks by considering them first for your bariatric needs.
Unjury and Opurity
BariatricPal is proud and excited to announce two new sponsors for our newsletters. The new sponsors are Unjury, a supplier of wonderful tasting, highest quality protein supplements, and Opurity (from the makers of UNJURY), highest purity vitamin supplements for bariatric surgery patients. Their support lets us keep BariatricPal newsletters coming to you each month.
Unjury was founded by a master’s degree dietitian who has been helping patients since 1974. It is committed your health. You know the importance of getting enough protein after weight loss surgery, but you also know that meeting your protein goals can be challenging. Unjury makes your task not just easier but actually enjoyable. Product flavors include Chocolate Splendor, Chocolate Classic, Vanilla, Strawberry Sorbet, Chicken Soup Flavor, and Unflavored. These ready-to-use protein powders come in single-serve and multi-serve containers, and contain high-quality whey protein to keep you full and nourished.
Launched in 2007, Opurity is dedicated to using the purest ingredients in its supplements. Opurity Bariatric Multivitamins have two unique big advantages:
First, each multivitamin requires only one tablet per day*. Second, Opurity is so dedicated to quality that it is unique in using no ingredients from China.
Choose from chewable orange-berry multivitamins for gastric bypass and gastric sleeve patients or for lap-band patients.Opurity also sells chewable calcium, vitamin D and folic acid/vitamin B-12 chewables. All supplements come with a 100% satisfaction guaranteed. They return policy is: “Yes you can return it.”
Support from Unjury and Opurity helps us continue to bring you the services you enjoy on BariatricPal, so please support these two brands! When looking for your bariatric surgery supplements, first visit Unjury.com and Opurity.com. Purchasing from these companies helps support BariatricPal. Thanks to Unjury and Opurity for your generous sponsorship, and thanks to BariatricPal members who support our partnership!
*You still need calcium and sublingual B-12.
Member Spotlight in the Newsletter – Meet Catwoman7!
We’re delighted to put this month’s spotlight on catwoman7. She’s a RNY gastric bypass patient who has lost well over half of her body weight. She started at 373 lbs. and is down over 200 lbs.!
Catwoman7 had been thinking about surgery for 10 years. She had planned to wait until she turned 65 so Medicare would cover it, but realized she may not make it to 65 if she didn’t lose some weight! So, she changed her health insurance policy to a more expensive one which covered the surgery and got surgery done at age 55.
Her surgeon recommended RNY or VSG. Since she already had gastroesophageal reflux (GERD), she opted for RNY gastric bypass. It turned out to be a good choice – besides the remarkable weight loss, she hasn’t had an episode of reflux since surgery!
Catwoman7 says life has changed a lot since surgery. She no longer sticks out in a crowd. People don’t stare at her anymore, and men who are looking at her aren’t just looking at her weight! She doesn’t have to worry about fitting into things anymore: she won’t get kicked off planes, she doesn’t need an extension belt, booths aren’t an issue anymore, she can wear regular-sized clothes, and she can use a standard scale.
Life is a lot more comfortable all around. Exercise is easier, she sweats less, and she can do every pose in yoga class. She can cross her legs, paint her toenails, and tie her shoes. Her arthritic joints ache less. She doesn’t have to fear meeting new people or getting her photo taken anymore.
There were some challenges along the way. The food restrictions were tough. Also, catwoman7 didn’t feel completely “normal” in the initial post-op stages, although that passed and now she feels great! Now, her biggest challenge is hunger, which returned around 6 months post-op. She is aware of it, and is careful not to snack more than she should or to let bad habits creep in and cause regain!
Catwoman7 started out using BariatricPal for information and advice. She continues to visit it every day to keep her focus. She says it’s like a support group.
Her advice to others is to stick to the plan. Remember, “you have given yourself an incredible gift – don’t blow it!” The weight will come off with patience.
Thanks, catwoman7, for being in our member spotlight and sharing your story and advice. If YOU can think of someone you’d like to see in the spotlight, let Alex Brecher know. Send a PM with the subject line “Member Spotlight.” You can select yourself, too! We want to hear your story!
Back to the Grind after Summer Vacation
The summer can feel a little different than the rest of the year. Even if you don’t have a long vacation or get the chance to leave town for a while, the summer months can feel a little slower and more relaxed than other times of the year. When you also consider the heat that can zap energy and weaken willpower, it may not be much of a surprise if the scale isn’t showing quite what you’d like.
It’s not yet panic time, though! Getting back on track can be as simple as taking small steps. Here are just a few ways to get back to the basics – the same tried and true basics that successful weight loss surgery patients everywhere depend on.
Hit your numbers. Get your 65 or more grams of protein per day to fight hunger and stay nourished, and stick to your recommended calorie limit – often 1,200 per day in the post-op period and 1,400 or more per day while losing weight or maintaining.
Hydrate. Boost metabolism, fight hunger, and increase energy by drinking plenty of water all day (except at meals, of course!). Keep a full water bottle at your side to remind you to sip, sip, sip.
Get moving. If the heat is still too much for you to safely and comfortably exercise outdoors, consider your indoor options. Larger gyms and smaller workout studios can be cool, comfortable places to get in some cardio and weights, and explore options for fun group fitness classes.
Watch your portions. Portions can creep up if you let your guard down, and just a little bit of awareness about portion sizes can get the pounds to start coming off again.
That’s about it for this newsletter – I hope it was useful to you. Thanks for all of your support for BariatricPal, and see you on the boards!
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