Fleur de lis

I have 5. One is inside the belly button and you can't really see it, the other four are scattered across my abdomen. Two of them you already can barely see anymore and the others are fading. There is one that is more prominent than the rest because when it was healing, I accidentally pulled my shorts over it and the scab ripped off. Instead of letting it go, I kind of freaked out and put it back on my skin and wore a band-aid over it for a while. I guess it kind of reattached itself to my belly, and then a few weeks later, it got ripped off by pants again. I'm thinking all of my will fade to nothing eventually. I have scars from my hip surgerys that were roughly the same size as my VSG scars and they are next to invisible.

Just Dance 2 for the Wii is even better than the first one! It has a much bigger song selection and the some of the dances are slightly more intense. I did it last night and I feel it today

Congratulations!! That is so amazing!

Sparky- I hate egg drop soup. I think it's the consistency that I can't handle. But I might give the carnation instant breakfasts a try. Diann- I have. To me, it's more disgusting with Water than with milk. Jovonia- I've tried GNC before. Several times. LOL. I have the blender ball as well and when I used it to make my shake, it made it super frothy and even more unbearable. Rhonda- I haven't tried any of the unjury products. At this point, I'm tired of spending money on stuff that I (most likely) won't like. FlyGirl- Thanks! Luna- Initially, I made them in a blender. Then, I used my blender cup thing, the one with the metal ball inside. That way made it more frothy than in the blender, but the taste was the same. Bleh. However, I have heard so many good things about Unjury. If I decide to give it one more try, I'll try that one. But now that I can eat, I might just stick to getting Protein from my food. Thanks everyone for your responses!!

Stay strong Mini!! My best suggestion would be to keep it out of the house. I have to do that with all of my vices. Mint chocolate chip ice cream will bring me to my knees every time. I just can't have it around me or I will cave in the blink of an eye. You can do it!

I'm not sure what my carb intake should be. I asked my NUT but she said not to worry about it. Hmmm.....

I completely forgot that I had received protein bars from my bariatric center. I was able to start eating them this week and I wont lie, they're pretty tasty. The company is called Proti but I haven't yet checked to see if they have a website. The bars have 15g of protein and I think 4g of sugar, and I would assume they come in different flavors. I have the chocolate caramel nut bars. Good source of protein for those of you that, like me, can't stomach the protein shakes.

3 weeks out I still felt tired as well. I wasn't in any pain though and I was mostly dealing with nausea. According to my surgeon, mine was probably worse than usual because I had a hernia repair at the same time of getting sleeved. Just do what you can and when you feel like you need to rest, do it. Good luck!

Congratulations!! I lost 13 lbs. I didn't have to do a liquid diet; it was high Protein, low carb. Which was hard enough. I can't imagine only having liquid. Keep up the good work!

eggs were okay for me, too. I've only tried it once because for some reason I kept thinking it would make me sick. I scrambled one and ate half of it and a piece of toast. Pamela- it took you 1/2 an hour?!? I'm wondering if I'm eating too fast......

That makes me feel better. I definitely think I'm going to have to forgo the protein powder, but then I was worried about not getting enough protein. Which I'm not even sure what enough is. I had a visit with my NUT and when I asked her about numbers and stuff (like how many carbs, how much protein) she was kind of like, ehhh don't really worry about that; just eat protein at every meal.

Does anyone have any? Almost every Protein shake I have tried makes me throw up. I received the Protein Ultimate brand from my bariatric center, but I've also tried different powders in the past and they all have the same result. Then I decided to not make a Protein Shake and to, instead, put a scoop of the powder in a smoothie. That did not fool my stomach at all and up it came. I'm going to guess that throwing up all the time is not a good thing but since we all know that we need to get that protein in...... Any suggestions?

I had been looking in bookstores but I couldn't find any. However, I just went to Barnes and Noble online and typed in weight loss surgery cookbooks and quite a few came up. I'll probably order one or two and then let ya'll know how it's going.

I will!

Enell has the best bras EVER! Pre-op I was about a 44 DDD and once strapped in, those suckers didn't move. They are a little pricey but absolutely worth it!

Are there any out there? I'll be 5 weeks out on Monday, so I'm almost back to being able to eat normally. However, I still have all of next week to go. I feel like I'm running out of things to cook.

I'm drinking a cup of this right now. I've been living off of it since surgery. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

I'm 4 weeks out and I won't lie, I am struggling with the no candy. My sweet tooth is not gone and every time I go to the store, I want to grab an assorted bag of candy. I haven't done it but it's REEEEEALLY hard. Sigh.

I find that I'm tired a lot, too. I usually wind up take naps lasting upwards of 1 1/2 hours. I think it might be due to lack of Vitamins. I haven't been taking my multi-Vitamin like I'm supposed to and I bet if I did, I'd have more energy. Have you started your vitamins yet? I will say that it's better now than it was when I was first sleeved, so I think time and vitamins will help us out.

My surgeon suggests 6 months to 1 year before consuming alcohol. I'm only 4 weeks out so I won't be testing it out any time soon

I was/am an extremely fast eater. I would wolf down my food like there was about to be a famine. Now, I eat slightly slower but it's definitely something I have to work on. For me, it takes a lot of concentration. The best place to eat (so I've been told) is at the dining room table and not to have any distractions. Well, we got rid of ours so dinner is on the couch, in front of the tv. What I've started doing is taking a bite, chewing until it's pretty smooth, and then I'll put my fork down and literally time myself. I try to give myself 2-3 minutes between bites. I'm sure as I do this more and more I won't actually have to stare at the clock, but for now it's gonna have to do. Also, sometimes my sleeve will let me know that I need to slow it down. Depending on what I eat, if I'm shoveling too much in, I swear I can feel my stomach inflate. It's probably not but that's the best way I can describe it. So when I get that feeling, I stop eating and don't start again until it's gone. I hope this was slightly helpful

Even post-op, I share this frustration. I went in on Monday to see my NUT and she weighed me. I weighed in at 7 lbs more than I had when I weighed myself on Friday at home. 7 POUNDS!!! That is a huge difference. I mentioned it to her and all she had to say was that the scale at the office "weighs heavy" and plus, it was the middle of the day. I can see that making a 3 lbs difference. But 7? Sheesh.

I'm lucky to get in 16 oz of Water. I know, I know. Terrible. But I think I'm afraid to drink more at a time for fear of explosion. LOL. Plus, I'm just not thirsty. I couldn't drink 64 oz pre-op. so trying to do it now is a real struggle. I need to figure out an eating plan because I don't really have one. My nutritionist gave me an example of one to follow but there is SO MUCH food on it. And she did say she doesn't expect me to follow it yet but I should at least eat the first thing on it, which is Protein. I don't get super hungry and when I do, sometimes I ignore it and it goes away. Sigh. This is harder than when I had a big stomach. Worth it, but harder.

My NUT suggested putting Protein powder into smoothies. Blend up some fruit, add a scoop (or however many) of Protein Powder..... I haven't tried it yet, but I plan on it.

Has anyone's cycle lasted an abnormal amount of time? Mine has been going since 2 days after surgery. Yep. Almost a month. I haven't stopped taking my BC and I'm not really sure when/if I should see my doctor. I want to minimize visits since I don't have insurance so if this is a somewhat normal occurrence then I'll just wait it out.