M2G

I remember making pulled pork for my family shortly after surgery (when I was still doing full liquids) and thinking it looked and smelled so good. But in the end, knowing that I didn't want to risk my staple line, helped me stay on track. I would often times make my family and meal and then hide out in the computer room, looking at posts here while they ate. I know you can't do that all the time, but it is a big adjustment during the first few weeks of healing. Hang in there, this too shall pass.

I would love to get together with other sleevers too. I'm in Denver, CO, so of course Vegas isn't far, TX isn't far either. I'm up for whatever. I agree with summer being a good time to do this.

Congrats on your loss! You are on your way now!

I love being a cheap date! lol. That is great that he is getting sleeved also. My hubby is getting sleeved too, his approval came too late in Dec. 2010 for it to happen, so we are thinking this month or next. I am hoping once he is sleeved and recovered that we can share meals out.

Thank you all for the wonderful compliments!!! It is amazing how much better I feel with each pound that I lose. I'm so used to hiding in pictures, it's a big step for me to be able to share (and not be hiding behind someone or something!) :behindsofa: I have a lot of gratitude for the users of this forum. :grouphug:

I agree with Pamela...2 weeks is way too soon (in my opinion) to be trying to eat meat. I was still on "mushies" at 2 weeks and when I did start to eat meat, it was to be supersoft, like the consistency of tuna (actually tuna is a great first meat to try if you like it.) But again, I think you are trying the meat way too soon. You need to let your stomach heal and the subsequent vomiting isn't a good thing to be doing either. I do realize that every surgeon is different and yours may allow meat this early but I would take the vomiting as a sign that you physically are not ready for it yet. I have not suffered from heartburn before or after surgery, so no advice there, but from reading this board, I know a lot of people suffer from it and there are a variety of ways to deal with it. You are definitely not alone.

So I have never tried posting photos here before, but we'll give this a shot. I am finally feeling like my weight loss is "showing." You know those first couple of weeks and months when you are losing weight (your scale says so) but you are still wearing some of the same clothing you were before surgery. And people don't really notice much that you are working so hard to lose weight. And you laugh when the Special K commercials say "Drop 1 size in 2 weeks" or hear that phrase "every -10lbs is like losing a size" and you are thinking that might work if you weigh 140lbs and drop down to 130lbs, butnotsomuch when you are morbidly obese. The before picture was taken Aug. 2010 on a family trip to Hawaii, (sorry about the crummy quality) and the after picture was taken last night, Dec. 31, 2010. So I just thought I would share my success thus far, because I guess I'm in the mood to Celebrate 36lbs being gone forever!

Wonderful pictures, and yay for no more stress about food! That is a huge goal right there. Cute Christmas socks, BTW.

That is SO SO SO exciting! What a wonderful way to start off 2011!!!! :present:

HOW EXCITING!!!! You have done a fantastic job!!! Give me some time, but make room down there in Onederland, as this year I plan to be joining you all who reside there.

That is so great that you like what you see. It's amazing how much better we feel about ourselves when we feel good about our own image! Definitely a NSV!!!

I have always been a water drinker, I like it, like the taste and had no problems giving up my diet soda. I drink a short decafe coffee every am, and the rest is water throughout the day. I do drink one of my waters with the orange flavored benefiber about once a day to just keep things regular. But other than that, I love water. Interestingly enough, my girls do too. I remember when they were babies I was told, 'oh they don't need water, they are getting enough from the breastmilk, etc'. But I gave them water in baby bottles anyway, starting about 6 months old. I think that is why they still like drinking water to this day. They will order soda when we are at a restaurant or some other type of drink, but also ask for water, and the water is usually what they end up drinking. I would rather eat my calories than drink them any day! It is an interesting and probably certainly up for debate.

DITTO!!! I was headed down the band path and I am EVER so greatful that I did the sleeve!!!

Congrats on your loss, you look fantastic! Being at goal, what a wonderful gift to give yourself. :present:

Just watched your latest Julie! I always enjoy watching your videos! I admit to being a bit dense when it comes to youtube, but I didn't see the makeup link. I'm sure it's there and my brain and eyes are not connecting to see it. I used to never wear makeup, but a few years ago I went back to work part-time and decided it was worth it on work days. Then I decided I'm worth it all the time (there are still days however, when I go au natural.) So I don't consider myself a makeup junkie (my routine is about 5 minutes in front of the mirror) but I'm always interested in new tips and techinques!

Okay, I'm back and I just typed P90 into my google bar...OMG the first thing that came up were GUNS and not the kind you get from working out...really guns to shoot with. lol. Anyway, now I get it, they are a series of workout DVD's. Cool. I hope you enjoy them. I used to do Tony Little (back in the day...remember him? OMG! I think he now hawks his 'goods' on QVC or something similar.) I enjoyed working out to them, but I'm the opposite of you, I find (with the exception of my treadmill) that I tend to do better getting OUT of the house to work out. lol. A few years back I wanted an exercise ball for my birthday...omg you should have seen my girls hoot and holler with laughter of me trying to do the DVD workout. Not that I let them dictate what I choose to do for a workout, but I find it harder to work out at home because there is always something I would rather be doing (even laundry or whatnot). I think it is great that you and hubby are doing this together! Please keep us posted on how you like them and what you think about them. And thanks for the congrats, I am so truly grateful that I found Curves and it has worked for me, plus I met a whole new group of friends too and that has been the best part about Curves is the friendships I have made.

The nurse at my surgeon's practice was well over 300lbs and had the lap band. She did wait until about 4 years post-op to have PS. She doesn't look like a knockout to me, just "normal". Anyway my point is what she said to all of us at pre-op, "you will never WISH for the fat back because of loose skin, TRUST ME" I don't know that I'm planning on plastics at any point, because I'm married, I don't NEED to wear a bikini, or impress people with my naked self. lol. My hubby kept asking about it (I think he was worried about the financial aspect of it) but I kept telling him, "I will cross that bridge when I get there" so I haven't ruled it out but I'm certainly not planning on it either. I once lost 80lbs on Medifast rather quickly (in a years time) but didn't need plastics then. Of course that was a good 14 years ago. Not sure what age plus all the yo-yo dieting I've done over the years will do to my skin.

I have no idea what a P90 is but I exercise 3-6 days a week. I go to Curves 3-4x/week and somedays I just walk on my treadmill. I am so proud of my exercise habits because I started them almost 7 years ago. It truthfully has been the only thing that I've ever been able to STICK TO for so long. I definitely need to incorporate more exercise, and I did join a rec center (that has punch passes that never expire) but anyway, in addition to my Curves and treadmill, I'm planning on taking some more intense fitness classes and swimming laps regularly in 2011. I will have to google what a P90 is since I don't know. I'm headed to Curves now so I will check it out later.

I thought the same thing! I would definitely try a new NUT or ask your surgeon if he knows of any. My surgeon gave me a huge 3 ring binder filled with pages of notes and specific guidelines, etc. He also has 3 in-house NUTs whom I saw for 6 months prior to surgery AND they run his support groups. I think there is some online documentation about someone's guidelines in PDF format, maybe try OH and search for it, or even search here, as it could possibly help just give you some clear direction. I personally have to limit my carbs or I don't lose. I'm carb sensitive, but do okay with small amounts of healthy carbs. The junky white carbs/sugar just make me want more.

That really sucks (and I can think of some other worse words to use too!) I'm sorry you are having this battle. I hope there is some relief for you in there when you are done battling. Like Rob said, I hope you can find out if you have an out-of-pocket maximum, because that would certainly help if it is a reasonable amount. Is there a medical insurance board for TX? Keep fighting and I hope you get somewhere with this. We have a high-deductible (HSA) and knew once we hit the $5K out of pocket for 2010 then everything would be billed at 90% (insurance portion) and 10% (our portion) but what was impossible to tell was what the final bill would eventually be. I was shocked when I logged onto my HSA account a few weeks post-surgery to find out that the bill was over $33,000 for my sleeve (that was just the hospital bill) and I knew that my drs. self-pay price was $20,000. I cannot for the life of me figure out how anyone can get away with that. However, NO ONE will be paying that large of a bill. The discounts were huge, it really is all rather silly to put that on paper knowing full well that NO ONE is paying $33,000. I'm still not sure I understand how it all works, but thankfully we didn't even have to pay 10% of that price. We only paid 10% of the "discounted" price...phew!

You are definitely shrinking! Congrats on your loss!

That is crazy. I had never heard of the sleeve until I called UHC and they said for our particular policy the sleeve, the band and the RNY was covered. We were told that it just started being covered this year by UHC. I would keep trying and ask for written documentation!

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you and I'm sure the pain will lessen with each passing day. I bet you will feel SO good not having that band inside you!

I got my period about 10 days early and about a day after getting out of the hospital. It ticked me off too, because I had intentionally planned my surgery date at the middle of my cycle so I would not have to "deal" with recovery and that time. Ugh. But I must say I am not on any type of hormone, pill, patch, etc. and my periods are completely 100% normal since being sleeved. Except for getting cheated on that extra week back in Oct. I think it is more common for them to be out of whack, so I don't know exactly what I'm doing but they were normal before and after the sleeve, so maybe I'm just lucky?

Congrats on your new sleeve. Sorry you were so sick, I was worried about that too since I had my gallbladder out 12 years ago and the anethesia made me horribly ill. For my sleeve I think they used some pretty strong anti-nausea meds and sent me home with a patch behind my ear. Whatever they did worked, and I was so grateful. Don't worry about the water/swelling weight, definitely from the IV fluids. Hey I just looked at your ticker and saw you live in Denver. Me too!!