JamieLynn77

what a great story!! good for you and congrats on your success!! This site is amazing I must agree!

for me its a tightness in my tummy and i feel...bloated maybe. and then like the others i hiccup. i will hiccup before i feel full and that is my new alarm. Oh, i hiccuped, time to stop. and thats just how i know. i would love to measure but sometimes with my job i am on the run. so i love my hiccups now. i have been confused by the gurgling my tummy does. which i used to associate with being hungry, but anymore that isnt the case. sometimes i will grumble and i am not even close to hungry, i would eat and then be miserable. so i am learning to ignore that que and just try to eat a little every few hours.

i had forgetful-itis after my surgery too. so bad, i would make my meals the night before and lovingly used sticky notes to remind myself not to forget my lunch. or my Protein, or my KEYS! lol...but i am a little further out now, and its improving, i think drastic change does that to you. lol...but i still have my pre op brain, so there is no hope for me . You are going to be more than ready for your wedding...congrats by the way. I am in a wedding this fall and i had to pre order my dress before my surgery. and i said a daring size 16 lol. which i am now already in from a 24w. so i will no doubt have to take mine in. but what a great feeling that will be! Good luck chica!

my surgeon told me 6 small ones a day. post op liquids were the hardest.. cuz i never think of liquids as a meal. but to get everything that you need in, they told me 6. But I have seen on here that so many people are different with what their surgeon requires of them. I know that post op...i was never hungry so getting 6 in felt like a challenge odd compared to where i came from pre op, where NOT eating was a challenge. Listen to your body is my best advice. and make sure that you are getting your Protein. and wtg on what you have lost so far! and welcome to the board! :hurray:

Thank you! Its good to have a group like this to get feedback from too.

yeah it sounded kinda crazy to myself too. so i try to keep it between 60-70 a day.

go on girl, do that happy dance lol....woot woot! :star:

I am so there for a brain sleeve. lol head hunger is starting to be my demise...so i am battling it off. I have found tho, that crystal light has these sugar free chewy candies, like starburst...they are soooo goood. and that kinda keeps me at bay some.

I just fell off too. I started a journal today as well as the 5 day pouch test. Just to remind myself of how i am supposed to feel when i eat, and the journal to be more concious of what i am putting in my mouth. my scale hasn't moved much lately and then i looked at the biscuits and gravy i was eating and got so angry with myself and was not going to blow up all the good that i have done so far. So hang in there...and be strong!

oh, also i heard that we should get our body weight in Protein everyday? has anyone else heard this? I shoot for 60...how about you guys?

At first I was stalled, and now I have gained a pound and a half. then i looked at my lunch yesterday and realized i was in real trouble. i was reverting back to old habits and was getting comfortable doing it. So someone told me about the 5 day pouch test, and so i started that today. Gotta get that old feeling back, and remember the right way to eat. Funny how easy it was, even tho i was so excited about my weight loss, that i would stray back into old habits. It was way easier than i thought. It wasn't neccesarily the volume as much as it was the choices. eating on the run, and loading up on carbs, and fatty food. I guess I can be happy that at least i recognized the problem and am more than anxious to remedy it before i get totally out of hand. so day 1 of 5dpt begins and we shall see what happens.

oh, I didn't get fancy soap to use lol. just a tasty drink. I think I woulda traded tho, had the offered lol. )

its a barium swallow. they use it to make sure everything from mouth to tummy works right. its a radiopaque dye they give you to drink then move you on a table to see the flow to the stomach.

divadee....in no way is this the "easy way out". its a lot of work changing a lifestyle...keep your chin up, and if it is right in your heart, and you are comfortable with this choice and know its what you want to do, then you keep on that path and get 'er done. no one should stand in your way of being happy.

BBJ--you are so right...they are ludicrous. I had to chuckle tho when i read those examples cuz ppl dont think of it that way...and it sounds so silly but they never look at it like that. they look at it like...i am skinny and you should be too. how come you just cant do it yourself. Until someone has been like me, they dont know what it is like ....i just always have known i couldnt do it alone. so whatever ppl think of what i have done, is on them. I am successful and happy and that is all that matters. and i am gonna be around a long time for my son and THAT makes me happier every day.

I have found a great liquid calcium citrate with Vitamin D at wal-mart of all places. its only like $7 and its tastes pretty good. I take 3 spoonfuls a day with a meal. I haven't had any trouble with it agreeing with me or anything. I love it and have been taking it for a while and havent gotten tired of it yet....i wondered about the Viactiv, and Tiffykins kinda validated what i already figured...loaded with sugar. Its a white and purple bottle, cant think of the name of it right now, but its worth checking out!

there is a patch they can put behind your ear before surgery that reduces your nausea. i had it and it worked okay. I had some reaction to the heparin shots they gave me and they made me dry heave. outside of that, it wasnt that horrible. i was up and walking soon after. the gas pain was my only complaint. i can honestly say that all in all...i would make the same choice again if i knew then what i know now. it was all worth it.

I told very few ppl at first. I kinda was worried that ppl would think that i was cheating. but i knew that i had a horrible addiction to food and that i wasnt going to be able to be healthy without help. I work in a car dealership so magically one person told another and another lol...and soon everyone was asking and they were all soooo supportive. The other day, when i got to wear my new spring clothes...some of the girls i work with were kinda goo-ing all over me and telling me how great i look. it keeps me in check that ppl know. and they watch me all the time lol...how i eat, how much i eat...and they usually laugh and say, 'how do you survive on that tiny bowl of food? " i actually had someone grill me about the procedure cuz she was interested too!

yeah, some people didnt have that reaction, some were negative, but it isn't their choice, and who i am to those ppl should be enough for them to stand behind me. If you dont love me that much, then i can do it without you. But i have had a good support system for the most part. Like Samantha, my mom tried to talk me out of it. now she's my biggest fan. and a lot of ppl noticed my weight loss long before i could see it. so its an awesome feeling for sure!

I really thought I would never survive the liquid pre op diet. Mine was like Meggiep's....jello, broth, Protein Shakes and Water. 2-3 days in I almost threw in the towel. but it got easier. I was sooo tired and all i wanted to do is sleep. But that went away as my body adapted, and my doc actually said that i could buy any Soup and just strain the substance out. so that was my saving grace. I was buying anything in a clear broth that might actually have some flavor. and i remember that the night before my surgery, all i could have was Clear Liquids and in my mind i was so afraid that i was going to miss out on everything so i sat up constantly drinking my gatorade lol. and when i woke up from surgery, i haven't felt that since. so hang in there...its all worth it in the end. Good luck to you on your journey!!

my pre op swallow they put strawberry nestle quick in it...and it wasnt too bad...but not good by any means lol.....my post op swallow...they were not as nice lol...then they kept saying drink, drink,.....i wanted to look at them and say, "um, where the heck do you want me to put it, there's no room there....DUH!" lol...

good luck on your adventure, and can't wait to see you girls on the losers bench!! woot woot!!

I get them all the time. There are foods now, that i eat, that i never liked before. Cottage cheese, sweet potatoes, etc. That I absolutely love now. and every once in a while i get sugar cravings, and to be honest, i feed them. Only cuz i know that if i ignore it now, it will lead to my demise in the future. but for the most part, i crave normal stuff that i should be eating anyway lol. love LOVE tuna...lol...and i will leave work, run to the store, just to get a pouch and eat it. no harm no foul, its full of good stuff i need anyway. lol..so okay! my worst craving is usually juice. I know i shouldn't drink it much cuz its loaded with sugar, but sometimes i just gotta have it. lol this whole experience is definitely an adventure!

I chose the sleeve because RNY scared me, i didn't want anything re-routed, or changed drastically. and i knew ppl with the RNY who were horrible sick after surgery and I didn't want that to be me. The lap band was NOT an option cuz i was against putting anything foreign in my body, that has history of breaking and adhering to the stomach. so i convinced myself that i could do it on my own. then i heard about the sleeve. I did my research, and knew a girl who did it, and was a year out. And i liked what i read. It was simple and to the point. I liked the fact that it got rid of a majority of the stomach, the part they believe produces the gherlin, which signals hunger, sometimes unneccesarily. and that is was a tool, and that the rest was up to me. I liked that aspect. and i am uber happy with my choice. i have had practically zero problems thus far. and its all in learning how to eat properly, which i have found to be very exciting. Trying new, healthier foods, and knowing i am absorbing all the key nutrients that i am supposed to be. i have no regrets about my sleeve at all!

Thanks for sharing this experience! I have to travel for the first time ever, on a plane. and i wondered how I would make a 4 hour trip (including layovers) with my new sleeve. Thinking i know i have to drink all day, and get my Protein. and wondered if they would let me take my Water along, and some protein packets. So this is useful for my upcoming travels this fall. Congrats on your loss. I too started at a 24w. I just dropped into a ladies 16. Its a whole new experience to not have to struggle into my clothes, and accomodate certain things based on my size. i was a bit afraid of the muscle milk at first, taste wise. but i love it. good stuff in a pinch for sure! :-)

guess it keeps those bad carbs at bay.

i stall before my cycle and then after i tend to drop a lot. like anywhere from 3-6 pounds. but has anyone noticed that when your cycle comes around...your pouch is more forgiving? I mean, it just seems like i can eat more without the full feeling and the vomiting. its wild. and then right before my cycle is over, my tummy returns to normal. anyone else experience this?