sasicas

My personal, no-medical-background opinion is you should be on the PPI, and you might have to switch them around some. I started on Prilosec (or maybe it was Prevacid) didn't work for me, I now take 2 Nexiums and 1 Zantac per day. No on the sprite either, trust me, you don't even want to try carbonation. I just tried it recently and remember I am 5 1/2 months out, and it was not a good feeling.

Ugh! Why do people have to be like that! It's as if some people just never got out of high school. Who cares how we lost weight, I just want people to be happy for us for being healthy and doing what we needed to do.

Thank you, I try to remember that she truly was not who I thought she was. It just kills me. I am not the sensitive type and it takes a lot to get to me, she is one of the only people to ever get to me and actually hurt me. I think a lot of what bothers me about how it went down is that I had shared my entire life with her, I confided in her, I felt I could trust her more than anyone, she knows things about me that no one else knows. Obviously my husband is the other person I trust but men don't always care to know things or have an interest in things that I needed to talk about. *sigh* Generally I am very cautious as to who I open up to and it bugs the snot out of me that she actually gained my trust, then showed her true colors, it makes me wonder how in the world she manipulated me in such a way as to make me think she was a real friend. I hope she never decides to go spreading my business to anyone.... Anyways, guess I needed to get that all out Thanks.

I tried and tried to eat and couldn't do it, the swelling got so bad that I could not physically get anything done. Even during my hospital stay for 12 days I could not even drink Water, they had to put a PICC line in, it was right around the 7 week mark that I was finally able to get mushy food in and they discharged me. the nausea stuck around for a week or so but I have been fine since then.

The person I considered my best friend bailed on me. She was supportive of the surgery until the week before, I had a moment of weakness and said I might back out, at that moment she no longer supported it. She had started doing everything she could to lose weight, and she was a lot smaller than me to begin with anyways, but it seemed like she couldn't stand the idea of not being the skinny friend. She came to the hospital the day of my surgery and that was the last time I saw her. She would talk to me like normal on the phone for the first few weeks but as I lost weight she just took off. I called her a few times over one weekend, she didn't answer, she didn't answer texts. She called once on Monday and I decided to wait and see if she would call again as I was not about to fight for a friendship when clearly she had begun distancing herself. She never called again. I reached out to her on facebook a few times trying to find out what was going on, she never responded. She has since moved and I am sure I will never hear from her again. I have another friend that was very unsupportive of me, he said over and over I could do it on my own. I rarely hear from him anymore and it's usually only when he's upset about something. He's not even someone I would consider a friend anymore. I have dealt with a lot of snarky comments too, some just joking, many are just low blows. You would think my "friends" would be happy for me to get healthy and fit but jealousy can be a very ugly thing and girls apparently don't like becoming the "fat" friend. Ugh! This surgery really has shown me who my real friends are.

YES! I felt so nauseous for so long. I have a few issues with my sleeve but my nausea turned out to be because I had increased swelling in my sleeve. They find in some people that for no known reason they just swell up more and it makes us nauseous. It alleviates between the 6 and 7th week from what my surgeons said. And that is what happened for me. Personally I would request a scope just to make sure there are no other issues so you don't end up in the hospital like I did. I did regret the surgery too, now I am so glad I did it and would do it again.

I'm not sure you can actually get used to them, you will be more than ready for food once you can have it. I did 2 weeks liquids before surgery and pretty much for 7 weeks after because I couldn't get much of anything down from complications. Even now 5 1/2 months later I will not eat jello, pudding, broth, or popsicles. YUCK!

Us women can be a little nuts sometimes Same goes for men though lol. Keep reminding her how beautiful she is and go work-out together For women, it's engrained in us to need to weigh less than our men. What woman wants to be bigger than her husband?! It's embarrassing, I know from experience. A huge goal of mine was the weigh less than my husband. I hit that goal months ago, then he had jaw surgery and did a liquid diet for 6 weeks and got down below me again. It played with my mind so much. I was so stinkin annoyed that he weighed less than me again. I busted my butt to get below him again and now that he can eat again and I am still losing I am 20 lbs less than him. And let me tell you, it makes me happy. Now he is working out all the time because he sees me working out and there is a part of me that wishes he would knock it off lol. It's not that I want him to be unhealthy, I just don't want him getting this super hot built body while I still look like a bunch of wrinkled skin. See I told you girls can be nuts

Awesome! Those NSVs are so much better than the scale victories. I remember how excited I was the day I realized I had collar bones again haha!

Just give it time. The worst thing we can do is compare ourselves to others. We all lose at different rates and those who start out at lower weights like yours I see from the ticker, tend to lose slower than those who start out heavier. There are so many things that come into play with weight loss from weight to age to medical conditions to genetics.

WOOHOOO!!!!

Now that is an awesome NSV!

You have lost a good amount of weight so congratulations! It is so normal for us to go through phases of not realizing just how much weight we have lost. Have you taken pictures? If you did, it is time to bust out those before pictures and compare them with now pictures. Trust me, you will be amazed! Are you doing measurements? If not, start those now too. I have found that I fail to see the changes in myself without pictures and measuring. It also takes the mind awhile to catch up to what our bodies have done. Again, totally normal. Many of us still see a fat person when in reality we have lots a ton of weight. With friends, not everyone is comfortable commenting on the changes, and sometimes, they just forget what we looked like. I had this exact situation the other night, a friend from Church sees me weekly, the changes have just grown on her and she had forgotten what I looked like pre-op, so I showed her a picture and her jaw dropped. She did not remember the fat me, only the normal me now. And with my husband, he forgets too how far my body has changed and every once in awhile, he sees me far off and it dawns on him how "skinny" I am now. Perseonally I would not go back to Protein shakes, but then again I have not drank them at all since surgery, my sleeve doesn't tolerate them so I do my best to get in enough protein through foods alone and my weight has come off fine. For exercise, just keep on working. The Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred is a great workout too, just get some dvds to keep things fresh.

Sooo basically you are telling me I am screwed?! HAHA! I have the age in my favor but genetics, yeah, I'm screwed without surgery

From seeing the people at the WLS support group I go to, it seems that those with c-sections seem to be having the hardest time with their stomachs, I know it has caused mine to fold over. I was told by the surgeons before that sometimes those stomach muscles just seperate too much in pregnancy and don't always go back together. I have no idea how that works, but I would be shocked if my muscles were intact. I have back issues too which I was told has a lot to do with the muscle issues in my stomach, my back overcompensates for it. *sigh* Those size 8s, I never thought they would come either, but they did, I just won't wear them because it gives me the dreaded muffin top even if I wear my "suck-it-ins" as I call them Stupid fat gut. Just keep on working, you will be amazed at what your body will do over time

You are absolutely gorgeous!! Beautiful dress too!

Wow! You all look amazing! Here is mine, this was taken at 4 1/2 months out

I wish I knew the answer to this one. I have 8 lbs to go and my fat belly looks like it is here to stay. Yes it has shrunk dramatically but there is so much fat still in it, I so wish I just had the wrinkly skin there, I would be at my goal size without that stupid belly fat. Just the other night I was talking with a WLS friend, she has lost far more than me, she started out more and still weighs more than me, well her stomach is gone compared to mine, She had no idea mine was so bad until I pulled it up out of my pants (thankfully it hides well under jeans) and grabbed a handful to show her. She was shocked. I showed 2 non WLS overweight friends and their response was the same, they had no idea I had so much stinkin fat still there. Everyone thought that because I am only in my 20s that my skin, body, fat, would all just bounce back. HA! My mom said its a sign of a thyroid issue, though my labs still look fine, I have so many of hte symptoms and so have all the other women in our family, we end up with the symptoms years before the labs show it. Who knows if this is the case or not. I know for me, it hangs over my c-section scars so badly. It's flat out embarrassing to me and I spend way too much time trying to find clothes to hide it. I've given up though and have a consult with a plastic surgeon the end of this month.

My husbands comments lately have made me feel sexy. Just in the last few days he has really seen how much I have lost and is constantly making comments about how skinny I am. You should see the super tight clothes this man keeps picking out for me lol. It makes me feel sexy to know he enjoys showing me off

Every surgeon is different, our hospital has us wait 2 weeks before adding in vitamins, I use the gummy multi-vits from Costco, I have never taken the calcium though and my labs were fine at 3 months.

Most people stall around 3 weeks, just do a search of 3 week stall and you will be amazed at how many posts there are. Also dehydration can make you feel extremely nauseous so you might need to get rehydrated by iv, many people deal with that too. Personally I don't think you need to worry so much about the protein shakes, get in what you can, try adding protein to jello or pudding too to get some additional protein in but your body will be fine. I have not been able to tolerate protein drinks since surgery and I did liquids for 2 weeks pre-op and about 7 weeks post op due to complications yet my labs at 3 months were fine. The MOST important thing is staying hydrated. Try different temps of water, some deal better with hot, some with cold, some with room temp, also many people use CrystalLite (sp?) to change it up some.

Anyone who I am good friends with or see often has been told about my surgery, my family knows too. I did have a few people who initially were very much against me having the surgery and they are now very supportive, except the person I thought was my "best friend", she completely abandoned me within weeks of the surgery. If people ask I tell them, especially those that struggle with their weight too and if I am going out to eat with someone who doesn't know I tell them too. I choose to tell those people because it honestly looks like I have an eating disorder to those who are not aware now. Between how quickly the weight came off and how little I eat I have had quite a few assume I have fallen into an eating disorder and I would much rather them know the truth than think that of me. In the end it is a very personal decision and you have to decide what you are comfortable with.

It sure is a great dvd. Day #1 kicked my butt and I am trying to talk myself into doing day #2 right now haha. My legs, arms and stomach are all sore haha

ANyone interested in doing the JIllian Michaels 30 Day Shred with me? A few friends of mine have joined in and thought maybe some here would like to start it up too. Start date is August 1. The dvd is on sale online at Overstock and Amazon. Target has it on sale online I believe too and some stores have a sale on it too. My Target has it for $12.99 but I found it at costco last night for $7.99. I also purchased Jillians 6 Week Abs too and plan to add that in once I can move again lol, last time I did the 30 Day Shred it kicked my butt ha. I am hoping to hit goal at the end of this challenge, 12 more lbs to go! WOOT!

I agree. I think for me it will just be the tummy tuck and boobs. And yes deflated they will be, some people though get lucky, not me though One of the ladies at my local group says if you start out at a 44 DD you will end up a 34 extra long haha. All of the younger ones in our group want a boob job and almost every single person has/wants a tummy tuck. The bat wings, well again comes down to your skin and how much your starting weight is. I started at 240, my arms are fine the way they are. THere is a little jiggle up by my arm pits but no one sees it. My arms look pretty normal from the outside view.