CraftyChristie

I am SO happy for you, seriously just beyond thrilled. I LOVE the list you made - both the improvements and the "needs improvement"... I think I will do the same kinds of list when I hit 2 months in another couple of weeks. You are inspiring. I smiled ear to ear as I was reading your post. HUGS!!

.... and 41 pounds down!

I have blogged all about it here. Hope you will take time to read. Thank you

I can do it. PMing you next.

Looks like the poll results are going well! I can't answer all of your questions, but these are the ones I had something to say about.

1. Dr Michael Snyder in Denver. He's an excellent surgeon, but his practice is too big now that the hospital bought it, and some things need improving around there especially for sleeve patients.

3. The pain totally depends on the person and probably lots of factors. For me the pain was really bad the first 3 days then started getting LOTS better every day and by a week out I felt pretty normal. Then I pulled some scar tissue about a week later (which also happens frequently) and that hurt a lot for another couple of weeks. My husband usually heals FASTER than me and feels LESS pain than me but when he had his surgery, the pain seemed worse for him and he got his pain meds refilled, which I did not. So I think it just depends!

4. I have heard this about the energy too but for me it wasn't so bad. I was tired the first few days while the anesthesia was still wearing off, and for the first couple of weeks I needed a mid afternoon nap (but that as common for me pre-op too!)... now I take a nap once in a while, and I've been working out regularly since the 4th day!! I am 6 weeks post op now and already have MORE energy than I did pre-op, and I would say that's been the case for 2-3 weeks already.

7. You are never supposed to have a carbonated drink again, mostly because the bubbles can stretch out your stomach. However, a lot of people do drink sodas and things so that will have to be your personal decision.

8. So far this hasn't bothered me but I haven't eaten out too much yet. When I do it's with my husband so we are in the same boat. No one has looked at us weird or treated us weird. But I haven't ordered in a real restaurant yet so not sure how that will go. But to be honest with you, I just don't CARE!!! I'm so happy being satisfied with my small portions and if someone things it's abnormal, I just don't care. This was so right for me.

9. Nothing has made me throw up. I have not even felt nauseous since the first night in the hospital, other than with trying to take some Vitamins that didn't go down well. Still didn't throw up though. If you listen to your body, try new things carefully, and don't overfill yourself, you should hopefully avoid the puking. It depends on how much you are susceptible to nausea though.

10. Exercise, exercise, exercise. It has done wonders for my healing, my weight loss, my mood, and how I feel physically. So much stronger and so much more energy.

I am tempted a lot of the times too but here is the thing. Sometimes even at my size now something will FIT as in, be the correct size, but it doesn't fit correctly or doesn't flatter. I figure this can be the same at any size. So even though I KNOW I'll be a size 16, why buy something now, because just getting to a 16 doesn't mean it will fit me right. So that could be a waste of money. I did buy ONE thing that is much smaller as a comparison dress for later in a size 12, but it's easily alterable if it doesnt' fit right. I avoid it with anything else.

Thanks for introducing yourself and sharing your story! I am 27 also :) I started at 310 and I'm down to 269 after 6 weeks whoo hoo! I love the sleeve!!!! Being a size 16 must feel so great!!! Ridding yourself of so many health problems is a huge accomplishment. Since you are my age I am sure you know how I feel - that having so many problems at this age is just absurd and doing this allows us to get our life back so we can live many healthy years ahead of us.

Thank you for the sweet words everybody. I can't believe little me can be an inspiration to people. That feels really good.

That was so well written! You're a very good writer. I really identify with so many of your feelings. I think you are doing wonderfully at 3 months out, developing new good habits. I think the ability to be more active, and ENJOY being more active, is possibly the most exciting thing about all of this. I am really enjoying being active too and it just feels so wonderful. Keep the posts coming, they are great!!

thinoneday - I haven't eaten out at a restaurant yet but my hubby and i got kid-size frosty's at Wendy's (the lowest cal/fat ice cream option i've seen in fast food world) and I couldn't believe how BIG they looked to me now!!! It took us 3 different sittings to finish them. Kid size!

Would it be silly of me to bring my own little plate when I eat out at a restaurant???? I think it would really help.

That's a good idea about weighing the dumbbells! If you can, stick with one scale... even if your weight isn't accurate at least the difference from the week before will be

Congrats and I'm glad you're doing so well! Yes moving around and walking really helps the pain and healing process. Keep it up and you'll feel good as new very soon!

Firstly it sounds like you are getting some GREAT workouts - congrats on that! I think it is probably lactose intolerance kicking in. For some people it is temporary so I'd keep trying it from time to time but maybe when you have the luxury of being home for the next few hours in case it makes you feel sick again. Good luck!

Congrats and glad you are doing well! I would say, go with the fidgety lol because you are supposed to move as much as possible. I got up every 15 minutes to go get my ounce of liquid from the kitchen. I moved a lot and I think it really helped me heal quicker. But I'm sure it's also bothering you when trying to sleep and in that case I'm not sure what to suggest except maybe trying to stretch your legs and arms well and drink something warm.

I had this same thing about 2 weeks out, and so did my husband a few days ago (he's 2 weeks behind me) - we were told it is the scar tissue on the inside of the incision... that the interior of the incision is bigger than what you see on the outside and the scar tissue builds up against the abdominal wall, and if you move a certain way you can pull it away from the abdominal wall and that causes the pain. Feels like a pulled muscle!! For me it lasted about 2 weeks off and on... now I only feel it very little once in a while. Sitting was the worst during the bad part of it.

This is what it was for me and they said nothing to be concerned with, it's a natural thing that happens and you just have to wait it out - but of course you should check with your Dr to be sure!

Also my friend who has bypass 7 years ago just did the same thing - she had to get a CAT scan because from her pain they thought it might be a hernia or a tumor or something - but it turned out to be pulled scar tissue just like this. So I guess it can happen at any time even a long while after surgery.

My surgeon said 6-8 weeks out before having any because that layer that flakes off the kernels can get stuck where a staple is and cause an infection or a leak (same or anything with seeds)... of course they would prefer we never eat it since it's jut fluff carbs but hey we all did this surgery because it lets us eat the most "normally" right? At least part of the reason. So I plan to have a kids-size popcorn at the movies from time to time. I had already cut down to only getting a small popcorn every 3rd or 4th time I go to the movies, and the rest of the time nothing... so I think it will be easy for me to stick to. I used to love movie popcorn but lately it seems they let it sit out for hours til it's all stale so it's not worth it these days... I'm more likely to go for the nachos! But waiting until 6-8 weeks for that also.

wow... what an amazing month. It was so smart of you to buy those shirts... you can really really tell how much you've changed.

Life gets better and better

Thank you!! I actually had all those shirts already from previous times being smaller... just thought it would work well to wear them too tight in the before pics so I could see more change... and so glad I did!

You little rockstar!!!! You are doing so well. Your face looks absolutely beautiful, (not to mention you look pretty dang happy too!) Great job, what a huge accomplishment in such a short time!

Wannalise ~ You know, it's funny. I have gone up and down in weight before and people have told me "your smile is so much bigger when you're thinner." So when I took my before pics I literally smiled as big as I could. So my conclusion is, the fat in my face must make it really hard to smile big. Or it makes my smile look smaller. or.. something?! I don't know it's so weird!

Oooh, I wanna see the pics too! They come up as red X's, can you post them in an album? Seeing results from someone of similar stats would help me believe this is all going to be a reality, congratulations!!

Globetrotter, it seems that other people are able to see the pics (including one after you) so there's not much I can do it might be an issue with your computer? But - you can see them on my Facebook album Here:

Christie Stearns's Photos - Weight Loss Progress | Facebook

Ah yes you are right I just looked at them and the cals are 270, 280 and 290 depending on the flavor. I will have to look into these Oh Yeah bars, they sound good!!

Catyroses - I have to disagree with that. When I was in that phase (clears, full liquids, and even mushies) I was truly physically hungry. Sharp painful hunger pangs and just super hungry. It wasn't a head thing - I could watch people eat good stuff and not feel it. I would feel it on and off all day long at random times. The nurse told me it's because they had me on the gastric bypass plan (sleeve is too new and they don't have a real plan set up for it yet) and GP people have a 1 oz stomach at first while we have a 2-3oz stomach at first. So I was hungry until I got to the point I could eat 2 ounces of food. Now I am almost never hungry when I'm not "supposed" to be (at feeding times) even if I see something delicious... so I really don't think it was head hunger... and my husband went through the same thing (he's 2 weeks behind me) and he too found relief when he started eating more foods.

Oregon Daisy - I know the staple line needs to heal. My surgeon's recommendations were 1 week liquids, 2 weeks on the restricted mushy diet. I just advanced that one week quicker but I did have medical clearance to do so, I didn't just decide to do it on my own. I think they make the guidelines very very careful just in case. Again I wouldn't tell her to do it, just saying what my experience was.

oh and ALSO I was looking at this site yesterday and they sell high Protein mixes, pudding was one of them, but they also have high protein oatmeal and all kinds of stuff. dietdirect.com look under "protein diet foods"... I haven't tried any yet but somewhere else on this forum I saw a lot of people said the WonderSlim brand they have on there was really good.

we mixed Any whey Protein Powder into Jello sugar free pudding and it worked just fine. It made it a little less firm but it tasted great. (Did NOT work as well in yogurt!)

We did this with the pre-made cups... I'm not sure if it would be any different making it from a box. I would make it first, let it set, and add the powder AFTER it's set.

The kind I buy are from costco and they are called Premier Protein. They were recommended by my surgeon's office because they are softer/chewy so you can eat them early out too. 1 bar has a whopping 30grams Protein. I don't remember the exact info for everything else but want to say it's AROUND 210-230 cals and 15g carbs. I find that at one month out, I still can only eat 1/2 a bar at a time (very dense) so it makes a very reasonable meal since you'd cut those cals and carbs in half, and still get 15g protein. The box comes with 3 flavors in it - chocolate Peanut Butter, double chocolate crunch, and yogurt peanut crunch. Not sure why they call them crunch because they are soft and chewy. I think they are decent in flavor, the yogurt one is my fave (tastes more "convincing" than the chocolate) but I don't think you can buy them individually, just in the box with the 3 flavors.

I was SO HUNGRY on the liquid phase too. I advanced to mushy after 1 week and was on it for the whole 2nd week then advanced again. My mushy stage I was only allowed egg beaters, fat free refried Beans, yogurt, cottage cheese, and pudding with Protein Powder added. I was still hungry on that though too I didn't stop feeling hungry until I moved onto real foods at week 3. I'm still not on ALL solid foods but I'm getting close.

I would NEVER tell you to go against your docs orders but at the same time, you have to also listen to your body. In my case, the nurse in charge of the bariatric program at the hospital told me to advance to the stages when I felt like I could, but just take it slow, try only one new food per day, etc. It was truly a lifesaver for me so I could stop being so hungry.

That's wonderful to hear!! You're doing just awesome.