former_vbg

OMG- that is a good, "Never trust a fart". Still laughing at that one as I type this. So very true!!! Only thing to add is if you encounter a new food that you thought would be fine as you are introducing things back into your diet, find a bathroom soon if your stomach starts to gurgle and feel slight cramps. That's your tummy saying, "I don't feel good and I'm gonna get it outta here soon!!!" A few months after surgery I became lactose intolerant and it took less than 10 minutes for the first "incident". Not a good situation... I now know the signs and don't mess around, no pun intended.

That's fabulous! Were you doing anything different the past few days or do you think your body just was ready to let the weight go? Great work!!

I think I was not so much surprised but expecting it. Probably because I had done so much research on Aetna's policies, and had bombarded them with documentation that it was like, "they BETTER" approve me.... lol. You still have some doubt wondering if there was some little thing you missed. Luckily for me, I got my approval in a few days..

Down 4# this week! Another good week!! 6# more til goal. I would be uber pleased if I could surpass this challenge!! Will just see how things go. Surgery weight: 271 Starting V-Day Challenge weight: 179 Current weight: 166 Valentines goal weight: 160 Final goal weight: 135

I will be making my order then! Yummy! Not sure I have room in my freezer for all this, but will figure something out. :-)

So, a couple of days ago I got an offer in the mail from Omaha Steak Company- looks pretty interesting. The potatoes and scallops are something I will likely give to someone else or maybe just keep a small amount for myself, but trying to stay away from the carbs. They are offering the following items for $59.99 plus $17.99 shipping. Talk about lots of protein!!! Enough food for weeks of meals for one person (with a sleeve of course- LOL)!!! * 4 (5 oz) Filet Mignons * 4 (5 oz) Top Sirloins * 4 (4 oz) Boneless Pork Chops * 2 (4 1/2 oz) stuffed Sole with Scallops and Crabmeat * 4 (4 oz) Omaha Steak Burgers * 4 (3 oz) Gourmet Franks * 8 Potatoes au Gratin * 4 steak burgers * 6 piece cutlery set and cutting board What do you guys think?

You really should be careful about allowing yourself anything pure in sugar. You really want to get yourself focused on sticking to your meal plan and if you start allowing yourself treats from early on, you will likely experience longer stalls and slower weight loss and that's if your carb monsters don't take over. It would be better to wait at least 4 or 5 months before you allow sweets as a treat back into your eating to be sure you have a handle on what your body can handle. Personally, anytime I find that I have a treat with high bad carbs/ sugar, I pay for it with a 1 to 3# weight gain which comes off but only after getting back on plan for several days or even longer in some cases. Just be careful. You need to try to approach this with a new attitude towards healthy eating.

Some have it worse than others, but personally my gas pain was pretty intense. What happens is when they "blow" your stomach up with carbon dioxide so they have room to work, they do deflate as much as possible but there is some that is left behind that your body has to work itself out. Most people complain of extreme pain in the left shoulder, and sometimes in different areas of their abdomen. Some only have it for a few days, others say it lasts off and on for a couple of weeks as was the case for me. Honestly, it does hurt, but it's not anything you should think about in terms of making the decision of whether to have the surgery. It will pass, and before long it will become a distant memory.

The high "test" stuff? Not sure I understand what you mean. I can't speak for everyone here, but I'm pretty sure those that say they are drinking soda are drinking the diet soda. At least that is the case for me. There are no calories in diet soda. It does not cause me to crave foods sweet or otherwise.

I sure will. My appt is in a couple weeks. I'm going to friend you so in case I forget where this thread is I can get back to you. :-)

Well, I had bloodwork done at 3 and 6 months, and nothing came up showing a problem- but I don't know that he specifically checked for that. What do they have to request when checking?

Very interesting, thank you for sharing this. I'm not sure it would have kept me from having the surgery because my quality of life was just not that great and at the rate I was going it was not going to get any better. I actually have been having short term memory issues for a few years now and I just turned 40 last October- so way too early to be having that problem. Most people tell me its because I always have too much on my plate to deal with. Perhaps, but it has gotten worse over the past year or two (before my sleeve surgery). My PCP dismisses this when I talk to him about it, and so I made an appointment to see a neurologist this month. I might bring a copy of this article with me though just to see what he says about it. I'm doing some more googling though on this subject just to see what pops up. Here is another article I found if anyone is interested. http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100301/Study-shows-ghrelin-prevents-acute-liver-damage-reduces-oxidative-stress-and-inflammation.aspx

Just reading this thread. I hope things are turning around for you. Any updates? Hope they are good ones.

I think what everyone has already said is excellent advice. The only thing to probably stress is that I really think that if you do the 5 day pouch test, you will find you can't eat a cup and a half in one sitting. There is a difference between eating a cup and a half of say a milk shake or a piece of cake because you are starting to get into what is referred to as "slider foods". That is the very reason they say to get your Proteins in first..... proteins in first.... I would be willing to bet that you wouldn't be able to eat a cup and a half of chicken or turkey in one sitting. Let that be your test to see where your at and like others have said, get yourself re-focused on your final goal. You know that even while pregnant you will need to stay focused on healthy eating and that should help you with weight gain for the baby. Good luck! You can do it.

I have always been the one that is colder in a group of people, but not always that bad of a difference. Lately, I am FREEZING!!! I am sitting here at work with my winter coat sitting at my desk. Of course, most are guys sitting around me- so of course they are fine. Argh!! I think I'm going to be one of those temperature guages and see what the temp really is. I swear it feels like its in the mid 60's. Now, on a sunny breezy day, ok.... but it's winter. I get home and CRANK up the heat in the house just to get my bones warm from being cold all day. I guess I figured it has to do with having lost so much hair that I'm not retaining heat like I was, plus I don't have near the "insulation" I used to either. Either way, I know I am COLD A LOT!!!!

I ditto your post! I would love to participate- just send me a PM with the pertinent information. Also, on the whole wearing makeup thing. I'm not into wearing much makeup, am more a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal, always have been. That being said I do have a professional job and when I'm heavy I tend to only wear concealer and nothing else, maybe eye liner. I don't know that I will ever get to the point of eyeshadow and all that, but I do enjoy trying to make myself look nicer in the morning before work. Whether its wearing jewelry or adding a scarf, etc. I also know that I present myself differently because I feel better about myself- especially knowing I won't be the fattest person in the room anymore. And, that when I talk with someone I don't have to spend time (or as much) wondering what fat characteristics I have. I am starting to notice my face seems to have a bit of looseness now instead of the plump chipmunk face I had. Oh well, I'd rather have that than the chipmunk face.

It's super common for people to stall a few weeks out from surgery. Some reasons for it include the fact that you just went through major surgery and your body is adjusting from the shock. Second, that you are transitioning from liquids to mushies to solids and that is yet another adjustment for your body. Try to start in on some exercise as much as you safely can, and really watch your calorie/ carb intake (whichever you choose to focus on). Carbs can be healthy if they are healthy and not hidden in other things that "seem" healthy.

I *** DITTO **** that one! It's nice that you guys come on here and share your experiences. I find it especially helpful as a single gal going through this and need a guy to chime in once in awhile, married or not. You guys ROCK!!!

104# lost in 6 months and 14 days. Surgery 6/21/11. 32 to 35# more to go!

Seriously, 3 to 6" heals? Not even when I was thin did I like wearing heals that high. WOW!!! Maybe its the spread across my toes or something, but even 2" heals tend to hurt after a little while. Any sort of "healed" dressy shoe with a wide toe just looks boxy and ugly to me so I tend to stick to the flat or 1" heals. Although the past 2 days I have worn 2" heals, but I must say I take the shoes off first thing I get in the car after work....

It's interesting to hear you mention this about revamping your final goal. I am 32# away from the final goal i set for myself in the beginning. I'm 5'4" and thought I would set it for 135. We will see how things go, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I might shoot for 125. I'm not trying to be vain about the weight loss, but I have so darn much loose skin and part of me thinks that if I am going to have plastics down the road, it would be better more likely for the surgeon to be able to have the skin be more taunt afterwards. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I actually had the exact same pain you described. It really became an issue for me about 2 wks post op and had not experienced that level of pain in the prior 2 wks and so I was conerned as well. It felt like someone was literally stabbing me with a knife. If I coughed, laughed, bent in a certain way, OMG, it was murder. Basically, after FINALLY getting through to someone at my Dr.'s office (they never answer their phones believe it or not), they said that it isn't common but it can happen. Basically, they said it was likely a combination of a couple things. First there is such a thing a deferred pain. Meaning where the source of the pain is coming from may show up somewhere else. Second, it could be the final stages of the gas trying to get out of your tummy from the surgery and Third, that the muscles and "stuff" do get moved around a bit during surgery and it can take time for everything to heal up. I would say it took another week, maybe 2 weeks for it to finally go away completely. Even getting in and out of the car to drive was painful because when I would lift my left leg in, it put pressure on the area that hurt. Hang in there, you have been checked out, and I'm sure this will pass. Just give yourself time to rest.

You guys are all just awesome! I soooo love this site. I loved coming here when I was in the beginning /research stage, and have continued to find it such a great place having gone through the surgery. I think besides the WEALTH of information on here, is that everyone really tries to be so nice and supportive. There are some sites where people are just snarky or mean spirited. The support you guys give is just been so helpful to me and I know to others. Most of us who tend to become more introverted as we gain the weight tend to have a smaller circle of people they can confide in, especially if they are single like me. Having a place to go to either get the needed "kick in the pants" or just some support is so appreciated! Thank you everyone for all your kind words!

Thank you and YES, I have saved a bunch of money. I just wasn't willing to let those smaller clothes go because psychologically it was like I would be giving up that I would never lose the weight to get back to those sizes again. Bonus is that I don't have to replace my whole wardrobe. Now, if I do buy something it can be just something special "because I want it". I have a pair of size 4/5 jeans that are brand new when I had gotten down just about as low as I am now thinking it would serve as a motivator/ reward for me to keep going. Sadly, I never reached that final goal then, but I still have the jeans and this time I will make it. What I'm not sure about is with all my loose skin is even if they should fit, they may not because of the excess skin. I'm not going to wig about it either way. Right now I'm wearing a size 10 in most pants, so we will just see what happens.

So, I had all last week off, part holidays, part vacation time I had to burn up or loose. I have been noticing the past few weeks that the "smaller" clothes I was wearing were now starting to look too big. I'm not really a clothes hoarder in the traditional sense (some may disagree), but I have been UP and DOWN for sooooo many years that I started keeping all these various sizes. No, I don't have infinite closets. I actually put up closet dollies down in the basement held up from the ceiling. I actually have 3 of them. One dolly is 12' long, another about 6' and another about 4'. It's a combination of work clothes, everyday clothes, jackets and then my show outfits when I compete at horseshows. Anyhoooo, I decided it was time to shed my bedroom closet and go "shopping" downstairs. I actually have some pretty nice things in the smaller sizes, so there wasn't really a need to pay money at the store. Then, yesterday a very good friend of mine who retired a couple of years ago offered to let me come raid her closet today for her work clothes since she doesn't need them anymore. I had to go to the store to buy some more hangers- LOTS of hangers. Some of the fun was some of her clothes were too big, but like me she had different sizes from times when she was thinner. How cool to be able to say, "I'm sorry but this is too big". Some really nice blazers, blouses, sweater sets, dress shoes (we wear the same size shoe!). Also, when I was "shopping" in my basement, i was trying on some skirts and such and to my amazement several fit. I have not worn a skirt in several years because I didn't want people to actually "SEE" my legs and see the roundness of my fat calves. They are still bigger than I like, but I'm not one to wear short skirts anyways. But, I'm to the point where I am now willing to wear skirts again. I actually got some panty hose today, something I haven't bought or worn in many many years (no need if I didn't wear skirts or dresses). I had no idea what size I would need to buy and so I looked at the sizing chart on the back and it said I should wear a size "B" pantyhose, not Q, not 1x, 2x, etc... Wow, talk about an amazing feeling!!! After I got home from the store and my friends house, hanging up all my new clothes, I decided I should try on the new panty hose because I was still in a little disbelief that I could wear a size "B". Sure enough they fit.... I hadn't seen my friend in a couple of months and when she saw me her mouth just dropped. She was like WOW, you look amazing. Her young adult daughter was there and she says, "wow, you are so skinny". Of course, I'm not skinny, but compared to where I was, I'm a lot thinner. Talk about ego boosters!!! It will be funny when I go back to work Tuesday and people start seeing me dressing so different. I have had a tendency to wear bigger clothes and didn't really spend a lot of time trying to dress super nice- just felt like it was a lost cause when I was so big. What a way to start out 2012!!! 102# down in 6 months, and 10 days!!! wooot!! wooot!!!! Final goal, here I come!