Nancy Rivers

LOL - that really made me laugh. Thanks, I needed that.

Did you ever get a response on this? My friend who had lap band done used the Body Fortress Whey Protein Powder. He said it was the only one he liked. However I saw on the Meijer website that it says in the description that it is not for weight loss - so that has me concerned about it. Is it ok to use or not?

So glad you are feeling better and the sleeve is working for you. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I'm just starting this journey and appreciate reading about everyone's experiences.

Thanks. I have been working on a list of questions for him. I just got the confirmation call from the office, and so asked the person calling what to expect. She told me that I would also be meeting with the dietician tomorrow! Wow. Wasn't really expecting that. I'm excited for this. I know it's something that I *have* to do for myself as I am really tired of being sick and tired all the time. Although I am a bit anxious about the first meeting for some reason.

Tomorrow I meet with the surgeon for the first time. I already know that I will be self-pay as my insurance specifically excludes WLS. I went to the "informational meeting" back in April, but this will be my first time meeting with the surgeon face to face as it were. I have no idea what will happen. What should I expect?

Congratulations! Keep up the good work!

That looks awesome! I am a size 28W now - so I really love your pictures. I just hope that someday I can be that small - although I never ever remember being that small....

I have decided not to tell my family. My sister is a nurse - and teaches nursing - and is dead set against any type of weight loss surgery. A few years ago, one of my friends got the lapband and I was mentioning it in a conversation with my sister. I wasn't like "oh this is so cool" or "I really need to have this done" or anything like that - it just came up in conversation. Well, apparently, my sister thought that meant that I was definitely going to have that surgery and told me that under no certain circumstances was I to also have surgery because they are not safe. I replied that I wasn't thinking of it (which at the time was true) and by the way, he wouldn't be doing the surgery if he hadn't checked it out and thought about it. My sister thinks that I should be able to diet and loose the weight because she was able to do it. Well, I'm not her and never have been. My parents "put a lot of stock" into what she says, so that's why I am not telling them. They just won't understand. On the flipside, the same day I made my decision to have the surgery, I saw someone who I haven't seen in a few years and her comment to me was "Have you lost weight?". I merely replied no. I didn't bother to go into the fact that I have actually gained weight since she last saw me and I'm at my highest weight ever now. Many people don't realize that I weigh 290 because of the way I carry it on my body - they all think I'm less than 200. Once when I told someone I was dieting and they asked how much I wanted to loose, they almost fainted - they said "You don't have that much to loose!".

Congratulations on making it this far! Good luck tomorrow. With all of the prep you have done, I have no doubt that you will come through it with flying colors. Just relax and enjoy the journey. You deserve it.

Hi, I haven't been sleeved yet (meeting the surgeon the first time on Wednesday), but I do have bulging disks in my lower spine. In fact in 2007 I underwent an operation for one of them because it was pinching the nerve that went down my right leg - so much so that it hurt constantly and I actually could not move a couple of days because of it. My doctors at the time (the surgeon and my gp) all told me that if I was to loose weight it would help the situation in my back. I'm finally getting around to following their advice after living with the pain for all these years. I truly hope they are right. It would certainly make sense for the pain to ease up - after all your back is supporting your entire torso. And if your overweight, it has even more to support and thus under more stress. By loosing the weight, it removes some of that burden so reduces the stress on your back.

Good luck!

That is so great! Keep up the good work!

LOL - I won't be complaining about that!

Thank you for sharing your experiences. This has me worried now. I'm meeting with the surgeon for the first time on Wednesday (May 18), and I will definitely be asking him about this. The reason: I have insomnia now. I hope it doesn't get worse.

You're looking awesome! Fantastic progress. Keep it up!

Wow that is totally amazing! Congratulations to you! I never knew they made bras that large.... Shows how naive I am!

Congratulations! Good luck with the medically supervised diet!

Congrats! Thanks for sharing.

Congrats to all of you! That is fantastic!

Congrats! Thanks for sharing your experience with the food. That's one reason I decided to do this - hoping that my taste for certain foods would change. I don't know if they will or not, and I know I have no real say in which foods it would happen with, but I am hopeful.

Sounds awesome! Way to go! The second picture in the top row is very similar to one that I took when I went to Hawaii 5 years ago with my sister - although it didn't contain any people (I wanted the nature shot). Keep up the good work.

Thanks everyone. Still haven't had a soda, although yesterday I had 2 people offer to buy me one. Hmmm... hopefully it was just them trying to be nice because they were getting one and not because I was cranky.... LOL Yesterday was tough - way too much happening. Today will also be a challenge in more ways than one. The location that I am currently teaching at has an open house/family fun day scheduled today and I need to be there for the company I work for. We're trying to drum up business again as our class sizes have started to shrink again. I'm hearing there will be all kinds of activities - petting zoos, bands, acrobatics, and of course food. I will have a stamina challenge as I will be more physically active today than in the last 3 years. Plus the challenge of not drinking caffeinated beverages. But I am looking forward to the fun. Hopefully the rain holds off....

Congratulations! What a great feeling that must be.

Congrats! Thanks for sharing your experience.

I was taking metformin - but never had an issue with that. My doc switched me to byetta and took me off metformin in an effort to get me to lose weight and control the sugar. It's not working either.... Thanks for your comments. I appreciate it.