SKCUNNINGHAM

I am not a coffee drinker, so I have no advice there. I did enjoy alcohol pre-sleeve - usually tequila sipped like cognac or irish whiskey the same way. Occasionally I would drink a mixed drink, glass of wine and rarely a beer. I have tried alcohol twice since the sleeve to see what happened / how I tolerated it. I really have no interest in drinking until I hit goal, because alcohol is worse than carbs from a calorie standpoint and turns to pure sugar once you drink it. It is 7 calories per gram (Protein and carb are 4). The first time I tried tequila, 2 mouthfuls and I had a buzz. These were after I had eaten food, and spaced a little apart. I had the same reaction after drinking about 2-4 oz. of beer. If I am that sensitive to alcohol's effects with food in my stomach, I cringe to think what it would be on an empty stomach. So to me - booze is out until I am maintaining after hitting goal. When I have had to be in a social setting where people were drinking alcohol, I drink a glass of bloody mary mix with a lime wedge. No carbonation like sparkling Water would have. Or, you could tell your friends you are watching your weight, and are skipping the added calories of alcohol while you are in the losing phase. Good luck.

Asking me to pretend to have surgery would have been just as successful for me as abstinence as a form of birth control. I could be successful for short stints, but not the rest of my life. (that, of course, applied when I was young and had to worry about birth control - happily that worry is LONG past).

You had an IV. Each pint of liquid they pump into weighs approximately 1 pound. The bags are 1 liter, which is bigger than a quart, so over 2 pounds. You had many bags of fluid - which you haven't had a chance to get rid of yet. Your body is in shock - it didn't like being cut on - and is retaining fluids because of it. The previous poster is right - stay off the scale for a few days. Just remember what you weighed before surgery, and then maybe a week afterwards.

http://www.healthche...weightchart.htm The link above is from the Metropolitan Life Insurance company - it is their official height / weight tables. It lists the target weight ranges for women assuming 3 lbs of clothing wearing 1" heals. It also lists the ranges by frame size (small, medium and large). If you don't know your frame size - it also tells you how to measure and determine that - by using the distance between the two prominent bones in your elbow when your arm is bent at a 90 degree angle to your body. So first, determine your frame size. Then, find your target weight range from the chart. Determine how much weight there is from where you started to both the top and bottom of the target weight range. That would be the high and low numbers for how much excess weight you started with. My surgeon told me a VSG sleve patient usually losing 85% of their excess weight in the first year. So take 85% of both your excess weight numbers and subtract that from your original weight. That will give you your high and low numbers for how much weight you will probably lose in the first year. Here's an example using my numbers: I started out weighing 253. I am 5'4 barefoot Using the method described on the link, I measured the distance between the two bones in my elbow at 2". This means I have a small frame (hard to believe). Going to the chart for height and weight, a 5'5" women with a small frame should weigh 117 - 130. That means I was carrying between 122 to 136 pounds of excess weight. (253-130=122, 253-117=136) 85% of these numbers are 104 and 116 pounds projected weight loss at one year (85% *122=104, 85%*136=116 both numbers rounded up) So my goal weight for one year is most likely between 137 and 149. Hope this helps

You have done great - congratulations! I bet this bounce you are experiencing will stop and you will get back to your previous weight. Good luck, and hope to see your around the forum. Sharon

Coops - there is no way you gained a pound a day through what you are eating. It has to be the medicine. I think your body is responding to the trauma (injury) it has sustained, too, and you may be retaining some of the Fluid you are drinking. How about being particularly nice to yourself and put the scale away until your injury is healed, you are off the medicine, and you are back to exercising? Your measure of success could be your food journal and your tape measure. Continue to do what you are doing - you are doing the right things. That should be your "yardstick". Don't be ruled by the damn mechanical / electronic device! You are going through enough aggrivation to willingly dump more on yourself. Good luck to you. I hope your injury heals quickly.

Dr. Nicholson and Dr. Barker in Dallas are co-owners of the Park Forest MEdical Center - a hospital that specializes in Bariatric Surgery in Dallas, TX. Dr. Nicholson (my surgeon) gives a good deal to self-pay patients - particularly when you go to the Park Forest hospital. Both docs are very experienced Bariatric and sleeve surgeons. Dr. Nick's website is www.nicholsonclinic.com

I will be 55 during the Christmas holidays. But - I will be the size I was when I graduated high school and college - which is a heck of a lot better than being fat and 55. For you youngsters just turning 50 - wait until the folks at AARP start sending you info in the mail! I have just now stopped tearing it up and started reading it (they have a huge staff and some well researched material). I might even join those guys at some point - you never know. Also, thank God for clothes to hide the pleats of wrinkles that puddle at certain places on my body. And thank goodness my husband is near sided without his glasses, so I am just a fuzzy out of focus smaller woman, and he can't see all the wrinkles all the time.

I picked up an issue of Oprah’s magazine in my doctor’s office, and saw the article on the inside back page, titled “This I know for Sure”. The title captured my attention more than the content – because it rang true for me. In life there are things we know and believe to our very core – items which we are sure of in every Fiber of our being. Here are some of my items that I know for sure . . . VSG was the right decision for me to make positive change in my life I will never go back to the way I was pre-VSG. This is a forever commitment I have made. I will not hold perfection up as a goal for myself – I will strive for making sane, healthy choices. Nothing that I have lost, left behind or can no longer indulge in is important to me in the grand scheme of things. There is nothing in my cabinets or fridge I need to fill my life with. I will fill my life with LIFE.

If someone is looking at my skin closely enough to see stretch marks, I assume they are a close friend or family member. If they aren't and are looking at them critically, then poo on them. How about viewing the stretch marks as signs of accomplishment? If you don't like the way they look either use the fade creams or cosmetics to hide them.

I just checked my glasses temple - space between the temple pieces and my temples! Yea! Thanks Rootman, I hadn't noticed that. I think big ears on a guy are lovable. Who wants to have lttle tiny ears?

Thinoneday - what is happening to your facility is happening at others too. My sis is a PA at a low cost health care clinic, and the same stuff is going on there. She was killing herself trying to see way too many patients in a day. There certaininly doesn't seem to be any good answers coming from our leaders. How about substituting beef Jerky for licorice? Individual small packages of beef jerky are high Protein, low calorie (relatively) and offer lots of satisfying chewing. I go for those when I just have to chew. And I drink flavored propel Water or peach mango crystal lite instead of diet coke. Hang in there!

Tiffykins - If you weren't expecting and just maintaining your loss, how frequently do you get your blood nutrients checked with a full set of labs? Or, do you just have specific things checked?

I crushed or cut any tablets I took at first, and gradually got the pieces bigger as I was farther from surgery. I have been taking all of my pills whole for a few months now. Vitamins and minerals, which tend to be large, I get in a chewable or sublingual form. Most pharmacies have a clever gadget that can crush or cut pills for just a few bucks. Good luck.

Congratulations! You are AWESOME! Can't wait to join you in the "100 pound club".

If you want to spend time at your family's place and you want to make sure you stay on your plan, take food with you. If your husband wants to go somewhere with you, take a small ice chest and take what food and drinks you need. I have gotten through the first seven months doing that. I will not let myself be put into a situation where I need to eat and don't have any good options. Good Luck.

If you are on blood pressure meds, check your blood pressure - it could be very low. Mine was, and I had to reduce my BP medicine. I was also anemic and had to start taking Iron. Also, it took me a couple of weeks to recover from the anesthesia. Hope you feel better soon.

Coops - I'm sorry to hear you injured yourself and have to be on medication. That is miserable! I can sympathize - I sprained my ankle badly, and was in a boot cast for 5 weeks and an ankle stabilizer for 3 weeks (next week will be the last week). I had to watch my intake carefully - and my weight loss has really slowed down since the injury. I am looking forward to getting back to my pre-injury exercise program. Resist the urge to comfort yourself with food. All the bad carbs in my house were talking to me something fierce after my injury. I resisted - but it was tough. If I felt the urge to munch, I would eat a serving of raw sugar snap peas, or a serving of raw carrots, or 1 ounce of beef Jerky. Again - my heart goes out to you. Hope you feel better soon.

I think my taste and sense of smell have changed since my surgery. I really enjoy the natural sweetness of certain foods - baby carrots, scallops, sugar snap peas, etc. I am really enjoying the taste of steamed squash with just the tiniest hint of butter and lightly salted. I haven't been eating any white carbs or high fat / high sugar foods, so I guess I have learned to appreciate the subtle pleasures of what I am eating. I do think my body only appreciates the "good" foods if I stay away from the "bad" foods. I had 1" of a twice-baked potato half last weekend. When I put that potatoe-y / cheesy bite in my mouth, I thought I could hear angels singing! Truly it tasted wonderful. But I had eaten my 3 oz. of Protein and had eaten a veggie serving, and stopped at 3 bites of the potatoe. Any more and I would have passed the full point where I stop eating. My sense of smell has gotten very acute. I can smell chocolate if there is any around me. I can smell sugary candies if I get anywhere close to them. Kind of funny, really.

What you are experiencing is normal. You will get better - by the second or third week my acid was much more in control. When I would feel acidy, I would drink Water and use one of those dissolving GAS-X strips. I took Famotidine (Pepcid AC) in the morning and prilosec at night. Also, drinking broth seemed to help the acid not be so annoying. Hang in there - you are going through the toughest time of your whole journey. It gets better, and starts getting really fun as you see the pounds and inches melt away. I am spending the weekend getting all of my size 16's packed up to get rid of. I have dropped from a size 24 Women's to a size 12 or 14 Petite. I am still losing - have another 25 pounds to go. I don't know what size I will end up. Good luck!

I'm old school - I use a small notebook and record everything I eat and drink. I track ounces of liquids, calories, and grams of protein, carbs and fat. I do have a smartphone with an app on it, but I like the notebook.

Congratulations! Collar bones are great!

My size 16's are leaving the buidling! I am now into 14's and some 12's, so by-by 16's! The guys at the local thrift shop are used to seeing me come by on Saturdays with a box or two. I'm on a big cleaning spree, in addition to losing weight. I seem to want o get rid of all my excess baggage, not just the pounds.

Back in 1987, I lost about 100 pounds through Modifast. I had just completed the re-feeding phase and started maintenance when I started having gallbladder attacks. I had my gallbladder removed the old fashioned way. But, from the size of the stones I had, I had been haviing gallbladder problems for years, and didn't recognize that was what was happening. It was wonderful to get rid of it - no more "stomach" problems! Doctors won't take out a perfectly fine, non-diseased gallbladder - the same way they won't take out a perfectly functioning appendix. If you are worried you will lose yours afterwards, get the tests done prior to determine if you have exisiting gallbladder problems. If you do, find a surgeon that will take it out while you are getting sleeved. Good luck - it seems you are doing a lot of research on this procedure. So did I. I am very glad I chose the sleeve - it was the right decision for me.

I bought underwear that fit as soon as I shrunk out of the previous size - I hate the feel of loose underwear. I also invested in belts (something I had avoided) to keep my pants up. I realized I needed a belt when I was wearing a lose pair of jeans, reached up into the cabinet to get a glass from the second shelf, and my jeans fell down around my ankles. Thankfully, I wasn't entertaining guests. I wanted to look OK at work, so I wouldn't let what I was wearing be too loose and baggy. I shrunk back into clothes I had kept and bought some. I looked at thrift stores and resale shops, and also shopped outlet sales. I've also swapped some clothes with my sisters. I had a few garments tailored, to have them last a longer in how they fit. When I bought garments, I bought things with an eye to how they would look on me as I continued to shrink. Good luck - this is the fun part!