Knee2010

Completely normal!!! Just get as much rest as you can right now and let your body heal. You should start seeing a drastic improvement in your energy levels and feeling better in another couple of weeks at the most. Just keep trying to get as much liquid in you as you can. If the Protein drinks give you problems (sometimes they are too thick), then thin/dilute them with either a fat free milk or Water. For some people it is easier to drink warm drinks rather than cold. If that is you, (it was me) then keep your Protein Drinks & water in the ice box and just pour a small amount (1/8 -1/4 cup) into a coffee cup and warm it and drink that, then repeat, repeat, repeat, all day so that you are conistently sipping your liquids/protein. At first I would fix a cup of chicken broth and put some in a coffee cup and I would put/set it on my electric mug warmer plate to keep it warm-it would take me so long to drink that coffee cup amount. I remember celebrating when I realized I had finished an entire cup of Soup amount by lunchtime. Just remember, this takes time. Allow yourself the time to heal and you will get thru this!

In my opinion, 46 days out is too early to be eating any kind of bread, even the "thin" ones. The humus and turkey slices are good choices, but the bread will stick and swell. As far out as I am my lunch consists of just cheese slices and chicken slices, no bread. So I eat a "breadless sandwich". Try rolling up some cheese, turkey, chicken, string cheese etc. and see how that feels for you. Even though we have all had the same surgery, it is still a little different for each of us and it is a trial to sometimes find things that work for you. If the bread isn't working right now (and I think that's what is giving you problems), stop eating it and if you really feel like you need bread then try it again in a few weeks. That's one thing you will find out, our tastes change. Somethings that we liked before surgery or right after surgery, all of a sudden we no longer like the taste or the texture of. Give it time, don't loose the faith and make sure and follow YOUR doctor's/nuts plan for you.

Using the mall was a good example to show your friend. It might also help to pass this website on to your friend. Even though she isn't getting the surgery, she can get as much knowledge as your getting from here. I have passed this site on to lots of people (both surgery interested and those who aren't). A lot of times I think those that love us just need extra reassurance that we will be OK, and the unknown is scary.

Our vacation this year (Oct) will be riding the bike from San Antonio to Key West, FL.

In 2008 we rode from San Antonio, TX to Sturgis on a Heritage. Awesome trip! We're thinking of doing it again in the next few years.

Fellow VSGrs, I have a huge dilema. My husband and I will be traveling this weekend to a family get together (surprise 70th birthday for his Dad). Nobody in my husbands family has seen me since the surgery and my dilema is: I am so excited for everyone to see the "New Me", but last year one of my husbands "step/half brothers" passed away. He had started the insurance approval process for the lap-band (I'm guessing he weighed between 300-400 pounds) and during the process he suffered a heart attack. He left behind a wife and 3 young children. How do I handle this? I don't want to upset anybody in the family and while I'm sure they will be happy for me I am also sure everybody at some point will be thinking "what if he had started the process sooner" or something along those lines. Thanks for any words of wisdom and/or guidance given. Karen

Welcome to the losers bench! Elka, thanks for the update on Patrick. Encourage him to sip sip sip, all day. Those teeny tiny sips will add up throughout the day and that's the most important thing at first, staying hydrated.

What a wonderful frame of mind going into this. You so got this!!! I'll be waiting to hear from you afterwards telling me how well you are doing walking the halls and sipping. Here's to keeping the positive vibes coming your way!

Welcome, I'm glad you are doing so well. It just gets better from here on out. This site is a great place to get answers to all your questions so please check in frequently, also, let us know how you are progressing. Even those of us who have been here for a while still enjoy reading about other peoples success!

Good Luck!!! Let us know how you'r doing afterwards and WELCOME TO THE LOSERS' BENCH.

I think you look fantastic!!! You need to send this pic to the Brazilion family so they can see the difference.

Since you don't have a binder, do you have any "ace bandages" or anything that you could wrap real tight, mummy style around your stomach. Just to hold everything nice and tight and still, no jigglying. Hopefully it will be something simple and not the "L" word. Good Luck and let us know. Prayers are with you!

Warm liquids do seem to work better than cold ones at first. I even bought an electric coffee cup warmer/plate that I could set my coffee cup on to keep it warm all day. If you can get one, do so. Make whatever your going to be drinking in a coffee cup and just sip on it all day. To this day, I still drink my bottled Water at room temperature. Some things I can now drink cold (my frozen Protein smoothies), but for me, my water has to be room temperature. I know it's hard to not panic, but take a deep breath (and then take another) and try to relax. If something doesn't seem to be working for you, try something else. You will get a lot of suggestions and help from this site. Not everybody goes/gets thru this the same, but everyone here has at some time or other had questions, so don't be afraid to ask, someone will help you. And it does get easier as time goes on. When you get to advance to foods (even mushies) you might find that what you used to love now you can't stand. Or, you will eat a bite of something and it won't agree with you, don't give up on it completely, wait a couple of weeks and re-try that food. All our stomachs heal at their own pace and sometimes it takes an extra couple of weeks for all the swelling to go down and for your stomach to stop being mad at you. That's what I used to tell myself in the beginning, that my stomach was mad at me for what I had done to it and I would just have to be patient and wait for it to completely heal.

Probably because as you are losing weight you are perhaps starting to stand a little taller (not weighed down so much), possibly you are a little more active now? And as you lose the weight, things will shift, just like during the later part of a pregnancy your hips will spread to accomodate delivery so will you find that things will shift as you lose weight. Maybe if you were large in the stomach area you might have been kinda "resting" on yourself when you were sitting and now that you are losing your muscles are being used to hold yourself upright when sitting? Maybe? At least that is some of the explanations that I have read in past posts from others. How much have you lost so far?

I did take my measurements the night before my surgery and was horrified. While my "brain" always knew I was overweight, my "mind" thought just a little bit. Now I am so glad I took my measurements because when I hit a stall (and I've been stalled for the past 2 months) I take my measurements and can see that the inches are still dropping even though the weight loss has been the same.

I just tried it also and I can do it!!! Wow, what a shocker, when I remove my hands and hold them up in front of me with my fingers touching and look at it it seems so small. No way that is the size of my lower thigh above the knee. (There must be something wrong with this picture, it can't possible be what I see in the mirror, cuz I just don't see it). I guess someday my minds eye will catch up with my brain. lol

Good luck to you both and WELCOME to the losers bench! Hoping for a speedy recovery and looking forward to hearing how ya'll are doing.

Thanks ChaCha, I think I will give it a try. It surely can't hurt and who knows, it might just help. It kinda makes sense that if I massage it/apply pressure then it might help "break it up" and then be less noticible. I'm hoping I can convince my husband that I "need" this to be done nightly and see if I can get him onboard to do it for me. That sounds like a perfect recipe for a good nights sleep. lol

I make my own protein smoothies in the morning for breakfast and use a straw every time. I am 6 months out from surgery and have no problems using a straw. I actually agree with a couple of the posters above. Using a straw throughout the day at work helps me get more liquids in. On the weekends at home I don't use a straw, but during the week I put my smoothie in one of those double insulated plastic glasses that have a lid and a straw so after I finish the smoothie I refill the glass with water and I can take my sips all day. My doctor said it was fine for me to use a straw, but I have read here that some doctors say no. Hope this helps.

I still have a nice shape to my thighs (at least on the front side lol) but I have noticed that if I apply pressure with my hand and rub my thighs I can feel what I'm guessing are small "fat balls" underneath the skin. I'm worried as I lose more weight these will start showing up as cellulite/cottage cheese. Does anybody else have this issue? I was thinking of buying some kind of vibrating/massage thing like those 3 or 4 legged ones that state they are for the back that you can get at Bed Bath & Beyond, but I'm thinking of using it with a lot of pressure on my thighs to try and "break up" these fat balls before they become noticible. I've never had any kind of massage so I'm just guessing/grasping at straws as to whether or not something like this could help. Any ideas? Thanks!

I was so hoping for more input/answers on this topic. I have noticed if I apply pressure with my hand while rubbing my thighs I can feel what I think are little "fat balls". You can't see them, my thighs (at least on the front) have a pretty good shape/appearance. I had starting wondering if I bought some kind of massge thing (like Bed Bath & Beyond sells) if I were to use that applying pressure would it help break up those fat balls. I'm afraid that as I lose more weight that these fat balls (or whatever they are) are going to become noticable.

Like Wheetsin posted above, maybe make a separate area for your food. I finally had to. I would buy/get me things to eat and snack on and when I would go to the pantry mine was gone and all I could see were bags of chips and cookies and all the stuff I'm not supposed to have anymore. I have a husband and 3 kids (ages 21, 22, & 23) in the house. When I finally got tired of "my" food being gone, I set them down and told them that these items ARE MINE. You cannot have/eat them. I can only eat a small amount and it needs to be healthy. I showed them all my plastic containers and said if they are in the ice box with food in them, LEAVE THEM ALONE. That is probably either my dinner or my lunch for tomorrow. I told them if they want to eat what I'm eating to please let me know and I will buy more of it at the grocery store. Since I had that talk with the kids, things are good. They aren't eating my meals/snacks and they have actually had me start to buy them a little bit healthier food for them to eat.

Congratulations to all of you for making this decision!!! I agree, it seems there is always 1 person that it is so hard to tell, for me it was my Mom. She just doesn't understand why I had to do this. And what's sad is even today she will ask me "how much more are you going to lose? when are you going to stop?". She just feels that if I had wanted to lose weight bad enough then I could/should have been able to do it on my own. I have realized that she will never really be on-board with me on this and I also finally realized that I'm OK with that. I know that I have done really well on this journey, and no, I'm not finished yet. lol As long as I have the support of my husband and kids, they are who matter most to me. As you travel this journey, check in here frequently, you will find a tremendous amount of support and advice!

Welcome Cliff. This is a great site to ask questions, everyone here is very helpful. Lots of times (at least for me) I don't even have to ask the question, as things have happened to me it seems I can almost always find that the same things have happened to others and it really helps to have people you can talk to that have gone thru/are going thru the same thing you are. Congratulations on your decision to get healthier.

When does your sister get into town?