LindaS

How exciting!

Congrats! Thanks for sharing your success with all of us.

I had thought about weight loss surgery previously, but I had major reservations about the banding and absolutely did not want the gastric bypass. I had even signed up to attend a seminar about a year or so before I went through with it. I didn't go to the seminar. This year, in June, I had had enough. I signed up for a seminar and attended it. I learned about the sleeve, and I knew it was the one for me. I had surgery less than 6 weeks later.

I think it does. My husband has commented lately that I am "bonier" in that area. He said it is hard to describe, but he can feel a difference from just a few months and 55 pounds ago. In addition, as the gut deflates, it makes certain areas easier to reach.

I get it from BariatricChoice.com. I like the Protein Fruit drinks because I find myself getting really tired of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors. My favorite flavor is the Peach Mango. Linda

I count Protein, and I don't have a lot of room for anything else once I get my protein in. Still, I do watch my carbs. I try to keep it under 50 a day. It seems to work well for me. If I do go over one day, I don't worry about it. I know it isn't normal.

Mine went pretty fast. I went to the initial seminar the last week of June. I was on vacation the first week of July, and I came back to scheduling my first appointment with the surgeon. The rest of the appointments took up a lot of my time, but they went quickly. My surgery was less than 6 weeks later on August 9.

You can get a protein fruit drink that is lemonade flavored. It has 15 grams of protein and is made by Bariwise.

I actually found the day after Thanksgiving to be harder than the day of Thanksgiving. We had family around and things were hectic and not normal, so I didn't stay on my regular eating schedule. I had to guess amounts and probably ate too many nuts and olives that were sitting out.

I like the content, but the font size and style make it very hard to read. I had to copy and paste it so I could see it. Can you try to make the font size larger?

You are definitely a success! I just read your blog post "fatty boom batty," and I love what you said about self image and weight. Excellent!

Since my surgery, I feel like one of my close friends has been avoiding me. I would have said we were similar in size although she is a couple inches taller. When she found out I was having the surgery, she said she weighed about 40 pounds less than I would have guessed. I didn't question it. She also said she was close to qualifying for surgery. Anyway, since my surgery three months ago, I've only seen her about twice. The first time she was acting very concerned for me and kept saying how hard it had to be emotionally to not be able to eat and drink normally. I told her I was doing great and didn't have problems. She kept saying, "Well, yeah, but...." It was sort of like she was trying to create problems for me. The next time I saw her, she was noticeably smaller. I made sure to comment on it. She looked good. I can't help but think my weight loss made her do something. I suspect she may be taking diet pills, but she hasn't said so. She lost about 20 pounds. Things were still weird between us. She still seems distant and is looking for reasons I should be concerned. I'm not going to worry about it though. I need to do my own thing.

You look fantastic!

You can edit your settings. I make sure my protein is where I want it, and I don't worry about any warnings about low calorie intake. I like that it is a very easy way for me to keep track of my protein.

Hugs! I noticed when I went for my presurgery support group that several people in the group had crutches and casts on their feet. It made me wonder about it. I hope you recover quickly. I know how frustrating it can be when you injure your foot, but I want to tell you to let your foot heal. I broke my ankle in 1997, and I think I tried to do too much too fast. (I was on crutches from December 97 to April 98.) I had three little ones including one who could not yet walk. I learned to push her in a stroller while I walked behind on crutches, etc. I think if I had stayed off my foot longer than tried to find alternatives to make it work, my ankle would have done a better job healing. So rest!

I found that I can't take my calcium vitamins if I have an empty stomach. When I've tried to, I start producing a lot of saliva and feel like I could throw up but don't.

I haven't experienced this yet, but I know it is coming. My aunt had RNY about 10 years ago. For years, my MIL would say how bad my aunt looked because she was TOO skinny. My aunt has started to gain weight back, and for a while my MIL was saying she looked good. Now my MIL is saying my aunt is too fat. Yet no one dares tell my MIL that she is too fat. When I first decided to have surgery, she asked me a few questions. I think she was interested but soon declared she was "too old." She's 63 and doesn't work, so she would have plenty of time to recover fully. At least this thread gave me some ideas of how to respond when it is me she is talking about. :smile1:

Great job!

I have a hard time finishing my lunch during my hour-long lunch break. I finally switched to Protein shakes because I just can't eat that fast and still allow time for me to brush my teeth. I was sleeved August 9, and in October, I got braces. I teach, so I am very worried about keeping my teeth clean of food. I gave up on the not drinking within a half hour before and after the meal. It wasn't one of my doctor's instructions, so I haven't followed it. When I'm actually eating, I only take a sip once in a while. For instance, today my chicken was very spicy and a sip was required.

My first couple of nut evaluations weren't really evaluations. They were more like lessons for me. The nutritionist went over the various products to help me get Protein, how to read nutrition labels, and gave me guidelines to look for (like less than 6 grams of sugar per serving). The first eval before my surgery discussed my pre-op diet and what would happen in the hospital. It was a group meeting, so I wasn't the only one there. My second nut eval was in the hospital when I was going home. This was mostly to make sure I was ready to go home and have my protein needs met while on a liquid diet. My third nut eval was again with a group. It was going over the stages and included meal portions, more food label stuff and then was discussing how to meet nutrition needs with real food rather than supplements. I have two more appointments that I can make for one on one evals as I need them.

I had an appointment with my surgeon today. He said he looks for me to lose at least 60 percent of my excess weight in the first year. I need to lose about 110 pounds, so I would lose 66 pounds to be 60 percent of my weight. I've lost 52 pounds in three months. My weight loss has slowed. I lost about 20 pounds the first two months and another 10 pounds the third month. All of this is to say, you aren't a slow loser at all.

It happens to me. I was sleeved in early August. About a month later, I went camping and walked around in a bathing suit feeling so skinny. Pictures later revealed that 20 pounds lost didn't really amount to much. I felt so much skinnier though. I am seeing differences in pics now, but I know what you mean. Even though I can see I'm smaller, I still get surprised by how much more I need to go.

I had my surgery laproscopically (clueless on spelling that). I have six small scars. Five are less than a half inch in length and one of those is right by my belly button, so it is almost hidden. The last one is where they took out my stomach and left the drain for a week. It is about an inch and a half long. My doc used steri strips without stitches or staples. I'm healing well, and I don't think the scars look too bad.

One of mine was to have my teenage daughters borrow my clothes. I have three daughters, and they are all normal weight range. I shouldn't have asked for this one. LOL I am now in large shirts, and my oldest daughter (who has really big breasts) is borrowing my shirts. She fits a medium shirt, but she likes the length large shirts give her. My pants are still too big. :-) Maybe, I should have made this "when I can borrow my teenage daughters' clothes."

I just went to my bariatric surgeon today, and he used a special scale to weigh me. My body fat is 43.4 percent; fat mass is 89 pounds and fat free mass is 115.5 pounds. My water weight is 84.51 pounds. My BMI is 31.6, and my overall weight (with clothes on) is 204.5. I'm 5 feet 7.5 inches tall, and 40 years old. I have a while to get to he desirable fat percentage, which is the 23-34 percent range.