LindaS

PeaceQueen, I'm so sorry to hear about your leak. I wish you the best as you recover. You've got this!

My husband weighed this morning and saw the highest number he had ever seen on the scale. He is overweight but not obese, but I am glad to get your reminder. I don't want him to eat my extras and be where I was at. I am hoping my husband gets frustrated enough to start exercising more soon. I don't want to discourage him, so I try to avoid the issue. He knows/says he needs to lose weight, but he hasn't been motivated enough to do anything. Talking about it is the first step though.

I teach at a university, so my work issues were/are very similar to you. I have an office, but I teach in different buildings. I have an hour commute, and I do have access to kitchens as well. I make myself a Protein shake in the morning that is pretty high in protein (plus 30 grams), so it takes me a LONG time to drink it. I add ice when I make it, and it usually serves me for about two hours. I bought myself a blender where the container that you mix it in becomes a cup. I also bought an extra cup for it. You can see it here: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Oster-MyBlend-20-oz.-Personal-Blender/15777393 It doesn't take much time to make a Protein Shake. I use a premixed Protein Drink, add some Protein powder, flavor, milk and ice. You could make up a protein shake the night before and keep it in a thermos. You can pour it into a portable cup and no one needs to know you are drinking your lunch. I like the Protein shakes because most are shelf-stable. I keep some in my office, and I put them in fridges as I need them. I try to keep one in the two fridges that I use regularly. I also like the packets. I get bariwise fruit drink mixes. One packet is 15 grams of protein. I can carry the packet and a shaker (blender) cup in my bag. When I am ready, I just add the Water, and I have a fulfilling drink that is 15 grams of protein as well. Eating real food during my lunch didn't work for me. I usually have an hour, and it can take me a full hour to eat real food. It didn't leave me time to walk across campus let alone brush my teeth (I have braces too). I've found that liquid alternatives work best during the work day. My only exceptions are cheeses. I keep mozzarella sticks and Babybel cheeses in the fridge as well. If I have to eat in front of someone (like during a meeting), I tend to bring yogurt. You could mention that you already ate or have a late lunch planned later, so you are just snacking at that time. Yogurt gives me something to eat without raising too many questions. My energy level wasn't bad during my work day. I went back to work after 3 weeks. I didn't notice any fatigue until around 4 p.m., so most of my fatigue was noticed by my family not my co-workers. Good luck!

I had one stitch externally to hold my drain tube in place for a week. After it was removed, I didn't have any stitches. I am healing nicely.

I had the struggles that Indymom mentioned especially in the first couple of weeks, but I haven't had any complications since surgery. It has been about 5 months for me. I haven't had any nausea or vomiting.

I use a stability ball and do abdominal and oblique (sp?) crunches while sitting on the ball. I find it easier than doing regular crunches, and I still get all of the benefits. I'm 40, and I definitely have loose skin in my belly area. Still, I know my belly area looks a heck of a lot better than it did just a few months ago.

Stairs weren't out of the question for me. I regularly climb about 6 flights of stairs at work -- it is so much easier since being sleeved. (Before being sleeved, I used to take the elevator up and the stairs down; now I use the stairs both ways.) The only restriction I had was that I couldn't pick up anything over a certain weight, and I couldn't do exercises that targeted my core area. I had to wait for that.

I don't know how, but I'd ignore the 9 pound weigh-in since that was not at the normal time you weigh. Besides six pounds sounds more doable -- time to exercise!

I thought for sure my breasts would be the first to go. I was pleasantly surprised to find that at first, I lost the most in my butt/hips area. It was a much needed loss!

Cris, My husband was a bit freaked out about it all as well. He was worried about me -- specifically that something could happen during what was an "optional" surgery. He was very worried. He was supportive but also let me know that I didn't have to go through with it. I had my surgery in August. He was in my room with me right after surgery and witnessed some pretty low blood pressure and heart beats (down to the 30s and 40s). He said I looked like I was on death's door. I improved quickly, but he was not prepared for what I looked like immediately after surgery. I was up and walking around that night, so I really did improve fast. My nurses and surgeons were not worried. Now, my husband is very happy that I had it done. He says I am happier. I also don't have problems with my ankle like I did before, and I have lots more energy.

My weight loss has slowed, but I am still losing. I think it helps me lose more when I do a better job of getting my water intake in. I am still trying to figure this all out though. I have also started exercising regularly, which makes it easy to get the water in plus has other bonuses like more toned body, etc.

Try mixing it up. I was doing really good at first exercising on my own, but I noticed that I was starting to slack off. Plus, life was getting busy. I recruited my teenage daughter and started going to Zumba, and I had motivation again. It is a group thing, and it is fun. Plus, now I have my daughters asking me if we are going or not, and they get so excited when I say we are going (they are 16 and 17, so it is a big deal for them to be excited).

I had to take a class before surgery too, and I had to pay for it for the same reasons you mention. Mine was about $175. It basically was to teach you how to read labels and prepare me for the pre-op diet. During the same meeting, we also talked to the physical trainer and the nurse that is in charge of the post-op floor. The trainer went over exercises you can do while healing like standing push-ups against a wall. The nurse went over pain levels and showed us the drain and answered questions about the hospital stay. I had another class (one on one) in the hospital and a group one after my surgery that covered post-op diet. My surgery costs also include two post-op (one on one) meetings with the nutritionist. I haven't used those yet. She frequently attends our support group meetings as well. I had a sleep study test, an ekg, a psych eval with test, an appointment with my regular doctor for referral and some pre-op appointments with my surgeon. I think that was everything. I also had to come up with the money for the anesthesiologist (around $250) and my share of the entire surgery (about $700) before my surgery could take place. This was to cover my copays and deductibles.

I just spent $48 at Goodwill yesterday. I went through the rack at the size smaller than I thought I was and pulled off every pair of pants that looked decent. For me, this meant I was grabbing size 14s. I then took the whole cart full of about 20 pairs of pants into the dressing room and started trying them on. I was picky about how they fit/felt. I ended up getting about six pairs that fit great. I also tried on about 20 coats and didn't end up buying any of them because I just didn't like them. I even stopped by a real store to check out the coats thinking they might be on sale. They were, but even at 40 percent off I wasn't ready to spend that much. It is so weird seeing how wide the range is in clothing. I tried on a size 4 coat that fit but decided I didn't like the design. I also tried on extra large coats that were too small because of the cut.

I loved your blog, and I agree with Longer Life -- you look like you have lost much more than 100 pounds. I love that your kids gave you a tiara.

I love my Zumba game on the Kinect, but there was a learning curve for me to get it all figured out. My 12-year-old helped me set up facial recognition to make it easier. I have bought a lot of dance games to help me work out at home. I have games for the Wii and the Kinect. I like Dance Dance Revolution 3 and 2(requires a pad for the Wii), Just Dance 2 and Zumba. Right now, we have Just Dance 3 and Dance Central 2 under the tree. I have three teenage girls, and we really have fun playing the dance games. I really like it because I tend to kick their butt. :-) We have even started going to real Zumba classes together.

They are supportive enough for me, but I am on the smaller size for boobs especially since my weight loss. Did you use the insert, SouthernSleever? I was a 40 D and used band extenders to make that fit me before I lost weight. My band size is now a 32, and I am only about halfway to goal, so I do not want to buy a bunch of bras. I'm not sure what my cup size is now, but it is probably still a C or D. I paid $19.99 for two at Kmart. This was the price I saw them at Kohl's for as well. There is a pad thing that you stick into the cup that gives them more support and does a great job of hiding my rather large nipples. I haven't noticed that they aren't good for support. I teach for a living, so I don't do a lot of bouncing anyway. I have worn it to play some dance games with my kids and haven't had a problem. I bought a large, which is what I am wearing in shirts. It pulls over my head. Sometimes though it rolls up in the back, and I need my hubby to help me unroll it. My breasts are strange anyway, in my opinion. They don't meet in the center. I have a gap between them that is more than an inch apart. This bra has done the best job of giving me a more normal-looking cleavage. And more than anything, I like how it smooths out my back fat.

After watching the infomercial, I saw Genie bras at my local Kmart and bought two to try. They were about $20 for 2. They are great. They are comfortable, smooth out my back fat and make my boobs look good. Plus it ends the morning hunt for a bra that fits. It was getting very difficult trying to find one that would fit since my old "normals" looked half full now that my boobs have shrunk. I've seen the bras sold on TV, and I think Kohl's sells them too. They are worth a try. I'll be buying more at least until I reach goal.

Thank you everyone! I just packed up another huge bag of clothes to donate.

MyFitnessPal has been promising me that in 5 weeks I would weigh below 200 pounds since September. It was not accurate. Initially, I thought I would get below 200 before Halloween, but it didn't happen. Then, I thought it would happen before Thanksgiving, but it didn't happen either. I was beginning to think it wasn't going to happen before Christmas. I was hovering just above Onederland. My scale kept saying things like 200.4 and 200.6 and even the very cruel 200.0, but it was not showing anything that started with a 1 until today. I had started telling myself that I was very happy with losing 55 pounds, and I felt great and even if I never lose any more, I am happier than I was 55 pounds ago. I have also started thinking that I don't care if I ever reach my goal of 140 pounds. I am thinking that anything below 180 is going to be gravy for me. But I don't want to change my ticker yet. Plus, I have finally gotten below 200. It wouldn't have happened without exercising.

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