FloraBama Girl

Hope you all are doing well after your surgery. Best wishes to you.

Sugar Free Tropical Popsicles is what helped me through it. They add to your water total too. Find a shake that you actually like, l like Pure Protein pre-made and powder. Chicken broth is good when you want something hot. It does get easier, good luck to you. Steph

Being anemic all my life I have always been cold. Since surgery it got worse and I too am wearing socks, jackets, sweaters, gloves, blankets.... You get the picture? Every now and then a hotflash surfaces, then I feel like I will internally combust. LOL. God help us women.

Welcome to Vertical Sleeve Talk. I wish you well and congratulate you on chosing to improve your health. There s so much information and support here. My anniversary for 1 year is coming up on August 24. I am down 82lbs. For my experience with the surgery, it was virtually painless. I was up walking the ward as soon as I got back to my room. The only challenge I experience at first was finding the right amount of food my pouch could handle. It let me know when I had crossed the line. I have only gone from 220 in November to 188 now. Losing our insurance then I lost my job in January put me in a couple of stalls. I realized I had not been eating properly so I started a 5 day pouch test I found on Living well after WLS. It allows you to break the carb cycle and get back to high Protein. I had been stuck at 194 for months. Since starting this test I have lost 7 lbs already. So the important things I think are getting up and moving after surgery. Listen to your body after you get home. Get your daily protein and Water limits. Exercise at least 3 days a week. Take your Vitamins. Sorry for rambling, Stephanie

Finally broke a stall and dealing with swelling and down 2 pounds to 189. Doing a 5 day pouch test seems to have helped me break the stall. Really frustrating when excess fluid puts you over 200 again. Thought that number was long gone.

I found them at Walmart. They were at the far left end of the produce counter where there is refrigeration. I made the French Dip Cupcakes from Emily Bites recipe this week and I and the hubby loved them. 1 filled me up and 3 filled the hubby up. Has anyone found Au Jus gravy in a jar? It calls for the Au Jus in this recipe but I had to get the powder package kind. I thickened it up with a bit of cornstarch and use the rest of it (package made 3 cups of gravy) for dipping sauce. They were even better heated up the next day. Also I baked the first wonton in the muffin pan at 350 for about 5 minutes before putting in the first layer. That kept the first wonton from getting soggy of the bottom. Can't wait to try the taco cupcakes.

This is from the Prevention Flat Belly Diet book. They call it Sassy Water and it is very refreshing. 2 liters or about 8 1/2 cups water 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger 1 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced 1 medium lemon, thinly sliced 12 small spearmint leaves Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and let the flavors blend overnight. I think I will make up a batch for Saturday.

I started out with the bariatric surgery team at Celebration Hospital. It was taking so long to get any appointments for meeting with people I needed for the pre-op insurance approval that I wasn't going to make it to surgery before my insurance ran out. I remembered a previous call with a person that recommended the program at Flagler Hospital. I didn't start the approval process with Flagler until July 14, 2011. Melissa Smith is the best person to get you in the program. I feel in love with Melissa and everyone else I meet in the program. They fast-tracked me to surgery which was done on August 24,2011. My appointment with the Celebration dietitian was going to be on August 22. I felt like a number with the Celebration program and a close friend with the other program. I am an example where the change was not because of the surgeon but the program itself. It was the best decision I ever made.

I am a litle blown away with your emotional shopping trip. What a feeling that was for you. You look so beautiful in that dress and probably everything else you are wearing. Have a great time on your trip. Sounds like a trip of a lifetime.

Hello fellow August sleevers, I have lost 76 lbs and down to 191. I was stuck at 200 for the longest time. I am back to losing 1 -2 pounds a weeks and I am just fine with that. Wow, I never knew having an overweight BMI of 30 would excite me so much but I can't be listed as morbid obese ever again! This site has helped me when the going got rough. Being out of work since January has caused a lot of stress on me and I think that is what caused the stall. Can't wait to hit the 100 pounds goal.. Hope I will be getting close to that goal by my birthday on August 21. It has been so hot here in Orlando Florida, it is 80 degrees by 7:00am which limits outside activities. So stay cool everyone and we will check in again next month. Congrats to all of you who have hit or passed your goal weight.

I tried Buffalo Chicken Bites and Mini Meatloaf Muffins from Emily Bites website. Both were very good and even my husband liked them. These recipes makes several servings for meals so it makes it easy to have a quick and ready protein serving without any more cooking or preparation. Go to www.emilybites.com for these recipes and many more.

I made the Mini Meatloaf Muffins off of the Emily Bites website. The only thing I changed was to use Chili sauce instead of ketchup. They were so good I couldn't believe it. One is filling is eating with other veggies, two are great without anything else. They refrigerated good and heated up great too. I think they would freeze fine also. The recipes makes 12 good size 'muffins'. It has grated carrots in the recipe so you kids would get a little veg out of it. Check out Emily Bites for a lot of more recipes. The website is www.emilybites.com .

I love spicy food, the only thing bad right now is just about everything gives me gastric reflux. If I take Zegerid it keeps the acid down. Being without a job makes it hard to try to pay $30 for 22 days worth of treatment of Zegerid. I try what we have on hand but it just doesn't work like the Z stuff. Had an job interview today that went pretty good so maybe I will be employed again soon. Having insurance would be so great again. Sorry for the venting.

If you like nuts and can eat them, then there is a protein bar called Rockin' Roll Nutty Peanut. You can get them on Amazon. If you like Payday candy bars, these tast like them with less sugar taste.

Best of luck to you and hope you have a fast recovery. Be sure to get up as soon as you can and walk as much as you feel like you can. We will be here waiting on you to hear how you are doing.

It's working now. Yeah!

Okay, does anyone know how to fix this?

I want to see if the liyslim shows up. it didn't on my signature page.

To DebraLea, Go up to the top right of the page where it shows your picture where you are logged on. Click on that a list appears of things you change. My Ticker is one of them. Click on that and it will take you to the ticker page you had set up. There are options to Edit, Delete and Add to Signature. I think the add to signature is what is messing up everybody. The next thing to check is go back to your logged on at the top of the page and click again. My Settings is the next one to select. When that come up, look at the list on the left. Choose Signature, when this returns you can see if any tickers remain for your signature. I deleted all my and when I sit up a difference ticker, it stilled show the last one I used. Pretty frustrated with it. I think I will get an external again. Hope this helps.

I made the Buffalo Chicken Bites. Me and my husband loved them. The refrigerated leftovers heat up really good and they taste just as good or better than the first time they came of the oven. I want to make some of Emily Bites recipes soon too. I copied several of the cupcake recipes and can't wait to try them. Will post when I do. Good eating to everyone. Steph

Hey Sweet Home Alabama Group, I was wondering if any else is anxious to see the football season to start. My weekends are so dead without a game to watch. My withdrawal was so bad yesterday, I watched the BCS champioship game again. One matter who you root for we welcome all posts.

How is everybody doing? My last weigh in put me at 70lbs loss. I have been stuck at 67 lb loss for so long I didn't think I would ever see the other side of 200. Part of the stall is my thyroid and blood levels are down really low. Being out of work and no insurance are contributing factors. Trying to keep positive because that seems more productive than being sad. Was just curious how the other August 2011 sleevers are doing. Hugs to all. Stephanie

Praying for you Mary. Hope each day you get better and better. All of us on here are behind you 100%.

I been stalled since February but I know I am causing it. I lost my job in January and have been a little bit depressed. Not excercising and eating enough is enough to cause the stall. I know it and know how to fix it but just don't feel like it most days right now. Hope to get a job soon, that would help a lot. The best was to end the stall is to eat more Protein and excercise.