Chimera

What a wonderful slideshow of your journey - makes me think maybe I should take some photos during this process rather than hide from the camera like usual Your journey is very inspirational - hope I can be close to those 130's this time next year. Thanks for sharing, and your hubby is a sweetie for putting that together.

Sleeved May 21 and am down 41 lbs since surgery with a pre-op loss (over a year) of 44 lbs. My biggest challenges are still wanting to drink and eat at the same time - and trying to get my left knee with the program so I can get more movement in, which will hopefully improve as I lose more weight. Great job everyone!

Surgery 5/21/12 - down 41 since surgery - lost 44 pre-op. I am settling in to my losing pattern, which is a loss of about 2 to 2.5 lbs a week right now.

I can imagine the huge gamut of vitamins and minerals is much broader than what we even get with all of our vitamins - I bet you feel great. I think it would be fine unless you were consuming lots and lots of fresh juices - just due to the natural sugars - i.e. carb content. I wish my husband would make freshly juiced veggies and fruits for me - but we dont have a juicer.

Turkey meatball! This is my favorite thing ever - http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2009/02/warm-gooey.html

haha!

They showed us a fine technique during the pre-surgical meeting. Roll onto your side (the direction off the bed) and start to slide the legs off the bed first, the gently push yourself up with your arms and voila` you are up and out of the bed. I was up and out of that hospital bed constantly as well. The pain was minimal for me (other than the gas pain which will go away with walking after your surgery) so it was not hard to get out of bed.

Dr. Gottlieb came to a support group meeting a few month ago and told us all about the different procedures available, how plastics work, etc. He is in Seattle and here is a link to his website. When the time comes I think I may be giving him a ring as well lol. http://www.plasticsurgeryseattle.net/

For me, this process is as much about beating addictions as it is about losing weight - obviously these go hand in hand for many of us. If flat DC floats your boat and makes you happy then right on. We all have our preferences and methods that work for us. Sounds like your doc is farily lenient about pre and post op recommendations, as you commented on a different thread in response to my own regarding liver shrinking protocol. Many however are not - I think my own surgeon falls squarely in the middle and the stance is no carbonation, period. Diet coke is one of those substances I consider a gateway drug for myself and my husband. Next thing I want hamburger buns and french fries and tartar sauce and then onto the fried foods lol - bad spiral. LT1002 - text carries no inflection by the way - and if one is reactionary it tends to say more about the 'reactor' than the originator. If someone doesnt agree with you, oh well, get over it.

Ooh Kiki I am not sure what shipping was but I dont think it was that much, I know the Lindora site has this stuff as well, but it is also a little pricier - I can see if I saved a receipt from my last order. I still counted it as 12 g even straining the stuff out - just did the best I could early out - was more concerned tht it was liquid. As far as the ticker goes there is a code that is posted once you make one at tickerfactory for example that you can paste into your signature line when you are editing your profile. There are nice tickers that you can use that the board has as well. Just select tickers when editing and you should get to them. thank you for the kind words

Behold the Protein Soups these saved me. I strained the noodles and veggies out of the chicken soups early out and now eat them as is. I found them to be pretty tasty, and not too salty. Watch the temperature on the creamier types of soup (like the tomato) they clump pretty bad as most protein things to when the heat is too high. they dont stink like unjury does. http://www.familybar.../18/Diet-SOUPS/

Beautiful What wonderful success - you look great and I bet you feel great too!

I don't do fat free - full fat cheese, sometimes 2%, and milk when I have it is also 2%. I have heard that it is better to have a bit of fat than try and reduce it to much. My fat usually is never very high for daily totals anyway - eat red meat only occasionally. I love tuna salad, and chicken salad - but eating it now that I am onto solid foods I find that it can act almost like a slider food - measuring it out is important for me. My most filling choices are: Chicken tenderloins eggs cheese sticks Bonbels lean ground turkey Steak and my go to dinner that is so filling and easy that I have it for most dinners, we get the frozen ones - 3 turkey meatballs, 160 cals, 18g Protein, 3g carb, 9 fat

I gained 20 lbs - had two blood transfusions, got home and had an incision open up that decided it was old faithful (good reason to finally get rid of all those ratty old towels haha) I think it was gone within the second week home? At a month out I was down 23, and that is not including that hospital blow up weight.

Other brands of the Protein chicken Soups I like and used a lot right after surgery - when my tub of powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury arrived and I opened the cannister I just about fell over it smelled so bad - someone here compared another products smell to "my old hamster cage" when she was a kid - omg that cracked me up, but that is exactly what that stuff reminded me of, nasty smell I am the queen of giving away the protein stuff I no longer like or can no longer tolerate at my support group meetings - I had not one taker on the French vanilla flavored Bariatric Advantage Vitamins though lol - just got a room full of sourpuss faces, I think it is a universal yuck on that flavor I used these and still like them. When I could have full liquids I strained the veggies and noodles out and they were satisfying with no hamster cage smell - not as much protein as the Unjury, but a compromise I made. http://www.familybariatric.com/store/product/113/Soup-Homestyle-Chicken-Soup/ http://www.familybariatric.com/store/product/111/Soup-Cream-of-Chicken-w-Veg./

I was picking up vitamins today at the Dr's office and the nurse coordinator told me that a 40 fb was used for me - I am 5'3. She told me that they feel that there are far fewer complications with the larger sizes - but for us short folks it makes total sense that since we might need a different size from taller folks.

I was allowed to take a bath at 6 weeks - I still had scabs up until then. I am not sure where you are in the northwest but if you are close to Seattle there is a great support group at Swedish hospital that I attend on the second saturday of the month - they also meet on the 4th tuesday in the evenings. I find them to be really helpful. I was looking for a link to the page with the dates - you can call them and they will add you to an email newsletter if you wish. http://www.swedish.org/Services/Weight-Loss-Services#axzz21YFUmv9Z hang in there - I felt like hell for about a month and a half, then things started to get better.

This is true - when my surgeon came in to the final meeting prior to my groups surgery and explained why the need to the liver shrinking diet, about how easy it is to nick it, how what he needs to get at is directly below it - (that incision high on the chest at bra line is for the liver retractor, which is slimmer than a pencil). If your surgeon rolls his eyes and says there is no need - and he was my doc I would follow his orders. My surgeon emphatically told us how important it was that we follow the instructions for a successful procedure. Indeed every doctor is different, just as everyone's experience varies as well.

Kczar, and anyone else who has yet to have surgery - be very careful to stick to your pre-op liver shrinking diet. My surgeon is firm in that if he goes in and sees a liver that has not shrunk with high Protein, low carb/sugar eating he will either cancel surgery or convert to an open sugery (yikes!) The doctors also said that if you have higher sugars at the time of surgery you heal extremely poorly - she compared it to trying to stitch wet toilet paper together - the tissues are spongier and there is a much higher change of infection as well. The key to kicking sugar is to not eat it. I think most folks go through the carb sickness if really addicted. It sucks that first week, but it gets easier. Pre-surgery I quit a 28 year 2 pack a day smoking habit, gave up processed carbs (for the most part), sugar, and a 3 pot a day coffee addiction - did it suck - oh indeed it did. Life is going to be a thousand times easier after surgery if you stop eating it now, trust me. Plus you feel a lot better

I try not to go over 40 g of carbs a day - but if you are exercising with intensity you might run out of gas. What form do your carbs take? Fruit and veg or foods made of flour? Rice? I know for myself that I cannot eat things with flour, rice, sugar, etc. For myself I get the carbs from milk, vegetables, occasional fruits and my Vitamins and Fiber supplements have them too. How many grams of Protein? 80+? H2O - 64 oz plus? vitamins?

Hi my name is Kelly, and I am a food addict... I might have a bite of cake on my birthday in October - but I might just have a popsicle instead I think Catracks brings up a really good point - what would your surgeon say? I think I will keep the idea of that humiliation in mind when I am tempted by something I know that is not part of my losing plan. This board is for support, the truth is most of use ARE ADDICTED TO FOOD - that is why we needed the procedure. The simple truth is that we need to follow our doctors and nutritionists guidelines for this whole deal to work - see we have to do the work - I am going to have to do this work today, tomorrow, 5, 10, 20 years from now if I want to achieve and maintain my goal of a healthy weight - I can try to lie to myself that "this little bite of pastry wont matter" - I might as well be putting a needle in my arm. I've been lieing to myself for years. Wake up. Be mindful, Take care of yourself. Find ways to comfort yourself that do not involve food. Our entire society, no matter the culture revolves around eating too much - we are inundated with these messages everywhere we turn. Be a warrior - for yourself.

I tried my own version of the taco cupcakes these week and the family loved them - I think I might save the wonton cupcakes for when hubby and I are further out though, we have a thing for noodles and I can see the both of us enjoying these just a liitle bit too much lol. They are easier to eat more ounce per ounce than chicken and turkey, so I am going to watch it until we are closer to goal. man these are yummy though

Don't worry you will lose - put that scale away I too have issues with exercizing right now - have had a horribly arthritis flare up that had me in the ER shortly after surgery - Just do what you can, remember this isnt a diet, this is a permanent tool you have had 'installed', the first 6 weeks post surgery was completely wacky for me, as it has been for lots of other folks. Remember the statistics - this happens over time, in a year if you follow post op orders you will lose most of if not all of your excess weight. Dont worry

I usually buy Fage brand - but I will certainly be reading labels closely if I ever buy another brand of Greek yogurt. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/07/19/156997600/high-tech-shortcut-to-greek-yogurt-leaves-purists-fuming?ft=3&f=111787346&sc=nl&cc=es-20120722

Best of luck to you guys!