Pookeyism

Your minor victories are pretty awesome! These are called NSV's, Non-Scale Victories (in case you didn't know).

If you are losing enough weight I would say by all means add more calories, but just limit the grains. I have absolutely no grains. Consider raw fruits and veggies to increase your calorie intake. At 8 months out I was beginning to experiment with the foods I am eating now. Keep it healthy, seasonal, and hydrating and you should be OK

Do you mean can you progress past a certain amount if calories at a some point?

I looked very off, my lower tummy was off by about 3 inches, tugged at the stitching too, but it fades fast, a few weeks max, if I recall.

Wow - take the pic in the same clothes! I wish I had something like that.

There's not a lot of info in this. Are you having trouble keeping food down? Are you eating 400 calories? 1400? Practicing for a marathon? Sitting still? Also, how are your blood tests? A1c? If you "look sick" you may indeed, be sick.

I just wanted to say before the holiday officially kicks in, please take a moment to congradulate yourself - wherver you are, whatever you are doing- give yourself a moment and just recognize that even just being here makes you pretty awesome.

The food and family for many of us is going to be pretty think this weekend, for others maybe we are lonely as a kiddo is away or grandbabies are back into a school routine. We have too many plans, or forgot to make any - maybe you forgot you made plans and will be (no kidding) touring a BLUEBELL ICECREAM FACTORY -

Just remind yourself to not give in. This is WHY your lost the weight - to have enough evergy to do this, to be here for this, to see your kiddos at holiday or weekends. Let that be a treat, not the cookie or bite of something - even just to see if it goes down.

I suggest this if you get too stressed: take 'savasanna'.

lay down, stretch out - calm, quiet, alone. lock a door. do it in the bathroom or a large closet, if necessary.

breath in and out with a hand on your tummy, the other on your heart, feel the breath come from your abdomen, near your belly button, feel it fill that space back in...when you have a steady pace, relax your arms out casually by your side, make sure you bum is out from under your sit bones, your shoulder blades out and down relax everything - don't forget your jaw!

take a moment to just feel the ground holding you - let the world support you for a change - nothing more needed from you for a few (or several) moments than to just breath, be supported, be awesome....

when you are ready, come back with slow, gentle movements, deep beaths as you come back.

YOU ARE AWESOME!!! YOU!!! YES YOU!!!

Namaste.

That is a hard call, when you say that "I've never really given myself a chance to lose weight on my own.", what do you mean?

Do you mean it was never really successful? Or that your apetite or something never let you get far? Something else? I would define that statement for yourself and be sure you understand your internal struggles very well. Not saying don't do it - be very aware what is going on if you are saying you have never attempted to really control your food.

You should consider (discuss with a therapist, maybe?), in my opionion (just my opinion), probably undergo a diet for awhile - keep a surgery date, but give yourself long ehough that if issues really begin to surface you can reconsider. It isn't like you will not be losing weight in the meantime.

I am NOT suggesting you have to try and fail, not even once! Only that you give yourself time to make sure you can see what is in store for you, and that you have dealt with as much 'head' stuff pre-op as possible.

Questions like this are red lights to whether or not you should have the surgery at this time - not ever, but you need to be really aware of what is going on.

I see posts like this often (I have been here since November of 2011) and I know you are going to get responses – may have already got them in the time it takes me to type this – that it varies, maybe, if you exercise enough.

Honestly, truthfully, if you are over 100 lbs overweight and hope to reach within 10% of your goal and stay there, the answer is that you cannot get away with the unhealthy foods, you cannot regress to the breads and fats and drippy gooey things that got you here in the first place.

This surgery was NEVER about you losing weight, and somehow like it was an old war wound you forget about it in time, you maybe kinda get a limp that you compensate for but it is nearly automatic x amount of years or months out. It doesn’t work that way. You are putting your body through profound biological and physical changes and you were probably really heavy for a long time, possibly very ill, too. You are losing weight but you are really tampering with your metabolism.

We (I shift from second p. to first p. singular because this includes us all) – we will not succeed unless we learn that this is not a cure-all, not by far, it is a really long road. We deal with our bodies, our heads, our memories, other people, and when we are taking a respite from that we deal with the current, back to the day to day, and then, we still have the future. It’s scary, and makes us hesitate, and sometimes really overwhelms.

THEN we notice changes, less meds, less pain, more activity, clearer minds, deeper breaths, we have added years to our lives, playtime with pets and kids and family and even new friends. Maybe our pants fall down to our ankles, maybe we run up a flight of stairs AND down the hall before we realize we are not out of breath.

The NSV’s everyone mentions here – let those be your guide to whether or not the cheese’s and fats and breads really matter. If they are still in your thoughts, think this through some more – get with your therapist and explore some more discussion and evaluation BEFORE surgery. Note I did not say don’t do it. Just be prepared that you literally are going to get what you put in.

If the bubbles are just froth from the shaking the tea, etc you are ok.. If they are streaming to the top steadily like they are coming from the drink itself (no effort on your part to shake, etc.) then that is carbonation. You should be ok if it says no carbonation. SOME are carbonated, however.

Just be ready to talk to her from her perspective. Do be open to the idea that you may need more preparation, it just happens sometimes.

I think, from what I have read - not here but in articles from doctors in determining these things - they are looking for not an additcion per se since it is pretty much assumed you have an eating addition or issues to one extent or another, but they are looking for addiction histories that show gateway addictions progressing, or a transfer addiction, etc. If so they will want to look at that further with you, so it does not happen again once you can no longer eat your (over)fill. They will also want to be sure you are not lined up for other eating problems, also.

Good luck, get the extra help if you need it, ride it out. it will be worth it.

I am really happy you are doing so well!

We rehired a gentleman we had to let go in 2010, and he had not seen me since. I felt so sorry for him, he asked one of the girls "is she ok? I mean, is everything ok?".

It turns out his sister lost alot of weight as she battled some serious health issues. I think that might happen alot, it is so unusual to lose alot of weight and keep it off to the point your body really starts to adjust around it. He was just wondering if I had similar issues, that maybe he could offer to talk to my hubby (he did grief and support training for his sister).

You never can tell what people's intentions are...but you will know soon enough if her intentions are less than nice.

Just a suggestion, maybe you should ask her why she thinks that, and then persue those topics with her or another therapist. This is a really long road, forever really, and it evolves but the effort will never go away. You will always have to monitor your foods and be aware of how you are eating. this surgery is basically just a tool you will have to use everyday.

Not trying to be down!!! Just saying knowledge and awareness is a powerful thing in all this - anything you can do to help yourself counts.

how many carbs is what you are having? also of the carbs, what is the sugar content?

Has anyone experienced leakage from their incision site?

Can you describe it? Color, consistency, smell...is area discolored, hot, swollen, lumped?

Posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction (PTTD)

http://www.foothealthfacts.org/footankleinfo/pttd.htm

This is a good website for alot of information on feet, BTW.

Don't assume you have this, this type of pain can be caused by several different things, they all need to be diagnosed and then treated as soon as possible, however.

It sounds like there is a good chance that you were exposed to something that inflammed your stomach eiher after you ate, during, or possibly before. It could be alot of things, more that the article lists. You probably do not even have to consume them.

I had an allergist tell me that now that he has seen alot of patients with VST he is convinced there is much more of a correclation to environment and gastritis. He believes the allergies you are experiencing outside your body are reflected inside much more than the medical community widely recognizes at the moment. It is enhanced when we have such tiny stomachs and have had stomach surgery, to boot.

Also,sinus drainange probably aids to hits to our immunity due to calorie readuction, stress of upcoming/post surgery, etc.

http://www.buzzle.co...ach-lining.html

everytime I have anything near that hit, it does, indeed, go hand-in hand with allergies. Alot of people find relief with Zantac. It has a antihistamine as an ingredient. I am sticking to benadryl.

http://www.buzzle.co...flammation.html

Were you experiencing any sinus issues at the same time? Allergies?

It means there is a good chance, depending of course on your insurance, and whether or not you were using it, that you will have at least part of the surgery paid for.

Keep on top of it, the covered procedures can be alot higher for hernia repairs than to assist with the VSG (so I have been told).

I had regular periods, and one of two things happened (sorry its been awhile). I either skipped a month or it started up early...but it has been regular again ever since, but the cycle start date changed by about 10 days.

I have been in full remission since March of '12. It is an awesome feeling (although I will never give up 2x week random tests and A1C tests every 4 months).

Im talking about sex. Had my panni 3 1/2 wks ago

AHA! lol, that's what I thought you were saying. Then I saw the 2 year response and was like f- that (figuratively). I'll just keep the panni, then

http://www.northwest...-rides/saturday

These bike rides are every saturday, they are group rides. The link explains further.

I will be out with a friend that has never rode the Zube Park area (extreme NW Houston, up past Cypress on 290), so we will be going it alone but you could join us, join one of the group rides, etc. After we are probably going to make smoothies, maybe some yoga an dthen probably a run to the Rawfully Organic saturday location.

http://www.rawfullyorganic.com/

Everyone is welcome, but you will want to touch base with me before hand so we know you are coming and so we can find each other! There will be dozens and dozens of people, and lots of groups (this is a favorite place to ride on weekends!). Just PM me here. I will check for the last time earliest AM. We will arrive about 7am, leave about 7:30 am.

Wear appropriate clothing and shoes. It will get warm, fast. Do your best to start hydrating yourself ahead of time. Bring a helmet!!!! (in '09 91 percent of the people who died in bicycle accidents were not wearing helmets).

Love my yoga!