Malyss

I am just a little over 6 months past my surgery date of 02/22/12 and I feel as though I am doing quite well. I started at 357lbs and am now down to about 242 lbs. Within the first week, I was off of my high blood pressure medicine. I have gone from a size 26 down to a size 18/20 at the moment. I have more energy and am capable of much more now. Knock on wood, I have not had any complications. My sleeve has been a wonderful addition to my life so far. I really feel quite glad that I went through with it.

Leaving Lane Bryant is a big milestone. I have gotten down to an XL shirt and size 18 pants and have been very excited to find that I can shop in other stores in the regular sections. Before my surgery, I was wearing size 26 clothes. I think that I lost the weight just in time! The Lane Bryant at my mall recently closed and is being remodeled into a Red Robin (burger joint).

I am not 100% sure about the noodles. Granted, pho was my first restaurant food after I had my sleeve. About 4 days after my surgery when I was on the full liquid stage, I forced my husband to take me to one of our Vietnamese restaurants so that I could have some pho broth while he ate the rest of the Soup. I have had pho a couple of times since then, but I have concentrated on the broth and the beef first and have just had a little of the noodles (well chewed).

Bah, chili garlic sauce is great stuff. Then again, I have developed a taste for Vietnamese food and my love of this stuff started at my favorite Vietnamese restaurants. It goes great with pho.

I was a "bad" girl and starting hitting the chili garlic sauce while in my pureed stage. I was eating cottage cheese and it just needed a dash of chili garlic to make it more interesting. I am about 3 months out and I still use my Steve & Ed's Louisiana Hot Sauce, Sriracha, chili garlic sauce and such without any issues. Granted, I am not trying to "burn" a hole in my stomach or anything. I have just been adding enough spicy stuff to give my food flavor.

I had mine back on 03/22/12 and I have to agree about the change in energy level. I am much livelier than ever. I do not have any good recipes to share. I am still keeping things kind of simple. I will often have some steamed fish (tilapia or flounder, sometimes salmon) for dinner with some steamed broccoli or spinach.

People are nuts to really think that this is the easy way out. This is a tool that I needed and it is helping me tremendously. I know how to diet, I do have willpower, but I just needed something that would reduce my hunger and my capacity to eat.

I have BCBS NJ Direct and didn't have too much trouble getting approved. I'm not sure how many of my preliminaries were insurance dictated and how many were what my surgeon required, but I had to have a sleep study, upper GI, a visit with a cardiologist, which led to a stress test, a psych eval, and possibly more that I'm forgetting. I also had to attend 3 months worth of my nutritionist's nutrition classes, which included weigh-ins. Also, my BMI was greater than 50, I had sleep apnea and high blood pressure. So, I had some comorbidities.

Congratulations on your success. I'm sure that you'll make a fabulous personal trainer.

Lissa - Yes, it is. Thank you. I went and had my hair chopped off last Thursday morning. It's a blast from my past hair styles, but it's a good, easy summer haircut.

Lisa, congratulations! Your improvements are absolutely wonderful and it sounds as though your quality of life has greatly improved! I have scoliosis and am starting to enjoy the benefits of having less weight on my spine. It is definitely great to be in less pain.

I wish that I had known that a coccyx pillow would have been quite handy while I was in the hospital. The nurses kept me in an inclined position for most of my stay, but it really put a lot of pressure on my tailbone. I found it very difficult to find a comfortable position. At one point, I finally started using one of my bed pillows just to sit on, but it did not provide as much relief as I would have liked.

Ah, okay. I'll hold out hope, then since I'm only 2 months out. Thanks, ladies.