LTARLTON

Hey guys! 4/24 was my date. I haven't been on here in a while.....I got a little off track but I'm back on now :-) Something happened to me today that was amazing......I bought a pair of Jeans from the regular ladies sizes! A 15/16...... I think I could've worn a 13/14. I may go back and try them on. :-) No more plus sizes for me! Yay! I am so excited. I had another NSV about 3 weeks ago......I entered onederland! Yay! I have gone from 276 to 187! Awesome! I am feeling so great and I have finally started getting my protein in. Yay me! Its about time! I hope everyone else is doing well!

Ok....so let me start by saying.....please don't take what I'm getting ready to say as a complaint in any way. I am so thankful for my surgery and wouldn't change my decision if I had the chance. I am in a bad place right now so I need to vent and hopefully get some advice. I was sleeved 4/24/12. Since my consultation appt 3/28 I'm down 58 lbs. Yay! I'm so excited about that! BUT.......I have not felt well for several weeks. I'm never hungry (which is not a bad thing) but it keeps me from eating like I should. I even have alarms set on my cell phone to remind me to eat and I still don't eat right. I actually forget to eat....NEVER thought I'd be able to say that. I stay nauseous a lot of the time...even when I take nausea medicine. I have not been getting in my water and I probably haven't had a protein shake in about 2 weeks. I am still excercising. I play softball with my church, go to zumba class and walk about 3 miles. I'm doing something almost every day. This is my thing.......I know I'm setting myself up for a fall! Let me give you an example of my day.....This was today.....I had about 2 tsp of egg salad. I drank about 1/2 of a 16 oz water...then I went to softball practice and sweated my butt off. While at practice I drank another 16 oz water. I got home and had about 2 tsp of homeade chicken salad. I'm working on another glass of water right now. I didn't reach any of my goals. I know if I don't do better I'm gonna end up flat on my back. I don't like feeling nauseous so I think I just put eating out of my mind and I can't stand protein shakes so I have trouble making myself drink them. My nut is so very strict. Basically she wants me to stay on the same old bland food......eggs cheese Ham Turkey yogurt ........that's about it. Blah!!!! I am not a cook I'm not creative when it comes to cooking and worst of all.....I'm a convenience eater.I am always on the go with my boys, working, exercising, etc! A lot of times I just need to grab and go and the things I need you can't just grab and go. So I think ok I'll eat later and then later never comes. I just don't know how to get on track! I don't know what to do! I put on a front but I really just want to feel good!

Just a little tidbit.......the other day I was watching the Dr Oz show. He was having a cooking contest between 3 ladies and had some celebrity chefs as judges. The idea was to take a popular high calorie food and make it more healthy. There was a lady on there that did manicotti, one that did chicken fried steak and the last one did enchiladas. I can't remember everything she substituted but I do remember she wrapped them in boiled cabbage leaves instead of tortillas. I believe she substituted black beans for the meat (which really we need the meat so that wouldn't be a big deal for us). Her recipe cut like 300-400 calories off of the normal. I bet if you went to Dr Oz's website you might be able to find those recipes on there. I believe it aired this past Monday or Tuesday. Just thought I would pass that along.

For about a week after my surgery my cheeks would get extremely flushed. To the point where people would ask me if I was ok. I asked the doc about it and they said it was probably from the blood thinner they had given me. After about a week or so it did go away.

Thank you so much kiki19! You have given some awesome information. I will definitely take a look at MeginNola. I need all the help I can get. I feel like I'm slipping. I have had a few bites of chips just because I felt like I needed that salt.....or something. Maybe I just wanted to see if it would make me feel better, but I feel so guilty because the past week I have done so awful. I don't want to fall into any bad habits......ESPECIALLY this early in my journey! Thank you again!

Joni......I believe you and I were sleeved the same day.....April 24th? Wonder if this is something people go through at 5 weeks or so? I'm absolutely not complaining about my weight loss. More than anything I'm worried about my health. When I do eat I get that feeling in my throat that your talking about. Not really the burning so much as the lump in my throat. I always feel like I'm trying to fight off throwing up. The doc said to make sure I'm measuring everything. I should only be eating 2 oz or 1/4 cup. I get that feeling even when I measure. I'm wondering if I need to just fight through that feeling and just keep on eating and maybe one day that feeling will just go away? Like you I am so frustrated and am not even concerned with eating. I think I'm gonna call my doc tomorrow and ask if I can switch antacids. Maybe both of us r just having a problem with antacid. The only thing I've been able to eat with no problem is watermelon.....and man its wonderful. I'm not even supposed to be eating that yet. Good luck, Joni! I hate ur feeling bad also. Maybe we can both get some answers from our surgeons. We'll get through this....I'm sure of it!

Ok so I need to talk to my April peeps! I am at 5 weeks today. I have lost somewhere around 42 lbs including pre-op loss. Starting last week....I started getting really nauseous....pretty much all the time. I had my 4 week post op appt last Thursday. I talked to the doc about it and he said sometimes that happens when you start on solids, which I had started that Tuesday. He also said the vitamins could have contributed to the nausea. Ok so I have seriously fallen off the wagon. Water is nasty, even flavored water....my protein shakes are making me feel sick. I haven't gotten my water or protein in in about a week. I had been so so OCD about keeping track of everything I was eating in a handwritten food journal. I haven't written anything in there in about a week. I have been just trying not to get sick. I haven't had my multi-vitamin since last Thursday because it makes me feel the worst. I'm barely eating.....just cause well, for 1, I'm not hungry and ,for 2, it makes me feel like crap. I know I've got to get back on it for my health....but dang I'm tired of feeling yucky! And I so wish I could find something I liked to drink. The only thing tasty I can think of is.......mountain dew......and I'm not about to let myself go there. I wish I could figure iut how to get my water and protein in. I'm really frustrated....not sorry about my decision to do this. Just frustrated! Uggghhhhhh! Suggestions please!

Is there any way protein can be heated or cooked?? I'm in liquid/blended soup stage. I have heated my soup and let it cool some. I then added 1 scoop unflavored protein powder. As slow as I'm eating now my soup is really cold again. Can I nuke it to make it warm again? It started out being 8 oz but after adding the protein and some chick broth I now have way more than I can eat. So I would like to put it in the fridge and finish it later but I don't want it cold! What a dilema!

So......I had my 2 week appt yesterday with the nutritionist. She said I could start eating eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, pudding, cheese and refried Beans. I'm allowed to have soft meat and hearty bean Soups if they're pureed. I should only be eating 1/4 cup each meal and getting @ least 800 calories a day. This is my problem........I am eating 1/4 cup (and I'm using a measuring cup) but I feel like I'm right on the verge of throwing up. I haven't yet but its right in the back of my throat. Should I just cut down my portion size?? I have been keeping a food diary since my surgery and I'm finding it hard to calculate all of my nutritional facts (Sorry but I'm OCD and I like for my figures to be exact. LOL) especially if I'm eating less than the serving size. I have looked online and I'm not having much luck finding a good tool with just nutritional facts. Anyone know any good tools? I'm so afraid of failing! I hope I haven't stretched my stomach by eating too big of a portion. I wonder......how easy is it to stretch it out. Thanks for listening to me ramble! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

That's so weird! I've been noticing the same thing. I have always had, I guess, a large bladder but now I'm drinking 5 times as much fluid as I used to. I don't know why I never get the urge to go. I plan on asking my doc at my next appt.

Wow! I just saw this today. Jimmy.....I just sent a prayer your way. I hope and pray God puts his loving arms around you and gives you strength and faith. HE will pull you through whatever may be going on. We are all patiently awaiting a reply ......hoping that all is well!

Thanks everybody! I appreciate all the help. On myfitnesspal I am ltarlton. I didn't realize I could change the amount on there. I tried to change the serving size but it still didn't have the amount I needed. So I guess I need to change the number of servings. Is that what I need to do? I don't feel nauseous at all. I just get that feeling that my food is sitting in my throat. I have done better today. I'm eating less than I tried to eat yesterday and it seems to be working. I'm a little confused about my diet though. I thought I was gonna be able to eat soft meats but my NUT told me I could have them but I had to puree them. I could not just eat the soft meat until day 29. I'm not sure what puree means but I don't think I want to eat meat like that. She's very insistent that I get my Protein in but I'm having a hard time with the diet I've been given. I could do a whole lot better if I could eat meat. I can't eat Peanut Butter, vienna weenies, spam or potted meat (not that I think I might would eat that). Only eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, pudding, refried Beans and soup. Any suggestions?

Thanks guys! I am actually already on myfitnesspal but I find it hard to remember to go log everything and I have trouble always finding the right serving size on there. For example: today I had 1/4 cup or slightly less refried Beans with reduced fat shredded cheese and I could not ever find anything to fit exactly. I haven't logged anything on there in a while because I seem to remember to write it down easier than to go to the app and log it there. Plus I get frustrated when I can't find what I'm looking for. I wasn't really trying to force 1/4 cup......my problem is......I haven't been "hungry" since my surgery. I cannot for the life of me tell when I'm full until I'm already overfull. I'm not sure what my signs are that I'm full. I'm sure I will learn that but until then I'm scared I'm screwin up my stomach. The docs told me I would just need to measure things.....well that's obviously not working because I feel like I'm overdoing it AND I am measuring.

Ok I know that might sound like a really dumb question but.......today has been 2 weeks since my surgery. I'm still in the "liquid" phase although I get to have blended soups. My instructions were to start with 4-6 oz an hour and increase to 8 oz as tolerable. I can drink a 16 oz water over the course of about 1 - 1 1/2 hrs so of course that's more than 8 oz in an hour. I also hear others on here talking about how they can only hold 1 - 2 oz of food per meal. So how is it that I can take in so much more fluids? Do they pass straight through my sleeve and don't really fill me?? Where solids actually sit in your stomach? Just wondering! I didn't know if I'm stretching my sleeve by drinking that many fluids in an hour. Does anyone know?

Could it be some of your Vitamins? Maybe Iron or Calcium? I know the calcium gives me an awful taste.

Thank you all so much! I was starting to get worried something was wrong with me.

I was sleeved 4/24 so it was 2 weeks today. I started at 273. Day of surgery 261. Today 246. So 27 lbs........yay me! I was starting to get a little disappointed because it seemed like it just wasn't moving but when you look at the whole picture it's pretty impressive!

I have it too. Its horrible when I first wake up! What is that??