crystalintville

Good luck, you'll love Dr. Kelly and the staff .

For me, it's actually more enjoyable. I have 4 oz of food per meal so I want it be tasty and good since I can't mindlessly eat or make something else if I don't like what I'm eating. The first couple months I avoided restaurants, but I don't mind them now.

frumpynomore and lara, both of you look great!

Congrats, that is awesome!

Maybe change the dressing on your salad and no croutons?

I don't see why not. You may want to try the canned version first since it's not as stringy fiberous and see how you handle that.

I was taken to another medical facility for my leak test. You can't drink ANYTHING until your leak test. You stand on a platform, drink nasty blue stuff, stay still, boom, done. No leak, drink some Gatorade yum! I don't know what happens if you have a leak.

I freeze all the time and I used to be hot natured. I have the heat on 75 right now in my office, wearing wool socks, fuzzy lined sherpa boots, a sweater and an undershirt and my feet and hands are freezing. Same everyday. I sit here in a coat too most of the time. As soon as I get home today looking forward to thick pjs and multiple blankets in front of the fireplace .

Also the worldaccordingtoeggface is a great blog for recipes, just choose one from on hand ingredients. The bites recipes are basically eggs, seasonings, and varations of mix-ins (ie mushrooms, onions, ham, Tomato OR onion, garlic, spinach, artichoke, etc) and tons of others- Protein pancakes, casseroles, cold lunch ideas..

I freeze all the time too. Do you have a fever?

Thanks for posting all the day to day details. It's very helpful to know what to expect when I have mine. Glad you are recovering well!

She's on my short list for my choices for plastics next year. Makemeheal forums under Tummy Tuck or butt aug has a lot more info on her. I love her waists. I've read she doesn't do boobs and TT at the same time usually.

Trina what company I'd Dr. Illan with if u don't mind me asking. That's a pretty good price.

He's at bajabariatrics.com

Eggface has a ton of Protein ice cream and truffle recipes on her website. I love her Protein truffles, I make mine with all expresso or mocha Protein powder and roll in walnuts.

I can't remember the brand, but Walmart has frozen honey greek yogurt pops that are yummy.

I also like a spoon of Peter Pan Peanut Butter with 4 chocolate chips on top. This one is probably not the healthiest, but very much like a Peanut Butter ball.

I'm 5'5 1/2" and my original goal was 170 but I changed it to 155. I'm bouncing around 186-189 right now and have quite a bit more to lose in my stomach and thighs.

I haven't had soda in 8 months, 6 days. I was a Sprite & Mt Dew addict. I mostly miss Shirley Temples, sprite with grenadine & cherries. I've been craving them lately but I won't try it.

I don't remember where I got the original recipe, but I love it. It takes about 2 hrs including baking time.

In deep pot on medium, melt 1 tsp butter and sautee 2 diced onions. Towards the end add 1 container of washed diced mushrooms. I've also added finely diced carrots and celery. I dislike peppers, but if you like them, I'd add them here. Cook until done then remove to bowl. Add 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of ground beef or turkey. Cook until done and if ground beef drain & rinse.

Add veggies back to pot and 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. If you have some time add a can of tomatoes (I like the italian ones) and let the sauce reduce. If not, ignore the canned tomatoes.

In a 9x13 (minimum) pan (or the Rachel Ray Bubble set, it makes 1 lg & 1 sm dish), add 1/2 your meat sauce. Slice up 3 to 4 zucchini, squash, or eggplant lengthwise. I've tried making the lasagna 2 ways, adding raw and sweating on the pancake skillet first. I prefer sweating them as I don't like as much crunch and the raw adds more moisture to the dish which has to be drained off so one step for another. Anyways...layer your veggie covering all the meat sauce.

Mix up 1 container ricotta cheese with 1 egg and 1 tsp+ italian seasoning. I go heavy on seasoning. Add the whole ricotta mix to the layered veggies and spread it out.

Next add 1/2 a bag of fresh spinach. It cooks down. You could use frozen, I haven't tried it though. Next add the rest of the meat sauce.

Cover with 1/2 container of shredded parm cheese. Add 3/4 to entire pack of shredded mozz cheese and spread out. Top with remaining parm cheese. Sprinkle with italian seasoning.

Preheat oven to 350. Cover lasagna with foil and bake 45 minutes. Remove from oven, scoop out any excess liquid (from the veggies), and bake 15 more minutes. I hit it on broil for a minute or so to brown the cheese.

I don't know the calorie count per serving but 4 oz fills me up for a LLLOONNNGG time and it is delicious and has a lot of Protein goodness (spinach, meat, ricotta, parm, mozz cheese).

That looks awesome and I have everything but the basil! I love artichokes.

Does it make it shiny or greasy?

No, it soaks in pretty quick, like lotion. It doesn't have a smell and it's thick like vaseline. A little bit goes a long way. I put it on at night after my shower then make up straight over it in the morning. I don't use foundation and it actually is a pretty good primer.

My skin used to be oily and now it stays super dry, especially my forehead and nose. I read on another board about coconut oil and it totally works. I barely put any on and my skin feels instantly smoother and moisturized. I bought mine in the baking section at the grocery store.

Thank you frumpynomore . If I could get flat & smooth I'd be in cloud 9 but the loose skin is already driving me crazy doing the tuck in the jeans thing. Congrats on your TT, I bet that is exciting!

The clothes sizes are one of the best NSV's . I'm wearing a belt to hold up 16s right now as 14s are too snug. Try Old Navy for 18s, they seem to run a big bigger in the waist.

When you order a salad , can you eat a whole bow of it with croutons and grilled chicken? And why do you order Water and not some soda or Ice tea?

I don't eat salad, but on the drinks, you can't drink 30 minutes before or after the meal so thats why I order Water. Soda has carbonation so we can't have that anymore. I'm sure you could iced tea if you got it in a to go cup to drink later.

I'm 7 months out, 33 lbs from goal of half my body weight (155) . I'm looking at having plastics in early 2014 so hopefully I would have the funds & slow time at work to take off 2 weeks. Unless we get insurance at work, I'm probably going back to Mexico.

Anyways, I've had quite a few stomach surgeries: c-sections in '00 & '01, tubal in '01 during 2nd c-section, appendix & gallbladder removal 3 months apart 3 years ago, and sleeve 5/12. The top half of my stomach looks like Freddy Krueger attacked a wrinkled old lady and the bottom half, though much smoother and scar-free in appearance hangs LOW and hopefully the last of my weight comes off here. I've lost it so weird, I have lost a ton in my waist but it all seem to have dropped.

My back has some excess skin under my bra line but it seems to be disappearing and though my butt is disappearing as well I don't have skin there. My arms and thighs are still questionable.

So my main concern is my stomach. For others will a similar situation, did you have a full Tummy Tuck or a lower body lift? If you had multiple stomach scarring (besides the c-section ones, those are low) did they stretch or disappear? If you had a wrinkled top portion of your stomach, does that go smooth?

Thank you for your post MsVet. I'm researching for plastics in early 2014 now and your post is helpful since this isn't the same as the sleeve.