AJW

I wouldn't worry about it. If you are the topic of conversation all the time, then their lives must be pretty boring. I think now they are jealous of your great results. They're asking you if you're sick even though they see you looking good and feeling great? That tells me they're just envious. That's OK. You can say you found a diet that works for you - not a lie - and you're having great results with it. Leave it at that. If they say WHAT'S THE DIET, just say you came up with a healthy eating plan that works for you but that's probably not for everyone, and leave it there. Let them keep guessing what you're up to. It's good for them.:scared0:

I know what you mean about food: the flavors are missing; nothing takes really GOOD to me. I just eat to live, not for pleasure. I suppose that's not a bad thing when you still have 60 more pounds to lose, but it does sort of take all the fun out of a social dining experience, know what I mean? I think it's just part of the sleeve experience. Your tastes go flat.

I'm officially half-way to my goal weight. I started this journey on May 26, 2009, at 246 pounds. Here we are Nov. 2nd and I'm down to 186. That's amazing for me. The thing about food is that I don't crave any of it. That's good and that's not good: social dinners out are taxing for me. I can't eat very much at all, so by the time nutrition goes in, I'm done. Everyone else is still eating AND drinking their wine - something I miss. My husband and I did a wine tasting trip a couple of weekends ago and the first night out, I basically drank dinner because I didn't like the fish I ordered. Not a good habit to get into. The next night I ate and didn't drink with food. When I go on these little trips I notice that my weight stalls while gone even though I stick very close to the way I eat at home. IDK why it happens. I've got a trip coming up over Thanksgiving where we are going out of state to visit friends. We'll be out at a restaurant on Thanksgiving, so you know I won't be able to eat much at all. My friends know about my surgery so no surprises there. The next day though we're leaving to go further north in the state to visit another city and we're taking my brother and sister-in-laws with us. They do not know about the surgery, so I'll just have to use my "I'm on a major diet" excuse on why I'm not eating much. Oh well. At the end of the year we're going on a 15 day cruise, and that I'm worried about. Not that anyone will know about me - don't care about that - but that my weight will stall and I won't lose anything while gone. I can't eat much, but still eating the wrong things is just as bad, so I'm hoping I can stick to my schedule as best as I can without my diet food with me. I'm stressing over it, though. :ohmy:

Congrats! It feels so good doesn't it?!

Check out the Medifast website. The food is so-so tasting, so I'm not eating it for the taste. You eat 5 small meals of 110 cal. each and then you have your choice of a lean/green meal at night. You can have four meals before dinner, then dinner, then a snack before bedtime. Each meal is nutritionally identical with 11 gr. of protein in each one. I supplement the noon (protein shake) meal with more protein power and a banana for fiber. Following their plan 5 meals X 11 gr. protein each = 55 gr. PLUS what I add at lunch = 75 gr. approx. plus whatever is in the actual food you eat at night. I stick with chicken, fish and sometimes meat. It's plenty of protein and it's spread out over the day so you're never hungry. Works for me.

Hi Lisa, Woohoo good for you down 40 pounds. Since surgery I've lost 34 plus I had lost 26 before surgery on my self-imposed pre-op diet, so down a total of 60 pounds altogether. Feeling good. I have not strayed off my pre-op diet which is easier to do since surgery (Medifast) so the weight has been coming steadily off. I've had weeks wear I was stuck at a number, but it eventually comes down. Stay strong and don't eat pizza, girlfriend!

Yep, about day 4 is when it hit me too, so know that's it's all normal. I thought it was something I had ingested as well, but it wasn't. You'll feel a lot better by tomorrow. I think this is just nature's cleansing of the pipes.

CONGRATS, HELEN!! :thumbup:Way to go. Keep going, you've got less to lose than I do. I'm hovering at 195 for the past week......ugh! But it'll start coming off again ASA this water weight drops. Hooray for you!!:bored0:

Wow, I didn't realize, but it's been 2 months today since sleeve surgery. Time flies. I'm down 25 pounds since surgery and 51 total from where I started. I'm now back in my size 16 pants instead of the 1X, so that feels good. Another 10 pounds off and should be in size 14, then 12 then 10 and then whatever. It takes time. We recently took a business trip to Washington DC (we live in Calif.) and ate all meals in restaurants. It was really hard for me to eat. You really start to notice the huge amounts of food that restaurants put on the plate. I'd take a few bites of a steak and was done. Luckily the people I was with know about my surgery and understand. I couldn't do my regular routine of protein shakes, bars, etc., so it threw my whole food thing off balance. I came home and weighed to see only a 1/2 pound loss in 3 days. Crap! That's what eating out did for me. I was losing 1/4 to 1/2 every day before the trip. Now getting readjusted. Last night our neighbors hosted a wedding for a friend of their daughters and had the DJ and music blaring until midnight. It sounded like they were in our house, that's how loud it was. I think the stress of that situation caused me to show a slight gain this morning. That's what stress does to you, so best to let it all roll off the back if you can do it. Going on a cruise at the end of the year and am hoping I can get down sufficiently to buy formal wear to wear on formal nights. I have 70 pounds more to lose, so am praying to have lost 20 of that by 12/31/09; we'll see.:cursing:

Hi Dee Dee, Thanks for commenting on my blog; here's back at you. Depression or feeling blah and blue is part and parcel of hormone fluctuations as I see others have posted to you. And you're a Libra so you see-saw feelings-wise, as I'm sure you're aware. Give yourself the props you deserve for taking the steps you have towards becoming the new Dee Dee. When the negative voices start up, just tell them to stop it cause you ain't taking that B.S. anymore. I'd say shut 'em up with a cookie, but we can't go there these days, huh?! You're doing great, so tell yourself that instead of I'm still fat. Tell that fat woman to be quiet because that's NOT YOU no mo! If you think your therapist would be beneficial, go talk to her/him. However, I think you've got the cajones to beat down the fat talk.....I've got faith in you! We're all here for each other, so don't be shy about letting it all out as Tiffy says. Love ya!

Hi Rosey, Yes on the mood swings especially in the beginning. I'm approx. 7 weeks post-op now and down a total of 51 pounds (inc. pre-op 26 pound loss.) As for the constipation issues, you need to either drink more fluids or add more fiber to the diet, or maybe both. Laxatives are not the answer because they take water from your body to work, so up your fluids and increase fiber (fruits, veggies, bran, you get the idea) and should help you a lot. You probably got dehydrated when ill, so make an extra effort now to get your 64 oz. of fluids and increase fiber. Should make things much better.

Weighed in at 198.8 today. That's 21.2 pounds down since my August 10th surgery, and 50 pounds down total inc. pre-op diet.:cursing: Very happy with my decision to get the sleeve; hope everyone else is doing well too. Dr. Aceves is awesome!! When I get to goal or close to goal, I'll be going back for the inevitable nip/tuck.

Thanks, guys! Best to all of you too!

Judy, most likely your doctor will require a pre-op diet with that high of a BMI. That's OK, it gets you ready for the surgery and afterward. The recovery is not bad at all, but since you have such a physically demanding job, you'll probably need to take off a little more time than most. You may not be able to do any heavy lifting for some weeks after. Ask your doctor to explain his/her protocol with you.

Wow, they left that hummer in a long time. Glad it's out; once that happens things get better a lot faster IMO.

That's good. What did the doctor tell you? How long did you have a drain in? I had it for 3 days is all.

Double post, sorry.

I think she's just a little touchy; don't take it personally.:thumbdown:

What is the cottage cheese test may I ask?

I'm hovering at 200 waiting for the scale to drop below. I've been here for days. It'll come.

Did you do any kind of a pre-op diet? I think what you are describing - because I went through it too - is partially head-hunger. It's a big change, yes, to your body, but your stomach is only 20% still with you, so it's not as hungry as you perceive. It's more about knowing that you can't have food at the moment, well not food the way you remember food being, and for many people that is such a dramatic change they don't process it well. As long as you are sipping, sipping, sipping something, you're not really gut-wrenchingly hungry. Your head, however, and especially if food was the drug of choice for you, is what's suffering the most. You're missing your comforting friend, food, more than anything else. You are NOT going to starve or not be nourished, so don't worry about that. The fear you are feeling is the fear of giving up your friend, food. We all go through it, some more than others. This too will pass. On day 11 you can switch over to all liquids so you'll have a feeling of more fullness. Just get your Protein shakes in and then you'll feel more satisfied. In the meantime, keep drinking something you like so you stay hydrated and not empty. That's all I can think of to say.:001_smile:

It just has to be fluids, not especially Water. Find something you enjoy drinking, and drink that. I drink diet Green Tea because I like the taste. It comes in 16 oz. bottles so once I've had 4 of those I'm at 64 ozs. I drink up until dinner or meal time, and I drink afterward. Nothing has caused me a problem with this. I realize that's not recommended, but it's what I do.

I'm 18 days post-op and still on liquids (full). I lost 12 pounds in 12 days post-op, and then hit a wall. I figured it was a hormonal thing and it would pass and I'd get back on the WL train. Well it should have passed by now, been 6 days, but weight is not budging. I'm getting in my protein, vits, fluids and about 600 cal. a day on liquids. So I have to ask: WHEN does this weight start coming off? I figure the 12 pounds was likely just retained fluids from after surgery, etc. I'm starting to feel I could do this without surgery; what's the answer? I'm not even on mushy foods yet.:biggrin2:

Nobody cares; trust me. We drove over the border both ways. Nobody searches you unless the drug dog alerts and that isn't going to happen with prescription medication.