Bob_350lbs

Audra, congratulations on your upcoming, life changing surgery!! I am sooo excited for you!! The VG has really helped me to get a grip on my weight problem, and I was a SP too, and because of that reason, it took me 2 yrs to make the decision. You're right, it sucks about insurance not covering it for you. I know that feeling. But, like you said, I wasn't getting any thinner or younger as those two years past by. You're still young compared to me, and you have a lot of living to do in front of you. I wish I would have done this sooner, but so glad I did it!! Congrats!! We will be here to support you every step of the way.

Pasta, rice, the body treats just like sugar, just another reason to avoid it. Okay, I am a little Dr. Oz crazed now, but that is what he said. This knowledge helps me to make better choices. Sugar and white flour, refined carbs only make you crave more carbs, so it's best to avoid them. I am guilty as the next person for tasting and trying them out..but my weight loss stalled big time and now I am paying the price by having to work harder to get this weight off, my advice is, don't do it! Learn from my mistake.

It's Time, Congrats on your sleeve!! It gets better and better every day, just stick to the plan. After my surgery, I had no cravings for food at all, the smell got to me. But, now, it is back to normal, so nothing causes problems for me. You will be just fine. Last night I cooked a pot roast w/all kinds of veggies (no salt) and it had the greatest broth, so I made beef/veg soup out of 1/2 of it. Yum! And, talk about filling. The rest of the meat I will use the next couple days for chili, etc. Enjoy your new life with the VG, it's the best thing I ever did.

My nephew and his friends were about in the 6th grade when they saw Something About Mary and the "old lady" boobs. They drew old lady boobs forever, too funny! Whatever makes you feel good, go for the surgery ladies, you worked darn hard to get your new bodies, and you deserve it. Obese men have problems with this too, if you have ever seen The Biggest Loser weigh in. I don't understand why it's okay to have those men shirtless on TV when their boobs are as big and saggy as the womens. Anyway, you are all amazing people, and have done great things with your weight loss, and I am so proud of each and every one of you!! You are all an inspiration to me and if you do have the surgery or not, it's all good.

Dr. Oz says salt is one of the worst things you can put in your body, he did a little demonstration on his show and it really proved to me how salt is not my friend. My b/p is normal now after stopping frozen dinners, processed foods, and stopped adding salt to my foods. It forced me to start cooking for one, because I can control what is in my food. Use spices in place of salt. Eventually, you get used to it, and your b/p will improve. Stoongal has a lot of good ideas, I have found useful too. Bistro MD is a great meal delivery plan if you can afford it. The Biggest Loser uses them too. You could get the 5 day plan, and split the meals in half and it could last 2 weeks that way, and I hear the food is delicious, like a personal chef! Anyway, I feel ya. But, your only 9 lbs from goal!!! WHOO HOO!!:crying:

Sounds like you will be okay, fortunately, you have a good guy there. A friend of a friend had WLS about 10 months ago and has dropped 150 lbs. Apparently, she has never had male attention before, at least not like now, and she has started fooling around and her husband is very unhappy about that. He loved her either way and still loves her, even if she is unfaithful. I don't know that much about her situation, but my friend says that she has gotten pretty big headed about her new looks and thinks every man is looking at her and wanting to sleep with her. Yes, she looks good, and I am happy she is at her normal weight. But, with 3 kids, it's kinda of hard on the family, they are not sure if it will end in divorce. But, after losing 150 lbs, she is a whole new person. I hope the best for them, and that it she will settle down.

I hear you Rose, after being an open book myself, I learned the hard way at my last job, and promised myself I would never be that way again. I feel much better keeping my private life private at work. Being the object of malicious gossip is horrible and I don't want to go through that again. I just want to get on with the business of living life as a thin person. But, even my sister commented today that I was at a normal weight and if I lost any more I would look about 100 yrs old. That stuff sabatoges me. She is a size 10, I wear a 14/16. What is that about?? I have 38 lbs to go to be at a normal weight. Whatever....sometimes, I just wish I would have never told them. But, I am so grateful for all of your support and I hope I can support all of you.

Jackie, you are totally rocking the sleeve!!! You go girl!! You are amazing me with your transformation. I am truly inspired to do better.

I agree, this is so personal, and who needs judgment from people who really don't care about us anyway. I only told the people who love me about it, but some of them thought my BMI of 39 was too low. One even said that other, bigger people need it more than I did. Well, maybe so, but I deserve to be healthly too. Anyway, deciding to tell or not is personal decision and everyone is different. Maybe I just want to succeed first, then I can tell and help others who are trying to decide to have WLS.

Dr. Jossart, YAY! Thank you so much for your time and being here for us. Why is the 6 mo mark so important? Is there a certain % of weight that should be lost by then, that predicts success? My VG was 7/28 wt 213 BMI 39, as of today, I am 174 BMI 31.8. I am worried that I might not reach my goal, because 6 mos will be up 1/11/10. The reason for the stall was that I started eating carbs at month 4. It was that head hunger thing. I have been back on track for 2 wks now, however, I cannot seem to keep my calories under 1000, although I am only consuming protein/veggies. What can I do? And, why is 6 mos so important?

Lady, I am a slow loser too..but finally almost 40 lbs gone. My surgery was 7/28/09. I eat too much (900 cals per day) and my treadmill broke, so I am waiting on the repairman and not exercising like before. But OMG 60 lbs!! WTG!! What was your starting BMI and what is your BMI now?

Congrats Helen, what a great feeling! Keep up the good work, you are on the right track and size 14 are around the corner. Blessings.

Well put, Rose. I see you went to LapSF, so did I. Dr. Cirangle was my surgeon and Dr. Jossart assisted him, how lucky could one get? Thanks for the post, it was well thought out and intelligent. Keep up the good work!

If a surgeon is in it for the money, well, isn't that why we all work? What is most important to me, is that the surgeon is highly skilled. It's my body they are doing surgery on, so I am not looking for a social worker. You get what you pay for, if you ask me.

You're so welcome. Looking at your new photos, I can tell a lot were probably too big, but isn't that a great feeling! You look marvelous.

Windows 7 is giving Mac a run for its money, I hear. And, Macs cost more too. Friday is going to be crazy! Search the ads on Thursday, I bet you can find super deals.

Right after surgery, warm Protein soups worked well for me, I could not tolerate any artificial sweetners, my stomach was too sensitive. Now, I drink only nectar Fuzzy Naval and plain unjury w/Crystal light. I don't like the milkly type shakes. Too many memories of years trying to lose wt with chocolate slim fast. This is going to be completely personal, everyone is so different in how they react to them after the surgery. Be prepared with several different things, try them prior to surgery, getting the samples is a great idea. You will totally love being sleeved, once you are past liquids, mushies, and on regular foods, it is amazing, but 800 calories will totally satisfy you..There may be head hunger, if you are a true food addict, like me. But, this is darn close to a miracle.

Megan, I am so excited for you! This is going to be a wonderful journey you will love being on. I like Nectar Fuzzy Navel, zero carbs, 90 cals, and 23 gms of protein. However, right after surgery, my stomach was extra sensitive to any artificial sweetners, so the protein soups worked well and I drank milk. You will be fine if you can eat dairy, soy, whey, because that is what most of the shakes are made from.

Interesting..because somedays I really crave sweets, but you guys know we can't eat very much of it, because of our little stomachs. So, don't be so hard on yourself if you have a little sweet here and there. I have a deal with myself, if I get in two Protein shakes, my Water, and stay at 800 calories, I can eat anything I want. But, if you are like me, you will learn the hard way what your body likes and doesn't like. For me, fried rice and chow mein cause horrible barfing. You become so much more sensitive to the tastes of food, you can really tell if something was made with cheap ingredients..ugh. A bite of pumpkin pie is no biggie, to me, anyways. It's after that it can become a problem, so I am journaling again, and made this deal with myself. Your appetite returns slowly, and the cravings come back slowly, but you will never be able to eat the quantities like before, so YAY!! That is why we did this, right?

For me, it depends on the type and how much of it I try to eat. The first bite is usually ok, then it goes downhill from there. I have drank 1/2 a chocolate shake, but it was too rich, and that was all I could tolerate, haven't tried another one since..it will kinda of make you feel nauseated and digusted if you go overboard.

Ky, you too, sorry to hear about the strep. I hope to go back to work on Monday, cause the work never stops, we get everything electronically, so it never stops. Hopefully, we are both better soon.

At three weeks, I was hungry too. I think that it was because I hadn't eaten in two weeks. Then when I could eat real food, although it was pureed, I really had head hunger..and a little physiological too.

Constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating...all normal for me until 3 mos out. I still can go days w/o a BM, which is fine with me.

Okay, you win, that was totally digusting...didn't know you could buy horse meat, let alone, cheap horse meat..gross!!

Yes, I have done it all...the weird part is that I can taste the cheapness of food now, if they used cheap fats, cheap sweetners, spices, etc...I have ordered a huge meal and just taken a bite of everything, then threw it out in disgust..not only because it tasted so digusting, but I felt horrible afterwards. I agree, the surgery only really changes the size of your stomach. Like my surgeon said, he did surgery on my stomach, not my brain.