MidwestGirl

Hello! Thanks for the message. I'm feeling SO much better today than I was yesterday. I keep telling myself it's worth the slight inconvenience of pain & someday I'll look back on my days after surgery and realize how worth it it really was.

Hi! It's nice to see another younger person around here. A lot of the members seem to be late 20s and up. I'm 21 so I'm another one of the young'uns. Welcome to VST.

Thanks for your message! Going through all this is SO much easier knowing that people are helpful & kind. Good luck on your journey and I hope to hear more about your journey as well.

Barbannn, Sorry to hear you had to attend a funeral! But glad to hear it's coming off for ya! Love my sleeve. I feel like I'm just getting comfortable with mushies & then next week I'm moving on to get used to something else! Lol. My dietitian told me I'll be on 2x a day shakes for months...already tired of making them! But whatever it takes. Is the EAS one of the ready-to-drink shakes? Or is it the powder? Congrats on the compliment! I can't wait to see my family, it will have been a month in between visits with them since I'm back at college - I think they'll notice (hopefully) a bigger difference than I do since I'm looking in the mirror everyday. So far I'm down 17.2 in 3 1/2 weeks, which I'm happy with because I know I'm getting healthier everyday even when the scale doesn't show it. I'm trying to wean myself off of weighing in so often! Keep up the awesome work, girl!!!

Barbannn, Woot! The beans sound delicious! I got to reading my "sample meal" plan for the rest of the diet phases and was surprised to see they recommend 1/4c. of food for the mushies stage since with all the full liquid things I've been eating I've easily put away a 1/2 cup at each "meal." I'm on full liquids for another 5 days but I'm getting pretty comfortable with the different soups - I just didn't realize the canned cream soups had so much sodium which I was a little disappointed with because I tend to retain water when I have lots of sodium. Excited to join you on mushies in a few more days! I also bought one of those walking dvd's tonight so I'm excited to try that tomorrow! I'm amazed how much I *don't* want food now...my fiance's sitting next to me eating shrimp fettucine alfredo & I'm loving the smell but I no longer have the urge to steal the bowl. For me, that is awesome! Haha. Let me know how the mushies are going! Keep up the awesome work!

Have you tried the "Walk away the pounds" dvds? I got one of those and it is a pretty intense workout for "walking". Nice for this crappy weather. I am still on mushies for another couple days. I'm pretty comfortable here at the moment but it will be exciting to try some new things. I've been doing 1 protein shake in the afternoon and 1 before bed, which with skim milk gives me 32g of protein per shake. I could probably up my liquids but I'm getting in the minimum 64 oz a day. It's irritating that I don't tolerate plain water very well anymore. I always have to add crystal light. Sometimes I just crave plain water lol! I think that's the only major complaint I have right now. How many grams of protein have you been getting? My dietitian tells me I need between 60-70g a day, but I wasn't sure what everyone else's requirements are. Keep it up, girl!

Hello! I've been thinking about you and sending happy thoughts your way. Hope you're recovering well!

Hey barbannn! How are you doing? Did you start the next stage after mushies yet? I have one more week of mushies & then I will move on. I don't really mind it here though. Hope you're well!

Hey girl! I've been great! Probably not working out as much as I should be, but college is starting to get really busy. Don't worry - your stall has to end eventually! Just keep your chin up! I'm down 25.8 since Jan. 3rd, day before surgery, as of Monday. Trying to weigh just once a week now plus had Aunt Flo this week so didn't want to weigh! LOL. I feel so much better now. Sounds like you're doing great! Keep it up!!!

Hey there! Thanks! I meet with my dietitian, nurse, pharmacist for the last time pre-op tomorrow! Woot!

Hey there! Haven't seen you around in awhile & just wanted to stop by to see how you're doing.

Hey! Not doing too great on the eating here lately. It's college finals time so probably eating some things I shouldn't! But I've been doing pretty good about making healthier choices, not snacking, that kind of thing. Agreed! If I could have surgery tomorrow, I'd do it in a heartbeat! lol. I meet with my surgeon on Thursday & then I meet with my dietician & nurse again the week after I think, and then I'll start on the 10-14 day "pre-op" diet. I figure if I can make it through Christmas, I can do anything! Keep up the good work!

Hey! I'm back at school now, just moved in again yesterday. I started mushies today! For breakfast I had 1/2 of a string cheese and then I was full, and then I just had 1/2 a banana for lunch (took me 25 minutes to eat it! lol). I hope I'm eating enough but it's hard when you get full so fast! I am definitely feeling the difference between mushies and full liquids. Keep going, you will be in mushies too before you know it! Thanks for all your help as well, sleeve sister! Knowing someone else in the same position made these first 2 weeks a lot easier to get through.

Hi Barb! I'm feeling much better today. Pain is very manageable with my pain medication & no more nausea! Going to go walking tomorrow, didn't make it today, we got over 7 inches of snow where I am! How are you doing/which stage of the diet are you on? I started full liquids today and am LOVING the soup.

Hi Shawna! My name is Randi. I started full liquids yesterday afternoon & since then I've been eating a lot of thinned cream soups (strained) and I've also had a couple oz. of pudding with a little sugarfree vanilla syrup. The popsicles are good too! I have trouble with the water, I don't know if it's because it's so cold to me now? The warm broth seems to go down much better. Most of my "drinking" liquids have been broth & some fruit h2o drinks. I've been trying not to weigh myself, but I'm getting anxious! Congrats on the 4 pounds! Sounds like you're off to a great start! I'm being impatient, can't wait to get to mushies & have some food to CHEW! haha.

Hi! I'm glad there's someone around who will be so close to the same surgery date! I'm as prepared as I can be, I think. I've been making the diet changes as much as possible and I meet with my surgeon again next week so he can look at my labs and everything. It feels like I don't have much time to workout since I'm a college student, but I think I get quite a bit of walking time in, haha! I'm psyched to get to January to start my new life!

Hi! Welcome to VST! I just had my sleeve done last Monday. I bet the semester will fly by for you! I had my first meeting in July and had to schedule surgery for January so it didn't mess with college. Good luck & hope to hear more from you!

Hmm, the protein shakes shouldn't be making you gain. Were you wearing much heavier clothing the day you weighed more? That could be part of it. And if you were on your period you could have weighed more that day. Did the doctor mention anything about how you had "gained"?

I'm majoring in English, minoring in linguistics. My semester starts next Monday & it is my last one! Thanks for the encouragement, it's so much easier knowing there are others on the same journey since with college I can't attend the support groups at my clinic.

I've been doing not so good on the protein shakes...and I need to be getting more liquids in in general, but I'm working on it. It "sounds" like alot, but so does what I've been eating to me. From what I've read around here, it seems like the "fullness" feeling really starts when we get to more solid food. I think the liquidy type things just seem to run straight through our tummies! I bet you will be glad to start mushies. I've really been craving refried beans w/ cheese and peanut butter too, but I know it'll be awhile for those.

Keep up the great work! As of Thursday I was down 14 lbs since surgery. I didn't get the cramping you mentioned. I've been burping a lot the past week, which I'm hoping will go away in the next couple of weeks. I've been on mushies for a week now so one more week of mushies & then on to the next stage! How have you been?

Lol, yeah I can imagine it must be difficult to workout with a one year old, though pretty soon chasing her around will be a pretty good workout! Right now I have about a dozen sample packs of Nectar Sweets that I got from the hospital pharmacy for free! I have chocolate truffle, vanilla bean torte, and strawberry mousse - so far I've tried chocolate. Mixed with milk it tastes just like chocolate milk! I will have to look into fusion, though. One of the other things my dietician suggested was the no sugar added Carnation instant breakfast, which I think I will try since it's cheaper. I'm hoping to lose 140, which would put me around 140, but we will see! I guess I'm just worried about making sure I eat right post-op because being at college I'll have a strange schedule, at least that's my main worry right now. I just want to slide through those first six weeks!

Surgery went really well. Surgeon said it only took 35 minutes! I had a lot of pain right after, but my nurses took good care of me. Everything went great until after I went to bed tonight (last night?)...woke up dry heaving and have been for the last four hours now. It's miserable. Going to try to see my surgeon tomorrow. Thanks for the well wishes! Hope you're well too.

Thank you! Hopefully I will be wishing you surgery luck & sending happy thoughts for post-op here soon as well!

We do grits sometimes, my family used to go the Smoky Mountains on vacation occasionally and I fell in love with grits at Shoney's! Haha. My best friend is actually from Texas and when I told him I wanted beans & cheese he said I would fit right in down there. He lives in Seguin & said "You come down here and you can have your beans and cheese about 70 different ways!" I thought that was funny. He must've rubbed off on me. So what food stage are you at now? It's been awhile since I posted to ya! Hope you're going well.