Just-A-Gem

Woot. Excited to see September sleevers coming out of the woodwork. I'm being sleeved September 2nd with Dr. Almanza. Only 39 days to go in the morning. :-)

My husband is amazing. He has a little bit of padding around the middle, but he's not obese or even fat. The extra weight probably has more to do with my cooking than his natural tendencies. LOL. Anyway. Even as a thinner girl (years ago, lol) I've always been a "friends first" kind of girl and I was friends with all shapes, colors, and sizes. I've dated them all. My husband has a history with smaller (petite, thin, pretty) women, but he was my best friend and fell in love with me for me, I guess. I am married to my best friend and no weight will ever change that.

I am going to use some of the WonderSlim pudding shakes I got from DietDirect for the pre-op and probably a little of the post-op also. They are delicious. I really love the cocomint.

I hate the new lottery system. They started it last year and I was lucky enough to get in, but this year, not so much. I am going to do the 5K like I did 2010... Maybe I can get under a 30 minute finish. It'd be nice. That sounds awesome. Maybe I will sign up for some event on that. Are they doing multiple races?

I wouldn't call 3 days a stall, per se. You will lose, just focus on getting your fluids in at this point. Your body is probably still in shock, and I think all bodies respond to it differently 12 lbs in 7 days or even 10 is nothing to sneeze at.

You are going to have a potential problem with streaming, because the licenses for streaming are different in Mexico. You'll need to get information from the network (email possibly?) or maybe you can find someone with personal experience.

LOL. Ain't that the truth.. My children are 4 and 2.. Fun age, but exhausting to say the least. We have the same surgeon so I will agree with what you said, lifting, etc. should wait for 6 weeks.

Prayers to you and your surgeon for a great, uncomplicated day! You had me laughing.

Yay!!!! Congrats to you on both! Which half marathon are you running? I thought maybe the Aramco Houston Half, but that's on the 15th. It's a really great course that I just ran this previous January. You'll do great! (and you'll probably be all the way to goal by then to boot!)

I like to think it's a combination of both.

Check out the Hamilton Beach Single Serve blender with Travel Lid from Wal-Mart. MUCH cheaper than the Bullet and has better reviews. Most Wal-Marts even carry it in store.

I just posted my first vlog... I am pretty sure I said 'um' more than a few times. Probably more than I ever have in my life... which surprises me because I'm an excellent public speaker. Eh, that's neither here nor there. LOL. Anyway, check it out if you can (please...). This is just a short About me (2:45 long), but I plan to vlog about how I got here and my family relations and this whole pre-op thing I'm trying, etc. etc. Here it is! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs03S8myYQU If I'm no good at it, I'll give it a rest. I promise! -Heather

My mom is the exact same way. It's totally depressing because I would say that she is truly my best friend and this is something so important to me. She's seen me lose 90 lbs and gain it all back in half the time it took me to lose it and still she says I should do it the "natural way". I have news for you, Mom, it doesn't work!! I have sent all the research I can her way but she still says all kinds of negative things about it whenever it's brought up which has caused me just not to talk about it around her and that kills me because I am thinking about it 95% of my time these days. Ugh. I wish I could give you a solution or find one myself. She says things like, "you know you still have to change your lifestyle", etc, but it a seriously negative, faithless way. I hate it. I really hope that our mom's come around soon, or hopefully when the results start showing. She is obese too (but probably only a 30 or 31 BMI) and unlike me, she has comorbidities like hypertension. I don't want type II diabetes or hypertension. I want to put an end to the cycle. If I drill that into her enough, I hope she comes around.

That makes total sense, Lovely Lo. Thank you. :-)

Congrats on reaching real food, btw! :-)

From what I've read, 3/4 of a cup seems on the high end of meals. I am not speaking from experience though. I know that when I get to post op, I will be using a scale and measuring my meals to about 4 oz. I think that would be 4 medium shrimp.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one becoming more introverted pre-surgery. It's partly due to being my highest weight outside of pregnancy (but only 10 lbs away from even that now) and partly due to wanting everyone to only see the new me... maybe the more time I put in between them seeing me at 300-ish and seeing me 4 months from now 40-70 lbs down, the less likely they'll remember where I was.

I plan to wear the "girdle" that I got after my c-section when I go back to work after 9 days. I know that it helps a LOT with the pain of getting up, bending, etc.

I'm glad you made it on with no issues! Did you need the extender? I haven't flown since just after I had my son and I was 260 then, and didn't need the extender. I am hoping to get back to 260 (-35 lbs) before surgery so that I can avoid that if I have to. I'm almost 5'-8".

This is true. I bought mine last year when I had quite a bit of weight off (that I have since regained, and then some) but I think that it will be fine after the 30 lbs I intend to lose between now and surgery date. Either way I can still close it all the way down, it's just a little snug at my ribs. I think the sizing on the Enell's is very accommodating.

I think I will probably bring my Enell sports bra. I have H-cups and I plan to walk, walk, walk.. I know it helped tremendously with my c-sections. The Enell is great and is a front closure bra.

This is me too. I am always wishing I could work from home. I don't EVER buy clothes and have become a total recluse outside of the necessity of going to work. My hubby now does all our grocery shopping, etc. I have been obsessed since I finally made the decision and set the date. I joined here in April, but am being sleeved in September because we need time to get funds together. I hope I am not obsessed with this for the rest of my life. LOL. I have a countdown going on my work calendar (they think it's for vacation), my phone homescreen, my work Outlook, my home iMac, and I keep track on here in status. I am ready for 51 days from now and posting from the flip side. I think obsession may be an understatement. Half the sentences that I exchange with my husband start with the preamble "when I'm skinny...."

In my experience with 2 c-sections, it's usually about 3 weeks before I can lay on my stomach comfortably for more than a couple minutes. I have a therapeutic massage twice a month and I just plan to schedule carefully.

Oh man! I'm so sorry to hear this. What doctor were you planning to go to again? I had to reschedule to September 2nd, but Dr. Almanza is financing about half of it.

I've not heard too many people be put on Optifast pre-sleeve, but you are probably right if you bought it through his office he made something off it. Back away from the burrito. It's just not worth it.