SuperMom

eggs (esp scrambled) go down hard. I can eat two poached eggs (sunny side up) no prob. Still have trouble with scrambled eggs (6 months out). A food scale comes in handy right at first. I don't use it anymore but did use it alot at first. Then you will get used to what portion size looks like. ..............only 8 more lbs until I hit goal.....seems like a DREAM!!!

WHOOO HOOOO.....EVEN BETTER THAN ANYTHING SANTA COULD HAVE BROUGHT YOU!!!! CONGRATS!!!

The other day I was doing laundry.....uggg......and my pants fit on a hanger sideways!!!! LOLOL.....SOMETIMES IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS!!!! lololol...
I am Catholic too....and just like you it is WAY easier kneeling when you don't have that much weight on your knees!!! CONGRATS GIRLIE....ON THE RIGHT TRACK!!!

Hi...your post rang a bell here. I am 45 and was 230 lbs 5'1" and had been on a diet for YEARS. I work full time and am a mom to two (including a very busy 4 year old). I wish I would have done the surgery YEARS earlier. I feel great and have lost 75 (maybe more now scale broke and pants loose again) hahahah.......
I ended up self pay. Some of lab work and xray and preop testing was covered by my insurance even though they don't cover bariatric surgery.
I know it is expensive (and I never spend money on me always the kids or hubby) but felt like I needed to do it to save myself and my sanity!
Never look back! One of the best things I have done in a long long time.
I bought a dress for hubby's Christmas work party......size 12-14.........and if you could have seen my hubby's face last night.......and he LIKED me heavy.......the surgery was worth every penny! I used to wear a 2X......
Good luck!!!

Right after surgery for the first couple of weeks get the Fluid in. You will prob not be able to drink 8 oz. You will prob only be able to get in 3-4 oz. Drink whatever goes down well. After you get sick and tired of Jello and sweet stuff, I found that egg drop Soup (you can even blend it early on) was a welcome relief. Don't worry about limiting yourself on sf popsickles etc. Your biggest problem will be staying hydrated. Little by little you will start working Protein in. Unjury chicken broth has 20 grams of protein in it and is not sweet. You have to order it online. It saved me the first couple of months. The egg drop soup also has protein in it. Good luck!

my doc said any kind of Soup so long as it is blended into nothing but liquid........no pieces.......he even said cream Soups were ok.......right after surgery though you need to concentrate on just getting enough liquid....don't worry about cheating too much.....you WONT prob be able to get enough Protein in (they started me off at 40 grams.....but now have me on 80 grams of Protein a day)
just stay hydrated!!!!!half the battle.....until about week 3.....good luck....one of the best decisions I ever made
I think it is great you are planning ahead. If I had any tips for others.....I am mom and wife....and was really hard making meals for family when I did not feel like eating or could not eat what they were eating. I wish I had planned ahead and made some meals (like your soup) that EVERYBODY could eat.
Again....good luck!!!

Took an old recipe for snack pecans and did it sugar free.
Mix together
2 egg whites
2 cups pecans
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon salt
1 cup Powdered Splenda (I used the one in big bag)
bake 350 20-30 min (I used aluminum foil sprayed with pam so it came off easy) until dry and crunchy.
Not sure of stats....but yummy and has protein!
I forgot to put - make sure you include the egg whites....they kind of "bake" the pecans together like a praline (minus the sugar...hahaha)

I've been MIA buried in work and mostly ghosting this site but I wanted to share that today is seven months since I've been sleeved. Three days ago I officially hit 100 lbs. lost since I started this journey (I lost 12 lbs. pre-op). It still seems surreal to me that I have lost 100 lbs. Some days I can see it and others I still see remnants of the "fat girl". The one thing that is consistent though is that I feel amazing. I am never out of breath, I have boundless energy and simply enjoy life in a way that I never did before.
I started running in July and training for a 1/2 marathon. I ran 6 miles with my running group this morning and led the pack. The old me couldn't have even fathomed this. Such a high!
Time for full disclosure: Since getting a promotion to crazy hours and high stress in July, I haven't ate nearly as well I would like to. I've let soda and carbs creep back into my diet way more than is acceptable. Even worse, I've had times when under stress that I was convinced that "X" food would make it all better and I caved. (This worries me the most and I am working hard to deal with it.) That being said, I generally maintain 1200-1500 calories and have lost on average 8-10 lbs. a month even while putting on a lot of muscle. I am working to re-vamp my diet though because I want to fuel my body in a better manner. As for exercise, I generally run four times a week. I plan to add a bit of weight training in the near future.
My hair finally stopped falling out a few weeks ago which is a really good thing- I was starting to get a little nervous. The loose skin is a little bothersome but I don't look terrible and I am seeing some evidence of tightening. That is one perk to the slower weightloss- it seems to give the skin more time to adjust.
I've shared before that my realization that weightloss surgery was necessary came when I tried to train to walk a 1/2 marathon and couldn't even do that. I've added a picture of me in the race last year that convinced me it was time to do something. I've also uploaded a pic from a run with my husband on September 11th. I've lost ten more pounds since then but it's the most recent I've got.
All in all, I am a happy girl and thrilled with my decision to take control of my life via VSG.
Amanda

If a miracle skin suck machine is developed so I can sleep in it at night and wake up taut and back in my 25 year old body, I'll look at the BMI chart. But as long as I am hauling around 10 pounds of excess skin I'll shoot for my own goal.
Any brainiacs here? If so, get to work on that skin suck machine pronto.

I was after my husband three days after surgery! My surgeon told me that my only restriction was that I couldn't lift anything heavier than 25 lbs . . . so . . . I just didn't try to pick him up!

Ahem! The name's RootMAN in case you didn't notice!

WLS Do’s and Don’ts

DO remove the word ONLY from your vocabulary. Ex: I’ve ONLY lost 10 Lbs in 2 weeks… Now let’s look at this again without the word ONLY: I’ve lost 10 Lbs in 2 weeks!! See what I mean? Perception is reality folks!!

DON’T assume you’ll never eat all of your favorite foods again. This is just an excuse your brain has designed to allow you to indulge. You WILL eat all your favorites again someday, just much less but find it to me more enjoyable. Which leads directly into the next:

DON’T do the “last meal” syndrome. You will only sabotage your weight loss you might have pre-surgery or set you back further from your ultimate goal post-op. This surgery is very serious and is for the serious minded. Use this time wisely to get the feeling of how life might be like post op.

DO learn all of the rules pre-op that you will endure post-op. Such as, no drinking with meals, using smaller utensils and plates, engaging in some type of workout routine, limiting your sugar and sodium intake, joining as many WLS support groups as you can.

DO Celebrate every single pound lost! Imagine one pound of butter. Yeah… that’s gone from your body forever. It is noteworthy and worth every bit of a pat on the back as any others that may go along with it.

DON’T compare your successes and losses to others. Chances are very high that you will only come out on the short end and only find yourself disappointed. Everyone’s journeys are their own…

DO keep track of your losses in many different ways than just the scale! Examples:

DO keep one set of your largest clothes you’ve ever worn. Make it a point to try them on, especially when you’re having a down moment. You will find this will really pick up your spirits! This is a real rollercoaster of a ride, and anything that will keep you positive is what you should do!

DON'T keep any other fat clothes around. Get rid of them ASAP. You're never going to fit them again, right? So... off to donations they go.

DO take photos of yourself just before your surgery. Keep them close. Again, having a bad day? Look at them and compare them. As a matter of fact, take photos of yourself often. You will also find that the more you lose, the more you will want to take pictures. Nothing wrong with that!!! That goes with celebrating your losses.

DO take measurements of yourself often. Keeping track of all your inches lost will really keep you on the right track when your scale is being stubborn!!

DO reward yourself every time you hit a mini goal. Make some more worthy than others. I like to go shopping when I hit a goal, it is my favorite thing to do now.

DON’T let the scale define you. Great majority of us will endure many fluctuations and stalls in this journey. It is what it is… patience is the key here. Meditate and envision yourself months down the road at your goal. Smile, then move on!!

DO find out about measuring body fat! It’s more than just weight loss, FAT LOSS is the real goal here. Keep in mind that the BMI scale is greatly inaccurate and most Health Studies do prove this. According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE) our body fat % ranges should be average: 25-31% for Women and 18-24% for men. Any higher is considered obese. However it does go more in depth, according to ages and more. Everyone has different genetic make ups, frame sizes and fitness levels... even a different ethnicity can post differences.

DO have many goals in sight. Having only one, especially a simple weight goal you will find can be difficult. Have many MINI goals along your journey, and more than just ones that involve the scale. Such as, clothing size goals, body fat% goals, fitness or workout goals, dietary goals, etc…

DO challenge yourself always!! Whether it’s a global challenge with others, or personal challenges... It will keep you motivated and always willing to go further than you ever thought you could!

DO have a mentor! Find someone that you can trust and confide in, and that you know has “been there”. Preferably someone you know in person. You will find many folks in your life who have been there, for obesity is worldwide now and there are so many who have been able to defeat this demon. It’s not easy! It quite literally is the toughest feat I’ve ever had to endure. I can say this too, my job will never be done. This is for life!
DON'T believe the myth that your tool has an expiration date. Yes, it's true you will lose the most weight in the first year and it's also true that the further out you are and the closer you are to goal, the harder it is to lose. However, as long as you keep up with your healthy eating and fitness routines you will continue to lose weight and / or keep it off in the many years post op. It all boils down to calories in vs. calories out.
DON'T believe the myth that having WLS will keep the weight off forever. That is our individual responsibility.

And finally…

DON’T ever beat yourself up! We all make mistakes, and dare I say not one person on this Earth is perfect. I try hard to be, no doubt! I always admit that I’m a perfectionist – but I’m far from perfect. I just try to be… The only thing you can do is pick yourself up, give yourself a pep talk, perhaps contact your mentor for reassurance and move on!!! Again, this is for life. Every day you wake up is a second chance.

DO look for solutions to your problems. Otherwise they will just become excuses.


DON’T EVER GIVE UP! I don’t think any explanation is necessary here.

DON'T expect the scale to post a loss every single day. As a matter of fact, don't expect it to move that much even weekly! Just keep doing all the right things and the scale will move in the right direction when it needs to.

DO expect to see fluctuations on the scale, both down AND up. DON'T lose your head over it either. This isn't a miracle cure and the weight isn't going to magically disappear in a few weeks. You have to keep pushing with healthy eating, some type of workout and getting plenty of Fluid.

DON'T let the scale define your journey when there are so many pieces to that puzzle!!!



Good luck to all of you. This journey is a tough one, but if you are here, then you believed in yourself enough to give yourself the life you’ve always dreamed of. YOU WILL BE successful. Always keep that in mind.

Add-ons by other experienced sleevers:

DO keep a list of NSV (Non scale victories) to reflect on when times are getting hard. Can you walk up 2 extra flights of stairs before getting winded? Cross your legs?" and

"DO NOT be afraid to change things if they aren't working. Stalls happen even gains happen. If you are on a long stall look at your eating and decided if changes need to be made. Utilize your tool!" -- Southern Sleever

DO: Keep a food diary of what you eat and drink. This is a great learning tool as to which foods have what amounts of fat, Protein and carbs that add up to your daily intake goals. There are many ways to diary your food - from old fashioned pen and notebook to many options via smartphone apps. Keeping one is the important thing - however is right for you. I use mine now to look back for meal ideas when I hit a blank as to what to prepare for a day or a week.

DO: Realize this is not a diet to be followed for a while then set aside. This is a permanent lifestyle change. Yes, the amount of food you eat will increase as time passes, but your relationship with food will be forever altered. How you Celebrate your joys, successes and holidays will be different. How you mourn your sorrows will be different. Some people need outside help to get through the sometimes overwhelming mental changes this process brings. If you need help with this part of the deal- reach out and get it. -- SKCUNNINGHAM

DO roll with the punches!! -- fern

I just wanted to say thank you to my Carrie on the forum. Sometimes I think we forget to thank the people who love us the most and encourage us. My wife went out and purchased all of my food for my 2 week liquid diet. She put all the different shakes,Protein drink mix and Protein Bars in lunch bags and also put the day of the week on them with the calorie intake of the bag! If you have a spouse,friend or other family member kicking ass for you like this, please give the thanks that they so well deserve.
Respectfully,
Joe Lopez

im one week out of the surgery and the only way for me to cope with not eating solid foods is to cook. Weird yes,just how it works for me. I made this for my mother.
chicken in garlic lime saurce.
Take 4 chicken breasts.....cut them in half. Salt them,then use fresh ground pepper. Then take a large ziploc bag and pour all purpose flour in it. Take the chicken breast pieces and put them in the bag and do the shake and bake style of mixing. then get yourself ready made cloves of garlic,get about 2 heads of garlic worth....dice them up,then take about a cup worth of butter.
Pour the butter into a skillet,throw in the garlic into the skillet...sautee them to a light golden color. Add in chicken pieces. cook them on both ends for about 15-20 minutes.
take some limes,cut them into quarters. squeeze the juice onto the chicken pieces and then add a dash of lemon pepper seasoning. Make some white rice you got protien,some minor carbs and your good to go.

Buy her a massage, pedicure, manicure or all the above. Or you could do couples massage. That is romantic and fun!!
kelly

All these suggestions are great. If you want to really wow her, clean the house, including the baseboards, bathrooms etc. , do all the laundry and detail her car. If you spring for a mani/pedi too, you will be the bomb!! That would definitely wow me!!

Hey just wanted to chime in here (lab rat going on 25 years this next year).....look on your CBC (cell blood count).....the MCV (Mean Cell Volume) is a better indicator of Iron stores. When your Iron stores get low your body starts producing SMALLER red cells. Your MCV should be 76-100. When you see it less than 75 you have tiny (microcytic) cells. This is due to low iron. You can look up "iron deficient anemia" to see symptoms. Your ferritin is directly linked to your low iron.
Your body only makes new red cells around every 120 days.....so you have to take iron for MONTHS to get your stores back up (hard to explain this to people...they take iron for one week and wonder why they don't feel better - it takes MONTHS)
Prealbumin is also directly related to diet. Malnourished SEVERE is less than 8. Mild is 12-15. Moderate is 8-10. So yours at 17 is fine. Yes it is on the lower side but I think if someone did a study the general population of sleevers normal is prob alot lower than the population of people who are eating alot more.
Also....serum iron of 42 is wonderful especially for females. I run them all day long and most females run in the 30's. Make sure you don't take iron the night before or the morning of your lab tests and are measuring what is really in your bloodstream and not what you just ate .
Parathyroid is on a NEGATIVE feedback loop with Calcium. Calcium goes up parathyroid goes down. Calcium goes down parathyroid goes up.
Normal parathyroid is 10-60.
My doc has me on:
Bariatric Advantage Vitamins....Folic Acid 800 mcg, iron 18 mcg - plus alot of the B Vitamins
Plus B complex Vitamin which has more folic acid, Biotin (yea helps with loosing hair) more vit B 12 and more b vitamins
Plus chewable iron 29 mcg a day
B12 sublingual 1000 twice a week
so far my labs look great. good luck. No worries your labs are ok.

Hey just wanted to chime in here (lab rat going on 25 years this next year).....look on your CBC (cell blood count).....the MCV (Mean Cell Volume) is a better indicator of Iron stores. When your Iron stores get low your body starts producing SMALLER red cells. Your MCV should be 76-100. When you see it less than 75 you have tiny (microcytic) cells. This is due to low iron. You can look up "iron deficient anemia" to see symptoms. Your ferritin is directly linked to your low iron.
Your body only makes new red cells around every 120 days.....so you have to take iron for MONTHS to get your stores back up (hard to explain this to people...they take iron for one week and wonder why they don't feel better - it takes MONTHS)
Prealbumin is also directly related to diet. Malnourished SEVERE is less than 8. Mild is 12-15. Moderate is 8-10. So yours at 17 is fine. Yes it is on the lower side but I think if someone did a study the general population of sleevers normal is prob alot lower than the population of people who are eating alot more.
Also....serum iron of 42 is wonderful especially for females. I run them all day long and most females run in the 30's. Make sure you don't take iron the night before or the morning of your lab tests and are measuring what is really in your bloodstream and not what you just ate .
Parathyroid is on a NEGATIVE feedback loop with Calcium. Calcium goes up parathyroid goes down. Calcium goes down parathyroid goes up.
Normal parathyroid is 10-60.
My doc has me on:
Bariatric Advantage Vitamins....Folic Acid 800 mcg, iron 18 mcg - plus alot of the B Vitamins
Plus B complex Vitamin which has more folic acid, Biotin (yea helps with loosing hair) more vit B 12 and more b vitamins
Plus chewable iron 29 mcg a day
B12 sublingual 1000 twice a week
so far my labs look great. good luck. No worries your labs are ok.

Allrecipes.com has a great recipe for Tofu Parmigiana. I made it last night and it was delicious . Tasted more like eggplant parmigiana (I used the suggestion of dipping in flour and egg as well; and used a Pasta sauce). I have a recipe for a sandwich spread and Chinese stir fry from the same site but have not tried them yet. Anyone else got a favorite way to use tofu? I'm loving the high Protein count; and it goes down a bit easier than meat.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tofu-parmigiana/detail.aspx

Thank you guys so much for the positive responses. I knew if anybody would understand my joy, it would be my fellow sleevers. Wishing much success to us all.

Yesterday I was clowning around with my hubby, Joking with him about his height. We have a running joke that he is short (@6ft he's really not). But I kid with him that he is. And when I put on my heels I am taller than him so there for he is short.
I know we are corny newlyweds, we will Celebrate our 1yr anniversary this sunday.
Anywho back to my topic. During my clowning I had my back to him, walking to the shed, laughing the whole time. He proceeded to scoop me up and carry me to the storage house. Can you say I was shocked, estatic, and thrilled all at the same time. I have never been picked up easily let alone carried anywhere. I felt like the girls in the movies who get carried over the threshold right after they get married. I can't believe it, my husband can not only pick me up but he can carry me. Whoo-Hoo!!! This is an amazing accomplishment seeing as I have always been the bigger spouse out of the two of us.

I was in wally world(Wal-Mart) last night and my hubby was going on about how saggy my size 12's looked. He was convinced I was in a smaller size now. I said okay I will try on some 10's he convinced me to try on some 8's as well. I got in the dressing room and the 10's fit great, I was happy with that. After showing him those, I went back in the dressing room to try on the 8's thinking, there is no way in Sam-Hill will I be able to get into these 8's. Well good people of Sleeve-land, not only did I get in them I was able to zip, button, breathe, and walk in them. LOL.
I am truly elated. When I first started this journey, everyone would ask me what did I want to weight. At 298lbs. I really could not pinpoint a pound amount that I wanted to be, so I would say, "All I know is I want to be a single digit size in clothing." I realize that last night I actually accomplished that.
Tears of Joy. Sorry so long but I just had to share.

This recipe was born from my desperation for something like fried chicken on my low carb diet. I will write down the directions for both fried and baked chicken thighs. The only problem with this recipe for me is that is super duper high in sodium, so please be aware if the scale doesn't move in the morning it is probably because of the Water retention, lol.
1 and 1/2 bags of Pork rinds (I used Kroger brand)
3 large eggs
4 tbsp italian seasoning
2 tbsp garlic powder
48 oz (3 lbs) of chicken thighs (I prefer dark meat)
For frying: 24 oz (2 cups) of peanut oil for pan fry
1) Crush the pork rinds to a fine consistency by adding the pork rinds to a sealable plastic bag and crushing with a rolling pin or can.
---- If frying, pour the 24 oz of peanut oil into the frying pan (about 9 inches circumfrence) and place on high heat to heat oil.
---- If baking, grease baking sheet with non-stick spray.
2) Add italian seasoning and garlic powder to crushed pork rind bag and mix.
3) Whisk the 3 eggs together in a bowl.
4) Dip each chicken thigh into the egg wash.
5) After dipping, place chicken thigh into bag and cover chicken in crumbs.
---- if frying, place chicken thighs into pan to fry and remove from pan when golden brown.
---- if baking, place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Each serving is 6 oz of chicken.
Author's note: If properly frying, the oil should not technically permeate the breading. Therefore, I have not included the caloric breakdown for the frying. However, we don't always fry correctly, so be sure to add at least some of the calories for whatever type of oil being used when making the recipe for frying. If baking, the caloric breakdown is listed below.

Hi Everyone,

I decided that I would make a list of things for new people who are thinking about having WLS that might be helpful to them. This is long so please PRINT THIS OUT TO READ if you don’t want to read it all at one time.




First thing is to start asking people on the board you are on all kinds of questions—make of list of things you want to ask and keep coming back and ask more questions as time goes on. The more questions that ask the more you educate yourself about WLS and the process and what doctor they liked. Don’t rely on just one source of information. It is really normal to have all kind of feeling and emotions when trying to decide if you want to have Weight Loss Surgery. I must have talked myself in and out of doing this at least 50 times during my 6 months of research. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. This is a big step. But if diet and exercise worked for us then we still wouldn’t be fat and would have lost the weight a long time ago and never regained it. It takes a lot of courage to have Weight Loss Surgery. I am very proud of you for looking into this. Don’t give any more days of your life being overweight, and your body hurting along with being unhealthy. WLS really is your answer.


How do you select your surgeon? First of all this is NOT a time to price shop for the cheapest doctor to do your WLS—that is just the wrong way to go at this. There are a lot of doctors who advertise on the Internet doing sleeve surgery for a lot less than some other doctors. I found one posting from a person who had the following concerns after having surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. (a) They put NO name band on her to be able to ID her when giving medications or anything else. ( NO one asked if she had any allergies to foods or medications—thank goodness this person didn’t have any. ( The lab did NOT label tubes of blood with the person’s name on it—very dangerous. © Day after surgery they gave this person ice chips, tea and apple juice. The next day (day 2) they gave this person NOTHING so this person asked why and the nurse said this person wasn’t allowed to eat anything. Well, this person then said I had Clear liquids the day before and they wanted to know WHO gave it to this person?? (d) This person was told that they would get a copy of the operative report on their discharge to take home with them—This person has not received it yet and that was about 2 weeks ago. So make sure have positive feedback about the Surgeon and Staff and Hospital that you choose. My choice after 6 months of research was Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. What I can tell you in my opinion is that he is the very best you will ever find to do your surgery. I can only speak about my experience and my research that I did before I made him my choice for a surgeon.


Pack lightly for your WLS. So many of us have gone to Mexico, so you want a small suitcase with wheels, a laptop & a cell phone. The clothing that you wear to Mexico are the same ones you can wear home—slip on shoes work great too. Make sure that the clothing is loose fitting. Something just comfortable for your ride home. While in Mexico—that is if you go to Mexico for WLS make sure you take GAS-X. They have nothing in Mexico that they give your for gas, and the use gas in your abdominal area during surgery. It is painful after the surgery, so GAS-X STRIPS are easy to use by just placing them on your tongue. Take a couple of boxes with you—you will be glad you did. If you are going to use a credit card make sure you tell your credit card company and your Bank if you use your debit card or credit card. Sometimes if you DO NOT let these companies know you are outside of the US they block your charges. Use a credit card or debit card vs cash it is much easier to use. Take small amounts of cash for tips—I took $45.00 in 1’s for tip money for various things. If you go to any hospital anywhere leave ALL jewelry at home –just a watch and no rings or other jewelry. I never had any problems at all leaving my purse and computer& cell phone in my room while I was in surgery, but they recommend that you leave all jewelry at home. If you are a lady please remove all nail polish—they need it removed to see your nail beds during surgery.


The first month you do after surgery is the HARDEST month you will ever have to do. You do 10 days of nothing but Clear Liquids to start with—that means you have to be able to see through the liquid. Do not panic if you can not get the Protein they want you to have the 1st 10 days—I couldn’t find anything I liked that was clear during the 1st 10 days. They want you to try to drink 64 oz each day, and I don’t think I could ever get that much Water drank—just do the best you can. Your new stomach has just had major surgery and it is swollen and will only hold something about the size of your thumb. The next 10 days gets much better—you are now on creamy liquids for these 10 days. You can now have some creamy Soups, yogurt, and pudding—sugar free and find a Protein Drink that you like. For me it is Premier Protein Drink and I get mine at costco. When looking for a Protein Drink, make sure they are low in calories, high in Protein—Premier has 30 grams of Protein in each drink box and make sure you have low carbs too. I know there are a lot of other Protein drinks out there that people like. When it comes to carbs I tried to keep mine at no more than 20 carbs per day. Ask others what kind of Protein Drinks they liked and where they get them. The last 10 days are mushy foods. So this is a bit of a challenge. How many foods can I make mushy? I even considered using some baby foods. Start thinking about what will work as mushy foods for you.


Starting the 2nd month is quite an adventure. You can eat regular food. Here is where the relearning process takes place. You now will take tiny BABY BITES of food and chew each bit about 30 times or until it is like a liquid. From here on out you will need to take small bites of food and chew and chew and chew. I found out that chicken and fish were a lot easier to chew up. I don’t eat much red meat—your tastes will change and things you didn’t like a lot might taste good and something that you used to love don’t taste that great anymore. Keep track of what you are eating and keep your calories at about 800 calories per day and no more than 20 carbs per day—whole grain carbs are the best to have—NO white or refined carbs. I highly suggest that you keep track by writing them down or using some of the Internet sites that offers you this. I suggest this site it works great there are other sites to use this is just a suggestion. http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/ It really is good to write down and track everything you put in your mouth to start with—that is how you know that you have not had more than 800 calories per day.


I want you to understand weight loss surgery is just a tool. The fat doesn’t not just melt off of you—they is NO miracle cure. Now you have to put a lot of effort into eating healthy and starting to exercise. Everyone has some kind of exercise that works for them. I love walking and try to walk about 5 days a week.


For many of us we started to lose some of our hair 3 or 4 months after having WLS. I would find a lot of hair in the shower after washing my hair. That is pretty normal for a lot of us—this does not happen to everyone. There is no magical cure for hair loss—some people use different shampoo’s or take Biotin. It happens and you live with it. YES, it will grow back. For me I had pencil straight hair and mine grew back natural curly and I love it now. I already had thin hair so for me, I got some cute wigs and wore them for about 9 months until my hair looked a lot better. It was worth the Hair loss to lose 105 pounds.


Because we eat a lot of protein we suffer from Constipation. You need to have at least 70 grams of protein EACH day. So I mix my protein drink each morning with Miralax. It is NOT habit forming and is tasteless and it is just a good way to start off the day. I put the protein and a cap full of Miralax in the blender with about 5 small ice cubes and that is my Breakfast. 3 years later I still have this for Breakfast and nothing else, it just works for me.


You may have periods where you have what we call STALLS. You may be doing everything right and eating and exercising and you have NO weight loss for a week or more. This is normal—mine lasted 9 days. Don’t panic the weight loss will start up again, just keep doing what you are doing.


Our heads play games with us sometimes it is ugly what our brain tried to convince us of—We call these “Head Games” and they really are tough times to work though, but you can do it. Your head is still thinking with your old brain and way of thinking that you have been doing for most of your life. You now are eating VERY small amount of food, but your head is used to you eating LARGE amounts of food and that is what your brain wants—so it tries to tell you the you should be eating more—NOT true at all. So you need to have a talk with yourself. Do I just WAN T to eat or do I really NEED to eat?


You are not on a diet, but you are making a LIFESTYLE change and that is good because you can do this for the rest of your life. You will NEVER be able to eat like you used to. That is good because that is how we got fat. You will morn the loss of food—you will look around and see others inhaling all this food and you think to yourself—I used to eat like that. You will notice how fast people eat and inhale their food and talk and hardly chew what they are eating. That is pretty normal feeling to have—because you are now eating such small amounts of food and chewing and chewing. You will never be able to guzzle a bottle of Water again—that is OK too. These are all good things. In time you will look at all the food people are eating and thinking to yourself oh my gosh I could never eat that much again—it is way too much food.


When you have issues or problems come back to the board and ask others who have already done this. We are here to help and support you.


Give or exchange all your fat clothes away. You will never need them again after they become too big for you. This weight loss is something you will be able to maintain for the rest of your life. You have earned the right to have new clothes.


Make sure you have the VERY best doctor that has had a lot of experience with sleeve surgery and check his success rates out. Check the doctor for HIGH patient reviews from the people who have gone to him or her. I can NOT STRESSS this enough. Make sure that your surgery is being done in a hospital NOT a Clinic. One clue that it is a clinic is if they send you to a hotel room to recover—that is why they cost less, this is also dangerous too. YOU are worth the extra money that it cost to have this WLS in a Hospital and by the best Doctor you can have. You want to have a happy and GREAT life and having the RIGHT Doctor and Hospital are the key to this.

Sorry if this is long, but it is intended to have as a reference and answer a lot of your questions that you might have. For some of you, you are very lucky because your health insurance is now starting to pay for Weight Loss Surgery. For many of this, we did not have your luck, so we are self pay patients. There are companies that loan money for this surgery—be aware that their interest rate is high. Once you pick your doctor ask them about these companies that give loans for surgery if you are a self pay patient.



You know we never think twice about making car payments. If you have to borrow the money for this surgery just look at this as “body payment.” It will be the best money you have ever borrowed. Please PRINT this out to read later. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me. I had surgery almost 3 years ago, so I do have quite a bit of experience. I really am here to help you along your journey. It took me 14 months to lose this weight and I was 63 when I had the surgery, so it is NEVER too late in life to do this.

It's been 95 days since my surgery, or 13 and a half weeks, or three months and three days. I have now lost 53 pounds, from an alltime high of 289 down to 236 as of this morning. I come around these boards but I haven't been posting much because I've been in kind of a little observation pod myself, testing out food, working the sleeve, and something else: pouting because my weight is in the 230's and not the 130's.
Usually when I come here I read people saying they're completely pissed about the same thing. So I wanted to put my spice into the pot here and tell you that even though it seems like it's coming off really slowly, and even though day to day you could measure your loss in eye droppersful the fact is it's pretty likely that when you get to three months, you will be somewhere around a fifty to sixty pound loss.
If the loss is faster than that, it's usually because you had more to lose to begin with. If it's slower than that it won't be slower by much. Maybe it will be 45 and not 55. That could be because you had less weight to lose to begin with, or you have some other condition that's comorbid, like diabetes or hypothyroid. It's all good, you're getting better.
If you are reading about somebody who lost seventy or eighty pounds in two months, they are losing the same *percentage* of weight you have to lose. And the prediction by bariatric surgeons for how much you will lose over a certain amount of time is pretty much uniform: *Most* of it will be gone at one year. Not in four months. Not in six months. One year.
I want to tell you why this is a good thing. First of all, if you are eating the starvation calories you would need to eat to lose one hundred pounds in six months your metabolism would be shredded by the time it was over. The minute you stopped and tried to "maintain" you'd really be in trouble -- you might have to stay at six hundred for a year after that, and keep slowly adding calories, and be stuck for the rest of your life eating eight or nine hundred "maintenance" . Besides being trapped at a much lower metabolism, your nutrition would have to suck over time if you had to live that way forever.
Also, when you lose slower, your skin has time to bounce back. Extremely fast weight loss means your outer layer looks like a stretched out sock. But extend that loss over time, over the space of a year -- you end up with taut, glowy stuff that's better than any fashion makeover. You might not ever get the skin of your childhood but the real sag and pucker will be minimized as much as it can be. You might have completely given up on bikini dreams at this point, but...consider the arms. Consider sleeveless. Consider the one piece. Patience can pay off.
I am not a calorie counter. I am not a lowcarber. My BMI was just under 40 when I went down to Mexico so I would say I'm an "average" candidate for this procedure. I've eaten taco bell, gone out for wine, gone on vacation, eaten Pasta and pizza and chips. What I've noticed when I do stuff like this though is that my body starts asking me for chicken and vegetables.
And the other thing I've noticed is that *no matter what* I do, the pounds are still coming off.
When I got back from vacation last month, I was starting to worry. When I left on May 19, I weighed 249. I hung out with my relatives and ate seafood and had wine spritzers, went out to eat every day and lived the life of riley for two weeks. When I got back I weighed 247. I thought I was slowing my loss and I probably was, a little but...maybe not as much as I thought.
So the month of June passes and my decision is not to freak out, not to go lowcarb, and to eat normally, work out a little while I push the Protein and the Water. I went out with my friends and had a couple glasses of wine with them but I'm worrying. Now I'm not losing that twenty to thirty pounds a month, that ten pounds a week. Now it seems like *nothing* is happening. June 15, suddenly it's 245. I'm still thinking maybe I need to lowcarb...maybe I need to push my calories down from 1200 to under a thousand. Maybe I need to do something.
But I don't. I walked a couple miles outside til it got too hot out, and I swam in the pool twice. Ate like I didn't care.
Now it's 236. In six weeks I lost eleven pounds. And I really did nothing at all but live normally. I did not scour the internet for lowcarb recipes, I did not get on some punishing regime to tweak my abs. I didn't do anything but eat and live.
So I just want to say that you *can* make this into a clean, disciplined Jillian Michaels experience, where you only eat cottage cheese and you run on the treadmill for an hour every day. You can force your calories down to five hundred and brutalize those pounds off of you in record time -- you can do that, it's possible and you have medical supervision.
Or you can NOT do it. It's coming off either way.