dominique

What is BMR?

I was the same way! My daughter kept asking me if I was okay. I think I just needed quiet time to recuperate. I told everyone about the surgery so that wasn't it. I could tell I was withdrawn too. I felt better after about 3 weeks. I'm 6 months out now.

I have Aetna ***. I was in the hospital 3 days. My deductible was $500 per day. That covered surgery, anesthesiology, the room, everything. My total was $1500 for everything. I couldn't believe it was so cheap! I would say call Aetna to find out if that is the case for your insurance. My insurance is getting ready to change. If I had this done later, it would have been $3000.

I work at a school. We just had a fire drill. It is my job to grab the emergency kit (in a backpack). At the last fire drill I could not pull it over my shoulders. Today I noticed that some people had their backpack on. I thought, why not try? IT FIT! I'm down 50 pounds since December. YAY me! !

At 4 months out I still chew everything well. It has become routine. Last night I was at a cocktail party where an appetizer was served on a flat-bottomed Chinese spoon. I realized everyone else was gobbling the entire spoonful, but I was eating mine 1/3 at a time!

I started out a 22w. I'm 4 months out. I'm now a 16w. For me I have been dropping about a size a month. I started at 236 pounds and am now 191.

Thanks everyone!

I went through this too. I was going crazy with getting in fluids, protein, and supplements. I felt obsessed. It was all I thought about all day long. Now at 4 months out it is routine. It just takes a while. Stick with it and it will get better. I know that sounds trite, but seriously, that's what it takes. Progress, progress, progress!

I lost inches everywhere else except my boobs at first. I would find smaller tops that fit my waist and hips but were too small for my boobs. Now at 4 months out I have gone from at 42C to a 38C.

I tried popcorn at about 3 months. It did not hurt and I was surprised at how much I could eat. I haven't tried brownines. I usually scrap the toppings off 2 small slices of pizza. That's all I can eat. But I did eat some of the bread during our recent move.

We are still "together". As together as I can be with a homelss man. I still love him. I did not expect things to turn out the way they did. But I do have to take care of myself and my daughter. She moved in with us to go to college when she lost her job. She finishes in December. I told him to give me a year until my lease is up and we'll reassess. But I expected him to move on with his life. I guess at 73 he is finding it hard to do. His family has not known anything about what has been going on. He didn't want to tell them. But he is not taking responsibilty for himself. So I'm getting the family involved. I'm not ready to just drop him off at the closest street corner, but it may very well come to something like that. And the thought of that just terrifies me. I hope they can talk some sense into him. In the meanwhile if you guys think of anything I should be doing to get back on track that I've missed it would be great. You guys have always been so supportive. Thanks for being here.

Sorry so long. My boyfriend is a hoarder. We’ve been a couple for over 8 years. I used to live with him and my grown daughter in a 2-bedroom 2-bath apartment. The hoarding was getting out of control. It was the only thing we fought about. Then we got bedbugs in February 2012. For about a month I tried to get him to clean up. He would not throw anything away, bag it up and store it, or clean it. I threatened to move out and he still didn’t do anything. So I found another apartment for my daughter and me. I started packing, which took up a lot of time because of working full-time. We moved 3-24-12. Then I was unpacking and arranging, sometimes until 10 pm to midnight. My boyfriend found a place for his car and stuff, but not a place to live. So I worry about him because he is 73 and homeless. I cannot get him to get a place to live. He is a janitor and is sleeping on a couch in a doctor’s office he cleans. He baths at my house. I wash his clothes. I provide breakfast. He finds his own lunch and dinner. Yesterday I contacted his family and am waiting to hear from them. He is holding me emotionally hostage because of this. I quit exercising. I was so tired. I was so swamped I could not eat properly and ate a lot of carbs. On-sale Easter candy and I became reacquainted. I still managed to get my protein through protein drinks, but it was hard to remember liquids. I was able to keep up with supplements because I can now take pills, so I just added them to my morning and evening medications. I only had one day to rest during this entire time. Yesterday was the first time I was able to breathe. Today I am taking stock of what has been happening with my health. This was my first time of being tested by stress since being sleeved 12-19-11. I realize I have been using comfort foods to help me get through everything. I weighed 199 on 3-9-12. Today I weigh 191. I’ve only lost 8 pounds since 3-9-12, almost 7 weeks. Ordinarily I would have lost 14-16 pounds in that time. I have been an emotional and physical mess. This whole situation is completely insane to me. I’m not sleeping well. I’ve been drinking coffee and Red bull to keep up my energy. I started back exercising yesterday. I’ve learned that I can slide back into my old habits despite being sleeved. I’m trying to get back to the basics to get back on track. That means good carbs, counting calories, exercising, and getting in all my protein and liquids. If anyone has any input I would appreciate it.

So April 20, 2012 was 4 months from my gastric sleeve surgery. I started out at 236 pounds. I’ve been thinking a lot about where I am in my journey. I can eat 3-4 ounces of meat and 2-3 ounces of veggies. I can now eat and actually feel full. I don’t feel like I’m stuffed and choking on my food. My sleeve doesn’t feel uncomfortable or hurt when I eat most of the time. Chicken still feels uncomfortable at times. In the beginning I was so frustrated that I would never be able to eat somewhat “normally” again. Coordinating my meds, food, protein, supplements, and liquids has become routine. I still have to be vigilant, but I don’t feel like I’m “obsessed with food” so much. I gained 10 pounds with my surgery. No one warned me about that. It took about 6 days for that weight to come off. I’ve lost 45 pounds since my journey began. My biggest problem, my waist (I’m apple-shaped – worse for the heart), is 3 ½ inches smaller. At 1 ½ weeks out, I went through a 4 week stall. I thought the surgery was a failure and that I would always be a big, fat, unhealthy mess. I had put SOOOO much faith in the surgery, I guess expected immediate results. The stall finally broke, I lost 7 pounds in 2 weeks, and hit another stall for 5 days. The scale was stuck at exactly 204.0. I wanted to hit Onederland so bad, but had to be patient. I finally hit 199 on 3/9/12. I have not been losing weight gradually. Even when I do lose, I gain back, lose again, gain back, lose again, with an eventual net loss. I still have stalls but don’t stress like I used to. It’s going to happen when it happens. Apparently I am a slow loser. But at least it’s a loss. I’ve had to learn patience. I started out at size 22-24. Today I put on size XL pants. I wear 14/16W shirts. I can fit some XL shirts. I had an NSV – I had to tighten the armband for my IPOD because my arms were smaller. I’ve started hiking again. I can eat some spicy foods finally (love it!). My hair is thinning now. My inner thighs look like elephant thighs with the loose skin. I guess wearing a bikini is out! (I'm 52 years young anyway ) I’m doing good and don’t regret the surgery at all. Screw the stalls! I will be triumphant! The bottom line is, IT IS GETTING BETTER! I had a hard time believing this in the beginning, but this website and all of you have been a godsend, giving me faith. Thank you all for being here! ! !

Like everyone said, this is normal. My boyfriend also bottles things up. Just talking about this to your husband will probably make him aware of his feelings. He will know that he is not the only one. In the meanwhile, you have us!

smallgirlsxthree you remind me of myself. Completely lost and full of anxiety in the "normal" clothes section, waist and hips porportionally smaller than the boobs, just hit 199 3 days ago! I love this site. It's great to know I'm not the only one. Congrats on Onederland. Hope the interview went well.

I've eaten out twice since being sleeved 12/19/11. The first time was Red Lobster with supportive friends. I did not mind taking leftovers home. The second time was a Chinese buffet. THAT was harder. I felt like I was wasting food because I couldn't eat more. Messsed up, huh? No wonder I got to where I was! I noticed the food did not taste as good. I tried a couple of greasy things and wanted to throw up. I did not overeat though because I'm still getting used to how much to eat and was so afraid of overeating. I keep protein shakes in the car and drank one of those a couple of hours later. However, I am glad that I can now get some fast foods (like Wendy's chili) when I'm on the go. I got tired of only drinking a protein shake or eating a protein bar when on the go.

I just hit 199 3 days ago. It's the smallest I've been in 20 years. I already like saying my weight. You go girl!

Congrats on the NSV and the anniversary!

Thank you everyone! I'll be 52 Friday. What a great birthday present!

I also hate to barf, but I decided I would hate stomach problems even more. So I barf. Better safe than sorry. It is a learning process. I'm better at judging how much to eat now. I'm almost 3 months out.

My drinking something hot (tea, broth, whatever) really helped me.

My doc said to make sure the meds don't have NSAIDS. I have to take something with Tylenol (acetaminophen).

Can't wait for you to join!