Pinky Green

Have them remove it from your site - maybe take it to their room.

I don't necessarily think that everyone's concern is "thinly-veiled contempt". I don't believe that my grandmother's concern was contempt. Also, even though you don't have high blood pressure or any health problems now doesn't mean they won't start cropping up when menopause starts and your female hormones aren't giving you as much protection. I too thought I was perfectly healthy (except for asthma that I have had since a child) until I started having blood sugar problems when I was about 47. Then a few years later my blood pressure started going up and then I developed knee problems all of a sudden. During the testing for the surgery they found I had a high blood pressure related heart condition that they said would go away if I lost weight and get worse if I didn't. When they did the surgery they found out I had fatty liver and hepatitis (although I had no abnormal liver function tests) and referred me to a gastroenterologist to be evaluated. Just because you don't have apparent health problems doesn't mean that you don't have any health problems, you might have health problems that haven't been discovered yet or you might develop health problems as you get older.

See we told you!

About 2 weeks out I was stuck on 220 lbs and after about a week I stepped on the scale one morning and the scale said I had lost 5 lbs. I knew I was losing some inches though because I was able to move the car seat forward, making it much easier to reach start the car because although you could shift gears with the clutch almost to the floor - it has to be all the way to the floor to start the car.

I was supposed to wash with an antimicrobial soap and not eat or drink anything after midnight.

Praying for you! Everything will go just fine.

I think that's a little more than 121 lbs.

Same here, I ate fish and chicken when I was on puree diet but I chewed really good. I was not going to put meat in a blender. I didn't have any problem. Since I've been on regular food I've only thrown up twice - once when I ate too much rice and once when I ate a chicken taco with corn tortilla too quickly.

I only have 3. One on the left hand side and two in my belly button. None of them were more than 1/2 inch long. He said he used something new called a spider procedure. My scars won't be noticable at all by the time I lose all the weight.

I have a friend at the office that has a vertical sleeve and the interesting thing is that she went in for a hernia repair and because it was so large the doctor actually did a sleeve and it's a good thing because she needed to lose weight anyway - but she didn't go to a nutritionist or have any counseling or anything on what she was supposed to eat and since she was eating gummy bears the other day and says she wasn't going to give them up but she has quit losing weight and I told her a little about what our nutritionist had told us about getting enough water and protein and not eating sugar. I figured I'd tell her about these because at least they have no sugar and have fiber and a little protein and if she was going to eat gummy bears anyway ...

I saw an ad on facebook for Gummy Owls. They have no sugar and have yam Fiber and a little Protein and sugar alcohols. Check them out and see what you think? http://www.gummyowls.com

I was beginning to stress because I came out of the hospital and lost 20 lbs by my 2 week visit and then seemed to be stuck for 2 weeks. I would get on the scale and it would say 220.2 or 219.8 or something like that for two whole weeks. I wasn't too stressed because my 1X stretch pants seem to be about to fall off and I put on a pair of Medium stretch pants and they fit just right (although they are probably already stretched out from last I was able to wear them and gained weight - but of course the 1X is probably stretched out to 2X. And I've been able to move the seat of my car forward almost all the way and since I'm short it's made it a whole lot easier to reach the clutch. Well, imagine my surprise when I got up and got on the scale and it said 215.4. That's 25 lbs from the beginning of the 2 week preop diet to one month post-op on Wednesday. I guess it does pay to be patient and to keep going on the plan.

Well, each of us has our triggers and mine is not sweet food. I used to get a King size 70% Cocoa chocolate bar and put it in the freezer and break off one and only one of the squares (about 160 calories if I remember correctly) and not ever eat 2 servings. Now that's controlled consumption - and a little bit of chocolate is good for you. My trigger is chips, potato chips, corn chips and Tex-Mex food. Also, Pasta and rice. And even brown rice is fattening if you eat 3 servings of it. I usually used to eat pretty good but too much at home and whatever sounded tasty at restaurants and all of it even if it really could have fed 2 people. For example, I used to be able to eat the Acapulco Plate at Tia Maria's in Houston. Last time I went I ate some chips and salsa before the salad plate came. Then the salad plate had a crispy beef taco, a tostada with queso on it, and a small amount of guacamole. They brought my borracho Beans when they bring the salad plate. Then the hot plate came and there was a beef tamale, 2 cheese enchiladas and rice. I used to be able to eat all that. Now I can only eat about a half a cup of beans. I think the next time I go, I will skip the chips and eat off my boyfriend's chicken fajita plate instead. I only need about a quarter cup of chicken fajitas. Maybe a little grilled bell pepper and onion and about a quarter cup of borracho beans. That's my plan for next time I go to Tia Maria's, the cheese enchiladas on longer appeal to me. Nor the tamale. Maybe I'll even have some shrimp diablo instead or a chicken taco salad without the shell or the sour cream. Or with light sour cream if they have it.

I started out and was eating quite a bit and quite a bit of it at restaurants. When I started in June going to the nutritionist I started having a Protein drink for Breakfast and what I wanted for lunch and dinner, even cheeseburger and fries. Then I started the 2 week liquid diet. I only cheated with 2 meals on the liquid diet - once was a binge Mexican dinner and the other was a small Greek salad from Ikea. I was real good for almost the first 2 weeks. Only thing I ate that was not liquid was about a tablespoon of some kind of Beans, not really a bad cheat. And toward the end of my second 2 weeks (puree stage), I have been able to eat and tolerate soft food and even a piece of chicken and a piece of tilapia chewed up really good. And today I had a bite of the Cheesecake Factory's pumpkin Cheesecake. It was just a sample at Sam's but it was more than enough for me. My NUT says to aim for 90% compliance and not to deprive yourself too much or it will backfire. Take a bite now, but be good the rest of the week. As long as you are not doing it every day or even every other day, you should be good. My NUT also said to avoid popcorn, seeds and nuts for 6 months. I suppose I will wait at least another 4 1/2 months (total 5 1/2 months) and then chew them really good.

What did you eat?

I wouldn't really call it eating - but my doctor took me off my medicine for my knee pain and told me I could take Children's Tylenol. But the 11 and up dosage doesn't help and I would have to take 3 or 4 times that much to get an adult dose - and it is full of high-fructose corn syrup and it tastes nasty to boot. I asked the pharmacist if there was a liquid Tylenol for adults and they said it was recalled last year and they haven't yet been able to get any back. They suggested that I go to PCCA's website (http://www.pccarx.com) to find a compounding pharmacy and have them make me some. I'm going to call them and see if I can get some compounded for me.

These are the ones - http://www.vitacost.com/gerber-graduates-lil-crunchies-mild-cheddar-1-48-oz And while there is no protein in them they also are very low in fat and carbs. 16 cheese curls have 2 grams of fat and 4 carbs. Made with 100% whole grain corn and 30% less sodium than regular cheese puffs. Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 18 Pieces (7 g) Servings per Container: About 6 Amount Per Serving % Daily Value Calories 35 Calories from Fat 15 Total Fat 2 g Saturated Fat 0 g Trans Fat 0 g Cholesterol 0 mg Sodium 50 mg Potassium 15 mg Total Carbohydrate 4 g Dietary Fiber 0 g Sugars 0 g Protein 0 g

You know, in the baby food section there are what they call Toddler Foods and they have these cheese puffs that are whole grain and low fat and really good. Maybe not quite as good as Cheetos but really pretty good. My granddaughter loves them.

Yeah, but the point is that we were all so tired of protein drinks and the Greek yogurt has 23 grams of protein and the milk another 8 grams so you could do this instead of using protein powder.

Mio is flavor you squirt into Water to make a flavored water drink. I have Berry Pomegranate, Fruit Punch and strawberry Watermelon . http://www.kraftbrands.com/mio/ - it's at the grocery store with the Crystal Lite.

My doctor and nutritionist says to get between 60-80 grams of protein.

Let me say though that I don't eat near that many carbs I don't think. They said not to worry too much about carbs, just don't eat a lot of white sugar or flour and eat your protein first.

They told me to get from 60-80 grams of protein a day and to get about twice that many carbs ( 120-160) . That would be 240-320 calories of protein and about 480-640 calories of carbs. That works out to 720-960 calories. They also said to try to keep each meal to less than 5 grams of fat. That would be another 15-25 grams of fat per day. That works out to another 135-225 calories. The total would be 855-1185 calories a day.

And by the way, even though the Zicam cost probably 6 or 8 dollars, it saves me money because I don't end up having to pay the doctor their $20 copay and then spend $10 on antibiotics and maybe cough medicine or something else, then maybe a trip back a week or so later when the antibiotics don't work and then more antibiotics.

I used to always get bronchitis every time I had a cold - 4-6 times a year. About 6 months ago I started using Zicam at the first sign of a cold and the colds have always gone away without going into bronchitis. I like the quick melt Zicam better than the hard candy type.