DanaInNewOrleans

I told my husband during the show that Rick has worn the same clothes since the beginning... lol....

WooHooooooo Shane!! You look great!!

Ok, ditto for me for everything in this post! I could have written it myself. 9 weeks post-op and I've lost 30 lbs... Teri, I just sent you a message!

Oh honey, I'm so happy they found those 3 tumors during your sleeve surgery. What a blessing... Do you have to go through any more treatment or did the removal do the job?

It was meant to be....I'm not religious but as I've gotten older I find myself getting more sure that most things happen for a reason.... Hope all turns out ok.... ~Dana

Thyroid Cancer for me too...about 9 years ago...

I bought the chewable bariatric vitamins from the unjury website. I heard the brand that Lavin sells taste horrible...well, apparently they ALL taste horrible!! I can barely tolerate them.... I break them in half and take 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening. I hold my breath and chew For some reason that makes it easier... http://www.unjury.com/store/protein/

I'm thinking Michonne and Rick are going to eventually hook-up? Damn, I love this show....

You can't tell? AS IF! You know you're lookin GOOD! Don't be shy! Congrats! ~Dana

I do net carbs.... I always subtract the fiber. Speaking of fiber, I heard a lot of good things about the Quest Protein bars so I ordered a variety pack. It came in a couple of days ago and tried one this morning ( I think it was called lemon creme) and it was pretty good. One great benefit is that the bars have a lot of fiber -- the lemon creme has 16 grams of fiber, 20 grams of protein and 170 calories. They are more expensive but they really do pack a punch as a Meal Replacement...I'm looking forward to trying the other flavors.

Without thinking I took a sip of my husbands Coke Zero and I didn't feel pain but it did feel different. In fact, that is what made me realize what I had done -- it felt strange so I stopped and looked and realized it was Coke Zero. No pain, just slight discomfort. But I have seen posts here from people who do have carbonated drinks occasionally with no problems.

Nancy, 60 lbs!! Wow! That is great....can you share what your daily menu is like? How many daily calories/carbs/protein? My surgery was 12/21 and I'm down only 30 lbs so I'm always looking for ideas.... congrats! ~Dana

Still going over here.....

Oh my God Lila!! You look awesome! Can you believe your transformation in JUST 6 MONTHS??? I'm stunned! I know it was rough start (what an understatement!) but thank God you got through it. And now you are totally transformed (both inside and out!) Just amazing! Congratulations! Dana

This happened to me yesterday --- I was taking my 81 year old aunt to multiple medical appointments from different ends of the city and back... by 2:30pm we both needed to eat something but only had 20 minutes until the next appt. I reluctantly pulled into McDonalds, which is something I've almost never done over the last 12 years (only on road trip vacations). I ate about 1/2 of the burger, became uncomfortably full and threw the rest away. And I realized no big deal.... I had a protein shake at 7am for breakfast and 1/2 of small hamburger for lunch --- I'm good! That is what my goal was when I decided to have this surgery. I was tired tired tired of "being on a diet" after 40 years. Yes, I guess in essence I'm "on a diet" because I'm limited on how much I can eat but it doesn't feel like a diet. It just feels like I can eat whatever I want (within reason of course) and I just stop when I'm full. Wonderful!!! Congrats on being in the 250's!! ~Dana

Hi, congrats on your surgery... While I know that you feel you could eat almost anything without an issue, your stomach probably has different ideas. I felt the same way the first few weeks except I was not wondering about fruits and veggies that early --- I was just sick of liquids and wondered why I couldn't have soft/mushy stuff. Everybody's post-op plan is different and they were many people here that could eat mushy/soft (instead of liquids) right after surgery and I was jealous! I asked my nutritionist about it -- and what she told me actually did make sense. 1) The liquid diet is allowing your stomach to heal without stress. As soon as you start adding solid food your stomach has to produce acid /enzymes to break it down. They don't want your stomach working that hard too early -- it needs time to do nothing but basically heal. 2) The "stages" help to limit calories early on and show success early on. Also, you only have a "window" of maximum sleeve success the first 6 months-1 year. They call it the honeymoon period and want you to maximize your weight loss during this period. I did cheat a little by moving ahead a few days to each stage but nothing major. Remember, that's just my nutritionist's philosophy -- your's may have different reasons. Good Luck! Dana

I've been eating Special K Protein cereal a few times a week for dinner. I mix Hood Low Carb milk with a half scoop of my Chocolate Truffle protein powder and some Splenda. And it gives me 25-30 grams of protein. Sometimes I just do not feel like having heavy dense protein -- I almost immediately feel miserable after a few bites. The cereal goes down easy and it feels like a treat.

I was at 800 calories per day and losing very slowly - 25 lbs 8 weeks post-op. The NP was concerned that 800 was too low and asked me to try upping it. I protested but I told her I would try it for a week and see what happens. I've doing about 1000 calories the last few days and I've lost 2 lbs. Could be just a coincidence but I haven't lost 2 lbs in 3 days since week 1 post-op -- it is usually 1 lb at a time (over days -- sometimes a week) My main concern was gaining if I upped to 1000 so this is a relief. ~Dana

This is one problem I don't seem to have, I think because I start off the day with about 30g of protein. If I have an Atkins bar for lunch that's another 15. I only need a 30 more or so. Lately I've found that I don't want to eat "heavy" protein in the evening so I've been doing Special K Protein cereal(10g). I use Hood low carb milk (6g) with 1/2 scoop of nectar chocolate Truffle Protein powder (11g). That gets me to 70-80g. The Cereal goes down very easy and it feels like a treat. I really haven't been concentrating on dense protein because it feels too heavy a lot of the time...

I was doing around 800 a day and now I'm about 1000 a day...

Hey Laura, You know, I don't always stick to the 3 meals a day and 2 Snacks thing. Sometimes I just eat small bites of something every few hours with a few snacks thrown in. Like today, I never really had a "meal" except for my morning Protein shake. I just would take 2 or 3 small bites of chicken/egg salad I had in the fridge throughout the day. I'm not meticulously counting calories right now --- it's sort of a guesstimate. My husband grilled pork ribs tonight and I had one of those, which was awesome. I tried to eat one a few weeks back and it was too heavy but today it was fine. I'll probably have a low carb brownie with some tea in a few minutes. I'm probably averaging about 1000 calories now. I do think I do much better when the daytime routine is simple. A Protein Shake and an Atkins bar for lunch or a few bites of protein. Here is the link for the brownie mix in case anyone is interested. They're pretty good.... http://www6.netrition.com/universal_lowcarb_brownie_mix_page.html

Slow Loser Update: 9 weeks post-op and I finally reached -30 lbs!! I upped my calories 10 days ago and I've lost about 5 or 6 lbs. That is the most I've lost in that time frame since my first 10 days after surgery. Now, I'm still hesitant to declare the reason for the those 5 lbs is the increased calories -- but that is the only thing I've done differently. It could be that it just coincided with a regular "jump" down.....I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and hope it continues.... ~Dana

Slow Loser Update: 9 weeks post-op and I finally reached -30 lbs!! I upped my calories 10 days ago and I've lost about 5 or 6 lbs. That is the most I've lost in that time frame since my first 10 days after surgery. Now, I'm still hesitant to declare the reason for the those 5 lbs is the increased calories -- but that is the only thing I've done differently. It could be that it just coincided with a regular "jump" down.....I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.

I've been using straws since day 3 post-op, even though it is considered a no-no by my guidelines. It was the only way I could get enough liquid in. I told my nutritionist on my first post-op followup ( I wasn't asking -- I was just letting her know because I was sitting there with my big cup with a straw) and she just said be careful. I'm still alive. I think the straw thing way over dramatized.

FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!! )))