RJ'S/beginning

No it was not anyone specific comment..They were not meant for me or anyone else. It is a situation of self loathing that I read in comments several times lately that got to me....I hate it that we are so destructive to ourselves and some of the remarks made me think that I am wrong to not be more ashamed of myself as I was heavier then a lot of patients on here.... This self abuse leads to negative results and helps no one go forward.....I just think that it is something to be so proud off and give yourself the slap on the shoulder you deserve.....We have all paid dearly for this in one way or another with the goal of improving our health and fixing our brains... Come on guys give yourselves a break and Celebrate where you have come so far..Be proud of it....Own it too!!!! That is all I am saying!

Glad to see you here again @@IzzyBelle Seems to me that life is ticking a long as it should. Nothing comes easy that is worth working for right...We all know that.....There are a lot of good people on here that can encourage you and who like you have experienced a lot of what you are feeling and dealing with.... Stick around and talk about your worries and concerns and we will do our best to make you remember why you were here before.....

Oh my @@Mississippi Girl that was too much praise. Thank you for sharing that I at least had a share in helping you somewhere along the road! That brought tears to my eyes!

I can see where it could be the other way as well @@Miss Mac I think that the trip is difficult for all of us no matter where we started.....We all have our quarrels with ourselves....I just don't want to feel bad that I started where another didn't and if I feel this way...Do others? I think so!

There is no problem with finding someone like yourself to give you confidence and help to see things clearer...I don't have a problem seeking these ones out...My problem is that some who have way less to lose then I had feel so ashamed of themselves they can hardly stand it.... Why? They are no longer those people. They reached out and took a hold of it all and made changes...Be proud of what your doing for yourself and your loved ones.....If they are so ashamed..Where does that leave me at a much larger beginning weight....It makes me feel really bad about myself and I forget about what I have done to change the former person to be a healthier, happier person for myself and my family!

It doesn't matter to me and I really don't feel any kind of way when members post their stories/feelings about their journey. It is not the stories or the facts that get to me. It is the way it comes out. It makes me feel like because I started that much bigger that I should take the walk of real shame if I was that much bigger then someone else who started at a lower weight.....It is just getting to me...maybe it's because I just got out of hospital again and another complication has slowed me down in my true journey..I don't know.. I feel that everyone has the right to tell their story and say how they feel but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I read these comments. It makes me feel like I am so different from others..And I am not...Others managed to get their WLS earlier before the true big issues began.. They are so lucky and yet they still beat themselves up over the past as if now still had made no difference.... I waited 4 years on a list and got sicker and sicker, waiting and waiting and my weight sky rocketed....I'm here and glad I did it and yet I feel like like if it makes no difference to those who started so much less..They are beating themselves up over the past..Where does that leave the ones that started at a much higher weight.....That's what gets me today! I tried not to write it but I just feel so bad for us that we can't get past the damn numbers and celebrate our amazing accomplishments and be dam proud of all of it and the fact that all of us have a second chance at life..All of us equally! That's all I think...

It doesn't make you dense. It makes you someone different then me. That's all okay!

I used myself as an example as I have been bothered by these comments lately...

I don't know why! But this topic is stuck in my head today and no matter where I am on the forum someone brings it up: Does it really matter how big you were when you started to take this journey? Should I be more ashamed of myself then someone who weighed 330 lbs. Instead of my 380 when I started? Should I feel like I have committed some kind of crime against myself or mankind because I was at a higher weight when I started then a 250 lb member that goes on about how ashamed they are about who they were.. Isn't it the most important thing that we have all in fact started to take an interest in our personal health and well being without making others feel like they should hang their heads in shame because they started higher then you did....Maybe not intentionally saying it but it comes across that way! I thought that as a family we would be there for each other and support each other even if you have 50 lbs. to lose. To you it is a huge amount. I understand that we all have our own mindset about how we look and how we feel about ourselves. Then on the other hand does that make me special because I have almost lost 200 lbs. Should I have been on some show for extreme obesity...i just don't get it. I don't get that people are afraid to show who they are becoming with pride. Keep the past where it is. In the past and Celebrate what you are becoming or have become. When do we celebrate the good that we have all done..When do we stop feeling like we don't deserve it or that I am a failure even before I start because I weighed this much.... This is real life not a script to be followed. This is you and me. Real people..Real health issues and have had the courage and grit to work hard to fix ourselves and stand out. We are all different as I said but I am not going to feel bad because I was more obese then you when I started this trek. And I don't like it when others without realizing it make me feel bad because I was.....

A friend and I were talking about that today. How everything is laced with sugar. Eating from scratch is not a popular way to cook these days and the food industry is taking advantage of that and adds MSG or sugar to make you want more. The governments are not taking action because they are benefiting from the money made just like big corporations who market this trashy food..The diet food companies also make a mint off of unsuspecting people. The circle repeats itself over and over again....Scary out there what is going on with our food and how we are led to believe we are eating healthier if we eat this or that....Bran, oats, green tea. coffee, milk, fruit juice, breads, fresh fruit..all these things and these are only a few that had their day of being the in thing to eat and how they would reverse or cure what ails us.... When I started this journey I did not want to become one of those people who look after their temple kind of attitude. But I find now I have no choice but to be cautious @playlikeworldchamps. My system has changed so much since surgery that I read every label and prepare food from scratch 90 % of the time......High salt content and refined sugar..seems to make the world go round!

The pain of a gall bladder is not mild. Like the poster before me it is knee bending screaming pain the resonates through the middle of your back, and sometimes down your arms. Throwing up and buckling under the pain is common...I think personally your blocked up a bit and it will pass if you take a mild laxative..( stool softener ). but you are right you should check all things out with your team to make sure you are not an exception to the rule and you experience tolerable pain... I remember when I had my attack the one that finished me off the doctor said to me..." Labor is nothing compared to this eh." Boy was he right...Mine went just after I had lost 100 lbs. about 10 years ago...Common side effect of weight loss....

I am very happy that you have found your fix to your issues that have made life difficult for you. We all deserve that in life. I admire your grit to face it all head on...As you work through your journey, you will discover that having a lot of letters after your name means jack compared to experiencing it...Knowledge learned by experience is something that outweighs every time letters.. An example of this is..All the research they have done on coma patients. They still have no answers as to what really goes on in the brain and body. What effects it has on a person and how it effects their life afterwards...Those who have experienced it can tell the story no problem with no one understanding the real issues unless you have been there... Sometimes we get lost in those letters and think these people are god's. I am a true believer that experience outweighs all the letters.....As you probably know that there are as many studies for as there are against any issue in life...The problem is that they never really come to a conclusion but thank goodness there are professionals and nonprofessionals out there who care about the here and now and are willing to do what they can to help with this epidemic of our modern society.

G2 Gatorade is made to up your electrolytes. Broth is a great choice for protein. It is a difficult time adjusting for everyone just about. Just keep sipping and and things will get better..

Tylenol products with no codeine. That's about it...Chicken Soup too.... I came home from the hospital last Sunday and came down with a cold as well. Just been riding it out...You can call your surgeons office and they can assist you in the answer. But that was the answer I got when I asked. http://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/keeping-well/smart-eating/healthy-recipes/health-benefits-of-chicken-soup/

Take that scale out back and hit it with a sledge hammer...This is not about numbers hun. This is about getting healthy and changing the way you see food...numbers can really play with your head as you well know. Don't forget we are women and we go up and down like yo yo's .So if you are following numbers you will get discouraged.... I know I am different from most people on here. I am 17 months out and never experienced a stall. Why? Because I have only weighed myself maybe 5 or 6 times. Most of the time it has been at my doctors office... I have faith in what I am doing and follow the program. And it works for me.....I know I've lost by my clothes the way I feel. Things like that.... I don't know why I chose to do it this way. Probably when I get to maintenance I will weigh once a week...But for now...Nope I love the adventure more then the numbers...

@@millergirl314 When I wore my first pair of size 16 pants I kept saying over and over again to my poor hubby..You know these are size 16 right!!!!? Finally he told me to give it a break.... Congrats on your wonderful success! Next is 14....hehehehehe

I enjoyed your article. But I think that on some level we all have food addiction. We depended on it for comfort and support. It was the answer to all our woes. We reveled in it and gave it too much of our devotion. Because it was a false friend. A traitor to us. Unfaithful because it never helped with the real issues that caused us to depend on it.. I believe that some have conditions like genetics or health factors. But the brain was trained to look to food as the answer. Why? Because no one thought to take the time to look inside ourselves and find out why we depended on it so much as if it were another substance that would cause instant relief. But it never did..It was a temporary fix...And that is why most dieters can't do it because they can't figure out what makes them tick this way... Fix the brain and your thinking and the body will follow.....I truly believe that like any other substance that once we admit to ourselves that we do have an out of control situation surgery is a tool to help us to retrain our brains. learn what is going on to make us this way and gives us the time we need to make changes forever. The difference between food addiction and other addictions is that we all have to eat...That is the problem..There is no way we can survive without nutrients to fuel us.... I applaud you for having the strength you have to start your journey...I found some good points in there that help me to keep strong by example..Thank you for sharing.... Addiction Addiction is the continued use of a mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse consequences, or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors. Addictions can include, but are not limited to, drug abuse, exercise addiction, food addiction, sexual addiction, computer addiction, and gambling. Classic hallmarks of addiction include impaired control over substances or behavior, preoccupation with substance or behavior, continued use despite consequences, and denial. Habits and patterns associated with addiction are typically characterized by immediate gratification, coupled with delayed deleterious effects. Physiological dependence occurs when the body has to adjust to the substance by incorporating the substance into its 'normal' functioning. This state creates the conditions of tolerance and withdrawal. Tolerance is the process by which the body continually adapts to the substance and requires increasingly larger amounts to achieve the original effects. Withdrawal refers to physical and psychological symptoms experienced when reducing or discontinuing a substance that the body has become dependent on. Symptoms of withdrawal generally include but are not limited to anxiety, irritability, intense cravings for the substance, nausea, hallucinations, headaches, cold sweats, and tremors.

He is my number one fan... And I him...He has earned that spot over and over again because he has showed me over and over again that he cares and looks after me no matter what........So yes..He is pretty amazing!

I think for me it has kinda gotten out of control. I had gotten clothes up to 2 sizes smaller before I reached those sizes. I just bought what I liked or loved...Any way there are ways of collecting clothes at reasonable prices...... I remember the day they told me at Pennington's that they no longer had clothes that fit me. That I would have to go elsewhere... I just looked stunned because I was in the biggest size they had at the time and was wondering where I would get clothes to fit me soon..That was so scary.... I kept a couple of shirts. In fact the one I wore to the seminar......It is my badge of honor and some day I will post a pic. of me in it......

@@Ginger Snaps I think I would have snapped if she had said that in front of me.... For crying out loud...No one would or almost no one would go through all of this for 30 lbs. I would have just considered myself rounded..lol I certainly would make it a point to see her when you are there and fill her in on your success...Daft lady!

@@Roo101769 You'll be there in no time...I remember I was stuck on size 20 for what seemed like forever and then one day it was an 18...Your going to be there soon enough!!! Thanks sweetie!!!!!

@@Katcloudshepherd He's right you are looking good!!! Don't let anyone tell you different!!!

Don't be sorry..lol I do it twice a week. I have to admit that at first I gagged. My hubby does it twice a day and he has noticed a huge difference in his breath and over all health of his teeth. I did it for 2 weeks straight and thought I would hurl as soon as I put it in my mouth. But the oil turns liquid and then it is not so bad...I know this sounds strange but we kinda do it together and poke fun at each other making faces.... to see who lasts the longest.... To me it is worth the feeling when the oil goes in because of how different my breath is and my teeth too....

Use another type of oil...http://curezone.com/forums/am.asp?i=110881

A true slider food for me. I can eat easily 3 cups of it and not blink. I never ate popcorn before surgery and now find it irresistible...SO I stay clear.