flawlessly73

Hello fellow sleevers and sleevers to be! I am officially in one - derland weighing in at 196. This is a very happy day for me and I am proud of my efforts. Next week will mark my six week milestone and I can begin exercising. I've starting doing a little exercising already but I am ready to hit the gym and buy a bike to ride through the neighborhood. I have not been under 200 pounds in years. My blood pressure has been normal and I feel like a million bucks. In early December, I bought a pair on slacks from Kohls (size 18) and they were tight! Well, I put them on Friday and they were good and loose! I ordered the Cytosport Whey Isolate protein drinks from Vitamin Shoppe to supplement my diet and they are sooooo good. Not a shake and not thick and yucky but they remind me of crystal light or a good tart Kool Aid! Earlier this week I went to Wal-Mart and discovered Great Value brand chunk white chicken. They come in different flavors and for lunch I am eating the lemon pepper flavor. It is a subtle flavor and very good - I can't wait to try the others that I bought. Good Luck to you all! I am happy happy happy that I made this change in my life!

Happy Birthday! I was excited reading your post like I was there with you say....go girl! Heeeeey! Sometimes we fall off our wagons but the key is that you are back without any major damage! Now that takes a lot motivation and self love! Congratulations and continued success!!! Whoohoo. BTW, I will be the big 40 next year so I may be sharing some of your same story....hehe. - Sleeved on 10/26/12

Yayyy for you! I too am thinking of a little casino reward. I usually take between $100 and $300 and spend time on the penny slots and do quite well! Continued success to you - enjoy your trip!

I love this blog entry! You go girl! I was sleeved on 10/26 - haven't lost a ton of weight but 16 pounds so far. The other day I put on a pair of jeans that I tried to put on before surgery but they were so very uncomfortable that I stopped wearing them. Well, I wore those jeans three days in a row! OK - I am taking a few weeks off so I only wore them when I went out so 3 straight days is OK!!! (Smile). I finally washed them yesterday - and dried them but I am kinda scared to try them on again....I plan to do that tomorrow when I go in for my Dr. visit! Unlike most....I am a dryer junkie (The dryer is my iron) but have not worn jeans in a while..just pants with stretchy waistbands and when those started to get uncomfortable, I knew I had a problem!

Good luck to you. It looks like you are well on your way. I was sleeved on 10/26 and all is going well. I tried the Oh Yeah Shakes and they are pretty tasty. I was able to visit the local Vitamin Shoppe store and buy them individually before making a big purchase of a case (ready to drink). My favorites are the Strawberry and the Cookies and Cream! If you find them, I hope you like them just the same. I also bought the Isopure Unflavored protein powder which has proven to be a life saver! I can put it in my cream soups, yogurt, pudding - everything! Again - Good luck to you!!!

Update....I finally purchased the unflavored protein powder about a week ago and it has been GREAT. During my full liquid phase I added it to almost everything......I am hooked on the low fat cream of chicken and cream of potato soup. I started my soft foods today and added it to yogurt and pudding.....I could not tell a big difference at all. I bought the Isopure brand at my local vitamin shoppe....it was $42 and I was not happy about the price but now that I am using it, I am SO GLAD that I bought it. I even added it to my cottage cheese today....lol...hey - just upped the protein content! Oh yeah - the nutribullet - turns out this is a great investment. I love to cook .... so every morning I make a nutriblend "smoothie" and get to enjoy cutting a cucumber or apple etc to add to my blend. My favorite blend so far is with spinach, a slice of jalapeno, cucumber, and frozen fruit with no added suger....oh and apple juice - gotta put in a liquid to make it a smoothie!

Hello Sleever Family! Today I attended my paternal grandmothers funeral in Arkansas. While this was a sad occassion, you must know that my granny was 77 years old - married to my Papa for 60 years - had 6 boys and 1 girl - and 74 grand, great grand and great great grand children! Needless to say, most of the church was filled with family. We had a grand celebration of her life! During the 4.5 hour drive, I sipped on juice, water, and protein shakes. And since I was sleeved a little over a week ago, I ensured that I stopped to stretch and move around at least every two hours....(during my preop class, the nurse told a story of a lady that died from blood clots because she took an 8 hour trip shortly after surgery and only stopped once). Where does the cornbread dressing come in.....HONEY CHILD!!!! Now you all know that there is one thing that you simply cannot resist when you are at grandma's house! I went into the kitchen with my cousins and there it was....cornbread freaking dressing. I debated on whether or not to take a chance but I knew that grandma had my back. I took the serving spoon and scooped out a small portion into a paper cup. Those were the best four teaspoons I have had of food in a long time. I chewed and savored but was sure not to gulp and overdo it. Nothing happened because I was not hungry, I just had to taste that cornbread dressing that was made with love by my Aunt. During the 4.5 hour drive back home to Texas, I sipped on juice, water, and protein shakes.....back to reality! Until next time.....peace and blessings from my family to yours! Good night!

Now friends, I am an intelligent woman with a great job and education.....I'm saying this for a reason. I was reading some posts and thinking how am I going to manage pureed food AND get the liquid and protein in that I need daily. It is amazing how we now think of food wisely instead of carelessly did prior to being sleeved. Back to my being intelligent.....I read a post that talked about UNFLAVORED PROTEIN powder and how this fellow sleever put it into his/her soups and other items to ensure that s/he gets the protein needed per day without being overly concerned about filling up too quickly. This sleever puts it in his/her cream soups, puddings, and yogurts. So what does this have to do with being intelligent? Not once had this approach crossed my mind!!! It seems so simple and common sense like. LOL. Just posting this and having fun with it - just in case anyone else has the same concern or is having an issue getting in protein while eating soft or pureed foods.....UNFLAVORED PROTEIN!!! Thanks #1golfer, your post was right on time. Now I am going to take back this cookies and cream flavored powder and get an unflavored. ......the preceeding post was an "ah ha" moment that made my day!

Today is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!!!! Hello all....as stated in my previous entries - I am still not smoking and very proud of myself! For the past two days I have had a lot of energy. Yesterday I went to my first post op appointment and previous to that I went to get my hair done. I was so busy moving around all day that I did not drink as much as I should have. The doctor checked my tongue and was able to tell....he said that the whiter it is ...the more fluid you need!!!! Other than that, the incisions are healing fine and I feel better and better every day. My blood pressure was 135/95 while at my doctor visit. I have not taken any of the medication for BP since the surgery so I crushed and took one when I got home. The last two days it has been in the normal range without additional medication. THIS IS WHY I AM SLEEVED. I already feel healthier and more energetic. Can you image when I become a pro at eating and drinking, fully healed, exercising, etc. WOW!!! Today I went to early vote with my son! This is his first year being of voting age with a major election. It took all of 10 minutes and I was so proud of him for getting out there and exercising his right to vote. So after voting, I took my car into the shop to get some warranty work done before it expires...lol and routine maintenance. The good thing is that my dealership provides loaners so I didin't have to wait on it so I came back home and cleaned a bit......did a bit of laundry, made the bed, light work. ENERGY!!!! Now what is really exciting to me is that on Saturday, I can start eating the cream and blended soups - I am looking forward to more flavor! I am not "afraid" to drink anymore and sometimes drink a little too fast and have to wiggle around for the slight discomfort to go away. I bought a nutriblender (made by the magic bullet folks) a few weeks ago so I am looking forward to trying it out starting this weekend. My liquid diet and surgery happened so quickly that I have not been able to use it as initially planned. I will definitely post again once I use it and let you all know if it is something worth your while and if anyone reading this has one....let me know what you think about it. It's time for bed but thanks for reading and allowing me to be a part of such a great community!

Hello all, I am back with another thought. I was sleeved on 10/26 and I just realized that I have not had a cigarette for a full week. My doctor only required a week of no nicotine and a week of liquids - but as some of you know, this was cut short for me since my surgery was moved from 10/30 to 10/26. I saw a pack in my purse and thought about lighting it up just to smell it but I grabbed my respirator thingy instead and did my deep breathing exercises. It's getting easier to drink my liquids. But this morning I got a little cocky and drank too fast and made my chest hurt a bit. I am really excited about this journey and thanks to all of my fellow sleevers for your support. To the pre-sleevers, I just graduated from that group a few days ago....lol...feel free to ask me anything because there are times when I can't believe that I am actually sleeved. The morning I stood in the mirror looking at my incisions saying....wow...I really did it!

Until recently, I thought that WLS was for the unmotivated or lazy. The more I researched I found that surgery is just like buying diet aids and spanx. It is a tool to help overweight people to reach their goal of good health. I research both the lap band and the sleeve and concluded that the sleeve was the right procedure for me. On October 1, I went to Dr. Jayaseelen for a consultation. His staff was nice and he was there to discuss the procedure during that initial visit. They verified that my UHC benefits covered the procedure but I would have to get individual approval and provide a 5 year history of obesity. Now, this was not going to be hard because I've had the same doctor since moving to Texas 11 years ago, worked for the same company, and held the same insurance.....but I was still just going through the motions and tried not to get excited. Well, on October 9th, I received a call from Dr. Jay's office stating that I was approved by my insurance and that I could select a surgery date.....my head was spinning! The nurse told me that I could schedule it as early as October 24th! Instead I opted for October 30th. Now you must know that there was a lot to be done in a short amount of time. I had to attend a pre op surgery class, have the EGD procedure, pre-op meeting with the surgeon, blood work, ekg, stress test.....The doctor's office worked with me to get as much as possible done in one day so that I would not have to make several trips back and forth. That was very much appreciated. I started my liquid diet on the 22nd of October and guess what happened on the 25th????? My doctor's office called me and asked....would you like to move your surgery up to tomorrow? Of course I was speechless and could only studder for a few seconds or so. I asked them to give me about an hour and I would call back with my decision. But since I knew my out of pocket costs and was ready to pay, had my short term disability started at my job, been to the grocery store and bought presurgery laxatives, liquid protein, gas x, b12, juices, crystal light, etc. - I decided to go for it because I was prepared!!!! Well here I am on Sunday night, sitting in my family room 2 days after surgery and feeling quite nice. 5 lbs down.....