TheCurvyJones

I am just over one month out from VSG surgery and I really couldn't be happier! Jelly (my sleeve) and I get along famously. I treat her well and she helps me out. I have no issues with any foods at all so far. Everything goes down and stays down and I don't get sick from anything. I only had one incident of vomiting because I was mindlessly eating. Jelly let me know she didn't appreciate that and I've had to concentrate on measuring my portions and recognizing when I am DONE, not when I am FULL. I never want to leave the decision up to my sleeve as to when I am done eating. When I am done, I am DONE and I push the plate away. Like most people here I have struggled with my weight for most of my life. I don't remember ever being thin. My weight has been a huge source of sadness and depression for me-- I just didn't feel like I was worth being loved and my life was a waste. If I hadn't have had the surgery, I don't even know what my state of mind would be right now. I felt like it was hopeless--- lose 30lbs, see a pic of myself-- I'm still fat, WTF! Then lose NOTHING else despite working hard, get frustrated, give up, regain those 30 lbs AND THEN SOME. Pre surgery I went from 273 to 250. Since surgery I've dropped almost 20lbs and countless inches. I am down from a tight 22 to an 18 on the bottom and 14/16 on top. I haven't seen the numbers I see on the scale in YEARS. I haven't felt this good or this small or this attractive in years. Taking the step and pushing myself through the process was the best best BEST thing I could have ever done for myself. If you're on the verge, stick with the process. It's SO worth it. Life is better on the other side. I'm posting a couple of pics. The orange shirt was at my heaviest, the 270's. The green shirt was last Friday, my 4 week update! What a difference.

Gas X did nothing for me. TUMS was the BOMB. Also if your doc did not prescribe a PPI (zantec, prilosec, etc) GET ONE. Miracles. And keep walking... once you sit, the gas bubbles settle and that can be painful.

I don't track my food on MFP, only exercise, inches and weight.

9100 in Mexico, once I paid for airfare and everything was about 12K. Worth every penny.

5'3". SOOOOOOO squatty. Bigger on the bottom now than on the top. But ya know, when I get down there my coke bottle shape gonna be BANGIN'.

Now that I can have food, I don't find eating difficult. However, I was never a nightlife person so I still sit at home with Netflix and instead of a bag of popcorn I have jello or water or something. I find I have a lot of free time. Apparently all I ever did was eat.

I was going to say this... At 10 days out it will be too early for any kind of fibrous veggie and I'm not sure a pita chip would go down nice. I'll tell you my experience... I was about 2 weeks out or so and I bought a bag of pork skins and used the small pieces to scoop hummus with. I was thinking I was doing well and being creative, not using any kind of bread or veggies and pork skins are all Protein. Well. Hummus is one of those foods that goes down smooth and the pork skins break down with saliva to mush easily. So I ate... and watched TV and ate and ate and OMG CRAP I NEED TO SLOW DOWN. A little too much............and Jelly The Sleeve did NOT like that very much at all. Nope. Not at all. HOWEVER... before surgery I might have eaten it with a spoon. I'll never admit it open court.

I think there has to be some sort of middle ground and that's where the work comes in while we're losing the weight. On the one hand, I see a lot of 'i didn't have surgery to go on a diet so I'm gonna eat pizza and potato chips and ice cream but it's okay because I can only eat 4oz of it at a time!!!" Drives me crazy. On the other hand there are the super literal, super dedicated regimented health conscious who are going organic this and hormone free that. Drives. ME. CRAZY. Maybe I don't want to 'never eat a big mac ever again' (even though I think Big Macs are horrific, I'm a double cheeseburger gal myself ) Don't most of us get this surgery to be NORMAL? What's normal about feeling guilty about eating? The work I have set out for myself is giving myself the nutrients I need from the food I can eat. Eventually I want to get to a place where I can eat anything and stop when I've had enough. Before surgery, I wasn't there. I don't know what makes me think I can be there after surgery, just because I can only eat 4oz of whatever. The ISSUE-- for ME-- is that I feel like I need to have it.

My passport took about three weeks to come, expedited.

Congrats on your surgery! The team there will take good care of you.

So my normal Friday Night Ritual used to be to get off work, drive straight to my fave chicken wing place and get 15 well seasoned, plain fried wings. I don't do sauce, only ranch dip. I also get 2 ginger ale's, take it home and catch up on the DVR. Such a nice relaxing Friday night, prepping for the weekend that is usually full of hair appointments, grocery shopping, what have you. So I hadn't had a normal Friday night in about two months because of the pre surgery diet and then the near month since surgery. This week I told myself that if I lost more than two lbs at my weigh in that I'd go get myself some wings. So yesterday I did just that. I got 10 wings instead of 15, because let's not be ridiculous. I knew full well I'd not be able to eat 10 wings in one sitting but this way I could have some leftovers. Normally I can get in at least 8 before I start to feel full. Last night? Two wings. TWO! I could shove in a third one if my life depended on it but TWO WINGS AND I WAS FULL OMG. I just had some for lunch. TWO. I'm still in the shock and awe stage of how little I can eat. TWO WINGS!

Take small portions, eat a few bites of each thing, talk a lot. When they comment on how much you ate, "I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was!" I'm not big on lying but I'm not telling EVERYONE I had surgery. My pat answers are usually, "This is all I'm having" or "I filled up on ______".

Thanks Doxieville! I made my goal pretty easy to hit for the first challenge. I'm very early out so it shouldn't take much to hit it.

Colace is my best friend.

My stats: WI- Fridays Goal -227lbs Challenge start weight- 237.2 Friday 1/18 WI: 233.6 Loss- 3.6lbs Lbs to goal: 6.6

Don't be talkin' bad about my folks, now! They traveled from Spokane Wa to Atlanta GA to be with me for Christmas, despite the fact that I just had surgery. I was 3 or 4 days out when they arrived. I didn't WANT them to edit their eating for me. I couldn't physically eat it, so I wasn't going to be tempted. My mother had gastric bypass 10 yrs ago. My dad knew I had the surgery, didn't know anything about it. I didn't expect him to. He didn't have any surgery so he wasn't limiting what he ate when he ate it and that's the way I wanted it. The cake they brought back from visiting my Godparents and they just didn't have time to eat it before they left town. I was not at all tempted by it and tossed it after they left, along with the Cookies and Crunch & Munch and bread that I BOUGHT FOR THEM TO EAT while they were here. I would have been mortified if they couldn't enjoy themselves because of me.

At 4 days out I don't get why docs are having patients on Protein shakes. Most people I follow are on Clear Liquids - juice, Water, isopure -- and maybe some chicken Soup from unjury. I would personally table the shakes till next week. So much stress and you won't get in all your protein every day from the gate. It's something you work up to. I don't know how much protein the juice from red Beans have...would be better if you watered down the beans and then liquified them. The protein is in the bean. The runoff would be starch, I would think? Focus on liquids, get some chicken soup flavored unjury or chicken broth, or the broth from chicken noodle soup. Much better for your new tummy. Be gentle, you're still heaing.

Weigh in day! WOOT! HW: 273 SW: 250 LW: 237.2 CW: 233.6!!!! Woot! A 3.6lb drop this week bringing my post surgery loss to 16.4lbs and my total loss to 39.4lbs. This week’s loss comes at a great time because I was a little mopey thinking I might not hit 20 lbs my first month.. NOT because I am trying to hit a magical number but because if this is the ‘best loss’ I’ll have before it starts to slow down, imagine what life will be like the further I get out. I spent $12K when I add up travel and all that good stuff having VSG surgery. It has to work and be worth it. This week showed me that everything is fine so I can just calm my impatient ass down.

This is my approach as well. I tell fewer and fewer people but I can tell some people just really want to know. I don't have any problem owning up to it but the sleeve is only half the battle. We aren't just lazing around waiting for 'not being able to eat more than 4 bites of something' to help us shed pounds.

I had 7 days of Clear liquids, 1 week of full liquids,1 week of purees (chunky Soups blended up, etc), and now I'm at soft foods- re-fried Beans, tuna, baked fish, etc).The idea of gradually upgrading what you can eat is that the sleeve is not fully healed for 21 days, and doctors want you to give it time to heal. Being ABLE to eat something is not the same as SHOULD eat something. I'm tolerating most things really well, even had lettuce today (I was on automatic and bit into an unwich from Jimmy Johns before I realized). I'm to not eat anything SOLID prior to one month post surgery... but chicken and steak go down just fine.

Deposit, passport, plane tix. I didn't buy my tickets until I knew my passport was in hand.

Down 14 since day of surgery almost a month ago. Not even 15 lbs yet. It's coming off. I see the lbs loss and I see some inches. I'm exercising, focusing on protein and liquids. I'm full after mere bites. It's working. But... Can I be underwhelmed and happy at the same time? Meh. If the first couple of months is the 'best' a person will lose, I fear for what month six will look like. I feel like I am ALREADY working for every pound.... just like normal. I don't mind working for it. I expected the sleeve to help a little more. It does seem to be picking up, but what happens is... I'll have a drop and then it'll bounce back up for about 5 days. And then drop. And bounce again. Annoying. I don't want hugs or advice. Don't tell me not to weigh so much. FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE if you tell me 'it doesn't come off like it comes on' I will hunt you down and slap you. That isn't what I'm saying at all... don't reduce my experience to that. Just...... venting. And now I'm done. I just had to get that out.

Okay I am confused cause there are two Valentine's Day challenges. I was searching the other thread thinking I'd posted in it.

:wave: Just saying hi, hoping all is going well with you guys. Things are peachy here. Everyday is getting better.

I didn't have a loud tummy till after surgery. Now? Good heavens, what's going ON in there?