NewSetOfCurves

When you're daughter say's, "Who's that lady in the picture with me, Mommy?" And you quickly reply, "It's me!" and she totally disagrees, "No it's not."

I live an hour north of Laredo. Did you get your surgery there, in Laredo?

Congrats on your milestone!!! It's a great feeling, isn't it? As far as coloring your hair, I think it is a personal decision. But, I too was told by my surgeon and stylist that coloring my hair would weaken my hair further and increase hair loss due to the harshness of the chemicals. I rocked my grays for almost a year! I thought, in the long-term-scheme-of-things, a year isn't bad because by then I can rock my new hair and body even more ! Good Luck!

That's awesome Isu!!!

Just to reiterate what others have said: With all that calorie burning, you are eating way too few calories!!!! Your body IS in starvation mode and it's holding on to every calorie it can to sustain itself. I tried to up my calories to 1,200 a day as soon as I could to get my body out of that starvation mode. I too worked out everyday. You have done awesome! And 9 pound in one month?! Those are dream numbers for people wanting to lose weight. You've got this! You're doing GREAT, you're going to continue to do great, and you're going to succeed! Keep one foot in front of the other and keep on trekking all those valleys and mountains!

I'm sorry you're feeling this way! But first of all, you are only one week out! As a previous poster stated, your body has just endured a traumatic surgery. You are swollen and most likely still retaining fluids. Worry about healing and staying hydrated, not the scale. Week one was "hell week" for me. I had NO energy what-so-ever! In week two, I tried to Water my planting bed (this was towards the end of June in south Texas, so you can imagine the heat!) and I nearly fainted. You're body is experiencing extreme loss of enegy, not only because of the traumatic surgery, but because of the extreme loss of calories it's used to sustaining itself with. Your body is in starvation mode right now and you are hardly consuming any carbs for it to process as energy. The time frame of healing and getting your "mojo" back is different for everybody. However, once your food stages start to progress and you're able to consume more foods, you should be able to see a differnce in your energy levels. Yogurt, cream Soups, soft or creamed cheeses, smashed beans/and or cauliflower are all examples of foods that will help you get some of that mojo back. Hope you feel better soon! Hang in there, the best part of your journey is yet to come!

I've been taken for almost 16 years, but I think this could be a great site for WLS patients who share the same experiences, goals, struggles, and even insecurities. So, I'm posting to keep this thread fresh! Good luck!!!

That is awesome!!! What a great success story! You look fabulous

When someone calls you skinny and you turn around to see who they're talking about, but you realize they're talking to you!

One week post-op that is VERY normal! Just work on staying hydrated. As your tummy heals and the swelling subsides, you'll be able to get more calories and concentrate on protein and calories. Right now you just need to work on staying hydrated...sip, sip, sip all day! Feeling weak is normal and expected, especially given the dramatic decrease in calories and carbs. Just remember, this phase of difficulty is temporary. It will pass and before you know it you're going to be a skinny minney!!!

Yes!!!! So bitter that I had to get rid if all my shoes!!! I love shoes! I wore anything from a 10 to an 11; now, I wear anything from a 9 to a 10. The tens I did have were too wide, so I had to chunk then too . But, I'll take it because it symbolizes that I'm not that big girl anymore!

A slider food is any food that sits well with your sleeved tummy (or passes through the band easily). Not only can you eat it, but you can eat a lot of it in comparison to other foods that struggle to make there way down.

It's a great place to be! You look GREAT! Congrats!!!

Thank you for posting all those pics!!! I'm getting tummy tuck, augmentation, and thigh lipo this December and your AWESOME transformation has me SOOOO EXCITED!!!! You look absolutely fabulous and beautiful...a girls dream figure!

Wow! What a wonderful transformation! You look incredible

At 5 months post op you are a green light for ALL activity.

You need to get RID of ALL the BAD CARBS, foods, Snacks from your cabinets... NOW! Go RIGHT NOW and THROW them AWAY!!! Because if they are there, you already know that you'll eat them. Many of us on here are carb addicts or recovering carb addicts. To this day I battle my addiction and that's why you will not find ANY in my house. Because I know that I will submit to my addiction in a moment of weakness. Part of this journey is recovering from our addictions and bad habits, as well as adapting new ones; which include: eating right and exercising, or becoming more active. Eating right...the sleeve gives you portion control, but YOU control the QUALITY...you know what to do. Exercising...look at it like a job; we need to work to make a living/we need to exercise to extend our lively hoods and our health. You CAN do this!!!!

For the left over air or gas (used to inflate the area where surgery is performed) that remains in your stomach post surgery. The heat eases the discomfort. It usually travels around to your back and up to your left shoulder (not a scientific fact, just my experience and a lot of people on this have stated the same thing) before it dissipates.

Yes!!! I crave sweets and I'm in a "I-just-want-to-eat-something-but-don't-know-what" kind of mood! I hate it and I keep ALL BAD foods out of my house, because I have very little control during that time. To the original poster, if you are committed to the life change (i.e. eating clean & exercising regularly), I see nothing wrong with a sprinkle of indulgence here and there. I eat clean 90-95% of the time and don't beat myself up over the 5-10% of "bad" foods. When I indulge, they're in very small quantities and they're planned into my daily calorie count. I do it guilt free. Just remember: if you ever fall off the bandwagon, you can ALWAYS pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start again. Enjoy your new sleeve life and the new you that emerges with it!

Welcome to onderland @@michelle_e2006! It's a wonderful place to be and I'm so proud of you making it there so quickly ! Let the easy way out comment roll over your shoulders. Just remember that the sleeve might help us with QUANTITY, but we have to choose the QUAlITY of food we consume and the ACTIVE lifestyle we are suppose to adopt post WLS. When I get those comments thrown at me, I always say, "The sleeve didn't eliminate the bad foods. I did. The sleeve doesn't wake me up at 4:45 in the morning to run, do crossfit or bleachers. I do. The sleeve doesn't hit the weights. I do." So keep your chin up and work that sleeve and your body, girl! Onederland only gets better from here

Lol! I'm from Texas and, as the saying goes, "everything is bigger in Texas"...including people's appetites!

Ha! My summer is finally over and we do a bunch of workshops and professional development before we get back into the classrooms, so I've been eating out a lot with my co-workers. At first I would get strange looks because I wouldn't order anything to drink. Then, the waitress would ask if I was unhappy with my meal because I only took a few bites, and she would be more than happy to replace with something else. I ended up doing the same thing by the end of the week, but with the edition of a veggie.

I had the hiatal hernia repair at the same time too. I think the excess swelling just makes it harder because I too struggled tremendously. Only thing I could get down was sugar free Popsicles. I lived on them because even Water and Protein shakes were a no-no. Finally, as the swelling began to subside I could get more things in (about 2 1/2 weeks out): Jello, Greek yogurt, a couple of spoonfuls of cream of chicken (strained). About a month out I discovered the RTD (ready to drink) Premier Protein chocolate Shakes. They weren't chalky and they didn't initiate my gag reflex. I really hope you feel better sooner rather than later. I'm sorry you're going through this, but it will pass! I wish you the best of success. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other. Before you know it, your slow walk will become a run!

Congrats and good luck!

I too was one that was extra sensitive and felt a lot of pain. It will pass, it will get better. I called my first week post-op "hell week", but I took my pain meds and I used my heating pads, and I walked, walked, walked as much as I could. It wasn't fun, but I got through it and so will you. That brief moment in time and the results that followed were so worth it! Take it one day at a time @@olsonjb, concentrate on keeping yourself hydrated (I lived on frozen sugar free Popsicles...only thing I could really tolerate), and remember that it's only going to get better. Good luck to you and I hope you feel better sooner rather than later!