FindingElise

I just wanted to say congrats on graduating from Lane Bryant panties!!! I don't have any recommendations, but I'm very curious to see what others suggest. I hate going into LB stores, so I'd love to buy similar panties from a different retailer.

I'm with Beach Lover....Premier Protein is the only Protein Shake I can tolerate. It's not that I think it's tasty, (the vanilla tastes like cat butt - or the way my cat's butt smells, anyway) but they're grit-free and completely tolerable. The Whole Foods 365 Whey Protein is the only powder I've found that doesn't make me gag, but I still prefer the Premier shakes.

Welcome back, and congrats on your weight loss and maintenance! I love reading the veteran posts. I find it very interesting to read about the struggles people are having much further out. The rest of us can definitely learn a thing or two from you vets! We have similar starting weights, and weigh about the same currently, so I'm looking forward to reading your future posts.

Ooops, double post!

Around $1200. That doesn't include co-insurance for pre-op visits with my PCP and dietician, the pre-op bloodwork, and sleep study. I'd say $1900 total with those things included. It was worth every_damn_penny!

The hospital bills came to over $56,000 before my insurance company made adjustments. They ended up paying just $17,000. Crazy, huh?

It's long, but the time really does go by quickly. Before you know it, you'll be sleeved too! Congrats on your decision to do something wonderful for yourself.

I see we have more pickle cravers here I had pickle fever BAD right after I was first sleeved. I don't know what it was about that delicious vinegary-brine...YUM! I also found I hated bacon and any kind of seafood! Very weird to see how my tastes changed literally over night. Things have mostly righted themselves now, but I still don't like overly salted foods whereas before surgery I was a salt fiend!

There's something about those pickles! There should be a pickle fever support group for the newly sleeved.

Congrats!!! I can feel your excitement. Just think, you'll get to start the new year off sleeved AND on the road to weight loss! Woot woot!

I was never told to use chewable vitamins, but large pills can be very uncomfortable going down and they take up valuable space in our little tummies. Most chewables make me gag, so I take gelcaps.

I started getting the weirdest cravings about 3 weeks out of surgery. I was dying for something salty, so I took tiny sips of Pickle Juice right out of the jar. I can't explain how refreshing it felt, waking up in the middle of the night and standing at the fridge drinking pickle juice! Then came my broccoli cravings. Once I finally had a taste of a piece of steamed broccoli, it hurt like crazy in my sleeve, so that was disappointing. I'm pretty much over my cravings now (at 15 weeks out), and if anything, there are foods I can't stand the thought of - mainly yogurt, applesauce, horseradish cheese (yes, yes...this is an odd one), Laughing Cow cheese wedges, and oatmeal. These are things I got very ill on at some point during the early stages of my recovery, so I'm completely turned off from them.

The people that you are calling negative and judgmental all have a few things in common: determination to be better, an Iron will and a no bullshit policy with themselves. That isn't to say you aren't, but where people get irritated is, it is annoying to see someone post something like what you posted. Why? Because it is very commonsensical what you should do. If it isn't, I shall help you: think back to when you got this surgery. Why did you do it? Think of your thoughts then. As I said before, stop eating ****, to sum up. I haven't experienced your "stage-specific" struggle, obviously because I am not there yet. So what would I do if I "fell off the wagon." Get back up on the damn wagon. Eat to live, do not live to eat. Be happy, live on.

You seem to be the only one irritated. Part of the reason forums exist is for people to vent and seek out support from like-minded individuals. If you're so annoyed by the OP's struggle, move on and find another topic to reply to. If weight loss was as easy as "eating to live" and getting "back on the damn wagon", or paying a therapist $150+ per hour to commiserate and tell us how our screwed up childhood and being attacked by giant hamburgers made us fat, it wouldn't be a multi-billion dollar industry - nor would any of us had to resort to surgical intervention.

OP, I'm about 4 months out and experiencing some of the same issues that you are. As someone pointed out, it's normal for our progress to slow down as we get further out. Our bodies have had some time to adjust to the lower calorie intake. Also, a person your size isn't going to need as many calories to survive as someone 60 lbs. heavier, so your metabolism has probably decreased. Focus on one day at a time...track your calories/protein/etc., plan your meals, take a PPI if you aren't already, which Lipstick Lady suggested (I can keep from being a hungry beast, as long as I take my Prilosec regularly), and speak with a nutritionist experienced in bariatric patients. You can do this!!!

I like Miralax. It's very gentle, and you can take it daily for a very long time with no harmful effects. It can take a few days to start working on me, but it's worth it to not deal with the icky cramps other laxatives tend to cause. Just make sure you drink a lot of Water, since it works by drawing water into the bowels.

According to my dermatologist, there's nothing that can be done to offset the hair loss that WLS patients may experience - it's called telogen effluvium. Everyone naturally sheds a bit of hair on a day to day basis, but it's usually so little that we don't notice. Surgery and the lowered calorie intake are major stresses to our bodies, so they interrupt our hair's growth cycle, and more hair sheds than usual. It takes 1-3 months for the affected hairs to fall out after their growth has stopped. (That's why it's common to shed like crazy at about 3 months out.) Eventually, new hairs then grow from the hair follicles as usual.

However, it's possible to make your Hair loss worse by:

- Not getting enough Protein.

- Vitamin deficiencies. (Zinc, which I'm strugging with now, Biotin, Vit D, Vit E, Iron, and others.)

Make sure your doctor checks your Vitamin levels, and fix any deficiencies. Taking too much of single vitamin or mineral you aren't deficient in can also cause problems, so that's why I say you should check with your doctor. Take a good Multivitamin. You may want to take Biotin just in case, since some studies have shown that biotin can slow hair loss. Make sure you get enough Protein. You may also want to use a sulfate-free shampoo; I use Nioxin, and I find that it helps A LOT with shedding in the shower, and makes my hair look fuller once it dries.

I was a fat child. I have this early memory of my mom's friend telling her not to let me eat after 6:00 pm, like eating after dark is the true cause of the obesity epidemic. Like ghosts and vampires, fat creeps up on you at night.

My brother's advice to me? "Just eat more salads." Ah hah, problem solved!

This is such a fun problem to have! Congrats on your weight loss. I'm down 48.5 lbs since surgery, and still have a long way to go, but my panties (which were already very big and granny-ish before surgery) are not fitting well at all. I was running to catch an elevator last week, and my underwear started rolling down. (Thankfully I was wearing pants!)

Like gamergirl suggested, have fun browsing and looking at VS, Frederick's, La Perla, etc. as you "window" shop! You might even want to create a Pinterest account, so you can keep track of the things you like.

You should NOT crush every type of medication!! Phone your doc to be sure. As a simple rule, if the bottle says "don't crush or chew"- then don't.

You CAN crush your synthroid but your metformin - probably not. I'm surprised you're still on bc so soon after surgery. My doc took me off. Really not sure about your 'statin.

If you have any type of extended release, they cannot be crushed.

I had to stop taking my BC a month before surgery, due to the blood clot risk, and my doc and surgeon still aren't comfortable with me taking it.

I was taking pills from my second day out. In fact, they gave me both norco and a medication I take for Migraines before I went home from the hospital. It was very uncomfortable to swallow them for about a week, but the applesauce/yogurt trick didn't work for me. I could taste the pills and feel them burn as they went down. :'(

You may want to check with your surgeon to make sure gummies are okay for you (I was told not to take them, since they could get stuck or cause discomfort).

I'm exactly 5 weeks post-op today. (It feels like I'm further along...I could've sworn today was week 6 or 7.) I average 450 calories. My goal is to get up to 800 very soon.

Thanks Elise.... By the way, how are you doing so far.... hope you are feeling well..

Thank you for asking! I'm not doing too bad. I feel a lot better than I did my first two weeks out. No more weird pains, and I can actually finish a bottle of Water in a decent amount of time. I hit a stall at three weeks, like everyone seems to do, but things are moving along again.

Hey Chicago people! Could someone who went to Northwestern Memorial tell me the steps in the process? I'm going to the seminar next week but just wondering how many appointments and classes, etc. are involved. thanks!

The process involves several appointments. You will need a referral from your primary care doctor or one of the weight management specialists at Northwestern, you'll meet with the dietician, get approval from the health psychologist, attend 4 nutrition classes (one is scheduled after you get your surgery date), and you'll need to meet with your surgeon, of course. They will give you all of the necessary info at the seminar. The program is very organized and streamlined.

I was sleeved on 6/4. I get most of my Protein from dairy and vegetarian sources. If by veggie foods you mean Morningstar, Boca, etc., I tried to eat a Morningstar griller patty last week and ended up in pain. They are kind of dry, and didn't feel too comfy in my sleeve. The week before I was able to eat a chickpea patty, and it didn't cause any trouble (but only 1/4 of it sure did fill me up). Products will vary.

Hey people...Just got home from my weigh in class... It lasted about 10-15 minutes which was cool. Today my info will be submitted to the insurance company.... Almost at the finish line... WOOHOO !!!!

Congrats!!! Surgery day will be here before you know it! Keep us all posted on when you get your approval.

Congrats!!! You're SO beautiful! (I absolutely love the white dress in your before pics!) I started out over 300 lbs, so seeing your pics gets me excited for what the future of my journey holds.

I'm saving a lot of money on food! My significant other and I were going out to eat at least twice a week, and I can get away without going to the grocery store every single day for little odds and ends or fresh ingredients.

It was about 2 weeks for me. Once my surgeon removed the steri strips over my wounds (ugh, they smelled HORRIBLE) and I got the nausea under control, I was able to function like a normal human being.

(Oddly, the day after my surgery, I thought I felt like myself. I was dancing around my room, walking up and down the halls every couple of hours, and enjoyed sipping my diluted apple juice. It must've been the drugs, because by that evening I felt like I was hit by a truck.)