kltklass

I use better then bouillon and mix with Water. It has 0.5g of fat per 1 tsp (per cup). I mix 1 tsp with about 12-17 oz of water and sip during the day. Tastes good and is easy to fix for those of use without talent in the kitchen.

Ok, so it probably didn't. But I've had abnormal PAPs for the last 7 years. I get checked twice/year and it ranges from From atypical to high grade. I've had 4 LEEPS, 5 biopsies and a conization. I can't believe I even have a cervix left after all the bits and pieces that have been removed. Two years ago I finally said fuckit....unless it comes back high grade again or precancerous, I'm not having anymore procedures...obviously the aren't working. Well I just got my most resent PAP result and it was normal! My OB/Gyn emailed me herself she was so excited. I'm chalking it up to outstanding nutrition over the last 10 months since surgery. Very nice NSV!

I say the same. I will accept prayers because I know the intent is wonderful, it's just not MY thing. Positive energy, good thoughts, love and well wishes, that's what I send.

Often when someone asks for me to keep them in my prayers will frame my response as "I will keep you in my thoughts". I don't pray - I am not religious. But that doesn't mean that I'm not wishing someone well or hoping for swift recovery or whatever. Prayer is just not my thing.
No beatings from me

I had a similar situation occur last week. I went to a community veterans memorial where the traveling Vietnam wall was here in Illinois. A dozen or so towns were memorializing their Vietnam veterans from these communities. Four different clergy were there. Of course, prayer is to be expected, but two of the clergy spoke for "all of us" when they ended their prayer giving glory to the "One we all turn to in our time of need, Jesus Christ." Really? All? There was a crowd of hundreds there, in memory of 64 soldiers from a dozen towns. All? I'm Catholic so I expect to hear that at mass each week. But not in a crowd of hundreds where the honored dead are of unknown faith. I found it distracting, and offensive.
Resume the beatings.
.

Hi Alex, Randy here. Can the section Topics with No Reply be increased in size in the next BariatricPal update? I see that some questions asked by newbies and others never get answered. I know for myself I wait to say anything because a subject matter expert is best. But there are times when that question gets dropped off the radar. This way If we see something that's been on the board a while it has a good chance to be answered by someone. The change could bring more people into the forums and prevent any negative feeling. Thanks for looking into this and a big thanks for what you're doing for us.
Randy

I'm cold all the damn time. Before I left my job, I had a dedicated sweater. But the sweater was not cutting it so I had a blanket. I KEPT A BLANKET AT MY JOB!! Who keeps a blanket at their job? This broad. I layer my clothes. Normally I detest summer, but this summer was so mild here in Chicago. I would try to go outside from the froze AC of my office but it was only 60 degrees outside when it should have been 85 and humid. I could never get warm. Right now in my own house, I'm wearing a fleece, a cashmere scarf and my winter hat. The heat is on. So yeah, that aspect sucks. But I would not trade it for being 312lbs and diabetes again.

First and foremost, I am cold as a mothafookah! ALL THE TIME.

I am wearing jeans when most people are wearing shorts. I always have a tank top on under my sweater and am usually wearing fleece leggings under my pants. As a fatty, I never ever wore a coat unless I was skiing and now, not only do I wear one, but I carry a spare if I am going in to my kids' schools to use as a blanket.

I keep my house at 74 and I turn on the fireplace when I am downstairs. I set my car thermostat at 88 and can hardly bear to get out of my car and go into stores. The grocery, which is always colder than any other place including Antarctica, has me scurrying through as quickly as possible and shaking uncontrollably by the time I am out of there.
I sleep in wool socks, fleece leggings, a tank and a long sleeve tshirt. I wrap myself in a wool blanket and then get under the sheet, fleece blanket, down comforter and regular comforter. (Husband is pretty sure he's not getting any action until summer. He's probably right.)

I am cold cold cold cold cold and it's 45 degrees outside. I am probably not going to survive when it hits the teens.

Second is something I just figured out last night. I can no longer have a glass of milk with my brownie/muffin/cake. Yeah, yeah, I know. I am not supposed to be eating those things, but I had the sleeve so I could live a relatively normal life post op. I have a slight stricture so I am forced to follow the no drinking for an hour after eating rule or I will vomit. I don't like it, but I've leaned to live with it after 18 months.
Last night I ate half of the best chocolate chip muffin I've ever had. I wanted a glass of milk SO bad, I couldn't resist. I poured about two inches and it was so delicious, I chugged it. The milk and the muffin revisited. Quickly. I barely made it to the bathroom. Ugh.


SO YES. I found two things I hate about my sleeve. That said, there are so many HUGE things I love about it, I don't regret it for a minute. I can bundle up, I can wait on the milk. I can't imagine ever going back to where I was. I am thrilled about my decision despite these two stupid little things and I am so happy I had surgery. SO HAPPY.

I'll admit, I totally judge people on their grammar. I try not to do so out loud, but I can't help doing it in my head.

LOL!
You should see my list!
The local network news shows and reporters, not to mention the news editors, fear my emails. Not only do those "professionals" too often fail to spell, punctuate and write correctly, but they mispronounce the most common English words.
Ex-specially?!
Real-a-tor?
Nu-cu-lar?
Ex-presso?
If those guys and the state's Department of Transportation and all the billboard companies would just get their acts together, I could relax.
It's hard being us.

I like to pop in on this forum and get tips, advice, provide support where I can, but it DRIVES ME CRAZY to read multiple posts where I see the following:
How much can I LOOSE?
When will I LOOSE weight?
Will eating ____ make me stop LOOSING?
:angry: :angry: :angry:
People... the word is LOSE!! LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSE!!! ACCCCKKKKK!
Ahhhhh. I feel SO much better now. Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest.

I used Dr Garcia on September 18. It was a positive experience but I do encourage you to get up and walk ASAP as all the doctors who chat with you suggest. The follow up from the doctor who does follow up care has been wonderful. The Marriott was a great place to recover. Hardest part is that I feel so well that you want to move along faster on the introduction of food. I also like that they gave good suggestions for Vitamins and supplements that will help will Hair loss etc. Good luck to all taking this big step.

Like @@SmashMouth88, I am also going to Dr. Garcia in November.

Okay...I'll say it! I never expected personal hygiene to be easier! From showering, going potty, grooming....less time, less effort, cleaner. Without going into detail...just hope I'm not the only person who realized being fat had cleanliness issues I wasn't aware of until now!

3 months with VSG: I thought I'd be frugal, smart and time-saving to alter in my best work pants instead of buying new ones. I mean it's only two sizes, shouldn't be a big deal. After I got done taking them in 7", the two back pockets were only an inch apart from each other at the butt seam! And the legs looked like parachute pants, HAMMER TIME! It looked ridiculous! But at least seeing that made hubby realize it's time for me to go clothes shopping for real lol.
I've also stepped out of my shoes (double wides) at work multiple times. I didn't think about the fact that my feet would shrink too. Once I was walking quickly to the bathroom and it happened right in front of the ceo's office! So awkward to slowly walk backwards a couple steps, wiggle my foot back into my flat, and then scurry away hoping he didn't notice.

I chortle, I snort and if you really get me going, I piggle. You know, pee a bit with my giggle.

I've noticed that it doesn't require as much effort to get up off the couch or from a chair. Last night I almost face planted getting up from the couch. I pushed myself up with the usual amount of force and had just too much momentum for my lesser body mass. Instead of ending up standing I just kept going and fell right over onto the ottoman. LMAO My husband laughed so hard I thought he was going to start crying.

So yesterday I was at the grocery and I grabbed a hand basket thinking I was only getting a few things. A few turned into a bunch and my basket was quite heavy about halfway through the market. I hefted my basket up onto my hip (which used to be quite ample) and it slid right down my leg. Hmmm.... I tried again. And again. I seriously couldn't figure out WHY my basket didn't rest comfortably on my side like it always has. It took about 3 minutes of pondering this phenomenon before I realized I no longer have big wide cushiony hips on which to rest whatever it is I might need to carry. I seriously chortled with glee startling the produce man. HA!

Last week I had a girls' weekend away with my besties. We loaded up the luggage cart with all our stuff and I took my usual place behind the cart as the one who is designated to push it through the lobby. (I'm the only one who can be trusted not to mow innocent people down.) I couldn't budge it. I pushed and I heaved and I shoved that cart and it wouldn't move. I pulled it with all my might. Nope. One hundred plus pounds less of me wasn't going to move it no matter how hard I tried. So bizarre.
The ocean was another weird experience for me. I was a lifeguard growing up, both ocean and pool. I am a swimmer and I was even at my fattest. This summer was my first summer in 20+ years "thin". I was tossed around like a rag doll, totally off balance, barely able to gain footing because there is so much less of me. Oh, and I no longer float like I used to. In fact, I sink like a stone unless I give it a whole lotta effort. SO SO not what I'm used to.

I love the NSVs like fitting in a theater seat with my purse next to me, shopping in any store, passing by people in narrow aisles without rubbing them with my butt, etc. but some of these off the wall things really throw me off guard and it takes me a while to figure out what the heck is going on.

You?

I can understand your fear. I was scared too when I first decided to be sleeved. I spent time researching and reading posts on websites. I went to Mexico for my sleeve. My surgery was with Dr. Fernando Garcia. I have been sleeved for 7 months with no complications other than Constipation (sometimes) and heartburn (spicy foods).
Everyone is different and will have different levels of success. Some lose weight quickly and some are slow. The best thing to remember is that this is a tool not a miracle surgery. It takes work. I have lost 98 lbs and feel great! Better than I have for the last 20 years. I have no regrets and would do this again in a heart beat.
Use some of your time to look around the forum and read posts. There is a lot of good information and support to be had on this website.
I wish you the best of luck on your new journey.

You're giving too much power to the scale...I had to stop weighing every day. My husband took the scale from me and brought it out once per week and it saved my sanity.
Your body is trying to figure out what's going on...you've been living on liquids for a while, cut back your calories by probably 70% and removed part of a major organ. It's saying, "What else are you going to throw at me!?!?"
So, settle down...if you're consuming less than 1000 calories a day, you'll lose weight. Let your body heal. Let it catch up to all the changes.
Also, instead of the scale, use pictures and measurements as a way to gauge your progress....I guarantee you will see those numbers and images change, even if your scale gives you a different impression.
Be good to yourself.

People who have a lot of weight to lose tend to lose more, faster. That being said, I usually manage 2-3 lbs per week, except this week which is a stall. Everyone is different. Good luck to you!

When I was preop and early days I seldom posted to this site as I thought it was mean...haha. i posted mostly to another site. What happened over time is I realized that the people here were often quite successful and while the choice of words may not have always been perfect, the main messages were very helpful to me in my success.
Now, years later, i have experienced the opposite which is being "yelled at" for answering a question. Occasionally, no matter how gently you think you are replying, if it is an answer a person does not want to hear they can get hostile. i don't take it personally as i realize that this is a tough and emotional process. I don't have all the answers, I just know what worked for me. I feel like through the help of my surgeon, NUT and many people who have gone before me and shared their knowledge I have found a solution to my lifetime of obesity and I hope I can help someone else from time to time along the way. I wish us all great success.

imma post this again. it seems sometimes people get so focused on what others are doing, they lose sight of why they actually come to bariatric pal in the first place.
this is probably the worst analogy to use for us, but, here it goes.... when you go to a buffet and there is a dish there you dont like, do you get angry and rage at the chef for making and offering you something you dont like? do you feel offended and take it personally? do you feel like the chef's choice was made specifically as a way to hurt you? do you feel so hurt you tell the chef you can only eat the other food if he/she stops making all the food you dont care for? probably not.
most likely what you do is say, "oh what is that over there that i do like?" and you move on to choose the dishes you do like. you dont let those dishes you dont like ruin your meal or wreck the enjoyment of the food you do like.
online forums are exactly the same way. people will offer you all kinds of things. you get to pick and choose what you want to take in. you need not get angry, enraged, offended, take it personal, or allow it to wreck your experience here at bariatric pal. take what you want, leave the rest. of course its your choice. but ultimately, your experience here is your responsibility, no one else's..... only you can choose your attitude.

Thanks hockeygirl! Mine gets sore too. Sometimes I'm afraid it might break since it sticks out so much. It seems to go flatter when I tighten up my weak abs. And if I bend forward, sometimes it feels like it "clicks". Does that happen to you?

I went out for a sleeve of ice cubes for our Labor Day party today. I paid the man and asked him for help putting it into my car as it was too heavy. The ice sleeve was 6 bags of ice each weighing 7lbs, so it was 42 lbs total. He was too busy to help so I had to do it myself I was very irked about this , and I put the ice into my car. It seemed so heavy to me! I was mentally cussing him out as I got into my drivers seat, then it dawned on me . I realized that this time last year , I was 84 lbs heavier , TWO of those ice sleeves. No one helped me carry that extra weight around. The visual of carrying 12 of those ice bags around seemed surreal to me, I blew my own mind!

Happy Labor Day everyone !