piercedqt78

Ice Cream. I can eat frozen yogurt every night without an issue. And I LOVE the yoplait frozen greek yogurt bars, I have 2 a week, and they are delicious, and they have Protein in them. I don't feel guilty having dessert that has protein in it. But if I eat 2 oz of ice cream I'm sick, puking and dealing with severe stomach pain.

Girl, you have NO reason to be self conscious in those dresses, you look AMAZING! Just remember that you are still losing, so don't spend a ton of $$ on new clothes that you will fall in love with and then they will be too big. I shopped at thrift stores, and resale shops as I dropped sizes. Now that I am at goal I am starting to spend some $$ on my clothes. I figure all the money I saved as I was dropping sizes I can now spend on stuff that I will be able to wear long term. But like I said you look FAB now. Congrats on your loss.

I had to have my band removed, and I was sleeved at in one surgery. My stomach had prolapsed into my band and I was struggling to keep any amount of real food down. I was able to eat, but it was 50/50 on it staying down. My surgery was approved on May 7th, and my surgery was done the morning of May 8th. I got the call to be at the hospital at 5pm on the 7th, told nothing by mouth after midnight, and not to worry about anything else. I had eaten grilled fish, and a soft pretzel just before the office called me. I was living on gatorade, and smoothies with Protein boosters. They didn't have any issues with the size of my liver, and I healed just fine. I did exceptionally well with my sleeve, and my doctor couldn't be more pleased with my progress. So don't stress about the pre-op diet, like others have said, no two doctors have the same plan for before or after surgery. It's still being perfected. Just relax and be thankful you don't have to starve yourself prior to surgery.

I'm available during the week also.I'm not working at the moment, so any day is good for me. I have a really good RA doctor if you want to seek a second opinion for the gout.

I had a lapband and like you only lost about 30 pounds. I was revised to the sleeve last year in May, and I'm already under my original goal.

I have a bypass friend that swears by cherry juice to help with his gout attacks. He says it cuts the pain, and flareup time in half. Something in the juice that reduces the uric acid absorption. Might be worth looking into? I would love to meet up for lunch somewhere, name the time/place and I will make it work.

I LIVED on ice chips from Sonic in the first 2 weeks home from surgery. The hospital brought me tea over ice chips, and all of my Water was over ice. But only after my leak test.

Do you go to the support group meetings? I never seem to be available to go, my daughter is in jr high, and always seems to have homework or my hubby is working and I can't be at the meeting, due to her needing to be home and in bed for school the next morning. I was banded before my sleeve, and had major complications, so I was revised to the sleeve last May. I LOVE my sleeve, it was the best thing I could have done.

I'm just outside of Jax, in Orange Park. I used Dr. Uchal, and will be one year post-op May 8th. Are any of you attending the fashion show on Friday at Riverside with North Florida Surgeons?

That is a great way to look at it! I would ideally like to be a size 8 also. I'm in a 9-10 now and I know with a few extra pounds gone I'd fit into 8's. As I bought a few pairs of longer shorts for summer in an 8. They are real close (like I need to lose 5-10 pounds and they'd fit perfect! lol I do have another question for everyone.... How does everyone maintain? What is your routine like? Your intake? Your effort you have to use? Is it harder for some or easy for some? I had the same thought, I had a size in mind, and when I hit that size, I kept losing. I wanted to be in an 8, single digits was all I wanted honestly. Then I somehow skipped the 8's and went right into a 6. I was wearing a 10, and they started to be really baggy, so when I went clothes shopping, I tried an 8, still baggy, then I tried a 6 and they fit. I have toned a bit, and can wear some 4's, and some Jr 5's. I'm maintaining now, I use full fat yogurt, dressing, and I eat 1/2 an avocado for a snack once a day. I also eat the Oscar Meyer P3's, they are 140 calories, and about 16 grams of Protein, they consist of meat, cheese and nuts. I get them from the deli meat dept, by the lunchables. I have been eating pretty much whatever I want (healthy about 95% of the time) and maintaining. I figure I'm getting about 1200-1300 calories a day vs the 800 when I was still losing weight. I see my surgeon again in 2 weeks, and I can't wait for him to see how great I'm doing.

I can't give any advice on keeping the girls, but I can say that I went from a 38dd, to a 36c, but have stayed proportional. I didn't want to look like a Barbie doll. If I had kept my chest size and lost the body size, I would have to have everything tailored to be able to fit into clothing. I can wear a med and even some smalls, without having to have anything altered. If my chest was still the original size, I would need a large with the body taken in.

Love it, and I LOVE the color!! Congrats on the 111 pound loss that's amazing. I'm a Scion owner, they are made by Toyota, and are such fun to drive. I rewarded myself with a cruise when I got to my goal (see my profile pic)!

People that have surgery in Mexico fly home just a few days post-op. And it's the same for people that have plastics in Mexico and Brazil they fly home and have their pc remove stitches etc.

Yes, I noticed it when I ran myself a bath recently. It's something that I was too big to do before, and I wanted to treat myself for a change. I had a good book, and glass of wine, and some nice bath salts, I lowered myself into the tub, and instantly felt my tailbone cutting into my skin. I took a hand towel and folded it up, and used that as a cushion, so I could enjoy my bath.

I have about 40% of my body covered in tattoos. I have lost 125 pounds, and they all still look great. I'm only concerned about the big one on my lower back shifting when I have my plastics done.

I had my lap-band at UIC. I had a good experience, but Dr. Horgan is no longer there. Who is the current surgeon?

I am also 5'5 and I weigh 115. My doctor told me that he considered me a success at my last appt, at 130. He will be floored when he sees me next month at my 1 year appt.

my best friend had the bypass, and I had the sleeve. He was a bypass patient several years ago, and I am coming up on my 1 year in May, I have lost just as much if not more than him, and he has had more time to lose, and had more to lose. So that's not always true, it really just depends on how you work the sleeve, or any surgery for that matter.

I had severe reflux with my band, I was sleeved last May, and have been on protonix since then. I was at goal in 6 months. I love my sleeve, and I'm glad I did that instead of the bypass, as I can have sugar in small amounts, and the surgery did not reroute, or remove any of my intestines. I don't have any problems with reflux with my sleeve, and I have been able to reduce my protonix dose by half. I will try to stop it all together in May at the one year mark. But even if I have to take it for the rest of my life, I will gladly do that, if that's what it takes to stay thin. Since I can't use most sugar substitutes as they cause my to have severe migraines, I opted to not have the bypass, because that would seriously limit what I can eat, but with the sleeve I do fine with a bit of sugar, or a few extra carbs.

parmesan or a bit of cornstarch I know there are carbs in the cornstarch, but it crisps up really nice, think tempura batter, and takes on whatever flavor you mix it with.

I had my band for almost 8 years. (just 2 months shy) and I did the yo-yo weight loss all 8 years. I never lost more than 50% of my excess weight, and it always came right back on, no matter what I did. I started having issues keeping anything down last Feb (2013) and by the end of March, I had been in the ER 4 times with uncontrolled vomiting. (still didn't lose any weight) I had an endoscope, and a stomach emptying test, nothing abnormal other than reflux in either test. I was also checked for spasms in my esophagus, all normal. I had my band placed in Chicago, and had moved to Florida in the mean time, so I didn't have a band doctor. I knew someone that had just been sleeved, and she LOVED her bariatric surgeon, so I set up a consult with him on the suggesting of my GI doc. Because I was having issues, they waived their program fee and agreed to see me, knowing my band would most likely have to be removed. He did a barium swallow, and saw instantly that my stomach had prolapsed into my band, and the band would have to be removed. This was already the last part of April. The surgeon submitted to my Insurance and they were fine with the sleeve surgery, but didn't want to cover the band removal. How stupid is that???? He called them when they received the reply from the insurance, and told them if they didn't approve the band removal, he would keep me in the hospital on IV fluids and bed rest until they got their head out of their asses and approved me. I was approved within 48 hours, and had my band removed, and the sleeve done on May 8th last year. I was at goal before Thanksgiving. I'm now 115 pounds, and a size 4/6. I have managed to actually get under my original goal. When I get the sleeve I said I would like to be in single digit sizes, for the first time since highschool, I surpassed that goal, and then I wanted to be 135 pounds (that would put me in the middle of the "healthy" bmi scale) now I am borderline underweight. I don't regret the revision for one single moment, and I made him swear to me that he would do my sleeve if at all possible at the same time, and if not in the same surgery then as soon as I was healed I would be sleeved, the surgeon agreed, and the rest as they say is history. I can't tell you how very happy I am.

I LOVE that dress in pic #2. Where is it from if you don't mind me asking.

I'm the same, but I will say that my biggest surprise is when I catch my reflection in a store front window, or like you see a picture of myself. I had my hubby snap pics along my journey, and the first few I didn't think about too much, but then he took one of me recently, at goal, and I thought he took it at a weird angle. I looked so thin, and tall, I thought for sure he had been too low taking the pic and it was a camera trick. Then I saw a pic of myself at a church function and I was the thinnest person there. I asked my hubby if I was a small as a sales lady at Victoria Secrets, and he said I was smaller than her, my jaw must have dropped open, because he asked "don't you know how tiny you are now?" I guess I really don't know it most of the time. I'm in a size 4 and my NUT says I will need to gain a few pounds before I can have plastics done, or I will be severely underweight after plastics. I'm 115, 5'5 and they are projecting removing between 12-14 pounds of skin. Ugh, I don't know if I am willing to gain to have surgery, maybe I will wait and see how my skin fairs over the next year.

I'm going to say no you don't have them. It's a chain of fast food, they make little hamburgers, they are square. The meat is cooked on a grill, but before the meat is put on the grill finely chopped onions are spread out, and the meat is then steamed over the onions. The pattys have small holes in them, to allow the heat and steam to move more freely. They are like 2 normal bites, or 5 or 6 sleever bites. I like them with the weird brown mustard that they use. And I use them to make a yummy Breakfast casserole.

I took my own toothbrush (having had several surgeries, I know that I tend to have a sour mouth after recovery, and hospital toothbrushes are awful. I also took a picture of myself/hubby/and daughter with me, I used it to pre-op to keep me from jumping up and running away. I also took my own socks, I suffer from extremely cold feet, and I have really small feet, so hospital socks are always way way to big. And last but not least my phone and charger, since I knew I would be there at least 3 days. I also took the book I had been reading, but since my mom came and spent the days, and the nurses kept me drugged at night, I didn't read it. If I had been alone I would have read, or worked the crossword puzzle from the newspaper. The nurses brought me a paper each day, after I asked the first morning if they had the paper. Other than that, I brought my needed ID and paperwork, and a copy of my post-op diet, so they could review it with me at discharge, per my instructions. I wore a cotton dress home, so there was no waistband to hurt my incisions, and it was the same dress I wore to the hospital, so there was nothing else to pack/carry. I put it on the morning of surgery, and as soon as I got to the hospital I was told to take it off and put on a gown, so it was on me all of 45 mins. And I would suggest slip on shoes, they are easier to get on and off, and since they were slip ons, I was allowed to wear them when I walked around the floor and to do my swallow test. I would have been grossed out to walk in a public place in just my socks.