magtart

Wow, no TV? I just finished watching 'How to Marry a Millionaire' with Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall. Then I watched 'Desk Set' with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. I love old movies.

Yesterday I finally had my surgery! The Doctor said it was easy peasy and went fantastically! My liver looked great and I was done in 40 minutes.
They had me stay overnight and have been cranking me full of pain and nausea meds. I still am not even close to hungry. I am laying here with my trusty ice chips. The pain was pretty intense this morning, but it has gotten better throughout the day.
I got up a couple of times and did my laps around the nurses station. Everyone has been extraordinarily helpful and kind. Overall it has been smoothe sailing. I am hoping to be able to discharge tonight! Hopefully on my way to a speedy recovery! Thank you all for helping me calm down before my surgery yesterday!

Quoting from the My Fitness Pal message boards, cleanses, detoxes, juice fast, and colonics are all "woo". Just a bunch of claptrap.

Quoting from the My Fitness Pal message boards, cleanses, detoxes, juice fast, and colonics are all "woo". Just a bunch of claptrap.

We put up our 4' Fiber optic tree on a table. The 3 cats all attempted to sabotage our efforts. Now we have big Amazon boxes protecting the lower portion of the tree.
http://photos.ellen.warnerbros.com/galleries/cats_in_christmas_trees

I had a glass the night before. It made zero difference in the next day's outcome.

Everyone shares their NSV's on here ... which are so incredible to read ...
But I have to share one of mine from last Saturday night ...
It was the office Christmas party ... and in the past ... I didn't like to attend ... because of my weight ...
I know, I know ... stupid reason ... but ... you all know where I'm coming from ...
So this year ... I didn't mind going ...
It was at a local sports bar/pub kinda place ...
And I was drug up ON STAGE to sing Karaoke !!!!
ME!!!
And I actually liked it !
So much so ... I did it 5 times and had a ball !
There are so many positives to losing weight ... and coming "out of my shell" is definitely one of them
I'm the girl who always sat in the back ... hid from everything ... always told my husband "I can't" ...
Well now ... I CAN ! I finally CAN !
Thank you Surgery Gods !

I picked up the Jawbone UP3 at Target yesterday. 30% off and an additional 5% for paying with my Target card. I wish I didn't have to wait until Christmas to use it.

liquid in, liquid out. It will go away when you start eating solid food or even puree.

I am still going forward with the sleeve and am actually looking forward to it. Except for my cardiologist, everyone has been very positive. Thanks for the feedback it helped me a bunch.

I have A-Fib and take Metoprolol twice a day. Since my surgery and slow weight loss I have had very few issues. I still take my meds, but don't worry about it. That racing irregular heart beat is very scary.

Try propping a pillow under your side. It worked for me.

It has made me who I am today.
I hope it has made me caring, compassionate, kind, slow to judgement, forgiving, and much more.
It also has given me a highly developed BS meter!

I like the Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt. It has 15g. of Protein and comes in good flavors. Only 120 calories per serving.

I like the Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt. It has 15g. of Protein and comes in good flavors. Only 120 calories per serving.

I like the Oikos Triple Zero Greek Yogurt. It has 15g. of Protein and comes in good flavors. Only 120 calories per serving.

My 21 year old son spent the night with me. He slept in the recliner.

It looks like I will be dropped off picked up unless they allow someone to stay the night with me. We live an hour away from the hospital and my surgery is scheduled for 3pm! My husband works nights so he won't be able to stay. My mom has to be at work early so unless they allow my 20 year old stay, I'll be solo.

I am in hospital right now 3 days post op, and have had no family and friends around. All my family are overseas and I live 3 hours from the hospital. My husband dropped me off and headed back home to look after our 3 kids and continue harvesting. I have been fine, the staff here amazing, and a,though have missed my family it's been quite nice just concentrating on me for a change!!

Do a search for 3 week stall. This is perfectly normal.
Also if I may add, you may want to work on increasing your Protein intake. Meeting your Protein and Fluid goals is the one the best things to help make the weight loss happen. Just be patient and stay the course. The weight loss will happen, I promise.

.....I started my preop diet. I consider this my anniversary date rather than my actual surgery since I lost 22 pounds on the preop. Since surgery I have lost over 100% of my excess weight and have kept it off for over a year. I don't measure or track my food. I don't own a scale. I never obsessed over numbers or details. I just stuck with mostly Protein and veggies while I was losing and stayed away from the "white carbs".
For maintenance I simply eat a healthy balanced diet including Protein, veggies, fruit and whole grains. I make healthy choices (most of the time) and my sleeve helps control my portions. I still indulge in sweets, Desserts, alcohol, bread, rice, potatoes, etc, but definitely in moderation. I still drink Protein shakes and eat Protein Bars. Although I don't officially track, I do keep a rough tally of protein and fluids and usually exceed 70g protein and drink 64-100+ oz of fluids every day. I take my Vitamins every day. I have bloodwork checked annually as recommended by my surgeon. I don't excercise but I have a physical job and active lifestyle. It really has been a pretty easy journey.
So here's a recap some of my favorite year 1 NSVs....
I can cross my legs. I can even cross them in a car and under a table.
I can hop up into my saddle without having to find a rock or log to climb on. I feel so relieved that my horse no longer has to pack my fat ass around the mountains.
No more knee, ankle or foot pain. I lived on ibuprofen and tramadol before surgery. I am now completely pain free. I can also squat down and kneel effortlessly without my feet going numb or needing a table or chair to heave myself back up.
I can sprint up stairs or hike up a hill without getting out of breath at all. I've been on 15-20 mile hikes with friends and I am always out front, waiting for them to catch up.
I can shop in regular stores. I can order clothes online and I know they will fit and look great. I now dress to show off my body, not to hide it.
Now for year 2.....
Maintenance is boring. NSVs are few and far between. Everything is just "normal" now. Spent most of the year finding and keeping that balance between what my head wants and what I know I actually need. I rarely weigh myself, but I will step on the scale at work after an especially carby weekend or vacation. I go back to strict protein/veggies or even full on preop liquid diet if I pop even one pound above my bounce range. I know I have to nip any small gains in the bud before they become big gains.
But this year also brought about the biggest NSV of all. It has nothing to do with my weight, it's all about my head and it's one I would love to not have experienced. My best friend committed suicide 7 months ago and every day since has been a miserable struggle with the grief, anger, despair and confusion. The victory in this is that I haven't buried my emotions with food and alcohol. I spent over 1 1/2 years drinking and stuffing my face after my brother died 4 years ago. In the end that only impeded my ability to heal and made me even fatter and more miserable. I learned that you have to feel the pain before you can over come it. So this time I'm feeling it all. And it sucks. I will never stop grieving either my brother or my friend, but maybe some day I can start living again, rather just going through the motions.
Anyways, thanks for reading this extended post, and good luck to all you newbies. My advice is don't get wallowed down in the "now". Don't be overwhelmed by the details. Life is more than just carbs and protein and minutes at the gym. You chose a chance at a new life. The first few months are just a teeny tiny period and simply part of the process you have to go through to get to that new life.
First photo collage taken December 4, 2013 and December 4, 2014
Second set taken this morning.......I just had my gallbladder removed 8 days ago, so that's what's up with the new scars and my belly is still a little swollen from surgery. I also got a new tat last February - a tribute to my brother who was a wonderfully talented musician.
 

I got pretty burned out on meeting guys online...most just not interesting to me. I felt bad, but I was the woman you guys complain about, meet for a coffee or a drink, have a nice chat, but I am not into the second or third date. Like 98percent of the time (ok, I don't keep records but just go along with me here). Not only was I burned out on the waste of time, but I disappointed others who were"into" seeing me again. I decided I needed to just stop. I discussed some things with a counselor I used to see, I thought alot about how I was contributing to this and examined my inner resistance.
One issue for me is just not finding dates attractive. I have tried to "get over it" but that combined with being intellectually uninteresting to me...oh my, do I just give up? Are all the good ones taken? Actually the dating pool does seem to have a high percentage of people with issues, but surely half the problem was my inner resistance. My counselor helped me see this and to help recognize it. I decided I needed to prioritize, to clarify what actually makes a difference to me. Example, I tried dating overweight men (many are overweight in the age 50 crowd) but that didn't work out at all because of lifestyle, preferred food and activities, not because of looks. There are many elements of"attraction" and I needed to adjust my thinking about it.
In the meantime, I went on dates with a couple of men who I met in real life who asked me out one was super attractive the second really nice. I was thinking...this is how I want to meet someone. Well, the charming, handsome one turned out to be a married, lying manipulator. The other one is nice, but is still a roommate with his ex, and just as importantly told me he always avoids conflict...you know by evasion or capitulation. Someone on this forum once advised us to listen for people when they say these things....and I did. I know that I need an authentic person who is at the stage in life ready to be their true selves...well being true to myself I know i don't do well with that personality type. I much prefer direct.
Somehow in all this I met someone else, I actually just dropped in on a different dating website on a wild hair, "S". He is articulate, but not charming, fit and attractive but no interest in dressing well or otherwise making the most of his tall athletic build. Before we met, we exchanged long emails and low and behold,, so far everything has turned out to be genuine. He lives further away and has younger kids than my criteria, but I decided to give it a chance. When we first met, I was taken with his knowledge, wit and hotbod, but in spite of his very articulate, friendly nature, I also sensed a serious nature and perhaps a bit of shyness. He told me right up front that he just didnt seem to be the kind of guy women want (ah, sensitive, online dating is full of arbitrary and capricious rejection). My inner resistance kicked in, mostly because I thought he was pretty amazing compared to the average and I wondered what deep dark secrets were hiding.
Our first actual date was going to a haunted house...I haven't laughed that hard in awhile! Our most recent date was going to an audience participation of"the princess bride" where we engaged in full on sword fights (inflatable swords) and slaughtered ROUS. How fun is that? I find him really growing on me and while it is early days, it is going very well. I am pretty sure we are going target shooting this weekend. He is fitter than I am (I have some issues going on right now) but his motorcycle racing hobby has left him with some lingering issues too so he is quite comfortable with my current rehab and the limits it brings. (Side note I aspire to be able to hike again by spring, in spite of my messed up hip).
This story is just an example of how nice he is. This country bumpkin completely misunderstood a serious of complex signs regarding parking in the city(only in Seattle do you need to diagram out the sentence, with punctuation, to grasp the status of that particular space that particular time of day) and I got a parking ticket. He wanted so badly to pay that ticket for me! I wouldn't let him, but I realized something at that moment...he wanted me to keep going through the effort to see him. He is not a charming sweet talker, but his actions are always around pleasing me, making me feel important to him.
I am not claiming he is"the one" - we still live quite a ways apart and he has half custody of two teens....both kinda a negative BUT I am really happy and comfortable with things so far. It gives me hope that I can find someone fit, my age, actually single and who is genuinely nice and treats me so well. A smarter girl would probably leverage his notion that"women aren't into his type" ,but I have told him repeatedly that whoever he met was nuts and just had no idea how great he really is. He is a self confident person in all other aspects I have seen, and I hope if nothing else our relationship winds up building both of us "up" as it relates to a healthy love life.

Yesterday, I got the call I've been waiting for! My insurance approved the surgery. I'm going in tomorrow to sign consent forms and get my surgery date scheduled. I can't believe it's here after what felt like such a long wait. I'm excited, nervous, and anxious all at the same time! What an awesome call to receive on my birthday!

I don't believe in cleanses. How most people use the term cleanse it means to de-toxify. For the majority of the population your liver and kidneys do that job just fine.
However semantics aside, I do believe that getting a reset on your habits isn't a bad thing. Start with re-reading your program's eating recommendations and go back to tracking everything. I know a few people that will do a '5 day pouch test'. Essentially it is going back to the full liquids portion stage for 5 days.

Whoa. You might need to try an enema. The opiates can definitely do a number on you. My husband is a cancer patient and gets very blocked up when he is on pain meds and chemo. He once described it as trying to poop out a beer can.
I have been having some issues lately and found relief taking SennaS daily.