Jen in SoCal

Every night I think to myself I CAN'T WAIT TO TAKE MY WALK TOMORROW. Seriously. I absolutely love it. I walk 3 miles 5 days a week. About 1/3 of it is uphill. It's such a wonderful stress reliever. On the flip side, I'm still not crazy about the gym. I literally have to force myself to go.

I had food poisoning really bad and was literally on the toilet some days about 20 times a day. I ended up in Hosp for dehydration. It was scary and lasted over a week. They gave me meds for nausea which in turn constipated me! Ugh I thought I'd never be normal again. I started taking probiotics and now everything is a-ok. I was told that when you're going constantly like that it can strip all the good bacteria from your intestines and it's kind of a vicious circle. As far as I know the probiotics can't do any harm. It might be worth a try.

It seems like we all go into starvation mode in the beginning. Once you begin to get more calories in, believe it or not, you will see the scale start to move.

Someone on the forum suggested a spoonful of sugar free chocolate syrup and I thought that was a really great idea.

I think you look absolutely elegant and you have such pretty eyes! I hope you had a nice evening at the opera

7 pounds a week is great! Before you know it weeks will turn to months and you will be amazed at how much you've lost!

It seems like more than 95% of frozen "diet" dinners are pasta, rice, or potatoes with a little protein on the side. It's really frustrating. I think your idea is great.

I don't really have any before pictures. Here's a picture of me the day after surgery. And the other picture is from today.

Best of luck to you :-)

I had my first appointment on March 27th I believe...surgery was on April 30th. So it only took me one month. Lots of appointments crammed in that one month though! It was super stressful.

I was instructed by my nutritionist to keep sugar grams to 5 or below per meal.

That's funny! I totally know what you mean! I was watching spongebob with my daughter and I actually said out loud that I would kill for a crabby patty! LOL I crave make believe food!

I started drinking coffee again shortly after I went back to work. I held off for about 2 months. My nutritionist said I could have it at 3 weeks. Honestly though, I can barely make it through a whole cup, and I used to drink it till like noon every day.

That's a very good point. Seems like common sense. I don't know why I didnt think of it before.

I'm 4 months post-op I can take regular swallows. I have to drink slowly, no chugging though :-)

I'd like to thank our resident barista for clarifying.

Ummm hard to say, both really. They're kind of the consistency of cheetoes.

Those are yummy. I used to eat them before surgery but didn't really realize they were an option till your post. Gotta try them again!

I was on liquids for 3 weeks, puréed/soft for 3 weeks, then solids.

Are you serious? One "nerd"? Aren't they literally the size of a crumb? Don't beat yourself up. I don't think it affected your weight loss in anyway. You're doing just fine!

Agreed! The "Oh my God, look at you!" thing got old real quick!

Preop weight 234 Day of surgery on 4/30/12 215 Today's weight 160 Only 2 pounds lost since last week but I couldn't be happier except I think a half pound may be hair loss! LOL 4 months, one week since surgery and 25 pounds to go till goal! Seriously? I went from being 100 pounds overweight to 25 pounds overweight? I still can't grasp it. But I'm SOOO HAPPY!