Cecilia

Alright! We'll be weight loss buddies!

When is your birthday? And just curious... how tall are you? I'm 5-7 (wannabe 8). I already feel like I could live with my shape on top, but my bottom half still has a ways to go!

Chin up! I'll bet it's not even that! Damn it feels good!

OMG! Got on the scale and I'm down to 201!! I'm so excited!!!

LOL!!!

Slow learner, I guess: I have finally figured out that the minute a bite of food feels the least bit uncomfortable, I have to stop eating until the pain stops. And if it doesn't, my meal is over. Having figured this out, I learned that the first bite of just about anything that isn't still pureed hurts a little. If I wait 5-10 minutes, I usually can finish my meal at a more normal pace and everything feels fine and stays down. I wonder why *starting* to eat is so uncomfortable, but whatever. I can live with this. At work it's been amazing. I was so afraid of criticism, but 99% of people have been supportive, complimentary, etc. DAMN it feels good to lose weight!!

A - flipping - mazing!!! Today I was in a patient's room talking to them and I looked down and suddenly realized that I was sitting with my legs crossed and a) I hadn't grabbed the pants leg of one leg to help it over the other It didn't hurt c) It was staying there all by itself. Yaaaaay!

Not sure about other tickers, but the ones on this site are under that little downward pointing arrow by your name. Look under the drop-down menu.

Same here! I found out, sadly, that my body which cannot yet handle scrambled eggs, can do just fine with chocolate chip cookies. It was such a wake-up call, I have decided that for me it will be better to just learn to say "I don't eat that" to certain things. I did have a piece (about an inch by half an inch) of pizza the other day, and could honestly say it did nothing for me. Also, I've discovered that I prefer my coffee with cream and nothing else, rather than with sweetener. I don't really miss the sugar. Which is amazing. I'm sorry I'm rambling. We each have to make our own choices, but we can't go back to the habits that brought us here! I hear ya, but don't beat yourself up. As I recall, it takes about 3 days to get back into ketosis. Hi! Welcome to the group!!

Fun but not so fun? I have one of those huge plastic tubs in my room. It used to be filled with the clothes my mom outgrew when she had her surgery a year ago. I was so happy to get some new clothes! Well... Now it's full of those clothes again, plus a bunch of my regular clothes that I'm outgrowing. It's fun to say "I can't possibly wear these baggy jeans any more!" and toss them, but then you're down to one pair of jeans. I should be happy, right? As my slow weight loss continues, I'm down 24 pounds, just about 1/3 of the way to my goal. I'm also 7 pounds away from the lowest I've weighed in 8 years, and that's super-exciting! I hope I'll break into Onederland by the end of the month, and from there on out it's practically uncharted territory. The last time I weighed less than 198 was thirteen years ago!!! I've sadly discovered that my pouch has no problem whatsoever with two Nestle Tollhouse freshly baked Cookies. I was hoping the sugar/fat content would make me violently ill and I'd never want one again. All I did was succeed in having an 1100 calorie day. I'm going to have to just flat-out swear off sweets, because they will be my undoing if I allow them back into my diet. Between the sugar and fat that often goes with them, they pack a WHALLOP of calories! That's my update for today. Off to physical therapy! How are the rest of you doing? Check in and give us your updates!

I thought you'd like that one!

Yaaaay! Good for you!! I've been rummaging through my box of "smaller size clothing," and surprised myself to find that some smaller things fit, and others most definitely do not. My mom says I'm starting to look "lumpy." She said it happened to her (she had RnY 14 months ago) and that she'd go through phases of losing weight in one place, then another. First one area looked saggy, then it would firm up and another area would look funny. Oh, the joys of weight loss!

Awesome! That is good advice (not to compare yourself to others).

I am so, so, so happy for you! It was high time things were headed in a positive direction for you!!

You know, it's so unfair. In Minnesota we get both extremes. You'd think with such cold winters we'd have mild summers, but nooooooo! It gets up into the high 90's with beastly humidity up here as well. Plus we have mosquitos. Right, "one day at a time?"

I'm down here in Rochester. LOL!

No fair! Where do you live, and can I come hang out with you? We've got snow and freezing rain and highs in the 20's for the next week or two. Spring is nowhere in sight.

ONE MONTH POST-OP DOCTOR VISIT REPORT: (feel free to skip if not interested) I thought I'd share with you guys. I've lost 21 lbs by my scale, 18 by the doctor's. She said this is on the high end of normal. (?) She described a bell curve where at one extreme you may have someone who only lost 5 lbs. This might be due to it being a revision or something, she explained. Then on the other end you may have someone who lost 40, and she said that was too fast for her taste, but could be expected in people who have had the sleeve surgery. Finally, in the middle, she said she has typically seen people lose 15 to 21 pounds in the first month, so I should not fret about losing slowly. I'm right on track according to her. I wanted to share this with you all so if there is anyone else out there losing slowly, they don't also lose hope! I also told her that if I tried to take another Flintstones chewable, I'd probably barf. She told me that although the surgeon prefers that I take chewables for the first three months, that I could switch to Centruum Complete, twice a day. Thank GOD! They started me on Actigall today, to take it for the next six months. She said that if I didn't take it, my chance of developing gall stones was one in three, and that even patients who do, sometimes pass the stones with no pain; however, taking the Actigall would lower my chances to 4 in 100. She did explain that I could have side effects (constipation, loose stools, nausea) and that if that were to happen, to cut back the dose, then slowly ramp up again. All lifting restrictions were discontinued today (waaah! I can't make my kids do all my work for me any more!) within reason. She said that whatever I was used to doing before, to start out at about half of that. She said hernias at the sites of my (now healed) incisions were very unlikely, but to come in right away if something suddenly hurt really bad. She also strongly recommended Pilates, which I actually might try in another month, when I have less belly in the way. Finally, I was looking forward to graduating to mechanical soft (soft foods, and meats that have been flaked or ground ahead of time), but I told her how I can't handle scrambled eggs or flaked fish. She said my surgeon makes the GJ junction (gastro-jejunal, where the pouch meets the intestines) a uniformly small size to prevent overeating and weight re-gain. She said it was about as big around as my finger (take off your ring and that would be about the size). She said some people just have trouble with eggs because they're too rich, and to try an egg white omelet, or to just wait another month and try it again. She also said not to worry; that everyone heals at a different rates, and I might just have more inflammation than others at this stage. However, she did say that it is possible to develop more-than-average scar tissue at the GJ junction, and this would cause pain and vomiting any time you tried to consume anything other than fluids. This would typically manifest itself around this time (3-5 weeks out), and that if I continued to have trouble with "textures" I should call her and they may need to go in and "take a look." I'm not worried, because I can eat other textures, like almonds of all things, but I thought I'd share. The more you know, right? Thank you all who had sympathy for my bruised hip and sore shoulder. I am feeling better today and may even go to the gym and do some much-needed sit-ups in addition to walking.

LOL! Trying to imagine what pureed pickles would be like... Ewww! LOLOL!

That's wonderful! So glad to hear it went well!

You never told us how it went with your hubby! I'm curious!

I'm feeling sorry for myself today! In an effort to get exercise, I decided to walk to my doctor's appointment yesterday (it's about 45 minutes to an hour walk). On the way, I slipped and fell on the ice not once, but twice. I re-injured my left rotator cuff, was in so much pain I couldn't stop crying. I called a cab to get me and take me straight to the ED (missed my doctor appointment), and I have a bruise roughly the shape (and size) of Rhode Island on my left hip. In good news, I didn't break my hip, and all my digestive tract insides seem to escape unhurt.

Wow. I'm guessing they didn't cut that muscle on me because my pain was gone so fast. My sympathies go out to those of you who are struggling with this. I do remember that a hot pad helped me in the first few days. Let us know what they found! There must be something that's causing all this discomfort. It can't be the normal healing process! ...and on a side note, congrats on your weight loss! It must feel great to get back into the routine of things. I go back to work next week, and quite frankly I'm scared. I don't know why I didn't suggest easing back into things, but I go straight from sitting around at home and sleeping in as long as I want, to getting up at 5 and working a 12-hour day, two days in a row. I'm sure I will be exhausted!

I hear ya. All I have is five little scars, from 1/2 inch to an inch, but one is taking forever to heal. They took the staples out like on Day 2 and replaced them with steri strips, but those started falling off the next day, and weren't even tight to begin with, so some of my scars are invisible already, and another has a huge scab on it, still! But what I meant to say is that I'm just dying to carry my own groceries, laundry, just to get back to being active again!

No kidding! I can't even imagine what I'm going to look like come June!