Luvin_Life125

I lived in my gown until I showered the day of discharge. After my shower I put on loose undies & pants and a big sweatshirt to go home in. I wasn't able to wear a bra for over a week because of the location of the top incision. The no bra part is what really bothered me.

I also use coconut oil for my body. It makes a huge difference. I can't bring myself to try it on my face though. My face is extremely dry and sensitive, but I do also break out regularly. My favorite face moisturizer of all time is DML SPF 25 face lotion. http://www.amazon.com/DML-Daily-Facial-Moisturizer-SPF/dp/B000052YN5 I worked in a dermatology practice for over 5 years and this is one of their top moisturizers. It has hialuronic acid too which helps with aging. The packaging is absolutely outdated, but the lotion is amazing. It is thick and creamy but not greasy and absorbs quickly. It doesn't make my face burn nor breakout and it sits well under makeup. Lol, I truly don't have any sales stake in this product, I just love it that much. 3 tubes last me a bit over a year. I spent a lot of money on face lotion only to hate them and give them away. I hope you find one that works for you!

Lands End is also my absolute go to for swim suits! I love they have underwire options for dd + cups. It gives amazing support because my boobs just aren't perky anymore and their suits have enough compression to hold me without feeling like I can't breath.

Welcome neighbor! I live in Northwest Wisconsin, about an hour away from you. It is nice to meet someone close by. Good luck and see you on the losers bench soon.

I am headed to Disney World for 7 days at 8 weeks out. We have the dining plan so we are keeping that but I think I should be ready for it. Any advice would be great...oh, GB... We had the dining plan also! It worked out well for us. I only used meal credits at the few buffet and family style meals we had. I tried to minimize those meals because I felt like I was wasting a meal credit for me to eat 1/4 cup of food. The regular restaurants where you order from a menu or the quick service meals I just ate a bit off of my husband's or sons' meals. The servings there are so big and it was never a problem for us. We used the extra credits I didn't need to cover a few extra meals for the family. There are a lot of great choices around that work for us post ops. I also carried Water bottles, Protein packets, etc in our back pack just in case I needed them. Snack credits are also great for WLS patients! Lots of healthy choices if you look for them. Our best meals hands down were at O'Hana in the Polynesian Resort and the steak at Be Our Guest (magic Kingdom). My husband is a huge steak man and orders steak a lot when we eat out. The steak at be our guest was AMAZING! I had some of it too and couldn't believe how great it was. You can search for a website called all ears and they have menus posted for almost every restaurant at Disney world. I used that to plan our meals and find the places with the best options for our needs. Have a great time , enjoy the atmosphere, and stay hydrated. You will walk more than you ever thought possible too. We walked between 7.5 to 13 miles each day we were in the parks. I hope I didn't talk your ear off. Please feel free to pm me if you have any questions I can help with.

Welcome back! It is a wonderful thing that you are back in a stable place and are getting yourself back on track. You can do this, just hang in there!

My nut encourages fruit for snacks as long as I am still meeting my protein goals. One of my "meals" most days is half a Granny Smith apple sliced dipped in a mix of Greek yogurt & either PB2 or peanut butter protein powder. Since adding the half apple a day with skin, the constipation has gotten so much better. I will also mix small amounts of frozen berries into my protein shakes sometimes too.

I took a 12 day trip to Disney world 8 weeks after surgery and did fine. I made sure to bring my water and protein and it was a great trip. As long as you plan well to stay hydrated and get your protein in you should be able to enjoy! Have a great trip.

Every health insurer has different requirements. If you are unsure if the information you received is accurate, call again and speak to a different representative and see what they say. It never hurts to verify information. Also, even if your insurer doesn't have any pre op requirements, your surgeon still may. There is a lot of learning, habit changing, and soul searching you need to do to be ready and prepared for surgery. I would honestly not choose a surgeon who doesn't have any pre op requirements. I want someone who is in it for the long haul and wants me to succeed. I was frustrated with the pre op requirements and waiting period while I was going through them. I thought I was wasting time and just wanted surgery to be done so I could get to losing this weight. I couldn't wait to get through the bull paperwork to make the insurance company happy and get on with it. Now that I am post op, I am SO SO glad I had to go through all of the education, nutrition counseling, psych evaluation, and pre-op dietary changes. I definitely thought the psych eval was a waste of time. However, now I am considering seeking voluntary counseling to help me work through the feelings and anxiety substantial weight loss is bringing out and to work through the thoughts of self sabotage. It is surprising how emotional this process is. To be successful we all need to get our minds just as healthy as our bodies. Mental health and preparation is just as important as being physically ready. Good luck to you and I can't wait for you to join us on the loser's bench! There is always room here and we are a wonderful cheering squad!

Great job! Thank you for sharing and inspiring us!

I had one when I woke up from surgery and it was removed just before I was discharged from the hospital 2 days after surgery. Mine stung like the dickens being removed, but I know that varies from person to person. It definitely helped to keep the swelling down and I really didn't have a lot of discharge after the first day. Good luck!

I am the same way if I don't track my food every day. I have to log everything I eat every meal, every day. I find I tend to really underestimate my calories and Protein consumption if I don't track it. I was reluctant to have to weigh, measure, and log every bite I eat because I don't want to be on a diet the rest of my life. However, right now, while I have the most potential to lose most of my excess weight, I need to make the most of it. I made myself a deal that once I get to maintenance then I can let some of the tracking slide as long as I maintain my weight. Right now tracking every time, every day is going to be the best way for you to take control. As far as not eating until late in the day and being hungry or needing to eat quickly, plan and set yourself up to succeed. Buy a big bag of nuts, Jerky, or whatever else you like for protein Snacks. Take the time to take the big package And empty the bag by weighing out individual servings and pack them in snack size containers or ziplock bags. Also the "bites" recipes on the world according to eggface blog are GREAT for this type of situation. Each recipe makes 24 mini muffin quiches and they freeze really well. Every week I make 2 varieties. Once they are cooked and cooled, I wrap 2 "bites" together at a time in waxed paper. I take all 12 of the wax paper bundles and store them in a gallon freezer bag labelled with which flavor they are and the date I made them. They taste great, reheat easily, have so many different flavors and combinations so you don't get burnt out, and keep well in the freezer. By cooking 2 batches every week I usually have 6-8 different flavors in the freezer on any given day to choose from. Another option is getting a large container of Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or ricotta cheese and portioning it out into single size servings when you get home with it. Then it is ready to go when you need or want it. One of my favorite quick snacks on the go is the single serving packages of apple slices with my Peanut Butter dip. I have found a bag with 12 single serving packages of apple slices inside. They are ready to grab and go and I find them in the refrigerated produce section of my local grocery store. I make a dip for the apples using plain no fat Greek yogurt, PB2, and sugar free Torani vanilla syrup. You mix equal parts PB2 and the syrup together until smooth and then mix that into the yogurt. Now you have a protein packed peanut butter dip that tastes like it should be bad for you. I use the 16 oz container of yogurt with 3 TBS each of the syrup and PB2. Once it is mixed I put 1/4 cup of dip into individual bowls with kids and store it in the fridge next to the apples. You may want to play with how much PB2 & syrup you put in to make it taste good to you. You can use either myfitnesspal or sparks people recipe nutrition calculator to figure out the calorie, protein, fat, carbs,etc per serving based on the brands and quantities you used. It is a great tool for anything you make so you know exactly what you are getting. Another thing I find helpful is keeping a few individually packaged servings of Protein powder in my purse for when I am caught or delayed unexpectedly or I forgot to bring food with me. This works best with the fruit or juice flavored powders (ie: grape, lemonade, fuzzy navel, cherry, etc). You can easily scoop servings from your large canister at home into snack sized ziplocks and seal them up yourself instead of spending the extra $ to buy the single serving pouches. The individual servings are great for dumping in a bottle of Water. Just cut or rip the corner off the ziplock bag and it becomes the funnel for the bottle. I always have a few bottles of water stashed in my car if I don't happen to already be carrying one. The Syntrax Roadside Lemonade is my go to for this. It mixes and dissolves easily by just shaking the water bottle around. It doesn't require a Blender Bottle to get the lumps out. Use what works for you. That is all I have right off the top of my head. I hope it helps you! It all comes down to taking an hour or 2 to get things prepped and ready to grab when you need it. You can even break the tasks up and do one a day so you only have to squeeze 15 minutes of prep in on any given day. Please ask me if something I said didn't make sense or wasn't explained well.

I too have been fighting dry, itchy skin way worse than normal. The best moisturizer I have found is good old coconut oil you find at the grocery store for cooking. Apply it right after you get out of the shower and your skin is still damp. It is a solid at room temperature. Just scoop some out and rub it between your hands and it melts. Rub it in really well over your entire body. It isn't greasy, smelly, sticky, nor full of crappy chemicals. It is inexpensive too. I bought a good size jar for about $5 and have been using it regularly for my whole family for 2 months. We haven't even used a quarter of the jar yet. We first discovered this on a recommendation from my son's dermatologist. My son had horrible eczema and itchy skin. Everything we tried either burned or gave him even more of a rash. I was skeptical at first, but was willing to give it a try even if it proved the doc wrong. His skin was 80% better within 10 days of starting it and after 2 weeks it was as if he has never had any skin problems. I know it sounds weird, but I promise it works! We even use it on my son's chapped lips and chapped face around his mouth and it clears up in a few days. Since then we were all converted. My husband works outside and our temperatures regularly are below zero and commonly between -20 to -60 degrees in the winter at night. His hands get so chapped from the wind that they crack and bleed. He started slathering on the coconut oil at night and putting on those cheep cotton stretchy gloves overnight. It eliminates the cracking and bleeding as long as he keeps up on the moisturizing. Grab a small jar next time you get groceries and give it a try. It really works! Ladies- it also works great instead of shaving cream! You get a close and smooth shave and your legs come out soft.

I like my 600# life. I have also started watching My Big Fat Surgery in the last few days, but I haven't made up my mind about it yet. I am so glad I am not the only one who watches these shows!

I haven't tried any pre mixed shakes that I do like. Syntrax has a special right now for 15 different single serving packets for $16.99. The I do is on their website and also on the photo I attached. You have to call and place the order. I ordered them either on Monday or Tuesday and got my box on Friday. It is really cheap for the packets too! Good luck finding what works for you!

The chocolate chip cookie dough is my addiction! I limit myself to one a day or otherwise I would have breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I could. Delicious

I am covered through Cigna and they covered my visits with the dietician the same as they covered every other visit required for surgery. I would be upset too if they charged me an additional $200 for information I already had.

The syntrax website is offering a special right now. It is a great deal of 15 single serving packs in 15 different flavors for $16.99 including shipping. To order call 866-333-7403 ext 800. Their hours are Mon-Fri 8am-5pm central time. It is a limit of 1 per household. I ordered it last week on Monday and had it by Friday. I wish the limit wasn't in place because I love these single serving sizes for traveling and on the go. It would be a way for you to try the different flavors for less $. I hope this helps.

I finally fixed a yummy apple dip that definitely kills the sweet tooth! 1/4 cup unflavored Greek yogurt 1/2 tbs PB2 1/2 tbs Vanilla Torani sugar free syrup Mix it all together and yummy! It makes enough dip to generously dip a whole apple. Enjoy!

I found Smooth Move Tea at Walgreens on the same shelf as the miralax, ex-lax, etc, good luck!

I am 37 and had surgery 3 months ago and I wish I would have done it a few years ago. I don't think I would have done it any younger though. I had to hit bottom and realize how much being obese limited my life. I had to feel how poor I felt and how much I could no longer do before I could commit myself entirely to the necessary lifestyle changes. If my children need and decide to have WLS once they are adults, I would support them all the way. I hope my boys won't have to fight obesity. The lifestyle changes I am making due to WLS are changes we are making as a family. I am hoping the healthy habits we are establishing will follow them into adulthood. The boys are only 8 & 11 now. I am trying to lay a good foundation for them. Very interesting questions and responses!

Milk of magnesia, smooth move tea, and miralax are my usual go to remedies. 2 weeks without a bm is a bit too long. I hope something gives soon!

Congratulations!! How inspiring!

My husband likes compression gear because it wicks moisture while holding things somewhat still. His favorite thing is a compression tank made by Spanx because it really holds everything much firmer. But he also HATES the fact that he wears Spanx. I keep telling him nobody knows he is wearing it but him & me. The Spanx don't breathe as well as the compression wear though. Good luck finding what works best for you.

My sleeve hates bread and popcorn. I tried a bite of each at different times and they both made my stomach hurt so bad! I haven't tried pasta or rice yet, and don't plan to for a very long time, if ever. everything else has been fine though.