blondiebabs

I'm on Rogaine for life. Repeated bouts of Hair loss for one reason or another has caused so much damage to my hair, that it's never fully recovered. I use a hair line called Posh Hair Care. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff. It's pricey and does nothing for hair loss, but it makes my thin hair look AND feel like I have twice as much. No kidding. It is fantastic and makes me so much less self conscious about my thinned hair.

I just want to tell everyone you can do it! I've been very down on myself but I need to look at the positive. I've been feeling like my old 259lbs self and not realizing that it'll be fine.
I told myself last week I'd try to go to the gym 6 times this week. I did not want to do my body pump (weight trianing) class today because I went Sunday and monday and I'm still sore and I did zumba tuesday. Then I said why not check out the zumba class before my body pump class? Then I said no I don't want to do both.
Guess what I did both.
Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be a gym person. But after I was done complaining about not wanting to go and both classes were done I felt great!
So yes you can do it! You may not be loosing as fast as you want but it'll come and it takes hard work and dedication
YOU CAN DO IT!

I thought it was kinda odd at first to require a psych eval, someone broke it down about basically what you said, some people aren't ready, have eds, body dimorphic, and some people are truly psychotic (even though they may not realize it) and cannot handle a surgery. So it made sense and I got over it pretty quick. And with that knowledge it would make more sense if it was required of everyone.

I've been told that I look younger now. I'm chalking it up to drinking nothing but Water.

I was literally just thinking about this today. I've been lucky to generally look younger than I am and I think that is about to come to an abrupt stop. heh

During my physician supervised diet months I weighed myself daily, it helped me keep on track, but there were a lot of days where it'd be up, up, then back down. There were even a few days in there where I'd weigh 9-10 lbs more than I did the day before, usually it was just Water weight, and it'd be back down the next day. It's normal. =)

@@blondiebabs, "One that's already established"! Y'all are killing me tonight! Hilarious! ????????????

Wow, interesting! I didn't have to have that, but it would be kind of fun to see.

Yesterday I had my one year leaak test to make sure Miss Tummy is working right. The barium swallow follow-through was supposed to take two hours, but that is when you can drink 12 ounces of the stuff like old times. Because I could only sip an ounce every ten minutes or so, it took almost all day. Oh well. for the first time I got to see the complete path my food goes through. My sleeve really is a tube, like a garden hose.
I am a visual learner, so this was helpful for me to see. Now I really understand why I fill up on so little food, and how stacking in the esophagus happens if you overeat. It was fascinating to see, and all was good - no leaks and no problems. Just drinking prune juice today.

I am just so glad to be able to "see" my lady bits again it doesn't matter what they look like

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem but I have extra skin I guess you would say on my vajayjay. I haven't had the surgery yet. But I was wondering about extra skin down there afterwards. I don't want it to look like a rolled up honeybun. Is there surgery that can be done?

Yes, it should be labeled a holiday! I have waited so long to get to this day, I am so happy for it! Now only 20 days to regular food day! Hooray!!
Oh. What do we eat on soft food day? What are all your favorites?

Yup--protein is gross. But the good news is that you get used to it the more you have--I'm in my pre-op diet and have 4 shakes a day now, and totally don't mind the farty Protein taste--THAT much. (I did have to take one container back to costco because it was so awful, but the rest are fine!)
I second the suggestions of adding sugar-free Syrup to your shake--you can usually find them at TJ Maxx and Marshalls as well. I use dutch-process cocoa and PB2, too. And fruit (which obviously isn't usable post-op, but I'm not!)
Another tip I give everyone is that I got some spill proof insulated cups that have straws and are airtight. Not being able to smell that protein smell has made a HUGE difference in the taste.

@scstxrn I don't know if she uses the same thing, but the Torani sugar free syrups are good, they are sweetened with Splenda though if you aren't a fan of it. On Amazon they have a 6 pack of different flavors (chocolate, Irish cream, vanilla, hazelnut, raspberry and caramel), and they work out to be much cheaper than buying the individual bottles.< /p>

I've been kinda grumpy about my weight loss - I've lost right at 30 pounds in two months since surgery. But, honestly, most of that time has been a stall - seems like the weight loss happened over just a few days and the rest of the time, nothing happened.
THEN I realized that what I've actually done is lose 1/3 of the weight I want to lose in just 2 months. Put it that way, it sure sounds like a lot!
As with most things in life, it's all in how you look at it.

So how long did you wait to start doing squats, lunges, etc after surgery? I have a nice size tush and I want to maintain/tone it as much as I can. The hope is to only lose some of it but mostly tone.

I have PCOS and I keep my carbs under 40. I was sleeved on 10/31/14 I've lost over 55 lbs

I don't. This is a life altering surgery. You are physically changing your body. There are so many people simply not ready and a few people who have ED's or are on the verge of ED's. I think it's a sensible safeguard. Honestly I wish it was a requirement for self pay patients as well.

I went to a psychiatrist because the psychologists here wanted you to take the 500+ questionnaires and charge an extra $160 for it on top of your copay for the actual eval. The psychiatrist was easy breezy, he just asked me some questions about my family health history, my health history and weight loss efforts, got a feel for my general knowledge of weight loss surgery. Nothing too invasive. You can ask them to send you a copy of the letter that they write, I did, it was actually interesting to read.

What brand is it? Maybe you just need to try another brand. The only one I've tried that had an awful, intolerable after taste was the Isopure clear rtd bottles, but I found if I put it in a glass with Water and ice and either MIO or Dasani flavor drops that it was tolerable, still had a slight aftertaste but didn't make me gag.
Good brands I've found of the non clear are the Isopure orange, strawberry bananna powder mix, and any of the Jarrow Formulas brand flavors powder mix. I get both on Amazon. The Jarrow Formulas chocloate flavor with some PB2 is good, and I like to mix the unflavored formula into fruit & green smoothies and it makes them creamy.
The EAS carb control rtd aren't half bad, I drank those my entire 6 month supervised diet, those you can find at any grocery store (but make sure they are the carb control).

True or False: If a product says no added sugar, it’s sugar free.< /p>
That statement is false. It just means the manufacturer didn’t add sugar to a product that may contain naturally occurring sugar from milk (lactose) or fruit (fructose). Foods with natural sugars also provide other nutrients like Vitamins, minerals, Fiber and anti-oxidants that are healthy for us. A revision to the Nutrition Facts Panel may include added sugars, which will be a better way to determine what foods to minimize. This change won’t be for another year or so.


True or False: If a product says no added sugar, it’s sugar free.
That statement is false. It just means the manufacturer didn’t add sugar to a product that may contain naturally occurring sugar from milk (lactose) or fruit (fructose). Foods with natural sugars also provide other nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fiber and anti-oxidants that are healthy for us. A revision to the Nutrition Facts Panel may include added sugars, which will be a better way to determine what foods to minimize. This change won’t be for another year or so.
For bariatric patients, eating too much sugar after surgery can lead to dumping. Sugar is considered “empty calories” because all you get is calories without the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants or fiber that are good for your health. Other problems from sugar include increased triglycerides, decreased HDL (healthy) cholesterol, increased respiration rate, fatty liver, increased blood sugars, cavities and weight gain. Research is beginning to link too much added sugar with heart disease, inflammation, gout and premature wrinkles. Recent research points to people consuming too many added sugars dying from heart disease at twice the rate as for people with low sugar intake, even if the diet is otherwise healthy.
Obvious sources of sugar are the sweets: Cookies, cakes, candy, ice cream, Desserts and sugar sweetened pop. Sugar sweetened beverages like regular pop, sports drinks and energy drinks account for about a third of the added sugars we consume. Added sugars can also creep into your diet through Condiments like catsup and barbeque sauce, salad dressings, canned Tomato products, coffee drinks, pastries, smoothies, crackers and ready to eat cereals.
When reading the ingredients label, look for words like anything that ends in “–ose” (sucrose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, xylose etc..), Syrup, juice, agave, honey, molasses, caramel, corn sweetener, high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane guide, cane sugar, brown sugar, barley malt, and beet sugar. You now have information about how to read the label to see if what you are eating or drinking has added sugars. Next week, you’ll find out how to compare products to determine how much added sugar is in something you are eating or drinking.

I am probably just odd here but I find it almost insulting that striving to improve health requires a psychological evaluation. I know the rationale- I just disagree with it being a blanket requirement. That being said, I had to complete a fairly long questionnaire. The appointment itself was very pleasant. We talked about family support systems and food triggers. The whole thing was about 40-45 minutes. I felt a little bad because I walked in with such a bad attitude and it was a great experience!

That is awesome you are running! I can't even try to run without feeling like I'm gonna break a hip. heh Do not let it derail you or keep you down. I know that some days I weigh more than others, I've had days that I've had a 5-10 lb fluctuation, and it's usually Water weight. So maybe you are really down on weight, but carrying some extra Water on the day you happened to weigh in. Whatever it is, just keep up the great work!

What brand is it? Maybe you just need to try another brand. The only one I've tried that had an awful, intolerable after taste was the Isopure clear rtd bottles, but I found if I put it in a glass with Water and ice and either MIO or Dasani flavor drops that it was tolerable, still had a slight aftertaste but didn't make me gag.
Good brands I've found of the non clear are the Isopure orange, strawberry bananna powder mix, and any of the Jarrow Formulas brand flavors powder mix. I get both on Amazon. The Jarrow Formulas chocloate flavor with some PB2 is good, and I like to mix the unflavored formula into fruit & green smoothies and it makes them creamy.
The EAS carb control rtd aren't half bad, I drank those my entire 6 month supervised diet, those you can find at any grocery store (but make sure they are the carb control).

@@AlessandraMarie I'm not crazy either, however like @@Inner Surfer Girl said, they can be very helpful. I've found seeing one myself more helpful than I could have ever imagined. When you deal with people bombarding you with negativity and making fun of you and other things you mentioned, it is nice to have a non-judgmental environment and someone who you can use as a bouncing board to talk about those things with and how it makes you feel, as well as your frustrations with trying so hard and not losing weight. I know those frustrations well myself. A psychologist is just talk therapy, they do not try to medicate you and label you.