JamieLogical

I still feel weird walking into the "normal" clothing stores at the mall now. I feel like everyone is looking at me and thinks I'm too big to be shopping there. For so many years, I could only shop at Lane Bryant and the plus size sections of the anchor stores (Macy's, Sears, Penney's, etc.). So I never even walked into stores like The Limited, New York & Company, etc. Now I go in there and I feel like I'm doing something wrong and all eyes are on me!

When I have time to eat a "real" breakfast, I do one scrambled egg with Mexican shredded cheese blend and a little taco sauce on top. Sometimes I'll even squeeze in a link or two of frozen Banquet Turkey Breakfast Sausage. Usually my breakfast is at work though and I just have a Quest Protein bar.

My hips/thighs/butt are still huge.I can see my top ribs above my boobs now, but I am just now squeezing into size 12 jeans.

I have chocolate all the time. I have chocolate and dark chocolate calcium supplements. I have chocolate Protein shakes, protein bars, and pudding. I really haven't felt deprived of chocolate at all. Same. I have chocolate in my protein bars every day.

That is fantastic news! So glad he heard you out and hope he understands that this is about your health, not just about your vanity. I really hope he comes to appreciated the 5+ more years with a HEALTHY you. Staying obese for an extra few years could have really taken a heavy tole on your health that could/would cost you MUCH more money and misery in the long run.

@@butterfly23 To be fair, I did mention the artificial sweetener in my first post about Dannon Light & Fit. Some people avoid artificial sweeteners and some people don't. It's a personal choice, but I did point it out, because I don't know what the OP's personal preference is.

My favorite Dannon Light & Fit are the Raspberry and the Key Lime. I started with their strawberry, which was okay, but once I tried the Raspberry, there was no turning back!

What?!?! That seems completely crazy for a sleeve patient. I've never heard of such a thing. Not that I'd advise you to go against your surgeon's plan, that just seems incredibly extreme.

I'm 11 months out and I still have to eat on a schedule. I will get hungry if I go too long without eating, but by the time I feel hunger, it's almost too late. I am what my family calls "hangry" and I'm impossible to be around. I don't even notice it, but it's gotten to the point that when I show the first signs of hangriness, people around me are handing me food and insisting I eat! As early out as you are, you should DEFINITELY be eating on a timer and not relying on hunger as an indicator of when to eat.

I wish you the best of luck convincing him that NOW is the time. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to wait 5 more years. In fact, that's the reason I was self-pay. My insurance required me to have a documented BMI over 40 for 5 years or more. The problem is, I'd lost 90 pounds "on my own" back in 2010/2011 and it took a couple years for me to gain it all back, so my BMI had been well below 40 up until about a year ago. I didn't want to have to stay fat for 4-5 more years just to qualify for my insurance to cover it, so I decided to pay for it myself and I'm SOOOOO glad I did. Because now I'm less than 5 pounds from goal instead of fat and getting fatter!

I only had to be on clear liquids the first few days, then I was allowed first stage full liquids (Protein shakes and drinkable yogurt), then strained cream Soups.

I think the others are right that you should give it a little time. Sometimes as we lose weight, it just gets distributed in an odd fashion for a little while and then things even out a bit better. I've noticed this throughout all of my past weight loss and this time around as well. Plus, the skin *can* bounce back a little with time. So if you are unhappy with how you look right now (I don't think you should be, but I understand that's a very personal thing), maybe just wait a couple more months before doing anything drastic.

My gut says that's pretty high in calories and sugar. I eat Dannon Light & Fit Greek. It's the least "greek" tasting yogurt I was able to find. Like you, I've never been a fan of greek yogurt. But there's no denying the higher Protein content! Here are the stats on Dannon Light & Fit: Calories: 80 Fat: 0 grams Carbs: 9 grams Sugars: 7 grams Protein: 12 grams It does have some artificial sweetener in there (sucralose), so if that's something you are avoiding, then it might not be your best option.

My husband wasn't very "on board" with my surgery either. He was convinced I was "strong enough" to lose weight on my own, especially because he'd seen me do it so many times over the years. The problem is, he legitimately bought into all my excuses about why I had gained it back every time. I, however, knew they were just excuses and that I would simply come up with more next time around. I was also self-pay, but I went to Mexico, so it was fairly inexpensive. My retirement plan has a deal where you can borrow up to 50% of the value without paying any penalties or fees and you are essentially just paying yourself back most of the interest, so that was an easy way for us to finance it at what comes out to less than 2% interest. I went ahead with the surgery, despite my husband's reservations and he has been great post-op. He has put up with all of my whining and frustration and pain. He took good care of me in those early days. And he has adapted to the way I have to eat now. All-in-all, even though he wasn't on-board at the beginning, he's been really great about it.

It's definitely normal to experience "buyer's remorse" in the early days, especially if you are dealing with any sort of complication. My suspicion is that it is some other ingredient in your protein shakes that's making you sick, not the protein itself. Hopefully you can work with your doctor tomorrow to figure out what's up. Hang in there! I have no doubt that you WILL get a handle on this and be able to get some protein in eventually. There is a lot of trial and error through this whole process. It sucks that you've hit a road block THIS early, but I'm sure it is only temporary.

I was going to take it, but I did mine backwards. I had my plastics 4 years ago and then my VSG 11 months ago. Hope you manage to get all the respondents you need!

This reminded me of my beloved Endless Shrimp at Red Lobster. Last year's even was right after my surgery, so I wasn't even tempted or sad. But this year's will be tough for me! I'll see those commercials and know I wouldn't even be able to make it through the first two portions they served me, much less the 8 or so extra portions I used to scarf down! Endless Shrimp used to be one of my favorite times of year!

I do all of my workouts at home. I posted my work-out routine in another thread a while back: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/343348-workouts-post-sleeve/?hl=%2Bcrunches#entry3860702 Unfortunately, since my sister and her 4 kids moved in with me in June, I've had a pretty tough time sticking to the schedule. Working out with the kids in the house is a real challenge, since they all seem to want to kill themselves on my fitness equipment. Once she moves out in September, I plan to be back to this plan 100%. Edit: Just realized that was only my strength training. For cardio I worked my way through Couch to 5k and now run 5k every other day. On the days I'm not running, I try to alternate between biking and resting, but it's been a lot more just resting, because of the aforementioned issues with the children in my house.

Here's a good article that kind of explains some of the why: http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=why_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_new_workout_plan

I was allowed to swallow pills at 7 days post-op. How long have you been instructed to keep crushing your pills?

Hang in there!

Congrats! If you stall a bit in the coming week or two, don't panic! It is very common. Just stick to the plan and keep getting in your protein and water.

I don't see why olive oil wouldn't be okay. I would say that if you are pre-op, you are a LONG way from having to worry about salad anyway. Most post-op plans don't allow for raw vegetables for quite some time, plus you always need to be putting protein first, which means not a lot of room for leafy greens, since those are VERY filling. Some people do manage to work salad back into their diet at some point-post op. I haven't been able to at 11 months out. Any raw veggies make me very gassy and uncomfortable, so I can only do cooked veggies and, of course, only AFTER I've gotten my protein in.

I don't know whether this helps you at all, but here are two photos of my face. One was taken in July 2008 (so 7 years ago) when I weighed about 100 pounds more than I do now. My husband weighed about 50 pounds more at the time. The second photo was taken two weekends ago at Niagara Falls. So we are 7 years older in the second photo, but have both lost significant amounts of weight:

@@Licia'sjourney Glad you have blood work and a check up coming up. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of why you might still be struggling with fatigue at 7 weeks. Maybe your body is still recovering and adjusting and it's just a matter of a little more time needed to find the right balance.