pumpkin07

Ok. I am such a friggin hard head. YOU HAVE TO TAKE VITAMINS A LOT. I misunderstood or so initially from my doctor that it COULD be a concern. Okay, it IS a concern. If I don't take my vitamins I get VERY run down eventually. I finally have pretty much found vitamins I can deal with, but I do worry long term that I won't keep it up. I am doing better with it now, but it was hard for me bc I did not want to believe I would need the vitamins. And it is more like chewable/tasteable forms of vitamins which are too sweet and so forth (for me). I think my bloodwork is not so great, but trying to do better now. But I worry - evidentally more absorbtion happens in the stomach than they thought. Bc I eat pretty decently now.

I totally wasted so much money on all this *stuff* early on. It is aversive to me also. Like not food to me, like eating something inedible. I don't know why. Kind of like the 3 BOTTLES of Celebrate Calcium citrate I stupidly bought and can't suck/chew. Who wants them? They are berry flavored I think. They are like so huge and gross. I am so mad at myself for that. I'll definitely pass them on to someone else in Houston who likes them. I found some liquid calcium citrate at costco for 9.99 which is blueberry flavored and you just take a quick shot and you are done for the day. NO lingering stuff in your mouth. Its kind of that yogurty taste, but melted and it goes away quick. Nothing I'd want to eat by the spoonfuls any more than I want to suck on the cacium thingys. The sleeve has made me very sensitive to taste. My favorite dessert is now a graham cracker. Thats it. No marshmallows or chocolate. I like barely sweet stuff, but nothing really sweet or preferably nothing sour, nothing tooo spicey. NO chili powder.

I had my blood checked 5 months after sleeve and cholesterol was the same. HOw odd, right? My triglycerides were wayyyy down though. I just had blood checked again at 13 months after sleeve and I'll let you know what it said. I don't eat as bad, so kinda weird. We'll see. I made sure I ate/drank nothing and then night before I didn't eat anything fried. I don't know if that matters, but just trying to see some results on the test. Very afraid of Vitamin levels though. Pretty sure I'm messin up still on that. He is probably gonna yell at me.

I would like to join the support group and I live in Tomball, TX off Spring Cypress near 249. Could we just meet at a restaurant the first time and discuss locations?

Well I was thinking why would we think it WOULD work? Everything else we tried didn't work, right? Today I was cleaning out old books bc I have to give up a bookshelf. I passed along probably 12 to 15 textbooks about losing weight. South Beach, NO Sugar NO FLour, Geneen Roth books When food Is Love, etc. etc. Some things worked for a while, most I never even tried, but I sure did spend a lot of money on any new thing that might help. I was so desperate. So is it possible that we actually have a solution with the sleeve????? It seems so unlikely, right? I was thinking why would you NOT think it is a hoax. Just sayin... But I will say this, knowing very little about RNY or other surgeries, this is the best solution I've ever found. I freaked out last week bc I had a small loss of 2 lbs and then turned and gained 5 lbs. That has never happened to me since surgery, like every day I was gaining a lb. There was definitely that momentary panic like crap, how could I be gaining?? Is it over?. But I made some minor adjustments, part of it eating MORE meals and lowering my salt intake and increasing fluids and I already lost 3 of it and am back to where I was before I lost the 2 lbs. My diet has very naturally changed, and I believe permanently changed, in that my preferences have changed and the volume is restricted. I get more fluids now than I ever did, and I think I just don't take my lil tummy so much for granted. I worry this lil thing is all I have so I better take care of it. And you might also find when that fatty tummy part is cut out your preferences for fatty, greasy or sweet foods changes. My 12 year old son (who is overweight) asked me recently to PLEASE stop buying the junk food b/c I will often buy it, have a bite and be like BLAH and leave it for everyone else to finish. This is true of ding dongs, twinkies, potato chips, chocolate, pastries, donuts, pancakes, and fried foods. I felt bad when he said that bc it was true and I did stop. It sounds good sometimes to buy junk food so I'll buy some, but I often don't like it when I taste it. Just the other day I made my husband PROMISE to not let me order fried seafood any more because I sit down to order and sometimes think I want fried seafood but then when it comes I just immediately realize I only want steamed/baked/broiled seafood. The weird part is that my head is still geting a grip on this (it is getting there), but my stomach knows what it likes and sticks to it. You eat sweets, you feel kinda quesy or just not quite right. Not like you are going to puke, but just like ugh I wish I'd eaten something else. You eat fried food, like my shrimp, you realize you could only eat 3 or 4 shrimp and a few bites of salad or potato and you realize if you get grilled shrimp then maybe you can eat more shrimp and you want that instead. But it is so hard to believe. At this point I think I found the solution for me, and I'm not even exercising much and I don't count anything. Other people have had better results bc they are more diligent, among other reasons. And not only looking better...I was just thinking today how much I have accomplished at home and work in the last few months. It is really adding up. There are some HUGE projects at work I've needed to do for years and never did it, and some other things that I couldn't do myself but needed to coordinate others to do it. And one by one I am knocking them out all in just a few months. At home for the first time I remember since 1988, my house is (almost) totally organized and this is with 2 kids in tow and a husband (we are all messy, but now I am ahead of them). A lot of this is just physically having more energy to do the big projects that have gotten out of hand. I still get tired, but it takes a lot more to tire me out. Today So II was looking at heavy cleaning like my tile grout and baseboards and wanting to start scrubbing them on a schedule until I get it all done. I would never have considered that before, but now it is bugging me a lot that it makes my house look dirty. I know it is hard to believe, but I think the sleeve is good. You MIGHT NOT be TWIGGY when you are done, although some people around here lose it all and are very lean, but you will probably lose most of your excess weight. I still have a bit of a muffin top, and I'm still considered overweight and not normal weight ( I also still have a lot of my boobs). And I have new hair coming in curly which is a totally fun bonus.. It is a trade off!!. But even though I'm still overweight I'm not morbidly obese or even obese and it beats the HELL out of 220 lbs let me tell you. I was so miserable, so self conscious, and much less productive in every way. I hope long term it proves to be good not only in keeping weight off but in maintaining good health. I wish you the best and I hope this brings comfort to you. It is my true experience.

It is so much easier than the SURE-FAILURE of dieting my whole life, especially bc I'm not a good dieter. I think it is easier/more productive than dieting, and I'm proud of that. Why in the heck should our lives be hard? What is more respectful about doing something the "hard" way...especially when the "hard" way is generally a temporary fix, at best. I don't understand that thought although I've had plenty of people compare my weight loss to people that did it the 'hard' way. Whatever.....I think it is important to measure RESULTS, not effort. Being overweight was such a handicap on my life all my life. There are so many things I couldn't or wouldn't do because I was overweight. It was so sad. I mean we only live once, apparently, so why should we not live our lives to the fullest? For the first time I am optimistic about my future years/future health. Nothing respectable about dying young from a heart attack either. Leaving our kids for others to raise, leaving our future grandchildren for others to spoil. Our families need us, and I'm proud of each person here who has made such a great decision in this lifetime. We deserve to have a great life, to anticipate great things, to live life feeling vibrant! I had an aunt that had the first lap band years and years ago, which it was initially a success but later, probably because it slipped, a failure. Without that solution, she died in her late 50's of a heart attack. I know that she is rejoicing in heaven that some of us have found an answer to never ending weight problems - Includng her own daughter, who now has the sleeve. It was my aunt's wish when I knew her that she could find a way to lose weight. And even though it didn't happen in her lifetime, I know she would be dang proud that we all found a way, a healthy way, to make a weight loss surgery work well.\\\ The person that gave me the hardest time about my surgery, which it wasn't a horrible lecture but wasn't pleasant either, she continues to gain weight. What is it like to be MORALLY RIGHT but be morbidly obese and unhealthy because of the obesity. What is more respectable about that? I don't think that Jesus would want us to live our lives suffering when there was a fairly simple solution. He himself healed people so they could live better lives. To me this is a modern day miracle that we found a solution that was so simple and accesible without creating other critical health problems!! Amen to it being easier. That said, I just gained 4 lbs. AGH. This may be where the true work begins for me....because up until now it has literally been a PIECE OF CAKE.

Ya - I remember going to Tampico - a Mexican seafood place. I was planning to get the seafood soup and I was sooooo excited. Darn - never realized it is very spicy. I couldn't eat it. I sat and tried not to cry as my family gorged like piggies. It sort of felt like an out of body experience and really gave me a different view of the eating habits I've taught my kids. Cokes, queso, chips, enchiladas, etc etc. It was gross. But I go there now and get the fish and shrimp soup all the time with a lil side of asian rice. I can still hardly eat any, but it is no longer too spicy. If my husband doesn't eat it I take it to go and eat again an hour later. Soup is very filling to me.

I usually can eat 1 crispy taco with meat. Once I ate a few bites of a second taco...recently I heard it isn't real meat and I was so mad bc now I have trouble going there bc as I eat I am thinking WHAT AM I EATING...IS THIS MEAT, etc. To me it is a food I can grab for a buck if I'm away from home and I really need food. I don't want fast food, but sometimes it does the trick in jam.

Once I measured oat meal and ate it to see how much I could eat at one sitting. That might answer the question of whether or not you have restriction you need. I think several months out I barely at 6 oz. It might make you feel better to know you have that restriction. I am further out than you, but I have days I eat tons more than others and I go through phases of eating bad. I don't really freak out bc I know it will pass. Normally I can buy tons of Snacks for my family but not even touch them, but there are times when I can't leave them alone. I think during those times it is just better to go with it and eat more meals, so I'm too ful to eat tons of ice cream sandwiches. Like maybe drink some milk with a meal, bc that has dairy that your body might want. Also, did you DIET to lose that 90 lbs?. Bc people fall of of diets. That is why I didn't diet. Just relax and eat Protein first, veggies second, and just minimal carbs and drink a lot and try to exercise and take Vitamins. That won't lead to yoyo dieting if you just make a habit of eating things that are better for you in the right order. To me all this counting is just wow, so much. But then again I haven't reached goal so I shouldn't say that maybe. I just think we had the surgery so we could lose weight but not live on a diet. I'm just not a 'counter' though.

That is good news. When it said 55, does not mean 55 kg and what is that in lbs. Sounds good though. I sometimes have reflux, but mostly have learned it is certain foods that trigger it (chocolate comes to mind) so I tend to not eat a lot of chocolate. It sort of doesn't appeal to me anymore bc I hate that feeling of reflux and it makes it not worth it. Things that sweet are not so appealing anyway. Sometimes if I eat really sweet things I just feel kinda gross inside. I prefer sweets that are bland now. Also I know to take Prilosec if I'm eating spaghetti sauce from a jar instead of homemade, which I do rarely. I had reflux occasionally before, so I don't think it is a lot different. I also don't eat at all or drink very much before I go to bed bc if I lay down sometimes the food will want to come up which I guess is kind of a reflux. So I don't do that either bc that is an awful feeling and ruins my sleep. Like anything else you learn to adjust. Yesterday I had to eat a Whataburger chicken sandwich, just a lil of it. I just felt like my body hated it, kind of a reflux feeling for a while I guess you'd say. I ate it out of necessity bc I couldn't get a good meal and I didn't have much with me to eat. YUCK. You just learn not to eat those things often. It is more of a feeling like crap, I have to eat fast food. Nothing appealing about it to me. Low nutrition in it, chance of getting reflux, etc. I'd rather eat good food than that. I have heard of doctors using a 40 boughie to give more room to help prevent reflux symptoms, but my doctor would not give me any bigger than a 34 and I would say I have mild reflux. It is not a huge problem and I wind up taking a PPI rarely, like twice a month. I probably took it that often before surgery too, but I ate much worse and much more then.

well it is good to know you feel well 3 years out, it really is. Very comforting. I have mourned worrying over the loss of my tummy. Like what will it be like in 20 years or 30 years, etc. I would not have considered bypass and did not consider lap band. This was such a stretch for me to take this risk, but weighing it with the realization that my weight was a huge risk also. Take care, and come hang out with us more often! Theresa

Wow. That is incredible to me that his family wants to know what he is doing with his work bonus. That crosses a lot of lines in my book. I think you husband needs to go to some counseling on how to be married - because until HE learns to draw some boundaries he will continue to be stuck in the middle. Basically he needs to learn how to man up and put them in their place. By him not being able to be loyal to his marriage he really hurt you by telling information that was confidential to the mouth of the south (it sounds like). He needs to learn that some people are very manipulative and very good at getting information out of people, and he needs some very basic survival skills and ground rules in dealing with them. He is not the first person with parents like this, who do not understand when children grow up parents let them go. There are other people that came before him that turned the situation with meddling parents around - but he needs to learn how to start being assertive. It is baby steps at first, but basically he needs to man up and realize you are his life now, not his parents. It is hard. But work that needs to be done. The very fact that he hurt you in this way, telling your private business, tells me he needs help. I think for you to chew them out really has very little to do with them, and much more to do with your husband who is allowing himself to be placed in a very bad position. You do not need to be his mother, he needs to stand up to them himself. And change the way he communicates with them in the future. If he made a mistake to tell them about the surgery, he needs to now call his mother and tell her he made a mistake to trust her with this information, and that he knows she is telling others and it is hurting you. And that he needs her to stop talking about it, period. That confrontation could be the beginning of turning things around!!!! My family was very rigid growing up. I sort of know what it is like to be in his shoes to a point. I was over 40 when I finally just started living my own life and not what my parent's expected. Or rather sometimes I would do what I wanted but feel tremendous GUILT if it was not what they wanted. It was very painful to not allow myself to just be free to live my life. Even if I was wrong, I deserved to live my life for me and not for them. With parents like this it can be hard to not live under their thumb. I think physical distance could help and talking less frequently. They will begin to create their own life if your husband does this and eventually they will not know so much about what goes on. These are changes your husband can make without really confronting them - just not being as available to them. If they want a secret meeting he can just say "I'm just not able to do that today". If they do corner him he can say something gentle like thanks for the advice, we'll talk about it and decide what WE want to do. That is a gentle way of letting them know it is a decision to be made by his wife and him. Good luck on this. I think for you to chew her out is a mistake, because you are doing his work for him. He needs to call his mom. If he doesn't want to fix it, then he should not have spilled the Beans. And if he is very firm with her, she might shut up. Good luck with your surgery. Make sure you have a great doctor.

Well....it could be something more serious. BUT you mention stress at work. I am a bit of a workaholic and manage to find myself in some pretty stressful scenarios, especially when I have to fire an employee bc I have 60. Or a customer is mad about something, etc.. My stomach used to handle it all like a real champ. As I got older (I am 47) it got harder to 'stomach' the stress, but still never caused a big stomach problem. NOW; however, I think I have the stomach of that "tiny nervous woman who could not eat when she was under stress". I have known people like that in my life, never understood how being stressed caused them to not eat well. But I think when I am under stress my lil tummy gets sort of hard/tight and doesn't want food in it. In fact, my family knows I have to be calm and happy to eat so don't cause an argument at the dinner table or I will walk away. That said, sometimes I get a sour stomach bc of something I ate that just didn't please my stomach or whatever. I take a Prilosec. I've heard not to take that AFTERWARDS, but heh, it always works for me and that is what I have at home. The cramping though, I don't know. That is a bit odd. I have that when I have like a urinary tract infection or even when I'm ovulating. Guess your not ovulating huh... One thing I've noticed is I rarely get diarrhea with the sleeve.

I am so happy for you that you have had a great result with your sleeve surgery. When I was thinking about sleeve surgery someone on this site (I want to look up who one day) told me she just ate less of her normal diet (focusing on Protein, etc.) and lost weight. I didn't think I could do a DIET, so I absolutely did what she told me. I am short (5'1") but stopped losing at 146-149. I mean, I may lose some more but we'll see. Like you, I don't want to lose it if it is hard to maintain bc I'm fairly satisifed. Another 10 lbs would be really nice though. Being not a very regimented person, I am having so much trouble remembering my Vitamins. It is my goal this year and I'm better at it, but it is a total weakness. How have you done with your vitamins over time?

That is an interesting question, my pants were soon falling off except for the waist. I thought it took literally a long time to get it to shrink, maybe like a few months until I really felt I had NO internal swelling.

Congrats and welcome back. There are constantly new people...it is very busy here!!! You have done a GREAT job. Are you still losing regularly? I'm stuck at the end here...really stuck. I might have to actually EXERCISE. lol

yeah...WOW AT GOAL IN 5 MOS. THAT IS TERRIFIC.

I was thinking the same thing about Vitamin D. I used to tell my family if I get depressed just drag me to the beach for some sun. Maybe you need to up that Vitamin D, but MEANWHILE can you plan something fun to do when you leave Iraq to Celebrate? Take care of you, or a new wardrobe or so...something indulgent. And then, finally, some goal setting. Set some big goals and break them down into baby steps and start checking them off one by one. Seems like goal number one is deciding where to live. You need a process to that with, right? Once you know where you want to live and find a place, just get an easy job for a while until you find the right job. Just getting into a routine and socializing and so forth rather than being alone looking for a perfect job. You really have a lot of anxiety about leaving your post, right? It is like stepping off into the darkness. Maybe hire a life coach or do a lot of reading on motivation and self improvement, etc. There have been times I really had to take a leap up faith and jump into darkness. There is no getting around it, just darn scarey. But you have to prepare yourself mentally and be your own best friend. Reassure yourself, etc. We'll be here for you as you go through this journey. Where will you live, do you know yet? It is a real opportunity to make a great new life.

From what I heard, the sleeve is a skill that doctors get better with experience. It is a very very serious surgery in my opinion. If things go wrong, the sleeve often has to be repaired which means making it even smaller. After reading so much on thie site the last year about complications, I just would not use an inexperienced surgeon under any circumstances. But I also would not get the gastric bypass or the lap band. If your surgeon's inexperience causes a leak you will pay for that in risky health conditions and financially, not the surgeon. There is complication insurance, and I would get that with any surgery that my insurance would not cover. But if you have complications you will suffer not only in your health but loss of income, etc. I really would not risk that. Many people with complications are out of commission for months.. Consider making a wider circle to find other doctors. Do you have a relative that lives somewhere with better options?

NO limits, the more the better so you don't get dehydrated. Your doctor should have given you a written plan of what to drink/eat - when to move to mushies, etc. Do you have this? Maybe someone can post one for you.

I'm so glad you have that support. The Protein drinks suck. I had such a hard time with them. The taste, the texture. It is so aversive to me. Ugh. I ended up with a fuzzy navel one or something like that and I stuck with that. Ugh. They are grossssss. Even the tasteless ones were intolerable for me. I hate to be the one to tell you to cheat BUT my friend suggested I eat one protein meal a day. She did that and she did fine. She just stopped 2 1/2 days before surgery and no one knew. Some people in her support group suggested this and she shared this plan with me. The bottom line, she said, was as long as you stick to protein it doesn't matter as far as shrinking your liver. I don't know if that was true, but honestly I did this a few times and it got me through. I saved it for when I could not handle it any more or if I got somewhere and didn't have any shakes with me. So with that said I hate a couple meat patties, drove through Chick fila a few times to get just a grilled breast, etc. It isn't worth cancelling your surgery, because as far as I know a lot of people are NOT perfect. I even had a last supper during the two weeks which I never regretted. I just didn't tell my husband til like 6 mos. later, because he would have freaked out, but I totally don't regret that last feast with friends. I meant to do it before the 2 weeks but they changed my date suddenly, so whatever, I did it a week before surgery. Look, you don't have to be PERFECT before surgery, just do the best you can to stick with protein and don't get dehydrated!!!. I got dehydrated and it made my veins very difficult when I was in the hospital - at least that is what they kept telling me. YUCK protein drinks!! A necessary yuck though. The only thing positive, other than the liver thing, is that it jumpstarts your weight loss and gets you in the right frame of mind for not being able to eat after surgery. I was on a liquid diet for 6 weeks once, and I did it for 2 weeks before surgery and that experience helped me have confidence that I could go without eating for an extended period of time. You will be satisfied enough if you make a lot of chicken broth, which I know I always repeat myself on this because it was so helpful to me.. My thing after surgery, honestly, was 1 protein drink a day (couldn't drink it at once) and a hell of a lot of homemade chicken broth and weak koolaid, Jello. I had minimal sugar and didn't do the artificial thing much bc I prefer to not do that. I used agave a lot, just a very natural healing for my body. Eventually cottage cheese, refried Beans, pureed meats and veggies, etc. Before very long I could puree chicken and drink it with the Soup. That was so awesome. I could just find protein in many forms to make it through. No sense gagging all the time choking down drinks - but they are helpful to get at least half your protein down. You will want Proteins that are not sweet, because you just get so sick of sweet from those drinks. For me the chicken broth was absolutely the trick. I sipped a lot on hot tea and broth. Also high protein milk is a good thing to use with your protein drinks, just more protein. You'll figure out something that works for you. If you tend to have low Iron, boil meats and sip on that broth. No sense to cancel your surgery. You will be fine. It is not easy, but you can persevere. As long as you have a good doctor, go forward. Your doctors job is the most important part and then would be your willingness to stick to liquids after surgery, then mushies, etc. Take it easy, don't lift the kids, and allow yourself to be cared for like you would take care of your own child. This is a lovely process actually. A real gift to yourself.. .

Congrats on your decision. If you have a great doctor, follow his advice, and stick around here you will do absolutely great. costco and Sam's usually have Vitamin D gel capsules very inexpensive.

You were beautiful before, and still are. Your body type does look completely different. You look like you've lost all of your weight, even that last little bit. You look like a very lean body type person now. That must feel incredible. I am very happy for you!!!

I drink a lot of coffee with creamer and a tsp of sugar. It is so great. I don't make it super strong and I never ever do Starbucks. I keep it simple. I sometimes switch to agave. I never heard no coffee, no caffeine coffee. I try not to go crazy with it. But I have a lil every day, sometimes more. I think OLD coffee gives reflux the worst. I always drink it fresh, and pretty much ALWAYS at home. Restaurants generally do not know how to make good coffee, right?

I buy the lil packets of sugar kool aid and put it in a very big jar of water, like almost 30 oz. SO that is only 60 calories. That isnt bad. I don't do artificial...personal preference. I haven't been a model sleever, but I've done ok.