Cervidae

@@jccanada I'm about 8.5 months out and 143 pounds down. I've lost 198 pounds since my highest about 2 years ago.

@@RNY-Gal http://i.imgur.com/JlIrS01.jpg Left is the night before surgery, 387. Right is a few weeks ago, about 255. I'm now 244.

I have a before and during, if you're interested! I am the apple-est of apples lol. My surgery weight was 387, so it was higher than yours, and I'm 5ft5.75.

Now there's an example of an extremely insecure person! Sad, really. Don't let it get you down. She doesn't deserve to have that power over you. She doesn't even have power over herself.

Gas-x strips do help quite a bit. Generally, this tight, over-full feeling will go away eventually. For now, healing really IS a full-time job. Varying the temperatures of the liquids you are drinking may help as well. Everything inside is still very swollen and it's in the earliest stages of healing, so it will really only get better from here. Hang in there!

I've been using them for two months! I have one on as we speak. I can't tell you how great the change was, going from absolutely disgusting multis that made me nauseous because they tasted so horrible when i tried to force them down my throat to just sticking a path on the back of my shoulder after a shower. My bloodwork is still perfect. Highly recommend them!

I suspect seeing this obvious sign of your amazing progress was a little bit of a catharsis for you. I had a similar experience... I cried because for so many years I didn't believe this would ever really happen to me. I accepted my fatness and my fate a long time ago, and seeing that I could change and get my life and body back - well, it was pretty emotional for me too. You deserve to be happy and have success! We all do!

wipies and chapstick were the two main essentials for me. and perhaps your own blanket, if you have a super soft, fluffy one. Very comforting.

refried Beans and cheese? Also have you tried eggs cooked in different ways? I still have issues with scrambled, for example, but I can easily eat sunny side up. I, too, despise yogurt of all kinds. ICK. refried beans and cheese? Also have you tried eggs cooked in different ways? I still have issues with scrambled, for example, but I can easily eat sunny side up. I, too, despise yogurt of all kinds. ICK.

I can highly recommend the Multivitamin patch from PatchMD, and the berry citrus chewable calcium from opurity. It took me a long time to find alternatives, as I have a VERY sensitive gag reflex and a whiny stomach that complains about most things I put into it in terms of meds and supplements. Hope this helps! Keep on keepin' on. It all gets easier.

I'm 8 months out, 140 pounds down, and I have recently started being able to have a bite of something here and there. Even better yet, after one or two bites, I am fully satisfied. I firmly believe in taking at least a bite of birthday cake for good luck, and I did so for my boyfriend's birthday just a few days ago. If you do everything right while you heal, and learn to control your cravings, dumping isn't any kind of issue. In fact, I don't think I have ever dumped. I was very careful. And I have no regrets.

I didn't believe everything was going to go right and I was going to actually have surgery until I woke up and asked "did I have the surgery?" I never really believed it was going to happen until it actually did. So I totally understand!

I had surgery 8 months ago, but I'm 24. If you have trouble finding someone with the same surgery time but are still looking to talk to someone around your age, feel free to friend/message me.

Hello fellow poly person. Though I'm in a monogamous relationship right now and for the past 4 years, but that is beside the point. Just gotta do what makes you happy. Glad you're having a decent experience during your coming out!

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/hh/services-centers/bariatrics/documents/BariatricMealPlan_Liquid.pdf This was my liquid meal plan from my surgeon's office. But don't you have a nutritionist who has given you guidelines? Also, I would stay away from milkshakes/shaved ice because it has a ton of sugar, which will cause dumping. You don't want that experience, trust me! You should be aiming for 5 or less grams of sugar in everything you eat, or at least those are the guidelines I was given, and the same ones most people have. Sometimes 4 or 5 grams of sugar was enough to make me really sick in the beginning.

Most liquids, even water, gave me a little discomfort in the beginning too. For probably about 5 months, it was just something I had to deal with. I found that changing the temps of some of the liquids (like room temp water as opposed to cold) sometimes helped. Drinking tea was a lot easier than drinking room temp water. Unfortunately, it's sort of normal to have this from what I've seen. But not at 8 months out, I feel much better and that issues is pretty much gone. It's very rare that I have that pain when drinking anymore. Hope this helps!

a lot of people (myself included!) have big problems with sugar-free foods because the sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners are actually toxic. Hope you feel better soon!

some of my favorites during the pureed stage: -pureed turkey or chicken chili from Trader Joe's -cottage cheese/greek yogurt and canned pumpkin with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice -cottage cheese and refried black Beans with a little bit of cheddar or mozz cheese thrown in I pureed a lot of cottage cheese, canned white meat chicken (it's much softer than cooked chicken breast), beans, and mozz/cheddar cheese, just in different combinations. Hope this helps!

regular black coffee was on my pre-op list but it was STRONGLY suggested I quit it altogether, as it's not something you can drink after surgery, and weaning off of caffeine while trying to heal from major abdominal surgery does not sound like a fun experience to me.

I was told to stay away from coffee in general, even decaf, as it's rather acidic and can seriously damage your healing stomach. Especially in the first many months of healing. It's pretty unfortunate but eh, I knew there would be sacrifices. Worth it.

@@JamieLogical unfortunately I have a pretty severe knee injury that may make it impossible for me to ever take up running, which makes me incredibly sad... I used to adore running. I was VERY fast. I'm actually having surgery to construct a new ACL and shave a large tear in my meniscus. The surgeon says running is pretty much never going to be a good idea for me, even after this surgery, because I won't have enough of a meniscus to protect the bones. :'(

OMG.. YOU'RE IN ROCHESTER NY?! I live here too!

I love this post. I recently started getting here myself. Happy for you!

I take opurity chewable Calcium, and use a Multivitamin patch from patchplus. I also take an iron/b12/folic acid capsule that was prescribed to me by my surgeon. I get my shakes from costco. They sell them online and at walmart but it's cheaper to go the costco or bj's route.

Very similar starting stats to me. My highest was 442 but I was 402 and 23 years old when I started the program at my bariatric center. I'm now 8 months post op and down 141 pounds since the day of surgery. I would highly recommend Premier Protein. Especially the chocolate. It tastes like chocolate milk and has 30 grams of protein and only 1 gram of sugar. These are still something I drink once or twice a day on days I'm having trouble eating. As for Vitamins, I started mine pretty much right after I started the program. I wanted to be as healthy as possible for surgery and have several months to build the habits I would need after surgery.