JWhipple

Well, it's official - my large incision on the top is open, infected, and looks like absolute hell! I'm going to the doc tomorrow. All I know is that this will most definitely delay my first fill, and I won't be shocked if he closes it up using regular stitches. It was almost completely closed then I noticed a small puss spot on it. It's been slowly opening back up despite my efforts to keep it clean with peroxide and/or antibiotic ointments.

I get up every morning at 5:15 and surf the web for about an hour. I head to the bathroom, get undressed and weigh myself, then I take my shower. I wake up the wife, then head to have my 4oz Breakfast. About 9:00 at the office I have a HUGE cup of coffee with artificial sweetener and very little artificial creamer. At 10:00 I have a 16.9oz bottle of Water with a Special K Protein packet added (Pink lemon aid - YUMMY!) At noon I have my 4oz lunch. At 1:00 I have another bottle of water with Special K protein added (lemon iced tea this time around). At 3:00 I have another large beverage - usually coffee or water. At 6:00 I have my 4oz dinner. This routine seems to be working - I'm going down about 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound minimum daily since I've fallen into this. Anyone else have any routines they want to share?

I'll step up as the first confession. Christmas day I ate more than I should have... Nothing in comparison to what I used to eat, but, I did overeat... I know it was wrong - sue me! Anyone else care to be the next one to throw themselves "under the bus"? Have some integrity - admit it! I know I'm not the only one :-)

IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH! Wife and I just had a shot of Cruzan Coconut Rum - WOW - HOLY COW - I've NEVER had this much of a buzz of of just one shot! I can feel it down in my TOES! SO CAN SHE! Stomach is doing good though! No issues! Makes for a cheap holiday buzz! Hey, everyone, seriously, have a wonderful New Year and I look forward to being side by side with all of you for a long time to come! <pouring 2nd shot> Here's to a long life - and skinniness!

I musta been on the "Nice" list this year ! Yes, it came a week after Christmas, but, I won't complain!

Oh I'm aware of the statistics - i used to be one of the guys handing out those tickets LOL! Thanks though!

I actually weigh myself twice daily. I have a spreadsheet that I update each morning that I am going to turn into a graph eventually, showing daily change and total loss. I weight myself about 30 minutes after waking up each morning, and then in the evening when I get home from work but before dinner. Sheer, morbid curiousity, ya know? I've heard it before though , "it will discourage you!". No - but if I hear that again I'm going to go through the roof LOL! Seriously though - nothing can discourage me now - this is the fastest i've lost this much weight EVER. Not even Marine Corps Recruit Training at Parris Island took this much off me this fast!

I removed the tape when the doc told me to and everything looked fine, but, now the big incision in the middle is a little infected. I was told this morning to clean with peroxide 3x daily... hope it clears up before my first fill! 19 pounds to date!

Interesting. Seems that over the weekends when I am not able to follow this routine I "hover" at the weight I was from Friday evening's weigh in. Go figure?

Ditto - not worth chancing it!

Well, a pre-new years eve confession - I am going to have a couple of shots of Cruzan coconut rum. One of my employees gave me a bottle - wife and I are going to enjoy ourselves without going overboard.

Pete, According to my doc, we CAN have soda or beer. Preferrably diet soda or light beer, but it MUST be FLAT - and of course, in moderation! I for one can stomach flat beer, but, I drink so rarely that it doesn't matter much to me. He said to pour the beer or soda into a glass and let it set in the fridge overnight and it would flatten up good. It's the carbonation that causes issues.

Interesting that you say that - my wife had the exact same thing happen to her yesterday! I like to cook scrambled eggs into a "lump" and then cut it off with my fork, as opposed to my wife cooking them and chopping them up as she goes. I cooked eggs for us yesterday morning and sure enough, she got stuck! She didn't chew it well enough and up it came!

Bravo! I knew I wasn't the only one :-) Anyone else care to share?

The one we are taking mixed with either milk, Water, or "your favorite beverage". We use 1% milk, which I personally can't stand by itself, but mixed with the shake is pretty good! We also put a small amount of either vanilla yogurt (me) or strawberry yogurt (wife) into the mix, and then Peanut Butter (me - I'm a peanut butter freak!) or real strawberries (wife) and a small bit of banana. We throw it all into the blender with ice and whip up our drinks! We got the idea of the peanut butter or strawberry and banana while at Nature's Table in the mall while ordering a Protein smoothie before the surgery. Tastes great! We found it at Walmart where they keep all the weight-loss stuff, and is probably geared more towards body building, but it has a great amount of protein in it. It's called EAS Soy Protein. It's available in vanilla or chocolate flavor.

I can't remember the number, but we're supposed to have X number of grams of Protein daily. The Protein drinks and protein Water basically are to help us reach that number. The shakes we stick to 4oz, but the protein water only has 30 calories. I'd say we're doing a total of 500-700 calories a day (if memory serves right - I could be wrong!).

We started our mushies on Monday. Breakfast is either some soft scrambled eggs, some grits or a Protein drink (they've grown on me - BIG TIME!), lunch is either some chicken or tuna salad, dinner is either another Protein Drink or various soft mushy food. Pete - what's your loss since you got banded? I see your ticker but it doesn't indicate if it's total weight loss or if it's post-banding loss.

This evening I came in from the office and needed to do some last minute Christmas shopping. So, I took off the dress pants and grabbed the first pair of jeans that I saw. Little did I realize that I had less jeans than I thought, and all my other jeans were in the dryer. So, I grabbed the ones at the bottom of the drawer - sure enough they were a size down AND THEY FIT! Ok ok ok - so - it's not very masculine to Celebrate fitting into a size smaller jeans, but, YAY! I haven't worn those jeans in almost 2 years!

Non-Scale Victory :-)

This is a bit off-topic, but since I am spending a bit of time on this forum I'd see if anyone else here is into one of my hobbies - freshwater aquariums! I have quite a few tanks at home, plus one 10 gallon at the office. In the livingroom: 1x 55 gallon (Larger central/south American cichlids) 2x 20 gallon (Smaller central/south American cichlids) 1x 46 gallon bowfront (Community) (These three will hopefully soon be replaced by one large 120 gallon tank.) In our bedroom: 1x 38 gallon (LOTS of loaches and a few rainbow fish) In the computer room: 1x 1 gallon Betta tank. I figured I'd share a few photos I've taken of some of them! Hope nobody minds? Red Devil cichlid Mayan cichlid (AKA freshwater snapper) Salvini cichlid (may it rest in peace!) Vieja Fenestratus (standard variant) Black-belt cichlid and Vieja Fenestratus (pink variant) "Pink" Vieja Fenestratus (like his teeth?) Blue Gouramis Rosey Barb and Odessa Barb Convict Cichlid A batch of Vieja Fenestratus babies from my breeding pair: The 55 gallon plus 2x 20 gallon tanks: Panda Corydora Upside-down catfish Turquoise Rainbow trio Horse-faced Loach One of my larger clown loaches Polka-dotted loach with YoYo loach Polka-dotted loach Bolivian Ram Another of the large clown loaches Clown loach trio Jewel cichlid

My wife and I both got banded on the 8th and so far at the beginning of my 5th day I've lost 12 pounds. My wife has lost 8. Her sister got banded about a year and a half ago and took off 120 lbs, but only 13 during the first month. Is it safe to assume that the vast majority of this is Water weight? Can I assume that the rapid loss will slow down once we move to the full liquids and then mushies?

I've been fluxing back and forth since Sunday within a 2 pound range. We started our full liquids on Sunday - interesting coincidence! So, I had my first weigh-in today - 11 pounds since surgery.

There are a number of insurances that cover the surgery anyhow - if someone asks and pushes the issue tell them that your insurance covered it.

Actually that photo was taken literally right after returning home from the parlor and then having taken a shower. It's about 3 1/2 weeks old now. Better late than never though - it's been 12 years or so since I was medically discharged!

I hate to even ask this, but can anyone advise if it's normal to have a SOLID (although limited) bowel movement during your first week post-op while in the clear-liquids-only phase? I have a suspicion that my wife thinks I've been munching on the side, which I have NOT been doing, but I want to head this one off at the pass if an accusation comes about! Thank you!