Tiffykins

Many congrats Tracy ! ! ! I also skipped the baby food option, I just couldn't do it. Keep posting your progress ! ! !

Woohoo many congrats. The only Protein I like was Optimum whey. You can get it online at vitacost.com or bodybuilding.com. or at GNC. The GNC sales people tried to tell me that their brand was the same, it was not. You can get a 16 flavor sample pack of the Optimum Whey from here Bodybuilding.com - Optimum 100% Whey Protein - With Faster-Acting HYDROWHEY! On sale now! I had chronic liquids in to liquids out until I got to mushy food stage. Great job on your walking, and keep it up ! ! ! Keep us posted on your progress.

Stacey, I'll keep you in my thoughts for tomorrow. You're gonna do great, and I'll be watching for an update from you ! ! !

I was cleared for alcohol around 3.5 months post op. I drink soda occasionally now that I am further out. It's empty calories, and it may cause a lot of discomfort for you since you're so early post-op. I wasn't allowed to get in pools/ocean until all my incisions had healed completely. I couldn't take baths either, it had to be showers only. You can break that habit. It may just take some time.

Good news, my stress is gone ! ! ! We got amazing news today, and all is well again. I'll just tell y'all what happened. The finance office here on base screwed up John's enlistment date on the military pay system. They had him separating from the military as of March 31, 2010. Well, his current enlistment is until 2012, and he's a lifer. Contracts only go for 3, 4, or 6 years, so they screwed up. Least to say, we haven't been paid. We have savings, we are debt free, but we were kind of freaking out with the 1st approaching, and obviously bills needing to be paid. Well, we went to the 1st Sgt last Thursday, and it was escalated to the Commander, today John got the call that he'll be manually back paid tomorrow. It's a huge relief for me because I handle all of the finances and bills. We didn't want to dip into savings, or rely on credit cards to pay bills. We've never done that so we weren't looking forward to it. This is actually the 2nd major screw up we've had to go through with this finance department here. We ended paying in over 2grand due to a mistake they made when we first got here(2 years ago), and we still haven't recuped all of our money. So,least to say, we were stressing that this would not be resolved quickly. Thank you all for your support and prayers. I already feel much better.

I tried eggs on the mushies stage. I could not tolerate scrambled eggs at all. They hit my sleeve like a brick regardless of how fluffy smooth I cooked them, and I chewed them to infinity. Is the mushy stage coming up for you soon? Once I got to mushies, things were better, and more variety.

Glad to hear you are doing well, and made goal ! ! ! It's a great place to be, and I agree about the skin shrinking or reabsorbing or something. I'm experiencing the same thing. I'm not losing enough to justify a size change, but my body is shrinking somewhere. Congrats Jenn ! ! !

I wanted to know what type of aftercare I'd have access to. Like, I have nut and psych access at any time without issue. This was vital for me. I have had to call on our nut quite a bit because I needed help especially within the last 3 months. If I needed access to a psych, I wanted it without issue as well. This is a mental journey as well, and some need the additional support. Is there a support group? Luckily, our psych runs out support group. I haven't attended any of the meetings. Mainly because it's a convenience thing for me. The meeting place is about 40 minutes from my house, it's around dinner time for my family, and it's on a weeknight. By the time the meeting ends, and I drive home, I would not be able to have dinner, down time, reading time with my son. Plus, I hated Weight Watchers meetings so I've never been drawn to support groups. But, they may help during your journey.

Honestly, your post came off as to calling people's complications that are very real, just Almanza garbage. I'm not convinced anyone can verify if anyone has made up their stories, good or bad. There are plenty of good, and some bad. I just think that everyone should consider all of the information and proceed with caution when certain complications could be prevented. I think all of experiences within this thread have been real as the people have stated it more than once, and they have been around for months before and after their surgeries. It isn't your typical "troll" behavior. Ya know, they come in make one horrific post about their experience then they disappear. These people have stuck around answered questions and sought out support through their journey.

I didn't have a guideline for fat grams so I can't help you there. I hated the fat free stuff because I found it had more carbs and sugars to make it taste good. I had to eat 4 meals a days consisting of 15grams of protein. I know I could not have gotten all my protein in with just 3 meals. I struggled with 4 meals a day. I wish I better advice, but I'm stumped. It's tough to hit the calorie goal with 3 meals a day. It's especially tough when you have to get in protein. Can you tolerate any of the protein supplements?

I'm not attacking you or your experience, but how condescending and disrespectful is it to discredit some people's true complications, almost death, by calling it garbage? I think that is what I find so difficult to understand. No one wants their surgeon to get bashed. I get that, I personally have never bashed any surgeon on any forum. But, I also would never discredit someone's experience as garbage especially the complications. I'm grateful that you and many others have had great experiences, but that doesn't mean others have been as fortunate. Why is it okay to disregard obvious complications, and only see the "good" experiences?

My husband kind of feels the same way about WLS, but was extremely supportive in my pursuit of surgery. He was and is still extremely supportive, but he thinks everyone should just be able to push themselves away from the table, and work out harder. I've debated with him for a couple of years over the mental and psychological tie to food that most obese people struggle with daily. He is naturally thin, 6' tall and weighs 173lbs with a 30" waistline. He doesn't understand, he won't understand. So, we quit discussing it. If my husband would have not been supportive, I would have gone ahead with surgery. It's my body, it's my future health, and I wasn't going to let anyone stop me from living longer. I was tired of battling fat, and dieting myself close to 300lbs. I had lost and gained over 400lbs over the last 10 years, and I was tired of it. It wasn't about losing, I could lose, it was keeping it off that I had trouble with. All I can say is that you have to take care of you. Also, you can tell your husband that this is not the easy way out. I still have to make the right choices for food. I still have to avoid milkshakes, ice cream and other junk. I have to make sure I get in my Protein and calories daily. I have to work out. All the sleeve did was force my portion size that I can eat per meal, and help me take control of my ravenous hunger. It's still my choice on what I put in my mouth. I wish you the very best, and I hope your husband comes around. I can't imagine how I would have felt if my husband would not have been supportive. Do it for you, and your future. I've found a lot of times that when people say it's the easy way out, they simply don't understand the struggles. It's ignorance, and only educating them can help them understand our struggles. Some still refuse to accept that working out and eating less doesn't always work. It's no different than doing Weight watchers for a lifetime. It's a tool, nothing more, nothing less.

This portion of your post really hit me. I was a single mom to just one, and I can't imagine having 3 with a demanding career. I was in sales, competitive, and long, stressful days. It was difficult to juggle dieting/working out/late night paperwork/homework/reading with the kiddo and everything else. You're 100% correct that our kids deserve the very best we can offer. I had the same thought process when choosing WLS. Plus, we want at least one more child. I refused to conceive at 270lbs. I felt it was selfish, and I couldn't handle being fat and pregnant. Quality of life is extremely important, and you'll dance with your girls and for your girls ! ! !

I completely understand that male dominated field thing and hot wife. John's a cop in the Air Force. Combine cop and military, it's a set up for testosterone laden cocky men. Some of them know about my surgery, mainly the guys that were deployed with him. It's the guys that do patrol that haven't seen me since the '08 Christmas party that were questioning John.

I just pulled up my online bank stuff, and checked for the last time I ran to Wal-Mart. LOL I haven't ever tried thawing it out.

Awww it is sweet that he is so proud of you, but I can see how that would be frustrated. Many guys that work with my husband asked him recently if he got a new wife. A lot of them haven't seen me since before my sleeve revision, and they just can't believe I'm the same woman. It's kind of funny, he just tells them, I'm the same wife, just a smaller version.

I've frozen it, and then ate it like ice cream. The longest I ever froze it was about a week. I just checked my containers in the fridge, and my checking account for my last grocery store run. I bought Oikos 16oz container, and 4 Chobani with strawberries on April 12, and the Oikos expires May6th, and the Chobani expires May 2nd. I go through the plain pretty quickly because I cook with and use it in place of sour cream. I also make a lot of dips out of it. The Chobani I eat a couple times a week.

Could it be water weight or retention? I go up 1/2-1 pound during my ovulation week I just chalk it up to water weight.

I only got heartburn or reflux when I would overeat on really spicy food pre-band and pre-sleeve. Since being sleeved, and taking Prilosec once daily, I have not had any reflux issues at all.

Thanks Laura. My surgeon said the same thing " you should not have been this successful". He told me that he has RNY patients that haven't lost like I have that started off around the same weight/height and BMI. I honestly think the loss is directly related to my stress level. When I relax, I feel better. I worked out today, and worked out HARD, I'm gonna see if building muscle will help stop the loss. I figure building the muscle mass will stop the loss, and tone me up. I'm not just not okay with getting any smaller. I'm in a size 4/5 now. My 6 and 7s are practically hangin on me. People are starting to comment on how "skinny" I am. It's just weird.

See if you can get your egg poached with some cheese on the side, refried beans with some sour cream, order a burrito and eat the inside, you can order some of the thicker soups like broccoli/cheese or potato soup (it's higher in carbs, but it's a good go to food early on when we eat so little), some can eat shrimp on mushies because it can be chewed down to nothing. I'm drawing a blank on anything else.

It sounds like you're just not ready for solid food. I didn't try bread for months post-op. Your tummy isn't even finished healing yet. If you have to take a few steps back, and go back to mushies or even full liquids, give your body time to heal. If the nausea gets too severe, you need to contact your surgeon to ensure that you don't have any other issues. Are you getting in at 64ounces of clear fluids per day? If not, dehydration can cause nausea. If you're getting in your fluids, see if you can get some anti-nausea meds to help control it. My sense of smell was extremely heightened post-op and I gagged with certain smells as well. Unfortunately, even meds didn't fix that problem. Try refried Beans with some greek yogurt/cheese melted in, egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad without the raw veggies would be good soft options for you to maybe try.

The only time I experienced a stuck feeling is when I didn't chew something well enough, or took another bite too quickly. At 3 months out, I really didn't have any issue getting stuff down. I did rely on mushies like egg/chicken/tuna salad for my Protein sources because I couldn't get a lot of dense protein down. I'm not a fan of seafood either. Mahi Mahi is the only fish I tolerate that well. I hear shrimp works really great for a lot of sleeve patients, but it's a texture thing for me, and I hate it. 2 egg whites have 14 grams of protein, so I made egg salad with egg whites. It's mushy, but it goes down great. If you use greek yogurt in place of some of the mayo, it ups the protein. I eat a lot of beef Jerky, I can chew, chew, chew, and I can eat quite a bit. It's higher in sodium, but I'm not going over the recommended amount for sodium intake. I hope things settle down for your sleeve. I know at 6 months things really got easier for me.

I agree 100% with Swift's post. There's been many members that have gone through this same issue, and by increasing their calories, and getting off protein shakes, it seems to shake things up for the body. Getting in a more balanced diet from food sources may be what you body needs to start dropping some weight again. I'm not saying that you have to stop the protein drinks, but your body may need more than just shakes.