Lisalu

I'm evil. I'd send the nurse the NIH guidelines in an outrageously nice and edifying letter. Passive-aggressive? Yes, but deeply satisfying.

Most dietary calcium is absorbed in the small intestine and transported in the bloodstream bound to albumin, a simple Protein . Because of this method of transport, levels of albumin can also influence blood calcium measurements. Calcium is deposited in bone with phosphorous in a crystalline form of calcium phosphate. Read more: Calcium - effects, food, nutrition, deficiency, needs, body, diet, absorption, protein, fat, Vitamin, weight, Vitamins, Deficiency and Toxicity, Requirements and Supplementation http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Ca-De/Calcium.html#ixzz114yMPHY5 I think your friend is full of doo-doo. Ask her where she got this info.

Well, I weighed myself at the gym yesterday afternoon and wasn't happy with the results. I thought my...um...constipation might have something to do with it. I took the laxative and it had its desired (plus) effect. I weighed again today first thing after riding my bike to the gym. I was wearing lighter weight clothes today as well. Hmmm, I don't know if I'm making things better or just digging the hole deeper. Probably TMI.

All better now. It was 40 minutes of hell and then a hot bath and it was over. Today I am 3 pounds lighter!! Ha!

I am very sensitive to nickel. I can only wear 18K gold jewelry or surgical grade titanium. The staples haven't bothered me a bit.

I talked to my 7 year old before the surgery. I told him I was having surgery to shrink my stomach to help me lose weight. I didn't tell him about my fears; I just quietly wrote a will and kept a brave face. I've explained more since when he has questions. Surgery was during the summer for me.

Jillian, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. It sounds very frustrating and discouraging. I have a bunch of questions. Did they measure your stomach after surgery (once the swelling went down)? I guess they would need to do this with an xray and some contrast medium like barium. If they didn't, I'm not sure how they could know your stomach stretched as opposed to having a too large sleeve. Also do they know why your stomach stretched? I think it could be because you have a super-elastic stomach, but it also might be because you don't have the same full sensors that others have. I'm NOT blaming you for your predicament, but I am curious about the origin of your problem. It might make a difference in how it can be treated. Please keep us posted.

Here I am, the one that put out the challenge to you all to only weigh once a month and I'm having trouble sticking to that rule myself. It's been 2 weeks since my last weigh in and I'm really tempted to get on that scale. (Luckily, I don't own one so it means going over to a friend's house.) I think it's because I'm bored and maybe a little down. Now that I don't have food to focus on, I'm looking for something else to give me a temporary boost. Obsessing about my weight loss would certainly do that, but it's not good for me. I'm 12 weeks out and things have really gotten back to normal. That means that everything is about the same as it was 6 months ago except that: 1. I'm thinner 2. I can't (I choose not to) act out with food anymore I have not found the holy grail. The partner of my dreams hasn't suddenly appeared. I don't have a perfect body. I'm just the same old me but thinner. Rationally, I knew that losing weight wouldn't solve all my problems but part of me must have believed the fairy tale that if I lost weight, I'd never be sad, lonely tired, angry, bored or depressed again. Here I am with goal in sight and a certain dis-ease or ennui has set it. Nothing too serious, but I need to fill it with something besides food or weight obsession. Maybe it's time to get a new hobby.

I am 3 months out. I can eat everything. I do avoid chicken breast because it fills me up sooo fast that I feel full after 3 bites. I prefer, eggs, cheese, tofu, salad and fruit these days. My sweet tooth has returned but so far I've been able to talk myself out of sweets. I've been craving carbs and fats lately and have been indulging these cravings very carefully. Occaisonally I'll have diet soda but not often. Hardest rule for me is not drinking and eating at the same time.

You look as cute as a button in that recent photograph! I don't see crazy just happy and slender.

I use DaVinci's chai syrup or Oregon Chai's sugar free chai (both available from netrition.com). I like the Davinci's better. I use skim milk, soy milk or silken tofu and water for the milky part. I always add a scoop of protein powder. It's very yummy.

5'2" top weight: 210 at surgery 185 I'm about 150 lbs now. Surgery and recovery were pretty easy.

Coops, yes I was sleeved 4 days before you; that almost qualifies us as sleeve sisters. I'm doing great other than the bit of boredom I mentioned in an earlier post. It feel healthy and it's pretty awesome no longer being fat. Sometimes I see my reflection in a window and don't recognize myself. I never thought I'd see that day come. Rememer the fable of the tortoise and the hare: slow and steady wins the race.

Congratulations. You'll be the incredible shrinking diva soon. You might look out of place in Tristan und Isolde, but I never liked Wagner anyway. Perhaps if I drive up to Phoenix and go to the opera, I will see you. I will look for the skinny opera singer. Best of luck on this journey. AZ summers are much nicer with the sleeve.

Here's a link to wikipedia. It answers your question (assuming of course that this wikipedia entry is well researched). It is a starting point at least. Anyone know where I can get this done in the US and an approximate cost?

That is a really cool test. I want to get one, though I might freak out at the results too. It seems sooo unfair to only need 900 calories a day. How tall are you? If you increase your muscle your metabolism will rise. Lifting weights would help.

Coops, I don't consider you a very slow loser. It's been 12 weeks since surgery and you are down 30 lbs. I know we have some super speedy losers on this board, but more than 2lbs a week seems like a respectable weight loss. Just my $.02.

Post-op sex? Yes, please. Where can I find some? --disgruntledly single

I told few people before the surgery. I didn't need people's judgements. Now 12 weeks post-op, I tell people pretty freely. I see myself as a champion of a one person WLS education plan. This is a personal/political choice with me. Plenty of others have chosen to keep this matter private which I respect. No "right" answers here. You'll figure out what is right for you.

Oh Jolanda, do tell. Rabbit? Veal? Sea Turtle? Whale? What could it possibly be?

I'm glad I found this thread. My foamies just began last week. It definitely seems to come from eating too much/too fast. I am 3 months out, and eating too much affects me more now than at 8 weeks. I have to be really careful and slow with solid Protein. Yesterday I ate too much twice! I was so annoyed with myself. TMI WARNING: I had to make myself throw up to get rid of some pressure. It was not pleasant. I hope I learn soon.

WTF? Someone must have been having a really bad day. I tell, I tell, I tell. If people have a bad reaction, that's OK by me. Maybe I'll educate a few people along the way.

I wasn't being critical. Reindeer meat sounds good to me. I'd much rather eat an animal that had a good life prior to being slaughtered than one that was in a feed lot. How we raise animals here in the U.S. is inhumane. I said what I did about my son because for American kids reindeer = Santa's team. He'd be traumatized because he'd think he was eating Rudolph. Here in the Southwest, you can get ostrich, goat, stingray and maybe even javelina (peccary) if you have the right connections. I'm an adventurous eater but we don't have a lot of reindeer in the desert. I noticed it because it seemed so Swedish.

OK, why I am the first to mention the cold smoked reindeer meat? You can't really get that here in Arizona, but it does sound kind of good. I will NOT mention it to my 7 year old, though. I'm sure he's be traumatized. Congratulations, Jolanda.

I giggled when I read the post about your panic attacks. Wow, that sounded bad. I was NOT laughing at you; I was laughing because I recognized the symptoms. About 2 weeks after my surgery, I ended up in urgent care due to leg pains. I was sure it was deep vein thrombosis and was waiting for it to progress to pulmonary embolism. Luckily I had a really great doctor in urgent care who talked me down. You regrets and panic seem very normal. I think you will start feeling better soon. I am 12 weeks out and I feel great. Hang in there, chica.