Stacy160

This thing definitely wreaks havoc with your hormones! I've been getting more irregular anyway over the last couple of years... it might come at three weeks, it might come at 5 weeks, it might be light and even, it might be heavy and look like globs of grape jelly (gross, I know, sorry). But still, it's generally within a week of when it's supposed to be here. I went into surgery totally expecting to come out gushing, since so many people say that's what happens even if you're not due. Well, I was already a week late, and never even did get it at all that month... we skipped over January altogether! February came on schedule.... March came on schedule... and then two weeks after that, here she was again. It's annoying, BUT, I take it as a good sign than I'm losing lots of fat and stored estrogen in the process! :wink1:

If you look online, most places give nutritional info on their sites. I'm a huge fan of Wendy's chili, and Taco Bell plain old tacos aren't bad either, if it's mainly calories and carbs that you're watching. KFC now has a chicken sandwich where two pieces of chicken actually take the place of the bread (I forget what's in the middle), but I haven't had that so can't vouch personally for it. I'd have to imagine that it's too much for one sitting though, but I dunno!

HW - 258 SW - 246.4 LW - 207.4 Today - 203.0 YAY!!

I never understood this before surgery, but afterwards I totally got it. It's like the Water feels hard and rough or something and is just uncomfortable in there. I saw someone explain it as having something to do with surface tension, or Ph, or something I don't remember. I couldn't handle much plain water at first but it did start getting better at about the two-month mark, and now at 3 months out I can drink it probably 99% as well as before surgery. Not sure what changes, but something does!

My thoughts exactly! If you have a close family history of obesity and you've watched everyone else try and fail over and over again, chances are very high that you'll go through the same depressing cycles. You don't want to lose these years of your life to your weight--I think it's wonderful that you're looking into it now! You'll save yourself arthritis down the road (if you wait til you're in your late 20s or 30s, or even later, it'll already be there), save yourself high blood pressure, diabetes, and you'll LIVE instead of just exist. My son's 21 but if he'd been interested at 18 and we'd been able to pay, I'd have been behind him all the way. :thumbup1:

Hey, I know a couple of gray-headed guys in Arkansas and they're awesome! AS IS your progress so far... wow, you're doing great!!

Oh - My - GOD. I would be so freaking pissed.... I'm pissed for you! How totally inappropriate and uncalled for. There are some psychological issues involved there, that's for sure, but they're not yours! Jeez.... I mean damn, unbelievable! Lots of people have said that going through this tells you who your real friends are.

I used Swanson canned chicken broth. I tried the beef too, which I normally like and cook with, but it just didn't taste good that early out. For soups, I mostly had cream of chicken (strained) and tomato. That tomato soup after surgery, I swear it was the best soup I'd ever tasted in my life, after all those sweet Protein drinks LOL! Oh, and when I started just DYING for cheese, I also had Campbell's cheese soup (cheddar, I think?). Just to have something warm and salty after all that sweet stuff was heaven.

Hi Lori! You should be excited, this thing ROCKS!!! You should also be able to go back to your job fairly quickly....at a week out, unless I looked at my scars or pushed on the largest one (where the stomach comes out), I literally couldn't even tell that I'd had anything done. I'm in physical therapy and went back to work at 10 days with no problem, so you'll probably be fine in your job, although you may get a little pooped out before the end of the workday! Oh, and welcome! :blushing:

Congratulations, strap yourself in and get ready for an awesome ride!! :blushing:

I agree... Jeez, she acts like she did you a favor by using them 'only' in the way she did. I'd report her.

When I went for my 1-month checkup, my Dr. really stressed the importance of not relying on the protein shakes and instead getting as much protein as I could from real food, specifically meats (he didn't mean right then, I got to start introducing solid meat at about 6 weeks). He anticipated that I'd start losing more consistently, and for the most part he was right. I think part of that might be that the body has to use more energy to digest the denser proteins... I dunno, but I do know that when I'm eating more chicken, eggs, and especially beef, the weight seems to fall off better.

I do! I'm taking a PPI, but still feel a little bit of hunger about 3-4 hours after eating. It's very mild though, and probably half of what it was at 4-6 weeks out (I'm almost 3 months). Then, it was gnawing and uncomfortable.... now, it's easy to ignore until I can do something about it, or I can just drink water and put it off for awhile. I love having that control and feeling normal!

At obesityhelp.com, you can look up a specific surgeon and see his stats, patient reviews, and hospital reviews. As far as checking out legal actions, I'd imagine you'd probably have to contact the state medical board but don't quote me on that! :biggrin2:

Brenda, great job!! Chancie--just amazing. :biggrin2:

You've lost more and I know you're exercising more and probably avoiding carbs better than I am. I probably have more than I should, although I still try to make them healthier ones, and there are some weeks where I'm very pleasantly surprised by the number on the scale. Pretty much I'm just trying to get my protein and water in, make it to the gym a couple of times a week and get some exercise in at work on my work days (13-hour days, but I work in an orthopedic physical therapy clinic so it's not I like I have an excuse not to do something there during the day LOL)... gotta get better about the carbs though. Food boredom is a problem for me, that's for sure! You're doing awesome!

Woooohooo Keys, way to go! I've had a good couple of weeks myself (9 lbs) which feels great coming off of the previous two weeks with less then 2 lbs. As of today I'm past halfway going by my highest weight, still not quite there going by surgical weight (that'll be just about the time I hit Onederland)... can I just say for the dozenth time how much I love this thing?!? :thumbup: HW - 258 SW - 246.4 LW - 210.6 Today - 207.6

Lord yes, I measured EVERYTHING, neck, four different areas on my arms and legs, I mean everything. Even around my palms and feet! I'll be at 3 months and due for new measurements next week, so when I take them I'll post them here. It's weird, I can see the numbers go down, feel the jeans that I couldn't even zip up right before surgery getting baggy on me now, and I can see changes in the mirror, but I really don't feel all that different yet... I guess because everything's still the same shape, just not as big?

Twelve days from consult to sleeve! :closedeyes:

I haven't seen guys talk about it here, or at OH, but on a RNY board I used to frequent, it was a regular occurrence for guys to post how nice and surprised they were when they had the "Oh hey, there you are!" moment when they suddenly realized that Mr. Happy was coming out of hiding.

- Having reflux / GERD will not prevent you from getting the sleeve. I had it pretty significantly before surgery and have had absolutely not one second of it since. Lots of us have undiagnosed hiatal hernias that are found and fixed with the surgery too. - You cannot take NSAIDS with RNY. Also, while the caloric malabsorption with RNY only lasts a couple of years if you're lucky, the nutritional malabsorption is permanent, so that's something to consider if you're concerned about getting in your Vitamin D.

I've never heard of anyone having that. FWIW, I had no gas pain, just a little bloating for a few days and an occasional very mild jab at my left collarbone for about a week after.

One week, and only because I had a drain until then.

A lot of it depends on your age and how long you've been overweight. It also depends a TON on the type of skin you have...pale, thin Anglo skin (like my own, unfortunately) won't have the same resiliency and bounce back as darker, thicker (usually oilier, but by that I don't mean greasy) skin. Once the skin is stretched, it's stretched... it won't ever look like it did originally, but so may variables play into how much it'll tighten up during and after weight loss, it's kind of hard to call ahead of time.

How awesome that you've been able to lose so much on your own... you'll do great after surgery!! And I think it's absolutely WONDERFUL that you're able to do this at such a young age.... so many of us wish we could have done it 15-20 years ago (or more!) ourselves. You have soooooo many things to look forward to--I love seeing young people here, I"m so excited for you!