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I was a 3 shake a day person with sf-popsicles/sf-jello and crystal light. I had 14 days of it. If you did a big meal before you started this you are probably going to suffer more. Day 3 & 4 are the hardest. The cookie, bad idea. You keep saying you want to do it, and you keep saying you want this, but yet, you ate a cookie. Dust it off . Each time you cheat you are justifying it, by your job, your kids whatever, you are making it "ok" in your mind, it's not okay to cheat though. There was a woman in the last few months that did the same thing and went into surgery and was told..sorry your liver is too big, and got it postponed. The sleeve is a tool, it's up to you to use the tool. You actually get REAL food. People that only get 3 shakes a day were able to do it. Blaming this on obesity isn't helping either. It's just another excuse. Tell yourself YOU CAN DO THIS, and you will. Get a behaviorist or psychological help somewhere along the line. Food cannot be your "best friend" it's not living and breathing. it's nourishment, that's all it is. If you want comfort hug your pillow, a friend, your kid, a dog. Tell yourself you can do it and just do it. Good luck to you, I am sure you will get lots of hugs and encouragement from others, I'm a realist. You need to up your positivity to make it through this and you need to depend on yourself. The sleeve is only a tool, it's how you use the tool that depends on your success.

Personally I would send a meeting request and reserve a conference room so this meeting will be private. I would tell him that you are very uncomfortable with him policing your eating habits. That you do your very best to eat healthy and if you end up having to eat a unhealthy meal on RARE occation; it is not his place to comment. Also that he does not know how you will eat when you get home to make up for a higher calorie lunch. If after you have this meeting he continues to comment on your eating habits go to HR. What he is doing is bullying you. Tell them you've spoken to him privately and he is continuing to harrass you. It is their job to deal with work place bullying. Trust me an HR generalist/manager does not want you going to their boss (HR Director/or VP) because they've failed to deal with work place bullying. I had a boss that would comment about everyones lunch. She was a vegetarian and no matter how healthy your lunch was she would say gross/disgusting there's meat in there! She would have vegan soup for lunch that had 35 calories and make sure EVERYONE knew about it. She also however would talk endlessly about her alcohol fueled orgies on the weekend! NOT kidding. I had several thin coworkers comment to me how annoyed they were about the way she commented about everyones food habits, yet she was a high functioning alcoholic. Oh and by the way she would go to the company store at the other end of the building and buy cookies and eat them when she thought no one could see her. Priceless. This is why I don't tell coworkers that I've had WLS. You can be guarenteed that every though I have skinless chicken breast and raw veggies (no dips/dressings) everyday for lunch; the day I have a 1 inch square piece of birthday cake someone will comment about it. For other readers esp. if you work in an enviroment with HR you boss does not need to know what surgery you are having. That is the beauty of HIPPA. A manager does not have the right to determine what medical proceders, ordered by a doctor are neccesary. The notes my doctor gives just say the gastro/intestinal dept; says nothing about WLS. I had a coworker have breast reduction surgery and was out on disability for 6 weeks. Some might argue the company should not have paid her to be off 6 weeks after breast reduction. Clearly WLS is more health oriented that that.

Emotion l eating is a serious issue. When I get that urge to eat for no reason other than being upset I ask myself " Are you hungry enough to eat a full meal?" Most off the time the answer is no. I live alone so I don't have to worry about other peoples food habits/desires. I just don't keep my food triggers in the house: chocolate, candy, ice cream (though not my favorite), cracker (my favorite), low fat chips, low fat rice cakes, crunchies off any kind, bread (Oh how I love buttered toast!). I go to restaurants with friends. I either look for a healthier option or ask to substitute a low fat veggie instead of mashed potato or french fries. I also eat VERY CONSERVATIVELY the day of the restaurant visit and VERY CONSERVATIVELY the day AFTER to balance out my calorie budget. Treat those restaurant visits as a treat and not something you do everyday or even once a week. I try to think of my food consumption as a calorie budget. If you have a lot of calories one meal modify other meals to ensure you aren't consuming too many calories.

Next time he decides to comment on what you eat, you should respond "Do you really think you should you should be acting like my mother in the work place?"

It's so normal to go through all the emotions you're going through. You just went through a very tramatic experience. Your body is healing and yo need to give it time to do so. Also, my surgeon told me NOT to get on a scale for two weeks. Due to all teh water retention, gasses, and other things, you're going to gain weight right after surgery. However, I know what it's like to want to see if going through all this was worth it. Trust me, it is. Do yourself a favor and don't get on the scale for four days. In those days, get your liquids in, walk, walk, walk, walk and walk. That will help get all those gasses out and regulate your water retention. Then, you can check. But, be aware, you are still swollen and healing so don't expect to see a 10-20lb loss. The good thing is, in a month from now, you will be so happy when you get on the scale you won't even remember this emotion time. keep your head up and trust me, every day gets better.

The mantra I use to get through difficult times, which always works because I know it to be true... this is only temporary! Everyone writes of difficult days in the beginning and that things do get better as the tummy heals. Believe that each day will get better and better... and it will. Wishing you WELL!

It's so hard, we get tied to that scale, I mean that's why we did this surgery, right? It took awhile for that scale to move for me and I was reading about everyone else losing tons of weight it seemed....but we all heal differently...and when I stopped worrying, the weight started dropping off... I am a slow loser, but slow and steady and I feel great 3 months out. I can eat all kinds of things in small amounts, and I no longer doubt this was the best thing I ever did for myself. Have faith girl !!

Me, you just have to find something that you like and do it. I second Fluffy's suggestion to load some good music on your phone or iPod and only listen to that music when you're working out. I'm fairly competitive, so that helps me as well. Favoredone posted about a month ago that she did 7 miles on the exercise bike on her FIRST visit to the gym. That motivated me to try to up my mileage during my 30 minute a day ride...and it worked. I'm now consistently hitting the 7 mile mark, so I'm now working on getting to 7.5 miles in 30 minutes. I like the idea of watching a tv show, too. I haven't tried that one, but it sounds like a great idea!

you are going to have to find something you enjoy doing or your not going to stick with it. i actually enjoy the elliptical, i have some awesome music i only listen to while working out, or i go to the gym while Law and Order SVU is on, and i can pedal for an hour without even realizing. There is Zumba, swimming, do you have any girlfriends that would walk and talk with you? buy a Wii or Xbox, they have all kinds of workout games that are fun, you can even buy them used at your local gaming store. I work out because to me the shape i want is worth the exercise. i want to be toned and ripped as much as i can on my year anniversary when they take my picture again. Good luck finding something that works for you