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Ok. So i am four days out of surgery and doing much better. The first three days ..well they were rough, but that can be expected... After all it is surgery. I joined this forum to get support and encouragement from others ..not dangerous and incorrect advice that some seem to be giving. Promoting eating solid foods after sugery within the first three weeks is just insane to me. Your stomach has staples in it and solid food could cause a leak! Anyone who does not get this and is more worried about what food they can get down right after surgery is not compliant to the protocol. Peroid. This is an indicator that some folks might not have been "mentally " educated and screened prior to the surgery. Not trying to scare anyone, or make them feel bad.. Just stating the facts. Members are only doing a disservice to fellow newbie sleevers saying it is ok and no big deal to eat solid foods within the three week post surgical peroid. I just find this unbelievable that jokes ate being made about it. Shame on you! To my knowledge these members are NOT doctors and are not experts in the what the medical implications of not following the sleeve protocol could be. You do not know each individuals situation nor is your situation the same as anyone elses. I hope in the future that folks will give anyone reaching out for help the right information. Information that all sleevers are given prior to surgery. i understand know each surgon has a different protocol but NONE of the surgons I approached/ interviewed in my research and selection allowed solid foods in the first three weeks. I did tons of research before making my selection based on the median of data that I collected. They ALL stated it was dangerous and could cause leaks. There are obviously some folks who were not educated as well as others prior and post to their surgery. Giving out wrong info is only hurting newbies not helping them... Had to get this off my chest.

First I would like to thank you all for your kind words and encouragement. Those days of pain and suffering after I got home from the hospital turned out to be an abses in my drain tube. It was full of puss and gunk, gross. Spent a full week in the hospital, (if your surgeon doesn't put you on antibiotics before, during and after, kick him)! They couldn't pin point where the infection was but worked to get it stopped. That week was my Hell week, no more concern for the sleeve, just concerned about this horrible infection. I spent the most part of the week in ICU again. Had to have a p.i.c.k. Line and IV Nutrition. They weren't sure if it was just the infection or a leak as well. They told me that either way the treatment I was getting would heal both. I thought I was emotional before, but for those of you with complications and being far from home, I feel your pain. Although Hubby was only 2 hours away I felt like it was a million miles. I am so glad to serve a God who will be there where ever I am! I really needed my Lord and Savior to get me through this one. I am home at my sons recuperating and finally getting some rest. May feel like going to my home next week, well see. Just enjoying the pampering for now. Still sore but getting used to the sleeve and all it's gurgling, lol still doing full liquids and that's ok with me. It's true what they say about forgetting to eat! Have to work on that. Not sure if I would do it again, too soon to tell. But what's done is done, just have to make it worth it. Also, I haven't weighed myself, just hasn't been a priority, well see. I know I use too many comas and the word just too much, sorry about that. Lol

This weekend my husband & I went to Lubbock, Texas for the Wine Chocolate Fantasia at Llano Estacado Winery. This is an annual event and is both a fund raiser for the ACF Texas Panhandle Chefs de Cuisine and the West Texas Parkinsonism Society; as well as a chocolate competition. There are entries from amateurs, professionals and chefs. The evening includes many of Llano Estacado’s wines for sampling. It was quite enjoyable hanging around barrels of aging wine, sampling some interesting chocolate creations and sipping on my favorite wines. I consumed about 800 calories this evening; pure sugar and fat calories. My total calories for the day were 1600. I am at goal and that is the only reason I chose to attend this event. I would never recommend anyone still losing to attempt managing an evening like this. I don’t know the actual calorie count for the chocolate I sampled nor do I know their actual weight so I took my best guess. Why am I telling you about this? Two reasons; it was fun and I want to share my experience managing the maintenance lifestyle. I know that I am going to attend things where the only choice is wasted calories, full of fat. As long as I stay in moderation I will be successful. I planned for this event I knew I would be eating chocolate and drinking wine. I knew about how much I wanted to have before I arrived and I stuck to that. The evening was an absolute blast.

I have really been doing great. I went to the gym on thur, and fri. I rested the weekend. And Today I met with my personal trainer. Well low and behold, got weighted in today and I'm weighing in at 227. I'm Happy and I hope to keep this up. Have a good day all. :wub:

This morning I did my norm morning routine. Got up pottied and got on the scale before dressing (TMI I know, but it is always best to weigh in you birthday suit). The hubs walks in and hugs me and says "geez I can reach my elbows when I wrap my arms around you". Then he said "I'm proud of you babe, but don't get so skinny I have to shake the sheets to find ya". For those who don't know my husband is visually impaired. His vision is 20/800 - legally blind since birth. Granted he is well educated graduated with honors with a degree in computer science and is a well respected software engineer. He just can't see very well. So it's always been the running joke that he feel for me because I was large print (he always replied to that with you said that not me). Now he is joking saying I am getting so small he won't be able to see me anymore. The joking is all in fun- he is very supportive of my weight loss journey and is helping me leaps and bounds. But I must say it would be nice for him to have to shake the sheets to find me

The band continues to amaze me. I am down 2 lbs since last week and I haven't even been trying. Granted I am not eating recklessly or anything but I have been eating normal (for bandsters) portions which I don't have to measure anymore thanks to 26 months of practice.... But I had a few bites of cheese cake for my birthday and ate out alot this week due to a busy social week....and I was sure I would have gained a lb or 2 ... And I actually lost 2 lbs. the band is doing exactly what I hoped it would do!!

Some of you know that I have had 3 miscarriages. My hub and I have no problem getting pregnant, but I just can't get past the 1st trimester. Well in the last week I have had 2 friends give birth and 2 annouce they are pregnant. My BFF for 20 years called me yesterday to tell me her news, she is pregnant with baby number 2. She is already through her 1st trimester and just found out she is preg. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for her and her husband. They have one daughter and have been trying for 3 years for another child with no luck. They had given up hope, but low and behold she is preg and 3 months in. Her due date is my granfather's birthday. While I am happy for her, my heart does break for my babies, my 3 that I can't hold. My doctor told me I could try again this summer and we plan to, but I am just so scared. All the test they have done have come back with nothing wrong, so they have no idea why I keep miscarring. My OB/GYN says that as soon as I think I am preg, like one day late, to come in and he will do an ultrasound and if I am he will start progestrone to hopefully keep the baby. I don't know what will happen, but I am scared. I am scared of gaining to much weight, I am scared of losing the baby, I am scared I will never have a baby. The name of today's game just seems to be scared!

I was told at the start of my journey to drink at the least 60 oz of water a day, but more would be better. During the week I do great, drinking around 100 oz. Well guess what during the week my weight goes down! On the weekends I am a slacker. The hubs and I don't have kids and take advantage of sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday mornings. We normally rise around 8-9 am verses our M-F routine of getting up at 5. We are not morning people and never have been. However, this getting up late wreaks havoc with my water intake. I strictly follow my doctors rule of not drinking during or 30 min after a meal. I find this is a big help in not getting hungry so soon. When I don't get up until 8-9, I miss out on getting that extra time for fluids. On M-F I would have already downed about 60 oz. I tend to drink very little between dinner time and bed time for potty reasons, therefore, I don't drink as much as I should. Looking back over my records for the past couple of months the pattern that I see is, my weight drops during the week and on the weekends rises. I believe this is for 2 reasons- 1-Friday night is my night off cooking (this was established at the on set of the relationship and I like it!) We eat out, but I choose as healthy as possible, but the sodium levels do tend to be high (read water retention) 2- Since I do not drink enough water on the weekends the water that is retained due to the upped sodium count is not flushed out. The pattern clear shows that from Friday morning to Sunday morning my weight will go up about 2-3 lbs. By Tuesday morning my weight is back down lower than it was on Friday morning due to getting in all the extra water on Monday. So, it looks like I must get better at the water on the weekends thing. But, this does clearly show me that my water intake as well as my sodium intake has a big effect on my weight. This is my little scientifc experiment.

I went in for a fill today, my weight had gone up by 5 lbs since last week so I wasn't thrilled about going in. I went in they weighed me- up 1 lbs since last month!!!!!! I was pissed. She checked my band and gave me another cc - I always get fills with floro. I told her about my weight jump from last week and explained it was my TOM time even though I don't actually bleed. She said that the weight fluctuation was not abnormal, that everyone will have fluctuations from week to week. She also ask how many calories my fitbit said I was burning a day- I told her between 2000-2200 depending on if I work out or not. She ask about my eating habits - I told her I was only eating 3 times a day and sometimes having an afternoon snack. She ask about my calorie intake- I told her I was getting between 1200-1300 a day. Surprise- she said I'm not getting enough calories. Now this is what my doc said, I trust my doctor, she is a Duke Doc, I have full confidence in her- do please do not bash her or me; if you doc said something else fine ok, I am just putting out there what mine said. She said that since I am now over 6 months post that eating 1200 calories a day isn't enough. She said that having a 3-500 calorie a day deficit was good, but not more because the body would not let go of the fat- sorta like starvation mode. She said if I upped my workout routine to up calories. To try and keep my deficit around 3-500 for optimum weight loss. So I am going to try and see what happens. Maybe it has to do with where I am in weight- I don't know, but she is my doctor, she is trained, so I will listen to her. If you don't agree fine, but again don't bash!!

So two days ago I got really disappointed in myself, because I did something I shouldn't have. That night I said a long pray and God answered it for me. The very next day I got my head into the game and I'm proud to say I have been to the gym two days in a row. And today alone I did a mile and a half on the traidmill and a half mile on the eliptical. Go Team Me!