TStew

Clear liquids were a bit tough because I got sick of broth but it only lasted a few days. Full liquids was not hard at all! There is so much you can have and any sort of cream Soups. I did have a hard time getting all my Protein in but I was not craving things that bad. I was too afraid to cheat! I could easily feel that I was healing because when I would eat anything even slightly thick (like jello), I got an uncolfortable feeling so I backed off and went back to soups and smoothies. Toward the end of the liquid phase I could not wait to start mushies and had all these great recipes lined up but ended up living on Smoothies, shakes, cottage cheese and scrambled eggs. I was completely happy and satisfied with this and I'm still eating all of those things - just adding something new here and there. I'm in my 6th week and there isn't much I can't eat but I haven't tried steak yet.

I'm from Detroit and I don't think you would want to walk around the worst part. I once worked in a bad part of the city and got pulled over because the officer thought I was lost and he actually gave me an escort to work! lol With that said, I've lived in San Diego for ten years and I've been to TJ many times for shopping and I've driven down the coast to Ensenada and Rosarito and I've never had any sort of negative experience. It was always daylight and I was never alone. I don't know if I would have felt comfortable having surgery in TJ because I did not do any research on the doctors or hospitals there. I did have surgery in Mexicali and felt completely safe and I went alone. The hospital was clean and the doctor was very experienced. I paid $8750 and was picked up and dropped off at my front door. I'm not going to say that some things didn't make me a bit uncomfortable but to be fair, I've had two surgeries in San Diego in the past year (Scripps La Jolla) and there were also some things there that made me uncomfortable.

I love Fitday.com! I track food, nutrition, inches, weight, moods, etc. There is also a journal and graphs to help you see your progress. I'm not sure about their database of foods as I add most of mine custom so that it's 100% accurate. I've had to use the database once or twice for basic items and had not problems.

I'm about six weeks out and finally eating whatever I want more or less. As soon as my liquid stage was over I pretty much ate the same things for every meal. I started with a Protein shake to give me a good start and then lived on soups, cottage cheese and scrambled eggs for the rest of the day. It seemed much easier and more enjoyable to just eat something I knew wouldn't make me sick and that I liked.... If I needed more protein at the end of the day I would have a nice treat by adding a huge scope of unflavored Protein powder into a sf snack pack pudding. I had no problems getting my protein in. Of course, it's better to get your protein from food but when you're healing and restricted - powders are fine. I had planned on trying to puree meat and all that but I just never got around to it because I was perfectly happy with what I was eating.

I'm pre WLS - December 2010 will hopefully be the time I change my life. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2008 but I suspect I've had it for close to twenty years. It's been much worse in the past few years because I've gained weight, been under a TON of stress and emotional distress, and have been sick because of toxic mold in my home. Exercise is very difficult for me because it causes pain during and a LOT of pain after and I struggle to get through it because I have muscle weakness and fatigue easily. I've never been one to get the adrenaline rush from exercise but I used to enjoy the burn the day or two after a great workout because it meant that I accomplished something good with my body. These days, the burn plus the FM pain and discomfort is just more than I can handle. I don't take pain meds because I have some weird chemical sensitivities and they cause too many complications with side effects. I deal with the pain the best I can but even gentle yoga kicks my butt! Does it ever get easier?!?!? Will losing some of this extra weight help help my FM symptoms? I know plenty of skinny people with FM so I'm scared that I won't be successful with this surgery because I'm so adverse to exercise. Anyone?

You can ask for cucumber rolls instead of rice or seawead. I haven't tried them but read about it from another WLS patient.

I saw a girl in a store and she had what looked like a piece of panty hose around her upper arm. I'm not sure why as she didn't look obese but it's quite possible she had recently lost a lot of weight. It looked like the control top part. I suppose if you have a sewing machine it would be simple to make some inexpensive compression garments out of that...?

My first major surgery scar was in 2005 and several inches long and it did that every once in a while for years (at least two) and my sister had a big one from a hysterectomy and hers did as well. The thing still itches sometimes, too!

Actually, I tried cheese pizza at around 24 days and it went down fine. I've tried bread in the last week and that went down fine as well. Honestly, it sounds like maybe you're not healed enough to be eating these foods. In the surgeon's instructions that I've read (four different surgeons) they all state that if you have problems like throwing up or pain that you should return to the Clear Liquids for several days. Have you tried this? Have you contacted your surgeon? Throwing up 50% of your calories can't be good for you and it can't be much fun either. Just to give you an example of what my surgeon's instructions were - 10 days clear liquid, 10 days full liquid, 10 days mushies and then regular food. Well, some of the other surgeon's instructions were similiar except that the mushy/soft food stage lasted 30 days so that would mean no 'regular' food until 50 days out. Today is my five week anniversary so I've been cleared for regular foods for 7 days but I'm taking it really slow and haven't really added meat back in yet (but I have experimented a bit in the last week). My diet is still primarily cottage cheese, Protein drinks, mushed Beans, etc. and I'm adding a little something new every day and I've had no problems whatsoever. In fact, I can probably eat (and keep down) more than I would like to be able to! Good luck to you!

I'm extremely scared of the hair loss! I have fine hair but I had a TON of it and it is about mid-butt. It's been falling out for the past few years and I can now see my scalp for the first time ever and the WLS loss hasn't even started.... The WLS is my 3rd surgery in the past two years and I never even considered that the anesthesia might be the reason. I asked my doctor for suggestions and without hesitation - she said Rogaine. Anyone ever try it? I'm taking Biotin and I've purchased a few things from vitacost and will begin using this week. Engergizer Hair Follicle Stimulator and Jason Think to Thick Scalp Elixer. Looking for the Nioxin - supposed to be available in drugstores but I haven't found it. I also bought Avalon Organics Biotin Shampoo and Conditioner. It claims to restore thinning hair and had some good reviews.

I had a uterine fibroid removed in Aug 2010 and had 5 small scars across my belly. Some are a bit low so I never even thought to ask Dr. Aceves if he could use the same. I was prepared to have TEN tiny scars and wasn't real happy about it but he managed to use three of the same cuts and the other two are really tiny. I lucked out. I use New Chapter Tamanu Oil on them every day and the ones from August that didn't get used for the sleeve are already a faint pink. The scars from the sleeve (a month ago) don't look bad at all and I think they're going to fade nicely.

Shanny, I'm experiencing almost the exact same thing! It's like the feeling you used to get before your stomach would growl and that feeling is almost always with ya. Sometimes I'm hungry an hour after eating! I haven't started on meat yet so I'm really hoping that will rectify the hunger issues! The worst TV commercials are for pizza and they show them contantly!!!!

Hungry. All the time. Not good.

Down 30 lbs (from day of surgery) and 14 inches. Needless to say I'm very happy and have no regrets!

Thanks everyone! I feel really great for the first time in sooooo long!

The easiest things for me to get down are cottage cheese, SF pudding with Protein powder mixed in and yogurt. I can eat ONE scrambled egg and it's REALLY difficult to get down - a fried egg went down much easier (not sure why). Someone on this board suggested egg beaters because it's not as dense and goes down a lot easier.

LOL - great description!

I stalled at 3 weeks as well and then had a two-day carb fest which has made the scale finally move in the past week!

I have a big family but only my oldest sister is in San Diego (by the way, I'm from Southgate, MI and worked in Dbn for many years!). I told my sister and she was not supportive at all (and I'm single). It didn't take her long to get the gossip machine going so I ended up just telling her I decided against it (because of health problems and the fact that I've already had two surgeries in the past year) but I got it without her even knowing! As far as she knows I just did a 21 day liquid fast (which I've done before) and now just trying to change all my bad habits to lose weight and be healthy. I don't know how long I'll be able to keep it from her but I just can't take the gossip and knowing people are waiting for me to fail. I'd rather do it on my own! My doctor knows and I just started the hospital support group but this site has really made it possible. Knowing what is 'normal' and having people who have been here answer questions is more valuable than any family support. I ended up having it in MX and they actually picked me up at home and dropped me off a few days later so it wasn't hard to do without her knowing. She tried all sorts of scare tactics to try to talk me out of it and went into overdrive when I told her about MX. She even went so far to tell me that if something happens and I'm not able to take care of myself that she would not be my caretaker and I better plan on being in a nursing home or something. (I have no doubt she got that idea from one of her friends while gossiping about me). She is also overwieght and I know it will bother her when I lose all the weight and she doesn't and I'm trying to get her motivated and focused instead of going out and buying every new magic diet pill or device or book. I hope that my motivation (and my secret tool) will also help her get where she wants to be.. .

Do you ladies go to the support group meetings at Sharp or Scripps? I went to the Scripps one last month but there wasn't a huge turn out because it was V-day. It was pretty informative though - a nutritionist spoke. It was cool to meet a few women who were waiting for the sleeve and be able to share my experience and answer questions. Scripps is the second Monday of every month but Sharp seems to have several related meetins: http://www.sharp.com/weight-loss/bariatric-surgery/support-groups.cfm Do you plan to attend any?

Another post about calorie confusion reminded me about cycling. Has anyone ever tried this? It's supposed to help avoid plateaus and preserve muscle and 'trick' your metabolism so your body isn't entering homeostasis. You work with a weekly calorie count instead of daily and cycle the days up and down eating more calories on days when you have more intense workouts. Here is an easy read that explains it in more detail. http://www.answerfitness.com/316/zig-zag-dieting-fitness-nerd/ We are already learning portion control and keeping track of calories and measuring so I think that it would be easier for us than for someone who's just on a diet. This would be much easier when you're a few months post op and getting in more calories but let's see now.... I'm just doing this off the top of my head but if we're told that 800 is the max daily caloric intake in the first few months and that is 5600 calories for 7 days. Here is an example based on the example of the Fitness Nerd: M 750 T 600 W 1100 TH 750 F 600 Sa 1100 Su 700 This doesn't seem too drastic, does it? Some might think it's too difficult to get in 1100 calories but I'm sure there must be some high quality high calorie foods that you wouldn't mind eating twice a week. Please, tell me what you think?

First, do you get enough Protein post-op to retain muscle? It was near impossible the first few days after surgery but I've had no problems as of about 7 days out. Secondly, in the first few weeks, is there a lot of nausa and/or vomiting? I have yet to vomit either but I did have terrible nausea after surgery. No gagging or heaving but I felt like my stomach was very weak and the slightest taste of anything or even a smell could send me over the edge. It started the day after when they took the IV out and gave me the sublingual pain med. It was all downhill from there. I couldn't drink anything they gave me and they had to hook the IV back up to give me fluids and pain meds. I didn't feel better until the day after I got home which was the third day after surgery. Thirdly, do you have poopy problems as well, constipation and/or the opposite? I am also doing a high protein, low carb diet and I don't have any problems at all but that's not to say I won't start having them once I start on meat. Right now I'm still on mushies / soft foods. I am one of the unlucky ones that still feels the hunger pain. I have it all the time it seems but once in a while I can eat something that makes it go away for a short time. I just had 1/2 cup of refried Beans with cheese about 45 mins ago and I have that pain and could easily eat again right now. Instead I will drink Water but it does nothing to make that feeling go away. This feeling is what made me overeat before surgery so it scares me. Best of luck to you!

You all look AMAZING and are truly an inspiration!

Sorry, posted this in the wrong spot and can't delete!