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I was sleeved about 12 weeks ago and off and on have been having bouts of nausea after taking my Multivitamin in the morning and at night. In the morning, I usually take my multi w/ Breakfast so that I have food in my stomach. However, about an hour and half after eating, the nausea usually hits. Somedays it's not so bad and other days, like today, it was bad. I had to run to the bathroom (at work) for fear of throwing up in my office, but eventually managed to keep myself from doing it. To stem the nausea, I end up eating several saltines (up to 5). In the evening, I usually take my multi w/ a glass of milk and carnation instant breakfast around 10-11pm. Again, I take the multi just as I begin my snack so that there is something in my stomach. However, it is hit or miss in the evenings whether I get queasy or not. I usually have a several saltines (again) to keep it from occuring. I currently take a women's one-a-day Vitamin. I have tried Celebrate's chewables, but I didn't care for the taste and it still made me queasy. Before surgery, I used to take Centrum, but after surgery, then also made me queasy. I read somewhere that I should try Flinstones, but like the Celebrate chewables, I didn't care for the taste and they eventually made me queasy too. I went to GNC and Vitamin Shoppe and got some other multis they say shouldn't make me queasy. A friend recommended I take a gummy variety but the GNC guy said it would make me queasy if flinstones made me quesy. So, now I come to all of you to see if there are any products out there that can make me feel better. I have no problem getting food down and have even begun eating raw veggies w/ no problems. This is the only thing that is bothering me still. Thanks! Robin

I tend to journal in a book, but when I forget it at work or at home and don't have it on me, I'm not as good at keeping track of things. I think the hardest part is calculating your personal recipes or foods that aren't in the websites library. I'm looking for your suggestions for the best online food journal/tracking websites, specifcally: pros/cons for the site, the ease of adding information, especially your personal foods/recipes, and why you recommend it. Thanks so much for your input! robin

Thanks, Suzanne. I don't belong to COSTCO or Sam's Club, but maybe I can ask my sister to check it out for me. I think the hardest thing is figuring out how much you need since different companies have different amounts and I'm supposed to take 2 multis a day.

My friend who is 1 year out and down 100 pounds went from an 11 to a 9! A lot of my shoes are feeling big on me. I've been a 8.5-9, but expect to be at 7.5-8 when all is said and done. That's where I was many moons ago. The problem now is I don't want to buy new shoes if my feet might get smaller too!

I'm 9 weeks out and eating regular foods. Well, I should say that I am slowly adding in regular foods (haven't done raw veggies, tomato sauce, nuts, etc. yet), but havent' had to many problems. I'm with my family on the beach and tonight they want to go to a pizza place for dinner on our way to an amusement park. If you've had pizza, does the bread just fill you up immediately? I'm definitely sensitive to the breads. I'm toying w/ just bringing a Protein shake or bar so I don't have to stress. Any thoughts or helpful hints on what I should eat? Thanks! Robin

Thanks, everyone! I had a slice of what they said was thin crust pizza (didn't seem so thin to me), and mainly ate the cheese and toppings from 1 slice w/ a few bites of the crust. I was fine until the crust started expanding and then I felt really full. I think pizza will be one of those once in a blue moon things until my body can handle bread better. I haven't done raw veggies yet, so salad wasn't an option.

I've been wearing Assets (Spanx for Target) with the high waist for about 4 weeks now. I think I started wearing them about 4 weeks out. Whether it helps with loose skin or not, I just feel like it holds me in better while I'm losing weight and people don't see a tummy bulge as I go down in sizes. My bottom half is the last to go.

I'm sorry to hear you are having issues w/ hair loss. One of the doctors in the practice group spoke at a recent group meeting and addressed the issue of hair loss. He said that what you do today, as far as hair loss goes, will take 3 months to impact you. In other words, if you are not getting in all of your Protein needs 3 weeks out from surgery, then you will find that the hair loss will occur 3 months from that point. Guess it takes your hair a while to grow, huh? So, the moral of the doc's story was that if you are losing your hair it is only temporary and that whatever you eat today will impact your hair growth 3 months down the road. I've been doing pretty well with keeping my protein above 60g/day, with maybe 2 or 3 days below since my first week out. I'll be interested to see what happens w/ the hair growth in another month or so. I have been toying w/ trying Biotin. Do you think it will help w/ my nails? That's where I've always had issues. robin

Hi, everyone! I'm 6 weeks out and finishing up the soft food stage. I should be on to regular foods later this week. My typical snack is either a string cheese or yogurt w/ a little Protein powder in it (I'm still working on acquiring a taste for greek yogurt) or a pudding cup. This is getting boring and I don't want to be in a rut. I would appreciate any snack ideas that you may have, both portable and non-portable. I have texture issues, so cottage cheese and ricotta cheese are not good snack ideas for me. I figure my snack options will open up more once I can eat raw veggies, but I understand that won't be for a while yet, right? Thanks for your help! robin

I just found those Peanut Butter balls w/ Protein after someone directed me to these parmesan cheese crisps. Made some up just before I saw your post. Looking forward to trying it later tonight. Never had pepperoni sticks before. Not a fan of jerky, but I'll have to see about those other ones. Are they real salty? I haven't gotten the ok for nuts yet, but hopefully I will by the end of the week. That could make things a little easier.

Thanks for the suggestions. I already eat yogurt (danon), but it doesn't have much protein, so I'm usually adding some protein powder to it. Plus, I'm trying to find some other snacks that are more portable and I can carry w/ me w/o worrying that it will melt or get warm. Thanks!

On my plan, I was technically allow applesauce, mashed banana and canned fruit in 100% juice (pureed) on the pureed/mushie stage. However, my NUT said that the goal is protein, protein, protein. At the time I could just eat my protein and no added foods. I'm now coming to the end of the soft food stage and I now have room for something else after my 4 oz of protein, so I started adding in some fruit cups. I think it's all a matter of how much your sleeve can tolerate. I was told to eat in a 1/2 hour and to stop if I hadn't finished in 45 minutes, no matter how much I ate. It's only been the past week that I've been able to eat faster and not feel so full. So, I'm not adding in a little fruit and will try some cooked veggies tonight.

It's hard to believe I was sleeved 4 weeks ago today! I got on the scale today and I'm down 20 pounds in 4 weeks! From my pre-op appt 5/4, I'm down 31 pounds! Crazy. Before it used to take my 6 months+ to lose this much weight. I also made sure to take my measurements before surgery. As of Sunday, I've lost a total of 23 inches! I also took before pics and 1 month pics and it's amazing what a difference you can see. I went back to the office for the first time yesterday (worked from home the past 2 weeks), and was actually kind of glad that folks (who didn't know I was having WLS) didn't notice anything yet. I didn't want it to be so obvious that I had had WLS. Then again, I was wearing some of the clothes I wore before. Tomorrow I'll be wearing somthing smaller, so we'll see what people notice or don't notice.

Thanks for your response! That's what I was figuring but needed to hear it from someone else. When I saw my doc 2 weeks ago he said I could begin exercising, but was pretty vague on that. I think my version of exercising is a bit different than others. My 1 mile to 1.5 mile walks thru the neighborhood were fine, but I guess that other one put me over the edge. It's hard when you feel so good, you think you can do so much more than you can! Very frustrating, especially when the weather is nice and all you want to be doing is moving around outside!

I am 4 weeks post op today and down 20 pounds since surgery and 31 pounds since my pre-op appt. Woohoo! I've been feeling really great. The only set back I had was I had a low grade fever 2 weeks ago. That's it! Since I've been feeling better, I've been doing more. On Saturday I went for a 2.5 miles walk (I had only done 1.5 before) and then I ran a bunch of errands. I was exhausted when I got home. On Sunday, I was a little sore around my top left incision area so I chilled out and didn't exercise. However, I did lift more than I had in the past, especially getting things together to go back to the office on Monday. Yesterday was my first day back in the office (worked from home for 2 weeks). I felt great. At lunch, I went for a short walk and that's when the pain came back. I sat for most of the rest of the day, but every time I got up, it was still sore. Then last night it was bothering me, so I am working from home again today. Any thoughts on what might be causing this before I bother my doctor? I'm thinking I might have strained myself w/ the exercise and lifting/pulling. I did a lot of bending. Do you think I could have done something else. My stomach area looks fine. No bruising or swelling. I know it's not gas b/c gas pains for me are more in my back, chest and shoulders and it's more acute. Thanks so much for your advice. robin

Wow! It's hard to believe I was sleeved 4 weeks ago today! I got on the scale today and I'm down 20 pounds in 4 weeks! From my pre-op appt 5/4, I'm down 31 pounds! Crazy. Before it used to take my 6 months+ to lose this much weight. I also made sure to take my measurements before surgery. As of Sunday, I've lost a total of 23 inches! I also took before pics and 1 month pics and it's amazing what a difference you can see. How are all of you guys doing? I think I pushed myself too much this weekend (long walk and lots of bending and lifting things) and now my abs are sore around one of my incision points. Went back to the office yesterday, but now working from home again to rest up whatever I did to myself.

I remember reading past posts on here that it's the state administrators of the federal bcbs plan that make the call. However, most of those posts were before December 2010. The 2011 plan brochure (p. 52) states that they cover the following: Gastric restrictive procedures, gastric malabsorptive procedures, and combination restrictive and malabsorptive procedures The sleeve is a gastric resstrictive procedure, which means that it is covered. If I recall, this language is different than the language in the 2010 plan brochure.

I'm not a cook. I'm trying to make Susan's vanilla egg custard recipe. It says to bake it 25-35 minutes until it is set in the center. What does that mean? At 35 min., it was still liquid. How do I know when it is set? Thanks!

I also had surgery the same day. About 10 days after the surgery I had terrible cramps, mostly when I peed. They were mostly in the uterus/ovary area, and I hadn't had cramps like that in years. Turns out I must have been ovulating. I just got my period yesterday. I went off the pill for surgery to reduce the risk for blood clots, so I think it's the surgery and being off the pill that gave me those weird cramps.

I find that the Multivitamins, whether they are chewable or swallowable, make me queasy unless there is food in my stomach. Sometimes the calcium does that to me too. Never had that problem before the sleeve. Now I will just take them right before or right after I eat. I can swallow mine, so I take them w/ a very tiny bit of Water so I don't fill up before I eat. Also, I was a little queasy yesterday. I didn't want to drink. If anything, I wanted pretzels or saltines. Instead, I made myself drink, taking little sips over a period of 15-20 minutes, and felt much better. It's probably not what you had, but I think mine was a little dehydration. good luck!

I also used a sippy cup. The cups have these little faces on them and I measured out how much 4 oz was in the cup (went up to the hippo's teeth). I just kept track of it that way. Plus, your Protein liquids count toward the 64 oz of Water. My nut said to aim for it, but if I couldn't, the next day would be better. When I got home, the easiest thing to get down was chicken broth. Something about the warmth helped a lot. I had my mom go and buy me a thermos at CVS and I poured in 1 cup of broth, screwed on the top, and then poured little bits in the cup so it was always warm when I drank it. When I was done, I knew I had drank 8 oz. Just little tricks. I'm 3 weeks out tomorrow and I just started with water bottles. Those sippy cups really were great! Good luck. I hope that you feel better. robin

I was sleeved on 5/24, and hit a mini plateau a week after surgery. I had dropped 7 or 8 pounds from the day of surgery and then nothing for almost 8 days. Then the next day I was down 4 pounds. I know that I have a huge calorie deficit so there's no way I'm not losing weight. I just figure my body is in shock and is holding on to stuff. I keep telling myself NOT to get on the scale everyday, but this early on when you are eating so little, it's hard not to. Good luck!

Hi, eveyrone. I just started on pureed/mushie food yesterday. I no problems at Breakfast or lunch, but last night and this morning, after realizing that I was full, I then got a stomache ache. Has this happened to anyone else before? For dinner I had some lump crab w/ a tiny bit of cocktail sauce and chewed it up real good. Managed to eat 1oz over a half hour. About 10 minutes later, I had a small tummy ache. This morning, I ate one soft boiled egg white over a half hour, and now, about 10-15 minutes later, I have a tummy ache. Any thoughts or ideas? Did this happen to you? Is it b/c I ate a little more than I should have? Thanks! Robin

I had really bad reflux before surgery and a hiatal (sp) hernia. My doc stitched up the hernia while he was removing my tummy. H sent me home on 20mg prilosec (i think that's what you're taking) 2x a day PLUS a 150mg Zantac before I go to bed. Apparently they are 2 different types of acid reducers and work together. As for the gas, try to take more frequent, but little walks. The walking helped me a lot. I'm just over 2 weeks post-op and I think I stopped w/ the GAS-X last weekend. The walking really helped! If that doesn't get any better, call your doctor and maybe he can up your script.

I don't understand why you nut won't let you eat yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast. I get that they want you eating more solid foods, but every meal? Before surgery I used to eat yogurt for breakfast anyway. My problem is I eat breakfast at work, so I need somethign that I don't need to prepare and is easily transportable. Yogurt is just that. Good luck!