Hanir

I am down 101.4 pounds: 14.6 to go! I haven't been trying too hard too loose weight during the last several months and as a result have been slowly slowly slowly going down. I need to rejuvinate and get my act together and I know if I do this I could reach goal in two months. Regardless if I'm not exactly where I want to be it's still pretty unbelieveable to see how far I've come. Fab-u-lous [sp?]!

My nutritionist said to stick to 800 cals, but make sure to get in 63g of protein a day. That's worked well for me. When I've upped the cals I've slowed the weight loss. I eat lots of protein, then fruit, I have 1oz of nuts every day, very rarely do I eat pasta or grains.

I don't think it's wierd. I'm 9+ months out (96# down) and it took months and months for me to move from 42DDD to 38DD. I've been loosing fat around the back but the girls are pretty intransigent...

I suggest buying clothes on eBay. You can find new as well as "pre-owned" in excellent condition for pennies on the dollar.

I too have stuff from size 8 up to 20W. Frankly I'm glad I saved all my smaller sizes because on my journey (down 96# so far) I've had to buy almost no clothes, (Plus a lot of my stuff is so old that it's now fashionable again because it's now considered vintage!) I've been a little scared to get rid of my fat clothes so my strategy has been to buy a bunch of the giant zip-lock type "vacuum bags" on eBay and seal up the clothes in them and store them in a closet at our second home. I've told l myself that once I maintain my new found goal weight for a year I'll start getting rid of the things that no longer fit.

Hi there! I'm a little more than 9 months out and as of today am down by 96 pounds. I have 20 more to go. I don't think I'll make my goal by my surgiversary (July 19th) but I'm pretty sure I'll be there by my birthday in mid September. During the past month I've slacked off sticking to 800 calories a day and as a result basically stayed level but the good news is that for the last 3 days I'm back on my 800 calories and have started seeing the scale going down again. So I KNOW I'm going to make it. This surgery was the best thing I've ever done!

I had my surgery with Dr. Aaron Roth, associated wtih Columbia Presbyterian hospital in NYC in July 2011. You can find his profile on line under the CP site. I had my surgery up at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville NY. I've been very happy with Dr. Roth and my outcome (96# lost, 20 more to go!).

I'm a female in my early 50's and 5'6". I started my pre-surgery diet on 7/5/11 @ 251 and had my surgery on 7/19/11. As of today I've lost exactly 96 with 20 more to go (my doctor says he thinks another 5 but I want to make it down to 135). My surgeon was Dr. Roth, who is associated with Columbia Presbyterian but does surgery up at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville. I actually live really near the 168th street site (up next to the Cloisters) but decided to have the surgery in Bronxville as I thought the caregivers outside of NYC would be better. I am very happy with my decision. In terms of getting back and forth for pre- and post-survery visits at the hospital it was fairly easy to go using Metro North as the Bronxville stop is right across the street from the hospital. The pre-surgery diet and the 1st few weeks after surgery were the most difficult but since then it's been very easy. For the most part I've stick to 800 calories a day, as the nutritionist instructed. On weeks where I went over I didn't loose as much (duh!). I do exercise EVERY day (40 minutes on a real bike mounted on a trainer). Having this surgery is the best decision I've ever made!

I had my surgery on July 19, 2011. My weight on surgery day was 239.6 and today I'm 163.8 = 75.8 loss. I'm 5'5.75. I do exercise EVERY day (ride a real bike mounted on a trainer) for 40 minutes. I'm sure the exercise has helped hasten thing along. Of course I'm loosing more slowly now than I did at 1st (averaging 1.25 pounds a week now). This surgery is the best thing I ever did!

Oh, and one more thing: according to my documented MetLife policy I should've been eligible for up to 13 weeks of disability, if necessary. Though, MetLife decided only 2 weeks were "necessary" in my case. Go figure!

I have my short term disability insurance thru MetLife in New York. My doctor wanted me to be off for four weeks but MetLife only approved me for two weeks; they didn't care what my doctor said. Unfortunately MetLife doesn't pre-approve the coverage, rather they wait until you're already "disabled" to determine what they will cover. In my case, they didn't make their evaluation until I was already out of work for 3.5 weeks. So, all in all, I got STD benefits for 2 weeks, then my company automatically ate into my vacation days for the remainder of the 4 weeks I was out. Further confusion: I live in New York, and the State decided I was eligible for 6 weeks of disability. What a mess: doctor said 4 weeks, state said 6 weeks, but MetLife only covered 2 weeks... Good luck!

I'm a few days short of my 3 month surgi-versary. I'm keeping to my Dr.'s guidelines: max 800 calories a day, 64 oz water a day, minimum 63g protein a day (but I often go up to 80g). I totally burned out on protein shakes from the 2 week pre-surgery and 2 weeks after surgery liquid diet so now I get all my protein from real food (low fat cheese, eggs, lots of fish, chicken, turkey breast, occasionally beef, proten bar maybe once every 2-3 weeks). I eat around 3 servings of veggies/day (total of around 1.5 cups). That's pretty much it. I do 35 minutes on a bicycle trainer EVERY day (real bike on a wind trainer). I'm loosing weight steadily -- after I'd slowed down (but not stopped) during the infamous "3rd week stall." Hope this helps!

I didn't have a drain but I had a 1/2 a golfball size divot below the main incision. It eventually went completely away as I lost the fat around it. Tell your sister not to stress to much about it. Good luck to her!

Think of it this way: you've been loosing at a rate of 3.33 pounds per week; that's almost 1/2 pound per day. That's great! I'm sure you'll continue to loose on your journey.

You look great. An amazing loss in so short a time!

You look fab! And really pleased!

Sounds like you're talking about Holland America and the Pinnacle Grill. The food and table service in Pinnacle Grill is SO much better than in any of the other dining options that I recommend you keep the reservation if this is the only cruise you're going to take with them. If you have other HAL cruises in your future then you might want to wait until you're able to eat more. Also, they do serve lunch for I think $10 per person; though the menu is different is it still really good. Also keep in mind that you can cancel the reservation at the last minute and you won't be charged. Not sure what would happen if it's part of an all inclusive gift package though. You should call HAL directly and ask them.

Before surgery I never had any Acid Reflux in my life. I had surgery 5 weeks ago (July 19th) I know they say one potential side effect of the surgery is possibly that you'll develop Acid Reflux. As a preventative, my doctor gave me 30 days of prescription Prilosec. I didn't start taking it until about a week after surgery. During that 1st week (when I didn't take it) I didn't have any Acid Reflux. This past Monday (it's Saturday today) was my last dose of the Prilosec. Beginning on Tuesday, and every day since, I have intense waves of pain around my sternum. They come and go throughout the day. 1) Is what I'm feeling Acid Reflux? 2) I've heard that all of the PPI's can be habit forming and that you'll have worse pain than you started with if you try to stop taking them. Could I have become "addicted" to Prilosec in only 30 days? I'm concerned that I've inadvertently created a permanent Acid Reflux problem... Any thoughts from you all would be most appreciated!

You look greaat! Congratulations!

Rest easy about the size 14 wedding dress. I don't know why but wedding dress sizes are always smaller than regular dresses by about 2 sizes. So a 14 wedding dress = size 10 regular dress. Good luck with your upcoming wedding!

I was really worried about this too. I thought I'd freak out after surgery if I couldn't eat all I wanted to. I had my surgery on July 19th and I'm happy to report that it hasn't been an issue for me at all since then. I don't get hunger pangs and I get full so quickly that it's about all I can do to eat 700-800 calories a day (the amount my nutritionist says to eat).

You look great! Definately petite!

The ingredient in sugarfree stuff is probably malatol or another alcohol sugar. One problem is that the substitute sweeteners can cause a lot of gas and "D" if you eat to much of it. I think that I'd have the regular/real chocolate on occasion and really enjoy it rather than the sugar-free stuff...

My surgery date was July 19th, which means that I'm 3 weeks and 1 day out. I lost 11.4 pounds on the 2 week pre-op diet plus another 15.6 since surgery. I was on full liquids for the 1st 2 weeks post op and then have been on mushies graduating to softer regular food during the past week. This week my weight loss was slower than the 1st two weeks (2.6#), but I attribute that to being totally "cleared out" when on only liquids, and now building up some solid foods that are staying in my system -- if you know what I mean! My Dr. wanted me doing exercise from soon after surgery but I have Plantar Fasciaitis [sp?] in my left foot so my old fave of walking an hour a day isn't practical. This last week I started riding a bike mounted on a stationary trainer for 20 minutes a day. I hope to build that up to 30 minutes over the next few weeks. At 2-week post-op visit, the nutritionist (part of the surgical practice) told me to make sure that I'm eating 63g Protein a day with a goal of 800 calories. Plus the 64 oz of Water, of course. In order to get all that protein in I've been eating 6 meals a day. The meal size ranges from about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup as I get the full signal (pain around the sternum area) differently depending upon what I'm eating. I'm getting in all the protein with real foods -- no Protein shakes as I can't even tolerate the thought of them any more! I've met the calorie goal every day (725-800 cal), water goal every day except yesterday and protein gold (as much as 80g every day except yesterday when I only got to 60.5. I'm eating: cottage cheese, eggs, low fat cheese, hamburger, poached salmon, shrimp, chicken, fat free refried Beans, apple sauce, pear sauce, and a small amount of mixed veggies (corn, eggplant, zucchini, peppers). The stuff I get fullest on the fastest has been the chicken and shrimp. My 2-week post op visit went fine. I haven't had much real pain until last night when I felt a bit nauseous. My wounds are healing well and I'm past the itchy phase. This issue now is how to get in exercise and all of the protein/water/calories during the day. So all in all I think things are going pretty well though I'm not 100% recovered quite yet. I'll be returning to work next Tuesday, 4 weeks post op. I didn't tell anyone what type of surgery I was having and folks from my office sent me two food gift baskets!! One Edible Arrangements chocolate dipped fruits (which looked fab), and another basket of fruits, cheeses, nuts, crackers. So my DH and Mom have been enjoying those!

I'm 16 days out from surgery and after 2 weeks liquids am now in mushies-graduating-to-non-mush period. When I get the feeling you're describing I know it's my body's signal that I should stop eating. I reach that point after eating 1/4 to 1/2 cup volume depending upon what it is that I'm eating. Before I reach that point I sometimes hiccup or burp (the "soft" signal folks talk about). I'm learning to work the tool and stop BEFORE I get to that tight feeling.