a.walker

I didn't have to do liquids,so I can't tell you how it worked for me. I had to do really low carbs and sometimes that was hard enough, but it's 2 weeks, which will probably suck, but will definitely be worth it in the end. I remember I stuck with the cabbage soup diet for 2 weeks once. THAT was torture. I truly believe you can do it! I hope your two weeks goes by really fast, and the evil fries quit begging you to eat them.

I try to stick to 600-800 calories, 40 or less carbs (some days I have 50 or 60, but I try to keep it less), at least 60 Protein. I don't look at the fat content, but it does show up, and it varies a lot. I sometimes eat full-fat mayo and cheese, so some days it's higher than others. If I work out hard on a given day, I try to eat 100-150 extra calories, usually in the form of a Protein Bar or shake. I use myfitnesspal.com and when I make a recipe I can track it on there, too.

You look like a different person! Congrats on such awesome success. It's great to read your posts about you and your daughter doing fun things together. I hope I can say the same soon. Way to go!

I'm 10 days post-op, and feeling fabulous, except I need to stay off the scale. That's really hard for me, because seeing the numbers drop has always been a motivator for me in the past. Now I feel like I don't really need that, but old habits are hard to break. And it has been nice to see my first 14 lbs. post-op just kind of fall off. But this morning, I didn't lose anything. Exact same number on the scale as yesterday. I try to think what I did wrong, but I'm still on full liquids, and I didn't do anything differently. I am obsessing over it, when I think maybe I should just put the scales away for a week and then try to make this a weekly endeavor. How often do you get on the scale? Do you think weekly is better than daily?

As far as sugar goes, it's all carbs. I try to stick to 40 or less carbs daily. When I first started out, I was eating about 400-600 calories a day, because that's all I could manage, and now I'm eating 600-800 daily, and that's my goal. I sometimes eat more when I exercise really hard, but usually that's in the form of an extra Protein bar or shake. I don't really look at fat grams at all. I track my foods on myfitnesspal.com, so I can look at them, but I don't really have a goal for the fat grams. Everyone's going to be a little bit different. Some people find that 800 calories isn't enough, and eat more with great success. Some people do more carbs with good success; some people stick to even less carbs than me. This works for me, but I think you'll get into a routine and find your own niche; just make sure you stick with your NUT/surgeon's guidelines as well. I didn't have many guidelines beyond protein, so I've figured out what (currently) works for me.

Is this a joke? I seriously hope it is. How many margaritas did you have before posting this?

Christie- I finally got to watch your video. I love your videos, and I'm so proud of you for sharing your story in such a great way. You are looking fabulous, and how awesome to buy clothes from the rack. I know how you feel about worrying that you're never going to lose another pound. I feel that way every time the scale doesn't move. Good job keeping up with the exercise. That's my biggest struggle right now. I use myfitnesspal.com to chart my foods. At my current weight (259), my goal calories (according to them) are 1600ish. It tells me every day I need to eat more, because when you eat less than 1200 calories you go into starvation mode. I just ignore that part It still gives you a total at the bottom of calories, fat, carbs, and Protein. I really have to do this daily so I know I'm getting in my protein, but I really like it. I thought it was easier to use than Sparkpeople. Hopefully your period won't be a full month long one, and you won't have that added difficulty with the weight loss this month. I'm really rooting for you to lose the 11 lbs and get to your 100 lbs lost mark. Best of luck!

Wow, that's awesome! Congrats on your success, and way to go on the walking! You're doing great; thanks for sharing.

Thanks to everyone for all the sweet replies. It's so nice to feel good about yourself every once in awhile! I can't wait to see how the rest of this journey goes. So far I'm enjoying it. I always wish I could lose faster (I'm surely not the only one), but when I see how far I've come in 3 months, I realize I never have been able to do this before, and things are really progressing well. It's great to have support from people like you who have been there. Thanks again!

I think it's good to be honest, if what you want is some advice, and helpful hints. I think if you're just posting this to see if you can rile people up, that's a totally different thing. I don't think that's what you intended, but it's really hard to tell from your post if you're asking for advice or just wanting to let everyone know what you've been doing? Anyway, congrats on your loss so far, and I'll offer some advice even if that's not what you had in mind. My advice would be to really work on getting back to following your diet. Try first by getting in your Protein and liquids. Try to always eat protein first, sip on the liquids all day if you have to in order to get them all in. It's important to stay hydrated, and the protein will give you more energy. You can't change what you did at a week out, but it is risky to push your guidelines like that, and especially so soon out. I hope you'll get back to what your doctor recommends. I'm not surprised you feel weak if you've been having trouble with both Proteins and liquids, but I didn't feel fully back to my normal until about 4 weeks out. I was really weak still at 2-3 weeks out.

I'm not a long-term sleever yet, but I'm about 3 months out, and can eat most things. I can't do bready stuff very well (pizza, sandwiches, etc.), but I've never thrown it up. It just doesn't settle well. Everything else I've tried has been fine. The only thing I didn't tolerate at all and did throw up was a horrific protein shake. Obviously, I found a new, better-tasting one.

I didn't have a plication, but I also didn't have any of your complications. When I first woke, I did have some dry heaves, but never puked blood. Some of that could be from the breathing tube used during surgery causing trauma, and with any procedure where they cut into your stomach there can be bleeding. But there's a big difference between puking blood and what I experienced. I did throw up one time 3 days out and it was blood tinged, but definitely not just blood. There was also bile since I was dehydrated (my own fault, because I was scared to drink because of the nausea. The dehydration was making my nausea worse and it was a big circle of annoying until I figured out that I needed fluids so I didn't throw up). Did they draw lab on you to make sure you weren't losing too much blood? Did they give you the nausea medication? (that stuff was heaven while I was in the hospital, because I felt nauseous a lot). I'm sorry you're feeling hungry, and feel that you don't have enough restriction; I have felt next to no hunger since my surgery (except head hunger and that is there for sure!), and I definitely have restriction. 16 days out, I was barely getting down cottage cheese. I don't have a lot of knowledge regarding the plication, but from what I hear there isn't as much restriction, and it seems that maybe the Ghrelin isn't as severely reduced as with the regular sleeve. Don't quote me on that, because I really don't know; these are just things I have observed from reading others' posts. I tried to find out the answers to these things before surgery, but I considered the plication very strongly while I was still pre-op. I couldn't get answers to those questions pre-op, so I didn't go with the plication. I hope you're feeling better now, and will have good success with your surgery. It's hard right at first, but I know for me things have gotten progressively easier as I go along, and I'm only about 3 months out, so I fully expect to learn more as I progress, and to feel even more comfortable.

Congratulations on deciding to change your life for you. It sucks when those around you choose not to be supportive, but I hope they will come around. You are clearly a very strong woman, and know what you want and need. I wish you much luck on this journey, and keep us updated on how things are going.

I found some low-carb tortillas that would probably make a good taco. I'd say make your own, and try to keep it reasonable calories/carbs based on your guidelines and you should be fine. You might only be able to eat half, but it'll probably taste really good to you with those few extras and a shell.

Good luck with the quitting smoking/sodas. Fortunately, I wasn't a smoker, so I didn't have that obstacle, but I was surprised how easy it was to keep away from the soda. The first few days are the hardest, but I haven't had terrible cravings for them, and I haven't had one since pre-op. I did try a sip post-op once, and it tasted just awful. That's probably helping the non-cravings. The hospital is quite close to the hotel. When you go to the hotel, it's the last day you're in TJ and the doctors come see you in your room that evening. I'm not sure how many surgeries they normally do in a day, but they don't start until noonish I think, or sometime after noon. My surgery was the last one and it was done late, like at 10pm. The BeLiteWeight coordinator, JoAnn said the day we were there that one surgery had taken quite a bit longer than they had planned, so that's why it was so late. Dr. Rod uses a size 32 bougie, and I knew that before going in, but no, he didn't ask. I was glad he used the smaller one, so it wasn't something I needed to ask. I live in Kansas. My husband has lost more than me, by about 10 lbs. He's a guy, so I guess that's normal, but we've both done well and had consistent weight loss. Hope this helps!

Congrats on your decision to go through with it. It's definitely a scary thought; I can remember when we made that payment, it was then completely decided. Good luck with your surgery, and I hope things go so smoothly for you. The 18th will be here and gone before you know it, and you'll be on the loser's bench!

Congrats on your date! I can definitely understand your nerves. My husband and I both had the surgery, and I made him go first. I told him if something terrible happened to him, then I could back out so we didn't leave our son an orphan. And I made sure I saw him awake and talking and looking actually pretty good post-op, before I went back for my surgery. It's normal to feel those things, and I think it's healthy. The excitement is the part to grab onto if you start having lots of bad thoughts. Imagine where you'll be a year from now, even 6 months from now. We did go to Tijuana, as it seems safer than Juarez, and the plane ticket was cheaper to San Diego than to San Antonio (which is weird since we went through Texas to get to San Diego). About the pain. I'd like to just tell you it's nothing, but I honestly think pain can be anywhere from hardly anything to severe. I was sort of in the middle of that. I had discomfort, and I was glad for the pain medication, but I didn't have any severe pain. There were people who had been sleeved there at the same time, though, who felt great, and went shopping in TJ after we got to the hotel. I didn't feel that good! And there were people who felt worse than I did. One woman had to go back to the hospital so they could check her out after our hotel night because she was having pain that the medication wasn't helping. She checked out fine, but just had more pain. So, I'd say to definitely prepare to have some pain. Some people say that the pain is nothing, and they never even took pain meds, but I didn't have that experience, and while the pain was not something I couldn't handle, it was there. I had never had a laparoscopic surgery before, so I was unprepared for the gas, as well. The walking is what helped the most with the gas, and you'll be encouraged to be up walking very soon after surgery. This does help when nothing else does. We took some Gas-X strips with us, and my husband thought they worked for him, but I didn't notice much difference. I hope this helps. Thanks for your compliment! I still have a long way to go, but feel like I will make it this time. It's a nice feeling!

Now this is a small victory, but my BMI is finally less than 40! Many of you sleevers never had a BMI this high, so you might wonder what the heck I'm celebrating, but I have been waiting for this! When I started my pre-op diet my BMI was over 48 and at my very highest weight it was 51. I haven't seen a BMI in the 30s for years, and I'm pretty darn excited about it (maybe more than I should be!). I also have less than 100 lbs to go to a normal BMI. I'm not 100% sure I'll get there, and my personal goal is to get to 175, but it seems more attainable now than when I was over 300. I love my sleeve!

I'm so sorry your insurance won't cover the sleeve. Mine didn't either, so I understand that frustration. I didn't want to wait, either, which is why I went to Mexico. I'm not patient enough to jump through the hoops they require, and then appeal when they say no. I definitely understand how you feel. I wish you the best of luck with the band.

Your husband should love you no matter what you weigh. If it's JUST your weight killing your marriage, he's a shallow person. I don't have much respect for your husband based on what you posted, and I most assuredly wouldn't want to be with someone like him. I understand that fat isn't healthy, but I also believe you love someone not based on their dress size or BMI. Someone "truly terrorizing" you about your weight doesn't make for a healthy relationship. I do think counseling is a good idea for obese people to get an idea what led us to this place, and to try to change some of those old behaviors. I think maybe your husband could use some counseling, though, as well. That being said, you cannot do this for him. Don't do this to "solve" your marriage problems. No matter what, you should be doing this for yourself. Do it for your health. But if you are only doing it to fix your marriage problems, I don't think that will work. You need to work on your marriage separately.

Hi there. My husband and I were sleeved by Dr. Rod in July. Can't say enough good things about him and our experience. We are very happy, and have lost weight well. Congrats on your upcoming sleeve! When is the big day?

I would say be more lenient with your calories. Make sure you get your protein in, and try to stay between 600-800 calories/day. It gives you a little bit of leeway but not so much that you need to be worried about regain. Maybe as long as you have a range you're shooting for, you'll feel more in control. I had 921 calories yesterday, which is the most I've ever had. I lost a pound on the scale this morning. That wouldn't always happen, but it also means that the world isn't going to end if I go a little over my normal 600-800.

Congrats on another 6 inches gone! I have only been doing measurements monthly because I'm lazy, but it's a great idea for when that scale isn't moving. It's nice to see the inches falling off. You're doing great!

I was a Diet Pepsi addict too, before surgery. I quit drinking it July 6th for my pre-op diet, and most days I don't really crave it. I instead usually drink a little bit of coffee for the caffeine. I tried a sip of my sister's Diet Pepsi about a month ago, and it tasted awful to me. My tastes must have changed because it was awful to just choke down that one drink, so that was nice. I haven't craved it since then. I read a lot of threads pre-op where the info from the sleevers was mixed. Some drink soda daily without any problem; some have stayed completely away from it. I had read that it would stretch your sleeve out, as well, but I agree with what one person said (probably Tiffykins...she is wise): Soda is a liquid. It hits the pyloric sphincter and then goes on through. It's not sitting in your stomach to do this expanding of your sleeve. I'm sure someone with a better answer than this will come along; just wanted to let you know you're not the only former soda drinker wondering these questions. By the way- congrats on your amazing weight loss. I'm jealous, as our surgery dates aren't that far apart!