DisneyAddict

I didn't go to a restaurant until... ok no back up. I went out to brunch with my best friend and his boyfriend when I was into the mushy/soft solid stage. We went to Le Peep and I ordered an omelette. I ate less than a quarter and took the rest home. I had a little more later in the day and let my husband have the rest. That aside.. we didn't go out to eat until.. good grief recently. I guess 2-3 months ago? we went to a mongolian grill. That was the first time we'd gone out to eat since my surgery. I got a normal sized bowl and took the rest home. I ate on it for about 3 days? About a month ago, we went to Logan's steakhouse and I got one of the smaller steaks they offer (6? 8 oz?) and ordered it medium rare. Ate about a quarter of it with one bite of my sides and took the rest home. I love rare to medium rare steaks so by ordering it like that, it wouldn't get leathery tough in the microwave when I reheated it. Again, ate on that for about 3 days. My husband's a big guy (and I don't mean heavy... he's a big guy who burns a lot of calories with his job) so he'll let me have a bite or 2 off his plate but I don't want to try to share a plate with him. Plus we usually end up getting polar opposites lol. As far as fast food places, I have an item or two I'll get at most places and pick it apart giving the rest to my husband. It's really not a big deal. Buffets I haven't tried yet, but I have one of those little cards that say I've had VSG but I guess it's up to the businesses to accept it.

I've got a friend of mine (one of the smartest men I know) who had kidney stone issues. He swears by lemonaid or lemon Water daily. Something about the acidity of the citrus helping break those stones up or something. He said his recipe was diabetic friendly (since he was dealing with that for awhile) so I can probably get the recipe from him if you're interested. I've always said I'd rather be cold than hot because you can always put on more clothes but when you strip down to skin? Not much more you can do. LOL Although post-sleeve this is ridiculous!! I typically go sit outside in the morning with the dogs, have my coffee and read a little. That's my wake up routine. The last few mornings I've had to put on a hat, gloves, a long robe length zip up hoodie thing (with the hood up over my hat), on top of my fleece pjs!! It's only been in the mid to low 50s too. It's going to be miserable when it gets truly cold lol. But this summer? LOL I can't wait to be able to wear the J Family "summer uniform". Whenever we BBQ and his family comes over, it's always hilarious to see because his mom and all 3 brothers are always wearing shorts and a sleeveless. I've started calling it the J Family summer uniform. I've always been odd man out for obvious reasons but it's going to be fun next summer.

I have sweet cravings occasionally too. Dark chocolate did wonders to help keep it in check. Also, if I want something sweet, there's always a protein bar. I don't have a problem giving into my cravings as long as they're "approved". I also don't snack just to snack. It's usually been after several hours of a meal and I'm feeling kind of empty but not empty enough for a meal if that makes sense. I just need a little something on my tummy. If I'm wanting salty/crunchy, I go for almonds. If I want chewy, I go for a cheese stick. The fact that I can think about what I'm having and act on it rather than just reaching for the first thing (that's usually the worst choice) and eat a small portion of it has really helped keep me sane. There's a sleeve friendly alternative for just about every craving I think. Something that'll give you the protein you need and help kill that craving.

I remember the super thirsty feeling. Have yall tried Smart Water? That helped get me through.

I agree. I would probably change doctors too unless it's an insurance snag then you may not be able to get around it. I didn't have to do a pre op diet at all. All I had to do was the "diet" the day before surgery that came with my bottle of liquid hell (magnesium citrate BLEH). I think my doctor recognized that if I could successfully diet, I wouldn't be in his office in the first place. I DID gain during my months leading up to my surgery because he wanted me to quit smoking. He never mentioned one word of it and my bmi was VERY high. TDSK, for your bmi not being high, only in the 30's, that sounds a bit ridiculous to me but what do I know? Probably a dumb question, but did you question why a pre-op diet for THAT length of time?

I haven't ventured into "adult" cough medicine yet. I've been making due with children's liquid advil and children's cough medicines. They don't hurt going down and do just fine. I'm not even sure when/if we can get back to regular pills like advil or even liquid caps?

That's my plan too for Carbogiving (aka stretchy pants day). I debated this for MONTHS now. Use splenda & low carb item substitutes where I can? Or just cook normally since I can't eat very much as it is? I finally decided on cooking normally since I can't eat much. I'm sending lots of leftovers home with my mother in law and keeping the turkey around to avoid temptation. I jokingly told my husband several days ago that it'd take me a whole week to eat the thanksgiving plates I used to fix myself but there's also some truth to that. I'm figuring a small spoonful of the sides will be more than enough for me. That morning, I'll probably stick to my usual coffee or pumpkin Protein coffee. I may have some almonds rather than breakfast to get me through as I'm cooking. We'll probably eat at 12 or 1. I'm going to have to rely on my husband & mother in law to do my "tasting" for me as I'm cooking so I don't fill up on that which is entirely possible. I'm not so worried about having pie. Rarely did I have any pie in the last several years. Between my husband and brother in law, I'm sure they'll make quick work of them.

lmao love it!

My situation is similar. My husband knew me way back from the time I was 13. I was in dance for so many years so I was thin. I was even thin through high school after I quit dance. And yet, I was still thin-ish when we first started dating in 00. He was right there with me gaining and has always been loving & accepting of me "whether you weigh 160 pounds or 500 pounds". I think my husband is ok with other men noticing me (as long as that's where it stays) because he knows it's a confidence booster for me. I used to get checked out all the time and then nothing for a lot of years when I was obese. He chuckled when the two bartenders were falling over themselves to come get my order before they noticed I was with someone. I wish the husbands who have these insecurities would just be cool. On top of all the good pure reasons we choose surgery, they've got to know there's another small (or sometimes bigger) reason and it's them. We want to be attractive for them and have great sex again and be confident. I know that's one of the things I was excited about going into this. I wouldn't feel ashamed of my body and feeling awkward/unable to breathe...

I agree with feedyoureye. finding a good counselor may help. fluffy, lol i DID go on a shopping spree last week since I'm CLOSE to goal size and considering winter stuff can be a little baggy and be ok, i finally gave in. i'm holding off on serious bra/underwear spending until i'm at goal..at least for VS/Fred's stuff. Believe me I've been looking! I did buy several bra/underwear sets at LB recently so I hope that boosts the girls back where they belong. I think I may just end up putting a "no braless sex" rule in place dh could care if i wore a burlap sack he's so enamored with my new body so i know it's all in my own head. funny story... there's a rumor going around that my dh is going around town with some skinny chick NOT his wife (when in fact it IS his wife..even my closest friends have told me i look like someone entirely not like me)... LOL so our joke is that he's cheating on his wife with his wife.

It got better for awhile there and then I started getting shy again (very self conscious) of my sharpei skin on my inner thighs, upper arms, belly and my super deflated boobs (which I've lovingly started referring to as my Deflated pancake Boobs). LOL If sex with clothes on were a possibility I'd never leave the house Seriously though, Enjoying, have you gone to see your obgyn to get your hormone levels tested and maybe discuss what's going on? Perhaps there's a prescription whether oral or topical that can be prescribed? I'd recommend you go directly to your doctor (do not pass go do not collect $200) to get to the bottom of this. Skinny sex is one of the perks of VSG!! BTW, FluffyLibra, I had to lol at your "liftable" comment. A couple of months ago, my husband lifted me. Needless to say I wasn't expecting him to try. He scared the you know what out of me! I clung & dug in like a freaked out cat or monkey while screeching in his ear. I've never been lifted before LOL Word of warning? Make sure he tells you before he does it so you can be prepared.

I used to love regular cokes. Before my surgery I was a dr pepper addict. What changed *my* mind is the amount of CARBS in it. It's so high on the carb chain that it's a complete waste. I will still steal a baby sip out of my husbands cup once in a blue moon but that's the extent of my relationship with "real coke". I still drink cokes but it's VERY few and far between. They're either Diet or Zero. I buy the teensy 8 ounce cans and pour it over ice. That tends to kill the super carbonation you'd get from drinking straight out of the can or bottle. I may not even finish my drink before giving it to dh to finish. I drink a coke maybe once a week IF that but more often than not I'll go a couple of weeks without. I have had the same 12 pack of diet drinks in my pantry for like 3 months now. Sometimes the only person making a dent in them is my brother in law. I also didn't have my first diet or zero coke until my doctor cleared me for red meat (like steak) and alcohol. I guess that was at the 4 or 5 month mark? Believe me, I don't really ENJOY the diet drinks so perhaps that's why I'm able to have such will power over them? I prefer the real deal however... I'm enjoying the hell out of being thin better than 30 minutes of drinking a Dr Pepper.

Is it just 100% straight up shea butter? My mother in law makes soap/body products so she's got a ton of this stuff at her house and I can go forage. I've also read MSM is good for the elasticity of skin and that argon oil is like the holy grail for beauty (hair, skin, etc).

1/25/11 & 133 down

I started at a tight 28 back in January. I'm a 14 now. My goal is about a 10 or medium. I've barely shopped. All of my 3x (or larger) tshirts got culled out of my closet and folded for night shirts. I work from home so I was able to run around the house in my night shirts and be ok. I think I bought a pair at 22 and a friend donated a bunch when I hit 20. I bought a pair at 16 that I'm still wearing. I've bought one or 2 tops here & there and of course 3 packs of bras/multi packs of underwear at WalMart. HOWEVER... man I've been looking at clothes non-stop since about March!! LOL Since I'm kind of close to my goal size, I ordered quite a bit of stuff yesterday. A LOT! I bought some sweatpants in a large (I figure once I hit a medium, 1 size too big won't be too terrible), some sweaters in an XL (again not too shabby.. I can continue to wear them for comfort), shoes, bras/underwear, pretty much everything since I was starting from scratch. I didn't go nuts on bras/underwear because I know I'm going to shrink out of those before long. I tried to keep the mindset of only getting stuff that I can continue to wear without too big of a problem. I think the only things that'll be a problem (shrinking out of) will be the 2 pairs of jeans and 1 pair of cords. Ya... I'm looking forward to next week when everything comes in and I won't be looking like a bag lady

This is exactly what we do. I won't even glance at the appetizer menu because it's usually all junk. The same goes for the kids menu in most cases. I'll order what I'm going to order and box up the rest. We did this when we went to Houston for my brother in law's wedding a couple months ago. We had an ice chest that we constantly kept filling up with ice at the hotel. I had packed some items like Protein Bars, tuna salad, cheese sticks etc since the "free hotel breakfast" is usually a Carbonalia of Sin. When we went out to eat I boxed up most of my food and brought it back with me. If your room has a mini fridge even better but if not, the vigilant icing and reicing of your ice chest works just as well.

I worked out the recipe for the starbucks coffee tonight. It's as follows: Everything in a blender - 1 cup milk (we buy a milk alternative that's real milk - not soy or whatever and it's lower carb with 12g Protein per 8oz... i had 3/4c 2% left over so i had to top it off with fat free) 1 tbs pumpkin 1/2 tbs light brown sugar (it was a minimal amount so i used real rather than the splenda brown sugar) 1 tbs vanilla extract 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/8 tsp clove 1/8 tsp nutmeg 2 cups fresh brewed coffee **I also added 1 scoop unflavored Isopure this makes 2 good sized servings. here are the stats when i entered it into myfitnesspal (it'll vary depending on your milk/protein powder) 150 calories/9 carbs/2 fat/20 protein/9 sugar/1 Fiber My husband drank the rest and added ice and sugar to his. I needed a packet of equal in mine. I know the starbucks isn't very sweet and the 1 packet put it about on par with that.

LOL Wow! You're only a few months in too. I couldn't watch tv for probably the first 2 or 3 months after getting sleeved. I would get so so angry at all the food commercials every other commercial. It caused the two meltdowns that I did have. Oh! And OilSooner... I had my parents pick me up a case of Smart Water at Sam's. I remember in the very beginning I felt so thirsty but I couldn't get very much in so the smart water really helped me out there. If your grocery store has half calorie/half sugar gatorade get some of that as well. It's 7g carbs for 8 ounces. I did drink that in the very beginning too and I still do on occasion. HEB has a store brand generic so that's what I buy.

I packed too much too. All I needed was the tv that was in my room. I ended up laying there watching a Top Chef marathon (oh the irony) and a Real Housewives marathon. I had my surgery in January so I had a long fleece zip up hoodie robe packed and that was all I needed. I didn't touch anything I took and I'm a real bookworm and normally can't resist reading. Did.not.want. I also bought too much Protein powder too. I wish I had started saving money beforehand for clothes I'd end up needing later on.

At going on 10 months out, it's about 50/50 for me. Some days I get a glimpse of myself and think "hey not bad" and some days I look at myself and groan. What's funny is I'm now at about the weight I was when I graduated high school and I was pretty hot back then. I don't know where the mental disconnect is coming from. Maybe it's that I don't feel "skinny" because of all this extra skin? Who knows. However, I *am* wanting to dress better and totally shunning my "Bag Lady Couture" I've been wearing for the last 10 years lol. All of my ginormous tee shirts don't ever see the light of day anymore. I've got a ton of tees from Disney World & Big Dogs that I really don't want to get rid of so needless to say I've got a drawer stuffed full of night shirts. I'm very self conscious about tight things around my stomach & arms so when I do make that rare shopping trip for this or that, I make sure everything fits but also scrutinize in the mirror to make sure I feel comfortable in it. You know, I think the more you get used to seeing yourself looking great in the mirror, the easier your head catches up. Like a couple of weeks ago. I went to Target and bought a new bra & shirt because dh & i were going out to eat and I wanted to look pretty. After I saw myself in the mirror and had a "Hey you look HOT!" moment with myself, that floated me the rest of the week as far as the feeling good and seeing myself as "thin". LOL It also helped that when I got to the restaurant and went to sit at the bar to wait for DH, the bartenders were falling over each other to come take my order. Do what you need to do for your own ego boosts. We've all earned them. :biggrin2:

I had 2 meltdowns within the first month of being sleeved. I sat at the table and just bawled. It was the whole diet/food/not chewing thing. I got over it pretty quickly both times and now I have 0 regrets. The first few months are rough but it's all worth it in the end especially when you have the positive feedback from the scale that you're losing weight like Alice down the rabbit hole.

Christina, the fact your husband seems to be supportive of your having the surgery already puts you at an advantage. There are a lot of heartbreaking posts here where the spouse is totally against it. My husband wasn't against the surgery itself because of what it would do, but because he was scared of something happening to me on the table. I can't fault him for that. He lost his dad on an emergency room table so I totally understand his feelings and connecting the two. My husband, even though we had a shaky start to this whole journey, has been wonderful. He's really enjoyed the "side effects" of what this surgery has done for me. I have more energy to pitch in with physical work, I've got my confidence back, sex is better, I'm happier.. etc! He says it's like he got his old Me back from even before we were dating. I haven't stopped cooking like I used to. In the beginning, I cooked a lot in the crock pot so he could have a meal that'd meet his needs and I wouldn't have to look at all this food. Throw it in the crock and be done with it. It saved my sanity. I tried to make things heavier on the Protein count and lower on the carb count but considering he's got a high physical activity job, I didn't make too much of a fuss. If I didn't want to eat what he was having, I'd have something else. Funny enough, he's dropped about 80 pounds as well since I got sleeved. Now we're both in the mindset of wanting to look good for each other and trying to accomplish that. Good luck on your surgery! January's a great time to get sleeved. I'll be 1 year out 1/25. I picked January so I'd have a whole year ahead of me to do what I needed without the pull of "holidays" lurking.

This couldn't be more true. PERFECT way to put it!

I'm 9 months and a few days out and 126 lbs down. I DO NOT regret it. I've had a couple of sad moments where I couldn't eat what I wanted at the time or the amount I wanted but whatever right? It passed quickly and I'm skinnier for it. I haven't had a sad moment since probably the 4th of July. The sleeve will work as long as you follow your program and most importantly ***embrace*** eating better with all your being. Having the sleeve makes the weight loss so much easier and we have SO much control over our bodies. That said, you need to let your brain rule and NOT allow yourself to slide back into bad habits which can be easy to do. The good news is it's a lot easier to take back the reigns if you have a bad few days. I haven't been the "Model Sleever" this week but now that we've gone grocery shopping and have some good choices for me it won't be too hard to get back on it. Good luck Debi. It's a hard first few months but let me tell ya.. the end result is SOOOO worth it!! Good for you on making this decision to take your life back. You'll be kicking yourself for not doing it years sooner.. I am

I'm very open too. I think the only person that doesn't know is one sister of mine who would be beyond underhanded & jealous. She's like that to begin with so this just doesn't need to be disclosed. I told the people I'm closest to and see on a regular basis. I just *told* them and answered whatever questions they had. The only casualty was someone I considered one of my best friends. Her jealous azz dropped off the face of the planet and we're no longer friends. She was jealous and couldn't handle the thought of me being smaller than her. Whatever. If anything, the surgery allowed me to see who my truly supportive good friends were. It kind of weeded out the bad you know? It sounds like I'm being off handed & flippant about losing that friendship but I'm really not. It took up until recently for me to accept it (I told her about my surgery last summer and I had it this January). Just be prepared for people not accepting what you're about to do and be prepared for some people to wig out. "I know someone who had that and died!!" LOL To quote someone I knew. Just take it in stride and do what you need to do.