Amanda 3.0

You are only three weeks out so I am worried by your post. As you know, we all have different recovery processes, what does your surgeon allow? I was on full liquids for five weeks so I would be frightened to eat pizza at week three. Are you sure you are okay? No one is perfect, that's for sure, but if you are addicted to eating (and only you can make that designation), perhaps you could go to individual counseling or attend a group meeting. This surgery is not fool-proof. Eat certain things and you can eat all day and actually gain weight. Eat certain things too soon and you can get hurt. Head hunger is the worst thing ever. I still feel it almost seven months out but not as bad as before surgery. I hope you are okay. Just try to stay within your surgeon's guidelines if you can, and if you can't, ask your surgeon's office for advice on what to do.

The little icon by your name is still green - are you still up? I think back to that day and I was so scared but I put it out of my mind for the days leading up to my surgery. When I got to the hospital it hit me and I was so scared! I had so many thoughts, good and bad, as well. But, it was the best thing I have done in a long time. I hope it is the same for you. Please check in as soon as you can. If you get too worried before surgery, you can probably ask for some valium. I was given some when my surgery was delayed for several hours. Check in! So excited for you!

Oooh! Are you scared or excited? Both?

Have you all decided to make the group for June 2012 sleevers or for anyone in DFW?

I had a lot of shoulder pain, not incision pain. It lasted weeks, and while I would lay down for a while from time to time, it didn't stop me completely. While I can't weigh in on taking care of the kids as my stepdaughter is older (can your 11 year old help you?), I can say that I was totally NOT interested in cooking for my family. I had made (and frozen) all sorts of food for my liquid stage but what I should have done was cooked and frozen some meals for my family. I didn't expect to lose all interest in even preparing food, but it happened. I think you are a wise woman for putting so much thought into this ahead of time. I am sure you will do great.

Hopefully, moving the dose around will work for you. Also, there are a few different doses, maybe experiment with a little more than half of what you are taking now. I took my dose about an hour before lunch because I don't have an appetite in the morning. Thanks for the congrats! My weight has been stalled for a while, but my size has been dropping. Go figure! My doctor told me that is the way it works. I am donating so many clothes to charity these days because they just don't fit.

No advice on the stool sample, as I didn't have to do that (hooray)! I did take some Phentermine/Adipex and I had the jitters but not too bad. Taking the lesser amount did not help curb my appetite. I would just take the least amount that you can but still helps. If you have less desire to eat in the morning (my situation) can you take a half pill later in the day and still suppress your appetite through the rest of the day? Good luck with getting that straightened out. Phentermine/Adipex did not help me before I started the road to surgery, but it did help when coupled with my strong desire to complete my pre-op requirements.

Until you have your own message board, you don't call the shots. You might want to step back from the computer for a while if simple advice from those with more experience comes across to you as "tough love" and you are reduced to childish name calling.

What you may also want to consider, is that some people would have considered the answers that you found so insulting to be tremendously supportive. I found them to be extremely supportive and those people were very generous in devoting their time and energy to supporting you. Unfortunately they have no idea what your reaction is going to be when they answer. You are always free to ignore their responses. You may wish to review your initial post: People replied to that post. Yes, you added more details later, but your initial post made it sound like you might just disregard the entire two week diet and those responses make perfect logic to such a question.

I truly believe, when I read stories of our obese friends not being supportive of the surgery, that it is due to either their fear of losing their fat buddy, or being left behind. Just don't talk about the surgery with her and surround yourself with supportive people, and see how it goes. You may lose the friendship over this, but if so, let it be on her. Also, if this happens, let her come back around if she tries.

I am sorry I missed this post until now. We would have loved to have met up with some people. When is your next gathering?

Vent away here, because we totally get it! But you can still get the sleeve and deal with your husband and stepkids. I had second thoughts about the surgery all the way into the operating room, and I even tried to escape from pre-op (lol - thank you valium) but this is the best thing I have ever done for myself. I still have to deal with what my husband and teen stepdaughter want to eat, but my own situation is under control. Maybe I am wrong, but if a plant based diet is the answer, it would have worked by now? Just like all my best intentions of dieting and working out. Life after sleeve is pretty awesome, in my opinion. But this is a great place to vent.

This is great, Amy. I would love to incorporate bean powder. Thank you for the idea. I am also a fan of oatmeal. Earlier this week, I made a loaf of tomato basil bread in my bread maker for my husband (I am not eating bread at this time, six months out), and I used low sodium V-8 instead of Water in the recipe, and he just loved it. Vegetable juice is a great substitution, and the low sodium V-8 is a great source of potassium. Again, thanks!

You look lovely, and HAPPY. Congratulations!

I am sure I have had the "Flatbread Crisps" but I don't recall where I got them. Do you not find Cheez-Its to be a slider? I am trying to steer towards the whole grain crackers, and I really want to make my own. I need to google that. I have a Pasta maker that would probably be better used making cracker dough.

Some people have also transferred their food addiction to gambling. Unless we truly work out in our heads what is making us medicate with food, which I don't know if I personally will ever be able to do completely, I don't think we can say we are out of the woods as far as transfer addictions. I do drink, but I have to be very careful. It does hit fast.

I don't buy the Triscuits anymore. My husband will eat the whole box in one sitting as a snack. And he is a mostly "normal" sized guy. He is seeing the error of his ways lately, though. So he says! lol

Five weeks post surgery, I was allowed to try adding a cracker to my Soup. I was so excited for that cracker. Best saltine EVER! lol I put it in my tomato soup and let it soften, and it went down fine.

It is my understanding that the lower numbers cause one to gain weight. Mine was always low and so I was on 100mcg of synthroid. Now that I am down in weight I have had to lower the dosage. When adjusting the dosage, I had to take the new dose for six weeks before a new blood test. I hope you aren't delayed from your surgery by that much time.

I have seen Dr. Kracker at several stores. The store I shop at most of the time stocks them in the in-store bakery section, but one would think they would be near the crackers. They aren't, in my regular store anyway. I eat the Doctor Kracker cracker plain, dry. I don't know what one would put on top. So for me, they are a lunch in themselves. Maybe with some tomato Soup, they would go well. I like the Wasa multigrain but they definitely need a little something with them, like some turkey and a Laughing Cow wedge. I got some rosemary crackers at costco last week. They have the most satisfying light sprinkling of sea salt, in addition to the rosemary. A Laughing Cow is optional on those, but again, just one cracker is lunch.

I don't crave the sweets anymore either, but I still love looking at pictures of Desserts on cooking sites. It's food porn! At least the pictures don't have calories!

You are part of the club most of us belonged to and some still do. Every one of your concerns has been a concern of mine. Add the fear of someone deciding, after I get to the airport, that I need to buy another seat on the flight (this has not happened to me but I saw it on a TV show). Add the first thought of my day being, before I even get out of bed, "another day of being fat". This is a serious surgery and so it is perfectly healthy to have reservations. This is, seriously, the best thing I have done for myself. It might be for you too. If this is what it takes for you to lose the weight, then get off the fence. If you are taking care of grandchildren, you are probably old enough to have been suffering for a long while. I tried and tried to do it on my own, and one day I gave up and said "I need help, I cannot do it alone." As for taking care of your grandkids, how old are they? Maybe they can help take care of you, if they aren't too little. They might just love that.

Report it using the "report" link in the bottom of every post. That is spam and hopefully the mods will delete it and warn the poster.

I was just coming here to post about my new love of crackers, and I saw this thread. I love, LOVE, a nice cracker. I am hooked on the Doctor Kracker pumpkin seed cheddar "crispbreads". I try to have one for lunch. Just one fills me up and they are so crunchy. They are big, >4" x 3". 5g Protein, 100 calories, 4g Fiber. OMG, the crunch. I am not trying to advertise them, in fact I am looking for a recipe to make them myself. They are kind of pricy, but would be even more expensive if my family found out how good they are. They would eat a whole box in a day or two. For me, they last at least a week. I think they are safe from my husband for now, as the picture on the box shows the pumpkin seeds on top, and he is probably frightened of those. lol

Mine didn't do that, they stayed pretty clean, but these are the deepest incisions I have ever had and they do take a while to heal. What I did want to add is that it is a great idea to call and ask if you can text/email a picture to the doctor's office. I had a suspicion about an incision after my breast reduction, and my husband texted the photo to the surgeon on a Saturday after talking with him. Some doctors are open to a little modern technology, which is refreshing.