MegInNOLA

Coops, I have to agree with the others--I think you're rocking that look! And I also think your sweater is a bit big. :-) Yay you!!

Yep, normal. Good for you that your team is fairly strict--you'll have good losses and a better long-term outlook! I agree with Foxbins that getting used to a new, healthy way of eating is really important. After a while, if everything goes as planned, your body will actually begin to crave that healthy food, and you won't miss the icky stuff. Best wishes to you, and keep us posted on your successes!

I used Dr. William K Ordoyne at St. Tammany Parish Hospital (my DH worked there, so we were on that insurance). I don't know what his cash cost is, but what a fine surgeon! He did my husband's sleeve in April 2010 and mine in April 2011. Without my mentioning him, my primary care recommended him and was happy to hear that I had already met Dr. O and knew his work (because of my husband's procedure). Good luck to all Louisiana sleevers!!

You can always check tickers like mine--I know I was always curious about how fast/how much people were losing, and I always appreciated seeing it in tickers. :-) I have to say I had no idea I would ever really get below 200--I'm 6'2", mind you, and had been well over 250 for 20+ years. It's pretty cool--I just put on a pair of size 12 pants--12!!--down from a 26/28, so yeah, it's still kind of mind-boggling. One interesting thing, though, is that I feel like this is "me." I never really felt comfortable in that fat suit--THIS is how I always sort of felt on the inside. The sleeve has really helped me match my outside to my inside. Best wishes on your losses!! You're in the honeymoon stage, so make the most of it!

Oh, wow, you look amazing! Congratulations on your loss!!

When I was on mushies, I got a cup of hot and sour soup to take home and added additional cubes of tofu--basically using the soup as a sauce to flavor the tofu. Ate off of that for a few meals and LOVED it. That sort of sounds good now, too, come to think of it...

Thanks--- I really only get it when I work hard physically, so most of the time, it's not a problem. I will definitely keep everyone posted as to what we discover. It's frustrating but I'm sure we'll get it figured out. :-)

Congratulations! You're really rocking it! Thanks for posting such an inspirational post!

1. Deviled eggs, if your sleeve likes eggs. 2. Cucumber slices (instead of crackers) with chicken salad, hummus, or tuna salad for dipping. 3. Chili!! 4. Roasted nuts--just take some nuts, a little olive oil, whatever herbs or spices sound good, mix, and put on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven until they're lightly toasted--watch carefully, as they can burn. 5. Mozzarella and cherry tomato skewers with pesto to dip. 6. If your local store carries "Beanitos," some of those with bean dip or cheese dip or other high-protein dip. 7. Veggie sticks with ranch-style Greek yogurt dip. 8. Cold shrimp with cocktail or remoulade sauce--yum!

I'm something really, really cheesy.... LOL!!!

Thanks, all, for the support and concern regarding the shortness of breath. :-) I'm fine--it only kicks in when I'm working hard physically. And I have some albuterol, but it doesn't really cut it. I'll definitely keep everyone posted, especially if it's some kind of post-surgical thing--it didn't start happening until I had the surgery, so.... I've had a chest x-ray that didn't show any sort of abnormality, but my insurance declined a physician-requested CT scan (don't get me started). So now we have to go through more hoops in order to demonstrate medical necessity for that test. Meanwhile, I think I'm eligible for the cardiopulmonary stress test, where I will ride a recumbent bike until the symptoms kick in--I'll be wired for both cardiac and pulmonary function during the test, so they'll be able to tell exactly what's happening when I begin to feel the symptoms--which is what I've been asking for from the beginning, but the "standard practice" doesn't do things that way.... Anyway, all's well today, and I know what to do when I get the symptoms. It's just frustrating and kind of hurts, and more than that, it keeps me from doing the stuff I want to do (I'm curbing my physical exertion during rehearsal, and exercise is out!). I'll keep y'all posted. Meanwhile, sounds like y'all are doing great--but WHO IN THE WORLD invented cinnamon M&M's??? As if regular and peanut ones weren't addictive enough!!!

My husband and I are both sleevers. We find it easiest to "cook" not-cooked meals--let me explain. We get ingredients at the store that we can combine into meals that suit us without a lot of preparation. For instance, rotisserie chicken, salad greens, prepared hummus, cheese, fruit, cooked shrimp, tomatoes and salad dressing, etc. We keep these in the fridge and each of us can get what we feel like having, and there's minimal cooking (sometimes I nuke some soup or some Beans or melt some cheese on top of something in the toaster oven) involved. You don't have to be a great cook--especially if you're not cooking for a family! Today for lunch I sliced up a 1/3 of a cucumber and dipped it in some hummus. YUM, and no cooking involved.

Globetrotter, nice to "meet" you, and I'm wondering something that probably sounds pretty stupid--do you think all your exercise--and you do a ton of it--has really developed your muscle tone to the point that you're always going to be heavy for your height? I mean weight-wise--not fat-wise. For instance, Diva exercises like a fiend. She's a size 0-2. But she's fairly heavy for her size. I am SO DEFINITELY not meaning that in any way other than she's just totally in shape and muscled from lots of physical activity---muscle weighs a lot. So, Globe, like Diva, are you basically in shape but just the weight picture is not quite aligned? (I think this is part of Coops' issue, too!) Y'all exercise like crazy people, in a great way, and I'm totally jealous and envious of your fitness, but I think maybe the scale is where it is because you're building muscle or have built muscle. Does that make sense? Now, if your measurements aren't changing, either, that's something else. But I wonder if you've been dropping sizes--I know Coops has, and Diva--and if so, I'm going to be bold and suggest that you might not ever hit "goal," because your body is just going to be muscular and strong and is going to be heavy for your height. What do you think? I'm just trying to problem solve here. I know y'all are compliant with your diets and you definitely exercise a lot, so I'm trying to figure out what the deal might be. :-)

Wow, Amanda! Congratulations on your awesome achievement!! I'm in awe!!

Y'all just hang in there and keep doing what you know you should be doing--water, protein, walking! I posted back at my 3rd week that I just knew I was going to be the one person this surgery didn't work for, and----I was WRONG. I think you're going to be very pleased with your results--just keep doing what you know to do and try to be kind to yourself during this MOST frustrating time.

I think it depends on your sleeve. I still get pain when I eat something my sleeve doesn't like or when I eat too fast (which I JUST did, dangit!). When I eat too fast, I don't chew well, and that's the problem tonight. Pain may be a signal that your body isn't ready for whatever food you just put in there. Maybe back off to something like yogurt or cottage cheese, or whatever "friendly" food you were able to tolerate before you put the painful food in there. Try the formerly painful food again in a couple of weeks and see if you can tolerate it now. Most of the time, food that upsets your sleeve early in the process gets to be tolerated as your sleeve heals. Hang in there! Be sure you're taking your acid reducer, eat slowly, small bites, and chew like a fiend. It does get much better!!

Thanks, everyone, for your concern (here and with private messages). It's something that started post-op, and I haven't read about anybody else on the forum experiencing it, so I don't know if it's tied to the surgery or not. It's a strange sense of shortness of breath with exertion. I thought at first it was exercise-induced asthma (I had asthma as a child), but I don't have any coughing. Now it seems I have "air trapping" (?) but the cause of that is what's unclear. There might be slight damage to my diaphragm that causes me not to be able to push enough air out of the lungs on exhale, and that makes sense to me because I can't cough as forcefully as I used to--in which case, I'm not sure what's next. It might be that there's some sort of process happening in the small air tubes that is blocking the free flow of air... in either case, we're going to get to the bottom of it. Most of the time, I don't have any problems at all, but I'm a conductor/singer, and that deep, regular breathing and physical exertion really kicks it in. Rehearsals are pretty high-energy times, and it's not good to feel crummy at those points! Swizzly, I'm living in my EB boyfriends now--when I'm not teaching, that's what I have on; they are the most comfortable things I have ever worn. I am THRILLED that they say "12"--and I know 12 is where a lot of petite girls start out pre-surgery, but for me, that's a huge accomplishment. My pre-surgery goal was 16 (so I could shop at "regular" stores), but I'm thinking at my current rate of loss, I might be in a comfortable 10 by summer. I'm not going to worry about it--it's not like I'm doing anything particularly special to keep losing; I'm just eating what I can eat and living, and what's going to happen is going to happen. :-) That's why I love my sleeve.....

Thanks so much for this post!! You look amazing--congratulations on your achievement!! I'm really starting to wonder where I'm going to end up size-wise--I, too, have a "cranky" sleeve--LOVE that term for it, BTW--and I don't work out regularly. You are a lot younger than I, but you look like everything's bounced back just wonderfully. You give me hope! :-) Keep us posted, please! Would love to keep up with where you are and how things are going!

So sorry all this is going on! hang in there. The food commercials were really, really vivid when I was first sleeved--that will fade, I promise. Now I don't think about them--I barely notice them. Hope you're feeling better fast!

I just got a pair of size 12 Eddie Bauer jeans--they're "boyfriend" cut, so they're sort of relaxed, but they're size 12's!!!!! This is a BIG DEAL to me, the former size 26/28. I wore size 12 in high school. On the down side, I know they're not a "true" size 12--I was in Old Navy today and tried on a pair of size 12's there, and they didn't even get up around my hips. I have a pair of "skinny" jeans, too, size 14, and they fit beautifully, but I'm really, really determined to get to those size 12's on a regular basis. Exercise is not happening here other than work--my shortness of breath issue is kicking up something fierce. My next pulmonology appointment is in two weeks, and hopefully at that point we'll be able to schedule the cardiopulmonary exercise stress test to find out the reason behind the shortness of breath. So then we'll see what's possible from a cardio perspective.

Congratulations on your great results so far! Keep on rocking that sleeve!!

Yeah... it's a double-edged whammy--you feel bad and can't take the medicine, and you don't take the medicine and you feel bad. Ick! So sorry you're having trouble. Definitely call your doc and see if there's another type of medication that you might use. There are lots of different types of PPIs and antinausea meds, so you should be able to find something that will help you. I could never tolerate the Protein drinks, either. Focus on getting in your water--sips of Water, Gatorade, whatever will stay down. Once you can tolerate the Clear liquids, it will be so much easier to get your protein with full liquids (milk, yogurt, etc.). Hang in there, sweetie, it gets better pretty fast. You're in the worst phase now. We're all pulling for you.

This is such a great post to open this type of forum! Thanks for starting it. I agree with the premise that I alone am responsible for whatever situation I find myself in--yes, outside influences make it easy for me to shift attention, time, energy, whatever, away from doing what I know I need to do, but that doesn't mean they're the "reason" for my doing something else. I choose to do it. Period. I choose to do whatever it is that I do. I'm going to make my own list of behaviors that I know I shouldn't do (or should do!) and make the same sort of "excuse" list that you did--I can see where that would be extremely helpful in combating those "at the time" decisions that subsequently turn out to be bad ones. I'm looking forward to reading more!

Wow, I have a long list of stuff my sleeve can't tolerate: beef (I can eat an occasional bite or two of hamburger meat all chopped up, like taco meat), pork roast, turkey, chicken (can eat if it's blended in soup), eggs (ate one in December but can't any more), fried food, bread, sweets, Pasta, raw onion, raw broccoli, pepperoni, tuna, Cereal (can eat a few bites of grits, though), anything too sweet, applesauce, Protein shakes. I could go on, but you get the gist. He's a picky brat, my sleeve. Post-sleeve, I eat salad, cheese and "water" crackers, nuts, milk in my iced coffee, Beans, Soup, yogurt, shrimp, Wendy's chili (if I "eat around" most of the hamburger meat), sushi (the kind with the fake "crab" meat, and I take off most of the rice). Something strange is before I was sleeved, I hated olives--now I eat them almost daily on a Greek-style salad with feta cheese and tomato--YUM. I also eat (and love) tortilla chips and spinach, bean, or cheese dip, which I eat as a meal--about 5 or 6 chips and I'm done. This is VERY different from pre-sleeve, when I ate a lot of meat, fried food, BREAD and other baked goods, and so forth. I miss some of the flavors of my previous foods, but not enough to be sick after trying to eat them. No, thank you. I'm pretty pleased with the way the lighter, more healthy foods feel in my sleeve, and I don't even like the smell of most heavier food any more--I get a frozen yogurt at a place next to a Five Guys burger joint, and I have to sort of not breathe through my nose too much in the parking lot or the smell of the cooking meat makes me feel queasy; this is polar opposite to the pre-sleeve me.

Congratulations, Tracy! Sounds like everything is going great for you. Best wishes on your continued "losses"!