Lissa

It's tougher than you're thinking right this second, but you do need to be gentle with it. Sip, sip, sip, so that you aren't filling it super full with every drink. When you eat, even soft foods, don't eat till you are uncomfortable. My Nut gave me a scale and I used it religiously. When I'd eaten my 2 or 3 oz, I stopped. Usually I stopped before I got there because Rex wouldn't hold that much. Try not to cram your sleeve full. It's not "easy" to cause a leak, but it is very swollen and sensitive. My goal was to not make my sleeve work too hard. As you go through the stages, you'll be able to better tell when you're full. Right now, though, just concentrate on things that are very easy and don't place strain on your sleevie. Good luck!!

You're that much closer!! Good luck to you! I know you can't wait!!

You look terrific!! Great Job and keep going!! You're rocking that sleeve!!

Yay!! You do look great!! :

I've lost over 60 pounds, but most people aren't commenting yet. I think that people who don't see us all that often really don't see the difference until the results start getting really dramatic. The folks who see me once or twice a month usually notice the difference immediately, but those who see me every day don't really notice and those who seldom see me don't really notice YET. Also, since these people are family, there may be other issues at work. They may have noticed the loss, but don't want to say anything because it might jinx you on losing more. Or they are jealous and don't want to say anything because of that. You just keep rocking your sleeve, girl, and don't let them affect your mood. You are doing a terrific job and the best revenge is when you make goal, and then maintain that goal. YOU get the better health. YOU get the satisfaction of making it to goal and YOU are the only one who counts! Good luck and keep your chin up!!

broth - I buy the Swanson (blue and white box) brand, low sodium. I buy both chicken and beef and I use it in other cooking besides just for drinking broth. I like that it's in a box and I can use a little or a lot, too. It keeps well in the fridge. Soups-I like Campbells soup for bean with bacon, but I'm not super particular about the brands on other Soups. Look for low sodium versions if you can, but I don't think the bean with bacon comes in low sodium. You don't eat seafood, or can't? If you can handle it, tuna is pretty good, esp mixed with a little mayo for mushies. There are also cans of chicken, roast beef, ham, etc, which are all very soft and could be easily mushed up for the mushie stage. I admit I pureed some dinty moore beef stew during mushies, and I also pureed some Wendy's chili. Something else I should have mentioned, try to find some small plastic ware containers for freezing/storing small portions. I could only eat a couple of ounces at a time for most of the above items. Freezer safe sandwich bags will work too. I found some small containers at Goodwill and at walmart. I also liked having a tiny bowl and small plate for my meals. I've always been the kind of person who prefers having a real plate and silverware to eat with, so these items made me feel more normal. And, thank you for the compliment. I am just trying to give support back. So many people answered all my crazy questions, and still do, that I think it's important to help others if I can. Good luck!! I'm saving you a seat!!

Oh, (((Want2BHealthy))) I so feel your pain! It's tough the first few days after surgery. Concentrate on getting your liquids in and then worry about your Protein. The Water is so important immediately post-op! I have a checkered medical history as well, although no heart attack or car wreck so far. :::crossing fingers:::: I had DVTs and two pulmonary emboli, along with pneumonia, then I had the Come to Jesus talk with the doctors. It was have surgery or die. Obviously, I had surgery! Soon you'll be feeling much better and not long after that you'll be back on solid food and you won't even remember how uncomfortable you are right now. It will happen...and when the weight starts dropping off, you'll be THRILLED. Good luck with your journey!!

I like Christin's response. My hubby actually told me that I'd lose weight if I'd "just eat less". I told him that he doesn't have a say. My other friends and family have been very supportive, but I do feel somewhat like I'm under a microscope. The ladies in my family are all "voluptuous". My Granny used to call us her "Mack Truck Girls", cause we're all big and loud. So, my cousins and aunts are watching my results to see if they want to do WLS too. A couple of people have told me the horror stories, and I've seen one with my own eyes. My best friend's sister in law had WLS several years ago and, since she's non compliant with diet and exercise, ends up in the hospital about every 3 months with malnutrition and dehyrdration. Of course, we've all seen the horror stories of people who didn't have WLS and died from complications of obesity. You just never hear of people telling those stories to us when we're gaining our weight. If I do get a negative response, I just reply with something along the lines of "It was surgery or die for me". That shuts most of them up, and those who persist are definitely not the people I want to depend on for support. They are NOT on my cheerleading squad like the people I find here always are!!

Leslie, I couldn't tell at first either. I kept getting shoulder pain and I was walking to ease that. I carried my bottle of Water with me one afternoon and was taking sips as I went. After a few minutes, I realized that I would stop and sip every time my shoulder quit hurting...and then my shoulder would start hurting again. I was assuming it was gas pain, but when I slowed down a little on the drinking, my shoulder quit hurting. So my early post-op full signal was shoulder pain. Once I graduated to solids, I learned very quickly what full feels like. And it's NOT comfortable for me. I try to always stop before I get to full. Full means that I am going to be uncomfortable for several hours after I eat, so I try to under fill myself. Trust me, you WILL know when you get to full!

Make sure you have some Protein powder if you're allowed shakes immediately post-op. Have Water, milk and other mixers for the powder. I bought some baby food pureed meat, and it's still sitting in my cabinet. broth was my salvation during the Clear liquids stage, and I used more of it during mushies if I needed to puree up some kind of meat. For mushies, I bought a few different kinds of soup: tomato, chicken noodle, potato and bean with bacon. I pureed the ones with actual chunky stuff in them and it was pretty good. I found out quickly that I am lactose intolerant, so cottage cheese and yogurt weren't on my list. I can eat yogurt again now, but still can't handle straight milk. Now that I'm back on solids, I eat a lot of the mini babybel light cheese rounds, cheddar cheese sticks and some crackers/peanut butter. I keep almonds to snack on (crunchy and salty, yum!). And, I've discovered that I LOVE rotisserie chicken, the lemon pepper flavor. A few bites of that and I feel like I've had a big meal. Also, if you have some freezer space, a bag of frozen shrimp is good. I can make a meal out of 5 or 6 of them with a little cocktail sauce. One thing I wish I'd done was to keep more condiments on hand, and I do it now. I have an extra ketchup, mustard, horseradish and cocktail sauce in the pantry. I do know how to make my own cocktail sauce, but I found one I really like. I don't keep lemon juice or OJ in the house because citrus and I aren't friends right now. That's sad because this is the best time of year for fresh citrus in Florida! My grandparents used to own a fruit stand and I can remember eating several varieties of oranges until I was stuffed around Christmastime each year! I'm hoping that citrus will be back in my rotation after I hit six months or so.... at least by next December. Most importantly, don't over buy your food. NONE of the above may sound good to you after surgery. I adored spicy food pre-op, and can't eat it yet post-op. Rex rejects it every time, even if I try to sneak in just one little bite of jalopeno. Good luck with your journey!!

(((Miters))) I'm so sorry for your loss! You have done an amazing job with your weight loss and it shows. For now, just concentrate on your basics and on healing the mental and physical aches. Once those are somewhat better, then you can concentrate on your weight loss. I know you'll never get over it, and I share your pain. Sending good thoughts and prayers your way.

Awesome progress!! You look so much healthier and happier!!

I think I'm going to end up in that 36long size too! LOL I was a solid 44D before and I've resorted to some good sports bras for now rather than buying "good" bras at each size as I go down. I have been working my arm, shoulder and back muscles to try to keep the support the girls need and hopefully end up with firmer muscles there. Kimmmmm said something about feeling weak in the knees. My nurse friend (who lost about 80 pounds a few years back through diet and exercise) says that the week kneed feeling is because we are losing weight so quickly that it takes our brain a while to adjust our center of balance. I have bruised my shoulders because I will misjudge the area I need to go around a corner and run into the wall. I definitely won't be wearing heels for awhile!

I like either ribs and veggie or chicken and broccoli. For the ribs and veg, I eat at Sonny's and have their sweet and smoky ribs, yummy! I can eat 2 or 3 small ribs and about half the veggie. Chicken is my preferred protein otherwise, especially if it's a rotisserie lemon pepper chicken! I can buy one on Monday and still be pulling meat off it on Friday. I just bought some single serve broc w/cheese and I'll heat up 1/4 of the single serve cup wiht my chicken. Yummy meal.

I like almonds as well. Sam's sells a huge bag of them for about $9. Amazon also has some cheese chips that are crunchy. I'm not sure what the brand is, but they are in a yellow bag. Search for cheese chips on the site and you'll find them. I also like baked cheetos sometimes for the crunchy stuff. Ritz also makes a mini cracker which is pretty good with Peanut Butter on it. I can only eat a couple of them, but they satisfy the need for crunch for me. I also eat pickles sometimes for the same reason.

The ONLY requirements I've been told to follow are to get 70g of Protein per day and 64 oz of Water. My doc and nut did not give me a calorie, carbohydrate, or any other goal to reach. Protein and Water. That's it. You're doing an awesome job anyway and will be so far ahead of the game when you get sleeved!!!

Cris, I'm at 22/12 and it took that high a setting to get me to REM. My doc tells me that he'll take me off the bi-pap when I hit 280, which will be 20% of my body weight lost. Good luck to you!!

I swear you are all talking a foreign language. So, how do I order a decaf coffee with vanilla flavoring, no dairy and added protein? I can drink a large McD decaf in about an hour, so I'd want a large. The extra protein sounds great!!

Caffeine might stretch the pouch of GB patients, but I've never heard that before. Now, I have heard/read that carbonation can stretch our sleeves, but I don't know if that's true either. Either way, my surgeon says yes to caffeine if we want it and no to carbonation. I've also heard that artificial sweeteners can increase the hungry feelings because they are so sweet. I haven't had that problem either, but it might be something to keep in mind. I drink decaf coffee and tea regularly and even decaf diet coke sometimes. I also like the carbonated flavored waters that Walmart sells, but I try not to drink huge amounts of it daily. Carbonated drinks definitely give me the burps. I haven't noticed increased hunger from any of the above items.

As soon as possible. Smoking can also affect how well one goes through surgery and your lung capacity for oxygen afterwards. Surgery makes us more prone to pneumonia in the early post-op stages. Smoking increases that risk.

Two pieces of good news about sleep apnea: 1. It's a major co-morbidity, so it should help get insurance approval for you. 2. Many people have a total reversal of sleep apnea at 20% of their body weight lost, so you won't have to use the machine for long. I have/had major sleep apnea. I had 1,000 (one thousand) events per hour when diagnosed. I am using a bi-pap and started two weeks before surgery. If you do have to use a machine, make sure to take it in pre-surgery (like a week before) and have it cleared by the engineering dept at the hospital for you to use after surgery. Otherwise, they'll make you use your mask hooked up to their oxygen machine which acts like a c-pap (continuous pressure) rather than a bi-pap (alternating lower pressure when you exhale and can be set so it starts out at a low pressure until you're asleep and then builds up to higher pressure over 1/2 an hour or so). If you run into problems when you start using the bi-pap, which is what I hope they'll give you, let me know and I'll be happy to help you find ways to adjust to the machine. A good friend helped me get past my clausterphobia with the mask and I'm always willing to pass the info along! Good luck on your journey!!

I have to admit that I sometimes think that people are too skinny to be having surgery. But, I'd never say that to anyone. I met a gal who weighed around 180 but needed to "lose 30 pounds" and she was talking about having VSG. I was surprised because it just seemed like an extreme solution to a fairly small problem. I know, pot and kettle. Anyway, I had to remind myself not to say anything to her and let her work it out with her doctor. But, I was really thinking that she only weighs 10 pounds over my goal weight!!! Oh, and as for clothes, I am the biggest gal I know, so no one is offering me clothes. I have one girlfriend who is close to my size and I keep offering her clothes with the caveat that she does NOT have to take them if they are too big for her. So far, she has taken all I've offered her, but before long I don't think any of mine will fit her. She's having thyroid issues and can't afford surgery so she's gaining a bit. I know she's trying really hard not to, though. She's getting married in March (and I'm officiating, YAY) so she wants to be able to wear the wedding dress she already chose. Anyway, the others are right. Those who matter will say nice things to you for the most part. Those who don't say nice things need to not matter, IMO. I'd probably let it slide for the first comment or two, but I guarantee you I'd have a comeback after that...and it would probably be something along the lines of: :::haughty look:::: "Did you REALLY intend to say what you just said?" Or, as Miss Manners would do, give the person a shocked look and say "That's not any of your business!" Good luck with the co-workers. Stories like that make me glad I am self-employed. There may be days I hate my co-workers, but I have to live with me, myself, and I, so I have to find a way to get along with all 3 of us!

::::::::::Sliding over:::::::::::::::: Here ya go!! Glad to hear that things went well!!

I haven't noticed that tea or coffee affect my appetite. What I have noticed is that when I drink caffeine laden beverages I have darker urine and I read somewhere that caffeine affects Water absorption. My surgeon's booklet does say that we can have caffeine after a few weeks, but we still need to get in our water. If I drink decaf tea and coffee, I count it as part of my water for the day. If I drink caffeinated (sp?) drinks, I don't count them as water. Is that as clear as mud? HTH

You've lost 22 pounds since surgery! That's great!! I was sleeved August 30 and have lost 62 pounds. Actually, I lost 13 pounds pre-op and I've lost 49 pounds since surgery, which is 3 months and 1 week, or an average of 4 pounds a week. I have 170-180 pounds to lose total, so I understand wanting to see it drop off quickly. But, I'm thrilled with what I have lost and trying to be patient for the rest of it. At least I KNOW I can get to goal if I keep doing what I'm supposed to do. Good luck! You're doing great!!