Lissa

Most hospital cafeterias offer some version of soup. If you're on soft solids, perhaps you could have grilled chicken or a small piece of fish.

Thanks! I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. But, I'll get there! I've never been shy, as EVERYONE on VST can attest to! LOL

I posted earlier about a dumping episode I had last week. Until I read this thread, gallbladder hadn't even crossed my mind. I have appt with my doctor tomorrow to find out if it's gallbladder pain. I'm so glad you posted about it!!!

Welcome to VST! I agree that you need to move forward with your diet. Your sleeve is a muscle that needs to be worked, just do it according to your doctor's plan. Good luck with your journey!

I don't have a constipation problem. I drink a cup of decaf coffee several times a week and have never had any problem with constipation. Try some decaf coffee if it's allowed on your plan.

Just wanted to say Congrats to Lil Miss Diva for being the featured member this month!!!

I told, and tell, anyone who will listen about my surgery. I've received very little negative feedback, but I always preface my story with "Before surgery, I was given a year to live", which shuts most people up quickly. It's true that I was handed a death sentence...and I'm thrilled to say that I'm still here over a year out.

mom2five, Those batwings will shrink. I still have mine and the plastic surgeon thinks I'll need surgery to fix them completely. I'm thinking that I'll skip that surgery, but I won't know for sure until I get closer to goal... and I'm exercising my arms every other day religiously. I'm watching the loose skin shrink, though, so maybe I'll get lucky. I'm 46, so we'll see how well the old skin holds up.

Just because I can. Here are two pictures, taken less than a month apart. I'm seeing more definition in my stomach/waist and here's the visual:

Favorite thing: Today, it's my waist. And the fact that I got hit on Saturday night while I was out with the girls. Least Favorite: It's gonna sound strange, but getting hit on more is sending my head into a tailspin. I could handle it better as a big girl than I can as a medium girl and I don't know why.

Congrats!! You're rocking that sleeve!!!

I'm there, Ms Thing!! I've found that I do better when I take Sunday off my eating plan, though. I add in foods I don't have time/inclination to eat during the week. I still exercise 7 days a week, but I may let some "bad" stuff in on Sunday. The rest of the week, I'm so darn busy that I barely have time to keep up with what I am supposed to do. I've fallen off on tracking with MFP, so I'm restarting on that as of today, too.

Dropping those meds is a HUGE NSV!! I'm so happy for you!!

I don't know if I'd use my money for a shake weight. For $40 I bought a set of weights at wally world that includes 2 each of 3, 5, and 8 pound weights. I use those for my at home workouts, along with my exercise ball, and haven't considered a shake weight. You could just as easily use cans of veggies at the beginning, although I did buy 2 pound weights at the thrift store immediately post op. I used those until I could do 100 reps of biceps curls, triceps kickbacks, and skull crushers easily...then I dropped the 2 pounders in the car. When I'm driving a lot, which is most days, I will do biceps curls with them. Any exercise you do preop will pay benefits in more ways than just better muscle tone, though. Being stronger also means that your metabolism runs faster, because muscle burns more energy than fat does at any time. Building muscle through exercise also helps to save your most essential muscle, the heart, while you're losing weight rapidly, and the cardiac benefits of cardiovascular fitness cannot be measured! My EKG from this year looks TONS better than my preop EKG, which made my pulmonary doctor blurt out "That's the sexiest thing I've ever seen" after the second EKG. According to the body fat machine at my surgeon's office, I'm within .01% of the amount of muscle I should have in my body, which translates to "Even though I lost over 100 pounds very fast, I didn't lose essential heart muscle". That's AWESOME, IMO. Improving your cardiac fitness also will help with your recovery from anesthesia and from surgery and will, hopefully, help prevent blood clots because your blood isn't pooled up anywhere from inactivity. Better cardiac health will help you get up and moving and heal faster after surgery, too. I'm a gym rat these days, but I see nothing but positive to exercising pre-op!!

I don't miss many foods at this point. I was thinking about food a few days ago. My grocery list now is really different than before. Mostly, mine is "case of Water, mini babybel cheese, Protein bars". If I'm low on Vitamins, I'll add that to my list. I buy bagged chicken breasts, a steak or two, and pork chops, along with 1 red pepper, an onion, two avocados and bananas as needed. Those are my go-to foods. Before surgery, my list was much longer and was about variety. Now, I'm really into stir fry with a little olive oil, so I'll buy a bag of veggie mix for stir fry about every three weeks and put half a cup in with half a chicken breast and that makes dinner. My life no longer revolves around food...and I'm thrilled about that!

I have some loose skin, but it's worth it to be 120 pounds lighter than I was!!!

I agree that having it moved forward is a great thing. Less time on pre-op diet and less time to worry. Good luck!!!

Talk to your doctor's office. Different insurance plans have different requirements. Yours may only require that your BMI be over X number at the initial visit, then not care if you drop below that BMI preop. You might try adding in some weight training. That way you can convert some fat to muscle, yet keep your weight over the limit.

I started seeing weight loss very quickly, within a couple of weeks. I think I dropped 40 pounds in the first two months. I started at 352, but people didnt really start noticing my loss until I hit around 70 pounds. Now, at 120 lost, people don't believe that my before picture is me.

I bought six jars of pureed meat baby food. Opened one and couldn't put a single bite of it in my mouth. It just smelled too nasty to me. I gave away the other 5 jars to someone with an actual baby and used my magic bullet instead.

When you gulp or chug, you're filling your tiny sleeve up with water and it takes a few minutes for the water to go through the pyloric valve at the bottom of the sleeve/stomach. As your swelling goes down, your capacity for water will go up. I can remember chugging huge amounts of water pre-op, usually on a day where it was really hot and I'd worked outside a lot. Now that I'm drinking water steadily throughout the day, I seldom feel the urge to chug or gulp, except to finish the current bottle of water because it's getting warm. I find myself carrying a water bottle constantly these days and my worst times mentally now are when I forget a bottle of water when I'm headed out to drive an hour somewhere.

I've lost around 120 pounds and the excess skin does bother me a bit. BUT, being healthy and able to do whatever I need to do (walk, run, work like a mule for hours) makes up for that mostly. I'm only truly self-conscious about my apron, and even that is improving little by little. I might have a tummy tuck. I might have a boob lift, but mostly I'm thrilled with how I look. I'm definitely thrilled to still be alive today!!! Excess skin isn't much to deal with compared with not being alive, IMO. And I was headed for dead before!