Lissa

Keep on "ruining" those pictures!!

Great NSV!! I am always looking for NSVs! They keep me motivated!

(((Hugs))) That's all I know to offer. I'm sorry you're having such a difficult time and I wish I had a magic wand to make it all better. Know that we're all here for you, supporting and praying for your recovery to happen soon!

I don't think it's confusing. She has links in her sidebars to many of her most often requested recipes and a search button to use within her website to find what you want to see as well.

Kim, We're making room for you! Congrats...and you'll have to change your name soon to Little Kim!

Anna, I'm 7 months out and have had 3 major knee injuries over the years. Lunges, squats and running are not for me yet, maybe never. I spend a lot of time on the exercise bike. It's low impact, but great cardio...and has the bonus of reshaping my legs and butt. I have independent verification from some male friends that it IS reshaping those areas. I also do a lot of stretching, high rep/low weight weight lifting for my arms and legs and calisthenics (like we were doing in high school). I spend lots of time on core work for my abs and back and I use the pool for things like lunges and squats to reduce the impact on my knees. Pre-surgery I was diagnosed with RA in my knees because of the previous injuries and I had a tough time even walinng. Now I don't have any symptoms of the RA and I walk without pain unless I've walked for several hours without a break. IMO, things like P90X are better for those who are closer to goal than I am and I'm not willing to hurt my knees by running until I'm closer to 200. Right now I'm 260, so I have a few pounds to go until I am ready for the really intense stuff. But, you can get a good workout without doing the intense workouts, at least until your body is in better condition.

Raquel, You will break the stall. Just keep doing what you know you must do and it will happen. Besides, you look mahvelous, darling! You've put on a bunch of muscle, which weighs more than fat, and that muscle will help boost your metabolism so that you get to your perfect weight. Good luck and I'm sorry your hurt your ribs. Definitely give them the time they need to heal. Please.

High reps, low weights does work. I've been diligently doing this since surgery and I'm seeing improvement in my arms. I don't have big muscles, but I do have definition and strength!

That's not a small NSV. It's HUGE!! I find myself taking pictures of myself now and I've never done that before. I take pics because I really like the outfit I have on, or because I like my hair that day. NEVER would have happened before. I'm thrilled that you're now in the family pictures! That's terrific for you and for them!!

And I can't upload a picture anywhere through the boards to show you what this looks like. I did email some to Ken the other night.

aLEX, i'M ON ie 9.0.5, AND I've done everything I can come up with to fix this. I've removed my signature, added it back, deleted cookies, history, shut down and restarted my computer, logged out, logged in, tried to post as a guest. Nothing I can do seems to be working and VST is the only website I'm having problems accessing.

So, yesterday made 7 months post-op. I just got a chance to take a couple of quick pics, in other words, don't mind the lack of hairstyle and dressier clothes. I've been exercising all along, but in the last month I have really ramped it up. I'm doing at least 30 minutes on the exercise bike per day, plus trying to work some other area of my body with weights on a daily basis. Below is my before and my today picture. I REALLY wish I had a better before picture! Stats: Start weight: 352 Surgery weight: 337 Current weight: 263.2 Total lost: 88.2 I've been losing VERY slowly since late January, but I'm seeing improvement in my shape and feeling more energetic every day. Patience is the key. I'm more than halfway to my goal and I know I will get there!!!

Yes. I regret not having the surgery sooner! Seriously, I wish this surgery had been an option for me before I started having health problems. Now I'm working uphill to heal rather than knowing I'd avoided the major problems before they became an issue. Slowly but surely I am healing, but how wonderful if I could have done this before I got sick!

As dumb as it seems, walking really helped to reduce my pain, although I was lucky and didn't have a lot of pain from surgery. Mine was more related to over-filling my sleeve before I figured out my full signal. You said that you are drinking cold apple juice and SF popsicles. Have you tried sticking to warmer fluids for a bit and see if that helps to reduce the pain? Cold things really didn't feel good for me immediately post-op. That could be part of the issue. Of course, everyone does feel pain differently and yours could be more intense than others for many reasons. I've had two previous c-sections and another abdominal surgery, so the sleeve operation didn't feel as intense. My doc was actually worried that I would have a lot of pain because of the scar tissue and adhesions in my abdomen, so I know those can actually make the pain worse for some people. If you need pain meds, though, take the pain meds. You won't win a medal for skipping the pain meds. Most surgeons prescribe two weeks worth of pain meds because they expect us to hurt for that long. That's also why they give us time off work; we need the time to heal. Rest, relax, and do what you can to make the pain tolerable for YOU. Good luck on your journey!!

Congrats on making the decision to do something about your weight. One of the quotes I read was from Dr Oz who says that being 100 pounds overweight is similar to having a cancer. If you would operate for cancer, why wouldn't you operate to help lose the weight. For me, that was eye-opening. As you've seen for yourself, it's difficult, if not impossible, to take off the weight AND keep it off, without surgery. Since you've been reading here, you already know that any WLS is just a tool, but that tool helps us to do what we've been unable to do alone for years. But, you will always have this tool to help you meet your goals. Keep us updated on your journey, please...and good luck.

aMAZING!! yOU LOOK WONDERFUL!! Congrats on all your hard work!!

HUGE NSV!! Congrats!!

I did them. Not a big deal. They do leave bruises, though.

Your sugar may very well be low. I agree with Dooter; this is a great time to call your doctor to rule out problems.

I work for myself, and sometimes that means really long days. This morning I headed out thinking I'd eat my Protein bar from my purse for Breakfast. Whoops, no Protein Bar. I was crazy busy and stopped for Water a couple of times, but didn't find anything at either stop that I felt okay with eating. At 2pm, I had some family crap come up (you know how it goes) that left me pretty upset and food went out of my head totally. By 5:30, I was home and I was a blubbering, ready to keel over and die, practically suicidal, mess. It wasn't until 7pm that I realized I hadn't eaten all day. By then, I could barely manage half a piece of chicken. However, once it kicked in, I started feeling like ME again. Moral of the story: ALWAYS stick to your schedule and eat. I discovered today that, although I don't feel hunger, I am totally insane when I don't fuel my body. Shame on me for letting it happen. I have re-stocked my protein bar supply in my purse.

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I love the quote. Isn't that what we're all doing here? Experimenting with our own lives?

Linda, I feel everything you're saying. I could have almost written your post, but I'm working really hard on the mental part of this. I've lost 3 pants sizes, but less than 10 pounds in the last three months. I did finally lose a couple of pounds this month, but it feels like I've been busting my butt to do it. I just keep chanting to myself that "muscle weighs more than fat". I've been working out, eating (mostly) right and pushing the Water. What is helping is keeping my tush OFF the scale. If I can just concentrate on the positives like smaller sizes and more muscle, the negative of the scale not moving doesn't bother me so much. Good luck!

Each nut has a different plan, but, in general, the following applies: During the liquid stages, if you're allowed to have shakes, they count toward your liquid requirements. During the mushie stage, they may not count toward your liquid requirements, meaning that you may have to wait 30 minutes after drinking a Protein shake to drink Water. I mixed protein powder with milk, but I discovered that I was lactose intolerant after surgery. I also couldn't stand the sweet flavors, so I did lots of broth. Once I was on mushies, I used eggs and other soft foods to meet my protein goals. I've only recently started using protein powder again. I use it most often in my decaf coffee instead of creamer...and I like it. You can mix protein powder with anything you like. There are several brands of unflavored powder out there..that doesn't mean they are tasteless, but they don't have the sweet flavor to them. unjury makes a chicken flavored powder that several people like. I haven't tried it yet.