Joiebean

If you vote for us, just make sure you tell me so I know how many extra minutes I need to add to my treadmill time.

Oh and just make sure you tell me who voted so i know how many extra minutes I need to do!!!

Would you all help me? I want to help my husband since has been so great and helped me so much since I had surgery. He entered this St. Paddy's contest on Facebook and he really wants to win the case of guinness as the prize. Would any mind going to the link http://www.facebook....18004314928755/ and selecting the line "So drink up and sing cheers, this we do recommend." For my part, for every sleever that votes, I'll add 2 minutes to my treadmill time!

At the risk of imposing, but given my husband has been so great and helped me so much since I had surgery, I wanted to help him. He entered this St. Paddy's contest on Facebook and he really wants to win the case of guinness. Would any mind going to the link and selecting the line "So drink up and sing cheers, this we do recommend." For my part, for every sleever that votes, I'll add 2 minutes to my treadmill time!

Whew...i really didn't think I'd have the energy to come into work today. I'm exhausted. I'm mostly getting all protein, vitamins and liquids in....but my god I'm exhausted. I've been pretty busy, but before surgery I was never this exhausted.....maybe once if I ran myself absolutely to the end. I knew people mentioned that it takes a few months to get energy back, but wow...I am beat. I suppose I have been doing more lately as I get back into the swing of everything and working extra hours, etc. Anyone else go through this?? I went to bed at 9pm last night and didn't wake up until 7:45 this morning (yes I ended up being late for work, lol. Fortunately my boss is really thoughtful and told me to take it easy today anyway and didn't mind me being about 30 minutes late.)

2 lbs away!! Ergggg!!! I'm trying to get there!

I'm a stomach sleeper too, but slept in a recliner for the first two weeks so that I wouldn't roll over. Plus laying flat hurt to much. I would say that maybe 4 weeks after surgery I was able to start laying on my stomach again. It felt weird at first. I have internal stitches too. After I started sleeping in the bed in week three, it hurt to much to roll over and I'd wake up when I'd start to and go back onto my back. It got so engrained in me that now I actually sleep on my back most of the time.

Like MNB said, I've started going towards healthier, lighter foods but because I don't wanted feel awful and nauseous. I can't tolerate fried food at all anymore and sugar....in very very small quantities. Like MNB said, I'll have up to three very small bites of a dessert and then I'm done, otherwise I know I'll feel awful. And those are the fruity desserts. I don't even try the over the top decadent ones because I know that one bite and I'm done. My go-to for a little sweetness is kettlecorn. They have a couple different kinds in the grocery store. Two small handfuls satisfy me, don't overfill my sleeve and don't make me feel bad at all. But after that, I'm satisfied and don't need to eat the whole bag, which is great!

Yup, refried beans. You can get them in the grocery store too. AND while they have a lot of carbs, they have a lot of protein and the fat free ones still taste awesome. You can mix some cheese into them, microwave, and BOY are they tasted and sleeve friendly. My stomach does happy gurgles when I eat them

actually to follow up though....I suppose to be honest, I've really stopped eating out. Maybe once every two weeks or so (as opposed to every other night.) And that's for two reasons....I can't find sleeve friendly food at most places and 2) because of the gauking thing. Ohhhh one other idea that I use is when you can tell the server is going to ask if the food was okay (And you can totally tell cause they get that scrunched up expression on their face and have that look of worry just before they ask) I usually ask for a to-go box. It seems to bring them comfort if you are going bring it home. Even if you are just going to toss it in the trash outside the restaurant, it saves a lot of answering questions.

I second Lissa's comment about ordering water. While we don't eat and drink together, if you don't order something to drink, it seems like they just keeeeeep asking. Its easier just to order water and not drink it or sip on it. I ordered a glass of wine with a friend the other night and after a couple months post op, I find that I CAN drink a little bit of wine....a normal serving, ya know....just a little over the bottom of the glass. But the waitress brought out a huge, full to the rim, glass of wine, which I only drank about 1/4 of. My friend understood and is completely supportive of my surgery, but I think she was still wondering why I ordered it. lol....oh well. I guess it's just things we'll have to get used to and let roll off our back. And I always get asked if the food was okay cause I don't eat a warp speed like everyone else and then still only eat a little bit of the gigantic portions it seems like every place serves. The a la carte menu and appetizer menu seems like a sleevers best friend. Good luck!! and keep your head held high!! You are doing something great for yourself.

Oh i'm right there with you. I have a few days here and there that I can drink plain water, but mostly it makes me want to throw up. I thought it was just me! Thanks for posting this....glad to know I'm not the only one. I mix mine with diet juice 50/50. The V8 splash diet juice is pretty good and doesn't have the artificial sweetner taste (which I'm really sensitive to now for some reason.) Yeah and energy has sucked for the past couple days. I was really good last week and weekend, and even the beginning of this week but then the past couple days its like I'm completely depleted. And I'm getting in my 60-70 grams of protein just like the NUT said to do, along with liquids and vitamins. Go figure. Hopefully it will pass.

Percocet worked wonders for me and knocked me out for about 6 hours. I am allergic to lortab and morphine so they gave me toradol and percocet. Worked great, kept the pain away and helped me sleep (a lot!)

oh yeah, btw in case your surgeon didn't tell you, stay away from the kind with berries or the fruit on the bottom. The seeds can get stuck in the sutures and cause infection or inflamation.

Oikos has this key lime flavor that I absolutely love. Its the full fat kind, but I can't eat the whole cup anyway and I really can't stand the taste of artifical sweetner anymore. If I must, I'll mix 1/2 fat free vanilla with 1/2 of the key lime, to cut back on the calories. Be careful with the yogurt though, even greek yogurt (which I love and its the only kind I eat now.) While it is a great source of protein while you are in the liquid phase, I think its what caused me to go into a stall. I've just started eating it again at 2months out.

Hello all you soon to be sleevers!! I had surgery in January and just over this past weekend as I was browsing through Barnes and Noble, I found this book. I've read about 1/2 of it (its a quick read) so far and I really wish someone had told me about it before surgery. It is SPOT ON as to what to expect after surgery and has some great ideas to get you through your post op diet. Its Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook for Dummies. The link is below. recipes myself for Breakfast this morning. Hope this helps!!

Just an FYI---this may be TMI for some. So...it finally happened. I ate to fast, filled up my stomach and a little more and....well...up it came. I found it really strange. I haven't actually thrown up since surgery and that was violent dry heaving. This wasn't like the violent getting sick...but it just literally came back up. No convulsing, lol, no gagging, it just simply came back up and I spit it out. Is that normal?? Is that what others have experienced? My sleeve is starting to take regular foods again and so I'm trying new stuff....but it still doesn't like some things. I got a little sick from Soup with to much grease in it too (I know...grease in soup?? Go figure)

I totally hear you!! I couldn't believe it when I found out my 6'3 husband weighed less than me...even though he's tall and slender and eats whatever he wants. BUT I now weigh 20 lbs less than him!! Isn't it the best feeling!!! Congrats to us!!

I typically fall into a good book and zone out for a few hours.

ohhhh god....my husband came for lunch today (he took the day off and came to visit me at work) ughhh we went to this new restaurant that he wanted to try cause its a beer lovers paradise. I didn't drink and the only thing on the menu that I could get down was this Brie appetizer....oh god how I want to vomit right now....sooooo greasy...soooo nauseous. I didn't even eat much of it. It completely turned my stomach every which way. Ugggghhhh....any suggestions?? I'm just trying to drink water now and wash it out of my system.

This happened to me as well last week. Ended up being dehydration. After I drank liquids and had an IV of saline, and rested, I felt a lot better.

The exact same thing happened to me. Threw up-dry heaving the first night and the morning-and right after the leak test for me too-and they realized it was the morphine. So they gave me something else and voila....it was soooo much better. Go you!!! Congrats and hope you continue to feel great! Just remember to keep drinking. The only time I felt nauseous again was when I was dehydrated.

A friend of mine who had the full bypass found this carmel kettlecorn. Over the course of the week....I ate half a bag. Its not an excuse, but I was traveling on the road and the hotel didn't have anything that was sleeve friendly. So I survived on string cheese, greek yogurt, protein shakes and popcorn.

The CVS brand. Its in a bag. The chocolate one is really good.

There are a couple ways you can do hair extensions. As long as you have enough hair on top to hide the clips then you should be fine and it will definitely help with volume, even on top. You can tease it (not 80's style teasing) but back brush it and it will help to add some height and volume. Also, and I cannot stress this enough. You NEED to be using a really good shampoo and conditioner right now too. Biolage is probably the only stuff from a regular store that I would use, but I would recommend getting shampoo/conditioner from a salon that will help to keep the hair you have. If you don't have enough hair on top to clip in the extensions, you could try having it weaved in. There are a lot of salon's that will do blond extensions and weave them in. Its around $200 here (Albany, NY) and will vary depending on the area you are in. From everything I heard, you won't lose it all, so as long as you have enough to weave into your head, that will work. Last case it that they can glue extensions in too, I believe right to your head, but I'm not 100% sure. Well its sorta glue, sorta wax. But think about stars who have super super short hair, almost shaved, and they get a full weave glued in. You do have various options. I would see what you have available in your area. If you can't find any salons that will do this, most african american salons do it, so you could order the hair you want and then bring it in and have them do it. If you go for a hair piece I really recommend working with your hairdresser to pick one out. I talked to my hairdresser about it before surgery and she said that if it comes to that, she works with a wig company that professional fits the wig to your head and then she will professional cut and style it so it looks as natural as possible. Hope this helps.