LouiseC

Well done to you for noticing this in yourself. It is something I sometimes worry about. I know I can choose to not drink, I have not had alcohol over extended periods of time and been perfectly okay. What worries me is that I don't want to not drink. I like to drink. It is scary enough that I think at times it is enough to keep me sober. Which I know makes little sense! The trick for me is, I think, telling others. Being really honest about wanting to not drink and seeking support in that. Which may mean that others don't drink so it is a big ask. But these are your friends and family, they want what is best for you so I hope they can support you to not drink through this period.

Wow, where are you hanging out that you see that sort of nonsense? Maybe you should find new forums to visit! I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by friends and family who love me and want to see me succeed.

This happens to me. My colleagues have now gotten used to me eating during meetings, just because if I don't eat, I get dizzy. I have had too many situations where I have forgotten to eat, just through being so hectic, that I have become unwell with dizziness, lightheaded spells and nausea. So now I try and plan ahead, even set alarms on my phone to remind me to eat. For those of us who came out of the surgery and just don't experience hunger very often anymore, this is something to prepare for.

Ice cream. I can eat it like I have not been sleeved

I have also gone down a size and a half.

Another vote for two baptisms. I can understand his perspective if your mother is there bonding with her new grandchild and living nearby and his mother is not able to form the same bond due to being so far away. I can see why he may want his mother to have some time where she can be the grandmother without any competition, real or perceived.

They sound good!

Your prep diet is important in order to shrink your fatty liver. This part of the process is really important. It is only a couple of weeks, look deep and find the stuff you need to choose to do yourself justice here. You will be able to eat that stuff again. It may take some time, but there is no need for a food funeral. I had a mojito recently and it was awesome. The pre OP diet will past it is just a couple of short weeks of a long life. Find the resolve in yourself. The post OP diet will pass. It is just a few months in a long, wonderful life. You can do it.

Initially it was about the weight loss and the health improvement. Over time though, it has become about living an authentic life, being true to myself, being in the moment and consciously choosing well. That is, choosing me. Choosing health, choosing authenticity, choosing to live a good life. The weight loss now is a bonus to all the other gains this surgery has bought to my life.

I have always had a pretty good sex life, always been confident and comfortable sexually even at my heaviest. So I was surprised to find that sex went from good to great with my weight loss :-D

Very strange. So you were a crash test dummy basically? A living cadaver for the OP? It seems outrageous and his advice now makes little sense to me. I would get a second opinion. And then I would seriously consider getting a lawyer. I had a hernia become incarcerated a few years ago and it was a baseball type lump protruding hard and sore from my tummy. That sounds frighteningly similar. I ended up in intensive care with that, it is life threatening. Please go to a new doctor and get this checked out properly.

I am at 80% loss of excess body weight which is just awesome. My surgery was the end of May 2012 and my starting weight was 135.5 kilos which is just under 300 pounds. I am now at 86 kilos which was my surgeon's goal for me. I never really had a goal, but now aim for just over the top of the BMI normal range for my height which means I have 10 kilos to go. Which is about 25 pounds. I have skin issues on my tummy that I know will not go without surgery so I consider it realistic to not aim for a weight lower than possible or healthy Even if it takes me another year, I am good with that. I recently did one of those electronic body analysis things with a trainer at the gym. The fantastic news there was my visceral fat levels were well within normal range as was my muscle. Further to that test I discovered my waist to height ration to be smack bang in the middle of the normal range. It was a happy day! That said, every day has been a happy day for me since the end of May 2012 :-)

I love this thread. I just get so happy for everybody!

I just made a healthy guacamole and ate it with a spoon! Now I add to all sorts or just eat it sliced.

Yes! It is a wonderful food, soft, easily digestible and full of the good fats you need right now. I had it every day in the soft phase.

But then again, as I Re-read, it resonates so much you could have taken the words right out of my head! Well, except women don't flirt with me so much, men do I hold myself better, I smile more, I take more care with my clothes, my hair and my overall 'look'. I know I radiate something different and I know others notice. The exercise, In particular the yoga, has improved my posture. I stand better. I sit better. I walk better. I walk sexier even I would go so far to say I even feel different about the space I occupy in the world. Does that make sense? I feel I like I own the space I am in now, and realise I used to feel like I took up too much of it and was always trying to pull myself inwards as a consequence. Living life like i was apologising for taking up too much space all the time. That sounds mental now that I look at it but hopefully it makes sense to someone! All of this has changed the way others interact with me and I am starting to think it isn't simply about weight. It is more about what is going on in my head and how I view myself and how I see now that how I view myself is how I project myself onto others. They see what I show them, in some ways. Sure, there will always be people who see fat first and can't see past it regardless of confidence or attitude. But who wants to know them anyway? I love what I have learnt about myself on this journey. I love how this has become less and less about food and weight loss and more and more about how I choose to live my life, about how much power I have in determining the life I can live, in the ever challenging task of staying present and consciously choosing to live well, eat well, and, most importantly, to be happy. To actually choose to smile, choose to shine, and choose to be confident. Others do respond differently. People do interact with me differently. Not because I am no longer obese, but because I am different. I have changed, for the better.

Thank you so much for writing this after the comments in the other thread. I am about to run out to a body combat class (finding my inner ninja) but wanted to subscribe to this before it got lost in the feed. I will respond!

Thanks for that. I had not heard of it but have checked and it is available here and government approved for free prescription. I have my one year follow up with my surgeon coming up and I will ask her. I usually manage it well, I know what foods to avoid most of the time but it does sick to have to always have OTC antacids on hand just in case. Also, I do worry about long term effects of so much omeprazole even when it is working well.

I will say what I always say in these threads, my advice is to chose discretion or chose honesty. My advice is never willingly and actively lie. Either tell the truth or say nothing. A lie leads you down a slippery slope and ultimately can compromise your integrity. Value your integrity, you may need it in the future, especially in the work place. I completely respect anyone's decision not to say anything, not to tell anyone they don't care to tell, just like I can completely respect those who tell all. But lying? No. Just don't. Few people value and respect those they discover to be liars.

It is true! Pineapple is the best thing for improving the taste of ejaculate! The worst - its a tie between asparagus and beer. You don't want to be blowing a guy who drinks too much beer. That **** makes it bitter. As for asparagus? Wow. Just need to smell our own pee after eating that stuff to know it has an impact!

No, I would not consider a bypass. Like I said in my post, I manage it well most of the time. I would prefer not to be on omeprazole but it is what it is and i prefer omeprazole to bypass. My reference to heartburn was only really in relation to being the other thing I do not like about the sleeve along with tap Water being icky, yanno, the thread topic

The trick for all of us is remaining conscious, that is, being present and aware whenever we are around food. At the end of this, the sleeve is a tool that we can either make the most of through consciously choosing to eat well, or we can screw it all up with being on auto pilot, not being present, or making poor choices. Which is what you have done, made a poor choice. We all need to be mindful, all the time, to ensure we continue to do what is best for our bodies and our health. Four days out, I would be talking to my doctor. You have had the greater majority of your stomach removed. This was not minor surgery. Your actions here may have caused you harm. I sincerely hope they haven't. The post OP stage, the six weeks or so of madness, flies by. Seriously. Just stick with it, it will get easier and it will pass.