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Sorry a bit late. At least from ios devices to add people you hit the 'Friends' button on the bottom and then the 'Add Friends' button. Choose the 'Email' option. It will give you the option to add a username (not just an email). PS. I'm datchka on MFP

Thank you for your post. It has taken me many days and nights of being stressed, angry, depressed and crying to come to terms with the fact that I am a slower loser than I had imagined. It would be a lie to say i am not a happier person now but I was hoping things would be easier, that this would be a way of life rather than feel like I am on another diet. What has gotten to me is that by all calculations given by the nut I should be losing more. I have lost 55lbs in the last 6 months. My doctor told me that the first 6 months are the most critical but I feel I haven't done enough and that I have failed. What REALLY screwed me up is I went for my 6-month check-up he told me at one year is where we work on maintenance and my heart sank. I'm nowhere near goal and it just gets harder from here. As I said I've been able to reconcile I'm just slower and just go with the flow and eventually I'll turtle along. For some reason something in my head snapped that I'm not yet ready to give up battling this stupid weight. I need a boost of weight loss to encourage me so I went back to square one - liquid diet and exercise everyday. This is hard work and not fun... It's a diet and the last thing I wanted. I'm just trying to think of the goal...a few months of really hard work will be worth it. Sorry it is late and my day was filled with yucky Protein shakes lol...I feel a little grumpy.

You will see it one day. I started at 279 and honestly only saw it at around 205. I still feel very fat but my brain has finally caught up and I can admit I'm "not as fat as I once was"

I too take flintstones. They were on our approved lists.

I was given a 6-month supply and have to take all of it no matter what. It's also to help prevent ulcers and bleeding. Frankly in the first few weeks if I forgot it I would feel really hungry.

I was told that if the pill is thicker than the eraser on a #2 pencil I would have to either crush it or break it open if its a capsule. I have not had any issues with pills.

I started C25k yesterday. I've been horribly scared of trying it out because I've always HATED running and was horrible at it. But I've always wanted to love it. I was really surprised that the first day was pretty easy. I had nothing to fear! My knees felt it a little but it went away after 15 mins. I think they're just complaining after years of laziness! I'm so excited to run again! I would have tonight but I want to take it slow

Don't worry. I stalled at 3 weeks too and it lasted almost 3 weeks long. I had been having around 500-600 calories a day and by suggestion I upped it to 800 and that's what finally broke the stall. They suck but they do happen and will happen again. Just have patience and keep doing what you're doing.

I take 2 flintstones a day. It's the only one I can stand and it was listed on our sheet as a viable Vitamin choice. I still struggle trying to find calcium though. I see a lot of people mentioning gummy calcium but in my experience they are all the wrong calcium (carbonate). If anyone knows otherwise do let me know.

I haven't ever had to have surgeries for my back but I had horrible back pain before surgery because of all my weight (plus large chest). My back actually hurt more for 2 weeks post op because I wasn't moving much and I stooped more than usual so as not to stretch the stitches. It hurt. It was a bad quality of life. I couldn't walk around more than 15mins with my husband and baby before giving up and going home because of back pain. I couldn't exercise for too long. I'm very happy to say that these days my back hardly ever bothers me and I can walk around for hours.

Haha, same situation. I got switched from Dr. Morton to Rivas. He comes off as very nice and caring, knows what he's doing. He told me he's never had a patient with a leak so I'm sure your surgery will go great If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I had a lot of pain post-op but the drugs really helped. I would say about the 13th/14th day is when I felt normal again. I feel pretty good food-wise. I feel like I can eat anything and drink anything as long as I take it slow. Of course I don't but I don't feel uncomfortable with food anymore.

Hey, I'm in the bay area. I had my surgery at Stanford on July 24th. I cut out sodas months before the surgery as well. It was really hard. Nowadays I only crave soda because it has such a strong taste compared to my water. I have sipped it a few times but it's so sweet and too carbonated to me now. It also doesn't feel great on the stomach. Good luck to you.

I called mine a week after it was submitted. Found out I was approved but the approval never reached the doctor's office. They 'supposedly' called and sent the approval by regular mail so it would have taken till the following week or longer if I hadn't of bugged them.

I didn't have my oops moment of eating too fast till I got to the mushies/soft phase. That first time it was incredibly painful and I had to walk around for a long time till I felt better. When you get to those stages please remember to eat slowly or the fullness will hit you really hard and fast and you won't like the uncomfortable feeling that follows. I'm still trying to learn this myself!

I'm not sure what form your sublinguals are in but I found mine at GNC. They are tiny little strips (like Gas-X). The strips have more b12 than I need so I actually tear it in half and have that once a day under my tongue. They taste fine to me.

We were told to eat 6 meals a day till the regular foods stage. Although I'm at regular foods now I still eat 6x a day because I feel uncomfortable after 2-3 hours of no food. All my meals are about equal in terms of protein/calories so I wouldn't call any 'snacks'.

Wait what? Pills aren't effecitve. This is news to me. My surgeon and nurses know I'm on birth control pills and have never said anything about it. I will have to ask at my appointment this week. That's scary.

Haha, that's too funny, I just started watching this show on Youtube this week for no apparent reason. Eating all that food makes you dizzy! Especially now after surgery, I would literally be able to eat 4 bites of those fatty, greasy foods and be full. It would make for a boring show.

I agree with the above. I stalled for 3 weeks and then I upped my calories by 100 and added some exercise and it broke it. I didn't think I could go over 600-700 either but it's really like an extra slice of cheese or few bites of chicken at night.

I can't believe I'm making one of these threads after reading the forums for weeks before my surgery and knowing what to expect. I learned about the 3-week stall and sure enough when 3 weeks rolled around my weight loss stopped. The first week I took it in stride but now it's 6 weeks and I'm still not losing. I've only lost 23lbs since the day of my surgery and while that isn't a horrible number it's not a good number for me. 20 of those where in the first 2 weeks. The last 3 were lost in the next 3-4 weeks. Losing 1-2lbs a week is great.... but NOT when you're in month 2 post-op. These are horrible numbers and I didn't start out on the lower end, so no I don't believe I should be losing this slow. I'm only 5'3 and small framed with 100lbs to go, deep down I know I'm failing. It's so hard seeing others post they lost 60 pounds in 4 months for example when I now know I will never reach this. I'm very frustrated that I'm wasting the most optimal weight loss time. My doctor told me the first 6 months is when you lose the most and should take advantage and exercise as much as you can. Here I am at 2.5 months and still not able to get over this stall. And because you will ask, yes I've been exercising as much as I can, lately everyday. I believe I eat right. Yesterday was: 710 calories 68 Protein 30 carbs (-5 Fiber carbs) 33 fat 5 glasses of Water 429 calories burned exercising = 281 net calories Wednesday: 602 calories 73 protein 21 fat 29 carbs (-6 fiber carbs) 5 glasses water 684 calories burned exercising = -82 net calories The only thing I'm low on is water (but since some of my food is liquid I do hit the minimum). Adding more exercise hasn't broken the stall. I was at around 500-600 calories and upped it to around 700 and that hasn't broken it. I'm not sure what else to do except going back to full liquids. I dread that because it felt like a diet and I was miserable. I had days where I broke down and cried I hated that phase so much. I want to feel like I'm living life not living on a diet. Thanks

Bad english on my part. My stall started week 3 and it's now week 6 so it's 3 weeks for me as well. I'm so happy for you that you managed to break the stall! Thank you for the advice everyone, it really does help me feel better. I will try to increase my fluids and up my calories.

I have done a bit of weight training but you're right, not enough. I've been doing swimming and my muscles always feel sore so I hope that is helping. My clothes felt looser but that was from the initial 20lb loss, it's felt the same since then. Hopefully your stall will end soon too! I will try to get to 800 calories at least and see what that does. It's not easy gettting there... I'm still a 2-4oz eater, 6x a day.

I've taken Flinstones as well. They were on our list of vitamin options but not the most recommended. One step above was Centrum Chewables. Flintstones taste better but I've had no issues with Centrum yet and the size is only slightly larger. Both are 2x a day. Honestly I'll probably end up going between the 2 for variety of taste.