Izuri

I know your marriage is your business and that I'm only speculating because I am not/have never been married, but I don't think I would ever stay with someone that cheated and still had the gall to say it was my fault. I hope you know that you have NO fault from your surgery/illness. Whether or not there were contributing factors already present that made the relationship rocky is one thing, but in my opinion, cheating always ultimately lies with the cheater at fault. You deserve none of the guilt for his selfish actions. In my experience, emotional affairs are almost worse than physical affairs. I can almost understand being weak sexually, but letting someone come between your emotional bond is another thing. You are a strong person, and I hope that whatever you decide and whatever you go through after this, that you realize you deserve better. You are a great person and you are working on your health and no matter what happens, you have given you and your daughter a chance to be together for many more years to come, and that's a blessing, whether or not you stay with your husband. I wish you all the best of luck, and I hope you're able to find peace.

That's a great reminder! With all the "I only lost X amount!" and "The scale won't move" posts, this is a nice pick me up for all of us. The scale does not define you! =) Thanks!

Some things you just can't have. It is a life changing surgery, and if that means giving up carbonation to be sure that my sleeve is healthy, then I'm on board. It is a little bit of a bummer, but I'd much rather be thin.

It's painful. The IV morphine was awesome and took care of almost all my pain. They send you home with liquid Lortab elixir (It's like vicodin except the dosage of hydrocodone is a little higher per dose). The first few days it felt like it didn't help much. I kind of wish they'd given me something stronger, but I made it through fine. You'll do great. It's painful, but manageable.

I would wait until you talk to your NUT to order any Vitamins or supplements. Some people don't need some supplements - they depend on your labs. If you feel motivated, go ahead and prepare food ahead of time. I know in the past I've made and frozen just about everything I've ever cooked and almost all of it has reheated well. Soup, potatoes, Beans, etc, so I'm sure most pureed/soft recipes you can find will turn out great that way. I would make sure to buy Gas-x strips. I have said it a zillion times, but they are one thing that has been sooooo helpful for me through the healing process lol. I should be a spokesperson. Also, start walking now. Getting some exercise can help cardiac and pulmonary systems to make surgery easier on your body.

Do they need to be taken with extra water? I know some pills you have to take with a full glass of water - which may have not mattered as much pre-surgery as it does post-surgery. Just something to look into. I would definitely contact your doctor to have them check to make sure you're not doing any damage or anything.

I hope I get that comment! Last year at my birthday an acquaintance asked me how old I was and another one said "Ooooh I wasn't sure if I should ask or not cause I wasn't sure how old you are..." I WAS TURNING 24! I was like "Noooooooooooooooo - I look old enough to care?!" We all had a good laugh about it, but I was kind of sad that I looked old enough to be concerned =p

What a great way to start your 30's! Congratulations on the date - it will be here before you know it.

Congratulations and welcome to the loser's bench!

Gurgling is decreasing slowly - although as soon as my intestines started working again they jumped into the gurgling too, now I am just a symphony of weird digestive noises all day. Pain was gone pretty much after day 3 or 4 except when I take too big of sips.

Three week stall is normal. Search on the forum under stall and you will find a zillion posts on it. Your body is readjusting to the weight loss and to your new calorie intake, it's spent three weeks being just constantly confused and now it's rearranging stuff. It probably is retaining water. It probably is pulling inches off your body - have you measured? Just because you do not see scale movement doesn't mean your body is not still losing or on track. Stick with it, the stall will end, even if it takes a few weeks. Just make sure you're still keeping yourself hydrated and keeping your protein up. Stalls do not last forever =) Hang in there.

I am looking forward to water aerobics! I am gonna try and get myself signed up in a class in a few weeks when I get the okay from my doctor. Have fun! =)

I don't see why it matters really how long you take to eat. As long as you are eating the correct portion of food, it seems like it would still have the same loss, and possibly reduce issues if someone is having trouble eating. I am on liquids right now and I do take a long time to get them all down. It doesn't matter really though because liquid phase you're pretty much supposed to be doing some kind of liquid all day to stay hydrated. My stomach is still somewhat swollen and going slow helps decrease gas and is helping teach me to be better at small sips. I probably will take much less time to eat once I am on actual foods, but it has been a good experience with learning to enjoy the full liquids slowly. I think what your NUT was getting at is making sure that you are chewing foods thoroughly and that if you're having trouble getting/keeping things down, that eating slower can be a tool to make it more comfortable to eat. That's just what it sounds like to me. And off topic but, congratulations on your loss =) You look great.

Can I ask why exactly you would go against your doctor's orders intentionally? I get that liquid diet is no fun, but I don't see why anyone would pay possibly thousands of dollars to have their stomach cut out and then not follow the doctor's orders. 2 weeks of a liquid diet is honestly not that hard, and they make these guidelines because they are trying to protect your health and think this is the best way to move through this process. They have years of medical school, residency, fellowship, not to mention experience to base their instructions off of. If you are not enjoying liquids, try switching flavor of Protein powders. Add jellos. pudding. Tea. Homemade soup broth. Greek Yogurt. There are tons of things you could try.. Just saying...seems kinda silly to me. If you can't stick to a 2 week liquid diet, how are you going to have the willpower to resist more difficult foods later on? Exercise some restraint or at least consider consulting your doctor before just deciding to go off plan. I'm not trying to be mean....but I read this and just went "....really?"

You look great, you feel great, you are worlds healthier. I think meeting in the middle with the 10 pound loss seems like a good idea. However, this is not something that even ends. If you lose ten pounds this year, you still have the rest of your life to decide whether or not you want to lose those extra 10 pounds after. 10 pounds is certainly not going to kill you, even if you never lose it. My point being, you can ALWAYS reevaluate later. I think you are doing amazing though. Do not let it get you down. It is their job to try and get you into your normal BMI category, don't take it personally. You know you have done great and you deserve to be able to enjoy the rewards of that success =)

Welcome! =) It sounds like you are doing well. I'm sorry to hear about the JP drain...that sounds painful! I think your plan to get in some Protein at work sounds good. Just have to make it a priority. Your health is non-negotiable! I think cooking ahead of time sounds like a great idea. That is on my list of things to start doing as well. It will be annoying on the day I have to cook everything, but I know I will be ever so thankful on the days that I just have to warm things up. Keep up the good work!

Glad to hear you're recovering well =) That walking is going to pay off when you realize you've walked off a lot of your gas! =)

I forgot to add, I will be taking biotin in 6 weeks when I am allowed to add it per my NUT. I also will be adding chewable calcium + d at some point.

Wow.....seriously??? That is one HARSH doctor. I would be pissed. I'm sorry you had to go through that craziness. I think my doctor would have been jumping for joy if I'd been working out 3 times a week.

Between now and the 14th you can lose 5, definitely! Have you tried putting reasons you wanna lose up on your fridge? Or maybe print out a picture of your ticker and add on your 5 pound goal weight so you are reminded every single time how close you are. You can do it!! =)

I think that part of the sleeve process really FORCES you to reexamine your relationship with food. There is a long period of time where you physically cannot eat food except for full liquids,then puree, then soft food. I am only still scraping the surface of it, since I'm barely a week out, but this is what I have gathered so far from my experience: - Head hunger is what fuels my obesity. I never realized how much it comes into play in my life. I mean, I knew I ate a lot because my brain wanted to vs my body, but having the capacity (due to lack of physical hunger) to actually see how often my brain wants to eat is really eye opening. - Counseling is something that I will absolutely need to gain a new relationship with food. I am in the process of looking for a good counselor at this point who has experience with bariatric patients. I don't think that a long term change in my relationship with food is something that I can, or should do on my own. I have been battling this my whole life, to deny that I still will need help even with the tool of the sleeve gastrectomy, would still leave the option of failure in the future open. I want to close that door. - Though it helps restrict, the sleeve is just a tool like any weight loss tool. It does give us a head up on that we cannot physically eat nearly as much as we used to, but it is not a 100% cure all. You need to be willing to do the mental work behind it, or weight can be regained, as with any weight loss procedure. One of the huge pluses of the sleeve is that it gives you a time out from food. I'm serious, it feels like I am sitting in a corner right now forced to be on a time out from food (Ok - well it doesn't feel like a BAD time out since I'm doing well and feel great) and that I'm expected to work out my problems with food while I have this long grace period that I will not be hungry. I think it's really an opportunity that needs to be taken advantage of to gain long term success. Every day I am more and more grateful for my sleeve. I do think that size matters to a degree when you're talking about the cut of the sleeve. I have heard others who still have been hungry after surgery. I am not sure if this happens from a loose sleeve or what? Either way, if you go to an experienced surgeon, they will know the correct size for your body to have a successful outcome. Also, you do not want your sleeve too small, because that can cause too much restriction. Just some things I have thought over in the past couple of days that seemed relevant to your post =) I hope you are doing well!

I have been told that going into the surgery losing weight will help shrink the liver also. Different plans for different doctors =)

I belong to this group =) As the fall starts you will have a ton of people join you in December I think. Everyone will be wanting to get it done before the new year and while they have some time off work already.

Not every day is a perfect day. You made a mistake, tomorrow is a new day. Road trips are hard and unless you plan ahead it's difficult to stay on track. Don't beat yourself up over it, just move on with your day and do better tomorrow =)

I think you need to talk to your doctor. You posted the other day about being pregnant. Are you receiving prenatal care? You really need to be talking to your doctor and your physician. You probably have all sorts of hormones going on with the pregnancy. Let them know how you're feeling and what's going on...