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Susie and Lila - hope all goes well and went well for you both!! Thin Thinking of you both!

Yes, eating slowly and chewing is really a challenge. I hope it will eventually become second nature but I feel it is going to take a looooong time!

Hi all Lila - all the best with the next few days and your surgery! I was interested to read everyone's comments regarding who and who they did and didn't tell about their surgery. I must be a total blabber mouth as I have told everyone who will listen - even shop assistants!!! The only reason I haven't told people is because I haven't seen them yet!! I have had one person tell me that they thought it was a bad idea and thought it was too drastic and now that I have lost 21kg they have not made a single comment about my weight loss - funny how people react. It is almost as if they acknowledge your weight loss they feel they are condoning what you did! What they don't realize is that I don't really give Jack about their opinion! Other people were just concerned about the risk of surgery but now they see me happy and healthy and loosing weight they are happy for me. I have a confession - I haven't been doing any exercise up until this morning ( old habits die hard)!! I went for a half hour walk and I did go out and buy some weights to start working on my flabby bits but I haven't actually used them yet!! The things I am doing right (I hope!) is taking my Vitamins and Calcium and not eating crap. I am also going to look into a suppliment that will help with hair health - any suggestions - I am dreading the hair loss stage as I have thin fine hair already! That would be great - loose all this weight and be a skinny bald chick (chook really as I am 50!). Anyway, keep smiling everyone and keep posting - love seeing where every one is at with their journey!

Like Aussiegirl I was on the strict diet too - only meal replacements/salad/veges and only one cup of low gi fruit a day if I was really hungry. I found it really difficult and consider it the hardest stage in the journey so far as I was starving! I also felt unwell. Just keep crossing those days off the calendar an you will be at surgery day in no time - I was literally crossing the days off the calendar so I could see time ticking away! You will soon be on to the next stage post op and it is onwards and upwards from there ( I should say downwards as far as the weight goes!!). Good luck and just keep taking one day at a time.????

All the best for your surgery and to a speedy recovery. It will be the first day of your new life!

Hi all Went off my Nexium meds day before yesterday but had terrible acid today. Luckily was at the clinic today so have got 2 more months prescription. I am really hoping that I am not going to be stuck with the acid stomach forever - I know some people are. The good news is that I have progressed to normal food - game on! It is still difficult to eat but have been told it will be get better. I am just impatient waiting for it to get better! I had one cooked tuna sushi roll for lunch - I ate the tuna and avocado out of the middle and had one bite of the rice ( very small 5 cent size bite!) and I was full. I have found that the small amount of hunger I did have is also fading - which is great. So now the challenge is to get that 60 grams of Protein in a day, very small bites and chew chew chew! Can't wait until all of this is second nature and I don't have to concentrate so much!

I think you are doing great! I think we all have our expectations raised a bit. I know myself that I can't believe how little I eat so I expect the weight to be coming of in kilos per week! Just shows you how amazing your body is and how it can adjust to how little we are now taking in! I too have good intentions to go walking but haen't quite got back to my pre-op regime. I still feel I am lacking a bit of energy but that is probably just an excuse on my part! I have plenty of time to do it as I have taken 12 months off work and my son is at school! I promise next week I will get back into it!

All the best Lila - good idea to take the photo's. I didn't take any and wish I had. I think that 18 months is realistic - you will be thrilled once you see your weight coming down so it will go quickly!

Hi Kelli - glad to hear that you are at home. Just take it easy with the fluids, just sip, sip sip. It does get easier in the second week - i think the swelling in side must subside and there is more room. I remember that it seemed like I had only just managed to finish one shake and it was time for the next one! Hi weight_no_longer - I think all the feelings you are having are pretty normal pre surgery. I remember I was exactly the same, now a month later it is a distant memory and I am just excited to be losing the weight and working on adjusting to my new life. As mentioned in a previous post, I am feeling a million times better than I was since I started having morning and afternoon tea (usually a petite Miam yogurt for morning tea and a V8 vegetable juice for arvo tea). Not much more but it has made all the difference to my energy levels and just feeling well. I am still having trouble with trying to drink the quantity of Water we are meant to drink but feeling ok. I am also not drinking Protein shakes - I have had enough of those to last me a life time! I had to laugh because I just went to KMart today and bought some stretchy pants too - track suit pants really - only 15 bucks so they can go in the bin when I go down to the next size! Looks like everyone is in the same boat when it comes to clothes - I can't wait to buy trendy clothes! I am so happy today as I weighed myself - trying only to do this once a week as I was becoming a bit obsessed and was jumping on the scales every second day - anyway I now have a Bmi of 29 so that has put me down to the overweight range rather than the Obese range. Not too many people would be happy with being overweight but I am delighted! Role on 'healthy' weight range!!! Just for everyone's info - started my journey at 102kg, had surgery at 91kg, 4 and half weeks post surgery 82kg. Still a way to go but getting there. Now I feel like I have more energy, I can get back to walking regularly - just don't want my weight loss to stall.

Kelli - Doctor told me that we swallow a lot of air - even when we are talking. It gave me that feeling that I had a bubble in the top of my stomach that wouldn't come up. It wasn't painful but very uncomfortable. I am sure it will subside for you as time passes. Regarding fluids, I am probably only managing 1-1.5 ltrs per day - still working on trying to increase that but must admit that 2-2.5 sounds really difficult. After moaning yesterday I seem to have turned a corner and I am feeling a lot better. I think I wasn't eating enough. My doctor had told me to try not to snack between meals but when you can only eat one third of a cup of food each time that is not very much! When I looked at the sheet the dietician gave me it showed that I should be having something every 3 hours so I have implemented that and feel like a new woman today. Michelle and Shellz - Thanks for all your feed back - it really helps to know how you are feeling and what you ae eating - I feel so much better now with this increase frequency of food. I really felt like I was walking around with a fog in my head!

Kelli - great to hear you are doing well. I was in no fit state to do anything after 24 hours so well done. I have actually been having a difficult time on the purée stage. I am on my second week and still find it quite difficult/uncomfortable to eat. I actually still don't feel 100% (no energy - like I am coming down with something) and am finding that I am very emotional. Is any one else feeling the same way? Will I ever feel myself again and not feel unwell all the time. The only time I feel any normality is when I first wake up. It is only 4 weeks since my surgery so am I expecting too much?

Hi Michelle I am at exactly the same stage as you and know what you mean - I haven't had the pain but I have had the feeling of something being stuck-hard to describe actually. My dietician told me that I would only be able to eat a third of a cup of food down at one time. She said to eat very slowly, half a teaspoon at a time and put the teaspoon down between bites. I find that if I have the slightest hint of feeling full or the bite doesn't feel like it went down well, I leave it for 5 mins and come back to it. Just finished my 3rd day of the muchy stage - each day is getting slowly better and I am just telling myself to take it slowly and I am trying not rush things and learn about which foods go down better than others. I tried to blend salmon and Pasta but it didn't go down well, I think pasta is just too glugy for me at this stage. I had a bit of a cry on my first day of eating muchy foods - I think I was kind of mourning the way I used to be able to eat - I think it is a common feeling. It is a big adjustment getting your head around how little we can now eat. My clinic included a session with a pyscologist, which I didn't think I would need - changed my mind on that one!! I don't know if any the above helps, but just wanted to let you know that I'm with you! :-)

Hi Susie I know exactly how you feel as I felt the same way-I couldn't quite believe the weight would come off! It is two weeks tomorrow since my surgery and the weight is slowly but surely coming off. Everyone is different but it will come off! I won't lie to you- my experience when I woke up from surgery was't pleasant and I wondered what the hell I had done (I had a bad eaction to the morphine and it took me over 24 hrs to get over the general) BUT 2 weeks into my new life, it is distant memory and I am so happy I took this step - no regrets and looking forward to the rest of my life! No longer a slave to my hunger - it is so liberating! I told anyone that would listen to me about my surgery! I had made up my mind and very few people verbalized their disapproval - no doubt some did behind my back! When people realized that I was committed and this was something I had thought about for a long time, most wished me luck and thought I was really brave to take such a big step to give myself the chance of better health and a better quality of life into the future. You need to do what feels best for you as it is very personal journey. I am a bit of a talker and an open book so probably give people too much information!

Hi kelliv I am taking a liquid vitamin. I was told to take a soluble panadol for pain or crush the stronger ones - I didn't need them anyway. The nexium ( for stomach acid) I was told to take whole as they had a coating. So it seems to be different depending on the tablet. I would check with your doctor.