LilMissDiva Irene

You'll have to give me some time to answer all of those!

It's simple. Ask me a question and I'll answer to the best of my ability. WLS related or whatever is on your mind (which is probably WLS). I'll be a one question at a time buddy/mentor. I had another thread like this a long time ago but I'm too lazy to go find it. Go for it!

My excess skin is an issue for me. More for my psyche than anything else. My husband tells me I look great, but as I look in the mirror and flop around my batwings and pick up my pannus I can't help but feel bad about it. It's gotten a lot worse since I can't workout like I used to. Or rather should I say I stopped working out at all for awhile because I was feeling depressed about the whole thing. I've been doing what I can now for about a month and I've been feeling a lot better. I do a lot of light toning that does not greatly impact my knees. I can see the muscle reformation. I'm so glad muscles have a memory!! Especially since I don't. LOL From surgery until I hit "goal" it was about 10 months iirc. I was already about 50 Lost when I had my sleeve. I kept losing a little bit after and maintained my weight until about a year ago when my knees said no mas!!! I have to battle back, harder and mentally stronger than ever before but I'm definitely up for the challenge. I CAN DO THIS!!

Kim you look smashing!!

It came to a point that I knew I'd have to come out of the woodwork and share my story. I'm here to help, and I'll do that in any way I can. I need to let everyone know that not everything can nor will turn out peachy or perfect. I always said "I'm far from perfect" and that is the downright truth. I have a hill to climb and that's ok. I've never NEVER been a quitter!! I want to show the world that even in the darkest hour, there is but a few short more to daylight. I have to work around my ailments. I can't do everything like I did before, but as long as I have breath in my lungs there is something I can do. Good luck with your journey! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Gosh I feel like I just read my life story! Lol except my person trainer was Shawn T and Insanity!

Yes ive been seeing the same ortho doctor for many years. He'd been doing cortisone shots on my knees until I just couldn't take it anymore.

Thank you, that means so much!! Xo I'm super diligent now with my Vites/iron/B-12. My Hubby even asks me if I've taken them. He was really worried about me for a long time.

It is SO NICE to be back. Hiding isn't what I was trying to do but is what it ended up being. I was so awfully upset that I couldn't workout like I was anymore. It almost seemed what I was known for but I guess I was meant to come back and now to be known as the comeback girl. Lol. Imma do it tho because I know my strengths! !

Cgj absolutely yes I do think my hi intensity workouts hurt me in both ways. Im sure by body ran out of supplemental reserves quickly and I knew I had really bad knees yet I did a lot of jumping, squatting. . Running all that. Im told now that if I run anymore I can be assured I'll need a total knee replacement in both knees in about 5 years time. I'm very limited in what I can do and what I will be able to do once I get physically restored.

LOL I said "anything"!!

Hi Becky, I'm a revised band to sleeve.

Yeah I love this thread!! I need to rearead everything here. Its the WLS bible. Everyones contributions have been excellent. I'm glad to see it is still active.

Oh yes I'm always happy, even when I'm miserable. And strawberry (the fruit). Mmm!!

It's a very common feeling! The fear of the unknown can be scary. All I can tell you is to just be 100% positive you are ready. If you are then shake off those jitters and take the plunge. I felt the jitters too all the way up into the operating room and they put my lights out.

Inside every forum there is the "start a new topic" button located to the right. Of course once you press "post" it should show up. Sometimes I forget to press that! Like earlier... and everything I wrote goes bye bye. If that is not the case for you perhaps you can ask for assitance in the assistance forums. It might be some kind of issue the admins might have to help you with.

Wow you have lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time! You've just hit the 3rd week plateau. It happens to more of us than it doesn't. It all physiological which I'm sure if you have time you can find someone who has posted about it. The main idea is that you just keep doing the right things and the scale will start moving again. In times like that I would keep taking pictures, trying on my old clothes and measuring myself. The scale is NOT the only measure to success.

Hello BGP! It's nice to see you. Here is the Link: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/199346-the-basics-boot-camp/?hl=%20basics%20%20bootcamp Good luck! Drink lots of Water, Protein first and if you have to maybe switch up your workouts. Our bodies get used to the same routines quite easily.

Howdy Chanelle! Awwwweeeeeeee welcome to the losers bench!! All you're going through right now will someday be a distant memory. You're reminding me of some very tough times! Haha Feeling nausea for the first few months post op is extremely common. Your stomach is still healing and not everything you put in there is going to agree. I'll tell you what gave me terrible nausea, anything with dairy. It hated me! I had to use nothing but Lactaid products (milk, cheese, etc) or I was feeling sick as a dog. I couldn't do more than a spoonfull of anything or even a sip of water at a time. The constipation is likely from the lack of fiber you're consuming right now as well as not getting enough fluids. Truthfully you're lucky to be getting in 5-8g per day and the RDA for a healthy female is over 25g! I used the "sugar free fiber gummies" during that time. Did it help? I don't know but it made me feel better thinking I was getting more fiber in. My advice, take it one day at a time. In about a year you'll be able to get more fiber and water in.

Hi Noor, I eat carbs every day. I don't shun them but I do eat them in moderation. Like above it's always the smallest portion I put in my stomach. My tiny tummy is like real estate land. I'm not going to put a bunch of trash on my lawn, no! I want to put nice attractive things. Same goes for my stomach. Yes everything in moderation BUT since being on my butt includes *maybe* one thousand or 1200 calories a day max... a cookie probably is not the best choice at this time. When I was burning a lot more calories I allowed for a lot more fun stuff. I do my best to avoid refined sugar and keep my Protein as high as possible. Bread and Pasta I do eat, but I sure get full on it quickly. I definitely have to fit my meat source in first.

Hi RXG, Gosh well I suppose what I have kept off is due to a daily struggle of doing the right things. I can't workout like crazy anymore but I do something! I do some recumbent bike and muscle toning. Then I always ALWAYS do the Protein first approach when eating my meal. Then I eat my veggies. Then I'll eat some carbs, whatever it is. I still get full pretty quickly, even 3.5 years out thank goodness. I can try little fad ideas like the bootcamp or even the 8 hour diet which I'm going to start tomorrow probably. But the real is no matter how many hours I allow myself to eat, I better not put more calories in than I'm burning in a day. For the rest of my life.

Hi Deedee Here's how you get off the depression train. Jump off!! Don't let yourself continue to slip down that slope because the farther you fall, the longer the climb is back up. You say you've given yourself a second chance. Well now it's time for your third chance, fourth or fifth... whatever! The important rule here is to never EVER give up. The day you give up is the day you fail. Until you do that, keep it moving. I can't really give any vegetarian idea advice but anything you have to do to kick start your new day is what you should do. Anything short of something unhealthy. Best wishes on your upcoming nuptials!! Use that as your motivator to get back to it. I don't think there is anything wrong with having that proverbial carrot leading you in the right direction. Take care!

No matter what I always come back. We all need a break from time to time, but honestly this forum has been a HUGE contributor to my success in the past, presently and will be for years to come!

God bless! I loved your post. I'm just getting back here and reading thru as much as I can. I really started to miss this place. How could I not, I've spent an enormous amount of time and energy here. I DEFINITELY miss Sleeve4Me.. omg wtheck is she???

Well I definitely don't suggest Sensa. They're currently being sued for being fake. That said, the sleeve will never stop working. It holds what it will, it's up to us to make the decision on what we put in it. 2 cups is a bit more than most but truthfully if you eat a lot of veggies with your protein you will still stay low in calories. Eat veggies that are a little higher on the glycemic index to offset the hypoglycemia. Also, I totally understand being in pain all the time. But it is very important for ourselves to find some kind of physical activity that gets the heart rate up and mix in some muscle toning that your body can handle. Helps your body to get additional calories out during the day. How is your Water consumption too? That too is very high on the importance scale. GOOD LUCK!