RJ'S/beginning

Thanks. So far so good tolerating it. According, to MFP, it had 12g of fat which didn't blow my fat budget for the day. I'm just hoping that with all the blotting, it truly was in that ballpark. I just don't get it. Food can be cooked in oil, but it doesn't have to be greasy. I don't fry much anymore, obviously, but when I did, I made sure that my food wasn't sitting in a puddle of oil. It's unappetizing, to say the least. I'm a little annoyed , in case you couldn't tell, because I thought I was making a good choice. Now, I'm not so sure. You will learn we all do..you will think you are making good choices and find out that others on here think it is a trigger down to doom....You will find your way just like everyone else does....Keep Protein first and for most followed by veggies, fruit and carbs last.. You do need some fats so don't think you don't..But not as much as we think we need.....Keep stretching your experience with food and seek out new recipes to make it interesting..There is a forum on here with some great recipes..you might like some of them...K

I was a size 6X when I went for surgery...5 months later I came home and I was a size 20..So I had nothing to wear in the house except socks...that was scary to say the least...My hubby went to a thrift store and bought me 2 night gowns size 20..They were snug but worked..... From there I was an 18 for which seemed forever and now I am a L on top and a 14 in pants.....I still can't believe it!!! Me!! So hoping I hit the single digits someday!

Yes a lot of people think that you cannot dump with the sleeve, but you can.... Look back at what you ate in the last 24 hours and try them again one at a time and see what reaction you get...elimination is a great tool to see what you cannot tolerate...Other wise consider it a good cleaning out...K

Yes watch the grease..most of us have trouble with greasy foods.... I can't eat Chinese food it does not agree with me at all...It used to be my favorite...Oh well I think it is the Soya sauce and the greasiness of the food...

Don't you feel powerful?!?!? I love it...great job!! I wouldn't say I feel powerful..I guess I feel that despite everything, what I wanted to happen in the end is happening Your a clever little thing aren't you? Never saw it that way....Still in transit so it is still hard to see the other side yet..

We have fake flowers out of our love of vegetation...we are lethal as gardeners. I never had dolls as a boy, just dug in the dirt and blew up G.I Joes with firecrackers like any normal kid. It sure is fun dressing up this little doll though. I used to dread going shopping with her. She normally came out of the dressing room and bought nothing and was very depressed. Now she shops with a smile on her face...trying stuff on is just a formality. I actually don't mind watching her purse. So it's a no to the jacket....hehehehehe

Amazing transformation...

Two things Gman..one you live in Florida and you have fake plants hanging behind you.?...And two I like your wife's jacket...Is she getting tired of it yet.....I think I could wear that in the future!!!!!LOL

I know what you mean..I look at mine and I get a pain in my stomach!!!!!!! yikes

Holy are you ever a hot dish!!!!!!!!!!! Holy crap!!!!!!!!!!! gorgeous

Don't you feel powerful?!?!? I love it...great job!! I wouldn't say I feel powerful..I guess I feel that despite everything, what I wanted to happen in the end is happening

OMG RJ, you look like an entirely different person!!! I will be getting sleeved soon and I'm inspired to hear that you have no regrets despite your many complications and time in the hospital. I salute you! All of you look AMAZING!!! That is the unreal part of all of this for me..no one recognizes me anymore..i can go anywhere and people I have known for years walk right past me or I ask for something say in the grocery store right next to them and they say sure..I reach for it and walk away....So surreal!

This is me in 2012, next is 2 months after I came out of the hospital after 5 months. Last is a picture of me a month ago....Still have 26 lbs to go!!!!!!!

I knew you would be a person with soft eyes..and a warm face...i just knew it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right..it is not a cure all that we did it is hard work to be successful for the rest of our lives...Hopefully it will become as easy and natural as breathing the farther out we get......and some call it the easy way out.......... There are going to be times that you are so tired and then another time so happy with what you have done...It can be scary...Like you think that you might be losing your mind...But your not..Your body is fighting for you...but we have our minds to fix and correct why we got here in the first place.............That is the war within us that is the fight we will face every day............Those who say it is a piece of cake are fibbing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes it happened to me..I was fixated on stories I read or saw on TV and the worst was when it was a sad thing...All the time I would think about that poor creature or person and cry...could not stop it for over a month......Now I never think about those things..But I really thought I was losing my mind......Every thing is different and changing and you are changing as well...It takes some time to come to grips with all of this...Our body protects us from so many things...I think that our brains do this to keep us from worrying about the possible things we will have to face with this surgery and then as time goes on it goes away and we deal better....

Yup, I've been dealing with this for 14 years now and I go through all of the relaxing "tell yourself it's not real" motions. Usually that and, if it gets real bad, a hot shower, usually helps (with the Xanax of course). And it all helps a little now, but it seems to come zooming back the next hour. Usually, once I ditch the attack it's gone for at least the day, for a week or two during my good spells. But this almost constant attack is wearing me down. All of the time that this happens to me it is because I am dwelling on something that I don't openly know what it is..something is bothering me when it continues to come back over and over again....You mentioned that you are 4 days post op...That brings a lot of fear anxiety of the unknown and what might happen or what won't..I did this, why? Regrets..It can be anything...Ask yourself what has been eating at you for the last few days and why you are internally upset...Speak to your husband..I bet as you talk to him about your feelings it will come out... Sometimes we think it is one thing and then it is another....Anxiety is a strange creature...it can fool you!!! I do this myself and fight all the time to solve the mystery.....

If it works go for it...If not return to G2 1/2 and 1/2 with Water....Make sure to try to reach your teams Protein intake goal....It is the back bone of this surgery and your body will stop losing to protect itself if you take in too little...K

Well 1 hours is definitely too long...You have to get fluids down as well.. By the time you are done you will be eating and drinking all day long... As you go along in this journey your stomach will relax a bit and you will be able to eat more and faster....Up to a cup of food at a time... For now there really isn't much difference 10 mins. make..So cut your time down to 30 min for now and then move to 20 as you go a long in the process.....chew chew chew.....As long as it is chewed to a soupy consistency you did it.... 1 hour eh...wow! your very studious!!!!!

Yup I have it really bad...that said, I realized that you can't die from the panic attacks and if you just force yourself to let it pass through you without responding to it it goes much faster... I deep breath and then tell myself I'm okay no matter where I am or what I am doing..Then I get up and start to do something that is completely not planned.... I will deal with this like you for the rest of my life....Ativan helps but I don't take it much at all..I find I am better off this way...Except the next day I am very tired from the experience

I watched one episode of the biggest loser and cried my head off....This is not for me..I am not ready to be in that much pain for others yet........ I have seen these shows on You Tube and watched the entire thing.....Isn't surgery a miracle if used properly.... I think it is...

I see it as a verb still because I have a snack at night..If i don't I wake up in the middle of the night hungry and have to go eat something then...I eat mostly nuts and seeds in the evening....you know like a squirrel...lol

When you are ready and it may take years...you will move on but not without her every day in your thoughts and deeds....you have to face and feel all the emotions that come into your soul over what has happened and it is a long and painful process...I understand that and feel you are right you should express yourself and how you are managing..This forum is not just for those who have had it easy but also for those who lost someone or had complications and are still having issues with WLS.... There is definitely too much pressure on you right now and of course you cannot see yourself going on with a natural life...I hope that you will feel at peace eventually and find the strength to go on with your life...You must get to a point where you can breath again and live again...right now that seems like it will never happen but it will..If you work on it in the future...But for now...... Feel how you feel, say what you will and depend on those that love you and care..Don't forget they are seeing life through what ifs too...But that will smother your life and when you are ready you will move forward.... For now you have to go through the process of emotions and hurt and fear and everything else that is happening... You may find this site useful....I know i have in the past to be able to see which stage I am in: http://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

Yes!!!!!!!!!! great now look after yourself and take it easy, but not to easy..lol Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!

I questioned nothing I could not wait to get this on...I was so tired of my life and my health issues..I was ready to roll... I think it is more natural for us to be like you and nervous and timid and down right scared of the unknown... Like the poster said before you have to look at why you have chosen to do this and if the reasons are right for you..Then plow through it! Even though I had researched it for a year before I had it and watched videos on the procedure I know now that I should have been scared, very scared...That said I would do it again for the health changes in me....