Amberlydw8

I love Peppermint Oil !!!! So I know allot of us have had problems with our tummies post-op. I wanted to share how I found relief. That acid reflex or what ever i am supposed to call it is a pain! I am 18 months out from surgery. I don't get it every day anymore, but there are some things that really set it off... Coffee is one of them... No I have not given it up yet, maybe someday but not today...lol And then there are some days that I don't even know what triggered my discomfort. I don't know about all of you but I really don't like over the counter meds... They seem to cause more problems and adverse side effects than the things they are trying to fix. So I started looking for more natural remedies and came across Essential Oils! Now, be aware... You must be careful not to get just any oil from the store or even the health food store. Many "essential oils" are not meant for internal use, and they will say so on the bottle. I get mine through Young Living. They are guaranteed pure therapeutic grade essential oils and have been distilled very carefully! Anyway... Back to the awesomeness... Peppermint oil is what I was getting too... I can take one drop of peppermint oil under my tongue and within moments... I mean less than a minute! I feel fine! My tummy is back to normal and I can go on with the rest of my day! I am so sold on the stuff! I ran out the other day and almost cried...lol Not to mention, peppermint oil can also be used for headaches, to bring down fevers, help with pain and even help with allergies! I know that many of us have had a hard time with our tummies after surgery. I hope I have been able to help even one person. If you want more info on getting these oils just let me know

If you want more info on peppermint oil and all it can do, pinterest is amazing! Put "Young Living Peppermint" in the search bar. You will be blown away by all it can do! Also you can see a bunch of info on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/LovelyLiving/532743640186820?ref=hl

Hi everyone, I am so excited!!! I am finally getting my sleeve on March 11th with Dr. Ortiz at the OCC... I wanted to know if any one else was going to be there between March 10th and the 14th? It would be great to hook up with some fellow sleevers. Let me know! Yay! Im getting ready to begin a whole new life! A new me is about to be made Amber

Hi all... It has been a while since I have been on here. I can honestly say life is sooooo different!!! I can't imagine ever going back to where I was before. I know you all understand what I am talking about! Well My biggest NSV to date is my new man! As most of you know, I mentioned in older blogs that one thing my weight hindered was my love life. I was single for over 5 years during my biggest years. I have recently found the love of my life! He is amazing and he is everything I prayed to find in a man. He thinks I am beautiful even though i am no where near my goal weight. He is so good to me and has added 2 wonderful children to my life. I don't remember a time when I was this happy. I thank God every day for the changes in my life over the last year. I am down 110lb since surgery. I am at 182lb and a size 12 at the moment. I have not been very good about sticking to my high protein diet but I have been holding steady for about 2 months now. Its nice to know I can eat normal and maintain a steady weight. I do want to get down another 20+ pounds but I have time. I hope you are all doing as wonderful! That your prayers are coming to pass and that your joy is as great as mine.... Love you all... Amber

Hi all...I am almost 5 weeks post op! Wow the time has flown by! Sorry I have not been on here in a while giving an update or posting about something I have kinda been in what some people call a "stall" for the past two weeks. Kinda puts a damper on things. The first week I was really pretty ok with it. I had just lost 40lb in 2 months and was just stoked to start seeing the changes in my body and in my attitude/personality. Then by the 2nd week it just started to get depressing, I even gained 1 pound... I started getting a little mad and was trying to figure out how to amp up my loss again. I had just started adding solid foods back into my diet but I was not getting over 600-700 cal a day. (which I thought was good) I was having a little bit of a hard time with my protein and liquid intake. So I figured that must be the problem. Last Tuesday I had my first WLS support group meeting with my supper awesome friend Tina. By some amazing divine appointment God had them focusing on PROTEIN! She had a ton of samples to try from different products and gave us a bunch of ideas on how to add bits of protein to our diets through out the day. Apparently just about everyone in the group had been struggling with some kind of stall recently and so that was the topic of focus! How perfect for me And because I know how common it is for us new VSG'ers to have a hard time with proper protein levels I thought I would share what I learned, my new favorite products, and a few new ideas on how to use protein. First, my new best friend is "Big Train". I have always loved this brand but had no idea that they had a bariatric friendly line of protein powders. So now I can have my love of coffee and drink it too I do live in Seattle... Its almost against the law to not like coffee over here... lol Here is the link for the Big Train drinks. I love them! The cool thing is, I can not taste the protein in them at all! I have tried the vanilla and the espresso (both are fantastic) and have just ordered the sampler pac to try the rest before purchasing in bulk... http://www.bigtrain.com/coffee-protein-drink-mix-powder-fit-frappe-c-143.aspx My 2nd new brand of protein is Chike... I had never heard of this brand till my meeting this week. I tried the coffee flavor and again it was really good! I ordered the sample pac of this brand also. I really like being able to take a little packet of powder with me rather than mixing up a whole days worth at once. I need to find some kind of little container that holds one serving though, because it is so much cheaper to buy the tub rather than the packets... Anyway, here is the link for Chike. http://www.chikenutrition.com/buy-chike.html Third... I know most of you guys know about Unjury. But recently I have made a few friends who had never heard of it. For all of you newbies out there here is an awesome product! Unjury is said to be one of the best forms of protein. One of the best on the market. Its protein has really good absorption into the body. I have been told some of the cheaper proteins don't benefit the body as well as others. I totally get that, most food now a days dose not benefit the body at all so I am sure they cheat on this kind of stuff also... Anyway, Unjury makes a "non-flavored" powder that you can put in just about anything from soup to pudding, to drinks. I have been adding it to my Crystal Light or Mio drinks. When you add it to a fruity drink it kinda turns it into a cream cycle taste. Not bad when it is giving you 20+ grams of protein in each scoop... I also put some strawberry lemon-aid into a vanilla powder and it was pretty good too.. http://www.unjury.com/store/protein/ I also found this website http://www.bariatricchoice.com/bariatric-protein-shakes-smoothies-drinks-12.html It looks like it has a ton of different high protein options including Nectar (which I have ordered the sample pack but have not tried yet) It might be a cool place to get some extra ideas from. (And by the way I just started loosing weight again! I dropped 1 pound yesterday. I really believe its because I am drinking more and added more protein) So, to give you an idea on how I get my protein and liquids in... In the morning I start out with either a mixed fruit and veggie shake with a scoop of Unjury in it. Or, I have a coffee drink with either the Big Train or the Chike. Rite there in that morning drink I have just got 20 grams of protein in... As a snack I will have a cheese stick or cup of Greek yogurt. (6-12 g protein) Then for lunch I make sure to have some kind of meat, eggs or cheese. All of which are low in carbs. (remember we like low carbs During the day I will have a "snack" by putting one scoop of protein powder in with a beverage. There is another 20 grams. For dinner I have been trying to get in some veggies with my meat. So weather I have 1/2 a hamburger patty or a few ounces of fish, I try to get in either salad or another green vegetable. If I work it good like that, I am over 70 grams of protein. Plus the shakes alone have given me about 30 ounces of water so I only have to concentrate on another 30 through out the day. To tell you the truth, its the liquids I am still having trouble with. It is really hard to drink that much through out the day. But I am trying... I hope I was able to help some of you guys... I know I was really struggling with ideas on how to get enough every day... Good luck to you all! And let me know what you think of my ideas. Also, If any of you have some products or mix ideas for me please let me know! I am always looking for something new to try. Later all!!! "HUGS" Amber

Ok guys... I am normally a VERY private person. But I just had a recent problem that really freaked me out and I know that if it happened to me, it will happen to someone else, so I am going to post about it in hopes that you guys will be helped by my experience. During my surgery my doctor prescribed me a liquid antibiotic that I was supposed to take for 5 days. Because I was in Mexico the bottle was all in Spanish but I think it was called Cefixima. It was this overly sweet strawberry flavor. Yuck... Way too sweet... Any way on day 6 when I was finished taking it, while I was brushing my teeth I noticed that my whole tongue had turned white and felt as if I had scalded it with hot coffee. It was really sore and really gross and like I said before, I am not used to sharing this kind of thing with anyone much less everyone...lol I scrubbed off as much as I could without really hurting myself and started to ask around and read up on it. Basically Thrush is a candida yeast infection that you can get when the good bacteria balance in your mouth is way off (because of the liquid antibiotics I had to take orally) It is not serious and is easily fixed. There are a number of ways you can get rid of it on your own in just a couple days. (Also, remember I am not a doctor, if for some reason it dose not go away, call your doctor!) My most preferred way to treat it is with plain yogurt. Have a spoon of PLAIN yogurt and press it to your tongue and hold it there for a while. Do this several times a day for a couple days and the good bacteria cultures in the yogurt will help bring your mouth back into proper balance. Another way I have heard is to dilute apple cider vinegar (2 or 3 tablespoons in a small glass of water) and try to wash out your mouth a few times a day... Yuck... I did do this the fist night before I got any yogurt... Another thing that I have been using in junction with these other two is acidophilus. Acidophilus is a healthy bacteria you should put back into your body any time you have been on antibiotics. Because antibiotics kill all bacteria in your body you need to replace the good stuff or you have a chance of getting sick again. I take this after any round of antibiotics... There are a number of other remedies that you can search up on line for yourself, but this is what I have found to work for me. As of now I am almost 24 hours out from my self diagnosis and I can already see that it is clearing up. I will try to remember to post a comment letting you know how it worked out in the end and how long it took to go away... Good luck everyone...

Hi there fellow sleevers... I am updating you with my 5 months post op information... I don't think I have put my measurements on here before so I wanted to put that out there today. I thought my weight numbers were drastic, but once I re did my body measurements it really put things into perspective! So My starting weight pre op was 293lb I am currently just over 5 months post op and am at 208 this morning...How awesome is that? I am almost to ONEderland!!! So excited! I hope to get under 200 by August. We shall see if I an make that goal... I got 2 weeks, I can do it! Ok as for measurements. Pre op 293lb.......NOW 208lb Size 22 Size 14/16 Arms 18 in....................14.25 in - 3.75 in Thigh 32 in....... ............25 in -7 in Neck 18.75 in ...............16 in -1.25 in Tummy 51 in.....................40 in -9 in Bust 46.5.....................41.5 in -5 in Boobs 55 in .....................47 in - 8 in Hips 55 in .....................45 in -9 in Calf 21.5......................17.5 - 4 in So that is a total overall loss of 47 inches!!! Totally awesome.... A few Non Scale Victories include... Being able to cross my legs (I am really stoked about that one) Don't feel gross in a bathing suit I have gotten rid of about 5 trash bags full of cloths.. all different sizes.. Everything is too big for me now I can go up stairs and hills without a problem. I get compliments from everyone My Ex thinks I look good... (don't worry, hi is still an Ex) Guys are starting to stare at me for the first time ever... I could just keep going, but I think I will leave the rest for my next post... Thanks to all of you for all the support! Your amazing!

Hey there everyone. I know I have not been keeping up on my blogs... I guess its because I am now out living life and discovering who I am as a normal person. Finding out I like to hang out, I like to go to the gym, I don't mind being in front of a crowd now... As for normal life its kinda hard rite now, I just started a new job and its not really paying out what I hoped, so the bills are a bit tight rite now. But I can tell you that my cloths are not! I am having to sew and alter many of my cloths because I am loosing so fast! Thank god I can sew! Or I would be in cloths that looked like sacks and togas...lol This sleeve is proving to be the most wonderful "tool"! And yes, everyone was right to say its a tool for weight loss! Its the thing that helps keep me on track. The reminder that I have a goal and that I don't want to stray from my mission. As of this week I am 14 weeks post op. I have lost 71 pounds and almost 45 inches! (9 inches off my waist alone!) I have gone from a size 22 pants to a size 16! Everything looks and feels different. I can cross my legs when I sit, I can run up and down stairs, I can be on my feet for longer periods of time, I am starting to be able to ware high heals again! And when I pass by a shop window, I don't recognize the person I see in the reflection... The little changes and victories are endless! I am so happy I made this decision. There are a few things for me that I have noticed are a little different than some of my other sleever friends. One is I am hungry regularly. I don't really know if it is what they call head hunger, or if my body is just telling me to eat more. I know that I am satisfied rather quickly, but I do feel hungry often. I am able to eat most anything I want (in moderation) I have a little bit of a hard time with fried foods. I try to stay away from them in general, but sometimes my will gets the best of me... I am normally sorry in the end because my tummy dose not really like it... In general I am at about 1000-1100 cal a day... And I loose about 2 or maybe 3 pounds a week rite now... I have been on the low end of my protein the past couple weeks. I have been making it a priority over the past couple days so I hope to see my loss pick up again. I have noticed it slow down a little. Im sure this will help. My other problem area is water ( I know, I am preaching to the choir on this one...lol every one has a hard time with water) I have been trying to drink allot more! I keep a glass full at work now and a bottle in my car. What ever it takes rite? Well, I think I have covered most of the things that are going on with me. I want to be able to keep a record not only for myself but for all of you who might find a little help or hope in following my story. I know I am not supper interesting, or amazingly charismatic, but its my story... and maybe it will help someone... All I got is my experiences and my personal victories... To all my supper awesome friends out there... Thank you for your support! You guys are awesome! Sarahr and TTL you girls are the best! I am always able to talk to you guys... and especially my friend VSGkirk ... You have been so wonderful, and such a great friend... Thank you! I am so glad we live close. Until next time. Keep up the good work!