Rena's got this

Dang CowgirlJane! I want YOUR hair! If I don't wash mine at least every other day using shampoo, it will look dull and flat. I don't have any natural curl unfortunately. I would seriously kill for some curls that I didn't have to use a perm to get. If I use a perm, my hair breaks off and frizzes and looks absolutely awful.

You're looking great! Good job! I didn't have the confidence to take any before pictures. Even now, I wouldn't have the guts to do it. I'm also still looking for a swimsuit. My old one is falling off me, and all the new ones in the stores don't fit properly. I think I'm losing from my chest and back first, and my belly is just looking pregnant in all these swimsuits. I was so hoping to get into a good swimsuit by this time! Well, maybe before summer is over I can find a good one.

I had surgery 3 months and a week ago, and have not lost any hair yet. I'm not always super perfect in getting all my Protein in, and sometimes I have more carbs than I should, but I'm totally satisfied with how I'm doing to this point. I even colored my hair a few days ago with a semi-permanent dye, and had no loss from that either. My nails are hard and healthy, as usual, and seem to be growing just as fast as they always do. It seems that hair loss is a personal thing, not everyone is the same, so it is difficult to try and compare yourself to others about this.

I used Dr. Wes Turton at West Georgia Medical. He was excellent, and his staff was wonderful. The hospital itself was gorgeous, and the staff at the hospital treat you like you are a family member. I had absolutely no complications, and none of Dr. Turton's patients has ever had a leak. He oversews the suture line just to make sure. He also repaired my hiatal hernia during the surgery. I recommend him to anyone.

There is a Japanese restaurant called Narutos that has an excellent terriaki chicken meal that also comes with tempura vegetables and one skewer of tempura shrimp. With rice, salad and little sushi bites. Before surgery, it was all I could do to eat the entire meal. I haven't been back since the surgery.

You also lose more in the honeymoon period of 6 months right after surgery. I was losing a lot the first 2 months, but am slowing down now. However, up to this point I've averaged 3.3 pounds per week.

OK...back to goals. I'm making one right now. When I finally reach "onederland" I'm going to go buy me some really good walking shoes and throw away the worn out ones I have right now. Shoe shopping always feels good, and isn't food related. I think that will also motivate me to get to the track!

Sounds like you came out of that a lot stronger. Maybe if I exercised my knees a bit more, the muscles around them would get stronger and help with the pain. I am such a baby....lol! I don't like pain. Very strange when my operation was not very painful at all, and I recovered quickly.

I do both. I use splenda in my tea, and whenever I eat a bowl of Cereal. Sometimes though, I'll just skip the splenda and go with the sugar. I haven't really noticed a difference, since I eat/drink so little of either one of them.

You can run and jog! You are going to be my new inspiration...lol! I used to run a lot, and hated it. I would make myself run about 7 miles 3 times a week, and managed to get my weight down to 130 (back in the early 1990s). It was the only way I could keep my weight down. Now that I can't run, I long for those days that I had the ability to run. I think I'm going to go back to the doc and see what I can do to make that happen.

Oh how l would love to have a goal of being able to walk or run without knee pain. I don't know if that is possible with my knees, but I'm hoping it is. I also like what joatsaint said about "The reward is in the doing and reaching the goal.". I think that is basically how I think also, but I love hearing about other people's goals. I do have some non scale victory (NSV) goals. If I were ever to reach my goal weight, I'd love to take my kids to Disney World and walk everywhere without having to stop for a "knee break". I'd love to fit in all the roller coaster rides. I'd love to fit in a swimsuit without struggling to get it on, or thinking that this particular suit must be made for someone short-waisted, since it appears that the bust is somewhere around my waist...can't stand that! I also watch the scale and feel great when I lose 10 pounds. Every 10 pounds is a victory, and is a reward in and of itself.

There are trees in Gulf Shores. There are even trees on Pensacola Beach Island, however they are scrub oaks, and rather short. Pensacola has tons of trees. You won't miss out on trees, but you won't have many hardwoods, mainly pines and scrub oaks.

I loved living in Pensacola (on the mainland), but there are definitely some bad areas you will want to avoid. It has been over 15 years since I lived there, so I won't be much help. If you find a hotel on the island (Pensacola Beach) you will be ok. There is another barrier island in between Pensacola Beach and Pensacola, which is really nice. It is called Gulf Shores. Most of the hotels and restaurants in Gulf Shores are pretty good also. I don't know of any bad neighborhoods in Gulf shores, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. On the mainland of Pensacola, there is a very quaint downtown area that you can walk through that has some wonderful little shops.

Nothing....my sleeve is very accommodating, just very restrictive. I can eat a little bit of ice cream, fried green tomatoes, a bloomin onion from Outback, pulled pork, steak, shrimp.... anything food grade, just not a lot of it. I haven't yet tried alcohol, pecan pie, twinkies, or anything with lots of sugar. I would absolutely love some praline caramel pecan ice cream in a waffle cone, but would absolutely hate to throw out the part I couldn't eat, so I just don't order one. I used to love Pan pizza from Pizza Hut, but haven't been there since my surgery. Still love pizza, but just can't eat very many carbs. My only symptom if I overeat is that I will get really intense hiccups. You can't eat anything when you are hiccuping...lol.

Oh yes! Lemonade with a lemon slice would be wonderful. I'm not much of a drinker, so I don't know a lot about what would work, but could you get a diet margarita and just hold the alcohol? You could still rim the glass with salt. Or better yet, a frozen diet virgin margarita...

I used to live in Pensacola. Pensacola beach is pretty nice, with white sands and lots of stuff to do. You can either go to the gulf side if you want waves, or to the sound side, with no waves. At the end of Pensacola beach island (on the right side) is an old fort called Fort Pickens. This is a great place to explore, and has a little museum that is nice to wander through. The only downside could be going to the beach when the jellyfish are there. I'm not sure of the date, but it seems that August was the month that had a lot of jellyfish in the Water, and their stings are pretty bad.

What part of Georgia? I live in Auburn, Alabama.

I found that eating something sweet, like sucking on a hard candy or putting a small pinch of sugar on your tongue will help stop the hiccups. I get them whenever I eat more than I should. Instead of getting nauseated or vomiting, I hiccup. Hope this helps you.

I'm also at 3 months out. My surgery was Feb. 25th. I've lost 41 pounds so far, which equates to about 3 1/2 pounds per week. I find that if I graze during the day, I won't lose as quickly, so I try to stick by the standard instructions like not drinking with my meals, eat Protein first, etc. I will also go off program every now and then when I'm craving stuff that doesn't work for me now, like Cereal in milk, toast, a few fried items and maybe a slice of pizza, but then go back to my normal post op diet. I think this is a lifestyle change that I can do for the rest of my life, if I don't deprive myself of a few pre-surgery treats. I'm not in a race to lose, just as long as the scale continues to go downward. I'm happy with my progress so far. Oh, and I'm not exercising yet, due to a bad knee, but am starting to walk a little more.

Hey everyone... A while back I got a 4 pack of Premier Protein drinks that were a bit clumpy, even though they didn't expire until June 2014. I emailed the company asking if they were still ok to drink. They assured me that they were fine, they just had a tendency to clump due to the high level of protein they contained, and to make sure I shook it up really good before drinking it. About a week later, I received a box of 18 Premier Protein drinks! I really appreciated that they wanted to keep me as a customer. Now, nearly a month later, I receive another box of 18 Premier Protein drinks! The letter that came with it said that they changed the formula a little so it wouldn't get clumpy and they wanted me to try out the new version. The new ones taste a little weaker, but definitely not a bit clumpy, and with the same level of protein. I was actually able to drink it a bit quicker than the normal ones. I rarely give reviews for things like this, but I was so impressed by them, I just had to post this. It really helps me out too because these are really expensive drinks unless you can find them on sale or find a coupon for them. Best Protein Drink ever....and best customer service ever!

Darn it! I LOVE fudge. Especially the kind with the walnuts. I bypassed some the other day and all day was kicking myself for not going ahead and getting it for just a small bite. I'm only 3 months out, and still trying to develop those good habits, but that nagging voice in my head all the rest of the day begging for just a small piece of fudge was a real bummer!

I had GERD pretty bad before my sleeve surgery. Once I even went to the emergency room, thinking I was having a heart attack. It was just reflux. My stomach doc found a hiatial hernia and that got fixed at the same time he did my sleeve. I haven't had any reflux since. It has been wonderful. He put me on Omeprasole post surgery to give my stomach time to heal, but I often forget to take it, and still no reflux. Ask your doc to check for a hiatial hernia to see if that can also be causing your problems.

That works for me too! Just look at that nutritional info and get shocked! I wanted one of those packaged Apple pie tarts the other day. Looked at the nutritional info and saw 50+ carbs. I nearly threw the package back on the shelf!

I have Ragdoll cats and a ferret.... lets see if I can upload some pictures! Scrat....our... Josie and Ji... Jeffie.... T... Willie being...