NMJG

Seela, I feel so bad for you I take Citalopram myself. I switched over to Paxil for a month, then decided in my great wisdom that I didn't need them anymore. So I went off cold turkey. Disaster! I'm back on Citalopram and all is well with the world again. I have no advice beyond what the others have said, just sympathy. {hugs}

Had one required class preop and one at the hospital postop the day after surgery. We went over my doctor's eating plan for the sleeve, the different stages, liquids, amounts of protein/carbs/fats, exercise, and vitamins.

I'm TXJG on MFP

Article on this topic cancer/gastrectomy http://www.cancer.org/cancer/stomachcancer/detailedguide/stomach-cancer-risk-factors

My doctor gave me a little card to keep in my wallet that pictorially explains the sleeve in case of emergency treatment. It also states No Intubation. However, if I am unconscious, it won't help much.

Chi, I think you are doing well after seeing your pix. We all have some body part that doesn't shrink as fast as we would like. For me, it's my jelly belly. When I was young, I was pear shaped and had thunder thighs. Later in life I became an apple. Patience and go easy on yourself. Time enough down the road for lipo or plastics.

Yeah, GG, we are definitely paralleling. I'd be afraid to eat more calories. My BMR is so low, I think I would stop losing.

Soft food like cottage cheese, 1/2 cup. Chicken or beef, maybe 2 oz. Fish, maybe 3 oz. I can get down a couple of bites of veg after my protein, but not much. i still need protein shakes to meet my protein goals.

Congrats and thank you so much for posting now. It's wonderful to see long term success, so inspirational.

Echo what the others have said. Doing lipo now is a terrible idea. I also think it's possible you are fixating on your thighs and they are likely not nearly as bad as you think. Why don't you post a pic of yourself now and get some feedback?

I am the one responsible for my weight ups and downs over the years, no doubt. But my mom, the quintessential Jewish mother, also provided an environment ripe for food issues. Three out of four kids have lifelong weight issues. She was a great cook, and luckily for us, her Southern upbringing meant we had lots of vegetables. We had lots of everything, though. Cookies in the pantry for Snacks after school snack every day, for example. I was a skinny kid, but as soon as puberty hit and I stopped having recess and PE at school, 20 lbs. went on in no time, and more every year after that. That's where the real problems started. My mom, heavy herself by this time, had no idea how to lose weight in a healthy manner. So we all started the weightloss cycle. One fad diet after another. Lose the weight then gain it back. Shots, fasting, liquid Protein, WW, you name it. Never was exercise included. And of course we destroyed our metabolisms. Even if we knew how to eat "normally" we couldn't hold a stable low weight. I can't blame her, bless her heart, but I embraced every single bad habit over my life, along with the good ones.

Rin, sounds like a stall, which means you just grin and bear it. As Cabin said, search on stalls, there are tons of posts. Some people only weigh monthly, which isn't a bad idea at all. That said, what is your Protein vs carbs vs fats makeup? Are you getting in 60-80 gr of protein in daily? How many carbs are you taking in daily? Are you drinking your 8 glasses of fluids?

Good for you! We're here when you need a place to vent

I think it might be helpful for the OP to hear from vets who cheated and those who didn't cheat on pre-op and compare that to long term success. Do people who significantly cheat on pre-op have a harder time and less weight loss than those who didn't cheat early on? A lot of people come on this forum to "get back on track" after their losses have stalled for months on end. As others have said, the biggest issue after surgery is your brain. If you aren't mentally ready for this journey, it is probably best to delay until you get your head in order, just my opinion. After surgery, it's hard, really hard. And having a smaller stomach is a great tool, but if you are set on cheating, it's really easy to do. No one here wants anyone to fail, and it is so sad to hear from those who do. Sometimes we just need a little more time to make sure we can handle "life after sleeve." Like others have said, if you can't handle pre-op at this point, it doesn't bode well for future success. That doesn't mean you'll fail, it just might be an indicator that waiting another 6 months might be prudent. Best of luck.

Yes, it can be a nightmare in Vegas. I feel for you.

When any thread gets a response, it immediately gets displayed as the top thread in that forum. If a certain thread hasn't had a response in awhile, other threads with more activity will be placed above that thread. When she posts on this thread, it gets *bumped* to the top making it more visible. Exactly. With all the site changes people aren't seeing threads that they normally would respond to, so I bump it up to the first page from time to time.

Best wishes and prayers coming your way, RJ. I do hope things improve quickly for you. Keep posting so we can support you through this.

I read that article in the news. Amazing that people would get after you on that.

I picked a normal range BMI, and it also happened to correlate to what my doctor came up with. I am going for 125 lbs. Last time I lost weight ten years ago I was 140 and always wanted to get that last fifteen pounds off. This time I will do it. I am 53, and now stand 5' 4 1/2". I used to be 5'6".

Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Diesel! What great progress you have made. Congrats!

I'll have to check the app out again. I do have it on my Android phone, but I mostly used the iPad app. At work I use a PC to post (because I'm working so hard!)

I had nuggets a few weeks ago when I needed protein and nothing else was available, and Yuck! They were nasty. Don't think I'll be eating those again. However, Chick-fil-A has Grilled Chicken Nuggets that are real chicken breast and are good. A pack of 4 stuffs me. Just skip the sauces.

Hey everyone. My surgery was 8/12/13. Doing OK. Not fast, but steady. I feel so much better, arthritis pain almost gone, although unfortunately my blood pressure hasn't dropped. Not weight related, I guess. I love my sleeve and every month improves. I am on regular foods, although I still like soft foods - they just feel better. Just in the past week I was able to start raw vegs and fruit. I had a cutie mandarin orange that was so delicious after months of no fresh raw produce, and I can eat salads now (not very much, of course, since I fill up fast). 4 month check up is Dec 12. I think the worst thing was my throat. It was so tight and had a lump. They tested me for stricture (none) and it has slowly been going away, but it was very uncomfortable.

Congrats! That's terrific!

I think for some folks Starbucks is a big trigger. Bravo to the people who have been able to harness their cravings. The most dangerous thing about Starbucks IMHO is that you can drink those liquid calories and carbs very easily with the sleeve. It doesn't fill you up and as others have noted, use up an alarming percentage of your daily calories when you are trying to lose weight. That said, I stop in maybe once a month or less. I get a tall decaf skinny latte or skinny decaf mocha and always log it into MFP. I was proud of myself for resisting pumpkin lattes this year since there is no sugar-free version of it. So to answer your question, I would say Starbucks ranges from bad/evil to not-so-bad if controlled. I don't think I'd put it on my list of "good" places to stop by, though.