Firëfly

I feel full also and just know that there is no way I can take another bite -- no matter how good something tastes. When I was first starting to eat solid foods, I was horrible about measuring how much I could/couldn't eat and it got easier when I bought some tasting plates (small squared ones about 2 inches by 2 inches I think). If the food fit in the bottom of that plate and didn't rise too high, I could eat it without getting too full and feeling bloated/yucky because I overate.

My problem wasn't Diet Coke but Coke itself. I tried to wean myself off before surgery (had no pre-op diet) but I didn't do so good. I can say that I haven't had one since the day before surgery and that's the longest I've ever gone without one since being a small kid. Keep up the good work -- it's definitely not an easy thing to do!

My back pain has improved but on the days when I over do it, I really pay for it now since I'm not allowed to take Ibuprofen. I also seem to feel the pain more in my hips, upper thighs and butt. I think it has to do with less padding around the spine and/or like you posted, just my body shifting and everything working together differently.

I remember being so worried my first week that I wasn't getting enough fluids in. I could drink Protein shakes and that helped with counts on both but I could not for the life of me drink enough Water (had to have it flavored) or other fluids to be back to normal again and not have dark urine all the time. The worry kept me sipping and sipping and sipping but some days I could tell it wasn't enough. Good luck on your journey -- I liked moving from Clear liquids to full and never loved Soup so much in my life. ETA: I lost 27 pounds my first week but I had no pre-op diet and started out at 325 so that was strongly working in my favor. Most of my weight loss was water weight in my feet, ankles, hands and face somewhat. I was amazed at how much my feet and legs changed while even in the hospital (I stayed 3 days).

I was out of recovery by about 2 pm and walking by 6 or 7 that night. I wanted to get up and move and it did help with the gas pains. I was able to walk and get out of bed by myself without too many problems. I didn't have a cath so I was having to get up to go pee frequently but it wasn't too bad. They were more worried about the pain meds making me loopy but I was used to taking Vicoden all the time that it was nothing to be that doped up and be walking around.

SD 5/23 and I'm down 90 pounds today. My hair started falling out in September and the only thing that has worked to slow it down for me was cutting it off. Hormones seem to play the biggest role in when it will start a massive spiral of coming out (I'm on the Depo shot and when I get close to the next shot it starts falling out badly). I'm just taking it as it comes because there's not much else that seems to help. I fit into a size 14 the other day in jeans so I'm pretty happy overall. I may not have hair but I'm starting to get a rocking body.

That's almost like the moment in Pretty Woman when they let her shop. I love it -- congrats!

HW and SW: 325 CW: 235 GW: 145

Mine will involve taking some professional pictures with my horses, sportscar and some stuff that I love but have never wanted to be in the picture before with because I looked so bad. I may also buy myself a piece of jewelry or even get a tattoo (have had one picked out for years). If all else fails, I'll probably buy myself a new driver to golf with since I hope to be at goal by the start of the summer.

Pasta is a no-go for me for the most part. I get the brick feeling too. Bread, OTOH, is easy for me to digest for the most part. If I eat it on it's own (with butter or cheese spread for breakfast only on the weekends as a treat) it's okay but if I have it as half a hamburger or something, it expands too much and I get sick. It's okay if I eat 1-2 bites of a roll when we go out to a restaurant and I wait for our main course to arrive before eating something else. I don't eat it everyday or even each week but I don't completely stay away. It really is more like having dessert for me since sweet stuff causes my acid reflux to act up and I stay away from most desserts now at all costs. Bread is my dessert now.

I love getting the "Hey Skinny" comments and it's also fun to have people say, "Wow! You really look good," and have them keep staring at you doing double takes as if they can't believe what they see and it really is you. One of the oddest ones I've gotten now twice is "I bet you're more confident now" and I'm sure it's just me but I kind of hate that one. It makes we want to say that no I'm not because it took a lot of confidence to put my 325 pound body out there like nothing was wrong with it and to like me for me at that weight. I don't feel more confident in that aspect -- it's just that they are seeing the real me that I've known I was all along. I don't know -- maybe it is confidence. I know that I'm much more comfortable wearing sexy clothes now in the sense that I know people won't be talking behind my back and saying, "Look at that fat girl. Omg, I can't believe she is wearing that!" but it wasn't like I didn't want to wear those things earlier or feel like I was beautiful even when some people didn't see me like that. I guess it's the curse of being the fat girl with the pretty face that got away with some stuff.

I do that all the time -- have a stall on the scale but lose inches. Keep up the good work -- that's awesome!

I would definitely push for a HIDA scan if the pain doesn't go away. I had to go through all those tests before my doctor would do the scan -- all tests came back okay -- but the HIDA showed 0% functioning and only then was my gallbladder removed. I had no stones.

Same way with me on Deprovera. I couldn't figure out what was going on with my body until I realized I was being flooded with hormones and started having TOM symptoms.

Isopure and many SF puddings contain sucralose (otherwise known as Splenda) or other sugar alcohols that can make you have diarrhea or other gastro problems because your body has a hard time breaking those additives down. I thought I was lactose intolerant too and it was "liquids in, liquids out" until I realized it wasn't the milk or the protein -- it was the artificial sweeteners that was causing the problem.

If you still have some of the anaesthesia in your body, being in a hot shower or tub can reactivate it and cause you to feel faint.

I was wondering when it was safe to venture into eating steak since it's really not listed on my surgeon's eating plan. I think I may have found my next thing to try over the 4th or when we go out to eat . . . .

I'm going to make this one of my NSV -- to throw out perfectly fine food and not look back. I couldn't have done that -- I would have been feeding it to the dogs or something on the place (surely the raccoons would have liked that, right?). It's been enough for now that I'm okay with leaving a bite or two on the plate and then handing it over to my older cat if it's something he really likes to finish off. Since moving to more solid food I've been eating more and more fish and he loves it. I remember being in the kitchen one night and couldn't eat more than 2-3 bites of salmon. I didn't want to put it back in the fridge so I fed it to Alex. It was a little unsettling watching him eat that and realizing that my cat can now eat more food than me.

My skin cleared up and started becoming what it should have been all along. In fact, I'm getting ready to cancel my Proactive account and upcoming mailings because I don't need it anymore and it never really did help compared to what it should.

Just take things slow and remember that you may be able to eat more of some foods and less of others. I know at 5 1/2 weeks out eggs still sit heavy on my stomach while other foods, like turkey and cheese, don't seem to bother me as much. Everybody is different so give yourself time to eat a little bit and see how your body handles it before you eat much more. (((hugs)))

When I eat out, I do ask for a to-go box when they bring the meal out. That way I'm not tempted to keep eating more than I should because the taste is so good. It also keeps the waiter from wondering why you only ate a few spoonfuls and have stopped eating the rest = it's not because the food was bad but because you are full. It avoids that problem.

Definitely check in with your doctor's office and let them know you are having problems. I had problems with that too and didn't get much help other than permission to take Immodium if I needed to. I'm not sure if you are allowed to drink skim or 1% milk on your plan and if you are, that you might be lactose intolerant after surgery. My doctor told me that many people have a problem with this and I thought I was one of them until I did some more checking on my own. I am able to drink milk without too many problems but if I mix Protein powder for a shake with it, I was having problems. I talked with my SIL who is a nutritionist/pharmacist and she told me to go check the amount of sugar alcohol or other artificial sweeteners in the Protein Powder I was using. Sure enough, all of them contained sucralose (Splenda) or other sugar alcohols that were causing the shakes to basically run through my system shortly after I ingested them. Once I found some unflavored protein powder without any sugar alcohols or sucralose in it, everything was much better and I wasn't having as many issues with that problem anymore.

I had to find something that counted on me being smaller and meant more to me than the pain of going through being noticed and even what the numbers said on the scale. When I couldn't make this journey about me or my health, I made it about getting smaller so that I could ride my horses and get back into competing on them. You can't be as competitive as a rider when you are bigger. It's not fair for your horse to carry that extra weight -- you're not upholding your part of being the best you can be as part of that team. Granted, I like how I look in the mirror now that I've lost 40 pounds but just looking better for me is not motivation enough. I'm actually dreading getting smaller and having guys hit on me. It makes me uncomfortable if they are way over the top about it. One of the perks of being fat is being invisible and it's hard having to learn with how to cope with stuff like that. The only way how I know now to get through that discomfort is to remind myself that it's important for me to get smaller for my horses and for what I want to do. I cannot let my embarrassment or uneasiness about how I look trump me getting fit for them. It has to take a back burner if I want to do what I've dreamed about for so long and stopped doing once I was bigger. I don't know if it's a healthy approach from a medical standpoint but it's the only one I know that's going to work for me so far. I've tried working with therapists to figure out why I sabotage or have those feelings of being exposed more when I lose weight but I never figured out why. I wasn't abused in any way and didn't have any really bad dating experiences. I'm just uncomfortable being judged like that. So I had to find something that meant more to me than having that discomfort. Riding horses is my lodestone that keeps me on track.

+1 You can read more about it here: http://backonpointe.tumblr.com/post/39609375456/eatclean-getfit-is-the-number-on-the-scales

Many people go through the motions of having food funerals and this kind of sounds like one. I know I had a few myself so I can't say you are being bad. One thing that I can say is please understand this isn't the last time that you will be enjoy one of these. Yes, you'll never be able to eat as much in one sitting but you will probably be able to eat a little of everything you love next year at the next reunion. The surgery is not the end of everything -- it's just changing you to be more healthy and make better choices in your everyday life.