cindymg

Coromega packs are a gel pack. Not a pill at all. You squeeze the gel into your mouth. My cardiologist recommended Coromega, as she has studied fish oils and believes Coromega has the right combination of the most effective fish oils.

Really people? Get a grip. It's just food. It's meant to fuel your body so that you don't die. It's not your friend, companion, or lover. Go out and live. Go for a walk. Go to the mall and try on new sizes. Go out with friends and watch as they shovel in HUGE, DISGUSTING amounts of food -- and feel good that you don't have to do that anymore. Heck, sometimes I just go to my own closet and try on my old clothes just to see how far I have come. Good luck on your journey. It's going to be amazing!

Whole Foods has liquid Fish Oil, but I found it slimy and couldn't do it. I use Coromega packs, the orange flavor, from GNC. I take two a day. I don't find it fishy, but I know others do. I do always follow my Coromega with a chewable multi Vitamin from Bariatric Advantage, or caramel Calcium chews also from BA. Fish oil is good for your cardio vascular system, and will help you keep your hair. I increased my intake to 2 packs a day when my skin started to itch. It has really helped.

"It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls.

By the time my surgery came around, I had been in a six month journey to be approved. And any initial nervousness was gone! My younger sister, who traveled in for my surgery, was extremely nervous. She was nervous that if something happened to me, she would have to become "the responsible one." Surgery was actually very easy. No real pain, no nausea, no vomiting, no complications. I am nearly 4 months post op, down 57 lbs and I feel fantastic! Best decision I ever made! Good luck on your journey. It's going to be amazing!

When I started this journey a year ago I was quite nervous. I started reading everything I could get my hands on about the sleeve and. WLS surgery. Here is a thread where several of us reviewed our favorite books. Good reads thread http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/85547-good-books-for-the-emotional-aspects-of-post-surgery/ Good luck on your journey. It's going to be amazing!

I am nearly 4 month out and my NUT has me on net 1,200 calories a day. And I am still losing at the rate if 1-3 lbs a week. I'm 5'11" and built like a linebacker. Down 57 lbs now. I have noticed that my weight loss has slowed the closer I get to goal (23 lbs from goal now). I appreciate the article you posted about exercise not actually helping you lose weight. On exercise days, I eat a bit more because I think "I'm entitled." Dangerous thinking for me as I can take anything and overdo it. Gotta watch those entitlements. I can sneak up to an extra 200-300 calories in on exercise days. Which is still 1/3 of what I was eating before my sleeve. But eating because I am entitled is not the same as eating because I am hungry.

Hi djnkidz: I have been thinking about nausea. I was sleeved just before you, May 15, and I always say I have had NO complications, no nausea, no vomiting, no pain. But I am noticing that some things I have been eating since my surgery are starting to nauseate me lately. I wonder if it's because I am adding in some foods I wasn't eating before. Like things with more Fiber -- salads, apples with the skin, baked potatoes with skin, sugar-free high fiber bars. I am going to back off the high fiber items and see if that helps. If you called your doctor, let me know what he/she says about nausea. I'm calling the nutritionist next week.

I was doing my laundry last night and noticed 2 things: 1. All of my exercise clothes were sweaty which is why I was doing laundry in the middle of the week 2. I looked in the basket and thought, "whose clothes are these?" They seemed so small, so not my clothes! But they were my clothes, and I can really wear them!

I was exhausted until about 3 weeks out. When I started on soft foods, and started walking more then my energy returned. Now 4 months later I should be able to bottle and sell my energy I have so much. Hang in there. It will get better.

Are you post-op? If yes, how long since your surgery? Did your doctor give you something for nausea? If no, and it continues, you may want to call your doctor. They can prescribe the nausea patch they used in the hospital. In the short term, drink warm broth with salt. The salt will help with the nausea.

Does focusing on the number on a scale somehow devalue the ground-breaking surgery you had? Did you really just go through major surgery, so a number on a scale would be lower? Wasn't the reason you went through all of this (insurance approvals, 6 months of dr appts, nutritionists and pre-op tests, liquids only liver reduction diet, surgery, post-op pain and exhaustion, nausea, gas pains, vomiting, failed food experiments, etc) for something more important than what a hunk of metal says? I've (obnoxiously, I'm sure) never had a stall, because I only weigh about once a month at doctor's office. I am nearly 4 months post op, and 3 weeks ago I was 52 lbs down. I weigh again this week or next, so I will know then how much more I have lost. Following my plan -- not perfectly but much better than I have in the past. Today I put on a pair of shorts from last year, and laughed when they slipped off! Much better feeling than what a fickle, lying scale says! To me the scale is just another weapon that I use to beat myself up. I gave up tying my self esteem to the scale many years ago, when a doctor I was seeing said that he never weighed women before their appts -- because if he did, it was all they could think about during their appts. Maybe it's also important to remember why you had this surgery. Was it just about the number on a scale? Probably not. For me it was about saving my life. It was about controlling my diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. If I focus on the improvements I have made in those areas, then the number on the scale takes on much less importance.

Yeah, I tell everyone -- mostly because I would never be able to keep track of who I've told and who I haven't. It's an age-related thing. No negatives so far. I really have to laugh when someone says, "oh, I never thought of you as someone who needed that." Really, the size 18/20 clothes that I was bursting out of wasn't a clue? How about the swollen face, breathlessness on the stairs, numerous doctor visits for diabetes and high blood pressure meds? No negative responses. But if they come, my basic philosophy is, "F *** 'em if the can't take a joke!"

Panera Bread, TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Houlihans. You can ask that they just give you the soup part, without the chunks. Most restaurants are very accommodating.

It's the only place I know. They have a great Calcium chew also. It's caramel flavored. It's like a Kraft caramel and is my nightly treat.

I use the Bariatric Advantage B12 tablet -it's peppermint flavored. Helps with the breath also.

Are you only taking a multi vitamin? My doctor wants me to also take iron, B12, Vit D and calcium. Vit B12 deficiency could cause the problem you are describing.

I don't really like to cook, so when I was on the cream soup phase, I ate a lot of Panera's broccoli/cheese soup. I ordered a cup, and could eat about 1/2. That's 150 calories. When I was on soft foods, I ordered a serving of their chicken, cut it into small pieces and added it into the broccoli/ cheese soup. Delish! It's still a quick lunch for me at 3.5 post op.

I use a powdered fiber supplement from Whole Foods. Add to soups, pudding, yogurt. Also one Phillips stool softener per day, and 1/2 doze of Miralax a day. Also, take a pro-biotic pill every day to restore the balance to digestive system.

As far as warm drinks, you could also count broths as liquids. I drank a couple of cups of broth a day after surgery. Make sure it it broth with salt. It will cut down the nausea and give you some energy.

Christy: do not proceed if you are not 100% convinced that this is the best path for YOU! Not your family. That said, I wasted 40 years of my life on every diet program, dangerous diet pills, diet books, gym memberships, etc. I calculated once that I lost and gained 2,000 lbs in that 40 years. Oh yeah, and gave myself a nasty case of out of control diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. For me, the sleeve offered me a way out of all that. I am 3.5 months post op, down 52 lbs, medical problems resolved, and I feel fantastic! I have a chance at life, of seeing my 60s, 70s, 80s. And with all of my limbs intact. Whatever you do, don't waste the next 20-30 years of your life gaining and losing the same pounds over and over. Get past the fear of change and move on with your life -- not carrying the extra weight ( and the weight of the health problems, and emotional toll that go with it). Good luck!