DeniseM

I had to wait until 4 weeks, but I have eaten a lot of shrimp since then- I eat mine cold with some cocktail sauce. One of my favorite proteins.

Sounds like you might need some couples counseling to try to work out your issues and decide if the relationship is worth being in.

You should check your blood sugar when you are feeling shaky- your sugar could be either too low or too high. If you don't have one, you can buy a glucometer at stores like Wal-Mart or Target or at any drug store- they are not that expensive. I get low blood sugar when I don't eat enough protein during a meal and it has been several hours since I have eaten. When I am feeling shaky, I eat something with a lot of protein like a piece of meat or cheese or an egg, and I feel better in about 10 minutes. But, I have dealt with this my whole life, so I know what works for me. If you are a diabetic and on medication, you might need your medication adjusted, which needs to be done by your doctor. The shaky feeling could also be coming from too much caffeine.

It was hard for me with family get-togethers the first few weeks after surgery, but now that I can eat whatever I want, I do have a bite or two of something that might be "bad" and if I have a craving, I don't deprive myself. However, most days I am focused on getting in my protein and fluids and it does not leave me much room for junk food or cravings. Before surgery, my food cravings ruled every single day of my life. Now, it's like once a week, and not the things I used to crave, which was mostly sugary things. Usually it is either fruit or something salty, and I eat fruit and I have been eating pistachios which work really well for a salty craving. I have found a way to control my cravings rather than the cravings controlling me.

I have an incision that is still not healed, and I have done some research that shows that high levels of vitamin C can help with a non-healing wound. Has anyone heard that we cannot take chewable vitamin C? Of course I always have these questions on the weekends when my bariatric nurse is off....

My doctor said I could take Tylenol pills at six weeks- I took 2 regular pills last week and had no issues.

I was sore after my EGD- my doctor told me to take Tylenol, but it didn't really help. I was sore on the inside from the biopsy's that they took. They also told me no coffee or acidic or spicy foods for a few days- just a bland diet. I ate ice cream and that helped (I was pre-op). I was sore for two days and then I was fine.

I put a handful of raw spinach or kale in my smoothie every day. I can't really taste it and it turns it a funky color, but the nutritional benefits, like with peppers, are great.

Weeks 2-5 for me were rough in terms of how I was feeling- I went back to work after two weeks, and I was just so exhausted and felt weak almost all day. I would come home from work and go straight to bed. I really started feeling better by week 6 when I was able to get my calories up to 800 a day. Now, almost at week 8 I feel great during the day- I have energy and have no problem working all day and then doing my chores and such around the house. I started going to the gym but then had to stop temporarily because one of my incisions opened up, but that's another story. As far as the nausea, are you taking a prescription antacid like Nexium or Pepcid? I take Nexium every day, and one day I forgot and I felt SO sick all day long until I realized I had forgotten to take my pill. It makes such a difference for me. I also found that after surgery I never feel hungry, but when I start to feel nauseous, then it is time for me to eat, and when I eat something, I feel better. I think that my body just has a new way of telling me to eat than it did before.

I have also only told a few people, my immediate family and a few people at work, and I already have problems with some of them saying things like "you shouldn't be eating that" or "you can have just a bite" which is why I didn't want to tell anyone. If you are just on a regular diet, people understand when you have an off day. But after having surgery, I feel that people are always judging me. I am probably just being over-sensitive and reading more into it than is really there, but it makes me crazy. Then you have the people who ask you every time they see you how much you've lost, sometimes several times a week, which also makes me crazy. I hit a stall in weeks 3-6 where I only lost 3 pounds, so having to tell people, several times, that I hadn't lost anything was hard, and then dealing with their "helpful" comments. If I were to do this over again, I would not have told my co-workers, just my immediate family who I could not hide my post-op recovery from. I am not sure if I will ever make the big announcement to the world that I have had WLS because to me, it is only a part of the reason why I am loosing weight. In addition to the surgery, I have changed my lifestyle with exercise and eating differently and healthier, which will last far longer than the initial six months after my surgery when I will lose the most weight. In four more months, my weight loss will be much more based on my lifestyle than surgery, and in a year from now, it will be almost all me, and not the surgery, that maintains my weight loss.

Hi everyone- I'm Denise and we are stationed at Fort Bragg, NC. I had my surgery at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg on 6/4 by Dr. Perkins who I LOVE and everything has been going really well except for one of my incisions that is still not healed, but I consider that to be minor.

I got the "Biggest Loser" digital scale from Target- I think it was $40. I really like it. It's 1-2 pounds lighter than my doctor's scale.

One of my incisions was too high to wear an underwire bra- it was several weeks. Buy yourself at least one non-underwire or sports bra just to be safe.

This weekend I went to Boston Market and got a Market Bowl which has two sides with about 3 ounces of rotisserie meat. I got chicken, sweet potato casserole, and green beans. I ate all the meat and two bites of potato and green beans. It was really good- I am definitely getting that again!

You can make your own and eliminate the super high sodium and MSG that is in the store bought kind: http://www.mattfischer.com/ramen/?p=507

http://www.livestrong.com/article/260492-what-can-i-eat-to-reduce-my-swollen-liver/ I was on a two-week low carb diet before surgery, and I previously had a fatty liver, and my surgeon said my liver looked great for surgery. I took my pre-op diet very seriously because I did not want to risk a liver injury during surgery, which can be life threatening, and could also mean they would need to open me up to repair my liver and then I would have a huge incision with a higher risk of infection, longer hospital stay, and longer time off work. I just followed exactly what my doctor told me to do, and I was fine.

You haven't stopped losing weight, you are just stalled out, which happens to almost every single person in weeks 3-4, and sometimes even longer. As long as you continue focusing on your protein and fluids and getting in your daily walk, you will be fine! Don't get discouraged. An occasional treat of your favorite food is fine, as long as it is just a bite or two and does not become a daily habit.

Not all girls care about looks- I met and married my hubby when he was a fat couch potato and worked as an IT nerd. A year after we were married 9/11 happened and he decided to join the Army. He had to loose 60 pounds to join and lost another 20 pounds after he joined. He could barely run two miles when he joined and now is a sexy PT stud running marathons and triathlons! I am sure than many superficial and shallow girls passed him by without a second glance, but I didn't and it was the best decision of my life. Their loss, my wonderful gain. He also met and married me when I was a fat couch potato, and now I am doing my part to be less potato-like and work on my health and fitness.

My fitness goal is not so extreme as American Ninja Warrior, that's for sure! What I would like to be able to do is complete a sprint triathlon with my hubby (who competes regularly in marathons and triathlons), and spend several hours mountain bike riding rather than only 30 minutes which was the most I could ever do. I just started working with a trainer, and he thinks I can accomplish both within one year. I'm not so confident, but I am willing to work really hard to get myself in shape, so we'll see what happens.

I have quit caffeine many times, and I can tell you that it takes 5 days, so you should start with cutting your caffeine in half for the next three days, and then cold turkey on day four. The first day, you will feel alright, a slight headache and maybe low energy. Day 2 the headache will be much worse, but manageable with Tylenol, and you will start craving coffee and soda like mad as your body desperately wants it's caffeine fix. Day three is the absolute worst day. Your head will feel like it is going to explode, and nothing will make it better. You will want to literally kill anyone who comes near you, and the caffeine cravings will also make you want to kill someone for their coffee. You might want to call out sick on day three. Day four, the headache starts to fade and the cravings will also get better, and day five will be better than day four. By day six, the headache and cravings will be gone and as long as you are not in jail for actually having assaulted or murdered anyone, you are good to go! I would definitely do this BEFORE surgery because you are going to be feeling bad enough the first few days to not have to add the caffeine headache and cravings on to everything else you will be feeling. And then, once you have kicked the caffeine habit, switch to decaf so you never put your body through that again! (Words of wisdom I wish I had taken myself many times through the years, but I have been decaf only for two years now)

Having them altered is definitely more cost effective than replacing them, however as you mentioned, once you have them altered, it would be really hard to sell them by consignment because it would be hard to judge exactly what size they were since they would be custom fitted for you. I have several pairs of pants that I have taken the waist in (I do it myself since I know how to sew) because the waist is too big but they are still not too big in the seat and legs. Once these pants are too big, I will just send them to goodwill, so it doesn't really matter that they are altered.

I was required to see my NUT three times, twice before surgery and once after, and she too is a size 0 and is all about sugar-free and fat-free everything. I told her I don't eat any sugar free products and she asked me why and I told her because of the chemicals in them and that I eat mostly organic foods and she told me I would HAVE to use sugar free products if I wanted to lose weight. I almost laughed out loud at her. I haven't eaten a single SF product and have had no problem losing weight. I do not plan on seeing her again- I feel it is a waste of my time since she just repeats the same information everytime that was already given to me in a booklet. I have gotten so much more valuable and practical nutrition ideas and advice from this site!

I am 5'8 and my NUT told me 80 grams of protein a day and 64 ounces of fluids (minimum). At six weeks, my surgeon told me to work on getting my protein from real food and to wean myself from shakes, which I can do on most days.

My doctor cleared me for all exercise at six weeks- no limits on my abs or anything else as long as I didn't find it too painful. She said if anything caused me sharp pains in my abs, I needed to stop immediately. I worked out all last week, some days extremely hard as I have a personal trainer who trains in boot camp style. I was in pain from being out of shape, but my abs were the least sore of all my muscles which surprised me.

I am pear shaped, and I have definitely lost more from my upper half than my lower half so far. I am working with a trainer now and focusing more on my lower half so that I can become better proportioned as I lose weight. But even when I was a skinny teenager, I always gained weight first in my butt and thighs, so I was expecting to lose that last.