Miss Mac

I agree with bittersweet about the Smooth Moves Tea. I bought four kinds on-line, and my favorite has been the chocolate tea bags. I brew them with the hot Water for sugar free cocoa and make my hot chocolate, then I plop some s/f whip cream in it. Not too bad....it's drinkable. It works overnight.

Welcome to the forum. To lose one pound, right click your mouse six million times!

In spite of my damaged disc issue, I am standing and walking straighter because that ol' 53" belly isn't pulling me forward and down.

Not using a restaurant coupon before it expires feels the same as cutting up a credit card......it's like chopping off your hand. You did yourself a favor by not going. Your relationship may have its ups and downs, but I agree that so soon out from surgery is not the time to make a judgement call. At some calm moment you can have that discussion about how to handle your private choice for sugery in public situations. Maybe you could ask him if he has any helpful suggestions to help you get over the hurdles you will face when eating in publc. I also want to respond to motheros5's comment. Several years ago, I was living with my sister for a few months. I had left an abuser and needed some place to go, and her husband had just died of a prolonged illness. We needed each other, so I moved in for a while. I was on a diet at the time, and she and her two children, ages 7 and 16 ate junk beyond imagination. She told me that they wouldn't eat meat and veggies - just junk and take-out. I know they got take-out at least 5 days a week, with pancakes and a buffet on week-ends. I brought in my own groceries, fruits and veggies, and prepared my own foods. Wouldn't you know, her kids ate my stuff which she said they would not eat, and then ate their junky stuff too! Well, I couldn't tell them they can't have healthy food. The temptation to eat cakes,chips, pies, and pizza was difficult to resist. Needless to say, I only lost 15 pounds and started to gain it back. Although I would not necessarily recommend watching food channels, maybe the cure for helping us to resist restaurant and prepared foods is to watch Restaurant Impossible and Kitchen Nightmares. I know that they are manipulated reality shows, but looking behind the scenes at all of those disgusting kitchens just makes me leary of eating anything that someone else has prepared in a kitchen that I do not control the ingredients and sanitation. As you get further out from surgery, you will get better at this. My boyfriend and I were away from home at a hospital in another city. We were gone longer than we expected and were fading so badly that we needed to have a meal on the way home. On a main drag lined with every chain restaurant possible, we stopped at Baker's Square. He had his big grown man sandwich and I had about 1/3 of my chili with cheese and couple of his fries. We both were full and we both were happy. I didn't feel deprived and he didn't feel pressured to eat what I eat. Compromise will be the best and least emotional way to handle your way around food. Just go where they have something you can eat part of and where he can eat what he wants. You don't have to use a coupon just because you have one.

By the time I had lost the frist 30 pounds, all of my achy bones were feeling better. I do have some nerve damage (sciatica) big-time because my excess weight contributed to 14 herniated discs and the damage is done. My spine surgeon (who has already repaired four discs in my neck) has put off a full lumbar fusion for the past year, hoping that losing another forty pounds will make even more of a difference. So even a spine surgeon thinks that losing weight should bring relief. However, my weight loss has slowed down and the nerve pain has picked up, so I will be calling him back after a visit to the pain clinic on the 8th. I am expecting to get the go-ahead for the lumbar fusion. Other than that, my everywhere bursitis has improved because their is so much less inflammation in my body. Same goes for diverticulitis....gone. So, I hope you can find an answer for your particular situation and get some relief. I wish you good luck and good health.

Alyce, Our doctor's plans vary a bit, but here is where I was at post-op (I am at 8 1./2 months now). I came home on on Day 3, permitted to drink full liquids. At week two, I went on to purees, which include applesauce, but sugar free. Sugar is still an issue for me now. I just can't afford to give my calorie balance (800 per day) over to sugar or starrch). At week three I started soft foods, and at week four I graduated cautiously to cooked whole foods. I would not accuse you of cheating, myself, but just advise you to be patient withh your team's plan. Oh, and that week three stall is coming up, just so you know.

I agree with Rogofulm that if you know him well enough to become intimate, then you know him well enough to have "the talk" about protection and the non sexy stuff. Now that we have that out of the way.......my favorite quote from Ben Franklin concerns relationships with women who are no longer pretty young things. Franklin said "In the dark, all cats are gray!" Good luck with your fella. If he likes / loves you for who you are and does not ask you to change anything about yourself, then he his for sure a keeper.

I was taking a Vita-fusion chewable multi that I was getting at Walgren's but mt bariatric physician switched me to Bariatric Advantage AE because of its extra Iron content. It is a huge horse pill stink bomb that I could not swallow whole or in quarters........so I got my morter and pestle out of the kitchen and mush them up and put them in a blueberry applesauce cup. No problem now.

I still say keep the dress and implement these other fashion suggestions. However, I do agree with Pink Dahlia about a wrap dress. So, for your next dress, get a wrap around. They are forgiving on every figure and would be especially helpful as you go through all of this shape-shifting as we lose weight.

That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger?????

Keep it and wear that gorgeous hair down......absolutely smashing. Love the scoop in the back.

Call your doctor, especially if it looks inflamed. The biggest incision takes the longest to heal. Please do not do any lifting beyond your doctor's recommendations. Let someone else do the laundry lifting, and you can do the folding. Make adjustments like that where you have to. You deserve to take it easy until you feel up to it. The soreness, itching, and burning take a while to resolve. But call your doctor. He/she may want to see you at the office.

Some friend. Ain't nobody got time for that!

I am 8 1/2 months out now and it's still there. I call it my tupperware burp.

I agree....let the surgeon know now so that the anestheolgist will be prepared to help manage your anxiety. My bariatric physician changed my med from Sertraline to Buproprion and doubled the dose of that by my third visit pre-op. is this your first time for surgery? Here is what happens: Take that first bold step and show up. Then you will change into a hospital gown and go to a pre-op area where a nurse will place you IV so that they can have a place to give you fluids and insert meds, relaxers, and anesthetic as needed. You will feel a little prick.. (My first ex-husband was a little prick!) That is probably when they will give you a little "somethin' somethin') to help you mellow out kind of like a California high. When it is time to roll out out to the operating room you will get a hug and/or kiss from your support person, then off you go for an excellent adventure......cause now you are a little loopy and don't really care. You are rolled next to the operating table and the nursing staff transfers you over. So there you are staring at the ceiling lights and the anesthesiolgist will ask you chit chatty questions or ask you to count backward from 100. So you count 100, 99, 98, 97...........wake up, hello, wake up...hey you're done...you did just fine! Then you are taken to your room and transferred to you bed. Then hard part is over. You made that decision to take control of your health and are now committed to becoming a healthier happier you. And you have a new birthday where you get that second chance to start over. Congratulations. Now, here is a quote that has helped me get through hard times and critical decisions. It helped me to leave a horrible diagnosed psycho-sociopath who had taken control of my life. It helped me decide to go back to collage at the age of 54 to finish a degree program that I had started in 1971. And it helped me decide to investigate bariatric surgery and go for it. Here it is, and I wish you good luck and good health: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can.........begin it. For boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." Wolfgang Von Goethe

Uh oh...........I have a 12 oz cup of sugar free powdered apple cider mix sitting next to me on the table. I am looking into the cup realizing that even 12 oz. is a lot of volume, even if it's liquid measure or weight measure, let alone 14 oz. O K.....Thank goodness that pudding is liquidy (is that a word?) and will pass through quicker than if you overate cheese or meat. My experience has been that if I give Miss Tummy more than she is designed to hold, she will make me hurt MISERABLY for at least four hours while she figures out what the heck to do with all that food. A couple of times she has given it back by upchuck and diarrhea so bad that I pass out. The last time, I ended up in the hospital getting IV fluids and an event monitor for a month just to make sure that I don't have heart or blood pressure issues contributing to or from being that sick. What I have to do after an episode like that is to go back to basics for a couple of days, holding back on solid food and just drinking Protein shakes and eating easy stuff like scrambled eggs. So, you are not too far off mark by backing off with liquids for a few hours. From this kind of stumble, we learn how to nourish our new tummies by pacing ourselves. You should be allright. Just take a deep breath and keep on doing the best you can.

You can go to this link for a thread dedicated to the topic of stalls........it may help you to realize that you are not alone. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/312685-great-new-single-location-for-stall-talk/

You can go to this link for a thread dedicated to the topic of stalls........it may help you to realize that you are not alone. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/312685-great-new-single-location-for-stall-talk/

Well said. One time there was a thread about that very thing.........someone was looking for justification for a damaging behavior, and they called those of us who are doing our best to maintain compliance "Goody Two Shoes". Whatever. Let's just do our best to attain good health.

Yes...what she said! I was in the hospital for a couple of days earlier this month for a diarrhea /nausea / passing out issue. In two days I gained seven pounds so frustrating. There was so much Fluid in my body that I thought I was going to pop like a balloon. I went in to the ER about 5 p.m. and a guy from dietary came to my room before bedtime, and asked me to fill out the menu thing for the next day. I explained to him that I had weight loss surgery 8 months ago and am on a high Protein (80 grams a day) and maximum 800 calories. My Breakfast was that fakey a** scrambled egg s**t, a large muffin with cinnamony streussel top, toast, oatmeal, and sweetened apple juice. I foget what lunch was but it was starchy and unremarkable - geeze louize!

Thanks......just paying it forward.

I have been following this forum since last August or September when my primary physician referred me to the Bariatric Clinic at Loyola University Medical Center. I was a scared to death newbie, but more afraid of dying like my mother did (abdominal aortic anuerysm at an age not much older than I am now) than I was of getting the sleeve. Sure, my questions were the typical newbie questions, and my fears were the typical newbie fears, but the only place I could really find comfort was with the people here who had gone before me down the weight loss surgery path. Of the thousands of posts I have read, very very very few had any kind of mean or judgemental tone about them. Even when I was having a crying jag day and felt that someone had hurt my little feelings, I could see that most of the time they were right even if I had to look past how they were saying it. We have to consider that everyone here comes from a different place of family upbringing, childhood drama, marriage, divorce, babies, tragedies and triumphs. Someone posted something early on to the fact that her marriage was in turmoil and she was not being treated well. I responded back with this question: Instead of thinking "I love him, so why would he treat me this way?"....start thinking "Why would I love someone who treats me this way?" I was coming from a place of domestic violence and escaping from a diagnosed psycho-sociopath who kept five loaded weapons in the house, and had escalated his anger from verbal abuse to physical violence. Someone responded back that people are so mean on this forum, and why would I (Miss Mac) want to break up someone's marriage? Well, no doubt that person came from a place where marriage is forever, no matter how miserable, and a couple just needs to work out their problems and stay together. I am only bringing up this example to show that both of us meant well, but we sorely disagreed with each other. So, I believe what others are saying. When you put a post out there, it is only reasonable to expect very different and polarized responses. You can't take this stuff personally. Get what you can out of each comment and move on. Weight loss surgery can leave you anxious, scared, and emotionally vulnerable. Sometimes you just get tired of being strong. So...keep coming back to the forum, keep posting your questions, and hang around for a while so that you can be supportive for the newbies coming behind you. In 2006, Hillary Clinton released her book It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. That concept is so appropriate for the weight loss community. We need each other to get each other through this so that any one of us can come back with the next success story to lift someone else up out of a slump. Sorry that this post is so long, but sometimes it takes me a few paragraphs to explain what I am thinking.

If I don't track, I lose track.......just sayin'. Congratulations on making that decision that saved your life, and welcome to the forum.

1. I agree with the folks encouraging you to let your doctor know ASAP. 2. Congratulations 3. I am the 3rd of 6 kids. Mother was 44 and severely obese with she got pregnant with my youngest brother Steven. She thought she was going through the change until about the 5th month she was getting belly kicked like crazy. I was 14 when Steven was born, and my younger sisters were 9 and 7. Although Steven was not expected, he was certainly welcome. Even though we are all in our 50's and 60's now, I cannot imagine how my life would have been without him. Keep in mind that Bethovin was the 13th child in his family. 4. Do the best you can to keep you and Little Precious happy and healthy. Congratulations!

Same here. My belly sounded like a dinosaur fight for the first three months, and then it mellowed out.