AvaFern

I like the sushi wrapped in cucumber better than the kind wrapped in rice. Each place has a roll that is named something special but only has the cucumber wrap. At my place it's called a cold roll and it has cream cheese, crab, avocado, and something else if I remember correctly. The kind that comes with mango that I have seen is just mango on top of the rice/ sushi roll. It's ok tasting, but I don't love it. If you just ask while you are at the sushi place, they can usually guide you to what you are looking for.

Any chance you have a yeast infection? Sometimes the antibiotics from the hospital and other things can cause this and they don't always itch or have the regular symptoms. In theory you can clear it up with Monistat, but the single pill that your doctor prescribes works better. Hope you feel better!

Multivitamins hate me. B12 I take in the morning sublingually with a drink (sugar free Red Bull- don't follow my example) and it never makes me sick. I take an Iron supplement and a multivitamin right before bed so I fall asleep before it starts making me sick and I don't really notice it. I have tried multivitamins with food, without food, at all times of the day, and the only way I can get them in is at night. I also often give up on it and take twice the amount of chewy Flintstones Vitamins for adults. Supposedly you aren't supposed to take these after surgery, but I took them starting at about 3 months. I believe they also make specific bariatric surgery vitamins which may be less rough on the stomach, so perhaps look into that.

I would also stick with a solid color for the top, but the color choices are wide as an option. You can always be safe and wear a white top with each, however the black and white striped pants would work with nearly any solid color top (I would like red, deep purple, or any of the green family). As for the khaki and striped pants, I would go for lighter colors such as corals, seafoam green, maybe a pale or dark blue (blues, khaki, and white generally look great together). I like to layer shirts, so for the black and white pants I might wear a deap purple cami with a black or white top. The khaki pants I might wear a seafoam cami with a white top (I probably wouldn't wear a khaki top unless it matches perfectly) or potentially a brown top. As for shoes...if you can match the color of your top exactly with the shoes, that is a fun option, however for black and white pants, black heels or flats, and for the khaki and white pants, go for a camel colored shoe or a brown. If you wear a brown on top and can match shoes to the brown top, that would look super cute too. Your own style is yours- everyone has one. Fashion sometimes looks completely ridiculous with their feathers and half naked areas, however your style is what makes you feel attractive, comfortable and confident. Short of matching polka dots with stripes, if you feel great, rock your outfit, and no one else will see anything other than fabulous.

I accidentally used one at two weeks and was shocked how fast I was able to drink a juice. Now I use straws for everything even at over a year and a half out. It massively increased my ability to consume fluids and still makes it far easier to drink now than without a straw.

Today is Wed...you have more than enough time to follow your diet until Monday and your liver will be fine. I was only required to be on a liquid diet for a week, and I cheated and had some cheese puffs on Thursday when my surgery was Monday. The main issue is if you eat gut busting meals between now and then, your liver may be large and they can potentially crack it when they go under it to get to your stomach. Commit to following the diet right now and you will be fine for surgery.

Your picture looks fantastic- I love your short hair! I totally know how you feel about hiding behind your hair. No matter how fat I was I could say, well at least I have pretty green eyes and blonde hair. Well now I'm thin and have bad hair (still have good eyes, lol). I like my hair past my shoulders at about armpit length, however now that it's finally growing back, the thicker stuff only comes to the top of my ears. I don't have the courage to cut it super short, but maybe in a few weeks I'll try it a bit shorter...

Fortunately, plastics helped me lose instead of gain. Immediately after all three of my surgeries I was about 10 pounds bigger than I weighed that morning because of the Fluid they use and the swelling. I was back to my pre-surgery weight within a week each time. The first time I started at 153 and ended 6 weeks later at 137, where I stayed until my second surgery, after which I balanced out at 133. I then fluctuated between 130-134 until my last surgery, where I started that day in the surgery center at 136 (my scale said 134, lol) and I am now 6 weeks out at 127. I was hyper-conscious of what I ate during my post-op recovery because I knew I couldn't get in a good workout for at least six weeks. I recorded all my food on MyFitnessPal and I walked obsessively- 3-6 miles a day after the 10 day point on each surgery. Fortunately, this seems to have prevented gain. That being said, for the first 4 days after each surgery I ate what I wanted to, which for me was cake, crackers, and chex mix. You need to baby yourself a little bit, but once those first few days are over, the junk food stopped and I was back on the wagon. You can certainly recover from your 10 pound gain. Focus on Protein for healing, get to walking a few miles a day, and you will be back to where you were in no time. You will also begin to appreciate your new figure once the swelling goes down! Good luck!

Ugh that stinks. I was a lifeguard when I was in college and we had a handicap lift that helped larger people and those who couldn't crawl out of the pool due to injuries or whatever. It would be nice if pools that had aqua aerobics all had this type of device. I would have been so mortified if I was her and I would likely never have gone back, which certainly doesn't help her at all.

I think I have tried every gym and every workout possible, however over the years I have found what works best for me (which is a combination of running, boxing, jiu jitsu, mma, and ab/arm workouts). Recently I had a plastics procedure and I have an area that is refusing to heal so I've been forced to walk instead of run....shockingly enough not only is it sort of toning my legs, but if I walk fast not only do I feel pretty good when I'm done and I get a bit of a sweat on, my knees don't bother me like they do when I run. So...maybe try powerwalking if you can't run? For someone who used to be a runner, you might not hate walking as much as you think. Aqua aerobics is also an awesome idea. I did that when I was younger and was an instructor in college, and it is terrific for not blasting your knees and still getting a workout. While you're in the pool, maybe swim a few laps before or after class for some extra cardio. My mom and several other women I know LOVE Curves. They have a 30 minute circuit which is designed purely for toning purposes. You go in, you go around the circle a few times, and you're done. I personally find this more useful for working on toning as opposed to losing weight, but you may like it. Like the others said, a YMCA membership is often the best investment. It isn't usually overly expensive, they have a lot of classes, often there is a pool with aerobics classes, and they have lower priced trainers. Usually when you sign up you get a free session with a trainer who can help you learn how to use the equipment. Finding what I enjoy doing when I couldn't play sports anymore (no more high school or college so no more real teams to play on) took a lot of trial and error, but now I generally know exactly what I will and will not stick with, even though I still try new things. Good luck!

@@CowgirlJane You may be right. Recently I saw several posts that were by doctors with literally one single post, that were included in the recent posts feed. Usually I see the ones sponsored by BP as being in the articles section and they are usually formatted differently (with bold headings and things that make them more formal), while the most recent ones I saw just looked like regular posts by doctors who thought it was a good idea to slap some content on the page. It is entirely possible though that they were sponsored content and I just didn't notice that.

I like men with a bit of hair and...waxing hurts. A lot. Also you have to continue to do it every week or every other week if you want to retain the results. Lastly, I don't like rubbing my face on a man's chest and getting that razor burned look on my cheeks, or elsewhere...so if you want to de-hairy yourself, it has to be consistently smooth or it's so not fun. P.S. I think you look great just the way you are.

Is it bad that it annoys me that doctors now post threads? While sometimes their information is a little interesting, generally they post once or twice in the form of an article, largely because putting content on the Internet serves to increase their SEO score, particularly with backlinks from a reputable site like this. I understand the idea that they're doing business and at least the content has a point, but the majority of it is things that we already know and that is literally only posted as a post because it promotes the doctor's online standing and thus he or she returns higher on searches with certain key words, which are cleverly included in the article. It's how the online marketing game works, it just feels very insincere, particularly when they don't bother to post anywhere else on the sight outside of promoting themselves. If someone has answered 50 questions and wants to promote themselves a little with a well researched article, ok cool, but to create a profile purely to post "information" with the motive of improving SEO, irks me.

@jane13 Have you tried PB2? It cuts out all of the fat but leaves all of the Protein. It comes in powdered form and if you mix it in with a Protein shake it is very good. I thought it sounded disgusting so I only happened to try it randomly- now I love it!

Before surgery I used Gu, however during a recent 15K I had a few slurps of Gu and felt immediately sick. My stomach isn't a fan of sugar, so that is probably why. Now on long workouts I carry granola with me. The carbs are good for you, there isn't a ton of sugar, and as long as you take a sip or two of Water with it, your mouth doesn't get dry.

Every once in a while I eat baked Tostitos with the white cheese dip that comes in a jar. It's pretty much the only cheese that doesn't make me throw up, so while it's a guilty little pleasure and I only have it occasionally, it is one I enjoy. Every couple of months or so I get a cakepop from Starbucks or one of their blueberry muffins and at Christmas I eat chocolate and Cookies, which I don't do the rest of the year. I'd say I eat what I'm supposed to about 85% of the time, watch my weight and my calories, and then really enjoy a few bites of the good stuff when I want it. Fortunately now I want it every few weeks or so as opposed to everyday, so that has been helpful!

To my knowledge, everyone's doctor told them to wait 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after eating before you drink anything. This is designed to ensure the liquid you are drinking does not wash the food through your stomach quickly, which would then allow you to eat more. Eating and drinking at the same time won't hurt you as long as you are paying attention to how much you're eating. If you just happily much away while sipping Fluid, you'll certainly consume more and your sleeve will be less effective. As a note, that is one of the rules I never followed. I don't do dry mouth and eating. My opinion is that life is to be enjoyed and if I have to sit through every meal with a dry mouth for the rest of my life, there is no fun in that. I am very cognizant of how much I eat and I drink with every meal. I have not had the experience where I eat too much because I happen to drink at the same time and I am way happier eating my few bites of food when I can drink at the same time.

I'm not sure if I count or not, however I stalled out badly at 167, where I was stuck for 2 months and then again at 134-137 where I was stuck from October until April of this year. I found in both situations I was being lazy and when I significantly improved my exercise and cleaned up my diet, I was able to drop again. A trick for me that some people don't approve of is eating clean Monday through Friday and then largely eating what I want to on Saturday and Sunday. If I want some cheesepuffs Sunday afternoon or some nacho dip Saturday night, I have it, and then I don't feel like I'm spending my entire life on this awful restricted diet. Because of my sleeve I really don't eat very much, but I'm now at a point where if I don't work out and I don't eat a relatively clean diet, there is no way I'm dropping any more weight. Also, I try to not freak out if I eat something that isn't perfect, whereas when I dieted before the sleeve if I ate something bad on a Wednesday, well the diet was shot until next Monday. Right now I'm munching my way through a grilled chicken sandwich, and it is darn yummy after the last 2 weeks of really being good on my diet. I won't have the need to eat until much later tonight and I don't feel like I'm on a diet when if I want something, I can have it, since I can no longer eat an entire serving, or an entire bag/pan/bowl of anything.

Nice post! This is something I am having a bit of an issue with now. My entire life since I was in high school was about weighing 119. I was about 125-ish when I graduated high school, and then I floated around 135-145, and then a solid 4 times I went over 200 and back down to 140, until I hit 237 and I had the sleeve and now I am 127. When I had surgery my goal was 129, because it was 11 pounds less than I had weighed in my mid-20's and I figured there was no way in h*ll I'd ever hit that old goal of 119. Now I am 127 and scratching and clawing my way to 119 because it was an old number that was important to me. I am by no means too skinny because I'm only 5'2. I could technically weigh 105 pounds and still be in the healthy range. I feel as if sometimes I do obsess over the number on the scale, but it tends to keep me focused and prevents me from gaining. I can appreciate the terror some people have over gaining weight because I feel it everytime I look at food. Also, it annoys me when people tell me I'm too thin. 127 is not remotely too thin on a 5'2 girl and if no one had known I used to be fat, I am 100% certain they would not consider the weight I am right now as being thin. I think there is a bit of a double standard when it comes to that.

I have always had thick legs in the sense that when I am fat, they are big, thick, and muscular and now that I've lost weight, they are still big, thick, and slightly less muscular. Of everything my thighs are still the thickest part of me, but I like them way better now than I did when I was 237 pounds!

I enjoyed reading your story! Also, you look fantastic in your pictures! Super motivating!

So, I don't have dumping in the way that you do, although my stomach is a little B that hates food, so I am fairly accustomed to being sick. That being said, Life cereal before the sleeve and after is something that gives me significant GI movement. If I recall correctly it is because it has way more fiber in it than I thought it did and just flies through me. I haven't had it more than once or twice after the sleeve, but before the sleeve I used to eat it regularly and I knew that it would end up causing quite a bit of poop Soup. Maybe the cereal is more the issue and not your sleeve. Hope you feel better soon!

Why do you still talk to them? I have found that distancing myself immediately and significantly from people who do not know how to act like adults sends a faster and clearer message than having a chat with them about their comments. Outside of professional purposes, don't talk to these women. Don't go to lunch with them. Don't take breaks with them. When you see them in the hall or around the office, politely smile and walk past them. People respond far better to being cut out of your life than they do to being called out, as much as the latter of the two options provides much more immediate gratification. If they happen to make a comment you find offensive, look at them, give them an "are you serious right now" look, and then immediately walk away. If they don't learn to be professional and legitimately polite, then they aren't in your life, however if they do learn to mind their manners, you can slowly let them back in.

This was an interesting post to read! I am not a raw food person although all of the foods you listed are foods I enjoy having. One thing you mentioned- zucchini with marinara is something I eat all the time. I use a vegetti to turn a small zucchini into Pasta then I brown ground turkey, strain off all the fat, and toss in a jar of marinara. I keep the marinara/ turkey sauce in the fridge and I just reheat a half cup or so everyday when I turn another zucchini into veggie pasta on the stove. It's a fast lunch, it has a lot of Protein in it, and I don't notice a gain at all from eating it. Maybe something you can try if you start to miss your veggies a lot!

I have been a runner my entire adult life and even right after surgery I never really paid much attention to what I ate before a run. I know that before a hard cardio class at the gym I don't eat anything terribly heavy because I will barf and I think I subconsciously applied that to runs as well. At over a year and a half out, I have started paying attention to what I eat before a run because I had one run where I felt like I was going to die if I did not get food right that second. Before I go for a run I tend to stick with a handful of granola, which keeps me from ending my run starving and sick feeling. After looking at what you ate, if your deviled egg had any form of mayo in it, that would have likely made me really sick during a run. It's starting to get hot out so it's possible your stomach was just not happy with the egg mixture combined with the heat. I personally don't run on an empty stomach any more because it makes me sick and dizzy feeling, so I would think that having a small amount of something that is a little carby (such as just your Protein bar) is probably good for you before a run. I did read a study though that people who worked out first thing in the morning on a completely empty stomach burned more fat than those who didn't, so what you do or don't eat before running is more a matter of what floats your boat as opposed to what seems to be universally the best idea.