McButterpants

And does dishes! I'll show him your pic! You can borrow him for a while...I'll warn you, he's act like a 6'3" teenager most of the time.

OMG - I'm laughing!!!!!! I'm going to take a picture of him doing laundry - he's very sexy when he's Spray & Washing.

Glad I could make you laugh! Have a great weekend, sweetie.

Not sure that's very business-like. But hell, I'll try anything. I forgot to add you need to wear those boots you were talking to Indigo about! Hell yes - I'm that sexy beast in the corner rockin' those red boots! McButter... it was Indigo and I that were talking about the Red Boots Reverie - can you lend your red boots to Lipstick?!?!? LL was probably wondering what I was talking about!

Indigo - you can now say, "I'm that fox chick looks like she got naked with a REAL man recently! Mmmm hmmmmmm!"

Not sure that's very business-like. But hell, I'll try anything. I forgot to add you need to wear those boots you were talking to Indigo about! Hell yes - I'm that sexy beast in the corner rockin' those red boots!

Now you can say, "I'm that sexy minx with the big curly hair. Grrrr"

13 days between Weeks 4 and 5...it sucked. I would suggest putting the scale away for at least a week if not two weeks. Keep following the plan from your doc and/or NUT. Walk/exercise (if you're cleared). The stall will be a distant memory soon. Best of luck!

Almost made it 5 miles today - another post-op high for me (ran out of time...pesky work!!!). I'm at 8 miles total towards my 85 mile goal. I haven't started lifting yet - that will start next week. Have a great weekend!

For me it's not "falling off" - I take that back, it did fall off the first week maybe two weeks. Since then, I have worked my butt off - I have made exercising a priority in my day, something I neglected to do in the past. I logged 106 miles in November and December (I was sleeved on 11/14) and my goal for January is 85 miles. Is the weight coming off easier than before surgery, absolutely.

Be careful with bananas - they have a high glycemic value. When I eat foods high on the glycemic scale, it makes me want to eat more.

Great statement from your post: Positive - motivated - ready to do this! Have a great day!

Good for you! Action verbs are in your sentences - you've identified your behaviors and you have a plan to do something about it. You got this! I look forward to reading your updates in the weeks to come.

Jdub - I just PM'd my e-mail address to you Weird, I never got any PM's from anybody! Weird - I just tried again from your profile page this time. If that doesn't work, try messaging me with your e-mail address.

I decided to have surgery on 08/21/13. My surgery date was 11/14/13. There were many factors - insurance was submitted in early-September and declined (I expected this). I contacted the doctor I was researching for self-pay and started his process of paperwork, labs he needed, etc. In late-September I scheduled the 11/14 date. I could have selected a date 2 weeks earlier, but 11/14/13 was better for me.

I didn't realize it will link to your Walgreens card! I'll have to check into that. Thanks.

dyork, when was your surgery?

Hi guys. I asked my husband to write something for my blog. Like a "WLS from a spouse's point of view" sort of thing. I will preface this by saying, my husband is my rock and I love him to pieces (sure, some days I want to push him off a cliff, but...). This is what he sent me - I wanted to share with this audience because we all have loved ones that drive us crazy at times. I think sometimes we open up in a different way when we put pen to paper as opposed to speaking to one another. What would your spouse or significant other write if you asked them to? I was surprised by what I read here... The wife recently asked me to write a little something for her blog. Not much on writing more than witty quips in response to my friends Facebook posts, my first response was a “oh sure” and then to politely ignore the request. It’s a tactic that works I’d say 75% of the time. I was hoping that she would be so excited (or distraught) about weight loss/lack of weight loss/not pooping/pooping/someone else pooping or not pooping, she’d forget that she asked. So a week passed and then I get a, “So I’d really like you to write a post for my blog. You know, from the spouses point of view.” I thought I was home free with her focus on the stall. Guess not. My wife's weight has never really been an issue for me. We met over the phone and had a 3000-mile long distance relationship before the Internet and unlimited phone service. We worked in the same industry and developed a relationship over months of hours-long, bank-account-crushing phone calls. We have always said that if we had come across each other in a bar or other typical meeting place, we wouldn’t have been each other’s type, physically. Since we fell in love before we ever met, we got what we got. Which by the way, I was pretty happy with upon our first meeting. So when she informed me of her thoughts on surgery I tried hard to keep the slack jawed WTF look off my face as much as I could. I initially thought, “Your going to cut out most of your stomach just to lose a few pounds. What?” What I didn’t realize is that it wasn’t a few pounds. Much like your surprise when someone comments on how much your child has grown because they only see him once a year, I hadn’t noticed she had gained a hundred pounds since we first met. She had always just been my wife, my best friend, the person I would spend a long wonderful life with. My attachment to her has always been so much more than physical, and when I look at her I still see that 25-year-old girl I fell in love with. So when she told me how much she weighed I thought, “Holy shit, when did that happen.” My blessing of the surgery wasn’t without hesitation. I know what obesity does to a body over time and have witnessed it first hand in my father and mother-in-law. The breaking down of joints, the insulin injections, heart issues and on and on…I know, preaching to the choir. But what if something happens during surgery and I lose the love of my life? What if our boy loses his mother? The mere thoughts made my heart hurt. How would I ever cope if something tragic actually happened? But you can’t live life on the basis that something bad MIGHT happen. Its what kept my mother from fully experiencing life and I always hated that. I wanted to have the healthiest wife possible as we get older. I wanted her to be comfortable in her skin. I wanted her to wear clothes she likes, not just the ones that hide the most. I wanted her to not feel awkward around others. I’ve never really struggled with weight. Sure I could lose more than a few pounds, but it falls off with little effort. I don’t fully understand the angst that the weight causes my wife but I know she isn’t as happy as she could be because of it. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal. You gotta make the most of it. So I agreed, reluctantly. After coming to grips with the minimal risk involved and nervously waiting for good news from the operating room, it’s been a pretty easy journey for me. I’ve had to do very little except listen. Listen about the surgery, shakes, stalls, pooping, not pooping and then pooping again. My wife is hard-core about obtaining information off the internet. So much so, she once gave her GP a tutorial on thyroid testing and the latest acceptable ranges for each test, which came as news to her doctor. Still not sure why we had to pay for that office visit. So nothing came as a surprise. It made my life easier knowing that if anything came up post op that might freak me out, she had the stats on how many patients experienced the same thing, why it happened, how long it will likely last, and what the next day, week, month has in store. Easy for me, but I know it hasn’t been easy for her and that each day brings a new challenge. I am so grateful for what she is willing to put herself through for a healthier future with our son and me. Recently she’s been in the dreaded stall, but it’s subsided, and she has a little pep in her step. I love the gleam in her eye when the scale tells her what she wants to hear. I love how she gleefully shows off how crappy her clothes fit. Mostly I love that each day she seems to feel more comfortable in her skin and happier with herself. What more can you really ask for?

When Metamucil doesn't work, I take Colace for a couple of days (2x per day).

Jdub - I just PM'd my e-mail address to you

I followed up at week 2 - she checked my incisions and we talked about what I needed to do be between weeks 2 and 6. (Along w/ the standard, blood pressure, heart rate, listened to my heart and belly). Consulted w/ dietitian about moving to puree, then soft. Week 6 follow up - they tested my lean muscle mass and body fat and the standard stuff mentioned above. Meeting w/ NUT basically she approved all foods. Labs ordered. If your surgeon allows access to the NUT, you're probably good. My doc had a NUT, but she was impossible to get a hold of. My local doc is a bariatric NUT, so I can discuss that with her as well as their clinic NUT. I like the security of seeing the local doc - that's just me, I'm a nervous Nellie and wanted that aftercare. I've been in contact with people who were self-pay that got no guidance whatsoever - that would bother me.

Yes! It's my favorite shake now. My last one was sugar free lemon pudding - that's awesome, too.

I can only find the So Delicious at Natural Grocers (our other store in town is Albertson's and they don't carry it). I've seen it in grocery stores when I've been on travel. It's in the same section as the other coffee creamers. Your local store may be able to order if for you The Caramel Macchiato is my go-to drink for coffee and the syrups unless I just want vanilla. I've been using the syrups in my shakes for a while - the shakes get so old. I need to jazz them up a little. I use Peppermint in a hot chocolate Protein drink. I use the vanilla if I'm making homemade whipped topping and coffee. I put some Raspberry in with cottage cheese or ricotta cheese for a "dessert" Chocolate syrup is good when added to a chocolate shake, with some PB2 powder - tastes like a Peanut Butter cup. My husband will put the chocolate in his coffee with some vanilla. That's not my favorite. Hope this helps!

Hey thanks! How have you been?!?! Happy new year to you! I hope you are well.

I do love my coffee! I've been a coffee drinker since I was a kid. I like the Salted Caramel better than the plain Caramel. I've never had a Caramel Latte from Dunkin Donuts. I do like a Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks though...(insert evil laugh here). Here's how I make it... I make some strong coffee. I heat up 3 tablespoons of So Delicious Coconut Creamer (it tastes just like fat free 1/2 and 1/2 - no coconut flavor at all - you could use fat free 1/2 and 1/2 or soy creamer) and 3 tablespoons of milk (I use 1%) in the microwave (45 seconds on high) and stir in about 8 ounces of the strong coffee. Then I add about a teaspoon of the sugar free vanilla and a teaspoon of sugar free salted caramel. OMG - yum in a cup!!!!!!