music1618

I can see both sides to this. However my advise would be to go for it and do the party. Your body will tell you when you are crossing the line on tasting things. When the party is over and you have not eaten what you used to eat you can celebrate the small victory.

I am willing to bet you are losing inches! My doc said at our last group meeting that you lose weight hit a plateau. During the plateau you lose the most inches. I would suggest increasing your calories. You need to eat real food if you can tolerate it. My doc says he wants most of our protein to come from whole foods. Meaning eating protein first, then your shakes, and finally protein bars. When ever I stalled my clothes about fell off of me because I was losing so many inches. Calm down and stay on plan!

My suggestion is to focus on regaining muscle. I am trying to get into the police academy and working real hard at gaining the muscle I lost. I focus on protein to help build that muscle. Muscle in my option give people a healthy look. You don't look starved you look healthy.

Give it time - this will pass. You will be able to drink water again. It took me about 4 months to get rid of the cotton mouth.

I could not drink them after surgery. In fact it was not until 7 months later that I can stand them. I had all the side effects of lack of protein. Trust me it is much better to get your protein in. I found a protein that I can mix with 4 oz of liquid. I get my protein in and can drink it in one gulp.

I saw my doctor today in a group meeting that the office holds, and he said something very interesting about stretching your pouch that I thought I would share. He said it is not that your pouch stretches it is that you eat things that are easy on your pouch. The example was watermellon - it is easy to swallow and easy on your pouch - where as brisket is heavy on your pouch and you can only eat a few bites. He so said basically we as humans naturally gravitate to things we can eat easily and we end up eating more than we are now used to.

I will also say my doc office does not have us count carbs or calories. They say eat lean and clean and everything will fall into place. He also says it is better to have real sugar than the fake sugar.

I have eaten both and my doc says it is ok if I can tolerate. The key is to eat enough to satisfy the craving. Last week I wanted peanut butter on toast and had it several times that week. Just one slice and I was fine. When I want sweets I eat just a bite and I feel ok. If I sat down an eat an entire slice of cake I would be so sick, but that one bite and my head says thank you and my stomach is nice enough to allow my head one bite.

I am not sure about the Bp meds, but I can say your body might still be adjusting to its new normal. Before getting discouraged talk with your doctors. Your PCP and surgeon - and let them help you out. It may be just a simple fix and getting stressed out will only add to your BP issues.

My doc said all meds are absorbed the same pre op as they are post op. so I would think it would work, but it is a doctor question.

Dallas area here - you?

Well welcome to your new life. Thank you to your family for serving our country! I know it is a family effort. Trust when I say this is not the lazy person way of losing weight. You have to follow through so much. It will be a life changing experience and will test your physical an mentally abilities many many times. I had surgery due to medication that was making me gain weight. I could not get off the medication unless I lost weight and hard to lose weight when you are always hungry. People who are naturally skinny do jot understand the struggles. Your sister will get on board when she sees the results, the new you, and how hard this can be. This is a great board and has lots of support and honest feedback.

http://www.newlifebariatricsupplements.com/about-our-supplements This is the info about his supplements and then there is a place to shop at the top. I get mine from a local supplement shop that partners with my doctor.

So I am 8 months post op and everything is going great. My current weight loss is 99lbs. I have been there for over a week. There is just something about saying i have lost 100! So Wednesday I stepped on the scale after playing about 75 min in my soccer game Tuesday. I thought I ate good this tuesday and this morning will be the morning. I got on and still at 157 and 99 lost. So I thought I know I will get off and think myself thin. I stepped off and thought to myself ok I am thinner. I stepped on the scale and the darn scale read 157.5! Morale of this story don't try to outsmart digital scales - some how they know and add half a pound!

I take new life bariatric vitamins. They are in powder form and I add them to my protein shake in the am.

My vitamins are from new life bariatric and are in powder form. I add it to my daily protein shake and I am done. You can find them online.

Yes, but I would say you get to know your new body as a whole. Stomach and mind are the biggest changes. After several months you have to get to know the new you on the outside. People who have not seen you in a while are shocked. Then there is a time when you realize new people in your life do not know of your struggle. They see the skinny you and not the fat suit. I showed some new friends last night an old picture of myself and they said they did not recognize me at all. It is a journey and well worth the ride!

Talk to your doc about it. It is a sleep disorder and there might be something that can help you.

I found in the early months that my new hunger feeling was kind of like nausea.

Yes I had high keystones for a while after surgery. Some is the water intake, but a lot is losing the weight. What is released in the fat cells is bad stuff. I had several UTI after surgery, and never did before surgery. Just make sure your urine is close to clear in color and you will do ok.

Welcome Wendy and fellow Texan - Dallas area!! You and I are close in bodies. I am 5'4 and started at 256. My doc said at 181 I was considered a success. I am currently at 157. I had surgery June 5, 2012. I went from a 2-3xl shirt to a s-m, and a size 22 to a 8-10 right now. I am losing more inches than weight, but I am currently strength training to rebuild muscle to get ready for the police academy test in a couple months. Good lck!

My advice is to take this fear and use it to your advantage. This is a tool for weight loss and not a cure. The great thing is that you look so much better and feel so much better very quickly. You can see and feel the results and get the satisfaction of knowing you are doing it - you are really losing the weight. You start getting the compliments and start feeling sexier and realizing your dreams. However there is a time when you start falling off a little. You are able to eat more and more things. You are able to eat the small bite of chocolate or drink a few sips of soda. This is when you need to use this feeling of failing. You need to have that talk with yourself that says you have a choice - continue with the good feelings or eat that piece of chocolate. My moment came about 3 weeks ago. I was sick at home and stopped drinking my protein shakes and taking my vitamins. I started eating things I knew were bad for me - but I was sick and did not care. I wanted the comfort food. After a week of this and gaining about 4 pounds the new Samantha had a talk with the old Samantha and they agreed that I worked to hard to go down that path. I am happy to report that I quickly lost those gained pounds and am back on track. I feel great and I am sitting at 99lbs lost - damm last pound will not go off! Good luck!!! It is worth it!!!

Dumping is caused by eating something your body does not agree with. It can happen with many things and is different for everyone. I have had dumping and it is not pleasant at all. For me it was ice cream. I have not touched the stuff since - just not worth it. I can eat candy in small qualities and that satisfies my sweet tooth. The key is to learn and listen to your body. I can get what I would call pre-dumping feeling and I know my body is about to be really pissed off and I stop. Most of those foods I do not eat again. The most important thing to remember is that this is a tool. It does not correct bad eating habits. You must do that for yourself. If you ignore your body enough you will be able to eat whatever you put into it. For example you said your friend was drinking soda - well I have a sip of soda maybe 3 times a month. Just need a sip to taste the carbonation, but any more and I know I could get my body used to the feelings associated with drinking it. For me it is not worth that trade off. I did this to be healthy and although I have a new tool to help that it is up to me to change my ways. This is more a mental game than physical. No matter if you get band/sleeve/bypass. If you are not ready to commit to the lifestyle change then you are not ready for this.