Iambeautiful

@dreamscometrue Now that this is over, you can begin to focus on 'YOU' and your WL goals. I wish you every success in reaching your goals. I know that your dreams will come true as will mine.... I can't wait to see a pic of you by the wedding.... You are going to look fabulous!!!! And Hope I will look better by then too. I'm only one month post op but have already lost 20lbs. since surgery. The NP at my Dr. Office said that i was doing great! Going to start exericise of some sort soon...... maybe aquatic exercises to start because of my arthritis.....

I went on pureed foods after one week after surgery. At first all i could tolerate was very small amounts of yoghurt and cottage cheese. I tried the egg beaters and that was really hard to get down. I tried mashed potatoes but only 1/4 cup prepared without butter. I used almond milk to mash them with and used one slice of laughing cow cheese to mash into the mix. I served the potatoes with creme of chicken soup on top. It tasted good to me as it was at least something hot to eat. I did puree a can of Healthy choice soup and measured also 1/4 cup but this did not fill me up and stay with me as long as the Protein foods so what I'd do then is to only drink the broth from the soup and count it as liquid. I could handle Jello still and SF pudding and tea. Some days I just drank my Protein shakes because it seemed like on the days that i ate three small meals that i didn't have time to drink all my fluids. I am on phase three now and still struggling with food. I tried toast but it was hard to get down. The egg beaters are going down better now if i scramble them with a little milk. My fave thing right now is Chicken salad.... it goes down easy. I'm not in a hurry to try any other new foods right now..... this is a slow process for me for sure. I made homemade soup today but mostly just drank the broth.

There certainly has been a lot of speculation here and I guess no one really knows what's on your friends mind here. The only way to really find out is to probably bring the subject up casually next time you see her... for example pretend you are asking for advice on the bridesmaid dress and say something like...... I don't know what size to order the dress in because I've lost so much weight and don't know what size I'll be in by then' And see what her response is and even if she acknowledges it at all. I guess it must be hard for some 'thin' people especially to adjust to role changes in friendships.... Before she was your thin friend and if you get as thin as her then it will make you equal maybe in her eyes.... Again that's just speculation. But for myself I just cannot fathom her as a friend not taking the effort to be supportive for you in your weight loss knowing that she knows that this has been such an obstacle and problem in your life. I lost a lot of weight three years ago and my good friend was kept telling me how good I looked (even though I still didn't feel thin and knew I wasn't what i wanted to be) It was very encouraging. Everyone needs praise for their accomplishments... it's only human. Why don't we applause people on stage that perform and do a good job don't we? And don't we praise our chidren when they do good in school or otherwise? If we can't encourage and support our friends and family then who can we support? If this friend was a casual acquaintance or friend then i could see their reluctance in commenting on your weight loss but not a good friend. That's just not how I view friendships either. It's a give and take... fifty fifty relationship.... we help each other and support each other in life. I guess one day she'll tell you or won't tell you why she didn't comment. In any case you'll know if she is indeed a friend or not by then..... I still can't understand how she is keeping quiet yet praises someone else to you about their weight loss.... that's like rubbing salt into a wound..... i bet you felt like saying 'well what am I? chopped liver? Geeeez..... Nuff said..... :)

I am interested in healthy low fat very low carb recipes for all phases of the sleeve diet.... I'm going on Phase 3 at the end of the week. I want to stay with the lowest carb posible and good quality low fat Protein foods most of all.... I cannot have veggies for another week or so. I'm so looking forward to trying to eat real food. I'm thinking that I'm going to be eating a lot of chicken salad. I am interesed in finding a low carb and low fat mayo but i found a recipe using greek yoghurt that sounds even better cause there are no healthy mayos that I've found in the grocery stores.... here is my first offering Ranch is so fattening!! Until now. This whole jar of ranch is only 1.75 grams of fat and 255 calories! 1 cup dannon oikos plain greek yogurt, 1 packet hidden valley ranch mix, 1/2 cup 1% milk. Whisk together, chill 1 hour before use. Perfect consistency and tastes better than bottled!!!

I am almost four weeks post op from having the VSG and I had bought a Water bottle before surgery that had a drinking spout on it that pulls up and down when not in use. I discovered that after I bought it that it had a straw attatched to the drinking spout so I found out that the inner straw was removable. I removed it but to drink out of the cup (as the kids call it 'a sippy cup" Well I made the mistake of thinking that it was safe to use then but the way the liquid comes out of this water bottle is that you have to sort of drink out of the drinking spout like a straw..... I got so sick from all the air in my stomach and kept belching and hiccupping like crazy... it was so uncomfortable.... I'll never drink from any sort of straw ever again. I guess they tell us this for a reason. You have to listen to what your body is telling you. For me, I can't tolerate a straw.

@@Madam Reverie she's gonna be a beautiful bridesmaid that's why! sweet revenge.....lol

@sillyolme1 I don't think she had a problem with her being overweight, I think she has a problem with her being thin..... Tellin' it like it is! @dreamscometrue I can't wait to see you in your bridesmaid dress too..... You are gonna look great and knock 'em dead......lol

I am four weeks post op for VGS. I had a lot of belching, hiccups while eating or drinking and i pass gas a lot... it's very embarrassing but since i'm at home most of the time it's not so bad because I'm not around a lot of people. does it ever get any better later? I'd be embarrassed if i were out and public and let out a big gas noise or a big belch or hiccups while eating or any other time.... I have a lot of weird stomach noises when i drink or eat..... it sounds like turmoil is going on there..... it's not hunger pains.... I have none of those. Help!!!!! I do take prilosec daily and i don't eat gassy foods...... unless yoghurt is gassy and cottage cheese and chicken broth..... that's all I'm eating....lol I'm scared to try the mashed up Beans like refried beans even though I love Refried beans

@MIMamaof2 Is that dip low in carbs..... I am counting carbs diligently if it's anything with higher than 8 or more carbs i stay clear of it......

I have never seen this brand.... it sounds good but i did notice on the label that it DID contain sugar? I wonder how the carb count can be that low if it does contain sugar... I'd be suspicious of that. I have a recipe for part greek yoghurt and mixing it with the dried ranch dressing seasonings from hidden valley...... I actually was desperate to find a good low fat low carb mayo as I plan on eating chicken salad a lot.

I poured over all the mayo at the store..... the fat free is higher in carbs..... the full fat one has too much fat..... I'd say the answer is no..... I want to try a recipe using plain greek yoghurt and ranch dressing mix..... for a yummy mayo substitute

I have to say that it decreases libido at first...... maybe it gets better later.... I hope sorry to say this.

I am still on the pureed food stage. I keep plenty of ready to eat individual containers of greek yoghurt in the fridge and low fat cottage cheese for those times when i feel so empty that i can just grab something that's ready to eat. I am glad that you posted this though because now i will start thinking about planning my meals when I go to stage 3 which will be coming soon....... I am going to read all the posts here to get an idea now what to do.

@dreamscometrue I think people here are trying to give your friend the benefit of the doubt but i see right through her. I'm very intuitive about people and I have a friend who has always been competitive with me so I DO understand this. My friend was so jealous when i was married and she wasn't and would always put my hubby down and say things to me like 'You are a better person than me, I wouldn't put up with his behavior if it were me' NOw I'm divorced and she has someone nice... I wouldn't put her hubby down like that even if it's what i thought. Now she is being sugarly sweet to me. And if i had told her about my weight loss surgery (which I'm not) she would have been very negative about it too. She is gonna freak out when i get thinner than her sometime soon I hope. I will never tell her how i did it though or anyone else. We still have to do the work to lose our weight. The WL is NOT automatic by any means. I can't wait 'till your friend sees you again In October for her wedding. She is going to be so surprized You are already looking great and it looks like you've been working out too .... am I right? I can't wait until I am able to work out. I'm afraid t just yet to do anything strenuous at this point.... four weeks out. You keep doing what you're doing.... Don't worry about what anyone says or don't say..... if she has a problem with you losing weight and looking great then that's her problem not yours..... You are doing this for 'YOU" not anyone else..... I could get really mean here but it's a public forum so i won't do any name calling her but your friend is a 'B' sorry..... just keeping it real.... and we ARE alike lol.......... :D keep up the good work...... You GO girl...... funny but the 'friends' we meet here are sometimes better than our so called 'real life' friends...... The green eyed monstor is a mean one...... Hold your head up and smile and act like her behaviour doesn't bother you at all..... that will get to her more than you blowing up at her..... Make sure you look Great when you see her again ......that will be sweet.... no need to say a word...hahahaha

There certainly seems to be a stigma with regards to WLS. I have not told anyone that i had it done except my daughter and daughter in law who have been very supportive of me. People consider you weak that you cannot stick with a diet or exercise routine. The thing that they don't realize is that this is NOT the easy way out. I went through a living hell the first week out of surgery. I couldn't keep anything down--not even Water. My blood pressure soared sky high along with my heart rate after sugery *( all my pre op heart tests came out completely normal) The nurses and doctors said i was in great health and a good candidate for WLS after reading the results of a long list of pre op testing I endured. My only big health issue was my BMI which still wasn't so high as to not make me a Sleeve candidate. I just don't get it. If people are drug addicts or alcoholics no one thinks it's horrible for someone to go into rehab. They applaud them for getting the much needed help. So why do they critisize the obese who have an eating disorder or metabolic disorder. I have had food addictions and metabolic syndrom that caused me to lose weight very slowly even with the strictist diets. Now since the sleeve surgery, I can finally control my addictions to food and food no longer controls my life. I have the tools needed to finally beat this and become thinner and to look at food in a new light now. I tried every diet in the book and nothing worked long term. what the general public doesn't realize is that we STILL have to work hard with diet and excercise to lose weight but the great thing is that the VGS has given me the tools i need now to accomplish this because it's like a long acting diet pill. I have no real hunger and it only takes very small amounts of food to fill me up. I have chosen healthy foods to eat even though I am still on pureed foods now but plan on making healthy eating now a long term goal for the rest of my life.... No more snacking on chips and salsa, potatoe chips, pretzels, candy, ice cream, Trips to fast food places when out, eating large portions of food then having seconds and raiding the fridge at night. I have no desire for any of that anymore and since i took such a drastic step to do this, I plan on using this as an advantage and I'm not trying to sabotage my efforts by experimenting with foods that i used to eat. WLS has come a long way. I know in the past a lot of people died from the bypass back in the seventies and eighties and on when the WLS was not perfected and many obese patients were not screened like i was with all the pre op testings. I'll never forget when i was in nursing training and there was a by pass pt in the recovery area that was like 400 lbs and the Drs had to do CPR on this guy. I heard rude remarks from doctors or residents about this poor man.... i thought it was so unethical and rude. Now days the medical profession recognizes obesity as a disease and not just a weakness in character or a stigma that we are just pityful lazy people that don't care for ourselves nor have respect for ourselves enough to lose weight. I'm so happy we have finally able to come out of the closet and for it to be recognized as a real disease. Believe me i had tried EVERY diet under the sun. I even did the Optifast and lost 70 lbs only to gain it all back in two to three years. Fad diets never work in the long run. Anyone can lose twenty pounds or ever fifty on a diet but it will come righ back on once we slip into our old habits of over eating again...... Hooray..... I will beat this now.... I have confindence and I am so grateful for this surgery.... It has given me a new chance on living versus dying a slow death. I wouldn't recommend this surgery for anyone. If you are young and can diet and excercise and get counseling I'd certainly try that first of all. The WLS should be a last resort but in my case it was. I took the risk but glad that i did now.

@dreamscometrue It's a little unsettling listening to all the excuses people are making for you 'friend' Even if by some long shot she intuitively knows that you must have had surgery for weight loss, is she was any kind of friend at all she would have at least complimented you on your weight loss. She wouldn't have had to ask you 'how' or anything. All you wanted was a simple acknowledgment of your accomplishment as any real friend would have done. True if she is that self obsessed with her wedding that she can't even compliment a friend then she is the one with a problem You have to be a friend to have friends. in my opinion she is jealous of you now or feels threatened by your sudden transformation somehow. People can be strange and sometimes the green eyed monster within people comes out and then shows you their true colors in times like this. I would make no excuses for her rude behaviour...... I'm not buying that she is 'hurt' or doesn't want to embarrass you by bringing up the subject.... that's a bunch of BS..... sorry. If she hasn't said anything after the fitting then after the wedding I'd be done with her as a friend..... I'm not sugar coating anything.... Rude is Rude.....no excuses for that.

My mini blender, Water bottle, my thermo cup for hot or cold drinks. food scale... measuring cups and spoons.... baby spoons.... to help me eat small amounts at a time.... Ice... for my water. Protein shakes, Water, yoghurt cottage cheese.... something i can grab fast if I'm hungry as I'm still on the pureed diet.....

@Seela.... where do you find a warmer like that.... can you send me a link... I was actually going to get a baby dish that you could put hot Water inside of it to keep the food warm I'm having the same problem..... I have to eat so slow that my food gets cold and then i find it very un appetizing.....

I don't know what to think of her attitude except that she is afraid that you'll get thinner than her. Sometimes people feel comfortable with their 'fat friends' and it makes them feel superior somehow. Since she doesn't know about the surgery she may feel that later you'll just gain your weight back again. I wouldn't start any drama now.... Let her have her wedding but later on down the road, I'd sure call her out on it...Let her be the star of her show right now.....A true friend would be supportive of your weight loss.... Wonder if she ever really was a Real friend at all at this point. I have not told my best friend that i had this surgery either. It's funny when we were teens, she was alwasys bigger than me but after i got older and had my children I gained a lot of weight. She lost a lot of weight some years ago with Fen Fen and has kept most of it off and is thinner than me. I think she'd be jealous if i get thinner than her again..... Women sometimes are jealous creatures.... not all of them. I wish you luck and Congratulations on your weight loss.... You look Fab...... I hope you get down to that size 6......sweet revenge

I was tested before surgery with an EGD when they discovered my hiatal hernia. I couldn't tell which was causing me grief after surgery the sleeve surgery or the repair of the HH...... I think it was a combination of both. The swelling of the espogus and sleeve after surgery made it hard for me to drink fluids and I had a huge amount of nausea with some vommitting.... I had to stay in the hospital longer as I wasn't getting all my fluids in for one thing. The dr. says that sometimes the sleeve patients have more nausea post surgery than the bypass patients..... This is my story but everyone is different. I think everyone should know what could happen after surgery so you won't be surprised later. I had no idea that i would have reacted so severely with nausea post surgery because a lot of people don't have this problem.... Good Luck with your surgery.

I had to do Protein shakes for two weeks..... if i did eat anything is was lean chicken or turkey and a veggie...... Don't beat yourself up for messing up a little..... After surgery it's actually easier to stay with the program. The smaller stomach keeps you from wanting to eat more or the wrong things.... At least that was the case for me and the whole reason I had it done. because i had trouble controlling my hunger. The sleeve is a great too for helping us control our eating. I don't have real hunger anymore and I fill up easy with very little food. I don't find it hard to stick with the post op diet at all. Amazingly i have stuck to it for four weeks now and out........ Just pick yourself up again and start over...... You'll do just fine...... I had to have a chinese food funeral, then a mexican food funeral etc and ice cream funeral before i even started the pre op diet as I thought I'd never be able to eat my favorite foods ever again but from what i can tell by others is that one day I can eat something that i always loved but it will be in very small portions and not every day but that's after I reach my goal maybe..... I don't think I'll ever eat ice cream again..... that's way off track... and not something I want to start eating again. My tastes in food has changed and I actually like the healthy foods way better now. than the junk.... I bought my teen age son McDonalds today and the smell of it was not appealing to me at all...... in fact it was making me feel nauseous to smell. it........ Good Luck

The best thing for hypoglycemia is small frequent Protein based meals..... The carbs won't keep the bs stable. Try nuts as a snack or just do the things you did ...the diet post sleeve..... Protein rich foods will keep the bs stable longer along with complex carbs like whole grain breads, rice etc but everything should be in small amounts just like after the weight loss surgery Stay away from sweets, ice cream , shakes and those high fructose corn syrups in your food. A bowl of whole grain Cereal with almonds or nuts would be a good choice. You shouldn't be eating 6 big meals a day but 6 small meals.... stay away from sugary drinks of any kind and soda of course. I'm sure that they don't mean to eat big amounts every hour.... I think if you have some nuts every couple of hours or a tsp of PB and crackers then it would help a lot. I was a nurse myself so I know the things that work. The only time you should be eating some carbs to help bs is if it is with a form of protein. Carbs will not keep the bs stable long... it's only a temporary fix....but ask your dr. or dietician for advice please! I wish you all the luck in the world..... Glad I don't have to worry about pregnancy at my age.... One good thing for me waiting this long to have surgery.... don't have to worry about that anymore. But be careful and take good care of yourself.... You know how to eat healthy now as you lost a lot of weight already. Stay with the basics and you'll do fine.

Thanks @Mytime45 I have to keep telling myself Iambeautiful.....that's why i chose that name for here.... I haven't felt very beautiful for such a long time now........