Forsythia

Well, you can't not drink, so just ease back into it. Small sips. Don't try to drink too fast. You might have just had a freak experience that may never repeat itself. One day I had 3 oz of chicken and it made me feel nauseated. I gagged a couple of times even. I don't know why. Never happened before or since. Maybe it just struck a nerve oddly. But I still eat chicken. Don't give into fear of a one time occurrence. If this happens again it might be warranted, but for now, don't assume it was the start of something bad. Maybe one of your pills hit a nerve on the way down.

Yay! Now let's talk about Costa Rica. You going to the beach, the jungles and Arenal volcano or the cities? I wanted to honeymoon there, but money. Boo.

You should certainly be able to use any and all of the cardio equipment at the gym. You should ask if you are clear for weights and swimming. Some doctors don't clear you for weights over 10 lbs until 6 weeks out. And swimming depends on how well your incisions have healed.

@@Chubalicious Sadly fat does not become muscle. Fat is fat and muscle is muscle. If you work out the fat cells will shrink and the muscle fibers will get bigger, but you can't turn one into the other. If we could, I think we all would have opted for that instead of surgery. You also have a lower BMI and are a lady, two things that cause slower weight loss. Guys tend to lose much faster than a woman of the same weight. Higher BMI individuals also lose faster than lower BMI individuals. You are going to have stalls. Sometimes they last for a week, sometimes longer. Keep on your plan. Keep working out. Resist the urge to weigh yourself every day. My weight is going to fluctuate. Even on a perfect day it might go up for various reasons. Try to limit your scale time to once a week or even less if you find yourself getting obsessed about the number.

coffee. But even without coffee I am super regular. For the first month or so, not so much. But now, All is right with my bowels. LOL.

I take my Vitamins when I can remember. Which for me might be at Breakfast, or a lunch, or 10 minutes before bed. LOL. I take one prenatal as opposed to two regular multis (not that I am pregnant but I'd rather take one pill than two and the NUT suggested we could take a prenatal). Vitamin D and B12 all in pill/capsule form. I started out with a chewable multi but all the rest of the vitamins were pills. I'm not required to take any calcium. I think the bottom line is for you to work out a schedule that works for you. Because they are only effective if you remember to take them! I will say that this thread has reminded me to take my pills (Which I actually drag around with me in a sparkly pill case).

I didn't try any Protein bars until I was cleared for a general diet, which was one month post op. If you have a nutritionist, shoot him or her an email and ask. Here are my thoughts on variety! You can take something like chicken salad or tuna salad and put it in your food processor to make it more of a puree consistency. You can also get unflavored Protein powder and add it to a pudding cup (or, if you have a health food store near by, there is literally a brand of protein pudding, but I can't remember the name, but I see ads for it in Oxygen magazine all the time) or Soup (don't add it to the soup while you are cooking because it will curdle, Add it in after it is warm.

Howdy Geoff, there is a whole forum dedicated to exercise. Lots of good info there! http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/991-fitness-exercise/

As an aside, I love corsets and steampunk. I did my best steampunk costume a couple halloweens ago. Sadly, I am at work and won't be able to click on the link right now (I mean, I probably could, but I try not to look at lingerie while at work). But I will give my opinion when I get home!

76lbs post surgery.

These are the sorts of things that do not require any sort of response. Just heap a healthy side eye and general snarky disdain.

I started in my program at 312 and went to the hospital at 294 (so they tell me). For the entire time (six months) I basically lost and gained the same 10 lbs. Only when I went on the pre-op diet two weeks before surgery did I get down to the 294. So on that diet I lost 18 lbs. This was not a liquid diet either, but what was basically Atkins phase 1 (High Protein, low carbs lots of delicious steak. LOL!). Before the program I lost 23 lbs when I realized my scale said "ERROR" instead of a weight (because the scale only weighed up to 335).

Honestly they need to be telling people under 40 who are overweight/obese to be getting a health check up. Diabetes runs in my family. And so does obesity. I was diagnosed with type II Diabetes at the age of 32. I'm guessing that looking back, I had it for at least a good year before it was diagnosed. For me, I went that long because I was temping and did not have health insurance (I know that is not a thing in the UK).

Greek yogurt. It was awful pre-surgery. Even the fruity ones. Now, I like it and don't like regular yogurt as much.

Awesomesauce. Seems like there are a few of us creeping up on 100lbs gone!

My right knee hurts - but increased exercising is going to do that. And my bunion on my right foot seems to hurt more as I am much more active. I'll get an occasional zing shoot through it - again, increased activity. My collarbones don't hurt, but I find myself touching them a lot. Maybe you are just hyper aware of them as they become more visible? Lastly, if you ever had an injury, you might be bothered by weather. My knee doesn't like when it gets too humid and stormy. There might be a touch of arthritis in it.

I'm of the everything in moderation school of thought. I'm not opposed to it. And it is okay now that I am on an unrestricted diet. But I haven't had more than a couple of pieces here or there. I love it at the movies though. I've only been to the movies once post sleeve, but did not have any popcorn because we stopped and had lunch right before our show. My husband is the popcorn guy, so any that is in the house is usually eaten by Mr. Bottomless Pit.

Oh, I forgot about those. Those TRX straps are killer and work the stabilizers like crazy. I second Kate! If you have access to them with your trainer, maybe do some of that stuff! When I was using them I was over 300 lbs. I kept asking the trainer "ARE YOU SURE THESE ARE BOLTED TO THE STUDS?!" She used to just laugh. I was never able to pull them out of the wall despite my fears.

@jessiquoi I don't look pregnant but I have what looks like a muffin top because of a roll where my natural waist is. And the funny thing is that the left side and right side are lopsided. so the roll on the right side is much more sticky outtie than the left side. But high waisted pants are not a good look on me. I just need to get a shaper to smooth all that out.

I tend to lose from the top down. So I can be in a 14/16 from the boobs up and a 18/20 in something that covers my stomach. So stuff is baggy in the chest but looks okay over my tummy. Bizarre, really. I'm to the point where all the size 20 jeans I bought are slightly too big, but I'm not inclined to spend money on new jeans just yet. I will say that I was never so happy to be able to shop at Old Navy since they carry up to 20 in the stores. I am loath to go into a Lane Bryant now even though I still wear plus sizes. I just keep thinking in another couple of weeks or a month I will be in a 16.

I have crap balance. Like, I could get arrested for failing a sobriety test when sober bad. So I had this trainer who knew it and used to make me do all sorts of balance exercises. It was brutal and I hated her but I was better for it. But that doesn't mean I didn't cuss her out under my breath. You might also try doing something like pilates and yoga to work on those stabilizer muscles. They really might help you out.

Get yourself a kettlebell. Maybe 12 lbs to start You can start out with 30 seconds worth of Russian swings (you start in a wide stance, with the bell down between your legs). squat down and swing the bell up so that your arms are parallel to the floor. The bell should be at roughly boob level. Come back up to the beginning position and lower the bell down at the same time. Do as many as you can in that 30 seconds. You can do intervals of this. Maybe three intervals to start. Not only is there a cardio effect, the next day you will be so sore all over. The key is using your hips to swing the bell up, not your arms. You should really feel this in your major muscles of the lower body - quads, hams, glutes. If you feel it in your arms, you are using them to swing the bell and doing them incorrectly. (There are lots of tutorials on the innerwebz/youtube) You can also do squats and lunges, as well as push ups and crunches without a gym. You can do step ups onto a kitchen chair. Personally, I'm a lazy slug at home and cannot be arsed to do any actual working out there. I need to give someone (LA Fitness) my money each month in order to be motivated to work out. LOL!

I had my sleeve in May (on Cinco de Mayo, actually), at NW Memorial, with Dr. Hungness. I'm a sad Bears fan but a happy sleever. LOL!

When I had my endoscopy, they put me into what they call "conscious sedation" meaning you are awake the whole time, but you really remember nothing. I swear, they put the IV in me, had me turn onto my side and the next thing I remember was laying in the recovery room and humming a song. LOL. They gave me some animal crackers and a ginger ale and sent me home. I remember everything before that, and everything after, but that 40 minutes is forever gone! Then about a week late I got a letter in the mail with all the pictures of my throat and everything. It was fascinating, really. Since Northwestern Memorial is a teaching hospital, the nurses said that often they volunteer to have it done because it is such an easy procedure.