4me4them

Thanks for sharing this victory....it inspires me to get where you are! Keep it up!

Try Junonia.com They are a little more expensive than Lane Bryant but their stuff really lasts. I've had a swimsuit of theirs for years, I like their compression shorts...and they have cute tennis skirts as well as exercise t-shirts made out of moisture wicking material. Here's the link... http://www.junonia.com/

Awesome!

I'm happy for you...your post reminded me of trying to figure out what a baby's cries mean...I hope your sleeve doesn't go through the terrible twos!

One thing that helped me was a few sessions with a personal trainer...that way I was focused on her not the people around me. It also gave me a chance to learn gym etiquette as well as learn the types of exercises/weights I ought to be doing...which gave me confidence to go back by myself.

Can you tell how old the comments are? Maybe they are from when he was just starting?

Well, at least now you know. I got a sample pack of the bars...I haven't tried them yet but my husband who has a finicky stomach liked the one he tried and he had no after effects....

I haven't had the surgery yet and I have found that in my supervised diet phase, using an app to track my food has been really important to helping me stay within my calores/carbs/protein. I've never used one before so I am a recent convert for sure....but I would recommend a focused use of a food logging program for a couple of weeks to make sure you are within a weight loss range...

Wow! Congratulations and good luck...

So since I live about 1.5 hrs away from the doctor/hospital, I tried to cram as much into today as I could. I'm glad I did with one minor exception which I will get to. First up was the nutritionist. Good news, I lost 12 pounds since last visit 4 weeks ago. Bad news, I have to cut 200 more calories from my daily intake. Sigh. I knew that I couldn't stay at 1500 and I have had many days below that...but I thought with what I lost it might only go down 100. Not sure why this is freaking me out so much...but 1300 just seems like so much less than 1500. Also have to cut anything made with flour...entirely. While I haven't had any pasta (a known trigger for me) I have had an occasional piece of toast....I feel silly mourning a piece of toast but I am. Next was the EKG. Pretty easy. Kept clothes on, hooked up with sticky pads one on each lower leg, one on each arm just above the elbow and then right around the left breast. Lay still. Done Then it was off to get the upper GI. For this one I had been fasting since 600 the night before...not even water! So after being sent to the wrong area twice I got checked in and found out that they were doing a chest xray as well. So off with the top half of the clothes, on with an ill fitting (like didn't even come close to closing in the back) hospital gown. The chest xray room had to be no warmer than 60 degrees...it was really cold. After I finished the tech gave me a warm blanket for my shoulders/back which felt awesome! The Upper GI was not horrible, but not fun either. First you drink a fizzy drink like alka seltzer and they tell you not to burp....which you really want to (or at least I did). The fizzy drink is to introduce some air into your empty stomach so that the second drink ( a really thick barium drink) will be able to coat your stomach. They use the barium to provide contrast when they take the pictures. I am using a teaching hospital so I had a newbie doctor...being coached by an experienced one. It was soo funny, I was trying really hard to not follow the coaches directions, even though it seemed silly because I could hear everything she said. So you are standing on a footpad with a bed attached and as you drink the thick drink they start taking fluoroscopy pictures following the barium down the esophagus, into the stomach. After a couple of swigs of the thick stuff, they start to lower the bed which is kind of a weird feeling until you are laying on your back. Then it is roll over time, which was not easy for me because 1. I'm a big gal, 2. the machine actually taking the pictures is right on top of me and 3. that ill fitting hospital gown got stuck....but I got all the way around...first left side, then tummy, then right side, then back to the back. This is all to literally roll the barium around in your stomach. Then, while laying, they give you a cup with a straw and a thinner barium and this time they are watching it leave the bottom of the stomach. One more position, on the tummy with the left leg bent to check for a hiatal hernia and then I was done. Whole thing took about 30 minutes once I was in the room. The only bad thing was I had planned to have breakfast in the hospital cafeteria...but GEESH. Would it kill them to have a healthy option....I guess it was between breakfast and lunch but the choices were small to none. Cardiac clearance was last, she took a cardiac history, asked about exercise habits, asked if any cardiac symptoms....all in all about a 20 minute talk and she said I was low risk and she would send a report to the dr. Yay! So , all in all, pretty efficient, arrived at 0800 and left at 1215....That's all the pre insurance tests...one more monthly visit to the nutritionist and I should be ready to submit!

Hi Welcome to the site! I made my appointment at the seminar...but I agree with Sherb....I'd give them a call...good luck!

Congrats! A 5K is awesome. If you ever get the chance to do a Run or Dye 5K go for it....too much fun!

Woo Hoo! Congrats... I have a way to go for my drivers license to be correct...lol

Love training with a personal trainer. It is the one hour of the week that I don't have to think...I only have to do. It is almost like therapy for me and helps me manage stress. Key thing is to find the right one. My first one about 10 years ago was from a body building background and I think, looking back she was not really in tune with helping someone as overweight as me...she did become a personal friend though The one I had most recently comes from an athletic background and was very good at rehabbing/strengthening my knees and hips at a challenging but manageable pace. The only con is that it can be expensive..

Wow, congrats on the determination you showed to get back to your healthy self. Thanks for sharing your story and I wish nothing but a speedy recovery and return to the healthy, happy you!

Hey, check out this you tube video on how to use myfitness pal... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnLBDx-CXt0 I've been using it for a month and it is amazing how much having the data can help you manage your intake. So if in the afternoon I know I'm jonesing for something sweet, I eat more veggies and save the carbs for a weight watchers ice cream...

Awesome! I aspire to be you in late November..lol. Hope you have a great day!

I am not a doctor and I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn last night . I will relate what my PCP told me about night sweats...I went in because I was sure it was peri-menopause but he said more than half the time night sweats are a symptom of depression...the mind is racing at night when you are sleeping, which revs up the body to act. I tried estrogen for a bit, and at the same time decided to pursue WLS and my night sweats went away. I really disliked the estrogen though because it made me have a period like every other freakin week So, with his approval, I stopped the estrogen...about 3 weeks ago and have not had any more night sweats....So...maybe...your mind is still trying to wrap itself around the surgery/changes and they will get better with time. But as with all things, if you are not sure you should talk to your medical dudes. Just my two cents...

First...welcome to the site! You will find so much support from folks who have been there and "walked the talk". Second...congrats on having a date!! I'm just starting and hoping for surgery in late November... let us know how it goes!

Awesome success! Thanks for sharing and putting it all back into perspective for me...

How fun! Congrats and I'm glad you didn't get a skinned knee...lol

So I had my psych eval this afternoon. I found myself wondering on the drive there what kinds of questions they would ask. I really didn't worry about it but I was curious. Since I wasn't a patient, I had to fill out all the new patient stuff...but it was kind of cool because it was all on a tablet and went pretty quickly. The Dr. was able to see my responses as I entered them and since I was the last patient of the afternoon I actually went in about 10 minutes early. I'll try to list as many questions as I can remember: 1. How long have you been married? 2. Why are you here today? 3. How long have you been considering WLS? 4. Which surgery do you think you want? This one was followed by a discussion about talking to the surgeon, what did the surgeon recommend...etc 5. What are the cons to the surgery? I started with the medical ones...he pushed towards the "other ones" things like changing behaviors, social situations, family issues.... 6. What are the pros to the surgery? 7. How long has weight been an issue? I briefly wondered if this was a trick question....like "when did you stop kicking your dog...lol 8. What else do you hope to accomplish with your surgery? 9. Have you ever been in a psychiatric hospital? 10. Tell me about your depression. (self reported by me, have been on anti depressant for about 6 years and it runs in my family) 11. Tell me about your family's weight/relation to food. Then we did some memory stuff...he asked me to remember three words, then asked me to spell world, then spell it backward (harder than you think under pressure ), who was president..before him...before him....and then he asked me what the 3 words were. I can only guess that this was to make sure I was able to follow things???? 12. Have you ever binged and then purged? 13.Ever been treated for drug or alcohol abuse? When we were done he said he thought there were 4 main reasons insurance companies require the psych eval: 1. To ensure the person has a good understanding of the commitment level/risks (although the surgeons office also assess this I would think especially if you have a supervised diet period) 2. To ensure that there aren't any environmental issues that might keep you from being successful 3. To help ensure you are able to follow instructions/guidelines 4. To help ensure that you will be a good patient for the surgeon (although he didn't elaborate on that one). All in all easy peasy. Next Monday is a busy day for pre-insurance testing...I have my second NUT apt, an upper GI, an EKG and my cardiac clearance apt! Beth

I love to cook. In fact my husband and I do "chopped" challenges to each other all the time. I agree that this was something I had to think long and hard about. I'm just in the supervised diet phase, so I can't speak to after the surgery, but I've just shifted my focus a bit and find that I still like to find recipes and modify them and cook...I'm just looking for different stuff.