Stevehud

listen to these ladies they are two of the best.

wow i just got my 6 week clearance and was only now allowed to eat lettuce and only in very small quantities. I don't know of anyone who eats salads post op for a while as its not Protein. remember Proteins first then other calories if you have to. My personal journey is different but ask your nutritionist as lettuce is hard to digest well actually cellulose is indigestible but its heavy Fiber and that can make for some interesting sleeve problems. I am told. I just got cleared to have about 5 or 6 small pieces of lettuce or about 1 full lettuce leaf to try for a few weeks, but again i dont know where I would possibly fit a salad into my food plan, and I love salad. you eat such small portions 1 bottle of salad dressing would last me about a year at this point. You may want to rethink about how much you will get to eat after surgery. You do know for the first 3 to 4 months depending on surgeon you could have as little as 1/4 cup of food for a meal after your liquid phase, right?

at 6.5 weeks you dont have staples really anymore. your suture line is well healed by now 9provided you didn't have any post-op problems or need other surgeries etc. I should say, should've been well healed by now.

you both will do wonderfully. Welcome aboard and read as much as you can from previous posts and ask about anything and everything. Listen to your docs and do not be afraid to ask every single question you can think of. You can do this, and im only 5 weeks out, down many pounds and many inches. It is worth it. Welcome!

Did your doctor give you a scrip for zofran or other anti nausea drug? if so give it time to work in the morning before drinking a shake.

i guess im lucky my friends love to talk about how good i look and offer encouragement. I will say you mentioned they put you on display to show off your weight loss. Why are you uncomfortable with that? it seems like thats a huge compliment. I mean, are they doing it snidely or making jokes about you? I personally look forward to looking better to show it off a bit, how can you resist not doing that? Then there is the most obvious , instead of dumping your friends ( like friends grow on trees cmon people) maybe say hey guys lets not talk about the weight loss please. How do people know what you want unless you speak up and tell them? Maybe they think they are just being friendly and supportive by saying how good you look. And if someone says you won't get thinner than they are..so what? let them think it, then if you do, they wont be able to say anything. I will say why would your family or friends not be seen with you prior to surgery, because you were fat? if thats the case then you describe them wrong when you say friend or family. change that to someone you know and relative. no friend would not be seen with you. Now is it possible that was in your mind? or did they all come out and say hey we wont be seen with you because your not thin?

sounds funny but one of the re op nurses told me to ask for IV Tylenol. i know its weird but its also expensive as heck, Thank the insurance for that one though...i hope. but it really made a huge difference along with the Toradol. i refused to use the morphine pump, because of my sleep apnea. but doing the IV Tylenol and Toradol kept me just fine. and my bed also turned into a chair. which was awesome.

Heck i wore sweatpants there and then a Johnnie, crocs for ease of use, but they wouldn't allow clothes under the Johnnie, one because of the leg inflation things, and two i had thigh high te stockings on as well. so every time that sweet, young brand new out of school nurse came to check my bandages she got an eye full. lol Thankfully pain meds and age made me really not care. It was chilly under there....lol

So hello everyone i just wanted to share a bit. A lot of people have asked when do you see results not just by weight but physically. Well this morning i measured myself for the first time since the day of surgery. 38 days ago. AREA 12/16/2014 1/23/2015 Neck 23 20 Chest 58 52 upper arms ® 20 (l) 20 ®17 (l) 17 forearms ®15 (l) 15 ® 12 (l) 12 belly 60 55 waist 56 51 Thigh ® 26 l() 26 ® 24 (l) 24 Thats 30 Inches off total. I am amazed and re-energized. There's an old saying that "hunger makes the best sauce." Well I am going to adapt that and say "Weight loss is the best motivator." Who else has been blown away by the changes to your body?

Maybe its me but where is this comparison chart? I don't see it?

Im only 5 weeks in, but Being able to open up, or maybe it is being forced to open up to my wife about how I feel about myself. About all the things that we keep to ourselves about being obese, has definitely brought us closer. I feel like I can share anything, no matter how embarrassing, or how personal, without fear. Since this is a journey for both of us, me in finding myself and for her in seeing the changes in me and learning to cope with everything I do to cope with my journey, has made is into a singular entity focused on me getting healthy and thinner. My wife's name is hope and she lives up to that in every way for me. P.S. It is easier to get close to someone when there is not a lot of fat in the way.

just as an FYI valium for IBS is not a bad thing, in over 2/3 of cases of IBS the major component is psychological, i.e. stress and depression leading to irritable bowel syndrome. So valium to keep someone de stressed before the advent of the huge number of psychotropic drugs we now have is kind of understandable. But such a horrible thing to endure. My mother had several sections of bowel removed due to it.

the only failure is in giving up, and you sure dont sound like the giving up kind. Channel all that energy into keping your head up and I know you will see a positive result! I'll tell you this 1 and a half years ago i weighed in at 408 pounds and at 5 foot 7 that is pretty big. i had shoulder surgery from literally sleeping on my shoulder with so much weight on it i crushed it. afterward I had Physical Therapy, I had to start many sessions with 15 minutes on an exercise bike. After those 15 minutes i thought i would die, literally they would come over to me and say " you need to sit down, heres some Water, and would take my blood pressure etc. Now just a short time later and down 70+ pounds including pre op diet, I had a selection of three canes to use due to bad back and knees , arthritis and general weight, I actually have a handicapped placard on my car, but now I am riding 30 minutes on the bike 5 times a wee, and while i feel it im not in severe pain or about to collapse. If you keep down this path I hope you will find that it will be possible for you to do so many things that you thought were out of your reach.

im in SE mass. weymouth to be exact, south shore . Originaly from Everett but dont hold it against me. lol

here is a link for the centrum product on target.com you can check and see if its in a store near you. http://www.target.com/p/centrum-orange-multivitamin-and-multimineral-supplement-chewable-tablets-100-count/-/A-10991442#demo-video-block

The centrum chewables I got at target it seems like the best place so far I have found, you can order them online at amazon, target.com and I believe walgreens.com as well.

Syntrax Nectars are my personal favorites. I use 1 and 1/2 scoops of product with 5 ounces of liquid that way you get 35 grams of Protein in a 5 to 6 pounce serving, no product can touch that. If you are interested you can view my video taste tests of many brands and flavors on my blog at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com By the way the GENEPRO people have sent me a letter Texas lady showing that their product is only 10 grams of protein per serving. as you cannot get 30 grams of protein product from a 15 gram serving size ( 1 tablespoon is 15 grams) Their study is a spreadsheet no actual study was done and the award they say they received was sponsored by musclegen which is the company that makes Genepro. Also your blood work doesn't show protein levels, serum protein, which is almost never looked at in blood does not show protein intake, only protein in the blood at that time, just so you know.

Tell them the truth, kids are remarkably understanding when you don't hide anything.

stay away from ready made shakes if you have a anti sweet thing going on. I Personally could not take any ready made shake. My personal favorites are the Syntrax nectars products especially the fuzzy navel and Cappuccino. Not that im promoting myself but you can watch my video taste tests of many products and flavors on my blog at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com My trick to get in all your Protein is 1. use a blender to mix your shake it just plain mixes better. 2. With the syntrax products I use a scoop and a half which gives you 35 grams of protein and I only use about 5 ounces of Fluid ( either Water or 1% milk , water for fruit flavors, milk for the chocolate, vanilla etc.) Then if I could only get in 2 shakes I would get 70 grams of protein which is great. 3. Follow your teams plan, they know what they are doing, but do not be afraid to ask about alternatives and flavors you might like. 4. A lot of companies will send you free samples if you write and say you are doing taste tests. 5. Keep your head up, you can definitely do this!

I forget who said this but something I have to agree with you with: The hardest realization of love is the realization to love one's self. ( I hope I got that right) , I agree and sometimes of course for those of us that have been overweight, fat, obese, however we say it, for our lives, it is a shock to find the person within us that isn't just that obese guy or gal, and finally is something more than a body type. When we look in the mirror we don't know who it is looking back. That is scary.

Congrats on not having pneumonia and on finding the real you inside.

usually amino's are for bodybuilders.

Best comeback I can think of is, Well I will lose weight but you will still have zero class. Without being outwardly rude and nasty that is. Which is what I would really like you to say.

read read read, and ask a lot of questions. I would suggest clicking on the forums and just read everything you can. you will learn quite a bit. dont let it overwhelm you! you can do this and you will do great!

as said above every surgeon was different, My surgeon emphatically let me know if I didn't lose 5% of my body weight to shrink my liver He would not allow the surgery. I lost more than 5% and my surgery went great, They had said to me, the more you lose the better off your surgery will be. It was also a big help to get Protein shake flavors and brands i liked and get the routine down for after the surgery. The only question I would have for you is why haven't you done the diet they prescribed for you? If you won't do the pre-op diet, will you follow the post-op? As so many god people here will tell you, the surgery is just the tool, you have to make the tool work. And it damn sure isnt easy. Good Luck and I hope you do wonderfully!