manibeaux

Anyone care to explain what all these religious types are doing on an atheist/agnostic board? It's pretty obnoxious.

I avoid fast food like the plague, but my husband and I do a lot of traveling and sometimes there just isn't a choice. If I have to eat it, I like the Jack in the Box chicken fajita pita (I'll have maybe one bite of the pita at the end but just eat the insides). KFC has a BBQ pulled chicken sandwich which I'll have without the bun. Taco Bell al fresco chicken taco, no tortilla. Definitely Panera salads with grilled chicken. Panera actually has a number of pretty good choices. They have a new lentil quinoa bowl that is very filling and more than two servings. Also for breakfast, their power oatmeal with quinoa and pecans. Lots of protein there. If I have to have gas station food (yikes!), some of them have the cheese & veggie or cheese & fruit trays that sometimes come with nuts. Those aren't bad at all. Or I'll grab a hard-boiled egg, or yogurt and some nuts, or some turkey jerky. I always keep a Premier Protein Crunch Bar in my purse in case of a dire emergency. 15 grams of protein and it will tide me over for hours until we get to where we're going. And if we're going out to a restaurant, I always, always go online and figure out what I'm going to eat before we get there. So glad we live in the Internet age where that's possible! I try to make most of my food at home so I know exactly what's going into it, but sometimes it's just not possible. It's nice to have strategies in place in case of emergency.

***TMI ALERT*** Oh, I've done all sorts of stupid diets but the worst, hands down? The Alli pills. The idea is that the pills soak up all the fat you eat and you, um, excrete it rather than your body absorbing it. If you ate too much fat you would have an accident. So that was supposed to encourage you to stick to a low-fat diet. Well, of course we all know low-fat diets don't satisfy you so eventually I would slip up and eat something with too much fat in it. At the time I worked at a high-end corporate law firm and being unable to control my bowels was NOT an option! And! I was pooping ORANGE! After one too many pairs of ruined panties I threw the damned pills away.

I know a lot of these are repeats, but mine are: Realizing my driver's license weight is actually higher than my real weight now. Running upstairs and not gasping for breath. Having to buy all new bras and panties because I'm swimming in them. Feeling ribs, collarbones and hipbones. Running into my husband's ex-wife, who used to taunt me about my weight, and seeing her eyes get really big. I'm thinner than she is now. That has to be the best one!! LOL

This is a good topic. I am 5'0" and I have lost about 45 pounds since my WLS six months ago. I would like to lose approximately 20 pounds more, which would put me at somewhere between 120-125 pounds. I don't think going any further than that would look good on me. But OTOH I'm like you, lipstick lady, I'm kind of like, how am I going to know until I get there? Right now I'm just shooting for the upper end of a "normal" BMI. Hell, I was so ecstatic to be out of the "obese" range and into the "merely overweight" range! I've kind of stalled for a few weeks but I have to admit I haven't been great with working out. (It didn't help that I've had a horrible upper respiratory infection this month, so even just walking the dogs is a PITA, lung-wise.) I know if I get back on the exercise wagon and get consistent with logging my food intake the weight will start dropping off again. I have to say though, I'm just so happy to be in regular sizes again (even single digits in pants! hallelujah!) that I haven't been freaking out about this stall. Even if I never lost another pound, I look and feel 100x better than I did a year ago. And I know I will never be that miserable again. So yes, while I still have an end goal in mind, I'm quite content with where I am at this moment.

Getting my drain removed! Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

I have the same issue. I'm five foot nothing and my top weight was 189. But I also have apnea and I have been struggling with losing and regaining the same weight (plus extra) forever. The extra weight is a huge burden. I can't exercise like I used to, clothes shopping is a nightmare, I just look and feel like shit. I don't think I should have to pack on more weight and possibly develop another comorbidity to meet other people's criteria that I'm "fat enough" to get the surgery. I just got sleeved the day before yesterday and today as I was leaving the hospital, another lady who I think was accompanying her husband for his surgery asked me who I was with. I said I was here by myself and I just had the sleeve done. She responded with something like, "But you're so small!" So apparently I get judged for being too fat AND I get judged for being not fat enough. Shrug.

I'm having surgery with Dr. Lopez in Tijuana on October 21st. Like you, I am going by myself with no support person. The only part I worry about is the flight back.

I'm nine days to surgery and here's some things I will NOT miss: Not being able to wear cute BOOTS! Funny how so many of us said that. My double chin. HATE IT. Not being able to run a full minute without getting winded. Thinking about food all the time and feeling hungry all the time. Shopping in the plus size section. Never finding cute clothes in my size. Crying in the dressing room because I can't fit into any of the ten things I took in there with me. Let's not even talk about swimsuits. My fat arms, thighs, belly, boobs, back. Dreading stepping on the scale. Enduring rude comments about my weight from strangers and my husband's crazy ex-wife. What I'm looking forward to: Wearing sleeveless tops and skinny jeans. Running a half marathon next year. Riding my bike across the state with my husband. Feeling more into being sexy with my husband. Being able to sleep soundly without feeling a blanket of fat pressing down on my chest and neck. Giving myself pedicures. Telling the aforementioned crazy ex-wife, "You were right, I was a fatass but you know what? I lost the weight but you're stuck in that head the rest of your life!"

Me too...as in Mom is in FL, and husband and I have been snapping at each other more. He is trying to "reassure" me and I told him I don't need someone to tell me I'm being irrational about the dangers of surgery. I need someone to just say, "I'm sorry you're upset and I know this is hard." The way he's been talking makes me feel like I'm being stupid for having concerns.

There are only three people (my husband and two close friends who can be counted on to keep their mouths shut) about my WLS. No, I am not ashamed of my decision. I came a long way to get here and I will defend my decision to anyone. I just don't feel like wasting my energy on it, energy that can be used productively to prepare for pre- and post-surgery. Much as I love her, my mom would just stress me out. No need.

I'm not telling my parents either until after it's done. My mom would probably freak out and insist on flying to Mexico to be with me to "help." Trust me, this is not a good idea...she flew up to "take care" of me and the kids the last time I had major surgery and I ended up leaving and checking myself into a Holiday Inn.

I started my preop diet on Monday. Sunday night I had my Last Supper. My husband and I went to a very nice French restaurant and I did the tasting menu and wine flight. The food was amazing. The week before, I did eat some junk food that I don't usually eat and that will probably never pass my lips again (onion rings, patty melt). But I wanted to go out on a high note. I didn't want to think that my last "normal meal" was something stupid like a cheeseburger. At least I have a decent meal and experience to remember! It's like I told my husband, I had a good run for 44 years, now it's time to face the music. I'm now five days into the preop and it's not that bad. I'm dreading the all-liquid part and the postop but I can do it.

I'll be getting in on the 20th, staying at the Sheraton in San Diego. Surgery is Tuesday the 21st at Hospital MI Doctor and I fly back that Friday. I see that's in the same family of hospitals as yours (Mexico Bariatric Center). My husband wanted to come with me but we couldn't find anyone we trusted to watch the kids for five days (we left them with his dad when we went on our honeymoon last year and it was a disaster, returned home to a flooded kitchen). Also we didn't want to raise any red flags...his ex is a horrible person who likes to call me names in front of the kids and I am sure she would have a field day if she ever found out I had WLS. The kids think I'm going for a work-related seminar.

October 21 in Tijuana. Today is Day 3 of the preop diet. Psyching myself up. I'll be flying there and back alone so that's the part that makes me most nervous.