lauraellen80

I initiated contact with my now-husband. He's a teacher, and I'm really corny, so the subject line I wrote was "Will I make the grade?" And amazingly, he actually responded to that!

For me, the pre-op was way worse than post-op, as far as the liquid diet goes. With pre-op, I was still soooooo hungry all the time, where the week after surgery, I did feel FULL after just 1/3 cup of a protein shake. I was also way more cranky during my pre-op diet, as well as nervous for the upcoming surgery.

I went to the shore with friends for a few days about 2 weeks post op, and it was nice. I was able to walk every day and relax as focus on getting my fluids and stuff. I drove myself, about 3 hours, and it wasn't too bad. There were a couple of times where I was bummed that I couldn't eat what everyone else was eating (there was a Greek salad that looked soooooo good), but overall, I was happy with my 1/4 cup of soft Protein and my Protein shakes.

Thanks for the suggestions-- it gives me some ideas. @Menelly--I may try some of those, though I can't do nuts yet. I'm still full on 1/4 cup of food, so I'm sure the cheese and meat would be plenty. I don't think I'm supposed to do Protein bars yet, either. @missheidi47-- Thanks for mentioning the cafeteria. I kinda forgot about that! @BLERDgirl--I'll check out the yogurt things. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to have nut butters yet. I'm going to call my surgeon's office when I land tomorrow, so I'll ask (have to anyway, since I am probably not going to be back for my follow-up appointment on Tuesday.) @VSGAnn2014--Things are just so up in the air with my dad at this point, I don't know when or how much I'll be able to get away from the hospital. And it's about 45 minutes from my parents' house, so I won't be able to just run home and scramble some eggs. As for the Protein shakes, I'm not allowed to do Premier or other ready-to-drink ones. I have baggies with my Protein Powder, and I'm planning to just buy a little bottle of milk when I get thru security to mix one. It wouldn't be a long flight, but at such late notice, I couldn't get a direct flight and have to change planes in Atlanta.

Okay, so my dad is in the hospital for heart failure, and I'm flying to be with him and my mom in Indiana from Philly tomorrow at 6:25am. Obviously, I have not had time to plan out how I'm going to eat on this trip. And I will probably not be at my parents' house much, mostly will be at the hospital. I am just over a month out and am still doing a lot of soft foods, not much meat so far, mostly Beans, eggs, some veggie burgers, cheese. I've already packed a bunch of Protein powder to make shakes, but I'm not checking a bag, so I can't take much else from home. Does anyone have any ideas for easy, quick, portable stuff that I can eat on this trip?

I bought a bunch of the little 1/2 cup Ziplock plastic containers and fill them up the night before my work week starts. I've been bringing refried Beans w/ a sprinkle of cheese, a dash of taco sauce, and guacamole (1/3-1/2 of a Wholly Guacamole 100-calorie pack). I did mashed cannellini beans with a teaspoon of pesto sauce, and a sprinkle of mozzarella. I made some turkey sloppy joe meat to portion out with a little shredded cheddar, but it hasn't gone down well for me yet. I also bring my Blender Bottle to make a Protein shake mid-morning.

I'm one month post-op today. I'm trying to take "mugshot" pictures along the way, in the same outfit, in the same place, so that I can judge my progress more easily. These are definitely not glamour shots! The top row was taken the first day of my pre-op diet at 218.4 lbs. The bottom row was taken tonight, six weeks later at 190.4 lbs.

I've done online dating a few times, starting in 2006. The first time I used eHarmony, and ended up dating a guy I was matched with on there for almost a year. To be honest, I never really felt like he was "the one," and a lot of the time, I felt like he didn't get me at all... but, it was science! It was scientifically proven that we were good together! I was also one of those people terrified that I was going to be an old maid at 26. After that ended, I decided that I wanted more out of a relationship, and I'd rather pick my dates myself, thankyouverymuch. The next round I used Match, and while I ended up going out on several dates, and a few with the same guy, nothing really great came along. I would immediately weed out anyone with egregious spelling errors and typos in their profile, or any guy whose initial message to me just said, "Hey, I like your profile." Um, maybe something a little more specific, dude? But in general, I think I was too desperate and not confident enough with myself. But I actually met my husband on Match. I had just come off of a really bad relationship (not a Match guy! someone I met at a conference. part of the reason that he ended it--after I'd moved halfway across the country to be with him--was that I had gained about 15-20 pounds and he found me "repulsive"). So when I signed up for Match again, I didn't have a lot of expectations (though I did still use my patented weeding-out process). I was still new to the area, and I felt like it would be worth it just to get out and meet some people, check out some local restaurants, etc. I think that's partly why I had success. I certainly did not expect to meet my future spouse at that point! So, I say--keep weeding them out, fake the confidence until you feel it, and don't let the weirdos and flaky guys get you down!

I guess part of my concern is that I've read over and over and over on this site that you need make sure to lose as much as possible in the first few months, because you'll have a much harder time losing weight after that, so it makes me feel like I've wasted this month that I'll never get back. That, and the PA at my surgeon's office told me (ironically, when I brought up my concerns with not losing very much on the pre-op diet), that they expect to see a 20-pound loss in the first month after surgery. I don't know what they are going to say when they see I haven't met that. I guess the rest of my stomach is already in a medical waste dump by now, so it's not like they can stick it back in because I didn't meet their expectations... but I dunno, maybe I'm afraid that they'll just write me off as a non-compliant lost cause?

This question is a slippery slope. Some people are fast losers and some are slow losers. Some even gain weight in that first month. What often happens with post like this are the majority of the post are from people who experience big loses. If you aren't one of them you may be setting yourself up fro discouragement. Take the responses here with a large grain of salt and NEVER compare your weight loss journey to someone else's. There are too many contributing factors to guarantee just because one person lost 30 pounds in one month that you will as well. If you are a slow loser and lose 10 lbs in that first month you may feel bad. Worse yet, if you are the random person who gains 5 lbs (it happens) you may really feel bad. True. Just from seeing the other responses in this thread, I feel like $h1t.

I'm 1 month post-op today. Have lost 18 pounds since surgery.

I use Fairlife fat-free milk, or sometimes 1/2 Fairlife and 1/2 Water (plus I add a few ice cubes). Edited to add: The first week after surgery, I used unsweetened almond milk, but I got sick of the flavor really quickly. I switched to light soymilk for a couple weeks, and then transitioned back to dairy milk.

I'll be one month out on Tuesday, and I've lost 17.4 as of this morning. I'm a little worried that I'm going to get an earful from my surgeon when I go in for my next follow-up, because the PA told me that they typically expect to see a 20-pound loss the first month, and I don't see how I would drop 2.6 pounds in two days.

A scrambled egg with a sprinkle of shredded cheese was my first "real" food, too. And it was so effing good! Of course, almost two weeks later, I'm getting really sick of scrambled eggs for Breakfast every day.

Before I clicked on the thumbnail to see the full image, I thought your family members were all wearing crazy hats like they were going to a royal wedding or the Kentucky Derby!

It varies greatly... some psychologists have you fill out a long questionnaire, while others just meet with you and chat. Mine had me fill out a couple short surveys, but mostly we just talked.

Welcome! Back problems were a big factor in my decision to have surgery. And less than a month out, my back pain has been significantly reduced already! Good luck in your journey!

I was always in wide widths, even when I was not overweight, but in the last few years, I've had to order extra wide width shoes online because I couldn't find any decent shoes that fit anymore. I'm less than a month out from surgery, and my extra wide flats are starting to gape on the sides!

My surgeon hasn't given me a goal weight--they just gave the average excess weight loss stat of 60%-70%. I'm 5'2", and I've made my personal goal 145. I was 145 for a time during college, and I felt pretty good there, so that's why I picked it. By the BMI charts, it's still overweight, and I'd be thrilled to lose more and get to 130-135, but I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. Like others, I can't imagine weighing what I did as a teenager (115-125), especially since I was in ballet and danced about 20 hours a week, and still struggled to keep my weight down.

I skipped both my 5-year and 10-year college reunions because of my weight, and I really regret it. I've lost touch with a lot of people over the years because I don't want people to see how fat I've gotten.