Shinyhappymommy

How about heighth? It's width, and height. Not heighth. My dh's pet peeve is "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less."

How did you get liquids stuck? :huh2: What do you mean by stuck? If it's only stuck, it should pass in a bit. Otherwise, you may end up throwing it up. If it's an emergency situation, maybe you need to go to the ER. Not sure on how much info you gave. Good luck.

I am 2 months post-op. I’ve had amazing support from all the people in my life. There is a situation developing, though that is really bothering me. I have a sister that I’m very close with. Of the two of us, I’ve always been the heavy one. I still am, by far. But even though she’s been supportive from the start of this journey for me, I can tell that it’s becoming increasingly frustrating for her to hear of my successes. She has about 60 lbs to lose. She’s working so hard, exercising every day and trying to make good food choices. She’s having such slow success, and probably doesn’t want to hear that I’ve lost another 3 or 6 pounds. I try not to be obnoxious about it, but it has been amazing and thrilling for me to be losing this weight. I’ve asked her if she’s bothered and told her to let me know if she needs a break from my talking about my surgery. She assured me she was fine, but admitted it’s frustrating sometimes. Well, I made the point not to mention it for several days (We talk multiple times daily on the phone.) and when I talked about trying to decide about my next fill, she seemed very distant. She always follows it up by talking about her weight loss efforts, as if she’s feeling the need to compete with me. This is making me very sad. My sister is my best friend and I don’t want anything to come between us. At the same time, this weight loss journey is one of the best things that has ever happened to me, so it really bothers me that she’s having trouble with it. I want her to be happy for me and put any little jealousies aside. I don’t think she’d know what to do with herself if I became smaller than her. She’s never been bigger than me. (I’m older than her, so I really do mean never.) She hasn’t seen me (except in photos) since my surgery as we live several hundred miles apart. I really want to get these uneasy feelings resolved. Anyone else have similar experiences or advice?

I work at home doing daycare. I'll have to try adding some granola to my yogurt. I buy organic plain yogurt. It's the closest thing to the greek yogurt you can get in more populated areas. (I'm in a rural area.) I like the yogurt with a bit of orange juice concentrate stirred in.

I think we should have them make a sub-forum for LDS under religious bandsters. Who do we ask to make that happen?

Good job! You look great.

As far as missing church, I missed two weeks. I had only planned on missing one, but I was plagued by a nasty bout of nausea the second weekend and was too weak to go. I had only told a handful of people at church up to that point and hadn't really decided who else to tell. My seven year old daughter took care of that for me. "My mommy stayed home because she's not feeling very good after her weight surgery." Every single person I have talked to about the situation has been nothing but excited and supportive. I have been blessed. I've read many others' experiences haven't been the same.

I love that this thread is getting some new posts. I love the kinship that sharing LDS membership can give us. I'm also one who told pretty much everyone. I have also had good success, with 43 pounds gone after the first two months. I hope I continue to have good success, because if people were scrutinizing me, I don't know how I'd handle it. At the end of the summer, we'll be relocating with my husband's job and I've often wondered if I will not divulge my surgery and weight background to our new acquaintances and friends there. Although, if we have any pictures up from the last 10 years, it will be obvious that something went down. (My weight! Hee hee.) I completely understand LUU why you aren't going to tell people. When you have people in your life that could sabotage your ability to get the surgery, you have to be cautious. Good luck with everything. And welcome to all you new posters. It's so fun to have this little sub-community.

I've had a lot of thoughts about this. I feel badly for the kids, but if this can lead to them not having to endure abuse, etc. in the future, then the stress right now will be worth it. I'm glad that many mothers have chosen to stay with them. I think they'll be alright. I think the things that have gone on with this sect are abominable. I cringe every time I see the name FLDS typed all the way out because it's way too similar to the name of our church and I want in no way to be affiliated with them. I think Warren Jeffs is an evil man and has used and brainwashed these people. I think any of the leadership of the cult that has gone along with him should be prosecuted as well. I think any man of 50 who "marries" a child should be prosecuted. The whole thing makes me sick, but I'm glad it's getting taken care of. I'm glad that it's been a peaceful resolution so far. We don't need another Waco.

I'm so glad I started this thread. I hadn't realized how self-absorbed I must have become, especially in talking to other people. Snuffy said that two months isn't recent, well it's not only been for two months that I've been talking about it. I've been talking about it since November, when I decided to do it. It was probably worse before surgery because that was literally almost the only thing I could think or talk about from the moment I decided! I've calmed way down since then. I've decided that it's okay to talk about weight loss efforts with her since we're both trying. We talk about yummy food ideas (healthy, of course) and exercise efforts, etc. I just am not mentioning the results. I have a blog where I keep friends and family updated. Whenever I update, I send an email with a link so people don't have to keep checking on it and because I don't update it super often. I had posted some great progress pictures a couple of days ago and she had yet to mention them. She brought them up to me today, telling me that they looked great. We talked for a brief moment about it, but I let the topic die without dragging it out. I think if I let her take the lead on any weight loss discussion, it will make a huge difference. Also, I have several friends who have weight issues and most of them are dieting. I need to also make sure I don't make comments that would be construed as bragging to them. I do have lots of support, so it's not like I'm deprived of being able to talk about it if I want to. I'd do anything to make sure our relationship stays strong, so this isn't all that big of a deal. Thanks for helping me to realize that. I do think that in time we'll be able to get past the awkwardness of this stage of things.

I'm not nearly as experienced as you are, but my first reaction is that if you're PBing on soup that you're overfilled. Especially if it's been nearly a week since your fill. Maybe call your doc?

You might try this website. They have a short five day program to supposedly help you get back on track. I think it's free. All isn't lost, but you need to figure out why you're sabotaging yourself. Have you gotten therapy? There can be all sorts of reasons that we eat crazy things. Good luck. You can succeed!

Thanks for all the replies. I hadn't even considered that this is going to have to be unspoken with her. I will not bring the subject up with her. If she asks, I'll tell her, but I don't want to pour salt in a wound. Part of me wants to pout because this is so huge for me. I usually share everything with her and for me to not share this with her doesn't seem normal. The immature part of me wants her to get over it and be happy for me. But the truth is that our relationship is way more important to me than that and I honestly don't want to cause her pain. Even though we don't live near each other right now, we sort of feed off each other with our eating habits. When one of us is doing poorly, we both seem to do poorly. When one of us is trying hard to eat well, it rubs off on the other one. So my having surgery and changing my eating habits has had a good influence on her as well. We can certainly still talk about our efforts, I just don't need to include my results. I am sad about this. I don't like that there's something unspoken between us. I'm usually such an open person. I hadn't expected there to be any issues with her and my weight loss. I'm just surprised and sad. Thanks for sharing your experiences and advice. It has helped.

Thanks! So let's see some other people's shots. I know you've got them!

It looks like my program makes them no larger than 320 X 320 pixels and around 25K. I selected the "small web view" option to save them as.

I actually attached four separate pictures to my original post. I haven't figured out how to do the jpeg thing either. I made them small enough that they fit into the post and it worked out that they are lined up that way.

You know, I feel blessed every day that the weight is coming off and that it's staying off. Basically I've just done what I was supposed to do. I stuck to the pre and post-op diets as best I could. I strayed a little, but kept to it for the most part. I had this surgery to succeed, not to see how much I could get away with, so that's motivated my choices. My hunger has greatly diminished since surgery. I do get hungry, but it's not that intense monster that was always with me before. My appetite for sweets has lessened. I still would really enjoy eating them, but I'm not obsessed and I'm not choosing them all that often. If I put them away in the cupboard or freezer, I can forget they are there. I have not been successful yet at adding regular exercise. I run a busy daycare from 7 am till past 5 pm and so I'm up and doing pretty much all day. For now this has to be enough. I would like to add exercise videos and walking sometime before too long. As far as my daily diet goes, I'm not counting calories, or anything for that matter. I mentally check from time to time to see how my Protein is doing, but really I don't feel like I'm dieting. I'm able to eat a full plate of food right now, so I will be getting a fill in a couple of weeks. But truthfully, I'm still losing even eating three regular sized meals a day. I have greatly reduced the number of carbs I'm eating. I don't have bread very often at all. I am not eating potatoes or rice. I have never been carb conscious, so this has been a good change for me. A regular meal for me might consist of a chicken breast, or a pork chop, or a filet of fish, accompanied by steamed veggies and a salad. I'm not drinking with my meals. I haven't had any trouble with things not going through the band except for one unfortunate pot-roast incident. I had my first PB afterwards. I'd be more than happy to answer any specific questions. I know that my journey has been relatively easy. I've been able to stick to my requirements without feeling like I'm going to go crazy. I feel like the band and I were just meant to be because it has worked so well for me this far. Thanks for all the kind remarks and support. Melissa

If you have before pictures of you, put them side by side with current ones. I'm amazed at the difference. I see myself every day, so I'm not seeing the changes as much. But to look at it laid out before you, there's no denying it. I told my husband that one of the reasons I don't think I look all that different when I look in the mirror is that I guess I'm starting to finally look like what I've looked like in my mind for years.

My best NSV lately is that my 7 year old daughter can now hug me around my middle and her hands can clasp behind me. She likes showing people our new trick. I have two daughters and they are both thrilled for me.

Hi Erik. Congratulations on being banded. You asked if anyone else had problems with nausea as well. I had a bout with nausea about 4 days from being banded. I think I threw up four times. I had tried some no-sugar-added applesauce the night before. Not sure if that played any part. I think what happened is that I had not been drinking enough water (which is hard because when you're nauseous, you don't want to drink anything.) What ended up helping me was to sip peppermint and chamomile teas. I alternated a cup of one, then the other. I was in touch with my surgeon and he assured me I was going to be fine and that my band was in there really well. I live in a small town and wasn't able to get the anti-nausea meds until the ordeal was over. (It was a weekend and no pharmacies are open.) Good luck with everything and drink your water, or tea.

From reading her post, she didn't pb until after she ate the protein bar. She only had the painful stuck feeling. That is, if I'm reading it correctly.

This afternoon I was eating a meal of roast beef, cooked carrots, a slice of potato and broccoli. A few times while I was eating it felt like it was on the verge of getting stuck. I tried to chew well and kept going. At the end of the meal I felt the stuck feeling coming again and it just got worse and worse. Against all the advice I have read here, I tried sipping some Water to help it down. It made the pain 10x worse. Then the sliming started. But that word is much grosser than the actual event. It was just saliva, my mouth began to water. I headed to the kitchen to get some pineapple juice. Before that could happen, I threw up. I always thought a PB was something different, but this was just like regular vomiting. Most, if not all of the meal came back up. I had immediate relief from the pain. I feel bad that my choice to continue eating led to this. I have had one fill and haven't had problems eating anything, including many foods that are reported to make trouble. I have occasionally felt a tightness as the food is going down, but it has always gone down before. I'm not sure if this happened because I ate too much, or ate too fast. At any rate, I remember reading here that most people go onto a liquid diet for a little while after pbing. Is that direction from your surgeon? My surgeon hasn't mentioned this to me at all, so I'm just trying to figure it out. Do you go on Clear liquids, or is full liquid or pureed food okay? Any input is appreciated.

Well, I did liquids for about 20 hours and then a meal of mushies and ate regular food the evening of the following day. Thanks for all the advice.

Welcome! I've been banded just under 2 months and I'm getting close to having lost 40 pounds. This journey has been amazing so far. I hope it works out for you.

I think next week is Dolly Parton week.