HealthyJudy

I would check with doc about flaxseed. My guess is that you need to wait awhile since it will expand in your stomach and might be too much to digest. My NUT said not gummie Vitamins, chew-able child vitamins were fine as long as they weren't gummie. So again, check with your surgeon or NUT.

I'm not great at technology. I asked about it when I first joined and someone told me how to get it. I think it was on sign up page for your account.

Where do you live in Arizona? My 22 year old daughter spent the summer working in Prescott. She is now back home in Maryland for 6 weeks and plans to move to Flagstaff in mid October to eventually go to school there.

I think its ongoing since the Water would fill up our stomachs and not allow us to eat enough Protein. Tonight I really wanted to drink my flavored water after i ate. but after 1 small sip I knew I would have to wait longer or I would feel sick. By the way, unless it has tons of ice in it, I no longer like the taste of plain water. I carry Crystal light flavor packets to add to the water. I never ever did this before surgery. So strange how taste changes.

Vegas can be challenging -- just skip all the buffets. We did a few dinner shows (we were near Branson) where the food was included. Dolly Parton's Stampede gives each person Soup, bread, a slice of pork, potato, corn on the cob and an entire chicken! (and dessert.) It was ridiculous. I had one small sip of soup, 1 bite of the pork, and a small part of the chicken. That was more than enough. I took some chicken back to the hotel refrigerator for lunch the next day and the rest went in the garbage. At the moment I felt sad to not be able to eat all the food while everyone around me was eating so much. An hour later I felt proud of myself,my body felt comfortable rather than stuffed and what mattered was that I had a great evening with my family. Food was minor part of it. What I actually miss the most is being able to drink lots of Water at meals. Not drinking is hard (and I mean water, skipping alcohol is easy for me) My guess is that come December splitting a meal with your husband will still be too much food for you. Most likely he will eat the meal and all you will want will be a few bites. My husband is having the surgery too -- hopefully also in late September. After that i think splitting an appetizer will be all we can handle!

Just got back from vacation. Usually I gain 10 lbs on a vacation. A Breakfast buffet was included in our reservation and each day I ate a little bit of an omelet and a little bacon. I had a Protein shake for lunch. At dinner I usually ate part of my husbands meal or got an appetizer. I knew I ate more than when I was at home but less than on most vacations so I decided I would be really fine with a 5 pound gain. Well, weighted myself this morning and I had lost 3.8 lbs. I'm ecstatic!!! So wonderful to know I can take a vacation and still lose weight!!! I am now down a total of 60 lbs (including presurgery diet.)

Oy! I am worried about that for this vacation. The extra medications work but they lead to explosive episodes -- not something for vacation. And last time took 16 hours so I can't even find a time that would work prior to vacation. I take Probiotics every day. I now am taking miralax everyday. I take amitza, a prescription medicine every day. I pill isn't enough and 2 leads to awful explosions. Ny day 4 i am very uncomfortable and my stomach is bloated - and I'll be wearing a bathing suit at times on this vacation. Nothing seems to work! Ahhhh!!!

Ladycook - I'm jealous that you just need to take 1 colace and poop! I regularly take 3 colace a day as my surgeon recommends and despite that and additional meds my problem remains. This is the only postsurgery problem I have and all the solutions work 1x and then stop. Ah well. I'm assuming that as I continue to take miralx plus amitiza plus add more vegetables this will eventually change but right now it is stil taking extra measures on day 4 to finally go -- and that 4th day is not fun. Not sure what I wil do on vacation. Ugh

Not a freak -- we all have so many different reactions to the same procedure. Hope your docs were able to give you meds to stop the diarrhea -- need to not get dehydrated. Now that I am at 7 weeks I am finally allowed to use Miralax. I'm hoping that will offer a long term solution. I;ve had several short term solutions but none of those are things I can take on a regular basis. They did offer immediate (well within 16 hours) relief and my weight started moving down a little again.

You have lost 50 - 57 lbs. That is awesome. Mu surgery was June 10 and I've lost 53. So our rates of loss are similar. I too get frustrated when scale goes up -- but then it goes down. For me I think it goes up when Im constipated. As long as we keep losing I think the fluctuations are fine. I do find that even when the scale stands still my body is changing and clothes that fit meat start of plateau get too big. This will happen. I know it is hard but we need to be patient. The presurgery weight loss is so fast since we are just starting that we get used to it and this continued weight loss seems so slow by comparison but it will eventually get us where we want to go. You are doing great!

That is great sugabear44. I'm also 6 weeks post op -- down 20 postop. I now weigh 221 but I'm still in a 1x. Our bodies must be shaped differently since I don't think I'll fit into a 16w until I'm 170.

Hadn't realized you were in your first post surgery week. Yes, that first week is so wonderful! I hope you make it to 17 in 10 but even at 13 you have done great! I've heard people say that with the surgery the biggest weight loss is the first 6 months. I lost the most during my first week presurgery and then during next 2 months presurgery. Since surgery it has slowed down but I'm glad to say that I am losing again after a 6 day stall. Total loss so far is 52 lbs!

Eight pounds in a week is incredible. Losses like 17 in a week don't last. Eventually we all slow down. I had been losing 3.5 a week but this week I only lost 1 -- which is too slow for me. Don't be surprised if your losses go down to 3 or 4 a week. That is considered by most people to be a lot. Best to you

Did you have a sleeve? With the sleeve they take out the part of the stomach that stretches the mot and the part that triggers hunger. So, hopefully the sleeve does not stretch -- that is how it helps you keep off your weight. We all need to redefine "normal" diet. Our new "normal" is very different from what we ate prior to surgery both in quantity and quality. We eat way less and we don't eat carbs. If you go back to how you ate prior to surgery you will get sick and also gain back weight. THe new norm is way smaller portions -- for example in a restaurant you might get an appetizer portion and east part of it rather than an appetizer main course and dessert. Think of all the money we will save! And you wil probably want to eat more fish and chicken and just some red meat. And cut out Desserts, Pasta etc. Remind yourself that food is just to stay nourished -- it is no longer our entertainment. You can do this!

Thanks LoreL I don't think I'm gaining muscle (haven't exercised yet) but what you wrote is such a wonderful reminder for all of us. I get very frustrated when the scale doesn't go down -- or goes up -- but then I try something on and find out that what fit me last week is now too big. Yes, a lot is going on in our bodies.I'm still looking forward to the day I have a smaller body with less room in it for all this XXXX to be going on!

That sounds so peaceful and lovely!

They pump lots of Fluid in you before and during the surgery to keep you hydrated so it is not unusual to see a 10 lb gain directly after surgery. It takes several days to lose it. have yuo seen a big weight drop in last day or so?

I loved the unjury chicken Soup presurgery but found it too salty afterwards. There is one other problem -- Once day my morning shake tasted so awful that I had to spill it all out. I thought maybe my vanilla unjury had spoiled. Well when I got home that night I checked it out. Both the Unjury chicken soup and the Unjury vanilla have similar color containers and in my bleary eyed morning rush I had added chicken soup to my lactaid and decaf -- I do not not not recommend that combo LOL. Just glad my vanilla was still good. When you have a day where you have room for a slightly higher calorie count the Muscle Milk banana cream is a nice change of taste. I really like adding Swiss Miss Light to either vanilla or chocolate unjury for my evening shake. And there are so many recipes and SF syrups and even Peanut Butter powder that regardless of the Protein you use yuo get great flavors. I've heard several people recommend Premier brand but I haven't tried it yet. I mostly use Unjury since it is easy to order online and have it delivered. I use muscle milk when I want something that is premade -- like for lunch at work.

Yes they are. I can't eat prunes -- no fruit. Do you add them to your daily carb allowance? I hate the taste of MOM too!!!

Talked to surgeons office. Their protocol at this point is no fruit, no Fiber., no miralax. She said to continue 3 stool softeners a day, my med (amitraxi or something like that), 64 oz Fluid oz.and that I could take MOM 2x week for 2 weeks and then have to cut back to 1x week. At some point in future they will add fiber but not now. I told her I ate 1/2 celery stalk and she said that is not good -- too stringy to digest. Ah well. Each surgeons protocol is so different but I really trust my surgeon so I will stick to his plan. I forgot to ask her about smooth move tea -- so I am going to drink it!

Hi Ann What a wonderful post to read! Being at 144 must feel so incredible! I started out higher than you and know I will be thrilled if (when) I get below 150. Congratulations. I do take a probiotic daily. I think they help with so many things. I know I don't drink enough Water - that has been a life long struggle for me and is harder now that I can't just gulp down a glass. Not sure when or even if an apple is in my future, I put in a call to NUT to see if I can add prunes. I am so excited for you and for the future me! Isn't this wonderful!!!! Thank you and keep up the great progress -- now you get to maintain which I think is the hardest challenge of all but hopefully much easier now that we have had surgery. Okay - going down to the refrigerator to get a drink right now!

As soon as I find her email address I am going to ask my nutritionist if I can try ground flax seed, miralax and prunes. All the other things don't work. MOM usually works but I don't want to take it often -- maybe 2x a week would be okay. Fluid intake is geting harder now that I'm adding food and can't drink for 15 before, 30 during and 30 afterwards. Two times a day means eliminating 2.5 hours of drinking. But this will all get worked out. I must say that it is discouraging to hear that many of yuo are stil dealing iwth constipation a year or more post surgery. I was hoping it was a temporary thing. Anyway, with the help of MOM, medicine, and 3 stool softeners yesterday I finally went -- so now I'm okay for the next 2 days LOL!!!

But are you allowed to eat them. Maybe I'll ask my nutritionist. Eating prunes would be a real treat!

Toler -- my surgeons office said that they have never had anyone refused on Medicare. It seems to be the best insurance as for as this surgery goes. Less hoops to go through than some other insurance. Guess there is an advantage for being older to counter the disadvantage of our skin not being as elastic as in the past. Hope you are doing better.

There are several people in my local support group who did the sleeve after the band. They are all so happy they did it and seem to be doing very well. I hope everything works out for you. And i'm still having constipation problems and the medicine does not work at all or it works too well and I feel like I will explode. Not pretty or comfortable. i'm using 3 stool softeners, a med called amitiza, and today I finally took MOM again (that worked) and Smooth Move tea. And I started acupuncture last week. I wouldn't care but on day 3 or 4 I start to get intestinal pain and my weight seems to have stalled. I got to the -50 point a few days ago (yeah!) but now back up half a pound. I've been in this same area for about a week and I want want want to get going (both in terms of you know what and in terms of weight!)