mngreeneyes

@@Ryan TN I am in Week 4 also. Just started week 4 today. I have a 5k test to run after work tonight. Its a bit cooler here today so I slept in this morning and moved my run to afterwork. I hate Monday mornings. I found something that, for me, is a pretty good fuel source. I tried trail mix on Saturday at our long run. It had dark chocolate chips, raisins and craisins, cashews, pistachios, and almonds. It was in the handful packages from Trader Joes. It was a great mix of Protein and carbs and it didn't bother my stomach at all. Keep up the great work! pam

I absolutely love unjury. The chocolate Splendor tastes just like chocolate milk. You can buy it in individual servings and try it before you have to buy a whole canister. I bought it straight from Unjury.com. The shipping isn't too bad. If you get a started kit they will sent you a thermometer and a shaker bottle. pam

I was told to walk as much as I could as soon as I could. I wasn't allowed to run or swim until 4 weeks post op. I walked a 5k at 3.5 weeks, but I had been walking a lot before the surgery. pam

@@Sharon1964 Your dress and you in it are gorgeous! You just didn't show enough skin and if that was the requirement, I wouldn't have wanted to participate even on my best day! I hope the rest of your day gets better. pam

I am training for a marathon this summer and I have been using Gatorade G2. It is similar to regular Gatorade, but has much fewer calories. Its 30 per serving. When I have a long run, it keeps my electrolytes up and gives me a few carbs to work with, not quite enough for what I am doing, but it sure helps. I mix it half and half with Water. My favorite is the Raspberry Lemonade. Good luck.. pam

DId they make the same kinds of comments before your surgery? My family did and still do post-surgery. Its like they don't trust me to follow the instructions I was given. I have to say no one has tried to take my plate away though. That would have brought out a BIG can of Whoop@$$! HUGS to you. You got this. Show them how much you've got this and then also get yourself some comebacks. You'll be fine. pam

I have kick butt shoulders! They even have muscle definition is you dont' pay attention to the chicken wings underneath. I also have grown up hands. No more baby hands with dimples. I have gone down 2+ ring sizes since surgery and still losing there. I have a pearl ring from my grandmother that I have never even been able to get on my pinkie (its not a pinkie ring), but it is getting close to fitting on my ring finger. I think it is about a size 5. My ring finger is a small 7 right now, down from a 9. Grandma was a large woman, but she had the skinniest fingers! pam

I am down 84.5 lbs so far. I have lost width in my feet and 2 ring sizes in my hands and my hands are still shrinking. I have gotten rid of almost all my sandals because I suspect I stretched them from wearing them and now I can hardly keep them on my feet! So far my running shoes have stayed the same size but I tie them tighter. I can't tell for sure if I have lost length too as my feet swell when I run so the same size running shoes still fit fine at the end of my runs. pam

@@Sharon1964 HUGS! I have been there. More times than I want to admit. Those antidepressants really do their thing, but only when we take them. Glad your fella was so understanding. Sorry you ended up with such a rough week and rough weekend. Hopefully this week will be better. Silver lining? You know for sure that the meds are working. pam

Congrats! I am about 2 weeks behind you. I have lost 84 pounds as of yesterday! pam

I highly endorse @@Cervidae's advice. I am now down almost 85 pounds (Almost 7 months post op) and although the clothes are looser, the body is the same shape. I am still VERY front heavy. I have found that looking at the photos my sis in law has been taking for me whenever we see each other, really shows me how much I have changed. One of the few places I could SEE the difference was in my face and neck. It seemed like I lost all of the first 50 lbs. from my face. The other place I have noticed my weightloss particularly is in my hands. I don't have dimples where my knuckles are any more. I used to have baby hands where the fat was higher between my fingers than my knuckles, creating dimples when I had my hand flat. Now I have knuckles! Of course, I have lost 2 ring sizes so far from my fingers as well. I measure monthly as well. Even the month that I only lost 5 pounds, I lost nearly 5 inches. It all shows up somewhere! pam

I am so excited to be nearing Onederland. (201.5) I haven't been there in absolutely years! I am proud of myself for undertaking training for the Twin Cities Marathon. I ran 5.2 miles on Saturday! And the words, "It's only 3 miles" describing a workout actually came out of my mouth and I meant it! I have developed a unhappy butt muscle, but instead of letting it sideline me, I am working with my chiropractor and doing lots of stretching and it really didn't bother me on Saturday's run. I am approaching each new challenge with resolution and not defeat. That's new. On a side note, I spent the weekend with most of my family and they just couldn't stop telling me how great I look! I could get used to those kinds of comments. pam

@@nyseness Yes, you are not supposed to drink for 30 minutes before you eat either on my plan. Their concern is that if you drink before you will not have room in your pouch for food when its time to eat. Not all surgeons and centers have the same rules, but that following it is one that my center says will predict keeping the weight off. I haven't found it hard to do, but I started practicing it immediately. I too am constantly drinking Water. I get my water in fairly easily, but I also can drink larger amounts than many. I can actually take swallows of water instead of just sips and have been almost from the beginning. pam

I found fairly cheap workout clothes on Amazon and bought one size smaller than I thought I needed. You have to look carefully. I haven't paid more than $20 for any of the items I have purchased. I keep my foundation garments "sweat free" and only use them for when I wear a dress. Exercise sweat is hard to get the smell out completely so I try to keep those two things separate. This is one I am ordering today. I ordered a L although I mostly wear XL right now because I hope it will offer more compression. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VMD41MW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2Z4MGEPZEWLIG I'll let you know how it works. I should have it in time to wear for my training run on Saturday. pam

I have battled depression for more than 20 years. I was already on 2 anti-depressants before I had surgery. I had read about the mood swings, etc after surgery and was waiting for them. They never came. I believe my anti-depressants made the difference. They evened me out and kept me from sinking into a major depression episode. I have dysthmia so I will be on meds for the rest of my life, but anything I can do to prevent another major depression dip, is okay by me. My thoughts are with you, pam

@@chrystine I find that when I hold up an item of clothes I have NO IDEA if it will fit. I got a women's XL race shirt from Saturday's race. I help it up and kept thinking it must run small because that is never going to fit me. I wore it after work on Monday and it fit perfectly. My race shirt from the same race last year was an XXL Men's and it fit okay. On the same line, even holding things up to myself doesn't help. I am carrying all my weight in my belly still. I have almost no but and back fat left. I held a skirt up to me yesterday to see if it would fit yet. It didn't come close to reaching halfway around my front, but I tried it on just to see how close it was and not only could I button it, I also could zip it! I would never have thunk it! I am still a 16-18, but I haven't quite figured it all yet. pam

I found some on Amazon. I wear compression shorts under my looser shorts and a compression tank over a sports bra and under my top when I run. I think it helps to some extent although I posted a video of the finish of my race on Saturday and I have to say, they were not doing their job! At least not as well as I think they should. I think I need to size down again and they will work better. pam

Way to Go!!! You are my hero. I am 5.5 months behind you. Thanks for being so inspiring! pam

I didn't have a weight amount that I had to lose, but I couldn't have a net gain. In the 4 months before surgery I didn't gain, but I didn't really lose either. Surgery day I was down 7 pounds, but I'm sure most of that was the cleanse I dId the day before. FOr my surgeon it was about putting into practice the habits I would need to maintain my pouch after surgery, i.e. eating more Protein, not drinking for 30 minutes on either side of food, quitting pop, exercising and eating slowly. I put those in place even if I was not losing. Part of it was showing my dedication to the changes, even if the scale wasn't reacting correctly. You can do it. You have time to make the changes necessary. pam

I ate broth and Jello (sugar free) during liquids. I strained out any lumps from Soup. Have you tried any other kinds of Protein drinks? I use unjury powder. I really like it. There are lots of others that I could not tolerate. good luck, pam

July 2015 first consultation weight 284 November 2015 surgery weight 277 Today's weight 201.5 (6.5 months post surgery)

I am now 1.6 pounds from onederland. I look at the 60 pounds I still have to go to goal and it is daunting, but I have already lost almost 85 pounds. That's more than I have ever lost before and that's amazing! THanks for the reminder. I downloaded the picture and printed it for my bulletin board at work! pam

@@gowalking So sorry, Sweetie! I hear you about the frogs. Well at least you know that there are guys out there that can deal with the weight/eating issues even if they have other issues. Someday you will find one that hits all the criterion and he will love you back! pam

No matter what happens. I think you'll be glad you moved it. Good luck! I am in MN too. Where are you having your surgery? pam

I haven't noticed being COLD so much in my 6.5 months since surgery as not being hot. Today I walked across campus 1.25 miles. I was walking at a fairly fast pace for my short legs - about 16 min. miles. 6.5 months ago I would have been drenched in sweat by the time I arrived. Today I wasn't even breathing heavy! My officemate is from Malawi in Africa and is ALWAYS cold. We got her a heating pad to sit under or on so that we didn't have dueling appliances - she had a heater and I had a fan. We both used both year round. We are much closer to the same temperature now. In fact she laughs everytime I say I'm cold! pam