Orchids&Dragons

Just burst my melanin-challenged bubble, why don't ya! I might just have to go to the spray-tan place and buy one just to show you!

Vitamins cannot make up for protein. They satisfy different body needs.

Yes. Now that you put it that way, I am going to force myself to drink those 3 shakes a day. I do force myself. But drinking 8 oz takes me 2 hours because I drink small sips not to overload my stomach or cause pain. So I guess I’ll just be drinking the shakes all day long. Very soon your swelling should go down enough that you can drink much more "efficiently". So long as it doesn't cause pain, you can start drinking in larger sips. Some of us could drink almost normally after a week. You won't stretch your pouch with liquids.

You don't need to drink the shakes, but you do need to meet your protein goals. Until you can eat enough "regular" food, if you don't like the shakes, try protein water (I like Protein2O, myself). Or add unflavored protein powder to broth or soup, etc. If you don't hit your protein targets, your body will cannibalize your muscles to get the protein it needs. This really isn't negotiable. You can do yourself serious, long-term damage. (Your heart is one of the muscles than can be damaged) /Mom-mode OFF/ Good luck!

Wow, awesome transformation! I hope I get a tan when I lose enought weight, too! Seriously, thanks for sharing. Very inspirational!

I guess we're polar opposites. My fingers are still fat and I've got no a$$! Belly's still hangin' in there, though And, no, nobody but my hubby thinks to come up and pinch my butt (and he's under obligation!)

Love the Bruce Willis pic! I never noticed that his head is pointy before Congrats on your long-term success! Thanks for sharing. It's so inspirational to us newbies! Signed, A fellow Celtic Texan

I'd give you ten s if I could!

Prepare so that you won't get tongue-tied. Have a list of all the issues you currently have that are tied to your weight and have some information on the odds of successful outcomes with surgery. Good luck!

That's so sweet! Congrats! And congrats on being fit and healthy for your 25th!

Wow, great pics! They grew, you shrank!

Woohoo!

Best wishes for an uneventful surgery and a speedy recovery!

@sillykitty So, that's what 25 pounds to goal looks like - Yowza!

You don't need to go to the gym to work up a sweat! Look for chair exercises on youtube. You can do a lot of core, upper-body and even some leg exercises without putting any weight on your knee. Good luck!

Bet it looks great, though!

Congrats! I hope you feel as good as you look!

I drink anything from Lipton to chai. When I have cravings, I find a chai tea latte (made with Premier Protein vanilla shake) really satisfies the cravings. In the winter, I stock up on eggnog and salted caramel teas, too. YUM. I was able to drink tea immediately upon returning from the hospital.

You can also look at Youtube for "chair exercises". You would be amazed how much sweat you can produce sitting in a chair! Sorry to hear you've been laid off, do you still get up at the same time? I get up at 5:45 and walk a mile around my neighborhood before the sun comes up. Then I get ready for work. I live in Texas, so I get the heat issue.

Well, it's certainly not ideal, but you pay your money, you take your chances! I chose the sleeve because I didn't want to deal with the malabsorption issues. In general, I have always eaten pretty healthy, just too much. So, it seemed like the sleeve was my ideal choice. I didn't realize until after my surgery that I may have had acid issues all along. (Not reflux, but too much acid). I realized that (pre-surgery) I wasn't eating when I was hungry, I was eating to handle the acid in my stomach. Since we don't know what anyone else's hunger feels like, we just assume we're feeling what everyone else feels. But since we're told after surgery that acid mimics hunger, when I'd feel hungry I'd take a TUMS to see if it fixed it, and it did. I wish I had tried that experiment before the surgery! I don't regret going with the sleeve first. It's less invasive and has a good track record. It just has been a problem for me. Remember, on boards like this, most of the people who don't have acid reflux don't respond to threads about it, so you're getting a skewed sample that may make it look like it's a bigger problem than it is.

Absolutely, you can! Just pay attention to what stage you're at. You can always add a little extra protein if you need to!

I also took the poll. I don't really know if I had GERD before my sleeve. If so, it wasn't bad enough to need medication. I'm now on omeprazole 40mg 2x/day, too, plus TUMS as needed. Problem is, they used to think omeprazole was fine for long-term use. Now it is recommended for no more than 6 months. If mine hasn't improved by the 6-month mark (Sept), my surgeon will probably do a revision to bypass.

I think the forum you were looking for is called "The Lounge". My first car (in '75) was a gold '72 Chevy Vega. Ran great but had to keep a case of oil in the trunk. It didn't burn oil; the oil just kind of "fell out". Put in about a can a week. Didn't have to buy the good stuff, it wasn't going to be in there long anyway. After several wrecks, the car was various colors and I still loved it. One final wreck did it in. None of the wrecks were my fault, although I concede that I wasn't good at avoiding them. Move on to a '70 boring-brown Chevy Impala. My Dad decided he wanted a little more metal around his driving-challenged daughter. Gawd, it was awful! I'd never had trouble with the Vega stalling (it was a stick), but the damned Impala stalled everywhere! It's favorite spot was in the middle of large intersections. After about 10 minutes, the car would restart and you were back in business. When that one finally died, I had to drive my Dad's Chrysler Imperial for a while. It "floated" down the road like a tank on water! I went to high school in a little tiny town and if that big-@ss Chrysler was coming down the street, everyone else had to pull onto the shoulder! I drove this for about 6 months. This was the only car I drove with A/C until I was about 22. I live in Texas! Next up was a brand new Mazda GLC! I think I was around 18 at the time, so maybe 1979? It had a lot of hail damage so my dad got it for about $2,500. I don't remember exactly. It had a CHOKE! First and only car I've ever driven that had a choke! I drove that one all through college, it was a great little car. Yeah, it got wrecked, too. I got t-boned in an intersection when someone ran a red light. Looking back on it, thank heavens my Dad had been part-owner of a service station earlier in his life. It appears that keeping wheels under me was nearly a full-time occupation. He never complained. Once I was working full-time, I bought: 1981 Datsun 210 - meh, got me around. Hit a telephone pole in the rain. Yeah, that one was my fault. 1986 Toyota Celica - my baby rocketship. Loved it. Wrecked twice. Once when a van ran a stop sign and I couldn't avoid them (I already admitted that this is not my strong suit). The second time, my future husband was driving and we were at a FULL STOP when a pizza delivery guy rear-ended us going 55 mph.(Probably faster, he told the cops 55) 1990 Honda Accord. Meh - it worked. 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager-I was pregnant with our twins and we needed a vehicle that could hold 4 carseats since our two older kids were 3 and 18 months. I really liked the vehicle although it was a maintenance nightmare. 2000 Plymouth Grand Voyager - still liked the vehicle, still maintenance problems. 2006 Honda Odyssey - thought our maintenance issues were over! HAH! Turns out that was a lemon year for Hondas. I kept going back to the dealership because something wasn't "right" with the transmission and we were only getting about 12 mpg. Finally, after nearly 3 years, there was a recall on the rear wheel bearings on that model year. When they fixed that, the car drove fine and my mileage went up to 20 mpg! All together, I think it got brought back to the dealership for at least 4 separate recalls. 2016 Hyundai Tucson - I hated giving up the space in the Odyssey but my husband insisted I get a car with better mileage. Sadly, when I test drove the car there was no need to crank up the A/C to high. Turns out, the vehicle is desperately underpowed to handle jack-rabbit traffic with the A/C on full. There is an incredible delay in engine power. Really terrifying. So, fortunately, I changed to a job with a shorter commute and stay off the highways as much as I can, at least at rush hour. Well, that's my auto-biography!

I'd contribute fruit for the potluck and keep fruit cups, portion-controlled nuts and protein bars in my locker. Good luck. I used to work in an environment like that and it was tough.