deedee

Welcome and I hope your new surgery date works out for you!

Congratulations on being in onederland!!!!

I've been feeling under the weather off and on for over a month now. I thought the most recent bout was simply allergies. I was able to get back into my doctor yesterday afternoon and he gave me a couple of prescriptions, but my husband and I had to cancel our trip (to get a full refund and/or credit) by yesterday. We went ahead and cancelled. I have these 5-15 minute coughing attacks and we were afraid to fly if those were not under control (I hate to be on an airplane when someone is obviously so sick). This morning I already feel a little better, so I'm kind of bummed that we cancelled, but I know that traveling, and even beach lounging, isn't so fun when sick. Oh well, I am now planning a major shopping excursion next week to make up for it. It still won't be the beach, but it's something I guess.

Thanks guys. I'm definitely ready to plan a new vacation for this summer.

I'm so sorry Tiff. I am now down to 139 lbs and really want to put back on at least 5 pounds. I'm doing pretty much what you're doing, but I even had a Chike protein shake before bed last night (they are pretty high calorie) and added tons of stuff to it calorie-wise...I snack on nuts at least once/twice a day and use full fat dressing on my salads. I just don't know:-( My husband told me last night that I probably could put on a few pounds (he has NEVER made a comment like this, he's always the one I run to for reassurance when someone else comments on "getting too skinny"). Well, what the heck do you think I'm trying to do. I know it's frustrating, but good luck to you!

Thank you for sharing this Tiff! My ideal weight was 126, which I have no plans to get to, but the average in my age/height range was 153, which I've already surpassed:-)

Tabitha, I'm so sorry you are going through this. I never lost my hunger completely, but I definitely lost my ravenous cravings, which has helped me keep things in check. How long did it take you to eat the entire sandwich? Around two months out I could eat the insides of like half a sandwich, but if I was eating super slowly, I could probably have gotten the whole thing down within an hour. Good luck with getting everything figured out. In the meanwhile, keep venting.

That is great news! I wish you the best of health on the rest of your weight loss journey.

I'm so happy he is on board for trying!!! My principal makes comments all the time about how we need to alternate our pregnancies (so we can keep the good subs busy all of the time)...if only they were that easy to plan.

Welcome to VST and good luck! Keep us posted and ask any questions you have along the way.

I'm thinking about you today. Post when you feel up to it.

Well, good luck on your journey!

I went to a scheduled doctor's appointment today to discuss my low blood pressure issues. Over the past week my blood pressure had seemed better (101/57), but I kept the appointment because he only works one Saturday a month. The nurse took my bp and it was 96/61. The doctor took it manually and got a very low reading as well and then switched to a different cuff. He told me that because of how small I am now a child's cuff would give me a more accurate reading. With it he said I'm definitely "low," but my pulse rate is slow as well, so he's not concerned like he would be if I had a normal pulse rate. He explained the whole thing in detail, but my eyes glazed over and I just half listened. BUT, the good news is that I'm okay for now. He was also really glad to hear that I was trying to maintain. He didn't say that I shouldn't lose anymore, but if I did, it needed to be at a much slower rate. My husband actually came to this appointment with me and at the end brought up my emotional state. The doctor confirmed that the weight loss is a contributing factor to my state. After more of a discussion though, we decided I would try a low dose of an anti-depressant for a month and then see him again. I won't go into the contributing factors here, but he also wants me to see a psychiatrist. I'm cautious, but a little hopeful that maybe this medicine will help get me in a good place again. I'll be seeing my surgeon on April 1, and will see what he has to say about these issues as well.

Thanks Tiff for your continued friendship, it means a lot. Yep, that's what he was talking about with the blood pressure and increased fluids and continued exercise is what he said would help. I wish you luck with the smoking. Geez, too bad weight loss can't solve all of our problems;-)

You looked beautiful! Congratulations!!!

Ladies, I'm there with you. The only reason I even looked into having wls was because I had to lose weight in order to get pregnant (a decision my husband and I made). I got married at 28 and started trying almost immediately (went off the pill). After a couple months bought a fertility monitor and finally after 1 year went to a fertility specialist. I had all of the tests run and I was not ovulating (knew that) and my cycles varied from 36-90 days (or something like that). I had an open myomectomy in Jan. 2009 (had so many fibroids) and was supposed to go back to the specialist to get assistance in May of 2009, but my husband basically said not at the weight I was at and I understood. I started looking into ways to lose weight and discovered wls was an option for me and took it. I now have friends on their second baby that started trying the same time as we were back in 2007. Three teacher friends have given birth this school year plus my next door neighbor last month. There are four other teachers that are pregnant and two I've been told in confidence (they aren't that far along). My younger cousin announced her unexpected pregnancy this past November and will be having a little boy this summer. Amanda, I hope your husband goes for it. I'm planning to start actively trying next month after I see my surgeon again, but I'm going to try to not get so wrapped up with it like I have in the past (yeah, right) and realize we might need assistance. I wish you both luck!

Do you like to shop? I found shopping for new workout clothes was a good motivator for me. I wanted to wear the cute (or soft) new clothes so I needed to workout so I could wear them. I would leave the tags on them until I was heading out the door so I couldn't just wear them to lounge around in. Also sometimes when I really didn't want to go (especially in the winter months) I would tell myself that if I went I could stop by a store and buy something on the way home...couldn't do too much of this though because it gets really pricey.

Like everyone mentioned, I started walking right away. By one month post-op I was doing 2.5-3 miles pretty easily, but I did not have a full time job at the time so was able to nap when needed. I started doing more heavy cardio (Jazzercise and water aerobics) at 1 month post-op and was fine. By 2 months post-op I was doing it 4-6 days per week. I still didn't have all of my energy back, but I just took rests when needed and went to bed early if need be. Good luck!

You've done incredibly well with the weight loss. Just to give you some perspective...you were sleeved 3 weeks after me and have lost 6 more pounds than I have since the day of my surgery (and I've done a pretty solid exercise routine since 1 month post-op) and both my primary care doctor and my surgeon feel I've lost very quickly so YOU MUST BE DOING AWESOME!!! Congratulations on your loss so far! I'd definitely look into some of the on the go protein options Tiff mentioned. Good luck!

You've gotten good advice. I'd just like to add that I had a "stall" begin 2.5 weeks post-op that lasted around 2 weeks (I think). I had read so much on here and OH, that I wasn't surprised or too disappointed until about day 8 or 9. To top it off I was also having serious trouble with constipation...don't know what bothered me more--the stall or constipation--but things both started moving again around the same time. Good luck!

I hope the nausea gets better for you soon. Glad to hear you are doing okay otherwise.

Congratulations! I'm glad things are going well for you both...can't wait to follow you along the rest of your wl journey.