NtvTxn

I'll celebrate 3 yrs on the 11th!!! Good luck to you!

Thanks Alex!!! As you can see, Laura knew exactly who you were, and there is no way she stirs up more trouble than me!!! I hope your weather is better today, ours is wonderful, but in a month, I may be whining a little! LoL You really have done good, how far out are you from surgery? I'll celebrate 3 years in 3 days. Yay! I haven't run into a road block, so far so good on this maintenance part, I've been doing it for 2.5 years, we'll see. I do a revaluation about every three months, just because I am a bit obsessive! Have a nice weekend Alex....you too Laura!

I liked to keep a bag of shrimp in the freezer, I still do. I always have 1% cottage cheese on hand. 1/2 cup is 13 grams of protein. Eggs are good, tuna fish, and I add 1.5 TB of Lite Mayo to a can. Also, from the beginning I start every day and end every day with 8 oz of skim milk, That is 16 grams of protein right there. Good luck, it takes us all a while to figure it out!!

Look what the cat drug up! Hello Alex. You know, I've posted over 1400 times and have been around since Dec 2009 and I had NO idea who you were, don't remember ever seeing or hearing your name, until a day or so ago. Imagine my surprise when I saw your name this morning. New York, huh? How's the weather up there? It's been great here in Dallas. Have a nice day and congratulations on your weight loss. Good for you!! Have a nice weekend.

I've never liked it, it tastes like low fat sour cream to me, and that's what I use it for. I have a couple of recipes that call for sour cream and I substitute Greek yogurt instead. My husband on the other hand, started eating it several years ago when I got some and didn't like it....he still eats it for 'dessert' every day after lunch. We buy the plain without fruit or anything and he adds a Stivia and then the adds some Grape Nuts or a little granola of some sort, the SF jelly. Anything like that. If we have a banana, he might add part of a banana. I don't like yogurt at all, I never have, but I did try this stuff. It's all about the texture I think.

I simply cannot understand going under the knife, having 85% of your stomach removed and a few months (or less) later, asking....."How long before I can have a soda?" That's simple, never. Or at least you never should. At the seminar I attended prior to surgery, I knew cokes were the ONLY thing he said NO to, no as in not in six weeks, six months or six years. I know there are some that cross that line, but why? I quit smoking fifteen years ago, a bad habit, an addiction, just like soft drinks are for some people. I have never wondered or considered going back. I did not stop smoking, just to start back up again a few months later. I was not a 'coke' person before, so the thought of NEVER drinking a coke again, that was not a deal breaker. I maybe had six cokes a year, and I had 'rules'.....crushed ice and out of a fountain. I can't believe anybody can think it's a good idea to consider this, I went into starting this new life knowing that I'd have to make lifestyle changes, changes that I can make because it is much, much easier to resist when I need to or want to, but my new life has a new look, besides wearing size 4's and 6's....the new me weighs every morning, religiously. When at home, I weigh and measure my food. I log my food on line. I make it a point, when I'm measuring a half cup of cottage cheese, I don't quite fill it to the top of the measuring cup. Almost but not quite, I under eat my sleeve, meaning I stop before it is filled, it is way more comfortable this way. I hate that 'Thanksgiving' full feeling. I am not deprived, I eat anything I want to eat, but there are things I CHOOSE not to eat, at least not often. Seriously, when it doubt, err on the side of caution, it's a slippery slope we are walking on. Failure is NOT foreign to any of us. It's easy to get in the gutter and not nearly as easy to climb back out. Ok, 'nuff said. I'll quit preaching!

I'm sending you a personal message.

I took a 45 minute nap every afternoon for a month, which was nice. I walked a little more every day and I used a heating pad when I was sitting during the day. I used liquid Tylenol during the day and used the pain meds only at night for 9 or 1o days. Drink liquid.....find something you like, water with lemon, crystal lite, whatever and drink. Take it easy, don't expect to lose massive amounts of weight - slow and steady is good. Take this time to develop good habits and make them your new life, your new normal. This is fun, enjoy it. I bought a disposable camera and my husband took a picture of me the day before surgery and then took a picture every month on my 'date' of surgery.....for the first year. After the one year anniversary, I took the camera and had the pictures developed. Wow, to lay them out, side by side and see the transformation. I am glad someone suggested it and glad I followed through. Like I said, have fun. Good luck!!

I forgot and responded, forgive me. I lost my memory when I lost my tummy I think!

Texans do. Just for the record, we think of ourselves of Texans first, Americans second. We love America, but we are Texans. Like I said, a different breed. It's like a bumper sticker says, if you're one of us you can't explain it and if you are not, you will not understand. A guy who works on a cruise ship said Texans are the only ones who, when asked 'Where are you from' say Texas, rather than America. Until I moved away, I had no idea how different we are.

Bless your heart. Every Texan is not like me, first of all, I can laugh at us, and how we are, deny it all you want. We are a different breed, all you have to do is look at our governor, like Rick Perry or not, he is a good Texas boy and we keep electing him, over and over again. Really, that says something right there. Then we have the Texas Nationalist Movement, a group who REALLY want us to secede from the others! Now, what were you saying, oh yeah, we aren't all like me. No, not all but....well, I'd rather have a stick in the eye than argue with a 'fellow Texan' about The Lone Star State.

Thanks Amy! Have a nice afternoon!

No, she wasn't kidding. Now I have a name. I know nothing about this person. Man, woman? Sleeved, non-sleeved?

I too hate ins company's, I knew right off the bat that ins would deny me. My BMI was under 36 and I had NO heath issues. I was self pay, but I didn't pay 30k, I had it done in Dallas and it was 12,500 at that time and included 2 nights, before appts and all follow ups for the first year. You also got three nutrition classes and we have monthly support groups we can attend. If you have those available near you in KS, find one or two and go. It doesn't even have to be with your doctor, everyone is welcome at every one I attend monthly.....I have four! It's fun and informative!!! Good luck!

I agree, there are mitigating factors for some. For me, I wanted and enjoyed eating....the good stuff, not a big junk food, Twinkie/Ding Dong kind of girl, although I do like sweets. I was fat because I have the self control of a five year old, or I use to. I'm better now, but I am a work in progress!!!

do you have a doctor? that is the first step, and then register and attend their seminar, I know the three doctors I considered here in Dallas, require you attend. It was great, informative and I left feeling really good about my decision. I was self pay, so I didn't have to jump through hoops to get approved, I really don't know what will be next for you. The pre-op diet, if your doctor does this, most do want you to lose a little weight prior to surgery. I was almost 50, and even though I was in good health, he required that I have a stress test. After that, just blood work the day before and the liquid diet the day before surgery!!! where are you located?

It is HORRIBLE being from the 'starving children in Africa' generation. I have had to retrain my mind, and some times I still have fleeting thoughts of those starving kids....I started changing my thinking and doing this when my youngest was in HS, back in the late 90's. I would tell her she did NOT have to finish, I KNEW this was a bad habit.....I told her that whether the excess food takes the scenic route, via her mouth, or goes straight into the disposal, it will end up in the same place. I had a hard time practicing what I was trying to teach my daughter, it was another fifteen years of ME letting the food take the scenic route before I did something about it permanently!!! Now I CAN and DO throw food away. Guilt free....MOST of the time!!!

You, my dear, look marvelous!!! Congratulations, keep up the good work!!! I tell pre-op people that they won't believe what their life will be like a year later!!! you're living proof!!!

I believe you did! Congrats!

this is what I found. PACE (Pre-operative Assessment, Consultation, and Education) is a program designed to make it easy and convenient for you to have all your pre-operative tests conducted at one time and place.

No, serious as a heart attack. I've been here since Dec 2009 and did not know there was a "founder" among us!! LOL I do have to say that just last week I contacted somebody that use to be here ALL the time and she said she moderates a secret FB page now, but left this forum because she doesn't like the owner, or had a falling out. Anyway, I have not/did not question her on it. So I'm guessing this is "Alex"???!! Learn something new every day!

Consider it done and seriously, have a great day.

Are you kidding. I am not bored at all, this is entertaining and funny as can be, surely you see that!!!! If I was bored, I'd clean out a closet!!

I'm actually a greeter at one of those Bible thumping Baptist churches. Believe it or not, I love greeting people and making them feel welcome. I love it and I'm good at it. A church, any church, any denomination is full of sinners, not a soul in there is perfect or without sin. If the preacher isn't stepping on MY toes, I know he's not doing his job, I know me! I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I recognize stupidity when I see it and I'm not bashful about throwing down the bull**** flag. If that is offends some and steps on THEIR toes....sorry about that. It sure does bring everyone out of the woodwork or maybe just lets them slip right into the gutter, those opinions will differ as well.

I predict you'll do GREAT!!! I attended a support group a few months ago and the speaker was the PhD that does the psyc eval for this group. He said something that sticks with me and I like to repeat it every chance I get because this is how I got to where I was.....100 additional calories a day, every day for a year, equals 10 lbs a year. OMG - it was like a light went on. You know how LITTLE 100 calories is, it is ONE tablespoon of peanut butter, one of those little 100 calorie packs of WHATEVER.....it takes very little, just tasting food when you're cooking. This is what happened to me, 3 lbs one year, 5 the next, 4 one year.....of course I'm making up numbers, but the number, 3, 4, 5 is so "little" that when we weigh 4 lbs more in June of this year, than we did June of last year, we accept it and go on. It creeps up on us!!!! Again, good luck, if/when you do this......you will NOT believe how your life has changed one year later!