BlackBerryJuice

And some pictures from March 9, 2011 - 7 months after the surgery

Oh man, yesterday was just a stupid day. Bfast: coffee, was gonna have a Protein bar but my preceptor brought us gourmet Cookies to the teaching session, so I had a cookie instead Lunch: friend's birthday party at a pizza place, had a diet Coke and a slice of pizza Snack: coconut rice with scallops and shrimp Later, fell prey to clever marketing at the grocery store and had some Easter chocolates (they were shaped like baby chicks - could not resist the cuteness!) Dinner: went out with bf and his friends to this disgusting pub. Had a really gross strawberry daiquiri that made me feel sick and trippy. Then my chicken avocado burger arrived and it was REVOLTING. The meat was like jelly. It made me feel nauseous and gave me terrible gas. I had to study lots last night, so I left early alone. Then upon getting home I realized I didn't have my set of keys - OR my phone to text my boyfriend and ask him to return sooner. Went to kill some time at a coffee shop and had a dark chocolate latte. Finally, 1.5 hrs later he showed up - at least they didn't go to a movie, like I was starting to think! Then I started studying. The material we're covering now is super-hard, and I got stressed out and totally stress-ate 6 seashell pralines. Blah! On the bright side, 1 lb down this morning - shows you how a few pieces of chocolate and a sweet drink won't ruin you, I guess.

Oh man, you should've never paid! If you are really upset about it, I say, go back there and say you are very unhappy. I think they should at least offer you extensions or a dye job or something, if your haircut's totally not what you wanted and makes you look bad. If they disagree, raising your voice so ALL THE CUSTOMERS IN THE WAITING AREA HEAR is always a good idea. Worst case scenario, you get nothing out of it, but get it off your chest.

Vegan diet is pretty hard to stick with, and I think it'd be extra tough to not become malnourished on it after getting your sleeve. There are some high-protein vegan foods like beans, chickpeas, tofu, etc, but you have to eat a lot of them to get enough protein, and you couldn't eat very much after your sleeve. So you'd have to drink lots of soy protein shakes to make sure you are not low on protein. If you've never been vegetarian or vegan, I think a good place to start would be to buy your animal products at the local farmer's market or Whole Foods and gently phase them out of your diet until you become a vegetarian. Some things are quite easy to replace (e.g. milk with soy or almond milk - the difference in taste and texture is not that great), but the toughest thing, IMO, is with processed food - that includes breads, pastas, frozen meals, protein bars, protein powders, etc. SO many processed/prepared foods have animal products in them, whether it's eggs, whey, or gelatin. I would venture into a health food store (Whole Foods, Planet Organic) and see what animal-free prepackaged foods they have. A 100% vegan diet is very tough to follow, but you can always get as close as possible and make that the few animal products you do consume come from ethical sources.

Probably gas pains/IBS. There's not much on the left side of your stomach towards the bottom besides intestines. Your gallbladder is in the right upper quadrant, so gallbladder problems wouldn't cause pain in that area.

Ok, so for the last 2 days my inbox's been barraged with VST e-mails as apparently the forum subscribes me to every single thread I post in. So if I post in 5 threads, I might get 20+ e-mails saying someone else replied! I went to my settings page and unsubscribed myself from everything, but it still keeps automatically subscribing me! How do I stop it from automatically subscribing me to every thread I post in?

1 lb left, can I do it in 6 weeks? LOL. SN.....................................Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal BlackBerryJuice.......................208...............141 ............140..............1

I've lost closer to 70. I have some spider veins on the outside of my right thigh. I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever. From my limited knowledge of what they are, I don't really see why weightloss would make them less or more prominent - although I'd say that being at a normal weight makes you less likely to develop MORE spider veins. They haven't gone away, but no new ones have appeared, either. Try sclerotherapy if they really bother you - spider veins run in my family and my mom's are pretty bad. She had sclero done and is quite pleased.

I agree with others in that I don't really see a reason to stop losing weight at this stage...you are still overweight, might as well get to a healthy BMI. I'm an inch taller than you, weigh 141 with a large bone structure and lots of muscle mass, and I could still lose 10 more lbs and look/feel healthy! That said, maintaining/gaining would be pretty easy, actually. You can totally overeat with the sleeve if you don't make the best choices. I went on a weeklong vacation where we drank high-calorie mixed drinks and vanilla Coke every day and ate Desserts 1-2 times a day (including Haagen Dazs chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream!) and I put on a pound. Granted, I lost that pound within 3 days of coming back, cleaning up my diet, and going to the gym, but nevertheless. Yeah, you won't be able to eat a McDonald's combo ever again, but you could totally suck down some high-calorie drinks and eat desserts to stop losing or even start gaining.

Bfast: Protein bar lunch 1: half a 6" turkey sub from Subway Lunch 2: other half of said sub coffee with flavored creamer Dinner: not sure yet, might be going out with bf and his friends

I'm not a Goodwill fan, either. I have to look the part for school and most of the stuff at Goodwill....well, let's just say it's there for a reason. I like Ebay, because you can buy NWT or NWOT stuff for half the price or less. I'd say that half of my current wardrobe is from Ebay. It's also great for buying stuff you tried on that was too expensive - odds are, you can find the same stuff you saw in the store on Ebay for way less.

I wouldn't spend a lot of $ on clothes immediately post-op, unless they are very easily tailored (e.g. a simple A-line skirt). Like Tiffykins said, you are only gonna stay in a size for 2-3 weeks. My size 8 slacks hung in the closet for 2 months until I got to size 8, and then within 2 weeks, they were sagging on me. Thank god for Ebay - both in terms of selling stuff I don't need and buying stuff for less!

Well, the biggest issue is that I receive lots of financial aid and we have a small group of very vocal and very rich students who are very anti-financial aid because they don't think anyone could ever possibly not have their parents pay for everything when they are 25. I mean, someone actually bragged at a birthday party that they don't own "a single item of clothing under $500." If one of them found out I went to Mexico and paid out of pocket (with credit, mind you), they'd never leave me alone.

What are you eating, how often, and how much?

Wow, impressive!

Today was one of those days, super-busy and lots of running around - I actually forgot to eat Breakfast before I left the house! Ended up grabbing a lot of random stuff. Bfast: coffee and a disgusting underripe banana I bought at this fundraising stand Lunch: 1/2 a veal canneloni Snack: yogurt, cookie Snack: 1/2 muffin Dinner: other half of the veal canneloni I'll have something else before I go to bed, probably another yogurt or a Protein bar Exercise: 1.5-hr ballet lesson

Bfast: leftover veal canneloni from yesterday Snack: apple, piece of chocolate Lunch: yogurt, piece of pizza Snack: Protein bar, couple of fresh strawberries Dinner: we're going out to a dessert place, so probably some sort of cake or something

You get invited to something called "The Chocoholic Buffet," and after giving it some thought, you realize you aren't that interested.