OCTOBER 2014

[joankrie 126]

Wow, Beni..so sorry you had that experience. I'm thinking it was the crunchy chicken. To this day, I can not tolerate tougg food textures. I stay clear of it, because I know i wont feel well. Ive had corn, and I had no problems. Infact, its a food I feel goes down fairly well. Hang in there,Diva! We are still living and learning.

[joankrie 126]

Ive had that sensation as well, after a work out. Infact, I started vomiting/ dry heaves and someone gave me Water and instarted to feel better. Im noticing im needing more water when im exercising. More than likely, I was a bit dehydrated

It has not happened in the past. Im working out more regualrly. Hope this tidbit of.info may help you.

Edited March 26, 2015 by joankrie

[Beni 1,484]

Feeling a little better today. Stomach still hurts but I have been drinking a lot of herbal tea. The warm liquid helps. Yesterday all I ate was a yogurt and a few crackers.

@@ShonIsLove

Sometimes taking a Vitamin also upsets my tummy. My Nut told me it's because of the Iron in the multi Vitamin. I have been taking my morning vitamin with one saltine cracker everyday. I take it first thing in the morning in order not to forget and Breakfast usually come an hour later or so. Try that, hope it helps.

[Beni 1,484]

Realized this morning I am on the verge of 5 months past surgery. The 28th is the day but here's the wonderful thing, I am also on the verge of 80 lbs gone. I'm 190.6 this morning from a high of 270lbs. I have 2 days to lose 0.6 of a pound. I think it's possible.

Yesterday to get my mind off my tummy issues I went into a store looking for something for spring. I was looking for a fun dress or shirt. The dressing room was rather bright and for the first time since my significant weight loss, I took a very good look at my face. I have some serious wrinkles that weren't there before. The smile curved lines that look like ( ) around my mouth are really deep. Yikes! Another battle wound for my gladiator armor.

[Getting-used-to-new-me 119]

Ive had that sensation as well, after a work out. Infact, I started vomiting/ dry heaves and someone gave me Water and instarted to feel better. Im noticing im needing more Water when im exercising. More than likely, I was a bit dehydrated

It has not happened in the past. Im working out more regualrly. Hope this tidbit of.info may help you.

I agree with the dehydration, especially when you're still less than a year out from surgery. It helped me to chew my VERY small bites of food until it was like pudding consistency, before I swallowed it.

But even now, at 16 months out, I still have to hydrate. Even at this stage in my progress, I've found two things about it.

First, I ride my bicycles A LOT, now that I can again. I especially like riding long distances, like half-Century (50-mile) and Century (100-mile) rides. I like to train for them by riding those distances everywhere it's reasonably safe to do so, like the Spokane River Centennial Trail. I like "touring" more than racing. I find that I can ride literally all day, if I go at a steady, slower pace. (My arthritic knees complain LOUDLY if I don't!)

What I've noticed is that after about a half hour of riding, if I forget to hydrate, I get close to passing out! So I make sure I have my hydration pack and extra water bottles with me. I even have the drinking fountains and other water sources as planned out as possible. And I use Protein shakes to hydrate with as well.

Second, if I forget and eat more than a half cup of solid food at a time, I still get the hiccups until I get a little water down. This is even though I chew it until it's like pudding before I swallow. Our NUT and the Nurse Practitioner recently told us at our support group that if we've missed our water doses, we should eat a little of the softest food on our plate before we eat the Protein.

I hope this helps!

[amylynns 802]

@Beni--Awww, so sorry you got so sick! How awful!!

Glad today is a bit better. Go easy on your tummy.

Awesome job on the 80 pounds Beni! (well, .6 away from 80!) Whoohoo!!!

@Getting-used-to-new-me---Impressive biking!! I'd love to bike now that I can fit on the seat, LOL! Have you ever heard of Ragbrai? It's a bike ride across Iowa. My 21yr old daughter has ridden part of it the last few years with her boyfriend and his dad. This year she's planning on riding the whole thing though! Total miles this year is 462, over a week. Craziness!! We'll see how she does. She has some hip & knee issues, so I'm concerned. But we'll see!

[Shadow427 272]

@@Beni - Feel better gladiator! You may have just had a little bug, too. Sometimes I think every little "odd" thing is related to my sleeve. The reality is, sometimes it is just something else.

@ the biker ladies (in this case, I mean bicycle)... I have wanted to rent a bike since moving to Philly. There are two cool places that I want to go. One is along the banks of the Schuykill River right in the heart of the city. The other is at Valley Forge Park. The bike rentals are fairly inexpensive - about $15 for the day. But, last year I just felt too fat. So, they are both on my "TO DO LIST" for the Spring. Oh what a difference a year makes.

[Luna222 246]

Hi everyone! How are you all doing?? It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me, my cousin has been in the hospital and I've been running back and forth taking care of his kids and whatnot. But I'm still so frustrated!!!! I am still stuck. Hovered at 200/201 for almost a month and a half...weighed myself yesterday and I was 204! This morning back to 202, but it's been like this for weeks...I can't seem to get out of this 200 - 204 slump....I'm only 5'3, my body is not built to be big, yet it won't let me get smaller I've been doing my morning workouts, I've been walking like crazy between all of the errands and walking around the hospital and such. I haven't been eating horrible. I try to have my Protein Shake every morning to make sure I get enough Protein, I carry Protein Bars around with me in case I can't have a protein rich dinner or lunch...I don't eat fast food, I don't really eat junk either...here and there I'll have a few m&ms or a few Gummy bears, but nothing crazy, and def not daily. I also feel like I can eat way more than I should be able to sometimes too. Last week I made spaghetti and meatballs, and I sat down to eat, took 2 bites of meatball and I was so full. But then I made pulled pork and potatoes, and I felt like I could have kept going. I've been trying to really pay attention to my stomach and throat gurgles, because that seems to be how my body tells me I'm done...but idk. I'm wondering if I should call the surgeons office. my primary seems concerned that I haven't lost anything really since February.

I've also been having horrible mouth pain, I have an infection in a tooth that needs to come out. In the meantime while the insurance takes forever to approve it, I'm on an antibiotic. My Dr gave me tramadol also because the Tylenol wasn't helping the pain, but it made me super sick, nauseous and dizzy for 3 days....so no more of that! My body can't handle any kind of pain pills anymore. It used to make me sick to take just hydros or oxicontin, but now tramadol too. And obviously I can't take ibuprofen or aleve. Arghhhh! I'm just so down about it all :-(

[Bronxmerci 312]

hey guys, just want to say you all look amazing. i finally broke my stall, lost 8 more lbs woo hoo. i have lost 114 pounds in 5.5 months. i cannot believe this. i dont have saggy skin aside from my breast so i guess age played its part for me. i feel good now, everything falls off me and im just overall feeling good about myself. my sons father cant believe the change, i still didnt tell him. he just thinks i lost way less, i told him 80 in 5 months. i still cant stand him but now that im hot he wants to change hah, id be a fool to fall for it. ive been working, and started school again. i cant really lift my son anymore hes so heavy to me. idk what else to say, im just glad the tough times are over and now i can say i do not regret this surgery. 37 more lbs til goal, it seems so achievable now.

[amylynns 802]

@Shadow427--I'm so excited for you to rent a bike!! Whoohoo!! I agree, What a difference a year makes!

@Luna222--How frustrating!! I think a call to your surgeon's office would be in order. Just to see if they have any insight as to why you might be stalled. Do you keep a food journal? Maybe they can take a look at it and offer some suggestions.

I've been stuck at 177/178 for going on 3 weeks now I think. Pretty sure if I could "go to the bathroom"....(Sorry, TMI) I might lose a few!!

@Bronxmerci--So glad you're doing so well! Great job on your loss! And I am quite impressed you're not falling for your son's dad's smooth attempts at getting you back! You're a strong woman!!

[dc0520 263]

Hey all! I had my 6 month check up today so now I'm anxiously waiting for my blood work. I am too frustrated at 177/178 - amylyns we are always twins. My dr said I'm not eating enough so I'm hoping upping my calories (again) will get the loss going. I haven't checked in too much lately due to tons of traveling. It was glorious to be in a packed plane one after another and still be comfortable - I'm so thankful for that. My Hair loss kept going so I chopped it all off and went platinum. Perfect now - thank goodness just in time for my Germany trip in May. Also I'm getting a lift/reduction in June!! So much happening in such a small time has made this waiting game bearable. Looking forward to seeing more success from my friends here!

 

[amylynns 802]

@dc0520---You look amazing!!! Love your hair!!

My hair loss has slowed down, thank goodness. Not sure what helped because I changed about 3 things at once, LOL.

I'm curious, How many calories had you been averaging? I typically get 800-1000, but usually more toward the 800-900 range. About 50g of Protein.

I'll be curious to know if the increase in calories gets your loss going again.

Great news about your lift/ reduction!! I want one so badly! But I think I'm going to wait to look into it until I'm about a year out. Can you answer this.....Do they have to use implants for a lift/reduction? I won't do it if they have to use implants. They freak me out, LOL.

I had the lapband previously, and if I thought about the fact I had a foreign body inside me, I went into a panic. Plus, I could feel the port to it. My kids had to always be careful when they'd hug me, or we wrestled because the port area was always tender.

Anyway---Congrats!!!

[dc0520 263]

Hair loss hasn't been noticeable after the haircut so win! I'm usually around 700 calories but I do beach body programs as well. I was ordered to hit around 65-70 grams of Protein and 1000-1200 cals a day. We will see what happens. My workout regime is prob the reason for increase but I'll adapt to keep it up ❤️ I wanted to wait on the lift/reduction as well...my bariatric dr would like me to wait but considering my massive breakdown of skin from working out its going to get done early. Under my right breast I've had staph infections twice and bleeding from the sweating and hanging of skin. Tmi I know but I think everyone should look out for these issues. And to answer your question no. I am not getting any kind of implant. They are using my own tissue and molding it to create upper pole fullness. Implants are usually suggested if you want youthful fullness and be able to go bra free. A lift is sufficient as long as you are good relying on a push up bra ???? I didn't want foreign objects either.

[amylynns 802]

@dc0520--Nah, not TMI for me. That sounds horrible!!! Ouch!

That's great no implants would be necessary. Ummm, Yeah, I'm 42. I don't need youthfull fullness, I'd just like them out of my arm pits when I lay down, haha!!

I haven't had rashes since my surgery, but I might start trying the trick someone mentioned on here, just to get some stuff documented. Or if I check into just a lift and it's a reasonable cost, just pay for it out of pocket. We'll see I guess!

Yeah, I'm supposed to get more like 60-80g of Protein, but I have a really hard time eating more than I am right now! It's odd having that issue now, LOL!

My PA said I could supplement with Protein shakes, but they fill me up SO much that I don't want any meals after that. Hard to find that balance!

[Shadow427 272]

@@Luna - I am at a 4 week stall, also. UGH! My brain tells me all the right things - - - you are working out so muscle weights more than fat, your body is adjusting, it's normal.... but every time I step on the scale and it does the one pound up, one pound down, two pounds up, two pounds down, I feel myself get a little depressed. I have come close to sabotaging my diet by eating, but, fortunately, the little angel on my shoulder talks louder than the devil does!

@DC - LOVE LOVE LOVE THE HAIR! You look great.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend! Stay the course!