I had my surgery on Oct 1 and found that only one food made me ill - ice cream. How do I know? Tried it of course! Not just once but tried it several times. Each time I felt violently ill. So much for that! I've lost 135 pounds and was on a plateau for the last 4 weeks. I had to rethink what I was doing and decided to give the Carnation SF Instant Breakfast drinks a try again. That was enough to kick start me off the plateau and focus again on the basics - protein first, veggies, and fresh fruit. I haven't had any trouble getting in exercise - mostly walking but I'm adding in some new things - canoeing, swimming, and biking. I'm also a TV junky and had to cut that out. Now, when I need to relax, I read a good book or take a warm bath. I also have gone back to drinking lots and lots of water. It hydrates me and helps with a feeling of fullness between meals. Laurie

Hi Tanya! Sorry you are having such a miserable day! It will get better honest! What you need now is chocolate! Oh wait, we can't have that anymore, grrrrr~! So go punch bag, swim a lap, take a long hot bath/shower, whatever works for you! I swear though, nothing works like chocolate! Grins and Hugs! LeeAnn (-104)

Many of you know that I am not being followed by a surgeon. Most of my advice for getting through I get here. Short story long for those who don't know....I had an open RNY on October 21st. This was followed four days later by emergency surgery for bowel blockage. I then got a wound infection which my surgeon did not recognize at first. When I would return for follow up he would "dab" the wound with silver nitrate. There was a growing granuloma at the site. I decided I needed a second opinion. Two doctors later I finally got into a wound clinic where I was followed weekly for three months. This did not really work so I had to have another surgery to remove internal infected stitches. Then the wound healed......until I developed one hernia in May. There are now a lot of hernias. One is the size of a tennis ball. I have to have hernia repair soon. This will be my FOURTH operation. Needless to say, it has been a frightening and scary experience to be part of the 20% who do have complications [yeah, they say it's 2% but really, really...it's 20% if you go by the Cleveland Study that came out a month or so after our operations...that's why we think the complication rate is lower than they are now saying it is] Anyway, here is my question. I get a very full feeling very often [3/4 of the time], This feeling is hard as it is not just "full, stop!' but also feels like I might get "sick". Sometimes I have to lay down but usually I do not. Sometimes I can eat again ...another few bites...if I wait 20 minutes or so. Volume of food is very small when this happens. Usually it happens after 4-5 bites of food no matter how slowly I eat, or how small the bites. Is this normal? Also, my diet is very limited. I can not tolerate chicken, most meat, fruit of any type or dairy of any type. This makes for a limited palette indeed! I can eat beef [go figure], turkey, bacon [go figure] and fish. I can eat WASA whole grain crackers [low in carbs, 20 calories]. I can eat only cooked veggies. That is all. And if I vary, I certainly will get very sick. I do try new foods at home once a week and really try to choose healthy options. Sometimes they work....I can eat several veggies cooked now...sometimes they don't. Is this normal for this stage? My weight loss is slowed but continuing. I have lost about 90+ pounds. I started at 246 so I am about 20 pounds from goal. I think my weight loss is fine and believe it is slower than others because I can't exercise much [hernia's actually hurt a lot or was on exercise restrictions for months...still am...no lifting beyond a gallon of milk] and because I think that my pouch is healing very slowly. My body, I figure, had to heal from SO MUCH that the overall gastric bypass is also healing slowly. So, I lose slowly even on 600-800 calories a day. I lose about 5-6 pounds a month now. Is this normal? Thank you for reading this and especially thank you if you have ANY advice for me.... Terry

Went to the Dr last week we are going to submit to insurance for tummy tuck first part of October I can't wait.... Kathy -102.5 Then I have to start saving for batwing removal and boob lift.....

Im not sure we will ever be satisfied....i may be thinner and i know im healthier but this is still a 52 year old body and all that goes with that...i only wanted to be comfortable in a size 12 and i made it there...but some of the 12s just dont make me feel comfortable!!! go figure...but youve done great...good luck tana open rny 10/30/2003 232/155/1??