have i streached it already?!!!!!!!

amen I agree fully..... umm what is the test with the cottage cheese? I haven't heard about it till now *~* Iris *~*

The cottage cheese test allows you to see how much your pouch can actually hold. You can google it and get the instructions on how to do it. I can't remember all the details. Melissa

thank you I will try it I do want to see how much my new tummy can hold. *~* Iris *~*

thanks melissa, I was just courious about i have been reading about the cottage cheese test , i didnt know that i shouldnt do it yet! I hope i didnt hurt my pouch... oh no my paranoia again hehe! I did have a list for the first three weeks but not now. I really didnt feel that the pizza was a bad choice i was just wondering if 1 small slice minus the big crust was too much it was thin crust and had lots of lean boars head meats on it, it wasnt greasy like most pizza and really good mozzarella not the imatation stuff that most use. I wont do that cottage cheese test again it hurt and i almost got sick! I'm going to do better starting tomorrow with my food choices,its just been hard these past few days being away from home and dealing with 2 deaths in my family in 1 week, 1 expected and 1 not at all. It would be much eaiser if they had done some surgery on my brain also, the head hunger is the pits. Food expecially sweets would have been how i would have comforted myself this week, but that piece of brownie only made me feel worse! I guess you have to live and learn one day at a time and i feel i will learn all the ins and outs sooner or later. dawn

I wish I had a you that lived close to me to help keep me eating good like you do Christine. I have learned alot from your post and Christines. I too fall off track some but I normally don't eat alot I shouldn't I just don't eat enough protein and I never drink enough. So you are now officially licensed to help me too. And Thank you in advance LOL Becky

Hey Dawn I gotta agree with the whole "stretching" myth Melissa mentioned. Your pouch may give a little but it will NEVER grow to the same size again your stomach used to be. Average I believe, after a year or two, can easily hold 6-8 oz of food. I also agree that you shouldn't be trying that test yet. Girl, You're just a month and some days out of surgery, just try to deal with getting protein in and all your liquids... and not if you stretched that little booger. I 'll be honest and I admit, I eat Pizza. I don't eat Pepperoni, I eat Mushroom One piece, not the end of the crust.. and I'm full. I eat fast food when there's no other choices. I do not make my family go out of the way to accommodate me. I'll have a salad or a half a cheesburger ( hubby ALWAYS steps up to the other half hehehe) and all the guilt really isn't there for me because once I look at how little I actually eat, I feel like I'm NOT failing, I'm doing pretty darn good. Now I DO stay away from any high carbs when I can. If we go to eat at Wendy's, I get chili rather than a burger, or even fries.. yikes. Other times I'll do the salad or heck, even the joghurt. Everybody will end up at one point eating something we shouldnt have. If I eat stuff that's not-so-good, I count my calories, if I watch my carbs, ONE half hamburger I would get on the way to visit our family out of town, once a month.. come on, let's not get bent out of shape. If you have cheetos once in a while.. it wont end up making you gain it all back. I eat sugar free, drink sugar free...Noticed that fatty foods just kinda go right thru me and I avoid them because they make me feel icky.. but I refuse to deny myself foods I like, darn it. I had surgery to make my stomach smaller, so I can not PHYSICALLY have the portions I used to have. It works for me! I gave up a lot of stuff I used to love, just because they now have absolutely no appeal to me any more. Besides, My 5 yr old eats twice the size portion I eat nowadays.. and did I mention I am down to 195lbs?? wohoo.. Don't beat yourself up just make smart choices, girl. I'm here if you need to talk about stuff.. u know where I live ~Andie~

I see both sides to this. I know the battles we fight post op and fighting issues with food is very hard. I battle them every day. I eat something almost everyday that I shouldnt... Sometimes 3 times a day. I know its hard and it is something I have to work on. I struggle very very badly. I am a food addict and that is what got me obese to begin with. Do I want to be there again? Do I want to be the fattest girl in the office again? Do I want to be in size 24 pants again? NO NO NO... Do I want to be healthy? Do I want to be skinny? Do I want to get over being a food addict? YES YES YES... Can I do these things alone? NO WAY... I need yall and I need honestly from yall and no sugar coating. Dont sugar coat anything for me to please me. I went into this surgery thinking it was the perfect cure--(my own stupidity). I thought all would be fine and I will be beautiful and wont want to eat. I will be healthy, I will work out, I will do all these things.... Guess what... It aint easy. However, we did have this surgery and it is our 2nd chance. We are very lucky people to be able to have it done and I do feel as though I and some of you others deep down know that we take it for granted at times. I sometimes think "Hey, I have lost 112 pounds this bag of CHEETOS aint gonna hurt me"... then you eat that whole grab bag of cheetos and its nothing but empty calories that do nothing for you but make you want more. The goal here is to choose foods that are healthy foods. This is the real goal. The losing weight will eventually stop....It is before that happens that we should get our eating habits changed. We cant go back to eating foods we were eating before no matter how small we can eat. I am not saying an occasional cheeto is going to be detrimental but it is now that we are learning to eat right. I have to work on me and I have to have yall flame me for my eating or it does no good to post what we eat on a daily basis. Nobody needs to get their feelings hurt by anyones comments but we shouldnt say "hey, its okay--you were having a bad day"... I have posted some really bad foods on myself and not once has somebody said "What the hell are you eating that for"... I NEED THAT. Reading Tammys post tonight reminded me of how I felt preop when I had to beg and fight insurance for 6 mos to get approved. I remember watching a coworker of mine eat stuff they shouldnt have and saying to myself "If only I was given that chance - I wouldnt eat like that" --Guess what, I am here and I am eating bad things. I am afraid to weigh. I am grazing alot lately. I want to constantly have that full feeling. If I dont have it I graze to get it. My biggest fear is to gain weight and I dont want to be 2,3,4,5 years out and gaining my weight back. I dont want to be there. We need to change our eating habits NOW. This is the easy time. I know some of yall are sitting back and reading this thinking "Who is she to be talking about what we need to eat --did you see what she ate yesterday??"---Nobody knows or feels more guilty about my food choices than me. I think we need to all ban together and get ourselves on track. We need to hear criticisms when we make bad choices and we need atta boys when we do good. You might hurt my feelings and embarass me when you flame my food choices but in the end I will reailze you did it cause you care about me and my success at this. This is not a cure all forever. This is merely a tool.... We need to all learn how to use it--NOW. Folks---Lets try and remember.... Just cause its SF doesnt mean its Calorie free and those empty calories can add up.... (thats Melissas favorite sentence)..... I am gonna try to play my food for tomorrow.... Just a try... So... Breakfast: scrambled eggs and peice of link sausage Snack: Boiled egg Lunch: 3/4 Egg salad sandwich with Lite mayo and mustard and pickle slices Snack: Lite Yogurt Dinner: Chicken Breast, little bit of corn, and blackeye peas Snack: Boiled Egg Does this sound okay??? If this is okay..I will have the same thing on Monday... I will take leftovers to work with me. However, I will allow myself 1 SF peppermint patty sometime during the day. (Its Monday and I do payroll and its very stressful for me)

Sounds like a good plan to me. If you feel like straying from that plan, call me, you know I will ask you as I have before what the hell you are doing? I do not mind yanking you up by the seat of your pants as long as you will give me the same nasty yanking when I eat wrong which was yesterday at the family reunion. But today is a new day and I have it mapped out already. Bye, Melissa

I, like you, need the criticism and jerk back into the reality of things from time to time. And I think that Tammy does a great job at doing that. And I think that Dawn did a great job in taking it. This is a post we all needed, I think. The thing that bothers me are those *****ad this and read negativity into it. Like they are flaming me and being mean to me and judging me. That is not what it is at all. It is called tough love and we all need it to stay on track because if we didn't we wouldn't have needed this surgery in the first place. And if we don't have someone to criticize us and make us see what we are doing we will end up right where we started. I for one am here to stay on this board through every bit of criticism and flaming I may ever get and I hope when I screw up Tammy is there to save me or at least beat the cr*p out of me LOL. I know for sure you will. Melissa

I'm great at something PLEASE... Me ??? Well Doll, you just may get your wish if you are acting up... But I can't see you acting up. I guess it is because you are such a tiny little thing. Nobody would have ever guessed that YOU had a weight problem. I do have a bad habit of being blunt & to the point. I don't do it to be mean, but for some reason people just think I am "Ivan The Terrible" for telling the truth. I only ask or say something because I care about the person. Maybe I should tell those who post about their "questionable choices" to just keep on poking that crap in their hole. Wonder what I'd be called or how I'd be thought of then ??? Whew I bet my ears would be burning !!!