oh my lord.

it's been almost 4 months since my surgery.. and i'm 11 pounds away from having lost 100 pounds. isn't that ridiculous?!?! Just in this past week I dropped another 10 pounds. I don't know if it's because I ate a ridiculous amount of beef jerky, or if it's because I swam a lot.. but I'm now down 89 pounds in almost 4 months. I can't believe it. And this was after a good 2 weeks of not losing anything. I think the one thing I've learned about this surgery is that you can't predict what or how your body is going to handle this crazy change. So just go with it! xoxo, kristen*

OMG That is wonderful! You must feel so much healthier. I can't wait to be on the other side with ya. KUTGW

Wow, that's amazing! Good luck on those 11 pounds to the century club. I can't wait to see updated pictures of you. Bet you are looking great! Ciao, Jamice

Yay Kristen you must feel great!!! Keep up the good work and glad you made it over your 2 week hump of not losing... can't wait to have that feeling of losing..... take care and keep up the great work!! Kristen D

Hi Kristen, Wow !!!! You are an awesome inspiration. I am so happy for you. Betz

OMG! That is awesome!!! congrats!!! L

Hi Kristen, I have been reading the posts, for awhile now. You caught my attention because we live in the same town. Also, you're very funny! LOL! Congrats, on your weight loss. That is wonderful! Keep up the good work. I had my consult for the sleep study today. I'm going to the E.Prov. office for the study, on Fri. It was faster, to get in that office. Things are happening fast now and I'm getting very nervous, wondering if I am making the right decision?? Will, I live? Will I be able to eat the right foods? Will, I be sorry, that I had surgery? I just have so many things going through my mind, as I'm sure everyone goes through. Neurotic Nancy PS, Thanks, for listening to my rambling!

hi nancy! another jamestowner!? wow. i thought i was the only one who didn't wear a size 2 around here. LOL i totally know the questions that are running rampant through your head right now. I think we've all had those same questions! And so far - I lived. I eat the right foods 95% of the time. I am not sorry, and have only been semi-sorry once [thank you, gas pains during the hospital stay...]. Last night I made semi-poor food choices. I made a pork roast for dinner. It was from Dave's and had a garlic-pepper/panko crust on it. Well, I was wrong about the panko - it was ALL minced garlic! Oops. It made my eyes water it was so garlicky. Everyone else seemed to love it, but the second all that garlic hit my stomach.. i knew i wasn't going to be able to eat it. Normally, I love garlic, but it was too much and almost felt like it was burning? So - I stopped eating it and instead of making myself something else... I just ate a couple bites of baked potato and about a 1/2 c of salad. Not a super bad choice, but definitely not the best choice I could've made. Anyway - if you have any questions or want someone to talk to - I'm local! Plus, I've got tons of protein shakes [sample sizes] that you can have. I pretty much stick to the two shakes I know I like, and even then, I don't drink them all that often [I should've last night.. ] Good lcuk with your sleep study. I went through the E. Prov once, too. It was quite the experience. LOL The best tip I ever got was when you get home - put conditioner[some say dish soap, but i never tried that..] in your hair where they place the electrode thingy's and that god awful paste- *before* you shampoo, otherwise it'll take 3 showers to get that stuff out. Kristen

He, he.LOL! I wasn't even a size 2, when I was born. Thanks, for getting back to me. Your support is really appreciated. I guess, I just needed to get my fears off my big chest. LOL! Humm~~~I guess, I'll be losing there, too. You are doing so great and are a huge inspiration for all of us. I love all your tips and humor. Some of those concoctions, you mixed up after surgery, sounded pretty good. The ricotta and tomato sauce??? Interesting! Could you tell me what brand, the really tasty shakes are? Also, did you eat any baby food? I'd like to start stocking the shelves. Everyone that posts on the board, seems really great. Looking forward to meeting you. Nancy

don't bother with the baby food. i didn't open ANY of it and it's kind of expensive for the little time that we may/may not actually eat it. For the first week or so I lived on cream of mushroom/chicken soup. The easiest way I found to handle this was: buy ***1*** can of each kind (cambell's 98% fat free, healthy request - i think) buy 2 seperate ice cube trays. (seperate from the ones you make your ice in!!!) Make the can of soup with the required SKIM MILK. Pour each soup into the ice cube trays - this will give you appx 1oz cubes of soups. Right out of the hospital, you can eat 1-2oz of this soup. Shake frozen soup into ziplock bags and mark which one is which. ***I bought about 6 cans of each soup - not thinking that I was only going to eat maybe 2 oz at a time. Derrr. I still have cream of mushroom soup from that shopping trip. I went on a stocking the shelves rampage, and I still have the food sitting in a box. I never liked jello - so i don't know why I bought so much of it. I didn't like it before surgery, and never wanted to eat it after surgery. LOL Same with applesauce. The one thing that I did eat quite a bit of was refried beans. Dr. Roye gave me a hard time when I told him I ate these during the pureed phase - I had to explain to him that they were mush - not actual beans, nor really fried! i don't know if he was just pulling my arm, or what.. but i loved the things - mixed with some low-fat cheddar cheese and a little sour cream! yum. i still eat it. I think the best thing to stock up on is water (if you don't do tap or don't have a filter/cooler) and crystal light. You'll never be in excess of either - and the CL will become your best friend when you just can't chug down another sip of water. I guess the best advice I can give - is to really THINK before you go nuts in the shopping department. One can of refried beans will last you a week - no joke. So don't go buying 5 cans of them!! Plus, towards the end of your recovery you are going to want to get out and do something - going to the grocery store was one of my favorite things to do. It was an empowering experience for me. I loved going in there and realizing that I wasn't hungry, that I didn't have to buy that bag of Smartfood [my weakness], and that I could leave the store with exactly what I was supposed to buy. The one thing I've found is that I ate all sorts of things for breakfast. It didn't matter if it was refried beans or the crab dip I made. I hated breakfast time - it was HARD to figure out what to eat. I'm usually a bagel/cereal kind of girl. I don't really like yogurt that much, but will eat it when forced. So I forced myself. Eventually I started eating cheese sticks and chewed to a pulp before swallowing - and this is what I have for breakfast every morning - to this day! As far as protein shakes - it's all in how you can handle them. So far, my favorite water-based shakes have been the Nectar brand ones - I'm all about the Fuzzy Navel mixed with 3 ice cubes, CL Orange (something Sunrise?) or the CL Lemonade (some post-ops have trouble with the acidity of lemonade, so be ware). As for milk-based protein shakes - I liked the Sci-Fit, Cool chocolate mint when I mixed it with milk, some FF/SF choc. pudding powder (like a tablespoon) and some ice. Do NOT go buying the 2 pound tubs of the protein shake WITHOUT trying it first. They're a great buy IF you know you're going to like it. I think that www.wlssupplies.com does the best job at packaging protein shake samples. They come in little plastic bottles, and you can buy a mix and match "case"of them, so you can try 6 different ones. I think I'm going to repost this as its own post- because there are some good tips in here that others could benefit from.