**What did you eat today? - Monday**

i hope youre lieing.. i really do. your posts scare me when u say nothing all the time and no vitamins in a long while.. seriously im scared for you! youre slowly killing yourself stephanie.. theres no way your body is nurished.. When i went those few months without my vitamins i had a break down after going to the gym for a couple of weeks and my body tried to SHUT DOWN on me.. im serious i called my surgeon, confessed and told them i was dieing and asked what to do to save my life. its not something to play with. and im 25! i swear i would of been dead in a month had i not started my vitamins and drinking some protein shakes to try to play some sort of catch up. even now i missed my vitamins about 5 days in a row when we went on vacation i didnt know we were gonna be gone that long it was unplanned and now my toenails and fingernails are WHITE from obviously being anemic just from that since my body was already so low on vitamins.. please dont do that to yourself.. i havent met you but you seem like a great person who should love themselves enough to take care of themselves.. Try for ONE WEEK doing this.. take optisource vitamins (from walgreens for bariatric patients), drink some protein shakes and eat right and see if that weight doesnt start coming off im sure your body is in starvation life saving mode right now.. Look at the models who die from malnutrition.. thats what youre doing to yourself.. PLEASE do something to help yourself.. sorry if ive overstepped my boundaries.. but my body is in such a rut i have to take a NAP some days at work because my body is give out and im so young.. dont do what ive done do better ! hope you take this as a friend talking! jen

sweetie you're not overstepping... I finally took some vits tonight but I'm gonna have to find some that isn't making me toss my cookies so to speak... I've just been sick on my stomach so much lately that I don't really want anything in there to throw up since it makes my hernia hurt me more... I'm gonna make a trip to walgreens tomorrow since we now have one here in gaffney and look for those ... Lady D also told me about them and I'm glad you just reminded me... my nails are awful looking.. they have deep lines in them and are solid white... I'm pale looking with dark circles under my eyes from what my family is telling me.. I don't see any difference in me ... so I'm trying to do better on getting in my stuff but still haven't found a protien that I can keep down.. I think it's more of a texture thing than the taste, not sure but I swear I'm trying *hugs* Stephie

that makes me feel better.. im worried about ya.. and the whole "i dont see it my family does " is like an anorexic almost who doesnt see how sick they are ya know? i was/am the same way but i FEEL sick from lack of nutrition. so its sunk in to me.. before i had the physical breakdown i felt invinsible like nothing could stop me, not even lack of vitamins.. but once it hit me it hit hard. so thats why im worried! you should try the Pure Protein Banana creme shakes.. they are great to me!! and i hate the protein taste of other shakes but in this one you cant taste it.. it taste like a banana shake .. and has 35 gm of protein.. if it werent for this one shake i would never drink any protein (or eat the bars i hate those) .. i buy them from dr bours nutrition store, if you want to try one i live in spartanburg and can give you a couple.. theyre in a coke can like thing .. really good really cold.. jen

Hi Stephie, As you know I've battled with the same problems you are having since the beginning of my surgery. I was hungry and wanted to eat but felt so nauseous all the time that I was afraid to eat. I didn't take the vitamins because they just made me feel super full and even worse. Well, Jennifer is telling you right. My weight loss stopped because my body assumed I was dying from starvation and was trying to hold on to any and all nutrition I had stored. I got really weak and my body ached all over due to my muscles being attacked by my body. They literally started to break down and be digested as a food source. You must eat something and drink lots to reverse this process. "HOW WHEN YOU FEEL SO SICK YOU MIGHT ASK" you are going to have to call the doctor and be very honest about your current eating habits and see if he/she can prescribe something to help with the nausea, ask for free samples if your finances are not what you want them to be right now, and if the meds don't work you have to call again and tell them it is not getting better. You may also need to get the feeding tube like I did. I didn't want it at all because I knew I would gain a few pounds and that I would have to stay home longer and deal with a nurse coming to my house every week but it saved my life. I was DYING and didn't even know it. Please don't wait any longer, call the doctor today because only he/she can determine how much damage has already been done and what needs to be done now. I was put back in the hospital for 3 days because I was literally killing myself slowly and no one noticed in my household and I didn't realize what was happening to me. GET THE HELP YOU NEED RIGHT NOW, TURN OFF THE COMPUTER AND MAKE THE CALL TO YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY. We love each other here and don't want to have to read about anyone passing away from this surgery because we didn't give the advice to help save lives. Go now!!!! With love and prayers, Robin

EXCELLENT POST MS JEN ... I HOPE OTHERS LEARN FROM YOUR TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE & THE TROUBLES YOU STILL SUFFER FROM EVEN AFTER CHANGING YOUR CHOICES TO GOOD ONES. LADIES & GENTS ... YOU WOULDN'T FORCE YOUR OWN CHILDREN TO EXIST ON A STARVATION DIET, SO WHY ARE YOU FORCING YOUR CHILDREN'S PARENT (you) TO EXIST ON A STARVATION DIET? I HEARD SOMEONE SAY THAT ONCE ... IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN ENOUGH TO FEED THEM HEALTHY FOOD, WHY DON'T YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDRENS' PARENT (you) ENOUGH TO FEED YOURSELF HEALTHY FOOD? WE MUST CHANGE OUR MIND SETS FROM THE OLD WAY OF THINKING THAT WE HAVE TO STARVE TO LOSE WEIGHT ... TO A NEW WAY OF THINKING THAT WE HAVE TO EAT FOR NOURISHMENT WITHIN CALORIE BOUNDARIES TO GET & STAY HEALTHY. THE WEIGHT WILL THEN TAKE CARE OF ITSELF ... I PROMISE YOU. IF YOU EAT IN A HEALTHY MANNER, YOUR POUCH WILL TAKE CARE OF THE WEIGHT LOSS! REMEMBER, I HAD THE ABSOLUTE HARDEST TIMES LOSING WEIGHT ... SO MANY LONG STALLS CUZ OF THE POWERFUL HEART MEDS I'M ON ... IT TOOK ME TWICE AS LONG TO LOSE 100 #s THAN MOST OF YOU ... A YEAR INSTEAD OF 6 - 8 MONTHS ... BUT, I STILL LOST IT. I SWEAR IT IS THE TRUTH ... DON'T FOCUS ON LOSING WEIGHT ... FOCUS ON LEARNING TO EAT HEALTHY ... THE WEIGHT WILL COME OFF AUTOMATICALLY IF YOU DO THAT! ... 64 - 100 OUNCES OF FLUIDS DAILY ... ... 60 (the absolute least) ... 75 - 100 GRAMS OF QUALITY PROTEIN DAILY ... ... WORK UP SLOWLY TO AROUND 1,000 - 1,500 DAILY CALORIES DEPENDING ON YOUR LEVEL OF ACTIVITY ... ... ADD SMALL AMOUNTS OF DAIRY, COLORFUL VEGES & WHOLE GRAINS WITHIN YOUR DAILY CALORIE LIMIT ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE EATEN (or, planned to eat) ALL YOUR PROTEIN ... ... USE SF & NSA TREATS & FRUITS FOR GREAT TREATS & DESSERTS ... ... DO NOT EAT SUGAR PRODUCTS ... PERIOD - FIND SF & NSA TREATS INSTEAD ... SEVERELY LIMIT YOUR WHITE CARBS ... ... NO ALCOHOL FOR THE 1st 6 MONTHS (due to Gastric Bypass Patients being more suseptible to liver damage from alcohol products) ... & LIMIT ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AFTER 6 MONTHS DUE TO THE HIGH SUGAR CONTENT ... GET MOVING ... WALKING FOR THE 1st 6 WEEKS AFTER SURGERY, THEN AFTER YOU ARE APPROVED BY YOUR SURGEON, ADD WEIGHT & RESISTENCE TRAINING ... 4 - 6 TIMES A WEEK FOR IMPROVEMENT ... 3 TIMES A WEEK TO MAINTAIN YOUR LEVELS. WHAT HAVE I MISSED?????? DON'T GET DISCOURAGED ... IT WILL TAKE 1 TO 2 YEARS TO LOSE ALL THE WEIGHT & CHANGE YOUR HABITS & PATTERNS ... IT TAKES A LOT OF EFFORT & CHANGES ... & IF YOU GO OFF TRACK A BIT, NOT TO WORRY ... GET BACK ON THE HORSE & RIDE IT FOR ALL YOU'RE WORTH ... JUST LOOK HOW FANTASTICALLY FAR WE'VE ALL COME! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT EVERYONE IS GOING TO ACCOMPLISH IN THE FUTURE! WOWOWEEEE! GOD BLESS YOU ... DAWN & NICK