Hey everyone. Tomorrow is my big day. Pretty much scared. But its all worth is right? Thanks so much to everyone for the emails and the encouragement. I will keep you all updated on everything going on. Sarah

Well I just wanted to post and say today is my 20th birthday and I cant beleive it! I also had my sleep study on Thursday the 30th and it went REALLY well.. I do not have sleep apnea which is awesome... and what got me is I slept better there then at my own home! Oh well

Here goes ~ -join a dang gym! I had surgery 6 months ago and I really need to get going on this.... -seek some form of therapy for my head issues -get my finances under control, and be wiser about my spending -get in the habit of keeping my house clean (and kicking my boyfriends butt to help) -give my poor car an oil change If I can do those things this year I'll be a happy camper. Sarah 280/240/140

Hey, Brittany! I'm three weeks out tomorrow and I also have the runs quite often after I eat. I called my surgeon and he told me it could be one of 2 things. It could be the dairy products (I was eating a lot of cheese and yogurt) or it could be my intestines getting used to the new way of digesting my food, put quite simply. So, he said to try and not eat any dairy products and see if that helps. So, I stopped eating dairy and it went away. I ate some tomato soup last night and used half water half milk, not even thinking, and soon after I was running to the bathroom, so in my case, I'm pretty sure it's the dairy. So, I suggest trying that and seeing if that makes a difference. As for the bread, your surgeon is right, you want to stay away from untoasted bread because it'll just ball up in your stomach and could get stuck, etc. Toast, atleast according to our surgeon and I'm guessing yours, is okay. I've had half a piece of toast with a little bit of peanut butter for breakfast and it went down fine. Just chew really well!! I've also had pasta salad for lunch and that went down great! I haven't had any problem with starches, whi*****ludes potatoes and I lived on those in the beginning right out of surgery. My boyfriend who is 9 months out eats bread a couple times a week, but just little bits and most of the time it's toasted or else it's a bagel or an english muffin, not soft fresh bread. Just go by what your surgeon suggests. Everyone's body reacts differently to different foods, so it's all about trial and error. Just because one person gets sick from something doesn't mean you'll get sick too. I can eat beef stew but my boyfriend, even at 9 mos out, can't. He dumps from it. Now, the meat. I have been having problems with that too, be it chicken, turkey, or red meat (I cheated with my diet over new year, we always have steaks and I had a couple bites even though I'm not supposed to have them for another week). What I have found though is if I cut it really small and chew it like there's no end, I can swallow it okay, but I can only have a tiny bit, like 3 bites and I can't eat anymore. It could also be that you're having problems because your opening to your stomach could still be a little swollen...it takes about 4-6 weeks for it to fully heal. Oh, one last thing. I was 223 the day of surgery and today, one day before my 3 week post op date, I'm down to 196. So, I'd say you're losing at a good rate. Good luck and e-mail me if you have any questions or just want to visit!

Hey guys my name is Shauna and Im from Philly, PA. I'mm 22 and yous are the closet to my age so I figured I would post a board so I can meet some new ppl around my age to chat with about surgery. check out my profile and e-mail me if you wanna talk. Shauna