Welcome to me!

As of today, I am officially a weight loss grad! Yeah. It has been one year since my surgery and what a ride it has been. I have lost a total of 120#. 25 of that was from the preop 2 week liquid diet. I have stayed between 153-160 for the last 2 months. I am 10# below my goal. I thought it would be really hard for me to even get to my goal of 166 but I made it and kept on losing! (without much effort).  I have not had any complications and am grateful for that. Would I have the surgery again?....Absolutely....Once a month even if needed!! I feel great and am trying to keep active. But the hardest thing I have had to deal with is what I see in the mirror. the whole body image thing is hard to wrap my mind around. I still see the fat me (although a skinny version of the fat me!) and its like my mind just cant comprehend it. I think its just the flab that makes me think like this. I always do a double take when I walk past a full length mirror because I look so much smaller and its WEIRD! My biggest problems are carb cravings and being vitamin compliant. I love carbs and find them hard to resist. Although I have been able to pass on breads (I love bread! that is what I miss the most) because they make me dump and well, as for the vitamins, I am not a fan of taking anything and I have a gag reflex that hates pills. I have my labs done every 4 months and will address vitamin issues when the labs say I need to...other than that, Im just lovin life!!

Dearest Becky-- Congratulations on your success.  I'm very happy for you, and I know how difficult the "new image" of yourself is to adjust to. But, Kid, I'm gonna have to hunt you down and chase you across the street and back if you don't start taking your vitamins!!  Don't wait for bad blood results--you can make yourself so SICK!! --and it might be very difficult for you to regain the lost health! Get chewables if you can't stomach pills.  I use the Centrum Chewables twice a day, as well as chewable Calcium Citrate (1000mg daily) , then a liquid B Complex and sublingual B12 twice a week.  This is so important for your health--please take care of yourself. Hugs,

Lynn, What kind of chewable calcium citrate do you take?  I take a liquid form, which I like OK, but (I know this sounds lazy beyond belief) I hate "bothering" to get it out of the fridge & pour it into the Tbsp.--I'd much rather just toss a chewable or two into my mouth!  I use the Centrum Chewables for my regular vits and like them.  Also the sub-B12 of course. (If anyone else knows of a chewable cal cit that isn't too horrible-tasting, let me know.) Thanks! Jo

Hi, Jo I use two different varieties of Calcium Citrate.  One is UpCal-D, which is available online, and I mix it into a hot drink in the evenings.  I like to do the International House sf/decaf varieties for a warm drink before I go to bed.  The other is a fairly small chewable pill (I take two twice a day) which I found in Longs Drugs (can't remember the price), and they are orange flavored.  I take two with my lunch (I work 3 to 11, so at about 5 PM is when I eat, and then two again when I get home.) Of course, my favorite is the Citrical Chewables, the chocolate flavor, which I like to use as a dessert after dinner.  It drives me nuts that they are discontinuing those! Good luck!

Thanks for replying!  I've heard so many people say they really like the UpCal-D, so I'm going to order it.  I, too, loved the Citrical Bites squares!   I'll just keep checking for a chewable kind like you found at Longs Drugs (never heard of that, if it's a chain, but just knowing that a chewable citrate exists will make me keep looking). Thanks again, Jo

Hey Becky, You have done a great job, BUT please rethink the vitamin plan.  If you wait until the labs say you are deficient it can be really difficult to get your levels back to a normal range.  You do not want to get deficient.  NOT a good thing.  It takes 5 years to deplete your B12, and it is not easy at all to get it back up to normal.  That is just an example.  Take care of yourself....

Welcome and Congratulations on your success!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats!!! I do have to get on the vitamin bandwagon... this is one of those instances when you want to PREVENT, not react!  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071015081505.ht m http://obesitysurgery-info.com/vitamins.htm http://www.geocities.com/tiger_angie/VitaminMineralRecommend ationsVersion25-050205.pdf http://www.geocities.com/tiger_angie/Labs_and_insurance_code s.pdf There are lots of vitamin choices... invest on some chewables for your health, OK?   Trust me, you don't want to be one of those folks having major health issues saying "I should have taken my vitamins..." :-( Angie

Congratulations on your success! I will have to echo everyone else...get on those vitamins! By the time your deficiencies show up on your labs, they are likely very very low. There have been posts by people who don't take vitamins...when your body is deficient it attacks your muscle...and your heart is a muscle. Yeah, sometimes taking all the vitamins can get...tiring? But your health and weight loss are SO worth it. I will gladly do it for the remainder of my life in exchange for being let out of my 'fat prison'.

hi there  way to go on your weight loss, keep up the good work. you MUST take vitamins however, they are essential to your continued good health there are so many choices out there today, including chewables and liquids,  please find something that works for you. by the time you get "bad" labs back it could be too late to repair the damage.  dont let that happen to the new and wonderful you. keep it going!, jacki