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 and also wouldn`t let me copy.  I lost several paragraphs.  Won`t do it again now.  Have to grade papers.

    Finally I got on the scales again (need to buy some, but they`ll be expensive here in Brazil) and am down 47 llbs since surgery.

I`m feeling very flabby since I can`t get back to lifting weights for a couple of weeks yet because of the heart attack at the end of February.  I am walking, stretching,  and doing exercises without weights.  I`ve had a massage or two once a week as well.

Now that I`m back to work finally, I have less time for food preparation and exercise... so I`ll have to get more efficient.  It`s nice to be able to eat almost normally for lunch because the school serves a really well-balanced meal, although the meat tends to be pretty hard.

My dietician here said that I could essentially eat anything now, but need to make sure I eat healthily.  I`m still going by U.S. guidelines (though there are SO many sometimes conflicting ones!!).  She had a couple of good suggestions that I`m using..... to put protein powder in my yogurt, to get an extra protein boost, and I also do that with cereal and sometimes coffee in the morning.  (My "coffee" is half milk already... so I make some paste with a half a scoop (1T?) of protein powder and add that into the warm milk before I add the coffee.  Presto.... about 12g of protein coffee latte.

I`m using the protein powder shakes that I make up with juice, fruit, yogurt and milk and then usually freeze to make a healthy desert.   My nutricionist didn`t like this.... she said I lose too many vitamins if I don`t drink it right away.  I thought about it and decided that I wasn`t going to worry about that because I`m mostly using for the protein and as an ice cream substitute and I`m taking two vitamin pills a day for Vitamin C.... so what would be the problem?

My nutritionist also did not like the beans I make.... said I should only have them once a week, that I should only eat the green ones, not dried, everyday.   I think it`s because here they often make them with a lot of fat, but I don`t. ... They would be like the no fat refried beans with a little jerked beef cooked in them.   

As far as clothes go, I`m enjoying wearing tops with more space.  What used to fit tightly around hips is now hanging freely.  Some are getting too big at the top yet.... have to take them to a seamstress.  When I have more money, I`ll go buy some new ones.   I still have a few that are small... not out of clothes yet.

Well.. anyway... I need to get out of here and go to the grocery store... It`s hard to find time to shop when it`s not crowded.  Before 8 am on Saturday is great time to get there.  I`m out of almost everything.

2 months post-op today...  

I haven`t been on the scales for a couple of weeks, but I`m pretty sure I`ve lost weight.

More preoccupying was a thrombosis which became a heart attack.  I had an emergency catherization and a stent put in.
I`m hoping the heart problems will heal (there was damage.  the first EKG showed nothing, and I was dismissed from E.R. suggesting a sore muscle.  No pain next day, but the following day, the 22nd of Feb, I returned to E.R. and they compared the EKG`s which showed something was definitely going on.)  In between the first E.R. trip and the second, the cardiac event happened.  I`m sure my heart was permently weakened.  I DO regret giving up my baby aspirin after surgery.  I suspect if I hadn`t, the thrombosis wouldn`t have happened.  Oh well, hindsight is...valuable for someone else maybe.

So now, the care of my stomach is complicated by the care of my heart as well and about six new medicines to juggle around.  Well, I have an extra month off work now to rehab and try to get back to normal.  Five days in the hospital, and the food was awful, although the nutritionists tried.... I did get one protein shake in my five days of hospitalization.  I was glad I got out early last Saturday for good behavior.

Making progress on the food front, I think.  It`s easier to eat the eggs, tuna fish, soft chicken for meals.  Someone gave me some really good nutty whole wheat bread which I`ve been toasting, and I feel less deprived since I decided I could have about 2-3 ounces of coffee in hot milk in the mornings.  In my 9th week, now, I`m thinking I can branch out as long as I get my proteins and liquids first.  I still miss drinking the coffee with breakfast food, but I guess i`ll get over that.

I`ve had fun trying on my smaller clothes from my last thin period, about 8 years ago,... I can zip them, but probably have another 10-15 lbs to go to actually wear them.  Anyway, I washed them... got them ready.  I`ll have to get on the scales tomorrow at the pharmacy and see how much I`ve lost in two weeks since I last weighed.

 I`ve been back to work for a week and a half now.... with students, full days.... but I`m sure worthless at night.  
I just come home, eat some protein, wait a half hour.. drink something and fall asleep for two or three hours!!
Is this normal?   My body`s way of dealing with all the changes?

  Still learning to eat the semi-solids... At work, I only take liquids yet.... a very thick vegetable soup with meat (chicken breast) pulverized within it, and my protein shake at morning and afternoon breaks.   I still have to be very careful with eggs and tuna.
I`m very happy not to be lactose intolerant.   Here in Brazil I have more options with fruits, but fewer options with a lot of other stuff.  Still looking for a source of Whey Isolate, but did find the other, Whey protein concentrate, at $55 a container.  

I cooked some beans yesterday, put them through the blender with some tomato, and had "refried" beans.  My new, high couture stomach handled that just fine... without gas!  Hooray!

  Fitday.com calorie and nutrition counter really helps me keep track of things.

I went back to the gym and lifted weights yesterday.  That felt good.  Will go again tomorrow.

I am looking for new foods.... I`m switching nutritionists, my only back up here besides my surgeon (no weightloss centers),  but it will be a while before I can get in.

Anyone have a source of new foods?

  Saw my nutritionist Tuesday and doctor yesterday.  All is well.  Almost 15lbs are gone.... thankfully off legs and hips.  It used to be I`d lose first off breasts and face which didn`t improve my looks much. Nice it`s happening the other way now.

Moving from all liquids to purees and mushies...   I can join my drum group on Saturday night, but can`t do much lifting for another 10 days...  I do miss my weightlifting workouts.

My first egg was a disaster... the first time I vomited since the surgery!.. My nutritionist had told me I could have scrambled eggs, so I hurried home and made one.  I scrambled it fine and chewed it really a lot before swallowing, but I ate too fast I guess and got into trouble.   I didn`t even eat it all, but should have only eaten half or less, I guess.

Today I tried an egg again scrambled with 2T of cottage cheese.  Wonderful!  Salty and tasty and full of protein!  I ate half...waited a while then the rest.  No problems.

For lunch I have some chicken breast pureed already with a little soup.  Getting organized.  I have to go back to work next week and I need to take my meals to school for a while.  That`s going to take some thought as I`m gone 8-10 hours from home.

A little without energy... but not too bad.  More potassium, maybe..  Here in Brazil Agua do coco.. Green coconut water is a wonderful source of protein and other nutrients.  ....

 My surgery was last week....

I`m really struggling with the water ..I can`t get enough.  I think I`ve had enough but my urine was dark this afternoon.  It might have something to do with the fact that I went to the grocery store and bank... did take a taxi and my boyfriend along for support, but I did get pretty exhausted and sweaty...

Today I got milk and yogurt.  Thank heavens no lactose intolerance showed up!!  I really love dairy products.

It`s a full time job to feed this little stomach.

I assume you all had a lot of orientation about what expect while recuperating.  I have a ditzy nutritionist who didn`t even give me diet information until after my surgery.  I think I will try to find someone else.  She tells me not to drink more than 1000 mls of water a day which is very strange as it appears the minimum is twice that in the U.S.  

Well when I was in The States in December I ordered a couple of books from Amazon.com, and I`ve been online looking at hospital sites getting information...  and trying to mesh that with what she`s telling me...  I need a local source because she does know what`s available here.

One thing I`m wondering..... after laproscopic surgery... gastric bypass... How soon are supposed to go back to work?  

Anyway... it`s an adventure and my last chance!  If I don`t drop a lot of weight this way, I never will healthily.

 Today will be the end of the first week.   I have no idea if I have lost weight... I expect so.  It`s great not being hungry, but it`s hard to get all the liquid in.

  One thing that is driving me crazy is the lack of anything that doesn`t have diet sweetner.  I`m dying for something salty ... or normal.  All the protein powders seem to have added sweetner.  It`s horrible.  Even the strained soups I`m having for meals are supposed to have a teaspoon of Nutren 1.0 added.... and it`s sweet!

  I wish I could have something saltyish... I never liked artificial sweetners.  (sugar is different... but of course, I`m off that.)

My surgery was laproscopic gastric bypass, and except for abdominal soreness, I`m doing pretty well... exercises and everything. ...  

I am 65 years old... still teaching, but also dancing (once or twice a week) and playing drums in a maracatu carnival band here in Recife, Brazil.  I have been working out with weights and stretching for 12 years.  Walking has been hard because of flat feet and a really deformed (pronating) left ankle.  I already have two knee replacements.  I have about 125 excess pounds and would love to lose it all, but know that usually it is 50-60%... so hoping to lose at least 60 lbs and be able to do more walking without so much pain.

Oh.. and really... I am a Midwesterner... grew up in West Central Illinois, lived in Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (26 years there).  I retired from a Wisconsin school district and came to Brazil to teach a year or two to experience another culture.....but... fell in love with the country and wanted to stay longer.  

So.. that`s my story in a nutshell. ... Any help with something salty at this liquid stage would be appreciated.