Hi Gala, Sending big (((((HUGS)))) your way, I had some problems with throwing up in the beginning, but mine was lactose intolerance, once I took some Lactaid Ultra chewables, it stopped, plus TIME has made a HUGE difference, I hope you get your kinks figured out, I promise it'll get better!!! A big help to me regarding getting protien AND water in: I got some Unflavored protien powder from www.unjury.com put a scoop (20 grams.) into 16 oz. of ice water and Chrystal Light (strawberry Kiwi is my favorite, any of the lemonades are good too) I hardly notice the powder as it mixes up nicely, but I can sip on that, and I kill two large birds with one stone, (I hate my protien drinks and drinking water) Hope that helps, hang in there hon~~Rebecca

Well, I ate baked ziti for lunch the other day, more then I should have, and had a donut on break - that was just one of the 4 days. and I didnt get to the gym all week. But I went to the gym this morning and had a protein shake for breakfast - doing my food repentance. (but boy was that baked ziti delicious!) -Sherrie

I can relate to you with feeling uncomfortable. I was one of the most obese in our ward also. I hate when I would hear that if we just follow the word of wisdom we will not be overweight. Horse hockey!!! I do follow the word of wisdom and I was VERY overweight. I finally vented in Enrichment night one time. I tried to be very gentle but had to say what I had to say. I was treated a little differently after that by some people who began to look at obese folks a little differently. I told them by thinking that following the word of wisdom would cure obesity they were judging me. I am a proud holder of a temple recommend and the Bishop and stake President signed it. So if they were judging me then they were, in essence saying these two were wrong. At one time, a sister said that the five lbs that she couldn't loose was just as bothersome to her as my 100+ was to me. I scooped up a couple of kids that I thought might weigh 50 lbs or so and told her to carry them around for the whole meeting block. Then to come back and tell me the same thing. Sheesh, the mentality of some people. I know we think that because we all have the gospel we are all kind and compassionate. No we are all just humans walking around trying to do the best we can. I am trying to overcome my own prejudices. Well, sorry to go on so but this is a very sensitive issue for me. I do hope that as you begin to gain more confidence and self-esteem you will begin going to as many meetings as you can. It is good for us and even better for our children to see us going to our meetings. I was totally inactive for much of my childrens childhood and I really regret it. Take care and get better. Grins, Kaye

Okay Sherrie - spill the beans, confess. How have you been "bad" with your eating? Share so we can avoid the same pitfalls. We had an awsome support group meeting. I learned some things I had NO idea about. The lesson was given by a visiting resgistered dietician from another town. She taught us that it's important for us to take vitamin B12, either sublingually or by a shot. When our stomachs were cut and our new pouches were made, the part of the stomach that absorbs B12 is bypassed. Swallowing a B12 pill will not do it for us. We need to take our B12 by shot or sublingually. B12 is important to maintain the proper shape of our red blood cells. So it's REALL, REALLY important that if we take it sublingually, we take it every day. She also told us that we can't take our calcium and our iron at the same time. They compete and work against each other. We need to take them about an hour apart from each other. She taught us that the iron we take needs to be "ferrous GLUCONATE" NOT the common "ferrous sulfate". She also taught us that we should be taking calcium with magnesium in it. One brand of this is citrical PLUS. Like I said, it was an awsome meeting. Melody

What a lovely thought. I am so tired of chocolate protien drinks/shakes. I can't stand the thought of drinking/sipping whatever you freeking call it chocolate again. I was a choca-holic before surgery. I had 2-3-4 Snickers a week. The thought of something like that makes me sick. It is only for 3-4 days and then gradually AGAIN I go to pureed foods. If that doesn't work than back again to liquids and after 2 weeks of this if it isn't better than I believe that Lauren said something about some tests. So Jello, SF pudding here I come and somehow I have no clue I will get in some protien..... This really is depressing. I don't know how people who go threw this for months do it -- cause if that is the case for me. Well...lets just pray it isn't! I have no desire to eat, yet I do. I want something other than stupid liquids. Sick and tired of seeing my husband eat what he wants and have a flippant attitude that I "should" be doing this and that and I'm not. I was struggling w/this earlier today/this weekend. But tonight it is much worse. We went to the support group meeting tonight. The coordinator pulled me aside to talk to me about my email to her -- Whenever I eat anything of any consistancy I have a ton of pain in my pouch. I end up making myself throw up. I go for a few days and am just fine and then it goes back to the pain. So back to liquids and so on and so forth. She talked to the P.A who works along side my surgeon w/the WLS and does most of the follow ups...so she gave me this wonderful news tonight of what they want me to do. I guess I have been on liquids for the most part -- but 'having' to do it at this point really just stinks. Gala