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I came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and I felt good, but now I just cried as my family ate dinner and I drank my protien shake. I’m ashamed that I couldn’t lose the weight on my own and I’ve had to have surgery to correct my weight problem. I see them eating and enjoying their food and I wish I could enjoy it too. I knew this was going to be hard but I guess I didn’t figure in the smells of food I would miss.😢

Had a hard time finding a full body before picture, but the before photo is from Halloween 2016, date of surgery was August 21 2017 and pic from November is current. Sent from my SM-G930T using BariatricPal mobile app

My date has finally arrived! It’s been a long 8 months but I am so ready. Clear liquids today. That’s not fun, but it’s going to be so worth it. Pre surgery I have lost 30 lbs and can really tell. I already have so much more energy. Every day I do something that I haven’t been able to do for a long time.

I had surgery at a Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery. These Centers of Excellence are available in many states. The Centers of Excellence provide a complete support for the surgery. There are many components that require a range of specialist beyond just a surgeon who specializes in Bariatric Surgery. They include nutritionist, psychologists, a hospital that specializes in bariatric surgery, staff that work insurance issues, pre-op testing, weight loss and exercise programs, bariatric surgery support group meetings, five years of post-op follow-ups. It is like a "full meal deal", no pun intended.

I finally have a surgery date scheduled. December 27th is my date. Yay!!!!! Been a long road trying to decide whether this was what I wanted to do or not. I've fought with being overweight my entire life and now at 49 years of age, I know what I want to do. I'm so excited, scared and nervous. I know this tool will not only help me become lighter but also healthier emotionally as well as physically. Hoping this short time period goes by quickly.

Thank you very much!!

wishing you a speedy recovery... walk walk walk walk..,, and take your gas-x. Best of luck and welcome to the journey

At 6 weeks I started working out with my personal trainer 2x a week. We did some pool based workouts and then started with body weight and core exercises. Have been amping it up since then. Now (4.5 months out and 58lbs gone) I still do 2x a week with him- we lift (dead lifting, squats with weights, lunges with weights, leg presses, arms, etc), do lots of core stability training, and recently have started working on running. I'm looking at doing a couple 5k runs in next couple months and doing a sprint triathlon in April. I also do 2x a week of cardio (mostly walk/run intervals but sometimes swim) and ride English equestrian 1-2x a week as well. I rode and jumped in HS so now being in early 30's and healthy again felt like the time to go back as I love horses and hopefully will buy one in a year or two.

Yes, if your plan runs January to December you do have to start paying that deductible all over again beginning in January. Mine is 6350 so I’m glad I squeaked in! That being said, it’s more costly to be obese and you will still save in the long run!

I know when I was recently post-op I wanted to know what my life would be like after the dust settled, so to speak. When I had surgery I was 56 years old, at a weight of 234 lbs and a BMI of 35.6. I wore a size 22 dress and size 10 shoes (I'm 5'8). Dr. Alberto Aceves did my sleeve in Mexico (a 36 trochar) and repaired a large hiatal hernia. I was self-pay. After my surgery I lost my hunger and also developed some food aversions. I lost 102 lbs over about ten months. I followed the post-op instructions as well as I was able although some days I was not able to drink all my protein. When I graduated to solid foods I learned that regular bread seemed to ball up in my stomach and it felt awful. So did noodles. Chicken made me vomit. I ate lots of shrimp and steak. I ate no desserts other than baked custard that I usually ate for breakfast. As my weight stabilized at 136, I had much more energy. I mostly walk and hike in summer, and swim indoors and ski in winter, but I am certainly not a fanatic. However, it is considerably easier to breathe and move almost 100 lbs. lighter than I was. Bad habits, though, can creep back. My hunger is still gone, but I have a tendency to eat when I am bored. It's easy for portion sizes to increase, so I consciously use my food scale and measuring cups. Also, my sweet tooth came back. I still can't eat cake (see bready things above) but let me tell you, chocolate candy and cookies go down just fine. But, I can easily lose five pounds in a few days when I am busy and out of the house and so I have managed to stay under 140 lbs (and size 6) since my surgery. (Oh, and I went down half a shoe size!) To this day I cannot eat too fast or it comes right back up. I still get the slimies but rarely--usually when I am very hungry and eat too fast. I can't eat bread easily, although toast is fine. I cannot eat salmon, tuna, or other fish that dries out in the cooking process. I frequently use sauces to slide dry food down and I have learned to cook in ways that preserve the moisture in food. Eggs are iffy--sometimes I can eat them, other times not. Vegetables are fine if the pieces aren't too big. Crunchy things, like crackers, chips, and apples, are fine, although I avoid the chips except at parties. If I have them here I will eat them, but out of sight, out of mind. That is the difference between pre-surgery and post-surgery for me. Before surgery, I thought about food ALL THE TIME. I would be eating breakfast and thinking about what to eat for lunch and dinner. If I had to go out I had a "snack" in my purse. If I traveled, I carried food with me and bought food in airports and roadside quickie-marts besides. Now I don't think about food except when the clock tells me it's mealtime or if I get a little light-headed because I've forgotten to eat. There have been some drawbacks to surgery. I can't give blood anymore because it takes too long to replenish my iron stores from food alone and iron supplements irritate my sleeve. I developed GERD about a year after surgery and have to take a PPI daily. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis this year--I had some risk factors unrelated to the sleeve, but a year of malabsorption/malnutrition probably didn't help, despite the liquid calcium citrate I took. All in all, surgery was the right choice for me. It did not change my life, but it changed my relationship to food, and for that I am profoundly grateful. I have so much more time to devote to other interests instead of thinking about what I'm going to eat next. I wish you all the best and hope to read your success stories in a few years.