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Thought I would check in and see how everybody is holding up though this crisis. Luckily for me my husband is considered essential and still gets to work for 6 hours a day. I am also essential, but I only work one day a week. Hope everyone is doing alright! Take care!

What does your nutritionist/surgeon want you to have? Your carbs are higher than most people's teams would suggest (so early on- I can eat around that much almost 3 yrs out to maintain my weight/indulge) so that may not work for you right now. But the bottom line is sometimes the professionals recommendations along with trial & error will work better than anecdotal info from a peer. If you were tracking during the time you were consuming 800 vs 1200 cals check the trends in your weightloss. Then talk to your team. Try lower or Keto level macros for carbs, after consulting with your team of course, and see if there is any difference after about 2 weeks. Good Luck ❤

This week I've been experiencing the same thing as you and I was sleeved on 3/3/20. Hydration is a difficult task for me and I loved plain water prior to surgery, I don't know when this is going to be better. I'm trying really hard every day to meet my hydration goals and protein drinks are now upsetting my stomach. I'm back to tge clear protein Isopure and ugh!!! I'm in a stall, I'm really hungry for real textures of food and I have to work on this darn insomnia. I have faith that this is just a moment that will get better

Sending prayers for their health, mental wellbeing and grounded decisions xoxo Sent from my SM-J727R4 using BariatricPal mobile app

I enjoy reading other people’s journeys and stories, so I decided to create one of my own! I’m Shelly, about to turn 35 years old on July 7th, and I’m from Iowa. I’ve struggled with my weight ever since I was 10 years old and have been up and down too many times to count. My lowest adult weight was 165 (very briefly) and I’m currently at my highest adult weight, 242. At 5’6”, the top end of the healthy weight range for me is 154, so 150 is my goal. Funny thing is, the last time I got measured as an adult I was told I was 5’4” so I always thought I needed to get to 138 or less to be at a healthy weight! Currently, I am in the final stages of being approved for my VSG. The surgeon is supposed to sign off on everything today and the gal handling my insurance paperwork said she would submit to insurance today and call me. She said approval could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 7-10 business days. Fingers crossed for 15 minutes! 😉 Backing up a bit, I originally went to Iowa Weight Loss Specialties for their non-surgical weight loss program on 5/10/2018. Knowing my BMI wasn’t 40 or higher, I thought trying for the surgery would only end up in disappointment if I didn’t get approved through insurance plus I was still struggling a little mentally with the idea that I thought I should lose the weight on my own. While meeting with my nurse practitioner, I mentioned that I had considered WLS and she asked if I’d like them to at least look into it with my insurance company in the meantime and I agreed. At my next appointment two weeks later, my nurse practitioner told me that surgery would be covered, all I’d need is one more nutrition counseling appointment and a mental health assessment. I thought that meant my insurance was approved, but I had misunderstood what she said. So for the next couple weeks, I was happy as a clam thinking I was approved as long as I completed the steps, until I went to meet with the surgeon and found out I wasn’t approved yet! I was devastated and in tears, which was really embarrassing but I had my heart set on this surgery and it was extremely disappointing to hear that I may not even get approved without a comorbidity. However, they did tell me they wanted to do bloodwork and possibly a sleep study to see if I had a comorbidity, but the wait time for the home sleep study kit was two weeks. ☹ Luckily, the next day when I came in for my bloodwork they magically had a sleep machine I could take home immediately, which was great news. My bloodwork all came back normal, so I was really riding on the sleep study and praying I’d have at least moderate sleep apnea. My husband told me he thought I definitely have sleep apnea based on how loud I snore, but I was still worried. Plus I thought all this time he was exaggerating on my snoring! 😉 So I returned the sleep machine on Monday 6/11 and they said it would take 7-10 business days for the results. I was happy and surprised to hear back on Friday 6/15 that I did have sleep apnea which qualifies as a comorbidity and scheduled an appointment to come in Monday 6/18 to hear the results and do my nicotine test, which was the last step before submitting to insurance. I was completely shocked to hear that I have SEVERE sleep apnea. Which all makes sense now that I know and think about it. But I have to get a CPAP machine to wear from now on. She indicated they’d have me do another sleep study after I lose 10% of my body weight to see if I still need the CPAP machine, but that my weight might have nothing to do with it. Not getting adequate sleep may have been one of the reasons I have not been able to lose weight on my own in recent years. Although I dread the thought of wearing a CPAP machine, I’ve grown so used to being exhausted that I’m actually looking forward to seeing what getting a good night’s sleep feels like. After hearing that I have sleep apnea, I briefly wondered if I really needed the surgery after all and that maybe lack of sleep was really what had been holding me back from losing weight through diet and exercise. But then I remembered how I’ve been struggling all my life and that the hunger hormone ghrelin was going to continue to be a problem for me. I really feel like the sleeve is what I truly need to become a healthy person for the rest of my life. Finally, in addition to sleep apnea, I suffer from depression, anxiety, back pain, heartburn, and ADD. I am hoping the surgery will reduce my depression, anxiety, and back pain. That’s all for now! I’ll update again next time I have news, which will hopefully be my insurance approval!

I realize at 2 weeks and 2 days post op It’s waaaay too early, but I am BIG time (head) craving a fresh, delicious green salad. Wondering...will I ever get to eat a plentiful green salad again? Since lettuce is largely water, I’m hoping to hear Yes, as long as it is eaten slowly. And, if so, then “generally speaking”, about how long post op can a salad be tolerated?😋Thanks!

Homeschooling my two sons and not working. Doing a lot of snacking out of boredom. Trying to find a new normal but it’s been really difficult

I was due to have my gallbladder removed today, and it got cancelled at 3.15pm yesterday. I was upset for a while, although I understood that coronavirus patients had to be prioritised. On the plus side, I had to do a liver shrinking diet for 5 days, and I lost 5 lbs. 😊

There is no magic bean solution to morbid obesity. Many docs, including Dr. Weiner and my doc believe that once you are MO, the underlying metabolic condition that we are left with predisposes us to recurrence. The reality is we have millions of hormone secreting/appetite stimulating, insulin promoting, empty fat cells sitting there waiting for us to revert to pre-surgery eating habits/food choices. The body is extremely smart and the malabsorption lessens over time as does restriction. I see that in only 2 years. I look at the surgery as a brief, short term period to lose more weight than we would ordinarily be able to lose on our own, because of the metabolic reset that allows us to go below our set point, without triggering the starvation response. The studies show that the longer a person can maintain their weight loss, the greater the chance for long term success. If I do not maintain my strict observance to my personal metabolic condition, I will rapidly regain and it does not go back down very easily. That's why I do set a 5lb window and hope and pray every day that by remaining engaged and focused it won't "magically" start climbing beyond that 5 pound window. At 2 years, there is still a lot that remains to be seen... I believe it requires a total transformation and a willingness to learn new behaviors, set new rules for engaging with food, becoming active, having a good support system with great after care, having a means for managing stress, anxiety, and spirituality and also having regular exercise...

I admire dark chocolate, I respect it, I would vote for it for President of the Chocolate Guild, I would trust it to housesit for me, but I actually like milk chocolate, especially in conjunction with almonds.