snowfie9

Could you provide more information about your surgical circumstances/ Where did you get it done? Have you had consultations with a nutritionist? Have you had post-op consultations? have you attended post op group support meetings? Also what does your diet consist of? Perhaps you are not over-eating but the problem may be in what you are eating more than how much. This could help us better understand where you're coming from.

My nutritionist recommended Bariatric Advantage Chewable Iron. It comes in different doses but if you're a menstrating woman with heavy flow (Yah TMI too) you should go for the 60mg. Here's what it says about it at their website: Our Chewable Iron was designed to meet the iron replacement needs of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery. Our iron is in a form that is both easy to take and tastes great. Our strawberry Flavored Iron provides 18 milligrams of elemental iron from Ferronyl®, and our 29 milligram iron is a blend of Ferronyl® and ferrous fumarate. Both contain Vitamin C to optimize iron absorption and utilization. Tablets are designed to be easy on the digestive system, to support maximum absorption, and to minimize side effects like constipation. We suggest that iron supplements be taken at least two hours away from Calcium supplements and dairy products. Hope that helps

I'm still waiting for insurance approval, but I know what you mean about eating everything in site. I tried to go low carb and lasted about 3 days. It'll be easier once I have a date and someone to tell me "This is what you HAVE to do from now until surgery". But left to my own devices...well let's just say I'm not obese for no reason.

I'm still waiting for insurnace to come back but, in spite of a few efforts, I haven't been trying to lose weight. (sigh) But I've been beat down from YEARS of dieting, and if it were something I could do anymore I wouldn't need surgery. And who would want surgery if they didn't NEED it? Don't beat yourself up over it. It'll all be okay in the end.

There is a certain comfort in dealing with the devils we know. It's hard to give them up for something unknown, as much as we hate them.

I was looking for chewable calcium citrate in drug stores and couldn't find any. They were all calcium carbonate. And all the calcium citrate was in pill form. Citrical brand is calcium citrate. You can also find it in a disolvable powder in some places too. Good luck!

If you're like a lot of us, this is a voice we've all heard before. It's the voice that tells us THIS time will be different, THIS time we'll finally lose the weight! only to sabotage us halfway through by telling us it's okay to have just one cookie, or it's okay to buy a pizza. We're better now and we can control ourselves. once the surgery is done, it won't matter what that voice says. You can quit a diet, but you can't quit the sleeve.

Don't beat yourself up over it. When you're recovering you have these guidelines but it's your stomach that essentially tells you what you can and cannot eat. After recovery, then Yah you really need to stategize your eating for optimal weight loss and avoid carbs, but while you're recovering, if your stomach hasn't complained about it I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just don't push it.

I haven't gotten my date yet so I haven't started my pre-op diet yet and I'm already having problems. I promised myself I'd do low carb until the surgery but I'm having the dickens of a time. I don't even want to think about what it will be like the closer I get. I don't even know what KIND of pre-op diet they'll have me on. But I completely know what you mean about craving something and not being able to have it. I remember once when I was craving sweets I started playing that little game Chocolatiers. I don't know what it was, but a game devoted to the production and sale of candy actually made me not want to eat any candy. But it was short lived. They do have other little games. I think there's a few resturant sims in Facebook. You cook food and serve it and sell it and watch OTHER people eating it. You may be able to trick your brain into thinking that YOU're the one eating a huge plate of spagetti and not some imaginary person. Other than that, I don't know. I find myself sleeping more just to pass the time.

Yah congrats! I finally got a call saying they've got everything they need to submit to insurance so hopefully I'll have my date in a couple weeks. Go Team Sleeve!

I had my nutrition class this weekend and the nutritionist said there's something about the sleeve, where your butt just falls right off you! LOL! I'll take it. But you mgiht be able to build up your gluts. Put some muscle over those bones.

If he's a coworker I'd be inclined to say "I don't care what you like". That's a kind of inapropriate thing to say in a workplace.

what do you love to eat? There are so many ways to make chicken, pork, etc, but it's a matter of what you love to eat. What about chicken curry? shredded BBQ chicken? Shredded taco chicken? How about fish? mahi Mahi is nice. Meatloaf. Various flavors of sausages (yummy and convenient). Mix it up and don't be afraid of seasonings. Oooo or how about Lamb? Or Venison? Catfish? Veal? How about Duck or goose? That's yummy. MMmmm...ham.

The psych evaluation is not designed to determine if you're crazy, it's to determine if it's SAFE for you to have the surgery. My nutritionist told me a story about a client she had way back before they had psych evals. She got a bypass and she lost a LOT of weight and she started getting compliments from people she worked for. She also had a history of childhood sexual/physical abuse and having a man compliment her on her looks triggered something REALLY bad. The psychologist basicly told the surgeon "You need to reverse this or I guarantee she is going to commit suicide". There is a lot of emotion and distress associated with our self image. The pysch evaluation is not to determine if you're CRAZY (and as far as I know mental illness such as depression and bipolar disorder are not a disqualifying condition), it's to make sure you're safe. Maybe you need the extra counseling. Maybe you don't. But something in the evaluation merited caution and that's not the end of the world.

I was told the program was to increase the chances of success post surgery, not as a measure of determining eligability.

LOL! That is totaly something I would yell to myself. "Shut up! we've had this conversation!"

I took my nutrition class this morning. 5 hour class covering everything we need to know to be successful with our new weight loss tool. And it covered all 3 major gastric surgeries (band, bypass, and sleeve) and the differences and pros and cons between them. I had my psych eval last week, still haven't heard from anyone about it so I'll ASSUME I passed (I would like to think the psychologist would call me and tell me if I have any problematic mental issues). Hopefully the surgeon got the fax from my PCP with my medical records that I released on Wednesday, but haven't heard from anyone one way or the other. So it all comes down to this: whether or not the surgeon wants me on a 3 month diet program with counseling or not. I'm a little anxious about that. Until I get that locked in date, none of this feels real to me. It's all just rhetorical. "Oh I"m going to have weight loss surgery" just like I've said about a hundred different things "Oh I"m going to take up sewing" or "Oh I'm going to garden this year" or "Oh I'm going to get back to soapmaking". I'm not nervous about having the surgery, I still feel very eager and comfortable with it, but if I just have this anxiety that my insurance will come back and say "Ya I know we cover this surgery but NOT FOR YOU!" So I have to get on them this week to know what is going to happen from here on out. But one step down, hopfully not many more to go.

I was on a diet plan that had you drink 10 glasses of Water MIN a day and you weren't allowed any salt except light salt and they recommended people take "shots" of a half teaspoon or so of light salt (which is equal amounts of sodium chloride and potassium chloride) to up your potassium levels. I made a recipe for tomato Soup that gave me a full teaspoon but some days I didn't make it and over time my blood pressure went WAY down as a result (which was just the excuse I needed to talk myself out of the diet). Long story short, if you're concerned about potassium, you can make your own "shot" by mixing light salt in a small amount of warm water (it dissolves and goes down better warm, don't ask me why) or chicken broth. It's quick and easy and something you can do before you head out the door to the hospital.

I just had my nutrition class today and the lady told me if you do something bad, it'll either come up or it'll just sit there in a painful lump. It'll either be okay or it won't, but if it's not, you could be in for some misery. Is it really worth risking?

I can't wait to kayak. I did it once as a child but I've always been too "big" for them. I can't wait to try it again! Great arm exercise.

I have been where you are my friend. Once on the day after halloween and I white knucked for 3 days to get past withdrawl. But it does get better after that third day. But yah, carb withdrawl sucks (and I"m going try it myself soon). Good luck.

I called my surgeon's office on Friday to find out what they'd learned about my insurance. The lady suggested I might need to take a 3 month program (which no one had mentioned and isn't in any of the research I'd had with my insurance) and my jaw dropped. She said I could get past that but I'd need to get as much information about my health history / diet history as possible over the next week (my nutrition class is on Sunday). I realize that people spend 6 months or more waiting for an appt. But the idea of waiting that long completely horrifies me. I haven't even TRIED to lose weight for the last 2 years. I'd completely given up hope that I could have any meaningful weight loss. For the first time in a long time I feel HOPEFUL. Not optimistic, not encouraged, I feel like this could finally be what makes a difference. This will finally be the permanent change I've spent soooooo much of my life looking for. I've spent the last two years more or less waiting to die, I'm ready to start living. And every day I have to wait just feels like a day wasted. It's spring. There's so much I want to do that I'm just not able to in my current condition.

It seems like there's so much stress and fret over stalls. I swear when I get my surgery I'm going to lock my bathroom scale in the shed. I don't want to know how much I weigh. I'll get weighed at follow up visits but otherwise, no weighing for at LEAST the first 4 months. Then I'll try and be more focused on losing more. but while your body is healing and adjusting it just seems like a lot of obsessing and feelings of having to measure up to other people. you're getting smaller, whether the scale reflects that or not.

there are way too many factors for anyone to be able to give you a reasonable expectation including your age and how much you exercise as you lose weight. That being said it probably won't be that bad for 50lbs.

I got that just the other day and it's not bad, but the flavor isn't very strong. I found orange juice with vanilla unjury tastes better (but of course it has sugar too. heh).