DougNichols

Get rid of any therapist you don't click with. I wasted almost 6 months on a crappy therapist, and regret it. Huge waste of money. Taking notes doesn't equal helping you out!

DAY 3 - 316 lbs. Wow - I lost 4 lbs already in 3 days. My body clearly doesn't want me to be fat. I started counseling today! Woo, I met this awesome counselor who lives close by and only charges me $80 per session (normal rate is $120). Really connecting to this girl, so I'm all excited about knocking out my food addictions. Breakfast - big ol' fruit and spinach smoothie Hit the treadmill for 35 mins lunch - Banana and a few peanuts dinner - big ol' fruit and spinach smoothie I didn't really snack today. Oddly, I believe my hunger is going down. For a later night snack I'm making some fresh orange/apple/celery/carrot juice in my Breville juicer! Drinking that makes you VERY full, and don't really want food for like 4+ hours. And by that time I'll be asleep! I'M SO EXCITED and feeling FANTASTIC all the time.

Pizza. At one point I was eating 3-4 whole pizzas a week.

Getting more water down helps. Sip, sip, sip. Regular water, not Vitamin water or Gatorade.

Canned tuna in Water has a ton of Protein. Mix with mayo, make a salad. Goes down smooth: http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/tuna-canned-water-pack?portionid=6356&portionamount=1.000

DAY 2 - 318 lbs I FEEL FANTASTIC! My body is finally getting the nutrition it needs to be alive, energetic and clear minded. No more head haze for me. Kinda sore from going 45 minutes yesterday, but doing it again today anyhow. I'm walking fairly slow on the treadmill, not running nor jogging so should be fine. My schedule will be 2-3 days on, 1 day off. For breakfast had my usual smoothie, extra strawberries and lots of spinach. Then for some snacking I made some fresh carrot/celery juice, and then of course a few grapes for lunch: dinner will be either another smoothie or a salad, with an extra banana right before bed. Getting a lot of head hunger today, dunno why.

I stalled for like a month. And instead of staying focused and pushing through the stall (by keeping up the good habits), I got discouraged and started eating bad again. Then I leaned on the sleeve, knowing even if I ate poorly, I couldn't eat a lot of bad food. Progressively over time, the belt sizes creeped back in. Yep it's detox time. Flush out the processed foods, the head hunger from not having my basic nutrition needs met. Plus kick start my motivation from seeing some substantial weight loss.

They weigh you, get your measurements, and tell you about the surgery. Plus you'll get a nutritionist appointment schedule, and details on your pre-op diet.

http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/25771-one-year-through-the-trials-of-hell/#entry217877

No idea. I'm not counting anything.

Starting weight: 320 lbs. I replied to everybody in the original thread. Fruits and veggies are unhealthy? You guys crack me up. SAM's Club opened at 7am, and I was right there for a big haul! Breakfast Look at those lucious strawberries, fresh mangos and plump tomatoes. I had to wipe the drool off me before checking out. So I came home and made a banana/spinach/pineapple/strawberry smoothie: LUNCH/DINNER I got hungry at 1pm, so had a few yummy grapes. And then at 4pm I drank a ton of my freshly juiced cucumber/celery/apple/orange drink. Around 7pm I'll have a big salad and then drink the rest of my juice until bed. Walked for 45 minutes on the treadmill. Now my kitchen is GREEN:

Bananas, spinach, pineapple and strawberry smoothie!

I eat fruits and veggies, and don't count calories or carbs. When you feed your body the nutrition it needs, that hunger craving for carbs vanishes.

I'm 3 years out, and can't eat that much. I could fit maybe the halibut in.

I shouldn't have opened that while eating lunch.

Don't get married to the scale. Weigh in occasionally, or it gets frustrating when you lose a pound, gain one, lose one, etc. You'll be great!

I've dated a couple girls with WLS. They told me on the first date, it's no biggie. If the guy is only concerned about your body, he's a crappy catch anyhow.

You don't have to use it. I like the taste. For each smoothie, I use half a container, which is 30 calories.

I call this the "Three Meal Fantasy". Who determined we should eat three meals a day. Why not 4, or 2? Makes no sense. For millions of years we ate when we were hungry, assuming food was readily available. You should eat healthy, nutritious foods until you're satiated. And only when you're hungry. Feeding our bodies the nutrition it needs via healthy, plant based foods slows down our hunger mechanism and disables the constantly-hungry switch in our heads. Then once we handle the bad habits, we score a win as our bodies return to normal weight.

This is my step by step guide to what you'll probably experience getting sleeved. I'm writing this because I really wanted a step-by-step experience before I went and couldn't find a detailed one. Keep in mind, this is what I experienced but written to help you understand the overall process. Your experience will vary based upon complications, previous surgeries, etc. That said, here we go: After not eating or drinking anything past midnight, you'll arrive at the hospital early in the morning, probably like 6am'ish. Personally although I could eat the day before, I only drank Soups because I imagined the pain of pushing out a BM immediately after surgery would hurt - bad. And I wanted none of that. My plan worked perfectly. Advice: Eat nothing the day before. You're guided to a lonely little room and given a hospital gown to put on plus some cute socks. Your family can hang out with you, and be there until you're actually wheeled away. The operating room nurse will come in, asking questions about your medical history, allergies and all that. Followed by another nurse who is charge of inserting your IV Fluid line. Then the Anesthesiologist shows up, asking the same questions both other nurses did. Almost like nobody reads your chart. You might get a surgeon visit, asking if you're ready to go and telling you a little about the surgery. He can meet your family members, and after an hour or so they wipe off your belly with a pre-OR towel to clean it off and begin the cart race down the hall. The Anesthesiologist says he's giving you something to warm you up - it'll actually knock you out LOOOONG before reaching the OR. You'll wake up to an excruciating pain in your stomach, like someone stabbed a sword completely through your chest. You can't breathe in fully because of the pain, and might panic a little. You're in a well lit room with several nurses and other people, but separated by thin curtains. You can hear the person next to you very clearly as your nurse hooks up your morphine and hands you a little black button to press. You'll press it - A LOT. It beeps once if successful (every 10 minutes), and three quick beeps when you got nothing. Then they roll you into your room where family is already waiting. You'll tell them that it hurts really bad, but God bless morphine as you begin watching the clock to see when the next fix will be. Press, beep, sleepy time. Whirrr blip bop beep leg warmers. Press, beep, sleepy time. Whirrr blip bop beep leg warmers. Repeat for several hours. Another sound vibrates through the room. A whizzzz blip blop beep every few seconds. That's the leg massager. It's attached like a bandage wrap around your knee down to your ankle, with wires connecting to the end of your bed. The funny sounding device mashes different parts of your leg, like a weak blood pressure machine, every few seconds to ensure deep vein thrombosis doesn't set in. When you're ready to walk around (which won't be for a while), you can either yank your leg up and pull the plug out or have the nurse disconnect manually. Keep in mind that it'll start beeping like a flat-lined heart monitor if you do it yourself, and they might get annoyed. Now comes your primary nurse who'll write her name on a little chalkboard along with your "tech". My tech was Sunny, which was an awesome name! The tech rolls around a little cart containing a blood pressure machine and thermometer. You'll hear the squeaky cart roll in once every few hours, at which time she'll ask you your name. You already know my name from 2 hours ago, did you forget or what? Like someone else snuck into your room? After she leaves, along comes the "breathing nurse" who has a third-grade toy with a ball inside. She instructs you to stick one end in your mouth and suck on it until you reach 2800. Of course, you still can't breathe in all the way because it hurts like the Jesus, but she makes you try. You say "dude I can't breathe, hurts" and she's like "whatever". This is to avoid Pneumonia so be sure to not skip this, even though you want to bounce the plastic toy off her forehead for putting you in so much pain. Every couple hours I played with my new plastic ball toy, pressed my black button and sat around in pain. You won't be able to roll over on your sides because it hurts A LOT. The main nurse will instruct you to do it however, in order to get out of bed. After some time the marching, way too happy, morale officer of the floor will arrive with something like a cute dog. Mine was eating a candy bar, so I wanted to slap her too. She asks if I wanted to pet the dog - uh dude I can't reach down that far. Show him to my mom. You'll get a menu with a number to call for some chicken or beef broth. I chose chicken my first round, along with a powdered Protein packet and apple juice. No way you'll eat the whole thing, maybe like 1/4 the bowl and 1/3 the apple juice container. It was quite yummy, and I didn't realize I was hungry. If you need to pee, they force you to use this big plastic jar to see how much fluid is coming out. Once you fill it up, they get all excited and measure it then dump into the toilet. Twelve hours goes by, and you're bored. There's only so many reruns of American Choppers you can possibly watch on television, so it's time to get up and walk around. You beep the tech to unhook your legs, then roll onto your side (OUCH) and get out of bed like some 108 year old man in violent pain. I had timed a morphine shot before attempting this, just in case. But it made me really dizzy, not recommended. You'll also have 2-3 new friends during your walk: Catheter, On-Q pump and Drain. The catheter is where your pee goes. Personally, I didn't need one but many people do. In that case, there's no need to pee into the large tupperware container. Second is your drain, which consists of bright red Kool-Aid looking stuff the nurse will squirt out every few hours. And finally a big ball labeled "On-Q Pump". MAKE SURE these are clipped to your hospital gown. You do not want any of those items hanging free, because they will pull out of your body over time, leaving a nasty mess on your stomach. And that's bad. Now they unplug your morphine/IV mini-tower and you begin a journey down the hallway holding onto it in tow. Everybody leans on the tower, no biggie. Just don't expect it to carry you, or that tall monster topples over like Godzilla at the end of the movie. There's a spot to hang your pee jar on, but don't do that or nurses get really pissed off cause it might spill in the hallway. I figured everybody would be excited to measure it, so I'd take it to them as I walked. They weren't at all enthusiastic. After two laps, it's time to return to bed. It hurts a lot, so you'll mash the black button like a Pavlovian dog until the morphine kicks in. By now, 12 hours have elapsed and it's time for bed. Be sure to get some food before the kitchen closes, which was like 7pm for me. I knew I stayed up until like 1am, so I wanted reserve food. Into the nurses' refrigerator it went to be heated up later. Now here's an important point: Those Protein powder packets turn into nasty floating white stuff in your broth when microwaved. Don't add it to your last meal of the day that you're planning on reheating. After watching Craig Furgeson be silly on the television, it's sleepy time! Or not - the squeaky cart rolls in, and Sunny tech girl asks your name AGAIN. Honey, it's still me for the love of God. Then the nurse checks on you, ok I'll breathe into my toy now that I'm up. And finally more sleep. At 6am yet another nurse arrives to take your blood. I'm sleepy, whatever - just hurry up. Sunny's back AGAIN asking my name. It's rush hour traffic. They unhook your morphine and switch to oral pain killer liquids. Everytime you get dosed, they ask your name and birthday AGAIN. I should have had it tatooed on my arm before I arrived. Time to eat, walky time. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP! While I'm laying there, my mini-tower new walking buddy starts behaving like he's having a seizure. I never plugged him in after the last walk, and his little battery is getting low. Be sure to re-plug! How many nights you stay depends upon your insurance and pre-arrangements. I highly recommend you stay as many nights as possible. Can't stress this enough: Trying to get fluids in at home (which hurts!) vs. the IV fluids is a huge leap. Don't be in a rush to leave. You're given a large stack of papers describing the medications they prescribe upon exiting the hospital. You'll need someone to drive you to the pharmacy to get all of them filled. You MUST have these meds, they include the pain medication which will be vital that first night out. You also need someone to drive you back to the hospital in case of any complications. Things to have at home BEFORE you arrive: - A thermometer (mandatory). If you feel horrible and need to call your surgeon, he'll ask your temperature. "I don't know" is the wrong answer - have a thermometer at home. - A blood pressure machine (mandatory). You can buy these for like $40 that go on the wrist in case your arm is too fat to hold a standard velcro wrap. If you've been on blood pressure medications BEFORE surgery, they will knock your BP into the very-low-danger-zone afterwards, so this is vital to keep your eye on. If this happens, call your primary doctor immediately to see how you need to adjust those drugs. - A heating pad. Absolute God-send after you've just painfully rolled out of bed to pee. Anyways, this was my experience! I hope this assists someone who wants more information about what happens behind the hospital doors.

One year through the trials of hell I started off at size 54 jeans and 6XL shirt. They were tight. I didn't wear them much because I mostly sat at the house, sans the occasional WalMart run to gather 10 2-liter Cokes for my many nights of playing World of Warcraft. Every Saturday night, I ordered an extra large Papa John's pizza with a large breadsticks and ate only that for all day Sunday watching football and playing video games. I had no girlfriend, no real friends, just the random online people I chatted with. And no computer vid cam because I never wanted anyone to see me. People on the internet are harsh, cruel and unyielding. My doctor had prescribed 3 blood pressure and 2 cholesterol medications. He told me basically that I was going to die if I kept my weight up. I was approaching 400lbs with no end in sight. Dieting had never worked for me, since I always gained the weight back. And bulletin boards were no help, since most of the people there gained it back too. I hadn't exercised in 4 years, what was I supposed to do? He recommended the sleeve, but it would take 6 months to get approved. I was too impatient for that, so I continued my binge. The solution it seemed was to get a girlfriend! I posted my profile online, hit up every girl on the sites and got several dates. Nobody wanted a second date however after they looked at my fatness, bad attitude and social irregularities. I became even more depressed, scored more terrible dates and spiraled into a cycle of self hatred. The movie "50 First Dates" is a comedy, however in real life it's not all that funny. I actually had one girl see me from a distance, get repulsed and leave on our first encounter. She was my 50th date, and had successfully crushed what little self esteem I had left. I went home and repeatedly hit myself in the head until I was almost unconscious. Here I am, a highly educated man abusing myself because of my miserable life. As I laid there hurting. I decided to change. I started the surgery approval process, and threw away every piece of fattening food in the house. The surgeon's office had these huge chairs geared for morbidly obese people like me. It was weird to know that many other people had been on this journey, but comforting at the same time. In only three months I'd be under his knife, so it was time to get busy. I joined a local gym who's owner was a pure b***h. She was mean to me, saying I was too fat for most of the machines. As I took my first step onto the elliptical, it started cracking. Maybe that wench was right, I WILL break her equipment! After ten minutes at level 1, I thought I would pass out. So I sat on the floor hyperventilating as she ran over and started yelling at me for being on the floor. I hated her. Fueled by hatred, frustration, with vivid memories of all the bad dates in my head and the gym owner's voice still ringing in my ear, I suffered through. The next day I did 10 minutes, then 20 and finally a full hour at level 1. I started on Atkins figuring I could lose a few pounds before surgery to get a healthy start. Then focusing my rage, I jacked the machine over the next few months to 3, 5, 7 and finally level 20 for a full hour. If you've never done level 20 on an elliptical, you can see your life flash before your eyes after a few minutes. Nobody else at the gym wanted any part of it as I poured sweat, breathed like a workhorse and suffered through. Not one person talked to me at the gym. Ever. Because if I wasn't near death when leaving, I didn't consider that a valid workout. Then came this happy HerbaLife guy named Lynn. He was very friendly, inviting me over to his weight loss challenge and encouraged me every few days. This was the first person in years that didn't look away, didn't ignore me and actually was fun to talk to. I dropped 13 lbs before this weight loss challenge began, and started my pre-op diet after few weeks in. And even had surgery on one of those Mondays so I missed that meeting. The VSG board said to walk after surgery so I did, even though it hurt like hell. I walked an hour the day of surgery, the day after and every day out of the hospital. My doctor said to not exercise for a month, but I didn't really care. I wanted the weight off. In my head, all I saw was that extra large pizza barely fitting into my refrigerator, the sickly smell of those breadsticks that weren't cooked properly half the time. So I married the treadmill and the elliptical in a ceremony of pain, sweat and anguish. I probably injured myself a couple of times during this process, but never reported it. I threw all my medications into the trash, drop kicking the empty bottles into the wall. And put my doctor's phone number on call blocking and didn't attend the follow-ups. It's me. And the gym. If we die together, so be it. After a couple months I had upped my exercise to 2 hours a day. When football was on, I'd watch a whole game from the treadmill for 3 hours. And then there was Lynn and his weight loss challenge. At the end of their 12 weeks, I had dropped 47 lbs + the 13 before for a grand total of 60lbs. I obliterated everyone. There was no second place. But in the process I had stumbled upon what fires me up - a challenge. Competing with other people, and being accountable made me lose faster, and keep it off. If you've ever attended one of these events, it's a huge Herbalife advertisement spam. But - the challenge aspect is what hooked me. I remember during this process the day that I stopped caring what people thought about me. It was a weird day, one where I decided to wear house shoes to workout. Working on my self-esteem, people skills and removing all the negativity from my life during this process freed me a lifelong burden. One where I constantly worried when someone didn't like me, or wouldn't make eye contact as I passed by. If you ever reach this point, your life will change dramatically. Society is filled with social pressure towards food. Every time I'm out with other people, we eat. But I drink an Atkins shake before I leave the house and normally don't eat anything. Other people try to shun you, ask why, etc. We had these little Herbalife pies in class the other day, and people were trying to guilt me into having a piece. Seriously? What a joke. I'm not hungry, and that little pie is a stumbling block towards my goal of LIVING MY LIFE THE WAY I WANT. As a populous, we've descended into food social pressure, so the other people can feel better about themselves by making you eat more. I signed up for another challenge, and am losing 7 lbs a week. I play Tetris on my phone during the videos, because I've seen them all before (sorry Lynn). At a social event last week, I had 3 women who were just fascinated by me and were all smiles and laughs. They actually liked me, which was strange from so many years ago. I've had several comment on my positive energy and great smile that I have all the time. NOT from losing weight alone, but working on fixing myself, my attitude, outlook on life, ridding myself of worry and fear. Sure the weight helps, but you can still be miserable while thin. The sleeve is not a panacea. I've gone from a 54 to 42 pants, soon to be at my goal weight. I'm off all medications. I shop at Old Navy instead of the fat store. I meditate an hour per day. I look in the mirror and see a sexy beast. Instead of the fat pig blood pressure velcro sleeve, I now can fit into the regular one. The doctor can find a vein in my arm now, instead of taking blood from my hand. And I'm under 300lbs for the first time since the 90's I feel fantastic all the time. Why? Because I'm living the life I want and deserve. Join me, find what FIRES YOU UP. Channel it into your diet and exercise, whatever it takes for you to reach your own personal goals and aspirations. Steve Jobs recently died at such a young age. Life is so short. If you get hit by a bus tomorrow, what will you see as your life passes before you? A miserable existence where other people AND FOOD control your happiness, or a life filled with self-love, joy and happiness? It's only food, guys. It was designed to keep you from being hungry for a few hours, not to reign control over your destiny. You are in control. Find your motivator. And live it. I saw a commercial for Papa John's pizza last weekend, and threw something at the tv. That vice is no longer a part of my journey.

I abolished my top 5 fears by going out and burying myself in situations I was scared of. During this time, I joined another 6 weeks weight loss challenge, and have dropped 34+ lbs and 18 inches. I won the challenge for a third time. Now wearing a 38 jean (from 54). I was also introduced to a lovely lady during this process, and we started dating. We have everything in common like thoughts, beliefs, ideas about religion and other stuff. After the first date, it was intense enough that she dropped the other 4 guys she was dating, and wanted to be my girlfriend. It's been 2 weeks now, and we spend pretty much all our spare time together. I'm fairly convinced this is my soul mate. Life is good.

I grab my own ass and say, "You like that don't you?"

You look sexy and amazing. Your husband is an idiot for seeing anyone else.