Facing50

Gotcha, that does make it harder. The puppy sounds so cute. Be careful not to fall in love.

Am I missing something (ie; do you live with your MIL?) If you and your husband both want a dog, why would you let her opinion dissuade you? I don't think someone should get a dog on a whim, but it sounds like you've thought about it and it might be really good for your husband. That whole unconditional love thing from dogs is kind of hard to beat as a mood-lifter.

Regarding the constipation, after one awful episode where I literally had cold sweats and was nauseaus for hours, I am really careful to avoid it now by making sure that I eat at least half a cup of lentils every day. High in both protein and fiber. Combined with enough liquids (make sure i have at least 60 oz), they seem to be enough.

After the surgery I lost for two weeks then stalled completely for two weeks, then lost for two weeks again. I would not be surprised it that is a pattern for me, basically following my period (stop losing while ovulating, lose several pounds while on my period.) It seems like everyone has different patten, and the stalls are discouraging no matter when and how often they come. I love the fact that I can't get discouraged and eat half a cheesecake now, though.

Bunny, the easiest way is to get it from Amazon or some other on-line provider. Look for PB2 (just put that or something like it - eg PB2 peanuts - into the search engine.) It seems expensive but it lasts me forever because I am not a huge peanut butter fan other than in shakes; I use it twice or three times a week in shakes and the lb bag I have should last for 4 months or so.

Ok, I am going to admit an embarrassing lie. I went to a new yoga studio yesterday and before the class started I told the teacher that I had had abdominal surgery five weeks ago so I would probably skip/modify the ab stuff. She was fine with that, but then after that asked me what type of surgery I had. I was totally unprepared for this, and did not want to go into it. Some people have been v. disapproving b/c I was not hugely overweight and did it mostly because of my diabetes, for which it is not yet really prescribed. So the reactions have ranged from the fact that I was taking the easy way out to lose 35 lbs, or crazy to have 85% of my stomach cut out on the chance that it could help the diabetes. The only thing I could think of was diverticulitis, for which my sister-in-law had had an operation. So I said that, and then she started asking me how much of my intestine they had taken out! Then a guy standing next to me said that his partner had diverticulitis, and did I have diet or other advice! When I started sputtering - I am a terrible liar - he clearly felt bad and tried to back off, saying he knew how "personal" illnesses like that could be. Anyway, now I feel terrible for (a) lying and ( making him feel awkward. I am going to take this as an "oh what a tangled web we weave" lesson and figure out a non-commital, non-lying response and tell the truth if that does not suffice.

I am 50 too, but look at it this way: while all the skinny menopausal ladies are becoming unpleasantly surprised by their new little bellies, we are see our big ones go away. At a little over 5 wks out I've lost 16 lbs and feel so great! Like Orthoman said, if I'd lost this much this fast at any other point in my life it would have been a miracle.

I agree with everyone else, I think that if you are not doing anything different it is just fluctation which will settle in a day or two. I know how hard it is not to weigh yourself, though, I keep telling myself not to and being drawn to the damn thing like a magnet every morning. I am going away for a month in March and looking forward to not having the chance to weigh myself at all.

That seems like a super low intake to me, too. Wouldn't someone's metabolism go into starvation mode and slow down drastically at that point? But heck, I'm not a doctor, I'm sure they have a good rationale for that plan.

I've heard that about rice and bread, that you have to be very careful with quantities because they swell. I am almost 6 wks out and started eating v. spicy food at about a week and a half, I just couldn't take the blandness anymore (I'm Indian, it is genetic ) I would buy thai Soup, ask for it extra spicy, then run it through the blender. So I'm pretty sure spice is not contraindicated per se, thank goodness.

Excellent points from dixiegal, I didn't even think about the cultural/social aspect of meals during business trips. During the days I did that I was always stuck in a conference room hoping not to get hit by flying invective from the higher-ups

I had a slight cold and cough and the doctor said that they would do it unless I had a fever and was coughing up mucus. I was nervous about the cough in particular, I just thought that it would be really painful. Everything was fine, I sailed through recovery and had no issues at all. The cough was no worse after surgery than before, and although it was uncomfortable to cough with the stitches it was not intolerable.

I'm taking a month long trip 7 weeks after surgery. The only thing I made sure to do differently than other trips was to get the optional travel insurance. I just figured it would be easier to deal with if I had some kind of medical event than trying to coordinate with Kaiser. Also I would be careful with the amount of weight you carry, ie; use a small rolling suitcase, maybe check it instead of carrying on (so you don't have to life it over your head.) I might take some unflavored Protein powder just to make sure you can stir it into tea, coffee, etc, if you are running around an lot and having trouble timing everything right. Having to do 4 tiny meals separated by 30 minute breaks before and after drinking can be tough with a busy work day. I don't think food will be a problem - Singapore is so cosmopolitan, you should have no issues finding appropriate stuff to eat there.

I totally agree, Janarae, I would have just paid full freight in the US if I'd thought that I could not find a Mexican surgeon who could give me as good care as I would have received in the US. There were a handful of people that I felt were as good or better than US doctors just because they had done so many of these procedures (it's been legal for longer there) and with so few apparent statistical problems and so many good reviews. The only drawback I could see was that follow up for complications might not be covered by my insurance since the surgery wasn't. I weighed out the possibility of that, plus the fact that since I am in LA (close to the surgeon in Tijuana) and thought it was worth it.

I'm glad you have had a good experience with an understanding doctor. I have to say, despite the fact that I could not get insurance coverage, it was a really good/easy experience. I have pretty much sailed through the first month with no real problems, I have not had a minute of regret. And ask away, for the most part this is a really informative, helpful board.

Wow, you guys are babies. I started college in 1980:) My forum name is actually outdated now, it should be "FacedFifty". Much better off at 50 than 49, thanks to the sleeve. I am actually meeting my two best friends from college in about 3 wks in Ireland, I am so glad that I will be able to lose some weight before seeing them, I was kind of hating the idea of facing them before.

I think you guys are considerably younger (just googled deal a meal and it looks like you were in elementary school in 1987-ish, about 20 years after me!) I don't remember those diets, but have tried my share of others in the past few years. It just gets harder as you get older, you are doing the right thing dealing with it now, and getting to enjoy the benefits for longer.

Yay for us!!! Isn't it great not to have to worry about testing sugar all the time (not to mention going blind and all the other stuff?) I think a lot of PCPs think that people like us are trying to "take the easy way out". I could tell that my PCP was dead set against it. I think that in a few years surgery like/related to this will be routinely available to people who are seriously diabetic, at least Type 2's, regardless of weight. So much better than the alternative.

Flibbertygibberty, that is just crazy. There is no way they should have nixed you. It really sucks that you had to pay for something that you should be covered for, especially given the fact that your insurer will be reaping financial benefits from the fact that your health will be so much better. Five weeks out and I am already off my meds for diabetes/cholesterol/high BP.

I think most of us Mexico alum. are people who either had no insurance or weren't covered. I have insurance (Kaiser) but Kaiser did not approve it b/c my BMI was too low (32) despite my co-morbidities, so I decided to do it out-of-pocket. If you are covered it makes sense to do it under your coverage, especially w/r/t followup and potential complications (even given the low percentages of those.)

Hello all, Had terrible blood sugar levels before surgery despite being on meds. Afterwards they totally corrected to below 100 (ie, normal) without meds. Took miralax for the first time about an hour ago and they are measuring almost 180. Anyone else have any experience with this? If so, any advice (especially if you have received input in this from a doc?)

double post

It is actually good, good enough that I don't mind using it as a meal substitute (and I still love to eat and cook, so I hoard those calories carefully I just hate the taste of the pre-mixed shakes so much I thought that I would skip the whole shake phase until I came across that recipe, now I probably have three a week, especially when it gets too busy to eat at regular intervals otherwise. Check with your doc about the chia seeds, I didn't get much guidance on those and started about 3 weeks out (am a bit past 4 now.) It just seems like there is so much varation in advice from docs/nutritrionists.

"This stall is why I always failed at diets in the past - when they inevitably occur, it's just so demoralizing!" The great thing about being sleeved is that a stall will not make you fail at this. Like you, in the past it was really easy to fall off the wagon when it seemed like good behavior wasn't doing any good anyway. But now I eat a certain amount and that's it, no more space. So it makes it a lot easier to ignore a stall, at least w/r/t engaging in negative reactive behavior. It seems like the stall question is the one that is most often asked, by far, by us newbies. I can't wait to get to the point where I look back (several stalls later) and realize how much energy I wasted worrying about them. Rick, that was a super well considered, well written post, thanks for sharing it with us.

I went to Dr. Ponce de Leon in Tijuana. Highly, highly recommend him.