circa

Congratulations!
My first advice is to get rid of the scale. ESPECIALLY early on. The weight will come off, don't worry. Just eat the way your team told you to.
As far as sleeping, my wife made a pocket of pillows which I nestled in sleeping at about a 45 degree angle. I was able to sleep that way with pillows all around me.
Good luck, keep sipping Water and Protein shakes. Try to walk as much as is comfortable.

I have seen a couple of posts from people worried about taking in too little food, and I thought I'd post this handy hint I learned a long time ago. It's called the "rule of threes" and is a rule of thumb for how long you can survive without basic necessities:

3 minutes without air
3 hours without shelter
3 days without Water
3 weeks without food
3 months without hope

The point of my post is that you can survive for three entire weeks without a single bite of food. Obese people like us, perhaps four. So if you're only able to eat 400-500 calories a day, don't fret. You're not going to starve for a long, long time. Just try to make sure that the calories you ARE getting are high quality (enough Protein, enough micronutrients, etc.)
And as the "rule of threes" shows, getting Water is MUCH, much more important and urgent than food, and yet even here you could (theoretically) survive three whole days without a single drop (including the water you get in your food).
So, if you're fretful or a hypochondriac like me, don't worry quite so much. Do everything the doctor tells you, tell him/her about any strange or worrisome new symptoms, and focus on recovery -- not "what could go wrong."

Neither what you eat or a number on the scale makes you horrible. Don't forget that!

Well, it looks like I'm the first man to chime in here. Be gentle with me ladies.
There is a famine in this world for men who act like men. Real men are not abusive, insensitive, self-centered, and mean. That is just being stupid jerks.
Many men have the emotional maturity of a 3 year old. A real man is strong and knows he is. He doesn't have to prove it to himself by pushing a woman or kids around. His knowledge of his own worth and power frees him to be gentle and kind. He knows he's a man so he is secure enough to cry, feel love, give love, and cherish his wife and kids. He doesn't have to have phony machismo. A man isn't a man because he is an ignorant barbarian.
I have been married for over 40 years to the same sweety. We've had our hard times especially during my "mid-life crisis". But our deep love for each other and our faith in God pulled us back together. She was so loving to me during my cancer treatment and has proven herself to be the best thing that ever happened to me.
Picking on a woman because she is overweight just shows what a dredfully shallow, insecure, weak man you are. I pray that your husbands will get a good look at themselves and join the ranks of real men.
My sweety is 4 weeks out of RouxNY and is beeming because of her new body. I am crying as I write this because I a SO happy for her! I get the sleeve surgery on the 16th. We are going to live out the remainder of our days just as we started together; two very much in love, slender, healthy people walking on the beach and thanking God for the gift of our marraige.

Been exactly where you are for 30 years. I finally left 8 years ago. We had 5 kids and all have been permanently damaged because of him and his behavior. In my case talking to him about his behavior did no good-It took me over 20 years to get up the nerve to confront him and he denied ever calling me or our kids names. I think part of the reason I gained weight was in response to his behavior.
I can almost guarantee that losing weight will not change his behavior. He'll just find something else to pick on your for. But as your self-esteem starts to return you will be better prepared to make decisions about what to do.
Regardless, now is the time you need to focus on yourself. Do the things you need to help yourself get healthy. And whether or not you think you'll ever leave him, I would suggest that you get some job training-we never know what our future will hold-but it's best to be prepared for whatever. I wish I had done that.
Good Luck and please keep coming around for support. There are many of us who have been where you are.

I really would like to be able to give you a nice, peaceful resolution, but I'm just not that person. I probably would have slapped the absolute mess outta him and then I would have given him the worst cussing of his life. But what will probably be the sweetest revenge is when you get slim, and have other men salivating over you.

bypass IS in fact reversible. I know a few people that have had it reversed for medical reasons. One person had stomach cancer and had to have it reversed. Doctors don't like to reverse it, but they will. Another person I know had it reversed because she ate her pouch to a regular sized stomach. It was reversed, she healed then was given a sleeve.
People push what they know. Its no different than people having their favorite make of car. Its what they know, what they're used to. There is actually quite a bit of information regarding sleeve success, just not necessarily in this country. There's quite a bit of information on not having a procedure at all too

Good topic - I was wondering the same thing - I've had a couple of gall stones that were IN-FRIGGIN-SANE in the pain area - and I have an extremely high threshold for pain. And...to be honest, I can deal with the pain. I just CAN'T. THROW. UP. I hate hate hate throwing up - I know it'll make you feel better yadda yadda yadda - but I just will do anything to make it NOT happen. (So as you can see, bulimia was never an issue for me ) I think I might ask my surgeon to remove it. Thanks for the tip!

Surgery is scheduled for January 27th Had to schedule a little over a month out in order to have time to get my new passport What's really great is that my husband can also go with me now

I have some things to say on this. He IS very experienced like you said and:
 
1) The armed robbery was in late August. I was there September 2nd for my surgery. It was at the recovery house and it was an inside job, which is why the person was able to get in. They dealt with it though and the staff that is there now is amazing.
 
2) Most surgeons do several surgeries a day. He doesn't do above the norm in my opinion.
 
3) He doesn't speak very good English, but his staff does and they will translate for you. He's working on it.
 
4) I live in Houston. There are TONS of surgery centers here no bigger than a strip mall unit and usually laparoscopic procedures can be done in them as outpatient procedures. The same is true in many other cities.
 
6) You go to a recovery house where there is a nurse that will take out your IV port and your drain. There are 2 nice full bathrooms, 1 half bathroom and there is one large room with 5 single beds and 2 other smaller rooms with 2 single beds. The beds are comfortable and the rooms are kept cool and dark in the evening. Plus, Sylvester will give you massages (tip him well, he works there for room and board but it not paid.. )
 
7) There are many other facilities that if you travel to you'll have to take out your exterior incisions or have your doctor do so. Not sure what you expect. I had my husband take mine out after 12 days. It took 5 minutes and was no big deal.
 
Overall, I am pleased with my experience. Dr. Almanza is friendly and the nurses were EXCELLENT. I even have one "friended" on Facebook. LOL. I had a not-so-great reaction to the general anesthesia, but that is not their fault.

I was within a pound of my original goal at six months, which was to be down about 92lb before I lowered it another 10lb to better match where by body composition was going, but I wasn't focusing on any particular time target. I can't offer any particular tips as this is just how it worked for me and I did all the wrong things (except exercise - that was a constant) according to the no-carb evangelists. The best way to get to goal quickly is to start closer to it and according to popular perception, have a Y chromosome (guys seem to lose quicker than gals, though I suspect that has more to do with higher average "should be" weights driving higher ending metabolic rates.) The exercise is a major part of it, and seems to be common in most who have been successful long term - I suspect that building/maintaining a higher metabolic rate thru the exercise, particularly strength/resistance training to build/maintain muscle mass, is more valuable than a very low caloric intake, and certainly is long term for weight maintenance according to the consensus of studies on the topic.
You shouldn't expect to lose weight consistently, as the loss gets harder as time goes on - your caloric deficit shrinks as your metabolic rate drops some with the loss, and most particularly, your exercise burns less as you are moving less weight around. Typically, you would expect to see declining loss numbers as you proceed, and some will be more or less consistent on this depending upon stalls and the like. I lost at a fairly smoothly declining rate - 33 the first month (when we all typically have our largest drop due to the adjustments our bodies are making) followed by a couple months at 14-15 down, then three months at 10 down and the seventh into the goal range was down 9. This past month since then I've only lost a couple of pounds, but more importantly to me is that my body composition has continued to move in the right direction, dropping around another 3% in body fat down into the mid teens (mid-normal range for men). I never had any stalls of note (only one week in the middle where I didn't lose anything) which I suspect may be from not going too far into starvation mode from being ultra low cal/carb.
Philosophically, I would rather lose what I need to lose over 18 months rather than 6 months, if there were some way of being assured that I would actually lose it all - rapid weight loss isn't the healthiest condition for our bodies, but it's something that we put up with to make sure we lose it this time. Post-op, I quickly settled into a 900-1000 calorie per day routine as something that was comfortable that satisfied and provided requisite Protein along with enough for some additional essential nutrition - some fruits and veg in there, and some complex carb added later to help fuel some workouts as intensity increased. Seeing that my loss rate was reasonable, I made no effort to drop my intake to the 6-800 cal levels that some docs advise, but did let it rise slowly over time into the 1000-1100 range as I worked to add nutrition. I generally have focused more on proper diet leading toward long term weight maintenance habits, but consistent with continuing the loss to goal, than in speeding toward that goal - for many, if not most, of us VSGers, long term weight maintenance will be a bigger challenge than the loss itself.

I think that we beat ourselves up for so long that we've relegated ourselves to feeling bad being "normal" - to the point where we don't understand the feeling of feeling good any longer - so when it happens, its foreign and we try to push against it. Its not "normal" Welcome to your new normal Embrace it - you've earned it

I'm going in 3 weeks - will be happy to report my experience

thanks everyone funny thing though i just found out that i have been losing and my scale was broken like 15lbs over broken.!! so that pretty much made my life and now i am pretty relaxed about it i cant wait to drop more.

Lifting weights is going to be your best route to add muscle, which will help take the place vacated by the loss of fat. This is because you have a measurable metric to gage by. Resistance bands are great, but the amount of resistance can change by adjusting a few factors. How much stretch are you starting with? How far are you stretching them. It is easy to cheat with bands. Weights won't lie to you.
The extra skin will be there, though, so we can only offset it by a small amount. I will probably start looking at plastic surgery once I have my sleeve paid off, which will be sometime late next year.
As far as the nutrition goes, everyone is going to have an opinion on this. Here is mine.
Eating carbs before a workout is not going to help you at all during that workout. Those carbs need to be processed by your body and stored. Your body will use what has already been processed and stored. Yes, those need to be replaced, so your best bet is to maintain a carb intake level that is right for you. As long as you maintain your workout routine, you maintain that carb intake. Slack off on working out, cut back the carbs, increase workouts or intensity, increase carbs to maintain your energy stores. Protein should be taken within 30 minutes of completing your lifting routine so the muscles can be repaired and built. I try to finish my shake within 15 minutes, before I shower.
What I have suggested to many is to pay for a session with a personal trainer. Let's look at what we have done here and the amount of $$ we have paid. Let's look at how much $$ we are saving on food each month. If we're making an effort for fitness, don't we want to do it efficiently? I think $50 would be worth it. If you belong to a club, talk to whoever the head trainer is and tell them your story and what your goals are. They should be able to set you up with the trainer and program that is right for you.

Have you personally called the insurance company? That's where I would start. Be your own advocate. Get them to fax the letter and mail you a copy - and even fax it or email it if they have the capability. You should receive a copy in the mail anyway. Call and don't stop calling until you get what you're asking for.

Coinsurance is the amount of the procedure or bill that you accept the responsibility for. Its the most ridiculous word used in the insurance industry. Its not really any different than a copay, other than its usually a percentage, rather than a set amount. So if your insurance covers 80%, you have a 20% coinsurance that you're responsible for paying. If you're double covered, you would probably have a very minute amount to pay if anything. One more thing - as far as coinsurance is concerned, it cannot exceed your "out of pocket maximum" So if you have a $2000.00 out of pocket maximum on your policy, even if your 20% of the bill comes to more than that, you won't have to pay any more than the $2000.00

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

Yeah, it's a real b**ch being a sex symbol

I too have had a few women comment, sometimes inappropriately about my "figure" and new muscles. I really make sure to let the wifey know that I am NOT encouraging these advances.

Hmmm ... liquid diet getting 60-70 g of Protein but not doing shakes ... interesting. I would love to know what their plan is.
For me, it was very tough and I fell short daily getting my Protein in and I did use Protein Shakes.< /p>
I agree, the first few weeks not meeting goal didn't cause me to suffer, but I do know I have lost A LOT of muscle mass which I'm sure has to do lowering my overall protein intake.
Why are they anti-protein and what is their plan to get you protein in the early days? Unless they are OK with your body feeding off of itself for the protein. Sure, you'd have more weight loss and perhaps that is all they care about.
Ask questions. Make them give you answers you understand.
Just because someone has a "Dr" in front of their name, doesn't always mean they know what they are talking about or aren't looking out for their own best interest.

The sabotage comes from making excuses to not put some effort into doing what we need to do. We have all seen the posts from those who say they can't drink the Protein shakes but admit they haven't tried any variety. If one doesn't work, you shouldn't throw your hands in the air and say, "Protein Shakes don't work for me" like we see posted on a daily basis. I think we have all made a commitment to change in going through with this. I just hate to see someone sell themselves short by not putting in the smallest effort to find what works for them. That, to me, is sabotage.

I think that we beat ourselves up for so long that we've relegated ourselves to feeling bad being "normal" - to the point where we don't understand the feeling of feeling good any longer - so when it happens, its foreign and we try to push against it. Its not "normal" Welcome to your new normal Embrace it - you've earned it

I called my insurance the day after it was submitted and the rep said they had received everything.... Then I called the next day, I was approved!!
I would call myself!! It won't hurt!!!..

I'm looking forward to having the "loose skin problem" cuz its one hell of a lot better than the extra fat-can't-do-anything problem I have now. I know I'll have loose skin - I had it before I gained all this weight. I've always had flabby arms - I broke my forearms and had no upper body strength. I am willing and WILL have plastic surgery. I don't mind scars - I see them as reminders from a lesson learned. I don't want to wear a bikini, I want to be healthy again and feel good about myself. If I have a scar to remind me of all the hell I've been through, then so be it. It'll match all the other ones. The one on my right breast reminds me to do my self exams. They're my battle scars - I've survived a lot and I'm going to survive this. I have about 200 lbs to lose to be at my "ideal weight" but ideal is relative. I'll be happy with losing about 160-180 lbs. You're not alone here. We've all got a number we're fighting against. I think I'm going to stop fighting the number and start searching for the feeling. The feeling of being healthy. It doesn't have to equal a number.

Ok so I haven't posted much -- but I read this forum all the time. I've been inspired so much, so I wanted to share my success so far. I was sleeved on 9/19/11 and have lost a little over 100lbs so far! I still have a long way to go, but I feel so much better already. This surgery was one of the best decisions of my life. FYI, I have a few more photos that I'm saving for my GOAL post