Skinnypie

I have officialy been post op for 1 month today just wanted to post because, initially when I was looking for information about Dr. Ferrari, in Houston, TX, I didn't find a lot. So, here it is.... I am 1 month out, 27.5 lbs down (even though I'm on TOM) and feel AMAZING! I was referred to Dr. Ferrari by my OBGYN... I was pretty nervous about the whole WLS thing, but like many others, decided to go ahead and do an initial consult to see what it was all about. Originally I thought I wanted the band (I had never heard of VSG) but Dr. Ferrari was very against the band, not sure if in general, or just in my case. He examined me and said I was a great candidate for VSG, all of that was back in late August 2012. It took me a while to finally decide for sure that I wanted to go through with the surgery, so...at least 1 month after I started the actual process (getting blood work, echo, psych eval., NUT appt.) and took me about 1 month to be able to schedule everything and get it all done... I contacted Dr. Ferrari's office throughout the process to make sure they were receiving all of my results, letters, etc. and to find out about things being submitted to my insurance. His staff is very friendly and helpful (I had LOTS of questions). It took just over 2 weeks to get approved by my insurance and as soon as I got approved they asked me when I wanted to have surgery the first available date was two weeks later, but that didn't work with my schedule... He operates on Mondays and Thursdays, so I found the next available Thursday that worked for me Dec. 20 and that was that. I had one pre-op consult the week before surgery, by that time I had a lot more questions for the Doctor. Dr. Ferrari is a very "matter of fact" kind of guy, which I really appreciate and also (in my opinion) I think he's a very focused surgeon because of it (he's not a hugE conversationalist, but that was definitely the least of my priorities in a surgeon). Fast forward to my surgery date, I was scheduled at 7 am and had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am... I was a nervous wreck!! everything went great, the time is a blur after that, but here's what I remember : went into the operating room talked to a nurse (she was an angel) that comforted me and the anesthesiologist came in and told me she would give me something to "take the edge off," next thing I know I woke up in recovery and kept telling the nurse I had to pee and she kept assuring me that i had a catheter and they had drained my bladder so that was not possible. Next I remember being taken to my room where my Amazing Husband and Dad were waiting to see me, the nurses were all amazing and, while I originally thought I would love the pain med button... I didn't use it much, yes, I was in some pain but it was never unbearable, i stayed overnight and was able to go home around 2pm the next day. No liquids at all until I had my second leak test almost right before I was discharged, Dr. ferrari came in to check on me after the leak test and said I was ready to go home After surgery I only took the pain medicine for about 4 days, and even that was mostly because I was scared... More than anything I felt soreness not so much pain... I had walked a lot in the hospital and gotten a lot of the gas out. I didn't have any trouble with fluids and had a lot of Powerade zero in the beginning...I was on full liquids as soon as I went home and after 2 weeks soft foods. And that's my story A little long, but wanted to share in case anyone needed info on Dr. Ferrari, i am so happy with my choice in doctor... The staff, the nurses, and hospital far exceeded my expectations. I know everyone's body is different and recovery will also be different but, If I had to do it all over again i would choose Dr. Ferrari and would recommend him to anyone. I feel so blessed to be having an easy recovery and to be 27.5 lbs down in 1 month!!

I just saw a recipe on Racheal Ray's show by Rocco Dispirito, the "pasta" is high in protein because it is made with chicken, and it looks so easy! Can't wait to try it! All he did was put ice in a blender, added cubed Frozen chicken breast an egg white powder. When he blended it all together it turns into a paste and he put it in a squeeze bottle. He had water boiling already (with salt) and he turned the burner off and started squeezing the chicken paste into the hot water in swirls and it looks exactly like spaghetti!! The recipe is not up on the website yet but as soon as I see it I will add a link. I just had to share... I'm so excited about this recipe

You should be able to find it in the baking isle at the grocery store

I just found this website on Pintrest & think It's pretty awesome, It allows you to put in your height, weight, body type, shirt and pant sizes and it gives you actual pictures of REAL women who share your same numbers... http://www.mybodygallery.com/index.html before I always wondered how "big" I really was and would look at other women and wonder if they wore the same size as me... It's weird how different I saw myself in the mirror vs. pictures for example. Now, I am post surgery and while I know I am losing weight and people point it out all the time, it's harder for me to see when I look in mirror, I found this site to be eye opening for me... Hope someone finds this helpful

You say it's a "burning achy feeling," could it be heartburn? Have you increased your physical activity at all? My hunger has never completely gone away like some people, but when I work out I get hungry sooner than usual (say every 2 hours in between some meals instead of 3). If you have a vigorous workout your body might need more fuel? Just some guesses...

Yes, you read that right... Well, ok it has less than 1g of carb.... And it's not really "bread" but it tastes delish! (pic attached) According to MFP this has less than 1g of carbs, 43 calories and 2g of Protein. Just made them and was so surprised at how "bread-like" this is... I tried it straight from the oven and it tasted a little eggy, but I had it a couple of hours later and I liked it, I also read some of the comments on the recipe and some people added cinnamon, flavored cream cheese or other "sweet" stuff to make this a sweet treat. I put chicken salad on top of mine and ate it like an open faced sandwich So, here is the link and recipe: eggs (separated) 3 tablespoons of whole milk cottage cheese or 3 tablespoons of cream cheese (I used cream cheese) 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar 1 single size packet of artificial sweetener Directions: 1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees 2) Separate the eggs very carefully, there must be no yolk in the white 3) In one bowl mix together the egg yolks, 3T of cottage cheese (or cream cheese) and the packet of sweetener until smooth. 4) in the other bowl add 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar to the whites and beat the whites on high speed until they are fluffy and form nice peaks. 5) Very carefully fold the egg yolk mixture into the whites until mixed, but try not to break down the fluffiness of the egg whites too much. 6) Spray 2 cookie sheets with Fat free cooking spray 7) With a large spoon scoop the mixture into 10 even rounds (mine came out to 9) roughly 5 inches across, about the size of a hamburger bun. 8) bake in the middle rack and watch them as cooking times may vary, should be somewhere around 30 minutes, could be less or more. Bake until golden brown. 9) Remove from baking sheets and cool on a cutting board or cooling rack While they are warm they are crumbly and similar to meringue, but once completely cool seal them in a ziplock bag or tupperware overnight and the texture will change to something softer, more like bread Let me know what you think!

Get it Girl! Way to go, youre looking thinner AND younger (not that you looked old or anything- you know what I mean) keep it up !

I've struggled some with this internally as well, but I often wonder if some of it was in my head and if in reality I ALSO acted differently before, if I gave off a different, unapproachable vibe and maybe that is why people treated me differently...? I guess I will never really know. Like you said though, I try to be kind to everyone no matter their size, shape, color, age etc... It's really a lot to think about!!

My first day home from surgery my "caretakers" (Dad & Hubby) ordered a pizza... Pre-surgery it was my favorite food.... It made me feel so nauseated I had to go and lock myself in a back bedroom . Good job on acknowledging that you are satisfied and don't need that food though! I'm almost 6 months out and I constantly have those inner dialogues. Stay strong!!!

Yes, I live in Houston now, but I'm from Laredo Most of my family is there and across. How have you been feeling with your pregnancy?

Yes! I've only had it once and it felt like a brick in my tummy... Thank goodness, I don't touch the stuff!! Crackers are ok though. I buy the mini saltines to eat with chicken or tuna from time to time, they allow for slower, smaller bites & I eat a lot less of them ( there are 17 in a serving, 70 cals. 11g carbs) I usually eat about half a serving

Yes!! Totally annoying... But the part that gets me is realizing I used to eat like that!!! I feel too guilty to call anyone out on it :/

Here's the website: http://www.waterfi.com/ Originally I skimped and bought a cheap waterproof mp3 player but it only lasted like 3 workouts and started going out, but the iPod works awesome, I love it really makes my swim "workout" time fly by!

That is amazing!! Congrats!! Part of the reason for my surgery was fertility... Can't wait to experience this, how exciting!!! (Also, I'm Laredo proud)

This is still at the gym, BUT... I took up swimming and I can't tell you how much I LOVE it, bought a waterproof iPod & the time flies, also you don't get all sweaty & no one is looking at you cause you're in the pool... Somehow it just doesn't feel like "exercise" until I walk out to my car & legs feel like jello lol

Wow!! You are doing amazing!!! Keep up the hard work!!

I'm not an expert, but I THINK that when the number is negative that means you are actually burning calories, like if you eat 100 calories and then burn off 100 calories that just brings you back to zero i.e. no weight loss & you only burned off what you just ate. But negative means you burned off what you ate plus calories that you already had on your body...? Maybe? Not sure if that answered your question or helped, but I don't think negative is a bad thing IMHO

I've never been asked on a form what my nationality is, because American IS a nationality... I think what you are referring to is "ethnicity"

Also? Ecuadorian is NOT a race, it's a nationality, thanks.... I don't see how that is an insult, it was simply used as and adjective in this case, I wouldn't be insulted if someone called me American because that's my nationality.

What about a gyno or even some dentists take your weigh? I had a 40 bmi no co-morbs & got approved, I had BCBS Good luck!! Stay positive & don't give up before it's begun

The subject line of her post said something like "I used a fake letter," and when someone called her out on it she was like "well... i mean, it WAS from a real doctor in Ecuador... So It was real" and her screen name had her real name, when someone pointed THAT out, she denied it was her name and changed it.... And someone found a past post where she had her city/date/ surgeon etc.... It was pretty funny ) too bad it got deleted

It's great that you are getting lots of liquids in! Don't worry, you probably won't start feeling "restriction" until you start eating actual food (purees & solids) for the first week or 2 the most important thing is fluids to avoid dehydration, if you can het the proteins in that is good, but don't stress if you can't (also remember the fluid proteins count as fluid) please don't be discouraged, everything you are experiencing sounds totally normal

People didn't start noticing until around 40 lbs, and that was only a few people, more people are really noticing now and I'm at -68. I don't necessarily "see" it myself, but I have gone from a size 20 to 14. Don't get discouraged, it definitely takes a while for people to notice, but that doesn't mean you aren't doing great! H: 5'4" S/W: 264.7 C/W: 196.4

I was told by my Doc to wait 10 days to drive :/ is there anything close by? A park you could walk to?

Also? You're going to wish you could eat this stuff when you're on post-op liquid diet just look at it that way Just trying to spin this in a positive way good luck!!!