johnlatte

At this stage it is normal to have a mourning period. However, "only dropping 12 pounds" isn't the right attitude to take. Think about the reasons that you had the surgery. Obviously you have made the commitment to get healthy and live a better lifestyle. Down the road, there is no reason that you can enjoy the foods that you are enamored with, you simply won't be able to gorge yourself. It will take a bit of time and some self discipline on your part, but if you remain committed to living longer and healthier and focus on the long term, you won't be in such a bad place. Good luck - Stay focused.

So I guess that part of this is an actual scale victory, but in some ways it isn't. My whole goal for WLS was to get off as many drugs as possible. I've been taking diabetes medicine along with hbp meds, and cholesterol meds for almost 10 years. In actuality I've never been diagnosed as a diabetic, only IGT and I've never had high cholesterol. The endocrinologist that I saw, felt that this was a preventative measure. My BP was high at the time, but I am not sure that I really needed the meds. By the time I saw the Dr. I has dropped about 60 pounds, and I think if he had waited a bit before testing me, we would have seen that my numbers were coming down. My A1C never got about 6.1 until right before surgery when it when to 7.0. I was taking Actos, (a proven carcinogen) 2000mg Metformin, Avapro and Vytorin. I took myself off the Actos right before surgery after reading that it will lead to bladder cancer. After surgery, I cut my meformin back to 1500mgs. On Wednesday, I went to my PCP who has been really very supportive and we talked in detail about my plan to get off the drugs entirely. He hedges a bit, but I think he feels we can get there. So....he cut my metformin to 1000mg, cut out my Vytorin entirely and to my surprise cut my Avapro to half the dosage!!! Wasn't even lobbying for that one. We did a blood test to baseline my numbers and will do another in 3 months. I'm down 50 lbs since November 20th and have 50 to go to hit my goal. It feels SOOO good to be off the drugs. Just by having the surgery has increased my quality of life 100%. By summer, I expect to be drug free! If you are reading this and you haven't had surgery yet. This is probably the best reason above all to do it. It won't be the easiest thing that you will do and at times you will hate it But gosh the benefits so out weigh the short term struggles. Peace... John

When I first decided to have VSG, I didn’t initially come to this board. I did my research, talked to my Drs. and went through the process. Any questions that I had, I was able to research through the internet and typically I found answers. If I couldn’t I would discuss them with my Dr. or my nutritionist during my 6 month pre-op requirement. I found this board just days before my surgery. I came here looking for mutant people like myself. People whose life had spun out of control and sought solace and comfort in excessive food and drink. People who had decided that they have had enough of the churn. People that were taking the steps to improve their health and their lives. People that actually allowed themselves to be spread out on an operating table and let a group of strangers cut out a perfectly good stomach. You see, I don’t have a lot of support at home as my spouse had RNY a few years back and failed to maintain her weight and is fairly obese again. She’s been pretty passive aggressive about the whole thing and, well that’s a whole Jerry Springer episode all in itself. I don’t have any close family, and I didn’t share my surgery with anyone who was particularly close friend wise. For some unexplained reason, I needed to be in a tribe for this journey, so I found this board. I came here and I met a whole raft of nice people, people that I enjoyed conversing with on a daily basis, mutants like myself (you all know who you are, and I thank you for the friendship that you all have extended to me). I learned things on this board and I contributed and tried to support. As I did, I came to realize that this surgery is a whole lot tougher on some people than it had been for me both physically and mentally. I guess that I had focused so much on trying to lose the weight and get healthy, that I didn’t see WLS as that big of deal. I’ve done every diet, taken nutrition classes as part of my school work, was a pretty faithful follower of good gym habits; I just couldn’t put down the fork and the cup. I barreled through all this like I always had, by not taking any prisoners. It never occurred to me that others weren’t like that, so it was an eye opening experience to hear the struggles of others. As I tried to pass along my experiences and support, I started getting offline messages. Some were funny, some were more questions, but over the last couple of weeks, I got a couple that were just down right mean. I was being chided for responding in an honest and forthright manner, not being judgmental, but offering an opinion based on experience and facts. Then last week, I was perusing a thread over in one of the other sections that basically called out the so called “vets” on the board for hijacking threads and interjecting silliness and nonsense into too many threads. The poster felt like all this should be relegated to the chat room and policed off the boards. What really melted my butter was a reply by someone that I had truly respected, and someone that had been chastised openly on the board for some of their responses, actually agreeing with the poster about how some of the “vets” handled their posts. This was someone that I had actually defended and sent a message of encouragement to, now blazing away at others (and myself, in my opinion) on the board. It was a wake-up call that maybe there are mutants here that don’t come here for the same reasons that I do. Maybe they feel that this should be a very narrow, well patrolled repository of information and facts, and that there’s no room for a joke and a smile and a bit of irreverent behavior among the tribes people. So, last week I decided to take a few days away from VST and figure out what I wanted from it. Had I graduated from the tribe of mutants? Was this drama that seems to interweave itself into threads on a regular basis worth it? Had I really been that callus in my responses as I was accused of being? I even visited another gastric sleeve board just to get a perspective of how the other tribes live. Then, it dawned on me that we all come here to get something that we need. It might be information, it might absolution, it may be reassurance, and it might even be a joke when we need one, but we all come here seeking something. Because my reasons for being here are different from others, I shouldn’t be castigated for offering an opinion or a word of tough love or even warm and fuzzy encouragement. I shouldn't feel bad to have a joke with a fellow mutant about some nonsense. But, I have decided that for now, it is best that I don’t participate as regularly as I have in the past. I want to continue to learn, I want to see how others react to their quest for health, but mainly I want to be with my tribe. I can do that from the lurkers chair just as easy as I can by participating and I don’t have to sweep the drama from my mailbox. Thanks for listening – I appreciate each and every one of you for taking the courage to make the life altering changes necessary to live a long and happy life. Peace.... John

Yeah that's where I'm headed, I've been there but not as much. I'm bailing out of VST, just got another PM about some stupid BS. Plus the thread about the vets hijacking threads is just more BS. As much as I like it here and have enjoyed meeting all of y'all. I don't need it that bad. I wish all you good luck down the road with your journeys.

Nah...you're a sleever, you can handle anything!

Down south here we have Hardee's which is owned by Carl Jr. They put out something similar. I went up on the website, and pulled down the numbers on this puppy. You don't have to wait until 9:00 to get this you can get it anytime. Bon appetit!! Calories = 1820 Cal from Fat = 710 Fat = 78g Saturated Fat = 26g Sodium = 3040mg Carbs = 239g Protein 58g

There you go. Good luck, I am a bit older than you are, but most of my reasons are very similar.

Everyone. The week 3 stall is very common. If you use the search function at the top and put in 3 week stall, you will get a whole lot of tips on how to break out of it. Basically your body has adjusted to the the decrease in calories and is going into starvation mode. There are several techniques on how to break the stall. You'll have to find the one that works the best for your situation.

I predict more candidates for VSG on the horizon.....

I'm not a vet in the terms used by this board (only 3 1/2 months out), but I have participated quite a bit. But I have thought about starting a closed FB group. I'm getting a bit burned out on VST since there's rarely a new or interesting question and I don't feel as comfortable posting the way I used to since I've gotten PMs from people about not being super supportive. There's been some awesome people that I've met on this board that I would love to keep in touch with and just socialize with without all the scrutiny some of the busybodies around here that seem to monitor every post for the correct level of "supportiveness". Any who, I would vote for a private group, but like I said I am not what the board considers a vet.

Non fat, no sugar added frozen yogurt contains about 20 grams of carbs per 4 oz. That's an awful lot for a sleever. If you were getting 2000 calories a day that would still be about 7% of your daily carb intake. Its about 82% carbs over Protein from a nutritional standpoint. Not sure where you are in your process, so maybe its okay for you and carbs aren't a problem, but I would caution you to put down the spoon for a while.

my fitness pal does this (and a lot more). And there's an iphone app.

W2D2 done, new running playlist has worked well. Time seems to fly by.

Sleeved on a Tuesday, back to work on the following Monday. I own my own business and had to get back to it.

you should discuss this really with your nutritionist and come up with a balanced nutritional plan that will work for you. Generally speaking high carb foods like what you mention should be avoided initially after sleeving. They certainly can be added back to your diet once you are on your way (like 3-4 months) if you choose to go that route. But right now, you should be focusing on getting in your protein, drinking your water and letting your sleeve heal up. I gave up potatoes, rice and pasta during my pre-op period and have no plans to add that back into my diet, (along with Mac and Cheese). Those type of foods really add no nutritional value except for the added carbs. If you must eat them, try to eat red potatoes with the skin on vs. gold or white mash (Cauliflower is great mashed btw), if you must eat rice, try wild brown or quinoa, and for pasta, try making your own with spinach, beets or any other good vegetables.

It takes a bit of practice. I'm not a choirboy about it by any stretch, but I am getting way better. I don't always wait 30 minutes. Sometimes I'll sip along with what I am eating if its spicy. Otherwise it isn't that hard, it just takes some practice and commitment.

no. You'll be able to eat normal, healthy food, just lower quantities. Stay away from the processed stuff.

If it is just tuna then it just may mean that you need to back off a while. I had the same problem with eggs right after surgery. But now after 3 months its fine. Not everything is going to go down easy right away, but check back on it a month or so out, and you should be cool. Just remember you got to chew. That was one thing that I thought would be easy, but you really have to remember to do it every time.

I have no idea what the cash price would have been. My hospital stay (overnight) was $42k alone. Didn't include the surgeon or the ana. So I don't know. If I could have gotten out the door under $15k I probably would have done it. Otherwise, probably not. My insurance did negotiate what they paid, which I guess they all do that. My out of pocket was less than $3500 for everything, so that was cool.

this should be on the banner for this site "Bariatric surgery is not an alternative to lifestyle change, it is a tool to help people become more successful at lifestyle changes. Bariatric surgery is surgery though and therefore comes with risks. For that reason, it is only appropriate when the benefits outweigh the risks." Every newbie that comes here should have to read this before joining up.

Just go slow. Running might not be your thing. I didn't start running until I was 40+, but now I really get into it. Bikes are awesome too, just keep on moving that's the best thing.

:ph34r:

My wife would actually come into the family room with a big plate of grub and chow down right in front of me, while I was getting ready for surgery. She couldn't believe that I was pissed off about that.

I'm rocking the MIO cherry/blackberry right now. Got a few other flavors to try. Really like the taste, otherwise I'm drinking plain old black tea (iced). Full on caffeine.

don't feel that way, you can start anytime. If you got on your bike and rode, that works too. Like I said before, just one foot in front of the other. You'll get there, I am 100% positive of it!